Chapter 15

Adora was by herself, lonesome and distant. Although she had joined the rebellion, with the goal of helping the innocent, she'd never felt part of the rebellion. The other princesses hated her guts, putting up with her because of She-Ra, so she stayed out of their way. She sat atop the castle, by a waterfall, and gazed out at the Whispering Woods.

She had hoped being alone with her thoughts would help her digest everything but it hasn't. All she wanted to do was help people and that's what she thought the Horde was doing, but no. Bow had shown her more video's he'd taken of the Horde's cruelty. She'd never go back, she couldn't. Not after that. But she was alone here, with nothing except a fancy sword.

Entrapta was fun to spend time with, she geeked out so hard over robots and First Ones tech and all sorts of things. It was funny almost, and delightful to see such happiness. She often spoke in strange words, not one Adora recognised. Often Glimmer would tell her to speak plain English whilst she was in the midst of taking into some sort of voice recorder. Adora liked to listen to her, regardless of whether she understood it or not.

"Out here by yourself?" Entrapta said from behind her. Adora turned, her face like ice, and she nodded. Geek Princess took a seat next to her. "You should go talk to the other princesses, make some friends."

"They don't like me. And I'm not good at making friends."

"That makes two of us. I like to stay in my lab and work on my robots, people tend not to like me either. I don't fit in. But these princesses are like a family, they made me feel like I fit in. They're my friends." Adora wasn't sure what to make of that. "You and Frosta would get along well, you're very similar. Being so cold and all. Me and Bow get along the best, Bow and Glimmer are stuck to each other like magnets. And oh! Perfuma and Scorpia love to gossip, they will spill the tea all day long." There was a slight pause as Entrapta fixed a button on her purple overalls, the white shirt stained black with oil. Purple mesh sleeves decorate her pale arms, a metal face mask sitting upon her head. She had it down when working on robots and up when not, she never took it off though. "Me and you get along well, we're friends right?" That was such a daunting thing to ask of her. She'd never had friends outside of Catra, not really. Was it fair to have more friends?

"You're going to be stuck with us for a long time, Adora," Glimmer said behind her. "We'll all be friends before this is over."

"Am I allowed friends?" Adora asked, turning around to face Glimmer and Bow.

"Of course," Glimmer said.

"Statistically speaking, life is far too boring and dull without friends." She was right about that, without Catra she'd have kicked the bucket years ago.

"I also struggled to make friends, many of us do," Glimmer said. "But, you have to try. It makes life brighter and happier." Brighter and happier. A concept Adora knew nothing of. Yet when she thought of those two words, Catra came to mind. "Come on, let's go." Glimmer grabbed Adora and Entrapta's shoulders and teleported them to the main gardens where everyone else was.

Geek Princess used her hair to press play on the recorder. "Log 283. Or 284, I've lost count. Another social experiment has commenced. Standby for observations." She then slipped away, watching people from afar. Adora got up and met with Frosta and Perfuma.

"Adora, hello," Perfuma said, fixing the see through lilac sleeves of her off the shoulder dress. "How are you today?"

"I'm okay, thanks. How are you doing?" Adora asked, rather awkwardly.

"Fine." She then looked at Frosta, the two of them sharing the same blank look.

"We're not so different, you and I," Frosta said. "We were raised to be cold." She knew nothing of how Adora was raised. "Scorpia told us all about Shadow Weaver, I'm sorry you suffered at her wrath."

"What? Like, she told everyone?" Adora asked, heart thumping harshly in her chest. She was almost sure it skipped a beat.

"Sorry! I'm a bit of a talker!" Scorpia called from the other side of the gardens, playing with little robotic dogs Entrapta made. They woof, wag their tail and stick their tongues out. That's all they do. They will follow a person though, oddly.

"Scorpia did not escape her wrath either," Perfuma said sadly.

"I see you're also not good with social interaction," Frosta said, still staring at Adora.

Her shoulders sagged. "Was it obvious?" she asked, feeling deflated and defeated. They both nodded. "We don't get to socially interact in the Horde. It's all training and discipline and all that. Scorpia knows, she was there."

"And now she's friends with us."

Adora sighed. "I would also like to be friends with you, and put the Horde behind me." Perfuma smiled.

"You're always welcome with us."

"Want us to teach you how to be a princess? Give you a few tips about friend stuff?" Frosta offered. "There's no Shadow Weaver here to tell you what to do, you're free to do what you like." Free to do what she liked? In that case, she let herself smile, she let the ice melt.

"I would really like that, thank you."

Perfuma clapped her hands, jumping up and down excitedly. "Great! Let's get started." She grabbed her hand and dragged her away somewhere, and Adora went along with it. She released the tension in her muscles and allowed herself to feel what it was like to have freedom. Her only true wish was that Catra was here with her.

It was nearly midnight, Adora tossed and turned in her bed, unable to get comfortable. Glimmer had very kindly replaced the bed with one much closer resembling the one she had back in the Fright Zone, a plain metal frame, a thin mattress and a little blanket. Of course there was a pillow, but just one this time. It was like a zoo for pillows there previously.

However, even with the bed changed, sleep evaded her. Though not because of the sword, it was silent and sitting in a dark corner as far away from her as she could possibly get it. Which in retrospect was a bad idea. Hindsight was such a funny thing.

Her head was full of nightmares, she saw towns burning, heard people screaming, saw rivers of blood and tears everywhere. And among the carnage, she heard a voice, a voice that was like her light in the dark. Catra called out to her.

"Hey, Adora!" she called rather playfully. Adora was coated in sweat, her tank top and shorts stuck to her like a second skin, the blanket was kicked off ages ago. Not even the chill night air could cool her down. She grunted and screamed, gripping her pillow for dear life. A hand was under that pillow, fingers wrapped around the metal hilt of a dagger she had stolen from the armoury. She held on until her knuckles had gone bone white.

And that voice, Catra's, calmed her. She stopped screaming and heaved in some deep breaths. "Catra..." she whispered while in deep sleep. In her nightmare, she looked everywhere for the kitty cat, but the smoke was too heavy. Adora couldn't hear nor see her. If she was actually there to begin with.

From the smoke emerged a figure holding the Sword of Protection. She blinked and before she knew it a shadowy figure was in front of her face. They didn't move or speak, and the figure was gone almost as quickly as it had come.

She hadn't a clue what had just occurred there until she felt something hot and sticky in her abdomen. Adora looked down to see herself impaled on her own sword, blood getting into the creases in the blade. Pain erupted.

Adora startled away, sitting up and reaching to the foot of her bed. She halted when she realised Catra wasn't there. She sucked in a breath, holding back hot, stinging tears. "Catra..." she whispered her name into the dark, as if it would magically make her appear. Disheartened, Adora curled into a little ball. She'd never done anything without Catra, and now that she's not there, this whole thing was far scarier.

Somewhere in the dark of her room, she heard Catra chuckle softly. Adora sat up in bed, eyes full of hope, looking around the room. She spoke her name again, and a shadow moved near where the big glass doors were to the outside. Her room came with a small outdoor garden, it was below Glimmer's room and directly in the middle of Frosta and Perfuma's rooms.

She got out of bed, inching towards where she had seen the shadow, illuminated only by the glow of the moons, which were unusually bright that evening. Adora called out her name again.

Someone laughed behind her, she whirled around and saw Catra. She couldn't believe what she was seeing, Catra was leaning against the wall, smirking at her. Her hand raised, her fingers wiggled in a sort of weird wave, hello thing.

Adora's breath caught in her throat. "Catra," she said, a grin spreading on her lips. Catra stepped back into the shadows, only to emerge in her wildcat form, tail swishing. She yawned, revealing massive teeth, sharp and strong. It was unusual, normally Catra shifted in front of her, it's not anything Adora hasn't seen before. She brushed it off if only because she was so happy to see her that all of her previous nightmarish thoughts had left her.

She stepped forward to greet the wildcat, however Catra went to the glass doors and nudged them open with her nose. It was just sliding doors, nothing too heavy. Adora followed her outside, into the cold embrace of the dark night. Catra sat there on the edge of the gardens looking out at the Whispering Woods. So still and so calm.

"Catra?" Adora said from behind her. Something firm wrapped around her wrist, preventing her from getting any closer. She looked down to see the smoke of the shadows billowing. A ribbon of darkness clung to her wrist and wouldn't let go. The shadows were strong. Another grabbed her other arm. She fought against them as much as she could, with all her might. "Catra!" she called out but the giant cat didn't move, not an inch, not even a tail swish. No flick of the ear, nothing.

Adora's heart skipped a beat, possibly two. She was familiar with these shadows, all too familiar. Shadows grabbed her legs, her shoulders, her arms, they clung to her like wet leaves to the ground.

"Shadow Weaver?" Catra, or what she had thought was Catra, was engulfed in shadows like flames in a bonfire. She grew and grew until what emerged from the black smoke was a transparent image of Shadow Weaver. She wasn't actually here, yet she controlled the shadows from afar. That was something she didn't know the sorceress could do.

"Adora," Shadow Weaver said, her name was a prolonged sound. "Thought I'd find you here." Oh no. She was alone with Shadow Weaver, her sword hidden within her room somewhere and her shadows won't let go.

The sorceress crept forwards, one agonising foot in front of the other, taking her sweet time. Though her face was calm, her eyes held a world of pain and suffering. The scars on her back sizzled with a phantom pain.