Chapter 24

Catra was alone, with nothing but her demons rummaging around within her headspace to find some means of beating her down. It didn't matter what she did, she couldn't escape them. No matter how many lies she told herself, she couldn't bring herself to believe them. Her head was a jumble, a frantic chaotic mixture of memories, devious thoughts and cruel feelings bringing her down.

It was noisy there.

On one hand, she was progressing well as Force Captain, she was pleasing Lord Hordak with her advances in the war and her ideas were working smoothly. There have been a few hiccups but that was to be expected. She was doing far better than Shadow Weaver had said she would, although that old hag never had any faith in her.

Yet, on the other hand, she's still reaching out to grasp Adora. Her heart no longer beat, her lungs were filled with dark smoke and all she could taste was ash. Without Adora, she was nothing. She could win the fight against the princesses, but she'd lose the war. She hated to admit it, but there was no use denying it. Adora was her strength, the only reason she got up in the morning and without her, she simply didn't have the energy to face the day. She was both happy and sad at the same time, thrilled with how well she was doing as Force Captain but inside she was empty.

Empty of joy, and laughter, and everything bright. All that was left was anger and sorrow and everything dark.

Catra, in the bathroom of the dorms back in the Fright Zone, splashed some water onto her face, to cool herself down. She drew a breath and picked up her red, metal crown. It rested around her face, two sharp points at the top like cat ears, two black diamond eyes in the middle. It resembled a cat. She wasn't sure where she had gotten it from, Shadow Weaver said it was next to her when she was found so they let her keep it. They deduced it must be some sort of family heirloom, apparently it used to have some sort of magic but it's never done anything for her. Either way, she wore it every day. It was her only true possession.

Catra couldn't bear to look at herself in the mirror, she couldn't stand the person inside her. What she had become. So she ignored what the mirror told her and kept a crooked grin on her face, brows pinched in slightly. She straightened her back, kept her chin up, as she stalked through the halls. Cadets and soldiers lingering there dropped everything they were doing and saluted her.

She put a front on, more so to deceive herself. She wished to ignore her heart's desire to go to Adora and instead be proud of her wicked deeds, to push herself further into the side of darkness. One day, she will be the one calling the shots, she'll be the sole master of the shadows and she will rule Etheria. She'll get Adora back, yes, but on her own terms. Nothing will ever be as it once was, no matter how much she might wish it could be, so instead she had to make her own future. Forge her own destiny, as Adora said.

And so she will.

Her plan was well under way, after checking in on Plumeria's factory, the armour is coming along well. The only hitch so far was she had no idea how to get to Bright Moon. The Whispering Woods would never let them through, they're a pain in her butt, a thorn in her side.

She was on her way to the training simulation, she had a new scenario for her team to go through, when Shadow Weaver emerged from the darkest corner. Typical of her.

"Force Captain, Catra," Shadow Weaver said, narrowing her cruel, cold eyes on her.

Catra kept a neutral face, crossing her arms. "Shadow Weaver."

The shadows swirled around them, almost as a warning to Catra. "Did you hear? The slaves were freed by the rebellion, whilst you were away examining crystals." She had said the word crystals like it was a disease or a bad taste on her tongue.

She only shrugged. "Whatever, it won't matter soon enough anyway. Besides, it wasn't my fault the Fright Zone was left defenceless. You were the one who ordered the other Force Captains out whilst I was away."

"We need people to mine the metal otherwise we can't make the armour."

"That's your problem, not mine. I'm only a Force Captain, it's not my job to fix your messes. You were supposed to be overseeing the captives, why didn't you?

Instead of answering her question, the sorceress said. "You've yet to capture Adora." Adora was all she thought about.

"I'm working on it. Like I said, this is the slow game. There's several things I need to put in place before we can even attempt to capture her. Trust me, Shadow Weaver, I have everything under control," Catra said. But that was the problem wasn't it? Shadow Weaver didn't trust her, not for a second, and certainly not for such a high stakes mission such as that one. "Why are your knickers in a twist anyway? You said we had time." The shadows seemed to growl at Catra. She hissed at them, flashing her sharp fangs. They coward into the dark. "If you have any ideas on how to get past the Whispering Woods, feel free to let me know. It's the only thing I've yet to figure out."

Catra turned her back on the hag and walked away. Shadow Weaver said nothing but she didn't have to say a single word, Catra could feel her hatred burning holes in the back of her head. She could feel Shadow Weaver seething, judging by how the shadows shook. Thankfully, she didn't do anything this time but Catra was toeing the line. One more disrespectful word or action and she'd have been flogging. Mentally, probably.

She headed up the metal grate stairs to the next floor, idly remembering how she used to run down these and cower underneath them, hiding from the Force Captains. Sometimes Adora would hide with her. The Force Captains were not people to mess with, often they picked out random children for training, using them as target practice or making them servants.

They had tried to do that to Catra once, she bit the guy on the arm, tearing through tender flesh and muscle. Blood seeped out from the wound, it wasn't very deep as her fangs hadn't fully developed. He still screamed like a little bitch though. Everyone made fun of him, which only made him angrier. Adora had rushed in, as he was about to back hand Catra, and kicked him in his family jewels, bringing him to his knees and then punched his face, breaking his nose. It also broke many bones in her little hand at the time.

The two of them ran and hid in the darkness. It worked in avoiding the other Force Captains, but not Shadow Weaver. They were captured and punished, both of them. Adora's punishment was to walk barefoot on sharp glass and metal, a shadow had tripped her up, forcing her to kneel on the harsh edges. Catra was forced to watch as her blood coated the floor. Adora held back her screams, teeth gritted together, fists balled at her sides. She got back to her feet and made it down the hall successfully.

Catra was punished with two weeks worth of sleepless night, where the hag's shadows tore apart her memories each night. And at the end of every nightmare, she was forced to relive all of Adora's punishment's she had witnessed. Forced to hear her screams and to watch her bleed.

Shadow Weaver knew how close they were and she loved to use it to her advantage. Revenge will be had one day, and on that day the hag will wish she had never laid a hand on them. That day was closer than she thought it was.

The only thing that was keeping Catra, somewhat, sane and keeping her going was the thought of sitting on Hordak's throne, Adora hers to control and Shadow Weaver gone. That was the plan, she only had to be patient.

She made it to the training simulation area, her team were kitted with some training armour and eye protection. It wasn't just her team here, but other cadets and young soldiers.

"Alright, I'm gonna program a simulation and I'll mark you based on how many princesses you defeat and how well you manage to take down She-Ra. Don't get shot," Catra said rather sternly before entering the control room.

The control room had thousands of buttons and levers and screens as well as the viewing window. She could see from there the cadets and soldier's step into the simulation room and the door groaned as it shut behind them. She pressed several buttons, a preview came up on the screens, and when she clicked enter the simulation began.

She watched them like a hawk, each and every one of them. Catra monitored their movements, their strategies and how easily they could kill. Ryan, being the headstrong idiot he was, got eliminated by a shot from one of the bots fairly early on. He was never good at dodging, while Jack was the dodging pro. Except he could never land a hit. A few other cadets took to hiding behind the columns Catra had masqueraded as trees. She had simulated the Whispering Woods.

It was a pretty disappointing mission, she wasn't going to lie. Most of them got eliminated, either by shots from the bots or the disappearing floor beneath them. Some of them, like Kayleigh and Lonnie, managed to kill a few, they were quite skilled. But none could defeat She-Ra. It took the legendary warrior all of a couple swings of her fake sword and the soldiers were wiped out completely. After reading up on her, Catra had discovered a few of her abilities and she had hoped that by simulating it in a training exercise, she could train the Horde to defeat her. However, it was not going well.

With a huff, she left the control room while cadets trekked out of the simulation room, exhausted.

"Hey, Catra!" Lonnie had said, smiling. Her team caught up with her just as she was leaving the locker rooms. "Where are you going?"

"I have work to do, cadet," she said quietly.

"Catra, why are you pushing us away?" Kayleigh asked. "You've not so much as spoken to us since Adora defected. We're your friends too."

Friends. The word held no meaning for her anymore.

A burst of rage came over her, she couldn't control it. "I don't need friends," she turned to face them, "what I need is to make ground on defeating this rebellion and currently you're all slacking!" She heard their hearts stop, watched their eyes go wide.

"You look tired," Ryan had said. She nearly clawed him but she restrained herself, kept her claws retracted. He was moments away from being torn to shreds. He never did know how to talk to women.

"We're trying our hardest," Lonnie had said, her dark brow pinched in. "You weren't exactly spectacular when you faced Adora." She snapped at her, elongated fangs snapping together. She growled, her throat rumbling with the deep, guttural sound. She wanted to rip her throat out, so damn badly, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Lonnie didn't fear her, it was one of the few things she admired about the cadet, she feared nothing.

"Get back to training," Catra said through gritted teeth and stormed off, into the lonely shadows, holding back a wave of tears.