Chapter Eighteen: Expect the Worst


By order of the queen, the Princess Alliance had gathered in the throne room. Most of them had heard something about Glimmer's conversation with Castaspella, but most of it was just hearsay. Nevertheless, Glimmer was eager to stop any rumors before they could spread, and so had doubled down on her queenly mask. "I have good news: we finally have an idea of what Catra is after." She made sure not to show any emotion, either in her voice or her posture as she sat on her throne, completely still.

While everyone noticed that she was acting strange, none of them wanted to comment on it. "That's great news!" said Bow, though his enthusiasm sounded at least partially forced. "Tell us, how can we use this to capture her, and nothing else?"

"Let us not get ahead of ourselves." Hordak stood on one side of Glimmer's throne, and Castaspella on the other. "All we know for certain is what she is seeking: the Heart of Etheria."

There was some murmuring among the princesses, mostly of confusion. "The Heart of Etheria?" said Bow. "But isn't that supposed to be a myth?"

"I always believed so as well, but Entrapta was convinced it was real," Hordak continued. "She came to the conclusion that it was no mere artifact, but the literal heart at the planet's center. Furthermore, she felt that it was too dangerous to investigate fully. Knowing Entrapta, I'm sure you can fathom just what that implies."

"So, Entrapta must have told Catra everything she knows about it," said Frosta. "She…she didn't find out how to use it, did she? Because if Catra knew…"

"If Catra knew, she would have used it already," Glimmer said. "And seeing as she still has her henchmen searching for it, we can reason she doesn't know where it is. The only logical thing to do is to find it first, and lead her into a trap."

"Okay, so…how do we do that?" asked Mermista. "If Entrapta, one of the smartest people on the planet, couldn't find it, how are we supposed to?"

"Simple: we just have to dig!" said Perfuma. "The Heart of Etheria is at the planet's core, right? So if we keep heading down, we'll reach it eventually!"

Glimmer held up a hand. "I have a much simpler idea. I've asked Demantoid to run a scan of the planet, searching for any large hollow pockets. If we can find one large enough leading to the core, that's our access point. We'll claim it before Catra does, and lead her into a trap. If it works, we'll have captured her, and control the most powerful weapon in the universe. Win-win."

Bow didn't like where this was going. "Uh, did you just call the Heart of Etheria a 'weapon?' I thought that Entrapta calling it the most dangerous thing she's ever heard of would mean we shouldn't mess with it. Especially not as a weapon!"

"Bow, relax," Glimmer said. "Sometimes, the best way a weapon can be used is by not using it at all." Hordak nodded in approval. "Once the rest of the New Horde learns we control the Heart, they'll be forced to stand down."

"So, you'll be holding a gun to the rest of the universe?" Adora, who had been silently listening at the back of the room, stepped forward. "Keeping everyone in line through force isn't something that the good guys do."

Glimmer's hands clenched into the throne's armrests. "Maybe I'm not a good guy," she hissed. "Maybe I just want to keep my people and my planet safe! And if that means taking control of some sort of ancient First Ones weapon…" She calmed down. "Nevermind. Infighting is the last thing we need right now."

The slight glare directed at Adora when she said this made it clear this was more of a warning than a suggestion. "Well, you're right about one thing: I'm not gonna fight with you. But I don't think I want to fight for you, either. Not the way things are going. I mean, I can't be the only one who sees this, right?" She gestured around the room at all the other princesses. "Ever since she became the queen, Glimmer's been acting more and more tyrannical! I already said I don't want to see the Princess Alliance turning into the next Horde, but what about you? Do any of you want that? Is that really where we are right now?"

Her words seemed to touch the others' hearts, as everyone looked away uncomfortably. "Adora…I just want this war to be over," said Frosta. "First the Horde, then Skeletor, Horde Prime, the New Horde…this has all been happening since before I was born. I want peace for Etheria, just like you. But if the only way we can get that is…this way…"

Bow walked up to Adora. "I know you're not comfortable with this," he said. "Neither am I. But we don't have any other options right now. Like I said, Glimmer's in a bad place now, but if we stick with her, we can help her."

"The problem is she doesn't want our help," said Adora. "She's convinced that killing Catra is the only way to solve her issues, but even if that was okay, it wouldn't. The only way she's gonna get that is if we stop supporting her decisions like this."

"Adora, Glimmer's your friend," he said.

She cut him off. "Well, she sure isn't acting like it." She walked past him, glaring at Glimmer. "If you want to take control of this Heart of Etheria thing, and become no better than Hordak, fine. But I won't be a part of this. Come and see me when you've come to your senses." She stormed out of the room, leaving the rest of the princesses in awkward silence.

"Wait, Adora!" Bow tried to go after her, but was stopped by Glimmer.

"Let her go. She doesn't understand that this is for the greater good. I'm sure she'll come around eventually." She glanced out the door where Adora had gone, a silent At least, I hope she will going through her head.

Castaspella inched closer to her niece. "Oh, I'm certain she will. The two of you are very close friends, after all." Glimmer glanced up at her smiling face, unable to tell if there was a hind of blame hidden behind it. She might have asked, had Hordak not continued their earlier conversation.

"Once Demantoid uncovers its location, we will move to secure the Heart. Until then, we must keep a vigilant eye out for Catra's forces. She is no doubt still searching, and we cannot allow her to find the Heart before us."

The princesses stood around, waiting for Glimmer's orders. "Well? You heard him–get to watching!" The five of them shuffled out of the room, somewhat unsatisfied.

"How exactly can we look for Catra if we don't know where she is?" Spinnerella quietly asked her wife.

Netossa chanced a quick glance back at Glimmer before shrugging. "I guess she wants us to do the heavy lifting for her now, too."

Once the others had gone, and Bow was the last one left, he too looked back. "Glimmer…" he said, a hint of pleading in his voice.

"I know, I know!" she snapped. "I'll talk to her…I just need to talk to Demantoid first. But I'll go and see her after."

"You promise?"

Glimmer huffed. "Yes, I promise, okay? Just…I want to be alone now. Is that fine?"

"You got it," Bow said with a small smile. He left the room as well, leaving Glimmer with her two advisors. For a moment, there was a look of sadness in her eyes as she watched him leave, but it quickly faded. "Um…when I said alone, I meant alone alone."

"Hmm? Oh! Of course!" said Castaspella once she realized what she meant. "We'll give you some time to think. Come along, Hordak." She paused, realizing just who she was ordering around, before continuing. Hordak wordlessly followed.

Once she was well and truly alone, Glimmer let her emotions show, slumping down in her seat and letting out a big sigh. Bow was right: she was pushing Adora away. She was pushing everyone away. But as much as she hated it, it was necessary to stop the New Horde. She produced her Gem communicator, and sent a message to Hessonite.


It was late evening as Adora leaned against the bannister, looking out over Brightmoon. "Maybe I'm the one overreacting," she said to herself. "Maybe I'm wrong, and this is the only way to stop the New Horde. Emerald didn't seem like the type to give up easily…" She placed her sword in front of her, looking down at her morose expression. She-Ra was supposed to be the savior of all of Etheria, but right now, she felt like she wasn't saving anyone, on either side.

She hated everything Catra had done, everything she had become, but she couldn't bring herself to hate her. Despite everything she had done, she couldn't just forget how they had grown up together. But despite her fondness for her old friend, Glimmer's insistence left her with a tiny flicker of doubt. What if Catra would really never stop, and was willing to go to any low in order to get what she wanted? She had already destroyed Etheria once, so it wasn't impossible…

Her train of thought was interrupted when she saw movement on the pathway below. She initially brushed it off as a guard doing their nightly rounds, but something made her look closer. It was a guard alright, but something about their movements was…off. Their armor didn't seem to fit right, and their gait was uneven. She was pretty sure she would have remembered if she saw someone walking like that during the day.

"Uh, hey! You there!" she called, hurrying down the stairs towards the odd guard. They didn't react, not even to quicken their pace. Instead, they just continued shuffling along, heading towards an unknown destination. "Are you ignoring me? Come back!" Adora ran over to the figure, grabbing hold of their shoulder to get their attention. But the moment her hand made contact, she was battered away by something long, thin, and very strong that shot out from under the robe.

Adora quickly got to her feet, drawing her sword. "Well, that didn't last long. I'm honestly surprised I made it this far," said the 'soldier.' The robe and armor came off, revealing a green mer-man who bared his fangs at her, multiple tentacles thrashing. "The jig is up, gang! Time for a raid!"

All of a sudden, over a dozen Horde members of all different species came out of the woodwork, climbing up over the castle walls, emerging from bushes and behind rocks, a few even flying into the castle. Many of them surrounded Adora, while many more headed deeper into Brightmoon. Before they had time to react: "For the Honor of Grayskull!"

A few of the raiders were blinded by the flash her transformation caused, leaving them open to a smack from her sword. She-Ra wasn't as interested in dealing with the small fries, though, figuring that the mer-man was their leader. She charged at him, but he proved far slipperier than he appeared, dodging one of her sword strikes. "Catra was right, you are clumsier than you look!"

"And your trash-talking needs work!" Adora swung again, this time connecting, but Sqalish's skin hardened into armor. The blow was still quite powerful, enough to throw him against the wall. Before he could move away, she had him pinned. "You were saying? Now, did Catra send you here?"

He chuckled in response. "Technically, yes, but I don't think 'sent' is the right word."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" she asked.

"Hey Adora."

Of course. As if an ill-timed invasion wasn't bad enough. Adora slowly turned her head to see her old friend-turned-foe strolling out of the shadows, looking quite pleased with herself. "You…" she said quietly, with just as much surprise as anger.

"Me indeed," Catra purred. "You don't look too happy to see me, Adora. Here I thought you'd be overjoyed." She slinked further down the walkway, perching atop the stone guardrail. "You're not still mad about that debacle with almost destroying the planet, are you?"

Adora growled, tossing Sqalish aside to face her. "You shouldn't be here."

Catra laughed her familiar laugh. "Adora, you should really know by now that I go where I want, not where I'm wanted. You used to like that about me."

"That's not what I meant." Adora's tone softened ever so slightly. "If Glimmer finds out you're here…"

Catra laughed again, harder this time. "Aww, it's sweet that you care about me like that! But I'm not scared of that twinkly little brat. If she wants to kill me, she's welcome to try her best. After all, if I can beat you as She-Ra, what chance does she have?"

Despite her current feud with the girl, there was a brief pang of anger in Adora at hearing her friend being bad-mouthed. But she ignored it in favor of trying to reason with Catra. "I don't know how you know about that, but since you do, why come here? This can't just be about showing up Glimmer, right?"

"What, like I'm gonna tell you our plan outright?" Catra scoffed. "As far as you're concerned, we're just here to topple the Princess Alliance. Shouldn't be too hard, considering how easily we got in!" She hopped off her perch, readying her claws as she nodded to Sqalish. "Go get the others–I'll handle her."

Sqalish nodded, using his tentacles to carry himself further into the castle. Adora tried to give chase, but was forced to block as Catra lunged. Her claws screeched across the metal, Adora pushing her back before they could reach her skin. She ducked underneath another swing from the Sword of Power, which collided with the wall.

Noise and commotion had now spread throughout the castle. As bad as things were, at least Brightmoon hadn't been caught by complete surprise. They were mounting a defense, one that would hopefully be enough. Adora wasn't worried, though–she had faith in the others.

"You know, at some point, you have to ask yourself why you're still doing this," Adora said. "Shadow Weaver disappeared, Hordak gave up, who are you trying to impress?"

With a smirk, Catra kicked Adora's legs out from under her. "Myself," she said, stomping on her wrist before she could raise her sword. "I'm not some little girl desperately looking for someone's approval, despite what you think of me. This isn't so I can finally be loved, or so we can be friends again, all of this is so I can finally have what I never had in the Horde: control over my own life! Now, I actually have a say in what happens to me!"

Adora could have broken out of Catra's hold that very second. But instead, she looked up at her with sympathy, and almost pity. "Do you really need to hurt people to have that?" she asked softly. "You're more than what the Horde taught you, Catra. We both are. You can leave that life behind, like I did."

For the briefest of moments, less than a second, there was a flicker of sorrow in Catra's eyes. It was immediately replaced by rage, for daring to assume the two of them were anything alike. With a howl, Catra raised her claws and drove them down towards Adora…but was thrown to the side before she could. A glowing white beam of energy had blasted her to the side, its source marching out into the open.

"You made a mistake bringing the fight here," Glimmer said, her fists glowing with heat. "Your last mistake."

Adora got to her feet, standing between her and Catra. "Glimmer…" she said, almost a warning. "You don't want to do this."

"You don't know what I want!" Glimmer yelled. "Your mom wasn't killed because of what she did!"

"I know!" Adora yelled back, before calming herself. "I know. But doing what you're about to do isn't going to fix anything. Please, can we talk about this before any of us does something we regret?" Catra suddenly leapt onto her back, pulling her down to the ground. Her sword fell out of her hand, and was then kicked away.

"Oh, I don't think that'll be a problem." Catra squared up against Glimmer, not afraid of her in the least. Her claws were bared, and she was ready to pounce.

Glimmer's eyes narrowed. "Then I guess that's one thing we have in common."


A state of chaos was unfolding around Steven. Horde soldiers filled the halls, wielding all sorts of makeshift weapons. Somewhere to his left, Garnet and Bismuth held Callix at bay. He ran past Octavia lashing her tentacles at Perfuma. Mermista and Lapis had teamed up to push back the intruders using the castle's abundant water. Everyone was fighting, except for him.

Sure, He-Man would probably make things worse, but this feeling of helplessness was almost as bad as guilt. He ran past the fighting, wishing there was more he could do. That was when he saw it: Sqalish, not that Steven knew him, climbing up the castle walls towards where the prisoners were being held. With all the fighting, nobody else noticed him.

Steven tried to get somebody's attention. "Pearl! Spinnerella! Hey, someone, there's a…" Amidst all the commotion, he wasn't heard. "It has to be me, then." He ran towards the armory–back when he had stashed the Sword of Power there, he had seen something that he knew how to use.

Meanwhile, since all the guards were distracted, Sqalish was easily able to slip into the guest room unnoticed. The four prisoners looked up to see him enter, looking unusually pleased with himself. "Well, look who managed to get themselves captured," he mused, walking over to inspect the magical barriers. "And look who had to come all the way here just to rescue you…"

"Never took you for the gloating type," said an unimpressed Crita. "I don't suppose you brought a way to get us out of this mess?"

"I did, because unlike you, I take the time to think up a plan before rushing blindly into an enemy stronghold." Sqalish produced a small trinket from his pocket: it resembled a tiny silver disk the size of a pocket watch, with several dials inlaid with crystals. He began adjusting the dials to the sounds of gears turning within. "I just need to find the right frequency, and…"

He was interrupted when the door suddenly slammed open. "Hold it!" Standing there was Steven, a shield emblazoned with the emblem of Brightmoon strapped to his arm. "You're gonna have to deal with me first!"

"Oh, goody, He-Man's back!" Karikon said with a mocking grin. "But where's his sword? You didn't give it up because of me, did you?"

Sqalish put the device back in his pocket. "This shouldn't take long." One of his tentacles lashed out towards Steven, who knocked it aside with his shield. He sprinted towards his opponent, who met him with a punch. Steven rolled under it, trying to kick out Sqalish's legs, but the mer-man remained standing.

Steven then found himself lifted into the air by one of the tentacles. He bashed at both the limb and its owner, but found himself lacking in his usual strength, either Diamond or He-Man. Sqalish watched him flailing, unimpressed.

"Told you," he said, before hurling Steven at the wall. Fighting through the pain, he got back to his feet, letting out a battle cry as he ran at him again. He swung his shield violently, but Sqalish merely sidestepped each attack. "I can appreciate your dedication, but as for your results…this is just sad."

Gritting his teeth, Steven continued to swing. "Maybe if you stood and fought me, I'd actually get some results!" Sqalish kept on dodging, causing Steven to swing more and more violently in response. The mer-man sidestepped one of his strikes, and his shield clanged against one of the barriers. For a moment, Steven saw his reflection in it: his face was twisted in anger, looking not dissimilar to Jasper. This distraction gave Sqalish enough time to swat him aside, where he tumbled across the floor.

"Give it up, little man," said Sqalish, going back to fiddling with his device. He wasn't even looking at him. "Some people just aren't meant to be fighters."

"Poor little Steven," Azurite mocked. "No powers from your mum, no magical sword, what do you still have?"

As he struggled to stand back up, Steven tried to think of a witty retort. He planned on saying something like 'I have heart!' or 'Just enough fight left in me to beat you!' but nothing came to mind. So, since he couldn't think of anything, Connie said it for him.

"He's got me!" She reached out a hand to help him up, holding her sword in the other. Glad to see her, he eagerly took her hand. "You know, if you needed help, you could've just asked."

He beamed. "Thanks, Connie. You're right, I can always count on you." Side by side, the two of them squared up. "Let's take him down, together!"

Sqalish groaned in annoyance. "Are there any other distractions you plan on using? Because now would be a good time to get them out of the way!" His tentacles shot out at the two of them, who split up. Connie sliced through the ones after her, while Steven blocked his with his shield. They met again in the middle, where Steven used his shield to springboard Connie into the air.

Connie came down on top of Sqalish with a powerful swing. He held up his arm to block, his skin becoming armored. When the sword clanged against his carapace, he tried to follow up with a punch, but Connie had already dodged out of the way, striking him in the face. As he stumbled, Steven hit him again with his shield.

The two of them had Sqalish pinned between them, repeatedly striking him to keep him off-balance. "No, don't let 'em pin you like that!" cried Carnelian, pressed up against her barrier. "You gotta get outta there!"

"What does it look like I'm trying to do!?" replied Sqalish, seconds before taking a shield to the chin. The pair had him up against a wall, reading each other's moves like they were dancing. They were so in sync that they began to glow, moments away from fusing. Connie noticed, and was overjoyed, but didn't say anything for risk of breaking their synergy.

As he was repeatedly pummeled, Sqalish saw something shimmer on the ground: he had dropped his trinket. This was his chance: he waited until Steven struck, blocking the blow with his hardened skin, and hoisting himself towards the ceiling with his tentacles. Steven broke off from their formation to go after him, and the glow faded. "Steven, wait!" shouted Connie.

Sqalish dove to the floor to grab the device, while Steven leapt into the air, preparing to bring his shield down. With a smirk, Sqalish intercepted him by snatching him out of the air with a tentacle around his neck. "Once again, valiant effort, poor execution!" He adjusted the dials once more, and pressed on a crystal in the center.

A burst of magic exploded from the trinket, wrapping all over the room. Instantly, the magical barriers dissolved, freeing the prisoners. Connie raised her sword, but Steven was thrown into her, sending them both crashing against the wall.

Catra's squadron wasted no time escaping. Karikon punched a hole through the wall, immediately leaping through it, closely followed by Carnelian and Sqalish. As Crita lowered herself through, Azurite waited to taunt Steven one last time. "So close! Oh well, maybe you'll get another chance soon. Actually, scratch that…once Catra has the Heart, you'll all be destroyed! So much for that!" Cackling, she flew outside as Steven hurled his shield her way.

They had tried their hardest, but the prisoners had still escaped. Breathing heavily, Steven glared at the hole in the wall, before falling to his knees. "Hey, it's alright," Connie said, crouching beside him. "They got away, but we can still stop Catra. …Steven?"

"It's not Jasper," he said quietly. "It's not Jasper, it's not the Sword, it's not Mom…it's my fault. I'm the reason He-Man is dangerous! All this hate and anger I'm feeling, it's been in me this whole time!" He looked up at Connie, looking ready to tear up. "Connie…am I a bad person?"

Hearing him ask that almost made her tear up as well. Instead, she dropped her sword and placed her arms around him. "Steven, everyone gets angry sometimes. Everyone feels hate sometimes. You're one of the nicest, gentlest, most loving people I know, and feeling like that doesn't make you bad. It just means you're human."

He returned her hug, but couldn't help looking down at his gem. "Maybe too human," he mumbled. He retrieved his shield, and she her sword. "C'mon, let's go help the others!"

"Sounds like a plan!" They hurried downstairs to deal with the rest of the invaders.


Catra leapt off of the bridge and onto another as the cobblestone behind her exploded. The source of this blast appeared within the smoke, unleashing beam after beam from her palms. "Stop running, coward!" Glimmer shouted, her voice distorted by the energy flowing through her. She teleported in front of Catra to intercept her, but she just barely slid underneath her laser.

"Coward? Says the princess with magical powers going after someone without them!" Catra swung her claws, but Glimmer warped out of the way. She reappeared right behind her, an energy blast hurling her across the bridge. Glimmer warped above her, blasting herself down into the stone like a flaming comet, which Catra only just managed to evade. "This isn't exactly a fair fight!"

Glimmer was unaffected by Catra's taunts. "Since when have you cared about fighting fair!?" She threw blast after blast in Catra's direction, who nimbly dodged each one. Although she didn't show it, Catra was starting to feel like she was outmatched for real. "Was trying to destroy the world a fair fight!? Was killing my mom a fair fight!?"

"I didn't kill anybody!" Catra said, more out of exasperation than desperation. "All I did was open a portal. Whatever Angella did next was her own fault."

Unsurprisingly, this was not a wise choice of words. Glimmer roared, a pillar of energy erupting from around her body. She vanished, reappearing beside Catra and launching her off the bridge with a glowing punch. Instead of waiting for her to fall, Glimmer warped underneath her for another punch, and then another, and another. Quicker than the eye could see, she repeatedly pummeled Catra in midair.

Adora finally managed to catch up to them, leaping off the bridge in pursuit. "Can we please talk about this for a moment!?" she pleaded as she fell, crashing down beside the river. Catra slammed into the ground not far away, Glimmer looming over her. "Glimmer, stop this! You already beat her!"

A badly beaten Catra rose to her feet, clearly struggling to do so. This wasn't good enough for Glimmer, who hovered above with glowing eyes. "You know what? I almost feel sorry for you." Her voice was back to normal, but it was almost more chilling than before. "But then I realize, you brought this all on yourself."

"What are you–" Catra tried to scoff, but was struck by another beam, throwing her against the ground.

"Adora didn't make you stay with the Horde. Hordak didn't force you to keep this war going after he left. Shadow Weaver didn't make you try to destroy all of Etheria. Adora thinks you can still leave the Horde behind, but I don't think you can. Once you took over the Horde, you became the Horde. And the only way for this war to be over is when the Horde is gone! For! Good!" She unleashed the biggest energy blast of all, one that could've vaporized Catra in an instant. But once the light had dimmed, she saw Adora, having transformed the Sword of Protection into a shield.

She-Ra glared up at Glimmer. "At first, I was just asking. But now, it's not a request. Stand down, Glimmer. I won't tell you again." Her sword retook its true form.

Pure rage flared through Glimmer's eyes, mixing in with pangs of betrayal. "I am your queen! You don't command me, I command you!" She teleported inches away from Adora, knocking her back with an energy blast. Adora's sword dug into the ground to stop her movement, before she launched herself at Glimmer. Before she could grab her, however, the princess warped over to Catra.

She lifted Catra up by the collar. "You're right about one thing: I'm the Horde now. I'm Empress Catra. And this miserable planet means nothing to me anymore. Once I get the Heart of Etheria, you'll be the first to go."

Glimmer raised a hand, energy pooling into her palm. "All the more reason to get rid of you." But before she could fire, she felt a set of claws rake across her cheek. She shouted and grabbed her wound as Catra fell back to the ground, sprinting away on all fours. Roaring, Glimmer unleashed all the energy she had, firing randomly at everything she could see. Adora held up her sword to block the attack, but there were too many projectiles. Her sword was knocked out of her hand, and the energy forced her to the ground.

Catra darted out of the way of the blasts, but there were so many of them that she couldn't evade all of them. One eventually caught her, grazing her side and causing her to fall down near the river's edge. Glimmer suddenly appeared by her side, kicking her back down before she could get up. The princess was then on top of her, laying into her with glowing fists.

The two were tangled together in a mass of fists and claws, both desperately trying to do as much damage to the other as they could. Catra was lashing out at any bit of Glimmer she could reach, who was ignoring her slashes through sheer rage. "I'll kill you!" she roared, her vision obscured by tears. "I'm gonna do to you exactly what you did to my mom! I'm…I'm…" The scratches had ceased.

Breathing heavily, Glimmer backed off her defeated foe. Catra was barely hanging on to consciousness, having been all but beaten into the ground. She was still lucid enough to taunt her, however. "What? Getting too tired to finish the job?" she asked, her laughter turning into a cough.

In truth, Glimmer had every opportunity to finish the job. She had expected to get some sort of satisfaction out of seeing Catra so utterly broken. She had wanted to see her afraid, knowing there was nothing that could stop her from killing her. But nothing of the sort came to her. Her anger, her sorrow, none of it dissipated the way she expected it to. Truthfully, she was tired. "I just…want this to be over," she said quietly.

"It will be soon," Catra said, trying and failing to stand up. She had noticed someone approaching–a group of someones. "For what it's worth…at least you had a mom. One who cared about you. Focus on that."

The rest of Catra's squad descended from the bridge above. "C'mon, we've gotta go, now!" said Crita, holding Catra up and helping her into the water. With Sqalish leading the way, all six of them vanished under the water, and were gone. Glimmer barely had any energy left, and didn't even try to stop them.

"No!" Adora sprinted to the river and dove in. After several moments, she burst out of the waves with a deep gasp, climbing back onto the shore. She went over to Glimmer, immediately expressing shock at her wounds. "Are you…?" She reached down, only for Glimmer to push her hand away.

"I'm fine," she said, getting to her feet. "Did they…?"

Adora nodded. "I couldn't see any of them. That squid guy must be faster than he looks. I'm sorry."

Averting her eyes, Glimmer offered a barely-audible "I am too." Several others had arrived in pursuit of the prisoners, Hordak and Castaspella leading their numbers. "How's the situation at the castle?"

Immediately, Castaspella rushed over to her niece, throwing her arms around her. "Glimmy, what happened to you!? Did Catra do this!? Come on, let's get you back to the castle to get you fixed up." Glimmer looked like she wanted to protest as she was led back to Brightmoon, but lacked the energy.

"We've dealt with the incursion," Hordak told her. "Most of the attackers scattered once we mounted our defense, but we managed to capture the rest. I recommend having them shipped to more secure locations–ones with actual holding cells, for one."

As the rest of the group headed back home, Adora retrieved her sword and was met by Connie and Steven. She noticed that the latter was armed with a shield, but not the pink one she was used to. "How'd things go without your powers?" she asked, remembering their conversation from the other day.

"Not well," Steven replied. His look off to the side told Adora that he was still working through some things. "I didn't see the fight here, but I could hear it. Glimmer really was serious about that, wasn't she?"

"I…yes and no," said Adora. Glimmer certainly could have killed Catra, but she didn't. This, however, didn't seem to have been mercy on her part. "Let's get back and clean up the castle. Something tells me tomorrow's not gonna be pretty…" The three of them headed homeward.