Chapter 5
Adora could do nothing but watch. Her body acted upon Force Captain Catra's orders. She descended upon the quiet and quaint village like a weapon of destruction. When Catra said to destroy a building, by god she destroyed it. If she said to round up villagers and clap them in chains to be carted off to the Fright Zone, Adora did it. She followed every order, without fail and despite her best efforts, she couldn't do anything.
Her main order was to kill the princesses, Catra and her team were always close by. So, past the burning buildings, pushing away soldiers and dodging lasers fired by the robots armed to the teeth, Adora hunted down the princesses. They were easy to find since they were spotted blowing up robots, fighting the soldiers or trying to save villagers.
Adora was horrified by the sight before her. They weren't bringing peace to this village, they were destroying it and carting off the people for whatever reason. This was a peaceful village, this was not the centre of the rebellion, this village had nothing useful to the Horde. It was all a ploy. The Horde attacked this village, simply to draw out the princesses and send Adora in to squash the rebellion. She realised that all too late and by the time she activated the sword, there was nothing she could do.
Adora rounded the corner to find a group of three princesses trying to hurriedly come up with a plan in hushed voices. Their eyes went wide with shock when they spotted her. One of these princesses she'd spotted from atop the hill, the one that's all sparkly.
Another was a flower princess, her lilac dress adorned in real flowers, daisies and lilies. Atop her head was a corn of thorns and roses, long dark brown wavy hair left loose. Her dress was kept short, much like sparkles over there, thigh high boots matching the dress.
The third princess looked to be from a snowy region. She had all white hair, a crown of icicles and armour built from snowflakes, and ice. Her skin unnaturally pale, her eyes glittering like blue crystals. She was the only princess not in a dress but in real armour.
"Impossible," the giant walking snowflake said upon seeing Adora. "That can't be her."
"Can't be who?" the flower princess asked.
"Talk about it later," sparkles said, hushing their musings. The glittering princess came to stand before Adora, as if she had any power to defeat her. The snowflake had a better chance than her. "What are you here for?"
"You," Catra answered. She sat crouched on top of a chimney on a nearby home, one of the few still standing. She wore a crooked grin, fangs glinting. "A pretty dumb question if you ask me, isn't it obvious why she's here?"
"She has a knack for asking dumb crap," the ice princess said, arms crossed, face looking so bored already. Sparkles threw her a glare over the shoulder before refocusing on Adora.
"I didn't come here to converse," Catra said. "Kill them." She ordered, and like the good slave she was, she raised her sword to strike the princesses without uttering a single word of refutal. Adora brought her sword down upon sparkles, she vanished in a cloud of glitter and reappeared nearby, the sword crashed to the ground, breaking up stone and ancient roots.
Teleportation, very nice.
Adora rose quickly, swiping her sword from left to right. The ice princess jumped out of the way, dragging the flower girl with her, the sword connected to the bricks of the house. It crumbled, Catra leapt from the top and hissed at the flower princess. She stuck her landing, the flower princess tried to use vines and roots to attack her but the kitty cat wove between them like finely knitted gloves. With claws extended, she scratched the princess who cried out in pain. She spun, holding onto her face as she drew deep breaths. Large icicles sprung from the ground, Catra flipped back, closer to Adora. The ice princess protected the other girl, blood gushed from her face. Sparkles appeared next to her and vanished, taking the flower princess with her.
Adora attacked the snowflake, her sword flailing against ice, breaking it, cracking it, even picking up one of the giant icicles and throwing it across the field at sparkles who had reappeared. She nearly got her, nearly. A dark skinned man pulled the sparkly princess out of the way, the icicle impales into the side of the hill. Unable to stop, Adora turned and kept trying to kill the ice princess.
Snowflake took a step back and summoned a storm of ice arrows. Adora took her sword and turned it into a large shield, which she used to block the ice. She raised the shield skyward, a field of dark aura pulling upon each hit of the arrow. When the ice shattered like glass and there was none left, the shield went back to its original form, the sword, and she turned again to the snowflake princess. Sweat beaded the side of her face, yet Adora had not broken a single sweat.
The princess became overwhelmed rather quickly, but still they refused to give up. Adora took a step closer to Snowflake, raising her sword above the tired princess, but then a voice called to her. A deep ringing in her heart caused her to cry out in agony.
Fight it, Adora. This isn't you…
She dropped the sword, holding onto her head as if it might explode. Visions flashed before her very eyes. Catra and the rest of her team stepped in, although the ice princess had begun to flee.
Catra engaged in a fight with a giant bug, a half woman, half scorpion who had the power of lightning and a paralysing tail. Catra and Lonnie ganged up on her. They dodged her effortlessly, the scorpion was big and bulky, slow to move.
Eventually, when all three calmed down, she picked up her sword and entered the fight again. The princess returned with reinforcements.
The battle was won, Adora drove the princesses away and the townsfolk were either killed or captured. A shame they couldn't kill a princess, but sparkles kept teleporting them away from danger. They fled all too quickly, far too easily. Just as well though, Catra wasn't sure for how long Adora could hold the magic of the sword up before she collapsed. As strong as the magic was, Adora needed to be awake for it to work. If Adora gets tired, so will the magic and it will retreat from her. Certain conditions must be met for the sword to function fully. For the magic to function fully. Catra and Adora found that out the hard way, through their many training simulations, all of which end the same way.
Catra didn't understand these conditions, at least not yet, and Adora won't open up to her. If she knows anything, she's not telling her. Adora spent most of her time either sitting in a dark corner contemplating something or in the simulation room. From what Catra understood, she was afraid. Not that she blames her. It's just been thrust upon her, the responsibility of leading the Horde to victory without even so much as an instruction manual or proper training.
No matter. Catra's team returned to camp to pack up their belongings and head home. To await another mission. She kept a close eye on Adora, noticing every moment she staggered, every moment the magic flickered away, seeing how hard she tried to keep it up. Upon reaching camp, Adora couldn't hold onto the magic any longer.
She groaned in pain as the sword slipped from her large hand, clattering to the ground. The dark aura faded, the magic torn away and Adora, the real Adora, collapsed. Catra caught her before she could hit the ground, she sat with her.
"Lonnie, get me something I can use as a pillow," Catra demanded, then looked down at the near lifeless body of Adora. The only sign of life was some faint breathing that was almost unnoticeable. And Catra with her heightened senses could hear the soft beating of her heart, but it kept skipping beats, the rhythm wasn't right. Which was a dangerous thing for a heart to do. Adora groaned again, in agony. They needed to get her out of the open and to safety, however she was too heavy for Catra to carry.
Ryan came over and lifted her up, though Catra wasn't fond of the idea, she went with it. For Adora.
"I'll fire up a truck, we need to head home," Jack said.
"I'll get our things into the truck then, we don't have much to take home anyway," Kayleigh said and vanished into the crowd of soldiers and robots. The rest of them approached a dark, forest green truck. Catra opened the back door, Lonnie set up a makeshift bed on the floor, amidst several boxes and near a row of seats. Ryan set Adora down gently. Catra sat with her and waited. The truck rumbled to life with a great roar when Jack started the ignition. Lonnie helped Kayleigh get their stuff in the back of the struck, forcing it into boxes.
Catra stared down at Adora, contemplating the merits of hiding the sword deep within the Whispering Woods and claiming they lost it so she would never have to endure such pain again.
"Hey," Lonnie said, sitting down next to them, "will she be okay?" Catra didn't know in all honesty. She didn't know how magic worked so was unsure what the magic had taken from Adora.
"This whole magic thing is way beyond us, this has to stop," Ryan said, crossing his big arms. Adora stirred for a moment, battling to keep her eyes open but she couldn't. The darkness of sleep dragged her back.
The wild beast within her growled. "Listen, Adora and I have already tried talking to Shadow Weaver about it. It's our orders. She said Adora will be fine."
"Yeah but Shadow Weaver is also a manipulative bitch in case you haven't noticed," Lonnie said.
"I know that!" Catra snapped. "You think I'm not aware how she can get into our heads? You think I'm not aware of all the physiological and physical torture she's put us through? I know what she does, you don't have to remind me. However, I should remind you that we can't go against orders."
"You can't seriously be okay with this," Kayleight butted in, gesturing to the comatose Adora.
"I never said I was," Catra released a deep growl, a warning. "As much as I don't trust Shadow Weaver, this order came directly from Lord Hordak. And you'd do well to remember the rules here. Next time you question an order," her nails lengthed into sharpened points, "you'll be dinner. Am I clear?"
There was a tense moment, a stare down between the Force Captain and the cadets. Eventually, their eyes lowered and they said together, "Yes, Force Captain Catra."
"Good. Jack, take us home." Kayleigh shuts the truck doors, locking them in place, and everyone takes their seat, except for Catra. She transformed into the beast and rested her head upon Adora's stomach, one paw over her thigh. Adora found it to be a comfort to her, feeling the weight upon her body. It stopped her having nightmares. Catra hated it when she had nightmares because she used to scream and thrash. It kept the entire dorms up so for everyone's sake, Catra rested upon her, in an attempt to stop it and miraculously, it worked. It was not because Catra liked her, it was because she wanted to sleep.
Or at least, that's what she told herself.
