Catra opened her eyes to silence. Sitting up, she noticed that she was in a large bed surrounded by computers and machinery of sorts. If she had to guess, they probably monitored her vitals. She noticed that they weren't on however. There was also a bird in the corner of the room. A pet if she had to guess. From the way it was frantically moving, she guessed it had been startled recently.

Swinging her feet off to the side of the bed, she slowly stood up. She hadn't visited Mara in almost a week and a half and she felt a little bad about that. Walking to the end of the room, she opened the door and stepped outside. As she walked through the corridor she found no one. It seemed almost abandoned with how quiet it was. It was a little unsettling if she was being honest.

Her ears twitched. She heard a sound steadily growing closer. Pressing forward toward the sound, Catra broke into a slow jog down the corridor. As she rounded a corner Catra stumbled back as she collided with a body. Barely managing to regain her balance, she looked up at the person in front of her only to find Serenia.

"Catra? Thank goodness! Come quick!" Serenia said before quickly pulling Catra to her feet. "We need your help."

Catra quickly fell into stride beside her as she followed the red haired woman, "Why? What's going on?"

"I don't know how to explain it but about a day and a half ago things started going crazy."

"Crazy how?"

"As in 'time isn't working correctly' crazy. There's rifts, pockets of time that are affecting the area," Serenia said as she quickly took a left. "And to top it off, things are coming out of them. Mara's on the front lines as She Ra with Admiral Stratos but they're exhausted. They won't stop coming."

For the first time Catra really took in Serenia's appearance. Her normally bright green eyes appeared dull and somewhat lifeless and her hair was flat and plastered to her sweat covered face. She also had several bandages on her arm. "Are you alright? You look terrible."

"I'll be fine. But listen. You time traveled to get here. That's what you said right?" At Catra's nod Serenia continued, "Then please help us. We have no clue what to do right now. Even Stratos is at a loss."

Catra gave a nod, "If there's any way I can help I will."

Serenia gave a nod. As they exited the building, Catra caught sight of She Ra and Stratos along with a group of soldiers locked in a battle with some sort of monsters. Even from across the courtyard, Catra could feel the dark magic emanating from them. Their bodies were made up of what appeared to be oily black tendrils. The center of their bodies were masses of red and pink eyes that constantly shifted like some sort of dark twisted seraphim. The tendrils shifting into hands, constantly reaching for their targets.

As one of the tendriled hands locked onto one of the soldiers it began to devour him. His terror filled screams permeated the air as he was lifted off of his feet, being drawn closer to the center of the creature. Before it could get any closer, She Ra raised her sword and pointed at the creature, emitting a beam of pure magic. With a blood curdling shriek the monster recoiled, instantly dropping the man.

Stratos held up a device that looked suspiciously like a spear before shouting, "It's ready! Everybody get down!" No sooner had the warning been sounded that the spear gave off a frequency that carried in all directions like a sonic wave. As the creatures retreated back into what appeared to be tears of reality, the courtyard was still and silent, save for the groans of the soldiers and the heavy breathing from Stratos. She Ra dropped to a knee, using her sword as a support as her form faded, giving way to a haggard looking Mara.

Catra's ears could hear the conversation as they neared. "Stratos, I'm running on fumes over here. I don't know how much longer I can do this." Mara panted out.

"I know, but there has to be something we can do. Some way to kill them." Stratos said as he helped one of his men to a bench. "That's only going to give us about forty minutes. We need to figure something out." He glanced at the spear-like contraption, "Because at this rate. . ." The words didn't need to be said. Everyone was thinking the same thing. If She Ra couldn't kill these things then what were they supposed to do?

"Serenia says these things have something to do with time travel? Someone want to give me a rundown?" Catra said loudly as her and Serenia approached the group.

Catra could swear she saw Mara and Stratos' shoulders visibly relax. "Oh thank Sharella." Stratos muttered as he walked towards her. "It is unbelievably good to see you awake."

"Yeah, Serenia was saying something of the sort. What's going on?"

"Around a day and a half ago, areas of what we can only assume are pockets of rampant time magic began appearing in the vicinity. At first they were harmless. If you stepped in one you might go faster than everyone else or slower, etc." Catra gave a nod, "But then it became more unsettling. Things started to stop."

"Stop how?" Catra asked in confusion.

Serenia gently turned Catra towards her and pointed up, "That's how."

Catra gave a sharp intake of breath as she looked at what Serenia was pointing at. A skycraft had collided with the outpost's building and had exploded. It looked like several people were about to be caught in the blast.

"That's not the only ones either." Mara spoke up as she slowly made her way towards her. "Phyla's tavern is frozen as well with a lot of people trapped inside. Whatever's causing it is spreading away from the area and at an alarming rate. The creatures appeared twelve hours ago. So far they're only attacking us but that could change at any time. We. . .we don't know what to do." Mara said tiredly.

Stratos looked Catra in the eye, "Do you have any ideas what could be causing this? I know you didn't mean to time travel to us but could this be an adverse effect? Something that's leeching off of your magic? We only have about half an hour."

Catra went silent as she thought about this. She hadn't switched in almost two weeks and she had almost certainly never seen such monsters before. After a moment she thought about the last two days. She. . .she had rewound time. . .and almost died for it. She let out a desperate sigh.

"I hope that means you figured something out." One of the soldiers spoke up.

Catra walked towards the field with the exploding skycraft. As she put her hand through it a field of sorts encompassed her arm. It looked almost. . .glitched as she stepped through it. With her body fully inside the field of frozen space, she turned back to look at the group. "Am I still moving for you guys?"

"Yeah," Mara said with a bit of relief, "See if you can save the people by the blast."

"Don't touch the explosion. We don't know if your immunity will spread." Stratos quickly said.

Catra gave a nod as she turned and quickly walked up to the people. If she wasn't feeling so apprehensive she would have stopped to look at the fire and smoke. The way it was frozen in the air, unmoving, was quite cool.

As she stopped in front of the people, she found there were four of them. Taking a deep breath, "I hope this works," she reached out and grasped two of them on the shoulders. Instantly they recoiled away from the direction of the frozen blast.

"Mira, Jon, stop moving!" Stratos shouted with an authority that gave no room to disagree.

The now named Mira and Jon stopped in their tracks as they looked around at the area before finally looking at Catra. She noticed a flash of recognition in their eyes as the girl let out a breath of relief. That seemed to be the case when looking at Catra at the moment.

Catra quickly hauled them to their feet and walked them to the edge of the time field, not daring to let go of them. As she let them go outside of the field they were met with hugs and pats on the back.

Upon taking another step back towards the other two she noticed something. The dirt started moving. Catra looked up at the fire and saw it had begun to move slowly, albeit not for long as it was beginning to move faster. Cracks began appearing at the area of impact.

Immediately, she broke out into a sprint, all caution thrown to the wind as she made her way towards the other two. Stratos and Mara had immediately noticed the movement as well.

"Catra, quickly!" Mara shouted.

As she grabbed onto the smaller one she noticed that they were unconscious. Thankful, she swiftly hauled him onto her back. Reaching out, she grabbed the shoulder of the other one, only to be met with panicked flailing. After a few seconds of failing to get him to calm down and the increasing danger Catra lost her temper and lashed out with a right cross that instantly rendered him unconscious. Not bothering to pick him up, she began to drag him to the edge of the field as quickly as she could. As she approached the edge of the field, she could see the light on ground from the fire in front of her and feel the heat on her skin. As soon as she stepped foot outside of the area, Stratos quickly threw her behind him as he held an outstretched hand in front of him. She wasn't sure how he did it but he had erected a force field of golden light that shielded everyone from the blast.

Catra noticed that the frozen time field had returned to normal as had the other pockets of warped time. Although the rifts where the monsters had retreated to remained. Serenia and another soldier took the unconscious people from her.

Stratos turned back to Catra after the explosion had died down. "I imagine you have some sort of idea what caused this then?"

Catra gave a nod as Mara helped her to her feet. "Yeah, I think so. About thirty six hours ago, right?" At their nods Catra continued, "I was. . .abducted by the Horde. The opposing side of our war," she quickly added.

"Of course." Stratos said.

"Well, when I was unconscious I met a woman and she helped explain a few things about everything happening. When I woke up, I started exuding magic. Time magic to be exact. I started moving faster, shifting for lack of better words. Anyways, at some point I started rewinding. It. . .it was killing me and I couldn't stop it. When I was at my limit, I absorbed a heavy amount of magic and I guess it supercharged me. I rewound almost a whole day and a half."

"Woah woah woah, I thought you said time travel doesn't work that way?" Serenia spoke up.

"It doesn't, or at least it shouldn't. I don't think I time traveled. I think I just rewound the day. But the thing is, my friends remembered the events as well. They were very close and had been caught in the magic. I don't want to jump to conclusions but–"

"But the timeline matched too well for it to be coincidental." Stratos interrupted quietly. After a moment of thought he looked at Catra. "Mara informed us that our timelines are on an axis. For you, your high noon is our midnight. My theory is that you threw us out of sync. We're no longer mirrored."

". . .What the hell does that mean?"

Stratos blew out a breath, "It means that if you can rewind back the same amount of time you did initially, then maybe this will all stop."

"I don't think you heard me when I said I almost died doing that. And second, I can't. It took a lot out of me just to go back a couple seconds a few times, I don't know how I would begin to go back a day and a half again."

"Well, how did you absorb the magic in the first place?" Mara spoke up.

"I. . . hm," Catra stopped and thought about that. It had been Shadow Weaver who had done it and it had most definitely been because she had siphoned magic from the Black Garnet. If she could learn how to absorb the magic like her. . . "That could work."

"What could work?" Stratos asked.

"Shadow Weaver. My. . .mother figure is able to draw magic from the rune stones. If I can ask her how to do it and then siphon enough magic from it, I could theoretically rewind again."

Just then an animalistic scream filled the air. Everyone whipped their heads towards the rifts. They were beginning to widen. Nothing had come out of them yet but their situation was beginning to look worse and worse. Suddenly rifts began to fill the sky.

"We could barely handle three rifts." Serenia whispered in horror.

Stratos rounded Mara and Catra, "Mara, take her to Brightmoon. It's the closest runestone and we don't have a lot of time left. Catra, we're counting on you. You have to learn how to siphon the magic and rewind us back on course."

"But what if it doesn't work!" Mara said desperately.

"We're out of options Mara. We have a few minutes before they come out. Call Orsa and go. We'll hold out as best as we can here." Stratos said urgently, throwing devices on the ground. He turned towards the rest of the soldiers, "All weapon restrictions are lifted. Use whatever means necessary to survive."

At the dismissal, Mara dragged Catra towards the center of the courtyard before lifting her sword in front of her. Within seconds Catra heard a roar from above. Catra stared up in amazement as a large white dragon adorned in golden scales along its body descended from above her. Its wings gave off a colorful sheen similar to a rainbow that reflected light all around them. Mara quickly jumped on the back of the dragon and hauled Catra up behind her. She took note of the strangely shaped saddle.

"Take us to Brightmoon as quickly as possible, Orsa." Mara said with urgency.

The dragon gave a nod before speaking in an effeminate voice, "Of course Mara." Within seconds the dragon had descended into the sky.

Mara turned back to face Catra, her voice held a hard edge as she spoke. "We have an hour until we get there. Switch now and figure out how to do this."

Catra chose not to dwell on the tone of her voice, instead choosing to listen to the command. "Make sure I don't fall." She said to her as she wrapped her arms around Mara's waist. Mara gave a simple nod.

Thoughts of Adora filled her mind.


Catra sat up with a gasp. She could already feel the dull pain of switching. Quickly swinging herself out of the bed, she began sprinting down the halls of Brightmoon. She heard the sounds of Castaspella arguing inside the main hall. No doubt over Shadow Weaver. Unfortunately she was the main objective at the moment. Catra came crashing through the doors to everyone's surprise.

"Catra, What are you doing up? I thought you had switched?" Angella asked.

"No time to talk." Catra said as she ran over to Shadow Weaver. "You know how to siphon magic from a runestone right? That's how you supercharged me?"

"Yes. That's actually exactly how I did it." Shadow Weaver said slowly. She had a pretty good guess on what Catra was about to ask. Her thoughts were proven correct instantly.

"Good, teach me how to do it now."

Castaspella instantly strode forward, "Absolutely not. Angella and I already discussed that I would teach you magic. You don't need–"

"I don't care about that right now. When I rewound the day I offset the axis point of Mara's timeline. They're no longer balanced right now. Things are falling apart, time's breaking, and black eyeball monsters are flooding out of portals. I have an hour to figure out how to rewind it back or everyone over there is going to die! I couldn't care less about who teaches me magic right now. Not even She Ra is able to fix it. So unless you can teach me how to do it in less than an hour Castaspella, I can't afford to wait any longer."

She was met with silence before Angella strode forward towards Shadow Weaver. "You teach her how to do this and that is it. Castaspella will watch you to make sure you do not meddle with the runestone." She uttered through gritted teeth. At Shadow Weaver's silent nod, Angella turned towards Adora, "Can you–"

"Way ahead of you." Adora said as she raised her sword, "For the honor of Grayskull!"

Catra and Shadow Weaver quickly made their way through the halls towards the runestone, followed by Adora, Glimmer, Bow and Castaspella. When they were finally in front of the stone Shadow Weaver stepped forward. "Place your hand on the Moonstone, Catra. What I'm about to teach you is a form of Umbrakinesis."

"Dark manipulation" Catra stated plainly.

Catra's ears picked up Castaspella's mutters, "A vile form of sorcery."

Shadow Weaver nodded, "Good, you're aware of what it is. This spell has two parts. Restore and Drain. Not an overly complicated spell and quite useful in a pinch. Focus on the feeling of the magic beneath the stone's surface, the flow of magic that permeates the very being of it. It's right in front of you ripe for the taking. It's yours. The intent must be there, if you cannot exert your will over it then it will not obey you. Bend it to your will and subjugate it." Shadow Weaver's voice whispered in her ears.

Catra closed her eyes and focused on the magic. She made a grasp for it, only for it to recoil and lash out. Catra grit her teeth and tried again. Once again it refused to listen. Catra's face contorted into rage as she opened her eyes. Ever since she had lost her memories everyone had wanted something from her. Demanded things from her. No more. Now she was going to take something for herself. She was done asking. This thing was going to listen, it was going to obey.

Bright lights arced off of the runestone into Catra's body, filling her with a feeling of power that gave her a satisfying thrill. Removing her hand from the runestone she looked at her hands. She felt powerful. Like she was untouchable.

"Excellent," Shadow Weaver's voice drifted into Catra's ears, drawing her attention, "But you have too much. Much more than I gave to you. Now I'll show you the restoration part. Glimmer," Her voice sharp, "Step forward. You cannot give the magic back to the runestone, lest it take it all back from you. Thus you have to give it to a willing recipient. Take Glimmer's hand. This is much easier. Imagine a funnel that only lets a certain amount in. Slowly release your grip on the magic until you are holding the right amount."

Glimmer gave a reassuring nod as she took Catra's hands. Catra closed her eyes and imagined gifting the magic to Glimmer, albeit quite slowly. At the feeling of the power leaving her body, Catra grit her teeth. It left a cold feeling in her body as she slowly lost the magic. An almost. . .empty feeling.

"Catra, you stopped giving me magic," Glimmer spoke up.

Catra opened her eyes. "Oh, uh, sorry." She said before finishing giving the rest back to Glimmer. When she had the correct amount that felt the same as when she did back in the Fright Zone she let Glimmer's hands go.

"I feel great!" Glimmer said with a wide grin looking at her hands. "Is this how mom feels all the time?"

"I. . . think that's the correct amount." Catra said, ignoring Glimmer for the moment. Shadow Weaver placed a hand on Catra's arm before letting it fall to her side.

"Yes, that is the right amount. Go now, quickly. You have roughly ten minutes until your hour is up." Shadow Weaver said, taking a step away from the Black Garnet at Castaspella's glare.

Catra turned towards Glimmer, "Take me to my room, quickly."

Glimmer nodded, taking Adora and Bow's hands, Catra reached out and touched Glimmer's shoulder and in a flash of sparkles they were gone. No sooner had they left did Castaspella round on Shadow Weaver. "You will stay away from that girl. I hope you enjoyed that because that's about the only lesson you're going to give."

"Are you so sure? Catra seemed pretty invested in learning magic and that goes for all kinds. Perhaps you will be the primary teacher but do not discredit me Castaspella. I was still one of the head teachers at Mystacour."

"Yeah? Well you're no longer a teacher anymore so you can forget it. Or do you want me to start calling you Light Spinner again?" Castaspella bit out harshly.

Shadow Weaver narrowed her eyes before turning and walking back towards the castle, "Regardless, I'm concerned. Catra gave a pretty familiar description of the monsters attacking this Mara girl. Now you never were one to pay attention in class but I would hope you caught what she said."

Castaspella remained quiet, an uncomfortable tension in the air, "What do you think it means? It couldn't possibly be. . . could it?"

"This is completely uncharted territory for me. I haven't the faintest idea of why this is happening to Catra. I couldn't have been the only one to sense her magical potential. It's too high, even for my standards."

"I felt it. I just don't know what it means. Time magic, the spell of obtainment, this Marleena woman. I'm beginning to think the Horde is the least of our concerns."

"I think you might be right for once."


Mara was feeling increasingly worried as she looked below her. They were wrong. It wasn't contained, far from it. As far as she could see were rifts and fields of broken time. The monsters were dotting the land laying waste to everything. Finally they reached Brightmoon. As they began descending troubling thoughts began filling her head. What if Catra just didn't come back. She could just leave. Her timeline wasn't being attacked, what reason did she have to help her. She'd only known Mara for a couple of weeks.

Mara shook her head free from those thoughts. Catra wouldn't do that. Everything pointed to the opposite. Even when she was frustrated and angry, she still chose to help her out. They were friends and she would choose to believe in the best of her.

As Mara landed Orsa in front of the Moonstone, the Queen quickly strode out towards Mara. "Mara, what's going on! There are creatures everywhere."

"I don't know exactly but we're here to fix it, Queen Rayla." Mara said getting down from Orsa.

"How? I'm not–"

Rayla was cut off by Catra sitting up sharply with a groan. "Catra! Thank Sharella your awake. You made it just in time." Mara knew she wouldn't just abandon them. Quickly helping Catra off the large dragon, Mara turned to look at the queen. "I'm gonna be honest, you're probably gonna hate what we're about to do."

Catra slowly stood straight up. "That's all three, I can't switch for another day. So I hope this works."

"What are you going to do?" Rayla asked.

Catra looked at the woman, realizing that this was the queen of Brightmoon in Mara's timeline. "I'm going to siphon enough magical power from the Moonstone to cast a spell that will hopefully get rid of these rifts and monsters."

The Queen adopted a conflicted look on her face but gave a hesitant nod nonetheless. "Alright, but just this once. I can't allow this to happen again. Do I make myself clear?"

At Mara's crisp nod Catra turned towards the Moonstone and repeated what she had done only moments ago. She found that the magic did not transfer over when switching, unfortunate as it was. It took her a few moments but the result was a success.

Catra stepped back as the familiar power filled her body once again, "Ok, too much. Um. . ."

"I am Queen Rayla of Brightmoon." The woman supplied.

"Queen Rayla then. Please step forward, I need to get rid of some of this until I have the right amount."

At Catra's request, Rayla stepped forward and took Catra's outstretched hands. To Rayla, the process was almost like when she had to recharge when her mother had been queen. The experience left her feeling a bit nostalgic if she did say so. After a moment Catra let go of her hands.

"Alright, I have the necessary amount." Catra said, clenching her hands.

"Okay, now what?" Mara asked.

Catra gave a bit of a panicked look, "I don't know. I-I've never tried doing it on command. I almost died last time."

"Okay, okay, it's okay. Uhhh, think, what were you doing when you did it? How did you feel during it? Any outside stimuli?" Mara asked, doing her best to help.

Catra thought back to that moment. The feeling was far from pleasant. Ripples of energy had crackled along her skin all the way down to her fingertips. She tried her best to recall that feeling. It started slowly at first. The fur along her body stood on end and she could taste the electricity in her body. And then. . . a surge ran through her.

"How? I'm not–"

Rayla was cut off by Catra sitting up sharply. "Catra! Thank Sharella your awake. You. . .what just happened?" Mara asked, confused.

"I did it!" Catra exclaimed before turning towards Mara. She could feel another surge slowly coming. "A day and a half ago, wherever you were, you'll need to come stop me. I couldn't stop it before–"

"How? I'm not–"

Rayla was cut off by Catra sitting up sharply with a groan. "Catra! Thank–" Mara stopped talking and refocused on Catra's words.

"I couldn't stop it after I rewound, I won't have long. You'll need to knock me out. Stop me from rewinding. After the power is gone it will start to kill me."

At Mara's nod Catra focused all of the power from the Moonstone into the time spell. She felt it then. The surge as strong as ever coursed through her body. Quickly latching onto Rayla and Mara, she let the magic rip through her.


Catra's eyes shot open as she quickly jumped out of the bed that she had woken up in only two hours earlier. The lights were dimmed and she could tell from the ambience that it was closer to midnight. She quickly stood up and ran at the door.

"Mara!" Catra yelled out frantically. She could feel it happening again. There, at the end of the hallway was Mara rushing towards her. She must have been close by, thankfully. She was almost in arms reach.

"Catra, I'm–"

Catra's eyes shot open. She realized with horror that she wouldn't make it, already she could feel the effects of fatigue. She could hardly stand let alone run. Faintly, she could make out Mara's voice out the door. Shakily getting to her feet, she stepped towards the door before another surge of the magic ripped through her body.

Catra could barely open her eyes this time. She could barely move. She realized she was going to die. With no one around her, alone in the room. Her eyes filled with tears at the thought. A flutter of movement caught her eye in the corner of the room. The bird.

Shadow Weaver's words floated through her mind, "This spell has two parts. Restore and Drain. Not an overly complicated spell and quite useful in a pinch. Focus on the feeling of the magic beneath the stone's surface, the flow of magic that permeates the very being of it. It's right in front of you ripe for the taking. It's yours. The intent must be there, if you cannot exert your will over it then it will not obey you. Bend it to your will and subjugate it."

Drain

Catra stretched her arm shakily towards the bird. A shadowy aura enveloped the poor creature as it was all but devoured. Catra could feel its life energy funneling into her, feeding and nourishing her. It wasn't much, only staving off the spell for a few precious seconds. Fortunately, that was all Mara needed to burst through the door cloaked in the brilliant gold light that only She Ra could emit. Catra could feel the surge overtaking her body once more.

Mara's fist collided with the side of her head, rendering her unconscious instantly. Mara kept a hold of Catra's unconscious body for a moment before breathing a sigh of relief. Mara looked over at the withered husk of the bird.

Mara sucked in a breath, "Oh no. Zoar." she said as she stepped towards the hawk. Laying a hand on it, she closed her eyes, focusing on healing it. After a moment the hawk's feathers regained their sheen and it started moving again. After a few more seconds the hawk was back to full health. "I'm sorry Zoar. I promise Catra's a good person."

The bird gave what Mara considered a doubtful look. Fortunately it didn't care to stick around and flew through the door out of the room. Mara sighed before turning back towards Catra. Pointing the sword at her, she began to heal the unconscious cat girl. Within seconds Catra opened her eyes.

"Ugh, I'm getting sick of this time travel bullshit." Catra moaned. Mara plopped down on the bed beside her.

"Yeah, that makes two of us."

After a minute of silence Catra stood up. "Well come on then."

"'Come on' where?" Mara asked, confused.

"You weren't the only one touching me. That woman, Rayla, was beside me when we rewound. That means she remembers too. She's probably confused as hell considering the fact that it's now the middle of the night when it was late morning a few seconds ago for her."

Mara gave a groan. She hadn't really considered that. "So it worked? Our timelines are balanced again?"

Catra opened the window in her room. The soft sounds of bugs and birds chirping answered. No signs of explosions or attacks were to be seen. "I. . .I think so."

". . .Alright then, let's go see Rayla. But first, we need to tell Stratos we succeeded." Mara said as she walked to the door.'

Catra caught her wrist, stopping her before she could take any more steps. "No, Mara, you aren't getting it. No one but Rayla or you remembers because those events didn't happen. There weren't any time rifts or monsters. In fact I'd take a guess Stratos is asleep in his quarters right now."

"You'd guess wrong." Stratos said, standing at the doorway. "Catra, good to see you awake. What's this I'm hearing about timelines and monsters?"

"I. . . you know what, just come with us. We can explain on the way." Catra said.

Stratos gave a noncommittal nod, "Alright, seeing as how my work is done for the night, why not."

Mara took the lead as they walked outside. There were a few soldiers awoken from the sounds of Mara slamming her door open but Stratos had sent them back to their barracks, assuring them that everything was fine.

Upon exiting the building, Catra found that the dragon Orsa was already in the middle of the courtyard waiting. "Mara, I'm glad to see you're alright. You as well Catra. Mara has spoken of you a few times. She holds you in rather high regard." The dragon leaned forward with narrowed eyes, a low growl in her voice. "I'm still looking for the reason for that, considering that you are the one responsible for this whole mess."

Catra took a small step back at the suspicious look from the large winged reptile. She was suddenly a lot more hesitant to climb on its back. Mara gave Orsa a look. The dragon seemed to understand Mara on a more emotional level as she simply looked away before leaning down.

"Orsa's my steed. She's also a very good friend. Don't worry she won't hurt you." Mara said as she hopped on her back before helping Stratos up. Catra wasn't so quick to trust the dragon as she slowly climbed on its back, careful to stay in a spot where it couldn't reach her with its teeth.

Within seconds Orsa had ascended several hundred feet in the air, quickly taking off towards Brightmoon. Over the hour-long flight, Mara explained what had happened to them before Catra had woken up. To his credit, Stratos simply listened with no visible reaction. After Mara's explanation finished, Catra told her side of the story regarding learning the spell necessary to fix the skewed timeline. By the time they had finished the story Brightmoon was in view.

"Hm." Stratos simply said.

"That's it? Hm?" Mara said in disbelief.

Stratos let out a laugh and for the first time Catra took into account that he was a lot younger than he appeared. His strict demeanor didn't really show it but he couldn't be more than twenty five.

"Well. . . yeah. What do you want me to say?" Stratos said with a chuckle, wiping a tear from his eye. "It sounds like it sucked, sure, but you guys took care of it."

Catra let out a snort, "Oh yeah, look at me, I'm Stratos. I just heard about my death that was prevented by time travel."

Mara smiled at Catra's impression of the man. "Yeah, that sounds ridiculous repeated back to me."

After a moment, they all broke out in a laugh. Catra's laughter slowly died down as she caught sight of Rayla on the scaffolding beside the Moonstone. "Heads up. Looks like the Queen's expecting us."

As Orsa landed in front of the queen, Catra jumped down before turning around and offering help down to her companions. The Queen stepped forward, "Mara, Stratos, and. . ."

"Catra." Catra replied.

"Ah, Catra then. It's good to see you all in good health. Just as well, seeing as the monsters are gone. Although I do have one question. Why is it four in the morning?"

"Er, right. . ." Catra turned towards Mara, "You want to tell her or should I?"

Rayla simply crossed her arms and tapped her foot, waiting with an expectant look on her face. Catra took the time to look at the woman in front of her. It was quite bizarre. Without all the fancy clothing on and her hair down, this woman was the spitting image of Angella. Even her voice sounded similar. Although her hair was more red than pink and her skin was a bit more tan. She was also shorter and thinner.

Stratos stepped forward, "To put it simply, time travel."

Rayla blinked at the answer before letting a breath out and turning around, "Honestly, you Eternians and your weirdness. Well come on then. Might as well get some food in you while you're here."

Catra found her eyes drifting down a bit as she watched her walk back towards the doors. Mara nudged her elbow into Catra's arm with a smirk. Catra gave an annoyed shove while rolling her eyes.

As they followed the woman through the halls, Catra found herself looking at the Architecture. "Wow, guess architecture doesn't really differ much does it?"

"What do you mean?" Rayla asked, looking over her shoulder.

"Catra here is technically from the future. . . technically. It's strange. But she's currently residing in Brightmoon castle." Mara explained.

Rayla stopped and turned to face Catra, an interested gleam in her eyes. Stratos also looked intrigued. "How far into the future? Does it look any different?"

"Well, there's definitely a few things. The tapestry for one. Um, oh the lights look a bit different, but beyond that it looks very much the same. Angella has said tradition is very important to Brightmoon."

"Angella? I imagine that is the queen in your time. Yes?"

"Yep."

Rayla smirked, "Does she have wings? Judging by her name I would imagine she does."

"Yeah, they're gorgeous. They shimmer with the light of the Moonstone. How'd you know?"

"Every queen of Brightmoon has a certain ability that manifests in them. For some of them it is wings. Others might teleport. There was even an ability that allowed the user to turn into light itself and run, although that ability is quite rare and only two Queens have possessed it before me. As for myself, I ride waves of light. It allows me to fly in a unique way."

"Huh," Catra said, thinking about what Marleena said about the Queen that she knew. "Like a surfer?"

"N-no, not quite in that manner." Rayla said as they reached the Main hall. Catra could see that that comparison irritated her a bit.

"Sorry, I just assumed. My. . .friend? Actually I'm not sure what we are, but anyways she said she knew a Queen of Brightmoon and that she could surf waves of light." Catra said, taking a plate from one of the servants.

Mara and Stratos both took their food with thanks before turning back to the conversation. "Oh, I see. I'm sorry to hear that." Rayla said somberly.

Catra cocked an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"Your acquaintance said she knew a Queen of Brightmoon that could surf on waves of light. Well, the Queens of Brightmoon are all an immortal angelic race. We don't age and can only die due to external means such as illness or. . . well you get the picture. Was this Queen she spoke of not Angella's mother?"

"Oh! Uh no, in fact Angella's definitely an older woman. I'm even friends with her daughter. Her name's Glimmer. She can teleport."

"Then how does this woman know another Queen of Brightmoon?" Rayla said before raising her glass for a drink.

"I. . .don't really have the answer to that." Catra said before turning to Mara, "Remember when I told you about the woman in my dreams back at Phyla's tavern?"

"Yeah?" Mara said before a look of realization flashed across her face, "Oh, is that her?"

"Yep. I've only spoken to her once but she told me how she knew a Queen of Brightmoon. Her situation is. . . complicated to say the least." Catra said, letting a breath out.

Stratos spoke up, "She's in your dreams? Is she the cause of your time adventures?"

"Actually, no. She has no idea how I'm doing this. Whatever it is that's letting me do this has nothing to do with her."

Stratos gained a confused look on his face. "This woman can't hurt you, can she?"

"No. Like I said, she's not really there physically. It's just her soul. It's all split up or something. She wants me to help her find the pieces. Coincidentally, the pieces hold my memories as well. We just found one a couple of hours ago, right before I switched over. I'd imagine I'll start remembering more soon."

Rayla leaned forward, concern present on her face, "Her soul is split? How is that possible?"

"I don't know and neither does she but it definitely messed her up. She couldn't even remember her name until we fused the shard back with the other piece we had." Catra turned towards Mara while taking another bite of her food. "I also found out that my memories of Earth are hers."

"Earth?" Rayla whispered quietly.

Mara paused her eating, going deathly still, "You never mentioned your memories were of Earth."

"I didn't? Oh, well, like I said. Anyways–"

Rayla let out a shaky breath. Stratos also looked tense, cutting Catra off. "You didn't think to mention that your memories consisted of images of Earth?"

Catra eyed Stratos, "So what?"

"What do you mean so what? Don't you realize how important that is?" Rayla asked angrily.

Catra stood, taking on a defensive tone, "What's the deal? I thought we were having a nice talk. What's with the hostility?"

Stratos looked at Catra, "Earth is a classified planet. All records of the planet are from accounts from the Queen of Eternia herself and Mara's mother."

Catra shrugged helplessly, "Stratos, I'm not even from this timeline. How in the hell would I even know that?"

Rayla paused before cutting off Stratos' reply. "What's the woman's name?"

"The dream woman?"

"Yes, the dream woman." Rayla said through clenched teeth.

"Jesus Christ lady," Catra muttered, which only seemed to irritate Rayla even more, "her name's Marleena. Calm down."

"That's impossible." Mara said standing before turning to look at Stratos. "Does that mean–"

"We don't know anything yet." Stratos cut off Mara.

Catra tried to get their attention for a few moments only to be cut out of the conversation. Finally she had enough, "Hey! Somebody answer me. How the hell do you know Marleena?"

Everyone was silent at Catra's outburst before Mara spoke up, "Catra. . . Marleena's the Queen of Eternia."

Catra's eyes widened. "Oh."

"Yeah, Oh." Rayla spoke up. "She's also one of my best friends."

"So what? You don't want her to have other friends or something?" Catra said defensively.

Rayla looked agitated, "Marleena is dead and has been for two years!"

"I-I didn't. . ." Catra paused for a moment before shaking her head, "Y'know what, no! I'm sorry, but stop getting pissed at me. I don't know you and so far I'm starting to think I don't want to. Whatever happened to Marleena sucks, fine, whatever. But don't take it out on me!"

Before anyone could utter another word, Catra turned and stomped out of the hall, throwing her glass on the floor. Was it petty? Perhaps, but she didn't care. In her mind she much preferred her Brightmoon. Catra was halfway down a hallway before she realized she was headed for her and Adora's room out of reflex. Quickly cutting left, Catra followed a familiar corridor towards the Bath hall before seeing one of the many exits. She could hear Mara and Stratos' voices following her before breaking out into a run.

Upon leaving the castle, Catra caught sight of the artificial sun peaking over the horizon, signaling the end of the night. Catra, untethered from the confines of the castle, dropped onto all fours and began to run. For an hour, Catra ran through the whispering woods aimlessly until she couldn't see Brightmoon castle. Finally slowing down, she sat down on a tree stump, breathless.

"Catra!" A happy voice said from her right, "How's Mara? Hopefully you and her are doing a lot better."

Upon looking at the owner of the voice, she found it was none other than Razz. "Oh. . . hey. Ugh, yeah, we're doing all right." Catra said quietly, vaguely recalling that the woman mixed up Mara and Adora's names.

"That's wonderful dear, but you seem sad." Razz said, taking a seat beside Catra. "Tell Madame Razz what's wrong. Here, have some pie." Catra looked at the plate of pie being offered with a raised eyebrow. She had somewhat lost her appetite but decided that it would be rude not to accept. Besides, a bite couldn't hurt.

After a moment, Catra started ranting, throwing her hands in the air. "Everyone's mad at me. They all want my help and get mad when I say no but when I finally decide to help them, they find some other reason to get mad. There's just no winning. And to top it all off, I have some sort of time magic that I can't control that keeps trying to kill me."

Razz started laughing, "Oh, Catra. You can't control magic. Magic simply is."

Catra furrowed her brow, "What do you mean?"

"Here, let Razz show you." She said as she stood up, taking Catra's hand. As she walked forward Razz lifted her hand up and she instantly emitted a wave of magic. Within seconds, flowers began to bloom rapidly as if they were sped up.

Catra looked down at her hand in amazement. However, her amazement quickly grew into unease and fear as Catra felt the familiar surge on her finger tips that signaled an imminent rewind. Before the panic could set in, Razz took her hands in hers. "Catra, relax. This is a wonderful gift you have been given. Just breathe. Do not fear the magic. Stop trying to control it and simply let it be."

Catra took slow deep breaths as she hung on Razz's words. The feeling slowly gave way and dissipated until nothing remained. "I. . .I didn't know I could do that."

"Magic is everywhere Catra. Inside of you, below you, all around you. Magic is the very being of Etheria, its heart. Magic shouldn't be used to undo life nor should it be stolen and used." Razz said with a smile.

Catra slowly closed her fist. "I. . .think I understand. Thank you Razz."

"Bah! Thank me by telling your girl to visit more. I hardly ever see her." Razz said, already walking away.

Catra's face lit up in a blush, "Uh, yeah. . .sure. . .I'll do that."

Razz simply responded with a wave goodbye. Catra turned and started walking back towards Brightmoon, her thoughts filled with what Razz had told her. As she walked, Catra held her hand out in front of her. Catra focused on the feeling of the surge as she focused on a flower. After a moment, a silver light extended from her hand, swirling around the flower. Within moments, it had blossomed. Catra smiled.

After half an hour of walking her ears twitched, "You didn't tell Mara?"

Catra instantly jumped into the trees, her curiosity peaked. That was most definitely Rayla's voice. Inching forward through the branches showed Stratos and Rayla.

"Of course not. It's a need to know basis." Stratos said calmly, "and please keep your voice down."

"She could try and heal Marleena. Didn't you ever think about that?"

"Of course we have. That was King Randor's first thoughts but our best healers couldn't tell us what was wrong with her. We didn't want to risk Mara healing her and having something go wrong."

"You sound just like Keldor when you say shit like that." Rayla snapped.

"This has nothing to do with Kai." Stratos countered, "Second off, even Mara's mother isn't certain what's wrong with her."

"Don't get me started on that witch," Rayla hissed, "She doesn't give a shit about Marleena. You'd think for being one of only two humans on a planet millions of light years away that she'd actually show some concern for her. But she can't even be concerned for her own daughter."

Catra was stunned. It seemed that Marleena was alive and it was being kept from Mara. What else was going on? As she slowly stalked them through the woods, she kept a far enough distance to not be discovered but close enough to hear the conversation. Thank god for her feline features.

"She's definitely something all right." Stratos muttered, "But if what we just learned was true then we have to keep it to ourselves."

"What! Why would–"

"Think about it." Stratos hissed, "The Queen is rendered comatose and their daughter is killed in a freak magic accident just days after her birth when she's barely able to defend herself. Now think and consider this. What if it wasn't an accident? And what if it's not a physical injury, what if it's her soul?"

"You really think that someone would do this to the Queen? Marleena was loved by all."

"Exactly. What a perfect way to hide a murder. Do you think it's a coincidence that this random girl is suddenly jumping through time at this exact moment on one of the last planets in our universe with magic? Or the fact that she is talking to a woman she claims is Marleena?" Stratos asked quietly, "No. I am of the full belief that Catra really is talking to Marleena. I'm also thinking that her timeline isn't as separate from ours as I initially thought."

"What do you mean?"

"Whoever did this to the queen didn't account for a message from the future. Didn't account for Catra. She's strong, fast, smart, and a drive that puts Mara's to shame. She's dangerous and I think that's what Marleena was looking for."

"Oh she's dangerous all right." Catra said from above them, making her presence known.

"Catra! I, er. . . How much of that did you hear?" Rayla asked.

"Enough that you better start making some sense." Catra said menacingly, her claws unsheathed and her tail swishing behind her, "Because I didn't sign up for whatever the fuck you seem to think I'm here for."

"I–" Stratos went to speak before Mara came running into the clearing.

"Oh, good, you found her. I. . . What's going on?" Mara asked hesitantly, noticing the tension between the three.

"Tell her." Catra said in a low voice."

"I don't know what–" Rayla went to speak.

"Tell her now or I swear the next time I switch will be the last time I switch. Now, Stratos, tell her the truth."

Stratos remained quiet before letting out a breath. "Queen Marleena's alive."

Mara gasped, "What? For real? How?"

Rayla stepped forward, "Marleena was not killed in childbirth. Whatever happened to her left her in a comatose state. Unresponsive and lacking brain activity."

"Brain dead for all intents. We couldn't figure out what kind of magic did this, if it was even really magic at all." Stratos said somberly.

"Why-Why wouldn't you tell me right away? I-I could've done something. I could've at least attempted to heal her." Mara said with disbelief before whispering, "Why wouldn't mom. . ."

Catra remained quiet before speaking up, "I'm not trying to burst your bubble here, but how can you even be certain it's actually her in my head?"

Rayla stepped forward, a desperate look on her face, "You said that the woman you spoke to knew a queen of Etheria that could ride waves of light like a surfer. You said she was from Earth and that her name was Marleena. Was she an astronaut? Did she have a friend named Eric? Does. . .does any of this sound familiar?" She pleaded.

Catra regarded the woman coolly, keeping any emotion off of her face. She looked like he was about to break down in tears. Whatever this woman thought of Marleena had to be a bit more than friends. Catra let out a sigh, "Yeah, that all checks out. She left earth on some research mission with a warp drive with a co-pilot and said goodbye to Eric or something like that? I guess Earth was doomed?"

Stratos spoke up, his voice quiet, "That's pretty much it. Do you remember anything else? Does she?"

"No and until I speak to her again you know about as much as I do." Catra said with a quiet sigh.

Mara, who had remained quiet before this, stepped forward and quickly threw a punch into Stratos face. The man stumbled back, almost losing his footing, just barely recovering his balance. Mara looked livid, "Is that why we're here harvesting the magic? Uprooting these people's livelihoods so they can attempt to heal Marleena? Is King Randor really that selfish that he'd destroy a planet for one person?"

"Must be, because apparently they fail if my future is anything to go off of." Catra said from behind Mara.

Stratos rubbed his jaw as he looked at Mara, "Look at it from his point of view. He lost his wife and newborn daughter just days after her birth and he has the opportunity to save at least one of them. What would you do in his position?"

Mara glared at the man, her eyes flashing a blue that seemed more menacing than friendly, "I could have healed her. We didn't need to destroy this place. And for what? What are you planning on doing, now that Catra told us she's still alive?"

Stratos remained quiet before softly saying, "I don't know."

Mara shook her head in disgust before turning towards Catra, "Come on." She said quietly.

Catra took one last look at Rayla and Stratos before following Mara.


Sorry for the wait, like I said before I was in the middle of a move and work has been hectic. On top of that all I absolutely abhorred writing this chapter and went through several rough drafts before I was happy with it. I'd say maybe 70 percent done with this story? But hope you enjoy.