Catra's body shook as she had to relive the worst memory she ever had. They were kids going through the Fright Zone, and they had this stupid idea to go into Shadow Weaver's room when she was not there. Only to end up being scolded and told that she was worthless, while Adora got praised and told to control her *pet*. To this day that interaction still made her stomach twist.

Adora and Catra walked through the hallways of the Fright Zone, turning back into their present forms. Catra pushed Adora away, "You always need to play the hero, don't you?"

Adora stared at her with concern, "I was only trying to protect you."

"You never protected me! Not ever in a way that would put you on Shadow Weaver's bad side!" Catra yelled at the blonde, who took a step back. Their bodies transitioned between their present and young selves, "Admit it! You love being her favorite!"

Upset, Adora screamed at her, "That's not true!"

"Oh yeah!?" Catra blinked, trying to push the tears away, "And when you left who do you think took the fall for you? Who was protecting me then?!"

Adora's eyes grew wide, tears running down her cheeks faster, "You don't have to let Shadow Weaver treat you like that anymore." She reached for Catra but the girl swatted her away. She brought her hand back, letting it drop to her side. Adora glared, "You can leave, just like I did!"

Letting out a humorless laugh Catra scoffed "Oh, because I need to follow you everywhere you go?!"

Adora let out a frustrated groan "I don't mean it, like that!"

Catra pushes Adora making her grunt in pain "I don't want to leave. What don't you understand about that?!" she screams with so much anger, that it makes Adora speechless "I'm not afraid of Shadow Weaver anymore. And I'm a better force captain than you would've ever been."

The blond looks at her in disbelief "You always said you didn't care about things like that."

And with those words, it suddenly clicked for Catra. Adora never understood her, all that time they spent together, all the kisses they shared, only for Adora to always put her second, to never really stopping and taking in all that Catra had shared with her. And now the tears fell full force down her cheeks and she wanted to do nothing more than to find comfort by connecting with her baby. But she couldn't touch her bump because Adora stood right there staring at her stunned. "Well, I was lying obviously!"

Turning away from her, Catra began to walk away, only to be stopped by Adora, "Catra wait."

Catra shook off her hand, pushing it away once more, "Why do you think I gave the sword back to you in the Fright Zone? I didn't want you to come back, Adora!"

And that's when Catra saw it, the look of pure disbelief and shock… and heartbreak. Adora… was completely broken down in front of her. There was no coming back from that, there was no fixing their relationship. This time it was truly broken, and no amount of magic could ever fix it. She turned around, leaving Adora alone.


The Fright Zone simulation continued to change around Catra as a bunch of memories played on all sides. Memories of her and Adora's first kiss, of her asking Adora to be her girlfriend, of them giggling at each other as they sat in the cafeteria. Then the memories turned darker, as she heard Shadow Weaver calling her worthless, as Lonnie told her she was fighting dirty, as Adora left her behind with only a lackluster apology. Hugging herself, she ran through the memories, "Let me out! Let me out of here!" she screamed as she fell to her knees. She instinctively wrapped her arms around herself, protecting the little bundle growing inside her. Groaning as she felt the familiar cramp burst through her body, she cried. She lifted herself up as she grunted in pain. The memory then changed once again.

This time she saw her younger self, crying under a blanket. Old Catra stared at her kid self, and watched as Adora came around and exposed her, removing the blanket.

Younger Catra hissed but younger Adora gave her a reassuring smile, "Catra, it's okay. It's just me" Adora said as she sat next to Catra wiping away tears. "It doesn't matter what they do to us, you know? You look after me and I look after you. Nothing bad can ever happen as long as we are together."

"You promise?" Young Catra sniffled.

Adora smiled, "I promise."

Older Catra stood there as she watched her younger self walk away with Adora, and for a moment their eyes met for a long second before younger Catra ran after younger Adora. Promise... a promise that was broken, because Adora decided to leave her behind. She winced at the pain before once again the memory changed.

This time she was in her room in the Fright Zone, and she recognized this as the day after discovering her pregnancy. She was staring at herself, looking in the mirror. Catra lazily smiled as she caressed her then-flat stomach, "I'll protect you… I promise." She stared at herself from the memory. Catra gets a determined look as she watches the memory fade away.

Adora grunted as she was thrown over the chasm as she fought away the spiders. The only thing holding her from falling completely was the goo, that the spiders spat at her. Her eyes closed, as she thought about Catra, and about what she said, she felt a pang of guilt in her chest. She was such an idiot, for hurting Catra like that. The background noise distracted her as she heard fighting. Her hopes went up when she saw Catra, staring down at her while she held Adora's sword, "Catra!"

Catra hummed as she ran a finger along the side of the sword, "Hey, Adora."

Pleading with her, Adora spoke, "Catra, help me, please."

The brunette looked unhurriedly as she continued speaking "This thing wouldn't work for me if I tried, would it? It only works for you." She chuckled dryly, "Then again, you are special. That's what Shadow Weaver always said."

Adora narrowed her eyes at Catra, her voice coming out angry, "Catra…. What are you doing?"

Smiling down at her, Catra seemed to have come to a realization, "Ah, you know what? It all makes sense now, you have always been the one holding me back. You wanted me to think I needed you; you wanted me to feel weak… every hero needs a sidekick, right?"

Eyes widening in surprise Adora stutters desperately, "Catra. No… tha—that's not how it was at all…"

"The sad thing is..." Catra sighed, before letting a humorless laugh escape her lips, "I've spent all this time hoping you'd come back to the horde… to me… when in reality you leaving was the best thing that happened to me." Swinging the sword, she cut the goo that was holding Adora up.


Adora grunted as she lost leverage, looking at Catra with pleading eyes. The feline continued to speak, "I wonder what my life could've been if I had gotten rid of you sooner."

Cutting through the rest of the goo Catra looked down at Adora as she caught herself on a rock. The blonde's eyes look at her with immense sadness and desperation, breathing heavily "I—I'm sorry! I never meant to make you feel like second best. Catra, I love you! Please don't do this."

Catra drops the sword down the chasm, as the room around them gets darker. "It's too late for that Adora" she breathes out, "I really am going to miss you though."

Turning around Catra walked away, her face twisting in despair as she heard Adora's voice calling after her.


Tossing in bed, the memories of Adora hanging from the chasm woke Catra up. Cold sweat dripped down her forehead. After returning from that temple, nothing had really been the same for her. She had given Entrapta the First One's tech and had just gone straight to bed. That had been…. A couple months ago.

Now she's been working nonstop with Entrapta as the girl did her research to update the horde's weapons. Sighing she caressed her belly, she was but a month away from meeting her baby, and deep down she was frightened, after all, she technically killed its other parent. Wobbling toward Entrapta's makeshift lab, she saw the purple-haired girl tapping furiously at the computer. At the same time, Scorpia stood behind her scribbling in a notepad.

This is how the princess has spent her days since receiving that piece of First One's tech from Catra. Entrapta looked at Catra, smiling as she entered the room, "Catra!" She called excitedly, "Just in time, after months of research. I have finally cracked the code." Her laughter echoed "I have incredible news, the techno-organic nature of First One machinery results in a thaumatological compatibility between magic and science!"

Catra raised an eyebrow, "Um..." she caressed her tummy as the baby actively kicked at her bladder, "I'm going to need you to try again, but this time talk like a normal person."

Entrapta looks at her confused, "Scorpia seems to understand?"

Looking toward Scorpia, Catra sighed, "Scorpia is drawing stick figures holding hands."

Scorpia happily showed off her drawing, "It's the super pal trio!" Stick figures were indeed holding hands as she pointed at the one on the right, the stick figure with a round belly, "This is Catra, and I think it's clear, come on, aren't I an amazing artist?"

The purple-haired princess sighed, "I looked at the rock, which is crys-tal, and used math…. Wait do I have to explain math?"

Catra groaned exasperated "No! Did the crystal give you enough data to upgrade our weapons? You've been working on this for months, just spill it!"

Laughing echoed around the room as Entrapta spun around in her chair, "Weapons? Ha! This is so much bigger than weapons." She closes in on Catra's personal space, "This could change everything" the purple-haired girl whispered, a hand landing on Catra's belly in amazement. Catra pushed her away, making the girl laugh again, "Etheria's not just a planet. Whatever the first ones did to it, it went deep!"

Looking exasperated, Catra asked, "And what does that mean?"

Entrapta's eyes shone with excitement, "You are asking me about my theories!? I've waited years for someone to ask me about my theories! Hang on I made a model!"

The three girls stood around a makeshift model of what seemed to be rocks. Entrapta looked so proud at her design while Catra and Scorpia just looked at it, confused. Tapping one of the weird-looking rocks, Catra spoke, "What are these supposed to be?"

"Runestones." Princess Entrapta smiled, "From the data I've managed to extract, they regulate the planet through the princesses. They're directly connected to each other and to the planet's power grid in a delicate balance."

"That's a lot of big words..." Catra groaned, frustrated, "But what does it mean!?"

Laughing like a madman, Entrapta got closer to Catra, once again invading her personal space, "It means it's our best access point to hack the planet!" She laid a hand on Catra's belly again, feeling the baby kick, "Ah! It just moved!" Her eyes shined with delight, as Catra rolled hers.


At this point, Catra didn't know if things were falling apart rather quickly or coming together. After her reveal about hacking the planet, Entrapta sighed dejectedly, mentioning the fact that runestones were hard to come by. Only for Scorpia to interrupt her, adding a reminder that the horde was in control of the black garnet.

Catra had marveled at the idea that the black garnet could be used as a weapon as Entrapta went on with her rant about enhancing its power. Unfortunately, they had one small issue as to how to get close to the garnet. Because she knew there was no way in hell Shadow Weaver would let them near the damn thing. However, she realized she didn't even have to ask Shadow Weaver when Hordak himself was the one to allow the experiment to happen.

Shadow Weaver discovered they were working on the black garnet and this resulted in a huge confrontation. One that not only ended with Catra being scolded by Morat for her recklessness so close to giving birth but also with Shadow Weaver being thrown in jail. Which Catra had to admit, did bring her immense joy. Bringing her focus back to the present, Catra frowned as she stared at the back of Entrapta, "How much longer?"

Entrapta looked at her, a huge grin on her face, "I'm just about done…" She turned her attention to the black garnet, flipping a switch, "It works!"

The garnet whirs with energy as a ray blasted into the sky. This made Entrapta laugh, as Catra and Scorpia just looked on in amazement. "You are awesome!" says Scorpia as she stares in awe at the ray blasting through the roof of the Fright Zone.

Catra pulled Entrapta closer to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder as a smile formed on her face, "This will show those princesses not to mess with us!" Her eyes shot from the ray of light to Entrapta's, "Why didn't you come into my life sooner?"

Entrapta lowered her mask, as she hid her blushing cheeks. She could hear Catra laughing next to her and she finally felt like she belonged.


Lightning struck as Catra watched, sitting on the railing. The world was slowly unraveling before her, but somehow, she didn't feel as satisfied as she thought she would, instead the void in her chest seemed to get bigger. Her tail flickered, as she felt anger rise up inside her. The world deserved this, it's done nothing but reject her and abandon her, so why should she care about anything that happens to the people or to this planet? She closed her eyes as hurtful memories crossed her mind. Adora walking away, Shadow Weaver's abuse, seeing how happy Adora was with her new friends, how life seemed to be a million times better without her…

"Catra!" Scorpia called her name loudly, making Catra jump from her position on the railing, wincing when pain shot through her. Rushing to her side Scorpia looked at her apologetically, "Oh gosh, I'm so sorry…. I just wanted to tell you the news and I guess I was too excited and now I caused you pain..." the girl's eyes started to water.

Taking a deep breath, Catra stared at Scorpia, "Can you stop?" She ran a hand across her belly, "I'm fine, just…" Catra gasped in pain, holding on to her stomach.

"OH GODS!" Scorpia held Catra from the side, "I made you go into labor, oh gods, oh gods."

"I'm fine." Catra gritted out as she felt another sharp stab of pain, "I'm… not… in labor" She breathed out, after all, she still had a month before the baby was here. But Catra's words fell on deaf ears, as she felt herself being scooped up, letting a small yelp leave her lips.


Morat looked towards a pacing Scorpia as she ran her pinchers through her hair.

"I made my bestie go into labor a month early!" Scorpia cried to herself, "I'm such a horrible friend, I deserve death!"

The old man looked away, his eyes traveling to the young feline, who was currently glaring at the girl pacing next to her with an exasperated look on her face. Smiling, Morat cleared his throat catching Catra's attention, "As we are getting closer, certain…." He stopped when Scorpia started to wail but tried his best to continue, "Certain pains will be recurrent… but it's nothing to worry about."

Catra grabbed the bridge of her nose, her body pain being replaced by a splitting headache, "Can you tell that to the wailing idiot over there? So she can stop."

Morat laughed, "I don't think I can get through to her right now" He paused, Catra has been the most difficult patient he has ever had, but somehow, she has also been the one he has grown most attached to, "Have you thought of a name?"

Blinking at the question, Catra tilted her head, "A name?"

"For the baby?"

Catra's mouth opened and closed as words seemed not to form. She never really thought about it, she guessed Hordak would be the one to decide the name, since Shadow Weaver was a prisoner. It was always Shadow Weaver's job to name the children adopted to the horde, "I—I didn't know… I—"

The old man shook his head, giving her a reassuring smile, "It's ok if you haven't thought about it… you still have some time."

Catra stared at the floor, thoughts swirling in her head. But before she could think any further about it, she felt a weight on her leg. Scorpia cried as she apologized to Catra, making the girl sigh and push her snotty friend away.


Walking toward the black garnet room, Catra thought about what Morat had said. She had to pick a name, for her baby. The idea was always that Shadow Weaver would name it, since she was in charge and all but the fact that it was no longer a possibility, made her grunt in frustration. What a bad time to throw Weaver in jail.

And then she wondered what Adora would name their baby, probably something stupid like 'Whisper' since it was conceived in the Whispering Woods. But Adora was dead and she would never get the chance to name anything ever again. Blocking out the memory of Adora hanging from the chasm, she paused as she entered the black garnet room, wowing at the sight.

Entrapta recorded herself as she spun in her chair, "The experiment has been more effective than I thought, this proves my hypothesis to be correct! By optimizing the black garnet power by two hundred percent power the precarious equilibrium that governs all of Etheria's natural function has been thrown into complete chaos! No doubt as a result of the other elemental runeston—" Before she could finish, she felt her chair come to a halt, making her yelp in surprise.

Catra's eyes narrowed toward Entrapta, "Translate."

Letting out a small huff in annoyance, she trivializes, "By making the black garnet more powerful, we have zapped power from the other princesses' runestone making the weather all screwy"

"Woah, woah" Catra smiled in excitement, her heart pumping faster, "Did you just say we made the other princesses less powerful?"

The purple-haired girl raised an eyebrow when she saw how excited Catra was, "Well from the elemental princesses, to be exact. You don't have to worry about me and Scorpia since I don't have a runestone and Scorpia seems to not have a connection toward the black garnet."

"Huh, did somebody say my name?" Scorpia looked toward the girls; confusion spread across her face.

Catra ignored Scorpia as she walked toward a sphere, lights shining on the machine. She remembers when Entrapta had explained the functionality of the sphere, so she knew this is what controlled how much power went into the black garnet. Still looking at the runestone, Catra asked, "And how can we make an effect more… permanent?"

Entrapta tapped her chin with her finger, "Well, I'd have to run more test—" before she could finish, she watched as Catra broke one of the bulbs on the machine, making the last bulb shine bright red, "Or... that could also work."


Smiling from ear to ear, Catra let out a laugh. They were currently on their way to Bright Moon to destroy its runestone. The Whispering Woods were frozen over, which meant there was nothing that could stop them from reaching their enemy. It was sad that she couldn't really join the battle, but as the commander of this mission, she still needed to be present. It was the only way to keep the morale up and also because she wanted to see firsthand how Bright Moon would fall; it was like a dream come true.

"Is this really a good idea, Wildcat?"

Catra looked behind her, she was currently sitting on the skiff as Scorpia drove. A tank drove in front of them, making its way through the woods. "Of course it is!" she said excitedly, "the Whispering Woods are freezing over, there is no wa—"

"That's not what I'm talking about" Scorpia interrupted, "I mean you being here…"

Feeling a lump in her throat, Catra looked away. She hated when Scorpia would give her that serious look, "I'll be fine."

The drive seemed to go on forever, as Catra silently contemplated the seriousness of the situation. This wasn't the typical raid of a small village but an attack on a kingdom that could leave many dead, including her. Tank noises become stronger as Bright Moon comes into view, making Catra stand in excitement.

Quickly jumping on top of a tank, she points toward the runestone, "Prepare, aim, and fire!" she laughs as the tanks follow her command, "This is easier than I thought" she smirked. But before she could shout any other command, a burst of air flipped the tank, making her stumble to the floor as she became unsteady.

"What the—" her words never finished as she saw the blonde standing, quite a distance from her. "Adora…" she whispered in shock, the person she thought she had killed, was standing right in front of her. All those sleepless nights, where she cried thinking about what she did, now seemed for naught.

"Catra!" Adora grinned, "Surprised to see me?"

Catra knew that Adora was still too far a distance away to notice her, but it still made her internally panic, "Not really, I figured it wouldn't be that easy to get rid of you." Watching as Adora rushed toward her Catra jumped onto a floating rock.

Soldiers started to attack She-Ra, slowly wearing her down. Catra continued to watch as Adora defended herself nonstop. It didn't matter how many would jump at her, she would continue to swing her sword and avoid their attacks. But that didn't last long, because in the next second one of the horde soldiers landed a hit with their taser, making Adora groan, falling to her knees.

Chuckling, Catra hummed, "You know, I thought I would see more of a fight from you."

The horde soldiers wrapped electric ropes around Adora, and the girl screamed in pain, her She-Ra transformation flickering as her resolve started to break. Adora looked up at Catra, their eyes meeting, "Stop this Catra! This isn't you!"

"Then who am I?!" Catra screamed at her, a rage she never felt before forming in her throat. She looked at the soldiers, who were waiting for her command to finish the blonde, but she doesn't give it, at least not yet.

"You ar-are" Adora's words got stuck in her throat, as another electric shock passed through her.

Catra's eyes filled with sadness, looking down at the blonde, "News flash Adora, you left that girl behind at the horde."

Adora's eyes opened wide, her mouth opening and closing, as her transformation disappeared. Catra released a humorless laugh, "Finish her" she waved her hand, scowling at Adora. The soldiers nodded at each other, one of them coming closer to give the blonde the finishing blow. But before the soldier could do anything, a gust of wind pushed him back. Out of nowhere, an arrow came flying directly towards Catra.

She yelped in surprise as it hit the rock, blowing it up and making her fall back. Grunting in pain, Catra stood up. She watched as Adora's friends built a net around them, protecting them from danger. Another set of tanks drove behind her, and Catra leapt on top of it, "Aim at the net!" she gritted in anger as the tanks started to shoot.

Catra stood as Bow hugged Adora, making her narrow her eyes, ignoring the pain flowing through her body, "Shoot!" She screamed in frustration as the soldiers seemed to pause the attack on the net. Everything appeared to be going their way, so she didn't quite understand why she felt like she was still losing. Pain coursed through her hand as she noticed the tank getting frozen, her eyes widened when the water princess cut through the ocean on a boat, then as she threw the boat at the nearby horde soldiers.

Before she knew it, Adora was shining brighter than ever, almost blinding to the eyes as the princesses glowed next to her. A rainbow wave tipped over all their machines and soldiers, most of them running for their lives.

For a second Catra looked down at herself, she was glowing the same as the princesses in front of her. If this wasn't a paternity test, she didn't know what else it could be. Though that thought was interrupted by the excruciating pain she felt the next moment. Grunting in pain she doubled over.

"Catra!" Scorpia screamed, running up to her.

Catra felt herself, being lifted up, the glow long gone from her body, replaced by a pain she had never felt before. She looked at her hands, one of them covered in blood, "Th-the ba-baby" she gasped, panic running through her.

Scorpia lifted her onto the skiff, trying to be as calm as possible, "It's ok Wildcat, take deep breaths."

And doing just that, she breathed deeply. She wanted to prove herself and that had cost her something precious. Her eyes became blurry, and she searched for something, she didn't know what. Feeling the skiff moving, she looked back toward Bright Moon, only to see Adora staring at her, eyes wide in fear. And for a second before she blacked out, she swore she saw Adora rush after her.