Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Bow, walking through the corridors of Bright Moon approaches the war room staring at his tracker pad. Not paying nearly enough attention as he walks in on Glimmer and her father King Micah arguing in the war room. Well probably now more of a conference room given that peace has been restored to Etheria and princesses tend not to be too ambitious for new territory.

“Ugh, no! We haven’t relied on shipments from Plumeria since the hoard unleashed the blight there. You have to order it from Thaymore.”

”Well pardon me, the last time I had to-“

”Hey Glimmer?” Bow said. “Have you asked your dad about the supplies for the mai-“ He’s cut off as Glimmer’s hand appears over his mouth.

“Excuse us, there’s no reason for him to be intruding on our… uh- royal duties.” Glimmer says in a rush before teleporting them a way. Bow blinks and realizes they’re in her room. He looks at her with confusion silently in awe of how her powers have been developing.

“I mean, that definitely sounded like normal management stuff, but did I walk in on something else?” Bow asks.

“Noooooo.” Glimmer insists with an awkward laugh. “We’re just having normal dad-daughter bonding pains, that’s all.”

”So then why did we have to teleport so far away?” Bow asks. Glimmer’s pacing finally ends as she sits on the edge of her bed with her head in her hands and sighs. “Come on, it’s not like there’s anything you’ve never been able to tell me before.”

”You can’t talk about it around him yet…” She says. Bow starts to blush before he realizes he might not know what she means.

“Talk about?…”

”The road trip.”

Bow sighs in relief, he is not ready to have the other conversation just yet.

”What? Why no- Oh no, you haven’t told him yet have you?”

”How Could I!” Glimmer basically jumps up with her hands in the air with exasperation. “He just got back! I already had to tell him about mom’s death, he doesn’t even really know me anymore and now I’m gonna run off to try to bring the universe back to life before he even gets a chance?! What kind of daughter am I?” She collapses back onto her bed with her hands covering her face.

“Is that what this is all about?” Bow says gently. Glimmer simply nods under her hands. He sits beside her, taking one hand away from her face and putting it in his. ”Glimmer, I don’t know King Micah very well. But he did kick serious butt out on beast island, Adora, Entrapa and I probably wouldn’t have made it out without him. He seems really cool. And besides, with Hoard Prime gone there’s no way there’s anything out in the stars that’s anywhere near more dangerous than the stuff we’ve already faced. It’s not like we’ll be gone forever, we’ll still need resupplies, and maybe even back up every once in a while. I’m sure he’ll understand.”

”You really think so?”

”Of course I do. And like I was coming to tell you, we need his sign off on a requisition form before the kitchen will give us all the rations I asked for.”

”What? Why isn’t mine good enough?” Glimmer says shooting bolt upright.

“Well, since he’s been kind of taking the reins back from you, most everyone has started calling you Princess Glimmer again, the kitchen also said something about how they don’t like making rations anymore because ‘it reminds us of the war,’ and you’re boiling about being demoted aren’t you?”

“No.” She said boiling. ”Change of plans. We’re not taking our time.” Glimmer grabs Bow’s Tracker Pad. “We’re getting off this rock.”

Bow imagine’s what Micah’s reaction will be, so in a mockingly deep voice he imitates. “You’ve got this babygirl, go get ‘em.” Glimmer turns back, her eye’s wide, suddenly her defiance is all tension. She looks like Catra when Adora teases her about mice. Bow realizes what he’s done as the heat floods his cheeks. “I-“ He goes to defend himself. Glimmer disappears in her signature puff of pink and sparkles. “And now I’m alone… in your room… thanks.”

The night before:

Catra knocks on Adora’s door in Bright Moon.

“Adora?…” The door swings open slowly from her knock alone. Catra can’t help but peek through catching Adora in the last stage of dawning her nightgown. It was something Glimmer had suggested as a form of self care, which Adora wasn’t overly convinced about just yet. Sleeping in a layer of clothes that made it easy to prep for battle quickly was an important strategic decision she’d been making for years. And even though her mission wasn’t yet truly accomplished, she thought it might be nice to at least revel in the peace they’d brought to Etheria, at least until the next terrible thing befell them. Still, it’s so fragile, Adora thinks. Like she could tear it in the middle of the night just by turning over. But Catra didn’t see any of that. She might’ve felt it if the shoe was on the other foot. All Catra could feel as her pupils dilated was her mouth beginning to water at the sight of Adora embracing her inner princess. Which ugh, gross, right? After all it wasn’t She-ra that Catra was in love with, she didn’t care about the sword or the power, or even the title of princess. The thought of someone even trying to put a tiara on Catra’s head was enough to make her sea sick. Wait, how long had Adora been looking back at her? “Huh?”

”I said, hey Catra, is everything okay?” Adora cocked her head slightly with a friendly smile, something… knowing in her eyes. Catra internally groaned a little. It wasn’t their customary greeting that she so looked forward to these days. That sultry lilt was absent. Maybe it was because Catra looked tired and her hair was untamed. Adora had already noticed, but she’s actually made the guess early when Glimmer had given Catra her own room and she’d fallen into bed face first and fully clothed. Catra decides to deflect and save a little face.

”They really don’t put any locks on these doors huh? How do they keep people from stealing rations? It should’ve been way easier to conquer this place.” Catra says, closing the door behind her. Adora gives her a lopsided smile.

”It’s too soft isn’t it?” Adora asks. Catra deflates even further, she knows Adora has seen right through her.

”I fell off cause I couldn’t tell where the edge was.” She grumbled under her breath. Adora stifled a laugh, not sure if it would be too damaging to Catra’s fragile ego at the moment. She’s proved right when a pillow she didn’t even know was in Catra’s reach, came flying at her face. Not that it would ever actually hit her, and Catra knew it. It was a symbolic attack more than anything. But then she just stood there. Eyes wide, knowing that she didn’t know what to do now. Without saying a word, Adora simply got into bed, schooched over and patted the bed. Catra went to lay at the end of the bed like she used to once upon a time. Adora scowled at her, raising an eyebrow. “What?” Catra said, still not trusting the memories from the last few days. Adora once again patted the bed next to her. Gingerly, she crawls in. Face to face, Catra’s hand laying between them, soon covered by Adora’s. “It’s been a crazy few days, I wasn’t sure if- I mean, it’s okay if maybe you maybe didn’t mean everything you said recently.” She could feel the stinging behind her eyes as she handed Adora another out.

“Do you really still think that’s what’s going on? After everything?” Adora’s voice quivered. Catra feels like she swallowed a needle that’s currently working its way into her heart. She can’t look Adora in the eye anymore.

”After everything I’ve done…” Catra says, closing her eyes to protect herself from Adora’s response.

“Catra… I’ve been begging you to come with me, since I left the hoard. I never really gave up on you. Not for a second.”

”I uh- um… that’s cool.” Catra clears her throat. Once again Adora’s eye brow lifts, and a refusal to speak until her expectation is met settles over them. “So why is this the only bed in this place that doesn’t feel like cotton candy?” Her eyes flick back up to Adora’s as though there is a clear shield between them. Perhaps it’s not a good idea to push right now, Adora thinks. After all, if Catra thought that maybe she might go back on her confession, well, maybe Catra was projecting. That’s not really a door that Adora wants to open right now.

“The first one was so soft and fluffy it kind of… blew up on me.” Adora said. Catra giggled at the image of Adora fighting with an exploding mattress. “Glimmer and Bow managed to get me something a little bit more tolerable. They even came for a sleepover for a few nights since I wasn’t used to being so alone at night. Eventually I asked where it even came from. Turns out it was the kind of thing they only give prisoners because it’s not fit for a citizen.”

Catra laughed.

“Can’t imagine they need those mattresses very often. Everything here is so shiny and perfect I can hardly believe they even know how to fight.”

”You’d be surprised. Right before Glimmer got captured we had a major fight. I was worried we’d lost her to her power mad queenship for a minute.”

”That’s the Sparkles I know.” Catra chuckles to herself. It was odd to think of Glimmer as a friend. But she had to admit, the moon beam had a little bit of spunk in her, and Catra could respect it. Then Catra had a thought, that… knowing that look she’d seen in Adora earlier, the story about her first nights with the Rebellion. “Did you know I was coming and why I knocked on your door?”

”More like I knew all the ingredients were there and maybe a little hope that you might.” Adora said, fighting off her shit eating grin.

“Is that why you’re wearing that- that… silk tarp?” Catra asks indignantly. Making Adora’s grin blossom into its full fledged mischievousness.

“You like it that much huh?” Adora says. Catra turns over with her back facing Adora so she can’t see how much she’s blushing.

”You’re ridiculous.” Catra grumbles. Without so much as a huff, Adora slides her arm over Catra and uses it to pull her into being the little spoon.

”And you’re purring~”

“Shut up, I am not.” Catra insists while purring loudly.

”You so are.”

“You know what? Fine.” Catra rips the covers back and says. “Let’s find out how that Rebel tissue paper stands up against my claws.”

“Oh you’re on Kitty Cat.”

“I told you to never call me that!” Within seconds they were locked in a classic war of wills, wrestling for points that would never be counted until they were too exhausted to fight anymore. No bloody noses, no scratches so deep that they’d be seen in the morning. Just a taste of the way things used to be when they were young. Enough that Catra was finally able to get real sleep for the first time in a very long time.

The next morning:

Glimmer teleports directly into Adora’s chamber.

”ADORA!” She yells without even opening her eyes. Stamping her foot in her most demanding tone. Adora, and Catra fall out from under the covers like water being spilled. It’s only a fraction of a second, Glimmer has just enough time to open her eyes and see what she poofed into before poofing to just the other side of the door. ”Sorry! I didn’t realize you had… company.”

”I’m gonna kill her.” Catra grumbles.

“No, you’re not.” Adora says as she climbs over the bed to sit on the edge facing the door with Catra. “Glimmer, come in already, there’s nothing more to see!” Adora rolls her eyes as she projects through the door. Glimmer pops back in, this time much more reserved.

“There’s been a change of plans. We’re leaving today, as soon as possible. And Entrapta is being difficult.” Glimmer says.

“Well that doesn’t surprise me…” Adora says under her breath.

”She keeps talking about using all the first one’s tech to build a paradise for all the displaced robots from the war.”

”And we need her because if anything goes wrong she’s the only one who knows how to fix the ship.” Adora finishes for her.

“Exactly.” Glimmer says.

”Wait, so the dream team doesn’t even know how to manipulate one tech crazed princess? How have you literally gotten anything done?” Catra observes.

”We’re the good guys, remember? We don’t manipulate people, we… persuade them.” Glimmer chatizes Catra. Catra rolls her eyes.

”Uhuh,” She says sarcastically. “Do you wanna whine about how it gets done or do you want Entrapta on the ship?”

”Wait, are you volunteering for something?” Adora asks.

“No. I just don’t feel like watching you three chase your tails for hours just to have to do it myself anyway.” Catra deflects before Glimmer tackle hugs her.

”Thank you, thank you thank you!”

”Yeah okay Sparkles, that’s enough of that.” She says extracting herself from Glimmer’s grip. “Why are you so gung-ho to get out of here anyway?”

”Well you see, here in Bright Moon when the long lost king returns he can apparently depose his rightful ruling daughter without so much as an announcement, so in protest, I am grounding myself to that far reaches of space! Since I’m clearly not even needed around here anymore!” At some point she’d stopped explaining to Catra and started yelling at the door. And before anyone could respond she poofed away.

“Good talk Sparkles.” Catra sighs. “Does she even know what being grounded means?”

“Probably not, it’s kinda hard to ground a teleporting princess.” Adora says. “Okay, you handle Entrapta, I’ll make sure we’re packed.”

”We?”

”Don’t pretend like I don’t know how to pack for you already~”

“Right.” Catra says slowly backing toward the door. “I’ll just go, mani- uh, handle Entrapta.” She nearly trips and falls out the door.

Catra finds Entrapta in a make shift lab in a basement of the castle. Hordak by her side.

“Entrapta?”

“Catra! Look at all this neat stuff! Some of it’s from the Bright Moon’s trash, the rest is from Hoard Prime’s beacon, Hordak and Emily helped me drag it back from the-“

“That’s great Entrapta, are you packed yet?” Catra cuts her off. Hordak sneering in the background

“Packed for what? I can’t leave! I think if we’re careful we land Hoard Prime’s ship and create a mechanoid paradise for all my-”

“You’re really gonna miss the opportunity to find more first one’s tech?”

“First one’s tech? Where?!”

”Didn’t queen Glimmer tell you? We’re going on some kind of salvaging mission to find more first one’s tech.”

”Really?!” Entrapta says bouncing on her hair tails in excitement.

“But if you’re too busy with your Robocity…” Catra says inspecting her claws. “I’m sure arrow boy can help us harvest-”

”No! I mean, I can help! How long will we be gone?”

“No telling really, there’s probably so much crazy technology left around the universe it’s probably going to be nearly impossible to tell what’s First One’s tech and what’s some strange alien stuff that no one even understands.” With every word Catra utters she can feel the anticipation build. Her internal predator imagines that Entrapta must be salivating at the idea of a smorgasbord of alien tech.

“Hordak!” Entrapta yells at full volume making even Catra jump. “You’re in charge of the project until I get back! And take care of Emily would you? I’d love to take her with me but I need to make sure there’s as much room on the ship as possible for salvage.” And without so much as a confirmation Entrapta bolts from the room. Catra, feeling satisfied, goes to leave.

”Don’t for a second think that just because your naive manipulations will make it passed me.” Hordak accuses. “What are your intentions with Entrapta?”

”Oh don’t worry Hordy, haven’t you heard? I’ve turned over a new leaf. She’ll be perfectly happy getting to play with all the toys we find out in the void.” Her melodic arrogance teasing at Hordak’s lack of control. “Besides, Adora was so guilty about leaving her behind even once I seriously doubt she’ll let anything happen to your little playmate.” Catra would never really drop the combativeness from her voice around Hordak. She knows that she’ll never really trust him. But things have been weird and complicated lately, she knows that at some level Hordak genuinely cares about Entrapta. How and even why might escape her, but there’s nothing wrong with throwing him a bone to reassure him. Especially if it means he doesn’t try talking her out of it. Hordak growls, in begrudging agreement.

A little later:

Mara’s ship was parked in the lower grounds, its docking bay open with several people loading crates onto it. By this time most of the other princesses had gone back to their kingdoms to assist with the rebuilding efforts. Funding the clean up of Hoard technologies and bases, re-establishing supply lines and roads. After all, there’s a lot of clean up that has to happen when a war is over. But Adora by contrast felt the wait of history calling her to the stars. The First One’s war with Prime had crippled life and magic in the universe, and if there was anyone who was supposed to bring it back it had to be She-Ra, right?

That was what Adora was thinking about as she, in She-Ra form, loaded another crate onto Mara’s ship. When Glimmer started popping in and out of the ship with her own crates, faster than Adora had ever seen her use her powers.

“Glimmer?” She said, aiming at the margin of a second that she was on their ship. Glimmer upon hearing that, teleports almost directly into She-Ra.

”We have to go, NOW.”

”What? Why? Is everything okay?”

”Everything is fiiiinneee. But my dad is coming, and he maybe doesn’t really know we’re leaving.” Glimmer said, her voice getting higher with every word. Before She-Ra could even respond, Glimmer disappeared again. She-Ra face palms in frustration, as Glimmer teleports Bow, Catra, and Entrapta on board. Instructing Entrapta to start lift off procedures as Melog bounds up the ramp after Catra.

”Glimmer!” Bow says trying to stop, or at least slow her down.

”We don’t have time Bow he could be here any minute!”

”But!” Bow asks, matching her volume.

”No! My Da-” Glimmer is cut off by a throat being cleared. In the commotion, Glimmer had ignored and avoided the path to Mara’s ship. Completely missing King Micah’s approach “Dad… Hi…”

“Somehow I get the feeling you have something to tell me babygirl?” Micah said. Uncomfortable glances were exchanged between the rest of the crew before wordlessly evacuating the bridge as swiftly as possible. Well, except for Catra who was perfectly comfortable eavesdropping, only to be dragged out by She-Ra who closed the door behind them.

“I uh-” Glimmer starts.

”Let me guess, you and your friends have decided to run across the cosmos stirring up trouble while you try to bring magic back to the rest of the universe.” He interjects.

”How did you-”

”Bow told me.” The King chuckles. “And I’m glad he did. Running off to save the universe is one thing, but doing so without as much as a goodbye?”

”Wait, you’re not mad?” Glimmer says amazed and a little sad.

“Glimmer, I’ve missed out on so much of your life. And while yes that might break my heart, and I would love for you to stay so we can catch up and I can get to know the wonderful woman you’ve become… You have a mission, a calling you might say. I can’t stand in the way of that. How could I hope to learn all about who you are by keeping you locked up in the castle? Besides, Bow made an excellent point. With Etheria being the only known planet in the cosmos with magic, it might become a target for anyone seeking to use it, or fill the void left by Prime. So, by being generous with our gift, you can make the universe a better place and make Etheria safer all at the same time. What could possibly make me any more proud of my little girl?” The more he spoke, the more Glimmer began tearing up. She hadn’t realized that part of her wanted him to be mad. Part of her wanted him to fight for her to stay, maybe because part of her wanted to stay. She was being torn by her guilt down both paths. Of course she wanted more time with him, even if he was driving her crazy. How could she not want more time with him after so much had been stolen? But he was right, and she knew it. The squad had a mission, and it was so much bigger than any excuse she had or wanted to have. So she hid her face in his cloak, her tears staining it.

”Thanks Dad. I’m gonna miss you.”

”I’m gonna miss you too babygirl. Now how about we let your friends know there’s no reason to panic?” Glimmer nods in agreement into his chest. They walk to the door with Glimmer under his arm. Hitting the door switch they jump backwards as She-Ra, Bow and Entrapta fall to the floor. Clearly having been listening in on their conversation. She-Ra shrinks back down into Adora, as all three of them awkwardly smile. King Micah, Glimmer and Catra, who is poised against a wall in the background, shake their heads in second hand embarrassment. The damn finally breaks and everyone has a good laugh about their silliness. Glimmer helps Bow up.

”You’re not mad at me?” Bow asks.

”Of course I am.” She says plainly before hitting him full force in the arm.

”Ow!” Bow rubs his arm before Glimmer almost tackles him with a hug. “I just wanted to make sure you didn’t miss your chance to say goodbye.”

”And you were right, that’s why I’m hugging you silly.”

”I was what?” Bow said.

”Don’t push it.” She said, making them both giggle. Meanwhile Catra and Adora had just said their goodbyes to King Micah. Adora bends down to give Melog scratches.

”So,” She says looking up at Catra. “What’d you think, are you ready to hit the road?”

”I’m here aren’t I?” Catra said, incapable of caging her inner brat.

“Try again…” Adora pokes a little fun at her emotional constipation.

“Well it’s not like I’ve ever had a lot to leave behind on this stupid rock anyways.” Catra deflects.

”Catra…” Adora warns. Sure, Adora wants a resounding consent. But what she really wants right now is to know that Catra is coming for the right reasons, whatever those reasons are.

“Fine… My home is wherever you are, or something, I guess…” Catra grumbled in a low tone, turning away slightly, and squeezing her eyes shut. Even with as forced as it sounded, it was still enough to give Adora butterflies. So she went in for a sneak attack. A kiss on Catra’s cheek. Fast enough that by the time Catra realized what had happened Adora was already well on her way back to the bridge.

The bay door closed, the engine whirs to life raising the ship off the ground. And the sending off party waves them off as the ship breaks the stratosphere. Soon enough they were out of Etheria’s gravity well and pushing their way deeper into the arm belt of the galaxy.

Chapter Text

Adora takes her natural place in the captain’s chair as the rest of the squad posts up around their respective consoles.

“Alright team, set a course for… um… wait, where are we going?” She asks as if trying to remember. Everyone save Entrapta whips their head around to look at her. Bow breaks the silence first.

”You don’t know?”

“Wait,” Catra starts. “Was your whole plan to just run around to dead planets, stick your sword in the ground and… what? Hope?”

”It sounded cooler in my head, besides, it worked for Etheria!” Adora defends herself.

“But Etheria already had magic! Is making magic even one of She-Ra’s powers?” Glimmer asked. The look in Adora’s eyes said that she had not thought about that at all.

“Hey! I don’t ask penetrating questions about how exactly it is that your sparkle attacks do damage!” Adora says defensively.

”Well the mission isn’t dependent on my powers!” Glimmer says with Catra cackling in the background.

”You guys have seriously never thought through a single mission have you?” Catra says between laughs. Bow, Glimmer, and Adora degenerate into bickering. Promptly getting cut off by Entrapta who hadn’t been listening.

“I’m getting a signal!” She announces. Knowing where this was going Catra sneaks up to the captain’s chair. The rest of them turn their attention to Entrapta.

“What signal?” Adora asks.

”I… may have told Entrapta that this was a First One’s tech salvage mission…” Catra said low enough that Entrapta couldn’t hear.

“Of course you did.” Adora says to Catra. “Entrapta, what signal?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, right! I couldn’t be sure until we were out of the solar system. But with the breakdown of the Hoard’s communication network there are all kinds of signals I couldn’t see before! And I think I’ve found a First One’s signal, and it’s HUGE.”

”Well, maybe if we find like, an old library or something there might be something there that could tell us more about the connection between magic and First One’s tech.” Glimmer suggests.

”Maybe we could even learn more about She-Ra’s powers.” Bow adds.

“Wait, are we actually doing this?” Catra asks in disbelief.

”Kinda sounds like it.” Adora confirms.

“Oh I’m so taking credit for this plan.” Catra says, rolling her eyes.

”Entrapta, follow that signal!”

“I suppose now is a good time to tell you that I finally finished the power modifications to Darla’s engines so we’re about to go faster than we’ve ever gone before!” Entrapta says. A big ‘oh no’ dawns across the rest of the crew’s faces. “You heard the captain Darla, hit it!” Everyone braced themselves for the kick, but it didn’t come. The only thing that changed was the stars moved a little faster. Entrapta looks back at the rest of them. “Why do you guys look so… like that?”

Adora clears her throat.

“No, no reason. How long till we reach our destination?”

”Uhhh, it’ll be a few hours. Maybe five-ish?”

”Wait,” Glimmer turns to Catra. “Let me get this straight; He’s Arrow because it’s the exact opposite of Bow, so it’s not that you don’t know his name, it's that you refuse to use it. I’m Sparkles, because it’s not Glimmer. But you use Entrapta’s name?” Catra couldn’t help but nibble on her bottom lip to keep herself from smiling too widely.

“I don’t know what to tell you Sparkles, for all her faults I respect Entrapta.”

”Catra…” Adora chides her. Things continued like that for a while before they decided to start unpacking and settling in. Well some of them. Catra was too busy using Adora’s folding bow staff to play Fetch with Melog while she watched the stars. Bow ended up making some road trip snacks in the kitchen, and before long they were in range of the planet.

“Adora, you might wanna get up here.” That’s all she really had to say before everyone collectively entered the bridge, Entrapta went to science and Bow to Navigation.

“This is definitely the place, the signal is really strong. It might be a while before I can decode it though, my algorithms have never seen this code before! Some of it looks like First One’s but it’s definitely a branch from everything on Etheria.” Entrapta explains.

”The atmosphere is really damaged, it might’ve been a living world at one point, but it’s really heavy on the Carbon monoxide and Dioxide. We’ll have to wear our suits.” Bow says.

”Is there any indication of a good landing site?” Catra asked. Adora gave her a light glare. Bow keeps quiet waiting for Adora’s reaction. She turns to him.

”Do we know where the signal originates?” Adora asks.

”No, it has to be somewhere deep below the surface.” Entrapta starts answering. “The signal is being bounced around in the crust like a ping pong ball.” Adora rolls her eyes before she closes them. A little bit in disbelief she has to ask Catra’s question now.

”So, are there any good places to land? Maybe a ruined city or something?” Adora almost growls. She isn’t looking at Catra, but she can definitely feel her grin.

“It looks like there’s a cave that’s big enough to land in, and it might get us deep enough to reach those metallic signatures I’m seeing.” Bow tells them.

“Great, take us down. Everyone else, suit yourselves.” Adora says in her force captain voice.

“Ugh, I can’t believe you just made that pun.” Catra complains. As soon as they entered the atmosphere, a storm kicked up. The first sign was Darla listing heavy to one side.

”Entrapta! What was that?!” Adora asks through the coms in her suit. Entrapta responds over the intercom.

”We seem to be caught in some kind of ion storm, the radiation levels are off the charts!” She barely finished before Darla once again lists to the opposite side, throwing her crew around.

“I feel like one of those fizzy drinks from Dryll.” Glimmer complains as she rubs what she’s sure is going to be a new bruise. Adora on the other hand tries to speak while getting her eyes to stop spinning.

”Bow, can you translate that?” She asked, referring to Entrapta’s usual technical explanation.

”Uh…” He says before turning his head to speak into his coms. “Entrapta, what exactly does that mean?”

”I coulda done that.” Catra says, rolling her eyes.

”It means that the ionic thrusters are basically useless and I don’t know if we can even land without them!” Entrapta finally explains enough that everyone can wrap their head around it. Their eyes bug out and they scramble to the bridge.

The next few minutes were an absolute blur. They tried regaining control of the ship, but they still didn’t know it very well, and Darla’s AI per usual was frustratingly unhelpful. By the time they crashed both Darla and her crew were screaming at a feverish pitch. In the aftermath, the only lights in the ship were a few flickering instrument panels and Melog’s mane.

”Sound off if you’re not dead.” Adora groans. They’re response was an equally discordant series of groans. Glimmer in all her practicality raised a glowing fist to illuminate the cabin.

”Is anyone hurt?” Glimmer asks earnestly.

“I seem to be mostly intact.” Entrapta answered.

”I’m good, and good news it looks like my tracker pad still works.” Bow said.

”Looks like we made it with all our-“ Catra is cut off by her own pain as she stumbles. Adora launches herself at Catra to catch her.

”Catra! What’s wrong?” Adora asks in full panic mode, Catra using her as a crutch as she tries to stand. Melog bounds up next to her.

”Relax princess, it’s just a rolled ankle. Nothing I can’t handle.” Catra denies her pain. If Adora’s heart hadn’t been racing already she might’ve been able to play off the fire engine red engulfing her face.

”Princess?” She almost whispered, trying desperately to figure out which one of the nine ways she wasn’t processing the comment to go with. Luckily the moment was interrupted by Entrapta.

“I managed to reroute a bunch of power into the inertial dampeners before we crashed. But I’m going to go get my spacesuit on, cause there’s no way hull integrity is anywhere near sufficient.” Once more Adora looks to Bow for a translation, mostly because every once in a while she feels bad asking Entrapta to keep dumbing things down for them.

”We should’ve died, Entrapta saved us, and we should probably put our helmets on before the toxic gas starts leaking in, if it hasn’t already.” He tells her helpfully.

“See?” Glimmer asks. “Why is that so hard for her?”

”I think she genuinely forgot how to think like the rest of us at some point.” Bow suggests.

Adora, still holding Catra up, pulls her own helmet from a clip on her hip and slips in on with the one handed practiced grace of a professional. Bow and Glimmer following suit.

”Where’s you helmet?” Adora asks Catra. Catra huffs.

”It’s still in the airlock.” Adora raises an eyebrow. “I didn’t think I’d need it yet, okay?” The exasperation in her voice transporting them both back to all the times that straight laced Adora somehow managed to keep Catra put together while also being the model student she’d always been.

”Come on, we’ll get you a bandage for that ankle while we’re at it.” Adora said putting pressure on Catra’s waste with the arm that Catra had forgotten was holding her up.

“Will you stop? I’m fine.”

“Yeah yeah yeah, you’re a big strong kitty cat that doesn’t need any help.”

”I can still kick your butt even with a foot down.”

”Somehow I feel like we have bigger problems to worry about.” Adora said slowly dragging her off the bridge. Bow and Glimmer shortly after them, trailing just long enough to share some knowing looks and stifle their snorting as they tried not to laugh at Adora and Catra going back and forth.

Soon enough, Catra’s ankle was wrapped with care and they were climbing out of their crashed ship. Entrapta was the first one out, surveying the damage. Glimmer used her lights to explore their immediate surroundings, which was a dark dank and unimpressive cave. Bow pacing with his nose in his tracker pad interpreting his readings. Even Melog was sniffing around suspicious of this new world. Adora, by contrast, was running her hand along Mara’s ship like it was a horse with a broken leg. Catra was posing, pretending to be unimpressed with the hell hole they’d landed in while pretending she wasn’t watching Adora. Entrapta sighed heavily. Against the odds Adora asks anyway.

”Is there any chance you can fix her?”

”Not without a lot of First One’s tech, and even then it’s gonna take some time. If we can find some of what we came for I might be able to rig a pressure chamber that we can camp out in. But we’re gonna be packed in like sardines for days, maybe weeks depending on what we can find and how deep the damage goes.”

”Weeks?!” Catra interjects.

“But when we found Darla in the Crimson Waste she was basically intact. We only needed the sword to make her fly, and that was after a pretty big crash.” Adora says clearly confused.

“That was because Mara wasn’t worried about protecting herself, she was already dying, so the ship was able to spend it’s energy protecting itself.” Entrapta explains.

”Are you saying that you’re the reason we’re stranded?” Catra reflexively asks, thinking about how stir crazy it’s going to drive her if she has to bunk with all four of them for weeks at a time. Glimmer steps in and puts her hand on Catra’s shoulder.

Reminding her in a low voice, “Maybe you should be thankful she chose our lives over the ship?”

”…Right.” Catra flicks her tail. “Good point Sparkles.”

“Well we should probably get a move on and assess our situation. Bow? Glimmer? What’d you got?” Adora says slipping right back into mission mode.

“The cave immediately around us doesn’t seem particularly special, but it does go a lot deeper. I looked ahead as far as I could, but I didn’t want to get out of coms range.” Glimmer reported.

”And as far as I can tell there is some sort of magical energy reading coming from that direction, we might as well follow it.” Before Adora could agree with them Catra had to put her two cents in.

”At least with only one way in and one way out we can’t get lost.” She said, immediately met with a collective groan from the original best friend squad. ”What?”

”Seriously?” Bow said like it was obvious.

“Are you trying to get us trapped in a hall of magic mirrors?” Glimmer asked rhetorically.

”Or one of those holographic memory suck things like in the crystal castle?” Adora added.

”Oh come on, you guys seriously don’t believe in superstitions like that, do you?” Catra said.

”We beat you and Hoard Prime, remember?” Adora brags.

”With my help!” Catra adds to the detriment of her own argument, Adora just smirks.

“Come on, we’d better get moving, we tend to leave these kinds of places in a hurry, and Entrapta is gonna need all the time she can to fix Darla.”

”You don’t think she should come with us? Wouldn’t she know what she needs best?” Catra asks.

”Nah, Bow knows enough basics to know what might be helpful. Besides, I don’t think anything could tear her away from that ship right now.” Adora says thoughtfully.

”Good point.” Catra says using her enhanced hearing to listen to Entrapta’s ramblings.

So, the four of them in their space suits set off down into the depths of yet another alien planet.

FLASHBACK TIME

Adora, in her room in the castle of Bright Moon sits curled up in an armchair. She’s facing the door with her journal in her lap. Queen Angela had suggested journaling as a way to work through all the changes she’d gone through since leaving the Hoard. In the beginning she’d dismissed it. The Hoard’s training was so thorough that when she’d first heard the suggestion… Well, it seamed like a weakness. Needing to work through your emotions itself was seen as a weakness. Let alone doing it in a way that could be stolen and abused later. Like giving your enemy a road map to manipulation. And with Shadow Weaver in the castle and loose… It seemed like an even worse idea. Still, it’s not like Shadow Weaver didn’t already know the ins and outs of Adora’s mind. Now that Queen Angela was… gone… well Adora certainly needed to work through some things. Maybe following her advice would help her grieve too.

Dear Catra,

You are my enemy now, and you always will be. I know that now. All this time, I had hope that you would see the light. Hope that you would realize that Etheria is a beautiful place that needs to be saved not destroyed.
I have no more hope now, and that makes me sad. So sad. Because I miss you, Catra, and I will always miss you.
I miss your smile. I miss the gleam in your eye when you would beat me in a race during training. I miss laughing with you when we would play a prank on the other cadets in the barracks. I even miss you snoring in the bunk above me. Those are the things I remember when I think about you. I’m going to try to remember the good things about you, instead of the bad ones. Because those break my heart.
I’m sorry things ended up like this. I really am. But even if we could go back in time I wouldn’t do things any other way.

Love,
Adora

P.s. I know I’ll never send this. But it feels good to write it down.

She hadn’t gotten passed the last few lines before the tears betrayed her. Staining the page of the notebook Glimmer had given her. She sucked in a sniff, even that was stilted. Her breath was shaking as she let it out. Giving up on Catra. She’d never even considered it before. Sure she was mad. Sure Catra had gone to great lengths to make Adora hate her. But she’d always believed that if the timing was right, or if she could find the right words. After seeing how she acted in the anomaly? Putting Adora in the position that Angela had to sacrifice herself, and in turn making Adora live with the guilt? And after all that she still didn’t care…HOW? HOW COULD SHE NOT CARE?!

Adora throws the journal across the room like it burned her. Like Catra had been standing in front of her. Pulling her knees to her chest, Adora cries to herself. At first it’s soft. But the more she thinks, the more she misses Catra. She used to imagine showing Catra around all the amazing places she’d seen since leaving the Hoard. Or giving her real cake for the first time. One by one, the images seemed to burn away in her mind, their blackening edges burning the ends of every nerve in her body. For a moment, one terrible moment, she wondered what the point was. Fighting for Etheria, if she could never… If Catra would never… She can’t even finish the thought as it threatens to burn her alive from the inside. Her body clenching and heaving, heart racing as it breaks. She remembers though. She remembers all the people she’s fighting for. All the people that the Hoard has hurt, and are still going to hurt if she doesn’t stop them. And tomorrow she will fight for them. Tomorrow she would recommit herself to the war. Defending and protecting, being the hero that the Etherians deserved. But tonight? Tonight she was just a girl. A girl that had truly lost the person in the world she cared most for. Her childhood best friend, the one who knew her better than even Shadow Weaver. The one she… no. It was too hard. If she said that word, even in the privacy of her own head. It might undo Adora so completely that she might never fully recover.

It was awhile before she’d cried herself to sleep. Luckily Bow found her first. He’d just come from comforting Glimmer until she had cried herself to sleep from the loss of her mother. Eventually, he knew they would need to grieve together, Glimmer and Adora. But it was still too fresh. If they started lashing out at one another they may say things they don’t mean, but nevertheless can’t really ever take back. He felt bad. Bad that this was happening. Bad that he couldn’t do anything about it. Bad that he hadn’t stopped Glimmer from trying to set off the Heart of Etheria. Bad that Adora was left to cry alone. He didn’t realize that Adora preferred it that way. That she would’ve thrown him out, or convinced him she was fine when he knew she wasn’t. It was better he found her like this. Broken and curled up in a chair like a little kid insisting that they weren’t too tired to stay up. She was so completely exhausted even, that she didn’t stir when he picked her up. Like a true gentleman he lay the sleeping beauty on her bed. Gingerly removing her signature ponytail. Pulling the covers up to her chin, he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. The weight of the moment firmly on his shoulders. It was his turn for tears to warm the back of his eyes. Threatening to pour out. But it wasn’t his mom they’d lost. He hadn’t been there when she’d sacrificed herself. None of it was his fault no matter how much he might want to blame himself. So it’s not his turn to cry, not his turn to grieve. He could wait, he could wait until the girls were strong enough that he didn’t need to hold them up while they grieved. That’s when his turn would be, he thought as he sucked up his own tears. Leaving Adora to her rest.

Chapter Text

While climbing through the darkness, a rumbling from up ahead audibly displaces rock and mud. A thousand legs and clicking mandibles. Glimmer shoots a beam like a flare. It hits the thing dead center in its face. A monstrous looking centipede with massive glowing eyes and a metallic exoskeleton.

”Not again.” Glimmer barely has time to complain before Adora shouts.

”Run!” As they do so, Bow tries shooting a self anchoring net across the path of the creature. Which it tears through immediately Glimmer is too busy lighting the way to help. “For the honor of Greyskull!” Adora shouts. Her transformation fails. That’s when the first flash of real fear crosses Catra’s face.

”Why isn’t it working?!” She asks.

“I don’t know!” Adora yells just as worried.

”Guys!” Glimmer grabs their attention. “The tunnel gets smaller ahead!”

”Get ready to dive!” Bow instructs. Sure enough, the tunnel suddenly shrinks to a round hole about three feet wide. Melog makes it through first, it’s not even a challenge for her lithe form. Next is Glimmer then Bow, Catra, and finally Adora. Each falling into an intentional dodge roll that spills them into the next room like dice. The creature slams into the orifice of the cave, wedging itself partially inside.

“Adora! Get it’s mouth open!” Catra yells urgently. Perhaps normally Adora would’ve questioned the command. But in this moment Adora’s mind had gone back to their training days when they’d be a well oiled strategic machine. So instead of questioning, she launched at the thing, her expanding bow staff reaching its full length. She stabs the thing in one of its many eyes. It roars and thrashes her off. But the opening was just enough. Catra thrust her taser stick in its mouth, hitting the roof of it. All the lights and muscles of it convulse before going entirely slack.

“You could’ve lost a hand!” Adora said.

”How did you know how to do that?” Bow asked. Bow and Adora suddenly realized that it was a little bit of a reversal of their rolls. For Adora to be the one who worries and Bow to be busy with strategy. Their eyes met to acknowledge it for only a moment. Then it was gone.

”Well, when you don’t have a magic word to stop these things in their tracks, you learn a couple of things figuring out how to survive. The more important question is, where are we?” And for the first time everyone looked around. They’d landed in what was very definitely an artificial room. Metal floors and walls, with pipes and conduit threading their was through.

”Does anyone else feel like it looks like…” Bow starts.

”The Fright Zone…” Adora finishes his thought.

”Oh good, seems like we’re all on the same page. What’re the odds this place was actually built by Hoard Prime?” Glimmer’ voice edged with worry.

”I doubt it,” Bow says. “The First One’s tech readings have only gotten stronger the deeper we get, I can’t imagine a reason he’d preserve any of it. Let alone this much of it.”

“And that thing is absolutely the kind of guard dog the First One’s littered around Etheria.” Catra says.

”It’s also blocking our way out.” Glimmer observes. Adora turns, summoning her sword just to be dramatic.

“Onward!” Adora stomps down the hall. Catra rolls her eyes just to get elbowed by Glimmer.

”You kinda just saved us, you realize that right?” Glimmer said with a smile. Catra swore she could see Glimmer’s eyes grow and sparkle to a truly obscene size.

”You’re not gonna go and ruin it by making me regret it are ya?” Catra grumbles.

“No. I just… you’ve come a long way since Hoard Prime’s ship, Ijust thought I’d tell you-“

”Please don’t.”

”I’m proud of you.” Glimmer softly. The kind of supportive way she does when her heart is behind it.

”Ugh.” Catra says sticking her younger out in disgust. Bow appearing on the other side of her nods emphatically in agreement with Glimmer. Catra recoils. “Adora! Your friends are being gross and supportive again!” She says before running to catch up with her and leave Bow and Glimmer in the dust.

”They’re your friends too now!” Adora calls back, subconsciously recognizing Catra’s approaching steps. Catra crinkles her nose in feigned disgust, doubling down on her pace.

”Take that back!” Catra yells. Adora’s eyes widen as she notices that Catra isn’t slowing down as well as the playful lilt in her voice. She’d been using the sword’s glow to light the way ahead, and it’s light had begun to fail. Not because it had gotten dimmer, but because the darkness ahead had gotten deeper, bigger. But there wasn’t really time to think or even say that. Not when you have a fuzzed up furball barreling into you. The instinct was so fast that Adora had committed to letting the sword disappear before she even felt Catra’s hands. Not that she’d ever tell Catra that. It was so fast that no one would be able to tell it wasn’t Catra knocking her off balance that made the sword dissolve. But there wasn’t a cell in her body that would let that blade get anywhere near Catra. That was the thought she had, giggling as she and Catra tumbled forward. Wrestling like they always had, a table of rolling limbs. Bow turns to Glimmer.

”I don’t know if my heart can survive this level of cute forever. IT’s almost too much right now!” He says.

”I know!” Glimmer says in her chest voice. Full cute aggression engaged. Then she knits her eyebrows together thoughtfully. “Do you think they know that we know?” Glimmer asks. Bow simply raises an eyebrow. “That they’re hopelessly and overwhelmingly in love.”

”Glimmer, I don’t know if they know.” He chuckles.

”Wanna bet?” Glimmer’s says, her mischievousness coming to the surface. Bow cracks a similar smile, but before he can respond Catra and Adora both scream. The pitch changing the way it only does when someone is falling from a great height. Glimmer and Bow both gasp.

”Catradora!” Glimmer yells, teleporting to them. Grabbing on tight in the inky blackness they poof back up to Bow. There had been a cool metal railing, guarding the fall. But because they’d been on the ground fighting, they’d managed to roll right underneath it. Catra immediately began to threaten to hurl over the side of the railing. Her stomach or herself she hadn’t decided yet.

”I really hate that..” Catra complains. Leaning over the edge not knowing if she was about to hurl or not.

“Did you just… combine our names?” Adora asks.

”You mean, thanks for saving our lives Glimmer?”

”Yes, you’re right. Thank you Glimmer.” Adora admits.

“I’m pretty sure I would rather have completed the fall.” Catra said just to be a brat and make Glimmer roll her eyes. “Although I do like that I got top billing.

”You always did like being on top.” Adora was mentally referring to Catra’s love of the top bunk. But once it was out of her mouth they were both blushing. Glimmer looks at Bow with a ‘pay up’ kind of smirk. Bow mentally responded with a ‘not that easy.’ Before stepping up to the railing himself.

“You guys hear that?” He said.

”Hear what?” Adora asks. Desperate to have the conversation go in any other direction.

“Exactly.” He says. Glimmer knows exactly what he’s thinking.

“Our voices aren’t bouncing off any walls.” She says as he notches an arrow.

“So?” Catra asks. Bow let’s his arrow fly, it’s rope trailing behind it. It goes and goes and goes. Before long the end of the rope leaves with it. Everyone is silent. Waiting for the sound of the arrow to hit something. Bow’s lips move has he counts to himself wordlessly. A very faint *tink* reverberated back at them.

“That was at least fifteen hundred feet.” He says. Catra’s ears flick.

“And it didn’t hit a wall, it fell to the bottom.” She says. Adora looks at Glimmer with a glint in her eyes. Glimmer nods in understanding. She adjusts her stance, pointing her hands at one another Sparkling purple light pours out of her hands to a central point. Her muscles pulsing from the effort.

”For the honor of Greyskull!” Adora transforms in a flash. Glimmer releases her orb of burning light, launching it into the darkness. When it was far enough away She-Ra launches a cutting slice of light at Glimer’s orb. Upon impact it burst like a firework temporarily illuminating a massive doughnut shaped cavern with a central spire. It’s thinnest point was at its center. Flaring our like a round pyramid at the bottom, flowing into the floor of the cavern in a clean sweep. The top of the tower mirroring the bottom. Every inch of the cavern was covered in buildings and walkways. Sky scrapers even. The central colomb must be at least two hundred stories tall.

”Woah…” they all said in unison.

“Bow, can you-‘ Glimmer gets cut off.

”Not a chance. I have a max range and that thing is definitely outside of it.” He answers knowing exactly what she was going to ask.

“Guess we’re doing this blind.” GLimmer says threading her arm through Catra’s as Bow and now Adora grab her other arm and shoulder. Before Catra can ask ‘Do what blind?’ Adora pipes up.

“Wait, where’s Melog?” Catra murmurs something in response. “Huh?” Adora asks, knowing she would’ve asked again even Isfahan she’d heard what Catra said.

“I left her with Entrapta so she would have someone if something went wrong, okay?!” Catra finally admits out loud for everyone to hear. The others cooed at her for going soft. “Yeah yeah whatever can we- AHHHHHHH” Catra screams as they fall through the air. Glimmer had teleported them into the darkness. But not knowing where exactly she was going she had to do it in stages. Which meant going the distance in chunks until she could see a good place to land, and between teleports they simply fell. She would’ve warned Catra to hold on, but the fact that Catra was currently drawing blood told her it would be a moot point. (Moo point #cow’sopinion) Soon enough they’d poofed onto a catwalk on the central columb near it’s center. “You did that on purpose.” Catra said glaring at Adora before puking over the edge of the railing for real this time.

“Oh you mean like all those times you ripped off my bandaids from the the scratches you gave me?… Yeah I guess I did.” Adora said mischievously. Catra was too busy to roll her eyes but that doesn’t mean she didn’t want to. Glimmer and bow fell into their respective rolls as flashlight and recon. Looking for a doorway into the main structure. It had been a few minutes before they found one they liked. Adora went to man handle it open without much luck. Mostly because she was acting. Badly as she does.

“Catra would you?” Adora’s voice trails of, the implications enough. Catra steps up to the door and uses her claws to peal through the metal creating a sizable hole in the door.

”Next you’re gonna start asking me to be your can opener.” Catra said snakily before she turned to see their reactions. Bow was a little scared of her claws, and for good reason. Glimmer was simply thankful and supportive, but Catra could SWEAR that she’d seen Adora bite her bottom lip as she gave Catra’s body a once over. Forcing her to charge into the unlit room to avoid the blush across her face from being too obvious. She couldn’t possibly have actually seen that, right? She’d had dreams about Adora looking at her like that. It was part of why she worked so hard to beat Adora while they were training in the Hoard. Just to get a taste of that look on Adora’s face. Did Adora say ‘I love you’ yes, of course. But if pressed she’d probably say she loved all her friends. That kiss though? That was… well, if Catra thought about it too much she might actually start drooling. It should’ve been enough. So why was there this gnawing feeling in the pit of her stomach that told her Adora was only acting like that out of pity? Or maybe to save her from herself? Waiting tilll she was confident Catra had given up her affinity for war crimes before letting her down gently… ‘I can’t think about that’ Catra thinks to herself. The pain that moment would cause would be too much.

“Catra!” Adora yells, almost angrily.

“What?” Catra snaps back at her.

”I asked you if you found anything interesting.” Adora says sternly.

”Oh, uh, no. Nothing.” Catra almost blushed again. She realized that she’d been skulking around in the low light lost in thought, almost completely forgetting why they were here.

”Up here!” Bow’s voice came from beyond a set of stairs. Adora and Catra set aside whatever it was they were about to talk about and followed the sound of Bow’s voice. Catra wondered how obvious the thoughts in her head had just been. They gather around Bow who stood in front of a dimly lit console with First One’s writing flashing across it. “It looks like this is the control room for some kind of generator that powers the city. And over there,” he turns to yet another central pillar. “That goes up to the reactor we saw from the outside.”

”Okay…” Glimmer said not quite catching his point.

“Look, it’s got a sword slot, like Darla has.” He says gesturing to the slot in question. Adora shrugs as if to say ‘why not.’ Before summoning her sword. But before she could sink it into the key slot the doors on the room slammed shut, red flashing lights came on and in a familiar voice the alarm announced their presence.

”Alert. Unauthorized user detected. Lockdown initiated. Warning, do not attempt to escape.” The voice was Light Hope’s. Adora’s chest tightened and the hair on her neck stood up. Bow and Glimmer’s fear was more two dimensional than that.

”I just lost signal for my pad! I can’t call out!” He said.

”My magic!” Glimmer shouted looking at her now normal empty hands. She flexes them trying to bring it back with no success.

“Oh no.” Catra says defiantly. “I am not going through anymore of that brain suck stuff.” She flexes her claws, crouches and launches at the door.

“Catra no!” Adora yells a fraction of a second too late. The door Catra hit was protected by some kind of force field, shocking her to the point of her hair, tail and all, doing its best to jump off her body. She falls to the floor groaning before passing out all together. Adora charged toward her, scooping her up, carefully avoiding touching the door herself.

“Catra, are you okay?” Adora quietly begs for the answer.

“Mmmm… Five more minutes.” Catra snuggles into Adora’s neck. Adora, despite being illuminated by only red light, manages to turn even more visibly red. Glimmer, enjoying the moment a little too much looks like she’s about to explode from containing her laughter. Grabbing Bow’s shoulder and squeezing hard enough to make him wince while also trying to contain his laughter.

“She’s fine. We should probably try to figure out how to get out of here before the spiders show up.” Adora says doing her best to ignore Bow and Glimmer’s reaction.

“Don’t worry Adora, Glimmer and I got this.” Bow says confidently.

”Yeah Adora, just worry about taking care of your girlfriend.” Glimmer pokes fun at her. Adora nearly slaps Catra trying to cover up the ear not already plugged by her shoulder.

”Shh! We haven’t actually had that conversation yet!” Adora whispers harshly at them. Bow taps Glimmer with the back of his hand.

”I told you so.” Bow whispers.

”That was not the bet.” Glimmer says at an equally low volume.

“What bet?!” Adora says, breaking the whispering, only to flinch at Catra stirring and regret the rise in her voice. Clearing her throat she whispers “what bet?”

”Nothing~” Glimmer says in her faux innocent sing song voice.

”Don’t worry about it.” Bow says as a non-answer. “Just worry about taking care of your kitty while I figure out how to break out of here.” Adora’s blush returns with a fury as she refuses to acknowledge his ‘kitty’ comment.

”I can help!” She whispers indignantly.

“No offense Adora, but I get nervous if I even see you looking at wires. Besides, I’ve picked up a thing or two from Entrapta lately. Just enjoy cuddling and let resident tech master Bow handle things from here.” Bow declares striking a dramatic pose. Adora tries not to combust from the brutal combination of second hand embarrassment for Bow and her own embarrassment on top of it.

”And what am I supposed to do?” Glimmer says with her arms crossed.

“You’re my light.” For a second, Glimmer is almost flattered, then she realizes her means it literally. So she flexes her hand pretending to conjure her magic, reminding him that it’s not currently working. Without skipping a beat he pulls an arrow from his quiver, flicks it into a flashlight, and hands it to her.

“Have you had this the whole time?” Glimmer asks, a little dumbfounded.

“It’s just a back up, most of the time I forget it’s even there cause you’re always with me.” Bow says, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. Glimmer rolls her eyes, he’s too cute to stay mad at for something so silly. Opting to torture Adora some more as she follows Bow to a control panel.

”Adora and Catra sitting in a tree~” She sings just loud enough for Adora to hear. Adora for her part is very confused not having heard such a thing in all her time in the hoard. “K-I-S-S-I-N-G~”

“Glimmer!” Adora whisper-yells. Only for Glimmer to struggle breathing again instead of laughing at full volume. Adora wasn’t quite sure why they’d all wordlessly decided to let Catra sleep, but in the safety of her own mind she could admit that she was enjoying the moment in spite of the circumstances. At least there wasn’t an annoyingly loud alarm that made it hard to think. And it definitely wasn’t her fault that Catra’s hair was in her face, how could she not be taken in by the dark cherry scent of Catra’s shampoo? Or the warmth of her body pressing into Adora, or the fact that she could feel Catra’s heartbeat under her fingertips. But Adora couldn’t sit like this forever, her feet had already started to go numb. So she very carefully shifted, dragging them both inch by inch to another console she could lean on. The last movement made Catra stir a little. Adora’s heartbeat quickened thinking that she’d screwed up the moment. Only for Catra to dig into her neck even harder, bringing her free arm up around the other side of Adora’s neck, and tangling their legs together in the process. Adora let out a sigh and leaned her head onto Catra’s, a low rumble floating up to her ears and through her finger tips in response. Adora closed her eyes suddenly feeling very sleepy.

Glimmer starts tapping a preoccupied Bow on the shoulder. Then harder. Still not getting his attention she starts punching his shoulder and finally growling “Bow!”

”Huh?” He looks up having completely missed everything but Glimmer’s last couple of hits. She points at Adora and Catra snuggled up on the floor.

“They’re so cute I could die!” Glimmer growls under her breath, careful not to wake either of them. Bow nods vigorously in agreement and full heart eyes before whipping out his tracker pad and taking a picture of them. “Don’t you think that’s a little invasive?” Glimmer asks him.

”They’ll thank me when it shows up in their wedding album.” He says offering up a high five.

“You’re so right.” Glimmer says giving him the quietest high five of their whole relationship. Then they both yawn. “Why am I so tired now?” Glimmer wonders if Adora and Catra’s state is rubbing off on her. Bow thinks. He’s pretty tired too now all of a sudden. Then he spots something behind Glimmer.

”Were those vents on when we got here?” He says worriedly. Glimmer turns to look at the vent only to stop half way.

”There’s someone in the window!” She shouts at a silhouette peeking in at them menacingly. Bow had just noticed the gas pouring in from the vents before he turned to see what Glimmer was talking about. But the only thing he could say before the lights went out was; “So that’s why there aren’t any spider bots.”

Chapter Text

Donnalyn had heard the alarm. It had been forever since they’d had an incursion, strangers, let alone people her age. The notification had come through to her info pad. The thieves were contained and her parents were still on the other side of the planet doing maintenance on some coolin conduits that had ruptured yesterday. She’d promised them that she could handle anything that came up. They’d still insisted that if anything did go wrong that she was to stay in her room and wait for their return. But this was her chance. How could she wait knowing she had the opportunity to capture and interrogate these trespassers? They’d be so impressed they might even start letting her go on her own maintenance mission. Besides they were already trapped in the reactor control room and she could easily put them to sleep when she got there. ‘It’s go time’ She thinks to herself. Zipping up her white combat boots, and gives herself a once over in the mirror. Her teal green hair is pulled back in a pony tail. Can’t have hair in her face if things get ugly after all. Her left ear, perfectly gilded by two gold ear cuffs along the top, and a single dangling teardrop shape hanging from her lobe. Contrasted by the other side which was devoid of adornment. Her bright blue eyes with an inner ring of gold scrutinized her pale white, almost grey skin for blemishes before moving on to her outfit. She had on a long sleeve, white tail coat, with sharp clean lines that threaded the needle between military, and scientific lab coat. Over a pale pink button up with a ruffled center section held together at the top with a bow of thin ribbon. Complete with matching white leather pants that if they were any less stiff would seem baggy. She thought about putting on something more menacing. But they were still new people and one should always put their best foot forward. Right?

So she grabbed her trusty plasma driver and headed to the hyper-vater. It was only a few minutes before she reached the control room. She starts the knockout gas for safety. Donnalyn should wait, keep the element of surprise, but as she looks into the room through the security cameras, she can’t help but think about how the wide angle of the lenses distorted her picture of her soon to be prisoners. So she puts up the hood of her jacket to obscure her face and slowly leans over to look through the window. ‘Oh no.’ She thinks, ‘He’s cute…’ Blushing slightly. That was about the moment they saw her in the window. She was too frozen to think to move before the last two finally fell asleep.

Donnalyn spent the next hour or so hauling a hovering medical dolly up to the control room and then down to the Med Bay. Her first thought in the process was how they all seemed so different and yet… attractive? The blonde one even seemed familiar somehow. But by the end, having had to lift them all onto the medical dolly, and scratching herself on one of Catra’s claws she was much less enthralled with the idea of them. Using the restraints in the Med Pods it was easy to stand them up and prepare them for interrogation. She made sure that Catra in particular was well secured after finding the claw shaped hole a couple levels down. As she completed the final strap her info pad started ringing. Panicking she rushed out of the Med Bay to take her father’s call.

“Donni dear, your mother and I received a notification that someone had broken into the reactor control room, is everything alright?”

”Pffft, of course.” She lied. “It was just a bad sensor, I’ve already replaced it.” Donnalyn smiled as widely as possible to sell the lie. Her father didn’t actually buy it but he wasn’t willing to have the fight that calling her a liar would bring right now. Given that she was trying to pretend everything was fine he knew she was at least safe. If she wasn’t she would’ve used the code word. So whatever had gone wrong he could likely deal with it when they got back.

“Alright sweetly, just be careful while working on those live conduits.” He said.

”Daaad, you know I am. How long before you’re back anyways?” She pretends that she’s only curious.

”Probably another four to six hours, the job was longer than we thought, but I think we’re pretty close to finishing up. That should give you plenty of time to fix whatever you broke.” Her father smirks

“Ha Ha, sure dad. See you later, love you bye!” She hangs up on him. Sliding down the corridor wall to the floor as the panic leaves her system in a sigh. ‘Right, they should be waking up right about now. Guess it’s time to go say hi’ She thinks.

Adora had really been enjoying her dream. Then it got… cold. Unable to escape the dream it became a nightmare. She was fighting with Catra. Dream Adora didn’t even understand what fight they were having. All she knew is that every word Catra uttered seemed to cut through her like a knife.

“You said you’d stay this time!” Adora screams.

”So did you! But you never stay! There’s always someone that needs saving! I’m never going to be enough for you!” Catra says.

”That’s not true!” Adora is screaming as she wakes. Well, not out loud. As her consciousness rises to the surface all her inner voice can do is scream that over and over again. “It’s not true! It’s not true!” The context of the dream fades, the memories faltering. Out loud all anyone would hear is stifled sobbing. The tears streaming down her face leave shining tracks before she opens her eyes. Memories of life before she fell asleep also resurface. Her wrists are bound. ‘Where am I?’ She thinks as she opens her eyes. Not just her wrists, her whole body is strapped down to… a table? No, there were kind of walls to each side of her. A pod, she’s in some kind of pod.

“Catra! Glimmer! Bow!” She cries out. The response is slow at first, moaning and grumbling. Adora realizes she has a headache. The others probably do too, she thinks. “Is everyone okay?” Adora asks.

”Adora?…” Catra’s voice, it’s to her left.

”I’m here too.” Glimmer says in a pained way.

“Me too,” Bow says. “Where are we?”

“I don’t know, I don’t even remember what happened. One minute I’m…” Adora stops herself before she says ‘holding Catra.’ Glimmer can almost hear Adora’s blush creeping back up her neck and bails Adora out.

“We were gassed.” Glimmer says frustrated she didn’t see it coming.

”And we weren’t alone either. Someone did this on purpose.” Bow adds.

”Oh really?” Catra says sarcastically. “I thought this was just one of your twisted princess party games.”

“Not helpful Catra.” Bow says.

“What? Like it’s my fault we’re tied up?” Catra retorts.

”That’s not what I said!” Bow says defensively.

”Guys! We need a plan.” Glimmer interrupts what she’s sure is a dead end argument.

“Glimmer’s right, right now we’re at the mercy of whoever lives here, and unless we wanna get probed we should probably figure our way out of here.” Adora tries to bring them back to the moment.

”Oh so you mean the same plan that got us into this?” Catra once again let the sarcasm roll off her tongue. She knew full well that the lockdown was triggered by She-Ra’s sword. So did Adora, which is why, with an extra second of processing, Adora knew she shouldn't have been able to hear that plan.

“Wait, a second. How did you know that was the last plan? You were asleep weren’t you?” Adora asks. Catra was thankful that no one could see her ears flatten against her head as it occurred to her that she’d just given away that she had been trying to see how long she could soak up Adora’s affection before she got caught. The convenience of getting knocked out by the gas hadn’t fully framed itself in her mind yet. She had to come up with something to say. Something that wasn’t ‘I like it when you hold me.’

“Uh, I- isn’t that always the plan? Get stuck in a trap hunting some special rock or tech and find our way out?” Catra asks rhetorically. Hopefully Adora didn’t hear the more honest ‘do you believe me’ question mark at the end of that sentence.

“I guess so…” Adora thinks back over their adventures, before shaking off the thought. “Can you cut your restraints?” Bow and Glimmer had clearly heard Catra’s obvious lie and were on the edge of their seats waiting for Adora to rib Catra about it. When she didn’t they rolled their eyes and hit the back of their head on their bed. Each wondering how Adora could be so completely oblivious.

“No…” Catra audibly struggles against the restraints. “Whoever tied us up knew to lock down my wrists.”

”What about your feet?” Adora asks.

”Even if my ankles weren’t secured, how flexible do you think I am?” Catra said. It was supposed to sound sarcastic again. How it came out in an almost lewd tone Catra didn’t know. She only knew she regretted saying it like that. At least in front of the glitter twins. Adora didn’t hesitate to switch topics.

”Bow, got any gadgets to help us out?” She asked.

”They took everything. I feel so naked right now.” Bow whines about his separation from bow and quiver.

”You’re naked?!” Glimmer nearly screams in fright.

”No! No.” Bow clears his throat. “I’m just not used to being separated from my stuff.” Bow swallows hard hoping the embarrassment will go with it. ‘Man,’ he thinks, ‘is it possible Catra and Adora are so awkward they’re rubbing off on him and Glimmer?’

”Oh. Right.” Glimmer says in understanding. “I can’t do anything either, whatever was dampening my magic in the control room is still going on. What about-“ Glimmer was about to ask if Adora could transform to break the restraints but before she could, a new voice hit her ears.

”You four really are a big old mess.” A giggle pierces the Med Bay. “Are you always this disorganized when you rob someone?” Donnalyn stepped out of the shadows, hood up.

“We’re not thieves!” Glimmer defended the BFS.

“Speak for yourself Sparkles.” Catra said, smirking once again.

”Catra!” Glimmer chastises her.

”Who are you?” Adora demanded before Glimmer and Catra could keep going. Sure enough, from around the corner came the cloaked figure.

“I feel like I’m supposed to be the one asking questions here. You know, since you’re the ones that got caught breaking into my home?” Donnalyn leans into the mysterious figure bit she has going. Not lifting her head to even look at them, and obscuring her face.

“Ha! If you’re talking about feelings at this point you’ve already lost this interrogation.” Catra mocks her. Donnalyn hits a few buttons on what must be a remote control and the pod beds lift from their position. Moving outward to expose the BFS to each other. Whipping out her trusty plasma driver she points it at Catra. A beam of red line leaps from it’s tip, carving a line out around Catra’s head a chunk of the bed. It falls to the floor and Catra takes a deep gulp.

”Catra, please don’t aggravate our captor.” Glimmer pleas with irritation.

“Nice going Sparkles, now she knows my name.” Catra says. Donnalyn, now happy with her control of the situation, drops her hood, and walks up to Catra for inspection. Catra notes the matching hair poof that reminds her of her favorite blonde.

”Catra the cat?” She asks eyeing Catra’s ears. “Did your parents hate you?” Catra pauses for a moment, thinking about Shadow Weaver the only parent figure she’d ever known.

”You’re not far off.” She admits. Donnalyn pouts a little, almost sorry she asked before turning to the others.

“And… Sparkles?” She asks looking up and down Glimmer’s admittedly sparkly outfit.

“It’s Glimmer actually.”

”But it would make my year if you called her Sparkles.” Catra adds.

”Only if she gets to call you Hoard Scum.” Glimmer bites back. That was enough to set Donnalyn off. She jumps back and takes aim at Catra again.

“You’re with the Hoard!?” Donnalyn’s figure quivers in her boots.

”Woah! Woah! Woah!” Bow speaks up. “Not anymore! Not for a long time now she’s with us!” Donnalyn’s plasma driver is suddenly trying to aim at all of them.

”How do I know you’re not all with the Hoard?!” She screams at them.

”We’re not!” Adora yells before collecting herself. “It’s okay, I promise. Check our necks! I’m Adora, and this is Bow. We’re kind of from the resistance.” Donnalyn shoves her driver into her pocket before grabbing at her remote furiously. Suddenly Catra’s backboard dematerialized and she is suspended by a force field, still bound by her restraints. Then the farm she’s suspended in flips. Donnalyn inspects Catra’s neck, seeing the scar.

”You were chipped…” She says breathlessly. Catra growls.

“Don’t remind me.” With that Donnalyn moved onto Adora, Bow and Glimmer.

”Your necks are clean…” She says in disbelief.

”This isn’t an interrogation room is it?” Bow observes.

”…yes it is.” Donnalyn lies.

”How do you know?” Glimmer asks.

”These are surgery beds, that’s why they're so articulate, and why they’re not in separate rooms. I’m right aren’t I? You weren’t actually prepared for intruders.”

”Maybe you’re not as dumb as you look. Most people don’t make it to the surface, let alone this far down.” Donnalyn said allowing them to be flipped back over so that everyone could see each other once more. Getting a snicker out. Of Catra for the comment.

”Have I ever told you how attractive it is watching you puzzle things out?” Glimmer says to Bow making him blush lightly.

“I promise we’re not here to hurt you, we’re the good guys. We honestly didn’t think anyone would even still be alive here.” Adora attempts to assure her.

”Then what were you doing in the reactor control room? Good guys don’t typically engage in a lot of breaking and entering.” Donnalyn asks.

”You’d be surprised.” Catra quips.

”Technically we were just looking for the light switch.” Bow tries to be helpful.

“So you weren’t trying to steal from us?”

”Well…” Catra says.

”Catra!” It was finally Adora’s turn to reign her in.

“It’s so fun messing with you.” Catra chuckles. She wouldn’t have done it if she thought that Adora was in anything less than complete control of the situation. She sneaks a glance at Adora while she’s focused on Donnalyn. A little bit of awe sneaking into her eyes. Adora could talk anyone off the ledge, and Catra knew that better than anyone.

“We’re scavengers, explorers. If we’d known that anyone was here we would’ve never attempted anything like that. We thought this place was abandoned.” Adora assures their captor. Her eyes were intense as Donnalyn scrutinized her.

”Although,” Bow says, breaking their staring contest. “Like you said, most don’t make it to the surface. I’m guessing that’s because the storm we hit on the way in is some sort of defense system?”

”I mean we don’t call it that, but yeah.” Donnalyn answers.

”Darla, our ship, got pretty beat up and if you help us put it back together we would be happy to get out of your lair- hair, I mean hair.” Bow proposes. Donnalyn looks contemplative, weighing out her options.

“Okay!” She says going from stern and stoic to bubbly. Once again she fumbles with the remote and releases the fields, adds back the backboards and releases the restraints. The BFS hop down and rub their wrists to restore blood flow.

“Seriously?” Catra bemuses. “I swear, you bat those eyelashes at anything with a heartbeat and they just hand you the world.”

“There was no batting.” Adora says defensively.

“I’m Donnalyn, welcome to Acadia.” She says raising her hand to shake Adora’s. Adora takes it only to get a violently large shake that reverberated throughout her whole body. When Donnalyn sees Adora’s eyes spinning around in her skull she apologizes.

”I don’t get to meet new people very often. Part of the mission, ya know.”

“What’s Acadia?” Bow asks.

”What mission?” Glimmer adds.

”Can I get one of those laser thingies?” Catra squeezes in hoping Adora won’t notice. She did, and it earned Catra a side eye. In Catra’s head she could almost hear Adora say ‘naughty kitty…’ in that way that makes her mouth water a little bit. Catra has to shake her head a bit to come back to the moment.

“We can talk about it on the way to your ship.” Donnalyn raises her hand like Adora or Glimmer when they expect their weapon to materialize. A confused look dawning on her face when nothing happens. “Oh! Shoot! The magic dampers!” That’s when Catra notices that the remote she was using to control the beds was more like a slimmed down version of Bow’s Tracker Pad, and it was strapped to her wrist for convenience. A couple of buttons later, Donnalyn materialized a chic white staff with a crystal at the top caressed by two intertwined metal vines that flowed back into the main shaft. Glimmer thought it looked familiar but she couldn’t remember where she’d seen it before. Still, she flexed her magic muscles and found that her shimmer was indeed working again. Donnalyn began leading the way out of the Med Bay.

”Wait,” Glimmer said, having her own epiphany. “You’re magic too?”

”No…” Donnalyn answered, a little disappointed in herself. “The crystal in my staff is magic and its shaft is tech that lets me access it. And it’s keyed to me so that only I can use it.” The crew follows her down another vague unmarked hallway.

“So just like my-“ Adora starts only to have Catra cut her off.

”You’re a First One, aren’t you?” She says with her eyes narrowed just a little bit. There was an edge in her voice. It was just enough for Adora to notice. But the implication of the baggage that might come with the answer was enough to put Glimmer and Bow on notice too. With a single question Catra told everyone but Donnalyn that they couldn’t trust her, not yet at least.

Donnalyn giggles uncomfortably.

”I don’t really like that as a title, it feels too stuffy. But yeah, I guess you could say that. I like to think of us as stewards.” She says honestly.

“Stewards of what?” Glimmer asks as they turn another corner. They walked out onto another cat walk. Donnalyn hits a couple more buttons on her info pad. The lights of the donut shaped city flickered to life like billions of fireflies illuminating the space.

“Like I said, welcome to Acadia the Great Sleeping City.” Donnalyn said, her arms sweeping out in a grand gesture.

Chapter Text

602 Part 2

They all boarded a hovering platform to take them back to the control room. As they float, Donnalyn tries to answer their questions.

”Well, technically this is only one of the major nodes of the city. Basically the whole planet is one big city hidden by an outer shell of desolate rock. After Mara’s defection from Eternia high command it was decided that in order for our people to survive the scourge of Hoard Prime designated survivors would be hidden in a seed, ready to out last the Hoard’s reign over the universe. Acadia was originally dedicated to research and development of science, technology and magic. Since most of our smartest people were already here it seemed prudent to convert it into long term storage.”

”Storage? Like people storage?” Glimmer asks.

“Exactly. My family is the sixteenth generation of stewards of three and a half billion souls. All waiting quietly in stasis to be woken in a universe where they can flourish. Not to mention all the wild life saved from countless destroyed worlds ready to be distributed to new worlds so that they’re legacy can never be lost.”

”That’s amazing.” Bow said honestly, but still leery of this whole situation.

“Who’s this uh- Mara was it?” Adora pretends not to know who she’s asking about. Badly enough that Catra cringes.

“Mara was the last She-Ra before the galactic fall…” Donnalyn said wistfully. Catra rolls her eyes. If Adora can’t act to save her life, and it seems like Bow and Glimmer aren’t that great at it either, she has to step in at this point.

”What’s a She-Ra?” Catra asks like she hadn’t spent years fighting one.

”She-Ra is the High Princess of Eternia, Eris of all Feminine Magic and Warrior Protector of the Universe. She-Ra herself is more like a spirit that chooses a host every generation. There must always be a She-Ra and every time one of them dies a new one takes her place.” Donnalyn realizes that she’s rambling a little. “Sorry I’m kind of a big fan.”

”That’s okay, I bet it’s nice knowing there’s someone out there looking out for the universe.” Adora wants to tell her right then and there. But they need more information before they can trust her. A lot more.

“Well apparently she wasn’t all that great, since Hoard Prime managed to conquer literally everything.” Catra said. It sounded like arrogance to everyone else. But the light blush on Adora’s cheeks said that she’d heard the quiet part Catra hadn’t said ‘Adora is a way better She-Ra.’

”That’s not true!” Donnalyn turns on Catra, displaying real anger for the first time since she’d met them. It was gone almost as fast as it came. She sighed before continuing. “I’m sorry, it’s just… I spend a lot of time in the records. And there’s a lot written about what a traitor Mara and her friends were. But… all the first hand accounts of Mara tell a completely different story. She was smart, strong, beautiful, cunning, and kind. Something about it all just makes me wonder if maybe just maybe she had a good reason.” Donnalyn’s thousand yard stare was broken by the platform finally meeting its destination. The BFS shared a collection of looks, each processing everything Donnalyn had told them. “But that was over a thousand years ago.Anywhoser, let’s get you to a map so we can see where your ship is.” Donnalyn says almost skipping down the catwalk.

“But if there always has to be a She-Ra, where’s she been for all this time?” Glimmer asks, now locked into the line of questioning.

“Well, according to what I can find, the She-Ra spirit was bound to a sword made by my people so that the transformation would be more reliable. She was sent to a planet to raise the power of its magic against the enemies of life. It was called Etheria, and it disappeared with her. Our scientists believed that it had been sent out into the multiverse somewhere. But without coordinates, and with the spirit bound to the sword, and the sword lost with Etheria… even the next in line wouldn’t be able to bind with it and take her place.” Donnalyn said. She opens the door to the control room for them, stepping in ahead to reach the consol first.

“Wait, I don’t get it.” Bow interjects. “If Mara, and the sword, and Etheria were all together when she died, why wouldn’t someone on Etheria become the next She-Ra?” He asks her as she types away.

“We’re not totally sure. But the myth is that ‘the first ones’ were a people born from the first universe with magic in it, and that it was so rich and full of magic that their bodies were forced to adapt to it as they evolved. These days we’ve identified a specific mutation that seems to occur spontaneously, but only inside of the Eternian population. We think that there’s something specific about the rest of the genome’s compatibility that makes it possible. But like I said we don’t really know. I found it!” A map appears on a massive screen with a glowing pink dot, presumably indicating Darla’s location.

“Can you show me where we are in relation to our ship?” Glimmer asks.

”Sure.” Donnalyn said zooming the map out until there was a matching blue dot.

“Perfect! Thank you.” Glimmer says.

”Now we have to hurry if I’m gonna fix your ship before my parents get home.” Donnalyn says.

”I don’t think that’ll be a problem. Do you have everything you need?” Glimmer asks Donnalyn, putting a hand on her shoulder.

”I mean there’s no way to know till I see how bad it is.” Donnalyn says noticing that everyone else is placing their hands onto Glimmer, even Catra who doesn’t look very happy about it. “What’re you-”

*Poof*

The five of them fall and tumble, yelling and screaming before they come to a stop.

“Sorry! I forgot the ship was tilted from the crash.” Glimmer says, rubbing her head. Donnalyn gasps wildly looking at Glimmer.

”You’re a Moonstone Princess!” Donnalyn declares. “There haven’t been any of those since…” A chill runs through her. Suddenly she’s backing up, putting distance between her and the BFS. Then she starts looking around wide eyed. “This ship… it’s vintage… It’s not just vintage, it's a TR-3B Strike Frigate. THIS IS MARA’S TROUBLE MAKER.”

”So much for stealth.” Adora groans, still not quite over the fall.

“That’s a way cooler name than Darla.” Catra says, appreciating the title.

“IS SOMEONE TRASH TALKING MY BABY.” Entrapta yells presumably from another room. Catra put’s her hand to her mouth to funnel the sound half heartedly.

”Darla is a dumb name and I won’t pretend it’s not!” Catra yells knowing exactly how Entrapta will react. The sound of metal flexing rushes closer to them until Entrapta pops out of a duct above them waving a wrench at Catra.

”You take that back Fleabag!” Catra dramatically pretends to be hurt by the comment.

“Entrapta, meet Donnalyn, she’s a First One.” Catra says, directing Entrapta’s attention. Entrapta falls gracefully balancing on her ponytails with eyes as wide as moons and a smile that’s just as broad.

“You are?!” Entrapta asks in wonder. Donnalyn, who has never seen someone with magic hair, and certainly never thought she’d have a chance to literally step foot in her hero’s ship, not to mention history itself, promptly faints.

“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?” Adora accuses Catra.

”Look at her, anyone could tell she was about to have a heart attack. If that didn’t do it I was gonna call Melog in.” Catra says nonchalantly.

”You let her get away with this cause it’s cute when she’s scheming, don’t you?” Bow observes. Adora can’t find the words to answer before Catra has her next idea.

”I feel like it’s our turn to tie her up.” She smirks, pretending she didn’t hear Bow’s comment. The judgemental glares she got were almost more fun than the actual thought. “What? It’s only fair.” Just then Melog approaches, licking Donnalyn’s face to wake her up. It works, and Donnalyn screams again. This time managing to stay awake long enough to flee from Melog. Who, startled by the scream, retreats to Catra’s side. With her mane red and flared.

”Who are you?” Donnalyn says cowering against the wall of the ship. Adora looks at Glimmer who shrugs with a small smile. Trusting that Adora will know just the right thing to say.

“We’re the good guys.” Adora says as she reaches her hand out to help Donnalyn up. Still in shock, Donnalyn looks around at the ship she’s in. Then to each of her crew, the gears in her head turning like she’s doing calculus. Finally landing on Adora.

“The Trouble Maker has an onboard security system that’s biolocked. You wouldn’t have even been able to get it off the ground unless…” She says. The train of thought becomes dangerously apparent to everyone. “You’re She-Ra, aren’t you?”

Adora sighs, lifting her hand to the side, and summons her sword.

”For the honor… of Greyskull!” Adora calls her transformation. A blinding flash of light later the full Glory of She-Ra stands before Donnalyn. Who passes out again.

”Now can we tie her up?” Catra asks.

”No!” The rest of them shout in unison. Catra just rolls her eyes. Only for Donnalyn to jerk awake once more.

”I’m good!” She says, her head and thoughts still spinning. She looks back at She-Ra as she tries to stand on her own. Holding up a finger to indicate that she’ll deal with that mind bending reality in a moment. She looks at Entrapta and holds out her hand for a handshake. “I’m Donnalyn, and you are?”

”The name’s Entrapta, Princess of Dryll. Nice to meet you!” Entrapta says, shaking Donnalyn’s hand with one of her ponytails. Donnalyn does her best to control the shivers running down her spine at the contact with tentacle hair. Taking a big gulp before she speaks again.

”Can she fly? We don’t have to go into space, just enough for a run around the block.”

”Sure!”

”Then why’s the ship still tips on its nose?” Catra asks.

”Well I was gonna level the deck, but I was interrupted when SOMEONE decided they needed to disrespect Darla.” Entrapta said before sticking her tongue out at Catra. Catra, being unafraid to retaliate, reciprocates the gesture. Donnalyn laughs, a hearty belly laugh that none of them had ever seen before. It was almost jarring for the crew.

“You guys are great,” Donnalyn says, wiping a happy tear away. She then shakes her head around, whipping her ponytail around with it. Returning to her serious face she looks at Adora. “We have to get out of here, I have to hide you.” Adora’s eyes widened.

”What?” She asks.

”To the bridge!” Donnalyn declares, grabbing Entrapta’s hand and launching herself in the right direction. The crew follows close behind. Watching as Donnalyn calls out commands and uses jargon that no one but Entrapta seems to understand. Well, Bow catches some of it, but not enough to be helpful. In a few moments Darla began to rise. As Darla crests the hole that Entrapta had managed to put them down in Adora grabs Donnalyn by the shoulder and turns her.

”Where are we going?” She says sternly.

“Somewhere safe.” Donnalyn answers quickly. There’s something in her eyes that Adora recognizes. A determination laced with fear. For some reason Adora would never be able to really explain, in that moment, she trusts her. Nodding with an understanding she couldn’t possibly have. Adora walks back to the captain’s chair.

“You’re just gonna let her-“ Catra says getting cut off by Adora.

”Yes I am.” She says in a tone that says ‘we’ll talk about this later.’ Before Catra can respond Darla jumps forward as Entrapta and Donnalyn hit the metaphorical gas.

They sped across what looks like a wasteland. With the coordinates locked in, the bridge got quiet. Bow was the first to break the silence.

“Why aren’t we getting knocked out of the sky by the storms?”

“Because now we’re emitting an authorized transponder signal that keeps the defense system from targeting us.” Donnalyn says.

”Hu?” Adora asks.

”She told Darla how to tell the planet we’re friends.” Entrapta explains.

“Great, now there’s two of them.” Catra mutters, more out of a jealousy she hadn’t quiet put her finger on yet.

“Now can you tell us where we’re going?” Adora asks.

”Pretty soon I won’t have to.” Donnalyn says. Darla begins slowing down, almost to a stop. A crevasse opens up, the hologram that disguised it fizzing away to reveal metal doors splitting open like the maw of a great beast. “Ladies, and gentleman, welcome to my workshop. Better known at the hangar of Acadia.” As they descended she continued. “And this is the fleet of new beginnings.” It wasn’t as large as the donut shaped city that they’d discovered upon their arrival, but it was close. Much more rectangular full of what looked like from a distance, shelving. But it was more like a complex of open skyscrapers. Each slot has its own metallic crystalline ship of varying sizes. In the middle of the open atrium was a ship that was larger than the rest, more streamline and sleek. Like a whale with its tail fluke folded up and thinning to points like antennae. Entrapta was already drooling.

”What’s that one?” She says in total awe.

“That is our flagship, the SS Arcanium.” Donnalyn says with affection.

“Can I play with it?!” Entrapta screams. Donnalyn’s eyes flare in fear.

”I- Um, let’s get Darla put back together and I will give you a tour.” Donnalyn said. They slowly lowered into a corner of the hanger that was significantly more messy than the rest of it. Makeshift walls cutting off a workshop area from the rest of the world. Tools and grease scattered around like a game of I Spy. Darla comes to rest next to it. On a spot clearly designated for her current project.

”Now that we’re ‘safe’ can you tell us what’s going on?” Catra says with her arms crossed. A series of panicked emotions crosses Donnalyn’s face. Bow cocks his eyebrow and joins Catra in her pose. Glimmer tilts her head in anticipation. Entrapta doesn’t care what’s going on because she’s using Darla’s sensors to inspect the ships around them, and Adora? Well she was an impenetrable wall of unreadability.

“Okay, so yes…” Her info pad pinged. Donnalyn looked down at it, her hackles rising as a result. “So long story short. All the She-Ra stuff I know I really had to dig for, If I get too close to it I run into a bunch of classified stuff. And the official stuff about Mara is super not flattering. I don’t know how my parents are going to react to you. So for now, can you please just stay put in the hangar? You shouldn’t be able to draw enough power that it will be suspicious.”

”Why would we be suspicious? They don’t even know we broke in right?” Glimmer asks.

“…yes, but this place isn’t supposed to exist. Almost no one ever comes here. Those that do, well protocol is that we’re supposed to put they’re ship back together and do a mind wipe. Sending you on your way as though you’d never even known there was a planet here. Given that you came here looking for us, I don’t know what they’ll do. Besides, I have SO MANY questions. So if you guys can stay here and settle in for the night I promise I’ll be back tomorrow and we can talk about it then okay?” Donnalyn begs with her eyes.

”So let me get this straight, our options are, hide in your garage, or brain suck?” Bow asks.

”Kinda? Maybe?” Donnalyn said shyly.

“I VOTE WE STAY WITH THE SHIPS.” Entrapta says. Adora facepalms.

“I hate it here.” Catra groans.

”Well, at least we know that Darla can be fixed, maybe some upgrades?” Glimmer tries to find the silver lining.

”Absolutely!” Donnalyn agrees. Her eyes moved to Adora for a reaction.

“Fine.” Adora says flatly. Summoning her sword she points it just under Donnalyn’s chin, lifting it slightly. “But do not disappoint me.”

Donnalyn nods slightly with stars in her eyes before jetting off in a puff of smoke. “You guys won’t regret this I promise!” She calls back as she runs down the ramp. Catra, having watched the encounter, was feeling… a lot of feelings, most of which she decided to cram down in the name of sass.

”Laying it on a little thick there, don't you think?” Catra side eyes Adora. Adora rolls her eyes a little before switching topics.

“So I guess we just, settle in?” Adora asks the room.

”Works for me.” Bow says, Glimmer humming in agreement with him.

“I’M GONNA GO LOOK AT ALL THE PRETTY-“ Entrapta is cut off as she tries to run past Adora at nearly the same speed as Donnalyn. Only to get caught by Adora, who grabbed the straps of her overalls.

“No you’re not.” Adora sassy sternly.

“Adora is right.” Catra says. “That felt weird.” Catra shakes her head to remind herself of what she was going to say. “We can’t risk being exposed. If I get brainwashed by stuffy First One’s I will personally shave your head.”

“Ahhh!” Entrapta cries out quietly, grabbing her hair up in her arms. “We’re incognito, gotcha. But I can still work on Darla right?” She pouts.

”As long as you don’t make too much noise, okay?” Adora says in a much sweeter tone.

“Okay!” Entrapta says, every ounce of enthusiasm having returned. Adora realizes her. Once Entrpata has disappeared into the vents again, Adora turns to Catra.

”Laying it on a bit thick, don’t you think?” Adora smirks.

“Oh you think you’re SO funny don’t you?” Catra says as she’s walking away, back towards their quarters.

“Oh I know I’m funny, you just don’t have a sense of humor.” Adora says just to get under Catra’s skin.

“I do too!” Catra’s voice cracks. Bow and Glimmer just watched the show like they had popcorn. Having conversation in complete silence. The bulk of which was essentially; “This is what they’re gonna sound like as parents isn’t it.” “Yes, and it’s so cute.”

”Do you really think this is a good idea?” Bow asks Glimmer now that they’re alone.

“Probably not, but since when has that ever stopped us?” Glimmer says, threading her arm into Bow’s. “Let’s go get settled in, I could use some sleep.” Bow let’s his shoulders slump.

”Sleep sounds very good.” He agrees.

Chapter Text

602 Part 3

Catra rounded the corner of Adora’s room, finding her picking through a crate to store her clothes in an under bed compartment. Silently approaching the crate Catra sees that it’s evenly divided between the two of them, making her softly smile. It’s sweet, and on top are a couple of things that she recognizes but fully didn’t expect to see. The first thing she pulls out is a worn leather jacket with a snake eating its own tail. It falls limp in her hand, hanging from her hand and underneath it her whip. Also from the crimson waste. Jacket in one hand and whip in the other Catra holds each of them out to the sides of her wearing a toothy grin as she stares Adora down.

”What exactly possessed you to pack these?” She asked, suspecting she already knew the answer. Adora stiffens for a moment before puffing out her chest and eyeing the ceiling while she rubs the back of her neck.

”Well, uh, I- you know, we never really know what we’re walking into…” As Adora spoke Catra couldn’t help but eye her form a little bit. Knowing that Adora wanted to look anywhere but into Catra’s eyes at this moment was almost license to do so. It was a classic pose for Adora to strike when she was embarrassed and trying to talk herself out of a hole. Catra wonder’s if she’d ever really taken the time to notice that puffing out her chest was in fact a consistent aspect of this behavior. And if so, why she’d never taken the time to drink in that particular part of it. Now that she was, even for a fraction of a second, there was a tightness forming in her stomach. Something akin to hunger. As the thought passed through her mind, although not in so many words. She realized that she needed to swallow. Where’d all that saliva come from? Wait, what was Adora even saying? Catra had clocked out for just long enough to lose track of the blonde’s broken train of thought.

“After all you seemed really comfortable in it, I thought you might like the option.” Adora finished with her thousand watt smile that made her look like a golden retriever. Catra knew she had her cornered metaphorically. Now it was time to make it much less of a metaphor.

”Oh really?” Catra said, taking a step or two towards her, and invading Adora’s personal space. Adora might not have wanted to take a step back, but the movement was so brazen, and Catra definitely had a history of playful sneak attacks. So her instincts took over and put Adora on her back foot.

”Of course, why else would I have packed them?” Adora asks, noticing that her mouth had gone dry.

“No, I believe you~” Catra says, taking yet another step forward. Now feeling the heat of Adora’s body radiating. Whether that was her normal body temperature or not Catra was too focused to notice. It wasn’t. Under her athletic under shirt Adora’s chest had fully flushed. Adora thanks whatever gods were out there that she wasn’t in the habit of wearing anything with a low cut in that moment. “I’m just wondering what outfit you think might go with it…” Catra continues her advance until Adora is backed into the wall of the chamber. Subconsciously, Adora couldn’t help but shake her head ‘no.’

I- uh, well obviously the um…” Adora swallows, not having even a drop of saliva with which to do so.

”Nothing? Not even a single scrap?” Catra pushes in. Enjoying Adora’s clearly flustered state like a captured mouse. “You did pack all of my stuff, you must have some idea.” Adora’s face was now as red as it could possibly be. Catra shamelessly looks her up and down, and then, as if she hadn’t says, “I guess I’ll figure something out.” Before casually strolling back to the crate and stacking her things on the bed. With Catra’s back turned Adora holds her chest with one hand and the wall with the other breathing heavily out of her mouth. Wondering to herself if this is what having a heart attack feels like. Then she notices that Catra pulls the arm full she’d stacked on the bed to her chest and turns to leave. Which definitely pulls her out of her internal spiral.

”Catra?” She says, her voice laced with a little more panic than she’d meant to say out loud. Catra turns around, her tail flicking back and forth. ”Where are you going?” Adora hoped that the fragile longing in the question wasn’t totally transparent.

“My room?” Catra asked back. Suddenly Catra found herself completely drained of the confidence she’d just had, a flicker of a fantasy passing through her mind. She wanted Adora to walk up confidently, take her hand and give her a short passion laden kiss and ask the biggest question either of them ever asked each other. ‘Stay?’ Instead Catra felt heart heart threaten to fracture.

”Oh…” Adora said quietly, unable to fill the silence. They hadn’t talked about any expectation, or anything about their new found closeness. Adora had just assumed that Catra would stay with her. Catra clearly had other plans, it hurt, but what reason did she really have to stop her? What if she pushed Catra too far? Sure Adora was ready to never spend another night without Catra in her arms, but maybe Catra wasn’t? Maybe she still felt like she needed her alone time, or maybe Adora had done something their last night together in her sleep that Catra didn’t want to put up with. Glimmer had made fun of her for sleep sparring, Adora couldn’t help it if she was so used to training that she even dreamt about it. Even if Catra understood that didn’t exactly make a good cuddle partner. She should just let her get some good rest shouldn’t she? As all these thoughts flooded Adora’s mind she was cut off by Catra who had finally caved to the vacuum of silence.

”Well, yeah, I mean, Darla’s beds aren’t nearly as soft as Bright Moon’s… so…” Catra feels like she’s choking on every syllable. Adora would love to take note of Catra using Entrapta’s name for the ship, if her heart weren’t pounding in her ears.

”Uh, yeah totally, I guess you’re right, these are much more comfortable.” Adora manages, but just barely.

”Unless there’s another reason?…” Catra’s ears are flared back. Like a vulnerable kitten begging for a home. If only Adora could’ve seen that through the anxiety and the worry that she was seeing and hearing what she wanted to, rather than what Catra was actually feeling. Adora tries to speak, instead her mouth just hangs open slightly. Her head slowly shook from side to side. To keep what thoughts she was managing to have inside Adora uses her teeth to clamp down on her lips.

“Okay…” Catra turns to leave. In a panic, Adora tries to save the moment.

”Goodnight! Sweet dreams!” She calls as Catra crosses the threshold. Making Catra turn back in confusion.

”I’m coming back,” Catra says. Adora’s heart leaps with hope. “You still have a bunch of my stuff.” Adora’s eyes widened. She looks at Catra’s arms clutched to her chest, full of clothes. Then to the crate, seeing it still half full of Catra’s things. ‘IDIOT’ She screams at herself internally.

“Oh, yeah, of course, see ya in a sec!” Adora says in the bubbliest voice she can manage.

“Whatever.” Catra says under her breath, the door then closing behind her. Adora melts to the floor and bangs her head on the side of the crate.

”Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.” Adora repeats with every impact. Continuing with a dull rhythm she continues to beat herself up. “You’ve known Catra all your life, why is this so hard all of a sudden? What is wrong with you? UGH…” Adora further melts until she’s laying completely flat, face down staring at the cold metal. She wasn’t sure how long she was down there. But she definitely didn’t hear the door open back up.

“Adora?” That sweet husky voice asked. Adrenaline surged through Adora. She jumps up and leans on the crate like everything is totally normal. “Is everything okay?” Catra asks, still not having any answers.

”Yeah totally, just, um, seeing if I could hear outside through the floors.” Her fake smile made her look almost clownish.

“Whatever weirdo.” Catra smirks. A smile? Adora can run with a smile, maybe she hadn’t completely screwed up after all. But before Adora can think of anything else to say, Catra decides to run with the ball.

“So do you think Bow and Glimmer are gonna start sharing a room?” She says. Adora snorts.

”I think they’re gonna make a big show of going to separate rooms. Then Glimmer will ‘get restless’ and sneak into Bow’s.”

”Then she’s gonna try to wake up before us and sneak back to her room.” Catra adds. They both laugh at the image. Catra is finishing her last stack of clothes.

“Like that’ll happen, I’m still on Horde time. I can’t sleep in if my life depended on it.” Adora chuckles.

”Seriously? I was hoping that wouldn’t last forever.” Catra says lightly, falling back into their old kind of easy conversation. Well, they would’ve, if they hadn’t found themselves staring softly into each other’s eyes. Shallow easy smiles across their faces. Warmth remarkably like that they’d found cuddling the other night spreading through them. Catra was the first to snap out of it. If it had lasted any longer, she didn’t know what she was going to do. Luckily, something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. “What’s that?” Her hand was already reaching back into the crate. Adora’s hypnosis of the moment was still wearing off.

”What’s-” Adora followed Catra’s eyes and hand, realizing that she was reaching for Adora’s diary. Adora suddenly felt very sober. Real fear coursing through her. She gasped and tried to grab for the diary. But Catra was faster. “Catra no!”

“What’s wrong Adora?” Catra said as she started playing keep away. Adora clumsily chasing her around the room.

”It’s mine! Give it back!” Adora shouts. Catra’s acrobatics escalate to get away from her.

”Don’t tell me you actually started a diary for all your sappy princess feelings~” Catra says, dodging another attempt. Laughing at Adora’s distress.

“It’s a Journal.” Adora growls. Catra launches herself completely out of Adora’s reach, and onto a rafter. Flipping through the pages and pretending to read in a mocking voice.

”Dear Diary, today I became a princess, and it was the best day ever.”

”Catra stop it! I mean it!” Adora cries out in panic.

“Dear diary, Catra was soooo mean to mean I don’t know how I’ll ever get over it.” Catra makes up another entry. Then she stops. She was looking for something embarrassing. But something caught her eye. Her name, at the top of the page. Like a letter. Catra’s voice got quiet and very timid.

”You are my enemy now, and you always will be. I know that now…” Catra stopped reading.

”Catra…” Adora didn’t know what to say, she couldn’t stop her. Catra’s face had fallen. The sadistic joy she’d had moments before flushed out of her like the tide going out to sea. Tears welled in Adora’s eyes. Catra slumped, catching herself lightly as she fell from the rafter and hitting the floor with a soft ‘thud.’ She shoves the diary into Adora’s chest. “Catra please…”

”No!” Catra turned on her. Fury in her eyes. “You lied to me!” Catra’s voice was coarse, like sandpaper scraping across Adora’s heart. Catra grabbed the rest of her things. Adora, let the diary slip from between her fingers.

”Catra no!… I-” Adora tries. But Catra cuts her off.

”’I never gave up on you. Not for a second.’ That’s what you said.” Catra scoffed. “Long enough to write it down.” Adora’s tears were falling off her chin by now. But Catra didn’t know that, cause she couldn’t even look at Adora. She stalks to the door. Adora grabs her by the wrist, still gagged by her tears. “Don’t touch me!” Catra’s voice cracks as she yells. Finally staring Adora down. “…I knew it was too easy…” And with that she turned and walked out the door. It was a couple of heartbeats of staring at the door before Adora was able to push herself forward, through the door. Her legs rebelled like jello as she ran, trying her best to see through the tears.

”Catra, wait! I can explain!” She begged. Catra had made it to her own threshold by now. Something Adora was hoping that she’d never have. Catra turns on her one more time.

”Haven’t you said enough?! Leave. Me. Alone.” Catra berates her. It stops Adora in her tracks. Only inches between them, Adora’s hand out, for what she wasn’t sure. Catra’s door slams shut. Even though it’s automatic and every door on the ship closes the same way with the same force every time, somehow, it seemed as though it was personally slammed by Catra as hard as she could. Adora falls to her knees, letting her fist softly fall on the door. A symbolic knock. The knock she wanted to do. She wanted to pound on that door until Catra opened it. She wanted to transform into She-Ra and knock the door down, and make Catra listen. But she remembered what she’d been thinking earlier. About how she didn’t want to push Catra. Most powerful woman in the universe, utterly helpless, and it was her own damn fault. Adora grits her teeth as she cries. Anger, rage, grief, pouring out of her like a waterfall.

“Adora?” Glimmer’s voice rang through the ship. Worry laced in every syllable.

“What’s wrong?” Bow’s voice joined hers. Adora looked up at them, bloodshot eyes and tears still free flowing. They rushed to her side to hold her.

“What happened?” Glimmer tries again.

“Catra found a letter I’d written to her…” Adora answers shakily.

”That doesn’t sound so bad?” Bow says in gentle confusion.

”I wrote it after…” Adora wanted to say ‘Queen Angela died’ to distance herself from the anger that was in that letter. She didn’t want it to be real right now. But it was. “After she activated the portal device…” Adora finally finished. Understanding dawned on Bow and Glimmer. Glimmer adopts a look of determination. She looks at Bow.

”I think it’s time for a sleepover, go get some bedding and snacks. I’ll get her into some pjs.” She orders him. Bow nods in stern agreement, understanding the assignment. Underneath it, he selfishly wishes that he would’ve gotten to have the night he thought he was going to. But Adora was in pain, and he wasn’t in the habit of abandoning his friends. That thought stopped him. Wasn’t Catra his friend too now? She would obviously be in pain too.

“What about Catra? Shouldn’t someone?…” His voice failed him as he ran out of words.

”Catra will want to be alone for a while.” Adora manages to choke out. Bow nods in understanding before continuing on his mission.

Inside Catra’s room, she’d thrown her clothes at the wall. A petty act of violence for the sake of it. Grabbing the only blanket that came with the bed she turned down the lights and found the darkest corner of the room to curl up in. The blanket wrapped around her like a cocoon. She listened. Those big ears were amazing at it, picking up sounds that is. She heard Glimmer and Bow come to Adora’s rescue. Heard Bow ask about her. And in some deep treacherous corner of her mind that threatened to well up, she hoped that he wouldn’t listen to Adora. That someone, someone besides Adora would check on her, and care. Something to prove that Adora wasn’t the only reason she was actually here. She knew they wouldn’t. Even if Entrapta cared enough to try, she was so oblivious that even if she’d seen the fight, she wouldn’t know what to do. Meaning, the only one she really cared about, really loved, was in love with, had lied. What lie would she catch Adora in next? Was this why she didn’t want to talk to Adora about their confession? Did some part of Catra know that Adora didn’t mean it like she did? Was she going to let Adora lead her on like a chump and drag her across the galaxy and back? All for a sweet dream that would never actually be?

That was it, that was the thought that broke the dam that held back her tears. Catra took a deep shaky breath and could only let it out in chunks as she sobbed. She was alone, again. Trapped on a planet with… the love of her life? No, Childhood best friend? No, crush? No, lover? No, they’d never… UGH. There wasn’t even a word for what this girl… this… woman, was to her. Everyone leaves her. Everyone, and now she knows that it’s only a matter of time. Only a matter of time before Donnalyn manages to suck her in with hero worship and adoration. She doesn’t have any of the baggage either. Never tried to throw Adora off a cliff, or steal her ship, or take over the world or… And even if she doesn’t. She-Ra will. She-Ra… that bitch. ‘You don’t understand Catra I have to do this.’ If it comes down to me or She-Ra, I know who she’ll choose. She’s already done it multiple times. And I fall for it every time. Catra thinks. Then, through the sobbing, she hears banging. Speaking of Entrapta, she thinks. Catra marches to the door, opening it just long enough to yell.

”Entrapta! Go to bed!” The door shuts. On the other side Catra hears Entrapta.

”Ahhhhuuuhhuhahhhhhh!” BANG. “Sorry…” Entrapta had fallen from the ceiling, and still apologized to Catra. Catra would have to remember to feel bad about that later

That’s when Melog materializes next to Catra’s bed. Catra realizes that Melog must’ve been by her the whole time.why she’d chosen to remain invisible Catra had no idea.But never the less, Melog walks up to her rather solemnly, licking Catra’s face. And despite Melog’s ability to speak to Catra, not a word comes out of her. Catra lowers her knees from her chest, expecting Melong to lay her head in her lap. Instead, Melog shrinks, still two to three times the side of a normal cat she crawls into Catra’s lap. Making Catra let out a chuckle through the sobs, as Melog was still comically too large to fit in Catra’s lap. Somehow Catra suspects that’s the point.

”You’re never gonna run out on me are ya?” She says, wrapping her arms around the mysterious alien.

“Rah-owwoo..” Melog mewls. Roughly meaning “Never.”

That’s when Melog materializes next to Catra’s bed. Catra realizes that Melog must’ve been by her the whole time.why she’d chosen to remain invisible Catra had no idea.But never the less, Melog walks up to her rather solemnly, licking Catra’s face. And despite Melog’s ability to speak to Catra, not a word comes out of her. Catra lowers her knees from her chest, expecting Melong to lay her head in her lap. Instead, Melog shrinks, still two to three times the side of a normal cat she crawls into Catra’s lap. Making Catra let out a chuckle through the sobs, as Melog was still comically too large to fit in Catra’s lap. Somehow Catra suspects that’s the point.

”You’re never gonna run out on me are ya?” She says, wrapping her arms around the mysterious alien.

“Rah-owwoo..” Melog mewls. Roughly meaning “Never.”

Chapter Text

603 Part 1

The next morning, Glimmer, Bow, Adora and Entrapta were gathered in the Galley for breakfast. The mood was somber, then Catra’s door opened. Entrapta was too busy munching on her tiny Bou that Glimmer had made special. Mostly because she was tired of Entrapta complaining that the bites were too big. Bow and Glimmer decided to act as though everything was normal. Badly.

Adora by contrast, was timid, but couldn’t keep her eyes off of Catra. The night before, once Bow and Glimmer were asleep, she’d spent her time trying to think of what to say to Catra. How to fix things. OPf course she’d come up with all sorts of things to say. But now that they were face to face… none of the words came. Catra refused to look at Adora. Simply sitting down at the table and taking some food. Whatever Bow and Glimmer were improving faded. They were left to stare at Catra.

”What?” Catra asked, unwilling to pretend the tension wasn’t there.

”We’re just…” Glimmer starts.

“Surprised you decided to join us.” Bow finishes.

You two are finishing each other’s sentences now?” Catra smirks. It was meant to be a light hearted jab. Clearly, it went over their heads as they were focused on her. Catra sighs.

”So… We’re cool?” Bow asks. Catra’s eyes narrow.

”Did you lie to me?” Catra asks, maybe a little too aggressively.

”No!” Glimmer said.

”Nope!” Bow said. Glancing at Catra’s claws. He’d seen her claw through metal, and he wasn’t exactly eager to be on the wrong end of them.

”Then we’re good. Besides, We’re still trapped on this planet. We still have to fix the ship, so for now, we’re stuck together,” Catra says flatly.

“Does that mean that you’re gonna… leave? After I mean.” Adora asks softly.

“Maybe.” Catra says staring at her bowl before taking another bite. On the other side of the ship the sound of the ramp lowering echos. Donnalyn’s voice echos off the walls next.

”HELLO PARTY PEOPLE!” Donnalyn says rounding the corner. Upon seeing the best friend squad, stops in her tracks. “Woah, the vibes are way off in here.What’d I miss?”

”Nothing.” Catra said, voice still flat as a board. No one argued with her.

“Ohhhhh….Kay….” Donnalyn said, knowing it was a lie but not wanting to turn over whatever rock that was. “I brought food, if anyone wants any… although it looks like you’ve already eaten…” Donnalyn observed. Bow, Adora, Entrapta, and Catra all bolt from the table to ransack Donnalyn’s haul.

“Hey!” Glimmer pouts with her arms crossed. Everyone stopped in their tracks looking back at Glimmer/ “My cooking isn’t that bad!” She whines. Adora shrinks her hand back from the bags in guilt. A chorus of eplainations started trying to make Glimmer feel better. Glimmer was dubious at best. But the more she looked at what Donnalyn had brought the more her stomach cried out.

”Okay okay!” Glimmer held up her hands in surrender. “At least put it on the table before you start stuffing your faces.” Glimmer said, feeling like she was suddenly channeling her mother. Donnalyn gasped, dropping her haul as she caught sight of Melog.

“Do you know what that is?!” She asks.

”That’s… a, um, Melog?” Catra said, as it was her best guess.

“You don’t?” Donnalyn said in amazement.

”Know what?” Adora asks helpfully.

“Didn’t you meet Melog yesterday?” Catra get’s stuck.

”Yes, but honestly I was so overwhelmed I wasn’t sure if it had been a hallucination or not.” Before she’s even done with the sentence she’s squealing in excitement.

Donnalyn runs over to Melog. At first Melog is freaked out, hiding behind the table. Then Donnalyn summons her staff, waving it around and creating a little light show. Melog is intrigued, only for Donnalyn to start playing peekaboo and hiding behind the table. Giggling as Melog starts to understand that she’s playing with her. Bounding around the table as though she’s made a fast new friend.

”What’s happening right now?” Catra asks bewildered. Donnalyn only partially hears Catra. Thinking out loud for a moment.

”And since you’re so feline I’m guessing…” She turns and speeds over to Catra, grabbing up her hands.

“You bonded with it didn’t you?” She asks Catra with stars in her eyes.

”Bonded?” Was the only word Catra managed to get out.

”Melog is a Manaform. They’re manifestations of pure magic that only occur when a planet's magic is extremely healthy. And it chose you, didn’t it?”

“I mean,” Catra clears her throat, unsure of why her eyes were beginning to fog over. “I guess so?” Donnalyn is completely unphased by Catra’s demeanor. Her words float out of her like a priest dispensing a prophecy.

”Manaforms are psychic, they can see into the hearts and minds of everyone. To be chosen by one for a permanent bond is a great honor and a marker of trust.”

”Yeah… cool…” Catra says, completely blindsided by whatever was happening.

“And if Melog trusts you, so do I.” Donnalyn says. Catra pulls her hands away, wondering just what had gotten into this strange girl. It was an extremely intimate moment. To the point everyone else felt like they were intruding. Suddenly, Donnalyn whips her hand to her pocket. Catra steps back her instincts telling her to get ready to fight. Donnalyn produces an irregular cylinder. It’s about eight inches long, and looks like it has some sort of grip, maybe some cooling coils? That was Entrapta’s best guess. She hands it to Catra, who is still deeply bewildered.

”I know you really liked my Plasma Driver from yesterday. But something tells me you’re not exactly the engineering type. So I grabbed one that I’d modified into a more weapons based application.” She explains.

“Weapon’s application?” Bow manages to get out before Catra hits the button under her thumb.

KEISHOOMMMMMmmmmm

A blade made of plasma shoots out from what Catra now understands is the hilt. Everyone except Donnalyn jumps back in surprise. Donnalyn takes a few measured steps back just in case as Catra slowly swings it through the air. Listening intently as the hum shifts.

”Woah…” Catra says in awe, her eyes wide and filled with sparkles like a kid on Christmas. “Is this all it does?” She asks, thinking about all the ways she’d like to play with her new toy.

“Not even close. There’s a magic ignition crystal in its core, the more you use it, the more you’ll bond with it. The same way you bonded with Melog. As a result you’ll unlock more and more of its abilities. I can’t say I’m surprised it picked its sword function to start you out.” Donnalyn explains happily.

“Why does she need to bond with it?” Glimmer asks, wondering if it’s similar to her connection to the moonstone.

”It’s a safety system, designed to both accommodate it’s users needs while making sure that it doesn’t overwhelm them.”

”Did you bring anything for the rest of us?” Adora said trying not to sound too eager. Donnalyn smiled awkwardly.

”Not really, I built it a long time ago, but as I passed my work bench on the way out last night it kind of… I don’t know, called to me? Like it had been waiting for Catra. But! We can definitely do a little shopping around after breakfast if you’d like! I’ve already been thinking about a tool kit to put together for Entrapta so it’s easier to fix Darla, I’m sure there’s something laying around the rest of you would be interested in.” Donnalyn assures them. Looking to Adora she says, “Although you definitely already have something way cooler than anything I could make.”

SHHOOMP. Catra’s blade retracts into the hilt.

”I changed my mind.” Catra says almost absentmindedly. “I do like you.” She says, meeting Donnalyn’s eyes for the first time since she’d gotten her new plasma sword.

“You didn’t like me?” Donnalyn asks, melting in her boots a little.

”Catra doesn’t like anyone she meets for the first time.” Adora consoles Donnalyn.

“To be fair the first time I met Sparkles and Quiver was when they kidnapped me so…” Catra said. When what she really wanted to do was look Adora in the eye and say ‘not since you.’ Just to twist the knife.

Soon they were all gathered around the table stuffing their faces with fresh fruits, meats, and warm bread. Laughing and telling stories. Afterwards gathering in Donnalyn’s workshop where she and Entrapta put together her tool kit. While Bow picks through the odds and ends of unfinished projects for arrow modifications that might be interesting or useful. She’d also set up a shooting gallery of security bots for Catra to practice with. Much to Catra’s delight as she and Melog tore through the giant metallic spiders like tissue paper. Adora and Glimmer sit and chat, admiring the interplay between their new friend and their mechanically inclined ones. Not that Adora can help but continually glance over at Catra and her training. Glimmer didn’t say anything, knowing it was too fresh of a wound. But she did catch the transition, once Adora figured out that Catra was hell bent on ignoring her. Adora shifted from a longing painful look to one of… admiration? Enjoyment? Pride? None of the words quite stuck but it was obvious to Glimmer that she was deeply in love with her old nemesis. That’s when a notification on Donnalyn’s Info pad went off.

“We have to hide! You and the ship!”

”What?” Entrapta said coming back to the real world.

”Why?” Bow’s voice squeaked.

”My mom is coming.” Donnalyn said seriously.

”Catra!” Adora calls to her. “We have to go!” Entrapta and Bow were already packing their stuff.

“Seriously, I’m actually having fun over here!” Catra says doing a front flip over a spider bot cutting it clean in half.

“Now Catra!” Glimmer yells.

”Ugh, fine!” Catra retracts her blade and comes running over with Melog. ”I thought you said this place was safe.” Catra almost growls at Donnalyn as they board Darla.

“I thought it was! She almost never comes down here.” Donnalyn explains hurriedly.

“So what’re we going to do?” Bow asks, trying to redirect the focus.

“I’m going to hide you in one of the larger ships. Hopefully she’s just looking for me and isn’t tracking you guys. Donnalyn says stepping up to the control panel.

“I vote we hide in the pretty one!” Entrapta says enthusiastically.

”The Arcanium? Um, I don’t know-”

”Please! You promised me a tour!” Entrapta pouts.

”Fine. But we have to be quick.” Donnalyn relents. Darla lifts off and smoothly sails to the entry point on the Arcanium. On the top of the Arcanium was what looked like a large glass dome where a dorsal fin would be if it had in fact been a whale as its look suggested. Instead, the dome fizzles away like a bubble popping in slow motion. Darla lowers down into it. Into another section that looks like a much smaller version of the garage they were already inside of. This one is full of smaller fighters, hover vehicles designed for surface travel, some for cargo, and others that looked more like motorcycles with wings. Darla comes to rest in an empty spot amount similarly sized ships that were decidedly much rounder and modern looking like the Arcanium itself. The crew is silent at they wait to see what happens next. They’d gotten too comfortable with their lives in Donnalyn’s hands and that trust was about to be put to the test.

“Okay, just stay here and be quiet, I’ll get rid of her.” She says without even looking at them as she flees. Down Darla’s ramp, remotely closing the dorsal skylight, opening a jump hatch in the side of the Arcanium and used her staff to create a temporary anti-gravity field. It wasn’t strong enough to do any dramatic flying, but it was enough to hold her above the chasimus drop, close the door, and make her way slowly to the flight deck of the hangar.

Inside Adora looks to Entrapta.

“We might have to get out of here in a hurry, how fast can we be space worthy?” She asks.

”Ahhhh,” Entrapta says nervously. “Not for several hours. I’m. Sorry Adora, even with all my new tools and the parts I managed to grab… I don’t think we have time.”

”Better get started then. I’m sure Bow will help you.” Adora says, voluntelling Bow.Whom is deeply discouraged by the comment.

“But Donnalyn said we had to be,” Entrapta starts whispering as though she’d just remembered. “Quiet.”

”Then do it quietly.” Catra adds with violent subtext. Adora cocks her eyebrow at Catra with a tiny smirk.

”AhhHHhhhh…. Okay…” Entrapta accepts the assignment. “Come on Bow, we have work to do!”

”QUIETLY.” Catra hisses at her. Entrapta smiles sheepishly and puts a finger over her lips to indicate she understands and then dramatically waves at Bow to follow her with her hair. Bow’s upper half slumps over as he resigns himself to his fate and follows Entrapta out. Adora is still smirking at Catra.

”That was… helpful actually.” Adora comments.

“Yeah, well, I’m not exactly up to getting turned into a vegetable because Entrapta doesn’t understand what ‘stealth’ means.” Catra whispers, crossing her arms, and doing her best to wall off her heart once more. Adora’s demeanor falls visibly. It was normal for her to deflect, but this time there was another layer of pain that came with it. Another layer of derision that Adora felt from Catra. What she didn’t know is that Catra couldn’t help but glance back at her. Seeing Adora pout always made her heart ache and the butterflies in her stomach start a marching band. This time was no different. Normally this would be when she figures out a nonchalant way to cheer her up. A bone to throw her. She even wanted to. But the words wouldn’t come.Then she had another thought entirely.

”If Entrapta can’t get us out of here fast enough… What’re the odds that you could fly the Arcanium?” Catra asked, managing to meet Adora’s eye for a second before turning to Glimmer for help.

”Worth a shot?” Glimmer shrugs. Adora nods confidently before marching out. Catra goes to follow her, assuming that they would need to go help figure out how to fly it in real time. But Glimmer grabs her wrist. Catra spins on the balls of her feet like a dancer, almost offended and deeply confused by the contact.

“Can we talk?” Glimmer said as the door to the bridge closed.

”Not really the time Sparkles.” Catra said defiantly. Rather than ask again, add in a please or even assure her that it wouldn’t take very long, Glimmer opted to jump right in.

“Are we friends?” Glimmer asked still holding Catra’s wrist. Catra looked like she’d been slapped in the face. Blinking like Glimer was going in and out of focus.

”You really wanna talk about this now?!” Catra rips her wrist away.

”Yes!”

”Fine! Yeah we’re friends or whatever…” Catra turns to leave again only for Glimmer to stop her again.

”Catra!” Glimmer yells. Catra spins.

”What?!” Catra was boarding on furious now.

”When we were on Horde Primes ship,” Catra shrunk at the memory. “When there wasn’t anyone else to talk to… I thought…” Glimmer trailed off.

”Look, if you’re about to admit to a crush on me-” Catra tried to deflect. Glimmer punched her in the arm for that.

”You know that not it.” Glimmer said simply. Catra did know, but she also really didn’t wanna talk about this right now.

”Then what is it, cause we really need to go.” It wasn’t really a question, Catra’s nerves were too wound to care.

“I just. I wanted to check on you last night after your fight with Adora. But when I thought about it I realized that I didn’t know if we were close enough…” Glimmer wanted the unsaid words to do the work but Catra wasn’t seeming to get it.

”Yeah? So?”

”I want permission. To make sure you’re not just… Alone.” Glimmer finally said. The guilt heavy in her voice. The word went through Catra like a hot spear. Then she softened.

”Yeah Sparkles, we’re friends.” She let the words hold the weight that Glimmer was looking for. “Now can we go?” Catra asked. Almost begging. Glimmer nodded happily.

“Warning!” Glimmer sang.

”What?” Catra said. Before she could even look at Glimmer again she felt the girl’s hand on her shoulder. Her eyes filled with pink sparkles that materialized them in a new location. “Ugh, least favorite kind of travel ever…” Catra managed to get out.

Outside the Arcanium, Donnalyn met her mother. She was pale, but with Egyptian features, easily six foot. Her height would’ve rivaled Queen Angela’s. She was wearing flowing white robes with bronze and golden accents. She has dark blue hair in thick tight braids clamped into ornate bangles, framed by a golden head dress that was distinctly snake like. Her shoulders were adorned with rather impractical armor, designed such that it looked like a great bird had spread itself across her chest to guard her heart. She had piercing green eyes, and walked like she could part the seas with the force of her will alone. That was the force, and those were the eyes that inspected Donnalyn.

”Why have you not been answering my messages?” She demands.

“I was… busy.” Donnalyn tries not to lie. Her mother eyes her suspiciously, before moving on.

“No matter. I’ve been detecting odd magic fluctuations since we came back yesterday. Are you sure there’s nothing you’d like to tell me?”

Donnalyn tentatively shakes her head.

“I’ve also been tracking these fluctuations, and their movement throughout Acadia. Interestingly enough, it seemed to coincide with the alarm from yesterday.” Her eyebrow raised in a question.

”That’s so weird, maybe some magical bugs escaped containment?” Donnalyn speculates. Her mother rolls her eyes. Accessing her own info pad strapped to her wrist in an extravagant holder, a tiny hologram appears. It’s showing Donnalyn interrogating her new friends. Donnalyn swallows hard.

“Please don’t hurt them, they don’t mean any harm…” Her voice is tiny, and timid. This had been the first time in her life that she’d really had a moment with people she might call friends. The thought of not only losing them, but losing them to the wrath of her parents threatened to break her heart. The thought hadn’t even fully occurred to her until that moment, but she’d been having so much fun that there wasn’t really time for it.

”You don’t know that.” Her mother said sternly. “Our isolation here, while necessary, has kept you from learning certain… things about people, things you can’t learn from holo-role play games.” Donnalyn wanted to scream, but she knew better. It would only spur her mother’s wrath further.

“Just, please… They've been so kind to me, and the only thing that they’ve asked in return is the ability to leave in peace.” Donnalyn was shaking now.

“You of all people should know what a dangerous request that is.” Her mothers voice was scalpel sharp.

“Will you at least meet them first? Make your own judgement? I think you’ll see what I see.” It was the only thing she could come up with. She was caught, her new friends were caught, the only way out was through.

“Very well, but they will have to endure your father’s judgment as well. Understood?”

Donnalyn nodded eagerly. There was a chance, she’d found a chink in her mother’s armor. Hopefully the earnestness she’d found would be as glaringly apparent to her parents as it had been to her. Her mother turned, hitting a few buttons on her info pad, an assortment of holograms appearing before her. The whole crew, Bow, Entrapta, Glimmer, Adora, Catra, and even Melog. Even though each group was still in their respective places trying to enact the plan. As a matter of fact, Adora, Catra and Glimmer had been arguing about the merits of starting the Arcanium’s engine and giving away their position before they knew if Donnalyn had been successful.

“Intruders. My name is Inana, you are trespassing on a classified Eternian military site. Surrender yourselves now. My daughter has entreated me on your behalf, having shown kindness to her I intend to exercise mercy to my fullest possible extent. However, if you refuse, or in any way resist I will bring the full power of my security system upon you.” Inana closed the transmission without waiting for any response. Raising her eyebrow for a response from her daughter. Donnalyn’s Hope was threatening to well up while being crushed by the nuances her mother had laced into the mission. Clearly there was room for interpretation.

On the bridge of the Arcanium, the girls were awestruck and dumb struck by the image of Donnalyn’s mom.

“That’s her MOM?!” Glimmer broke the silence. “How?!”

“I don’t know, but I have a feeling we’d better get down there.” Adora says, swallowing just as hard as Donnalyn had.

“Are you crazy?!” Catra said. Her tail fuzzed up and her fists behind her in her most accusatory stance.

“Do you really wanna find out what ‘the full weight of my security system’ means?” Adora says with her hand on her hip. Catra’s ears fold down in fear.

“No… but for the record, this is definitely a trap.”

“Walking into traps is what we do best.” Glimmer tries to sound assuring. “You really ought to get over that.”

“Bow?” Adora speaks into her coms, “we’ll meet you down there and all go meet the scary lady together.”

“Do we really have a choice?” Bow asks.

“Nope.” Adora answers. Bow sighed.

“We’ll see you when you get here.” And with that the whole crew was enroute.

“I still think this is a terrible idea.” Catra grumbles. And for a moment things are back to normal, Adora elbows her playfully.

“Your objections have been duly noted.” She giggles. Even Catra forgets that she’s still mad at Adora and smiles softly. Well, for a moment, before clamping down on her fondness like a vice and shoving it back down. Adora pretends not to notice, pretends that it doesn’t hurt. There were more important things to think about right now. Like how they were gonna get out of this.

Chapter Text

603 Part 2

Flashback Time

(You should absolutely be listening to Chappell Roan’s unreleased song Subway while reading this flashback. You’ll know why by the end)

Catra is on her knees before Horde Prime, his cold metal claw caressing her face. He’d just told her that she still had a purpose. That was the last thing that Catra had expected of him, according to her calculations there wasn’t a single reason to keep her around. Adora might forgive some of what she’d done for giving Glimmer back to her, but she wouldn’t forgive everything, and she certainly wouldn’t come to save her. After all, she’d done all of this to herself. She’d practically summoned Horde Prime with the portal that had almost untangled reality itself. Not that she could even think about that damned portal world without feeling a knife in her chest twisting. She’d allied herself with Hordak and began a campaign that had made all of Etheria even more vulnerable to the incoming attack. No one could just forget all that, not even her goody two shoes childhood best friend. Catra had been expecting death. She’d been expecting to get shoved out an airlock. But now she was being stood up, being walked off the main control platform. Horde Prime was personally escorting her. A rock seemed to form in the pit of her stomach. The panic started rising.

“What could you possibly want from me that I haven’t already given you? It’s not like you’ll ever be able to trust me again.” Catra probes.

“Oh ye of little faith sister, you have delivered much to me in my final hour of victory. Do not doubt yourself so. There is still so much potential in that crafty little mind of yours.” He answered her in yet another religious riddle. She thought about all the things he could mean by that. Another fear sprang up, a ritual she’d only just seen.

“It’s not like you can put me in that memory bath or whatever it is you did to Hordak. Whatever it is you want from me, you still need all my memories don’t you?” Catra made sure that whatever answer he gave, it should tell her a lot. Horde Prime growled.

”Do not use that name. Such a thing was an abomination when it was born, and it has been purified, such things have no place in the future. But again you underestimate yourself. I’m sure that occupying you as my primary form would be great fun as I show She-Ra her demise.” He explained. Another chill ran through Catra. He was insane, was that even possible? Would her body even be compatible with something like that? Before she could form a question about it out loud they’d turned into a room. It was similar to the baptism chamber that Hordak had been ‘purified’ in, but in the center was something like an armature, like a praying mantis made out of pristine white metal. And just like Hordak, they had an audience.

“Although, I suspect that your form would not last me long. So it is a pointless exercise to even consider.” He drawled on.

”Then what are you gonna do to me?” Catra asks, trying desperately to keep the tremor out of her voice.

“Allow me a question, little sister. What do you think is the most fitting punishment for your treachery?” Horde Prime asks. Catra looks at the medical chair thing, then to the ground. He’s bluffing, she thinks. There isn’t anything worse than death and there’s nothing he can do to you that would make you any more useful than you already are. There’s no point in fighting it either, there’s no one left in the universe that would even care if they found out she’d died. She may as well take it, staring down her reaper with the same anger that had brought her here.

”I told you, it doesn’t matter what you do to me. I don’t care, do whatever you want to me.” Her voice is stiff and she uses her seething rage to cover up the fear. “Adora is safe, she’s never coming back, that’s all that matters.” Catra’s voice cracks. She’s so angry that tears are starting to well up, maybe they’re for heartbreak too, maybe that’s why she tried to hold them back, but now they’re coming whether she likes it or not. Horde Prime laughs. A big hearty laugh that almost turns into a cackle. He waves up the clones holding her. They cut the rope and begin to tie her down to the contraption. The panic starts to overwhelm her, she doesn’t know what’s coming but she knows its not good.

“Of course it matters!” Horde Prime mocks her. “You really don’t understand at all do you?” He’s still laughing maniacally. “Of course Adora is coming to save you! You may not have heard the last of her transmission, but I know all, I see all. And your precious Adora was heartbroken to think that I had done anything to harm you!”

”That’s not true!” Catra screamed desperately, still fighting her restraints.

“So not only is she coming to save you, but you little sister will be the one who delivers her to me…” His evil smile was as large as anything he was capable of. “Brothers! Witness your sister! Today will be her last day of pain, she is about to join us in the glory of Prime!” He says with his arms lifted high.

”No!” Catra screams and cries. It can’t be true, she thinks. It can’t be, she can’t have just sacrificed herself only for Adora to undo her work and make sure they’re both dead. It can’t be. She’s not selfish enough for that, Adora has spent so much time choosing everyone but her, there’s no way she’s coming now. She got away, she had to have gotten away. She can’t be that stupid, that sentimental. There’s no way she cares about Catra that much.

An arm from the ceiling came down as the clones chanted. A small spike at it’s very tip. It hovers over Catra’s neck. The room is drowned in chaos and chanting.

“Cast out the Shadows.” Over and over again.

“Welcome sister! To Horde Prime’s light!”

She got away…

She had to have…

She got away…

Catra’s eyes were screwed shut, she still didn’t know or understand what was coming. She knew it was probably gonna hurt. So she held onto that thought, like a life preserver out at sea, with no hope of rescue. She sobbed into the thought.

She got away…

She got away…

She got away…

She got-

“AGHHHH!!!”

…

Back on the Arcanium they’d finally collected Bow and Entrapta and were making their way down the boarding ramp. Catra was stealing her nerves. She absentmindedly scratched the scar from her chip. Thinking that whatever was about to happen, at least it probably wouldn’t be as bad as that.

“Is it me or does she look kinda like-” Glimmer says getting cut off with a jab to the ribs. She couldn’t help but notice the similarities between Adora’s She-Ra transformation and Inana’s outfit.

”Take a chill pill with the commentary Sparkles we don’t know what she’s capable of.” Catra said.

”…You think she has super hearing?” Glimmer whispers.

”Do you wanna find out?” Catra points out. That’s enough to seal the group into an air of timid children. That was the last thing any of them said before reaching Donnalyn and her mother. Inana had a single eyebrow raised as she inspected the group. Donnalyn steps forward trying to introduce everyone, only for Inana to raise her hand to silence her. Inana steps forward suddenly, making the crew jump. Catra’s claws spread, getting ready to pounce as Inana approaches Adora.

Adora tries straightening her back. Doing her best to look unphased and confident. Inana gently raises her hand to Adora’s chin, grasping it lightly. She turns Adora’s face, back and forth inspecting it carefully. She then steps back as though she hadn’t done it at all and carefully looks over everyone. They began to feel like bugs under a magnifying glass. Catra, being hyper aware at that moment, thought she saw something in her eyes. A flash of something, a micro expression, something she recognized. Is that… pain?

“You’re from Etheria.” Inana said simply. It was the further east thing from a question and it set the hairs on the back of their necks on end. Even Donnalyn. The shock was all over Adora’s face.

”How do you know that?” Adora asked knowing there wasn’t any point in trying to deny it. Inana ignored the question.

“How did you get here?” Inana asked. Clearly she wasn't talking about the planet or even Mara’s ship.

”It’s a long story.” Adora manages.

“I look forward to hearing it.” Inana says, her tone is flat, still refusing to give anything away. Instead, she raises her intricately gilded info pad on her arm. Hitting a few buttons she speaks into it. “We have some very important guests. Prepare a meal in the dining hall.”

”Yes my love.” Said a man’s voice on the other end. Inana hung up.

”Come with me, there’s something you should see.” Inana says before turning and walking away. There didn’t seem to be any doubt in her mind that they would follow her. The crew shared some dubious looks before Adora silently settled on doing as she was expected of. Perhaps there were things that they’d kept from Donnalyn, things that she couldn’t help but feel like they needed to know. So they followed. Silently.

Inana led them through the bowels of Acadia like a funeral procession. Turning this way and that until no one was sure if they’d be able to find their way back. Almost everything they’d seen looked old and run down. Rust and patina marked the walls, the echo of their footsteps on the cool metal their only company. Deeper and deeper. Then something changed. They entered a section that looked much more looked after. It was clean, the walls were white, and in some sense it even looked homey. Art began adoring the walls. A tiny vacuuming robot whizzed down a hallway. Bow had to keep Entrapta from running after it. But Inana never turned, as if the disturbance hadn’t existed. Adora looked to Donnalyn, who seemed just as confused as everyone else did. Finally Inana turned, stopping in front of a door that she opened with a wave of her hand, and then ushered them into. As they filed in, the architecture’s demeanor changed radically. There was carpet, there was a kitchen, even a living room. Inana moved past them wordlessly. Stopping once more in front of a door that opens unceremoniously. It was a much smaller room, and once everyone was inside there was barely enough room for them all to stand. The gasps and confusion and wonder filtered through all of them. If there was such a thing as universality, it was clear what this room was. Adora’s eyes were locked on the bassinet that seemed to be its focal point.

”A… Nursery?” Bow asked. Inana simply nodded. Entrapta was playing with a toy she’d found on a shelf. Catra was staring at Adora, she might not have had words for it, but something told her what was coming, and there was no way she was going to take her eyes off Adora. No matter how mad she might be right now.

“Is this your nursery?” Glimmer asked Donnalyn. Who shook her head.

”I’ve never been in this apartment, let alone this room.

“Do you recognize it?” Inana asked Adora. The whole room spun to see Adora’s reaction.

”Wh- Recognize it? Why would I?” It’s not that Adora didn’t realize the implication of the question. She needed to hear it out loud. The roar in her ears, her racing heart, they threatened to lock out any noise, but she had to ask anyway.

”This is where you disappeared from.” Inana’s voice hit her like a train. “You deserve to know where you are. Adora had already turned back to the bassinet. She approaches it like it's on fire, lifting a single finger to run along its edge. The air had left the room for everyone else as well. The feeling of a funeral procession now feeling deeply appropriate. “It’s not the original, that was destroyed by the portal that took you. But while they had hope that you would be found or returned, your parents rebuilt it so that you would have something comfortable to come back to.” That was the line that almost broke her. Adora didn’t talk about parents, she didn’t talk about being an orphan. Of course, over the years she’d had the odd fantasy here and there. But in the Hoard, she’d felt at home enough that it wasn’t necessary. In the rebellion, she had Bow and Glimmer, even Angela as a surrogate mother. It was always enough. Siblings and surrogates were always enough, at least, that’s what she’d told herself. Now she was touching something her parents had built just for her. Something their hands had been on, something they might’ve even cried over. And now that door in her mind, the door she’d locked up with chains like it held back a terrible monster was threatening to burst open. She barely had a chance for the tears to start falling before she felt Catra’s hand in hers. Adora managed to meet Catra’s eyes. Those two toned eyes were vulnerable, they weren’t on the verge of tears the way Adora was, they were offering strength. Adora wasn’t going to have to go through whatever this was alone. Adora whips her head to Inana, who is still as stone faced as ever.

“Ho- Wh- Ar-” words fail her.

“There will be plenty of time to answer all of the questions I’m sure you have. I will go help my husband with meal preparation. Donnalyn will guide you once you’ve collected yourselves and are ready to join us.” And with that Inana glided out of the room and was gone. Adora was fixed on the door, shock flowing through her body. She feels a tug on her arm from Catra, it’s forceful and strong. Spinning her into Catra’s arms. It’s not really a move that they had ever done before, but there was enough of Adora’s instincts still left to fall into the hug. Catra tried to hold her up, but with the weight of the world on Adora’s shoulders, she was too heavy. They fell to their knees, Bow and Glimmer rushing almost as quickly as they’d fallen. The commotion was enough to get Entrapta’s attention.

”Group hug!” She calls out before joining them, her magic hair wrapping around them. “Wait, why are we hugging?” Entrapta asks, earnestly confused.

“This is where Adora would’ve grown up if she hadn’t been taken to Etheria.” Bow brought her up to speed. Adora tries to pull back a little bit, letting everyone settle to their knees around her. They refuse to lose contact all together, but they let her breathe a little.

”I’m okay, really, I am…” She gets out between shaky breaths. “I just…wasn’t expecting it. That’s all.”

“Adora, you don’t have to pretend like this isn’t a big deal.” Glimmer assures her. Before Adora can respond, Catra pipes up, staring daggers at Donnalyn who is standing awkwardly in the corner.

“You could’ve warned us.” Catra’s tongue cut like a knife.

“I- I didn’t know, I swear.” Donnalyn says, just as fragile as Adora seems for some reason.

“Yeah right.” Catra says, sarcasm thickening her words.

“Really, I didn’t know anything… My parents don’t like talking about this stuff.” Donnalyn says with her eyes glued to the floor in shame.

“Then how about you tell us what you do know?” Catra said, almost growling.

”Catra.” Adora chides her.

”It’s okay…” Donnalyn defends her. “When my parents woke up, it was because the other caretakers were… leaving, and they needed someone they could trust to take up the torch.”

”Someone they trust?” Glimmer asks. Donnalyn slid down the wall until she’s sitting. Looking up only to meet Adora’s eyes.

“Family,” Donnalyn said.

”Family? Are we-” Adora couldn’t finish.

”Cousins. Maybe. Like I said I don’t really know, they don’t like talking about it. I got the feeling that they weren’t supposed to wake up. But once they were, they decided to make the most of it. It was only after they were alone that they had me.” Donnalyn’s fragile voice suddenly made a lot more sense. Adora’s head was swimming. Catra sighs hard, letting her head fall to Adora’s shoulder. Maybe she would’ve over thought it, had there not been so much going on. Adora by contrast looked at Catra’s mess of hair on her shoulder, and for the first time in what felt like hours, her heart felt lighter. She took the contact and used it as an anchor. If nothing else made sense at least Catra did.

”I guess that means we’re not using this chance to escape huh?” Catra observes.

“How can we?” Glimmer asks. “If there’s a chance we can find out what happened to Adora’s parents?” The question was rhetorical, but she knew it wasn’t really her decision to make.

”Not a chance.” Bow affirms.

“We may as well take the opportunity to learn everything we can!” Entrapta says, trying to be helpful. Adora looks around at her friends, her heart swelling with pride.

“I love you guys so much. You’re the best.” Adora’s smile is a little tortured as she tries to hold back happy tears. Whatever she learns about the fate of her parents, where she comes from, she knows that she can do it as long as she has them behind her. After another quick group hug she stands confidently. The others followed suit. “Let’s go find out what happened to my parents.” She says before looking to Donnalyn. ”Where’re we going… cous?…”

Donnalyn smiles awkwardly at being called cousin, a strange mix of emotions going through her head. None of which she knows how to deal with. Melog makes an ‘Awwoo’ sound that’s more like an electric dog than a cat.

“They don’t need your help.” Catra says to Melog, earning a laugh from everyone. Donnalyn points over her shoulder.

”This way, I guess?”

Chapter Text

603 Part 3

They’d managed to get their second wind of determination, it was much easier now that they had an actual mission rather than just ‘escape the hole we fell into.’ So as they marched down the immaculate corridors they tried to prepare for the coming confrontation.

”We’re really in uncharted waters here.” Donnalyn said. “We’ve never really had anyone that my parents would call ‘guests.’ Everyone that’s managed to make it down here has been more of a catch and release thing. They’d have some lost time, forget where they were going and why, clean and simple.”

”So given that their niece has shown up out of nowhere, shouldn’t that mean that they’re, um, nicer?” Glimmer offered.

“Unless they’re the kind of over protective family that would try to keep Adora here.” Catra said, ever the realist.

“With the Horde still in play they’ll definitely be on the defensive. She-Ra is an incredibly powerful weapon. I’m hoping that they’ll be into the idea of training you until you’re ready to take on Horde Prime himself. Then everything gets much better.” Donnalyn said, stars appearing in her eyes. She was too busy running the hypotheticals to notice the awkward silence that had descended on the rest of them. But Adora stayed on track.

”What’d you mean ‘everything gets much better?’” Adora probes.

“Acadia was meant to be the flagship of restarting our civilization. There are dozens of other worlds hiding throughout the galaxy. The idea is that once the Horde is defeated the planet engines would fire up, terraforming the surface. Then when it’s ability to sustain life is strong enough we wake everyone up in waves. First the military to make sure we’re secure against anything that tries to fill the Horde’s power vacuum. That kicks off the fleet, the ships will fill up and launch with a complete complement of troops who will travel to the other hidden worlds and begin waking them up. That’s where the Arcanium comes in.” Donnalyn explains.

“Why is the Arcanium special?” Bow asks helpfully.

“It’s also known as the magic seed ship. It’s missing some parts that we don’t have, but once it’s fully online it can produce these ‘seeds’ that can be planted on just about any rocky world. The seeds use local material to build a network of tech that terraforms planets until they’re ready to receive magic which is already in the seed. That magic is then given the chance to grow and fill the planet. Access to magic makes sure that there’s no such thing as scarcity and the whole universe eventually blossoms into a utopia.” Donnalyn recited like it was out of a history textbook.

“You’re saying we’re parked in the very thing we ca-” Entrapta was cut off from a blow to the ribs by Catra.

”That sounds so nice!” Bow croaks out to cover up Entrapta’s slip.

“So you’re saying there might not be any reason to worry at all?” Glimmer adds.

”It would be nice to get some She-Ra training from someone that’s not a hologram.” Adora muses.

”Ugh, I know, Light Hope’s program is so stiff sometimes it feels like talking to the wall.” Donnalyn chuckles. That makes Adora stop. Grabbing Donnalyn’s shoulder and turning her to look at her.

”You know Light Hope?” She asks.

”Of course, she’s the basic operating system assistant for everything. Mostly she’s my teacher, sometimes I think I would’ve gone truly bonkers if it wasn’t for her and my holo-RPGs.” Donnalyn made a goofy face pointing to her head, indicating the proposed state of ‘bonkers’. Adora just kind of looked at her in shock. “Everything okay?” Donnalyn asks.

”Yeah… I just, I kind of lost my Light Hope. It’s actually kind of nice knowing there’s more of her out there.” Adora said, in a kind of a daze. It was true, but it certainly wasn’t the whole truth. Her relationship with Light Hope was far from simple, especially when she considered Light Hope’s relationship with Mara. Hopefully this meant that even if they weren’t staying at all, there might be a chance for her to get the answers out of a Light Hope that she’d always wanted. One that wasn’t hell bent on setting off a universe destroying bomb. Donnalyn’s utopian vision sounded nice, it was even kind of the same plan they’d had. Dropped into their lap. But Donnalyn didn’t seem to know about the other function of the magical hearts that would be buried in these planets. Maybe if they knew Horde Prime was gone there wouldn’t be any need to harvest that power, and none of these new hearts would be used like that. Given what they knew however, Adora was starting to have doubts about their mission all together. Glimmer’s hand rested on Adora’s shoulder, shaking her out of her stupor. “We should probably get moving, wouldn’t wanna keep our hosts waiting” Adora said awkwardly. Donnalyn didn’t know what that weird look on Adora’s face meant, but maybe it was best to wait. She’d tell her when she was ready. At least that’s what Donnalyn hoped. So she smiled, with a renewed confidence as she led them to the dining hall.

The room that they entered was large. A vaulted ceiling and a crystal chandelier hanging over a very long, wide table that was nearly overflowing with food. At the head of the table were Donnalyn’s parents sat side by side. Her father was just as pale and tall as Inana with broad shoulders that pulled the fabric taut across his chest. He had big curly white flowing hair with a thick bushy beard to match, only barely concealing a thick wide jaw. His face was stern and clearly wrinkled with age and he had strikingly blue eyes that almost seemed to glow even at a distance. Golden shoulder plates seemed to attach a cape to his shirt, although it was difficult to tell as he was already sitting down.

”Do you always eat like this?” Adora asks Donnalyn out of the side of her mouth as quietly as possible.

“They don’t even normally dress like this.” Donnalyn answers, also out of this side of her mouth. Great, Adora thinks.She’d have to be on her guard as much as possible. There were too many unknowns but there was no turning back now.

“This is my husband, Solon.” Inana says simply.

”Nice to meet you, I’m-” Adora did her best to sound friendly, but was cut off by Solon’s hand raising in a very clear ‘stop’ symbol.

“I know who you are.” His voice was deep and stoic, it seemed to carry off the walls with the weight of a thousand years. Adora cleared her throat.

”Right…” She answered.

”Please, have a seat, all of you.” Inana gestured to the table in front of them. Adora took the seat at the very end of the table, mirroring Solon. Catra, who would normally be cavalier and do something like jump into whatever seat would most annoy Adora. This time however she moved like a storm front, smooth, silent, and unyielding as she pulled the seat out next to Adora, sitting like it was her personal throne. Sparring Adora a threatening glance she grumbles.

”This is not because I like you.” It made Adora smile. All the weight, the history behind those words, Catra was still being protective. Catra wasn’t going anywhere, even if Catra herself didn’t know it yet. That was enough, Adora could do this.

Everyone but Donnalyn had taken seats flanking Adora. Inana seeing that Donnalyn was going to take a seat next to her new friends, stops her.

”Donnalyn.” Inana said sternly. Gesturing to the seat to her right. There were still three or four empty seats between the populated sides of the table making the divide both comfortable and very apparent. Melog sits to the open side of Catra, large and imposing as a lion. “Why don’t you introduce our guests?” Inana asked her daughter. Clearly it was some sort of test. Donnalyn went around the table, introducing everyone, skipping Adora at first. She’d been saving her for last but before she could, her father cut her off.

”Thank you all for coming. Please, fill your plates, we have much to discuss.” Solon said, waving across the decadent assortment. No one moved. The question was on Adora’s tongue, but Catra beat her to it.

“Why don’t you want to know her name?” Catra had avoided saying it diplomatically, although that was about the only diplomatic thing about her question. Solon snapped his eyes to Catra, she was prepared to be yelled at, but it didn’t come. Instead his stern and unwavering tone persisted.

”Because neither she, nor any of you know her name.” The phrase settled in the air like a thick smog, threatening to choke the air from the room. Catra let out a voiceless ‘hmmp,’ breaking the stalemate by beginning to add food to her plate. Grapes, a turkey leg, and a slice of some kind of gelatin cake. The rest of the BFS looked to Adora. To their hosts it would’ve looked like they were asking her for permission. In reality they were asking if Adora thought it might be poisoned or drugged. Adora honestly didn’t know, but breaking the theater of the moment was probably going to be a bad idea. So Adora answers by adding to her own plate, albeit much more sparsely and less aggressively than Catra had. It might’ve been her imagination, but Adora thought she saw Solon crack the beginnings of a smile.

“So, Donnalyn said that you knew my parents?” Adora asks. It seemed as good a place as any to start. If they got what they needed out of them early, she could pull the rip cord and maybe give them a better chance of escape. Should it come to that. Solon’s eyes got distant.

”Your parents… they were paragons of Eterinian ideals. But more importantly, they were family, your father, is my brother.” Solon said, almost listlessly.

“What happened to them?” Adora let it slip out before she’d really considered her words. Solon almost chuckled.

”Perhaps I should start at the beginning.” He said. “Towards the end of the war, over a thousand years ago, we were desperate, Horde Prime had completely overrun our ability to defend ourselves. Eterinian High Command decided that it would be best to commit a small fraction of our population, our best, into hiding. A deep sleep that would end if and when Horde Prime was able to be overthrown. We created worlds like this, designed to hide our technological signatures from the rest of the universe, that we may one day be reborn as a people. But no system is perfect, they must all be maintained. That duty fell to the most honorable among us. The Knights of Greyskull. An ancient order of defenders that had carried the weight of Eternia;s safety for millions of years.”

Adora couldn’t breathe. The mere mention of the Knights of Greyskull would’ve sent her spiraling, but as the pieces began to fall into place suddenly all the day dreams she’d ever had about her heritage seemed woefully tiny. That’s when she felt Catra’s hand on hers. Catra still wouldn’t look at her, but there was enough strength in that tiny squeeze that she could keep going.

”So we drew lots. The order of wakening. Each of us in turn would be woken up in married pairs, we would live for a few hundred years, maintaining Acadia and her sister worlds. We would have our families and at the end of our lives, we would wake the next in line, committing our children to sleep at the time of their choosing. Our reward for our stewardship, our children’s right to wake up in the universe we would never see.”

”There was another reason, wasn’t there?” Adora asked. “That the Knights of Greyskull were chosen.” Adora tried to keep her voice from shaking.

”Very good.” Inana said. “Your instincts have served you well.” Solon waved his hand through the air at Adora like he was wiping the fog from a mirror. The Heart of Etheria failsafe appeared over Adora’s chest glowing and beating like it had never left her. Adora gasped, clutching her chest on instinct like she could hide it. By the time she looked down at it again, it was gone.

“I suppose that means that the heart of Etheria is no longer in play?” Solon asked evenly. She didn’t answer. The tension in the air was renewed. She didn’t need to answer, he wouldn’t have asked if he didn’t know. She let her hands drift back down to the arms of her chair.

“You’re friends of Mara.” He said, the furthest thing from a question.

“Is that a problem?” Adora said, nearly gritting her teeth.

“Should it be?” Inana asked. Before Adora had the chance to answer, Solon continued.

“Mara was family, maybe not by blood, but in all the ways that mattered. Her loss was deviating in more ways than one.” It wasn’t a real answer. But it was enough that Adora didn’t feel the need to materialize her sword.

”When we received word that both Mara and Etheria had been lost, we knew that if She-Ra were to reappear it would be among our line. The hope was that eventually one of the Greyskulls would beget a daughter compatible with her. A savior capable of defeating Horde Prime and bringing an end to our longest night. Your parents knew it was you from the moment you were born. From what they told us they were distraught, seeing your eyes glow for the first time. They didn’t want to commit you to that life. Even if they knew they had no choice. Then you were taken from them. They knew that there was only one place in all of reality that you could be. They broke protocol to wake us up, we weren’t even next in line. But they begged us to stay in their stead while they went and looked for you.”

”Are they alive?” Adora asks, emotions flooding through her. Inana and Solon shared a look.

”We honestly don’t know.” Inana was the one to answer. “Off-planet communications are forbidden to ensure the secrecy of this place. All we know for sure is that they were alive and healthy when they left nearly two decades ago. A lot can happen in that time.”

It’s not like Adora really had any hope in the first place, the breaking of false hope shouldn’t have been that big a deal. So why were there small quiet tears making their way down her cheeks? Strategy was kind of going out the door with every second.

”What’s my name?” Adora manages to croak out. Panic soared in Catra’s chest. She didn’t know exactly why but she hated the way Adora asked that question. She was Adora, she didn’t need another name.

Solon took a deep breath, like he was about to speak the words of some sacred ancient spell.

”Allyson Celeste Greyskull…

Chapter Text

603 Part 4

“I’m never calling you that.” Catra grumbled absentmindedly before ripping off a chunk of chunk of turkey with her fangs. And for a moment they forgot where they were, the gravity of the moment. It was just so… Catra. The best friend squad cracked up. It was several seconds before they even had the chance to recover and clear their throats. Catra enjoyed taking down these pompous Etherian’s down a peg. Smirking to herself while she chewed.

”It’s an… inside joke.” Glimmer covered for Catra.

“Nice recovery Sparkles.” Catra said just as dryly as before. This time they were a little bit more prepared, biting back their smiles. Adora took the time to smack Catra in the arm. Making Adora laugh was a good pastime on a good day; but in a situation this tense, Catra couldn’t help but feel a little proud. Managing to keep a straight enough face she was sure no one would notice. She could punish herself later for getting sucked into the moment.

“She’s-” Adora stammers a little. “She’s just, um, like that.” Adora smiled. And was that a blush that Catra saw in the corner of her eye?

Solon sat back in his chair. Adora wasn’t sure what he and Inana’s reaction was. Maybe that was a good thing. She thinks she sees Solon’s eyes drift to Adora’s hand holding Catra’s on the arm of her chair. But there still doesn’t seem to be any reaction across his face. Instead Adora pivots.

”What were- What are their names? My parents I mean.” As Adora spoke, she wasn’t ready for the words to get caught in her throat the way that they did. Certainly didn’t expect to phrase it in a way that admitted she was hoping they were still alive.

”Your father is Hadrian Celeste Greyskull, and your Mother’s name is Athena Celeste Greyskull. You see for the knights, Greyskull is like a family name that you’re adopted into after you pass your trials. The middle name is selected from your original lineage.” Inana answered.

“Can you tell me about them?” Adora said, still struggling not to choke on the words. Did she really want to know? Would it have been easier not to ask? It’s too late now.

”Your parents were… complicated people. Much too complicated to put into a single dinner. Perhaps we should focus on a more pressing issue.” Solon said. Adora notes that whenever he says ‘perhaps’ what he really means is something like ‘no, we’re going to do this my way.’ “How has your relationship to the spirit of She-Ra coming along?” Adora spurts and sputtles.

“Pfft, Ha ha, She-Ra? Who’s that? Some kind of ghost?” Adora’s lies are predictably terrible. Solon and Inana both raise an eyebrow in question. Seemingly asking if she thinks they were born yesterday. Adora sighs in resignation.

”My original sword was… lost, broken really. After that I thought I’d lost her, and even now sometimes she won’t come out when I want her to. But she always seems to be there when I need her most.” Adora found herself looking at her hands. She knows that She-Ra is inside of her in some way shape or form, but it’s more like praying to an angel that likes to give her the silent treatment. “If she were a person I’d think she was just a super dramatic brat that likes last minute saves.” Adora starts rambling in awkward laughs, before pulling her back to the present. Clearing her throat she looks to their hosts for a reaction. And again is disappointed by the stoic nature of them. She was beginning to wonder if it wasn’t so much that Light Hope was a program but that most Eternians were stone faced.

“We might be able to help with that.” Solon said, his voice as even as ever. “There’s a place here that we call the soul forge. It’s a similar place to the one your first sword was created. There we could better bind you to She-Ra and hopefully unlock your full power.”

“Really?!” Adora’s voice was echoed by that of Glimmer, Bow and Donnalyn. Entrapta was too busy making smaller food out of the dishes they’d been served.

“I mean,” Adora tries to act cool again. “You would do that for me? Why?”

“With Horde Prime still oppressing the vast majority of the universe, we need She-Ra at full strength now more than ever. With a more reliable connection you might just be the hero that we’ve been waiting for for so long.” Inana explains. “It would be our honor if you gave us the ability to awaken our people and bring peace back to the universe.”

“Well then,” Adora said with her signature lopsided smile. “What’re we waiting for?”

“Do you… not wish to finish your meal first?” Solon asked with the most confusion he’d ever expressed. A chorus of polite ‘no’s rang through the crew of the Trouble Maker. Between the way they’d stuffed their faces with Donnalyn earlier, and the stress from their current circumstances, they’d already been struggling to eat or even drink for several minutes.

“Very well.” Solon stood, his imposing six and a half foot form, dwarfing the table. He was almost as tall as She-Ra herself. Adora had to keep herself from letting out an audible ‘woah.’ “Come with me.” He said. Everyone stood from the table, Entrapta with a little bit of coaxing, and slowly filed out of the dining room behind Solon and Inana. Their long legs were making keeping pace with them rather difficult, and so the BFS plus Donnalyn ended up trailing behind. And again they were traversing the bowels of an unending maze. The further they got the more fidgety Donnalyn became. To the point Adora had to ask her what was wrong.

“Something.” Donnalyn said quietly.

”Something?” Adora prods.

“I can’t be sure.” Donnalyn says shortly.

”What makes you think that?” Adora was quickly running out of patience for this exercise.

“You can’t unlock all of She-Ra’s power with just the soul forge. Only training does that.”

”Meaning?” Now Catra was in on it.

”Meaning they’re lying, and if they’re lying about that what else are they lying about?” Donnalyn’s hushed whisper was gaining in mania.

“What else is new?” Catra grumbles.

“There’s a… a point of no return. If we get there and they don’t go the right direction…” Donnalyn was having trouble even forming the words she was so nervous.

”Then what?” Catra says, patience having been left somewhere on Etheria. Donnalyn meets her eyes. She’s like a cornered animal.

”We’ll probably have to fight our way out… Without She-Ra...” She finally says.

”Come now children! We wouldn’t want to lose you in a place like this!” Inana calls from ahead, in a more cheery voice than any of them had heard from her yet. She and Solon had stopped at an intersection waiting for them with a seemingly infinite well of patience. So they forged ahead. It’s not like Adora hadn’t known that there was a possibility something would go horribly wrong. There was a reason she hadn’t told them about Horde Prime already being dead. But now she needed to make a plan. The wheels turned as they walked. If they had to do it without She-Ra, Donnalyn was probably trying to warn her that they would use the magic suppression system. Meaning that Glimmer wouldn’t be much help, and Melog probably wouldn’t be able to use their cloaking either. Between Entrapta and Donnalyn maybe they would have a chance to hack the system and maybe turn off the magic suppression system. They would be in the center where she could defend them, she’d need Catra as back up for that. Bow would have to cover the rear, hopefully his longer legs would give him an edge. Adora mapped the corridors around them. Not so much for directionality, but what it would be like to fight in them. They were too narrow, not just to fight in, but likely too narrow for the security drones that would no doubt be coming. It might give them time to coordinate before they got out into the open. But once they were, they'd be sitting ducks. It would be a mad dash to get to safety. And this time she was definitely taking the Arcanium. Basically the only thing they had going for them was the element of surprise.

Their hosts turned into a room. Donnalyn was up front and she stopped in the doorway. Going so far as to block it with her arms.

“Dad… this isn’t the Soul Forge.” She said darkly.

“Donnalyn…” Solon matches her tone. “Do not interfere, there are things you don’t understand.

“Run.” Donnalyn said, her chest heaving. She didn’t even know she was arable of this. Defying her parents. But with every step on the journey down here she’d wrestled with it. And Donnalyn had made her decision. Ultimately they had brought her up with values, values that she held to her chest and wrote on her heart like treasures. Hoping one day she would have the opportunity to be the kind of hero that would make them proud. She’d never imagined that it would put them on opposite sides. But whatever they were planning was wrong and she knew that in her heart. Her mother hit a few buttons on her info pad. Melog mewled in pain. That meant the magic suppressors were up. They weren’t going to let them leave quietly, she was expecting that. She didn’t expect it to hurt so much. Donnalyn didn’t know what kind of punishment they would put her through for this betrayal, maybe they’d put her in stasis, like it looks like they planned to do with Adora. It didn’t matter, she’d take it to know that she did the right thing.

”What?!” Glimmer gasped.

”Melog!” Catra darts down to her cat in confusion. Melog’s mane and tail sparked a brilliant red as it growled at Inana and Solon.

”I said run!” Donnalyn turned and all but pushed them out the doorway. They got the hint pretty quick. “Catra! The magic is in the thinking part, not the ignition!” She barks out as they run.

“Stop!” Solon’s voice boomed angrily.

“What?” Catra’s voice broke in confusion.

”Your sword doesn’t need magic to work!” Entrapta helps. Solon storms into the hallway, a large gleaming spear in hand. Though there was no time to wonder where he’d gotten it.

“Bow!” Adora barks out. Bow didn’t need any more instruction than that. He turns back, bow and arrow drawn. Releasing it with his practiced ease. His patented Goo-row wrapped Solon in a thick green sticky mesh, the surprise of which made him stumble and fall. Adora cheered in her head a little. One victory down, another thousand to go. The ignition sound of Catra’s plasma blade caught her attention.

”Catra! Take point!” Adora yelled.

”On it!” Catra sounded surprisingly upbeat. It was all they needed to say to each other as they’re old channels of communication were well worn roads in their minds.

“Entrapta, Donnalyn! Take Melog, and try to take down that magic suppression system!” Adora kept barking orders as if they’d practiced it.

”You got it!” Entrapta said, pulling out her Tracker Pad and antenna. She was sad when she realized she couldn’t use her hair. Donnalyn hesitated as she looked at Melog for permission. Melog waved its head at her as if to say ‘let’s go!’ That was all Donnalyn needed, holding onto Entrapta’s waste like her life depended on it.

“Glimmer! Stay close to them! If the magic comes back on you have to keep anything that gets through us off of them!” Adora’s voice is still commanding as ever. Glimmer wasn’t happy to not be on the front lines, but she understood. Catra couldn’t help it, she almost purred listening to Adora take charge like this. Especially because it was a good plan. That thought was then interrupted by glowing eyes at the end of the tunnel.

”Incoming!” Catra shouts.

”Hard left!” Donnalyn yells in between talking Entrapta through the system. And Catra wasn’t about to argue with her. She skids on her heels to almost a dead stop, Melog and company following suit as she breaks right and starts picking up pace again. Bow shoots a web across the corridor hoping it will at least slow anything down that makes it into the tunnel. It didn’t. But soon they were in a rhythm, and without Adora having to say anything Donnalyn seemed to be guiding them in the safest path. Well… when she wasn’t distracted trying to help Entrapta hack the security system. Bow managed to hit a large bot in the eye and take it down. It took up so much room in fact it made it difficult for anything else to get past it.

”Nice shot!” Adora praised him. ”Donnalyn! How close are we?!”

“Another minute or so!”

“To the shipyard, or having our magic back?”

”Hopefully both! But the shipyard is closer!” Donnalyn answers honestly.

”Ugh!” Adora’s exasperated, she hates playing defense. “Keep on it! Glimmer, once we have our magic- If we get our magic back, you’re on boarding duty!”

“But I haven’t gotten to fight at all!” Glimmer argues.

”Glimmer!”

”Ugh, FINE.” That was all the confirmation Adora needed. Bow was running out of arrows, but at least they’d kept the rear up. It was about to be Adora’s turn to switch out. “There it is!” Glimmer pointed ahead to the end of the tunnel. Adora notices that they’re in much more familiar territory now.

”Last one!” Bow said before firing. Adora notices that there are in fact a few left, but it occurs to her that those are probably his trick arrows that would be about as useless as you could imagine at this moment.

“Catch up to the others, I’ve got this.” Adora says confidently. Bow looks at her like she’s crazy, but she isn’t in the mood to argue. “Go!” Adora says sharply. Bow whines but he complies. Catra hears this in the back of her mind as she’s staring down a hive’s worth of drones waiting for them.

”Adora!” She almost stops, but before she can even turn around she hears Adora’s voice.

”Keep going!” Adora doesn’t even flinch. So many things said in so few words, and suddenly Catra wasn’t finding Adora’s commanding voice so attractive anymore. She also knew, as much as she might hate it, that if she went to help Adora they’d lose. So she pressed on, her glowing red blade illuminating the anger in her eyes. She’d almost been terrified moments earlier, now however, she needed something to take her anger out on. Luckily for her, there were plenty of options. She was gonna take all of them.

Catra launches forward doing a handspring into front flip, turning herself into a veritable blender as she spun. The rest of her crew had never seen anything like it. In all the magic battles that they’d had against her Catra had never been more a force of nature, using her claws and blade to rip through everything in sight and leaving a trail of smoldering metal carcasses in her wake. In an odd way, it was almost like a dance, each motion flowing into the next. An unstoppable flurry of violence tearing through the enemy. But there were so many of them that Bow, Glimmer and Melog’s passengers, had to wait a moment for the path to be cleared. Long enough for Bow and Glimmer to share a look.

”I’m really glad she’s on our side now…” Glimmer says in awe.

”You’re telling me.” Bow answers. Catra pauses on a heap of bodies.

”Are you coming or what?” She says, surprisingly calm. It occurs to her charges that this is actually cathartic for Catra, which only deepens their appreciation for her friendship. Catra’s eyes widened as she looked behind them. Another wave of scorpion-like drones closing in on them. She could only watch as Adora was overwhelmed, before disappearing in a mass of metal claws.

”Adora!” Catra’s voice cracks. She’s about to ask how soon it will be before the magic is back. But Entrapta beats her to it.

”Got it! The magic is back on!” Entrapta shouts, as her and Donnalyn step down off Melog’s back. Melog, who grows to three times its normal size, starts tearing away at bots on one side, while Glimmer takes up the opposite flank and blasts them from a distance, giving them some breathing room. Catra jumps, landing with only a single foot on Melog’s back before she’s in the air again tumbling forward, ready to land on her feet and push for Adora.

Inside the heap they were wrapping Adora up in artificial webbing to restrain her. Then she felt it, that deep current like hot electricity coursing through her bones. Her eyes glowed and she knew it was time.

”For the honor… of Greyskull!” The words were somehow more powerful now that she knew what they meant. The light envelops her. Soon she’s slicing through them like a hot knife through butter. Once she has enough room to breathe she creates charged slices of energy in the air with each swing before a final command swing that launches them out in both directions. The army of bots that somehow managed to fill the hallway now lay limp. With one more single swipe she cleared a walking path that she strutted out of. Catra was standing a mere ten feet from the entrance, with a sort of dazed look on her face. She could’ve sworn Adora was glowing and back lit by an entire sun. As the glow faded Adora finally spoke.

”I told you to keep going.” It came out more stern than she meant it, but she wasn’t about to back down now. The battle was dying down behind them. They were winning.

”What, like you really think I’d leave you here with these pompous monsters? Like you left Entrapta in the Horde?” Catra’s intent was to twist the knife as much as possible. Both because she was still mad, and now because she was mad that Adora had done something so stupid and gone the self sacrifice route again.

“Hey! That’s not fair I-” She-Ra started to defend herself, getting caught on another thought. “You were worried about me weren’t you?” She finished with a smug smile.

“What?” Catra’s tail fuzzed. “No! I just didn’t wanna put in the work of coming to rescue you because Sparkles and Arrow boy won’t stop whining! NOT, because I like you.”

“You’re right.” She-Ra said, still as smug as ever. “It’s because you love~ me.”

”Shut up!” Catra failed to come up with a comeback.

“Never.” She-Ra said.

”UGH!” Catra stomps back to the rest of the crew, sheathing her Plasma Blade. She-Ra followed close behind. As they regrouped a massive thud shook the entire cavern. Behind them a gigantic security drone cocks its legs ready to attack. She-Ra doesn’t hesitate. With a single heavy swipe a blade of magical energy forms at the tip of her sword and travels through the robot like a wave, cutting it cleanly in half.

”I’m so sick of this planet.” She says. Before anyone has time to comment, another wave of bots start crawling out of the shadows and down the walls. It’s like watching an ant colony go to work. She-Ra gives Glimmer a look, and Glimmer starts teleporting them up to the ship. Starting with Bow and Entrapta. She-Ra looks down at a dumbstruck Donnalyn who is clearly fan-girling at the moment.

“Come with us.” She says.

”What? I- I can’t…”

“Your parents were about to turn me into a popsicle weren’t they?”

”I think so.”

”What’d you think they’re gonna do to you?” Catra said matter of factly.

“I-” Donnalyn doesn’t know the answer, but she knows it's not good.

”Please? We could really use your help out there, I know it looks like we know what we’re doing, but most of the time we just get really lucky.” She-Ra admits with her hand on the back of her neck. Donnalyn looks at Catra, and then back at the hallway they’d just come from. She thought about her room, her clothes, her things. But after all this was the call of adventure. Not just any adventure either, the adventure of a lifetime with someone she now considers officially the coolest cousin ever.

“Okay…” She breathes.

“Great!” She-Ra says beaming with joy.

“You guys go, I’ll make sure you can even get off the ground.” Catra says unsheathing her hilt.

“Absolutely not.” She-Ra says deadpan. Glimmer comes back for a moment, long enough to grab Melog. But the bots are coming too quickly. So She-Ra grabs her little cousin by the back of her jacket, and mimics the action with Catra, going the extra mile to throw Catra over her shoulder.

”He- Hey! Adora!” Catra complains. She-Ra jumps nearly twenty stories, knocking the air out of Catra. On purpose. To land on a surprisingly broad indent in the Arcanium’s hull where she knows a door is. Donnalyn obliges, opening the hatch. They walk in, with Catra still on She-Ra shoulder, just fast enough that glimmer poofs down to the deck, very confused as to where they went.

She-Ra sets Catra down before de-transforming.

“See? It’s that easy!” Adora scolds Catra.

”What is?” Catra says, confused about why it is that she’s in trouble now.

”Coming with me! I made Donnalyn a great offer and she said yes! It’s not that hard.” Adora says before stomping off.

”Are you serious right now!?” Catra says bewildered.

”Uh…” Donnalyn says uncomfortably.

”Yes Catra, I’m serious.” They are now moving toward the bridge and Donnnalyn doesn’t know what else to do but follow them. “You love to throw it in my face that I keep leaving you! But almost every time I beg you to come with me you run the other way!”

“You really think now is the time to talk about this!?” Catra didn’t have a great defense ready. Mostly because she didn’t even know this fight was coming.

“We might as well seeing as now I have a great example of how easy it was!” Adora says, like a dog with a bone.

”Ugh you’re impossible!” Catra throws her head back.

Up on the bridge they were still going at it.

“There you guys are! The ship is crawling with those bug things!” Glimmer says. It doesn’t phase Catra and Adora one bit.

“You just don’t like the idea of sharing the hero spotlight with anyone but your alter ego!” Catra needles her.

”You didn’t even start trying to be a hero until like yesterday so I don’t wanna hear it.” Adora jabs back. Donnalyn approaches Glimmer for a sidebar.

”Are they always like this?” Donnalyn asks quietly. Glimmer hesitates.

”Having Catra around is kinda… new. So… maybe?” Glimmer says. Donnalyn grimaces at the answer.

“Maybe I should’ve stayed with my parents…” She didn’t mean it, but the two of them had been like this the whole way up. And as much context as Donnalyn absolutely didn’t have it was almost impressive how easily they’d kept the fight going.

“Arcanium!” Adora materialized her sword. “Start your engines!” Adora sank the sword into a slot next to the captain’s chair. The Arcanium sprang to life. The room is filled with lights and sounds. A dull home running through the ship. “Let’s get out of here. Whatever the atmosphere doesn’t take off I’ll clean up once we’re in space.”

“Aye aye Captain!” Entrapta says with delight. The Arcanium gently raised up, heading for the ceiling. “Uh… There seems to be a little bit of a problem. The doors won’t respond.”

”Blast ‘em.” Donnalyn said in a pained voice. Adora quirks an eyebrow at her. “I don’t like it, but there’s not really another way out.” Adora nods in understanding.

”You heard her Entrapta.” Adora says, her voice still burning from the fight with Catra.

”Yipiee! I Never get to fire the cannons!” Entrapta is having the time of her life blissfully unaware of all the tension in the room. It manages to make Catra smile. Beams of light jut out from the front of the ship, making a hole in the doors just large enough for the Arcanium to sneak through. Donnalyn elbows Glimmer.

”Are they like… together?” She asks out of the side of her mouth. Glimmer chuckles.

“If that isn’t the question we’re all asking ourselves.” Glimmer smirks at her. Bow appears next to her, almost making Donnalyn jump.

”We’ve got a betting pool going if you want in on it.” Bow says, bouncing his eyebrows suggestively.

”What’s a betting pool?” Donnalyn asks, genuinely perplexed.

”Ohh, you poor sweet thing, don’t worry we’ll teach you the joys of gambling.” Glimmer said just a bit too loud.

“Oh, don’t you two start acting like you’re not just as sheltered and fragile as she is!” Catra interjects from across the room and behind Adora. A chill runs through the three of them.

”Sorry Catra, we didn’t realize you could hear us.” Bow tried to save them.

“With ears this big you’re kind of hard to miss.” Catra says, almost growling. Understanding and dread dawns of Glimmer’s face.

“So you’ve heard-” She starts.

”Everything.” Catra fills in the blank.

”Everything, Everything?” Bow asks as sweat begins trailing down his back and forehead.

”Everything…” Catra definitely growls this time.

“So about tha-” Glimmer gets cut off by Catra again.

”Save it. And figure out how to mind your own business before I forget why I joined you idiots and start trying to figure out if this floor stains…” Catra threatens them.

They very quickly found very interesting consoles to inspect.

Chapter Text

604 Part 1

The Arcanium rises through the atmosphere it lurches, throwing everyone around the bridge.

”Oh no!” They’re targeting us with the storm!” Glimmer exclaims.

“This isn’t the storm.” Donnalyn says as her fingers fly across the panel in front of her. “It’s a tractor beam, I think my mom is trying to bring us back in.”

”It can’t ever just be easy can it?” Catra says, clinging to the railing on the level above the captain’s chair.

“We’re loosing altitude! Fast!” Entrapta announces.

”Donna! What are our options!” Adora asks. Donnalyn gets a little start eyed, holding her hand to her mouth in shock.

”A nickname?…” She says just loud enough to hear.

”Donnalyn!” Adora yells to snap her out of it.

”Right! Uh…” Donnalyn says turning back to the control panel. She brings up a map of the tractor beam’s housing. “If Glimmer can get me down here I might be able to shut it off.”

”Might?” Bow asks, his voice cracking.

”It’s not as easy as finding the off switch okay?” Donnalyn defends herself. “Maybe you have some exploding arrows left?” She offers.

”What if you could do a lot of damage really fast?” Adora asks a lot more evenly. Donnalyn thinks for a moment.

”Yes, I know where to hit it.” She answers. Adora turns to Catra.

”Catra, make it go boom.” Adora smirks. A bride smile blooms across Catra’s face.

”Finally my talents are being appreciated.” Catra hops over the railing flicking her hand across her shoulder like she’s flipping her old mane of hair. Diva, Adora thinks. “Wait, that means I have to teleport doesn’t it?” Catra groans. She’d known the whole time, she was paying attention after all. But she also was never one too turn down an opportunity to be a brat.

“Catra!” Adora yells.

”Relax princess, I’m going.” Catra says rolling her eyes before putting her hands on Donnalyn and Glimmer’s shoulders. “Let’s get this over with Sparkles.” It was Glimmer’s turn to roll her eyes.

”You’re such a-“ Adora starts. Glimmer teleports them, leaving Adora, Bow and Entrapta alone on the bridge. “…brat.” Adora finishes to no one in particular.

”Quick question, why didn’t we just use the ship to shoot it?” Bow asks. Adora blushes with embarrassment.

”Ooh ooh! Me!” Entrapta says with her hand like a kid in grade school.

”Entrapta?” Bow says pointing at her, playing into whatever bit she was currently doing.

”Because the phase shift of the gravitational waves would have negated the impact!” Entrapta said proudly as the ship lists to one side.

“So… Because we can’t?” Bow asks. Entrapta takes a second to process how little she was understood, and decided to narrow it down for simplicity.

”Yes.”

”Great.” Bow said. “Glad we got that sorted out.”

Down on Acadia, Glimmer was running interference for the drones. Making sure that Donnalyn was free to direct Catra who was having the time of her life. Using her claws and plasma blade to rip through conduits. It was a little more complicated than Donnalyn had let on initially. They had to target the power lines before they could go after the focusing crystal.

“Is she having fun?” Donnalyn asks Glimmer. She knew she had to stay close to keep from getting cut off from each other. Of course Catra heard her, having given up the illusion of ignorance.

”Do you have any idea how long its been since I’ve gotten to let loose like this?” Catra said, hopping to the next power line, using her claws to slow her down as she swung around it, ultimately cutting through it. She let’s out one of her old diabolical laughs, channeling her inner tarzan as she goes. Cutting through the last one she looks back at them. “What’s next?” Donnalyn certainly never thought Catra was a push over, but staring to her wild eyes, seeing Catra’s thirst for destruction, that was the moment she decided that she was officially terrified of Catra. Maybe giving her a plasma sword was… premature.

By the time Glimmer teleported them back on to the Arcanium it was in a free fall, even though the tractor beam was already off. Everyone that was already on board was clutching the nearest solid object. Leaving Glimmer and her passengers to free float. The internal gravity of the ship was off to compensate for the proximity to Acadia meaning that nothing was there to hold them to the floor.

“What did you do!” Donnalyn asked Entrapta.

“I don’t know! I was trying to fight the tractor beam so we didn’t crash, but the engines cut out just before the beam did!” Entrapta wails. She’s using her hair to keep her in place over the control console.

”Oh! I think I can fix that!” Donnalyn said, suddenly very happy she’d spent so much time learning how to maintain these ships. Entrapta’s hair whips out encircling Donnalyn around the waist and drawing her in. Acadia’s surface had already filled the view port, but the increasing detail was enough to make everyone keep screaming. Donnalyn was focused, Entrapta has most likely almost overloaded the engines. In that even there were breakers that cut the power if they got too hot, all she had to do was reset them before they crashed. She was praying she was right as she hit the final controls at the last second. The indicators for engine power lit up, but she was too far away from the accelerator on the pilots station.

“Entrapta! Now!” Donnalyn said as fast as she could.

”Got it!” Entrapta proclaims using one of her hair tendrils to hit it. The deceleration almost knocked everyone to the floor, but the acceleration that happened just after they came to a full stop actually did. They were pinned to the floor from the speed. Adora didn’t know what to ask for but she knew who to ask.

”Entrapta!!!” She forces out, barely able to keep the air in her lungs.

”Re-initializing Inertial Compensators!” Entrapta announces, hitting another series of controls. Just like that the invisible chains holding everyone down were lifted. The squad slowly climbs to their feet, not quite trusting the stability of the floor beneath them. Donnalyn gives Entrapta a serious look.

”I hope we’re not going in the direction of anywhere important.” She says making Entrapta’s eyes widen.

”Altering course.” She answers, knowing whatever it is that Donnalyn is thinking, it likely has to do with Solon and Inana’s ability to track them.

”Seriously? How are we still not out of the woods yet?” Glimmer asks.

”Uh well, because the only thing protecting us from the moons is our transponder, meaning that I can’t deactivate it until we’re out of range. And if we’re going somewhere important between here and where the signal cuts out it’ll be like an arrow pointing into space telling them exactly where we went.” Donnalyn says with an embarrassed smile.

”Won’t they still have the trajectory from when we were going home?” Catra asks.

”Yes, but it will just be a guess, and not nearly specific enough to know how far to go, they could undershoot or overshoot by hundreds of light years and never know. Good question though.” Donnalyn unintentionally channeled her more personable Light Hope. Catra was almost offended by the compliment, and by the time she realized it was genuine, it was too late to really react.

”What do you mean protecting us from the moons?” Bow asks.

“We just escaped one of the most heavily armed and defended Eternian fortresses in history… Even the moons are guns.” Donnalyn said, trying not to freak them out. As the reality washed over Bow he couldn’t help melting to the floor using the side of a console to catch him on his way down.

“The moons are guns…” He says miserably.

”Don't worry!” Donnalyn says waving off their concerns. “Between me and She-Ra on board they wouldn’t blow us up, they’d just take out our engines so they could tow us back.” That’s when Donnalyn noticed how no one was getting more relaxed. “Besides that! There are so many safeties keeping them from friendly fire that by the time they figure out how to turn them off we’ll be long gone!” Donnalyn does her best grimace.

”So we’re in the clear?” Catra asks, not really believing it was possible even as she said it.

”…For now…”

”And what’s that supposed to mean?” Glimmer said mirroring Bow’s dismay.

“Well, with Horde Prime still in play they can’t leave Acadia undefended, so they’ll probably…thaw out a strike force to come after us…” This really wasn’t going well.

“How long do we have?” Adora pushes forward.

“Oh it’ll take time for them to regroup and prep for launch, probably like a day or two? Maybe three if we’re lucky.” Donnalyn says. The tension seems to flood out of the bridge like someone had pulled a drain plug somewhere.

”On that note, I’m gonna find somewhere to take a nap.” Adora says unceremoniously climbing over the arm of the captain’s chair and heading towards the door at the back of he room.

“Ooh!” Catra says rushing passed her. “I call Captain’s quarters!”

“Catra!” Adora protests as she picks up speed. They were gone in a few fleeting seconds, Melog bounding after them. Entrapta is the next to catch the trend and rush out after them.

”I call engineering!” As if someone was going to contest it.

“I’m sure there’s something on here fit for a political delegate such as ourselves, hopefully it’s even a proper suite.” Glimmer says to Bow.

“And I bet the head of security gets some pretty sweet digs too.” Bow says as he goes to follower her out. There’s a flash of hurt that crosses Glimmer’s face. But Donnalyn decides not to say anything. She’s left alone on the bridge, the first real quiet that she’s had all day.

”Guess I’m gonna… stay here.” Donnalyn says to herself. “Make sure that they can’t track us…” Turning back to the pilot’s station.

(Now would be a good time to listen to AJ Michalka’s “Warriors” as the new theme song.)

Adora chases Catra to the officer’s quarters they got turned around more than once. Catra takes every opportunity to try giving Adora the slip, breaking into laughter as they go. Catra didn’t actually know which one was the Captain’s quarters until Adora laid eyes on it, zeroing in on it like they were in the middle of a capture the flag drill. When she saw that look, and she saw what door Adora was looking at, and evil smile crept across her face. She actually jumped backwards off Adora’s chest, prepelling her closer to the goal and having the bonus effect of making Adora stumble backwards. Adora wasn’t nearly as fast as Catra, and Catra wasn’t going to take any chances. Slipping through the door and making sure that it slam shut behind her. Locked tight.

”Ugh! Catra!” Adora said, pounding her fist into the door as she came to a sudden stop. She tries the door control. Locked. Typical Catra, of course she took the time to figure out of to lock the doors on Mara’s ship. “You’re gonna have to come out of there eventually!” Adora yells through the door. No answer. She didn’t know it, but Catra was on the other side, staring at the door with her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing too loud to be heard. She wasn’t gonna give Adora the satisfaction.

“Fine,” Adora says to herself. “Since it looks like we need this ship for the mission anyway, I’m gonna go get my stuff.” It didn’t sound as tough as she wanted it to. “And I’ll find an even better room!” Since you obviously don’t want to share, she thinks. Unable to give voice to that particular thought. She started to walk away, only to hear the distinct ‘woosh’ of the door opening. She gasped lightly, not even turning before deciding to bolt back to the door and throw herself inside. Probably tackling Catra in the process. But she’s still not fast enough. All Catra wanted to do was open the door long enough to blow a raspberry at Adora. So the door slams in her face again, nearly trapping a stray hair that had come out of her poof inside it. Her face was red with fury, she tried desperately to come up with some biting word to hit Catra where it hurt.

”Brat!” Well, that certainly wasn’t the venom she was looking for. ‘It would have to do for now.’ Adora thought as she stormed off to Darla to collect her things.

Glimmer waited until they were clearly out of earshot of even Catra before she spoke. Her nerves were rattling as she heard their bickering disappeared. She knew the subject was going to be delicate, because as much fun as they’d had making fun of Catra and Adora’s back and forth, they had also skipped having a real conversation. About what they meant to each other, about what their relationship was, about how they might proceed. All of it had been up in the air. Glimmer hadn’t minded at the time, they were so comfortable around each other. She was sure they’d simply slip into place like two puzzle pieces. Last night hadn’t been much of a success. She’d planned to sneak into Bow’s room later in the night, complaining about nightmares. And he would comfort her like the gentleman he was. She hadn’t needed anymore than that. All she wanted to do was cuddle after all. Then Catra had found that dumb letter. Glimmer would never abandon Adora in that kind of moment, but the annoyance at the interruption had crossed her mind. ‘Whatever’ she’d thought. ‘There will be plenty of chances for that sort of thing.’ But now they were on this ship, and it was so big. She didn’t even know what she’d wanted Bow to say back on the bridge, but she was hoping it would be at least passively romantic. ‘What if…’ She couldn’t stop the thought. ‘What if she’d misread their battlefield declaration? What if he’d meant it as friends? Or worse, siblings. Ugh, gross.’

”So…” She started awkwardly. An innocent and carefree Bow walking along beside her. “It seems like Adora and Catra are starting to figure things out.” It was a little sarcastic, they might be at each other's throats right now, but it was better than the chilling silence from breakfast. Bow laughed.

”Yeah.” He sighs. “I’m pretty sure neither of them have any idea how to talk about their feelings.” He chuckles.

”He he, yeah…” Glimmer agreed. She knew he wasn’t trying to comment on what she’d been thinking but the parallels still hurt a bit.

“Sometimes I think they just need like an angry make out session to get it out of their system,” He added. Given where Glimmer’s mind had been, her cheeks started to heat up. That had been the last thing she needed to hear right then. Glimmer had to gently remind herself that he wasn’t talking about the two of them. Even if that’s what she was trying to do. She’d taken too long to respond.

”HA HAHAHA Ha…” She laughed painfully awkwardly. Glimmer clears her throat, “Do you really think that would work?” She said playing with her fingers.

“For those two? Who knows, they’re definitely more in their own way than each others.” He answered simply. Still completely unaware of the conversation he was actually having.

“So what’d you think they’d do if they were, I don’t know… normal?” Glimmer was still desperately trying to keep her cool, and failing miserably.

”We’re so far from normal I don’t even know what I’d do.” He chuckles again like it was any other conversation they have. “Oh here it is, you were right. There is a VIP quarters” Bow had been using his Tracker Pad to translate Eternian as they went.

“Of course there is!” Glimmer tried to sound like she was excited to be right.

”Well, I’m gonna go find the officer’s quarters, I’ll leave you to check out your new digs, sound good?”

”Sounds great!” Glimmer keeps the sarcasim out of her voice as she kicks herself for her cowardice.Opening the door to her room without even looking at the door control, watching Bow walk away. She tried to come up with something else to say, but the words wouldn’t come.

Down in the vehicle bay, Adora had made it back to her room in Darla. She’d been angrily packing for a few minutes, but alone with her thoughts all the steam from dealing with Catra’s antics disappeared. ‘Being mad at me is one thing, but she didn’t even give me a chance to explain. I can’t even apologize if she wont even talk to me.’ She thought to herself. ‘Is that why I started the other fight? Maybe I forgot how mad I was that she had so many opportunities to join them before and never had.’ Adora decided that after a day like they’d had, the last thing she wanted was to sleep in those clothes in a brand new bed. ‘It’ll be easier if I just change here.’ She thinks.

She managed to get her pants off, revealing her athletic boxers, then her shirt. Crossing both hands in front of her to pull it off. She was so preoccupied she didn’t even hear the door behind her open.

Catra had a plan before the doors opened. She was going to tell Adora that she thought about it and didn’t want some alien ambassador thinking she was in charge. Sure it might be fun for a while, coercing everyone to pretend like Catra was the captain, but then they’d start asking her to do stuff like kiss babies or whatever. She could totally be nonchalant about that. It would never have even occurred to her that it might be harder to talk Adora into moving her stuff in there if her stuff was already there. This way, she could just, stay over when she felt like it. Not that that’s what she wanted. A little bit of control in an already chaotic relationship. Not that there was anything she had to be insecure about in her relationship. Not that she even had one. And she absolutely wasn’t at all confused by the fact that Adora was now mad at her, and it definitely didn’t wanna make Catra put her in a choke hold and tickle her till she cried. That would be dumb. And she wasn’t the idiot in this, right?

And like a bucket of cold water had been dropped on her, every one of those thoughts had completely vanished when Adora’s door opened. Adora was still in her sports bra, and underwear. Something Catra had seen hundreds of times after training in the Horde. Of course it had been a while, they’d been through an actual war and Adora had developed a lot since then. But it wasn’t the muscles that stopped Catra in her tracks and made her throat feel like it was closing. It was the claw marks. Running from just below her neck down to her ribs.

“Adora?…” Catra croaks. Adora jumped at the intrusion, her arms going to cover herself up, she barely looked over her shoulder.

”Oh, it’s just you.” She sighed with relief. Letting her guard down, she went back to looking for the pajamas she wanted. “I’m guessing you came to tell me how awesome the captain’s quarters are?” The lack of a snarky comeback made her pause. Catra was quicker then that. She looks over her shoulder again to see that Catra looks like she’d seen a ghost.

“Catra?” Adora asks gently. Her best friend in the universe stumbled forward, bit by bit. Her graceful footfalls making it deadly silent.

”Did I… did I do that, to you?” Her voice was always raspy, but this tone was something Adora hadn’t heard since they were kids.When she’d first rescued Catra from Horde Prime it was close, but Catra had still been holding on to so much pride even then. This was.. was she on the verge of tears? For a second Adora had even forgotten that the scars were there. She followed Catra’s eyes to her back before remembering. Catra softly reached out her claws, lightly tracing the scar to confirm her suspicions.

“Oh, uh… yeah.” Adora said, turning away to hide her blush. It wasn’t from the contact, maybe it should’ve been, but she hadn’t actually thought about Catra finding them before. “They don’t hurt…” Adora could almost feel the look on Catra’s face, her eyebrows knotted together with questions. “Don’t worry,” Adora tried to fill the silence. “I’m not mad about it or anything, you were chipped, and besides, I think you knocked a nerve or something cause breaking my legs didn’t hurt nearly as much as it should have.” Adora was rambling now. The hurt of Catra’s face was pulling her in, and she subconsciously putting her hand on Catra’s arm for comfort.

“You broke your legs?” Catra said, She was breathless, outraged, and confused.

”Well yeah, after Horde Prime threw you off that platform I wasn’t just gonna leave you down there, and I didn’t have She-Ra back until after I hit the bottom. I mean, I’m guessing I don’t really know if I broke them, I could’ve just shattered my knees caps and snapped a bunch of tendons, but I didn’t really have time to check before She-Ra healed them so…” Adora lost her train of thought, getting lost in Catra’s eyes. Catra was inspecting her, like she was looking through Adora’s soul.

“Why?” Catra said. It was the only things she could manage. Adora’s blush deepened. She looked down.

”You know why…” Adora said, only looking up from under her eyelashes after she finished. The air was electric, Adora didn’t dare guess at what Catra was thinking.

“Wait.” Catra said, shaking herself out of the connection lightly. “If She-Ra healed your legs. Why do you still have the scars?” Catra had gotten stuck on the point, which was lucky because she was fighting every fiber in her body wanting to kiss Adora right then. Adora stiffened, eyes widening like she’d been shot. Her face flushed a bright red from top to bottom.

“Uh…” Adora’s mouth flopped like a fish. When she did speak it was at Mach nine. “You know I think I’m just about done packing up here I think I’m just gonna head out and steal the captain’s quarters back from you if that’s okay.” Grabbing her unzipped bag as she went and ran out the open door.

”Adora?! Catra tried to call her back. Adora’s awkward power walk was already taking her down the ramp. “Adora!” Catra rushed to the door frame to call her back.

”What?” Adora sounded the least casual she’d ever been. Catra gestured to Adora’s body. She was still in her underwear. If Adora could’ve turned a darker shade of red she would’ve. The vein on her forehead popped out. Adora rushed back up the ramp, flying right by Catra and into her room, only to do a 180 and push Catra out by her shoulder blades. “You’re totally right, I should get dressed and you should go pack.” With that the door slammed. Catra blinked in bewilderment, face only a few inches from cold metal. Melog uncloaked beside her, looking up at her expectantly. Taking a step back she looked at her companion.

“What was that?” Catra was in total shock about everything that had just happened. Only to be pretty sure she sees Melog shrug. That was the last straw. Too much weird, Catra officially gave up on interpreting anything that had just happened. Which really meant that she was going to repress that wave of emotions she’d just gone through until it was more convenient. Besides, she really was tired, it had been a long day and she didn’t have She-Ra’s regeneration powers to fall back on.

On the other side of the door, Adora had pressed her back into it and slid down. She felt like she was about to combust. She’d said way too much, but she’d almost gotten away without admitting the one thing she actively didn’t want tot tell Catra. She liked the scars. And in order to keep them, she’d gotten in the habit of thinking about them everytime she transformed back. Adora would tell her that she loved her any day of the week if it felt like a good moment. There was no good moment for that confession.

A little while later on the bridge, Entrapta called up from, well, wherever she was.

“Hey Donnalyn!” This made Donnalyn jump. Then she realized the voice was disembodied and she could afford to pretend like nothing had happened. She cleared her throat.

”Yeah what’s up?” Super casual, she lied to herself.

“Haven’t we been out of range of Acadia for a while now?”

“For over an hour, yeah, why?” She wasn’t sure why there was a nervous feeling coming over her, other than Entrapta wouldn’t be asking without a reason.

”Why haven’t you turned off the transponder beacon?” Entrapta asks.

”I did that as soon as we were out of the solar system…” Donnalyn remembered it clearly, it wasn’t the kind of thing you’d just forget to do. She wasn’t excited to find out what her parents would do if they caught them. She checked the transponder settings, maybe she should’ve triple checked them sooner. Nope, it was off.

”Not according to my readings.” Entrapta said tentatively. “I’m still not great at deciphering First One’s signals, but if I had to guess, it looks like a recall signal. The kind of thing that might help you track down a stolen ship.” Donnalyn’s eyes went wide. Entrapta was right, of course she was right, of course there would be a backup. A fail safe in case a hostile force was able to take the ship. Probably triggered by a deadman’s switch that would need to be reset every so often. Probably even with a special authorization code that she didn’t have.

”Can you track it?” Donnalyn knew it wouldn’t be easy to find in the ship's systems, and even if she found the controls there was no way she could be sure that she could turn it off.

“Already on it!” Entrapta says proudly.

”Good, I’ll meet you down there.” Donnalyn said.

It wasn’t very long before she’d found Entrapta, who was walking the halls with her antenna and tracker pad. Nearly out of breath she leans on the wall pretending to be nonchalant.

”How close are we?” Donnalyn asks.

“It’s hard to tell, I’ve been on three different levels now and I keep getting readings like I’m close but I can’t seem to actually find anything.” Entrapta sticks her tongue out absentmindedly while she scratches her head.

”Didn’t Glimmer say something about you really loving to travel by vent?” Donnalyn asked in confusion.

”Yeah!” Entrapta was excited at first. “But all the ventilation for the Arcanium is so small that not even a tiny robot could fit!” She said, clearly a little crestfallen.

“Why haven’t you tried the access tubes?” Donnalyn still wasn’t getting it.

”Access tubes?” Entrapta cocks her head. Donnalyn, rather than responding, reaches down to a handle on an access panel, flipping it up and then turning it to release it from its frame. The door rises up, resting on the wall. Inside was a tube with a ladder. It’s illuminated by the same soft bar lights that line the hallways and is full of even more access panels to the various ship systems. Entrapta’s eyes fill with stars.

”Is that?…” Her voice fails.

”They run through the whole ship so that the different access points don’t interfere with walking space but still let you get to anything and everything you could possibly need to fix.” Donnalyn had barely finished the explanation before Entrapta dove in. Head first.

“Entrapta!” Donnalyn yells in panic. Looking down into the tube fighting the urge to dive in after her. Instead of finding Entrapta on the bottom, Entrapta was already gone, her mad cackling of joy echoing up through the tube. Donnalyn allowed herself to slump against the wall in relief.

”These people are gonna kill me.” She says to herself.

Catra was laying on her bed in Darla. Head spinning. Adora had broken her legs. Just to hold Catra when she was most likely already dead from the impact. That had to mean something right? She’d said it like it didn’t even matter, like it was any other Tuesday. But even with She-Ra’s powers to fall back on, pain was still pain. Adora hadn’t even known if she could transform at the moment she’d jumped. Catra had missed it. Her memories from that day were… a mess. Bits and pieces that she spent most of the time trying to forget. And now there was a memory that she wanted, and she knew she couldn’t have. She had been out cold. But Adora had chosen her, she’d picked Catra over a lot that day. ‘I love you too.’ The words echoed in her head everyday now. And that kiss… It wasn’t like Adora didn’t kiss her back. She definitely had. That much Catra was sure of. But it had been the heat of the moment. And if Adora had lied to her about what was in that stupid diary… What if she was just keeping Catra happy? Afraid of what would happen if Adora rejected her. The thought made her stomach turn. It didn’t matter anyways, even if Adora wasn’t stringing her along. The first ones were back. Or about to be. It was only a matter of time before they figured out that Horde Prime was dead. And of course Adora was their savior. They would expect her to rebuild the first one’s civilization. Donnalyn may be her cousin but not all of them were. What if she found someone else? Someone better for her, without… without all that painful history. Catra was falling down the list of priorities by the day. Flashes of Adora’s sweetness ran through her mind, the ache in her gut mixing with butterflies. Then she remembered those scars. ‘All I do is hurt her.’ She thinks.

Beedeeboop

”Hey guys,” Donnalyn’s voice filled the room.

”Agh! What!” Catra said. She hadn’t gotten even a wink of rest and they were already waking her up. How long had it been anyways?

”Entrapta and I found something…”

”Something bad!” Entrapta says helpfully.

”You should probably come take a look at it.” Donnalyn said, like she had a bad taste in her mouth. The sound of Adora’s yawn came through next. Of course she’d slept fine.

”Okay, we’ll be there soon…” Adora said. ‘Why was her sleepy voice so… cute. It was infuriating. She really isn’t making working on these anger issues any easier. But that was that. No point in fighting it, time to go figure out what to do about their newest stroke of bad luck. It’s never gonna be easy around here.’ Catra thought as she rolled out of bed.

Chapter Text

604 Part 2

Glimmer and Bow were the closest so they showed up first. By the time they’d arrived the problem had quiet literally grown much larger. Familiar red tendrils had spread like roots into the corridor of the ship. Entrapta and Donnalyn were simply starring at it.

“Is that what I think it is?” Glimmer asked.

“Well no not technically.” Entrapta answered unhelpfully.

”You left that thing back on Etheria right?” Bow asked.

”Of course! It’s even in a sealed container.” Then Entrapta thought better. “…And very broken…” she lied terribly. Bow knew better than to try and deal with that right now.

”So then there’s another one?” He asked.

”Worse.” Donnalyn chimed in. Apparently Entrapta had informed her of their previous encounter with this kind of thing.

”Worse?” Bow’s voice cracks. That’s when Adora rounds the corner, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Catra and Melog close behind. Glimmer put up her arm, blocking Adora from getting any closer.

”What’re yo-“ Adora stops questioning Glimmer when she sees the pulsing red roots growing from the access tube.

“Woah. Is that?” Catra asks, a mix of emotions on her face.

”Nope, it’s worse.” Bow catches them up.

”Worse?!” Adora said backing away from it. Her eyes nearly bugging out of her head.

“It’s the ships theft protection.” Donnalyn says.

”Can’t you people make any normal tech? Have an alarm go off? Shut down the engines?” Catra says more than asks. The fur on her tail bristles.

”It’s actually really fascinating, this is just the first layer, as it takes over the ship it will incorporate more and more systems. Centralizing control in isolation some that we lose access even from the manual controls. Eventually it will shut everything down, sending out a retrieval signal while simultaneously protecting itself with the growths!” Entrapta was enamored with the comprehensive way that this made their situation difficult.

“Can you not sound so excited about this?” Catra says. Still feeling threatened by the growths. It didn’t quiet register that she was feeling defensive on Adora’s behalf, but Adora noticed. Taking a glance to smile softly at her even though she knew Catra wouldn’t see it.

“Why does it take so long?” Glimmer asks.

”It’s supposed to be subtle and hard to catch.” Donnalyn said. “Its adaptive matrix is designed to interpret our attacks against it and take countermeasures. It’s actually already in even more of the ship than we can even see. If Entrapta hadn’t been monitoring signal traffic with her own stuff we might not have caught it until it was too late.”

”How long do we have?” Adora asks.

”There’s really no way to know, not long, longer if Entrapta’s blow torch plan works. The signal is already going out, and even if we get passed the tentacles-“

”Please don’t call them tentacles.” Glimmer interjects.

“If we can get passed the… roots?”

”Better.” Catra agrees with Glimmer’s silent nod.

“Like Entrapta said, they’re just the first layer. There’s still the beacon itself, which has to be completely removed before we can crack it open. Let alone actually turn it off.” Donnalyn tries to deliver the bad news gently.

“Well what do we do in the meantime?” Glimmer asks.

”I recommend insulating the signal so it’s harder to track!” Entrapta says. “It’s not gonna be easy either…”

”What do you mean?” Adora asks.

”She means that it’s using the ships hull as an antenna.” Donnalyn simplifies.

”Meaning that we have to hide… the whole ship?” Bow says, putting the pieces together. Donnalyn smiles with embarrassment again, it’s enough of an answer to make him pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration.

“How exactly are we supposed to hide this whole thing?” Catra said, still frustrated from her loss of sleep. Her ears peeled back. Donnalyn shrugs.

“We should get to the bridge and look for some options.” Adora says resolute in her plan. Also covering for the fact that she wants to be as far away from this stuff as possible. She puts her hands on Catra and Bow’s shoulders. “Glimmer?” Catra groans in acceptance, Melog rubbing against her leg in anticipation.

“Wait, I should go with you, I have a pretty good idea of what it’s gonna take to muffle the signal.” Donnalyn says. Adora nods and then looks at her own arm, indicating for Donnalyn to put her hand there. Glimmer obliges Adora, teleporting them to the bridge.

Adora takes her place in the captain’s chair, while the others find their preferred work stations. Bow at navigation, Donnalyn at science and sensors, and Glimmer at tactile. Glimmer wasn’t really there for the weapons, she just knew that she could control what was on the display screen for them from there.

“So what are we looking for exactly?” Bow said as he starts parsing map data from their sector. Donnalyn’s fingers are flying, to do what, the rest of them weren’t really sure.

“We need something with plenty of mass, a gas giant, maybe a planet with a lot of water we can dive into. Something that will allow us to surround the ship in a natural barrier for the signal.” Donnalyn said flatly and distracted from her work.

”Wo- Would metal work?…” Bow asked tentatively. Donnalyn was still too distracted to really take in his meaning.

“Well yeah, I mean it would be really convenient if we could find a faraday cage. But good luck finding one big enough.” She said, still looking through solar system data.

“Bow?” Adora said. She knew he had an idea, but it felt like one of those bad ideas that they had to make work.

“Well, it’s not great, but I think I found an option. Glimmer can you?” Bow said, sending her the navigation data he’d found. Glimmer didn’t even have to answer, she just pulled it up on screen.

”Is that?” Catra asked from behind Adora.

”A horde ship.” Bow stated solemnly. That was enough to get Donnalyn’s attention.

”What?! What are you doing?! We have to get out of here!” Donnalyn said, her eyes the size of dinner plates, and her hands shaking. “We can’t take on a Horde dreadnought in this!” Everyone looked at Adora. She nods to Glimmer, deciding it had been long enough.

“So… there’s something we haven’t been telling you…” Glimmer said sweetly.

“Can it wait until we’re out of danger?!” Donnalyn said, deeply confused as to why no one else was freaking out. “That ship has a complement of ten thousand clones! And a weapons battery capable of leveling whole cities at a time!” Obviously they must not have ever been up against a horde dreadnaught if they were still so calm.

”We’re not in danger.” Bow said sternly.

“Are you insane!?” Donnalyn’s breathing was erratic. Suddenly Catra was next to her. More gentle than she’d ever seen her. Catra put her hand on Donnalyn’s arm to ground her.

“Horde Prime is dead.”

”What? No, I mean, maybe you killed his main vessel, but that’s why the clones exist! He can’t die, he just takes another form!” Donnalyn was really starting to freak out.

“Donnalyn!” Adora barks. That stops her in her tracks. “I killed him myself. She-Ra killed him. Not just his body, I banished his soul from the universe.” The words were heavy. Adora hadn’t really talked about what she’d done or how she’d done it before.

”Yo- you can do that?” Donnalyn stammers. Adora sighs.

”It’s hard to explain, I don’t really know how I did it. Sometimes, when enough magic passes through me… She-Ra kind of… takes over and does things I don’t know how to do. But I know that it worked. It’s okay. I promise. He’s gone.” Adora’s eye contact was unyielding. Like she was pouring all her heart’s strength into it. Donnalyn blinks, slowly, and then quickly. Like she’s coming out of hypnosis. Looking at her new crew one by one, each of them was just as sure in their own way that Horde Prime was no more.

”You’re sure?” Donnalyn asks softly.

”I’m sure.” Adora says with an assuring smile.

“There’s still probably a bunch of clones on that ship.” Donnalyn finally starts processing again.

”Nothing we haven’t handled before.” Catra says confidently.

“Besides, it looks like it’s got a cargo bay big enough for us to park in. You said it yourself, it would work.” Bow says.

“It’s as good a plan as we’ve ever had.” Glimmer adds.

”Well… It might be cool to get to really see She-Ra in action.” Donnalyn concedes. “I was a little distracted last time.” She was starting to get shy as she realized the scene she’d made. How it must’ve looked from the other’s point of view.

“That’s the spirit!” Glimmer said, trying to cheer her up.

”And if you think I’m letting Adora get all the action you clearly haven’t been paying attention.” Catra says. Clapping Donnalyn on her back.

“Bow,” Adora starts, turning her attention back to the task at hand. “Get us to that ship, the clocks ticking.”

“Aye aye captain!” Bow declares as he turns back to his consol. He was having too much fun with his new role. But Adora wasn’t going to take it from him. Catra appeared next to Adora, leading on the back of the captain’s chair for support. Adora turns to her, voice just low enough for only Catra to hear.

”Thank you for that. You were really sweet with her.” Adora said, gesturing to Donnalyn with her eyes.

”Don’t ruin it princess…” Catra’s voice was a low growl. Unwilling to expose the conversation further just to protest the praise. “I just- I know what it’s like to be that scared of… him.” Catra didn’t need to say anymore, her tail flicked in frustration. Eyes glued to an empty spot on the floor.

“Okay okay okay” Adora said quickly, still quiet. She smiles warmly at Catra, who catches it out of the corner of her eye.

”Don’t make me throw you out of this dumb chair.” Catra says. Adora forces her smile into a flat line, it wasn’t a good disguise, but Catra wasn’t gonna get anything better. The ship rocks forward and then backward. Throwing Catra into Adora’s lap. The fur on her tail, and even the hair on her head bristles. Catra peels herself out of Adora’s arms as quickly as she can.

”Rrrr, you did that on purpose!” Catra accuses Bow.

”Sorry!” He lied. “It looks like the anti-theft device is starting to affect the engines.” He continues his like, snickering with Glimmer while Catra smooths her fur.

”Then it better not happen again.” Catra’s tone threatened him. Bow couldn’t force the smile down. Angry Catra was still super cute.

They weren’t far from the Horde ship, but it definitely made them nervous as the Arcanium’s engines started stuttering and generally giving out. It wasn’t the first time they found themselves gripping the nearest solid object. The first lucky break they’d had in a while was that Entrapta was able to hack the landing bay doors. The echoes of grinding metal resonated throughout the ship as they came in for what Bow called ‘another graceful landing’

“So now what do we do? Just wait for Tinker and Talk to remove the beacon?” Catra said, clearly referring to Donnalyn and Entrapta.

“Wait, which one’s which?” Donnalyn asked. Only to be ignored.

”That depends on what’s out there.” Adora said to Catra before turning to the more handy of her friends. “Can we tell if there’s anyone on board? It kinda looked abandoned when we were landing.”

“Oh sure,” Donnalyn said. She began typing away at her console. “So it looks like-” and just like a switch had been flipped, the bridge and all its controls went dark. Adora groans in the darkness. Her head landing in her hands was nearly audible. Glimmer lit the room as best she could, Entrapta pulled out a flashlight, Bow had an arrow light, and Donnalyn summoned her staff, allowing the crystal to glow. Did this really happen to them that often? Adora thought to herself.

“You know, now that I’m thinking about it, if we could find some Horde tools to attack the beacon with, this might go a lot quicker.” Entrapta said to no one in particular.

”Why’s that?” Glimmer asked. Bow face palmed.

”Because then we wouldn’t have to worry about the beacon absorbing our tools.” He said, disappointed that he hadn’t realized it sooner.

“That was an option?!” Adora’s eyes bugged out.

”Of course it was…” Catra said, pinching the bridge of her nose. “This whole ship and everything on it is First One’s tech.” Donnalyn coughs.

”Eternian.” She mumbles a correction.

”Don’t push it.” Catra’s eyes pierce Donnalyn’s soul. “Anyway… Everything on this thing is vulnerable, just like you and your sword were.” Catra explains.

“And horde tech isn’t?” Glimmer said in confusion. “Didn’t Horde Prime use his own tech to hack Etheria?”

“Yes!” Entrapta said, ready to give Glimmer a gold star. “But that was only because of the years of research that Hordak and I had already put together! Without it, the beacon might eventually be able to crack it but not before we can remove it!”

“But someone needs to stay and try to contain what parts of it we can.” Catra observes.

“Do you know what we’ll need?” Entrapta asks Bow.

“Uh… I don’t- Horde tech was never really…” He says, letting Entrapta’s sigh cut him off.

“Bow will have to stay here with… I’m sorry, what was your name again?” Entrapta looks at Donnalyn.

”Donnalyn.” She responded flatly.

”Right! She knows the ship better than anyone, so she’ll be most useful here while we go to retrieve what I need.” Entrapta said. Donnalyn was a little perturbed by the fact that Entrapta still didn’t use her name, as well as the ‘I’ instead of ‘we,’ but this wasn’t the time to bother.

”I won’t argue with that one.” Donnalyn said. She did not want to step on a Horde ship if she could help it.

Flashback time:

Adora was staring at a pudding cup the night after she’d been trapped in the crystal castle with Catra. She’d taken dinner in her room that night, she’d needed some alone time. It was hard to think about everything they’d been through. How broken Catra was. How mean she’d become. Insisting at every opportunity that she didn’t miss Adora the way Adora missed her. It made her remember that conversation they’d had that last night.

The last normal night of Adora’s life was something she had a hard time forgetting. Training had been hard, they’d all worked up a good sweat and traveled with a cloud on the way to the showers. Her hair had stil been wet at dinner when Catra offered her the traditional oat meal cup. It was something small, but a forever ago Catra had said she didn’t like oatmeal. Adora who loved it didn’t think twice at the time and swiped it. Catra had smiled outside Adora’s field of vision. They’d been sitting next to each other in the middle of the bench at the table. Surrounded by their team. For a long time they’d been sitting like book ends at the end of the table. But as they got older, Adora got more attention the more successful she was. And they tolerated Catra, because when the chips were down, Adora would defend Catra whether she was innocent or not. It was the pilot light that kept Catra’s heart alive all those years. A small plausibly deniable proof, that Adora cared about her. Maybe not in the way she wanted, but maybe this was enough. So when she saw how much Adora loved the oatmeal cup, she’d made a decision.

“Ugh this stuff is gross.” Catra sticks her spoon back into it. Adora’s eyes light up, never leaving her new target.

”I’ll take it!” Adora said. Of course she was going to be oblivious. Catra had long since given up on telling if it was on purpose or not. It was safer if she didn’t know.It might be fun if she got to tease her about missing it someday.

But that very oatmeal cup was the one Adora was thinking about that last night. She’d come into the chow hall last week after being sick. Showing up was a surprise because she hadn’t told anyone she was feeling better yet. She’d almost missed the move, but Catra was at the end of the table again. More exposed, so the move wasn’t as easy to cover up as it might’ve been. An empty oatmeal cup from Catra’s tray. Adora wasn’t even totally sure why she did notice. Maybe it was battlefield awareness training, but it stuck in her head. She’d gone back and forth in her head for days about it. She’d been wrestling recently, she’d started to see Catra differently. There was a certain tension between them that Adora hadn’t noticed before, and when she was defending Catra. Especially when Catra was guilty, she noticed her heart racing a little differently. She was paying much closer attention to how much Catra appreciated, or didn’t sometimes, her intervention. There was a gleam in Catra’s eyes that Adora had started to chase. She couldn’t help it, but she didn’t even know why. Not that she would’ve been able to put that into words before she opened her mouth that last night. They were in bed. Both in Adora’s bed more specifically. Catra leaning against the rail of the bunk at the foot. She was playing absent minded lay with a puzzle cube with her feet tucked under Adora’s sheets. Well… and Adora’s feet, but that was for extra warmth. Because Catra spent more time in direct contact with the cold metal and concrete floors in the Fright Zone after all. She needed the extra body heat.

Adora was reading. For once it wasn’t one of their textbooks printed in a take home binder. This time it was a tiny trashy novel from the Library. Most of the library was left over from the previous rules of the kingdom, history books, military tactics or science textbooks. It made for a really dry collection. But the librarian had a taste for contraband. In this case that meant captured materials. Things picked up during raids. Last year, for Adora’s birthday, Catra had stolen some supplies from the prison’s office for the Librarian, and in return Adora would have access to the Librarian’s secret collection.

“Catra, how did you even find out about this?” Adora gasped. Catra rolled her eyes at the accusation.

“How about you don’t worry about it and accept that I know things?” Catra smirked. Letting a small but thick book fall into Adora’s hands. Adora held it up to inspect it with two fingers, like it was covered in goo.

“But what is it?” Adora asks suspiciously.

“Remember that romance stuff Kylie said he caught his mom reading?” Catra explains, conspiracy in every note. Adora blushes at the book. Dropping it. Catra’s reflexes manage to catch it before she even needs to bend. “Just take it.” She’d said. “It’s supposed to have all that mushy stuff you can’t seem to get enough of when it’s mentioned in the history books. Adora wouldn’t admit it, but it was the only thing that really would get her through those classes when they were supposed to be discussing troop movements. Adora grasps the book gently. This time trying to hide her potential reverence for it.

“Thank you…” Adora says breathlessly before pulling Catra into a hug. Catra was thankful the hug hid her smile even if her voice couldn’t quite do the same.

“Yeah yeah, happy birthday or whatever.” Catra had said. Since then she’d been reading through that library one at a time. She’d been learning a lot that she wasn’t prepared to admit it either. Maybe it wasn’t battle readiness training. She’d recently found a favorite, about to girls that were enemy spies. That found themselves needing to work together for a heist. Each trying to do a better job of backstabbing the other while still accomplishing their mutual goal. It had an interesting ending… This was her third read through. Not that even Catra was paying enough attention to her most recent habit. She wasn’t sure what she liked so much about this particular book. But it had her raptured. Most days. Then there was that damn oatmeal cup. And before that thought could fully connect her looked up from the page she hadn’t been reading.

”Hey I have a theory.” Adora whispers, kicking Catra’s ankle.

“Ow!” Catra fakes offense. “What do you want?” Catra giggles dryly, but just as quietly.

”I think you like oatmeal.” Everyone was still asleep. They’re late night conversations were something the rest of the team had long ago learned how to sleep through as long as they kept it quiet. That didn’t stop Adora from eyeing their breathing everyone once in a while while the other’s slept.

“Don’t be dumb.” Catra smiles at her puzzle cube, pretending not to notice Adora’s looking at her.

“I saw you last week. I know you ate one.” Adora hissed deviously. Knowing she was cornering Catra. Catra for her part stiffening slightly. It was dark enough Adora wouldn’t have been able to notice if Catra’s ears hadn’t flicked back. It was a fraction of a second, Adora could’ve missed it if she hadn’t been staring Catra down.

“Yeah, Shadow Weaver made us double our laps because you were still out of commission. I was starving, I would’ve cleared anything they put on my tray.”

“You like me don’t you?” Adora probed. Shit eating grin intact.

“What are you one?” Catra giggles.

“I think you like me.”

“You’re delusional.” Catra says, her cheeks tight as she refuses to smile.

“Just admit it Catra, you forget you’re holding your breath around me don’t you?” Adora continues to tease.

“You’re reading too many of those stupid books. I didn’t want to rot your brain I just didn’t want to help you with those late night study sessions.” Catra pushes back. She’s not admitting shit tonight. Especially because Adora didn’t even know what flirting was till she started reading those books. What Adora didn’t know is that Catra had been using her night vision to read Adora’s books even after Adora went to sleep. And Adora would give her a hard time in the morning for being late and sleeping in, always thinking she was just lazy. She’d never know that Catra was secretly begging for the ending of that book it become her personal prophecy.

And it was also that moment that Catra was remembering that very same night after the battle at bright moon, in her force captain quarters, staring at an un eaten oatmeal cup with a spoon sticking out of it. But that was a long time ago. Catra slaps the oatmeal across the room. It hits the wall and lands face first. She’ll have to yell at Kylie in the morning to clean it up. That’s what she thinks as she curls up in the dark, and pulls the tattered book out from under her pillow. The one place no one would think to look for anything salacious about her. Because what would Catra have to care about? Enough to put under her pillow? Nothing of course.

Chapter Text

604 Part 3

They’d suited up in Darla, using Entrapta’s custom suits. Glimmer teleporting them right onto the landing deck of the Horde Ship. The cold of it seemed to seep into their suits. They might have been air tight but they certainly weren’t temperature tight.

“Why can’t you just get us where we need to go again?” Catra asked just to get under Glimmer’s skin. Glimmer didn’t catch it.

”Oh no! I am not doing this again. I couldn’t get around the last one blind! I never knew where I ended up or how it connects to anything else and I hate it.” Stomps her foot. The childish gesture is still clinging on by a thread. Out of the corner of Adora’s mouth and aimed at Catra she said;

”To be fair it was kind of a maze…” Adora dared to have a sparkle in her eye when she said it. Catra just looked at her, and entire conversation passed between them. Their faces were more than words could ever convey. This gist went like this:

What’re you doing idiot? You know I’m messing with her.

Yeah, I know, but it’d be far more fun to tease you about how wrong you are.

You little…

Adora’s heart fluttered a little bit more than she felt she was allowed to at the time. It was a little hard not to as she realized how much she’d missed those eyes for so long? It’d been months together now, on the same side. But they’d had very little in the way off armed combat compared to all the not so distant time when they were trying to kill each other. But after reading that letter again, not to mention what she’d even written after it… She found a her favorite distortion in Catra’s iris again, her yellow iris. Just a hint of swirly green like a life boat on an ocean. Oh no, what if that was on Adora’s face right now..

”Entrapta!” Adora said in an abnormally loud voice. It hurt the other’s ears. “Any atmospheric readings?” She was trying to sound peppy and over shot it a little. Catra looks at Melog, Melog looks back, both have their eyebrows raised in question.

What was that? They silently asked each other. Obviously neither had an answer.

“Yes! It’s a little chilly but the atmosphere is breathable!”

“Breathable? Or optimal?” Catra specifies. When Entrapta was still configuring her First One’s detection method, she told them they needed to go look for some raw materials for repairs. What she was really hoping it was some cool first one’s tech. It turned out to be a natural crystal formation that was giving off signal because of micro tremors in the crust. Entrapta had said that air was breathable too. But the air was sour and gross, even a little bit hard to breathe. Entrapta said it was a reasonable sacrifice in the name of science. By the end of the trip Entrapta was making them all carry back armfuls of crystals. More of a keepsake or mantle piece than anything useful. But Entrapta didn’t want to admit she had failed in one of her projects and directed them away from the mission. Not to mention, Everyone but Entrpata was wearing their helmets to filter out the atmosphere before they got back to the ship.

“Optimal! I promise. The clones are oddly conscious about health. One time Wrong Hordak said something about their bodies being effigies to the exalted one, so I assume it has something to do with that. Anyway, good air!” Entrapta pontificates. Adora notices the half second longer than the rest of the Catra waits to even reach for her helmet, that's why Adora was looking at her as she started struggling with it again. Adora stepped up to her. There was still a part of Catra that didn’t trust Entrapta, but she was trying and that’s enough.

”Here, let me help you before you hurt yourself.” Adora’s strong but nimble fingers find their way to the release switches of her helmet. They take a little oomph to press, Catra must be having a hard time with her claws trying not to puncture the suit. The buttons are ton the underside of the rim, just pass the jaw on either side. Catra can’t help but think ‘that’s what it looks like when she wraps her arms around my neck.’

By the time the helmet comes off and they’re basically holding each others hands as they hold up the helmet together, but they’re looking each other in the face. ‘Stop it’ Catra chastises herself internally. She looks to the ground in protest of the feelings. Where she sees Glimmer’s boots. Her eyes flowed the suit all the way to Glimmer’s face. She was smirking.

“And what’re you looking at Twinkle Toes?” Catra resisted an incriminating growl.

“Absolutely nothing… apparently…” Her smirk didn’t recede an inch. Glimmer turns and walks toward Entrapta before Catra can respond. Now that she turned she can see something flickering in the corner of her eye. Catra turns once gain to find Donnalyn waving some kind of blinking wand thingy. She’s looking at her info pad intently. This time Catra loses her cool a bit.

”And what are you looking at!” Her voice cracks.

”Do you have a tummy ache right now?” Donnalyn says as serious as any doctor could. The blush that was spreading through Catra at being babied like that was an entirely different blush all together.

”What did you say to me?” Catra says in disbelief. Donnalyn looks up for long enough to see the murder in Catra’s eyes. She shakes her head quickly.

I- uh- I mean, are you nauseous right now?” Donnalyn corrects herself. The words sink in just long enough for Catr to notice she was. She was still a little sick to her stomach from the teleport.

“I mean yeah I guess. But what’s the big deal?” Catra was confused that anyone would care. It was just a little discomfort.

”Wait, you’re not even a little bit worried about it making you sick?” Donnalyn asks.

“Things happen, that’s life. Nothing I can’t handle.” Catra waves it off. Her tail flicked dismissively as she strode past Donnalyn, her claws flexing like she could shred the nausea right out of her gut. “It’s not like I’m gonna puke on your fancy wand, so quit waving it around like a babysitter.” She shot a glare over her shoulder, daring Donnalyn to keep provoking her.
Donnalyn blinked, clutching the blinking sensor-wand tighter, her info pad still humming with whatever data it was being collected.
“I wasn’t— It’s just, the readings—”
“Save it,” Catra snapped, already turning her attention to the flickering shadows ahead. The landing deck stretched out in front of them, a cavernous tomb of rusted metal and stale air. Her ears twitched, catching the faint clatter of boots—too many, too synchronized. She didn’t need Entrapta’s gadgets to know what was coming. “Heads up, princesses. We’ve got company.”
Adora stiffened, her hand instinctively drifting to where her sword would materialize, even though it was still tucked away in that weird She-Ra limbo.
“Clones?” she asked, voice low, like she was hoping it was just the ship groaning.
Catra smirked, a sharp, feral thing.
“What else? This place reeks of that green goo they love so much.” She stepped forward, positioning herself just ahead of the group, her plasma blade hilt already in hand. Melog prowled up beside her, mane flaring red, a low growl rumbling from its throat. The flicker in the distance sharpened into shapes—silhouettes of those blank-faced, white-armored drones stomping toward them, green visors glowing like sickly fireflies.
“Great,” Glimmer muttered, her fists sparking. “How many do you think?”
“Enough to be annoying,” Catra said, her eyes narrowing as she counted a dozen, maybe more lurking in the dark. Her mind was already spinning, gears clicking into place. Her gaze fell on the back of Adora’s head, she could feel the tension in the breath Adora sucked in, that stupid hopeful weight she always carried, like Catra was about to sprout wings and be her noble sidekick. Not today, princess. She straightened, rolling her shoulders like she was shaking off a bad nap.
“Follow my lead.” Catra says as she steps in front of Adora.
“What?” Adora’s voice hitched, half-confused, half-alarmed. “Catra, what’re you—”
“Shut it,” Catra hissed, cutting her off with a whip of her tail. She didn’t look back—couldn’t, not if this was gonna work. The clones were close now, their creepy synchronized boots matching with every fall. She stepped forward again, distinguishing herself from the group. Her chin up, chest puffed out like she owned the ship. “Hey! You bucket-heads better snap to attention when you see me!”
The clones rounded the corner faster than they’d been walking. Coming to a stop with a look of confusion “Identify yourself, intruder.”
Catra grinned, all teeth, and flicked her plasma blade to life with a keishoommm. The red glow bathed her face, making her look every bit the villain she used to play so well. “Intruder? That’s cute. I’m Catra, Princess of the Horde, second only to Horde Prime himself. And these—” she jerked her thumb back at Adora, Glimmer, and Entrapta, who were exchanging wide-eyed looks—“are my personal guard. So how about you show some respect before I report you to the big guy for insubordination?” The lead clone’s eyes flickered.
”Last intelligence report lists you as Little Sister, his majesty’s honored guest. And these… are categorized as enemy combatants. The princesses of Etheria. Explain yourself.”
“You’ve got a lot of nerve addressing me like that.” Catra retracts her blade, clipping it to her hip before inspecting her nails like she’s bored. “But I guess I can’t hold it against you too much. When was the last time you received a transmission from Prime’s command ship?” The clones began looking at each other with concern.
”Over a dozen solar cycles ago.” The lead clone answered.
”Exactly. A lot’s changed in that time, tin head.” Catra said, putting her hands on her hips. We conquered Etheria, no help from you by the way. But our communications center was destroyed in battle. As a reward for my invaluable help his eminence thought it was fitting to give me my title. And after such an embarrassing defeat these princesses saw the light of Horde Prime and swore their devotion to our cause.
Adora’s jaw dropped, a strangled “What—” escaping before Glimmer elbowed her hard in the ribs. Entrapta just blinked, tilting her head like she was trying to solve a puzzle, her flashlight beam bouncing off the clones’ armor. Melog growled louder, but Catra shot it a quick glare—stand down, fuzzball—and it grudgingly shrank back, mane dimming to a sulky orange.
The lead clone hesitated, its visor flickering as it processed her words. “Princess… of the Horde? Our records do not—”
“Your records are trash,” Catra snapped, stepping closer, her gaze piercing into his depths. “Horde Prime sent me to clean up this rust bucket after you idiots let it drift out here. You think he’s happy about that? Now, I need tools—Horde tools—to fix a little problem on my ship. So either help me, or I’ll tell him you’re the reason his empire’s got a loose end floating around.”
The clones shifted, a ripple of uncertainty passing through them. They weren’t smart, but they were programmed to grovel, and Catra knew how to pull that string. The lead one finally dipped its head, a stiff bow. “We… serve Horde Prime. What tools do you require?”
Catra’s grin widened, smug as hell. “That’s more like it. Lead the way, tin man.” She glanced back at the others, her eyes glinting with a mix of triumph and don’t screw this up. Adora’s mouth was still half-open, her brain clearly scrambling to catch up, but Glimmer gave a tiny nod, playing along. Entrapta, bless her, just muttered, “Fascinating…” and started scribbling on her tracker pad with her free hand.
As the clones turned to march them deeper into the ship, Catra fell back a step. She leaned toward Adora, voice a low growl. “Don’t look so shocked, princess. I’ve still got it.”
Adora swallowed hard, her voice a whisper. “You’re insane.”
“Yeah,” Catra purred, brushing past her, “and it’s gonna save your butt. Again.
The clones marched them through the Horde ship’s guts, all sharp angles and flickering green lights, like walking through a carcass that hadn’t figured out it was dead yet. Catra kept her strut cocky, tail swishing like she was daring the universe to trip her up. Adora trailed close behind, her boots scuffing the deck softer than the rest, like she was still half-ready to bolt. Glimmer’s fists twitched, Entrapta scribbled on her tracker pad, and Melog’s mane flickered between red and orange, picking up Catra’s vibe like a moody shadow. The clones didn’t talk—just that eerie synchronized stomp—until they hit the command deck.
It was a cavern of a room, all jagged consoles and a throne perched high like some dictator’s fever dream. The seat was white metal, curved and spiked, with a faint green glow pulsing from the armrests. Catra didn’t flinch—she’d fantasized about this once, back when she thought power was hers for the taking. It looked exactly like she’d pictured, and that smug little thrill buzzed in her chest. Princesses under her command, a clone army to back them up, she could do this.
The lead clone—Tin Head, she’d dubbed him—gestured stiffly at the throne, his pale, blank face unblinking. “Command awaits, your highness, Princess of the Horde.”
Catra smirked, all teeth, and sauntered up the steps. “About time you figured out who’s in charge.” She dropped into the seat, sprawling like she’d been born for it, one leg slung over the armrest. The metal was cold through her suit, but she leaned into it, owning it.
“So, what’s the deal with this heap? Why’s it drifting like some ghost ship?”
Tin Head’s empty eyes didn’t waver, his voice a flat drone.
“We ceased receiving directives from Horde Prime twelve solar cycles ago. Without orders, primary functions were suspended. Most brothers entered stasis to conserve resources. We await guidance.”
Catra’s ears twitched. Craving direction, huh? Easy pickings. She leaned forward, resting her chin on her fist like she was bored. “Let me get this straight. You’ve been floating out here, twiddling your thumbs, because nobody told you what to do? And half your buddies just… decided to nap it off?”
“Affirmative,” Tin Head said, no shame in his hollow tone. “We are vessels of Prime’s will. Without his voice, we lack purpose.”
The rest of the clones nodded in unison, their blank faces tilting like a chorus of puppets. It was creepy as hell, but Catra’s smirk widened. She’d dreamed of this—clones bowing to her, calling her Princess, the Horde bending to her whims. And here they were, practically begging for it. She could taste the victory, sharp and sweet.
“Well, lucky for you, I’m here now,” she said, voice dripping with confidence. “Horde Prime’s got bigger fish to fry, so he sent me to whip you losers into shape. First order of business: tools. Horde tech, the good stuff. My ship’s got a glitch, and you’re gonna help me fix it.”
Tin Head tilted his head, his blank stare locking onto her neck. “Your commands are noted, Princess. But…” He paused, and the other clones shifted, their empty eyes zeroing in on the same spot. “Your neural interface is absent. Why?”
Catra froze, her tail going stiff. The smug buzz in her chest sputtered out, replaced by a sudden, sour twist in her gut. Her hand twitched toward her scar—the one she’d scratched earlier—and she forced it back down, claws flexing. This wasn’t her fantasy anymore. This was Horde Prime’s ship all over again—his voice, his claws, that damn chip. Her throat tightened, and her stomach churned, sharp and bitter. She didn’t know why it hit so hard, but it did, and she hated it. “What, this?” she said, tapping her neck with a claw, forcing a grin. “Got smashed in a fight. Took a hit for Prime during the Etheria mop-up. Haven’t had a chance to replace it—been too busy running his empire while you clowns nap.”
The clones exchanged looks, a ripple of confusion passing through their blank faces. Tin Head’s head tilted further, then straightened. “A battle wound in service of Prime is honorable. We will provide a new interface. The procedure is swift—”
“Nah,” Catra cut him off, waving a hand like she was swatting a fly. “I’m good. Prime likes me scrappy—says it keeps me sharp. Besides, I don’t trust you tin cans not to screw it up. Last thing I need is you frying my head.” It was a lazy dodge, barely holding together, but she kept her tone bored, like it wasn’t worth her time. The clones didn’t flinch—didn’t have the brains to question it. They just nodded, swallowing it whole.
“As you command, Princess,” Tin Head said, bowing again. “We will escort your guard to the armory for the requested tools.”
Catra’s grin snapped back, sharp and smug, shoving the weird feeling down.
“Perfect. Sparkles, Tinker, New Girl—go with them. Grab what we need and don’t dawdle.” She flicked her eyes to Glimmer, Entrapta, and Donnalyn, who’d been hovering behind her like a pack of confused cats. Glimmer’s jaw tightened, but she nodded. Entrapta perked up, muttering about “Horde tech specs,” and Donnalyn clutched her sensor-wand, giving Catra a wary glance. Adora stepped forward, her mouth opening like she was about to argue.
“I’ll go too—”
“No,” Catra snapped, sharp enough to cut. “You stay.” She didn’t look at Adora—couldn’t, not with her gut still twisting. She needed the clones to buy this, and she couldn’t let whatever this was mess her up.
Adora hesitated, her hand hovering mid-air, but Glimmer grabbed her arm. “Come on, let’s move,” she muttered, tugging Entrapta and Donnalyn along. The clones turned, leading them out, their boots clanging in that eerie rhythm. Melog lingered a second, mane flaring, before bounding after them, leaving Catra and Adora alone with Tin Head and a couple of stragglers.
Catra slouched back in her throne, staring at the ceiling like she was bored out of her skull. “You three, scram. Guard the door or something. I need to… strategize.” Tin Head bowed again—gods, they’re predictable—and the clones filed out, leaving the command deck silent except for the hum of dying consoles. Adora’s boots scuffed closer, and Catra finally let herself look. Adora’s face was all worry and stubbornness, her arms crossed tight.
“Catra, you sure about this?”Catra snorted, rolling her eyes.
“What, you think I can’t handle a few brain-dead clones? Relax, princess, I’ve got this.” Adora didn’t budge, her blue eyes pinning Catra in place.
“I mean it. This whole Horde Princess act—it’s messed up. I don’t like where it’s going.”
Catra’s smirk faltered, just for a heartbeat. She swung her leg off the armrest, sitting up straighter, and met Adora’s gaze head-on. “Yeah, well, messed up is kinda my specialty. You know that.” Her voice was rough, and that sour twist in her gut wouldn’t quit. She didn’t get why it felt so heavy, but it was there, clawing at her, and she hated it.
Adora stepped closer, close enough that Catra could feel her warmth through the suit. “Yeah, I do,” she said, quieter now, her hand hovering like she wanted to grab her. “That’s why I’m sticking around. You don’t have to pull this off by yourself.”
Catra’s breath caught, and she hated that most of all. She wanted to snap something snarky, push Adora back, but her throat was tight, and those damn eyes were holding her still.
“I’m not by myself,” she muttered, barely loud enough to hear. “You’re right here, aren’t you?” She could barely meet Adora’s gaze through her eyelashes.Adora’s lips quirked into that lopsided grin.
“Duh. I’m not going anywhere.” She dropped her hand to Catra’s shoulder, firm but gentle, like she was grounding her. “I’ve got your back, okay? Even if this plan’s crazy. Just… don’t let it swallow you up.”
Catra’s chest tightened, and she looked away, tail flicking to hide the heat creeping up her neck. “Don’t go all mushy on me, princess. I’ve got a rep to keep.” But her claw brushed Adora’s wrist, lingering, and for a second, the throne didn’t feel so bad. She could handle this—play the part, keep the clones in line, get them out. With Adora there, she wouldn’t sink.
“Pffft, your rep is long gone kitty,” Adora said, stepping back but keeping her eyes on Catra. Catra’s ears flicking back in displeasure at the nickname“ And I’m staying put, you good with that?”
Catra smirked, softer this time. “Yeah, whatever.”