Chapter Text
"We could, you know, be happy"
Those words rang in Catra’s head as she walked to where her new gang was keeping Adora. “What if…what if I DON’T just head back?” Catra muttered to herself, because, as much as her pride didn’t want her admitting it, Scorpia was right. In a DAY Catra had gained leadership of THE MOST POWERFUL GANG IN THE CRIMSON WASTES! I mean, sure, it’s no Horde but…hey, everything has a start, right? And…Catra was happy, no, she was ECSTATIC! She felt free for the first time in what felt like AGES, mostly due to the party, but she’s the leader, she can party every NIGHT if she wanted to! Catra stopped walking, looked down at the sword, and, at first grinned, but then she remembered something. Her task. “I…I have to get this back to Hordak” she thought aloud “we need to open up that portal and…and…”. Catra trailed off. She never felt more confused. She was POWERFUL in the Wastes! She was HAPPY! So WHY…why did she feel the need to go back? Catra slumped over onto a nearby barrel. “Uuuuugh, why do I want to do this?” Catra muttered to herself. It couldn’t be power, she had that in spades here. A reward? AS IF! Hordak sent her out into the Crimson Wastes to DIE, it’s not like he’s going to pat her on the back and say “good job, you get TWO ration bars today! And guess what? They’re the grey kind!”. (On that note though, it’s DEFINITELY not the food drawing her back. Anything in these Wastes kicks grey ration bars to the curb any day!). So…why is she out here? Catra sat paralyzed on the barrel, not knowing what to do or where to go untill something…someONE came to mind. “Adora” Catra spoke aloud. They grew up together, so if anyone could help, it’s her.
Catra, making sure to put on a good face first, walked into the ship where they held Adora. “Hey Adora” Catra whipped with a smirk as she walked in. “Catra! You can’t do this!”. “Oh wooow, that’s a new one, you coming up with more material?” Catra joked before turning to the gang member she had watching Adora. “Hey, Tunnel Snake, give us a minute?” Catra asked “I need some time alone with our Princess of Power”. The gang member smirked back before walking out. Right as they walked out of the ship, Catra’s face immediately sank. “Wha…what’s wrong?” Adora asked, noticing Catra’s change in mood. “NOTHING!” Catra blurted before sinking down opposite her confused prisoner “it’s just…why do I want this?”. “Oh-okay now I’m confused” Adora stammered “why are you asking me? Aren’t we enemies?”. “Well, yeah…maybe…GAAAH, I DON’T KNOW!” Catra yelled out “I just don’t know if I want this anymore”. Adora's face softened for a moment, but she shook it off. “Well, does it matter? Hordak…” Adora started, only to be cut off by Catra laughing “oh, you didn’t know? Hordak sent me out here to DIE.” Catra snapped “Shadoweaver used me and…and I paid the price”. “Wait, you’re the reason she’s in Briiiiiiii….” Adora trailed off, realizing it might not be best for her to finish that sentence, but after seeing Catra grimacing at her, she realized it was too late. “Shadoweaver…is in brightmoon, huh.” Catra deadpanned “Hah! Figures she’d leave for her star child”. “DO YOU THINK I WANTED HER TO SHOW UP?!” Adora shouted, surprising both Catra and herself respectively “SHE HURT US BOTH CATRA…she hurt us both.”. “yeah, well…whatever” Catra grumbled, curling up into a ball. They both sat in silence for a few seconds, only listening to the muffled sounds of the gang partying outside. “…I’m not going back” Catra decided. “Wait, wha…really?” Adora blurted out. “What, you want us to keep fighting?” Catra replied with a slight smile. Seeing Catra actually smiling after so long, like, without threatening her while she was doing it, made Adora smile back. “Only if you admit that I would’ve won” Adora playfully shot back with a laugh. They both laughed alone in the ship for a few more seconds. It felt good. “You can be such a dork, you know?” Catra laughed before getting up “now let’s get you freed. Brightmoon needs their sparkly tiara giant”. With a slash of She-Ra's sword, Catra cut through Adora’s restraints and helped her to her feet. “Can I get a ride with you guys?” Adora asked sheepishly “Glimmer and the others probably think I was…oh no” “wait, oh no what?” Catra questioned her newfound ally. “OH NO WHAT?! CATRA, YOU CAPTURED ME!” Adora shouted “THE PRINCESSES PROBABLY THINK YOU TURNED ME OVER TO HORDAK!”. Catra stopped for a second letting the points align, then it hit her. “Uuuuuug! Of COURSE the moment I do something good, it turns around and bites me in the tail!” Catra groaned “okay, okay, uuhhhh, oh! I’ve got an idea!”. “Oh yeah? What?” Adora asked. “Hopefully all your time with the sparkle squad hasn’t turned up your nose to a little lying” Catra replied with a grin
Hearing Catra coming back, Scorpia immediately perked up. “Whoa, uh, hey Catra” Scorpia stammered “so, I know what I said earlier about, y’know, staying, b-but I will totally support whatever you wanna do, because I’m that good of a frie…whoa, hey, is that Adora?”. Adora waved hello from behind Catra. “No time for introductions” Catra chimed in “all you need to know is we’re going back but we are NOT with the Horde anymore.”. “Waiwaiwait. Did you…TAKE ME UP ON MY IDEA?!” Scorpia yelled happily “oooooh this is GREAT! Is Adora staying with us too?! SHOULD I GET HER A JACKE…”. “FOCUS!” Catra snapped before regaining her control “…please, Adora's friends are walking right into danger as we speak because they think I took her to Hordak!”. “Weren’t you going to do that though?” Scorpia questioned. “Well, yeah, but you convinced me not to, one thing led to another and…” before Catra could continue, Scorpia dashed in for a hug. “oh, I knew you had a heart, I knew it!” Scorpia swooned while swinging her bestie that she totally didn’t have a crush on back in forth in a REALLY tight hug. “Uhh…Scorpia?” Adora piped up “I think Catra had a plan to help my friends?”. With a jolt Scorpia stopped, looked down at the kitty in her grasp, and let her down gently. “Aw geez I’m sorry, just, gosh…so excited, y’know? A…whole new life and all” Scorpia rambled out sheepishly “so, what’s the plan, Wildcat?”. “*Ahem* so, here’s the deal…”
“Gaaah, where is Catra?” Entrapta grumbled “ we need that first one tech if we’re going to continue work on the portal!”. “She is not coming back, Entrapta” Hordak injected “Any visit to the Crimson Wastes is a death sentence”. “Oh, that’s ridiculous, Catra has proven her resilience before, she’s sure to make it back” Entrapta rattled off “besides, she has Scorpia with her, and seeing as how her body shares many similarities to members of the fauna in the Wastes, I’m sure that should help with their combined survivability rate”. Hordak huffed. His lab partner was certainly making a point. Multiple points, really. Catra had proven herself to be bold, stubborn, and certainly resil…wait, Scorpia is with her? Hordak was about to question Entrapta, but then his lab doors were busted down as the princess alliance strode in! “HORDAK! YOU WILL RELEASE ADORA THIS MOM…where’s Adora?” Bow started yelling before he noticed that their resident ex-horde soldier wasn’t there. “Hi everybody!” Entrapta greeted everyone with a wave “Adora isn’t here, but you’re free to wait if she’s on her way.”. Everyone stood there confused while Entrapta continued to tinker with a nearby console. “This doesn’t make sense” Glimmer grumbled “Adora was captured by Catra! Shouldn’t she have been taken here by now, she’s with the Horde!”. “That…TRAITOR has nothing to do with my organization any longer!” Hordak snarled “she let our prisoner escape…”. “Excuse me?” a shadow behind the alliance spoke up. Hordak recognized that voice, the voice of yet another traitor. He turned to see Shadow Weaver materialize from the darkness. “I let myself out” Shadoweaver said with a smirk (at least, what Hordak though was a smirk? She still had her mask on and…it just sounded like a smirk, okay?) “I merely bent Catra to my whim”. Hordak had no words, only a snarl building in his throat, but before he could strike, his lab partner gave him a tap on the shoulder. “Hordak? I may have some developments in the portal experiment.” Entrapta murmured “they are DEFINITELY not good ones, disastrous even.”. Hordak trudged over to the console where she was and looked up to the screen. His vision was only met with a virtual Etheria bursting into flames over and over. “If the final piece is introduced to the portal's main build as of right now, there would be NOTHING left of the planet. We need more time!”. Hordak felt himself grow even more angry, yet alongside he felt another emotion. One he did not want to admit, one that his brother would certainly disprove of. Before he could speak up, he was set upon by YET ANOTHER group of unwanted visitors as Catra, Scorpia, and a large portion of her gang strode in, accompanied by Adora. “Heya Hordak and ppppr…..” Catra trailed off as her gaze fixed on the princess alliance “huh. What’s going on here?”. “Uhhh, we were here to save Adora, but I guess we were early?” Mermista spoke up, prepping some sewer water tendrils behind her “also, hey, thanks for handing her over quietly. That IS what you’re going to do, right?”. Catra gave a signal to her gang, letting them know to prep their weapons. “That’s a no, Princess of Puddles” Catra said with a smirk “move one of those tentacles even an inch and you and the princess posse will be paralyzed for, well, long enough to shove you in a cell. Sound like a plan?”. The alliance refused to call her bluff and lowered their weapons. “aww, what good little princesses” Catra mocked before throwing Adora to Hordak “take her. You’ve got all you need, right?”. Adora turned to her friends and gave them a wink, REALLY confusing all of them. “OH NO! YOU HAVE CAPTURED ME, YOU BAD, BAD CAT!” Adora shouted, giving her best shot at feigning distress “NOW I SHALL BE SUBJECT TO HEINOUS EXPERIMENTS AND SURELY PPPPPERISH!”. The room fell silent. Catra stamped over to Adora. “You said you were GOOD at acting!” Catra grumbled. Adora shot back with an indignant huff. “Well, excUSE ME! That was the best performance I have EVER DONE!”. “THAT IS THE BEST YOU COULD DO?!” Catra yelled, volleying back Adora’s anger. “If it means anything, that was her best one in awhile” Perfuma piped up behind an awkward smile. The rest of the princess alliance nodded in agreement. “You’ve gotta be kidding me” Catra stood there dumbfounded. “If I may, Catra, you weren’t too good at acting either”. Catra whirled around to come face to mask with her “favorite” person. “Why on ETHERIA are YOU here?!” Catra yelled out. “ she’s HERE because she was helping us BREAK. IN.” Glimmer interjected “after we thought YOU CAPTURED HER!”. “Yessss dear Catra, I’m one of the heroes now” Shadoweaver sneered “I thought you’d be happier with me gone?”. “I’D BE HAPPIER IF I’D NEVER GIVEN YOU YOUR BADGE YOU PIECE OF-“ Catra snarled back, unsheathing her claws ready to strike, but Adora’s hand on her shoulder kept her back. “Not really the time or place” Adora consoled Catra before shooting a glare at Shadoweaver “you DO deserve to get decked though. After all you did to us”. Shadoweaver, feigning shock, was about to lean in and give her ex-daughters a piece of her mind, but Entrapta intervened. “Sooooo, why’d ya bring Adora here?” Entrapta asked “oh oh oh! Is she the key?”. “Whaaaat? Pfft, nooo” Catra lied, looking away. “Oh, well that’s good, because if the key were to be introduced this early into the portal model it could have cataSTROPHIC results!” Entrapta listed off “buuuuttt if you want to come back in a month or so we could really use you!”. Entrapta then turned to Hordak for agreement, but she only found a confused look on her lab partner's face. “E-Entrapta, perhaps we could…refocus the scale of the experiment?” Hordak muttered “we could transport troops all over! No catastrophe or gilded princess needed!”. “But Hordak, what about your brother?” Entrapta asked, her turn to be confused (as well as everyone else’s, it was big news to hear Hordak of all people had siblings). Hordak turned away, his face sullen for a moment, but returned to Entrapta with a newfound resolve. “Horde Prime no longer matters to me!” Hordak stated with confidence “for all I care, he is the defect!”. Now standing, with his fist to the sky, Hordak shouted “I SHALL BUILD A NEW FLEET! NOT ONE PLAGUED BY MY “BROTHER’S” IDEOLOGIES, BUT ONE OF MY OWN!” he then brought his hand down to Entrapta “and I wish for you to rule by my side”. “Aww, Hordak!” Entrapta squeed, reaching out to take Hordak's hand, but before she could do so, a shadow from the rafters swooped down and SLASHED at Entrapta. Startled, she fell backwards towards the Princess alliance, knocking down Bow and Glimmer in the process. “En..trapta?!” Hordak spoke, shock tinged his voice. “Hello…brother” a voice from behind him spoke. Hordak recognized that voice, because it was his! Hordak whipped around to see Imp sitting on the console, but Imp was not in control, And Hordak knew who was. “The backup…” Hordak muttered, fear on his throat. “OK WHAT IS GOING ON?!” Bow shouted, possibly the most confused out of anyone. “SILENCE ETHERIAN!” Imp shouted…with Hordak's voice “As for you! I was hoping this back up had never needed any use, but apparently this planet has so far plagued your mind that you’d DARE consider INSULTING our dear brother!”. “whoa, you were this bad?” Catra snickered behind Hordak's back “never pinned you as the cult-y type”. Hordak let out a snarl. If it was targeted at Impdak or Catra, no one could tell. “Our “brother” left us behind to DIE!” Hordak yelled out, striking at Impdak “Our “brother” drained our own blood, puppeted our bodies, despite all his posturing, we were WORTHLESS TO HIM”. Impdak paused for a moment, consider this future version of himself's mentality, but shook it off. “You have become so lost, brother. So blind.” Impdak stated outright “if you are not ruling for Horde Prime, you do not deserve to rule at all”. Impdak glanced over to the containers housing the failed clones and with a flying swipe, he trashed all of the terminals accompanying them. Within a second, the tubes began to empty of their amniotic fluids, leaving the clones to fall to the floor, one by one. And within that very moment, each clone's eyes slammed open. “these dear brothers may be imperfect physically, but mentally they stay true to our emperor, our brother” Impdak listed off before shooting a glare at Hordak “something YOU have lost sight of. Now you’ve become imperfect physically and mentally. You have failed yourself, you’ve failed me, and you’ve failed our brother”. With a lunging strike, Impdak hurled himself at his pseudo-brother, slashing at his face time after time. “HORDAK!” Entrapta jumped up, shocked. She attempted to dive in to save him, but a failed clone sped in to strike her down. “you will NOT intrude Etherian!” it garbled out, it’s voice deeper, but strikingly similar to Hordak’s. “Step back, Entrapta! I’ve got this!” Adora spoke with confidence, stepping between failed Hordak and Entrapta “FOR THE HONOR OF GRAYSKULL!”. In a blinding flash of light, Adora transformed into She-Ra and began striking at the clones. “Hordak! We have to escape!” Adora yelled out as she grabbed at Hordak’s arm “these clones of yours are REALLY powerful!”. “Grr…of course my work on genetic modifications would backfire on me” Hordak pushed out between Impdak's strikes at his arm which now shielded his face “I wanted to build a newer me, A BETTER ME, one that would be more fit to serve…him”. Hordak’s guard weakened as he said this, letting his failsafe get a clean shot at him, right in the eye. “HORDAK!” Entrapta screamed, watching as her lab partner tumbled to the floor, blood streaming from the wounded eye. Enraged, Adora fired a blast of energy towards Impdak, distracting it for long enough that she could grab Hordak and run him to the entrance, the Princess alliance following suit. Before Catra escaped as well she turned to her gang, who were watching stunned as the clones rushed at them. “WHAT THE WASTES ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!” Catra shouted, “FIRE AT WILL!”. Shaking themselves off, the gang member readied their blowpipes and fired dart after dart at the clones. The clones dropped one by one, giving Catra and her gang enough time to escape. The group ran down the halls untill they felt far enough away from the clones. “Quickly Princess!” Shadoweaver ordered Glimmer “I need you once more for the ritual!” Everyone gathered around the two, ready to leave. Everyone except Catra, Scorpia, and the rest of her goons. “Catra? Please! Come on!” Adora pleaded. “And trust Shadoweaver? NO. WAY.” Catra yelled back, her tail fluffing up. “You useless buffoon!” Shadoweaver snapped “now is no time for pleasantries! Now COME”. Using Glimmer as a battery, Shadoweaver magically grabbed Catra and began dragging her over to the incantation. Catra yelped and struggled the whole way, but to no avail. “Shadoweaver, stop! Please!” Adora begged, but, again, to no avail. Shadoweaver was just too far into dragging Catra in the most painful way possible. Seeing no other choice, Adora passed off Hordak's limp form to the Princess alliance and shoved Shadoweaver to the floor. “You wretched chi-“ Shadoweaver started, but was paralyzed by the metaphorical daggers Adora was shooting her. Adora then powered down and jogged over to Catra, who was curled up on the floor, whimpering. “Hey, hey, it’s alright, I’m here” Adora consoled her ally before turning back to the Princess Alliance “ I’ll head back to the Wastes with Catra and the others, you guys take care of Hordak, ok?”. Entrapta Nodded vehemently, already holding him close the her. Adora smiled at them before turning to Shadoweaver once more with a scowl. “And YOU.” Adora growled “Get my friends back safe or I’ll grind your mask into dust, UNDERSTAND?!”. For once in her life, Shadoweaver was scared, but she made sure to shoot back a growl, just to make sure she was still in charge. Pulling Catra’s arm over her shoulder, Adora made her way over to Scorpia (who was utterly frightened for Catra, but she held back because she wasn’t exactly magical enough to handle Shadoweaver. Also, she’s scary.) And the gang members. Once they were out of sight, Shadoweaver got up, grabbed Glimmer by the hand, and teleported them out.
Back in the Wastes, the members who came with Adora, Catra, and Scorpia were gathered around a camp fire, telling chilling stories of experiments gone wrong. Not Catra though, she kept to herself, huddled up on a rock in the corner. “Hey, if it isn’t the leading lady” Adora said walking towards her “are you alright?”. Catra could only let out a mumble. “Come ooooonnnn” Adora pressed “neither of us are with the Horde anymore! You can talk to me.”. when Catra kept silent, Adora decided to move in for the kill. She reached for Catra’s hand, giving it a little rub with her thumb when she grasped it. This got Catra’s attention (drew a blush out of her too). Catra turned to look Adora in the eyes for a moment, and she saw how seriously her blue eyes cared for her. “I’m fine, really!” Catra said with a slight smile before looking away “ it’s just…I’m not entirely over Shadoweaver, you know? She hurt me, hurt us so much, and now she just…gets away with it?”. “I get what you mean, Catra” Adora agreed, looking down to the sand beneath their feet “I wish we could pretend those years never happened, but we can’t. Doesn’t mean we can’t give her hell for it though.”. “oh? And what should we do?” Catra asked with a sly grin. “Lets just day, I hope YOUR time as a force captain hasn’t ruined your ability to have fun” Adora replied, matching Catra’s mischievous smile. After staring into each other’s eyes for a bit, they both laughed off their traumas, for now at least. “Well, I should probably get ready to head back to Brightmoon” Adora spoke, standing up from their shared rock bench “should I try to get in contact with everyone, or will you be able to run me back?”. “Oh, for sure I can getcha there!” Catra replied, shooting up from their seat herself “I mean, we’ve still got that Horde skiff the gang…well…borrowed”. Adora laughed at that “huh, a stolen skiff? Reminds me of that one ride we took after I got promoted”. “A stolen skiff drove us apart, so one brings us together” Catra listed of in her most scholarly voice “kinda…poetic, don’t you think?”. “Well, well! Didn’t know you were one for poetry” Adora laughed, giving Catra a playful punch in the shoulder “I’ll go pick up the sword, think we can head out after I get back?”. “Sure thing!” Catra shot back with a wink “don’t take too long!”. Adora rolled her eyes with a smile, and walked off to where she kept the sword. Catra watched her go with a smile, before slumping back down onto the rock. Not a minute passed by before Scorpia showed up with drinks. “Heya wildcat!” Scorpia piped up “or is it Sandcat now? Eh whatever. Anyways, how are ya? Hurt at all? Anything I could do to help?”. “I’m fine, really!” Catra replied with a small smile “in fact, me and Adora already talked through a few things.”. This brought a small frown to Scorpia's face, but she quickly shook it off. “Well…I bet this drink will make things EVEN. BETTER!” Scorpia stated happily while handing Catra a cup “this sweet little cup o’ nectar is made out of one of those cacti we saw on the way in! Kyle showed me how to make it! Well, not Horde Kyle, Sand Kyle, orrr, Goat Kyle! Gosh we really gotta change up the naming scheme”. “waiwaiwait” Catra interjected “the paralyzing cactus? The one that stunned four arms for, like, hours?”. “Oh, don’t worry! The poison is COMPLETELY removed! …kinda. Ok, if it helps ya out, take a look!” Scorpia reassured before taking a big ol swig of her cup “*AHH!* See? Perfectly normazzzzzzzaaaaaattt!!”. Suddenly, Scorpia fell back, startling everyone in the encampment. “Scorpia? SCORPIA?! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!”. After a few seconds, Scorpia wearily raised a claw. “Yeah…yeah, don’t worry, I am a-o…owww” Scorpia mumbled as she got up “just…wow, that is some REAL powerful stuff! Gotta add though, it is suuuuper sweet! Wanna try?”. “Wooh, uh…probably not now” Catra nervously replied, a relieved chuckle on her breath “gotta get Adora back to Brightmoon. Might take a swig when I get back though.”. “oh, well, sure sure” Scorpia spoke with a small smile “just don’t get lost, alright? Those woods are still REALLY hard to read. Gosh, I sometimes can’t tell my tail from my claws in there!”. Scorpia laughed a bit after she finished with Catra joining a few seconds in. “hey, whaaat are we laughing about?” Adora asked as she walked back up “WAH!” Catra jumped back, her fur on end “oh, uh, hey. We were just talking about this brew the gang makes”. “OOH! Something to drink!” Adora chirped excitedly “ I’ve been thirsty for, like, HOURS!”. Before Catra could stop her, Adora guzzled down the whole cup. “Mmhmm! Oh! That’s pretty sweeeeeeeeee” Adora trailed off before falling over into the sand. “*Tch* welp, she’s out cold” Catra stated “Hey Scorpia, can you carry her to the skiff?”.
“Buuuhhh…hwhuh?” Adora murmured as she sat up “where am I?”. “Aw geez, good.” Catra quipped “I was worried a cup of cactus juice was about to do what I tried to do the past few…huh, wow, how long has it been?”. “Did…did you poison me?” Adora asked, shocked. “HA! I was gonna ask my crew the same thing when they offered me a cup!” Catra snarked with a laugh. They both fell silent for a few moments, letting the wind rip through their hair. “Sooo…about your crew” Adora started “what are you gonna do with em?”. “Well, I’ll…rule and…stuff” Catra mumbled “be the new…PRINCESS OF THE WASTES!”. “*PFFT* oh so now you want to be a princess?” Adora jabbed “I thought you hated us?”. “Well, no! It’s the HORDE who hates princesses and, as I said at camp, neither of us are Horde anymore!” Catra stated proudly. “well, if you want some princess to princess hangout time, I’m totally open to hanging out” Adora said with a smile “ESPECIALLY if it’s another one of those parties. It’d be sweet if I could actually experience one, instead of, y’know, being tied up in a First One's ship”. “Yeah, well, maybe I could throw you one tomorrow?” Catra mumbled, slight blush on her cheeks “as, ya know, an apology or whatever.”. Catra looked down for a moment to see Adora smiling up at her. “it’s a date.” Adora spoke warmly. Quickly, Catra looked back up, partially due to embarrassment, and partially because, well, she was the pilot.