Chapter Text
The princess flies backwards through the scaffolding, breaking several layers of wood with her body. She gets up, hands still glowing with magic. Catra laughs as she raises her Fright Rod slowly, letting the camera get a good shot of the distinct sparkle of Ethereian crystaltech, before bringing the blunt end onto the princess's back. PRINCESS NEUTRALIZED... Bright blue words cross the screen in time with the hiss of electricity. In the background, goons run in to kidnap the princess, Catra walks off, tail flicking.
This is one of Goara's favorites. She watches it whenever she's stressed, getting ready for something new or unexpected. ("Kyle can't be a princess. She's Kyle-" Catra had said, like, what more can you expect from Kyle. But then she'd changed her mind about it? Maybe it had to do with coming back to find the Fright Zone deserted. Goara'd never got to meet the original Kyle beyond a few glances, who she did not think resembled her at all. But as for the name Kyle itself, Catra had named her that, given her her name, so even if she had a normal name she wanted her special one from Catra too.) The good memory feels warm in the back of her head.
It's nice to have something good to think about when everything is about to go terribly.
She steadies herself. She's Kyle, and that's Lord Catra in the meeting room right now, with Honored Diplomat Shadow Weaver and She-Ra Princess Adora. Catra, Ruler of the Crimson Waste. Catra, who stays up into the early morning crying over her old friends, climbing on the roof and threatening anyone who follows her.
She listens with her ear pressed to the door. Three voices.
Shadow Weaver says, "This plan is unacceptable. Bright Moon will not acquiesce to your demands."
"Bright Moon will not acquiesce?" Catra repeats each word back with a dangerous tone. "I don't think you understand who's in charge here."
The sounds of a scuffle. She shouldn't be here. She shouldn't be listening to this. But if Catra's in danger, this is the time to intervene. She throws open the door, and-
"Kyle?" Catra's voice, sharp and surprised. "Get out of here. This is a private meeting."
"Right, sorry," she says, and the eyes of three people follow her as she closes the door.
And, a third, different voice: "Catra, get off of her. You know Shadow Weaver is right."
Goara is sitting back pressed up against the door. She's thinking, no, don't do that, you don't have to listen to her, she's a princess, you could sentence them all to death instead. You could have us beat the princesses for you. You're already Queen of Crimson Waste, you don't have to play nice with these ex-Horde soldiers. You were Queen of Crimson Waste before Lord Catra.
Quiet movement. The inside of the meeting room is coolly off-limits.
"You were always a disappointment," says Shadow Weaver.
"Don't talk about her that way." Adora defends.
"I control the Horde," says Catra, and Goara doesn't like the way her voice tenses. "I got further than you ever did. I don't need your help, Adora."
"But you do need Bright Moon," Shadow Weaver says, "And you asked for us in particular. Your old Horde allies. Everything is going wrong for you, and you need help because you can't handle things yourself, can you?"
Goara is bristling and almost ready to ram her head into the wall. Everything is going fine, Catra is fine, she hopes that she zaps both visitors into unconsciousness and Goara carries them into the prison cells for her! Fuck everything, to hell whatever she said before, fuck her own disbelief in Catra, at least nothing she says now will be for the sake of this blameful old princess.
"Now if it were Adora in your place, as we had intended, things might have gone well. If only you were more like her."
Now here is where Adora should've gotten up and said: "The moment you used me as an example against Catra, you lost. Catra is right about everything, even the stuff I personally disagree with. I don't care about any of that because you don't get to hurt her using me. You could be saving the world and you'd still be wrong." Here's what should've happened, because Goara is an outsider here, having met Catra after everyone was done messing with her and entering their own lives, Goara is not entering the room where people get to actually have conversations, and she has a semblance of fairness still.
She's still gnawing on her hair when the meeting's over. There's some amount of teleporting involved instead of doors opening, and in the same way, Goara decides to make herself scarce for the night instead.