Chapter Text
“For the honor of Grayskull!” Adora shouted.
She opened her eyes, barely even feeling the healing power wash over her face as she ran towards the screams.
She stopped short when she realized she hadn’t felt it at all.
“What is it?” Catra asked, hand on her pommel. “Why can’t you transform?”
Something churned in her gut and she tried, searched for anything to say, even an apology but—
“Adora!” Catra dragged her by the wrist, pulling her away from the climbing vines. “We’ll save Glimmer and then talk, alright?”
Adora opened her mouth but Catra was already running, bursting towards the screams.
Bow and Sea Hawk burst through the shadow forest wall. “Other way!” Bow screamed, “Other way!”
“Where’s Glimmer, Arrow Bow?” Catra demanded.
“She’s with your father,” Sea Hawk said. “He told us to split up so we could get you.”
“We have to go,” Bow tried grabbing Catra by the arm but she shook him off, running back where he had come from.
Adora followed, raising her sword above her head again, “For the honor of Grayskull!” A flicker, maybe, nothing. “Why won’t you work?”
Creatures, maybe only tall enough to reach Adora’s waist, surrounded Glimmer and King Micah. Glimmer was struggling, her foot caught in a sea of vines that grew ever taller over her body. Micah stood in front of her, one hand drawing forth a spell, the other cast over Glimmer.
The creatures caught sight of Adora and Catra immediately and hissed, revealing layers of razor sharp teeth.
"Pooka!” Adora realized, remembering the stories. “They hunt in packs, surrounding their prey once it’s too late.”
“Catra? What are you doing here?” King Micah called. “Never mind that, it’s too late now, get your sister out of here. I’ll hold it off for as long as I can. Get to the center of the island, save Entrapta, and tell your mother—”
Adora blinked. She looked down at her hands and found them smaller, chubbier. She looked at Catra and her mane untamed, back as a child. Screams sounded from outside the Bright Moon palace, and King Micah looked scared.
“I love you, Kit.”
The First One’s temple had shown a vision of the two of them, together, as children. What if that wasn’t just a vision? What if they had grown up together? Would Catra still look at her the way she just had?
She looked back at King Micah, the only adult out of all of them left. He was an adult and he was doing this, to Catra, to Glimmer. But he wasn’t just doing this, he was doing it again.
Catra’s expression had set, like she was ready to just nod and agree.
Hadn’t anybody learned?
She blinked again and the world transformed back to Beast Island, to Micah with gray streaks in his hair, Catra with a commander’s pauldron, Glimmer with magic at her fingertips, and Adora—here late but here now.
“For the honor of Grayskull!” She plunged her sword in the dirt, thrown back as pure energy ripped from her muscles and surged over Glimmer, freeing her from the vines.
Catra’s hands caught her, Adora knew they would.
“Are you okay?”
Adora looked at her hands, expecting them to be small, or maybe scarred, but She-Ra was huge and bright and pure.
“I—yes.”
Catra gave her a nod.
“She-Ra,” King Micah whispered and she looked over at him. “You’re really back.”
“She-Ra later, monsters now!” Glimmer said, she grabbed a large stick, holding it like a club.
Catra unsheathed her claws and Adora lifted her sword.
“Stick together everyone, they’ll run if they decide we aren’t worth the effort,” Catra called.
“We need to get off this island,” King Micah called. “I’ve only made it this long because I didn’t draw attention to myself.”
Adora grit her teeth. “Glimmer, your majesty, just focus on hacking your way to us, once we’re together we can figure out a way to get to the shore. That’s where Bow and Sea Hawk would’ve gone too.”
Something pounded behind them and a shadow cast itself over Adora, she closed her eyes, “What now?”
The pooka ran off, as the beast opened its gaping maw. Adora held up her sword, felt Catra take her hand.
“‘In and out,’ I told my mom,” Catra muttered. “She is not gonna be happy.”
Two twin lights shown from inside the monster and then something perked up. “Hey guys! We got back up!” Bow jumped out from the mouth, Sea Hawk leaping like a ballerina.
“We have located the, um, unique princess—”
“Entrapta,” Adora’s voice was smaller, even smaller still as her body shrunk down into her normal form. “Is that you?”
The being inside the monster swung forward, into the light, and flicked up her almost bug-like mask. “Adora?”
Adora’s knees gave out, relief hitting her in the stomach like a blunt object. “You’re—you’re okay. Oh thank god.” She covered her face, trying to collect herself, couldn’t. “I thought—they sent you to Beast Island and—”
“Oh! I love Beast Island! There’s so much great tech here!” Entrapta hopped onto the ground. “What are you doing here?”
“Trying to save you!” Adora braced herself against Catra’s hand and pulled herself up. Catra squeezed her hand.
“Oh,” Entrapta frowned, “you weren’t doing a great job.”
“Hey!” Glimmer crossed her arms.
“Thanks for coming,” Adora smiled, “Are you actually okay then? What happened?”
“We can catch up when we get to my lab! I’ve discovered so much about the planet!”
“Your lab?”
Entrapta hopped back in the beast. “Come on!”
They were cramped, to say the least. Even with Catra on her lap, Glimmer in Bow’s, and Sea Hawk in King Micah’s, Adora still smelled more of Bow’s armpit than she ever wanted to.
“Beast Island log, time cycle 37,” Entrapta rattled off, a beep in the robot indicating she was recording, “I have confirmed the outside world still exists! I found princesses! Well, two princesses, one magic and one non-magic like me! Then I also found Adora, and those three, I don’t know them.” She leaned over to Adora, “Do I know them?”
“You stole my food,” King Micah glared.
“Oh yeah!” Entrapta smiled. “It was delicious.” She looked back at Adora, “Something’s different. Didn’t you have two eyes?”
Adora looked down. “Uh yeah.”
“Back off,” Catra growled and Adora put a hand on her shoulder, before turning to face the music.
“Entrapta we’ve been looking all over this island for you. It’s my fault you got sent here, I’m so—”
“Oh don’t apologize! This place is paradise!”
She began jumping up and down in excitement and somehow landed on Bow’s face.
“What’s that?” Catra demanded.
“It’s an island full of technological monstrosities, each more deadly than the next! How could I not love it?”
“A woman after my own heart,” Sea Hawk declared. “Adventure calls to us like no other!”
“We came all this way to rescue you and you don’t even want to be rescued?” Glimmer asked.
“Oh but I’m glad you came, Adora! I found out some information that the Horde is gonna really find useful!” Entrapta frowned, “Should I not say it in front of the princesses?”
“Entrapta I’m—I defected. I’m with the princesses now.”
“Oh! Okay! Well can I still tell you about it?”
Adora blinked. “Um, of course.”
“Great! Because we’re here!”
As soon as they all tumbled out of the suit, Catra fell to her knees, hands clasped around her ears. Even Micah had turned slightly grey and sickly.
“We should go,” he stammered out, “no one comes back from this part of the island.”
“The signal is even better inside!”
“Inside where?” Adora asked, helping Catra struggle to her feet.
Entrapta pulled away a curtain of vinery, revealing a deep First One’s hall. It reminded her of the temple again, and she met eyes with Catra.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” She asked.
Catra nodded, “If you are.”
Adora pressed a kiss to her forehead, not even thinking, relief and fear pouring into it in equal measure. Catra even leaned in.
“Are you coming?” Entrapta asked and they blinked apart, King Micah was staring at them.
“Into the dark scary tunnel where we can all hear the source of the signal?” Bow asked.
Adora looked around, realizing they were all flinching back now. Everyone except her.
Sea Hawk put an arm around Bow’s shoulder. “Adventure!”
“Let’s get this over with,” Glimmer muttered, scowling as she started in.
Adora went hand in hand with Catra, feeling her heartbeat from her palm. At least she could still feel that.
“This is definitely a First One’s temple,” Adora muttered as they finally came into the atrium. At the far end was what could’ve only been described as Entrapta’s lab, a variety of computers hooked up to a pulsing source of data.
“When we met I was trying to unlock the secrets of this planet,” Entrapta dragged Adora forward as she pounded a few keys on the computer with her hair. “The First Ones tried to hide it by dumping it here, but I’ve finally found it. Everything I’ve been looking for or ever wanted to know!” She was tearing up, Adora realized. With joy.
The computer powered on and a steady stream of data zoomed upwards at speeds even Adora couldn’t parse together the dead language. More screens popped up and surrounded them and she tried to make out anything on those too.
“The First Ones retrofitted the planet with tech.” Entrapta bounced around, pressing buttons and pulling levers. “Trying to mine the magic at the center of the planet to power their weapon.”
“Their what?” Adora’s voice sounded so much smaller than expected.
“Their weapon!” Entrapta called, much louder. “And guess what else I discovered?”
She leaned way into Adora’s space, bouncing up and down as she did. “Um, what?”
“She-Ra is back!” Entrapta grinned.
“Yeah, I’m—I’m She-Ra.” Adora raised her chin and Entrapta’s eyes widened.
“When did you first transform?”
“Um, a couple of weeks ago?”
“Exactly when the computers powered on. My theory was correct. You must already know all about the weapon, seeing as you’re a part of it! What do you know about the signal, that’s the piece that’s so confusing to me. My working hypothesis is that because Shadow Weaver is connected to—“
“Hold on, back up,” Catra moved to stand next to her, “What do you mean that Adora’s part of the weapon? What weapon? What did the First Ones do to the planet?"
“Oh all the princesses are part of the weapon. At least all the ones with magic.” She bounced away, “Hang on, let me show you!” She swung up to the ceiling so she could be level with a massive screen.
The screen changed from its stream of data to a single glowing purple circle.
“The Heart of Etheria draws its power from the magic of the princesses,” Entrapta said. The planet appeared, translucent over the glowing purple circle. “It needs all their Runestones engaged for it to work.”
The five Runestones appeared at equal measures around the planet, lines cast down to the center.
A glowing golden She-Ra appeared over the planet, “And She-Ra is the most important piece, the key. She channels the weapon's power and focuses it.”
Adora stepped closer. Could this be her destiny? Could this be what she was looking for?
A screen cleared to her right and she jumped, a woman with dark hair and a golden crown was handed the sword, the power of the sword ripped into her arms, her eyes, making them glow pure white. She was in pain, suffering.
“She-Ra is the only being strong enough to withstand the destructive energy of the heart,” Entrapta continued.
Adora stared in horror at the screaming woman. Who was that?
“So, the First Ones made the sword to control her, to use her. When the heart is deployed She-Ra will raise the sword and fire it!” Adora turned away from the woman, her eyes burning, only to look at the main screen.
The mock model of Etheria expanded and exploded, and Adora gaped.
Entrapta let out a cackle.
“Entrapta what—what happens to Etheria if the weapon is deployed?” Adora asked.
Entrapta blinked at her, she pressed a button and the model showed itself again, the planet blowing itself to smithereens over and over again.
“Do I—do you not understand the concept of death? Do I need to explain that?” Her brow furrowed. “Do you know what life is?”
“So we all die?” Adora asked.
Entrapta nodded.
“But if,” Catra stepped closer, “If She-Ra is the key doesn’t that mean Adora can just—not fire it then?”
Adora looked at her, wondering what this new thing in her heart was. Catra looked back, eyes swimming with concern.
“Once the planet is balanced, no one can stop it. Not even the First Ones could control it! That’s why they left.” Entrapta slowly rose into the rafters of the building so she was balanced over Adora. “Once the weapon is activated it will channel all its power into you,” Entrapta grinned. “You don’t get to refuse.”
Adora pushed past her, pushed for breath but all she could see was that woman being handed that sword, watching her writhe in agony, watching the planet blow up again and again, words faster than she could read them running across the screens.
End, it said sometimes, and peace.
She looked down at the sword, she thought it was her destiny. It was just another thing people used to control her. Magic was just something to control her, hurt her.
“But Etheria isn’t balanced yet,” Bow put a hand on her shoulder. “Look! There’s still a runestone offline.”
“The Black Garnet,” Adora whispered.
“Yes,” Entrapta moved in front of her, “Shadow Weaver’s Runestone!"
“Who?” King Micah asked.
“The second in command at the Horde,” Entrapta bounced. “The Black Garnet is unique because it was the first Runestone the First One’s connected to. Their signal is almost identical to it. I was fascinated when I discovered the signal blocks out Shadow Weaver’s.”
“Shadow Weaver has a signal?” Adora asked, her heart dropping.
“Yes,” Entrapta cocked her head. “Of course? How do you think she was always tracking you? Why do you think her wounds always hurt even after they healed? It’s been my hypothesis ever since we met, you were spending too much time with me and—“
“What?” Adora’s voice cracked. “She did it all on purpose, she’s been hurting me, tracking me…”
“That’s how she found us on the ship,” Catra whispered. “And that’s why you haven’t been in pain.”
“Wait a second,” King Micah stepped forward, “who gave you those scars?”
Catra stepped in front of Adora. “Dad, not the time.”
“Her name was Shadow Weaver,” Adora said. “She was the sorceress for the Horde.”
“Did she have scars all over her face?” He asked.
Adora blinked, “I—I only saw them once. How did you—”
“I was the one who gave them to her,” he said, he stepped up to the screen. “We can’t let her have the power of the Black Garnet. She’s a monster.”
“If you do that we can connect Force Captain Scorpia to her Runestone! Then the weapon can activate!” Entrapta added helpfully.
His face fell. “What?” He turned back to Entrapta, “No. There has to be another way. That woman cannot be given any power, you don’t know what she’s capable of.”
Adora swallowed hard. “That’s why I never heard the signal at this island, right Entrapta?” Entrapta looked at her. “It's because Shadow Weaver’s was always in my head.”
She nodded, taking notes on a pad of paper she pulled from nowhere, “I thought that would happen.”
“In your head?” King Micah studied Adora, “What do you mean she was in your head?”
“The only way we can save the planet is if Shadow Weaver keeps her power,” Adora realized, her stomach sinking.
“No,” Catra took her hand, “No way am I letting that happen. We’ll destroy that Runestone if we have to.”
“Then the weapon would destabilize and explode,” Entrapta added.
“We’ll figure something else out,” Catra stepped in front of Entrapta so Adora was forced to focus on her. “I’m not gonna let her hurt you.”
Adora shook her head. “We need to make sure this weapon never activates.”
“Uh crew,” Sea Hawk spoke up, “Not to interrupt your emotional adventure but I don’t think this temple wants us to leave.”
Vines were curling up the wall and Adora pulled her sword from her shackle, on instinct. For the first time since touching it, it felt wrong in her hands. She felt weaker for using it.
“Time to go,” Adora swallowed hard. “Entrapta how long will it take you to pack up?”
“Oh I’m not leaving!” Entrapta smiled. “But come visit again soon.”
“Nope,” Adora grabbed her under the waist, holding her sideways. “You’re coming back to Bright Moon because I’m not leaving you behind again.”
“Hey!” Entrapta struggled. “Can I at least grab a memory core?”
“Nope!” She ran, towards the door, where Micah was summoning a spell. She flinched in spite of herself.
“Ooh, Adora is your startle response related to—”
“Entrapta, I will tape your mouth shut.”
“You have tape? Can I have some?”
“This way!” King Micah called, as he led them out of the temple. “We’ll have to head for the shore!”
“And then what?” Catra demanded. “We make a swim for it?”
“You got any other ideas?” Glimmer asked.
“At least we’ll have some time to regroup,” Bow said. “Now move, people!”
“I can’t swim,” Sea Hawk moaned but even he started running for the exit.
Adora drew her sword with one hand, the other hand still holding Entrapta under her arm, and cut away at the vines chasing them.
She stopped short as she reached the exit, pooka closing in on them.
Micah fought them off with his magic, summoning fire to blast at them. Was Shadow Weaver able to do that? Where did it come from? Could she ever run out?
“Ow, fuck!” A pooka had latched itself on Catra’s leg, and Adora twisted the sword into a staff, slamming it into the pooka's face. Blood seeped from the wound, even as the pooka fell to its death.
“Are you okay?”
“No! Fuck!” Catra grabbed Adora’s shirt, grasping it as she struggled on one leg.
“Okay, okay,” Adora swallowed, “we’ll get you to safety.” She looked around the battle, everyone struggling and separated. “Bow, take Entrapta!”
“I don’t want him touching me,” Entrapta informed her.
Adora gritted her teeth, “Then—”
“I’ve got her,” Bow looped an arm under Catra, shooting Adora a smile. He looked back at Catra. “Please don’t bite me.”
“I make no promises,” Catra muttered.
“Sea Hawk, Glimmer get them some cover,” Adora shouted out. “Your majesty, you and I should hold them off and loop back later.”
“I’m not leaving you behind,” Glimmer said, grabbing her dad’s hand.
“Your friend is right, the less of us there are the more likely we’ll be able to slip through undetected. Now run!”
“Glimmer, go,” Adora ordered, Glimmer looked back at her and Adora held her sword a little tighter, “I’ll get him back safe and sound. I promise.”
She gave a last nod before following the other group.
“Pooka incoming!” Entrapta called and Adora swung the sword at it. “I figured with your eye missing you might have a decreased field of vision.”
“Gonna be my eyes, Entrapta?” Adora asked, swinging her sword again as a group of pookas tried to follow the larger prey.
“Okay! One o’clock!”
Three pooka down.
“I can probably build you a bionic eye, you know.”
Adora pulled King Micah out of the fray as he stumbled and took on five pooka.
“We need to keep moving, we bought as much time as we could,” he wheezed.
“You go, I’ll catch up,” Adora told him. One launched at her face, hissing directly at her, and she let out a scream, pulling it off her face and catapulting it off the cliff. “On second thought, let’s go!”
The three of them began a mad dash for the shore, Adora bringing down branches behind them as she ran, hoping to slow down the pooka.
“You’re dating my daughter,” King Micah called as they ran.
“Uh.”
“I know it’s not the best time, but she seems happy,” He continued. “I feel like she was my little girl just yesterday. I think if anyone was good enough for her, it’d have to be She-Ra.”
Adora swallowed hard. She-Ra was a weapon of mass destruction. If anyone was good enough for Catra, She-Ra would be last on the list.
“And I’m sorry about Shadow Weaver,” he said. “She won’t get away with it.”
A whistle let through the air that sounded suspiciously like “we say yo ho but we don’t say ho,” and Adora dragged King Micah behind a rock as the horde of pooka kept running.
“Are you guys okay?” Glimmer asked, taking her dad's hand.
“Are you?” Adora looked at Catra, leaning against the rock like she wasn’t sweating too much.
“I knew you would recognize the whistle!” Sea Hawk said. “The others doubted but I knew you listened to my shanty!”
“Fascinating,” Entrapta cut in. “Adora, do you like shanties now? I thought they didn’t have music in the Horde.”
“We found a shortcut,” Catra said. “We should keep moving.”
“Entrapta, can you walk?” Adora asked.
Entrapta frowned but extricated herself from under Adora’s arm. “I still don’t see why you couldn’t have left me behind. The signal didn’t bother me. There's so much to learn from this island!”
“You can come back once we get you a pair of industrial-strength earplugs okay?” Adora said. “But I need your help first.”
“It’s really cool to meet you Entrapta,” Bow held out a hand. “I’m a bit of a maker myself. I made these arrows,” he showed off one of them and she quickly took it apart with her hair.
“Oooooh.”
“You two can, um, get to know each other.” Adora ran after Catra, who had already started limping along. “Hey, hey can you slow down?”
Catra turned on her, “Don’t do that again.”
“Do what?” Adora stepped back.
Catra looked around them but with Sea Hawk and Bow glued to each other, and Entrapta glued to Bow’s bow, and Glimmer glaring at them from her spot next to King Micah, they were pretty much alone.
“You did the whole sacrifice yourself thing, for my dad,” Catra hissed. “You can’t just jump off whatever cliff is conveniently around!”
Adora blinked, “I don’t—you told me to! You told me to keep an eye out for them. We had this whole conversation.”
“I told you to keep an eye on Glimmer, my baby sister. Not one of the most powerful sorcerers alive who is an adult man!”
“And is also your father.” Catra flinched and Adora felt a rush of pride, knowing she had figured it out. “It’s okay to be angry with him you know. It’s okay to not know how you feel.”
Catra tripped over something and Adora grabbed her by the arm, keeping her upright. Catra ripped her hand away.
“I don’t want to talk about him, I want to talk about you.”
“Catra, you can’t avoid this forever,” Adora said. “I’m here for you.”
“No, I'm here for you!” Catra groaned, “Dammit Adora! You just found out Shadow Weaver has still been hurting you, and we can’t take her out. Stop focusing on me for five seconds!”
Adora froze.
Well, physically she kept walking, but she was also frozen solid.
Sounds around her were muted, sensations, everything, it was like she was existing outside of herself. She only knew she was alive because occasionally she felt a heartbeat, heard an intake of breath.
A hand landed in hers again, another hand forced her to make eye contact with Catra. Mismatched eyes to mismatched eyes.
“Hey,” Catra’s words were so much quieter than they should’ve been. “I promised to look out for you, right? We’ll figure something out. Adora I—I care about you.”
Adora shook her head and kept moving, half tempted to rip her hand away from Catra’s. But she didn’t and from the way Catra’s thumb swiped over hers she could tell it was appreciated. She’d get a handle on this eventually, whatever they were. They’d be okay.
They broke through the woods and Adora instantly squeezed Catra’s hand, the pain increasing tenfold. Adora glanced behind her, waiting for pooka to descend, or forest vines to reach up. Despite everything this island had taken from her she’d still miss not feeling like her leg was about to fall off constantly. Maybe King Micah would be able to cure her, maybe she really did have a chance.
“Look Adora,” Catra whispered and Adora looked up, staring at the giant ship waiting for them. A young woman stepped off as they approached, soldiers following her beck and call.
“My darling princess Mermista!” They heard Sea Hawk call. He took off in a sprint and hopped in her arms and she glared at him, though didn’t drop him.
“Princess Mermista,” Catra raised a hand. Princess Mermista looked at Catra with a pained expression.
“Crap.”
Catra narrowed her eyes but Adora was looking around at some of the soldiers. They weren’t all Salineas. Some of them were Rebellion.
“Axe?” Bow stepped forward to a group of them and one of them turned around.
“Bow?” Axe rushed him pulling him into a crushing hug, “Thank god!”
Catra had stationed Axe in Salineas to defend the seagate, per the queen’s orders. The more she looked around the more Rebellion uniforms she counted. A good amount of his battalion must’ve tagged along.
“What are you doing here?” Catra demanded, coming to the same conclusion. “With the princess and you gone, Salineas will be an easy target. I gave you an order.”
Axe pulled away from Bow, eyes wide, “Commander—I—it’s you.” He took them all in, Adora, Glimmer, and King Micah. “Your Majesty?”
King Micah straightened. “Please, I’m in your debt! How did you all know to come search for us?”
“You’re alive?” Axe gaped.
“Evidently,” Catra looked between them. “Why did you break rank? Did my mom—”
“I came to find you,” Axe looked at Catra, “There’s a—there’s a search out for you. I ran into Princess Mermista while I was looking and she said she got a tip from a seagull and…”
Sea Hawk puffed out his chest and Mermista dropped him, glaring.
“Here you are,” Axe continued, voice quiet. Not quiet as in awed but quiet in a sickeningly familiar way. Adora’s stomach began to sink. She knew this song better than anyone.
“Figures, we lose our tracker pad for three days and my mom sends a manhunt,” Catra growled, crossing her arms. “It’s gonna take months for us to regain this ground—“
“Commander.”
Axe had never interrupted Catra before, no one interrupted Catra. That cinched it. Adora squeezed Catra’s hand, Catra didn’t even notice.
“It wasn’t the queen,” Axe said, “It was General Juliet.”
“Why would—”
“There was—I’m sorry,” Axe put a hand on Bow’s shoulder, “The queen is dead.”
“What?” Catra asked.
Someone fell to the ground, but Adora couldn’t rightly say who. Her eyes didn’t leave Catra’s face, though Catra’s hand began to sweat in hers.
“You’re to be queen,” Axe said.
“What?” Catra asked.
Adora didn’t let go.