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Chapter Text

Entrapta is many things, but she’s not stupid. Also, she’s not unobservant. True, she’s a little behind on some social aspects… but she knows enough that Catra—her boss? Her assistant? Her new friend—definitely has feelings for She-Ra.

This does not bother Entrapta. Perfuma also told her about how amazing She-Ra was, and while she did not necessarily get the chance to see She-Ra at the best, she gets it. Catra is interesting though, because Catra never focuses on She-Ra. Or, when she does, she doesn’t call her She-Ra. She says things like, ‘the eight foot tall bitch who stole my best friend and made her a princess’.

No, Catra focuses on Adora. Entrapta doesn’t know that much about her either—according to Glimmer the one time, she doesn’t always act the way she did at Entrapta’s castle. Catra makes innocuous comments all the time, and Entrapta has it on good authority that Catra doesn’t speak this way about her or Scorpia. In fact, when asked, Scorpia said that Catra and Adora used to be very close—but don’t tell Catra she knows about that.

In light of all of this information, Entrapta put together a new experiment. Officially, it is experiment #0097685. Unofficially, it is get Catra to admit that she has feelings for Adora. Entrapta isn’t quite sure what to do once her experiment is a success, but that is the fun of this.

“What if Catra gets mad?” Scorpia asked. Entrapta liked having Scorpia around for experiments for multiple reasons; one, she listened and thought Entrapta’s ideas were cool, even if she didn’t understand them. Two, Perfuma had once mentioned the concept of ethics in Entrapta’s inventions to her, and Scorpia served this purpose instead of having to divert time to ‘risk assessments’ and ‘potential consequences such as destroying Etheria’. Three, Scorpia was very buff and very nice. Both of these things made Entrapta feel safe. Mm. Better look into that last one… Entrapta made a mental note.

“Why would Catra get mad?” Entrapta asked, blinking rapidly.
“She’s kinda private…” Scorpia gestured vaguely. “And she doesn’t like talkin’ about Adora unless she brings up Adora.”
“She brings up Adora a lot though.” Entrapta pointed out. “I just need to collect enough evidence…”
Scorpia held up her claws. “Maybe you should collect evidence that Adora likes her back at the same time? Otherwise, if Adora doesn’t feel the same…” Scorpia trailed off meaningfully.

Entrapta stared at her, waiting for her to finish the sentence.
Scorpia finally relented, and stage-whispered, “If Adora doesn’t feel the same, Catra’s feelings could really get hurt.”
Entrapta’s eyes went wide. “Oh no… wait, this means Catra does, 100% like She-Ra romantically then?”
“It’s in Force Captain Orientation.” Scorpia agreed. “Never come between those two.”

“You should really tell Catra that before she looks into Force Captain Orientation.” Entrapta suggested.
“Don’t worry—I buried it really far in the rules, and our best buddy doesn’t look at the manual since being promoted.” Scorpia hurriedly assured her.
“So I guess we really just have to gain data to see if She-Ra is in love with Catra, and if not…” Entrapta shrugged. “I have been meaning to study pheromones in mammals anyway. My prior staff really didn’t want me to test on them so I didn’t.”

Scorpia puzzled this out for a minute, then nodded. “But uh… won’t they still be on opposite sides of the war?”
“We could just end the war.” Entrapta pointed out. “Then there’s no sides.”
“Hey, I guess you’re right!” Scorpia beamed at her. “But uh… what about their complex and rigorous history and the abuse suffered from Shadow Weaver and Catra’s hurt over being compared to Adora while simultaneously dealing with the fallout from her leaving and how Adora never seemed to realize this?” Scorpia took a big breath.

Entrapta puzzled this out. “Well… we have to find some way of telling Adora this. We can do it after we end the war, right? One thing at a time.”
Around the time Entrapta got this idea that kicked this off, Catra entered a room bathed in sickly light. Every corner, every nook, anywhere a shadow might hide, another light was stationed. Catra purposefully didn’t think about how old this room looked, because Shadow Weaver did not deserve pity.

“I’m second in command now.” Catra blurts out, then immediately bites her tongue.
Shadow Weaver doesn’t move.
“I would have come to visit sooner, but…” She shrugged, leaning against the wall effortlessly.

“Still so desperate for my approval…” Shadow Weaver creaked, finally turning her head.
Catra steeled herself. “No. I just wanted you to know how far you’d fallen. We almost took Bright Moon. We were this close. Your precious Adora—”
“I think we both know she meant far more to you than to me.”

Catra snorted. “You risked everything to bring her back. I nearly killed her. I am stronger than you ever were!”
“You still let her become She-Ra. Or do you think I didn’t foresee that? Why do you think I was so desperate to bring her back, let alone have her in the first place? Why do you think I doted on her so much?”

“Because Adora is so perfect. Adora does everything right.” It was hard to tell whether there was more sarcasm or pain in Catra’s voice.
Shadow Weaver huffed. Had she more strength, it might have been a laugh. “You foolish child. I was trying to take a weapon from the other side. I was trying to keep it here. You were the carrot and I was the stick. I told you before—I kept you around because she liked you.”

“That was a very stupid decision, because I am stronger than either of you!”
Shadow Weaver waved her hand. “Yes, yes, very strong, very powerful. It doesn’t matter to me how you climb the ranks. You bucked your original purpose when you didn’t bring her back. You were meant to take the place of the sword. You were meant to keep her safe, make her strong, keep her allegiances here. You idiot, you were supposed to be stronger than her, so that she would need you. I guess that you were never strong enough…”

Catra balled her hands into fists. Shadow Weaver was just trying to provoke a response, just like always. Once she got it, she’d find a way to punish Catra even more for it. “You know that’s not true.”
Shadow Weaver sat down on her cot. “Is it? Because while I admire this… display of ambition, you’ve never had it before. You’re so desperate to prove that you’re better than her… except when it actually mattered.”

“If what you said is true, nothing I did would have mattered! Nothing she did would have mattered!” Catra growled. “You still would have treated me like shit if I had been the better one!”
“…no, I believe I would have punished you further for getting ahead of yourself.” Shadow Weaver admitted. “You played the role I wanted you to, more or less perfectly. You just failed at the right moment. That is my fault.”

“And nothing else is?!” Catra demanded.
“No. I prepared you and Adora for the role adequately. I just should have instilled your loyalty to me more. If I ever get out of here, I will be sure to do so.”
Shadow Weaver’s certainty sent a chill down Catra’s spine. “You’re never getting out of here.”
Shadow Weaver slowly looked at Catra. “Oh no? Do you know how many times I’ve been in here? Do you know how long I watched your parents and their parents, that whole little tribe—waiting for the one who would appear at the same time the sword gained enough power to bring back She-Ra? You are not the first second in command to—”

“What do you mean, my family?” Catra interrupted.
Shadow Weaver narrowed her eyes. “I didn’t birth you. You had to come from somewhere. I decided that a cat would be a loyal enough pet—clearly I was mistaken.”
Catra reeled. “Where are my family? Are they dead?”
“Does it matter?” Shadow Weaver said. “Do you possibly think that you could waltz back into their lives and they would love you as the parents you have never had? Get over yourself, Catra. They would prefer to live with the lie that I fed them of your death than the knowledge that their daughter is a Horde soldier. Or, as I believe you put it… second in command?”

Catra felt cold. “They’re with the Rebellion?”
Shadow Weaver chuckled. “Well… I suppose I hid the truth a bit earlier. You kept Adora here, and she kept you here. Tell me, Catra. If I had told you about your parents right after Adora left, would you have stayed?”
“I wouldn’t have stayed if I knew I had any other option!” Catra screamed.
“And now…? Now, you won’t sacrifice your newfound power for this thing you have never had—this thing you don’t deserve, would you?” Shadow Weaver cooed. “That’s not who I raised you to be.”

“Fuck you! You just want me to run off chasing nothing so you can leave this room! But you’re never, ever getting out of here!” Catra hissed.
Shadow Weaver looked at her for a minute, then lightly scratched the wall, chipping the paint. It was the eighth tally mark of its kind.
“As you can see, smarter, stronger people than you have made that threat. Smarter, stronger, better people than you have failed.” Shadow Weaver chuckled, but it sounded as though a cough was coming on.

“But none so… dedicated to seeing you rot.” Catra stormed away. She returned to Entrapta’s lab just before Scorpia could respond, neatly tying the chapter together.
She sat down on the floor.
“Did you find anything out?” Scorpia asked, squatting next to her.

“I found out that she always knew what Adora was, and that we were incentive for each other to stay in the Horde. I found out that she knows who and where my family is. My family is with the Rebellion. They think I’m dead. It should stay that way.”
“Oh, hey, we were just saying that we should destroy the Horde. If you do that, they’ll be proud to have ya!” Scorpia knocked Catra’s shoulder.

Catra stared at her blankly. “And… why are you guys going to bring down the Horde?”
“Well, more specifically, we were considering removing Hordak from power.” Entrapta said, taking a sip of her soda. “Which would then mean that you move up, and you could take the Horde in whatever direction you wished. We could help you dismantle the Horde if you want.”
“That doesn’t answer my question, but I like your tenacity.”

Entrapta turned away from her computer for a minute. “Isn’t it obvious? It’s so you can be with Adora. Romantically.”
“WHAT.”
“We worked out all the kinks!” Scorpia said happily. Had she had opposable thumbs, she probably would have given Catra a thumbs up.

“WHAT.”
“Maybe this is too much to dump on her after the Shadow Weaver thing.” Scorpia stage-whispered.
To Catra’s deep and everlasting horror, Entrapta gave a thoughtful nod. “…So… do you want me to look up your family or try to find them in Horde records?”
“Didn’t you hear the part where they probably hate me?” Catra spat.

Entrapta shrugged. “Unfortunately, Shadow Weaver is an unreliable source of information. She keeps trying to tell me my hair is magenta when it is clearly lilac.”
“Yeah, and we haven’t even seen any other cat people—people cats?—with the Rebellion!” Scorpia grinned.
“…work on your plan to get rid of Hordak. If you find something out about my family, I might read it. It’s not like I care.” Catra pushed herself up off of the floor and left. “And Adora and I are… stay away from that!”

She gave them each a glare before leaving.
“She cares so hard.” Scorpia observed.  

Chapter Text

Entrapta had a lot of projects to manage—find out who on Etheria Catra was, take down Hordak without him knowing, and spy on Adora. Idly, while she had Emily search the Horde database, she worked on a bug.

The door opened. Entrapta didn’t turn.
“Hey, what are you doing up?” Scorpia asked, finding a blanket somewhere and draping it over Entrapta.
“I have several experiments running concurrently. In my experience, if I am not awake to monitor them, they can blow up horribly.”

“Is there anyway I can help?” Scorpia asked.
Entrapta paused. Normally, she didn’t accept help from most people—Bow was an exception, as was Perfuma to an extent—but she did get weird happy feelings around Scorpia. “If I have a DNA sample from Catra, I could track similar samples in the Horde database. Right now I am just looking for generic characteristics…”

“So do you want me to make her bleed?” Scorpia asked.
Entrapta blinked. “I just need some of her hair.”
“…bleeding would be easier.” Scorpia mused. “But I will still try! Maybe put the Adora thing on hold until we have taken over and stuff?”

“But I have already made the bug.” Entrapta held it up. “And more data is always helpful.”
“…okay.” Scorpia conceded. “Uh… do you need to release it or…?”
“It is keyed to Adora’s genetic signature so it will follow her, but it will stay out of sight!” Entrapta said proudly. “I also made it stream data directly to the lab if she mentions Catra.”
“I am sure that this won’t be a violation of ethics at all!” Scorpia said, completely straight-faced. “Send it out and then go to bed, okay? You need rest to do your best! That’s what the Horde always says anyway!”

Entrapta blinked at her, and allowed herself to be steered away from the lab. Just before she left, she released the bug into the air. It flew into the vents and made its way out, towards the Whispering Woods.

The next morning, Queen Angella called the weekly council. Princesses had been turning up more and more often—particularly ones that lived close by, like Perfuma and Mermista. Sea Hawk, of course, accompanied Mermista everywhere.
“—and then I set my boat on fire!” Sea Hawk told Frosta.
“All of your stories end this way. Why do people continue to give you boats?” Frosta asked.

“Alright, everyone!” Queen Angella called, effectively saving Sea Hawk from having to answer. A holomap appeared in the middle of the table. “Queen Sekhmet of Claw Mountain has finally agreed to rejoin the alliance, though she wants a diplomatic envoy. She has specifically requested that Glimmer be invited along, but who else would like to volunteer?”

“Isn’t Claw Mountain cut off by Horde troops at the only entrance?” Netossa pointed out. “She’s been under siege since the last alliance. Why now?”
“Queen Sekhmet isn’t giving up—she is merely moving forward.” Angella said firmly. “The Princess of Claw Mountain unfortunately died around the same time as…” She collected herself. “As my husband. As such, Sekhmet hasn’t wanted anything to do with us since the incident. Only now, that we have She-Ra, we must prove to her that we have a fighting chance.”

“What is the runestone of Claw Mountain? Maybe the Horde messing with the runestones kind of scared them into needing us?” Adora said stiffly. For all the work that had been done to remove her training, she still looked like she was seconds away from bowing.
“The Tiger’s Eye. It is an interesting elemental runestone—it allows its people to change form. They’ve changed form so much it has altered them permanently, so don’t be frightened if they look… different.” Angella said. “Unfortunately, they have always been rather private and we don’t have visual records.”

“So… you’re sending us to an island of rebellion in Horde territory, to help some lady who hasn’t spoken to the Rebellion in years, and you don’t know what she looks like?” Mermista said.
Angella colored slightly. “Well… Micah handled relations with them, and he said they were very private but they weren’t zoo animals…” Angella trailed off before she could start a very un-queenly ramble about her husband and why she had not kept up with Claw Mountain in his absence.

“Why not just send the ‘Best Friend Squad’?” Perfuma asked. “They go on most of our diplomatic missions already. Everyone just loves She-Ra, and Bow, and Glimmer!”
“But mostly Bow.” Sea Hawk chimed in. “Bow is the best diplomat I’ve ever seen! And I have seen a fair few… and offended them gravely…” Mermista clapped her hand over his mouth. “Why is this topic even up for debate?”

“Because the Princess Alliance isn’t just made of my daughter and her two best friends.” Angella said. “The opportunity should at least be brought up before we discuss taking Glim—before we think about taking She-Ra into hostile territory.”
“How can we bring Sekhmet into the Princess Alliance if she has lost her daughter?” Frosta asked. “I think it would be best to treat this like another diplomatic mission. The Horde may guard the entrance, but your daughter is used to teleportation. Logically, it makes sense for the other two to accompany her instead of this being an all-Princess mission.”

Angella pursed her lips. “So, we are doing this, then?”
“I don’t see any reason why not.” Bow said.
“I can handle it!” Glimmer quickly agreed. “I haven’t met any of Dad’s old friends in a long time and you know I am getting more powerful! Besides, Adora will protect us if the Horde tries anything!”
“And since they always do, better safe than sorry.” Adora agreed.

Angella sighed. “There is nothing safe about sending three youths who barely know what power they hold into the jaws of the Horde. But the council’s decision is final. You will leave as soon as possible. I don’t want this information falling into the hands of the Horde.”

Elsewhere, Hordak summoned his three best pawns. He tapped his fingers against his armrest, surveying them. The innocence on their faces as they pretended that they hadn’t been plotting treason… he could have killed them just for that insolence. But he was merciful—and they had not yet outlived their usefulness.

“You wanted to see us, Lord Hordak?” Catra prompted.
“Yes. I want the Claw Mountain base to be reinforced. That queen is up to something, and scouts report that She-Ra and her two sparkly minions are moving in.”
“So you want all three of us to go?” Scorpia asked. Hordak liked how she had the decency to look somewhat disappointed.

“No. I want you, Force Captain Scorpia, and you, Princess Entrapta, to go. I don’t want you anywhere near Claw Mountain, Force Admiral Catra.”
“What?! Why?” Catra demanded.
Hordak regarded her coolly. “You failed me at the Siege of Bright Moon.”
“You made me your second-in-command after that! Let me prove myself!”

Hordak laughed. “There is nothing to prove yourself with on Claw Mountain. Cats are easy to dodge.”
Catra bristled, as he expected her to.
“Your… friends… will just be making sure that the base camp doesn’t fall. However, since we have no idea when She-Ra and cohorts will be showing up…” Hordak shrugged. “They may be posted there indefinitely.”
Catra glared at him, but didn’t say anything. Hordak smiled. Excellent. She wasn’t going anywhere near Sekhmet and Claw Mountain—and that meant she still belonged to the Horde.

Chapter Text

Glimmer was grinning ear to ear the whole ride to Claw Mountain.
“It’s getting a little creepy now…” Bow said as he twisted around on Swift Wind to look at her.
“They asked for me! Not She-Ra, not my mom, me!” Glimmer hissed excitedly, hugging him tightly. “They don’t even know who I am!”

“Well, you’re the one who created the Princess Alliance.” Adora pointed out.
Glimmer puffed out her chest, before the grin reappeared. “Yes! It’s—they don’t think I’m a baby, they think I’m an accomplished diplomat!”
“You kind of are.” Adora poked Glimmer.

Glimmer did a little happy dance in her seat. If they hadn’t been midair, she probably would have been teleporting all over the place. Her wings fluttered beneath her tunic.
“Slow down there, happypants. We have to be Serious Adults when we meet Queen Sekhmet. I’ve heard she’s hardcore.” Bow said. “…we probably should have had Adora change clothes before we left. It’s… maybe not the best idea to bring someone dressed in Horde clothes to people who have big, big problems with the Horde.”

“Oh shit you’re right…” Glimmer noted. “Maybe we could… ah… ditch the jacket and put my cape around her again?”  
“I feel like we shouldn’t have heard ‘leave as soon as possible’ as leave immediately.” Bow mused. Further musings were cut short by a tank firing a shot over their heads.
Swift Wind dove and dodged as more followed. “There’s Claw Mountain—I’ve gone as far as I can!”

“I think we’re going to need to jump--!” Adora said.
“Hold on!” Glimmer said, the three of them tumbling off of Swift Wind’s side while holding hands. Glimmer immediately teleported them onto the edge of the mountain. Below, the tanks still fired at Swift Wind, who quickly turned back to the safety of the treeline.
“Good job!” Bow said as they pressed themselves against the cliff and slowly began their ascent.

“All in a day’s work for Bright Moon’s foremost diplomat.” Glimmer tried to sound proud, but her giddiness still shone through.
There was a shout from below, and they started inching along the cliff-face faster. Before the Horde could truly act, arrows came flying over the Best Friend Squad’s heads from the top of the mountain. The Horde turned to the camp at the base of the mountain, and the Best Friend Squad scrambled onto safer land. This area was protected from the camp by the angle, the sheer cliff, and a massive amount of foliage.

“I think that went well.” Bow said.
Adora frowned in concentration. “They’re expecting us, right?”
“Maybe they just thought we were one of their own?” Glimmer suggested. “My mom wasn’t able to get a reply back to Queen Sekhmet.”  
“Would it be best if we sent in She-Ra?” Adora asked. “So that they wouldn’t…?” She tapped her back, and it took a lot of energy for her not to flinch.

“You haven’t transformed since the battle—are you sure you’re up for it?” Bow asked.
Adora nodded, and transformed. She-Ra sucked in a deep breath, but thankfully her bandages had come with her. She wasn’t sure if she had reopened her wounds or not. “Let’s continue.”

They made their way a little bit through the forest when they heard the yowling of a cat in pain. They moved toward it (partially because it was already in their path). They finally found a serval lying against a tree, its leg splattered with red. It regarded them for a minute, then began yowling again.
“Weird cat.” She-Ra muttered.

Glimmer had already unclipped her cloak to wrap around the cat’s leg. “Aw, you poor thing…! She-Ra will fix you up, yes she will!”
The cat regarded her coolly, but eventually snuggled up next to her. Clearly, Glimmer was a cat person.

She-Ra hefted her sword at the cat, who immediately tried to get out of Glimmer’s arms.
“No no, it’s okay, it’s going to heal you.” Bow cooed at the cat. “She must have gotten hurt in the volley of arrows!”
The cat looked at him as though he’d grown another head, though it wasn’t clear which statement had puzzled it.
She-Ra took a deep breath, concentrating entirely on the cat and healing. Then she lightly tapped the cat on the head.

The cat was not healed, but it had stopped yowling. Indeed, if cats could look impressed, this one was.
She-Ra tapped it again. The cat was no longer so impressed, and tried to get out of Glimmer’s arms again. Interestingly, the cat wouldn’t scratch her, but it was very agile. It eventually wrenched itself free, and as it fell to the ground…

A woman stood there instead.
She-Ra depowered out of surprise. The wild mane of hair was lighter, the eyes were both golden, and the mouth was wrong, but that was…
“Catra?” Adora breathed.
The woman looked up from trying to extricate Glimmer’s cloak from her now human leg. “Did you say some… why are you dressed like you’re from the Horde?”

“Wh… Queen Sekhmet?” Glimmer guessed.
Sekhmet tossed back the cloak. “The one and the same. Don’t worry about the injury, it was berry juice I smeared on myself. You did clear a headache I’d been having on and off for several days though.”
“Cat…” Adora breathed. Bow shook her.

Sekhmet gave a very familiar smile. “And here I was under the impression that Angella told you all what the Tiger’s Eye does. My people can turn into cats. I was testing you. …and it appears that just by appearing in front of you, I’ve done more to expose your loyalties.”
Glimmer stepped between Sekhmet and Adora. “She’s turned to our side long ago.”
“Then why does she still wear Horde clothes?” Sekhmet pointed out.

“I was raised in the Horde.” Adora finally said.
Sekhmet pondered this for a second, then looked and Bow and Glimmer. Sekhmet sighed, and said, “Give me your jacket.”
“Why?” Bow asked.
“Because I’m going to scratch off the insignia. It will be fine afterwards.” Sekhmet said.

Adora winced. “There’s an insignia on my shirt underneath as well…”
Sekhmet clucked. “Then turn around, I will see what I can do.”
Adora handed her the jacket, then turned around. Sekhmet slashed through the logo with an almost vicious glee. Then she regarded Adora’s back closely. “Who hurt you, child?”

“Uh… no one?” Adora tried, snapping back into Horde mode and trying to hide weakness. “This is my underclothes…”
“I’ve never seen underclothes that extend so far…” Sekhmet muttered, though she didn’t touch the bandages. “Nor ones that were packed with such gauze… Hmm. For someone with healing powers, you don’t seem to be able to heal yourself. Artemis will patch you up once we get back to camp.”

“Ah that’s not necessary, Queen Angella already looked at it…” Adora said.
“No she didn’t—ow.” Bow said as Adora elbowed him.
Sekhmet raised an eyebrow, then looked at Glimmer. “Since your friends are being cagey, do you want to talk about Micah?”
“Yes!” Glimmer said, eyes glistening. “I mean, I know he was noble and graceful and—”

“Micah once tripped so hard he nearly fell off the mountain.” Sekhmet interrupted. “Dear me, what has Angella been telling you?”
“Uh… that he was brave and noble and graceful…” Glimmer trailed off.
Sekhmet closed her eyes in thought, before saying, “There is not a day that goes by that I do not miss him, and I suspect it is the same for Angella. Micah was, however, a man, not a deity. He had his flaws—he was a massive dork—and it is fair that you know him as the man he was, not what his death made him. I do know this, however; I can already tell that you have all of his best qualities.”

“I… thank you!” Glimmer said quickly.
“Come, I’ll tell you about the time we met him and your aunt. It’s quite a funny story— they had rigged up some sort of flying device. The only problem was that it couldn’t fly well…”
In the Fright Zone, Entrapta popped a tiny cupcake shaped like a cat in her mouth. This not-quite Catra lady was interesting.

“Haven’t you packed yet?” Catra asked, slinking in from the shadows.
Entrapta turned around. “I don’t really want to go. Do you want to go for me?”
Catra huffed, but looked around. “It doesn’t really make sense for the technician to go into an active combat zone… what are you doing, anyway?”

“Spying on Adora.” Entrapta replied. “She activated the bug by saying your name.”
Catra’s breath hitched, but she tried not to sound too interested. “Did she say anything interesting?”
“She hasn’t said much. Mostly the cat lady has been talking.”
“Cat lady?” Catra demanded. “I have a name.”

Entrapta pointed to the muted screen.
Catra stared. The bug mostly focused on Adora, but Sekhmet, Bow and Glimmer were clearly visible too.
“Who is that?” Catra asked.
“That’s my friend Bow! He likes my inventions.” Entrapta said.

“No! The woman! I know who the sparkly idiots are!” Catra growled.
“Oh! That’s Queen Sekhmet. She was friends with Glimmer’s dad.”
Onscreen, Glimmer and Bow doubled over with laughter. Sekhmet gave a satisfied smile, and Adora froze just a little bit.

“Where… where are they? Right now?” Catra’s voice was quiet.
“Claw Mountain. …do you want to go in my stead?” Entrapta asked.
Catra stared at the screen for another moment. “…no. I don’t need to be weak now, when I’ve just proven that I am strong.”
“Well, you know, knowledge is power. You look like you have some questions.” Entrapta said.

Catra ground her teeth. “Was that your attempt at being subtle?”
“Yes—did it work?”
“No. It didn’t. But you have a bit of a point. There’s no harm in knowing. Even better, I know what she’s up to.” Catra nodded towards Adora on the screen.

“Cool! Scorpia said something about leaving at dawn.” Entrapta said.
Catra chuckled. “I’m already packed.”

Chapter Text

“It’s so great that you’re coming with me!” Scorpia said as the tank fleet moved toward Claw Mountain.
Catra tried to shrug effortlessly. “Well. You know how it is, Hordak’s a changeable guy.”
“Yeah, I guess so!” Scorpia replied. “I mean, I have never really had that experience… hey! You must really be persuasive!”

Catra waved her off. “Comes with the territory.”
Abruptly, the tank rolled to a stop.
“Whoa, are we there already? That was fast.” Scorpia said, clambering out of the tank. Catra followed, and immediately faced half a dozen Horde soldiers aiming their guns at her.

“Secure the perimeter, there’s gotta be more cats around! How did she get in?!” One of the soldiers yelled. A badge glittered on his armor.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, this is Catra! Hordak’s second in command!” Scorpia said quickly, shielding Catra’s body with her own. Catra poked her head out from behind Scorpia and glared at the Force Captain.

Slowly, he raised his hand for the signal for them to hold fire. “Sorry. It’s just that we’re getting to the anniversary soon, and last time, the cats nearly slaughtered us in our beds.”
“Anniversary? Of what?”
The Force Captain motioned for Catra and Scorpia to follow him to his tent. Maps were strewn over every surface, some scribbled over, some yellowing. There was a bed in the corner and a table in the middle. The Force Captain swept the maps off of the table and faced them from the other side.

He took off his helmet to reveal a grizzled man with an eyepatch. “The name’s Falcon.”
“I’m Scorpia!”
“Catra.”
Falcon nodded once, but didn’t extend his hand. “We’ve been sieging out the cats for years. Originally, we were moved here to try to intimidate them into surrender. That didn’t work. Soon after the Battle of Bright Moon, the Fright Zone sent extra troops here. We got them into the cat stronghold, but we weren’t told anything about their mission. Near as we can figure, they took all the kittens and scattered them. Probably killed the Cat Princess years ago.”

Catra nodded. “So what have they done with the kittens?”
Falcon sighed. “Sometimes… and we don’t know how, but sometimes, the cats get off of the mountain without us noticing. Usually when they attack, we’ve realized they’re sneaking kittens back in through the front door.” He slammed his fist down on the table. “They’re not getting their princess back on my watch!”

Catra did not flinch, even though he was looking directly at her with his good eye.
“So, how did you lose your eye?” Scorpia asked.
“The cats chased the Fright Zone reinforcements all the way down the mountain. They were desperate not to let their kittens be taken… about a week later, the fucking Cat Queen appeared in my tent. Before I could raise the alarm, she tore out my eye, and left a gash in my throat. Said something about the eye being vengeance for her husband losing his.”

“She tried to kill you?” Catra asked, thinking back to all those lessons about how ruthless princesses and queens were.
Falcon gave a wicked smile. “Yes. Luckily the Horde is much better at it than cats.” Suddenly he lunged for Catra, a knife having been pulled from a hidden wrist holster. Catra dodged out of the way, but before he could get across the table, Scorpia had picked him up by the arm. Falcon dangled helplessly over the table.

“Hey. Don’t fucking mess with my friend.” Scorpia said, uncharacteristically serious.
Falcon cried out in pain as she tightened her grip.
Scorpia suddenly smiled again and dropped him. “But hey, we’re all friends in the Horde, right? You didn’t mean to try to murder my best buddy Catra, did you?”
“She looks just like the bitch that took my eye!” Falcon ground out.

Scorpia nodded. “Yeah, see? He just got confused.”
Catra regarded Falcon for a minute before saying, “I bet I could get into the cat camp to spy on them, if I really do look like them. And you know. Hordak’s orders and all.”
Scorpia lit up. “That’s a great idea! Isn’t that a great idea, Force Captain Falcon?”
“Oh my God…” Falcon muttered from the floor.
Catra ignored him. “I’ll set out right away. I bet I can climb that mountain pretty fast.”

“Here we are, children.” Sekhmet said as they reached the plateau of the mountain. Some of it was still ringed by trees, but a good deal of it had been turned into farmland. The buildings were made of stone with wooden roofs, and cat people milled around performing various tasks. The largest building was the castle, which loomed above them on a slight hill. There was a stone wall built around an inner courtyard, with multiple watchtowers on the wall and two large buildings inside. Sekhmet steered them towards the one in the middle of the grounds.

“This is the part of the castle used for administrative duties. My family lives here, I hold court, and discuss our plans for the future. My niece by marriage, Artemis, has also set up an infirmary here. She is our foremost healer.” Sekhmet said in an almost rehearsed way. Then she looked them over. “I’ll show you two around while Adora is with Artemis getting her back looked at. Just beware—my niece is more fragile than most of us. If you frighten her…” Sekhmet’s grip on Adora’s shoulder was tight for a minute, before becoming more relaxed.

“We will be celebrating our Remembrance Ceremony tomorrow. Glimmer, if you want, you can read the words for your father.” Sekhmet said, ruffling Glimmer’s hair with her free hand.
“Thank you so much Queen Sekhmet!” Glimmer said.
Bow grinned happily.

They stepped into a room lined with portraits. There was one of an older man with Catra’s ears and golden eyes. There was one of King Micah covered in mud and a younger Sekhmet doubled over laughing at him. There was one of a baby with heterochromatic eyes in an unknown woman’s arms, and Adora’s breath stopped. She noticed that she had stopped walking when she felt Sekhmet’s hand on her shoulder again, though it wasn’t a threat.

“Who is that?” Bow asked.
“That is my daughter.” Sekhmet said softly. “It’s… not the best picture of her, but we didn’t have long between her birth and the Battle of Bright Moon. And then…” Sekhmet took a deep breath. “I was so angry when I returned from the battle and Ailuros’ sister had taken my baby in for the portrait without me. I never got to thank her properly.”
Bow moved first to hug her. Sekhmet patted him on the back awkwardly before Glimmer and Adora could join in. “Don’t worry. I still hold out hope that my baby will return someday, even if…”

The walk to Artemis’ infirmary was quiet. There was only one person in the room—a small cat woman with black curls tied back. She wore long clothing, and her ears and tail were scarred. She was turned away from them at first, attending to a jar of something that smelled sharp.
Sekhmet knocked quietly on the door.
Artemis jumped and turned around. “Aunt Sekhmet--! Oh… who are you three?” Her hands were also scarred, and her eyes were big and blue.

“There’s no need to worry, Artemis. This one has some wounds on her back that I would like you to fix up.” Sekhmet pushed Adora forward. “We can deal with the other two soon.”
Artemis looked from Adora to Sekhmet and back again. “…but…?”
“She’s on our side, don’t worry.” Sekhmet said, winking at her niece. “Call for me if you need any help.”

And with that, Sekhmet, Glimmer and Bow were gone.
“Hi, I’m Adora.”
Artemis watched her carefully for a minute. “You can lie down on that pallet there. If you want me to leave the room while you change, I am happy to do so.”
Adora did so, and Artemis quickly re-entered. Artemis moved to undo the bandages on Adora’s back.

“These are close to infection. Have you not treated them at all?” Artemis asked softly.
“I didn’t want to worry anyone, and in the Horde… well, weakness was strongly discouraged.” Adora said.
“Mm.” Artemis slowly traced the claw marks. Adora came to the terrible realization that Artemis didn’t have any claws at all—when Catra had touched her, no matter how gentle, she could always feel the claws.

“What happened to your claws?” Adora blurted out.
Artemis was quiet for a minute, before she said, “I was sold into a circus by the Horde when I was five. I was an exotic, but I lashed out one day. I was declawed shortly after that. It’s also where I got my scars, before you ask. Everywhere but the face. They weren’t allowed to scar my pretty face.” She drew a shaky breath.

“How did the Horde get their hands on you?” Adora asked.
Artemis sighed. “You’re not going to stop, are you?” She left the pallet for a minute to assemble a few jars and bring them to Adora. “A week after the Battle of Bright Moon, the Horde swarmed the mountain. My mother saw them coming, and ran and got my cousin. She told me to take care of her, and then ran out with the others. I hid in a vent. I remember trying to hide my cries, but eventually the baby woke up. The Horde dragged us out—I saw my aunt and uncle lying on the floor near my cousin’s crib, and I thought they were dead. My mother definitely was. We were taken—we were all taken, every cub, every kit, every child—to the Fright Zone. They split us up. That was the last time I ever saw my baby cousin, and not a day goes by where I don’t think I failed my family. Satisfied, Horde defector?”

Adora felt tears on her back. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”
“Of course you didn’t know.” Artemis sighed. “Now, while we’re on the topic of personal questions, have you ever lost someone?”
Adora ground her teeth, mostly because the salve Artemis spread on Catra’s cuts stung. “I… I left my friend behind in the Fright Zone. She hates me now. She gave me these.”

“What’s your friend’s name?”
“C-Catra.” Adora ground out.
“…that wouldn’t happen to be Princess Bastet Catra Hathor Hyperion of the Eighth Dynasty, would it? Princess of Princesses, the Jeweled Facet of the Tiger’s Eye?” Artemis asked, clearly trying to hide hope.

“I don’t know about the princess part… but she has a blue eye and a gold eye just like in the picture outside.” Adora said, relaxing a bit as Artemis spread the next salve.
Artemis gasped. “She’s alive?! Is she okay? Where is she now?”
“She’s definitely alive. Last time I saw her, she was okay. Don’t know—probably the Fright Zone?” Adora bit her lip before continuing. “Artemis, she’s in the upper echelons of Horde Authority. Last time I heard, she was Force Captain.”

“But we’re her family!” Artemis insisted. “And I finally have the chance to redeem myself to Aunt Sekhmet and Uncle Ailuros! I failed them when I lost her before, and now…! I need this. We need her!”
Adora bit her lip. “She may not want to come. She didn’t want to defect for me—she doesn’t know you.”
Artemis stood, putting away jars and getting a bandage. “I may not be able to convince her, or fight for her, or… but Queen Sekhmet could. Aunt Sekhmet would do anything for her daughter.”

Artemis wrapped it firmly around Adora’s back.
“And I thought I would do anything for Catra, but she doesn’t want to listen. How do you think I got these wounds?” Adora asked.
“I thought it might be one of our kind…” Artemis said quietly. She began fidgeting with her hands. “I don’t know what to do… I never know what to do…”
Adora pushed herself up onto her knees. “Well… maybe Queen Sekhmet will know. …hey, this doesn’t hurt anymore!”
Artemis smiled briefly. “I suppose you’re not all bad, if you know Bastet. And actually left the Horde on your own—that’s brave of you. Come on, it will be supper time soon and Uncle Ailuros gets… sad… if I don’t eat.”

Chapter Text

Catra walked past the Horde forces and hefted her backpack. She quickly disappeared into the treeline, realizing that any traps would be on the strangely deserted path. She was right. As she jumped from tree to tree, she could see tripwires that likely led to something nasty. Anything covering the path was immediately suspect.

“…we’ll be out here for the Remembrance Ceremony?” Someone said quietly just ahead of her.
Catra’s ears perked up, and she climbed into a space where she could see them better. Two teenagers about her age were lounging in the trees. Both of them were cat-people, just like her.
“I mean, we didn’t do anything that bad!” The other said.

“Keep your voice down!” The first one hissed. “What if the Horde is coming?”
“We’d fucking hear them, doofus? ‘Dur, I’m a Horde Soldier, clank clank clank bitch!’ Besides, they’d have tripped the traps.”
“I just get the feeling that someone is… watching us.” The first one said.
“No one is…” The second one trailed off, noticing Catra. She winked.

“Queen Sekhmet!” The second one yelped. “I didn’t know… we’re not slacking off!”
The first one whipped around. “That’s not Queen Sekhmet, you idiot!”
“She’s got a golden eye, hasn’t she?”
“Yeah, and a blue one! King Ailuros is the one with only one eye!”

“I’m not looking for trouble, I’m just trying to get up the mountain.” Catra said.
They relaxed. “Well, you’re not with the Horde, right?” One joked.
“I’m Hordak’s second in command.” Catra replied.
Both teenagers chuckled. “You’re funny. Are you spying for the Queen? How come we’ve never seen you around before?”

“Something like that.” Catra said. “I’ll try to make sure that you guys make this… Remembrance Ceremony. What are your names?”
“I’m Athena, and that’s Ares.” The first one gestured between them. “We’re twins!” Ares added.
“How come you don’t know about the Remembrance Ceremony?” Athena asked, before her face crumpled with concern. “Are you one of the lost kittens? Oh no, I’m so sorry! We thought we got everyone back but the princess!”

Catra waved her off. “I don’t need your concern.”
Ares nodded approvingly. “Yeah, you got all the way here on your own! You got past that stinky human weirdo with the eyepatch! And also other stuff, probably. I don’t know. We were born after the Incident.”

“Ares, stop rambling!” Athena hissed. “I’m going to take her back up.”
“I wanna take her up!” Ares whined.

Catra held up her hand. “How about you both stay here, and I’ll find my own way up?”
“Okay… but at the rate you’re going, it’s going to take a while. Spend the night with us, start climbing again in the morning, okay?” Athena suggested. “What’s your name, anyway?”

“They call me Catra.”
“That’s a stupid name.” Ares noted.
Athena shoved them, and Ares nearly fell out of the tree.
“Don’t be fucking rude! She’s been through a lot, idiot!” Athena hissed.
Catra watched them for a minute. “No, I think I want to keep climbing.”

“Now you scared her off, dumbass.” Ares huffed.
“You’re the one who said her name is stupid.”
Catra ignored them as she scaled trees and jumped, before moving onto the cliff-face itself.

She climbed throughout the night, stopping briefly once she ran out of cliff face to sleep and eat rations out of her pack. She woke up in the afternoon and continued on her way. She followed the scent of Adora (and the sparkly idiots, but she didn’t care about them) until she came to a settlement of cat people. She swished her tail, watching them.

Many of them were gathering wood for a bonfire in the middle of the settlement. The Bright Moon Princess and Crop Top Friend were following around a woman with Catra’s mane of hair, while Adora and an older girl with scars all over every visible part of her body were chatting with a mountain of a man. His hair was curly and black as well, tied back with a few tendrils escaping to frame his face. He also had a matching beard, and an eyepatch.

He hefted a whole log onto the fire, and the scarred girl tossed in a stick. Adora said something, and he threw back his head and laughed. The sparkly minions chuckled, but they did not have such deep belly laughs. Catra narrowed her eyes at the scene. She was going to make a goddamn grand entrance when they lit that bonfire. She was going to go over and be all, “Hey Adora” and deal with the consequences as they came—

“Bastet!” The scarred girl screamed.
Catra flinched at the sudden noise, causing her to almost lose her balance. Now everyone was staring at her, great. She used the tree branch that she’d caught during her fall to vault herself onto the ground. “Hey, Adora.” Nailed it.

“You!” Glimmer was the first to react, teleporting next to her. “Your friend kidnapped Bow and me!”
“And I helped you and Adora escape.” Catra said coolly. “All’s fair in love and war, Sparkle.”
“My name is Glimmer!”
Catra blinked innocently. “Is it?”

“Where is the lady with lobster claws?!” Glimmer demanded. “What are you up to—are you planning on hurting Adora again? I’ll fucking fight you, don’t test me--!”
Glimmer was cut off by the enormous man picking her up abruptly with one hand. “Now now, there’s always time to make scars and enemies later, but you can only make friends before that.”
Glimmer struggled futilely. “King Ailuros--! She’s with the Horde!”
“And she’s our daughter.” Sekhmet stepped forward, before wiping her eyes on the back of her arm. “Our daughter, Princess Bastet, has finally been returned to us! Gods be praised!”

A cheer went up among the populace, and the scarred girl ran forward and locked Catra in a vice-grip. Catra’s instinct was to throw her off and retreat to higher ground, proclaiming that she had found this grapple lacking. Then she heard the scarred girl draw a shaky breath. “Can you ever forgive me?”
“Uh… for what?” Catra asked, desperately searching for a sense of normalcy. She wasn’t a princess, dammit!

Her eyes finally locked with Adora, who shrugged. Not a threat, but confusing. Fine.
“For leaving you with the Horde!” The scarred girl sobbed. “I should have fought harder, I should have kept my promise to my mother…!”
Catra decided to try to lock eyes with someone else in a silent plea for help, but everyone looked misty eyed. Especially Crop Top. She decided to look at Sparkle, who was still glaring at her.

“Uh… no offense, but you’re not necessarily the person I blame for leaving me behind. Isn’t that right, Adora?”
“Can we not do this now?” Adora groaned. “I offered you to come with me! We had an out!”
Catra flinched. She would have gestured, but the scarred lady was remarkably persistent. “Hey! You didn’t fucking couch it in those terms! You were all, ‘ooh, the Horde is evil, Catra! Whaddya mean Shadow Weaver abused you?’ And newsflash—you had an out! Your princesses wouldn’t have wanted me, because I’m not She-Ra!”

“You’re a princess!” Adora pointed out. “Why do you think everyone’s freaking out now?! Here’s your out!”
“Don’t tell me what to do!” Catra said.
“Artemis, let your cousin have some space.” Sekhmet finally said. “We have much to discuss. Maybe you could take the defector, Glimmer, and Bow on a tour of the court? Bastet… would you like to come with me and your father…?”

“That’s not my name.” Catra said. The minute the scarred one let go of her, she made a beeline for Adora. She may hate her stupid kissable face, but Adora was a constant.
“Then what is it?” The giant man asked, cradling Sekhmet with his free arm.
Catra drew herself up to her full height. “My name is Catra, of the 7^th Cadet Branch, Sector 17-B.”
Adora resisted the urge to salute in synchronization with this.

Sekhmet swallowed. “Catra then… I’m sure that you have some questions. And some decisions to make. If… you feel more comfortable, Adora can accompany us while Artemis entertains Glimmer and Bow.”
Catra shrugged nonchalantly. “I guess.”
Artemis’ eyes went wide. “Aunt Sekhmet…”
“Come now, Artemis. There will be plenty of time to talk to your cousin, we just don’t want to overwhelm her on her first day back, huh?” Catra’s father(?) said, releasing Glimmer so that he could scratch behind Artemis’ ears.

Sekhmet tried to take Catra’s hand, but Catra pulled away.
Sekhmet swallowed and nodded, and led the way, her giant husband following her.
“This doesn’t mean that I like you.” Catra whispered to Adora.
“Doesn’t mean you hate me either.” Adora whispered back.
Catra grumbled, but followed behind Adora.

Chapter Text

Catra and Adora followed Sekhmet and Ailuros into the hall of portraits.
“So… do you want to tell us about yourself?” Sekhmet began somewhat nervously, though hope shone through on her face. “Or… do you have any questions?”

Catra looked around. “Who are all of these people?”
Sekhmet stood a little taller. “Our ancestors. From the very first Princess of Claw Mountain—your middle name is for her, but I suppose you go by your middle name—”
“It’s alright, you don’t need to worry.” Ailuros said.
Catra walked over to the portrait. The woman was standing on top of the mountain, golden eyes turned towards the horizon. The barest hint of a tail and ears were visible, and she had a crude crown that looked almost like…

Catra felt for her headband instinctively.
Sekhmet, of course, noticed. “It’s not the one in the treasury. They didn’t take that, at least. But… seeing you in that, it’s everything I ever wanted.”
Catra grasped for Adora’s hand. Part of her wanted to take it off, but it was hers. Adora had made it for her from a design she’d seen on Shadow Weaver’s desk. Lonnie and Kyle and Rogelio had helped, the one time they stuck up for her… and Shadow Weaver’s wrath had put an end to that quickly. No, the headband stayed on, originally to stick it to Shadow Weaver.

“Bet it’s not as great seeing your daughter second in command to Hordak.” Catra found her voice.
Adora smacked her own forehead with her free hand. “Ease them into it!”
“Hey! I don’t take orders from you, traitor!” Catra said, though she didn’t let go of Adora’s hand.
“Your past doesn’t matter—you’re here now, and if you want to stay, you can.” Ailuros said gently.
Sekhmet’s focus snapped to him. “Why wouldn’t she want to stay?”

“Because I don’t know who the fuck you guys are? Because I was stupid to think I could just slot myself into your life, and your family? I worked all my life to be where I am, and now I just throw it away to join the Princess Rebellion like I’m fucking Adora?” Catra burst out, letting go of Adora to grab her hair.
Sekhmet moved towards her, but Catra shied away from her touch.

“If that is truly what you want, I will surrender Claw Mountain to the Horde right now.” Sekhmet said quietly, though the silence in the hall made it echo off of every portrait and wall.
Adora gasped. “Your majesty, you can’t--!”
“Who are you to tell me anything?” Sekhmet demanded. “You have never lost anyone like I lost my daughter, and I will not lose her again!”

Ailuros sighed. “Sekhmet, there must be a middle ground between her coming home and surrendering everything to the Horde.”
Catra was now listening intently, having been shaken out of her freak-out. “Hey! How do you know I’m your daughter, anyway! I’m not Bastet the perfect baby you lost!” She had seen her own portrait and was now gesturing pointedly to it.

Ailuros sighed. “You definitely take after Sekhmet for one.”
Catra stood up a little straighter, but she was still frazzled.
Ailuros sat down on the ground. “Adora, Sekhmet, Catra, sit with me. Catra, we are not asking you to move to being Bastet Catra Hathor Hyperion, Princess of Princesses immediately. We are excited to have our daughter home when we thought her lost. We want to know where you have been, and yes, reform our family unit. You may have been used to thinking of the Horde as your parents—”

Catra snorted loudly. “Shadow Weaver’s not my mom. I don’t want another one of her, though.”
Ailuros sighed. “And I hope to undo the harm that was done to you. We simply want to spend time with you, for you to trust us, and enjoy our company.” Then he looked at Sekhmet. “So saying things that we regret—such as pushing away the one person she seems to trust for being a former Horde soldier in one breath and promising surrender in the next—is not what will help.”

Sekhmet huffed and sat down next to her husband. Adora sat down on his other side.
“She’s our daughter!” Sekhmet exclaimed.
“And she is her own person.” Ailuros replied gently. “And having been raised by the Horde, how do you think she feels seeing you lash out at Adora for the same upbringing?”
“I… I am sorry, B—Catra.” Sekhmet said. “I did not mean to hurt or confuse you. You’re different—”
“No.” Ailuros said. “They are not. Both of them have—or had—a choice to make regarding their upbringing. I know why you don’t like Adora, Sekhmet. But perpetuating a double standard only hurts them both.”

Catra scoffed. “It’s about time someone hated Adora instead of me, though.” She stared at the painting,  specifically not looking at any of them. 
“Let’s… start with something less contentious.” Ailuros said. “Catra, have you been wondering what you were like as a baby?”
“I remember my childhood.”
“Ah, but you don’t remember the part where you were at the Battle of Bright Moon, do you?”

Catra flinched, and didn’t turn around. “Got thrown around by a rainbow? Yeah, I remember.”
Sekhmet clicked her tongue. “That’s not what happened! You were… prematurely born.” Sekhmet stood next to Catra, looking up at the painting. “You were so small, Leto, every healer told me that you wouldn’t live. I refused to let that happen. You and I fought for your life together.”

Catra nodded. “I am stronger than anyone thought.”
Sekhmet smiled proudly. “Exactly. And I refused to let you out of my sight for so long. You were strapped to my chest, underneath my armor at the First Battle of Bright Moon. We fought together—your heartbeat was my war drum.”
Ailuros sighed. “Maybe this story isn’t the most appropriate…”

Sekhmet ignored him. “Together, we carved a swath in the Horde soldiers. I was making my way towards Hordak himself when the arrow pierced my side. That did not stop me! However, Angella saw and got me off of the field while the traitor witch killed Micah. I don’t think anyone has quite forgiven each other over that incident.”
“Traitor Witch? You mean Light Spinner.” Adora said.
Sekhmet glanced back over at her. “Yes. The traitor witch. One day, I will snap her neck with my bare hands.”
“She goes by Shadow Weaver these days.” Adora added.

Catra chuckled. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me.”
“Glimmer punched her when Shadow Weaver was about to wipe my mind.” Adora continued.
Sekhmet nodded approvingly. “Does she know Light Spinner is the one who…?”

“No.”
“Ha! I will be sure to tell her then.” Sekhmet said. “And Catra, let us in on the joke.”
“Shadow Weaver is the one who has made my life hell since… nah, just made my life hell. I told you, I don’t want another Shadow Weaver.” Catra replied, finally turning away from the portrait to look at Sekhmet. “And for someone who supposedly didn’t let me out of their sight to the extent that I was in the middle of a battle, I can tell that’s not you holding me in that picture.”

“I got drugged after the battle so that I wouldn’t go charging back in. Leto thought even if you were going to die, you should have a portrait, so she sat with you.” Sekhmet muttered.
“And who is Leto?”
“My sister.” Ailuros said, standing and motioning to Adora to join him. “Mother to your cousin—the woman who wouldn’t let go of you outside. The day that the Horde attacked us here, Leto secretly gave you to her daughter to be kept safe. Artemis was a child herself, and hid away, but… you were found anyway. We didn’t know. We both nearly died defending your cradle.”

“I’m guessing that’s where you lost the eye?” Catra asked.
Ailuros laughed. “I am thankful everyday that I didn’t lose my life.”
“And you ripped out the eye of the Force Captain down the mountain.” Catra said, turning to look at Sekhmet.
“Fucker deserved it.” Sekhmet leaned back, finally in her element.

“Yeah, probably. But you didn’t kill him.”
Sekhmet clicked her tongue. “I gathered.”
Ailuros cleared his throat. “We could show you your old room… there is a bed in there if you want to spend the night. We’re not trying to be… we won’t replace Light Spinner, but we do want to get to know you.”

Catra watched him for a minute, but then nodded once. “Yeah, I guess I can check it out. But Adora’s coming too.”
Sekhmet ground her teeth so hard she nearly cracked a tooth, but she nodded.
“I… don’t have to come, if you don’t want me to.” Adora said. “After all, you’re still adjusting to being a princess… you have to get ready for later…”

“I don’t trust you not to leave unless I’m keeping an eye on you.” Catra said smoothly, taking Adora’s hand. “And besides, don’t you trust me, now that I’m Princess Catra? Or is it just that you can’t stand people liking me more than you?”
Adora stood up straighter. “Catra, I’m happy for you! I’m not jealous!”

“I dunno… you seem jealous to me.” Some of the tension left them both as Catra teased Adora.  

Ailuros began moving down the hall, and the others followed.
Eventually, Ailuros led them away from the hall, through multiple doors, until they finally reached the last door. He stopped outside it, and opened it gently for Catra.
“Would you like to go in first?” Sekhmet said, almost excitedly.
Catra narrowed her eyes. “No, Adora can go in first. I still don’t—”

“Trust us?” Sekhmet said, trying to keep the waver out of her voice.
“I don’t know you! Don’t try to guilt me into--!”
Adora walked into the room before there could be a fight. On the way in, she grabbed Catra’s arm. The room was dimly lit by a jewel carved into the shape of a sun on the ceiling. Ailuros slipped in behind them and pressed a button on the wall. Lanterns sprung to life around the room, revealing more.

The walls were lined with every toy a child could ever want. Swathes of silk and satin hung from the ceiling, creating an almost tent-like appearance within the room. Some of it was twisted into ropes to climb and swing on. There was an ornate but comfortable looking cradle in the corner of the room. The front had been smashed in.
In the centre, there was a bed covered in pillows. It wasn’t as large as Adora’s bed, and it was circular—like Catra could curl up there.

“It’s… big.” Catra finally said. “Where does everyone else sleep?”
“Their own rooms.” Sekhmet replied.
Catra and Adora shared a look.
“I don’t think anyone in the rebellion really gets it.” Adora said. “How we all shared a dorm, I mean.”
“How do you have privacy in the Horde then?” Ailuros asked.

Adora and Catra stared at him blankly.
“B—Catra, does this room bring back any memories? Does it smell…?” Sekhmet asked anxiously.
Catra looked distinctly uncomfortable, wearing the face Adora knew as, ‘I-know-something-but-I-don’t-want-to-admit-it-because-we’re-around-enemies’. “No. Nothing.”
Sekhmet’s face fell, but Ailuros only cocked an eyebrow.

“Well, perhaps things will return with time. You’re staying, aren’t you?” Sekhmet asked.
Catra glanced at Adora who shrugged. Catra shrugged in response. “I guess. For now. Until I digure out whether I want to be here or not.”
Ailuros grinned. “Excellent! We’ll see you tonight, then?”
Adora nodded for Catra, and Ailuros ushered Sekhmet out. Unfortunately, Entrapta’s bug was also remote-controlled, and Entrapta needed to gather more data on Catra’s parents.

“She’s a Horde soldier—she doesn’t want to be our daughter!” Sekhmet hissed as they closed the door behind them.
“Give her patience. She’s never had a family before—and Light Spinner clearly did something to hurt her about that.” Ailuros replied.
“Did you see how she kept looking at the Horde defector for guidance?! I don’t trust the defector…! She probably never left, and Angella is too optimistic that someone is here to do her dirty work to do anything…!” Sekhmet threw her hands in the air.

Ailuros stroked his chin thoughtfully. “It might be worth watching Adora further, but I think Catra is just latching onto her as something familiar. Although… if we were to keep Adora here, Catra probably wouldn’t leave her.”
“What—arrest her? That would make Micah’s daughter upset!”
“Not arrest—just borrow her for a bit.” Ailuros amended. “She-Ra would be an honored guest, and a valued ally.”

Sekhmet hissed to herself, but nodded. “Soon, we’ll separate Bastet from the defector. Maybe make sure she’s better friends with Artemis—that is a good idea.”
Ailuros sighed. “Like how your father tried to separate us?”
“It’s not the same!”
“Sekhmet, our daughter is clearly enough like you that I don’t want to risk it.”

“…you really think she’s like me?”
“She’s a Horde-version, but she reminds me of you so much. It makes me wonder exactly what she’d be like if she had been raised here. But she has the same problems with trust, and we will have to wait for her.” Ailuros smiled at his wife. “Now come on, for once we don’t have to burn more of her toys to remember her.”

Chapter Text

Scorpia slammed her cards down on the table. “I won!”
Falcon sighed. “So you did. For the third time in a row.”
“So, because I won, I want to know… how you got your name!”
“My family encourages bird themes. My father had a… terrible sense of humor. Joke’s on him, my wife thought it was hilarious and my son’s name is even worse. Maybe you’ve heard of him? Sea Hawk?”

“Nope… oh, wait, is he the entertainer from last year’s Bounty Party? Oh man, that guy was great!” Scorpia said enthusiastically.
Falcon fixed her with a look. “No, he’s the idiot who keeps lighting his ships on fire. Pretty sure you’ve met him, because in one letter…” Falcon rifled around a nearby stack of paper until he found what he needed. He then pulled out a pair of glasses from a pocket on his uniform, and read off, “Today I, the great Sea Hawk, defended my lady love. The Wicked Horde was approaching fast, but I, Sea Hawk, held them off by using an ingenious form of ammunition—my own ship. My Best Friends in the Entire World, Bow and Glimmer, thought I was so cool, and She-Ra even gave me a thumbs-up. The Horde lady with the giant claws even admitted that I was a decent foe…”

“Hey, that could be any Horde lady with the giant claws!” Scorpia said.
Falcon turned the picture around. There was a fairly accurate picture of Scorpia floating in the water with Catra. Bow and Glimmer were both giving Sea Hawk a high five while Mermista and She-Ra looked on approvingly.
“Fair point.” Scorpia said. “Oh! That was when Catra and I were on a boat! Yeah, that was great.”
“Don’t get me wrong, the boy definitely has a tendency to exaggerate, but he is a reliable source of information on rebel activity.” Falcon lovingly returned the paper to the pile.

“Hey! I didn’t know that guy was on our side—I guess I should have known when he said he was a Horde inspector…” Scorpia rubbed her chin with her claw thoughtfully.
“No. He’s just an idiot.” Falcon said. “But he’s my son, so I care about him more than anything.”
“Whoa… even the Horde?” Scorpia looked around the tent as through Hordak himself was going to pop out of a pile of paper.
Falcon gave a little huff that kind of sounded like a chuckle. “Of course. If you have children, you’ll understand. I originally joined the Horde for him. We’d had a rash of bad harvests. We needed money, and the Horde was taking anyone. I made sure I’d be far away from the fighting, so I wouldn’t have to… do something terrible. I like to think I still haven’t.”

“You tried to kill my buddy Catra. She’s like, 16.” Scorpia pointed out.
Falcon glared at the table. “Has it really been 16 years since I lost my eye…? Ancestors be damned. I haven’t had a fucking vacation in so long… Anyway, maybe so. Still not as bad as the ones active in the field, hurting young children and the elderly. You know the type—the recruits who are always a little too brash, too aggressive, the ones that get sent to the front a bit too quickly without learning that there are some lines you don’t cross.”

“I guess.” Scorpia said. She had never really been sent to the front to that extent. All of a sudden, she didn’t want to think about how the siege of Bright Moon would have gone if they’d won.
“Anyway, the wife was one of the sea-folk, took the boy back to Seaworthy where I’d eventually meet up with them. And I just… never left the Horde. The wife died, her sister took the boy in. Sister ran a bar, so I at least knew where the boy was all the time. I may never have been able to go back, but I keep in contact with my son.” Falcon said. “And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell Hordak about my loyalties.”

“I mean, sure. We’re buddies, by now.” Scorpia said, before leaning in. “And if I told you I’m part of a faction that is considering overthrowing Hordak and putting his second-in-command first-in-command, what would you say to that?”
“First, no you’re not, just because it’s you. You and my son share a certain… inability to disassemble. Second, I would rather die than support the cats.”

“You are one of the first people I have approached about this once in a lifetime opportunity.” Scorpia winked exaggeratedly.
Falcon blinked back, which basically meant that he also winked, although unwillingly. “Don’t tell anyone else about your idea then.”
“And! Princess Entrapta, designer of Horde weaponry, is helping us.” Scorpia added.
“Princess Entrapta is dead. The boy was serious about it for once—it must have hit him hard.”

“No… hang on, I’m just going to call in really quick and check.” Scorpia scrambled for her Horde-issued communication device. It was somewhat hard—she didn’t have hands, after all.
Eventually, she managed to contact Entrapta.

Twenty minutes before, Hordak had summoned Entrapta to his lair.
“Princess Entrapta, have I not offered you every benefit of my hospitality? Have I not given you access to whatever machinery you desired, even put in special requests for your food?”
Entrapta nodded. “You have, Lord Hordak.”
Hordak narrowed his eyes. “Then why are you here, while Force Admiral Catra is not? When I specifically ordered her not to go to Claw Mountain?”

“Well, you see, I am trying to put Catra and Adora together ‘cause I think it would make Catra happy. Oh! And help her find her family! I never had a family, of course, but I hear that they’re quite nice.” Entrapta rambled happily.
Hordak held up a hand. “Cease your prattle. I hear you and your little friends have also been working on a plan for insurgency against me?” He did not bother to keep the anger out of his voice.

“I mean, do you want Catra and Adora to get together?” Entrapta asked.
“Of course not, you stupid girl!”
His imp began chattering excitedly. He turned to look at it, and realized it was pointing at the treacherous girl’s hair when he had been watching her hands. He whipped around to see that her mask was over her face. Smoke began to fill the room. Hordak quickly lost consciousness.

Once Entrapta was sure that he was down for the count, she summoned Emily to take him to the waiting stasis chamber she had designed. She also had Emily take the weird imp thing to a separate container—she would study them both later.

In Shadow Weaver’s cage, she began to scream. Hordak had built a failsafe into her powers—if anything were ever to happen to him, she’d suffer. Either as repayment for her own treachery, or punish her for not giving her life for him, he didn’t care.

What irony then, that she screamed and screamed in the one situation where she could do neither. The light pooled inside her body, piercing her inside and out, and the shadows ripped it out again to start the whole process over. She wouldn’t die, not yet. She knew this. She had weathered similar punishments.
The only problem was that Hordak was the only one who could stop it. Entrapta didn’t know. And Entrapta still had a great deal of research to do.

Back to Entrapta, she exited Hordak’s room, sealed it off, and started back to her lab when Scorpia’s call came through. “Hi, Scorpia!”
“Entrapta, are you okay?” Scorpia sounded worried, even to herself. Falcon thought she sounded frantic.
“Hmm? Yeah, I’m fine. Hordak’s going to be sleeping—I wonder what power he had over that lady who tried to stop us from touching the Black Garnet…? How are you guys? Well, I know how Catra is. Her parents love her, and want to kidnap She-Ra to keep her from leaving. Hey, I think you’re first in command now! …don’t go into Hordak’s room, it’s going to be full of gas for a while.” Entrapta walked herself back to her lab via her hair.

“Oh, thanks for doing that! I’m fine. You know that guy I told you about from when Catra and I were on a boat? I met his dad! He only has one eye, isn’t that cool?”
“It’s really not.” Falcon said in the background.
“D’you want me to head back now, or wait for Catra?” Scorpia continued.
“I don’t know if Catra’s coming down soon… but I think she’d be mad if you left without her.” Entrapta noted as Emily established links with the wires in Hordak and the imp’s containers. “Also hey, do you mean Sea Hawk?”

“Oh man, that’s the guy! That’s his name!”
“He was at the Princess Ball too. It was very awkward for Mermista… I think. A good awkward.” Entrapta absentmindedly began to curl a bit of hair around her finger.
“Mmm… well, do you want to call Catra, or should I?”

Warmth bubbled up in Entrapta. Someone was caring to ask about whether she wanted to perform perfunctory social interactions as opposed to just telling her to do them! Scorpia was so kind.
“No, it’s okay. You go ahead.” Entrapta said. “Talk to you soon, bye Scorpia!”
“Bye! Love you!” Scorpia called.
Entrapta suddenly and accidentally hung up the phone. Why did her face feel like it was on fire…?

On Claw Mountain, Glimmer was pacing. “I mean, how do we even know she’s the princess? I don’t trust this.”
“Only the royal family has golden eyes, and heterochromatic eyes are very, very rare. Unless you’ve seen her eyes as something different in the past, it’s her.” Artemis said calmly. Despite her keeping her voice level, her hands twitched in her lap.
“I have noticed her heterochromia before.” Bow added helpfully. “If she’s a princess now, that means she’s good, right? Besides, you told me about how she gave Adora back her sword when we got captured.”

“I told you that because I thought it was weird and suspicious!” Glimmer hissed. “Just like this is! And she is not good just because she’s a princess! That’s like saying that all mages are good when Aunt Castaspella told us about Light Spinner!”
Artemis gasped. “Oh, Catra isn’t like her!”

“We don’t know that!” Glimmer shot back. “She nearly killed Adora last time we saw her with those awful scratches down Adora’s back, she captured us, and she works for the Horde!”
“So did Adora.” Bow pointed out. “It’s the same thing, right? Now that Catra knows there’s another option, she’ll be good.”
“She can’t be solved with a horse and a party, Bow!” Glimmer hissed. “She’s been to a party! She kidnapped us at it!”
“That was more of a formal ball setting…” Bow mused. “Adora didn’t react to it the same way. Maybe a good party is all Catra does need!”

Artemis clasped her hands together. “The Remembrance Ceremony will be quite fun once we get past the grieving!”
Bow nodded happily. “We can even make her a flower crown!”
“She’s not going to want a flower crown.” Glimmer huffed.
“There aren’t many flowers on the mountain anyway…” Artemis noted. “I use most of them for healing.”
Glimmer gestured pointedly. “And! Unlike Adora, she hasn’t proven that she can be trusted! As I recall, she drove a tank into the village of Thaymor and tried to kidnap Adora the first time we met her!”

“…should we get the Horde up here then?” Bow asked. “So she can prove that she’s good?”
“Let’s not.” Artemis said nervously. “Let’s… really, really not do that.”
Glimmer stopped pacing. “No, that wouldn’t be… good. But I am going to watch her like a fucking hawk.”
Artemis gasped. “Don’t say such words!”
“What—fuck?”
“Hawk!” Artemis said. “Birds are curse words around here, especially since the man down the mountain goes by Falcon…! There is no better epithet for him!”

“You should probably not meet our friend Sea Hawk then…” Bow grimaced.
Artemis’ mouth hung open. “Such profanity…” She finally muttered. “Come, let’s help get ready for the Remembrance Ceremony.”

Chapter Text

Adora sat down on the floor. Catra had climbed all the way up to the silk tenting above her bed, and was just watching her.
“So, what’s the plan? Are those Horde soldiers who shot at us going to storm this place?” Adora asked.
Catra scoffed. “Not likely. The fucker with the eyepatch tried to strangle me.”
Adora scowled. “Etheria’s bones, Catra! Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Scorpia stopped him. She’s been helping out a lot recently. She’s a good friend…” Catra pretended to bat at some silk but instead was watching Adora intently.

Adora’s eyes widened, and her mouth began to scrunch together a bit, but she ultimately just said, “I’m glad that you’ve made a new friend.”
Catra narrowed her eyes. “Yeah? I thought we made a cute couple at the Princess Ball together.”
Unfortunately, Adora didn’t rise to the bait. Instead she said, “You could have had a legitimate invitation, you know. ‘Cause you’re a princess.”
“I did have a legitimate invitation. Scorpia is also a princess. I was her plus one.” Catra huffed.

Adora narrowed her eyes. “I bet you two make a cute couple. Shame you didn’t spend that much time together.”
Catra cackled, finally getting what she’d wanted. “You are jealous. Jealous of my family, jealous of Scorpia…”
“You don’t even like your family.” Adora pointed out. “You’re probably coming up with some weird trick!”
Catra rolled further into the tenting so that Adora couldn’t see her at all. “Excuse you, but my mom said she’d surrender to the Horde immediately for me. I don’t have a trick. What would it even be?”

“I don’t know! You’re just… tricky, is all!” Adora huffed, standing up.
Catra leaned back over the edge so that the top half of her face was visible but nothing else. “Is this your way of saying I’m smarter than you, or that you’re just dumb?”
“I’m not dumb!”
Catra snickered. “I don’t know. I’m the brains, you’re the brawn. That’s why we made such a great team. Of course, it’s kind of sad now—your little friends don’t seem like the brightest bulbs.”

“And Scorpia is?”
“No. But I don’t have Scorpia around because she’s smart. I have her around because she’s my friend, and she watches my back. Entrapta is kept around because she’s smart.” Catra scoffed.
Instead of continuing their little game, Adora paled. “En-Entrapta? What do you mean, Entrapta?”
“The princess? The one you guys abandoned?” Catra raised an eyebrow lazily. “See why I’m not exactly thrilled to buddy up with traitors?”
“They told me Entrapta died in a room purge.” Adora whispered. “We all thought… I have to tell Glimmer and Bow!”
Catra swung down from her vantage point to land in front of Adora. “No, you have to stay here with me until ceremony time. I mean, if I scream, they might hurt you, right?”
“That’s a new low for you, Catra. You wouldn’t do that.” Adora spat.

Catra shifted her gaze before saying, “Maybe not.”
“…you never answered me, properly I mean. Why are you here?” Adora asked.
Catra huffed. “Maybe you should go find your pastel-covered flunkies.”
Adora gently grabbed Catra’s wrist. “Catra, stop avoiding this. Stop avoiding me.”

“You should have thought of that before you left.” Catra hissed.
“You keep finding me, though. Doesn’t that count for anything?”
“What—that once again, I put in all the work and you coast through?” Catra scoffed. “I’m not here for you. I’m here because Hordak wanted soldiers moved to back up Falcon.”

“And he let you come here? Hordak knows they’re your parents.”
“I know that!” Catra hissed. “I… snuck out. I had to see who they were. I had to see if… I guess it doesn’t matter. This isn’t going to turn into the usual, ‘Horde is moving to do something so She-Ra busts out whoooo another victory for the rebellion more of Catra’s tanks are destroyed’. But what’s important is that I’m not here for you.”

Adora flinched. “I’m not here for you either.”
Catra snorted. “Yeah. It just took me a while to figure that out, huh? That you just wanted someone to save, and that it was never about who.”
“That’s not fair.”
“Neither was leaving me to face Shadow Weaver alone!” Catra roared.

There was a tentative knock on the door. “Princess? May I come in?”
Catra bristled at the name, but smoothed her composure. “Do whatever you want.”
A smaller cat-woman entered. Her mane was tied back in a stiff bun, and there were multiple wrinkles on her face. She bowed deeply. “Princess Bastet, I was your nursemaid when you were born. It was my honor to serve you then, and it is my deepest honor to be able to resume my service to your family’s house.”

Catra pinched the bridge of her nose. “I’m Catra. I’m not the perfect princess Bastet.”
The nursemaid bowed deeply. “I understand. Your mother was a rebel at that age as well.” She gave Adora a withering look. “Horde defector. Who left the princess alone with you?”
“Uh… the king and queen?”
The nursemaid looked slightly pinched, but nodded. She clapped her hands, and two attendants rushed into the room, thrust clothes into Adora and Catra’s hands, and ran off again.

“What is this?” Catra held up a tunic.
“Ceremonial clothes for tonight’s gathering. They were your mother’s at your age, it was always expected that you would be able to fit into them.” The nursemaid eyed Catra, and nodded, satisfied. “I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t be able to wear it.”
Adora held up her own. Her tunic was far less ornate, a simple white compared to Catra’s vibrant crimson. The nursemaid clapped again, and the two attendants ran back and placed matching pants on the bed for both Catra and Adora. The nursemaid eyed them impatiently—apparently they should have anticipated the pants before she had clapped. They returned again with slippers.

“Do you have need of underclothes?” The nursemaid asked Catra.
Catra narrowed her eyes. “That’s way too personal, lady. But I have a question for you. If I take off my clothes, do I ever get them back? Will Adora?”
“Why would either of you ever have need for a Horde uniform?” The nursemaid asked, scandalized. “You are home, and if she is truly a defector, she won’t object to those being burnt.”

“It’s fine—” Adora began.
“It is not fine. I grew up with these clothes. They were made for me, and me alone. I physically grew with them because the Horde doesn’t give cadets new clothes.” Catra straightened her back. “And another thing? If I really am your princess, you’re going to tell everybody that no one is allowed to be like that to Adora. Only I get to be mad at Adora, because I have a good reason. You’re all just mad at her for leaving—and if I wasn’t your fucking princess, you’d all distrust me just as much as you distrust her. It doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. And I don’t need a fucking nursemaid, I’m 16.”

There was stunned silence for a minute. Then Adora said, “Aw. You do care.”
The nursemaid bowed deeply. “I will spread your missive throughout the official channels that no one is to deride… your pet… unprovoked. I will also make sure that your clothes… and yes, the clothes of your pet, if you insist… are not incinerated. However, this leaves two problems—one, you have not answered whether or not you require underclothes. I will assume that you do.” She clapped her hands again and the attendants ran back in with two pale pink piles which were placed on top of the pants.

“I mean, there’s another problem in that you called Adora my fucking pet, but continue.” Catra noted.
“I am not attempting to be the nursemaid of an adult.” The nursemaid said wryly. “I suppose I misspoke. I will coordinate the servants that attend to you, and make sure that everything is running smoothly. With any luck, you will never notice that they are there. I suppose that you could say I am the head of your own private household.”

“…what?” Catra said, before looking at Adora. “Is this something Sparkle has?”
“Glimmer, and no, not that I’ve noticed. Mostly soldiers.” Adora noted. “I think they rely more on magic though…? Or maybe because Bright Moon is on the front lines…?”
“Claw Mountain is far more sophisticated than Bright Moon.” The nursemaid sniffed. “They are a bunch of forest-dwelling sorcerers who rely on magic over protocol. We are a proud and ancient society stretching back a thousand years.”

“A thousand years? Do you have any records about the last She-Ra?” Adora asked.
“There’s more?” Catra asked flatly.
The nursemaid sniffed. “Yes, presumably somewhere in the Royal Archives. However, you will have to have dispensation from the queen to search there. Mara tarnished the name of She-Ra according to the Great Queen Catra, and therefore we have not held hope that a suitable replacement could be found. Claw Mountain stands alone.”

“I’m beginning to like this place.” Catra said.
Adora smiled awkwardly. “And… what’s your name?”
“Pretty sure she was named ‘Nursemaid’, weren’t you listening?”

The nursemaid forced a smile. “Truly, you have inherited your mother’s wit, your majesty. You may refer to me by that title if you wish. It was truly an honorable time in my life. If you wish to refer to me by name, I was called Mehitabel at my birth.”
“…well, I see why you go by nursemaid.” Catra said.

Adora started pulling her shirt over her head.
The nursemaid gasped. “Have you no sense of propriety?”
Adora looked around, confused. “But…? This is how I’ve always done it. You put my clothes in here!”
“I intended to draw the screen between both of you for privacy and then leave! What if the princess had seen your naked body?” The nursemaid hissed.

Catra blinked slowly. “I mean, I’ve definitely seen it before. There’s no privacy in the Horde, and Shadow Weaver had us all change clothes together to make sure no one was hiding any weapons. I’d definitely prefer seeing Adora to Kyle.”
“K-Kyle? You have seen a man’s…?” The nursemaid gasped in horror. “Have you been… deflowered by this Kyle?”
Catra and Adora both made a face.

“Ew, no.” Catra said.
“Isn’t he dating Rogelio?” Adora asked, continuing to pull her shirt over her head.
Catra nodded, and began unbuttoning her own shirt. The nursemaid glanced at the ceiling before moving towards the door. She called over her shoulder, “I will leave an attendant outside the door to escort both of you to the ceremony.” Then she hiked up her own skirts and fairly raced out of the room, slamming it shut behind her.

Adora moved over to the clothes on the bed, bringing her tunic with her. Catra soon followed. Adora changed into her underthings—the bandage style favored by the people of Bright Moon, the Horde, and Mystacor had been replaced by a camisole that clipped in the back, and shorts. Catra’s were made of a finer material.

“…hey, I know we’re not on great terms right now, but… I’ll clip you in if you clip me?” Adora said.
Catra nodded. “Fair trade, I guess. How much do you want to bet that the nursemaid is running straight to dear old mom and dad?”
“Why are people so scandalized by this?” Adora wondered. “I never thought that this was something that the Horde did to hurt us?”

“Yeah, you never thought that about a lot of stuff.” Catra’s fingers traced Adora’s fresh bandage. “Still hasn’t healed, huh?”
“Why, you regret it? Isn’t it a bit late for that?” Adora tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice.
“I don’t know. You’ve betrayed me for longer, and if you actually apologized without an ulterior motive… if you actually understood… if you tried to come back, I don’t know what I’d do.” Catra finally said, turning around abruptly so that Adora could clip her in.

“For what it’s worth, I never wanted to hurt you. I wanted to hurt them.”
“Not an apology. It’s not an apology if you focus on my reaction.” Catra spat.
“I’m sorry that I caused all this between us.”

“Better.” Catra exhaled as Adora finally finished clipping her in, and stepped away to put on her tunic.
“I guess we’ve both done things that we can’t undo.” Adora sighed. “Wounds heal, but scars stay forever.”
“Wow. Who would have thought that Bright Moon spent all its time teaching its soldiers philosophy?” Catra mocked. “Maybe that’s why the Rebellion sucked ass for so long.”

“Well, you’re on the side of the rebellion now, Princess Bastet.” Adora said jokingly, pulling on her long pants.
Catra scoffed. “I’m just scoping it out. Besides, you’ve seen the way that they treat you. Everyone likes you, and yet everyone here doesn’t just because you left the Horde? They’d overthrow me if I became Queen.”
“I don’t know about that.” Adora said doubtfully as she slipped on her new shoes. Catra followed suit, and they left their Horde clothes on the bed, carefully folded up as they were trained.

They left the room, and the attendant snapped to attention. “Your maje… Hey! It’s you!”
“…Ares, right?” Catra asked.
Ares nodded. “Athena is already at the celebration. She’s helping our mom sell food, but I still have palace duty. Hey, I didn’t know you were the princess!”
“I am full of surprises.” Catra said drily. “Here’s one; I have a cousin.”

“Who?” Athena asked.
“I think she means Artemis.” Adora said.
Ares’ eyes widened. “Whoa… who are you? Are you the pet lady Mehitabel mentioned? I thought you would be smaller. Where are you from?”
“Um… Bright Moon, I guess?” Adora said.

“Ares, as fun as this is, we have to get to the Celebration before Princess Sparkle flips her shit. Or before the nursemaid returns and thinks I lost my virginity to Adora while we were alone in there. I don’t know. She thought I fucked Kyle. Enough said about that.” Catra shuddered.
“Oh, right! Queen Sekhmet and King Ailuros are going to want to see you soon!” Ares straightened and saluted. “Let’s go, it’s going to start soon!”

Adora and Catra followed them down the corridor, side by side. Adora thought she felt Catra’s tail brush against her leg, but when she looked it was far away, and Catra was blushing slightly. Curious.

Chapter Text

The first thing that they noticed was the massive fire. Then they noticed the dais where Catra’s family, Bow, and Glimmer were waiting.
“Announcing her royal highness, Princess Bastet Catra Hathor Hyperion of the Eighth Dynasty, Princess of Princesses, Jeweled Facet of the Tiger’s Eye!” Ares called. Everyone turned to look at them.
“And her pet, Adora from Bright Moon!”

“Still weird.” Catra sighed.
“What, the title or the pet thing?”
“Both.” Catra muttered as they waded into the sea of cat people screaming praise for her. She gave an awkward smile, and Adora felt for her hand.

Catra pulled away, and Ares led them both to the dais before disappearing into the crowd.
“My people, there is no time as significant as this for our princess to return!” Sekhmet said. “Tonight we celebrate the lives of those we have lost, and the knowledge we will see them again! We celebrate regaining those we thought lost! We pray to regain others that we don’t know the fate of! And finally, we celebrate reopening our diplomatic agreements with Bright Moon! There is so much to celebrate, and so little time, so without further ado, let us begin!”

Ailuros shot a flaming arrow into the center of the wood pile stacked high. It was a roaring bonfire within seconds. Cat people swarmed around it, throwing different objects in.
“What’s happening?” Catra asked.
“They’re offering something to the gods in exchange for someone who could still come back.” Sekhmet said. “If you had shown up later, we would have burned your baby blanket.”
Gently, Artemis passed the blanket to Catra. “I kept it as long as I could… it didn’t seem right to me that they took a baby without her blanket.”
“I’m not a baby, but… um… thanks…” Catra said.

Someone started playing a flute, and then other instruments—something stringed and drums—joined in. A woman starting singing. The song was fast paced, but oddly haunting.
“Do you kids want to dance?” Sekhmet asked Glimmer. “It’s the Remembrance Dance—a good time to think about those we’ve lost. The steps are fairly simple.”
Glimmer moved to grab Adora’s hand. “Sure, if you’re coming.”

Catra stretched. “I haven’t seen anyone die, so I’ll just hang out here.”
“We owe it to Entrapta to remember her.” Bow added.
“Ah, no, apparently she survived? And she’s helping the Horde?” Adora said, glancing at Catra.

“What?!” Glimmer exploded. “You! What did you do to her?!”
Catra regarded her coolly. “I gave her the friendship that the Rebellion obviously could not provide. I let her live up to her true potential. I placed a bet with Lonnie on when she and Scorpia would get together. Didn’t do that much, really.”
Bow quickly moved to hold Glimmer back. “Okay Glimmer, let’s not cause a diplomatic incident, we can go get Entrapta as soon as possible.”

“The Horde poisoned her mind, I know it did!” Glimmer hissed, glaring at Catra. “Or they hurt her, you know they don’t treat princesses well!”
Catra looked at her nails. “I mean, I spent sixteen years with them. You had… what, sixteen hours? Must have been hard.”
Bow dragged Glimmer down the dais before she could teleport around him and get to Catra.

“That’s uncalled for.” Adora said.
Catra rolled her eyes. “You know what else is? I never heard a thank you from Sparkle for giving back that sword and getting you two out of there. And yet Sparkle has appointed herself the grand poobah of knowing what I’m up to. It’s shitty.”
“She has a bit too much of Angella in her.” Sekhmet noted. “If only Micah had lived longer to have an impact on her… can’t be helped now, I suppose. This dance will be over soon, then the food and alcohol will come out. Why don’t you kids enjoy yourselves? …including you, Artemis.”

“What’s alc—” Adora started.
Catra clapped a hand over her mouth. “Shh. I’ve heard about this from Scorpia. They won’t let us have any if they think we’re lightweights. It’s supposed to be really fun.”
Luckily, Sekhmet hadn’t heard, as she was focusing on Artemis.
Artemis watched the crowd. “I… don’t know. I don’t know anyone I’d dance with.”
“We could dance together, if you want.” Ailuros said. “I miss my sister as much as you do.”

“Ah, no, it’s okay.” Artemis said quickly. “I… I just think I’d be off-balance with everyone else. Damaged tail, after all.”
“Arty, what’s taking so long!” A new voice called.
Sekhmet smirked. “Oh, I see. You’re saving your energy for that dance. Well, now I’m just glad that you’ve found a partner.”
Artemis blushed deeply. “She’s just a friend. I’m just helping her out because she doesn’t have a date.”

Catra looked off into the crowd. The speaker, a catwoman with a short blonde mane, waved and winked at Artemis. “You fell for that?”
“Falling for…? I never fell for anybody.” Artemis’ blush somehow deepened. Adora moved into position to catch her if she fainted.
“I meant the obvious lie she told to get you to come, but okay.” Catra said. “She asked you out because she likes you, not because you’re a last resort.”

Artemis stared at her.
Catra shrugged.
Sekhmet pursed her lips. “Not as tactful as I would have put it, but yes, I agree.”
Artemis’ ears twitched before she disappeared into the crowd.

“Catra, be gentle with her.” Adora said.
Catra snorted. “She needed a good kick in her pants or she’d never get out of here. Now she’s dancing with someone who likes her, and who she likes.”
The music suddenly changed, and vendors appeared out of almost nowhere. There were skewers of grilled meats, tankards of a fizzing purple drink that the girls assumed was alcohol, fluffy white desserts, and more that they couldn’t quite see from their vantage point. Some people continued to dance near the bonfire, but many swarmed the stalls as they hadn’t eaten yet.

A much slower song began playing, and couples began swaying near the bonfire.
“I think your buddies are near the food stalls.” Catra said, and when Adora looked, she couldn’t see them anyway. Not near the fire, not dancing to the slow song, and there are too many people near the food. But this was all that Sekhmet needed to let them go to the stalls and have something to eat. She and Ailuros went and mingled elsewhere as well.

Catra and Adora went around the stalls, and piled a plate high between them. Everyone refused to let Catra pay, and quite frankly, Adora did not have any money.
“Hey Athena.” Catra said as they approached the alcohol-stall.

“Oh--! Hi!” Athena said, quickly filling up and passing another tankard to someone near them. “Ares told me you’re the princess! I really should have guessed…”
“No biggie.” Catra said. “Can I have two of those… drinks though? One for me and one for my friend here?” She gestured to Adora who was carrying the plate.
“Hmm? Oh, sure!” Athena handed someone else a tankard. “One moment, please.”
“And uh… do I need to pay you?” Catra asked.

“No—the queen covers our costs for the festival. No one needs to pay to drink.” Athena said. She filled up the first tankard and passed it to Catra, before freezing. “You did want the alcoholic one, right?”
“Yup, I’m a big girl.” Catra replied smoothly.
Athena breathed a sigh of relief. “We have a non-alcoholic version for kids and those who uh… have had a drinking problem in the past, but I wanted to be sure. Not rush into things, like Ares.”
“Ares seems nice enough.” Adora said.

Athena nodded, filling up the second tankard. “Well, yeah. They’re my twin. Only I get to talk shit about them. But you have good taste, pet of the princess.”
Adora laughed awkwardly. Catra collected her drink, and they returned to the dais to eat their food and have their alcohol.

And then it turned into a drinking game.

And then Adora remembered seeing Glimmer? And she was pretty sure she said something like, “Noooo I don’t wanna leave Catra didn’t you hear? I’m her pet now!” Except more slurred together while clutching Catra.
“Yeah princess Sparklebutt Adora’s my best friend so… piss off.” This was accompanied by a ‘shoo’ motion while Catra leaned against Adora.

The next thing Adora remembered was spinning uncontrollably with Catra near the fire. She got a bit too close and her clothes caught fire. Someone (Catra?) poured a drink on her. She was fine. She and Catra had a big laugh about it, and stayed away from the fire.

Then, presumably sometime later, she was sitting alone on the dais (where was Catra?) when Artemis reappeared.
“Arty!” Adora cheered. “You’re here! Where’s your girlfriend?”
“Getting us food.” Artemis handed Adora a drink. “Have some, it will make your hangover… less painful… tomorrow.”
Adora tried her best to drink it. It tasted like water. Maybe it was magic water.

“So… where’s my cousin?” Artemis asked. “You two gave us quite a scare with the fire.”
“I dunno.” Adora looked around. “Where is Catra?”
Artemis looked around as well, and apparently spotted her. “…have either of you had alcohol before?”
“No!” Adora said gleefully, before looking chastised. “Ah… don’t tell Catra that I said that. She said it was a secret.”
“Mmm. Well, as your doctor, I can’t let the two of you have any more alcohol in good conscience.” Artemis looked over at where Catra apparently was, then started looking around again more fervently. “Where…?”

“Hehehehehe.” Catra popped up from behind Adora and played with her ponytail. “Hey, Adora.”
“I think your cousin knows we never had alcohol.” Adora stage-whispered.
Catra shot Artemis a look. “Don’t fucking snitch on us, alright? If you do, I’ll… I don’t know! I’ll be mad! No one likes a mad Catra!” Catra then proceeded to fall on top of Adora.

“She’ll rip up your sheets.” Adora said, eyes big. “And then what will your girlfriend say?”
Artemis giggled. “I’m sure I could get my sheets fixed by the time that she would ever have cause to interact with them.”
“Pfft, lame!” Catra said, picking herself up off of Adora. “D’you like… need me to be your wingman? I got Kyle and Rogelio together. I’ll fucking do it. Don’t test me.”

“No, I’ll just take it a bit more slowly.”
“I respect that.” Adora said. “Not everything needs to be so fast, y’know? Like one minute, Swift Wind is named Horsey, but then he’s not.”
Catra nodded as though this made any sense.

Artemis chuckled, before staring off into the distance. Her smile soon dropped. Then, screams began to pick up.
Sekhmet, who was nowhere near as drunk as her daughter, pushed her way to the front to deal with the intruder. “Who are you?! Speak now, Horde soldier, before I cut out your tongue!”
“Wow, are you Catra’s mom? Also hey, wait, if you cut out my tongue, I won’t be able to tell you anything!” Scorpia said, picking a few leaves out of her hair. “Cool traps, by the way!”

“Oh, my idiot’s here.” Catra said, before making her way to Scorpia and her mom.
“I’m warning you, don’t try my patience, you swan-bred nightingale!” Sekhmet hissed.
“Aw, thank you!”

“Scorpia, what’re you doing here?” Catra asked, leaning against a tree so that she wouldn’t fall down in front of her mother.
“Oh, hey Catra! I was just about to tell your mom that the Horde is surrendering.”
“Catra, get back to safe—what.”

“Yeah, Entrapta is already telling the other princesses!” Scorpia said enthusiastically.
“Other princesses?” Sekhmet said acerbically.
“Yeah! I’m a princess—the princess of Sandspire! And Catra’s a princess too I guess? Hey, so many people are princesses!” Scorpia said.

Sekhmet pinched the bridge of her nose. “Catra, please tell me that Horde defectors won’t keep turning up. One pet is enough.”
“Hey, I’m not a defector! We’re surrendering! Hordak’s gone!” Scorpia huffed.
“What?” Catra asked. “That’s impossible.”

“Entrapta put him to sleep.” Scorpia shrugged. “Hey, are you okay?”
“’m fine. Guess I hafta be a princess now, ‘cause Hordak’s dead. Or whatever.”
“Entrapta is pulling together a rehabilitation plan!” Scorpia continued to Sekhmet. “We’re hoping to return all the kidnapped soldiers to their lands, and everybody else… we’re still working on that. But Catra wasn’t answering her phone, so I had to come see her.”
Sekhmet stared at her for a minute. “Phone?”
“Yeah, it’s a standard issue Horde communication device!” Adora popped up at her elbow. “Hiiii Scorpia! Me and Catra had alcohol! You were much nicer when you weren’t kidnapping my friends but it’s okay.”

“Uh… do you want to talk about this tomorrow?” Scorpia said.
“Yes. That will give me time to contact Queen Libra for confirmation.” Sekhmet said. She snapped her fingers and Scorpia was escorted away by two muscular guards. “Oh, tell my mom I say hi and give her my love!”

Sekhmet turned back to her daughter to see her up the tree, jumping up and down and making leaves rain down. Catra was giggling as she did this. Adora laughed as well.
Sekhmet sighed, allowing herself to smile. “Remember to get to sleep at a decent time tonight, Catra.”
“You’re not my mom—wait I guess you are. Okay.” Catra said, though she kept giggling.

Later, when she and Adora fell asleep, Sekhmet and Ailuros carried them back to Catra’s room. When Catra was placed on the bed, she automatically curled up. “…Adora?”
Adora was also placed on the bed. Catra curled up on top of the bottoms of her legs. Both quickly fell into a more deep sleep.

Chapter Text

Catra woke up with her mouth feeling drier than the desert Scorpia apparently comes from. Her nice festival clothes were still on, but she seemed to have twisted in the night so that they were backwards. Speaking of backwards, Adora was draped unceremoniously over a chair nearby.

Catra poked her experimentally, and Adora grumbled. Cool, not dead then. But honestly, someone had the kindness to guide her to the bed, they could have been a bit gentler with Adora. (Catra was unaware that Adora had apparently moved herself for whatever reason).
Someone knocked sharply on the door, and Catra winced. Oh, God, she was hungover. “Go away.”

Glimmer poked her head in. “Oh, sorry, did I wake you?” The grin she was wearing was anything but sympathetic.
“You’re too loud.” Catra grumbled.
“How’s this?” Glimmer significantly raised her voice. Adora mumbled something and promptly fell off her chair. “Hmm? I’m up Shadow Weaver…!”

Glimmer shot her friend a sympathetic look, and toned down her voice. “Queen Sekhmet told me to get you guys. She’s apparently verified that the lobster-claw lady is telling the truth, so we’re going to talk about demilitarizing the Horde. And then we can talk about the pet thing? That’s just weird…?”
“Lobster-claw lady?” Adora asked, ignoring the pet thing.
“Demilitarizing the Horde?!” Catra added.

Glimmer pinched the bridge of her nose. “You two really got drunk last night, huh? I’ll stall for you, and have someone bring you some… I don’t know, what do drunk people need?”
“I think Artemis gave me magic water last night…?” Adora said slowly. “She said it would help, but it tasted like water anyway…”
“So just water then.” Glimmer said. “And I’ll tell them to bring you up to date. Can you guys get dressed?”

“We are dressed.” Catra snorted.
“There’s vomit on the back of your shirt.”
Oh, that’s why it was backwards. Smart move, Past Catra.

Glimmer closed the door—entirely too loud, in Catra’s opinion—and Catra pulled herself off of the bed.
“I don’t think I like drinking alcohol…” Adora said, holding her head.
“What happened to the ‘magic water’?” Catra teased.
“Clearly I didn’t have enough.”

“Well, I didn’t have any.” Catra took a tentative step, and began to consider returning to the bed. Her head was pounding too much to deal with Scorpia stuff.
Ares came in with Athena. Athena was carrying a jug of water and two cups, and Ares had changes of clothes.

“Hey guys!” Ares said.
Athena, Adora, and Catra all shushed them as one.
Athena poured the water and handed a cup to Adora and Catra each. Both girls eagerly drank it down. Ares put the clothes down on Adora’s chair, and moved towards the door.

Athena poured them each another cup. “So, how much do you two remember?”
“Not a lot.” Adora admitted.
Catra just nodded in between drinking.
Athena sighed. “Okay, so, the Princess of Sandspire appeared during the Festival last night and claimed that the Horde was making peace. Apparently Hordak has been put to a deep, deep sleep. Queen Sekhmet was able to verify… a lot, I think? So we’ve set up a long distance conference with many of the other rulers. Queen Sekhmet would like you to be there though, Princess Catra, and Queen Angella of Bright Moon was very insistent about She-Ra.”

“Ohhh She-Ra’s supposed to be there… got it.” Adora rose from the floor. The sword of She-Ra had been left in Catra’s room last night, and Adora easily picked it up. “By the power of Greyskull!”
“Quiet!” Catra yowled.
She-Ra cracked her neck. “Sorry. She-Ra seems to have fixed my hangover a bit.”
“Lucky.” Catra huffed, before changing. Athena and Ares quickly averted their eyes, then escorted the two of them to the meeting room.

It was set up similar to Angella’s war room in Bright Moon, with chairs around a table. Sekhmet’s was the most ornate, and Ailuros and Glimmer were sitting near her. Holographic versions of the rest of the Princess Alliance were filling other seats.
“Come, sit with me.” Sekhmet said to Catra, smiling at her daughter.

Catra was not in a mood to argue.
She-Ra sat down next to Glimmer on Catra’s other side.
Scorpia cleared her throat. “So, I guess I’m representing the Horde?”
A hologram near the end that looked a lot like Scorpia tried to give a thumbs-up with her claws. “You’re doing great sweetie!”

“Thanks mom!” Scorpia grinned. “Okay, so when do you guys want to take your people back?”
“What about our land? Will the Horde take their terrible structures away from us?” Perfuma asked. “We have been driven further and further away from our homelands… or would have been, if not for the She-Ra.”

“What about the damages to my castle that you two did.” Frosta said icily. Clearly it was not a question of whether there would be reparations at all, then.
“Whoa whoa whoa, let’s just focus on relocating the people that aren’t supposed to be here first!” Scorpia said. “Like Fish Princess, your boat-fire-guy, we have his dad!”

“Bold of you to assume I care about Sea Hawk’s father.” Mermista said.
Sea Hawk leaned in, obscuring the view of her. “You’ve seen Pop-Pop? How is he? Did he get my letters? Is he taking care of his eye? Does he think my moustache looks nice?”
Mermista pushed him out of her view.
“Many of the Horde recruits belong to nations that no longer exist.” Queen Angella interrupted. “And those who don’t have been corrupted.”

“So we’re just supposed to keep them there? Our people?” Glimmer shot back.
“How many Bright Moon natives are there in the Horde?” Angella demanded.
“…543!” Scorpia read off a screen in front of her.

“Can we even support that many?” Angella continued. “Our resources have been destroyed by the war.”
“And our land! We need it before we can regrow things!” Perfuma cut in.
Sekhmet whistled loudly. Catra winced.

“Since you all love to put your faith in She-Ra, let’s hear what she has to say about all of this.” Sekhmet gestured to She-Ra.
She-Ra blinked owlishly. “Uh… I think the Horde should keep the land that doesn’t have a princess anymore, and the people without a nation, but… retrain them? As… farmers, I guess? And we can all try to pull together to feed our people? But I think everyone should have their old broders drawn back up when they can.”

“So everyone gets their own people back, and no more?” Sekhmet pressed.
“Yeah?”
Sekhmet shrugged. “Well, I have my daughter back, and there are no more of my people in the Horde’s clutches, so I agree to this. No skin off of my back.”
Angella sent her a glare that probably would have physically hurt her had they been in the same room. “We are all meant to pull together and help out.”

“And what about Dryl? It had three citizens and their princess fell in battle with the Horde. Will they be absorbed, or will they be forced to support kingdoms they have naught to do with?” Frosta interrupted.
“Dryl? Isn’t that where Entrapta—oh! Right! Falcon told me that you guys think Entrapta’s dead! No, she’s fine, she just thinks you all abandoned her. Crazy, right?” Scorpia laughed.

No one laughed with her, and it quickly died.
Catra dropped her head onto the table. “Ughhhh. Tact, Scorpia, tact.”
“I think we should focus on rehabilitation and reintegration efforts for the Horde soldiers who are going home!” She-Ra said quickly. “They’ve gotta still have families, right?”
“Not necessarily, especially after she attacked Bright Moon.” Angella glared at Catra, who lifted her head from the table, dropped it again, and raised her hand in a rude salute.

“How dare you! My baby is a victim!” Sekhmet hissed.
“A victim leading an army? Don’t make me laugh.” Angella said. “How do you intend to reintegrate and rehabilitate her?”
“You’ve apparently done well enough with the one who dressed up as She-Ra!”
“She was chosen! Stop being so-so… catty about this!”

Sekhmet laughed. “Catty? I’ll show you catty!” She suddenly turned into a panther on the table.
Catra raised her head again. “…Adora, I think I’m still drunk. The lady who keeps saying she’s my mom looks like a cat.”
“She can do that.” Ailuros said. “And you can as well, but that’s an issue for a different time.”

Sekhmet turned back into a woman.
“Glad to see what that display of emotion did—absolutely nothing, as is par for the course for you.” Angella huffed.
“Hey! Who wants to execute Shadow Weaver for war crimes!” Scorpia said quickly.

“Don’t bring up the issue of execution, then they might want to execute us.” Catra said.
“I will never let that happen!” Sekhmet growled.
“Who’s getting executed?” Scorpia’s mom clacked her claws worriedly.
“…I don’t believe anyone should be executed, but I think some of them are deserving of punishment other than what has currently been devised.” Angella raised an eyebrow. “I believe that we should all assemble for a proper conference. Clearly there are issues here that have yet to be resolved.”

“And where would you guys want to hold that?” Mermista raised an eyebrow. “Even though I think the idea of putting two angry moms in a room is a really bad idea.”
“Bright Moon, obviously.” Angella said.
Sekhmet scoffed. “If I step foot there, or send my baby, who knows what will happen! We’ll hold it here!”

“Stop being childish—Bright Moon was a centre for the rebellion!” Angella argued.
“What about the Fright Zone?” Scorpia suggested.
“Oooh, or Sandspire!” Her mother added.
“If it’s up for debate, I’d like to hold it in Plumeria.”

“Salineas is the coolest kingdom.”
“My kingdom is clearly the best choice, but I am hesitant to let those two into it after the melting incident.” Frosta growled.
Glimmer closed her eyes, then slammed a fist on the table. “Hey! What about Mystacor? It’s secluded, calm, and relatively neutral. It’s not got any weather problems or any hardships getting there—no offense, guys—and Aunt Castaspella can mediate.”

“That’s… actually a really good idea.” She-Ra said. “Good job, Glimmer.”
“I have good ideas, you know.” Glimmer said, but she puffed herself up a bit anyway.
Catra stretched. “Well, I had nothing to contribute to this, and I still won’t. Guess I’m a princess now, thanks for making that decision for me, Scorpia.”
“No problem!” Scorpia grinned.

Catra moved towards the door. “I’m gonna… explore. I don’t know.”
She-Ra turned back into Adora, and moved to follow her. “Wait, you can’t just walk out of a meeting like that!”
No one stopped her, and Adora chased Catra all the way to the portrait gallery.

“It’s probably easier to have peace talks if Sparklebutt’s mom doesn’t hate me.” Catra shrugged.
“Glimmer, and she doesn’t hate you.”
“…I mean, she does, and she has a good reason, but okay.” Catra pointed out, leaning against the wall. Unfortunately, the spot that she chose to lean against was the portrait of the original Queen Catra, which slid to the side.

Instead of hitting brick, Catra fell back behind the portrait.
“Catra!” Adora screamed, clambering after her.
She emerged in a passageway more or less on top of Catra.
“I am never drinking again.” Catra groaned.

“Are you okay?”
“I would be if you get off.” Catra said.
Adora climbed off of her, and Catra stood up to her full height. “Well, explore this secret passageway or argue with Sparklebutt’s mom. Guess which one I’m choosing?”

“We’re going back after we find out what’s down here.” Adora said.
Catra chuckled. “Glad to hear you’re coming too.”
Adora linked her fingers with Catra’s—she told herself it was because Catra could see better in the dark and lead the way, but it felt like an excuse even to her. Catra didn’t pull away though.

After a couple minutes of walking, Catra finally bumped into a door, which easily opened.
“Wow, it’s so old it’s practically falling apart…” Catra poked it experimentally.
“Or, it’s really dirty.”
Catra laughed. “Yeah, or that.” She saw something jutting out of the wall and touched it. Overhead, a lightbulb flickered to life.

“Maybe not that old then.” Adora said.
“Mm… kinda looks like First Ones Tech from what I understand from Entrapta.” Catra squinted at the room.
It was incredibly dusty, and the walls were lined with First Ones data cartridges, neatly slotted into hexagonal cubbyholes until they were filled. There was an interface in the middle of the room that had a slot for the cartridges, and a few more in a box nearby.

Catra grabbed the nearest data cartridge and popped it into the interface.
“Are you crazy?!” Adora hissed.
“Says the one who needed to touch the weird sword.” Catra scoffed. “Relax, you can fight it if it’s evil.”
A hologram popped up from the interface, but unlike the conference room or Light Hope, it did not seem interactive.

A woman—the original Queen Catra, Adora realized—adjusted the camera, then sat back, her head in her hands. She was obviously pregnant. “Where to begin…? How do I explain what Mara’s done now? My friend—can I even still consider her my friend?—is dead. I think. Gods above, this is so hard… she took away the stars, and I think she destroyed the possibility of She-Ra ever coming back.”

“Oh, this is another She-Ra thing. Great.” Catra-who-was-not-in-the-video said sarcastically.
Adora shushed her, and the video continued.
“Dazzle is still missing, I think Mara…” Queen Catra in the video gestured. “Razzle is beside herself, but I don’t think she has it in her to blame Mara for any of this. She took the sword, I don’t know where it is anymore. …I doubt it matters, anyway. I don’t think She-Ra… Gods, I already said it, this is just getting too much too soon… I need to find an angelic being—Queen Seraphina might help me. Maybe not though—I think she has to deal with her own ‘gift’ from Mara bringing us here. The Moonstone is pretty large compared to the Tiger’s Eye or anything.” She chuckled mirthlessly. “It won’t make her like you any more, Mara. Not that it matters now. …This might be my last video for a while. I need to focus on the consequences from Mara doing this to all of us.”

Chapter Text

“So… this is some kind of She-Ra thing like that temple with the giant spider.” Catra gestured to the room offhandedly. However, her tense bearing in her shoulders and her tail swishing angrily belied her true feelings.
“Where I saved you, and you betrayed me.” Adora agreed.
Catra snorted. “You didn’t save anyone. You just did what you always do, where you come in at the last minute and take all the credit.”

“You still tossed me off of a cliff!”
Catra scoffed. “I could see the bottom, and everything there thought you were the greatest thing since Horde-patented sliced bread. You weren’t going to die. You probably weren’t even going to be hurt—I’ve seen you walk off worse.”

“You still let me think I was going to die!”
“Good! We’re not friends anymore, stop pretending we are!”
“The Horde is over, why wouldn’t we be friends?! Why are you freaking out about this now?”
Catra’s tail began to whip back and forth nervously. Adora eyed it, aware that Catra was still probably doing it involuntarily. “Watch the tapes.”

“Don’t tell me what to do!” Catra began to pace, but kept her distance from the shelves. “I… I don’t… gah! I’m not good with feelings and there are too many right now!” She punched the wall, still careful not to disturb the tapes. “The Horde is gone! I let you fall for nothing! I’m everything we’ve been raised to hate and I don’t know how to be a perfect fucking princess like Shimmer! You left me, and you’ll leave me again if you get the chance and I don’t know how to stop you! I don’t know how to fix this!”

“I’m not going to leave you.” Adora said softly. “I promised you I’d look after—”
“I don’t need you to look after me! And I definitely don’t need you to lie—I thought if I was… I thought you’d want me if I was a princess, but the more I find out about that fucking sword and the kind of person She-Ra is—”
“I’m She-Ra!”
“You’re a She-Ra, and they all seem to be shitty friends!” Catra gestured to the video dispenser. “I just want my Adora back!”
“This isn’t about you!”

“It was never about me! But I want it to be, for once!” Catra threw up her hands. “For once, in this weird, fucked-up reality where I’m a princess and everyone calls you my pet and absolutely everything is deeply weird!”
“I didn’t know you had felt like this, about any of this.”

“Yeah, no shit. I don’t share that kind of information with just anyone.”
“I thought I was more than just anyone.” Adora said quietly.
Catra pinched the bridge of her nose. “I’m not going to stop being upset just because you made the sad-Adora face at me. You know damn well that’s not what I meant. A lot of stuff has changed recently. I’m not sure I even trust the ground beneath my feet anymore. I want to go back to the old days.”

“With Shadow Weaver breathing down our necks?” Adora snorted. “No fun, ever? We never would have been able to do what we did last night in the Horde.”
“At least Shadow Weaver never pretended to care for me. At least you still did, back then.” Catra shot back.
Hurt flashed across Adora’s face. “I do care about you.”
“Then why did you choose them over me? Why wasn’t my pain enough to make you leave?”

“Because we finally had a tangible way out! I would have taken you with me, but you didn’t want to come!” Adora threw her hands up in exasperation.
Catra scoffed. “The ticket to ride didn’t seem to include a plus one. I thought you already understood that from previous conversations.”
“Well that doesn’t mean we don’t have another chance now. Isn’t that all that this proves?” Adora asked. “All of this means we have another chance.”

Catra glanced at the video dispenser. “We being Catra and She-Ra?”
“We being you and me. And whether that’s Bastet or Catra, She-Ra or Adora, we have another chance. I’m not letting you go now without a fight. I’m sorry for all the bad choices that mean we need to have another chance to begin with, and I can’t promise it will be perfect from here on out, but I can promise this; it was never my intention to hurt you, and I will do my best to never do so again. I’ll support you no matter what happens. I stand with you.”

“Hmmph.” Catra snorted, but her tail’s twitches became less anxious and more playful.
“Wanna go spar?” Adora asked.
Catra chuckled. “I’m always up for the opportunity to kick your ass.”
Adora punched Catra’s shoulder gently. “That’s not how I remember it.”

“You must have hit your head too many times. Guess wings on a fucking circlet can’t protect you from head trauma, who knew?” Catra asked as they left the secret room. 
Almost immediately they ran into a flurry of servants.
“What’s going on?” Adora stopped one and asked.
“The Princess has disappeared!” They replied, not stopping to look at Catra.

“This is my life now, I guess.” Catra pinched the bridge of her nose.
“I mean, they haven’t noticed yet.” Adora pointed out.
Ailuros, despite his size, seemed to appear out of nowhere. “There you two are. I’m sure you had a great adventure, hm?”

Adora smiled awkwardly while Catra shrugged. “I guess.”
Ailuros smiled, and clapped his hands together. The servants stopped running around, and stared at him. “The princess has been found, please tell my wife that I am taking her to my workshop. …would you like to come too, Adora?”
“Uhhh… I guess I should go talk to Glimmer and Bow, I haven’t seen them in a while?” Adora said.

Catra glared at her, but said nothing as she left. “So—your workshop. What do you do there?”
“Woodworking.” Ailuros said pleasantly as they began to walk along. “I made… I will show you when we get there. I have some First Ones technology that I use to press the dust into boards to use again—wood is a premium on a mountain like this.”
“That’s pretty cool, I have a friend in the Horde who would like to see that kind of thing.” Catra said.
Ailuros smiled. “Do you? Hopefully she can come visit sometime.”

Catra watched him for a minute. “You and your wife are very different people.”
“We have always been very different. We balance each other out—she gives me fire, I give her grounding.”
“You don’t hate the Horde.”
Ailuros rolled his shoulders. “I… hate what it stands for. I hate what it has done. But I cannot bring myself to hate individuals from it—besides Hordak and Light Spinner, of course—especially when there are people like you, and Adora, and your friends in it. You were all misled, but now you’re on the right path.”

“You don’t know anything about me.” Catra snapped.
“I’d like to, though.” Ailuros said. They reached a nondescript door, which Ailuros opened gently. He stepped in, and then held the door open for his daughter. Slowly, she stepped inside. Golden light filtered through a skylight, illuminating dust in the air. There were a myriad of tools and tables in a corner, cordoned off by a rope. In another part of the room, which was fairly large, was a carpeted area full of toys.

Toys for babies, a grand doll-house with a dragon at the base, puzzles, swords, and more. Catra stepped forward to get a better look.
“I… carved something for you. For each of your birthdays. I didn’t know what kind of person you would be—whether you’d take after me, or Sekhmet, so I made guesses. And at a certain point, I realized that there was no point to keeping these locked up for no one to see. So, when people want to go about their business without their children clutching at their ankles, they drop them off here sometimes. The older ones look after the younger ones, and I try to keep them all out of trouble.” Ailuros said. She could hear the smile in his voice, thinking about all the children.

“Are they… replacements? For me?” What a strange concept. She’d never needed replacing before.
“I don’t like to think of them that way, but I suppose.”
“What about your niece?”
Ailuros sighed, and stepped around the rope. “Do you mind if I work while we talk? I like to keep my hands busy.”

Catra nodded, and left the toy area to join him.
“I sense you have a lot more questions than you’re asking—and I also get the feeling you’re asking the prickliest ones.” Ailuros chuckled. “So shoot—rapid fire.”
“Why are you so big?” Catra asked.

Ailuros gave a belly laugh. “I just am. This is the way my family has always been—you should have seen my sister!”
“But your niece is… tiny.” Catra gestured vaguely with her hands.
Ailuros sighed, and began to turn his lathe that held his latest project. “Yes. Artemis was not fed properly as a child due to the environment she grew up in. It’s… what has she told you, exactly?”
“Not much—just a lot of stuff about how she ‘failed’ me.”

Ailuros held up a chisel while he spoke. “Artemis has pushed her feelings about what happened that day onto her separation from you, I think. In some way, your return means a ‘redemption’ for her. If she blames herself for that day, she… it’s a way of coping.”
“So what happened to her, anyway?”
Ailuros nearly splintered what he was working on. “…she has only told us bits and pieces. I suspect she’s keeping things back, especially given the terminology she uses to refer to herself. She said she was an ‘exotic’ in the circus she was kept in. When we found her, it was several years ago, I believe she would have been just a year or two younger than you are now. She was begging for forgiveness whenever she spoke, and flinched whenever anyone spoke to her. She would really only speak to your mother and I for a long time.”

“What do you think happened to her?” Catra asked quietly.
“…she has been declawed and is covered in scars, but she said they never hurt her face. That, to me, is indicative of… well, let’s just say I considered the establishment we found her in to be more… settled than a mere circus, even if it also had an entertainment quality.” Ailuros said. “I suppose the prickliest questions were being saved, haha.”

“Why aren’t I bigger? I’ve eaten enough.” Catra said, trying to sound a bit petulant so her father would stop thinking about what had happened to Artemis.
Ailuros chuckled. “You’d probably be even smaller than you are now if you weren’t my daughter. You were born early, coupled with your mother’s side of the family being small. You should have seen your grandfather—I think he was so angry all the time because he had it compressed into him. Anyway, you’re not small—you’re average height for our people. I am simply big.”

Catra watched him work for a bit, before saying, “So why didn’t you ever have any children besides me?”
Ailuros grimaced, but kept working without issue. “Our people are not… the most fertile. Most couples will only have one or two sets of children—thankfully, twins are common. Your aunt and I were twins, and Art… anyway. We also thought it might be somewhat… disrespectful to you and your memory if we tried to replace you outright, and strip your of your birthright.”

Catra snorted, her tail twitching rapidly. “What makes you think I want to be a princess?”
“Careful, don’t get it caught in the machinery.” Ailuros pointed to his own fluffy and bandaged tail. “Experience speaking, if nothing else.”
“Answer my question.” Catra scowled.

“Well, I don’t think you want to be a princess. But, I think you’d make a decent queen if given a chance, and being a princess is good training. You seem like a good leader.” Ailuros finally said. “I don’t think anyone really wants to be a princess.”
“Maybe I don’t want to be the princess of here. Or the queen.” Catra snapped.
Ailuros shrugged. “I suppose, but hopefully that choice won’t come up for many years yet. But, you’ll always be our daughter, Catra.”

Catra looked away and crossed her arms. Secretly, she was a bit pleased. “Whatever. What were you going to do if I never came back?”
Ailuros let out a deep breath. “That’s a good question. We never liked to openly discuss it, but… if your mother or I had died before your return, the remaining monarch would have adopted someone. You may be the only pure descendant of Queen Catra on Claw Mountain besides your mother, but Gods know our people do not reproduce through mitosis. There are others with long, intertwining bloodlines.”

“Not Artemis?” Catra asked in surprise. “She’s basically your surrogate daughter.”
Ailuros smiled gently. “No, she’s my niece. Family is important to us here. And I know that Artemis is still recovering herself. I can’t tell you how happy I am that they didn’t break your spirit, Catra.”
Catra huffed. “It’s not like it was all fun and games, being raised by the Horde.”
“No, of course not. But you still have your spirit. And that’s something they can never take away from you.”

Catra looked away again. She’d never been given a look of such pride before. She used to dream about Shadow Weaver patting her on the head like Adora, before she realized she’d prefer to die.
“You don’t have to get all sappy about it. …what are you making, anyway?”
Ailuros chuckled. “Now, I can’t tell you that. It’s for your seventeenth birthday, after all. Did you think I’d stop making you things now that you’re actually here to receive them?”

Catra blinked quickly. “Can you… show me?”
Ailuros lit up like the corridors of the Fright Zone under lockdown. “Of course! I’d love to teach you how to work wood!”
“Thanks. …hey, when is my birthday, anyway?”
Ailuros handed her a knife and a block of wood. “The 28^th of the tenth month.”
“That’s not far away.”

Ailuros nodded happily. “No, it’s not. Do you want somewhere to sit while you work?”
Catra shifted awkwardly. “I guess.”
Ailuros handed her a dusty stool. He resumed working, occasionally giving her tips or guiding her hands while she kept guessing what her present was.

When Sekhmet checked in on them a little while later, they were both laughing at a joke of Ailuros’. A rough outline of something was forming in the block of wood Catra had. And for just a moment, Sekhmet could imagine that their daughter had never been taken. Everything was as it should be.

In the Fright Zone, Entrapta sipped her soda. It had taken Scorpia forever to find out what Catra’s people were called so that she could start looking for Catra’s file. And the Horde filing system—which she really needed to update—took a while to find the most basic information. Finally, it stopped loading. There was one file that came up easily. Fair enough. She clicked.

…that was not Catra. Catra wasn’t supposed to be that big. Or named ‘Apollo’.
Entrapta scrolled down through this ‘Apollo’s file. He was a bruiser, apparently. Quick to temper, had a hard time with authority, and… while he was often on the front lines, he wasn’t at the Battle of Bright Moon. His squad had been completely redirected because…

Huh. Wonder why he was ‘never to go near Catra, under any circumstances’? Did they not like each other? Entrapta typed in some orders to re-route this angry catman so she could ask him some questions, then went looking for Catra and Adora’s squad. According to Scorpia, they were in the 7^th Cadet Branch, Sector 17-B.

Except, on the surface, there was no Sector 17-B in the 7^th Cadet Branch. Weird, the Horde could actually do some decent encryption? Entrapta set to work with gusto, not noticing when there was a knock at the door. She heard it when it grew persistent enough to be a banging. “Oh, come in!”

The angry cat man she’d summoned stepped in. “Um… why have you asked for me?”
Entrapta glanced at him, then pushed her mask up and walked over via her hair. Jeez, he was taller than Scorpia. “Right, right, right. Why aren’t you allowed to see Catra?”
He blinked. “Cat…? I don’t know anyone by that name?”

Entrapta consulted her notes. Scorpia was really good at finding out information about Catra. “Princess Bastet Catra Hathor Hyperion of the Eighth Dynasty?”
This ‘Apollo’ froze. “I… think you need to start from the beginning.”
Entrapta blinked. “So, as far as I know, our history starts when the First Ones—”

“Not that far back.” Apollo said firmly. “How do you know her name?”
“She’s my friend.”
“Well, she’s my cousin.”
Entrapta considered this. “We’re not at war anymore. Want to help me demilitarize?”

Apollo frowned. “Later. First, I want to rebuild the ruins of my family. My cousin is all I have left.”
Entrapta looked at her notes again. “Are you from her mother’s side?”
“No.”
“Do you know someone named Artemis? She’s apparently on Claw Mountain with Catra and Catra’s parents…” She started disseminating information, getting lost in the notes as always. When she looked back, he was long gone. She deflated a little—why did no one want to hear her notes?