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Chapter Text

The clone gathered the last few cans of food from the rubble and tucked them into his bag, then looked back at where his brothers were still debating over how to ration the last vials of amniotic fluid and shook his head. 

They struck him as rather young clones. The angry one seemed to have some field experience. At  the very least, he was a decent enough fighter. The second one was too curious for his own good and insisted on touching and smelling and looking at just about everything. He’d poked at some soft glowing creatures in the canal only a few nights before that had stung his hand. To used to being sheltered inside Primes ship he suspected. 

The long haired one worried him the most. He’d been far too quiet since the voices of their brothers disappeared, far too willing to be pushed around and skipped over when rations were handed out.

For what felt like the hundredth time he tried to reach out to them through the hive mind to comfort them, convince them that they’d be alright, and was met with silence. 

He suppressed a shiver, stood, and walked back to the group.

“I found some more Etherian food among the rubble.” He held one of the cans out. “It isn’t poisonous, I promise.”

The angry one scowled at him. “Prime doesn’t permit us to eat food.”

“It’s better than starving.”

“It will make us sick.”

“Not if you start off with a small amount so your stomach can get used to it.”

The curious one watched the conversation, his gaze flicking back and forth between them. The long haired one stared down at the floor, his ears pinned back.

He sighed, popped the lid open with a claw and scooped out some of the vegetables. Then he went over to the long haired one. He needed it the most. “Here try one of these.”

“I… no thanks.” He didn’t even look up.

The clone sighed and ate one himself. “They’re safe. See?” He held out the handful again. “Just one. Just see what you think.”

Still no response. He shrugged then turned to the curious one. If any of them would be interested, he would. “Do you…”

He didn’t even get the chance to finish the sentence before the angry one knocked the can from his hands. 

“Prime will be disappointed in you when he returns.”

“Prime is... he’s gone.” He forced his gaze away from the vegetables scattered across the ground. “We all felt it.” 

“He’ll be back.” The angry one insisted. “I will not risk his displeasure. You shouldn’t either.”

“Suit yourself then.” He glanced over at the other two. “If either of you want some, I found plenty, and I should be able to catch fish from the canal if it comes to that. Just let me know.”

The first time he’d been hungry, he’d resisted offers of food as well. He’d given in eventually. Hopefully the others would too.

Chapter Text

“Hey clone guy! Zee! Whatever it is you want to be called!” Mermista sighed as another thud came from inside the little house. “Can you like, stop breaking my citizens' property?”

There was a pause from inside and then something smashed against the door. It sounded like glass. How there was anything glass left intact in there, Mermista wasn’t sure.

“Stop calling me that. We do not have names!”

“It’s that or clone guy. Take your pick.”

When no answer was forthcoming Mermista sighed. “Don’t make me come in there.”

Still no answer. The sound of things breaking resumed. Mermista shrugged, summoned some water from the nearby canal to use as a battering ram, and entered. Forcefully.

The clone stumbled back as the spout of water hit him, dropping the kitchen chair he’d been holding over his head. One of the legs hit him in the face on the way down, leaving a little scratch in its wake. 

Combined with the dirty and now water soaked robes that he refused to change out of, the cast on his wrist that they’d had to knock him out to get on, and the cuffs still chained around his wrists, it only served to make him look even more pathetic. Mermista frowned at the smashed plates and ignored food stacked in the corner, and wondered how he could stand the smell.

If any of this bothered him, he didn’t show it. He just stood there and glared at her.

“You know, there’s much better ways to deal with your emotions than breaking stuff and going on a hunger strike.”

“Etherian Food is an imbalanced and inefficient method of nutrient delivery. Should amniotic fluid be provided I will consume that instead.”

“Okay, first off, gross. Secondly, aren't some nutrients better than nothing at all?”

“Horde clones can survive many weeks without sustenance. I am fine.”

Even as he said it, a small tremor shook his frame. Mermista raised an eyebrow. “Right… anyway, you’re coming with me to the castle.” 

“I will go nowhere with an Etherian!” 

He swung at her with his claws, but the effort was clumsy. She dodged it with ease.

“Come on.” She tugged at the chain connected to the cuffs. “You’re in no state to fight right now and you know it.”

Slowly, reluctantly, he took a step forward.

-

The castle had hardly been a priority when they’d begun rebuilding Salineas, and at the moment it still wasn’t. Only the jail, some of the meeting halls, and the kitchens had been completed so far. Enough to uphold the law and host dignitaries and misplaced citizens but little else.

Her initial plan had been to lock the clone in a cell and be done with it, but something changed her mind. 

She brought him to the kitchens instead.

If he was at all questioning the decision he didn’t say anything. Instead he sat in the chair where she’d dropped him, fidgeted with the cuffs, and glared around at the various vegetables and ingredients scattered around. 

She could have sworn she’d heard his stomach growl. 

Once it seemed like he wasn’t going to get up and start smashing things she went to the ice box and dug out a little cup of green jello, then turned and walked back to him.

“You want amniotic fluid? Fine. Here you go.”

He stared at it, then took the cup and shook it, watching it bounce. “Why is it so dense?”

He looked hopeful. His stomach growled again.

“It’s just chilled so that it lasts longer.” It took all Mermista’s self control not to grin.

He hesitated only a second before ripping the lid off and somehow dumping the entire cup into his mouth in one go. By the time the fact that this was clearly not amniotic fluid registered, he’d already swallowed it. His eyes went wide, and his tongue flicked in and out of his mouth as he tried to figure out the taste.

This time Mermista couldn’t help but laugh.

The tongue flicking stopped and he pinned a glare on her that was utterly ruined by the fact that his tongue was poking out of his mouth. “This is hardly cause for amusement. That could have been poisonous.”

“At the rate Kadroh goes through them? Not likely.” Mermista took the empty cup from the clones hands and threw it away. He didn’t react.

“The obnoxious bright one?” The clone's gaze drifted over to the icebox. “He’s a fool. He has shunned Primes ways, taken a name, and adorned himself with excessive colors and decorations. At this very moment he is no doubt tainting the minds of my Brothers.”

Mermista procured a second cup of jello, and offered it to the clone. He took it, barely seeming to process what he was doing. 

“Him and that defective one with the red eyes.” He took the lid off the second cup and ate it as quickly as he had the first. “Pathetic, the both of them. If Horde Prime were still alive they’d be as good as dead.”

He glared down at the empty cup and crushed it in his hand. “But Horde Prime is gone.” There was a tremble in his voice. “He’s gone, no thanks to that red eyed defect . And so are the voices of my Brothers. My mind is so… alone.” 

Mermista stared at him. “I uh… look this was just supposed to be a prank and uh… do you want to talk to the castle therapist?”

He didn’t answer. Instead he stood, went to the icebox himself, and took out a third cup of jello.

“OK,” Mermista went after him and grabbed it before he could open it. “No more jello. An upset stomach isn’t going to make you feel any better.”

“But…” He stared longingly at it.

“But nothing.” She set it back in the icebox then considered his handcuffs, debating briefly on whether to remove them or not.  She’d do it later, once his emotions were more stable. “Follow me. Right now you need clean clothes, and someone has to check on how your wrist is healing. Maybe you can have more jello after.”

He tried to glare at her, but it was lost in the myriad emotions all trying to express themselves at the same time. Instead he looked down at his ragged white robes and sighed.

“Very well. Lead the way.”

Chapter Text

“Hello, Imp.” Hordak smiled as the little clone swooped into the room, and reached up to scratch him under the chin. “It seems Entrapta and Kadroh were right.”

Imp frowned and tilted his head at Hordak.

“You have gained a bit of weight.” 

Imp huffed and pushed off of Hordaks shoulder as quickly as he’d landed on it, letting his tail flick Hordak in the face as he flew away. Kyle's voice echoed down from the ceiling “He has not!”

Hordak sighed. “I was merely observing a minor physical change that has no affect on your many talents. I didn't mean to offend.” Truthfully, he hadn't meant to make the observation aloud. Perhaps Entrapta's methods where rubbing off on him.

“Offend… offend...” Yellow eyes glared down at him from the shadows. Hordak glared back.

The door opened.

“Hi Hordak! Hi Imp!” Entrapta grinned broadly up at Imps perch. “Hey Imp, can I borrow you for a second? I need to figure out how your wings work.”

Imp swooped down and buried himself between the strands of her hair, then pointed at Hordak. “...weight… offend.”

“Oh don’t let him bother you.” Entrapta ruffled Imps hair. “He’s just jealous that he isn’t as cute as you are!”

Imp brightened at that and stuck his tongue out at Hordak. 

“Need I point out that she noticed it first?”

Imp cackled and disappeared into her hair.

“Oh, of course she can get away with it.” Hordak smiled anyway and addressed Entrapta. “Why do you want to study his wings?”

“The clone with the blue eyes saw a bluejay while we were in Plumeria fixing that construction bot. He’s decided that he wants to be called Jay, and he wants to learn how to fly,” Entrapta grinned and flapped the ends of her ponytails, careful not to move the one Imp was in too much. “So I’m going to build him wings! Oh I’m so proud of him and his big dreams!”

Hordak took a long look at her. “I don’t doubt your capabilities, but designing wings capable of lifting a humanoid body is no small feat. Would you like my help?”

“I would love your help! Especially since I was planning on connecting them to Jay’s cybernetics to make them feel like an extension of his body. You’re input on that would be amazing.”

“It will be gladly given. Especially since I would be able to acquire a set for myself once the project is done.”

“And I will totally help you build them.” Entrapta grinned. “Any particular reason you want wings?”

“In my attempts at creating a new body for myself I went with a winged hybrid, not just for the level of DNA compatibility, but also because I felt having wings would be…” He paused, contemplating what to say next. Aesthetically pleasing? Entertaining? No, Imp would tease him for that. “Advantageous in a variety of situations.” 

“Of course!” Entrapta said. “And then the two of you can learn to fly together! Oh this will be so much fun!”

Imp poked his head out of Entraptas hair and smirked at Hordak. “I felt having wings would be... fun!”

Hordak felt his ears heat up. “That’s not… I mean…”

“Oh come on Hordak! Everyone’s allowed to have fun. Especially you.” She looped a strand of hair around his wrist and pulled him gently towards the door. “Now, let’s get to the lab.”

-

His first set of armor had taken a long time to build. So had the various robots and machines that had kept the Fright Zone running. The portal had taken the longest time, and had never worked properly. 

The wing project, including the simulations and lab tests, ended up taking hardly any time in comparison.

In part it was due to his increased engineering knowledge and an extremely capable partner. Mostly it was a sense of enthusiasm that kept both him and Entrapta working on it with every second of their free time.

The results, made of carefully chosen metal and plastic, meticulously wired, and equipped with specially fabricated actuators and sensors, would have been stunning even to someone with no knowledge of engineering. 

Two sets of broad, bat-like wings. Jay’s a glimmering blue and white, Hordak’s matte black and dark red.

Hordak couldn’t keep the grin off of his face as he spread the wings behind him. True to Entrapta’s plan, the integration with his cybernetics meant he could feel what every strut and actuator was doing. The sensors picked up the warm sunlight playing through the clearing as though they were his own skin.

Next to him Jay had draped his wings over his shoulder and was pressing gently on them, watching the wire laced “webbing” flex under his hand. He gave them a small test flap and laughed as the wings caught the air and pushed him backwards a little. “These are amazing! You two are amazing!”

“So.” Hordak lowered his wings and turned to Entrapta. “In all our time building these, you never told me how you plan to teach us how to use them properly.”

“Oh I’m not teaching you.” Entrapta grinned. “Instead I’ve recruited two and half of Etheria’s best fliers to do that.”

“A half?” Hordak frowned.

“Their words. Not mine.” Entrapta turned and addressed the bushes. “You can come out now!”

Hordak could only watch and force down his slowly mounting horror, as Imp, Swift Wind, and Double Trouble, who was sporting an admittedly rather stunning set of leathery green wings, stepped into the clearing.

This was going to be a long day.

Chapter Text

Basil felt like he’d adjusted reasonably quickly to Crypto Castle. But somehow, despite the castle being located on a mountain, he hadn’t foreseen this.

He’d stepped out into the courtyard that morning to find it filled with nearly a foot of sparkling white snow. He stood in the entrance way and stared at it for a while, only stopping when the doors creaked open again behind him.

He pulled his gaze away from it and turned to see Hordak easing the door shut. Wrapped tightly in a floor length cloak with a thick fur lining that still managed to make him look skinny, Hordak trudged through the shallow edges of the snow and stopped next to Basil. 

“You don’t seem particularly impressed.” Hordak pulled his hood up over his ears, then motioned to the snow. “Kadroh practically buried himself in it the first time he visited Princess Frosta’s kingdom.”

“It loses a bit of it’s charm when you’ve had to fight wars in it.” Basil said. “When there’s a warm castle to retreat to it's not so bad though.”

“I suppose.” Hordaks gaze lingered on Basil's bare arms. “You lack a coat.”

“i don’t plan on staying out here long.” Basil shrugged.

A silence broken only by the soft pattering of the snowflakes fell between them. It was nearly a minute before Hordak spoke.

“How many battles have you participated in?”

“Huh?”

“You heard what I said.” Hordak nodded towards Basil's scars. “How many battles?”

Basil frowned “I couldn’t say for sure. I went into the pool in between the earliest ones. All it did was hurt and the effects began to wear off as soon as I went back into the field. Eventually I started taking extra care to hide my scars and just tried to act like everyone else.”

“It seems we have something in common then.” 

“Have you been on the front lines?”

“When Prime cast me out for my defect, that was where he sent me. I was only in a couple of battles before I encountered the portal that brought me to this planet. In hindsight, that portal undoubtedly saved my life.” Hordak pressed a hand to where the crystal was on his chest then let it drop to his side. “We should tell the others. I’m sure most of them will find it interesting to see snow in person.”

In person. Instead of through the network of their brothers' memories. Basil blinked a few times as he tried to ignore the reminder of how silent his mind was now. “I’ll get them.”

-

The snow was starting to pick up by the time he returned with the rest of his brothers in tow. He still wasn’t sure how he’d convinced Zee to come, but it was entirely worth it when Zee stepped out into the snow, immediately slipped on a patch of ice and face planted into a snowbank.

As Zee climbed back to his feet Jay waded out into the snow and picked up a handful. “Kadroh? You’ve seen snow before, how do you make a snowball? Oh, and a snowman! How do you do that? I already know how to do a snow angel!” Jay fell backwards and began flailing his arms and legs through the snow. The result looked less like an angel and more like a wild animal had been digging there.

Kadroh laughed and gathered some of the snow into his hands. “You have to push the snow together. Like this.” 

Before long the lesson had devolved into what Kadroh called a snowball fight. Basil watched the action for a few minutes before shrugging, gathering up a snowball for himself, and joining the two younger clones.

Even the long haired one had begun taking potshots from the sidelines when it happened.

It being the flash of bright light and then the deep rumble from above.

Basil dropped into the snow and curled up into the smallest ball possible, then pressed his hands to his ears and squeezed his eyes shut as a second flash and rumble reverberated around the courtyard. And then a third. How long he’d laid their trembling he couldn’t say, but it wasn’t until a hand pressed against his shoulder that he forced his eyes open and found red eyes looking at him. 

Hordak’s hood had blown back and his ears were pinned back against the noise. The slight tremble in the hand he offered, combined with frequent glances at the sky suggested a shared lack of fondness for the current weather. “You will develop hypothermia if you remain out here.”

Basil accepted the hand and let Hordak lead him back inside. With the reinforced doors muffling the thunder outside, Basil braced himself against a wall and looked around at the rest of his brothers. 

Most looked at least slightly rattled, their ears still down as they stared at the door. Only he and Hordak seemed to be affected beyond just the noise bothering their ears. 

Hordak sighed and ran his eyes over the group. “You should go to your quarters and change into dry clothes.”

“Oh!” Kadroh brightened a little. “And I’ll make hot chocolate! Who wants some?”

Unsurprisingly, Zee refused. So did Hordak. But Kadroh managed to talk everyone else into at least trying it. Being grouped together in their shared quarters with the warm drinks in hand proved to be a wonderfully calming way to wait out the storm.

Chapter Text

Robot’s needing to be fixed or reprogrammed was a common occurrence in the Crypto Castle. Common enough that, when the kitchen staff complained that the greenhouse robots had slowed down and eventually stopped transferring produce to the kitchens entirely, Hordak had simply nodded along, made his way to the nearest elevator and went up to the roof. 

He’d known the location of the green house, and seen diagrams of it on the map and in Entrapta’s files, but he’d yet to visit it himself. As far as he knew, hardly anyone visited the greenhouse except to do the occasional repair.

So finding the door cracked open slightly had struck him as a surprise. Carefully, claws ready in case a robot charged him, he pushed the door open.

He immediately found himself locking eyes with the startled looking long haired clone, who was sitting with his legs crossed on one of the empty tables.

Hordak considered him for a long moment. “I was not expecting anyone to be up here.”

The clone watched him, green eyes wide and a poorly hidden nervousness on a face that was still rather thin. “No one bothers me here.”

“In that case I’ll refrain from telling the others.” Hordak took out his scanner, went over to the nearest robot, a small floating thing with gardening tools equipped on its various arms, and frowned as it informed him that there was nothing wrong with the robot. “The kitchen staff sent me up here to see why the robots aren’t responding to them. Have you noticed anything unusual?”

“No.” The clone looked away and smoothed a wrinkle in his leggings.  “Maybe.”

“Maybe.” Hordak repeated. 

“I only noticed it a couple days ago. I didn’t mean to break them.” The clone sounded like he was going to cry. 

Hordak held back a frustrated sigh and sat next to him. The clone flinched and tried to lean away, only for his legs to get tangled on each other. Hordak’s hand shot out and caught the clone by the shoulder before he could fall backwards and hit his head. “Careful.” Hordak took his hand away once the clone was steady. “What was it that you noticed?”

The clone didn’t answer. As the silence dragged on Hordak frowned and started to stand.

And then the clone began to sing. 

The clone’s voice was smooth and deep, and as Hordak listened it occurred to them that he’d never heard any of his brothers sing before. He’d certainly never tried it himself. If every clone could carry a tune like this one could, then they’d have no problem winning over the Etherians.

The clone only got out a few lines of what Hordak recognized as an Etherian folk song before his nerves got to him. 

As the clone trailed off the robots stopped what they were doing and beeped the tune back.

“It was stuck in my head. I didn’t realize I was humming it until they started repeating it.” The clone said. “Lately they’ve been trying to follow me whenever I leave.”

One of the robots beeped softly and picked a strawberry, then carried it over to where the clone sat and held it out to him.

“They do that too.” The clone accepted the strawberry and the robot spun in place a few times before going back to misting plants.

“Entrapta enjoys programming personalities into her robots. It would seem these ones have become attached to you.” Hordak watched the robot that was now busily tending to the plants like it was supposed to. “See if they listen to you when you ask them to do something.”

The clone frowned. “Um… sure. Robots?”

Every robot beeped and turned to face him.

“Could you bring my brother a strawberry too? Please?”

The robots beeped an affirmative and before Hordak could tell them to stop they’d deposited not just one, but a large handful of strawberries into his lap.

They weren’t malfunctioning then. They were just distracted. 

“Tell them that when the kitchen staff send requests for produce, you’d appreciate it if they fulfilled the requests for them.”

The clone nodded. “I will. I’m sorry I messed them up.”

Hordak gathered the strawberries into a basket and stood. He’d deliver them to the kitchen staff, along with the news that the robots should be responding again. “You’ve done no such thing. I suspect they are simply glad to have company.”

Chapter Text

They were only supposed to have gone on a practice flight. That was it. 

Instead Jay had spotted one of primes sleek white robots in the woods below them. How it was still functioning this long after Primes attempted conquest he couldn't be sure. And yet there it was, it’s optic and scanner broken, stumbling erratically and firing it’s plasma gun at seemingly random intervals. 

It wasn’t until they had landed that Hordak had frowned and called the area the Whispering Woods. Jay was beginning to regret ever pointing out the robot to his brother, because clearly there was clearly something weird with this forest.

“We’re lost, aren’t we?” Jay tucked his wings close to his body as they ducked under the same low hanging branch for the third time. 

Hordak glared down at the static laced scanner. ‘Lost?” He scoffed. “Knowing this place I suspect we are being redirected.”

“Forests can do that?”

“This one is famous for it.” Hordak tucked the useless scanner back into his bag and adjusted his own red and black wings. “I don’t think it realizes that I’m not here to try and conquer anything. I just want this damaged robot dealt with before it hurts someone.”

“We should have brought an etherian with us. They’d know how the forest works.”

“And risk the robot firing on them?” Hordak shook his head. “Primes tech should recognize our DNA signature and leave us alone.”

Something rustled in the bushes nearby and Jay's ears shot up, tilting towards the noise. Ahead of him Hordak paused, his ears reacting similarly. In a moment of unspoken agreement they spread their metal wings and in a few easy flaps were perched in the trees above the pathway.

The rustling got louder. They could see a patch of bushes moving now. Jay bared his claws, ready to fight.

An old woman toddled out, leaning on a broom for support. 

Jay’s hand dropped back to its steadying grip on the branch and he stared down at her in surprise. 

She looked right back, glasses flashing in the sunlight that managed to slip through the trees. “What are you doing up there?”

They shared a confused glance, but glided back to the forest floor anyway. After several awkward seconds, Hordak spoke first.

“I would recommend finding somewhere safe.” Hordak frowned at her. “There is a defective robot in these woods.”

“Oh no need to worry about me, the woods know to keep danger away. Now come, come! The two of you should rest for a minute!”

And then the woman was moving again. 

“This is a strange planet brother.”

“It’s very good at being frustrating.” Hordak agreed. “We should keep an eye on her until she is safe. She’s clearly somewhat senile.”

They fell into step behind her, watching in barely restrained surprise as she ducked through bushes and down hidden pathways that even they hadn’t seen. Eventually, somehow, the three of them emerged into a clearing with a makeshift house built into the roots of a tree.

“It’s a good thing I just got back from picking berries.” She poked at Hordaks ribs with the broom handle. “You look like you need something to eat.”

Hordak growled at the unexpected touch, but the woman didn’t even seem to notice. Instead she wandered off into the house.

Jay stared at the flap of fabric that served as a door. “We should go. What if she’s a witch?” Another even worse thought occurred to him. “What if she tries to eat us?!”

“You read that in a book didn’t you?”

Jay nodded. “She lured these two kids in with food and then shoved them into an oven. Or the berries could be poisoned. A witch in one of the other stories did that with an apple.”

Hordak sighed. “I once worked with a ‘witch’ and can assure you that this woman isn’t one. Dark magic leaves certain traces and I sense none of them on her. She is in more danger then we are.”

“What danger dear?”

Jay flinched. Somehow the old woman had reappeared next to them without either of them noticing. A large bowl of berries under one arm. She picked one up and popped it into her mouth, then held out the bowl to them. 

“Go on, have some berries while you tell Madame Razz about the danger,”

Jay stared at the berries in horror. “Don’t eat any!”

Hordak sighed. “I apologize for my brother. He does not mean any offense.”

“Oh none taken. Now.” Her face grew strangely intense, “The danger.”

“There is a damaged Horde robot loose in these woods.” Hordak said. “Without Prime controlling it, it may fire at anything that moves. We wanted to make sure you were safe before we left to continue searching for it.”

“Oh. That robot. Why, it’s just that way!” She pointed to one end of the clearing, then paused. “Or was it the other way?”

“Are you sure it was a robot you saw?” Hordak asked.

“Of course, I’m sure.”

“What did it look like?”

“I think it’s eye was broken. Or maybe my glasses were. I couldn’t tell.” She took off her glasses and squinted at them.

Jay looked over at Hordak. “It did have that broken optic lens.”

“It did.” Hordak agreed.

“Well of course it does!” Madame Razz grinned and threw a berry that bounced off of Jay’s arm. “I told you I saw it, didn’t I?”

Jay flinched and stared at the spot where the berry had hit him.

“And we are sorry to have doubted you.” Hordak said. “Now. If you could remain in your house where it can’t see you…”

He didn’t even get a chance to finish the response before a rustle came from the bushes at their backs.

“Ah, there it is!” She dropped the bowl of berries and clapped her hands in excitement. “Madame Razz told you it was nearby. I told you!”

Jay turned just in time for the first shot to clip his arm and burn a hole through his sleeve.

Hordak was faster, and quickly moved to block Madame Razz from the robot’s view. “I’ll get the robot. You, get her to safety.”

Jay stared down at the woman, a million worried thoughts about witches and curses playing through his head. 

“The house!” Hordak ducked the robot's attempt at a punch and swung back with his claws. “Before it tries to shoot again!”

Jay sighed, then picked up the woman with ease and made a run for it, careful to keep his body between her and the robot. If she really was a witch, the last thing he wanted was to get her injured and make her mad.

A second shot brushed against the same arm on the way there, close enough to sting. He forced himself to ignore it and made it to the house with a sore arm but no further incident. Not that being in the house made him feel much better. It was messy and when he looked closer he noticed strangely shaped vials, a cauldron and worst of all, a skull.

He shivered and set her down. “I’m going outside now. To help my brother.” He spared a nervous glance at the skull. “Stay here.”

“Oh no. Hordak said you should keep me safe. What if the robot gets in here?”

“It’s not going… wait, I never said his name. How do you know that’s Hordak?”

“He tried to conquer the planet. Of course I know who he is!” Madame Razz laughed and gathered a bowl and some plants from among the mess and began crushing the plants with a rock, mumbling inaudible words the whole time.

They were doomed, Jay thought as he watched with slowly mounting horror. She was going to use her magic to kill them. Their skulls would join the one she already had and then she’d cook them into a soup and...

“The robot has been dealt with.”

At some point while he’d been panicking Hordak had appeared in the doorway. “I had to pull the wires out to get the blaster to stop firing. Normally I’d have access to tools for such a task.” He held up his hand to show Jay the fresh burns. “It didn’t feel particularly pleasant.”

Jay ignored the hand and grabbed him by the shoulders. “Brother we need to go! She knows who you are!”

“Oh no, you can’t leave with those burns like that!” Madame razz set down the bowl of thoroughly crushed plant leaves and considered Jay’s shirt. “But don’t worry, I have just the thing! Let me have your sleeve. It’s already ruined after all.”

“My… my sleeve?”

Before Jay could say anything more coherent than that she’d already wandered over and torn off the sleeve with a strength he would never have expected someone her age or size to have. Jay starred as she ripped the fabric into strips and dipped them into the plant juice. “But I like this shirt.”

Razz ignored him and pulled one of the fabric strips out of the bowl, then turned to Hordak first. “Let me see your hand.”

For some reason, perhaps because Hordak was just as startled as Jay was, Hordak held out his hand and allowed the strange woman to wrap the soaked rag around it. As she tied it in place he stared down at it. “That… does feel much better.”

“I knew you’d like it.” She turned her gaze on Jay, her glasses seeming to flash slightly as they picked up the light leaking in around the edges of the door. “Your turn now!”

Jay watched Hordak for a moment first. When Hordaks hand didn’t melt off or burst into flames Jay sighed and extended his own arm. With the sleeve gone he realized the wound, a perfectly straight line of irritated flesh on his upper arm, was larger than he’d initially thought. He had to kneel a little for Madame Razz to be able to reach it.

It was mostly nerves that caused the tremble, but the burn wasn’t helping. 

And then the first strip of fabric hit his skin. 

Whatever the weird plant juice was, it worked instantly. A pleasant cooling sensation spread across his arm, instantly halting the burning and itchiness. It took a second and third strip to fully cover the wound. By the time she’d tied the last one into place he realized he was willing to admit that maybe she wasn’t an evil witch after all.

Not even a full day later, as he removed the dried strips to reveal skin as fresh as the day he’d emerged from the vitrine, he decided she was a witch actually. Not an evil one, but definitely a witch.

Chapter Text

Hordak glared at the console and swapped out the line of code for what felt like the hundredth time, then ran the simulation again. It went smoothly for all of a minute and half, and then the coding began to deteriorate. He scowled, desperately wishing Entrapta hadn’t been called out to Bright Moon for several days, and was about to run it through with a different line, when someone screamed from the hallway.

It was a tone all too familiar to him. One of his brothers voices. And whoever it was, they were clearly in pain.

Hordak stood, the computer forgotten as he ran out the door and down the hallway towards the direction of the noise. Even with the traps disabled, Castle Dryl was a winding place, and though the scream had sounded close it took him several agonizing minutes to track it down. 

The long haired clone was curled up in a ball, both hands clutching his left leg and trembling violently. One of the greenhouse robots lay next to him. It’s chassis was cracked and it beeped sadly as it reached out for the clone.

“The robot…” The clone looked delirious, “Plant pot fell on it. Was trying to… to bring it to you. To get it fixed.”

“The robot can wait.” Hordak knelt next to him, and reached towards the leg. “May I…?”

The clone looked up at him, his face scrunched with pain. For a moment Hordak thought he would be refused, but then, slowly, the clone moved his hands away.

Hordak didn’t need to roll up the clones leggings to know something was very wrong. He could feel the heat burning up the leg the second he touched it, and there was a swollen area across the shin. He looked anyway and instantly regretted it.

The leg had swollen around a jagged, poorly healed scar, and when Hordak pressed a careful hand to the area he felt the bones beneath move in a way that no bones should ever move. There was no smell. The infection was inside, and with the age of the wound itself, he had no doubt that it had already spread throughout the clone's bloodstream. 

Finally he tore his eyes away from the leg and met the other clone's nervous green gaze. “How long have you been hiding this?”

“Since… since Prime died.” The clone stared down at the floor. “Zee got really upset, and when I tried to talk to him he… did this. I tried to clean it, and I thought it was getting better for a little while but...”

Hordak sighed, then worked his arms under the clone and picked him up, feeling the slight draw on his armor as he started towards the hospital wing. The clone’s body, while not nearly as far gone as Hordak’s, was concerningly light and feverish with the infection. How had Hordak never noticed? This clone had always seemed so tense and withdrawn. Combined with the persistent thinness and that near fall in the greenhouse the other day… 

Hordak should have suspected something . 

“Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

“Zee wouldn’t let me. He said it would be admitting that I was weak. So I… I never did.”

“Zee is more scared and foolish than he lets on.” Hordak resolved to have some words with Zee when this was settled. Had the wound been properly cleaned, stitched up, and braced immediately it would have healed just fine. Instead the clone had dragged it through the rubble of Salineas for several months while wearing dirty clothes and surviving on minimal rations. No amount of genetically engineered toughness could fight something like that off forever. “Do you want to know what happened when I admitted my weakness to someone I trusted?”

“What happened?” The clone frowned. 

“She designed a new set of armor to  help compensate for my imperfections, and made my life significantly better.” Hordak smiled a little. “It was the best decision I ever made.”

-

Entrapta had made good use of the data she’d taken from Primes ship, and as a result the hospital wing in Dryl was likely the only one on all of Etheria that was set up specifically with him and his brothers in mind. 

Even so, Hordak had very little hope for the fate of the clone's leg. A fear that was confirmed when x-rays revealed the freshly shattered bones and air pockets in the muscle tissue. Had it just been the damage from the robot falling on the leg, Hordak would have let the medical bots try to save it. But with infection and necrosis thrown into the mix...

When the robot asked his permission to perform an amputation, Hordak granted it.

-

“I came as soon as I could, Glimmer insisted that I fin…” Entrapta trailed off as she spotted the bandaged stump that had once been the clone's lower leg. “Hordak! You didn’t tell me he lost the leg!”

“Of course not. How would that sound to Glimmer if she had overheard?” 

Entrapta paused. “You have a point there. So have the others visited yet?”

Hordak pointed towards a vase of flowers, a stuffed bear, and a thermos of tea on the bedside table. “You just missed most of them. The gifts were Kadroh’s idea. Zee isn’t allowed anywhere near this room until I think of a suitable punishment.”

“What did he do?”

“Zee gave him the initial injury. And then told him to hide it so no one would think he was weak.” Hordak said. “I suspect Zee hadn’t accepted Primes death yet, and didn’t want his ‘glorious leader’ learning that he’d lost control and attacked one of his brothers.”

“What is it with you guys and hiding injuries? First you, now this… I know you said that when you were with Prime it would just get you thrown out, but here you’re perfectly safe.”

“Old habits are difficult to break. Especially when you’re scared and hurt.” 

“I suppose.” Entrapta forced her gaze away from the leg. “Well, look on the bright side!”

Hordak frowned at her. “What bright side?”

She grinned. “When I’m done with him, he’s going to have the coolest prosthetic ever!”

A soft groan from the bed stopped any further conversation short, and they both turned to watch as the clone dragged his eyes open.

Eyes that, while still green, had shifted to a darker, richer color as he slept.

Entrapta let out a quiet squeal of delight and leaned closer to examine them. “Hordak look! His eyes look like emeralds now!”

The clone squinted up at her. “Emeralds?”

“It's a type of valuable green gem.” Hordak said. “Etherians use them in jewelry.”

“Emerald... “ The clone frowned. “I… could that be my name?”

“Of course it can be your name.” Entrapta said. “You don’t need to ask permission.”

“Then that’s what I want to be called.”

Even if Hordak had wanted to say something to commemorate the decision, he never got the chance, because Entrapta’s hair pulled both him and Emerald in a tight hug and held them there. “I can’t wait to tell the other Princesses that you all have names now!”

Once she released them, Emerald pushed himself into a sitting position and placed a hand against his bandages. His ears drooped back and he looked up at Hordak. “There was never any chance of saving it, was there?”

Hordak shook his head, neglecting to mention that Emeralds wound, and the associated guilt of not noticing sooner, would likely show up in his nightmares for a long time. “The chance of reinfection was too great to risk. But Entrapta has already promised to make you ‘the coolest prosthetic ever’ so you will definitely walk again.”

“It’ll have to wait until you’ve had time to recover.” Entrapta added. “But that just means you have plenty of time to think about what you want it to look like.”

Emerald considered Entrapta for a long moment, then looked over at Hordaks armor. “In that case, I am looking forward to it.”

Chapter Text

Zee glared across the courtyard as the others admired the false limb, its silver and green iridescence shimmering in the light of one of Dryl’s rare sunny days. 

The extent to which his brothers had allowed themselves to fall never ceased to amaze him. Once they had been a part of the mightiest army in the known universe, now they were cheering on one of his brothers, Emerald, as he took his first careful steps with the new prosthetic.

The names, a trap even he’d been dragged into, if only because the others insisted on calling him Zee all the time. 

He’d renounce it the moment Horde Prime returned.

No, Horde Prime was gone. He had been for months. 

And this was how his brothers had carried on their progenitor's legacy. 

The prosthetics to compensate for weakness, the bright colors, the etherian food. Basil left those unsightly battle scars exposed for the world to see. Jay’s wings gave him some level of tactical advantage, but it was a role a horde fighter would have fulfilled just as easily.

“You may join them if you remain respectful.” 

He flinched, then looked over at Hordak, who had managed to silently appear next to him. Had he really been so lost in his thoughts?

He didn’t even know where to begin with Hordaks deficiencies, short of the fact that he hated him and everything he represented.

“They are celebrating weakness. I want no part in it.”

“Having seen Entrapta’s work on combat robots, I can assure you that It would take only a minor modification for that prosthetic to become a deadly weapon.” Hordak crossed his arms. “In any case, had Emerald been treated immediately he wouldn’t have needed it to begin with.”

“His poor first aid skills are hardly my fault.”

“No. Prime is to blame for that.”

“And yet Basil managed.” Zee pinned a glare on the white skin visible through the gaps in Hordaks armor. “So did you.”

“And I wouldn’t wish the experience on anyone else.”

Zee scoffed and went back to watching his brothers. “What do you want anyway?”

“I don’t want anything. Basil asked if I could deliver this to you.”

Zee turned and found Hordak was holding out a cup of green Jello. He stared at it for a long moment, remembering the cold sweetness of it, the edge it had taken off of his hunger back in Salineas. “If he thinks he can win me over with that then he’s a fool. Tell him he can keep it. Or better yet, just dispose of it.” Zee forced his gaze away from the jello. “This planet is making all of you weak and spoiled.” 

“Very well.” Hordak set the Jello on the nearest ledge. “Should you decide that you do want to spend time with them, Kadroh has been planning a ‘Clones Night Out’. It would be good for you to go with them and spend time in a part of Etheria that isn’t this castle or in ruins.”

“Are you going?”

“The concept does not appeal to me, and I doubt the people of Etheria would appreciate my presence. Besides, Entrapta and I have our own plans.”

Then he turned on his heel and left, crossing the courtyard to join the rest of their brothers. 

Zee watched him go, wondering what sort of plans they could possibly have. Nothing he’d want to be anywhere near. That much was certain. Then he took the jello from the wall and slipped it into his pocket. He’d eat it later when no one was looking.

And maybe he'd think about going.

-

“Oh no darling, you can’t go out in that.”

Zee glared at the slim lizard person that had greeted them at the transport and frowned. Kadroh had mentioned that an etherian would be accompanying them. He’d neglected to mention that it would be such an irritating one. 

He was beginning to regret his decision to go on this ‘Clones Night Out’. 

“These robes are clean and functional. What’s the problem?”

“It’s completely unoriginal to wear the same uniform your whole life!” Double Trouble crossed their arms. “You're going with us to have fun! Why not dress like it?”

“I’m going so I don’t have to be stuck here with Hordak and that ridiculous Princess.”

“Hm. Well whatever your motives, there is a tailor that’s begun creating garments specifically for clones.” Double Trouble shapeshifted into a clone and then into various outfits, shifting through them too fast for Zee to get a close look at any. “Why don’t we stop there so you can at least try and find something different?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Well I think that would be fun!” Kadroh said. “Even if you don't want to, you could at least let us look!”

“I have been wanting to replace that shirt that got damaged in the woods.” Jay added.

Zee held back a growl. “They didn’t ask you.” 

“But I appreciate their input.” Double Trouble changed back to their lizard form and looked from clone to clone. “Is everyone else interested?”

Four pairs of eyes settled on him. Jay and Basil even grinned. One by one his brothers agreed to go. 

“Well, looks like it’s settled then.” Double Trouble typed the new destination into the transports interface. “Let’s go clothes shopping.”

-

The shop was located in a village just outside of the whispering woods. The villagers they passed didn’t even seem to care that there were suddenly five clones in their midst. At least until they saw Zee in what, aside from the missing Horde logo, was essentially just the uniform Prime had assigned them. There was no malice in their stares, or in the amused whispers that he couldn’t quite make out above the rest of the conversations around him. but he still didn’t like it.

“Alright.” Double Trouble held up their arms to frame the store front. “Here we are. Now, if you don’t mind, I have some business to tend to. One of the locals still owes me money. Just meet me at the transport when you’re done. Have fun!”

And then they were gone, disappearing easily among the crowds. If his brothers were at all bothered, they didn’t show it. Kadroh grinned and pushed open the door. The others followed.

It was a small place, and when he stepped through the door he was greeted with a rainbow of colors that rivaled even Kadroh’s closet.

This was never going to work. He was going to get a headache just from looking at these things. There was no way he was going to wear any of these, let alone buy one.

The others clearly didn’t share his concerns, and had already spread out across the store. He was watching Emerald examine a floor length green dress when a bent backed old man stepped out of the backroom, his cane tapping the floor.

“See anything you like?”

The man was staring right at him. Zee frowned.

“It was my brothers who wanted to come here. Not me.”

“Ah.” The man hobbled over and tugged at the white fabric of Zee’s robe. “You must be one of the ones who think Prime is still coming back.”

Zee glared down at him and pulled the robe from his grip. “You wouldn’t understand Primes greatness. You’ve never been in his presence.”

“On the contrary.” The man turned and pulled down his shirt collar to reveal scarring at the base of his neck. “Forgive me for saying this, but I didn’t see the appeal. Prime had no creativity. Now. Let me see if I can find something for you.”

Before Zee could think of a comeback, the man had wandered off and began pulling clothes off the racks with the end of his cane. Mostly things in black, white and grey, although there were some subtle greens and blues as well.

“Here.” He held them up to Zee. “These styles seem to be the easiest to talk reluctant clones into trying. See if you like any of these.”

Zee glared at the clothes. “This is ridiculous.”

The cane smacked against Zee’s head. Hard enough to make a point, but not to hurt. Not that this little Etherian could have ever managed to harm him. “Pick one. Try it on. And if you keep up with that attitude I will not hesitate to use this cane again!”

Zee stared down at the shop keep, and then at his brothers. Basil in particular was paying close attention, his claws ready at his side.

He was outnumbered. Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t do anything to this man without risking harm to himself. Reluctantly, he took the armful of clothes and began to sort through them.

One was too short. Another was sleeveless and far too similar to Hordaks preferred style. He set aside the blue and green ones without so much as glancing at the actual construction.

Before he knew it he was holding up the very last one. A tailored white jumpsuit with an open back, accented with silver buttons at the wrists and ankles, and a belt with a silver buckle at the waist. The material felt sturdy but flexible, and it looked practical enough to move around in.

“I suppose this one is the least offensive.” He shoved the rest back at the shopkeeper. “If I try this on will you stop bothering me?”

“That’s what I promised, isn’t it?”

“FIne.” Zee scowled and slipped behind one of the curtains of fabric that served as changing rooms. 

Once it was on he turned to the mirror and considered his reflection, turning to check every angle. As much as he hated to admit it, it looked pretty good and it fit perfectly. Not that he’d expected anything less considering the identical nature of him and his brothers. 

Well, mostly identical. If Hordak tried any of these on the fitted ones would definitely need to be taken in.

“What are you waiting for, brother?” A voice, Kadroh’s if the level of excitement was anything to go by, came from the other side of the curtain. “Let’s see how you look!”

Zee scowled. “I said I would try it on. Not that I would show anyone.”

“Well then how do we know you actually wore it?”

Zee stuck an arm out between the curtains, and turned it back and forth it so they could see the silver buttons. “I’m wearing it. Are you satisfied?”

Instead of answering, someone grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the dressing room. 

Right into the view of his brothers and the camera on Jay’s tracker pad. With the exception of Basil they were all either wearing or holding new clothes.

The shopkeeper leaned on his cane next to them and considered the jumpsuit. “Doesn’t it feel exciting to wear something new?”

Zee glared at the tracker pad, and Jay hastily turned it off. “If you think I’m going to actually wear this…’

“Well since your colorful brother has already paid for it, I hope you do.” The shopkeeper slipped fearlessly between them, picked up Zee’s neatly folded robes from the dressing room, and passed it to Basil. “You seem like the most intimidating one. Don’t let him wear these again until he gives the jumpsuit a chance.”

As they made their way out of the shop Zee couldn't help but wonder what Double Trouble would say about the new clothes.

Hopefully it wouldn’t be too embarrassing.

Chapter Text

They’d made a handful of other stops over the course of the afternoon. A bookstore. a garden center, a music shop. But it was the last one, the tavern, that Basil found the most appealing.

Basil didn’t have much of an idea for what a good tavern should look like. Most of the ones he’d seen had been reduced to rubble before he’d gotten a decent look. But this one seemed safe enough. The clientele was colorful and noisy, and while it was simply decorated, it was spotlessly clean. The steady buzz of indistinct conversations almost reminded him of the hive mind. 

As they sat down at a table he noticed Zee’s gaze shifting nervously from person to person, but none of the Etherians even looked up. If there was one thing Double Trouble had clearly figured out, it was where clones were accepted and where they weren’t. It would have surprised him if they had purposely shape shifted into a clone to test the reaction in each location.

A waiter came over and Double Trouble ordered something called a party platter and a round of drinks. ”Something fruity and not too strong. I don’t think any of these gentlemen have ever tried drinking before.”

The party platter turned out to be a wonderfully varied assortment of food, and Basil and Kadroh ended up in several minor standoffs over how to divide the more interesting options. Jay, with the exception of a pepper that smelled particularly spicy, tried a bit of everything, and by unspoken agreement Emerald was allowed to have the strawberries to himself. 

Zee hardly talked and barely touched the food, but surprised everyone by being the first to sip his drink when they arrived.

The drinks were what Basil had been the most curious about.

He had a vague idea of the effect they were supposed to have. Some of his bolder brothers had found a few bottles while planet side once. They’d offered him some, but he had been too nervous and new to the field to dare try any. 

He’d been the only member of that squad to avoid a trip to the reconditioning pool when Prime transported them back.

With Prime dead and the reconditioning pool no longer a risk however, Basil decided now was as good a time as any to try it. With the exception of Emerald, the other’s seemed to have come to the same conclusion.

Before long several things had become obvious. 

Basil had a surprisingly high tolerance for someone who had never drank before.

Zee was actually somewhat decent when his barriers were down.

Emerald was amazing at Karaoke.

Jay couldn’t sing to save his life.

Kadroh was, much to everyone’s surprise, a quiet drunk.

Zee was a horrible lightweight.

Jay and Kadroh weren't much better.

-

With the exception of Emerald, not one of them spared a second glance at the towering, primate-like robot parked in the courtyard, or the purple blur that was Entrapta climbing around on it with a tool belt and a torch. When a tired looking Hordak greeted them, wearing scratched and dented metal armor instead of the wire and mesh version he usually wore around the castle, only Emerald bothered to ask what had happened. Only Emerald seemed to have fully understood the answer. Something about a promise Entrapta had made, and a place called Beast Island.

If Hordak was disappointed in them, he hadn’t bothered to say anything. Basil liked to think that he’d managed to look ok at least. Sure he was tired, and he’d definitely overdone it on the food, but he wasn’t stumbling or stuttering. Not to the extent that Zee was anyway.

Zee. Who had singled out Basil as his choice of support, and had been mumbling nonsense words into his shoulder the whole way home. Basil frowned and propped Zee up a little more, then started down the hallway to the quarters Entrapta had set aside for the clones. 

Double Trouble had managed to talk Zee into having a bit more food and water to help with the effects of the alcohol, but Basil had no doubt that Zee was still due for an impressive hangover the next morning. It was something that, even in his current state, Basil couldn’t help but be worried about. Zee was grumpy enough already. Hungover Zee was all but guaranteed to hurt someone.

Hangovers. Something no one had bothered to mention until they were several glasses in.

Once the door opened Zee pushed away from Basil, stumbled over to one of the beds and all but threw himself onto it, burying his head into the pillows. 

Basil watched him for a moment, then shrugged and made for the next closest bed to lay down himself. Only for Zee to get back on his unsteady feet and walk just far enough to grab the strap of Basil’s overalls. “Don’t go away. You’re warm.”

“Fine. I’m not going anywhere.” Basil sighed. It would hardly be the first time he and his brothers had used each other for warmth. In Salineas an etherian who’d found them huddled up against the cold had called it a ‘cuddle puddle’ and chattered somewhat excessively about how cute it was. Zee had hated it. Drunk Zee was apparently another matter entirely.

-

He was woken up not by the sound of throwing up, as he’d expected, but by screaming. 

Zee was struggling against the blankets, tearing holes in them with his claws in what seemed to be a desperate attempt at escaping from something only he could see. 

“Zee?” Basil frowned and placed a careful hand on Zee’s shoulder. “Zee what’s wrong?”

Zee’s claws turned on Basil, slicing several lines down his forearm. 

“Let me go! I’m not a defect! I’ve been loyal! I...” He trailed off and stared at Basil. “You're not… You aren’t Prime.”

“Nightmare?” Basil tore a strip from the blanket and wrapped it around the wounds.

Zee growled and tugged the ruined blanket up over his head. “Tell no one.” He mumbled, his voice barely audible.

“I have them too.” If it hadn’t been for the claws and the screaming, the Zee shaped lump under the blanket would have been amusing. 

“You do? Have nightmares I mean?”

“You spend enough time on the front lines and it’s pretty much guaranteed.” Basil frowned. “Not just about the bodies and fighting either. I always worried that Prime would see my scars and think I was prioritizing my survival over fighting in his name and… I don’t know what he’d have done. Nothing good.” 

“Survival?” The blankets rustled slightly as they caught on Zee’s ears. “I thought you were just bad at dodging.”

Basil managed a short laugh. Leaving his battle scars visible to the world for the first time had felt good in a terrifying sort of way. He examined his freshly bandaged arm and then reached out and draped it over Zee.

This time Zee startled him not with yelling or violence, but with a single soft chirp, and snuggled into the touch. Then his breathing softened and he was asleep again.

Basil couldn’t help but wonder if Zee would remember any of this in the morning.

Chapter Text

Basil was well aware that he was a light sleeper, and most of the time it wasn’t a problem. 

When he was dragged back into consciousness several hours before he was properly rested however, it was a bit of a problem. Particularly when he couldn’t hear or smell anything that would have woken him up. A quick glance at each of his brothers confirmed that they were still sound asleep, so he shrugged, shut his eyes, and attempted to drift off again. 

Something twitched under the skin of his arm.

A shock of panic went through him and he pushed back his blankets. He brought his arm up to his face and squinted at it in the darkness. Nothing looked wrong, but he’d knew about enough parasitic creatures to be worried. Hesitantly, he poked at the area the movement had come from, and felt nothing but bones, muscle and cybernetics. He pushed down slightly harder and flinched as he felt a small zap.

It was his cybernetics then. Some wayward electricity that was making his muscles tense. He stifled a sigh and got to his feet. Entrapta and Hordak would know how to fix it.

-

He checked the lab first, hoping they’d decided to stay up late working on a project. As convenient as that would have been, the lab was empty, and he ended up having to ask a robot for directions to their personal quarters. 

He sent the robot in to greet them instead of dealing with a tired Hordak himself.

He’d expected to hear yelling, perhaps even the sound of claws against metal. Instead all he heard was a tired groan and the rustle of fabric. Nearly a minute passed before the door opened a crack and Hordak stepped out, dressed in a nightgown and a hastily tied bathrobe.

“What is it?” Hordak’s red eyes, still half lidded with sleep, met Basils. 

“I uh… I didn’t want to wake you up but… I think somethings wrong with my cybernetics.” Basil held up his arm. His muscles twitched as the motion sent another zap down the limb. Maybe he shouldn’t have pushed down on them as hard as he had. 

Hordak sighed and reached for Basil’s arm, gently prodding at the area. Basil couldn’t help but notice Hordak’s cybernetics, the shapes surprisingly visible within his thin arms, shifting smoothly with the motions.

“Nothing feels disconnected. I think some of the wiring may simply be worn down. Compensating for these,” Hordak tapped at one of the scars on Basil’s forearm, “Probably didn’t help. The only reason my own cybernetics don’t need more maintenance is because the armor negates most of the strain caused by my defect.”

“So you can fix it?”

“Certainly.” Hordak glanced back into the room. “But first, allow me a moment to change and leave a message for Entrapta.”

“Take whatever time you need.” Basil said, even as the cybernetics zapped him again. 

-

As Basil stepped into the medical ward, it occurred to him that his only previous exposure to it had been the recovery room where Emerald had stayed after losing his leg. His thoughts had been understandably on his brother, and not on examining the room. Being in here now, seeing all the monitors and machines and robots when it was his turn to be fixed up, felt strange. 

“Sit down by that computer.” Hordak pointed. “I want to get a proper look at your arm before I do anything that could make things worse.”

Basil did as he was told, sitting quietly even as Hordak picked up a cable and plugged it into the port on his arm. The screen lit up with information that Basil doubted he would ever be able to understand.

“Interesting.” Hordak tapped a few buttons and brought up a diagram of Basil's cybernetics. Not one of Basil’s arm, but of his entire body. Then he frowned, grabbed a data pad from one of the cabinets, and began to scroll through it.

“What is it?” Basil couldn’t help the concern in his voice. “Is something wrong?”

“No. Something is different.” Hordak scrolled past several pages worth of text and diagrams before stopping on a full body diagram of a set of internal cybernetics. Then he held it out for Basil to see. “This is what mine and the rest of our brothers’ cybernetics look like.”

Basil considered it, then looked up at the diagram of his own cybernetics. The layout was the same. The hardware was not.

“Based on your cybernetics, you’re part of a previous generation of clones.” Hordak switched the data pad to a different diagram and handed it back to Basil. This diagram, aside from sections where his cybernetics had been replaced due to injuries, was all but identical to Basil's. “A generation that, according to the information we collected from Prime’s ship, has largely died in battle or been recycled due to… inefficiencies.”

Basil suppressed a shudder. Recycling was something they’d never been allowed to see first hand, but hazy memories, witnessed by the occasional unfortunate clone, had always lingered in the hive mind anyway.

“And that means…?”

“You’re old. By clone standards anyway.” Hordak said. “An impressive achievement considering your combat history and the way Prime treated us.”

He’d suspected that he was older, or at least more experienced, than many of his brothers, but the hive mind and it's shared memories so muddled the passage of time that it he'd never had a clear idea of exactly what the difference was. Being from an entirely different and mostly deceased generation went far beyond his estimates. He’d seen elderly people on both Etheria and other planets. How they wrinkled and their colors faded. How their bodies started to fail them. As horrible as recycling was, he’d almost would have preferred it over such a slow and painful process.

He hadn’t realized his grip had tightened on the data pad until Hordak carefully pried his claws out of the cracked, blank screen, and set the ruined device aside on the counter. 

Basil stared blankly at the data pad, then at Hordak. “I… Does that… How long...” 

It was no use. He couldn’t even begin to form the right words.

Hordak seemed have understood his concerns well enough anyway. “You are in excellent health. Due to Primes interference no one knows how exactly how long we can live for, but I suspect you have a great deal of time left. Certainly more time than I do." Hordak went to the console and narrowed the field of view back down to Basil's arm. "Now, let’s patch up your cybernetics.”

Chapter Text

If there was one good thing about Crypto Castle, it was that the winding maze of corridors made it nearly impossible to run into anyone else. Particularly at night when most of its residents were sleeping. 

Which meant sneaking into the kitchen was almost laughably easy. 

The late night trips had started out as a way to acquire food without having to deal with people staring, and had quickly become Zee’s prefered routine. Once in the kitchen he’d eat a bit of whatever happened to catch his eye, then grab a ration bar as he left to hold him over throughout the next day. The ration bars were grey and tasteless, something kept on hand for the days when Hordak couldn’t keep down regular food. But they didn’t go bad in his pocket and that was all Zee really cared about.

Tonight it was a bundle of bananas that drew him in. As he reached up to choose one something rustled in the back of the cabinet. 

Zee froze, hand suspended over the bananas as images of spiders and rats flashed through his mind. He needed to move his hand away from the noise. Whatever it was might bite if he startled it. Disease and venom were both things he’d never dealt with before, and he had no desire to experience them now.

Slowly, he moved his hand back a couple inches. Then a couple more. 

A set of sharp teeth dug into it anyways.

Any semblance of control left him and he yanked his hand out of the cabinet, dragging a dark furred, pink eyed thing out with it. 

His scream was loud enough that half the castle had probably heard him. The sound of the creature thudding heavily against a tray of silverware didn’t help. 

Zee stared at the creature as it stumbled back to its feet. On closer inspection it was… well it was still weird, but it looked a little thin, and as it’s big pink eye looked up at him he could have sworn he could see a bit of fear in it. He considered the blood dripping slowly from his hand, then moved it towards the creature. It’s ears perked up slightly as a drop of Zee’s blood hit the floor and it crawled forward and lapped it up. 

If it ate meat, then it was no wonder that it looked thin. In all of Zee’s nighttime trips to the kitchen he could count on one hand the amount of times he’d seen meat anywhere.

It tilted it’s head at him and made a soft chirping sound, one oddly similar to those his brothers made when they were happy. The whole time it’s eye remained locked on Zee’s wounded hand.

Zee scowled at it as he inched towards the sink and pulled a clean rag from one of the drawers. He bared his fangs at the creature as a warning while he hastily rinsed out the wound and wrapped the towel around his hand. “Don’t even think about eating me.” 

It’s ears drooped as the wound vanished under the worn out cotton.

Somehow, despite the fact that this thing had bitten him and lapped up his blood like water, Zee felt a stirring of pity for it. “Go outside. There are things to hunt there.”

The creature blinked uncomprehendingly at him. It’s tail swished back and forth behind it.

“You know what? I don’t have time for this.” Zee turned his back on the creature and made for the door. “I’m leaving before someone finds me here.”

The creature chirped and began trailing after him in a strange gait somewhere between a rabbit and spider.

Zee stopped, and glared at it. “No.”

It only chirped louder and leapt up onto his shoulder. 

It’s teeth were only inches from his face. He should have been scared. Instead the only thing he could muster up was mild annoyance. He grabbed it by the scruff and lifted it up in front of him. “I said no.”

Its tail drooped and its chirps changed into a pathetic mewling sound. 

Zee stared at it. At the sudden sadness in it’s glowing pink eye, and realized he was done for. “Fine. I’ll help you find something to eat. Just… stay under my cape until we’re out of the castle.”

In the first bit of proof that the creature could understand his words, it did exactly that, pinning itself flat against his upper back. It would still be noticeable, but only up close. 

He lingered in the kitchen only long enough to grab a banana and a ration bar, then began the winding journey through the castle to the courtyard.

-

“Alright.” Zee stopped in the middle of a patch of trees and directed the creature's eye towards a shallow stream. “This spot should work. Jay talks about seeing animals here all the time.”

The creature jumped down from his shoulder and sniffed at the ground. Then it’s ears perked up and it dropped into a hunting stance, it’s legs tense beneath it. 

It stayed in that position for a few seconds until, without any warning whatsoever, it launched itself into the underbrush. Zee was tempted to follow it until the hissing started.

The battle raged in the bushes for over a minute before the hissing and screeching stopped. After a few worrying seconds of silence the creature loped back to him with a still twitching snake grasped firmly in its jaws. 

“Impressive.” Zee knelt to get a closer look at the snake’s body. “I was expecting you to catch something with fur.”

The creature looked up at him, then tore a strip of meat off of the snake and dropped it at Zee’s feet.

He picked up the chewed up mess with the tips of his fingers and set it back with the rest of the carcass. “I have my own food. But thanks.” 

The creature sniffed at the rejected meat. Once it had confirmed that nothing was wrong, it dug in gleefully. Zee watched with a sort of morbid fascination for a while, then settled himself against a tree and started on the banana. The mountain around him was alive with the sounds of wildlife, and as distracting as some of the noises were, most were oddly relaxing.

He hadn’t realized he’d dozed off until he woke up to the warmth of the sun on his face and the creature sprawled out across his lap, chirping quietly as it slept. Attempting to move his leg resulted in a set of claws digging into his thigh and small growl from the creature.

He wanted to stand and work the soreness from sleeping on the ground out of his muscles. Instead he resigned himself to scratching the creature behind its ears while he watched the sunrise. It took several excruciatingly long hours before the creature yawned, stretched lazily, and crawled up onto his shoulders. Once it was settled he stood as quickly as he dared and started back towards the castle.

-

He returned to find Entrapta in the courtyard, still working on the large robot that had been parked there for several days now. She stopped mid weld as he pushed the gate open and slid down the robot's side to greet him.

He ignored her and kept walking, careful not to make eye contact.

A strand of hair caught him by the arm anyway, and she brought his towel wrapped hand up to her face. Then she looked up at the creature snoring on his shoulders “Oh, a pooka! That must have been what the screaming was last night!” 

“It... caught me by surprise.”

“You're lucky it’s just one.” She released his hand and the hair reached up to scratch the chin of what was, apparently, a pooka. It opened it’s eye a little and swiped at the hair a few times before falling right back to sleep. Entrapta let out a little squeal of delight. “She looks pretty small for a pooka. I bet her pack rejected her, so she hid on Maggie somewhere and ended up leaving Beast Island with us.”

“Maggie?”

“This girl right here.” Entrapta patted the big robot's leg. “You don’t remember Hordak telling you about her? I saw him talking to you guys when you got back from your night out.”

“No.” Zee hoped his scowl wasn’t too obvious. “I don’t.”

In truth he didn’t remember anything about that night beyond the tavern and the drinks arriving, and his head had ached too much the next morning for him to bring himself to care about the strange new robot in the courtyard.

“Huh. Well anyway, this pooka seems to really like you. Oh! You should give her a name.”

Zee considered the sleeping creature. “Absolutely not. Being a member of a species called pooka is embarrassing enough.”

“Even more reason to name her then! That way you don’t have to keep referring to her as ‘The Pooka’ or something.”

As much as he hated to admit it Entrapta was right. If this Pooka insisted on following him around like a newly decanted clone, then he might as well give her a designation.

“In that case I suppose I will call her... Killer.” He reached up to scratch the pookas ears. “It is an accurate description. One that will inspire fear in her prey.”

The newly dubbed Killer’s only response was to nip Zee’s fingers, just hard enough to draw blood.

Chapter Text

There was something about flying that kept a permanent smile on Jay’s face. The wind in his mechanical wings, the way his hair streamed dramatically behind him, but most importantly, the view. 

Because right now he was being treated to a stunning pink and orange sunrise.

Basil had been right when he said that this was worth getting up early for. The cooler air might not have been ideal for flying, but it felt nice on his skin, and the sound of the birds waking up was as good as any music.

As the sun continued into the sky he found himself gliding over the clearing with the stream. He’d never seen it at this time of day before, and peered down, curious to see what sort of creatures were around.

He immediately realized that something wasn’t right. Because crouched by the stream, visible from the air due his white robes, was what could only be Zee.

For the first time that morning, Jay frowned. He could easily see the others making the hike up here occasionally. And Hordak sometimes visited this place with him on their flights. But Zee? Zee had about as much appreciation for nature as Hordak did for pants.

He angled himself towards the clearing and landed as quietly as he could, nearly stepping on the half eaten corpse of something small and furry in the process. Once that would have upset him, but by now he’d accepted that predators needed to eat too, so he ignored it and started towards his brother. But slowly. Zee was short tempered at the best of times, and this seemed pretty far from his best.

As he got closer he spotted something that stirred up genuine worry. Little droplets of blood were sprinkled along the edge of the stream and the whites of Zee’s sleeves, and an empty bottle that looked worryingly like alcohol had been cast aside by the shore. Zee’s breathing sounded rough, and if not for the consistent rise and fall of Zee’s shoulders, Jay would have been convinced he was choking.

“Brother?” Jay stopped a few feet away and picked up the small bottle, taking a quick sniff as he put it in his pocket. It was definitely alcohol. “What wrong? Do you need anything?”

Zee didn’t answer, but the pooka that had taken to following him around jumped up onto Zee’s shoulder and hissed protectively.

“Easy there... Killer.” At this moment especially, the name seemed silly. But her presence, as well as the recently eaten animal, at least explained what Zee was doing here. “I’m not going to hurt him.”

She stopped hissing, but remained crouched on Zee’s shoulder, keeping her wary eye on Jay as he took the last few steps and knelt next to Zee.

“Leave me alone.” Zee didn’t look up. His voice was oddly raspy.

Jay did his best not to stare. Was Zee crying?

His question was answered only a second later when Zee wiped his nose on his blood speckled sleeve. It came away with a few thin streaks of blood.

“I don't think you should be alone right now.” Jay pressed a careful hand on Zee’s shoulder, only for it to be instantly swatted away. 

“I’m fine.”

“You’re bleeding!”

“It’s slowed down enough.”

Jay sighed, braced himself, and reached out for Zee again, grabbing the fabric of his cloak. 

Zee fought but it was halfhearted at best. Before long Jay had gotten him on his feet, but Zee still refused to face him. A considerable problem since the wounds seemed to be on his front. 

“Zee, just look at me!” Jay frowned and tried to circle around Zee, only to be matched at every movement. The pooka hissing angrily from it’s perch didn’t help. “I can’t do anything if you don’t show me what’s wrong.”

“I don’t need help.” Zee dodged another grab and started for the trail down the mountain, only to trip over a root and go tumbling back to the ground. The pooka leapt clear with ease, then darted right back once Zee had steadied himself and began licking Zee’s face.

A face that, either out of frustration, or simply giving up, was angled towards Jay for the first time since he’d landed in the clearing.

There were little scratches around Zee’s eyes. Some were crooked, some perfectly straight, but all of them stopped just short of actually reaching his eyes.  

Eyes that while still mostly green, had orange fading in around the edges.

“Oh.” Jay couldn’t keep his eyes off the damage. “You… your eyes are changing.”

“I can’t get them to stop. I wanted to rip them out but…” Zee shivered and dug lines in the dirt with his claws. “I couldn’t bring myself to actually do it.”

“Of course you couldn’t.” Jay sat next Zee and considered the scratches, which while still concerning, looked less alarming now that the pooka had licked away the blood. “It’d be pretty hard to get back to the castle without them.”

Zee let out a little huff of air that might have been a laugh. “How come Basil gets to keep the green eyes?”

“Basil’s eye’s might change.” Jay shrugged. “It seems like a pretty even split among the rest of our brothers stuck on Etheria.”

“You leave the castle often enough to notice?”

“Of course.” Jay flared his wings a bit. “These help for places within Dryl, and Kadroh and I go with Entrapta to the other kingdoms pretty often. Once we have enough working spaceships I want to see other planets too. Prime didn’t send me planet side much, but the stories I’ve heard from Basil make them sound really interesting.”

“I’ve seen a few. He’s making them sound more exciting than they are.”

There was the Zee that he had become familiar with. Jay sighed and got to his feet. “We should go back to the castle. Get those scratches cleaned up properly.” 

Zee reached up to his face and brushed his fingers against the wounds, wincing slightly. “ I should go back to the castle. I don’t need an escort.”

“Go for it then.” Jay spread his wings, bracing them for take off. “But if you take more than a couple hours I’m coming back to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’ll be fine. I have Killer. It’s not like I’m alone.” 

The pooka chirped it’s agreement from Zee’s shoulder, and bared her teeth. Zee scratched her under the chin. 

Jay held back a laugh. “In that case I’ll see you at the castle. Don’t do anything foolish on the way back.”

Zee didn’t answer, but Jay could almost feel his brother staring as he launched himself into the sky. He’d circle out of sight for a few minutes to convince Zee that he was gone, then follow from above.

Because pooka or not, there was no way he was actually letting Zee hike back by himself.

Chapter Text

“Well this place has... changed.” Basil stared around at the overgrown plants as he stepped off the ramp.

Emerald came to a stop next to him and breathed in deeply. It smelled like the greenhouse. In a way it was comforting, taking some of the edge off the task he had come here to do.

“Since we’re actually allowed to be here this time I came prepared. I want to get as much data from this trip as I can!” Entrapta barreled past them down the ship's ramp still stuffing things into her bag with her hair. 

A distinctly less enthusiastic Hordak trailed behind her. “You two can take whatever you think you’ll need from the ship, but make sure you call us every couple of hours. Entrapta and I will do the same. The structural integrity is questionable in places, and there could be other dangers. Knowing the general location we’re in will help should anything happen.”

Emerald forced his attention away from the plant life growing through the nearest wall and nodded. “I understand.”

“In that case, should nothing unexpected occur, we will meet up here in twelve hours to rest and compare any relevant findings.” Hordak said. “I have to catch up with Entrapta.”

Emerald watched him disappear down the hallway after Entrapta, then turned to Basil. “Are you ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.” Basil adjusted the straps of his bag. “You lead the way.”

-

The map Entrapta had programmed into the data pads was proving helpful, aside from the occasional collapsed hallway of course. Navigating over or around the larger roots with his prosthetic was a trickier ask, but felt like he was managing it well enough.

If Basil had any concerns he didn’t voice them, but Emerald noticed he made a point to stay close.

He hadn’t minded Basil’s protectiveness when he’d been stuck in the wheelchair, and then on the crutches. And while he still appreciated it now, the lack of personal space was doing more to throw him off then the terrain or the prosthetic was. “If I need any help I will let you know.”

“Sorry.” Basil stopped and let Emerald move ahead a little bit, clearly resisting the urge to look down at the false leg. “Just habit. How close are we?”

“Just down this corridor.”

There was a pause filled only by the scrape of their boots on the bark and the crunching of leaves. It was Basil who broke it. “I’m surprised you wanted to come here.”

Emerald paused, halfway over a root with one hand still braced on a vine, and took a deep breath. “Nothing’s turned up on Etheria and… I just have to look.”

He stopped talking as they reached a doorway. Roots had climbed around the door, bending it and dislodging it from its tracks. There was a space in the middle where the sections had been pulled away from each other. It was narrow but they could probably squeeze through.

“Is this it?”

Emerald stepped up to the door, then took off his pack and stuck his head through the space. He could make out the tanks, the tables in the side room, and faint but distinct odor. He took a few calming breaths before answering. “This is it.” 

“Now we just need to see if we can get in.” Basil said.

Emerald removed his head from the doorway, considered the opening for a moment, then went through one foot at a time, angling his shoulders at a less than comfortable angle so that he could siddle through sideways. It took a few seconds longer than he would have liked, especially if an emergency came up, but he was on the other side. “It’s manageable. Could you pass me the bags?” 

Basil slid their packs through, then eyed the space warily before attempting the maneuver himself. Once he’d made it through the last few inches and was able to stand again he let out a sigh of relief and pressed a hand to his middle. “Tight fit.” Basil attempted a smile. “I guess I should spend less time in the kitchen.”

If it was supposed to be an attempt at lightening the mood, the atmosphere of the room ruined any effect it could have had. Green sludge still clung to the insides of some of the tanks, the levers on their control panels still in the active position. And the smell was stronger here then it had been outside.

As Emerald entered the next room he found the bodies. He had expected to find a decent amount. 

He hadn’t expected the several dozen that greeted him.

They were laid out perfectly on the tables, some still hooked up to the machines that filtered foreign contaminants out of their systems before being placed in the tanks. A few sported wounds that must have been lethal, but many, even in such a decayed state, looked unharmed and oddly peaceful. 

Basil stopped by one of the uninjured ones and stared down at it, his breath catching slightly as he took in the sight.

“Basil?” 

“I’m okay. Just… wondering how narrowly I avoided this.”

“Because of your scars?”

“Battle was always a concern, but no. This specifically. Age.” Basil’s voice was barely audible. “Hordak was checking on some cybernetics issues I was having the other night and… long story short, I’m older than I thought I was. It wouldn’t have taken much, a few wrinkles or an aching joint maybe, and Prime would have sent me here.”

“I suppose we were both lucky then.”

When Basil didn’t answer, Emerald shrugged, then went to the first table, where some of the bodies that had clearly fallen in battle had been laid out. He examined them one by one, saving the information on a data pad as he did so. He had no use for it, but the pair of clones he’d reached out to during his search efforts would appreciate it. By the time he was a little over half way through the bodies, a slight tremble had found its way into his movements. 

As he started on the next one, examining the burns down the side of the corpse's head and neck, he braced himself and checked what was left of the ear. Charred and rotted as it was, there was an obvious malformation to the cartilage that suggested the ear had been slightly rounded instead of pointed. A malformation that wasn’t present in the undamaged ear.

He still remembered how it had looked when the clone had been decanted, and the way Prime’s mouth had twisted in disgust. Remembered arguing that the clone was still useful, so long as he was kept away from any guests. Remembered the day the clone had risked reaching out to Emerald over the hive mind to tell him that he was being moved to the front lines. 

The data pad hit the table with a solid thud and he ran from the room. The sight of the tanks did little to quell his thoughts. Instead they only made them worse. Before Emerald could entirely process what he was doing, he’d torn a large branch off of the door and swung it at the nearest tank.

Glass tumbled to the ground and bounced off his legs, making the metal of his prosthetic ring and slicing small cuts across the shin he still had. The oddly pitched sounds and stinging wounds should have been enough to get his attention. Instead he ignored them, smashed a second tank, and almost managed a third before Basil's arms closed around him.

“Emerald! it’s okay.”

“No it’s not.” He tried to wiggle free. He might have managed it had he been at full strength, but as much as he hated to admit it that strength had yet to fully return after beating the infection. The most he could do was put up a respectable, but utterly insufficient fight. “Let me go!”

“Will you stop breaking things?”

“Yes. Yes, just… let me go.”

He heard Basil sigh, and then he was free. His legs shook beneath him and he let himself fall, dropping to his knees despite the glass that dug into them. He glared up at the tank he’d been about to shatter. 

“The shape of his ear. That was all that was wrong with him. We tended Horde Primes garden together. He did his job dutifully. Then a diplomat caught a glimpse of him, and Prime sent him away.” Emeralds voice caught on the lump forming in his throat. “He reached out to me a few hours before the hive mind went down. All that came across was pain. I felt his last moments. I’m sure of it.”

Basil knelt next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “You should sit somewhere else. You’ll hurt yourself on the glass if you stay there.”

Emerald nodded and let Basil pull him to his feet. “I’ll be okay. I just need a minute.”

Once they’d crossed to the other side of the room and sat down against the wall, Emerald dug a bottle of antiseptic out of his bag and set about cleaning the little scratches on his shin and knees. Then he detached his prosthetic and examined the stump. Despite the mild discomfort from climbing around in it and bending at odd angles, nothing looked irritated. Emerald set the prosthetic aside for the moment, figuring it would be good to let the leg get some air. Then he straightened his dress, took a deep but still slightly shaky breath, and leaned back against the wall. “What do… what do you think the other two are doing?” 

“Jay’s probably reading some fantasy novel, or out for a flight. Zee is... hopefully not drinking.”

“He’s been drinking? After how messed up he was after the tavern?”

“He thinks he’s being sneaky, but every now and then either Kadroh and I, or the kitchen staff notice a missing bottle or two. It hasn’t happened as often since he found that pooka, but if he’s upset enough... well, you saw his eyes the other day.” 

Emerald nodded. The sight was a hard one to forget.

“At least he’s ‘stealing’ food too.” Basil said. “I was worried for a while because I never really saw him eating anything, but food and ration bars have been disappearing from the cabinets every couple of nights. I guess he just prefers to dine in private.”

“Huh.”

“I’m beginning to suspect we all ended up in such an unimportant zone because prime didn’t want us mucking things up where it mattered. We’re not exactly perfect examples of his cold, unfeeling image are we?” 

“Especially now that I’m missing part of that image.” Emerald glanced down at his leg. Then he looked back at the room where the round eared clone lay. “I just wish more of us could have made it. How do you cope? All the battle’s you’ve seen, all the fallen brothers...”

“I just do the best that I can. Some days are fine and others... I just feel numb.” Basil shrugged. “Should we bring him back? Give him a funeral?” 

“No.” Emerald said. “I’m sure he’d prefer to stay here with all this new plant life. It’s what he would have wanted.”

“You knew him best. Want to collect the data for the rest of them?”

“We might as well.”

“Then I’ll take care of them.” Basil stood. “You stay here. Meditate. Sing. Have some water or a bit of food. Whatever you need to calm down.”

Emerald nodded. “Okay. I can do that.”

“Good.” Basil pressed a hand on Emeralds shoulder, then disappeared into the room.

Emerald stared at the doorway for a long moment and then began singing the opening lines of a Plumerian harvest song. Haltingly at first, then steadying as the simple, melodic tune took over his focus.

Overgrown as the room was, there was still a slight echo off of the metal walls.

Chapter Text

Emerald had just stepped out of the crack between the doors when the call came through, Entrapta’s voice nearly deafening after the somber silence of the decommissioning room. 

“We need you two, now! I’ll send you our location.” 

Basil was still working his bag through the gap in the door, and he paused only long enough to dig the datapad with the map out and toss it through to Emerald. “Go. I’ll be right behind you.”

A part of him wanted to wait, but it was overruled as another, shorter message came through. “Hurry!”

He turned down the hall and ran, sending a quick “I’m on my way.” back to Hordak and Entrapta.

“Only you?” Hordak this time, with a level of composure that  seemed to be taking a great deal of effort.

“Basil’s a few seconds behind. We had to slide through a crack in the door.”

“Ok. Just try not to get too far apart.”

-

His leg was aching horribly, but he hardly noticed as he burst through the opened door and into the pod lined room. It wasn’t the one with Primes bodies, but as he took in the scene between gasps of breath he almost wished it had been.

The fluid was cloudy, and the shapes he could see within couldn’t have been much bigger than Imp. Clones in such an early, vulnerable stage of development, that they had been kept in hidden high security rooms. He tried not to look too closely at any of them as he half ran, half limped the last few yards to where Hordak and Entrapa had set up their tools in front of one of the pods. 

He braced himself for the worst as he looked in. The fluid in this one was a little cleaner than the rest, revealing the tiny, frail looking body within. Weak vital sign blinked on the cracked screen next to it.

“How…” 

“Arm.” Entrapta snapped.

His arm lifted automatically. She rolled up his sleeve and lined up a needle with an artery on his wrist. At the same time, Hordak pushed a button on their jerry-rigged control panel and the pod jerked open from the top. 

Normally the fluid should have drained from the bottom. Instead it poured over the lip of the glass bubble in a slimy green waterfall. The moment the gap was wide enough Entrapta’s hair snaked inside and curled around the little clone, scooping it out with surprising gentleness. 

“We had to talk the malfunctioning system into flushing the contaminants from his body, but it flushed a lot of healthy blood out with it.” She slid the ends of the IV's into their respective vein and artery. “Now keep standing. We need gravity to move the blood. I’m sorry to put you on the spot but…”

“It’s fine.” Emerald said. 

Entrapta nodded and propped up the little clone with a thick curl of hair, then began carefully moving it’s limbs and rubbing it’s back. Emerald could see it’s eye’s shifting slightly under the lids now, and the rise and fall of it’s chest as it’s breathing evened out.

He’d almost forgotten Basil had been following him until the heavy footfalls echoed through the room. Had he made that much noise when he’d entered?

Basil stopped just short of the odd scene, his eyes going wide as he took everything in.

“How is he…”

“Still alive?” Hordak nodded at an overgrown maintenance cart nearby. “He was lucky. We think someone was just starting to swap out the filters when Prime called all of us to Etheria. But if we'd found him much later...”

The words barely registered in Emeralds ears. His legs shook beneath him. 

Basil frowned at Emerald, then stepped closer and offered a wrist. “I can take over.”

“No.” Hordak said. “We could contaminate the needle and tube by changing it. He’s small. He won’t need enough to have a significant impact on Emerald’s strength.” 

“Will he keep growing if he… after being removed so early?” Emerald asked. “Didn’t Imp never grow?”

“Imp is based on my DNA, which is why I didn’t want to risk introducing flaws to this one by offering my blood. Our little brother should be fine once he’s back to full health.”

“We’re just lucky he’s developed enough to live without the pod.” Entrapta said. The little clone was making strange noises now. A sort of muffled cough. She gave it’s back a firm pat, and it spit out a dribble of green fluid.

And then it began to cry. 

“Oh!” Entrapta grinned. “That’s good, I’m pretty sure. If he’s strong enough to cry he’s strong enough to live. Hordak we should be able to disconnect the IV for now.”

Emerald had never been more grateful to be able to sit down than he was when Hordak removed the IV. His leg was going to hate him for the next couple of days, but as he looked at the little clone, he decided it was worth it.

The clone stared back at Emerald as Entrapta wrapped it in a fuzzy purple blanket that was nearly indistinguishable from her hair. It’s green eyes were just a bit too big for its face and the white facial masking hadn’t grown in yet. It looked soft and helpless without it. 

Entrapta glanced between the clone and Emerald, then walked over and put the clone on Emeralds lap. She pulled two vials of amniotic fluid from her pack. “Here, one for you and one for him.“

Emerald drank his in one gulp, then pulled the seal out of the second one and held it up to the little clone. It’s face brightened as some instinct informed it that this was food being held so tantalizing close, and it reached for the vial with unsteady hands.

Emerald guided the vial to the little clone's mouth, and it drank eagerly, emptying the vial on a matter of seconds. Then it hiccupped, it’s disproportionately large ears flapping in time with the sound. 

The idea of laughing had seemed strange an hour ago, but as the clone hiccupped a second, and then a third time, Emerald giggled and tickled the clone’s stomach. “Careful little brother. Hiccup too much and those ears will fly right off your head!”

“Oh, that’s so cute!” Entrapta squealed. Whether she was talking about one or both of them Emerald couldn’t tell. He was too enraptured by the little clone. He’d never seen one so small outside of the gestation pods.

“We need to get him back to the hospital wing in Dryl.” Hordak said. “Our instruments here can only detect so much, and he needs a more in depth examination.”

Entrapta nodded. “You’re right.” She reached out for the little clone with her hair. “Emerald? You can hold him on the ship, but let me carry him back. My hair is a little more suited to navigating this place, and I didn’t just sprint halfway across the ship.”

Emerald was loath to let the clone go, but she was right. He was still sore and tired, and if he stumbled while holding the little clone… he sighed and passed it to her. 

Standing was a process of stops and starts, so much so that once he’d gotten both feet under him, Basil had to step in and offer him a shoulder to lean on. Getting back to the ship was borderline torture. 

Entrapta, in her insistence on being over prepared, had brought not one, but two wheelchairs, supposedly one for him and one for Hordak. Just in case. Emerald limped his way to one of them and removed his prosthetic to reveal angry bruises and the beginnings of pressure sores. He winced and added a few extra days to his recovery estimate.

The pain faded from his mind as Entrapta set the little clone back in his arms. As Emerald leaned forward to greet the clone his braid slipped over his shoulder and the little clone reached for it, tugging at the end with a surprisingly strong grip. 

By the time the ship left the landing bay the little clone was fast asleep.

-

The rest of his brothers were quick to crowd into the medical ward as news of their new brother reached them. 

Zee stared doubtfully at the clone in Emeralds arms. “When you messaged us saying you were bringing someone back with you, you didn’t say it’d be… this. He’s so small. How will he take care of himself?”

“We can take care of him and protect him.” Basil said. “If we’d been allowed to grow up naturally we would have needed someone to take care of us too.”

Kadroh leaned closer and wiggled his fingers at the clone. It chirped curiously and reached out as if to grab them. “Well I think our little brother is adorable! Can I hold him?”

"Of course." Emerald carefully held out the little clone for Kadroh. But as Kadroh began to lift him from Emeralds hands the clone started to cry, one hand clinging tighter to Emeralds fingers as the other thrashed through the air. 

“Oh no! I didn’t mean to break him!” Kadroh winced and pushed the clone back into Emeralds arms. His ears, as well as everyone else's, pulled downwards to block out the noise.

Only Hordak stepped closer. “He isn’t broken. He’s attached. Imp was the same way when I decanted him. I couldn’t leave my lab for a month because he refused to accept any sort of care from the robots I programmed to babysit him.”

The little clone's crying was fading now, and it had gone back to staring around at it’s much taller brothers. 

“So Emerald is going to have to take care of him then?” Jay asked. “Won’t that be a lot of work?”

“I think I’m about as attached to him as he is to me.” Emerald smiled as the clone snuggled up against his chest. “I’m not opposed to it at all.”

“I will help whenever I can.” Hordak assured him. “He can’t possibly be worse than Imp.”

Chapter Text

Zee grinned down at the motionless wreck of what had once been a training robot. “These scrap heaps are just getting easier and easier to take out. Entrapta really ought to upgrade these things.”

He gave the robot a final kick, then crossed to the window and slid it open, sighing in relief as cold air entered the room. His ears twitched as voices reached him from the courtyard. 

As more and more clones drifted in and out of the castle, the near constant background noise of conversation had become commonplace. What would have been comforting in the hive mind had quickly become irritating to his ears, and he’d learned to block it out well enough. But with all the preparations for the holiday dinner Entrapta insisted upon hosting it had been noisier than usual lately. 

Although this chatter didn’t sound happy enough to be about food or presents or decorations. There was a soft urgency to the muffled voices.

Zee sighed, shut the window, and made for the door. He might as well see what was going on.

-

The sight of about a dozen unfamiliar clones greeted him when he stepped into the main hallway. That in itself wasn't unusual these days. But these ones looked thin and battered, and most still clung to the heavy blankets someone had wrapped about them. A clone with what was undoubtedly an infected eye wound caught his attention. As he stared, Entrapta slipped out of one of the side rooms, helped the injured clone up with her hair, and led him carefully back with her.

“Zee?” 

He turned away from the doors Entrapta and the clone had disappeared through and found himself face to face with Jay and Kadroh, the latter balancing several bowls of broth on a tray. “That’s the name that’s been forced upon me. What’s going on?”

“A lucky rescue.” Kadroh said. “These brothers tried to set up their own little community and live on hunting and gathering.”

“It must have worked fairly well for them until an avalanche blocked the cave they were using for shelter.” Jay added. ‘We heard them while we were out getting last minute supplies and dug them out.”

“Here.” Kadroh pressed the soup into Zee’s hands. “Help hand these out. I’m going to get more!”

Zee stared down at the soup. “No way. You do it.”

“Oh no, you decided to be nosy, now you get to help.” Jay grinned. “Start with the Brothers who look to be in the worst shape and work from there.”

He was being stared at now, his injured brothers focused on the soup in his arms. Ignoring them now would undoubtedly draw their ire later. Zee sighed and scanned the group, eventually settling on a clone with an improvised sling on his arm. It was as good a place to start as any.

-

Handing out soup quickly escalated into helping Basil restrain some of their brothers so that Hordak and Entrapta could flush dust and gravel out of wounds and set broken bones back into position, something they all earned numerous scratches and even a couple bites for. By the time the last clone had been wheeled out with a fresh cast on his leg, Zee was thoroughly regretting ever coming down to investigate.

Basil however was smiling. A tired smile certainly, but a genuine one, and as Zee tried to slip away his hand closed over Zee’s shoulder and stopped him short. Jay and Kadroh hung behind him. “Zee. Come with us.”

Zee suppressed a growl and, too tired to fight, let Basil drag him through the halls to the kitchen. The window was dark. It had been daytime when he’d looked out into the courtyard. Had they really been busy for so long?

Basil seemed to notice it too, and laughed. “Time flies when you’re having fun I guess.” He swung open the fridge and pulled out a jug of cold water and several already prepared sandwiches. “Here. I think we’ve all missed supper.”

The sandwiches were nowhere close to what he would have usually taken during his midnight trips to the kitchen, but he took one anyway and turned for the door. 

“Oh come on Zee!” Kadroh shouted around a mouthful of sandwich. “Aren’t you going to eat with us?”

A piece of lettuce was stuck part way out of Kadrohs mouth as he spoke. Zee winced. “And have to witness your shameful table manners? No thank you.”

-

By this point every easily accessible spare room in the castle had been refitted to provide some sort of amenity for visiting clones, so Zee retreated back to the thankfully empty training room and piled together the mats into a makeshift mattress. He spared only a passing thought for the uneaten sandwich before sleep overcame him.

It was by far one of the least restful sleeps he’d had in a long time. Latent hive mind memories, seemingly stirred up by the chaos of the previous day played out through his dreams. Someone was dragging a claw across his chest, their calm voice drowned out by his pain and screams. His back ached as he set a large rock into the pathway that wound through Primes garden. The dull hunger from a skipped ration clawed at his middle as he prepared a horribly tempting meal for visiting diplomats. Something wet dripped onto his face...

He woke so suddenly that the pooka on his chest screeched and shifted into defense mode, claws digging through the fabric of his robes and into his skin. The remnants of the sandwich he’d been given last night dropped from it’s mouth and landed with a gag inducing slap on the floor next to his face. Just vegetables and bread left, he noted. The sliced meat had been picked out and eaten.

“Killer? I’m fine, stop stabbing me.” 

Fine was overstating it just a little bit. The mats weren’t nearly as comfortable as a proper bed and a real, non memory related hunger was making itself clearly known. He stared regretfully at the slobber soaked sandwich remnants and got to his feet. “That was mine you know.”

The pooka chirped and jumped from his chest to his shoulder, then rubbed her face on his. He couldn’t help but laugh at her audacity. 

“You slept in here?”

Zee scowled and tore his attention away from the pooka. Hordak stood in the doorway, wearing a long black dress with subtle red sparkles and looking mildly concerned. 

“Everywhere else was too crowded.” Zee said. “I’ve slept in less comfortable places.” 

“Hmm.” Hordak ran his eyes briefly over Zee’s clothes, rumpled and slightly stained by Killers drool. “Make yourself presentable. Entrapta wishes to start the celebrations soon.”

And as quietly as he’d appeared, Hordak turned on his heel and walked away.

-

Someone had gone through the chest where he kept his clothes. 

“I bet it was Jay.” Zee mumbled to Killer as he fiddled with the buttons on the white jumpsuit that had been the only article of clothing left. “I don’t think Karoh’s smart enough for a trick like that.”

A nearby clone gave Zee a confused look, then he noticed the pooka, and his eyes went wide. ‘What is that?”

“It’s none of your business.” Zee made sure to flash his orange fangs and the other clone flinched and rushed off. Zee watched him go, only to be promptly distracted by a fresh complaint of hunger from his empty stomach. 

There was food. Several tables of it, all piled high with a broad assortment. But there was already a crowd of his brothers around them. Sneaking into the kitchen wasn’t an option either. Kadroh and been coming and going from there all day, bringing in more food to fill empty spots as they appeared. 

“Nobodies going to care if you get something to eat.”

“Basil?” Zee growled softly as the other clone appeared at his side. “Leave me alone.”

“You know holidays parties are supposed to be fun, right?”

“I gathered that much, yes.” Zee said.

“Okay.” Basil said. “But at least talk to our brothers. There’s one named Pickles that I think you would get along wonderfully with.”

“Pickles. Really?” 

“Someone started calling him that and it stuck.”

“Well now being given the name Zee doesn't seem nearly as embarrassing.”

Basil sighed. “Just try and do something other than acting like a grouch. Nice hair by the way.”

Zee brought a hand to his head and was greeted by an unbrushed mess that seemed to fall every way except for straight back. Of course. Because being out of the standard uniform was bad enough. He suppressed a scowl, and once Basil was gone, he turned and made for the door. 

He’d intended to find a mirror and fix his hair. But as Kadroh walked by him with a fresh tray of food, he decided he’d take his chances and go to the kitchen instead. 

It was the fastest kitchen raid he’d ever pulled off and in the end he slipped out unnoticed with a container full of the foods that had been easiest to grab in a rush. Miniature sandwiches, a few pieces of fruit, and even some of the more elaborately decorated cookies and pastries, just to rub it in Kadroh and Basil's faces.

The tiny sandwiches were gone mere minutes after finding an empty room to eat in, and then the fruit. A part of him was ashamed. It had barely been two days. He’d gone much longer without eating.

But the desserts still looked tempting.

He had just taken a bite out of one of the cookies when a crying sound reached him from the hallway and the door swung open.

“It’s okay, Little Brother.” Emerald entered, bouncing the little clone in his arms. “I know. It was so loud in there wasn’t it? We’ll just stay here for a few… Zee?”

Zee froze, horribly aware of the frosting and crumbs that still clung to his mouth and that the only things left in the container were junk food. “Uh…”

Emerald only smiled. “I never suspected you’d have a sweet tooth.”

“There… There was real food too. I just… already ate it.”

“I wasn’t judging. I’m just surprised.” The little clone started crying again and Emeralds attention went to massaging the tips of his ears. “There now, it’s okay, it’s okay. Do you want a song?”

Zee certainly didn’t, but he ended up having to hear Emeralds humming anyway. He stared at little clone. It’s eye’s had changed into a bright yellow color. He scowled and shoved the rest of the half eaten cookie into his mouth. “You talk more to him than you do to most of us. He can’t even understand you.”

“He will eventually.” Emerald said. “He understands what different tones of voice mean already, and he definitely found the party overwhelming. Everyone wanted to meet him but there’s only so much the little guy can deal with in a day.”

Zee was only half listening. He ate another cookie.

“And he still needs a name.” Emerald said, as the little clone chirped softly and seemed to lean into the ear rubs. “Everyone kept asking me what his name is but I just can’t think of anything.”

“Well don’t ask me.” He finished the last cookie. “I was given one against my will.”

“You named Killer.”

The pooka, who’d been dozing off on a shelf glanced up at the mention of her name.

“I described Killer. If I described him he’d be ‘tiny’ or maybe ‘noisy’.” Zee considered the pastries then slid the container over to Emerald. “You can have those. I’m going to find somewhere else until everyone's gone.”

“Timothy.”

Zee paused, half standing half sitting. “What?”

“It’s a character from a story Jay found in Entrapta’s old children's books. Tiny Tim. Timothy.” Emerald looked down at the little clone and grinned. “What do you think little brother? Do you like the name Timothy?”

The little clone giggled and began chewing on the end of Emeralds braid. 

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Emerald picked up the pastries. “And I think I will take these. It seems like Timothy is getting hungry, and I’ve been trying to get him interested in solid foods.”

“Uh…”

“I never thought I’d say this, but thanks for your help Zee. I’ll let you have the room to yourself again.” Emerald swung open the door and stepped out. “I need to tell everyone that he has a name!”

Killer hopped down from her shelf and stared at the empty doorway, then at Zee.

“Don’t look at me. I insulted the little brat. I didn’t think he’d actually get a name out of it.” Zee sighed and dropped back into his chair. “People are going to think I care about it now.”

The pooka huffed, jumped back onto the self and went back to sleep. Zee continued staring at the doorway. 

Now that they were gone, he regretted giving away those pastries.

Chapter Text

The half ruined courtyard of Salineas castle was nearly empty when he left his brothers to the task of picking out new clothes and stepped out to get some air. Mostly it was for the fresh air anyway. He looked down at his newly exposed arms and took a steadying breath. He could still feel his brothers staring at him, the angry one especially, and even a few Etherians had given him odd looks as he made his way to the door.

The scars were even more obvious in the daylight. He did get a few looks, and heard a few mumbled mentions of himself and his brothers, but the handful of people in the courtyard were either too far away to notice, or didn’t care about the scars. It would take a few days, he realized, to decide whether or not to keep them visible.

A conveniently shaped piece of rubble caught his eye and crossed the courtyard and sat down on it. The sun and the sea breeze had decided to work together perfectly today and he let his eyes drift closed as he enjoyed the warmth. 

He wasn’t sure how long he’d sat there before the wind carried the rich scents of cooking along to him, but before long he was finding it harder and harder to sit still. It smelled nothing like any food he’d eaten for survival. And while he’d spent time on the Velvet Glove, the only memories he had of it’s kitchen were hive mind ones, where smell seemed to get lost in translation.

When his curiosity could hold out no longer, he stood and followed the scent to the kitchen.

One of the cooks, a dark green amphibious man with webbed ears, glanced up at him as he peered through the doorway, then nudged the sea elf chopping vegetables next to them. She looked up briefly as well then went back to the vegetables and spoke. “Are you coming in or just looking for Kadroh? Because he’s over in hall three.”

“Uh…” He stared at them, took in the wonderful smell emanating from the pan the amphibian was stirring. “Coming in, I guess.” And then he stood there for nearly five seconds before shuffling the rest of the way through the door.

The sea elf dropped any pretenses of preparing the vegetables and turned her full attention to him, taking in his glowing eyes and overalls, and then lingering on the scars. “You’ve… been through quite a bit haven’t you?”

He frowned and folded his arms behind his back. “Prime sent me where he felt I was most useful, and that happened to be the battlefield.”

“Oh! I didn’t mean it in a bad way. They’re interesting actually. Make you look unique. Anyway, what are you doing here?”

"Being unique is a divisive concept among Horde Clones, but I appreciate your opinion." He let his arms fall back to his sides. “As for what I'm doing here, I scented your cooking and became curious.”

The amphibian looked up at that and frowned at him. “I thought most of you guys preferred that green goop.”

“The rest of my flock haven’t adjusted to normal food yet, but I am capable of consuming many things without ill effects due to past incidents where solid foods were the only options. What is it you’re making?” 

“It’s just shrimp and pasta.” The amphibian shrugged. “We don’t have the resources for anything fancy right now.” 

“The pasta is those long thin things, correct?”

The amphibian gave the pan a final stir and lifted it off the stove to a waiting mat. “Yes.”

“And I recognize the shrimp.” He watched the pan closely as the amphibian moved the food. “There were some with the meals my brothers and I were given when we were first found. What are the green pieces on top of it?”

“That’s basil,” The sea elf grabbed a bowl and before the amphibian had a chance to protest, put a bit of the food into it, making sure to get a couple shrimp. “To add flavor. It’s probably what you smelled. It’s very distinctive. Here, try some.”

He took the offered bowl and a fork, and stared at the pasta for a few moments before sticking the fork into it. It seemed most likely that he was supposed to get a bit of everything for the full effect, so he stuck a shrimp with the end of the fork, and was pleased to find that it also helped keep the noodles from sliding off. 

Seasonings were something that had never been available to him before and while he wasn’t sure what he’d expected from the basil, a restrained sweetness wasn’t it. There were hints of other things too, flavors he’d never tasted before but instantly decided he liked. 

“This is pleasing.” He spooled up the rest of the noodles and the other shrimp on the fork and ate that too, then set the empty bowl down in the sink. “I would never have suspected such a simple looking plant could contain such flavors.”

“Well I’m glad you're happy with it. The noble’s have done nothing but complain because everything is ‘too simple’ for them.” The amphibian scoffed. “And the civilians don’t care one way or the other as long as they’re not hungry.”

He considered the pan, then the rest of the kitchen, and wondered how many of the bland or disgusting things he’d eaten over the years could have been improved by something as simple as these fragrant leaves. “May I stay here and help you? At the very least I could provide advice on how to ease my brothers off of what you call ‘the green goop’, since I have had to go through the process myself.”

“Kadroh and Hordak have offered their own advice.” The sea elf said. “But they’ve also been too busy to actually be here much. Someone more easily available would help.”

The amphibian nodded in agreement. “You seem harmless enough. If you want to help, then I guess you can stay. Just make sure you wash your hands before you prepare any food, got it?”

“Of course.” 

“Wonderful!” The sea elf smiled and motioned for him to move further into the kitchen. “Here, let me show you where everything is.”

He fell into step behind her, smiling a little at the excitement in her voice. It wasn't quite the same as a hive mind connection, but at least it seemed like he'd made friends.

Chapter Text

There was a pond at the end of the little stream he’d visited so often with Killer.

It made sense. The water had to be going somewhere. But somehow Zee had never thought to follow it past the clearing. He probably never would have if Killer hadn’t decided to chase a particularly stubborn rabbit. 

He’d followed them of course, picking his way through the brush with a bit more care than the animals had taken, following the rustling of leaves and fallen branches.

The stream widened the further he went, grew deeper. And then the woods began to thin out in front of him, and he found himself next to a small waterfall. The pond itself was green with reflected tree’s and he barely noticed Killer digging into her prize by the shore as he took in the scene.

It wasn’t the pool from the Velvet Glove. He knew that. And yet…

He joined Killer at the shore, then reached in with both hands and scooped out some of the water. The green changed to the grey-blue of his hands, and he considered his reflection, the orange eyes with the last traces of fading scars around them. Then the water trickled through the gaps in his fingers and back into the pond, where it mingled once more with the green. 

Memories stirred to life. The surges of pain, and then emptiness. The honor of being reborn without sin. He shivered.

Killer glanced up at him and chirped softly.

“There’s this pool where I’m from.” He told her. “Like this one but artificial. Perfect.”

He stood and stepped closer to the water, letting it lap at his boots.

“That’s what you’d become if you admitted your sins and entered it. Perfect.”

He took another step. The water slid up to his shins.

“It’s ruined now. The others told me about it. Dried up and full of plants.”

The pooka tilted her head at him and poked her paw into the pond, then hissed and pulled it right back. He couldn’t blame her. The water was terribly cold. 

But he kept going. Up to his knees, up to his hips. Up to his chest. 

And then he was underneath, and any passing resemblance to the fluid in Primes pool vanished.

There was green. Pond weeds and algae. But there was also the light of the setting sun breaking through the surface. Multi-colored snails clung to rocks worn smooth by the trip down the mountain stream. And fish. Tiny silvery-grey fish that shimmered in the sunlight as they darted around him and peered at him through the sand he’d stirred up from the bottom. The orange of his eyes reflected off the fish, giving them a strange glow. One particularly brave one swam right up to his face and bumped its nose against him. Another nibbled at the hem of his sleeve.

He lifted a hand, and even though it seemed to move in slow motion the fish spun away and eyed him from a distance. It wasn’t until the hand came to stop, extended palm up in front of him, that they began inching back.

He watched as they explored the offered palm, and wondered what it was like for them to have some glowing eyed giant walk out into the middle of the only existence they had ever known. They didn’t seem scared. Wary, maybe confused, but not scared. Perhaps they had never had anything to truly be afraid of. 

He almost envied them.

He wasn’t sure how long he stood there before the screeching began.

He’d heard Killer make lots of noises before, but nothing like this. This was no screech of annoyance. No attempt at intimidation. This, even muffled, was loud and had a sense of panic to it. Then there was a splash, many splashes. 

He saw her before he felt her. That, in hindsight, was the most worrying part, because what he should have felt was her pulling at his hair and tugging at his hood with enough intensity to tear it to shreds. 

The fish disappeared as Killer paddled in front of him and performed a clumsy dive, stopping just deep enough to make eye contact. He stared back, and she pushed her face against his shoulder, attempting to push him towards the shore. He let her guide him. 

The sun had dropped below the treeline in the time between when he’d entered the water, and when he stumbled out on legs that he hadn’t realized had gone numb. Really, his whole body had gone numb. He should have found a rock to lean against. One that had been warming in the sun all day. Instead the most he found himself capable of was crawling the last few inches from the water and laying flat on the sand. 

Killer shook off the water from her fur, then stared down at him with wide eyes. 

“Hu... hey k… Kill… er.” 

The words took a level of concentration that speaking should never have needed.

She rubbed her face against his and then stepped back and screeched again. And again, and again, that same primal screech of alarm. Above the water it was enough to hurt his ears. He was just contemplating whether the effort of moving his hands to his ears was worth it when she stopped.

She may have been silent, but her whole body was tense, her tail flicked sharply and her ears swiveled back and forth. She sat like that for several minutes. 

And then began a third round of screeching.

It was around that point that his eyelids seemed to become unbearably heavy. He barely heard the rest of the screeches.

-

Zee dragged his eyes open to the lights of Crypto Castles medical ward. He felt pinned in place, and a glance down revealed several layers of blankets wound tightly around him. A blanket burrito, as Entrapta called it. A suitably undignified name for an undignified form of treatment. A glance to the left revealed monitors and empty fluid bags.

Entrapta appeared first, hair splayed out around her as she used the room's machinery to swing herself along. 

“Zee? How do you feel? How many fingers am I holding up? For simplicity's sake we’ll say the thumb counts.”

He stared through the window of blankets at her. She actually had a hand up, three gloved fingers splayed out slightly. “Three.” He attempted to move a foot, an arm, anything, but found very little give. “Were this many blankets necessary?”

“You were still so cold when they carried you in! We had to warm you up.”

Hordak stepped up next to her. “We also had to clean your ports. You should keep a close eye on them and alert us of any signs of infection. Preferably before they reach an advanced stage.”

“Fine.” Zee glared at Hordak. “May I go?”

Hordak shook his head. “That water was cold, but not enough that hypothermia should have set in especially quickly. Do you remember how long you were under?”

“I couldn’t say. Once I was submerged I seemed to lose track of time.”

“You entered willingly?”

“I… suppose so.”

“Then I won’t press you for more details.” Hordak’s expression softened. “But should you ever decide to enter another body of water, I would suggest you find somewhere warmer, and cover your ports first.”

Under other situations the suggestion would have sounded almost humorous. “It wasn’t something I planned to do. It just… happened.”

“Even so, my advice remains the same. You are fortunate that Killer was there. If we hadn’t heard her...”

The rest didn’t need to be said. Zee scowled. “I understand. Now free me from these blankets.”

“Oh alright.” Entrapta bounced forward and several strands of hair shot out and untied the blankets. What must have taken several minutes to wrap was gone in less than ten seconds.

Zee swung his legs out, and despite his eagerness to leave eased his weight onto them gradually. Someone had changed his clothes. Where his soaking wet horde uniform had been was a plain white shirt, black jacket, and grey flannel pants. A pair of boots, not the ones he’d been wearing but clearly designed to fit clones, rested by the bed. He slid them on, noting the fuzzy pink socks as he did. 

“Who chose these ridiculous socks?” 

“Oh, that was Kadroh.” Entrapta said. “He was worried your feet wouldn’t be warm enough.”

“Hm.” Zee stood, pausing as he caught his reflection in a window. His hair was no longer smoothed back, instead it looked slightly wavy and fell forward over his forehead. He ran his fingers through it. Without the gel slicking it back it was surprisingly soft. “I suppose he did the hair too?”

“Oh no. The only thing we did to your hair was clean the pond gunk out of it.” Entrapta said. “It dried fluffy like that on it’s own. I think it looks nice.”

He brushed his fingers through it again. “It certainly feels n… different.” He gave his reflection a long look, then turned away from the window. “I suppose I can fix it later. Now may I leave?”

Hordak nodded. “You may.”

“Good.” Zee slipped past them and made for the door. “I need to find something else to wear. These clothes are far too informal.”

Chapter Text

The decommissioning room on the velvet glove was generally not a place a clone wanted to end up. Especially on such occasions as the end of a battle, when the bodies that were still fresh enough were gathered and prepared for recycling. It was one of the few places on the Velvet Glove where, once a clone was assigned to work there, they typically stayed there, until they too were deemed unfit for duty and decommissioned. 

And, for the most part, the bodies processed through the machines were well and truly dead. 

-

The technician lowered himself into a bow as Horde Prime entered. “Greetings, Lord Prime. I apologize for the inconvenience, but I felt your wisdom would be…”

“Silence.” Prime lifted a hand. “Where is he?”

The technician, only recently assigned, fought down the instinct to pin back his ears. He wordlessly pointed to a corner table, where a small opening had been cleared around the thin form of one of the bodies.

Prime stepped past the technician. “Stay next to me.”

“Of course Lo… sorry.” The technician fell into step just behind Prime. 

Prime scowled briefly at the technician, then turned his attention to the body. Bruises were scattered liberally across the clone’s arms and legs. A long gash ran diagonally across the chest and stomach. His metal tipped claw gleaming under the surgical lights, Prime reached out and traced the wound, then pressed his hand against the flesh around it. 

The technician had already felt what Prime was feeling. A heartbeat, faint but steady. The slight rise and fall of breathing.

Prime removed his hand from the wound. “You said he was moving?” 

“Yes, Lord Prime. When I was prepping the machine, he opened his eyes, and… and started screaming. I sedated him before he could affect the hive mind.”

“Why did you not simply euthanize him?” 

“He’s young, His records show this was his first deployment. Since the chest wound is in a place where any scar tissue could be easily hidden, I felt that he… He might still be of use and that I should await your guidance on the matter before taking any actions.”

Prime brushed a hand along the clone's face, through his dirt and blood stained hair tuft. Then he propped up the clone’s head. A cable slid free from among Prime’s hair and hooked into the clone’s neck port. The clone’s eyes snapped open, mirroring Primes glowing pupils.

The clone trembled slightly under the examination. His ears twitched. His claws tensed and dug into the metal of the dissection table.

The technician could do little more than stand quietly for several minutes. Eventually, Prime withdrew the cable.

“This one is… resilient. And loyal. I will let him live, but he will need to be fully reconditioned. Have him cleaned and dressed within the hour. My attendants will handle the rest.”

The technician bowed, “It will be done. Thank you, Lord Prime.”