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Two hours and thirty-five minutes left.
Two hours and thirty-five minutes to meet Catra again.
Two hours and thirty-five minutes to meet Horde Prime.
Adora swallowed as she looked at the countdown on the navigation panel. Once they fuelled Darla again, it didn't take long for Entrapta to find Horde Prime's ship based on the origin of Catra's transmission.
Catra.
"I'm sorry! For everything!"
She shivered for the millionth time remembering Catra's last words.
Don't think like that.
They had been discussing Catra's rescue. Using Adora as a decoy while the others freed the cat girl. Hacking the enemy's ship to get intel about Horde Prime. Lying about the Heart of Etheria, using it as a threat. Horde Prime didn't need to know there was no She-Ra anymore...
Though what happened on that collapsing planet...what was that?
No, she told herself. They didn't have time to think about that. Adora had to focus on what she could do.
And there was nothing much she could. They only had an old spaceship. No army. Glimmer didn't have her powers. This rescue mission had been improvised in 20 minutes, as they didn't have the resources to plan anything beyond the basics. Besides, Catra could be running out of time.
"I'm sorry! For everything!"
Why didn't Catra think of a plan to save both Glimmer and herself?
"She said she was doing it for you".
It was Adora's fault.
She heard the door behind her opening up and Bow calling her. "Adora. You should get some rest".
He was with Glimmer. Adora had stayed in the pilot's room to review the plan and different alternatives depending of the outcome, but also to give them some privacy to talk about whatever they needed.
"It's OK. I don't think I could sleep anyway", she sighed. "And someone has to stand guard".
"We can't sleep either", confessed Glimmer.
"What about Entrapta?"
"She is modifying the spacesuits, I think. We heard her talking to her recorder a moment ago", answered Bow. "Are you sure you don't want to take a nap or something?"
"No, thanks".
"Then we'll keep you company", said Glimmer.
Her two friends seated on each side of the pilot seat. Adora looked at the countdown again. Two hours and thirty-two minutes to reach Horde Prime's ship.
They stayed silent for a moment until Bow broke the ice. "So. We are rescuing Catra, who has been our enemy for years, from Horde Prime, some kind of alien dictator and destroyer of worlds".
"That's...an accurate summary of the situation. Yeah", replied Adora.
"Don't get me wrong - I'm all for rescuing Catra. She saved Glimmer, after all. It's just...weird, when you think about it", he confessed.
You didn't need to be very smart to know this plan was suicidal. They needed a miracle. They needed She-Ra. But...she was gone. Or maybe not really. But it didn't matter - Adora had no idea about how to bring her back.
"...I'm really sorry you got into this", she said.
"Adora, don't even start apologizing. We agreed to help you. I owe Catra my life. And... it's my fault we are in this situation to begin with...", added Glimmer sadly. Adora put an arm around her shoulders to comfort her.
But her mind wandered off to her former best friend. If only she had convinced Catra to join the Rebellion years ago...but Catra said it before, didn't she?
"Don't you get it? I am NEVER going to go with you".
She failed. And again. And again.
"How did you do it, Glimmer?", Adora asked, almost a whisper.
"Do what?"
"Convince Catra to help you".
Adora regretted asking, ashamed. Glimmer stayed silent for a moment.
"Me and Catra talked sometimes. On the ship. I was held prisoner, but she stayed at the other side. Even if Horde Prime told her not to, she always came by sooner or later", explained Glimmer."She even brought me cake once", added fondly.
"Really? That sounds... surprisingly nice. I mean - for her", observed Bow.
"Yeah, right? At first I thought she had some kind of secret motive, or she just wanted to make fun of me, but then... I think she was lonely. And scared of Horde Prime, even if she didn't want to admit it".
"Of course she wouldn't", mumbled Adora.
"So...what did you two talk about?", asked Bow.
"We... talked about Horde Prime. And about the past...about life before the war". Glimmer nudged Adora, trying to light the mood. "She told me you used to have sleepovers".
Adora smiled almost imperceptibly at the memories. How long had it been? Seemed centuries. She let herself enjoy the nostalgia for a moment. "Yeah. We used to sleep together in my bunk. Catra could be very chatty at night".
"Is it true you sneaked in the kitchen to eat more ration bars?"
"Yep. Guilty"
"Really?", Bow laughed.
"Everyone tried to, at least once"
It was kind of a rite of passage in the Horde, like getting into a fight outside training and breaking your nose. Adora remembered being thirteen and hungry all the time. She tried to control herself, to build some self-discipline, as Shadow Weaver put it. Catra did not, but she shared her loot with Adora, anyway.
After a beat, Bow said. "You know, Adora... you never really talk about your life in the Horde".
"That's... there's nothing to talk about", she said, embarrassed. Compared to her life in Bright Moon, life in the Horde was...monotonous. Which was not a bad thing per se - Adora liked routine. It was good for her mind.
But after deflecting, she was painfully aware that her life until then was basically lots of military training, horrible lies about princesses and Etheria and a lot of screaming and fighting. How little and simple her world was.
"Don't get me wrong, Adora. I know how it feels not to like talking about your past - I didn't tell Glimmer about my family until you two followed me to the Library", he reminded them. The blond didn't respond, but Bow insisted, choosing his words. "What I mean... I don't know...were you happy in the Horde? Did you miss anyone when you joined the Rebellion? Did you...did you miss Catra?"
"Of course I did", she admitted. "But...I made my choice and deflected. And I don't regret that decision", she explained, smiling at both her friends.
She remembered how insecure she felt those first days, trying to be the best She-Ra. She had no choice -after all she had seen, it was just the right thing to do.
She remembered the nights, too, when Bow and Glimmer were asleep, but she couldn't, or when she had to stay guard.
In her mind, she replayed her last conversation with Catra in Thaymor.
"I guess I didn't talk because... well, I didn't want to think about the Horde...about her. I mean, I asked her back in Thaymor to come with us. I explained to her all the things we were told were a lie. But she said she knew that already and still tried to bring me back. She...she even attacked me. I didn't understand why back then - but we were enemies. I thought I had to tie off any relationship with the past".
She sighed. After all those years, that memory still hurt. "Then she helped us escape the Fright Zone, just after she had kidnaped you both. It didn't make sense at all. Maybe she wasn't as loyal to the Horde as I thought? I had doubts. The next day we met at the Crystal Castle- she said she was better off without me, that I was...".
She felt a knot in her throat.
"You wanted me to think I needed you. You wanted me to feel weak".
"...That I was a bad friend", Adora finished. Glimmer took her hand. "For a long time, I thought I screwed up somewhere - would have everything changed if I had protected her from Shadow Weaver? If I had never found the sword? Then the portal happened. I told you before - in that dream I was a force captain in the Horde, like I was supposed to be. It was like old times, you know? With Catra. We were...happy. Then I regained my memories, and I thought - I can fix this", she felt her voice crack a little. "This time, I'm going to make things right with her".
Adora paused for a moment, tears welling up in her eyes, and took a long breath in and out. "But...I couldn't reach her. She remembered everything, too. But she just keep saying these horrible things and I - suddenly it dawned upon me - not everything Catra did was my fault".
"Of course not. Why would you think that?", Glimmer said softly, while Bow handed Adora a handkerchief.
"I... Catra and I were together all the time in the Horde. She didn't have many friends apart from our team. She was... hard to reach unless you knew her well. She didn't like to talk about herself. She loved to play pranks on others, and cheat - she was really competitive. But I guess we all were...it was the Horde, after all".
It was easier to think about the old Catra, the one before the war.
"But she could be very kind, you know? She took care of me. She helped me when I sprained my ankle. She came to my bed if I was having a nightmare. She gave me things - extra ration bars, pretty stones...".
She blushed when Glimmer and Bow gave her that look -the one when she said things about the Horde that sounded weird to them. That was another reason she didn't talk about her past, but she didn't tell them. It was not their fault - she was weird.
"I know, it sounds silly, but - Catra was my best friend. Sometimes she even took all the blame for things I did so I wouldn't be in trouble. So...it really hurt to call her my enemy. But she is...she was", she corrected herself.
"She was. But not anymore", Bow said. He squeezed her forearm and took the handkerchief back.
Adora pursed her lips. She wished she could be as positive as him. But, if she didn't believe in Catra, why she was coming to the enemy's ship to rescue her?
She had always hoped Catra would understand eventually. Even after what happened with the portal. That something would make her former best friend see the light and deflect the Horde, too. Even if she didn't join the Rebellion - not after all those times she rejected Adora, all the fights...
But Adora wanted her to be safe.
She wished the ship could go faster, but, according to Entrapta, it was going already at maximum speed for a long trip like this one.
"Glimmer, you were with Horde Prime on that ship... did he...did he did something to you?", Adora asked.
"No. He just... talked. A lot. He is scary and evil", Glimmer shuddered. "Adora, I don't think Horde Prime will hurt her. He probably knows about you two. I think... he wants to use her to lure you on his ship".
"...Yeah, I know". She felt that knot in the throat again. "I just hope she is ok".
"She will, once we rescue her", reassured her Bow.
Adora looked at the countdown again and felt her heartbeats go faster.
Two hours and twenty-eight minutes left. She sighed, trying to calm herself.
Two hours and twenty-eight minutes to get Catra back.