Chapter Text
“Adora was right. Light Hope used me. She activated the heart.”
The First One's writing covering Glimmer’s skin felt like fire, leeching away her magic. It felt so wrong.
“So? I thought you wanted to win. Use your weapon.”
The power she felt before was nowhere to be found, replaced by a realization. She failed. She pushed everyone away to take down the Horde, and she failed.
“I can’t! It would destroy everything!”
But she was still here. She had to do something, anything, to try to fix her mistake.
“I have to try and stop it.” She slowly picked herself up, teleporting her staff back to Bright Moon. She started walking towards the Black Garnet, feeling like that was her best option. Catra limped along behind her, staying out of sight, but still close by.
She readied what magic she still had, and started blasting at the Black Garnet. It didn’t matter whether it would work or not. She still had to try. Catra hid behind a nearby piece of rubble, countless thoughts running through her mind.
A large purple wave began covering the sky. Glimmer didn’t know what was happening, but she knew it was bad. Very, very bad.
“No, no, nonono…” She whispered to herself. She pulled every last bit of magic to her hands, preparing for one final blast. It hurt. It really fucking hurt. But she knew she had to do it. She screamed in pain as she released the final blast, and it hit its mark. The last thing she remembered before passing out was a large chunk of the Black Garnet breaking away, and a figure stepping out of the shadows.
“What…” Light Hope said, as the connection to the Black Garnet seemed to disconnect, if only for a moment. She watched closely, trying to ascertain the reason.
“What’s happening?” Adora asked, before suddenly, everything started shaking.
“No… This can’t be happening.” Light Hope began glitching out, as the magic surrounding Adora began to dissipate. She saw that the Black Garnet’s connection to the heart was completely severed.
“Adora… I’m sorry.” Was the last thing Light Hope said, before everything seemed to fall apart.
Catra woke up with a start, hyperventilating. She hugged her arms to herself for a second as she took in her surroundings. She was… in Bright Moon. In her own personal quarters. And she just woke up from a weird dream. Right. She sighed as she calmed herself down, and got out of bed, putting on her familiar attire. As she was putting on her mask, her door burst open. she turned around quickly, her claws drawn and her fangs bared.
“Hey, Ca- Uh. You ok there?” Adora said, closing the door behind her. Catra calmed down after a second, confused as to why she felt so defensive. She brushed it off as Adora catching her off guard.
“Yeah, sorry. Just had a weird dream. Also don’t scare me like that!” She said as she lightly punched Adora in the arm.
“Pfft, my bad, my bad. I can’t believe you slept in the day after your promotion!”
For some reason, Catra felt a mix of emotions at the thought of a promotion. Happiness, anxiety, power. But right now, she was just confused.
“Huh? What promotion?”
“Did you hit your head at the party last night or something? Your promotion! We’re both Glimmer’s personal bodyguards now!”
At the mention of Glimmer’s name, Catra felt angry for a moment before the feeling subsided. She couldn’t quite place why, but she wasn’t her biggest fan. But a promotion was a promotion, as they say.
“Pfft, yeah, of course I remember the promotion! I was just messing with you.” She joked, despite the fact that it was absolutely a genuine question.
“Heh, alright, alright. I gotta head out to another outpost soon, but I still have time. Wanna walk and talk for a lil while?” She began walking to the door, holding it open for Catra.
“Sure!” She replied. She was happy to be able to talk like old times.
‘Wait, old times?’ She thought to herself. ‘It’s always been like this, right?’
They bantered while walking down the hallway, having a good time, but something made Catra… uneasy. She passed it off as nerves, until…
“So then I said, “maybe if you weren't such a bootl-”
Flashes of scenes raced through her mind. Red lasers blasting through buildings. Betrayal, and a harsh reality check. Overwhelming magic. Someone trying to fix their mistakes.
She recoiled, holding a hand to her head. The- The fuck was that?
“Huh? Are you alright there?” Adora said, stepping forward with worry on her face.
“Y-Yeah, sorry. Just got a bad headache or somethin.” She replied. She had no idea how to explain what she just saw, especially not without sounding crazy.
“Oh, maybe it was because of the party last night.” She said. Her attention was quickly taken away as she received a message on her commpad.
“Ah shit, I forgot! I have to go to that outpost I mentioned. It won’t be too long, just a few hours. Think you can handle this by yourself, royal guard?” She crossed her arms and smirked as she said the last sentence.
“Pfft, of course I can. Think you can handle whatever it is you’re doin?” She returned the smirk, putting a hand on her hip.
“Of course I can. I am She-Ra after all.” She gestured to her golden wristband, which Catra hadn’t noticed till now. Another wave of anger washed through her at the mention of She-Ra, but she pushed it aside for now. She was probably just a little cranky from waking up.
“Ok, I gotta go. Seeya!” She waved to Catra as she ran off, who returned it, albeit less enthusiastically. She started roaming the halls, looking out the windows and admiring the view. She felt… somewhat conflicted, but couldn’t quite figure out why. Until she saw the moonstone, and the tips of pink, translucent wings, vanishing into the moonstone chamber.
Everything hit her at once. Her life in the Horde. Adora leaving. Shadow weaver’s abuse. Her rising through the ranks, only for it to all lead to nothing. She remembered the fight with hordak. She remembered Double Trouble’s betrayal. She remembered the scene at the heart of etheria. She remembered the portal. She remembered almost everything. She recoiled again, hyperventilating, holding a hand to her chest. Her heart was beating faster. Countless thoughts raced through her mind. She felt like she was losing her grip on her senses, tears started to form in her eyes. There was a burning sensation near her heart that wouldn’t go away. She slumped against the wall as she tried to calm herself down.
Her breathing and heart rate slowed, and her thoughts slowed down after she sat there for a few minutes. She barely had time to process everything when she heard footsteps nearby, coming towards her. She kept her eye on where she heard the footsteps, and saw Glimmer turn the corner. Her eyes immediately were filled with worry as she ran over. Catra immediately stood up, taking in her surroundings.
“What happened, Catra!? Are you okay? Do you need anything?” She asked, very clearly worried. When Catra realized they were alone, she immediately slammed Glimmer into a wall.
“WHAT DID YOU DO!?!” She yelled, anger and panic consuming her.
“What do you mea-” Glimmer started, before clearly having a similar experience to Catra. Her eyes went wide as she remembered everything as well.
Suddenly, everything around them started to change. The ground around them started cracking, red light pouring out. Panic covered Glimmer’s face.
“W-What is…” Glimmer started, before being interrupted.
“DON’T act like you don’t know what’s happening! You know exactly what this is. None of this is real!” She retorted. The cracks started growing, tearing the scenery apart.
“Wh.. No… It… It has to be real! Everything’s perfect here! Th-The Horde’s gone! My parents are alive! I never… I never pushed anyone away. This is perfect. It… It has to be…” She stammered.
“The fact that it’s perfect is exactly why it’s not real, dumbass! None of this is going to matter if all of fucking reality is going to be destroyed!” She tried to get Glimmer to wake up from all of this. But her fears, her doubts, her self hatred, everything was clouding her judgement. She pushed back against Catra, breaking out of the grip she had her in.
“How do you know that!” She asked, trying to stop herself from breaking down.
“Look around us! Does any of this seem normal to you!?!” She gestured to the fractured landscape around them, stained red by the energy emanating from the cracks in the ground. She moved closer to Glimmer, trying to get her attention. Glimmer held her head in her hands as she tried to block it out.
“Are you even LISTENING!?” Catra yelled, grabbing onto her arms, which caused Glimmer to instinctively punch her in the mouth. Catra recoiled, stumbling back a few feet. She held her jaw in her hand, surprise covered her face, before being replaced by anger.
“Oh, so we’re gonna do it like that, huh, Princess?” She said, before jumping Glimmer. She quickly fell into the rhythm of the fight, teleporting around and trying to confuse Catra and catch her off guard. She got in a few quick hits, and Catra returned some in kind, before she caught onto the pattern of her teleports. She timed a kick that hit her square in the gut, knocking her back…
And right off of the edge.
Catra instinctively jumped forward, trying to catch her. But she barely missed. Glimmer’s scream rang out as she fell, out of magic, directly into the glowing cracks. Catra stood up, unsure of why she lunged for her, before seeing that her arm covering was scratched up in the scuffle. She took it off, and saw… Scars. A faint black scar covered much of her arm, snaking its way from her wrist to her shoulder. And that’s when it hit her.
Memories flooded back once again. Ones of pain, as if her body was being torn apart, and her demons taking control of her. She remembered the basics of the portal before, but now she remembered what happened. What she became. She looked over the edge of the portal, remorse covering her face. She turned around, and saw something strange.
She saw a small, old lady with a large stick. She seemed undisturbed by the situation going on around her as she beckoned for Catra to follow her, before disappearing around a corner. Catra was certainly confused, but she was out of options on what to do next, so she ran to follow.
As she ran off, however, a black hand reached over the cliff nearby. The figure pulled themself out over the edge. They unfurled their translucent wings, the right one an angelic, regal one. The other was pure black and jagged, almost demonic. Their left arm and shoulder were completely pitch black, as well as the left side of their face. Red cracks covered their body where the pitch black met their original form. The figure turned their glowing purple eye towards the direction Catra had run off in, and flew off to follow.