Chapter Text
The fur on her body stood on end as she walked through the Whispering Woods. Whispers seemed to follow her in every direction; just when she’d thought she escaped them, they’d come right back.
“I hate this place; it’s weird,” Catra grumbled, attempting to smooth out her fur. She was already frustrated enough, what with her tracker pad on the fritz. She was sure the strange woods were the cause, that the magic the woods held was incompatible with the tech in her hands or something like that. She never was good with tech; her nails always got in the way. She had chucked the tracker pad at a tree out of frustration about five minutes prior. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Now, she had no clue where she was, not that she knew in the first place.
Just as Catra was about to give up and head home, a bright beam of light shot up from somewhere nearby, piquing her interest. She walked closer and silently pushed through some bushes, her eyes widening as she saw a familiar blonde ponytail bobbing toward the light. Catra quickly scrambled up a tree for a better vantage point. Her eyes narrowed as the corner of her mouth curled into a smirk as she watched Adora from her perch.
"Hey, Adora.” Catra said to herself as Adora walked into the ruined crystalline structure.
Catra jumped down from the tree and disappeared into the building quietly after Adora, making it in long before the door slid shut behind her. She eyed Adora for a moment before moving to hide behind a pillar. She waited for Adora to leave down the hall before following her. Catra thought herself lucky to be so light on her feet, for the building was incredibly quiet and echoey. Any slip-up could give away her cover and ruin her one chance of getting this tech.
She peered around the pillar just in time to watch her friend turned foe round the corner and disappear from her line of sight. Catra galloped on all fours to round the same corner the blonde had just a few seconds prior and hid behind a tall crystalline structure.
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“Fine, you win,” Adora said as she de-transformed from her warrior form.
“You want me to be weak? Well, I am.” Adora said, pulling the Sword of Protection from its sling on her back. She tossed it aside and sat down, pulling her knees to her chest, “And I’m afraid. Because I’m no good at any of this.”
She felt defeated. One of her best friends was glitching and in pain; there seemed to be nothing she could do about it. Adora had been walking in circles for a few hours at this point. She had exhausted all her efforts and thought that perhaps it was time to admit defeat and admit to Glimmer she couldn’t help her. Admit that she had failed Glimmer, the Rebellion, and She-Ra.
Just as she was about to bury her face in her arms in defeat, a blinding light shone through the branches. It felt as though it was beckoning her, a sign for her. Adora quickly scrambled for her sword and slid it back into its sling. She cautiously walked toward the light, ducking beneath some branches and pushing through some leaves.
A grin spread on her face as she discovered the Crystal Castle. It stood, crumbling and decrepit, yet it felt achingly familiar. Her eyes scanned the height of the building, noticing a beam of light that shot straight into the clouds. She watched as the clouds swirled around the beam of light. Adora shook her head, re-focusing herself. She narrowed her eyes the same way she always did when she got serious about something. It was something her years of Horde training had instilled in her. Cold stoicism was always something that was heavily enforced, especially during training sessions.
Adora approached the Crystal Castle, seeing ‘Eternia’ written clear as day on the door. As the door opened, she felt a light prickling sensation at the back of her neck and an unsettled feeling in the pit of her stomach. She shook it off and continued into the building, figuring it to be the strange woods causing her discomfort. No matter where you went in the Whispering Woods, it always felt like someone was watching your every move.
The dust from the last millennium had settled into the engravings on the walls and flooring. Adora dragged her fingers along the wall as she walked, leaving lines through the dust. She wiped the dust from her fingers on her pants, feeling the grime embedded in her fingertips. Turning a corner, Adora discovered a walkway that led to an open platform. Adora followed the walkway until she came upon the platform. She looked around at the crystal obelisks that surrounded the stage.
“Hello?” Adora called out, her voice echoing through the Crystal Castle.
“I carry the sword of She-Ra, and I’ve come here for help. Is there anyone there?” Adora’s voice seemed to contain a hint of urgency as she spoke to what she almost assumed to be thin air.
“Greetings, Administrator. What is your query?” A monotonous voice said from behind Adora. The voice startled her, causing her to jump and turn in the direction the voice came from. She held her sword in a defensive pose before realizing her threat was simply an old hologram.
“Oh. I need your help to heal my friend.” She said, dropping her defensive stance.
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“I carry the sword of She-Ra, and I’ve come here for help. Is anyone there?” Adora’s voice called urgently. Catra used this opportunity to slide behind one of the crystal obelisks. Catra pressed her back against the crystal, ensuring she didn’t breathe or move too loudly as everything echoed in the unfamiliar building. Catra hadn’t yet peered from around the crystal to identify who or what the voice Adora was speaking to belonged to. It was monotonous and robotic, so she didn’t figure it belonged to anyone with flesh and blood.
“The legends say that She-Ra could heal people using this sword. How do I do that?” Adora asked, her voice laced with exhaustion.
“What is your query?” vocalized the hologram. Catra smirked to herself as the robotic tone evaded Adora’s question.
“Ugh, not this again.” Adora sounded exasperated. Catra couldn’t help but hold back a chuckle. Her foe’s inconvenience was amusing to her.
Catra sucked in one quiet, deep breath before poking her head around the pink obelisk she was up against. Her eyes narrowed in contempt as she watched Adora’s strong yet slim form convert to that of the muscular, glowing warrior that had stolen her best friend away. Her stomach twisted in horrible knots as she swallowed thickly; an expression of longing momentarily replaced her cold glare. Her icy mask had slipped for only a mere second. Had someone been looking at her, if they had blinked, they would have missed it.
Catra watched Adora’s frustrating exchange with the slightly transparent figure for only a few moments before quickly getting bored and deciding to scan the room for the tech she came for. Her eyes fell upon a disc; right out in the open. Smirking to herself, Catra quietly stepped over to the stand that the disc lay in. The feline glanced at Adora, ensuring she hadn't seen her. Once Catra confirmed she was in the clear, she carefully reached out and took the disc from its place.
She gazed at it with a victorious smirk until the stand’s engravings began to glow red. Catra couldn’t suppress the shriek that left her, altering Adora of her presence. Adora reacted immediately, striking the stand with a blast from her sword. The powerful burst barely missed Catra and reduced the disc’s home to smoking rubble. Catra was sure that strands of hair had gotten singed but could hardly care when she had almost been a casualty.
“Hey! Watch it!” Catra hissed.
“Catra? What are you doing here?” Adora asked incredulously. Before Catra could answer, the lights turned red, and an alarm bellowed overhead.
“Unauthorized presence detected. Security protocol activated.” The robotic voice warned before disappearing.
Adora groaned, “No, no, no, no. Not again!”
“What just happened?” Catra wailed, her tail swishing behind her anxiously.
“This isn’t good! You’re not supposed to be in here.” Adora, still in her She-Ra form, bit back.
One by one, each exit began to seal shut. Adora grabbed Catra by the arm and quickly pulled her toward a doorway that hadn’t yet closed. Mounds of glowing red eyes stopped the pair in their tracks. They recoiled, eyes widening at the creatures shrouded in darkness. They listened as it squelched and squealed, fear running their blood cold.
“What are those?!” The wild-haired feline cried.
“Also not good!” Adora shouted as she darted for another way out, Catra following close beside her. The creatures followed them from the shadows, appearing to be giant metal spiders. Catra’s heart was in her throat as they ran from the mechanical arachnid toward the final open door.
To their dismay, the door closed. Catra began to panic, her head snapping back to look at the spiders, chattering their way toward the frenzied pair. She-Ra had lifted the concrete door, holding it open above her head. The concrete crumbled and cracked in her strong hands. Adora turned back to see Catra watching the spiders fearfully.
“Come on! We need to run!” She urged Catra, pulling her focus from the rapidly approaching spiders. Catra turned and bolted under the door, Adora following behind and dropping the door. The door crumbled slightly but stayed strong enough to buy them some time from the spiders that would stop at nothing to protect the Crystal Castle.
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They coughed as the rubble and dust settled; Adora’s She-Ra form faded as she slid her sword into its sheath. “You shouldn’t be here, Catra. Those things aren’t gonna stop until they get you. And as long as I’m protecting you, they’ll see me as a threat, too.” Adora grumbled unamusedly.
“Uh, good thing I didn’t ask you to protect me.” Catra retorted.
The two continued with sarcastic banter, almost forgetting that they were enemies. That was until Adora watched Catra with a cocky smirk. Catra quickly caught on to what Adora was looking so smug about.
“I know what this is about,” Catra’s tail swished irritatedly, “Ugh, I knew you’d be weird about me letting you escape. I told you, it’s not because I like you!”
“I mean– I didn’t say anything,” Adora countered smugly.
“Anyway, what are you doing out here? Where are your new best friends? I thought you did everything together?” Catra mocked.
Adora’s amused expression dropped and turned to an icy glare, “Oh, my friends? You mean the ones you kidnapped and held for ransom? The ones you let Shadow Weaver imprison and curse?” Adora had gotten in Catra’s face once she finished, to which Catra seemed entirely unbothered.
“Yeah, obviously. What other friends would I be talking about?” Catra responded nonchalantly.
They glared at each other briefly before Adora suggested they move on. The spiders would be back soon, she warned. Catra rolled her eyes and insisted they needn’t go together, that she would make her own way. To Catra’s horror, there was only one direction the two could go in.