Chapter Text
The halls of Bright Moon were dim, the palace asleep. As melodies of melancholia echoing from the night sky bore their way into Finn’s mind, they stood up and got out of bed. The floor was a touch cold on their bare feet. Walking quietly, they stopped and stood in front of a large mosaic with glass stained by bright colors and deep longing. Even in the dark, it shone mighty with reverence. They pressed their hand to the mosaic, an ache of grief for someone they never knew simmered deep within their chest, and a tightening sensation in their throat made them turn away.
“Finn?” they heard from behind them. They turned and saw their mother, Adora. “What’re you doing up?”
“What’re you doing up?” they asked, placing their hands akimbo on their hips.
“I was hoping to get some fresh air,” said Adora. She held her hand out to her child. “Wanna come?”
Finn nodded and took their mother’s hand, walking out with her to the garden. They walked past a bundle of daisies, a small plaque on the ground with the name Shadow Weaver embedded into it sat at the foot of the daisies in memoriam. The two walked further out until they reached the garden's edge, finding a place on the balcony overlooking the Whispering Woods. It might’ve been the light, but Finn swore they could see the landscape shifting quietly.
“When am I gonna get to go out and explore the woods by myself?” asked Finn. “I’m seventeen now, I think that’s plenty old,” they humphed, placing their arms across their chest defensively.
Adora chuckled. “You have grown up faster than I can keep up with, that’s for sure.” She looked over and saw Finn staring at the horizon. Her white gown blew gently in the wind, her hair dancing with the breeze as it lay untied on her back. “You were looking at the mosaic again.”
“Yeah…” said Finn sadly. “I just… wish I coulda met her.”
Adora gently placed her hand on their shoulder. “The only thing I’ve ever wanted for you was for you to meet her.”
“When will you tell me what happened to her?” they asked, looking up at their mother. “What really happened?”
Adora looked over the woods and let out a heavy sigh, weighed down by years of grief. “Honestly, I don’t even know where to begin,” she said. “But, I suppose I shouldn’t keep it from you anymore.”
“This,” started Adora, “is how we lost your mother, Catra.”
****
Sixteen years earlier, the halls of Bright Moon were bright and shining.
“So,” started Catra, lying on the bed in Adora’s room at Bright Moon. “How exactly do you envision this going down?” she asked. “You’ve been talking about this ‘one more best-friends squad road trip’ for ever now,” she groaned, turning over onto her stomach.
Adora finished flinging on her bright red jacket and buckled her belt across her pants. “We can restore magic to the universe,” she explained. “We’re the last ones who have any besides Melog. And after what Prime did…” her words trailed and she looked down at her hands. They were shaking slightly. In her mind, she saw Krytis. The devastation left on that planet was hard for her to carry but equally harder for her to forget.
Catra walked over to Adora and took Adora’s hands into her own. “I saw what Prime did,” she said, pressing her forehead to Adora’s. “I’m asking what’s the plan?” Her voice was gentle. “It’s been over five years since we defeated Prime, and you’ve been talking about this what feels like every day since.”
“I dunno,” admitted Adora softly. She could just barely hear Catra purring. “We just… restore the magic?”
Catra slowly pulled away from Adora and crossed her arms across her chest. “Oh is that all?” she asked sarcastically. “We leave today and that’s the entire plan?”
Adora laughed as she walked past Catra and towards the door. “Yeah,” she said, turning around to face Catra, a smug look on her face. “That’s all. Now, you coming? We leave this afternoon.” She bumped the door open and gestured for her to follow as she left.
“Either way,” Adora started, “We’re great at improvising.”
“Uh-huh,” Catra replied sarcastically.
As they walked out into the halls of Bright Moon, the guards stood and saluted them as they passed and walked into the war room. The warmth of the just-risen sun was peeling into the windows and poured over the palace. Adora opened the door to the war room and she and Catra walked in.
“Perfect!” called Glimmer from the table. “You’re right on time. Where’s Finn?”
“With Scorpia,” said Adora. “Now that they can crawl, I hope they aren’t too much for her and Perfuma.”
“Well,” began Bow. “We were mapping out a flight path to take.” He pressed a button on the table and a large projection space appeared above it, reaching high into the room. “This is the quadrant of space we’re in,” he explained. “Entrapta’s given us this map so we can keep track of where we are, and what planets we go to.”
“Wait-wait,” interjected Catra. “Okay so we’re going on this magic quest… thing to… what was it again?” she asked quietly to Adora.
“Restore magic to the universe,” Adora confirmed quietly.
“Right, that,” said Catra. “But… you and Glimmer are the only ones going with magic. What are Bow and I supposed to do while you guys do… whatever that means?” she asked.
“We haven’t worked out the details,” said Glimmer, dispersing the projection above the table. “But we’ll figure it out as we go,” she said optimistically. “We’re great at quests!”
****
“You went in with no plan?” Finn asked, flabbergasted. “You never go in with no plan.”
Adora shrugged. “How do you plan something like that?” she asked. “Magic is wild, and unpredictable,” she said. “Look at the Whispering Woods shifting,” she pointed. “Do you think you could tell me where the trees will end up when they finally stop moving?”
“Well… no,” admitted Finn.
“Exactly,” Adora said. “We decided we’d play it by ear, and react how we could.”
“What happened after that?” Finn asked.
“Well, after some admittedly rough goodbyes, we headed off,” Adora reminisced. “Mara’s ship was still in rough condition, but Entrapta and Hordak were able to get it up and running.” She pointed down into the woods. “That’s it, there,” she said.
“Woah…” Finn admired, looking at the now worn-down and overgrown ship that lay beneath the tree cover. “Did they go with you?”
“Entrapta did,” said Adora. “It’s hard to keep her out of space,” she laughed. “Hordak didn’t want to, though. He said that he needed to make amends on this planet first. He said the stars had seen enough of him.”
Finn’s eyes were enamored with the spaceship down below them.
****
“Entrapta, is everything good?” Bow asked. He slid out from underneath the dashboard and stood up.
“Yep!” confirmed Entrapta excitedly. She brushed her hands off on her overalls. “We’re all set to launch!” She turned and gave Adora the thumbs-up.
Adora sat in the captain’s chair, Catra spread across the back of the chair, her arms curtained over Adora’s shoulders. She took a deep breath in and out. “Hey Darla,” said Adora. “Let’s fly.”
All at once, the ship began to float, and the leaves on the windshield fell away. Adora’s heart was beating out of her chest with nerves. She had no idea what they were about to get into, but as she felt Catra grab her hands, her worries fell away like the leaves on the windshield. Melog put their front paws on the armrest of the chair and began to lick Adora’s face.
“Thanks, guys,” said Adora with a smile. “What’s our first planet?” she asked Entrapta.
Entrapta pulled up a projection of the star map. “Looks like it’s the nearest planet to us: Draxus,” she said.
“Do we know anything about this ‘Draxus’?” Catra asked, stepping away from Adora and walking over to the map.
“The atmosphere is breathable, and from previously recorded First One’s data, there does appear to be life on the planet,” Entrapta confirmed. “But we don’t know if the life is sentient… based upon the same basic elements as us… can even communicate using the same means as we do… let alone language—” she began to ramble, walking in circles.
“Slow down,” Catra interrupted, putting a finger on Entrapta’s forehead, stopping her in place. “Again, please.”
Entrapta sighed. “No, we don’t know anything.”
Catra rolled her eyes and went over to the side of the cabin, sitting on the console. She looked out of the window as the ship began to exit Etheria’s atmosphere. As she stared out of the window and down at the planet they were leaving, she placed her hand on the back of her neck.
“Hey,” Glimmer said, walking up next to her. She sat down across from Catra on the console.
“Hey,” responded Catra, removing her hand from her neck. They spoke at a lower volume.
“You doing okay?” asked Glimmer. “I know you and space don’t exactly… get along very well.”
“I’m fine,” said Catra, crossing her arms tightly across her chest. “I just hope we know what we’re doing.”
A long silence interjected itself between them as Glimmer and Catra watched the stars fly by.
“Ugh,” Catra groaned. “How long does space travel take?” she asked frustratedly and loudly. She flopped backwards on the console with a huff. “I feel like we’ve been up here all day already.”
“It’s been like ten minutes,” Bow said from the other side of the cabin, unimpressed.
“Oh, it’ll take at least a few days to get to Draxus,” Entrapta confirmed.
“Days?” Catra asked, exasperated. She laid down on the console and buried her face in her hands.
“Glimmer,” Adora started, walking over to where she and Catra sat. “With how long we’ll be gone, do you think Bright Moon will be okay?”
“They’ll be fine,” Glimmer responded with nonchalance. “My dad’s a king, he’ll be able to handle things.”
“He also ate bugs for over a decade,” pointed out Bow from the other side of the room, looking at the dashboard.
****
“Eww,” said Finn with a grossed-out laughter. “King Micah really ate bugs on Beast Island?”
Adora chuckled and ruffled the top of their head. “Well, how else did you think he’d survive? It’s Beast Island.”
“What happened next?” Finn asked, chomping at the bit to hear more.
****
“Well, Draxus was a bust,” said Bow, as they re-entered the ship. It had been five days since they’d touched down on the planet, and there was no sentient life. Only wild animals, who weren’t exactly keen on visitors. “Mark that one off the map.”
“Y’know, I’ve been thinking,” said Glimmer, as they re-entered the ship.
“That’s a first,” Catra added sarcastically. Glimmer huffed.
“What if we’re doing it the wrong way?” she asked. “Maybe if we go back home, we can set up some kind of… long-range communication or something? So that way we can establish some kind of contact with the other worlds before we touch down on them. Entrapta?”
Entrapta hummed in thought. “That may be possible,” she murmured. “Now that we’re out of Despondos, we have access to transmission frequencies we didn't have before. Darla,” she then said. “Take us to orbit.” The ship began to fly gently out of the planet’s atmosphere.
Catra went over to the large holographic star map in the center of the cabin. She noticed a big, blue dot. It flickered in place, and seemed erratic in nature. “What’s that?” she asked, pointing to it. “A planet?” As soon as she looked away from the dot, it disappeared.
“What’s what?” Adora asked, walking over to the map.
Catra looked back to the map and saw there was nothing behind her pointed finger. “What? There was just something there. Something big.”
Entrapta looked over to the map. “Oh! That must be the quantum-dimensional rift! I noticed it a few years ago and have been waiting for an excuse to come up here to collect more information from it.”
Adora and Catra looked at her in silent confusion. “A what?” Adora asked.
“It’s essentially a hole in spacetime that exists in multiple places at the same time, but due to its quantum nature can only stay in one of those places when observed. In layman’s terms, it’s like a portal that constantly moves around space unless you’re looking at it,” she explained. “Ohhh I’d be so excited to see what’s on the other side of it,” she said with a giddy voice.
“And you didn’t feel the need to tell us about the big hole in space before we went up into space?” asked Catra.
“So far it’s been keeping to the other side of our solar system,” said Entrapta. “I’ve been studying it for years and I haven't recorded it ever entering any positions near where we are.”
“So far?” asked Glimmer. “What would happen if it came over here? What if we got caught inside it?”
“Nothing good,” said Bow, staring at the map.
****
Adora let out a roaring yawn. “Why don’t I finish telling you some other time?” she asked. “It’s getting late.” She began to usher them back inside.
“Awh,” they complained. As they walked back inside, Finn looked over their shoulder at the ship in the distance, taking one final glance at it before being shuffled back inside. They walked back through the halls and paused in front of the mosaic. It pictured Catra with a mighty glory. The mosaic depicted her with her eyes closed, a smile on her face, and a light shining down on her from above. Adora stared at it, even after all this time, the pain had never left her. A feeling of tightness welled in the bottom of her throat. The only thing she wanted was to hear her voice, feel the softness of her fur, one more time.
“Mom?” Finn asked, looking up at her in concern.
Adora looked down and saw Finn wrapping their arms around her. She leaned over slightly and returned the embrace. “You should get to bed,” she said. “You have lessons with Castaspella tomorrow, remember?”
“I know, I know,” they sighed. “Goodnight, Mom,” they said, walking towards their bedroom. They opened the door and closed it behind them.
****
The moonlight that night offered a subtle white glow with a hint of blue cast over the room. They laid down in bed gently. The breeze through the open-air windows was pleasant, blowing against their fur softly. They hadn’t noticed before, but from their window they could see Mara’s ship in the forest. It was in an obvious state of disrepair. The more they looked at the ship, the more they wanted to know. Curiosity ate away at them until eventually they got up out of bed and walked over to the window. They stared at the ship for a long moment before nodding in resolution.
They found various bed sheets and towels that were tucked away in closets and tied them all together to make a long rope out of them. They went out onto the balcony of their room and tied the rope around a banister twice with a tight knot. They looked over the edge briefly, then nodded resolutely once more. Carefully, Finn scaled down the side of the castle, making sure they weren’t heard or seen through the windows. Their arms grew tired of the descent rather quickly, and as they looked down they saw the Bright Moon moat beneath them. They closed their eyes, took a deep breath in, and bounded off the wall of the castle. They leapt over the moat and landed harshly on the edge of the cliff, grabbing onto it tightly. They began to slip off, however, and they frantically pulled themself up onto the edge and laid down on their back, panting heavily.
Eventually, they made their way into the Whispering Woods. They had heard stories of the Woods, but only ever went out with their mother, or Glimmer, or whoever else could supervise them. This was their first time out alone. Quickly, they made their way towards the ship. There was a gentle breeze and the stars shone through the cracks of the forest ceiling.
As they walked silently through the forest, they heard a variety of sounds all around them. However, there was one sound that was distinct among all the others. Footsteps. Someone was following them. Immediately, Finn’s ears twitched as their heart began to pound in their chest. Whoever it was, they were catching up to Finn. Quickly, Finn turned around and struck the person behind them out of instinct.
“Ow!” they cried. “What was that for, Finn?”
Finn finally saw who it was. It was Flora, Scorpia and Perfuma’s daughter; their best friend. They reached out their arm to help her up. “Well, why were you sneaking around behind me?” they asked. “Coulda just said something.”
“I didn’t know where you were going,” said Flora, rubbing her shoulder. “Plus I didn’t expect you to punch me,” she added. “Jeez.” She reached down and retrieved the small brown satchel she had resting over her shoulder. “Where… are you going, actually?” She looked ahead and saw only more trees.
“Mara’s old ship,” they said. “Mom’s finally telling me what happened to Catra all those years ago, so I wanted to go see the ship myself.” There was a brief pause, then they realized: “What are you doing out here? You don’t even live in the castle, shouldn’t you be in Plumeria?”
“I was staying the night,” she explained. “I was showing Bow modifications I made to the tracker pad he gave me, and we were up so late it was better to just wait until tomorrow to go back.”
“Well,” began Finn. “You coming?”
“We shouldn’t be out here,” said Flora, adjusting her satchel. She quickly looked inside to make sure everything she carried in it was still present and accounted for. “Do you know how much trouble we’ll be in when we’re caught?”
“If,” said Finn with confident naivety. They began sauntering towards the ship.
“When,” Flora added firmly, walking along with them. “Why do you even wanna see the ship? I doubt anything on it still works. Especially anymore since your mom isn’t… you-know-who anymore.”
Finn shot her an angered glare.
“Sheesh,” Flora said, putting her hands up. “Sorry. I didn’t realize it bothered you guys that much.”
Finn sighed, easing up. “It bothers her more than me. I never really knew Mom as She-Ra, but she still doesn’t like to bring it up.”
“What happened to She-Ra, anyway?” Flora asked, slightly curious.
“I dunno,” Finn said. “One day when I was little she just… couldn’t summon She-Ra,we never figured out why, and she gets mad when I talk about it. Either way, I wanna know what happened to Catra,” they said. “My mom only told me part of the story, and I don’t know if she’s sugar-coating it or not.” Finn clenched their fists as they walked. “Knowing her she probably is.”
They came across a clearing in the forest, and there rested the ship. There were panels torn up on the side and it had a menacing aura around it. Large vines had completely overgrown the ship, holding it firmly to the ground. They walked up to it slowly. They both stood at the stern of the ship awkwardly, waiting. A couple of seconds passed by, and the only sound they heard was that of the night insects in the distance.
“Should… something be happening right now?” Flora asked.
“I… don’t actually know,” Finn admitted. “This is where the door is. You think there’s a password?”
“It’s old First Ones junk, of course there’s a password,” said Flora, crossing her arms across her chest.
Finn looked over and smirked at Flora. “How much do you wanna bet it’s the same one they always use?”
Flora chuckled, looking the ship up and down. “That’s a pretty safe bet,” she said. “Eternia!” She then dramatically called to the ship.
With a loud mechanical whirring, the door to the ship opened and a ramp lowered itself to their feet. Flora smirked at Finn. “Every time.”
Finn took in a deep breath before exhaling. “Let’s head inside.”
The walls were dilapidated, and there were small rodents in the corners of the room that scurried away when the moonlight filled the cabin. They slowly walked out into the cockpit. A large brush covered the windshield, blocking the light from outside. Flora pulled a small handheld light from her bag, illuminating the room.
Finn looked over and found the captain’s chair. Flora went over to the front console, enamored by all the buttons and switches.
“Probably shouldn’t touch any of that,” Finn called from the other side of the room.
“It’s fine,” said Flora, nonchalant. “None of it works anyways,” she added under her breath, looking back at the array of interfaces on the dashboard.
“Do you have your tracker pad on you?” Finn asked. “Plug it into the console and run a diagnostic. See if we can find out what happened here.”
Flora reached and pulled the tracker pad from her bag. She pulled a few metal panels off of the dashboard and found the correct ports for her to plug her tracker pad into. “By the way, I seriously doubt any of the fuel crystals still have any charge left,” she informed. “They’ve been sitting idle for like… twelve years.”
“Please– just… try?” Finn asked, looking at Flora with almost begging eyes.
“Okay, okay,” she said. She jacked her tracker pad into the console of Mara’s ship and watched as lines of First One’s writing flew across the screen. She looked over and saw Finn staring at the chair. She waited for a moment for them to notice her, but for some reason their eyes were locked with the captain’s chair in the center of the cockpit.
“Once you’re done staring a hole through that chair can you come and translate for me please? I can’t read this,” she asked.
Finn walked over and watched the lines of First One’s writing fly across the screen. “Uhmm…” they said, mulling over the lines of writing. “It’s saying that ‘fuel reserves are low–’”
“Told you,” Flora interrupted smugly.
Finn rolled their eyes at her. “‘The ship’s black box data cannot be retrieved’ because we need administrator access, which is blocked behind a firewall,” they said. “Think you can get through that?”
“Obviously,” Flora said. She began to frantically tap on the screen to her tracker pad. “One second.”
Finn watched as Flora was doing what they knew she did best. However, a question did come to mind. “What’s the ship’s ‘black box’?” they asked.
“It’s just something that records the diagnostic and telemtry data of the ship before it crashes or something catastrophic happens,” she said. “But since the ship didn’t crash, I doubt there’s anything there.”
“Is there anything else we could look at?”
“I dunno, you tell me,” she said, holding the tracker pad up to Finn.
Finn tapped on the screen a few times. “This is the main file directory, but there’s nothing here. The computer on board was probably wiped during one of Entrapta’s experiments with Darla.”
“Black box data it is, then.”
Flora tapped and typed on her tracker pad until she was able to bypass the administrator lock on the ship’s computer. “Got it,” she said, showing the tracker pad to Finn. “What does it say?”
Finn looked at it and was clearly puzzled. “It says that the ship went through a portal… but a lot of this writing is degraded” they said. “It’s saying the last known position of the ship before impact was ‘12-A, 92, T-23, 801-F, 12-10,’ and ‘1’.” They looked up at Flora. “That mean anything to you?”
Flora turned the tracker pad to herself, confused as well. “No…” she said. She then reached into her bag and grabbed a small notebook and pen. “12-A… 92…” she began to murmur the string of numbers under her breath, frantically writing the numbers down onto the paper.
Finn gazed over the entire front console of the ship. “Is there any way we can turn this thing on?”
“Not without fuel,” said Flora, slapping the notebook closed and returning it to her bag. “The ship’s computer is probably on an ancillary power source, but if we want this thing to tell us anything else, we’ll need power; and if we want it to go anywhere, we’ll need fuel crystals. I’m heading to Dryl tomorrow, I’ll ask Entrapta what she makes of these numbers. In the meantime, you’ll have to figure out the fuel problem.”
“What kind of crystals does the ship need?” Finn asked.
Flora shrugged. “No idea, that's why you're figuring it out.”
Finn sighed. “Right.”
“I’m sure the hologram at the crystal castle would know.” Flora said.
“The hologram at the crystal castle doesn’t do anything,” Finn said. Flora turned around and began to walk away but Finn gently grabbed her arm. “Flora,” they began, “thank you. For helping me.”
Flora smiled, gently and playfully punching Finn’s shoulder. “You know I got you,” she said. “Now come on, if your mom sees that rope of sheets you tied you’ll be grounded for the rest of your life.”
She grabbed Finn’s hand and they ran out of the ship together, back into the woods.