Chapter Text
Catra was a very irritated magicat.
Today started bad and got worse; she woke up late (again) and made it to the training room just in time to see Adora take down the last bot and managed to make a witty bonne mot before the simulation officially ended, which kept her from getting a demerit for failing to show, but she still got hit with extra cleaning duty for being late. Then Shadow Weaver … happened in her life, again. If she never saw the woman again it would be too soon, but she had Hordak’s ear, so everyone but Adora got fucked while Weaver treated Adora like she was the greatest thing since gray ration bars. And since Catra was Adora’s favorite, Catra got an extra helping of bile and spite from the old sorceress. Then came the news from her newly promoted best friend that she wouldn’t be going with Adora on her first mission. That the rest of the cadet squad also wouldn’t be going wasn’t really a balm.
Things were looking up for a little bit, Adora displaying that tiny little thread of a rebellious streak that was always hiding just under the surface by snagging the keys to a skiff seemed like a sign of the rest of her day being good…then she had to go and crash it into a tree, tossing Adora over the side.
Bad became worse when the blond wouldn’t shut up about a sword. A sword that didn’t, apparently, actually exist from what Catra had seen.
Now she was standing in the hallway of the barracks, doing her best to block a girl that was already larger than she was and was bound and determined to hunt down a non-existent weapon. “What is wrong with you? You've been acting weird since we got back. Are you sure you're not brain-damaged?!”
Adora gave her the “kicked puppy” look that Catra hated ‘cause it meant she was going to agree with whatever Adora asked for, “Look Catra, I know I saw something out there. It's ju- I just need to get another look. It feels important somehow.”
The chill in the air that always preceded Shadow Weaver’s presence by mere moments was Catra’s only warning as they heard, “Adora…Catra…what has the pair of you out of bed after lights out, I wonder?”
If there was one good thing about being caught by Shadow Weaver, it was that Adora stopped trying to press past her and stood at rigid attention. Catra relaxed a bit and stood in her usual position in this sort of situation, just behind and to the side, like she was doing her best to hide in Adora’s shadow. It never worked, of course, but like Kyle had his “lucky socks” and Rogellio always did a “warm up routine” in the locker room which consisted of banging his head against a wall before every simulation drill, it was one of those mild superstitions that every soldier had.
“Sorry, ma’am,” reported Adora, “I was trying to investigate…something.” Like most things Adora said when trying to cover for Catra in some way, it was a partial truth completed by a lie of omission.
Catra watched her friend, observing the uncharacteristic twitching the girl was making while she would normally be almost relaxed in the rigid posture demanded by cadets. Her eyes kept flickering in the direction of the skiff bay.
It was obvious Shadow Weaver noticed, as well. The eyes visible through the woman’s mask narrowed. “I see…and was there anything about this investigation you wanted to tell me about?”
“No, ma’am. It’s probably nothing…”
That’s it… thought Catra, She’s not acting normally, I don’t care if I get even more punishment duty, she needs to be checked out , “Ma’am, I think she’s got a brain injury or something.”
“ Catra!” hissed Adora.
The magicat pushed on, “I…convinced her to take a skiff out for…training purposes. We drifted into the Whispering Woods and hit a tree, Adora fell out and hit her head or something ‘cause when I got the skiff stopped and went to check on her she was out cold on the forest floor. When she came to, she was talking about a sword and kept saying we had to find it.”
Shadow Weaver leaned forward, “...sword…” came the muttered breath as she reached out a hand and summoned a rune in the air. She waved slowly down Adora’s front, both girls watching in tense curiosity. “Interesting,” Weaver declared, “Traces of foreign magical influence, something that wasn’t there before. Similar to what the princesses use.”
Catra tensed and Adora nearly panicked, “W…what?! But we weren’t near any princesses!”
“Magic isn’t like a blaster or stun baton, Adora, it can be used remotely or even be set to wait and trigger even if the princess or sorceress is nowhere near.” she stood straight and started back down the hall away from the cadet barracks. The pair of them stood in confusion before Shadow Weaver snapped, “Come along, both of you!”
Adora was strapped down to an exam table. She hadn’t been strapped down at first, but she kept getting up and walking toward the door when she wasn’t being directly examined or asked questions. By this point, Catra was genuinely concerned, whether because of Shadow Weaver’s scrutiny (which was never a good thing) or because of Adora’s odd behavior.
As for the sorceress, she was digging through some boxes on the other side of her lab while Catra sat on a counter near Adora.
“Catra,” Adora hissed, “Why did you tell Shadow Weaver?! You never volunteer information to her!”
The magicat resisted the urge to whine, “Adora, look at yourself! You can barely stop yourself from wandering out of the lab while she’s watching! ” She hopped to her feet and closed the small distance to knock on Adora’s forehead, “Something’s wrong with you, dummy, and the only reason I told Shadow Weaver is ‘cause you’re too heavy for me to drag you to the infirmary after I knock you out.”
“And for once she made a wise decision,” interrupted Shadow Weaver as she straightened, holding an item in each hand. She held up one item, which was a fragment of what looked like some sort of mural. From what they could see of the artwork, it showed a pair of hands holding the hilt of a sword, stylized in the Etherian fresco method of giving the appearance and detail of an item without appearing directly lifelike. The sword itself was fully represented, even if everything besides the sword seemed to have been systematically broken away. “The sword you say you saw, Adora…did it look like this?”
Adora studied the tablet for just a moment before vigorously nodding her head.
“Hmmm…concerning,” was Shadow Weaver’s response, “But not really surprising. If you did come near that sword, even accidentally, it could have imprinted magically on you. As ancient as it is, that sword is a legendary artifact and a source of incredible magic. We need to locate it and bring it back to the Fright Zone before the Rebellion can get their hands on it. If it’s activated enough to imprint on Adora, then the Rebellion already will have detected it as well.”
Adora started squirming in her restraints, “Then let me go find it! I’ll track it down and bring it back here, it’s a win all around!”
Shadow Weaver shook her head, “It’s already affecting your mind, drawing you to it. Who knows what it could to if you even so much as touched it?” She put down the bit of mural and lifted the object in her other hand, “The magic has latched onto you, we need to transfer it to something, and this will do nicely.” It was a training harness like the one Adora had worn into the simulator earlier that day, just with half its cover cracked and clearly inoperable. She didn’t strap it onto Adora, just laid it on her chest and started using her magic, “This kind of magic needs a host, and it just so happens that Catra here seems to have volunteered to take care of this issue for you.”
“Wait, what!?” chirped the magicat as she jumped back slightly.
Before she could bolt for the door, Catra was suddenly enveloped in a black nimbus. She had a vague sense of the world around her and that time passed, but she had no ability to process beyond the fact that she existed. When she was suddenly released, she found herself strapped into the training harness, now faintly glowing with the magic Shadow Weaver had transplanted into it. Over on the exam table, Adora lay still with her eyes closed. Catra could see her breathing, and the twitching of the girl’s eyelids seemed to indicate she was sleeping peacefully and dreaming.
“Now go quickly to the Whispering Woods,” ordered Shadow Weaver, “The magic in the harness should draw the sword to you, or you to the sword. Most of the Horde does not understand how the woods work, but when one understands the magic it’s simple enough to fool. Keep that harness on until you’ve retrieved the sword and left the woods and you shouldn’t have any problems.”
Catra tugged at the harness, not enough to strain the buckles but enough to adjust the fit even if she did notice that Shadow Weaver had practically welded the harness buckles shut with magic, “Great, fine. Will Adora be okay?”
Shadow Weaver waved an arm at the sleeping blond girl, “She will be fine. Once she gets some rest and recovers from the parasitic nature of the magic.” She handed the piece of mural to Catra, “I doubt you could mess even this spell up, but take this along to ensure you know what you’re looking for. I don’t want to have to hear any excuses from you about failing even this simple task.”
Catra rolled her eyes and took the small bit of rock. “Just keep Adora alive while I’m gone. I’ll be back with your stupid sword.” So saying, she stomped out of the room.
The skiff ride out to the edge of the Whispering Woods wasn’t as fun without Adora along for company, but at least she was able to use the authority granted by Shadow Weaver’s order to requisition the vehicle, even if she hadn’t specifically intended for Catra to take it. The trick was learning how to flex the orders you were given and minimize the consequences later.
The closer she got to the woods, the more she could feel the harness tugging on her. She shoved the piece of the mural in the small storage compartment in the skiff. She didn’t need it after seeing it once (swords weren’t hard to identify, after all), and carrying it would just slow her down. She might have just tossed it off the side of the skiff if she weren’t worried what Shadow Weaver would do to her if she lost it. After parking the skiff and continuing on foot, she started to feel some directionality to the pulling the small box was using on her.
A surprisingly short time later she saw a glimpse of a metal blade glowing with a similar color of magic as what was shining from her harness through the foliage in her path. Before she could move the greenery aside, she heard a pair of unfamiliar voices from somewhere nearby.
“...The light came from the edge of the forest.” came a masculine voice.
“Yes, you saw the light. It's this way.” came the reply from a girl.
Crap, crap, crap! thought Catra, The Rebellion is here already?! She pushed through the plants in her way and stumbled out into the clearing. Glancing around to get her bearings, she saw two things; a sword embedded tip first in the forest floor that bore a striking resemblance to the art on the tablet she left back in the skiff, and two people who couldn’t have been much older than her. The man (boy?) was holding a pad and had a bow slung on his back, and the girl was wearing robes that sparkled…along with her hair… aw, crap! A princess! And I didn’t bring a stun baton!
The boy was still speaking before he looked up and saw her, “The tracker pad says otherwise…”
In that moment, all three were stopped, stunned into silence by the presence of their opposite number. The stalemate was broken by the girl, “HORDE SOLDIER!”
“I SEE HER!” shouted the boy, even though he was right next to the girl. “AAAAAAH!” they both began screaming as though to intimidate her with the sound.
Her ears flattened back, “Gah! Rebellion losers!” growled Catra as she charged at the sword on all fours.
She was nearly to the weapon when suddenly a burst of sparkles in the outline of a person appeared. Expecting an attack, Catra stopped up short only to see the girl that was now confirmed to be a princess just appear next to the sword and grab it. Before Catra could recover, she shimmered out again, taking the sword with her. The two Rebels then proceeded to do a credible impression of a game of keep-away as Catra chased the sword around the clearing, ending up with the pair of rebels finally just dogpiling her.
“You two are getting on my last nerve!” she snapped as she began whipping her tail to slap at their faces. They started squirming, she wasn’t doing any damage whatsoever, but it was still effective at getting them to focus on something besides keeping her pinned. She wiggled out from under them and reached for the sword…
Catra found herself in a chamber unlike any she’d ever seen before. It was completely artificial and the floor was metallic like any Horde building, but the walls appeared to be crystalline with metal patterns enmeshed in them to create designs. A gentle light seemed etched into the walls and floor, lending the room an unearthly atmosphere, further enhanced by the apparent lack of any ceiling whatsoever, the walls appearing to stretch up until they were swallowed by the darkness above.
As she observed all this, the apparent light source dimmed enough to make out what appeared to be a humanoid woman but almost as crystalline as the room around them. In fact, she seemed to be somewhat transparent. She was standing on a dais of crystal with the light streaming into the room from a latticed structure behind her.
She did not look happy as she said, “You are not Adora…”
Bow lowered his hands from his eyes where they had gone to protect his vision with the Horde girl had lit up with more magic than Glimmer could produce on a good day. He had been expecting that their opposition would have taken the sword and run while they were blinded, but instead, she was stretched out on her back on the forest floor, eyes closed and facial muscles twitching like she was having an intense dream. On her chest where what he thought had been armor was now a small plastic box with protruding metal channels that were digging into her uniform, which he could see had been shredded around the box. The straps that had been connected to the chest piece were in shredded ribbons on and around the girl, and there were teal-green bits of plating radiating out from the girl’s chest. Where there had been a green display was now a smooth white plane of crystal, through which a pulsing white glow came, lighting up the girl’s feline features.
He looked over at Glimmer to see that she was holding the mysterious sword, fastidiously picking bits of gray-green plastic from her hair. A small cut on her cheek showed that the magic that had changed the chest piece hadn’t done so quietly or gently. “Ugh,” she said, spitting out a bit of plastic shrapnel, “If that was a new Horde weapon, it needs work.” she glared at him, “Didn’t you get hit with any of that?!” she snapped indignantly.
“Uh…no?” he shrugged, “Look, something’s happening to her, and I’m pretty sure she’s unconscious. Now would be a pretty good time to take the sword back to Brightmoon. We can just leave her here and she’d get lost in the woods trying to get any closer to the palace, or she’d just go back to the Fright Zone. Problem solved, right?”
“No, Bow, I can’t go back with just a sword by this point, especially with,” she touched her cheek and pulled back her hand, wincing at the sight of a drop of blood transferred to her fingertips, “Well, this. But if we come back with a Horde spy , mom’ll finally be impressed enough to take me seriously as an actual commander in the Rebellion!”
Bow did his best to resist rolling his eyes at his best friend. She never liked it when he did that, “But we’ll basically be pulling escort duty with a hostile subject through the Whispering Woods, which are notorious for making it difficult to get through at the best of times. I mean,” he gestured around, “You know what the Woods are like, every minute we’re in the woods the more lost we’re going to get.”
Glimmer nodded, “I get that, but the pros outweigh the cons. Now c’mon, help me tie her up.”
Bow sighed and stood to help his friend. I sure hope this doesn’t blow up in our faces… the thought.
“Yeah, no kidding!” snapped back Catra. This seemed to take the crystalline woman back a bit. If this person were anything like Shadow Weaver, she probably wasn’t accustomed to being talked back to, “Listen, I need the sword, I was dealing with two…idiots who were trying to take it from me. I need to get it back to Shadow Weaver who currently has Adora, if you want Adora to have the sword, I need to get back to the Whispering Woods and get it unless you can magic the sword to wherever it is you brought me, in which case if you could drop me off at my skiff, that’d be great.”
“This is a telepathic communication, our time is short as you are not the authorized administrator and do not have a bond with the sword. But if you are allied with Adora, you must also be willing to fight for the Honor of Greyskull. Advise Adora this passphrase, ‘For the Honor of Greyskull,’ is key and will allow me to resume proper communication with her. I will brief her on her destiny in full then.”
Great, she thought, This lady IS another Shadow Weaver! she thought, “Wait, telepathic, like you’re in my…”
“...mind!?” she spat out as she awoke suddenly.
Her eyes, which should have been accustomed to the bright light of…wherever she had just been, instead reacted as if she had woken up to someone flipping the lights on for a night-time surprise drill. She had to blink repeatedly, her ears slapping back in an unconscious display of displeasure, and tried to bring her hand up to shield against the light, but found herself unable to. Once her vision adjusted, she looked down and found herself tied up with rope and a strange box on her chest.
No, she found a strange box embedded in her chest! What looked like thin cables sprouted from the thing’s base and went into her fur. She couldn’t even feel them, but there was a hole in her shirt around the box, revealing her short chest fluff, the box, and nothing else holding the box in place.
In a panic, she looked up to see the two Rebels. “What did you do to me!?” she snapped. She would have been ashamed of the way her voice cracked at any other time, but the panic of finding out something plastic and metal had been implanted on her chest in her sleep more than warranted a little vocal spasming.
“Don’t look at us, Horde Scum!” snapped the obvious princess, “Whatever that new weapon is kinda backfired on you, didn’t it?”
“We don’t make…parasite boxes or whatever this is!” snarled Catra, shoving her chest forward as much as possible given her restraints.
“Uhm…” interrupted the archer, “I didn’t think the Horde was at the point of recruiting suicide soldiers, but that was definitely something explosive strapped to your chest.”
“What are you talking about?” on a level that was far more rational than she was currently feeling, she recognized that she was being a bit hysterical and was saying more than she needed, but she couldn’t get over having metal cables embedded in her flesh , “I was wearing a training harness! They’re not explosive even when damaged , which that one was!” she wiggled again, shaking her chest to try and dislodge the box, “And they DON’T look like this! This is…weird! It’s too light and it’s got metal going into my skin!” she was nearing hyperventilation and hissed almost as an exclamation point.
The archer developed a serious case of “doe-eyes” and started scratching her gently behind her ear, “Oh, it’s okay, we’ll help you figure it out.”
Sparkles scoffed, “Bow, don’t pet the prisoner!”
“But she looks so scared!” he responded, turning the ‘kicked puppy’ look on the princess.
“Don’t touch me!” she snarled, even as she started purring. She wiggled out of his reach before her reflexive responses could betray her again. Only person who’s allowed to do that is Adora! she groused to herself. Unfortunately, the shift in position caused her to overbalance, and with the bindings her normal flexibility was hindered and she fell to her side.
Sparkles rolled her eyes and hoisted the sword over her shoulder. “Well, whatever. Get her on her feet so we can get back to Brightmoon.”
As he righted Catra and helped her to her feet, he said, “I’m Bow, by the way, and that’s Glimmer.”
Catra rolled her eyes, “What, did the Rebellion train you to be completely inept at being captors? I mean, I’m your prisoner , I’m not here to make friends.”
“Well, why not both?” he chirped disgustingly cheerfully, “We’re only enemies because we’re on opposite sides of the war, but I bet if everyone made friends instead of fighting we’d probably be a lot better off.”
Catra just rolled her eyes again and started stomping after Glimmer.
Twenty minutes later and Catra knew they were wandering in circles. Sure, they never said as much, but the rebel’s bickering was a dead giveaway that they had no more idea where they were than she did. At least I got them to take some of the ropes off , she thought, Even if I have to put up with the indignity of the ‘leash.’ Calling it a leash had been Glimmer’s idea, of course. Her hands were still restrained behind her back, but given her flexibility, she could get out of the bindings, but since the princess still had the sword, she was opting for patience.
“Are you positive we’re going the right way, Glimmer?” asked the archer.
“I know what I’m doing, Bow!” snapped Sparkles.
Catra snorted derisively, “Coulda fooled me.”
Glimmer whipped around and practically growled at Catra, “Will you be quiet?! Bow, why can’t you, like, gag her or something?”
He shrugged, “You’ve seen her teeth, she’d just bite through it.” Catra supplied a visual aid by smiling toothily, “And I know you think you know what you’re doing, but I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” he shuddered. Catra would ascribe it to an excess of drama, but she could smell genuine nervousness coming off her captor, “I practically grew up in these woods, and I don’t recognize anything about this place.”
Glimmer groaned, “Ugh, just trust me! I’m going to figure this out!” and with that, she disappeared in a shower of sparkles.
Bow sighed, “Okay…touchy,” he dropped the lead and moved a branch out of Catra’s path, “Sorry ‘bout that, usually she’s pretty nice.”
“Oh, sure she is,” snarked Catra, “What is it, commanding officer dumping their workload on her? She get busted to the brown ration bars?”
Bow’s eyebrows shot up, “We…don’t have ration bars, we have actual food. I’ve tried those things…” this time his shudder was genuinely dramatic, “And I guess it’s about a ‘commanding officer,’ her mom’s been kinda not trusting her to do the job of actually commanding in the Rebellion. She does okay, her one engagement with, well, you guys ,” he nodded at her as they walked, “Actually went pretty well considering she managed to evacuate the entire town and have practically zero casualties.” He snorted, “I guess she wasn’t even supposed to see action, Elberon is kinda out of the way…”
“Oh, wait, Elberon?! I heard about that!” Catra interrupted. “Grizzlor got absolutely raked over the coals for that one! The surprise princess apparently damaged the tank he was in bad enough he got demoted and put on barracks cleaning duty for a week!” she cackled, then grinned in surprise, “Wait, that was Sparkles?! Gotta say, not bad on her part. Grizzlor’s got a reputation for hitting fast and hard and not playing nice. If she one-upped him I don’t feel so bad about being captured by you two.”
“Uh-huh,” grunted Bow with an amused grin, “Well, I’m glad we’re not disappointing you, at least…”
He was interrupted by Glimmer’s moaning gasp. Bow grabbed Catra’s elbow and guided her into a light jog to catch up to the princess. They came upon her standing in the midst of some burned-out ruins of what appeared to have been a village at one point.
Catra cringed slightly, “Oooh, ouch. Speaking of Grizzlor, this looks like his work.” she said somewhat flippantly.
Glimmer whipped around, trying and failing to hold the sword in a threatening manner, “Does what the Horde has done mean nothing to you?! These people lost their homes! Some of them probably died! ” the tip of the sword sank to the ground as tears started pooling in the princess’ eyes, “And you’re…making jokes?!”
Catra glared at Glimmer, “This is a war , princess. People are going to fight, people are going to die. And it’s all so the people at the top can feel good about themselves and the mindless drones they’re ordering to their deaths can pretend it’s for a good cause.” Bow seemed surprised at her callous dismissal and Glimmer stepped back, shocked by the hard words, “There’s no good side or bad side in a war, and everyone’s innocent until they’re not.”
Glimmer’s expression twisted into a snarl, “My dad was not a mindless drone and my mom doesn’t send people to die! The Horde has done nothing but destroy lands and take lives and they do it under the banner of a madman who claims he’s trying to bring peace by fighting a war! There is a bad side, and you’re on it! ” she spun on her heels and stomped into the undergrowth.
Catra shook her head wryly as the girl disappeared into the woods. Bow stepped closer to her, “You’re…okay with the way The Horde operates? You never thought about leaving?”
She rolled her eyes, “And where would I go? The Horde brought me in as an orphan. I don’t even know if wherever I came from is still standing or if it’s like this place,” she jerked her chin in the direction of the husks of houses. “I may never be an officer, but all I know is how to be a Horde Soldier. And besides, if I left I’d…” Catra snapped her jaw shut and turned away from the archer. I’d be leaving Adora behind… she thought to herself, allowing anger to school her features into a determined scowl.
Bow put a hand on her shoulder. She flinched slightly but didn’t shake him off. “I’m sorry about your family,” he said sadly, “I can’t imagine losing my dads…”
Before either of them could continue wherever that conversation was going, they were once again interrupted by Glimmer, this time she came yelling and ran out of the undergrowth, “There’s something out there, something big!”
“How big?!” exclaimed Bow.
Before she could answer, the ground rocked them off their feet before splitting open, a massive insect-like creature, easily out-massing the skiff Catra had journeyed to the woods on, launching itself out of the soil. It positioned itself squarely to face them, apparently centered on Glimmer.
“What did you do to it!?” snapped Catra.
“ME?!” the princess replied, “I just felt the ground shaking and ran!”
Before they could bicker further, the beast lunged, one leg stabbing down on Glimmer. Even as Bow shouted, “Watch out!” the princess teleported above the beast’s head and dropped down on its face. Catra made to stand to grab the sword and run, but her foot sank into a crack that had been caused by the creature’s entrance and lodged firmly at the ankle. Getting out would be easy…if the beast hadn’t quickly shaken off Glimmer’s sparkle attack and was now bearing down on her.
Whelp, this is where Shadow Weaver gets her wish, nobody’s gonna miss me but Adora… To her immense surprise, Bow stepped between her and the giant bug, arrow already knocked and pulling the drawstring of his bow back. What’s he gonna do, poke it in the eye? she thought as she yanked on her foot. Her opinion of the archer was further elevated when the arrow’s head burst into a sticky blob that covered a good portion of the insect’s head. Trick arrows, clever… she thought as she continued working her foot from the small crevice.
As Glimmer charged the beast with veritable fireworks launching from her hands, Catra shouted over the sounds of battle, “Thanks, Arrow-boy, I owe you one!”
Glimmer flew back and impacted a tree. As Bow tried to lasso the beast’s horn Catra managed to yank her foot out of the crack, contorted her back enough to slip her tied wrists under her butt and around her feet, and dove for the sword. She jammed the tip into the ground and slid her bindings down its edge, instantly freeing herself. She yanked it back out again and was about to turn to run into the forest and head back to the Fright Zone when she heard Glimmer shouting a battle cry, accompanied by the rapid-fire sound of her magical fireworks. Catra turned back to see the tank-sized creature bearing down on the rebel fighters…and paused. She thought about it for all of a second before she groaned to herself, I’m probably gonna regret this… “Yo, Arrow-boy, Sparkles, this’ll make us even!” she shouted to them. She saw the beast pause, but it didn’t turn from its targets. “Damnit, fuckin’ bug, turn your big, shell-covered ass around!” she started waving the sword around with huge motions, trying to get the attention of one of its many eyes.
Finally, it turned, and Catra was about to dart off into the trees, but it moved so fast that she barely had time to raise the sword in a reflexive defensive motion. The massive insect brought down a leg on the sword’s broad blade…
Shadow Weaver watched as the image in her scrying pool flooded with white light, then the magical connection went dead. Either Catra had become aware of being scried on and cast a counterspell (something Shadow Weaver knew the magicat had no way of doing, let alone the knowledge to do so), or Catra had been killed causing the spell to lose its target and fizzle out. She felt a small twinge of guilt, but the child had proven over and over again that she was undisciplined and unruly, governable only by Adora’s interference and thus distracting the recently promoted Force Captain. Shadow Weaver was secretly confident that if she’d been permitted to get rid of Catra long ago (along with that bumbling idiot Kyle) that Adora would have been promoted to Force Captain months ago and already be leading forces against the Rebellion.
The sword not being in The Horde’s possession was a bit of a sting to her ego, but she was reassured with the knowledge that the Rebellion could not use it. She had observed the effects it had on Catra and realized that the magicat was being influenced quite heavily by foreign magics, and quite possibly some intrusive third party that was manipulating her mind. It wouldn’t do to have Adora exposed to such a thing. For the time being, the sword being in the hands of the Rebellion would at least ensure that nobody else would get it. Likely it would wind up being studied at Mystacor, and Shadow Weaver knew that place like the back of her hand and was far more powerful than anyone there to boot. If push came to shove and they needed that artifact, she could convince Hordak to give her a strike force to take the Etherian sky fortress.
Ah well, it didn’t matter now, Catra was out of the way through no true intervention of hers, and a little foresight had allowed her to prepare for exactly this sort of eventuality. With a smile that nobody else could see thanks to her mask, she glided away from the scrying pool and crossed the lab to the table her unconscious protege was still strapped to. “Now, a few spells to ensure the work is properly done, then a few words with your remaining squadmates, and you will be able to fulfill your destiny unhindered…” she said as she stroked Adora’s cheek with her palm.
Catra once again found herself in a strange mental space hearing the sound of the crystal woman she had talked to the last time she had touched the sword and its magic had activated. Images flashed through her mind as the entity spoke, A view of the whole globe of Etheria…Brightmoon Castle with its runestone active…a mystery location in an unknown desert where a meteor crashed…an equally mysterious crystalline castle, possibly where Catra found herself with the crystal woman… “You have still not delivered the sword to Adora, yet I feel her presence. I sense distress through the connection. Tell Adora to activate the sword with the key phrase and she will be able to eliminate the threat and embrace her destiny.” A grassy field with a gaping hole torn in the air, eldritch light stabbing out and distorting the vision… “Adora must fight For the Honor of Greyskull!” ... a towering figure of a woman with a crown holding up the sword Catra had retrieved…
Abruptly, the storm of images stopped and Catra was once again facing the oversized insect, “Lady, Adora aint here, but if this works, I’ll get Adora to wear a princess dress and dance the cha-cha!” As the beast levered down, seemingly effortlessly, Catra pushed back and shouted, “For the Honor of Greyskull!”
Bow and Glimmer held up their hands as their erstwhile captive once again lit up with a glow that was blindingly intense. As the light faded, they saw the insect seem to simply…fall asleep. It folded its legs up under its carapace, the cilia on its back folded down against the shell, and the magical glow in its eyes darkened.
As the light faded even more, in the place of the slightly short and somewhat scrany magicat girl, there now stood a tall, well muscled powerhouse of a woman, with fairly generous endowments if the armored top she was wearing were an accurate representation of what was underneath. Long, wavy hair sprouted from her head, which had a winged crown with the recognizable points of Catra’s protective mask. As the woman lowered her sword and turned to face them, a belly window that almost rivaled Bow’s crop-top for the skin it revealed showed an impressive abdominal rack of muscle and the now giantess magicat opened her eyes to show one blue and one yellow, just as their prisoner had.
Bow recovered from his shock enough to rasp out, “...Glimmer?!”
Without turning to him, she replied, “Yeah, I see it, Bow…”
The suddenly VERY tall Catra seemed to be slightly dazed, but not disoriented, as though she was thinking about something else when suddenly she became fully aware of her surroundings. She glanced around, then down, and gasped in shock as she saw the changes to her body. Then she looked up again and took Bow and Glimmer completely by surprise by looking off in the direction of some trees near them and said, “Adora?!”
Catra was barely aware of the sudden reversion from the very tall, incredibly stacked warrior woman to her normal body save for the sudden shift in height. Her entire focus was on her life-long friend, somehow here in the clearing with her, the giant insect (now apparently asleep) and the two rebels.
But Adora was acting…odd. She looked perfectly normal; silly ponytail and poof hairstyle, standard issue uniform jacket, boots, and belt, white shirt under the jacket. The only thing really missing was the Force Captain badge, but that was secondary to the fact that Adora seemed to be on her hands and knees, trying to poke at a leaf. “...Adora…?” she repeated.
She saw the two Rebellion fighters glance in confusion between her and the trees. “Catra?” began Bow slowly, “...who are you talking to?”
Adora, meanwhile, popped up to a standing position and flounced over to Bow, “Oooh, a bow and arrow! I always wanted to try one out...hey, Catra, you think he’d let me try his bow out?”
“Her name’s Adora…and why aren’t you two freaking out? She’s a Horde soldier, just like me!”
Glimmer and Bow glanced at each other in confusion and then back at Catra, not even acknowledging Adora’s presence. “...where is she? Is she hiding in the trees?” asked Bow.
“What?! No, did that flash of light make you blind? She’s right next to you!”
This was only true for a moment, as Adora suddenly said, “Omygosh! It’s a flower! I’ve only ever seen them in reports and in Shadow Weaver’s lab!” she suddenly dove at the ground halfway between the rebels and Catra.
“Seriously, how are you not seeing this?!”
Glimmer growled in exasperation, “I don’t know if this is some mind game or if you got hit a little too hard by the giant bug, but you’re not going to stop us from taking the sword…”
The princess speaking seemed to have distracted Adora from the plant life, as she almost immediately hopped up and bounced the couple steps over to Glimmer, “Oooo, sparkly!” So saying, Adora started poking at Glimmer’s hair. The princess seemed to notice neither the presence of a Horde soldier literally right next to her nor the finger poking at her hair.
“You have got to be kidding!” gawked Catra, “She’s right in front of you! If she were acting normally instead of like she got into Shadow Weaver’s stash of Salineas Royal 99 again she’d be able to knock you out and start on your boyfriend over here!”
“Boyfriend!?” chirped Adora, “Ooooh, boyfriend-girlfriend relationships aren’t allowed in the Horde, they’re gonna be in tuh-RUH-buhl!” sing-songed with a loopy grin.
“Ugh!” groaned Catra in exasperation, “Adora, stop being so weird, they’re Rebels and…” she interrupted herself to smack a palm to her face and drag it down in exasperation. “Best Force Captain candidate in her age group, and she’s acting like a complete…weirdo!”
Glimmer waved her hand dismissively, still paying no attention to Adora, “Whatever, Horde scum! I guess we can probably add smuggling alcohol from allied kingdoms to the list of crimes the Horde has committed. Now hand over the sword, we captured you once, we’ll do it again…”
“Glimmer…” interrupted Bow, “Hang on…” Both women turned to him in confusion, “Catra…where is Adora right now ?” he asked.
She pointed at Adora, who seemed to have lost interest in Glimmer’s hair and was now cooing over the sparkles in the girl’s cloak.
“And is she saying anything right now?” Bow continued.
Bow at least asking questions was easing her frustration just a notch, so she played along, “No, she’s just giggling like an idiot at Sparkle’s clothes.”
“What?!” snapped Glimmer crossly, only to be interrupted by Bow holding up a finger to indicate he still needed the metaphorical floor.
“Catra,” Bow repeated her name, “Can you get Adora to talk? Maybe about something she likes to really talk about?”
She rolled her eyes a bit and said, “Oh, of course, just ask her about her training routine and she’ll go for hours.”
“Oh, my training routine?!” chirped Adora as she perked up to look at Catra instead of Glimmer’s outfit (finally), “Oh, I like to get up before the rest of the cadets, and I gotta be careful to not wake you up ‘cause you’re just so cute curled up at my feet even though you’re supposed to be in your own bunk…”
“Adora!” snapped Catra, blushing fiercely, “Don’t call me that!”
The other Horde soldier pretty much ignored her, “...then I go out to run a few laps around the perimeter of the cadet barracks, and if it’s summer I gotta be careful not to wear the same uniform I’ll be wearing later in the day or I’ll get sweat stains all over it and the soldiers in the laundry hate it when you send down two uniforms at a time to wash…”
“Glimmer…” said Bow over Adora’s lecture, “...look at the box on her chest.”
That got both of them to look down, and to their mutual surprise, the light from the box was throbbing. With every sound Adora made, there was a pulse of white glow from the device.
“What…Adora, stop talking!” snapped Catra. The box went dark as Adora petered off in surprise.
Glimmer and Bow shared a look that was equal parts concern and confusion.
“Castaspella?” said Bow, seemingly at random.
Glimmer’s face went from confused to determined in an instant, “Good call,” she turned to Catra, once again all business, “Change of plans, Horde scum, instead of Brightmoon you get to be the first Horde soldier to set foot in Mystacore.”
Adora bounced in place and clapped in glee, “Oh, goody! We’re going on a trip!”
Catra sagged in utter confusion, “...what?!” was all she could think to say.
Lonnie watched as Rogelio strapped on his shin guards. His lizard constitution meant that he was an absolute tank in melee combat, but also meant it took him a bit longer to do tasks that required gentle patience. He took to such tasks with the meditative grace that had become his signature, especially given how most of their non-lizardfolk instructors didn’t bother to learn his language. He was physically incapable of learning to speak Etherian Standard, even though he could understand it, so it was up to his squadmates to learn the (somewhat simpler) lizardfolk tongue. He growled a few syllables. “No idea,” she replied, “I haven’t seen Adora since yesterday. She and Catra went wandering off after the exam. You know how they are.”
Kyle piped up from behind his locker door, “I saw Adora heading off with Shadow Weaver, but after that…yeah, no clue.”
Lonnie nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a voice she had been very glad to not have to have heard much since becoming a cadet, “As Adora has been with me and none of you are authorized to enter my quarters without express orders to do so, I should think not.”
Kyle made his usual oafish mess in an attempt to stand at attention and salute. Rogelio straightened with significantly more grace, ignoring the shin guard that clattered to the floor unsecured as he raised his hand to his brow. The noise from the two boys covered Lonnie’s hissed curse as she came to attention, “Shadow Weaver, ma’am, we didn’t hear you come in.”
“At ease, cadets,” the woman said without responding to Lonnie’s statement. As the three of them ‘relaxed’ into parade rest position, the sorceress continued, “Adora has been recovering from exposure to some ancient magic that occurred when Catra convinced her to take a skiff out without orders to do so. She will be returning to command her team shortly, as you will all be accompanying her on her first mission to Thaymor.” The trio glanced at each other in surprise but refrained from speculating. “From the next time you see Adora until the end of your worthless lives, you are never again to mention the name ‘Catra’ in her presence. If you are wise, you will forget she ever existed at all. You will not mention a magicat being a part of your squad or associating with Adora at all. Any who violate this basic order,” the room suddenly grew very cold and very dark as Shadow Weaver’s magic spread to cover every square inch of all surfaces, including their skin. It made Lonnie want to soak in battery acid just to feel clean again, “Will answer directly to me, and you will suffer the same fate as the cadet whose name is now forbidden.”
“Y…yes, Shadow Weaver!” stammered Lonnie for the three of them.
So suddenly it was a shock, the magical fugue was gone. “Very good, Cadet Lonnie, come with me please.”
“Me?! I mean,” she quickly corrected herself, “Yes, Shadow Weaver!”
As the older woman turned away, she glanced back at Kyle and Rogelio, who simply shrugged.
Hurrying after the sorceress, Lonnie caught up to her in the hall and kept pace next to her. “Cadet, you will have the special task of monitoring Adora. You will be her second while she’s getting her command legs under her. You’re to ensure that no one attempts to remind Adora of Catra. The magic she was exposed to has left her mind in a fragile state, and I fear that if someone were to push your new Force Captain to try to remember Catra, it may result in complications that will result in casualties, most notably to Adora herself.”
Lonnie’s eyebrows pinched together behind her training glasses, “Permission to speak freely ma’am?”
Shadow Weaver turned her masked face to her, then nodded slightly, “Go on, Cadet…”
“If Adora is in that rough a shape that she needs a monitor on the battlefield, is it a good idea to send her out so soon?”
The sorceress nodded more firmly, “Astute observation. In this case, getting her out in the field will be exactly what she needs to speed her recovery. The longer she convalesces, the more likely her mind will try to dig beneath the magical patches I’ve put in her memory to treat the exposure to the ancient magic. Following routine, executing orders, leading a squad…these will all cement new memory pathways to ‘scab over,’ for lack of a better term, the parts of Adora’s mind that were magically damaged.”
Lonnie nodded, then continued, “And why me, ma’am? This is the most I think we’ve ever talked to each other.”
“Your scores were on par with Catra’s in nearly every metric in every drill and exercise and of all cadets came closest to matching Adora’s. Were I you, lieutenant , I’d use this as an opportunity to learn from Adora’s example. Now that Catra isn’t distracting her, Adora will be an excellent Force Captain to model your behavior after. You may even become Force Captain yourself someday if you follow her example.”
Lonnie gasped, “Lieutenant…? Yes, ma’am!”
“That will be all, lieutenant. Return to your team and prep them for a combat mission and go to the quartermaster to get your new stripes and uniform.”
Lonnie quickly saluted and darted back to the barracks while Shadow Weaver continued her journey back to her laboratory.
Several minutes later, she opened the door to see Adora fitting her boots back on after having availed herself of the shower attached to the lab. She tugged them on the last couple inches and stood to a textbook perfect salute, “Shadow Weaver, ma’am.”
“Adora,” said the sorcerous affectionately, “So eager to be ready to perform your duties. I’m pleased you recovered so quickly from the magic exposure.”
Adora lowered her hand and relaxed as few cadets had the privilege of doing in Shadow Weaver’s presence. “Thank you, ma’am. I don’t remember much about how I was exposed or the last few days, but I do remember you promoting me.”
Shadow Weaver wrapped an arm around Adora’s shoulders, “I have changed my mind on part of those orders. You will be taking your squad with you. I’ve promoted Lonnie to be your second in command, she has the potential to lead her own squad someday and I want her to learn directly from you while on missions. Rogelio has the makings of a good soldier and Kyle…” she trailed off, “Well, at least the three of you can keep Kyle out of trouble…usually.”
Adora chuckled, “Of course. Hopefully, we can keep him alive long enough to get him graduated from cadet rank so he can transfer to another division, preferably one that has the least chance of damaging equipment.”
Shadow Weaver nodded and chuckled as convincingly as possible. This wasn’t hard, as she was celebrating internally, It would appear the procedure was successful , she thought giddily, Not a single mention of Catra, nor of Lonnie replacing anyone else who Adora might have wanted as second instead.
“I have every confidence you will perform admirably at Thaymor. Once you prove your mettle and Hordak sees you fulfilling the promise I saw in you when I found you as a child, the Rebellion will be crushed once and for all.”