The Sword Part 1
“What is it?” Catra breathed, her blue and yellow eyes scanning the dense forest around them.
“I think this must be the Whispering Woods,” Adora explained. “They say there are strange old monsters in there, and the trees move when you’re not looking. Every Horde squadron they’ve sent in there has never come out again,” Adora looked over at Catra, her eyes brimming with unease.
“Let’s go in!” Catra said firmly, excitement raging in her own eyes.
“Wait, what? Ah!” Adora yelled as Catra took control of the skiff and pushed them forward abruptly, hurtling them into the trees.
Catra whooped with excitement, her hair flying out behind her as the wind rushed past them both, filling her lungs with adrenaline instead of air. She laughed as she bobbed and weaved the skiff through the trees, bumping it off of branches and plants as she went. This was great. This was fun! This was just what she needed.
The skiff tore through the leaves of a tree, slicing into the side of a tree as they flew past.
“Catra, slow down!” Adora shouted desperately, grabbing Catra’s arm in an attempt to stop her.
Catra scowled at her best friend. No. She got to be Force Captain and go off on her big fancy mission without her, so Adora could let Catra have this. She could let her have one tiny shred of fun before she ran off and left her to do stupid Force Captain things with Shadow Weaver.
“Catra, tree, tree!” Adora yelled and she reached down to grab the lever and yank it upwards, taking them both up the side of a large tree.
A moment later Catra felt something hit her hard in between her shoulder blades and she lost her footing. She stumbled sideways and the next thing she knew, her arms were out in front of her and the skiff was quickly flying away, leaving her behind to fall through the air.
“Catra!” Adora’s voice faded into the trees as the skiff continued onwards, out of control deep into the woods.
Catra hissed, turning her body to try and right herself as she fell. She landed with a thud, pain shooting through her entire body as she landed on her hands and feet. A small groan escaped her throat before her limbs shook and she fell into a heap on the forest floor.
“Ah!” Catra groaned as pain rolled through every inch of her body. Stupid skiff. Stupid Whispering Woods. Stupid Adora. She had it. Kind of.
Catra pushed herself up, scowling as she tried to shake off the brain fog left over from the fall. She opened her eyes and had to immediately shut them again as her vision was assaulted by blue light. Catra opened one eye, assessing where the light was coming from.
A large sword was sticking out of the ground a few feet from her, long, twisted tree roots curled around it, holding it up out of the ground. The sword had an elaborate gold hilt, with a large blue gemstone nestled in the centre. Sunlight was reflecting off the gem, giving off the bright light.
Catra opened her other eye as she slowly crawled towards it, only standing up when she was a foot away. Every inch of her was bristling with alert. Her tail was bushed out behind her, the fur on the back of her neck standing on end as she approached, waiting for something, anything to happen. When nothing did she relaxed slightly.
She stopped, looking the sword up and down. It looked like it had been in the ground for a long time, and yet it was still in perfect condition.
“Oh fancy!” Catra muttered to herself as she involuntarily reached out towards it. She barely registered the cold feeling of the hilt on the end of her finger when she was blinded by another blue light, this one more aggressive than the one reflecting off the gemstone.
She hissed loudly and lifted her arms to shield her eyes but it was no use, the light turned everything white.
Balance must be restored. Etheria must seek a hero.
A loud, echoing female voice sounded all around Catra in the white light. Flashes of strange images shot across her mind.
A blue planet floating in the abyss of space, the Whispering Woods, a strange glowing orb, the sword, a strange abandoned-looking tower, a tall blonde woman standing on a cliff edge, her platinum hair flying out behind her in the wind, a long red cape fluttering alongside her hair. The woman turned to look at Catra, a white light glinted out of her eye as a baby cried somewhere in the distance.
But she is not ready. You must not let her get the sword while she is under the Hordes influence. It would mean the end of us all.
The image shifted, changed into something darker. The woman on the cliff edge scowled, her eyes turning red as she grimaced at Catra as the sounds of screaming filled her ears.
The power of She-Ra would destroy us all. She would lay waste to all of Etheria. Including you.
Another image flashed across Catra’s mind, the same glaring woman from before standing on the edge of the cliff, only this time she was holding something in her hands, dangling it above the ledge. A person. The person kicked and clawed at the woman holding them over the edge.
Adora! Stop! Please! Adora!
Catra watched, rooted to the spot in the white endless void, as the woman stretched her arm out, holding a terrified looking version of herself over the cliff. The tall, glowing version of Adora, was that Adora? It didn’t look like her, glared at the begging, sobbing version of Catra before she released her grip on her shirt and let her fall into the abyss.
“No!” Catra felt herself call out.
Catra. Catra.
“Catra!”
Catra’s eyes flew open and she sat bolt upright, almost smashing her head into Adora who was leaning over her.
“Catra!” She called out again as she leaned back on her heel and looked Catra over gingerly.
“Adora? What happened? Where am I?” Catra’s head whipped around as she tried to get her bearings. She was sitting on the forest floor.
“You fell out of the skiff after you drove it into a tree,” Adora explained, her tone shifting from concern to disapproval.
“I did not!” Catra shrieked loudly, pushing Adora away as she scrambled to her feet.
“You did so! Now come on we have to get back before Shadow Weaver knows we’re gone,” Adora got to her feet and reached out for Catra’s hand but Catra pulled away from her. She briefly caught the look of hurt on Adora’s face as her eyes searched around herself.
“Wait!” Catra called out, spinning in a circle when she couldn’t find what she was looking for.
“What? No, come on we gotta go!” Adora pleaded, reaching out for Catra again.
“But there was a thing!” Catra told her loudly, doing another spin.
“A what?” Adora looked around them too, but she saw nothing and went back to looking at Catra, confused.
“A sword! A big one! It was all spooky and glowing and there was a voice and it...” Catra trailed off when she saw the look of bewilderment on her friends face.
“Are you okay? Did you hit your head?” Adora raised a dark eyebrow at her and Catra scowled back.
“No! I’m fine... But I saw a ... and I touched it and I saw ...” Catra stopped talking. What did she see? A woman? Adora? Adora dropping her off a cliff? No that’s ridiculous. Adora would never do that. Maybe she did hit her head.
“Catra? Are you alright?” Adora took a step forward, but Catra jumped back.
“I’m fine. It doesn’t matter. Let’s go back,” Catra mumbled, pushing past Catra and heading for the skiff.
She ignored the growing feeling of dread that built in her stomach as they headed back to the Fright Zone in silence.
***
Glowing blue eyes stared into Catra’s. A strangely large hand reached out to her, stroking the side of her cheek, and down her neck. Catra closed her eyes and sighed, relaxing in the peacefulness around her. Warmth spread over her.
She-Ra.
She felt the hand drift down to her chest and spread out, huge fingers covering her collar bone.
She-Ra will bring balance to Etheria.
Balance? That sounded nice. Was this what that felt like?
But she is not ready. She can’t get the sword now. She will destroy us all.
The hand curled into a fist, grabbing a hand full of her shirt and Catra’s eyes flew open. The brilliant blue eyes had changed. They were a deep, crimson colour and they were glaring at her furiously. Catra went to take a step back, to get away from the massive, angry-looking woman but as she put her foot down expecting it to hit the ground, she was only met with air.
She will destroy everyone. Even you, Catra.
She glanced over her shoulder to see a dark empty abyss beneath her and choked out a yelp when the fist lifted her up and shoved her out over the never-ending blackness. The sound of people screaming came from beneath her. Her eyes snapped back round to the woman and there was no mistaking that it was Adora but everything about her was wrong.
Adora must not get the sword. You must keep the power of She-Ra away from her until she’s ready.
She was taller. Too tall. Her hair was lighter, glowing a ghostly platinum colour. She was bigger, not just in height but in build too, her arms were more muscular than Catra had ever seen them, her shoulders thick and broad. But her eyes were the biggest difference. Not just the colour but the way she looked at Catra like she was nothing.
For the sake of all of Etheria. Don’t let her have it until she’s ready.
It ripped a hole through Catra’s chest but before she even had time to respond to the pain, Glowy-Adora narrowed her glowing red eyes at her, her lips crept up into a menacing, icy smirk and she loosened her grip on Catra’s shirt, sending her plummeting into the darkness.
“Adora!” Catra called out as she fell, sinking into the black. The last thing she saw was glowing red eyes laughing at her.
“Catra!”
She hissed wildly when she felt a warm hand on her shoulder. Catra scrambled backwards, still hissing, every inch of her fur on end as she opened her eyes in a panic.
“Catra! Calm down! It was just a nightmare!” Adora whispered in the dark bunk room. Catra panted erratically as she focused. She was in their bunk. In the Fright Zone. She was with totally-normal-not-glowy-Adora. And she was soaked in sweat. Gross.
“I’m fine,” Catra huffed, trying to force her shoulders to relax before they started aching. Blue and yellow eyes darted around the bunk room. Everyone else was sleeping, they were the only two awake.
“Are you sure? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Adora leaned forward and placed a comforting hand on Catra’s shoulder. Catra considered shrugging it off but she didn’t, letting the small wave of comfort from Adora’s touch calm her slightly.
“I’m fine,” She repeated, more firmly this time. “I just have to do something,” She added as she got to her feet. Catra didn’t look behind her as she headed for the door, but she didn’t need to look back to know Adora was following her. It was like she could sense it. Sense her. It was always like that. It was probably just a heightened senses thing.
“Where are you going?” Adora hissed when they reached the corridor and Catra lifted her finger to shush her as a patrol bot whizzed past them.
“I’m going back to the Whispering Woods,” Catra told her honestly, not bothering to make up a lie.
“What? Why?” Adora barked. Catra’s ears twitched as the sound of another bot nearby alerted her. She nudged Adora in the ribs and ducked behind a pillar. They both waited in silence while the bot rolled past them, neither of them breathing until it was safely around the corner.
“I’m going to find that thing,” Catra told her quietly.
“The mystical glowing sword?” Adora raised a judging eyebrow at her and Catra thought about clawing the damned thing off for a second.
“Yes. Shut up. Stop looking at me like I’m nuts! I’m not nuts!” Catra hissed as Adora’s expression got more concerned.
“What the hell would you want a sword for anyway? The Horde has the best weapons in Etheria, you don’t need a stupid sword,” She protested in a hushed voice, her eyes never leaving Catra’s.
“It’s not for me... it’s for the Horde! It’s not just a sword! There’s something... I dunno, powerful about it! I think it’s something else. I kept hearing the word She-Ra when I was in the woods and now it won't leave me alone. I’m going to get it, bring it back to Horak and then I can get promoted to Force Captain and me and you can get started on taking over the world. Together,” Catra explained quickly, desperate to get Adora off her back so she could go find the stupid thing. Maybe then the spooky voice would leave her alone.
“Is that what this is about? Because I got promoted? Catra please stop. I’ll talk to Shadow Weaver. Make sure you can come too!” Adora’s eyes softened and something similar to pity rolled through them, making Catra pissed in response.
“Oh please. Shadow Weaver would rather pull out her own eyeballs than let me do anything remotely fun!” Catra pointed out, waving her hands around her head before adding, “But if I bring back that weird sword thing to Hordak himself then he’ll promote me and Shadow Weaver will just have to suck it!” Catra folded her arms across her chest, proud of her completely made up on the spot plan. It sounded good now that she’d said it out loud, but she’d be lying if she said that had been her intent when she’d gotten out of bed.
“And what if it’s just a sword? What if it’s not special like you think?” Adora reasoned, gesturing her hand out wildly at nothing.
“Then I’ll give it to you as a promotion gift,” Catra countered with a smirk.
Adora sighed, lowering her chin into her chest.
“You’ve had dumber ideas. But that’s never stopped us before. Fine, let’s go,” Adora straightened her shoulders and took a step forward but Catra reached a hand out to stop her, pushing her back against the pillar.
“No way! If this goes to hell, Shadow Weaver will lose her damn mind! I’m used to her blowing a gasket at me, but I’m not having you get in crap with her when you just got what you wanted,” Catra snapped lowly.
“Catra...” Adora breathed weakly, her hand reaching up to grab at Catra’s on her chest.
The small gesture was enough to make her almost stay. Almost enough to go back to bed and curl up at Adora’s feet and just go to sleep, forget the whole thing and just deal with whatever happened next. Almost.
She pulled her hand slowly from Adora’s grasp and patted the back of her hands gently before she scanned the hallway and stepped backwards.
“I won't be long! I’ll be right back, I promise! Save me some ration bars at breakfast!” Catra called back in a whisper as she jogged towards the exit.
“Catra!” Adora hissed after her but it was no use. Catra was already on her way out.
***
“Ah! Damn it!” Catra swatted at the thin, spiky tree branches that were trying to bury themselves in her mane. Stupid trees.
When the branches wouldn’t get out she extended her claws and swiped at them until they fell to the ground with a quiet thump. She smirked to herself in the middle of the Whispering Woods. She won. Stupid tree.
Her smirk faltered as she looked around. She’d been wandering around for hours and still hadn’t seen that damned sword anywhere and she was starting to think she’d imagined it. But deep down she knew she hadn’t. She could feel it in her veins. It was real and she had to find it.
She sniffed the air and headed off to her left, making sure not to double back on herself. The last thing she wanted was to start going in circles, she needed to hurry up and get back to the Fright Zone. To Adora.
Catra stumbled over thick roots and large, strange-looking plants. She’d never seen anything like this stuff before but she wasn’t about to sit around and stare at it, she was on a mission and she was determined to finish it. She was hungry and even the bland, flaky, lukewarm ration bars back at the Fright Zone were appealing to her. But she could always sneak into contraband on her way back and get some real food, it wasn’t like she hadn’t done it a dozen times before.
She felt bad doing it though. Not because it was stealing but because it was the one thing she did without Adora. Catra knew that Adora would be mortified at the idea of stealing something from the Horde and she’d no doubt go into a full-blown freakout and demand Catra stop doing it. Which Catra would probably do, for the most part. And as much as she would do anything for Adora, she really didn’t want to have to give up the rare taste of good food over Adora being a stick in the mud. What she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her.
Catra pushed a large purple leaf out of her way and crinkled her nose when it just revealed more leaves. She growled and shoved them out of the way, stomping through them, crushing plants under her feet as she stumbled out next to a large tree, her foot caught on a twisted root. She shook it off with a groan and almost toppled over in the process. She hated this place and the sooner she could get out of it the better.
A larger tree towered over her, a thick slice digging deep into its trunk. Catra’s eyes lit up. She’d done that. Well, Adora had done that. But that meant she was close.
Catra pushed forward, pushing through more leaves and bushes until she could see a faint blue hue in the distance, shrouded by more damn plants. The light got bright as she moved through the forest, erupting over the foliage in front of her. She pushed a large leaf out of her way and the light got painfully bright. She squinted, trying to shield her eyes again as she adjusted to the brightness.
When she could see straight again she found it, nestled in the thick roots just like it was before. It was real.
Well, of course, it was real. She wasn’t crazy. She knew it was real. She wouldn’t have come all the way out here if she wasn’t sure it was real.
Her feet were carrying her towards the sword before she even knew what she was doing, her heart hammering against her shirt. This was it. The thing that would get her promoted to Force Captain with Adora and finally get her some damn respect in that place. And get Shadow Weaver off her back for once. Hopefully.
“Bow, just let me lead the way, okay?” A high, whiny voice came from Catra’s left and she froze, her eyebrows denting and her knees bending on instinct, ready to pounce. Someone was here. Had Adora blabbed? Had Shadow Weaver sent people after her to bring her back?
“The light came from the edge of the forest,” A second voice argued, deeper than the first one. Catra’s tail whipped out behind her as she extended her claws. No way was she letting one of the other idiots take this from her. She strained her ears, causing them to twitch as she listened, trying to see if she could recognise the voices.
“Yes, you saw the light. It’s this way,” The high pitched whine came again and Catra winched. She had never heard a voice that squeaky before.
“The tracker pad says otherwise,” The low voice protested, clearly annoyed at being ignored.
Catra’s lip curled as she deepened her stance, digging her heels into the dirt just as two figures emerged from the bushes to her left.
“It’s this way-” A brightly coloured girl with a glittery blue cape draped over one shoulder gestured her gloved hands out before her just as a taller, dark-skinned boy in strange armour followed behind her, his eyes fixated on a small device in his hands. The girl looked up and her eyes met Catra’s and she gasped, halting her complaining. This made the boy look up and he joined her in her shock.
Catra scowled. They weren’t Horde soldiers, which meant they had to be Princesses. Great.
“Horde Soldier!” The girl yelled abruptly after a seconds pause.
“I see her!” The boy called out behind her.
Catra raised her eyebrows in bewilderment as both of them just started screaming at her. She’d expected an attack and the lack of one threw her off for a second. What were they doing?
Giving her an opening is what they were doing.
Catra smirked to herself, dragging her eyes away from the screaming pair towards the sword. She threw herself forward, sprinting on all fours towards her prize. There was no way she was letting them get this first.
As she moved she heard the sound of rushed footsteps as the two screaming morons tried to move towards the sword. Her ears twitched at the sound of something metal unsheathing but she ignored it, pushing herself to move faster.
Just as she neared the sword, a burst of light and sparkles exploded from behind the sword and suddenly the colourful one was holding onto the hilt. Catra skidded to a stop and brought herself to her full height, glaring at the girl.
“Get off!” She snapped, reaching down to tear the girl's hands away from the sword but just as her hands were about to grab her, another burst of bright light flashed and the girl was gone. Catra hissed, her eyes going wide as her head twisted furiously to try and find her.
What the hell?
Another rupture of light flashed a few feet from her and the girl was suddenly standing, her arms wrapped around the sword. Catra grimaced as she lunged forward.
“Bow, catch!” The girl called out, throwing the sword away from Catra’s grasp and towards the armoured boy. He dropped the golden bow in his hands and caught the sword clumsily. Catra bolted past the girl, focusing on chasing the boy who was now running away with the sword in his arms.
Catra growled lowly in her chest as she ran forward. A flash of light shot out from behind her. A weight landed on her back and she stumbled as she felt someone, the girl, grab a fist full of her mane and yank on it aggressively. She hissed, extending her claws and reaching up to swipe at her. The girl shrieked and fell backwards to avoid Catra’s sharp claws, landing on the ground with a hard thud. Catra stood up and kicked her away, not watching to see where she landed as she continued after the one with the sword.
She caught up to him quickly, pouncing through the air and landing on his shoulders with ease. He shrieked and staggered, the weight of Catra throwing his balance off.
“Mine!” Catra hissed in his ear as she swiped down at his arms, her claws cutting into his skin. He called out in pain and dropped the sword as he fell to his knees, cradling his bleeding arm to his armoured chest.
The sword skidded across the forest floor and Catra bolted after it. She was almost there when she was blocked by a burst of light again. She shrieked in frustration. That was really annoying.
The girl scowled at her before she threw a ball of something bright at Catra’s face. She recoiled, staggering backwards and clawing at the air around her to get the light out of her eyes. She couldn’t see, everything was white and it hurt to look at but her eyes were closed.
It faded, giving her a chance to see just as the girl was turning to grab the sword from the ground. Catra growled.
“Oh no, you don’t!” She grunted as she threw herself at the girl, her teeth grinding together in frustration.
The girl yelled and tried to pull Catra off of her as she fell forwards, slamming into the ground hard. Catra dug her claws into the girls back once before she used her spine as a springboard to leap for the sword. She reached out, straining her entire arm to get as close to the sword as she could.
The end of her finger grazed the end of the hilt for a brief second before Catra was blinded again, this time by something much stronger than the girl’s strange light ball.
Catra fell backwards, her back slamming into something hard and cold. She groaned loudly, immediately pushing herself up to attack the girl when she stopped. She wasn’t in the Whispering Woods any more.
Instead, she was surrounded by large sheets of crystal, jutting out of the smooth, glassy floor she was lying on. Thousands of tiny specks of light floated around her, moving silently across the air.
“Hello Catra,” Came a soft, hollow voice from in front of her and Catra looked up to see a tall purple figure emerge from a massive ray of white light.
“What the... How do you know my name?!” Catra shrieked, scrambling to her feet. She tried to dig her heels into the ground but she couldn’t get a proper purchase on the glassy floor beneath her. She extended her claws and lowered her head, glaring at the purple figure venomously.
“My name is Light Hope,” The figure said flatly, void of emotion.
“I didn’t ask your name, spooky ghost lady! I asked how you knew mine!” Catra pointed out darkly, taking a small step back.
“I have been waiting for you. You need to protect the sword,” It said. Catra’s lip curled. That still didn’t answer her question.
“If you mean from the whiny sparkle ball and the armoured kid, I was working on it until you kidnapped me!” Catra spat icily.
“No, not from them,” The figure shook it’s head gently. “From Adora.”
“What?” Catra’s claws retracted, as she titled her head in confusion.
“Adora is destined to have the sword of She-Ra, but she is not ready. If she gets it now she will cause untold devastation to Etheria,” The figures words vibrated through Catra’s chest, sending tremors through her limps, making her knees shake but she refused to show it in her expression.
“Yeah. Cool. Sounds like fun. I’m gonna go now and take that sword back to my boss. I ain’t interested in your weird light show,” Catra jerked her thumb over her shoulder despite not knowing if this place even had an exit.
“You must protect the sword from Adora until she is ready,” The voice said firmly.
“I don’t have to do anything, except get rid of those two idiots out there,” Catra cut back, not even sure where out there was, “And take that shiny sword back to Hordak. And once I tell him it’s got a spooky ghost lady inside it, I’m guaranteed to get promoted to Force Captain with Adora,” Catra folded her arms across her chest and smirked at the purple ghost.
“Catra, if you don’t protect the sword Adora will destroy everything. Including you,” The figure said.
“Pfft, she could try,” Catra scoffed.
A split second later Catra wasn’t in the crystal room any more and the spooky ghost was gone. She was standing on a cliff edge, overlooking a long stretch of woodland. The Whispering Woods. She could just make out the Fright Zone in the distance but it was different. Everything was black, including the forest. Thick black plumes of smoke were billowing out everywhere Catra looked, angry red flames licked at the sky as the sounds of people screaming and crying met her ears.
On instinct, her ears pressed against her head at the sound of crying, an involuntary reaction from when she was a child. She felt a heavy hand on her shoulder and she turned, her tail wrapped tightly around her own thigh as she tried to block out the sounds of crying and screaming from below her.
She looked up and her eyes met glowing blue orbs, gazing down at her kindly. Adora stood towering over her, actually towering as she was impossibly tall, and she was smiling softly. She looked at Catra with something that Catra couldn’t even put a name to.
Platinum hair floated out around her head, a thin gold tiara adorned her head and Catra looked down to see she was wearing a strange white and gold uniform, with large golden shoulders. She looked odd but not unsightly. If she just wasn’t so damn tall.
Glowy-Adora moved her hand from Catra’s shoulder, her large fingers brushing against Catra’s jawline as she tilted her head to the side, her weightless hair moving around her.
Her hand moved down Catra’s neck to her chest, her fingers spreading out over where Catra’s heart was beating furiously in her chest. Her fingers curled, digging deeply into Catra’s shirt, making the girl frown.
What was she doing?
Catra was lifted off her feet, cold air licking at her heels as Glowy-Adora lifted her up effortlessly, like she was made of paper, and took a step forward, dangling Catra over the edge of the cliff.
“Adora? What are you doing?” Catra cried, her eyes flicking over her shoulder. Directly below her, a fire raged, hissing and licking up towards her, almost like it was reaching for her, calling for her to be dropped into it.
She turned back to Adora only to find dark red eyes glaring back at her. She was still smiling but now it was horrible, stomach-churning and twisted. Thick red veins spread out across her skin, crawling into her hair and down her neck, pulsing erratically.
“Adora! Put me down!” Catra clawed at Adora’s arms in a panic, her claws clinking off the gold bracer’s on her forearms.
Catra felt Adora’s hand loosen and suddenly she was falling, plummeting all too fast down into the screaming flames below. She could feel hot tears spring to her eyes as the red-eyed Adora stood on the cliff edge and smiled horrifically down at her.
Catra hit the glassy floor with a yelp, all the air flying out of her lungs as she wheezed loudly.
The purple ghost figure was watching her, it’s expression blank and cold.
“Make no mistake. That is what will happen if Adora gets the sword while she is under the Hordes grasp. You must stop it from happening. For all of Etheria,” the figure told Catra calmly.
Catra was panting, struggling to understand what was going on. She’d been falling but now she was back in this stupid room. She didn’t like this. She was done.
“Screw you! And your stupid mind tricks! They won't work on me! I grew up with Shadow Weaver, I’m immune to your crap!” Catra spat as she scrambled to her feet. “Now let me out of here!”
“As you wish,” The figure nodded slowly.
Another flash of light filled Catra’s vision and she hissed loudly as everything went white, burning her eyes.
***
Catra groaned loudly, pain washing over her body. Everything ached. Her eyes hurt. She didn’t want to open them but she knew she had to. She had to get something.
The sword!
Catra’s eyes flew open. She tried to lift her hands but she met resistance. Blue and yellow eyes looked down to see her body, from shoulder to hip was wrapped in tight rope.
“Ah!” She squirmed and twisted, trying to free herself but it was no use, the ropes were tied tight. She was trapped.
“Hey! She’s awake!” A loud voice shouted in her ear and she winched away from it. She looked up to see the armoured boy leaning over her, his big brown eyes looking her up and down cautiously.
“What the-?”
“Quiet, Horde spy! I ask the questions,” A loud, whiny voice shrieked in her other ear. “How did you make it so far into the Whispering Woods?” The colourful girl demanded.
“I flew in. With my wings,” Catra drawled sarcastically.
“You have wings?” The boy gasped from beside her.
“No, Bow she doesn’t. She’s avoiding the question,” The girl grumbled.
“No, I’m not. I answered you. Not my fault if you don’t believe me,” Catra shrugged against her ropes.
“What do you want with our sword?” The girl asked shortly.
“My sword,” Catra corrected her coldly. “And I want it because it’s mine. Simple,” She added, trying again to wiggle against the ropes. They were starting to cut into her now and it was getting irritating.
“It’s not yours, it’s ours. The Whispering Woods is under the Rebellion’s protection. You were lucky to make it as far as you did,” The girl stalked around Catra, never taking her eyes off her as she moved.
“Yeah sure, that or you’re “protection” ain’t as good as you think it is. This isn’t the first time I’ve been in this part of the woods. Hate to break it to you kid, but your protection kinda sucks,” Catra pointed out smugly. Her tail whipped out behind her, brushing against a bush.
“Our... I... Come on, Bow! Let’s get this spy back to Bright Moon where she can be interrogated properly,” The girl stammered as she backed up towards her partner.
“Oh, but why? You were doing so well on your own,” Catra teased. “I was just about to tell you all the Horde’s secrets.”
The girl glared at Catra before she dragged the boy off around a bush. Catra watched them go, trying to move her fingers that were tied up by the ropes but it was no use. They’d made sure to completely immobilise her hands. Damn it.
She’d give them credit, although not out loud, they had been smart in tying her up this securely. Any other time she’d have been out of these ropes in seconds. She was going to have to find another way out of these stupid things. If she could just get near that sword, maybe cut the ropes on the blade?
From behind the bush, she could hear the girl squealing with excitement to her partner.
“This is perfect! Not only do we have First One's tech for the Rebellion, we’ve also captured a Horde spy. My mom’s gonna be so impressed!” The girl giggled.
Catra’s ear twitched. First what? What was this little brat going on about?
“Now come on, on your feet,” The girl barked, her bubbly excitement gone and replaced by, Catra guessed, authority. Catra wasn’t buying it, there was still a hint of her squeakiness in her voice.
“I would but...,” She wiggled, glancing down at her restraints. The girl growled, throwing her head back on her shoulders.
“Don’t give me that, you were all agile and jumpy earlier. Get up,” She snapped.
Catra gave her a tight-lipped smile back, narrowing her mismatched eyes.
“Sorry princess, no can do. I’m thoroughly stuck,” She shrugged her shoulders, ignoring the way the ropes bit into her arms as she moved.
The girl growled again.
The two idiots spent the next five minutes trying to make their prisoner stand up but for some reason, Catra’s legs just would not work. A lot of groaning and complaining later and Catra was being dragged through the forest by the armoured one while the sparkly one stormed off ahead, a smug smirk plastered on her face.
With any luck, being dragged across the forest floor would wear away her ropes a little and make it easier for her to get out soon, she was growing tired of these morons.
They’d been walking through the forest for what felt like hours. Catra’s two captors had done nothing but bicker the entire time and she was starting to wonder how the hell these two had made it this far in the first place without walking headfirst into a tree or off a cliff.
Her stomach rolled at the thought. Okay, don’t think about cliffs. Got it.
“You positive we’re going the right way, Glimmer?” The boy asked, looking around nervously.
“I know what I’m doing, Bow! Can you please trust me for once?” The girl whined back.
“You know I always trust you, but I’m starting to get a little freaked out,” He insisted and Catra was immediately reminded of the way she and Adora bickered back at the Fright Zone. “I mean, I pretty much grew up in these woods, and I’ve never even seen this part of them. I’ve heard stories about weird stuff out here” He added, lowering his voice dramatically. Catra rolled her eyes as she was dragged across the ground.
“It’s fine, okay? Just let me figure this out,” The girl snapped before disappearing in a flash of light in a huff.
“Okay! Touchy,” The boy remarked. He looked round to glance over his shoulder at Catra. “Sorry about her. Usually, she’s really nice.”
Catra tilted her head up at him and furrowed her brows. Was he really trying to make small talk with a prisoner?
“You’ve never done this before have you?” Catra asked him sourly.
“Done what?” He asked earnestly, tightening his grip on the rope over his shoulder.
“Had someone captive?” Catra raised an eyebrow at him as her back thudded over a rock, making her winch.
“Uh... well... No. Not really. Or at all. Is it obvious?” He stammered before sighing and lowering his head.
“Kinda. You aren’t supposed to try and chit-chat with the enemy,” Catra pointed out flatly.
“Is that like a rule?” He asked sheepishly.
“Pretty much,” Catra snorted. God these two were idiots. She was embarrassed. If that stupid spooky-ghost lady hadn’t literally blinded her she wouldn’t be in this situation. She made a mental note that if she ever saw it again to find out if ghosts could bleed.
“Sorry,” He looked back and gave her a weak smile, which she frowned at.
“You aren’t supposed to apologise to them either,” She added, groaning loudly and rolling her eyes. Had she really been caught by a pair of kids? This was stupid.
The boy opened his mouth then slammed it shut again, clearly about to apologise for apologising but thinking better of it. He snapped his head around and continued to drag Catra through the forest in silence. Catra could feel herself going cross-eyed from frustration. Of all the people to be captured by, of course, her luck would have it be the two dumbest people in Etheria. Unless everyone in the Rebellion was this stupid, in which case why hadn’t the Horde wiped them out already? There was no way the rest were this dumb.
But if this kid was stupid enough to try and talk to her, maybe she could use it to her advantage.
“So... You’re the princesses assistant?” Catra asked him slyly. The boys head snapped over his shoulder, his eyebrows dented into the bridge of his nose.
“What? No! I’m her friend! And we’re in the Rebellion together,” He corrected her.
“Oh right. I just thought that with you doing everything she says, when she says it that you were some kind of hired help,” Catra spoke carefully, letting every word sink in. The boy frowned.
“No. That’s not how it works. I do what she says because she’s right,” He reasoned, nodding more to himself than to Catra.
“But we’re lost. And you know we’re lost. But you are still following what she says,” Catra pointed out, her words like silk as she eyed him curiously. She watched as his eyes twitched towards the muttering girl ahead of them.
“I’m sure Glimmer has it under control,” He said slowly, not sounding very sure of himself.
“Right,” Catra drawled. “So you’re fine with doing all the heavy lifting while she plays Soldier in the woods to impress mommy?” Catra pushed, watching him carefully.
“It’s not like that-” He started but was cut off by the sound of the girl whimpering from behind some bushes up ahead. He rushed forward, dragging Catra as fast as he could, their earlier conversation forgotten about as he ran forward.
He pushed through the bushes, Catra spitting and hissing behind him as she was dragged through the branches, leaves and twigs slapping over her face.
As they came out on the other side Catra wriggled to try and get a better look. The boy knelt down and helped her sit up against a rock before he headed over to the girl who was hunched over next to a large piece of rubble.
As Catra looked around, she realised they were sitting in the middle of the ruins of some sort of small village. Pieces of broken mech lay mixed up with the large chunks of concrete scattered around them, scorch marks decorated the few walls that remained standing, although none of them in one piece. The place, whatever it had been before, was completely destroyed.
The girl bent down and picked up a piece of something off the ground but Catra couldn’t see from where she was sitting.
“Whoa, this place is a mess,” Catra muttered.
The girl rounded on her instantly, rage flaring in her dark eyes as she stormed across the debris and leaned over her.
“A mess? This place was an innocent farming village that the Horde ripped apart just for existing!” She yelled in Catra’s face, her eyes lined in red as tears sprang to her eyes.
“Yeah, so? What do you expect me to do? Cry about it?” Catra bit back, leaning her face up into the girls.
“This town was just innocent people, innocent families trying to live their lives in peace! And you people destroyed it! How can you think this is okay?” She barked, waving her arms out behind herself at the ruins.
“It’s not about what I think, it’s about what the Horde wants!” Catra spat back, narrowing her eyes. She was less than an inch from the girls face now and she could smell the salty tears that were collecting in her eyes.
“You’re a monster!” The girl screamed in Catra’s face, spittle spraying over the catlike woman’s face, making her hiss viciously. The boy grabbed his friend by the shoulders and dragged her back, away from Catra as she continued to glare at her from the ground.
“So what? Some of us are just made to be monsters!” She growled lowly in her throat. She wasn’t stupid. She knew what the Horde was, what they did. But it didn’t matter to her. It wasn’t like she had a choice in the matter. The Horde and it’s ways, no matter how horrible those ways were, had been all Catra had known her entire life. What else was she supposed to do? Leave? Not likely. She’d be dead within a week without the Horde. Without Adora.
“I just want this to be over,” the girl whispered from a few feet away as she curled into the boy's shoulder and sobbed openly. Catra watched her in silent amazement. She was just crying out in the open. Not a care in the world, not even trying to hide it.
Weak. Pathetic.
Shadow Weaver’s words danced around Catra’s head and she shivered, shaking them away.
Catra kicked her heel into the dirt, making a small brown dent in the ground while she waited on the girl finishing her pity party with the armoured boy. Once she was done the boy came over to Catra and lifted her to her feet and this time Catra didn’t pretend her legs didn’t work, instead, walking alongside him in silence.
The silence was broken by the sound of prolonged yelling coming from behind the trees.
A second later the girl came bolting out from behind the bushes, holding the sword at arm's length as she sprinted towards them.
“There’s something out there! Something big!” She squealed as she reached them.
“How big?” The boy asked just as a loud rumbling shook the ground beneath their feet, making Catra stumble. The shaking worsened, knocking all three of them to the ground. Catra yelled as she slammed into the ground, struggling against her ropes.
The ground continued to shake, the sound of the earth cracking open filled the air. As the forest floor exploded, large chunks of ground flying out in every direction, a loud bone-shaking shriek assaulted Catra’s ears and she pressed them flat against her head in an attempt to shield herself from it.
A large, glowing-eyed spider charged out of the ground, clawing and scraping with its large sharp front legs.
“So, pretty big then,” The boy wheezed next to Catra.
The giant spider moved towards them, letting out another horrible shriek. It lifted its front leg and lunged it right at the girl.
“Watch out!” The boy called, just as the girl burst into light and vanished, leaving the spiders leg to cut into the ground, shattering it. Catra’s eyes went wide just as another flash of light shot out. The girl had jumped onto the spider’s face and was trying to blind it with her magic. She leapt backwards after blasting it directly in the eyes, landing on her feet next to them.
But it didn’t work and the spider only became more agitated, smashing its legs into the ground furiously. Catra tried to hold in her own yell as the other two were knocked backwards. She watched as the spider lifted its leg above her and dropped it, aiming right for her head. She twisted at the last second, felt something hard and sharp graze off her back, heard the sound of the ropes tearing as the spider's leg sliced through them and they limply fell to the ground at her feet. She didn’t waste any time, leaping forward on all fours to get as far away from the thing as she could, it’s ear-piercing shriek following her.
She could hear the spider following her. She scrambled up a nearby tree before she catapulted herself off the trunk, turning her body in mid-air and extending her claws as she lunged at the spider, her black nails slicing into one of its huge blue eyes. Green gooey blood burst from its eye and if the noise it made before was horrific, this noise was a thousand times worse.
Catra clung on for dear life as the spider bucked and jolted, it’s front legs swiping out in rage. She glanced over her shoulder just in time to see the girl grabbing the sword from the ground and backing up, away from the beast.
“Damn it,” Catra growled to herself. She lifted her clawed hand and dug it deep into another one of the spider’s eyes, causing it to give out another atrocious howl before she pushed back, throwing herself through the air and landing on her feet directly in front of the girl.
“Give me the sword!” She yelled in her face, outstretching her hand. The girl recoiled, hugging the sword to her chest.
“No!” She squeaked.
“Are you serious right now? Give me the sword so I have something to fight this damn thing with!” Catra was losing her patience. Now was not the time for this little brat to be picky about her allies.
“You’re not getting the sword!” She turned her body, trying to shield the sword from Catra.
She growled, rolled her eyes hard and reached her hand out, wrapping her fingers around the hilt. When the girl didn’t let go Catra hissed loudly, lifting her foot and firmly kicking her in the stomach, winding her long enough to release her grip on the sword.
Catra pulled it away from her and turned, digging her heels into the ground as she readied herself. The spider was bleeding from two of its many eyes, swinging out wildly at everything around it, slicing into trees and tearing up the forest.
The armoured boy was trying to subdue it, firing golden arrows into its face but the spider was just brushing them off like they were nothing. Catra’s lip curled as she growled deep in her throat, revealing her fangs as she zeroed in on the monster as it turned on her and cried out in rage.
Catra readied the sword in her hands, it was lighter than she expected and a warm, strange tingle ran up her arm and into her shoulder as she got ready to use it. She really hoped this thing was as sharp as it looked, otherwise this was going to end badly for her.
As the spider charged, a blood-chilling shriek rattling the trees that were still standing, Catra dashed forward, wrapping her other hand around the hilt, swinging it out and towards the monster.
This could go one of two ways.