Chapter Text
"Hello, Adora."
Adora stares in shock at the person before her. Catra glares back at her with neon green covering up her usual amber and turquoise eyes. She is now dressed in a uniform identical to the clones' uniform: A white and gray outfit emblazoned with the Horde's symbol on both the front and back. However, it seemed that Horde Prime kept her typical bare feet approach. Her long hair has been cut, and what’s left of it is now slicked back across her head. Now gazing down to Catra's arms, she sees what Prime has really done to her. Instead of a tan, fur-covered arm, her entire left arm has been replaced with a white and gray prosthesis, with energy beams colored with Horde Prime’s signature green running across it. Her hand was articulated very closely to her previous hand, being able to move in all the same directions, but lacked her razor sharp claws to complement her fighting. Adora, still in shock from seeing what Prime has turned Catra into, lunges toward her, reaching out a hand to her.
“What did you do to her?” she screams. Adora, still midflight to Catra, is caught by two of Prime’s clones, who then restrain her. Adora doesn’t know exactly what she’ll do, but she knows that Prime will pay for the atrocities that he’d done to her. While restrained, Catra walks up to Horde Prime’s throne and kneels down, bowing down before him at the base of the throne.
“I have made her anew,” Prime answers, “I saw her mind, so ensnared in rage, and grief, and pain.” He steps down from his throne, extending his hand to Catra. She takes it, being pulled up into Prime’s cold embrace. “And I brought her to the light. Isn’t that right, little sister?”
All Adora can do is stand agape, being held back by the clones. “Catra, you have to fight it!” she shouts.
In a calm, monotone voice, Catra replies, “My place is with Horde Prime, Adora. I don’t want to leave.”
“Tell her what I’ve done for you.”
“Prime has given me peace,” Catra answers simply, “Something you could never do.” Catra reaches her left hand out to hold Adora’s chin. The cold metal of Catra’s prosthetic stings against her cheek, further stamping in the horror of what Prime has turned Catra into. “You broke my heart. But he has made it whole again.” “Don’t you see? This is for the best. I’m happy here. You could be happy too.” Catra shifts her metal arm down to Adora’s shoulder, the chill never leaving her cheek, before finally removing her arm. For a moment, Adora was speechless, a single tear falling from her eye before regaining her composure.
“Let her go,” Adora commands. Prime places his hand on Catra’s shoulder, making her gasp, the empty smile on her face turning into one of worriment and fear.
“Shall we make a deal, Adora?” Prime asks calmly, “I will give her to you, if you want her. But first, you must do something for me. You will give me She-Ra.”
“Never!” Adora scowls. Even Catra is not worth sacrificing the universe for. Not that she could give him She-Ra, anyway.
“Very well.” He snaps his fingers, shorting out Adora’s earpiece, letting out a high-pitched screech in her ear, making her cringe at the sound. “You miscalculated,” Prime says with more ferocity than before, “I see all, I know all. You thought yourself worthy to challenge me, but you are nothing but a false hero, the last of the first ones to fall at my hands. You have led your friends to destruction.” He squeezes Catra’s neck, making her gasp again. Except, this time, Adora notices that Catra’s amber and turquoise eyes return for a fleeting second before returning to their radioactive yellow-green. “Go on, fulfill your purpose,” he continues, “Bring out She-Ra and strike me down.” Adora can hear the smugness in his voice, telling her that he already somehow knew that She-Ra was gone. “Ah… But you two must have a lot of catching up to do,” he says, stroking Catra on her head. That cold, empty smile returns back to her face. “I will leave you to it.” He starts to walk away from the platform, his guards following him. “Let me know when you are ready to make a deal."
In the middle of their fight, Adora slams Catra back onto the glass behind Prime’s throne, making her chip malfunction and start to shoot out vibrant electric blue arcs. Catra starts up an evil cackle before having her fluorescent green eyes disappear for a brief second. Adora pauses for a second, realizing that by damaging the chip further, Catra could potentially be saved.
“I am not giving up on you, Catra,” She states firmly.”
“Then you’re a fool,” Catra says, reverting back to that monotone voice, “You cannot stop Horde Prime. He will reign triumphant over all the universe. It is destiny.” The electricity from Prime’s screens behind them flare up, damaging Catra’s chip even further, causing her to yell out in pain.
“No!” shouts Adora. She holds Catra’s loose body away as the energy in the glass behind them surges further, and each panel starts to explode out, making Adora dive to the ground with Catra in her arms. Laying on the floor in Adora’s arms, Catra’s eyes return back to normal, with the electricity continuing to crackle in her chip. The first thing Catra sees when she opens her eyes is Adora’s worried face, her blond hair hanging loose with her signature hair poof having been taken out.
“Adora, you should have stayed away,” Catra says, pain stricken throughout her voice, “Why did you come back? We both know I don’t matter.” Adora can’t believe what she’s hearing, the hopelessness and self-loathing coming from Catra.
“You matter to me!” Adora chokes out. She raises her hand to hold Catra’s cheek, the warmth comforting her as tears pool in her eyes. She smiles for a brief moment before being taken over by Prime’s control again. She hits Adora away, and starts trudging towards the edge of the platform, her chip surging once again, making Catra groan and writhe in pain, her prosthetic arm twitching, likely from the power shorting in its connection to her chip.
“Come on, Catra! You’ve never listened to anyone in your life, are you really going to start now?” Catra turns around to face Adora, her eyes returning back to normal again, and smiles.
“You’re such an idiot,” she says.
“Yeah, I know,” Adora responds back, tears further pooling at the corner of her eyes. Catra laughs at her dorkiness before Adora returns to her serious face. “I’m going to take you home.” Catra cannot control herself anymore, and lets her tears flow, streaming down her face.
“Promise?” She asks, barely a whisper, holding herself tightly in front of Adora.
“I promise!” shouts Adora, holding her hand out to Catra.
“Adora…” Catra says, even quieter than before as she reaches out to grab Adora’s hand. But before that can happen, Prime finally regains full control of Catra, making her reel back.
“Disappointing,” Prime says, speaking through Catra, “Some creatures are destined only for destruction.” When Prime finally releases his control on her, her eyes grow wide as saucer plates, pain coursing through her as her chip cries out one last time, knocking her unconscious, careening her off the platform.
“No!” Adora screams out. She immediately jumps down to help Catra, not caring that she likely broke both of her legs in the process. After recovering from her fall, Adora groans, and crawls toward Catra’s limp body, desperately searching for any sign of life from her.
“Catra?” She says, grabbing Catra and holding her tight, “Catra? It’s okay, I’m here.” Catra weakly breathes in her arms, as Adora brings her up to her to start crying in the crook of her neck as Prime’s clones start surrounding them.
One of the clones speaks out, with Prime directly controlling him. “I am sorry for the needless waste, Adora. It did not have to be like this. Are you ready to cooperate?” Finally sensing Catra’s chest becoming still, Adora is filled with many raw emotions at once. Anger, grief, sadness, but most of all, determination. Determination to defeat Prime. Determination to save the universe. Determination to save her best friend.
All of a sudden, she could feel She-Ra’s power flow through her, her eyes lighting up to glow an electric blue, Adora rising up off the ground, lit up in a shaft of She-Ra’s teal-blue energy, her golden blonde hair waving about in the wind that she was creating. “For the Honor of Grayskull!” She shouted, raising her arm up above her head, materializing a sleek sword into existence. In a blinding dance of lights, Adora transformed into She-Ra again, only this time, she was sporting a new outfit, sleeker and less poofy than before, with her hair back in her signature ponytail and hair poof, rather than her previous loose waves as She-Ra.
For a moment, Prime stares in both shock and awe, even if only seeing through one of his clones. In that moment, Adora notices Catra let out one final gasp, sending another wave of determination and power surge through her. Within a second, Adora starts slicing away at the clones around her, sending out magic waves, downing all but one. To this one, she sends out a flash of power from the sword’s runestone, aimed directly at the clone, knocking it to the floor. As the clone looks up at her, with Prime’s eyes seeing through, all Adora can think to do is spit Prime’s words right back at him.
“You miscalculated.”
Back on the ship, Adora looks away from Darla’s control panel, and takes a look at Catra’s lifeless body being held by Bow and Glimmer, both staring at her with tears filling their eyes and spilling out onto their cheeks. Adora’s face contorts in both worry and grief as she kneels down to hold Catra as well.
“Come on, Catra,” She whispers, “You’re not done, not yet.” She holds Catra even closer, desperately searching for a heartbeat. “We’re going home.” At that last word, her voice starts to break and tears start falling away from the corners of her eyes. She focuses all of her energy into Catra, desperately trying to heal her back to life. Adora’s body glows a bright yellow-gold, soon enveloping Catra as well. When the glowing ends, Adora comes out as herself again, still holding Catra. She looks down despondently at Catra, tears further falling from her face, seeing no movement from her. Then, right when Catra was seemingly lost forever, she lets out a cough, lightly opening her eyes, and lays her head on Adora’s chest.
“Hey, Adora,” she says weakly. Adora, still heavily crying, smiles and brings Catra into a hug, resting her head on Catra’s shoulder.