Escaping Corruption (Seasons 1-3)

S3 - Danse Macabre

THE night is somber.

Dark storm clouds swathe the winter sky, obscuring the moon. Except for the small sliver of light that poked through the curtains of a small hut tucked away deep within the Whispering Woods.

Catra was nestled cosily in a cocoon of knitted quilts.

She and Glimmer had come across the barren hut mere hours beforehand.

Glimmer was still asleep.

Catra's eyes are open. She can't help it. She can't help her inability to move, or to even sleep.

She has had nights like this before, of course. Where she heard nothing but her own heartbeat weighed down by grief.

Like the night following The War of Nocturnia.

All she had been able to see was the bloody battlefield and every tarnished soul they had lost.

And tonight, just the raw fear on Aeris' expression.

But now she was dead and she would never be comforted.

Catra wanted to go home.

She could never do that thought. How would she explain to C'yra and Amato that Aeris was dead?

Surely they would accuse her.

And henceforth, would she be killed? Tortured? Exhiled?

In her head, she wouldn't blame them.

She imagined it.

A blood soaked crown.

Catra.

A Guillotine, perhaps.

Catra!

Or maybe-

'CATRA!!'

She jumps up.

Glimmer is now kneeling by her, concern enlined in every inch of her face. Catra suddenly realises that she's been speaking aloud.

'Apologies, apologies...Hey Sparkles. Anyways, we need to hit the road again if we want to save the World before everything we have ever known is obliterated. Now, to Sailineus!' Catra leaps to her feet and snatches up her rucksack.

Glimmer sighs, exasperated at her old enemy's antics.

Slowly, the princess of Brightmoon follows Catra out into the wild forest mass.

'Where are we going next?' She enquires.

'The mortuary. It's near Elisia. It's an Eternian structure from the first War. They kept corpses in it.' Catra explains, wincing as she speaks.

Glimmer shudders, disturbing images entering her mind.

The magicat conveys no anxiety as they amble on ahead through the Whispering Woods.

'Why did we leave Purrsia at all if Elisia is located within it?" Glimmer grumbles.

'Aziphyia was in Purrsia. You're the one who teleported us out. Ask yourself that.' Catra deadpans.

Morrigan slithers out from her sleeve, and curls around her forearm drowsily.

'Fuck! Oh sorry, I keep forgetting about that little abomination.' Glimmer yelps, then admits.

'Excuse me?! Morrigan, love, don't listen to her. She's just jealous of your magnificence.' Catra mutters, as Morrigan rubs his head over her cheek.

'Right...' Glimmer trails off.

If Catra hears her, she doesn't react.

~~~~~~

Darkness.