"Right By My Side."

Chapter 1

Catra visibly trembled as she made her way to Hordak's lair.

She was so close to taking over Brightmoon, but yet again, the Rebellion stopped her from doing so. 

She came up to the gigantic, heavy metal door that blocked Catra from entering into her leaders sanctuary. She quickly gained some composure and took a deep breath, she needed to look strong. Fear was known as a weakness in the Fright Zone, and if she were to display any of that towards her ruler, than he would have definitely killed her.

The metal door opened and allowed Catra to step inside. Hordak was sitting in his throne, a displeased and furious expression on his cyborg like features as his bright red eyes pirced right into Catra's soul.

The feline held a straight face, she got down on one knee and kept both her head and her gaze low. 

"Force captain Catra, I'm sure you know why I called you here." Came her leaders low, menacing voice.

"Lord Hordak I-"   

"Silence! You are to be spoken to once given the chance!" The evil leader snarled, slamming his clawed hand onto the armrest of his hard throne.

Catra tensed up, and her ears lowered a bit as she looked up at her leader.

"It was brought to my attention that you had failed to conquer Brightmoon, once again. I have given you ample opportunities to take their runestone, but you've failed each time. Not only that, but you also let yourself get captured by a pathetic princess." Hordak said, the tone in his voice made it clear just how displeased and angered he was. But he continued.

"So I have brought upon myself to give you a personal lesson." He said as he stood, slowly walking down the steps and towards the Magicat.

Catra's mismatched colored eyes widened in fear as she silently kneeled there, her tail instinctively wrapped around her waist.

"I wasn't sure when I would really need this, but it would serve perfectly as your punishment." Hordk said with spite.

He snagged Catra's left ear and dragged her over to the dark side of his lab, she held back a yelp and fought back hot tears that threatened to spill, she could literally feel her ear being ripped as she struggled somewhat against him, but to no avail.

Hordak then finally let go of the felines ear, and walked over to a lever. He pulled it towards him and waited a few seconds before a pink and purple mixed colored lightning sparked above both of their heads, then a force field surrounded the feline.

Suddenly the feline felt her breath hitch, and the oxygen leave her lungs. She held a clawed hand to her throat and coughed as tears slipped from her eyes, but instead of dripping down her face, they floated upwards.

"How is your breathing, force captain?" Hordak said as he stepped into the field, but his breathing was perfectly fine. "Etheria's atmosphere was a complicated variable in my experiments, but as you can see, I just removed the variable." He said darkly.

He watched heartlessly as Catra struggled to breath, he let out a snarl and kicked her square in her back. 

"Do you know the definition of failure, captain?" Hordak lifted the feline up roughly by her hair, she tried to speak, but the only sound that came out of her throat was a gasp and groan.

He shook his head and threw her to the side, followed up by a swift kick to the stomach. Hordak then picked Catra up again, but this time it was by her left ear again.

More tears poured from the felines eyes as she bravely looked Hordak in his terrifying, red, glowing eyes. "Failure is the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective. The lack of succession." 

He pulled on the brunettes ear and watched in amusement as it, slowly but surely, ripped near the tip. His clawed hand found its way to the teen's freckled cheek, and he dug his claws into her skin until a single cut was made, deep enough to draw blood. 

This kept going for a while until Hordak finally stopped and pulled the lever once more, the field disappearing in an instant. 

"I don't like failures, force captain. Get out of my sight." Hordak said, dismissing her with a wave of his hand as he returned to his throne.

Catra coughed, a small trickle of blood dripped down her mouth and from her ear. She shakily stood as she caught her breath and limped away from her leader. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Catra stood hunched over, holding her ribs in pain and her sight going in and out as she walked outside for some air.

"I can't take this anymore, he could have killed me! I want to leave... I need to leave... but where am I going to go if I do..?"

The brunettes mind was racing with a million questions to that, but one thought was clear to her. She was leaving, and nobody was going to stop her. She was leaving and if anyone tried to dare stop her, then they have another thing coming to them. 

She decided to steal a skiff. She wouldn't make it anywhere, or out of the fright zone, if she went on foot.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

It had been only a few hours, but the brunette had successfully escaped the Fright Zone. She had told only Scorpia of her departure, knowing all to well how the white haired girl would react if she didn't.

Scorpia was in tears and refused to let Catra go, mainly because of her condition, but accepted Catra's choice, after the feline convinced her that she would be fine. The Magicat promised they could secretly see each other from time to time, their connection didn't have to end. She didn't tell Entrapta, however, because the girl couldn't keep a secret even if her life depended on it.

 She had no idea where to go from here, though. She was wounded and tired, she had no food or water, nor was she in any condition to be moving. But what Hordak did to her pushed her over the edge to finally gain the courage to leave. 

It had been a few more hours of her slowly driving the skiff, until she noticed the tree line of the Whispering Woods. She snarled lowly as brief memories crossed her mind,  she shook her head and ventured forth. Nobody would dare come into the woods, so she wouldn't be bothered or have to worry about being found. Not that any horde soldier would actually come looking for her.

She had wondered aimlessly around the woods for a while before her vision went blurry and her body started to ache. She stopped the skiff and fell onto her knees, fresh blood trickling from and out of her mouth as she coughed heavily. Her vision once again going in and out.

She finally collapsed on the skiff and let darkness take over, the last thing she saw was a bright light...

 and glowing blonde hair.