Hardships

War Meetings

Adora's POV
*3 Days Later:*

"I have an idea on how we can get rid of the pest that we know as Horde Prime", Shadow Weaver says walking into the war-planning tent along with Castaspella. I raise a brow and say, "And what do you suggest?". Shadow Weaver makes her way towards me and says, "We weaponize the Heart Of Etheria. We use it to release all the magic on Etheria. You say that Prime's weakness is Magic... so why not just release the thing that terrifies him the most?". I look at her exasperatedly and say outraged, "Are you fucking serious?! Use the Heart of Etheria? Are you insane? Do you not remember how that ended last time? It almost destroyed Etheria. Thats a terrible idea!".

Glimmer puts a hand on my shoulder and says, "Adora, perhaps its not that bad of an idea". I scoff and look at her and say, "And how in the hell is that a good idea?!". Castaspella clears her throat and says, "Because every destructive machinery had a failsafe no?". My head whirls towards her and I ask, "What are you suggesting?". Shadow Weaver chuckles and says, "We do not suggest. We know. Castaspella and I infiltrated Mystacor. We know where the failsafe is hidden. The Crystal of Arxia. With that we can release all the magic that the Heart of Etheria was storing for destruction... we can bring peace and magic back to the universe and bring balanxe to Etheria while wiping out Prime".

Glimmer nods and says, "The Crystal of Arxia? If it was so important then why didnt you take it for yourself? God knows how selfish you are when it comes to magic. Hell you even manipulated Catra to grab some magic in a secret stash in your sorcerer's badge to teleport to Brightmoon. So why didnt you take it?". Shadow Weaver sighs and crosses her legs and says, "Well your Majesty, your Aunt surely wouldve put me in the ground if I tried anything selfish. Secondly, even if I wanted to take it for myself It wouldnt grant me that liberty... only She-Ra could access it".

I sigh and run a hand over my face and say, "Bow? What do you say?". Bow only sighs and says, "I've gotta say, I don't exactly trust Shadow Weaver but I trust Castaspella's words. If she believes its the best for the magical elements of the planet then I agree with it too". I nod and Castaspella squeals and hugs Bow, pressing kisses all over his face. Glimmer nods and says, "I agree too".

"I guess it's official we will head out to Mystacor in 3 weeks notice", I say looking at Shadow Weaver and Castaspella and nodding my approval. "Then this meeting is dismissed". Glimmer says dismissively. We all nod and I watch as Shadow Weaver and Castaspella exit the tent.

I sigh and slouch against my seat rubbing the bridge of my nose. "You're tense as a mother fucker Adora, whats going on?", Bow says sitting next to me and Glimmer humming in approval and sitting next to me aswell. I sigh and look at them and say, "Its been 3 days... where in the hell is Catra?". Bow sighs and says, "Shes probably still fighting and trying to find survivors". Glimmer nods, putting a hand on my forearm and saying, "Yeah, we all know that Catra is strong. Shes fi-", Before She could finish her sentence there was a shit ton if ruckus outside the war tent.

I raise a brow and we all stand up, exiting the war tent to see a huge crowd of people gathered outside the gate. "Hey whats going on here?", I say calling through the people. I heard mumurs about a Horde scum and a disgusting piece of shit as we made our way through the crowd. My eyes widened when I climbed up the watch tower and saw who it was. Bow gasped next to me along with Glimmer and I turned to the guard and said, "Open the gates! Now!". They look at me like Im insane and I growl and say, " Now". They nod quickly before opening the gate.

I jumped down with a soft thud, before running over to the bloody, battered, sweaty and limping Catra . "Catra, what happened?", I asked softly but worry was evident in my tone, holding onto her shoulders. "I-Im fine Adora, most of this blood isnt mine". I look at her with a raised brow and she says in a monotone voice, "There werent any survivors I could save in time. They always died in my arms. Those who I tried to save, were murdered by Prime's bots hence the blood". My eyes widen and I look at Melog and noticed that he had some crimson on his pelt too. " I-Im so sorry Glimmer, I-I tried the best I could to sa-save everyone I could but-", Before Catra could finish her thought she was tackled to the floor by Frosta, slamming her fists into face.

"Frosta! Frosta! Stop it! Shes with us", I yell running over to them and pushing Frosta off of the even more bloodied Catra who had blood rolling down her cheeks from a slash that Frosta's ragged ice fists made, a cut up brow, a busted lip, a nasty black eye, and a very probable broken nose. Catra sits up, holding the bridge of her nose and cracking it in place like it was nothing and holds her side saying, "You know, Im not surprised by that welcome". "What do you mean this Horde Scum is with us?!", Frosta says walking over to me, obviously very angry. Melog growls, stepping in front both Catra and I his mane red. Catra leans forward and pulls him back, scolding him gently before his mane went back to blue and he settled by Catra's side. I sigh and say, "She's changed. She was the reason we were allowed to land on Etheria. The reason Glimmer is here with us".

Frosta scoffs and says, "But she is the reason Prime is here or did you forget that?". I sigh and look down at Catra and she only nods and says, "Yeah, it is my fault Prime is here. I've made tons and tons of huge mistakes that in consequence alot of lives were taken from innocents. I am not proud of those moments. I can still hear their screams and cries. See their faces at night. They haunt me every day. I wanted to change myself. So I took the first step by saving Glimmer from Prime. And I did some other stuff. B-But thats not the point here", Catra pauses to look at Frosta and she stands up weakly and offers her hand to the little one and says, "I know you do not like, trust, or respect me in any way possible and I respect that all the way. You dont have to do any of those. I just want to be able to be on the right side of history this time. I want to help". Frosta scoffs and slaps her hand away and growls, " Good. Then you would have no problem sleeping in the woods".

My eyes widened and Glimmer jumped forward and said shocked, "In the woods?! Isnt that just pushing her to death Frosta?". Frosta nods and says, "Precisely". Bow looked at her exasperatedly and says, "Ok, I know Catra hasnt been exactly great to us... but shes trying to change. We've began to trust her. Sending her to sleep in the woods practically to her death is insane! She's injured for gods sake!". Frosta chuckles and says, "She seems fine to me. Plus shes the big bad Horde commander yeah? She should be able to fend for herself. So yeah, its final... she's sleeping in the woods. I do not want her inside this camp. She is a liability and a danger to us all".

I growl and go to say something when Catra takes my hand in hers and says, "Very well". My eyes widened when she looked at me, put my hand to her lips and pressed a soft kiss to the back of it and saying, "Go back into camp Adora, I'll be ok". I go to argue but before I could Catra and Melog already made their way inside the woods. I sigh and Glimmer and Bow look at me sadly and they gently take my hands and lead me inside the gate, I look back to notice that Catra had already disappeared.

Im sorry Catra.

To be continued...