"The room is silent, the force cadets stand at attention waiting for the next training assignment from Shadoweaver. The tall shrouded woman turns and points to the screen, but Catra keeps her eyes on Adora. She's seen the signs, shivering when no one is looking, the faint sniffling that she tries to hide. Adora is sick, sickness is weakness, and weakness is punished. So when she sees Adora take in a sharp breath, eyes closed and hand already moving to her mouth, -"HEY SHADOWEAVER!" Everyone turns to look at the wild haired girl, everyone except for Adora whose eyes are still crossed from her unheard sneeze. The other cadets look on in horror that Catra would interrupt the dark sorcerous, and beneath her mask Catra can tell that Shadoweaver will be punishing her in the usual way. Oh well, better her than Adora."

Confusion, chaos. The horde soldiers and machines swarm over the 'heavily fortified outpost' Not caring that the people they chase down are terrified civilians, and that this outpost is nothing more than a small village. What Bow told her was the truth, Glimmer's anger, it all makes sense now. From the Fright Zone it was easy to think about how dangerous princesses are and how much of a threat they could be to the rest of the world. But here, looking at this farce of a battle? "I can't do this." The words leave Adora in a whisper.

"AAAAhhh!"

A scream brings Adora's thoughts back to the present. A young deer woman is yanked from her hiding place by a Horde soldier gripping her antlers. Without thinking Adora is already moving, her years of training spurring her to action. A flying kick knocks the soldier off of his feet, in the moment of surprise Adora turns to the deer woman, and points in the direction that she sees a purple flash of sparkles. "Run, there's a princess that way." The soldier gets back up stun baton at the ready. The blond force captain feels around for a weapon wishing she had her own baton, or even better that sword. Her hand lands on a short metal pole that looks like it was attached to a chair before today. Adora pulls Glimmer's shawl off of her shoulders and displays her Force Captain's badge. "Stand down soldier, this is clearly a mistake. This isn't a military base, these are civilians. Who is your commanding officer?"

The helmed soldier stops for a second staring at the Captain's badge. "C-captain Petra. Force Captain." The soldier points towards the rear line. "She is leading from the rear tank brigade." Adora suppresses a frustrated groan. It just had to be Petra.

Adora fixes her eyes on the approaching hover tanks. "The information we had is wrong. This attack is over. Get your comrades and return to your recall location."

"B-but captain, my orders are-"

"Your orders," Adora turns and gives the soldier her fiercest glare, annoyed that this soldier is wasting her time while people could be dying. "are to gather your comrades and return to your recall location. Don't make me tell you again." There's a moment of hesitation while the soldier shrinks back from the blond Force Captain's glare before saluting. As he steps away another thought hits Adora. "Oh and give me your shock baton."

Catra races through the thick of combat, eyes constantly scanning for threats and her best friend. "Adora please, where are you?" the nimble force cadet scrambles onto the top of a sphere droid to better survey the battlefield. Yellow and blue eyes train to find Adora in the chaos of the battle. "Come on where are-" a flash of blond hair. "There you are. But what are you doing?" Catra watches from her post as Adora sends some soldier on his way after relieving him of his weapon. Adora then begins to jog towards the back line. Catra sits cross legged on the robot with a huff. "She doesn't look like she needs saving."

Catra transitions from the robot to rooftop perches to better tail Adora through the village. Adora, stops as she approaches the captain's tank. Catra can't help but to snigger under her breath. "Jeez doesn't she know that Petra's in there. This won't be pretty." She takes a moment to fondly remember the many scrapes between the two before Petra was removed from their unit. The top of the hover tank opens and from her perch she can see the burly, scaly form of Force Captain Petra step onto the top of the tank. Tthe sounds of the battle echo all around her it's impossible to make out just what the two are saying from here, but they look to be getting along as well as they used to. That is to say, they appear to be shouting at each other. Catra leans back and prepares to watch the always amusing spectacle of a frustrated Adora, when something in the atmosphere shifts. Adora, pulls out the shock baton and the two soldiers on Petra's sides point their weapons at Adora.

Catra springs from the roof swinging on a flag pole to land in a crouch next to a shocked Adora, giving her a Cheshire grin and wink. "Now while I'd normally enjoy watching Adora hand your butt to you, don't you think the middle of a battlefield is a bad place?"

Adora lowers her guard for a second to place her hand on Catra's arm. "Catra, thank goodness you're here we have to-"

"Cadet Catra." Force captain Petra interrupts. "I am the officer in command of this operation. Our mission, is to destroy this rebel encampment, the former force captain Adora has become a detriment to the mission and an enemy to the Horde. Even now she tries to undermine the mission."

"I would never turn my back on the Horde. This village isn't the rebel encampment that we're looking for." Adora steps forward towards the captain, while Catra subtly positions herself between Adora and the soldier closest to her blindside.

Catra's eyes flick from Petra to the closes soldier who she notices thumbing the button on his baton. "What do you mean former Force Captain? Last I checked Adora still has that badge on her shirt." Even as she speaks Catra bends her knees slightly subtly preparing to move.

Petra's former glare turns into an ugly mocking sneer. "Adora has finally shown weakness. I can see it, she's trying to protect these rebels. In the short time she's been hear it's infected her." Her cruel eyes reptilian eyes flick to Catra, "and as her closest ally it's probably already spread to you to. Don't worry, I'll be sure to pay my respects to Shadoweaver."

With those words everything around them flies into motion. The two soldiers aim their rifles at the duo, while Petra ducks back into the tank. The one closest to Catra doesn't even get a chance to move before the girl is on him a strong kick to the helmet leaving him incapacitated. A shot goes by and Catra turns in time to see the other solder get thrown to the ground by Adora who snags his rifle from the air. There's a high pitched wine as the tank's main gun prepares to fire. Adora and Catra share a look and a nod, Adora sprints backwards towards cover, while Catra runs to the side.

There's a flash of light as Adora just barely manages to put a dwelling between her and the blast. The building won't be able to take another hit but she's hoping it won't have to. She takes a moment to quickly glance around and see's that the rest of the battlefield is growing quiet. "Looks like Glimmer and Bow got everyone out." She breathes a sigh of relief, even if it was just distracting Petra, Adora is glad she was able to do something to help.

Glancing back at the tank she sees the main barrel light up preparing for another shot, she doesn't feel the need to move though as she also spies Catra on top of it. With the pull of a switch the feline girl drops inside. With that handled she stops and surveys what's left of the village hoping to see Glimmer or Bow anywhere, or even some kind of sign left behind. Nothing.

Adora isn't even a little surprised when Captain Petra comes sailing out of the tank, bruised, cut and unconscious, while Catra gracefully pulls herself out of the vehicle and walks towards Adora with that annoyed and yet concerned look on her face that only she can have. "So are you gonna tell me what all of that was about? Because that was definitely more than just Petra being Petra."

Grinning Adora raises an eyebrow, "You didn't think to ask that before helping me fight a superior officer?" She can already see the sarcastic reply forming on Catra's lips when she remembers why she's here. "I'll fill you in later. For now- " Adora leans down to Petra's unconscious form and grabs her communicator. "Contacting all combatants. This is Force Captain Adora speaking. Captain Petra is not fit to lead at the moment so I am taking command of this operation. All troops are ordered to fall back to the fright zone immediately. This mission is over."

Catra's ears perk up hearing the sound of footsteps approaching behind her. As far as she knows no one but the two of them have ever even been up here. "Let me guess, no punishment from Shadoweaver?" Catra doesn't mean to make it sound like an accusation but even to her ears she can hear the bitterness that seeps through. Instead of facing Adora she turns to look down over the Fright Zone from the high tower where she sits.

Adora takes a seat next to Catra, both of their legs dangling over the edge. "I'm benched for a couple of weeks, but that doesn't bother me much." Catra glances at her in confusion, "after all I'm sure by then you'll be able to make Force Captain and then we can go together."

"Hmph, as if." Almost at a second thought she adds, "It's not like that matters anyway."

Silence settles after a few moments before Catra brings up the question. "So what exactly happened to you anyway? You said you were just going to be gone a few hours and I end up finding you again on a battle field, trying to cancel our mission."

The question hangs in the air long enough that Catra almost thinks Adora is going to ignore her when she does speak. "Catra I- we-" Adora stops and takes a breath clearing her thoughts. "I can trust you right?"

Catra is about to yell at Adora for stalling with such a stupid question when the look on Adora's face catches her off guard. Blue eyes are down cast with a furrowed brow, she looks confused? Scared? Vulnerable? Definitely not like Adora. Catra slowly reaches out and places a hand on Adrora's knee while her tail wraps around Adora's elbow. "Just the two of us remember? I've got your back, and you have mine."

"No matter what?"

Mismatched eyes meet sky blue ones, "Obviously."

Adora gulps. "Shadoweaver, no the Horde has been lying to us. Lying about the rebellion, and the war and who knows what else."

Mismatched eyes roll in their sockets. "Well yeah. I mean did you really trust Hordak and Shadoweaver?"

"Wait you knew? You went to that attack to join a platoon of soldiers in hunting down peaceful, unarmed villagers?" Adora stands up looking at Catra in disbelief.

Annoyed Catra, stays seated but looks to Adora over her shoulder, "To be honest I didn't care what the mission was. I went to look for you. Don't make me repeat what I said ten seconds ago. Do you really think I would have just left you there?"

Of course she wouldn't. Adora sits down again feeling silly that she would even accuse Catra of acting that way. "But don't you think there's something wrong with it? I always thought that the Horde was honorable in battle, and that even if we are ruthless it's what is necessary to defeat the enemy. But that was… That wasn't a battle. I was told it would be a heavily armed base. Why would we even attack that village? What was the point?"

Adora sighs in frustration. Catra just shrugs, "Beats me. I guess I get what you're saying though. I'd never seen it for myself either but I had always assumed that things weren't so black and white." Looking over Catra sees that Adora is fiddling with her fingers. Whenever she's stressed she always tries to find something to mess with to take her mind off of it. Without anything else around, Catra slides her hand over to Adora's who begins messing with her fingers and claws without even acknowledging it. "So the Horde is kind of evil. Yeah I guess that sucks, but it's not like we can do anything about it. This is our home."

The blond force captain continues fiddling with Catra's fingers, feeling where claws meet flesh. "but Catra." In a small voice she mutters, "I-I don't want to be evil. If the Horde is evil then I-i." She takes a breath. "I don't think I can stay here."

Catra's head whips around in surprise. "What do you mean you can't stay here, where would you go to the-" Her eyes widen in realization. "Adora you can't be serious."

"I mean it isn't like they told us! they just want to live peacefully and we're slaughtering them. And the princesses are just normal girls! I don't like the thought of leaving the Horde but I can't just go on pretending I'm ok with that. I can't be a part of that." Catra goes to pull her hand away, but Adora holds onto it tightly. "I know we were raised here, but when I was out there, I felt I don't know, familiar? At home. Almost anyway."

This couldn't be happening, Catra said she would always protect Adora but how can she do that if she defects? She should go tell Shadoweaver, as much as she hates her she would know what to do know how to make Adora stay. Something Adora says sticks in her mind though and she has to ask, "What do you mean almost?"

Adora squeezes her hand. "I didn't have you with me."

Catra groans. "You're going to get me killed aren't you."

Adora looks are her confused, "What are you talking about, you don't have to, I mean I'm not trying to make you come with me. I'm still not even sure on what I should do."

Oh this is such a bad idea. "I think we both know that you'd be useless without me." Catra leans back so that she's looking at the Fright Zone sky. Maybe Petra was right? Adora must have infected her with crazy. "Nothing bad can happen as long as we stay together right?" Another sigh. "It's not like I love the Horde that much anyway."

Adora's head swivels to look at Catra, "Are you saying that you'll-"

"Of course I'm going with you. If it comes to that. You've only heard one side of the story, we should do some snooping and see if there's anything else that we don't know. For all we know Hordak might have a good reason to destroy the other kingdoms." Catra finally pulls her hand from Adora Grasp holding up a finger warningly, "Then and only then, will we maybe leave. Together with a plan."

The blond girl's smile, seems to light the dreary Fright Zone for a moment. "Thanks Catra." Although on the topic of what they don't know. "Um there's actually one more thing. You see, um. When I went out there, there was this sword, and I heard a voice and then I- well I might have, or I might be, maybe-"

Catra's elbow finds it's way to Adora's side, violently. "Jeez spit it out already." For some reason seeing Adora so flushed and antsy was really starting to piss Catra off.

"I-I, ugh! think I might be a princess!"

It's dark the next time Catra and Adora are able to speak in private. Being a force Captain means that now Adora is allowed her own private quarters. They had both agreed it would be stupid to talk about the things that happened to Adora anywhere someone might overhear, and that they should do it in a place without any shadows just to be safe.

Which is why currently Catra is hanging upside down from the ceiling screwing in the last bulb on Adora's ridiculous light fixture. "Are you sure that all Force Captain's get rooms like this because this is a little overkill."

Looking around Adora can't help but agree, the room itself isn't terribly big, it's in fact less than half the size of their previously sleeping hall, but still. "Yeah, I mean all of this for one person." She swings an arm and is annoyed when she doesn't touch anything. "So can we talk about this now?"

After Catra didn't freak out over the whole maybe a princess thing Adora is dying to talk to someone about everything she saw while with Glimmer and Bow. Wondering if being the prisoner of a princess might have been messing with her mind.

"One sec, just gotta be sure." Catra drops down from the ceiling, and looks around a bit inspecting the room. Dropping to all fours she looks under the bed which has several drawers built into it. "All clear I guess. We've got this place lit up so much it would probably blind Shadoweaver anyway." Catra says placing her arm over her sensitive eyes as she lays back on Adora's bed. "So can we go over this princess thing again? You said something about a sword?"

Catra bounces slightly as Adora flops down next to her. "Yeah, the sword that I saw the other day. It's what I went back into the forest to get."

"The sword that you saw in a dream?"

Adora swats Catra's shoulder, "The sword is real. I saw it, and when I held it I-"

"Turned into an eight foot tall warrior woman named She-ra?" Catra chuckles in amusement, "You do know that isn't how princesses work right? Princesses don't even use swords, they're all too busy playing with magic to learn how to actually fight."

The blond Force captain's face turns red as she tries to think of a way to explain what happened, "I know, but when I held the sword, Words just sort of came to me. 'For the honor of Grayskull' I don't even know what that is! Have you ever heard of Grayskull?" She didn't expect much but still sighs when Catra shakes her head. "and well after that, there was a light and then I was She-ra I guess."

The bed shifts as Catra pushes herself up and scoots back to lean against the wall. She pulls her knees to her chest to rest her chin on. "What do you mean you were She-ra? What does that even mean?"

"I- it's hard to explain. I was still Adora, I never stopped being me but at the same time, I was also She-ra: Princess of power." Adora pushes her self up and mirrors Catra's position, using her arms to hold her legs close to her chest. "And it felt right, like that was who I was always supposed to be. I know it is. I need to be She-ra, I can feel it."

The room is silent, with only the sounds of the many fluorescent bulbs filling the room.

"So what are you going to do about it?" Adora looks at Catra confused. "The way I see it." Catra holds up two clawed fingers, "You have two options. 1: You go get the sword. 2: You forget about it." Before Adora can respond Catra has already lowered one finger. "And I think we can both tell that option 2 isn't on the table."

Confliced Adora pitches to the side to lean on her friend. "So what do I do?"

"What do we do." Catra corrected. "You and me remember, I'm not going to just leave you to deal with this on your own. You need me."

"Catra we could get in big trouble for this, I mean, if I get the sword I'm not sure what I'll do. With it I might be able to stop all of the pain that the Horde is causing I might even join the-"

"Adora! Calm down, we've already been over this. As long as we stick together nothing really bad can happen." She holds up the finger again, "But remember that's not until we're absolutely sure that we need to. Agreed?" She waits for Adora to nod. "As for how we get to your sword that's easy." Adora looks up at Catra confused. "Your little Etheria friends found a magic sword that can turn someone into a super warrior. They are obviously going to go try and find someone else who can use it. Intercepting and confiscating a powerful rebel weapon, that sounds like the job of a force captain doesn't it?" Catra finishes with a devilish grin.

Adora looks down at Catra's tail that has subtly wrapped it's way around her wrist. And turns smiling at her friend. "Actually it sounds like a job for two Force Captains."