Chapter Text
Five years. It had been five years since Adora had found the Sword of Protection, since she had met Glimmer and Bow, since…
It had been five years since her childhood friend had turned into her archnemesis.
After the Battle of Bright Moon, the Horde had become more covert, attacking only strategic points or raiding First Ones ruins. Adora had met Catra on the battlefield multiple times, her heart breaking with each swing of her sword and each swipe of Catra’s claws. It almost came as a relief when she started to see Catra less and less as the war went on, when she stopped feeling so heartbroken after each encounter.
Almost.
It had been four months since she had last seen Catra, and three months before that. No longer did Catra taunt her or greet her with a smirk, instead choosing to attack from the shadows without warning, if she wasn’t ignoring Adora altogether. Seeing Catra was a rarity now, and Adora pored over each battle report from the Rebellion, hoping to catch some of her presence there at least.
Then, quiet.
No invasions, no reports of new Horde weaponry attacking villages. The Horde was silent, no trace of its drones or soldiers anywhere but patrolling the Fright Zone. For decades, Hordak had waged an endless war on Etheria and its denizens, and now, nothing. The princesses were unnerved, Adora even moreso. No matter how much she wracked her brain, she couldn’t imagine what would cause the Horde to stop fighting. She couldn’t imagine what would cause Catra to stop fighting, to stop seeking her out.
She could, actually, but she would rather not think about the possibility that Catra had moved on.
So, Adora distracted herself the best way she knew how. She worked on reparations of Etheria, on trying to become a better She-Ra. The war had ravaged the planet, becoming more intense as the natural magic of the land and Horde technology became exponentially stronger. She-Ra visited each princess, trying her best to heal the broken land. It was hard, when she had been raised to fight, and nothing else, and the lack of resources and skilled workers hampered recovery efforts. It was after returning to Bright Moon from one of those missions when she learned that a nervous Horde soldier, a former squad member of hers, had delivered an unexpected message.
The Horde was offering a peace treaty.
Adora sighed, her reflection mirroring her conflicted expression and discomfort. She was wearing a red dress, her normal uniform exchanged for a formal outfit. It suited her, the lack of sleeves displaying her physique while the rest of the fabric wrapped around her body pleasingly, and it reminded her of the dress she had worn to the Princess Prom five years ago. She wondered if Catra would recognize it.
A sword hilt still peeked over her shoulder, however. No matter how much the Horde had emphasized on a peaceful meeting, going so far as to set it up on neutral ground, Adora’s - She-Ra’s - experience led her to believe that no meeting between the Rebellion and the Horde could end without bloodshed.
“Adora, I still think we can’t trust them. It’s the Horde , they’re evil!” Glimmer had entered Adora’s room without her noticing, too caught up in her reminiscing as she was. ”As soon as all the princesses are gathered they’re going to blow us all up or something!” Adora frowned, and adjusted the scabbard on her back.
“This could be the only chance we have for peace, Glimmer. I don’t want to ruin that.” Adora’s words were whispered, hesitant. She was trying to convince herself just as much as Glimmer.
Her friend frowned in the mirror’s reflection. “I don’t like it. The Horde has been trying to conquer Etheria for so long, and suddenly they just give up?” Glimmer huffed, her frustration obvious. “They have to be planning something.”
Adora sighed. Glimmer was right, of course. It went against every Horde teaching she knew to ask for peace, and she couldn’t believe that Hordak had suddenly decided to get along with the planet he had spent decades trying to conquer.
A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts, and she saw Bow peek into the room, his expression matching the worried looks Glimmer and Adora wore. “It’s time, we need to go.”
Adora collected herself one last time, the sword on her back heavy but comforting. She had fought the Horde for years, and trained as a soldier for almost two decades prior to that. Whatever awaited them in the meeting room, Adora knew she would be ready.
Adora was not ready.
She didn’t know what she had expected upon entering the room. A platoon of soldiers, or an explosion, or even Hordak himself pointing a blaster to the door, scowling as he promised to rid the planet of the princesses.
What she did not expect was how much Catra had changed. Adora’s breath caught in surprise as she looked at her former friend. Catra’s hair was tamed, brushed back into a ponytail, and her clothes were sharp and handsome, not quite a suit but no less formal. What struck Adora the most, however, was Catra’s expression. Gone was the smirk and taunting demeanor she knew, instead here Catra was stiff-backed, serious, and completely indifferent to Adora’s presence.
It would hurt, if Adora had allowed herself to feel something for her old friend in the past year.
She took a seat opposite Catra, the two facing each other without making eye contact from opposite ends of a long table. The other princesses followed their lead, warily taking their seats between them. Adora noticed Scorpia and Entrapta to either side of Catra, meaning every princess was present for a meeting for the first time in years. That had felt like an impossible task just a week ago, to have them all in the same room.
As soon as all of them were seated, an uneasy silence fell on the attendants. Catra eyed each of the princesses in turn, and Adora’s heart dropped when she merely passed over her with zero acknowledgement.
Catra had never felt so far away, not even in the months when Adora had received no reports of her on the battlefield.
“So can we get this over with?” Mermista’s impatient but still bored voice broke the silence, looking disinterested as usual as she checked her nails. “Blah blah, the Horde wants us to surrender, sets off a trap, then She-Ra saves the day. We know how this is going to work.”
Glimmer spoke up next. “She’s right, Catra has never once fought fair.” She glared at the Horde commander in question. “If Hordak wanted to argue a peace treaty, he could have been here himself.”
Catra finally expressed something other than indifference, her signature smirk growing on her face as she leaned forward to rest her face in her hands. Adora almost missed her confidence, but years of seeing that expression in the midst of battle set her on edge, her hand itching as she tried not to reach for her sword.
“Aw, princesses, did you not once think to scout out the Fright Zone? You’re so out of the loop. Hordak isn’t in charge anymore.” The princesses all stared in shock. Catra’s smile grew, and finally she locked eyes with Adora. “I am.”
Immediately, the room erupted into chaos, each princess expressing her disbelief or confusion, but Adora just sat there, across from Catra, numb.
For the rest of the meeting, Catra didn’t even look at her.
“I don’t get it!”
Glimmer paced Bright Moon’s council room, occasionally teleporting in a fit of frustrated sparkles. Adora and Bow had tried and failed to calm her down, and now had resigned themselves to just letting her wear out her frustrations.
“First, we go months neither seeing nor hearing anything from the Horde, then they ask us for a ceasefire, and now we find out Catra is in charge!” Glimmer teleported in front of her seat, slamming her hands down and staring down the rest of the Rebellion. “Make it make sense!”
Perfuma shrugged, her calm expression betrayed by her fidgeting hands as she made yet another flower crown. “Maybe Catra really doesn’t want to fight us anymore? I think she has far less of a reason to fight than whatever kept Hordak motivated for all those years.”
“I don’t buy it.” Frosta scoffed from her seat, her feet kicked up on the table in front of her. “Catra has literally blown up every single party we’ve thrown since Princess Prom five years ago. If she wanted peace she could have at least let me have just one. One! ” Frost stood up, a shock of ice freezing the air around her. “Can I have just one party where the Horde doesn’t explode something!?”
“Technically the last time it happened, Sea Hawk was the one who set off the bombs, so...” Mermista shrugged as Frosta glared at her.
“But, thankfully we have someone who knows Catra quite well, isn’t that right Adora?” Spinerella’s comment drew all eyes to Adora, who readjusted herself in her seat.
“I…” She hesitated. “I don’t know what she’s thinking.” It hurt far more than she expected to admit it out loud, that she no longer knew the woman she had grown up with.
Maybe she never knew her from the beginning.
Bow cleared his throat, eyeing her worriedly. “There’s also the deal she gave us.”
A few seconds passed while an awkward silence fell on the room. None of the princesses seemed comfortable expressing their thoughts on Catra’s offer to them, a trade agreement unique to each nation’s needs.
“I think…” Perfuma started, “I think I’m going to accept it.” All eyes turned towards her in surprise, and she shrunk a bit before the pile of flowers in front of her. “Plumeria has suffered greatly because of the war, and Catra offered to have Entrapta develop technology for our farmers, and with their help we can easily give them the food they want in return.” She looked up, her eyes filled with newfound resolve. “I want what’s best for my people.”
“Same here.” Mermista spoke up next. “Most of Salineas’ boats were turned into military ships to fight off the Horde. Catra said she could easily develop a whole fleet of fishing ships, which is something my queendom desperately needs.” She shrugged, her nonchalant expression not matching the steel in her voice. “I don’t want Salineas to starve because of my pride.”
“You can’t be serious!” Glimmer looked around at the rest of the room, her disbelief obvious. “Are we seriously going to believe that Catra, the Catra who has been a thorn in our side for five years is going to give up and surrender?”
“She’s not surrendering.” Adora’s voice surprised everyone, even herself. Still, that was at least something she knew for certain. “Catra isn’t surrendering. I don’t know if she’s being honest about peace, but Catra would never give up fighting for what she wants.” That was what Adora admired most about her ex-best friend. She was a fighter, a born rebel against anything that tried to control her, always aiming higher.
“She also offered us Hordak.” Netossa’s bluntness quieted the room once more. That had been something Catra had shocked everyone with, offering Hordak to be tried for his crimes at Bright Moon, as a show of good faith that the Horde was under better management. It was clear no one knew what to make of that.
“Maybe she really is serious? About peace?” Bow whispered.
Adora shook her head, memories of Catra’s hateful glare across the battlefield still fresh in her mind, so different to how they would look at each other growing up in the Horde. “Is that what she really wants?”