I will never stop fighting

Adora: I’m surprised she didn’t march in here to say ‘I told you so.’

Bow: She wouldn’t do that.

Glimmer, *teleports into the room*: You’re right, Bow. You’re 100% right. I would never say that.

“Would you chill out?!” Glimmer snapped back, more out of impatient exasperation than anything else. While it was definitely a relief to see Catra again and not the glowy green-eyed, smiling, mindless puppet of Prime’s, she’d kind of forgotten how much of a pain the former Horde commander was to deal with.

“I only want to take a look.” She stuck to the stubborn rhetoric, trying again to get close. There had to be a way to get that wretched thing off, but right now it wasn’t worth the risk. It seemed pretty deeply embedded into Catra’s neck. They didn’t know what damage might do if it was just ripped off.

The raised voice that left her was only angry as far as it was frightened, bordering on hysterical as a clawed hand swiped away the unwelcome attempt at contact.

The intermittent crackling and searing of the faulty connection were agonising, but it didn’t unnerve Catra as much as the gaps in memory, or the fearful glint in Glimmer’s eye each time she filtered back into consciousness. Of course, something was wrong. Of course, she wanted the chip out- for the endless flashbacks, the connection to Prime’s sickly mind and the endless hum of the hivemind to stop.

But doing so was no escape from terror or pain.

“Would you chill out?!”

Glimmer’s shrill, exasperated tone only fixed the tension into Catra’s frame. Dull fur bristled from where Catra had backed herself into a corner, curling her tail defensively about herself.

She hated the racing of her heart. She hated the way the fear began to choke her words, constricting her throat against the threat of tears. It was like drowning all over again.

“I only want to take a look.”

A baleful glare met Glimmer.

“Just stay away from me!” Distress twisted Catra’s tone into a higher pitch. Claws flexed, bracing for another attempt to deflect prying hands.

“You have no idea what you’re doing, you’re just going to make it worse!”

“I think it got damaged, earlier, which is probably why you’re… well, you, again. But if it’s still transmitting, that’s a big problem. You could switch back and attack me, or it could be broadcasting our very location right now, for all we know. And I don’t know about you, but I really don’t want to deal with either of those options while we’re trying to fly a shuttle through an asteroid field in the middle of space. So could you sit still for five seconds and let me take a look?”

It made sense.

It would have taken no convincing whatsoever had the chip been embedded in someone else’s neck. Something akin to guilt festered behind Catra’s eyes.

Warily, mismatched eyes flitted back to Glimmer in a feeble attempt to gauge some kind of trust. After a tense, well-deliberated pause, Catra slowly dipped her head.

“…Fine.” It was scarcely a whisper- one that still sounded distinctly unhappy about the arrangement.

The words stung, hitting closer to home than Catra probably knew - or perhaps she did, seeing as she’d been the one to witness the very moment Glimmer had realised her grave mistake in reconnecting Scorpia with her runestone.

I know! She wanted to shout. I know this is all my fault - I know I messed up! But at least I’m trying to fix it!

She still wished Bow was here; she missed him like she would miss a limb. He had always been the calm, dependable one, the voice of reason she could trust over her own doubts. And he’d always been better with tech. But Glimmer was out here on her own, with a former enemy who could still potentially turn into a creepy puppet for a worse enemy at any moment, so there was no choice but to just do what needed to be done.

Thankfully, it seemed she’d managed to talk Catra into cooperating after all - a revolutionary feat in itself, really. Although the former Horde commander still looked distinctly uncomfortable about it. Glimmer supposed she couldn’t blame her. If their roles had been reversed, she’d have been twitchy about letting Catra anywhere near the back of her neck.

“…Fine. Just- …Be careful.”

Glimmer hastily affected her most serious competent expression. This was a big gesture of trust, and it was important that she didn’t blow it.

“I’m always careful,” she demurred with a little wave of her hand, trying to sound more confident than she felt. Don’t fuck up, don’t fuck up, don’t fuck up -

“Now, lemme see…”

It felt a little awkward, circling around behind Catra to examine the chip - Glimmer had never actually been this close to her outside of fighting her (and that one disastrous attempt to take her captive, which had, of course, ended up in more fighting.) It was weirdly intimate.

“…Huh.”

The green light was flickering on and off. Previously, it had been a steady, unblinking glow. It looked like she could be right about the connection being damaged from their last fight.

“…Okay, I still have no idea how to remove this thing,” Glimmer admitted after a minute of closer inspection - careful not to actually touch Catra while she did so.

“And I don’t think it’s a good idea to just yank it out in case it, I dunno, breaks your brain or something. But, I’m pretty sure I can deactivate it now. You’re not gonna like it though. It involves hitting you again - well, hitting the chip, ” she hastily amended. “But that’s attached to you, so… sorry in advance?”

It probably would have been more effective to just get it over with and not warn Catra first - like ripping off a bandaid - but it felt mean to do that, and Glimmer suspected it would also just end up in another fight, undoing what tentative progress they’d made. Catra didn’t strike her as the forgiving type.

That wasn’t the impression that Catra had formed during their time together. However, despite her distrust there was a part of Catra that wanted to believe the assertion, no matter how false it felt. There wasn’t exactly a great deal of other options.

“Now, lemme see…”

Catra kept her head bowed as Glimmer began to circle out of her periphery. The defensive edge that had brought them so close to the cusp of an argument still lingered in her shoulders along with a hint of anxiety that she was glad the queen wouldn’t be able to see. Glimmer was the only one who was able to get a good look at what exactly they were up against. What degree of scratching and fussing that Catra had managed only revealed how painful the area was when disturbed- a deterrent, no doubt, along with an easy way to harbour some defensiveness in the chipped to guard the area from injury.

“…Huh.”

“What is it?” Catra pressed, feeling the paranoia working its way into her tone.

“…Okay, I still have no idea how to remove this thing,”

The sentiment came as both a relief and no surprise.

“And I don’t think it’s a good idea to just yank it out in case it, I dunno, breaks your brain or something. But, I’m pretty sure I can deactivate it now. You’re not gonna like it though. It involves hitting you again - well, hitting the chip. But that’s attached to you, so… sorry in advance?”

There was hardly a pause for processing the words before Catra sprang to her feet, already putting a far more comfortable degree of distance between them. A flare of neurotic anger shattered the subdued compliance she had been wearing so uncharacteristically moments prior.

“What did I just say?!” A flash of teeth bared their warning.

“You’re saying it could ‘break my brain’ then you want to hit it- are you kidding me?!”

In retrospect, Glimmer thought with no small amount of frustration, it probably would have been better to just thump the former Horde commander on the back of the neck while she had the advantage of surprise and deal with the the fallout afterwards. Catra was uncooperative at the best of times, and clearly this was just going to be another thing Glimmer had to fight with her over.

But… not telling Catra of her plan and just going for it had felt wrong. That kind of unilateral decision making, Glimmer had learned all too well by now, did not build trust or aid teamwork. It was manipulative to withhold information, and it was mean do something to a person without their consent.

It was something Shadow Weaver would have advised her to do.

“I did say you weren’t going to like it,” Glimmer reminded the former Horde commander exasperatedly, before placing her hands on her hips and fixing her with a determined look.

“You’re saying it could ‘break my brain’ then you want to hit it- are you kidding me?!”

Glimmer stalked after Catra, refusing to let her run away from the conversation, but did not make to actually close the distance or touch her. That would only escalate things into a physical fight, and she was trying to resolve this civilly. After all, she needed Catra to work with her if they were going to have any chance of surviving - or getting home.

“No, I’m not.” She informed Catra flatly, arms now crossing over her chest.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we are running out of time. Prime is hunting us down and he is using that chip to do it. So unless you have any better ideas - or y'know, a single, better idea - this is what we need to do. We know damaging the chip is what broke Prime’s control and brought you back, right? If we damage it some more, it should also stop transmitting - maybe even make it possible to remove. So get with the program and work with me here to keep us alive.”

The snarl that laced Catra’s lips did little to mask the uglier truth that lingered behind the sudden break of truce. The closer Glimmer got, the more the façade of anger began to flake and crumble away into little more than desperate fear.

They were running out of options.

Glimmer was an idiot if she thought her unwilling travel companion didn’t know that. But the options were bleak, and just as much as there did need to be some level of action taken, both could likely admit to the reality that neither knew what the result would be.

As her tail came in contact with cold metal, Catra’s retreat drew to an entirely unwelcome close. Mismatched eyes set themselves about watching the queen’s approach for any subtle tell that might hint at a sudden move. As Glimmer closed the distance between them, Catra felt the readiness of teeth and claws shift to something defensive and entirely reluctant to fight.

There wasn’t much use in clashing- not anymore. By that point it would have simply been worth allowing Glimmer to take her reckless ideas out on the chip. But surviving Prime had instilled a shaken sense of survival into the horde commander- one that very much valued the avoidance of further pain.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we are running out of time. Prime is hunting us down and he is using that chip to do it. So unless you have any better ideas - or y'know, a single, better idea - this is what we need to do. We know damaging the chip is what broke Prime’s control and brought you back, right? If we damage it some more, it should also stop transmitting - maybe even make it possible to remove. So get with the program and work with me here to keep us alive.”

Keep us alive, or keep you alive?

…Not like it even matters.

Something almost childlike swam in the tangible fear from where Catra stood, watching all-too-reluctantly as any option for avoidance or escape was denied.

“Do you think I don’t know that?!” Catra was quick to retort, feeling defensive discomfort leech from every angle of her body.

“It’s easy for you to say, because I’m the expendable one!”

It was always the same story, regardless of who stood in Glimmer’s shoes. It never really seemed worth fighting when someone more powerful had made up their mind. It never was fair, but that was the principle that Catra had learned in life; the strongest took what they needed to. And right now, Glimmer was in far better shape to be winning a brawl.

The words hit Glimmer like a physical blow. Was that really what Catra thought? Suddenly her behaviour was framed in a new light - Glimmer had assumed the former Horde commander was just being an ungrateful, uncooperative jerk because of their history as enemies and mutual dislike, not because she was insecure about her worth. If anything, Glimmer had always assumed Catra to be arrogant and self-centred. It was only very recently that she'd started to see cracks in that facade.

Abruptly, she remembered the words Catra had spoken to her when she'd confronted her in the Fright Zone, right before the heart of Etheria had been activated and everything had gone to shit.

What are you waiting for? Just do it.

There hadn't really been time to process those words before, or the defeated way Catra had just sat slumped where she was, not even bothering to try to defend herself. She had given up back then, before they'd even been taken captive.

And then she'd sacrificed herself in one final effort to do something good, to try and free Glimmer from Horde Prime - and it had been a sacrifice, Glimmer realised with dawning horror, because Catra had never intended to make it off the ship alive. The escape plan had only ever been meant for one person, not two.

Oh.

Oh.

What was she even supposed to say to someone that considered their own life to be worth so little?

"What are you talking about? That's not true. Neither of us are expendable. "

Glimmer's voice was slightly shaky, but no less adamant. The whole situation felt almost laughably surreal - who would have guessed she would ever be here, trying to give her former enemy a pep talk on self worth? - but simultaneously she was all too aware that this was a terrible time for Catra to be having a paranoid emotional breakdown. They were still in danger, damn it, and Glimmer was so not qualified to be dealing with this.

“I didn’t ask for you to help me! You’re the one who took a brainwashed liability onto a ship and expected it to work out!”

Glimmer froze. Her mouth opened, but nothing came out. To her distant mortification, her eyes prickled with that dreaded sensation of welling tears. Shit. She hated being a stress cryer.

"Did you think I was just gonna leave you there?" Her voice, when it finally returned, was very, very calm. Too calm.

"Because if that's what you think, you're an idiot. It was my fault we were captured by Horde Prime in the first place; it was my fault you got chipped. I have fucked up so much," Glimmer waved her hands emphatically, growing louder as her tirade continued, "and so many people have been hurt because of my mistakes - and I don't even know if it's too late to fix it, but I have to at least try and make things right! And there's no way I could do that if I left you back there. Nobody deserves that fate, not even you."

She fixed Catra with a resolute look.

"So I will find a way to deactivate that chip, and I will get us home, or I'll die trying. Because I refuse to give up now. And afterwards we can go our separate ways, if that's what you want. I'll drop you off wherever and we never have to see each other's faces ever again. But at least you won't be dead because of me."

 Well, this wasn’t going the way it had probably been set up to.

Curiosity, along with the practical knowledge that Shadow Weaver was in need of being brought up to speed with the latest developments led Catra towards the sanctum. They’d had the princess for a few days now. It was surprising enough that the troops had successfully prevented Adora and her other stupid friends from staging a rescue just yet. They were tapping into the magic- or rather- Shadow Weaver seemed to be doing something with it. She hadn’t been particularly keen on interruptions, but when was she ever?

Straightening herself a touch as she turned the nearest corner, Catra’s ears pricked with interest at the sound of a brief, but vicious struggle. By the time she found herself in the doorway to where the princess was held, an unconscious looking Shadow Weaver lay limp on the ground.

With an expression that bordered dangerously on neutral interest, Catra watched, making no immediate move to run to the sorceress’ defence or re-contain the prisoner. Well, this was going to be an embarrassing loss for Shadow Weaver when she came to.

“I just want to go home.”

The princess had turned her sights on the doorway and the new threat blocking it. With a nonchalant shrug, Catra began to stroll into the room, pacing an inquisitive circle around Glimmer before inspecting that device that had held her for a moment.

A tense pause stretched as Catra tasted the idea.

“So go. Get out of here.”

Not only would the loss of an esteemed prisoner be a catastrophic failure for Shadow Weaver in Hordak’s eyes, but removing the need for Adora to return to the Fright Zone also conveniently removed the risk of being replaced. And it would throw the rebels off their guard.

With a stretch, Catra approached the motionless form of Shadow Weaver, leaning close enough to see the rise and fall of her chest. Wrinkling her nose, Catra turned to pad back towards the threshold, settling languidly against the doorway. The sword had to go too, but there was more risk in outwardly admitting such a thing, just in case somebody overheard.

For a brief, wary moment, Glimmer stared down at the unconscious sorceress - her captor and torturer, who had made her days as Horde prisoner a literal hell - not quite believing what she'd just managed to do.

She'd finally broken free. She'd punched Shadow Weaver in the face so hard her mask had cracked.

Was. Was she dead?

Glimmer didn't want to get close enough to check, and frankly she didn't have the time to. This was her only shot at escaping and depriving the Horde of any leverage against Bright Moon or its queen.

Mom...

Her mom was gonna be so mad at her. But hopefully mostly relieved, and proud of by her cunning escape skills. Hell, even if she was only mad, Glimmer would do anything just to hear her concerned scolding voice.

Veins still coursing with adrenaline, Glimmer spun towards the exit, instinctively settling into a battle-ready stance at the sight of an all too familiar silhouette lurking in the doorway.

Ordinarily at the prospect of having to punch her too, Glimmer wouldn't have even hesitated. But she was exhausted, and her body ached all over from that creepy dark magic Shadow Weaver had used to imprison her. She couldn't afford to get stuck into a fight. Any second now the alarm would be raised, and every Horde soldier in this stronghold would be hunting for her.

But Catra was in her way, and Glimmer was prepared to go through her if she had to.

As the Horde force captain strolled towards her, Glimmer's fists clenched tightly at her sides, and she pivoted to keep the enemy in her sights. For a tense moment that felt a lot longer than it actually was, it seemed like a fight was imminent. Then Catra actually spoke.

“So go. Get out of here.”

Glimmer blinked in surprise. Her fists unclenched.

"...What, really?"

Surprise swiftly turned to suspicion, however.

"Is this some kind of sick trap?" She eyed Catra distrustfully, even as she edged towards the door. The Horde soldier didn't even seem to be paying her much attention; she simply investigated her fallen commander long enough to verify she was breathing, before making her way back to lean indolently against the very doorway Glimmer needed to pass through.

Glimmer scowled at her.

“I don’t need you here sparkling up the place.”

Her motives were unclear. Her actions certainly didn't make sense. But Glimmer didn't really have the time to ask too many questions.

"Then stay out of my way," she shot back with a lot more more bravado than she was feeling. Wow, standing upright was hard. Was the pain getting worse? That seemed unfair, as well as horribly ill-timed.

Belatedly, it occurred to her that the Horde had something else they'd stolen from Bright Moon.

"And - and tell me where you're keeping She-Ra's sword. Unless you want to end up like your crazy commanding officer over there."

"Would you chill out?!" Glimmer snapped back, more out of impatient exasperation than anything else. While it was definitely a relief to see Catra again and not the glowy green-eyed, smiling, mindless puppet of Prime's, she'd kind of forgotten how much of a pain the former Horde commander was to deal with.

"I only want to take a look." She stuck to the stubborn rhetoric, trying again to get close. There had to be a way to get that wretched thing off, but right now it wasn't worth the risk. It seemed pretty deeply embedded into Catra's neck. They didn't know what damage might do if it was just ripped off.

The raised voice that left her was only angry as far as it was frightened, bordering on hysterical as a clawed hand swiped away the unwelcome attempt at contact.

The intermittent crackling and searing of the faulty connection were agonising, but it didn’t unnerve Catra as much as the gaps in memory, or the fearful glint in Glimmer’s eye each time she filtered back into consciousness. Of course, something was wrong. Of course, she wanted the chip out- for the endless flashbacks, the connection to Prime’s sickly mind and the endless hum of the hivemind to stop.

But doing so was no escape from terror or pain.

"Would you chill out?!"

Glimmer’s shrill, exasperated tone only fixed the tension into Catra’s frame. Dull fur bristled from where Catra had backed herself into a corner, curling her tail defensively about herself.

She hated the racing of her heart. She hated the way the fear began to choke her words, constricting her throat against the threat of tears. It was like drowning all over again.

"I only want to take a look."

A baleful glare met Glimmer.

“Just stay away from me!” Distress twisted Catra’s tone into a higher pitch. Claws flexed, bracing for another attempt to deflect prying hands.

“You have no idea what you’re doing, you’re just going to make it worse!”

"I think it got damaged, earlier, which is probably why you're... well, you, again. But if it's still transmitting, that's a big problem. You could switch back and attack me, or it could be broadcasting our very location right now, for all we know. And I don't know about you, but I really don’t want to deal with either of those options while we're trying to fly a shuttle through an asteroid field in the middle of space. So could you sit still for five seconds and let me take a look?"

It made sense.

It would have taken no convincing whatsoever had the chip been embedded in someone else’s neck. Something akin to guilt festered behind Catra’s eyes.

Warily, mismatched eyes flitted back to Glimmer in a feeble attempt to gauge some kind of trust. After a tense, well-deliberated pause, Catra slowly dipped her head.

“…Fine.” It was scarcely a whisper- one that still sounded distinctly unhappy about the arrangement.

The words stung, hitting closer to home than Catra probably knew - or perhaps she did, seeing as she'd been the one to witness the very moment Glimmer had realised her grave mistake in reconnecting Scorpia with her runestone.

I know! She wanted to shout. I know this is all my fault - I know I messed up! But at least I'm trying to fix it!

She still wished Bow was here; she missed him like she would miss a limb. He had always been the calm, dependable one, the voice of reason she could trust over her own doubts. And he'd always been better with tech. But Glimmer was out here on her own, with a former enemy who could still potentially turn into a creepy puppet for a worse enemy at any moment, so there was no choice but to just do what needed to be done.

Thankfully, it seemed she'd managed to talk Catra into cooperating after all - a revolutionary feat in itself, really. Although the former Horde commander still looked distinctly uncomfortable about it. Glimmer supposed she couldn't blame her. If their roles had been reversed, she'd have been twitchy about letting Catra anywhere near the back of her neck.

“…Fine. Just- …Be careful.”

Glimmer hastily affected her most serious competent expression. This was a big gesture of trust, and it was important that she didn't blow it.

"I'm always careful," she demurred with a little wave of her hand, trying to sound more confident than she felt. Don't fuck up, don't fuck up, don't fuck up -

"Now, lemme see..."

It felt a little awkward, circling around behind Catra to examine the chip - Glimmer had never actually been this close to her outside of fighting her (and that one disastrous attempt to take her captive, which had, of course, ended up in more fighting.) It was weirdly intimate.

"...Huh."

The green light was flickering on and off. Previously, it had been a steady, unblinking glow. It looked like she could be right about the connection being damaged from their last fight.

"...Okay, I still have no idea how to remove this thing," Glimmer admitted after a minute of closer inspection - careful not to actually touch Catra while she did so.

"And I don't think it's a good idea to just yank it out in case it, I dunno, breaks your brain or something. But, I'm pretty sure I can deactivate it now. You're not gonna like it though. It involves hitting you again - well, hitting the chip, " she hastily amended. "But that's attached to you, so... sorry in advance?"

It probably would have been more effective to just get it over with and not warn Catra first - like ripping off a bandaid - but it felt mean to do that, and Glimmer suspected it would also just end up in another fight, undoing what tentative progress they'd made. Catra didn’t strike her as the forgiving type.

That wasn’t the impression that Catra had formed during their time together. However, despite her distrust there was a part of Catra that wanted to believe the assertion, no matter how false it felt. There wasn’t exactly a great deal of other options.

“Now, lemme see…”

Catra kept her head bowed as Glimmer began to circle out of her periphery. The defensive edge that had brought them so close to the cusp of an argument still lingered in her shoulders along with a hint of anxiety that she was glad the queen wouldn’t be able to see. Glimmer was the only one who was able to get a good look at what exactly they were up against. What degree of scratching and fussing that Catra had managed only revealed how painful the area was when disturbed- a deterrent, no doubt, along with an easy way to harbour some defensiveness in the chipped to guard the area from injury.

“…Huh.”

“What is it?” Catra pressed, feeling the paranoia working its way into her tone.

“…Okay, I still have no idea how to remove this thing,”

The sentiment came as both a relief and no surprise.

“And I don’t think it’s a good idea to just yank it out in case it, I dunno, breaks your brain or something. But, I’m pretty sure I can deactivate it now. You’re not gonna like it though. It involves hitting you again - well, hitting the chip. But that’s attached to you, so… sorry in advance?”

There was hardly a pause for processing the words before Catra sprang to her feet, already putting a far more comfortable degree of distance between them. A flare of neurotic anger shattered the subdued compliance she had been wearing so uncharacteristically moments prior.

“What did I just say?!” A flash of teeth bared their warning.

“You’re saying it could ‘break my brain’ then you want to hit it- are you kidding me?!”

In retrospect, Glimmer thought with no small amount of frustration, it probably would have been better to just thump the former Horde commander on the back of the neck while she had the advantage of surprise and deal with the the fallout afterwards. Catra was uncooperative at the best of times, and clearly this was just going to be another thing Glimmer had to fight with her over.

But... not telling Catra of her plan and just going for it had felt wrong. That kind of unilateral decision making, Glimmer had learned all too well by now, did not build trust or aid teamwork. It was manipulative to withhold information, and it was mean do something to a person without their consent.

It was something Shadow Weaver would have advised her to do.

"I did say you weren't going to like it," Glimmer reminded the former Horde commander exasperatedly, before placing her hands on her hips and fixing her with a determined look.

“You’re saying it could ‘break my brain’ then you want to hit it- are you kidding me?!”

Glimmer stalked after Catra, refusing to let her run away from the conversation, but did not make to actually close the distance or touch her. That would only escalate things into a physical fight, and she was trying to resolve this civilly. After all, she needed Catra to work with her if they were going to have any chance of surviving - or getting home.

"No, I'm not." She informed Catra flatly, arms now crossing over her chest.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but we are running out of time. Prime is hunting us down and he is using that chip to do it. So unless you have any better ideas - or y'know, a single, better idea - this is what we need to do. We know damaging the chip is what broke Prime's control and brought you back, right? If we damage it some more, it should also stop transmitting - maybe even make it possible to remove. So get with the program and work with me here to keep us alive."

The entire ballroom was a spectacle of light that shimmered and danced off the icy palace walls. No amount of prying into Scorpia’s limited knowledge of ‘Princess Prom’ or scouring the invitation would have prepared Catra for what the event was actually like. Sculptures lined the walls of people in crowns whilst guests danced and swayed to music below. Every ornate table was covered with an exotic array of foods and beverages. Nothing looked remotely akin to the brown-grey slaw that fed everyone back at the Fright Zone.

Naturally, Adora had her sights on them both. She seemed to be stirring up a fair bit of trouble in the process of following the rather innocuous trail that Catra was ever-so-purposefully leaving behind, much to the Force Captain’s amusement. It took so little to set Adora on edge that it was proving to be a worthy form of entertainment throughout the evening. But the game and subsequent distraction held an added sense of urgency in the moments where Catra managed to slip out of Adora’s view. Last Catra had seen the Rebellion’s newest recruit, she had been clawing her way through a trash can near the entrance. The mental image tugged a self-satisfied smirk across Catra’s lips as she padded along one of the ornate tables of food.

She’d managed a couple of solid laps of the party thus far with Adora in tow, always a few minutes behind. It had been useful for scoping out who exactly was in attendance and where any chinks in the armour were. What had come as a surprise, was that the trio of friends that Adora was part of seemed markedly separate. Arrow Boy was fawning over some girl in a flower crown, Adora was being…Adora and the glittery one was brooding by a rather impressive tower of tiny pastries.

With a nonchalant air, Catra strolled over, electing to peruse the food on display beside the princess for a moment before plucking something chocolate-covered off a platter.  

“If you try anything, I swear you’ll regret it.”

A harmless noise left the Force Captain as she popped the bite-sized food into her mouth.

“You know, it’s funny how you’re the ones with this big truce, but you’re also the ones who seem the most inconvenienced by it.“ Catra remarked with casual indifference.

With a flippant shrug, Catra stationed herself at the princess’ shoulder, electing to follow her line of sight with mild curiosity.

“You look pretty miserable for someone who’s supposed to be having fun, hmn princess?” It was getting hard not to press the glaringly obvious divide that was only being highlighted before them.

At the very least, the Horde scum seemed to be behaving themselves so far. Glimmer had tailed the tall one - Scorpia, was that her name? - to the buffet table, where she seemed absolutely fascinated by the assortment of canapés. This left Glimmer herself standing by the punch bowl a discreet distance away, flicking intermittent longing looks at the dance floor where everyone else seemed to be having fun.

Parties sucked when your friends all split up to hang out with (or, well, in Adora’s case at least, aggressively stalk) other people.

And just when she thought the evening couldn’t get any worse, an all too familiar smirking Horde soldier sauntered over, with no Adora in sight.

Glimmer shot a quick glance to where Scorpia had last been cooing over the mini cupcakes - she was gone. Before this could even register as a potential cause for alarm, however, Catra had closed the distance and started talking, snapping Glimmer’s full wary attention back onto her.

“You know, it’s funny how you’re the ones with this big truce, but you’re also the ones who seem the most inconvenienced by it.“

Oh, she did not have the patience for this smug bullshit. If Catra and her evil soldier friends were looking to cause trouble, this would be a bad place to do it - namely because they were outnumbered and there were guards everywhere.

"Why are you even talking to me?” She asked flatly. Purple eyes narrowed in open suspicion even as she folded her arms cross her chest defensively. Frankly it felt weird to have a Horde soldier be this close and not be in combat. Her hands itched to cast a spell, but Glimmer curbed herself. It would look bad to cause a scene, and worse if she was the one to throw the first punch.

It was on the tip of her tongue to demand where Adora was, but thankfully a gap in the crowd allowed her to catch a glimpse of her friend’s red dress from across the room, where she seemed to be.. digging through the trash.

Oookay then.

Well, at least I know she’s fine.

“You look pretty miserable for someone who’s supposed to be having fun, hmn princess? Isn’t the number one rule of parties to have fun?”

Glimmer visibly bristled, brow furrowing into an open scowl.

“I was having fun,” she snapped back, “Until someone decided to crash the party and lead my best friend on a wild goose chase through the garbage cans.”

This was, of course, completely untrue, but Glimmer would swallow her tongue before admitting that to the enemy. Everything was fine. Bow was allowed to have other friends. She was perfectly capable of having a good time without him, and when he saw that he’d feel jealous and ditch Perfuma to ask her to dance with him instead because he missed her and then everything would be like it was before and -

Okay maybe everything wasn’t fine.

Ugh, I hate this. This was supposed to be a fun night out with my best friends.

Glimmer deflated a little at the thought, and took a drink from her glass of punch just for an excuse to do something with her hands. She wanted to walk away - or better still, tell Catra to leave her alone - but it occurred to her that if she kept the Horde soldier talking, then Adora would find her way to them eventually. And besides, it was probably best to keep the enemy occupied while they were still working out whatever scheme the Horde was undoubtedly plotting. It was purely tactical mingling.

Even if said enemy was being insufferably smug and annoying.

“And what would you know about parties, anyway? You’ve clearly never been to one before.”

“Well, you weren’t my first choice.” Catra admitted with a nonchalant shrug. It wasn’t exactly difficult to spot the princess’ usual companions from where they stood, and there was no doubt that the fact that they were predisposed without Horde interference was salt in the wound for Sparkles.

“But it looks like even I wasn’t the first to prioritize other things.” Pointed teeth flashed through the distinctly disingenuous smile Catra wore. There was hardly any need to hide the fact that she was relishing in the anger her presence was continuing to sow. The plan wasn’t to fight, and it was totally throwing them off their game. She couldn’t have lined things up more perfectly. Arrow Boy was enjoying himself out of the way and Adora was so busy chasing her tail that she hadn’t even noticed the glittering heir was looking rather sorry for herself.

“I was having fun until someone decided to crash the party and lead my best friend on a wild goose chase through the garbage cans.”

The accusation washed over Catra, earning little more than a look of feigned concern to swim across the Force Captain’s face.

“Yeah. Brightmoon didn’t do any favours for her taste.” Cat-like eyes followed Glimmer’s through the crowd to where Adora was elbow-deep in a trash-can with a look of stubborn certainty plastered across her face. Mis-matched eyes narrowed in amusement. Apparently when the stakes were higher, it took even less effort to throw off the princess-parade. It seemed the princesses were even more threatened by an enemy that looked like them.

“And what would you know about parties, anyway? You’ve clearly never been to one before.”

It was a weak retort, but that only made it easier to lean into. Catra nodded, pursing her lips as though the consideration at the back of her mind were truly painful. In a mock display of distress, her eyebrows knitted together and her tone dipped to something so deferential that it reeked of ridicule.

Glimmer's shoulders stiffened, and her hands clenched around her glass so tightly that her knuckles went white. The urge to throw her drink in the Horde soldier's face was increasing with every passing second - but such a social transgression would undoubtedly get her kicked out of the party, marking an especially mortifying end to the already disastrous night and probably alienating Frosta from the Princess Alliance forever. Still, while reminding herself of the consequences helped her to contain her temper, it did nothing to abate the horrible tight knots in her stomach or the blood pounding in her ears.

Neither did the Horde scum's smug smirking face, for that matter.

Clearly, Catra was enjoying how angry and upset she was, and was all too eager to rub Glimmer's face in her own failure to fit in socially.

"Shut up." Her voice was tight with anger, and if looks could set people on fire then Catra would have been well ablaze by now. Glimmer wished she could have thought up a more witty, collected retort; instead she was stood here like an idiot, overwhelmingly aware of just how badly the situation was spiralling out of her control.

Just like the rest of this night had.

“Yeah. Brightmoon didn’t do any favours for her taste.”

Glimmer's hands clenched even tighter. A couple of familiar-looking guests - Spinnerella and Netossa, her mind supplied helpfully - drifted by, flashing the two curious glances - reflexively Glimmer painted on a fake smile and gave a little 'everything is fine' wave, then belatedly cursed herself for not taking up the opportunity to get out of this horrible encounter.

"Oh, you're just loving this, aren't you?," she accused Catra, her voice hushed but no less vitriolic, as soon as the other two princesses had passed out of earshot. "Quit the act - we both know you're only here to cause trouble. Ruining things seems to be all you know how to do."

The sound of Bow's laughter carried from somewhere across the room; evidently he was having so much fun with Perfuma that he hadn't even noticed that she was alone with the enemy and in dire need of his support. Glimmer forced herself not to look in his direction, but her jaw tightened and the uncomfortable aching sensation in her gut intensified.

“Oh, really? Does it show? Gosh, that really hurts my feelings coming from a pro like you.”

Distantly, Glimmer was aware of a cracking sound, a wetness in her hands, and a sharp pain. She did not even need to look down to know she'd just snapped the stem of the glass she was holding.

Get it together, you're making a complete fool of yourself!

But instead, to her horror, there was an all too familiar sting of welling tears. Face flushed with anger and mortification, Glimmer turned away to set down the broken glass with deliberate care, taking a second to try and compose herself before the tears spilled over.

Deep breaths. Deap breaths. Don't let her see you cry. Don't let her get to you.

Well, it was a bit too late for that, now.

"You know what? You're right." Her voice was surprisingly calm, with minimal wobble, despite the wetness tracking down her cheeks. She picked up napkins on autopilot to clean up the mess of punch and blood on her hands, pointedly not looking at Catra.

"I'm not a party pro. I'm not popular. My best friend came to the party with someone else, and my only other friend ditched me, and my night was a complete disaster well before you even showed up to do your worst. Is that what you wanted to hear? Are you happy now?"

She needed to leave. She couldn't do this any more.

But if she walked away, then Catra would win, and if she was nothing else, Glimmer was not a quitter. Besides, she didn't have anything else left to lose.

"Oh hi again! My research is going great, but I ran out of tiny snacks and I'm going to need you to move because you're standing by the best ones - why are you bleeding?"

Entrapta was, as usual, cheerfully oblivious to the situation she had just walked in on.

"You seem upset. Did you hurt yourself, or did Catra hurt you?" Prehensile purple hair pointed at Catra queryingly, utterly unaware - or uncaring - of how her loud voice was attracting attention.

I’m actually very behind on she-ra and from the sound of it the kids are not alright!! so here’s a doodle in the meantime because with that being said I am very excited to see these two definitely become friends ♥