All Is Fair In Love And War - Chapter 6 - Echo_elates (2025)

Chapter Text

Adora startled awake in the middle of the night, cold sweat clinging to her body. She instantly calmed somewhat when she felt Catra’s weight on her, snoring softly. She wasn’t surprised Catra could sleep through her nightmare - Catra was used to all kinds of sleep-movement on Adora’s part.

Back in the Horde, Adora had initially assumed being promoted to General and upgraded from the barracks to her personal General’s quarters would be the end of Catra sleeping beside her. She’d prepared herself to suffer through it. Had prepared to remind Catra gently that she couldn’t come into her quarters with her, that the other soldiers would make assumptions that could get Adora disciplined and Catra reassigned. But Catra hadn’t tried to go into her quarters with her that first night and Adora had been shocked by how much that had hurt. She told herself she was happy Catra was finally following the rules but it hadn’t made her feel better about it. If anything it had made her feel worse. She’d expected to sleep terribly if she managed to sleep at all. But the next morning she had woken up as well rested as ever, Catra curled up at her side. She hadn’t been sure how Catra had managed to sneak into her room. She had known it was risky, known it was forbidden. But she hadn’t had the heart to tell Catra to stop, far too relieved, too overjoyed to have her there. Even if it was against the rules. No one had ever asked them about it, no one had seemed to notice. Maybe they simply hadn’t cared, despite a General fraternizing with a Force Captain not being remotely allowed and there wasn’t exactly another conclusion to draw from sleeping in the same private quarters.

They weren’t in the Horde anymore, not physically at least. Yet Adora still felt herself come up against boundaries that she had spent years carefully maintaining. Partially dismantling some of them only after they had dismissed Shadow Weaver, but many still remained. Back in the Horde it had worked. It had been frustrating but doable - she’d had to do it, had to make it work. But now, here these lines she couldn’t cross suddenly felt constricting in an altogether painful way. She pushed against one such line as she now ran her fingers gently over Catra’s shoulder, over and into her hair, and tried to banish the nightmare from her memory. Maybe Adora was imagining it but she thought she could feel a pur in Catra’s chest that filled her with warmth.

Catra had asked her when they’d arrived back at Bright Moon and were finally alone again: “How do you feel? About the mind control. You said you remember things?”

Adora remembered everything. She wasn’t sure why the first time had been different, but this second time around it had been like being trapped in her own head, unable to control her own body but fully aware of what was happening. She hated who or whatever was in control of her. Hated not being able to make her own choices. Even the choices that felt more like herself - things that she wouldn’t dare do but wanted to, like stroke Catra’s hair - she hated being taken away from her. From getting to make them of her own volition.

In her nightmare it had been Shadow Weaver pulling the strings. All the while Lord Hordak called her a failure, useless, a shame upon the Horde for being so easily broken. Adora held Catra a bit tighter as she remembered the part of her dream where Catra too had told her she was weak for submitting to this treatment and left her for it. That had been what had woken her up.

The day before, she’d answered Catra’s question with: “Not great. I… I wonder what it is about me that makes me susceptible to this technology - I have to assume it wouldn’t work on just anyone.”

‘Chosen one’ she’d overheard Catra herself calling her. The Rebellion’s chosen one. It had to be some kind of cruel joke.

“I’ll blame Shadow Weaver until we have proof otherwise”, Catra had said with a grimace. “We’ll find a way out of this”, Catra had promised then. But they had yet to think of a way how.

All the while, Adora’s greatest fear constantly hung over her like that cursed sword: That she - Adora - would disappear and no one would even know. Everything would go on and it would turn out that Adora had never been needed in the first place.

-

“Where is General Adora?”, Force Captain Grizzlor asked. “I need her approval on this ration sheet.”

“Oh, she’s on the other side of the base right now, overseeing the… uhhh, supplies- the supply inventory”, Kyle lied, having gotten much better at it by now. “You can just leave it with me, I’ll make sure she receives it.”

The Force Captain gave a grunt of acceptance. “Lord Hordak is really running the General ragged these days, ey? Feels like I haven’t seen her at all in weeks.”

“Haha!”, Kyle pressed out. “Yeah. It can sure feel that way.”

Then the Force Captain thankfully left the tent again and Kyle and Lonny both breathed a sigh of relief.

Lonnie was sorting files on Adora’s communicator. Trying to prioritize essential tasks. Trying to figure out how most of them could even be accomplished without the General. They kept getting reports of Rebellion attacks and requests for aid reclaiming land. Lonnie figured these should be reported to Lord Hordak but there was no way she was going to do it. She’d have to redirect them somehow. “How the hell does she do all of this!?” It felt like Hordak put the entire war effort on Adora, making Lonnie wonder what Hordak himself even did all day.

Kyle was sifting through papers, practicing Adora’s signature. It was so crisp and consistent it was nearly impossible for him to get right. “It’s a miracle no one has noticed her absence yet.”

“Don’t sell yourself short”, Lonnie told him. Both of them had been running all over the base, ensuring everything ran at all, if not very smoothly, lying through their teeth that the General was just out of sight at the moment, doing something right over there.

“Who are we kidding!? We can’t keep this up much longer, people will notice she’s gone any day now! Rogelio better find Adora soon or we’re all so dead.”

A different Force Captain’s second in command stepped into the tent then. “Has General Adora looked over and signed those field reports yet?”, she asked.

Kyle was sweating, digging through his stacks of papers. “Uhm. Y-yes, it should be somewhere around- ah! Here!”

Kyle handed her a slightly crumpled stack of paper with the best smile he could muster. The solider flipped to the last page where Kyle’s best attempt at Adora’s handwriting greeted her. The soldier looked at Kyle with a skeptically raised eyebrow.

“The, uh… the General might have- you know”, Kyle mimicked taking a swig from a bottle. “A little the night she signed it.” He barely dared breathe as he waited for the soldiers response.

Finally, the soldier scoffed, shaking her head in amusement. “Man, wish us field soldiers also got some drinks. Lucky General. Anyway, thanks”, she raised the papers in emphasis and then left the tent once more.

Kyle collapsed to the ground the moment she did. “Oh stars”, he whined. “By the time the General is back her reputation will be in ruins.”

If she makes it back at all”, Lonnie added ominously.

Kyle nearly sobbed at the mere thought.

-

Adora and Catra were doing morning drill exercises in their spacious cell. Adora had lost track of the days they’d already been here for. Even now that she remembered everything she did when turned into She-Ra and mind controlled it somehow still made keeping track of the passage of time hard. It must have been weeks by now. Weeks of unwittingly helping the enemy.

“How can you stand it?”, Adora asked Catra in between push-ups. “Doing what a princess tells you to?”

Catra always accompanied them on missions, wearing that stupid shock collar. Without it Catra would have surely made an escape attempt by now. The Queen still relied on Catra to calm down She-Ra when she lost herself in some strange combat frenzy, an issue they had yet to fix. Part of Adora wished Catra would just let her rage on. The other part of her hated to be so out of control, so utterly reduced to a weapon, and was glad for Catra’s soothing presence. Was getting used to how close she stayed, how often they touched.

“It’s no big deal”, Catra said. “I just do what I need to to stay close to you. That’s what you wanted right?”, she smirked at Adora.

The attempt to cheer Adora up did not work. “Not like this”, she said. After all, even as it was a comfort, it wasn’t Adora Catra was close to, was touching. It was She-Ra.

“Look”, Catra said, stopping with the push-ups. “Brute forcing our way out hasn’t worked so far because they are too cautious of us. But with how much they interact with me, getting more relaxed around me, maybe I can get them to slip up. This is not permanent, okay? I‘m getting you out of this.”

“I just hate this!”, Adora folded in on herself, hugging her knees. “It’s like I’m Shadow Weaver’s puppet again except this time I can’t even realize and stop! I worked so hard to make my own choices and now it feels like it was all for nothing!” In some ways it felt worse.

“Hey!”, Catra chided her. “It wasn’t for nothing! This is different. You are not what the Rebellion makes you do.”

Adora was unconvinced.

“You are still Adora”, Catra said, crawling closer, chain dragging behind by her foot. She laid her unbound hands around Adora’s shoulders. Adora’s own hands shot up to take Catra’s, the way she never could when she was She-Ra. “You’re still the person I would put anything on the line for and you always will be. Not because of what you can do but because of who you are. Because who you are matters to me.”

Adora, squeezing Catra’s hands, relishing the contact, relaxed a little. “When did you get so good with words?”

“Urrgggh”, Catra sighed. “I don’t know. It’s exhausting! The sooner we can switch back to you being the tactical one and me being the wild card the better.”

Adora laughed, then stilled again somewhat, looking into Catra’s mismatched eyes. Those eyes that made her feel safe and uncertain at the same time. Nervously excited in a way that always took her breath away. “For the record”, she said. “I like who you are too. Tactician or wild card, you have nothing to prove to me. You’ll always be perfect to me.”

Adora could tell Catra wanted to be kissed. It seemed to come so easy to her and Adora envied and appreciated that in equal measure. It told her that maybe she wanted it to be easy for her too, that she wanted to give in. And alone, miles from any Horde soldiers who could report them, from the rules that may otherwise stop her, more carefully drawn lines snapped as she hooked one hand behind Catra’s neck. She heard Catra take a surprised breath but with her ears pitching down she smiled up at her. Adora gave in and kissed her. Gently and reassuringly. Prisoner or not, Adora truly was glad they were alone and together. Glad that she could know she would always have Catra and glad to maybe finally let herself think about what being together could mean.

She was also glad the corridors echoed horribly in this castle, as they had ample warning before Bow stuck his head through the door to break apart, as much as it frustrated her to have to do so. Her face felt hot and she hoped it didn’t show.

“Good morning you two!”, he greeted them. Bow was always nice and Adora couldn’t help but be suspicious of it.

“What can we do for you, Arrow Boy?”, Catra asked, having long grown comfortable with him. Adora didn’t blame her, since she technically had to spend a lot more time with them than herself considering the stretches of time she was mind controlled for. “Time to watch She-Ra hack at the Horde again?”

“Not quite”, Bow said, tossing her the shock collar which she caught easily and promptly put on. “Your presence is requested in the dining room.”

Adora shared a dubious look with Catra, who eventually shrugged and got up from the floor. Adora followed suit.

“Um, actually…”, Bow scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “Just Catra. I’m sorry Adora, but you have to stay here.”

Adora tensed and Catra uneasily glanced between her and Bow. “I can refuse”, Catra told Adora quietly.

Adora considered. She didn’t like this. But Catra had just said they seemed to trust her more and this may be another chance to deepen that trust. “Go ahead”, Adora told her. “I’ll just wait here.”

“Are you sure?”

Adora did her best to look nonchalant. “Sure. You’re the one missing out on the rest of morning drills.”

Catra laughed. “Alright. You can show me how much of an edge a single drill gives you later.”

Catra stepped forward to let Bow remove the chain from her leg. She looked back at Adora one more time with an encouraging smile before following Bow out the door. For the first time since being taken to Bright Moon, Adora was alone.

She wished she would have stayed alone. The lights in the room dimmed and Adora felt cold rush down her back at the familiar flickering darkness upon the floor.

The darkness coalesced and instead of draping themselves in red it came out an unexpected white. The woman behind the mask and cloak was still the same rotted black as always.

“I was beginning to think you would never be rid of that runt”, that too familiar voice said.

It took everything in Adora not to back away. “Shadow Weaver. Catra isn’t a runt.”

Shadow Weaver spread her arms wide as if in invitation. “It’s Light Spinner now. I’ve finally freed myself of Hordak’s pathetic leadership.”

“Yeah right”, Adora argued. “Like you haven’t always just been out for yourself.”

Shadow Weaver grabbed at the cloth over where her heart should be. “You wound me, Adora. Everything I did I did for you. Don’t you understand? I’m still doing all this for you.”

Adora nearly laughed it was so ridiculous. “For me? You helped the rebellion mind control me, turn me into their tool, for me? You forget, I heard you that day I was promoted to General. I know you were always planning to use me for your own ends. Know you were manipulating me and trying to drive me and Catra apart!”

“Catra is making you weak!”, Shadow Weaver spat. “She’s always held you back! I’m the one who has helped you all these years reach your true potential! Even now! And if you join me we can leave both Horde and Rebellion behind, Adora! Don’t you see? I can help you be stronger than ever before. I can free you from their control!”

“I’d rather stay the Rebellion’s mindless drone than follow you”, Adora said and meant it. The trust Shadow Weaver had broken, the hurt she had caused Catra, Adora could never forgive any of it. “I won’t be your tool, not anyone’s tool!”

“Very well”, Shadow Weaver said with a superior tone of voice. “Keep going down this path. You’ll realize you need me soon enough when they all leave Adora behind.”

Adora tried to stay strong. But Shadow Weaver had always known just where to set her chisel to make people come undone. “What do you mean?”

“What use is she when they could have She-Ra instead?”

Adora shook her head. “I don’t care about the Rebellion. Catra will never abandon me.”

“Won’t she?”, Shadow Weaver asked innocently, looking around the room. “Then where is she now?”

Adora was about to argue, but Shadow Weaver stepped closer, cutting her off. “That’s right. She’s been asked to join the Rebellion leader for a meeting. I can’t help but notice your Force Captain growing awfully comfortable in captivity. Growing awfully close with her captors. You and I both know she’s never had any loyalty to the Horde. She clung to you because you were a guaranteed ride to the top. But look at you now. How long will Catra’s loyalty last once she realizes that you have no power left at all?”

Adora had heard enough. She lashed out, trying to catch Shadow Weaver with a right hook but the old hag was too slippery, disappearing back into shadow.

“Heed my words”, those dispersing shadows whispered. “When you are all alone you will return to me.”

Adora’s hands shook. She kicked a nearby pillow in frustration but like everything in Bright Moon it was soft and forgiving. She longed for the steel and sharpened edges of the Frightzone. She kicked at the bolt that held her tied to this place, pulled at the chain until her ankle bled. The only thing that eventually stilled her was the desperate mantra that Catra would not abandon her. Shadow Weaver was a lying manipulator. Catra would not abandon her. Not for any reason, logical or otherwise because to Catra she wasn’t just a tool. Catra would love her if she was a worm. Catra would never abandon her.

All Is Fair In Love And War - Chapter 6 - Echo_elates (2025)
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