Chapter Text
“Queen Glimmer, what’s happened?” Perfumed called out as she and several other Princesses filed into the meeting hall of Brightmoon.
Glimmer frowned, keeping her eyes down, and motioned for everyone to sit. Catra was watching intently, watching for blue hair to make its’ way into the room, and then, there she was. She eyed every movement Mermista made as the Princess settled.
Perfuma, once again, spoke, “My goodness, Catrina! What happened to you!?” The rest of the women’s eyes snapped to the feline. Catra scowled, her body was covered in an assortment of bandages. She was bruised and a few of her bandages had the faint color of red seeping through.
“I was attacked.” She paused, harsh eyes boring into Mermista’s worried ones. Catra would coincide, Mermista was a great actress. “By Salineas men.” She looked pointedly in the woman’s direction now.
Mermista’s brows flew up, “That’s false!”
Catra slammed an angry fist down, “That is not false, my Wife is in the infirmary because once again, your people and your kingdom have attacked her!”
Mermista rose to her feet in anger, “My people and my kingdom have done no such thing! To even declare that we have is, it’s blasphemous!”
Catra turned her eyes towards Glimmer now, “Bring the boy in.”
Glimmer nodded towards Bow and the man fetched the boy from nearby guards. He was stood in between the two Queens, “Pr-Princess Mermista…” He bowed shakily.
Mermista scowled, “What is the meaning of this?”
He shivered, “My father was approached by some sort of assassin, I was not there Princess. He was approached and offered money in return for a slain Shera and her wife.”
Mermista shook her head in disbelief, “And why would your father accept such an offer? Especially, when all of Etheria knows that Shera cannot be defeated.”
The boy rubbed his hands together nervously, “He was offered a device, an object from the first ones that would disarm Shera… except it didn’t.” Tears brimmed in the boy’s eyes now. Usually, Catra would feel guilty, she’d want to comfort the boy. But right now he cries for someone that would have her lover dead if things went a different way.
“Where is your father? Surely, we’d rather speak to a proper adult about this assassination attempt. The adult who lead the assassination. He might know who planned it.” Netossa chimed in.
The boy cried openly now, “He-he’s dead. Shera killed him and his men.”
Mermista pointed a finger in Catra’s direction, “See! This is why. You can’t keep your beast on a leash. We do not have but one survivor because your wife cannot still her blade!” Mermista turns to the rest of the princesses, “Whether those men attacked her or not, it should be Salinous’s duty to host a trial alongside Eternia. They should not be slaughtered carelessly!”
Catra’s claws dug into the table with a terrible screech, “Beast!? Slaughtered!?”
“Yes! Slaughtered! No other kingdom here would have slain any other citizen, especially from a kingdom not of their own! We would have captured and detained them, and held a trail!”
“They were trying to kill us!”
Mermista chuckled dryly, “Funny how everyone is trying to ‘kill’ you and your wife, yet, everyone else ends up murdered! My cousin!”
“Mermista!” Glimmer warns.
“No! He was murdered gruesomely! She didn’t give him an honorable death! She sliced him through his throat, Catrina! What kind of barbaric human does that!?”
Catra seethed, her hair standing alert, “Your cousin was a foul, treacherous man. He died like the pig he was!”
“Catrina!” Perfuma calls now, all the others on their feet in a panic.
Mermista drew water to her hands, “You forget who you’re speaking to!”
Catra bore her fangs and claws, “AND YOU ARE SPEAKING TO A QUEEN, PRINCESS MERMISTA!”
Mermista’s face crumpled in anger, “A false Queen of STOLEN land!”
The two drew close to one another, ready to brawl, “Enough!” Vines crept around the walls and encased them both. Pefuma was shaking as she held the two tightly. The vines wrapped around each of the bodies tightly. Catra’s eyes went wild, the vines constricting against her abdomen drove her into a frenzy.
Glimmer gasped, “Perfuma, she’s pregnant!”
The vines screeched to a halt, immediately releasing the feline, but still holding Mermista tight, “You’re pregnant?” She questioned.
Catra took a few ragged breaths in, clutching her stomach, “Yes, and your people almost killed my child!”
Mermista scowled, “I did not order the hit out on your family Catrina! There was a time, not too long ago, that I would have called you friend. I would have considered you an ally, but you.. You.”
Catra frowned, “But I what, Mermista? I’ve never done anything to you!”
“You betrayed us.” She gestured her head around, “You betrayed us all!” Now tears of anger? Sadness? Tears began to fall, regardless. “Your kingdom was safe! You were safe! You didn’t see your subjects die, you didn’t have to fight in a war that left your kingdom in shambles, but we all did!”
Catra looked around in shock as if any of this could be her fault. But what she found were sunken heads and shifting eyes.
Mermista grunted against the restraints, “You! We- I felt sorry for you at first! Like you were tricked or like the Horde Lord had taken you as a prize, but then you pranced around in their colors! You took their traitorous army and made it a kingdom for YOU to rule over! And we all had to pick up the scraps of battle-worn world, while she lived freely by your side!”
Tears began brimming in her own eyes, “You don’t know her like I do! She’s not evil!”
“She kills everything she touches!”
Catra’s eyes scanned towards them all, and she found only kind eyes in Glimmer, “What would you have done?”
“What?”
“What would you have done if she picked you? Or any of you?” She didn’t give them a chance to answer. “Would you have refused? Would you have kept the war going instead of sacrificing yourself?” Catra sighed, “I didn’t need the Fright Zone to be Queen, I had my own kingdom! One that I had trained to rule over since birth! I was supposed to be Queen C’yra, not Queen Catrina. I gave up everything I knew and loved for peace. I may not have fought in your war, but I gave up everything to end it. And in the process, I found my mate for life.”
Catra walked up to Mermista now, bodies inches apart, “Perfuma, please release her.”
Mermista stood there with a glare still on her face as Catra placed a hand on her shoulder and the other on her belly, she smiled, “You think she’s a monster, a beast.” Catra looked around, “You’re all scared of her. I know, she can be quite frightening at times.”
Catra chuckled and her amusement grew as the princesses looked at her in disbelief. She sighed, wistfully, “She offered me an out. When I first arrived in Brightmoon… I thought about running. I didn’t want to be sold off like cattle to such a monster. I had climbed to one of the higher balconies of Brightmoon to escape, and there she was.” Catra grinned to herself, “I didn’t know it was her at the time, of course. I just saw a beautiful, charming blonde woman. I even told her that I found the ‘Horde Lord’ repulsive, beastly. She just laughed at me and let me rant on. I had never been so mesmerized, so captivated by someone before. And then she tells me…. And then she gave me a choice to leave. She gave me her word that she would end the war regardless.”
Catra walked towards Glimmer and faced the table, “She gave me my choice back, and I thought ‘how admirable, this woman could take what she wanted by force, but she didn’t’, I thought ‘how charming, how witty Adora is, surely this couldn’t be the monster I heard about’, and she wasn’t. She isn’t. She inherited a war, a child soldier since birth, and she still turned out to be this way. How strong of a person is she? How strong her morals are.”
Catra pointed her gaze at Mermista, “Your cousin pushed for a dual, we were all there, and I am sorry for your loss and your grief, but I can only feel so much sorrow for his death, because if he were alive then she would be dead. I love her. I adore her. She is a good person. She has never killed unless defending me or herself and you cannot sit here and call that vile.”
Scorpia, Mermista’s suitor, cleared her throat, “Lord Adora’s kingdom is not a stolen one either.” The scorpion woman stood, “She summoned me before she and Queen Catrina were to wed. We spoke of the Fright Zone claim, and she offered me the kingdom back. Her only condition was that the remaining Horde soldiers be allowed sanctuary.” Scorpia looked to Perfuma and smiled, “I had told her I was in no need of land or a kingdom. In truth, I had never cared for the Fright Zone. It was a barren and empty wasteland, and I knew I would not have the patience or strategy to grow it into one. At least, not in the same way its’ new rulers do.”
Frosta rose to speak, “This is all fine and dandy, the Lord might not be a completely evil entity. It matters little to me. What I care about is tradition. I respect Lord Adora and Queen Catrina as sole rulers of Eternia, but I do not agree with these killings. We have trials, and when it involves two kingdoms, the trials are held in Brightmoon. I agree with Mermista’s stance. Lord Adora does not have the authority to kill other kingdom’s subjects. We are princesses who hold extreme power and we should not use that to our own free will. When we do, the results are devastating. Lord Adora should have been able to easily subdue these attackers without a single life being lost. I would not dare to slay an Eterian. This should be the same code of honor your kingdom follows.”
Glimmer shakes her head in disagreement, “There were royal lives in danger. I do not think these codes apply in this situation.”
Mermista sighed, “Catrina, I do not know what I would have done if the Lord had chosen me. I did not plan this attack. I think we all know this, but I cannot stay silent. She killed my people without trial, and on free land. No one owns the trade routes, they are free from all kingdom rule. You two can govern how you see fit on your lands, but I cannot agree to let this slide.”
Catra frowned, “I also cannot agree to let this slide. My entire family was almost murdered, again, by someone under your banner. Something needs to be done.”
Glimmer took her seat, “A vote then….”
Glimmer stops in her tracks as the meeting door swings open and a very tired, injured Adora limps in. Catra is immediately by her side, and Adora reaches towards her belly, cupping it softly, “Is the baby alright?” The blonde whispers.
Catra kisses her softly, “What are you doing out of bed? I told the healers to retrieve me as soon as you woke.”
“I’m fine. Catra, the baby?”
Catra nuzzled closely into her lover’s neck. Her body relaxes as she hears the steady thumbing of Adora’s heart, “Yes, the baby is alright.”
Adora gazes around the room lazily, it does not go unnoticed by herself, that she is hardly wearing any proper clothes, but right now she is too tired to care. “What’s going on?”
Bow smiles and pulls out a chair for her to rest on, Catra is immediately in her lap. It seems that they were completely forgoing formalities today. Bow speaks, “We’re taking a vote.” He clears his throat, “The parties are about to begin their motions.
Adora nods in understanding, she looks at Mermista expectantly, “And what do the parties motion?”
Mermista speaks first, “I motion that Shera’s sword be kept in Brightmoon, under a seal of magic. Shera can teleport her sword at will now. Mystacor will have to perform a ritual to seal it away. I see no reason for Lord Adora to have it now that the war is over. She is perfectly capable without her Shera form.”
Catra frowned, “Would you seal your powers away willingly?”
Mermista glares at the couple, “I would if it meant peace and less dead bodies.”
Adora outstretches her hand, and a rough cough escapes her lungs as she summons the sword forward. Mermista looks timid, but the blonde gently lays the sword on the table. Her muscles buckle as she tries to keep the sword from clanking loudly.
Glimmer clears her throat, “Catrina? Adora? What do you two motion?”
Catra goes to speak, something Adora assumes is going to be malicious. Her wife tended to get rather angry when it came to her family. She placed a hand on Catra’s shoulder, shushing her, “I propose that the current King of Salinous steps down and Mermista takes the throne.”
Mermista’s mouth opens and closes on repeat before shock wears off and words finally come out, “Why?”
Adora smiled tiredly, “He is getting old, it’s only a matter of time before this issue is pushed. I want us to be allies. Like Glimmer said, I want a world where our children can grow up in a time of peace. We’ve all fought too much, and I for one, am tired.”
“A vote then?” Glimmer stood, “All those in favor of Mermista’s motion?”
Catra watched as Frosta, Mermista, and Netossa raised their hands. She blew out a breath in relief, Scorpia, Perfuma, Spinnerella, Entrapta, Glimmer, and herself raised their hands against.
Adora sighed, “Congratulations, Queen Mermista.” The blonde ushered Catra up, and with a wave of her hand, the sword vanished. “Catrina, I need to speak with you in private.”
Catra eagerly followed her wife to a nearby empty room. She couldn’t wait to get a moment alone, and when the door shut, she pounced. A plethora of kisses invaded her wife’s face and mouth. “By Mara, I’m so glad you’re okay! I was so worried!” She mumbled in between kisses, but the absence of pressure returned had her tilting back.
Adora’s eyes sunk, unable to meet hers. “Catra…”
“What? What’s wrong?”
Adora pushed past her lover and sat on a nearby bed, “I… I am-” Her wife struggled with her wording, before a serious look laced her face and voice, “I’m leaving.”
“You’re leaving?” She mimicked back, “That’s fine. I’ll get a carriage to take us home immediately.”
Adora grabbed her by the wrist, “No, I’m leaving and you are returning home.”
“No.” Catra replied. “No, you are not. You are not doing this whole hero act or whatever the hell you’ve cooked up in that head of yours.”
Adora shook her head, and pulled Catra close, “I am leaving.”
“No.”
“I’ve already spoken with Shadow Weaver.”
“No, I forbid it!” Catra tries to yank away, but Adora keeps her in place.
“We are going to a first one ruin. Shera’s ruin. She’s going to cure me of this disease…”
“Adora, no! We can go together, but you will not leave me here alone!”
Adora smiled sadly, “I knew you would fight me. We’re going to be experimenting with things never used before… It won’t be safe for you or the baby…. I- I don’t want you to see me be broken down. The things we might have to do…. They won’t be pretty.”
“Adora, absolutely not! As your Queen, I forbid it! I forbid you to leave as your wife!”
Adora pulled her in closer, faces inches apart, “As your Lord, I must. As your wife, I must. If we can beat this, it will keep you both safe. It’s not goodbye, Love. I will return once I’m fixed.”
“Adora, you didn’t mean to hurt us! You- you weren’t you! You weren’t in control!”
Adora shushed her, “Shhh, I know, I know.” The blonde kissed her lips gingerly, tears seeping into her fur. From who? She did not know. And then, she felt a sharp prick to her neck. Adora backed her to the bed with needle in hand.
The look of betrayal on her lover’s face nearly shattered Adora’s already beaten heart, “I need to be in control. That slip-up almost cost me everything.” She laid Catra down. “You are my everything. I’m sorry, but I know you’ll follow.” Adora kissed her once more. “Rogelio and Lonnie are right outside the door, they’ll take you both home. I love you, Catra.”
Catra’s eyes felt heavy, and she fought like Hell against them. She watched as Adora slipped through the door. She watched as her Lover left her.