Out of the Frying Pan

Flowers for She-Ra Part 3

The thing is, the plan really isn't a bad one at all.

"This is the worst," Catra says. "Let's just smash it all but tell Glimmer she doesn't get to have fun."

"I'm not doing this because it's fun!" Glimmer protests.

"See, you heard her, she won't even mind."

"The most important thing is being sure we find the problem," Adora insists. She's also pretty sure that leaving Glimmer behind will just mean Glimmer comes on her own and if the queen is mad about Glimmer getting in danger, she'll be even madder about them leaving Glimmer to get in danger all alone. "If this goes right nothing interesting will happen at all."

This way is so much safer. Go in ahead of a shift change to replace the guards, then when the real replacements show up, let them relieve you and walk out without anyone being the wiser.

"I should've never told you I heard that password," Catra says. "It's probably not even valid anymore, you know that right?"

"It'll be fine."

And, well, no plan survives contact with the enemy and it's not like she had another password she could've tried instead. Just getting in without a fight was still pretty good.

The part where she's trying to fight off actual experienced soldiers as just Adora, though...it could've been improved a tad.

"Get in a corner and be a princess!" Catra shrieks, dropping on the soldier in front of her. The helmet and chest armor successfully blocks most of Catra's attack, but she manages to tear violently right through the fabric of the arm with the claws of one foot. Adora can't help but wince. That's going to get infected.

"Right!" Because throwing herself into the fight as Adora is a mistake. No one needs Adora here. They need She-Ra. And Catra's giving her breathing room. She grasps the sword and says the words. And it works.

As She-Ra, it's easy to knock the soldiers away, and others turn and run at just the sight.

And then she has a chance at the machine.

She tries to call on outrage. This is hurting people, she tries to tell the sword. This is hurting people and it exists only to hurt people, does nothing but poison and ruin for the sake of it, and the Horde made it and runs it, the Horde invented it for that very reason.

The sword responds. She can feel the energy in it. There's white lightning forming around her hands that reminds her of how she's seen Shadow Weaver use magic.

She plunges the sword into the top of the machine and the power pours out. The poison burns away.

She-Ra healed the forest and brought the plants back to life. She's lived up to what she needs to be.

The princess hugs her when she returns, both with her arms and with garlands of flowers. "Right after you left, the heartblossom itself began to sicken. I didn't know what to do! We were going to have to leave," she says, and her voice quakes with emotion. "But then suddenly it was gone again, and my powers, they're back to normal again! You're just like the stories said! I knew it! I knew the universe would right itself. We just had to be patient!"

After they leave, when she's back to just being Adora, she's so happy she doesn't think of anything else at first.

Catra and Glimmer are...they're more subdued, she realizes as the glow wears off.

The princess refused to join Glimmer's alliance. Honestly, it didn't seem like her being there or not would've mattered, but it was probably bad she said immediately, "Didn't that go horribly?" If that was what princesses remembered of it, then Glimmer was going to have a lot of trouble getting anyone to join. And that was what Glimmer really wanted, more than just a victory against the Horde.

Catra's just mysteriously sulking like she does sometimes. More mysteriously than usual since a lot of stuff blew up, and she should be smug about how she was right about the password or how Adora needed her help or a million other things. Adora keeps sneaking glances but it doesn't look like Catra got hurt, and she doesn't think she should bring it up around Glimmer and Bow.

And then they get back to Bright Moon. It was easy to forget that they'd disobeyed orders when it had gone so right.

"It was all my idea!" Adora says immediately. "Catra had nothing to do with it!"

The queen only looks at her with her horrible expressions and says, "You're the worst liar I've ever seen."

"I'm not lying!"

The queen holds up a hand and Adora cringes and goes silent. "Plumeria's kingdom falling would have been devastating to the rest of Etheria. This was an important victory against the Horde. However...Glimmer, you're grounded for a week for disobeying direct orders."

"Fine," Glimmer says with a groan.

"I'm so sorry," Adora tells her as soon as the queen is gone. "It's all my fault you're in trouble."

"It's no big deal," Glimmer replies, and actually looks like she means it. Well, Glimmer's brave. "She usually grounds me for a month for stuff like this. Mom's impressed! I just wish....well, the fact we could help out a kingdom is good, even if she didn't join, and the fact we could beat the Horde. Maybe seeing what we can do will convince others."

"And...am I really a bad liar?" Adora asks.

Glimmer and Bow stare at her. "Did you not know?" Bow asks.

"I..." But there were so many times she'd told the truth and... "So do I sound like I'm always lying? Is that the problem?"

"No, no," Glimmer says, "you sound really honest normally. When we first met, that was the first thing that threw me. You sounded like you really believed the Horde wasn't bad, and I tried to tell myself you were lying to me because, well, I didn't want to believe you didn't know the truth."

"Oh."

She'd always thought people just guessed. That nobody could tell and it was random.

She looks to Catra, who is looking at the floor and ignoring everyone. Of course she is. Adora thought she was doing the right thing and it turned out the queen was impressed by what they'd accomplished.

As soon as they're back in their room Catra says, "Never do that again!"

Adora feels like crying. "I swear I wasn't trying to steal credit Catra, I thought-"

"I know!" Catra snaps. "You don't get it, you can't do things like this anymore. Shadow Weaver liked you but the queen hates both of us! You're only here because Glimmer likes She-Ra and so her mom is putting up with us," Catra spits. "As far as she's concerned we're just Horde murderers."

Adora nods. "You're right, I haven't done enough to prove myself yet, I wasn't thinking."

"Because that's all you have to do," Catra says, and she's so angry, like she doesn't think Adora's even been trying.

"I know I have to work harder," Adora tells her, "and I will!"

But Catra looks even angrier. "Really? Why don't all those useless plant people just work harder then!"

Adora doesn't even know what they're fighting about now. "Because that's what She-Ra's supposed to do!"

And then suddenly it's worse, the flat cold that means Adora has said the wrong thing, done the wrong thing, and there's no words to fix it. "You didn't save anyone, you know," Catra says. She turns her back on Adora and jumps onto the edge of the window. "The Horde will just come back."

"Catra!"

But she's gone.