The Only Way || She-Ra

Chapter 13: Skeletons

Despite the fact that it was a fairly large pod, 6-32's ship definitely wasn't designed for four people, let alone the two they were supposed to be bringing back.

"When we get up there, do not leave this ship," 6-32 ordered. "You wait here unless I need you."

"Please, you'll never call us for back up," Catra said.

"Exactly," 6-32 swiveled around in his chair. "You all insisted on coming. It's not my fault that I don't need your help in the first place."

"Well we weren't just going to let you settle this yourself," Glimmer glared accusingly at him. "Do you want to tell us what other plans you've made without us knowing?"

"How many times do I have to tell you people that I'm on your side?" 6-32 asked defensively.

"We know that," Bow reassured him. "It's just, you should of told us your plan first."

"Would you have approved it?"

"No," Catra said bluntly.

"Exactly," 6-32 muttered. "Exactly my point. Why do I even bother."

The ship went around the side of the ship, landing quietly in an empty docking bay. 6-32 grabbed his gun and turned to the others. "Stay put. Don't touch anything."

"Yes sir," Catra saluted him mockingly, to which he shuffled away, still muttering insults to himself.

"Are we really just going to wait here?" Glimmer asked, already growing impatient. She had been looking forward to a good fight.

"Well yeah," Catra shrugged. "I mean, personally, I don't want to get stuck here again. If we do get caught though, I say we sell out Bow."

"Hey!" Bow looked hurt.

"Oh relax, I'm just joking," Catra grinned deviously. "Maybe." She eyed him, claws extending.

"Hey now, watch it," Bow warned. "Don't you-"

Catra weakly clawed at him, missing by a good couple feet. Still, he stumbled backwards out of the way instinctively, losing his footing and running into the wall — which gave out from behind him.

"Woah, are you ok?" Glimmer asked, walking towards him.

Catra didn't pay him any attention though. Instead, she was looking at what Bow had uncovered.

"A secret room?" Catra asked out loud, bringing it to the others' attentions.

Sure enough, the metal wall that Bow had knocked aside was in reality a doorway which had swung open from Bow's weight. It was about the size of a large broom closet.

Catra, being the first to examine it, walked inside and felt her pulse quicken at what she saw.

The walls were lined with blueprints, more specifically, blueprints for Etheria.

"The heart..." Glimmer said, noticing them too.

Other than blueprints, there were notes scribbled on seemingly whatever 6-32 could get their hands on, except it wasn't written in any language they could read.

"That's definitely first ones writing," Bow said, tracing one particular note that he recognized. Mara.

Catra bent down to see a chest, full of various items. "Take a look at this."

She reached inside and pulled out a cloak, one that looked eerily like one she owned except more tattered and bloodstained. Reaching into the chest again, she pulled out more scattered notes and old bloody bandages.

"How did he get all of this?" Glimmer asked. She was examining a particularly bad drawing of Light Hope that had been pinned to the wall. "Why does he even have this stuff?"

"Guys." Catra's voice wavered.

The two turned to look at her to see her eyes focused on something at the bottom of the chest.

"What is it?" Bow was almost too scared to ask.

Catra reached in shakily, not sure if her eyes were playing tricks on her, seeing as what was at the bottom of that chest wasn't supposed to physically exist. Pulling it out into view, Glimmer and Bow felt their stomachs drop.

It was Adora's sword.

"That's not...that cant..." Bow held his head, unable to wrap his mind around what he was seeing. "The sword was destroyed. We have it plugged into our ship."

"How is this possible?" Glimmer asked, taking the sword from Catra who just stared at it blankly. "Is this even possible?"

The sword itself was perfectly in tact. There wasn't a fracture, or any evidence that it had been magically put back together somehow. In fact, it looked like it was brand new. No bloodstains. No cracks.

"Maybe it's a fake," Bow said. "It has to be, right?"

"Or maybe the one we have is," Glimmer countered. The stone resonated when she touched it, sending a shockwave through her body. "You can feel the power from this. It's got to be real."

"But that doesn't make sense," Bow sounded desperate. "The sword was broken. We saw that hilt plugged into the ship with our own eyes."

Glimmer looked at him sympathetically. "Obviously we missed something. Our's has to be a fake Bow, what other explanation is there?"

"I took that thing from the Crystal Castle along with Adora's dead body!" Bow yelled hysterically, voice cracking. "Don't tell me a don't know what I saw!"

"Hey, no one's doubting that," Catra said, pulling herself out of her haze to confront him. "We just need to stay calm."

"Calm?" Glimmer asked. "6-32 has been hiding this from us, maybe from the start." Stumbling back, she felt like she was going to be sick. "I can't believe I let myself get manipulated again."

"Hey," Catra snapped. "All due respect you two, but you both need to suck it up, stop feeling sorry for yourselves, and start looking for a way to fix this." Bow and Glimmer looked up at her shocked, not to say they weren't a little impressed.

"Let's just start with what we can do," Catra pushed past them out of the closet. "Either of you know how to get a signal back down there? We need to warn the others."

"I-I can try," Bow said weakly, still shaken, walking to the control panel.

"Good," Catra said before rejoining Glimmer. Catra took the sword from her hand. Addressing her quietly, she said, "We're going to figure this out, alright? We stopped 6-32 from doing whatever he was planning to do with this thing. Let's focus on that, got it?"

Glimmer nodded, leaving the closet and sitting down at the front. Catra attempted to shove the sword in her bag, though half of it was hanging out. She also threw in the cloak as an afterthought.

"We should take the pod," Glimmer said after a while. "We can't let 6-32 know that we know."

"But what about Double Trouble and Hordak?" Bow asked, looking up from his work. "We can't just leave without them."

"They'll have to be able to handle themselves," Glimmer said. "We can't let this sword fall into the wrong hands."

"She's right," Catra said. "Double Trouble can't be held prisoner for long, we all know that. And Hordak...well personally I could care less if we save him."

"Well that's not very heroic of you." A loud thud came from the ship entrance. The three turned around.

6-32 stood there, the light behind them casting their figure in shadow. He had dropped an unconscious Hordak to the ground and was standing beside a somewhat confused Double Trouble.

The three stood there, frozen as 6-32 walked ominously slow towards them. He looked behind them, seeing the open doorway and the secrets it held in plain sight.

6-32 let out a long sigh, shaking his head. "I really wish you hadn't done that."