Shera and the Evil Horde

Two Faces. One Goal.

As Adora's power swirled  she thought of the most fitting way to punish the sparkly princess. Vaporizing her on the spot? No. To quick. Attaching her to a machine and draining her power? Nah. That was only fun on Shadow Weaver. Of all the things she thought of and the ways she planned to attack, they were all halted by one thing.

The illusion that was Catra.

Even though she was certain it wasn't really Catra, she couldn't bring herself to point her weapon clear at her. She just stood there, surrounded by dark energy while they watched in horror. She could end them all.

"I do have something special for you." She whispered. "But is it even worth it? You're tricking me, and yet it won't bring her back."

Glimmer held up her hands, her sparkly eyes nervously watching Adora's sword. "I'm not tricking you. This really is Catra."

"How can I believe you? I heard what happened. There is no way she would have survived."

"Glimmer saved me." Catra stepped forward, blocking the other two. "She saved me from the edge, and busted me out of prison. And Bow helped us make it here. They aren't tricking you, Adora."

She sneered. "Really? Then prove it! Tell me something only Catra would know."

"You're favorite number is 1,612,114."

Adora lowered her sword and straightened. "Wait, how do you know that? I've never told anyone that."

"I could guess."

"T-that doesn't prove anything! Tell me something else!"

Catra sighed. "Don't be stupid. Sparkles isn't exactly a top sorceress. I'm not an illusion, but I am annoyed. You idiot! Didn't you think it was weird there was no body to be found? Did you see a corpse?"

No. But how could she? She couldn't bare to see Catra in that state, so she just sent cadets to do a run of the mill sweep of the area. They didn't find anything and she attributed it to the long fall down. Still, she had a point, and it made her hesitate even more. If only her eyes would stop tingling! It felt like needles jabbing her pupils, and it was giving her a headache. She groaned, and had to take a knee, holding her temple.

"Adora," Catra breathed in concern, moving closer. "What's wrong?"

"Just stay back!" Adora hissed.

Catra forced herself not to move, and Glimmer cleared her throat. "How did you guess her favorite number?"

Catra rolled her eyes. "If you space the numbers right, and put it against the alphabet it spells plan. 16 is P, 12 is L, 1 is A, and 14 is N."

"Oh. Wow that's strange."

"Not really. It's just Adora. She thinks like that."

"And you understand that?"

Tail curling behind her leg, Catra crossed her arms and snorted. "Whatever. We've grown up together, so I picked up some stuff."

Adora's eyes kept switching from red to blue. The glow and the calmness of her gaze was terrifying, and Catra couldn't help it, she stepped forward. "What is happening?" She demanded. "What's wrong?"

"It must be Shadow Weaver." Adora shut her eyes, her arms hugging herself. "I've been able to control her, but she's found a way to control me a little. I just can't-"

She screamed and fell on the ground. This time the red glow returned fully to her eyes and she shivered in pain between wild outbursts of laughter. It was just like before when she was touched by the data disks. Her hands clawed at her face, and she rolled around in pain. Catra dropped to her side, frantically trying to hold her still.