Bad End of the World

End Of The World

Catra

Catra held tightly onto Adora's hand, wondering what the hell they were supposed to do now.

"Hordak..." Adora sighed, and shook her head. "He came for us after all."

"We don't know that," said Catra, waiting for her heart to stop racing and her mind to stop reeling. She couldn't even begin to fathom how Adora had somehow plucked a guy's hand clean off.

"Catra?"

"Hmm? Yeah, sorry." She almost wished she hadn't spotted that specific, peculiar detail, because other than that she wasn't too bothered about Adora killing an abusive piece of shit. She might have even done the same, though perhaps not so completely randomly, and in broad daylight.

"Should we try to get back inside the palace?" Adora asked. "It'll be safer there."

"Yeah," said Catra. "Just wait here a second."

She scaled the front of the nearest house with ease, and clambered up the slanted rooftop, peering cautiously over the top of the building. The bots from earlier were far away by now, and there were no signs of additional troops coming from any direction, so Catra hopped back down, landing next to Adora.

"Clear?"

"Yup. But we still need to be careful. Come on." Catra took Adora's hand and they headed back outside of the alley, pausing to check up and down the market square. Once Catra was sure the coast was clear, they both hurried towards the palace while hiding in the shadows of the extravagant homes along the outskirts of the recently-bustling square.

"So we're just leaving him?" Adora whispered, tipping her head back.

Catra nodded. "They'll probably just blame the Horde." The irony that the Horde had actually helped them with their more immediate problem wasn't lost on Catra. Almost every stall had been crushed beneath the army of bots, but there were no bodies, other than the one in the back alley, that is. If they survived this mess Catra wanted to figure out what was making Adora lose her shit, then help her manage it instead of being so damn reactive. Shadow Weaver was one thing. But random civilians? That kind of damage would get them into trouble, and fast.

"Looks clear," Adora said, nodding at the stairway into the palace ahead.

They ran up the stairs single file, but no sooner were they inside than they ended up face-to-face with three horde soldiers in the middle of the entry hall. Adora instantly reached for her dagger and shifted to an offensive stance. She looked like she was about to spring an attack on the lead solder, but paused in her spring when they yanked their helmet off quickly.

"Wait!" Kyle said, his loose blonde locks setting around his face. "Adora, relax! It's us!"

Rogelio and Lonnie pulled their helmets off too, but Adora appeared uncertain. Her hand was trembling, with the blade still tucked by her wrist, and her arm pointed squarely at Kyle. Catra placed a hand over hers, and forced her to lower it.

"At ease, soldier," she purred. "They're friendlies. Or they'd better be," she glared at the three of them pointedly.

"We're on your side, but you know the drill," Lonnie said, shrugging. "They say jump, we jump. What else are we supposed to do?"

"Oh I don't know, have you tried not jumping?" Adora said, her voice tinged with ice. She bent down and tucked her dagger away again, while Rogelio grunted a few times, before his shoulders sagged.

Kyle placed a hand on Rogelio's arm, then frowned at Adora. "It's not that easy, you know."

"Really?" Adora folded her arms. "Because I left the second I knew what the Horde was really doing."