CHAPTER I: STUCK TOGETHER

"Let us out of here!" Glimmer yelled furiously at the top of her lungs.

The young queen had been punching and kicking at the door of the chamber she and Catra had been confined in for quite some time. When the two girls were taken to the room for the first time by two of Horde Prime's clones, the first thing they noticed was…

The cleanliness…

The room wasn't really well furnished, but it was exceptionally clean, incredibly tidy, with white walls and a large, thick looking window that gave them a nice view on Etheria's surface. Still, it didn't give Glimmer and Catra any sense of comfort. It wasn't the kind of clean you'd find in Birght Moon castle's rooms… no… it felt…

Cold…

Sterile…

There even were two beds and a small desk in between of them. No one would have ever described it as a prison cell, but that was exactly how the two girls saw it as soon as they were brought inside. The door had been shut behind them and it didn't take them long to realize that it could only be opened from the outside.

'Of course…' Catra thought bitterly.

Despite Horde Prime's manners, it was now obvious he considered both Glimmer and her as nothing more than valuable assets to the expansion of his empire… nothing more than tools… tools that didn't get to be trusted or free, for the matter.

'Are you surprised? It's not like you haven't been used before.' The thought made Catra cringe, she shook her head, trying to get rid of the thought.

Since she and Glimmer had been escorted to their "personal chamber" as Horde Prime described it, Catra had tried to just lay down on one of the two beds and get some rest, but there were just too many thoughts that kept nagging at her, thoughts that were both confusing and enraging.

It didn't help that for a solid ten minutes, Glimmer had been trying to break down the very obviously- impossible to break down using just punches and kicks-door of their room, using nothing but punches and kicks, grunting and yelling more and more furiously as the door remained intact but more importantly… closed.

"Hey Sparkles, would you mind stopping that? I'm trying to get some shut eye here." Catra said, not bothering to look at the young queen as she spoke to her.

"My… name… is… Glimmer!" The girl yelled, delivering another punch to the door.

"Whatever Glitter, just stop doing that, it's not going to work." Catra scoffed.

"Oh, and please tell me, what should I do instead? Nothing? Just like you?" Glimmer chuckled mockingly as she turned towards the Force Captain.

This got Catra's attention. She stood up growling, quickly covering the distance between her and the young queen.

"And what should I be doing huh? There's nowhere we can go. If your pretty teleportation trick worked then we could get out of here in an instant but wait! I almost forgot, you completely drained yourself of any magical energy you had trying to wipe us all from existence!" Catra snarled, inches away from Glimmer's face.

"I didn't know the Heart of Etheria would work that way! I wanted to stop you, Hordak and the Horde once and for all!" Glimmer yelled back.

"Yeah, good job so far."

"Hey! I made a mistake! At least I'm admitting it, while everything you did was-"

"Saving you." Catra interrupted the girl before she could finish. "So the least you can do in return is to stop making all this noise and let me rest."

Glimmer shut her mouth, there wasn't much she could say to rebut, Catra did save her life.

Catra saved her life…

It was in that moment, when that single thought crossed her mind, that Glimmer's eyes widened, and a single question came to her… and before Catra could turn around, she spoke again.

"Why?" Glimmer's voice was barely more audible than a whisper.

"What?"

"Why did you save me?" The young queen repeated, this time making sure Catra would hear her.

It was then that Glimmer noticed a glint of something appearing in Catra's eyes, something she had seen only once before, when she met the Force Captain in the Fright Zone, defeated and ready to die at the hands of the rebel queen. It wasn't like Catra not to fight back, and it was right then and there that Glimmer understood that she wasn't looking at a monster… just at a girl who lost everyone, a girl full of regrets who wished for everything to end because how could she fix things now? After everything she'd done?

However, that glint soon disappeared as Catra shook her head. She grinned maliciously, stepping towards Glimmer, trying her best to look intimidating.

"Why, Sparkles? Don't you get it? Saving you the only way to save myself. Without you the Heart of Etheria is useless right? And without the Heart of Etheria, this little planet alongside everyone who inhabit it including me, are useless. This way, I get to see another day, hell, maybe Horde Prime will even make me his new right hand and then-"

"Stop it."

Catra remained speechless. Her smirk vanished, replaced by a puzzled expression. Glimmer had interrupted her, but what was bothering her the most was that she didn't look hurt, she didn't look angry. Her eyes were filled with nothing more than… compassion.

"You can stop now Catra, I get it now." Glimmer said, putting her hand on Catra's shoulder and giving her a light squeeze.

"W-what is it that you think you're getting, huh? Little queen?" Catra harshly brushed away the touch, as she tried not to linger on the comfort it brought her.

"You don't… you don't truly care about those things, do you?"

Glimmer's words hit her like a full speeding skiff.

"W-what are you talking about?" Catra's voice trembled for a moment.

"You really had me fooled you know?" Glimmer spoke kindly. "I really thought all that mattered to you was power, but I was wrong. I understood that the second I found you today and looked into your eyes."

"You don't know anything… anything about me!" Catra took a step back, her breathing getting more erratic as Double Trouble's words echoed in her mind. 'We both know this was never what you wanted.'

"I think I do. I think we're more alike than we'd like to admit. Tell me Catra… does winning battles feel anywhere near as good as it feels to have your friends around you? And… losing them… you'd prefer to lose one thousand battles instead, wouldn't you?" Glimmer asked, a small, hopeful smile on her face.

Catra's lip trembled for a moment.

"You care about your friends."

An insane laugh bubbled up Catra's throat.

"M-my friends? I don't have any friends! I-"

"Do you want to know what Scorpia told me before I managed to find you?" Glimmer took a step towards Catra as she took another one backwards.

"Do not even say that-" The Force Captain growled, how dare she mention that traitor's name, but Glimmer didn't listen to her and kept speaking.

"She told me not to hurt you, even though you've done a lot of bad things."

Catra felt tears starting to well up in her eyes.

"And even after everything you've done… whenever someone speak your name, I can see it in Adora's eyes, that she still loves-"

No, it was too much. It was too much to bear for Catra. She had worked so hard to achieve her goal, to prove her worth, to show everyone that she could win too, the she wasn't second to anyone. She had worked so hard that it made her drive away all of her friends, so hard that it made her try to kill the one person who gave her hope, the only one person in all of her hellish life who ever made her feel loved.

Catra knew she couldn't go back now. It was too late. She could never get those people back, she knew that they hated her now, that it was too late to fix things. That's why she would never let Glimmer give her any hope to do so, she couldn't trust her only to be hurt again, she couldn't suffer anymore than she already did.

"Shut up! Adora and Scorpia were nothing but filthy traitors, they left and-"

"They only did the right thing by leaving!" Glimmer interrupted her, trying to defend her friends.

Silence followed. A deep pain flashed in Catra's eyes before a mischievous grin formed on her face.

"The right thing huh?"

"You know that's not what I meant." Glimmer tried to explain, her tone latched with worry.

"And what about you Sparkles? Didn't everyone leave you too? Adora, Bow, your mom…"

In a last attempt to shield herself from the truth, from the agonizingly painful truth, Catra made one last move to prevent her façade from crumbling.

A really bad move.

She didn't see Glimmer's punch coming, but it hit her square in the stomach, and it hit her hard. She stumbled backwards and before she could regain balance, another punch hit her left cheek. This time, Catra fell to the ground. She felt Glimmer kneeling on top of her. The young queen grabbed her by the collar of her uniform and raised her fist, ready to strike Catra again. The kindness in her eyes had disappeared, leaving nothing but a scorching rage.

"Come on, do it, it's not like Horde Prime really needs me. You could explain everything about the Heart of Etheria to him yourself, so what are you waiting for?"

Glimmer's fist started to tremble.

"I'm the one who opened the portal! I'm the one who took your mother away! Go on! Finish me! Kill me!" The Force Captain screamed as her voice started to break.

It was in that moment that Glimmer's anger vanished. The monster had once again tried to fool her, but it couldn't, not anymore. Now she could see right through it, now she could see the desperate, wounded soldier that stood behind it, and as Glimmer looked at the sobbing girl, she slowly lowered her fist.

"Just… just kill me… if you can't do it… at least hate me…" Catra whispered, tears streaming down her face.

"I think you're already doing it enough for the both of us."

Glimmer stood up and reached the farthest bed from the room's window, she sat down and released a long, exhausted sigh. She didn't turn around when she felt Catra stand up from the floor and reach for her own bed. They didn't say anything else for the rest of the night.

Hi guys, so this is my first fanfiction. I really enjoyed season four, the best one yet and I just couldn't stop myself from continuing it from where it left off. I know season five won't take long to come out, but still, even if it'll be four or five months, it's still too long, so I decided to write some kind of continuation to the season four's finale. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and if you'd like to see more, just let me know in the comments!