บท 36: Horde and Rebellious Soldier Share a Room
The trio had walked into the large room that everyone had been in yesterday while trying to keep her alive.
Tigra couldn't help but wonder if it was personal reasons or political.
Just like the Princesses, Tigra is a powerhouse of the Horde and has grown important to the Horde.
While not important enough that the Horde would be in serious trouble without her, it would demoralize those that saw her as an 'idol' or someone placed on a pedestal. Someone that should be nearly invincible or an example of how far a soldier can get through hard work.
If she were to die in a place not publicly seen, like a major battle, most wouldn't have believed it until Catra and Hordak confirmed it for the kingdom.
On the other hand, it would call a few who were close to her for vengeance. Vengeance against those that may have killed her and may also refuse to even entertain diplomacy.
Squadron Alpha would definitely want blood. Scorpia was a toss up between wanting revenge - as unlikely as she could think - or wanting to avoid conflict. Entrapta would likely throw herself into her work.
Lucy and Serena may be upset, but they would focus on improving themselves and the soldiers under their command. General Judai may be saddened to see the rookie she took under her command fall.
Hordak likely wouldn't care. He'd be more focused on whatever he does up in his Sanctum or with the war.
Weaver would scoff and ask if she should be surprised about such a thing. That the mangy stray was and always would have been a mistake in her eyes and had simply lived up to her name: being a mistake.
Tigra shook her head lightly to stop that train of thought as thinking like Weaver always either upset her, angered her, or just made her feel exhausted with her.
She looked around before spotting an open box labeled "Rations."
"Either of you good for a ration?" She asked, walking over and looking in the box.
She counted about 100 rations based on how they were packed.
"Considering that these are likely all we have to eat until we leave? I'll take a red one." Catra answered.
Tigra grabbed a 5 pack and sliced it open and handed a red one to her.
While there weren't really any differences between them, they each had a color they liked more than others.
"I'll take-"
"Gray?" Tigra asked, already holding it out to her. "Or is it no longer your favorite ration?"
Adora took it with a smile before biting into it.
Her face immediately turned into a grimace.
"You got too used to non-ration food." Tigra pointed out, taking a bite out of a blue ration.
She could withhold the grimace as she still ate these often enough to still be slightly used to the taste.
"How often do you still eat these? Catra wondered, wearing a wince on her face from the taste. "I try to eat only two a week as prescribed by my medical personnel, but I still don't like the taste."
Tigra took another bite.
"Depends. If I spend my day just doing work via tablet or paper, usually only 1 every other day as long as I still eat 'normal' food."
"And otherwise?" Adora asked.
"If I'm training physically, magically, or just healing, I can sometimes end up eating 5 or 6 of them a day alongside my other food."
"Seriously?" Catra asked in disbelief. "That's like a total of 7-8 thousand calories a day like that!"
"How isn't your stomach being pumped due to the excess?"
"High metabolism and magical burning of calories." She shrugged. "My body keeps itself running at its best as long as it can. Did you think that all my quick running and magical abilities didn't come with its tradeoff?"
"But, isn't it the work of your sheet?"
"Power. Sheet is part of it, like how fire magic needs magic to be used. But kinda?" She tilted her hand back and forth.
"It definitely isn't that big of a drawback considering all of the things that this lets me do. Getting me from graduation to where I am now in just a year and a half at the cost of an extra 2 thousand calories on average a day?"
"Why did you jump so quickly after the Academy?"
"Quests. I level up and can do various things from it. After the Academy, I acquired several quests that let me level up fast enough that I can now leave me from Graduation in the dust, even if she could move 1500x faster."
The duo watched as Tigra finished her ration before grabbing another.
"How many are you going to eat now?"
Tigra took a bite before thinking.
"I'll need…maybe 5? I used almost all my magic and healed a lot yesterday." She shrugged.
"Tigra!"
The trio looked to the side before Tigra exclaimed as a purple figure slammed into her, causing her legs to go in the air.
"You're walking around!" Entrapta exclaimed, looking her over. "No aches? No remaining injuries? Almost as if your injuries never happened."
She continued moving around her, checking her body while holding a recorder.
"Leg seems back to normal with no indication of the femur being broken in three places." She poked her hip. "No sudden jolt from a cracked pelvis." She moved up her side and poked her ribs. "No sharp breathing that would indicate several broken ribs. Move your legs?"
Tigra complied, causing Entrapta to hum while Archer sat down next to Adora.
"Separation of the spinal cord seems to be fixed. Take off the shirt."
Tigra rolled her eyes before looking over at Catra and Adora with an exasperated look while Archer's eyes were wide.
"How about I let you check me out later? I'm fine and the girls can confirm that I don't have any wounds on my upper body."
Entrapta looked at the two of them while Archer seemed intrigued about something.
"Yeah, she's fine." Catra answered. "Besides scaring us to death, she seems back to normal."
"I will be doing check ups back in the medical bays when we return." Entrapta declared.
"Very well. How have you been holding up, Archer?"
"It's Bow."
"Wait, is it actually Bow?" Tigra asked. "I thought that was a cover name."
"Nope. It's my name. So, can I ask what the other side looked like?"
"Bow!"
"An unending darkness with small specks of light surrounding an ethereal body of yours." Tigra spoke with a smirk.
"I can't tell if you're being serious or if you're just messing with me."
"Sounds like a problem for you."
"Anyways, has anything happened while we've been out?" Adora asked.
"Sea Hawk and Scorpia have been hanging around-"
"Who?" Tigra asked.
"Sea Hawk? The other guy who was with us?"
"Is that what "Inspector" calls himself? Or is his name actually Sea?"
"It's…his name." Bow spoke slowly. "Do you not know any of our names?"
"Flower Power, Crystal, Shimmer, Archer, Tide, Nets, Spinnerella, and Dora." Tigra listed off.
"Only one of those was right, and it wasn't mine." Bow muttered as he came to his own conclusion.
"Did Spinnerella do something for you?" Adora asked. "She's the only one without a nickname."
"Can't think of any good names." Tigra shrugged.
"Good to see she's up." A voice spoke, causing Tigra to look over. "We have a few things to clear up regarding the next day or so."
"Shimmer! Wondered how long until I saw your sparkles."
Glimmer huffed. "What is it with the Horde and not knowing my name?"
"Oh we know it. We just don't care."
"Great."
"What needs cleared up?" Catra asked.
"A full agreement of a ceasefire until the blizzard clears up enough for all of us to return to our kingdoms. Everyone here basically agreed except for your General."
"Is that it? I'll agree to the ceasefire. Despite what you may think, I know how not to piss off several kingdoms at once."
"Either way, are you good after that wound?"
"Yes."
"Good to see that She-Ra was able to heal you when you were on the edge."
"Act-"
"50/50." Tigra cut off an Adora who started to speak who widened her eyes at almost speaking without thinking.
"Really?"
"Her healing definitely helped fix my body but it also supercharged my healing." She finished her second ration. "Also need to thank Rani for putting me under stasis."
"Wait, how do you know about that? You were unconscious since we recovered you." Glimmer asked.
Tigra went silent before everyone there saw her shadow darken before a small, black cat with golden eyes hopped out of her shadow.
"This little guy lets me see events through their eyes. Granted it is only able to move about 100 feet away from me, but it's good to use if I'm not planning on moving too far." She lied.
"So, it doesn't need you to remain conscious to continue being used?" Adora asked.
"As long as I give it enough magic, no. It will simply keep using the energy I gave it before it would eventually run out like a battery."
"So you know everything that happened while you were out?"
"Everything that Entrapta was a part of."
Several heads looked at Entrapta as the cat sat next to her.
"Oh yeah, the cat. I wondered where it went after we left to check on the robots." Entrapta commented, working on her tablet now. "I assumed that they stayed behind. But considering that it came out of your shadow, I'm assuming that they could also go into shadows."
"Correct."
"Interesting."
"Tigra."
Everyone - bar Entrapta - looked over and saw Rani.
"Rani, right?"
"Yes. May I have a moment of your time?"
Tigra stood back up before holding a hand out as Catra started to stand.
"I'll be fine. How about you make sure Dora doesn't accidentally break something." She suggested while grabbing the next Ration bar.
"Hey! I won't-"
Something made a metallic sound as if something fell to the ground away from the group.
"You can't blame me for that."
"Uh huh." Tigra followed Rani as she brought her away from the group.
Rani messed with her tablet as Tigra sat down on a box.
"So what did you want to talk about? Considering that you took me away from the group, it's something you may not want them to hear."
"Partially. How much do you know about Halfmoon?"
"Capital of the Magicat Kingdom, destroyed by the Great Flame, Etheria believes that only 0.25% of people may have survived but in reality, around 30% were likely able to evacuate. Etheria believes that the Spirit Ember overloaded and nearly swallowed half of the Crimson Waste. The real cause is potentially tied to the Princesses Rey and Luna, who had fought and they caused the overload."
Rani blinked.
"Wow. You know a good amount of the cause. Especially since we did our best at keeping half of what you said underwraps."
"I found something interesting that had been left behind and is now in my possession."
"May we have it back? That information could-"
"Over my cold, dead body." Tigra narrowed her eyes, taking Rani back. "It is connected to my family. That's all I will say."
Rani gained a slightly understanding look, before looking at her gently.
"Alright. But the main reason I started to ask is because our Queen decided that we needed to start reaching out to any remaining Magicats that had been left behind when Halfmoon fell.
The Queen wants to know if we could convince you to come see our homeland. If you continue working with the Horde during this period of time, we will have to blindfold you as we want to remain neutral during this war."
Tigra waited for her to continue, but she stopped.
"Alright, get on with it."
"Huh?"
"You wouldn't have dragged me away from the group for most of that. You haven't said where the new kingdom is, haven't confirmed how many of us escaped, and you wouldn't have dragged me away from the wielder of She-Ra and another Magicat to tell me that the Queen wants me to return.
But while we are on the subject, I have to point something out."
Tigra held up three fingers.
"Before we started fighting, you told Adora that you both had your own missions and to leave me to you. That implies that you came along because you either knew that I was heading Northwest to the cold or that you suspected I would be coming along, which doesn't make much sense considering I've been out of the Horde 5 times since the Battle of Brightmoon.
Second, you assumed I was immune to Fire and Ice just because I was immune to Lightning. To come to the conclusion, you must have figured that my immunity to Lightning was not natural. If it wasn't, you then assumed that I must have my own method to become immune. Your logic depends on me only being able to be immune to spells I know. Who's to say that I don't know all types of spells?"
"There's a limit." Rani shook her head. "The most different types of spells learned by one person are 6 with them being fire, water, ice, electricity, earth, and light. Even then, they only got to expert level spells in 5 of them."
Tigra withheld her scoff. She had plans that would lead her to having spells in a wide range of spells and that isn't something you proclaim to someone who is currently an enemy.
She's had to say too much to Shimmer already around her Shadow Spy spell. Only Adora would know how far they can go, considering that attempt with Mystacor Weaver tried.
"Then third, you have been saying me. The Queen is inviting me. You wanted to talk to me. This entire time, you have been trying to convince me to follow you to an island that I would not know how to leave and return to the mainland. If I were to be trapped there, I could go the wrong way and end up falling into the ocean after exhausting myself. Yet not once, have you said you would convince Catra to join us. Not once convincing me that Magicats are being invited, but that I am being invited."
Tigra pointed a black claw at Rani.
"So tell me the real reason why you are trying so hard to convince me to follow you to an undisclosed location."
Rani appraised her before smirking lightly.
"Very well. The Spirit Ember. You connected to the Runestone that we had to leave behind, else we could destroy the only place we had readied in case something happened. You are connected to the current royal family, which is shown through your connection and blue flames. There are two Princesses at the moment and we need confirmation of whose child you are. Not to mention, you'd be able to see your parents again."
Tigra studied her before a flame clone appeared next to her with a snap.
Rani stiffened before returning to a loose stance.
"Look us in the eyes and tell us that you don't know who my parent is? Because I've seen their pictures. I know who my parents are. I know that I am part of the Sol family."
"...Very well. We know you are the daughter of Princess Rey. The real problem is who the other parent is. Princess Rey took two mates about 22 years ago, but one of them turned criminal. We believe that your other parent is Silva Brayz."
Rani held out her tablet, which Tigra took and looked at it.
Long, white hair greeted her. Almost as long as her own. Replace Tigra's orange fur with light gray and her golden eyes with ocean blue, and it was practically an older her if you ignored the nose and how Silva's claws weren't black like hers. Granted, Silva is wearing blue armor and black gloves, but the relationship between them would be hard to deny if they were next to each other.
While Tigra would like to know more, she is more curious about something else at the moment.
"And her other…mate?"
"That's who we are worried about."
She took the tablet back before swiping a few times and holding it back out.
A woman with long red hair, yellow scleras, and a smile with orange fur met her. She wore gold, red, white, and black armor with a picture of two daggers on her hips that looked familiar. Her claws were black.
Tigra knew who it was before Rani said anything.
"Vi'ra Shal. She had been childhood friends with the Princess and they eventually decided to become mates alongside Silva. Officially, after the destruction of Halfmoon, Rey was not supposed to be meeting anyone without permission for the next 8 years as punishment. Then, one day, a royal guard caught sight of Rey holding a small kitten with her black hair and orange fur.
Before an investigation could be done to determine who the parent was, Vi'ra took you and ran. Rey and Silva were devastated and the Queen sent our second fastest person to retrieve you, seeing as she could not just leave her kingdom alone. It took nearly 3 and a half years before Vi'ra was found.
However, before they could retrieve you and bring you home, Vi'ra performed a teleportation spell on you and we lost you. When questioned, she stated that she had sent you to where La'nu - our figure of destiny - decided that you should be. You weren't sent back to Rey and we could not find you anywhere in the kingdoms."
"What…what happened to her?"
"Vi'ra was locked in our prison for life or until she would give up your location. She never did, not even when Rey or Silva visited her." Rani looked hesitant. "Until 5 years ago. The Queen had enough of her silence about your whereabouts and had declared that she was to be exiled from the village and never allowed to return so long as she reigned. No vessel leaving the island was to take her with them, else they would be hunted and executed for helping a criminal escape. She would have her magic blocked through a manner that would be impossible to remove without the blessing of the Spirit Ember and the Royal Flames."
"But wait, what prevented Rey from undoing them?"
"Rey may be connected with the Spirit Ember, but she did not gain the Royal Red flames of Rao. Silva does not have either of their connections. Your aunt, Luna Sol, has been blessed by the Royal flames and Spirit Ember, but would not help Vi'ra due to her taking away her niece and abandoning her with no way to reconnect with her previous family. Queen Selina can undo it, but will not due to having a distaste with Vi'ra and it would be a bad precedent with her ruling if she took something back where she declared she wouldn't as long as she reigned."
"So you want me back to tidy up the loose end when it comes to helping Vi'ra?"
"It is…one of the reasons."
Tigra raised an eyebrow.
"Luna and Selina would love to see you, but it is also to give the Royal family another member. Rey has declared to the kingdom that she would not take another mate besides Silva. Silva can not bear any more children if you are hers due to biological issues. Luna had been cursed by a wretched witch of shadows that weakened her body enough that she can no longer have a child without exchanging her own life. Sydia has not awakened the Royal Flames.
As of now, you are the only descendant of the current generation to have both and could continue the lineage. The Queen's main job is to keep the citizen's safe, the Royal Family secured, and to prepare the next generation."
There it was.
She was going to be used to keep this 'royal family' in charge and they were already trying to set up who would likely be her Chosen without her consent if they were worried about these Royal Flames.
Yet…something didn't seem right.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not going alone. If I am to be visiting a random place with no idea of where it is, I will be bringing Adora and Catra with me. No ifs or buts. Especially since you say a ruler is interested in me." Tigra finalized. "Now then, I'm going to spend time I haven't been able to with Adora and likely be hugged to death."
Tigra turned around and walked away, leaving Rani alone.
Rani watched as she left after denying their offer to return to her family.
Her understanding smile slowly turned into a dark frown.
She messed around with her tablet before holding it in front of her.
It rang for a second before Nari's gray furred face appeared.
"How did it go?"
"Py'ra saw through it easily. The cover story focused too much on convincing her to come with us through her connections that she pointed out we weren't trying to get Catra on board as well. The idea of seeing her family again didn't take her off guard enough to ignore different things. She also knows that there was a fight between the Princesses."
Nari frowned before looking to the side.
"That was one of our main worries. We had created that story before we became aware of her attachments. It was too late to try and change the story so quickly. What did you tell her?"
"Vi'ra was exiled, Rey and Silva are devastated, and that she's the last of the Royal Blue Flames. She heavily questioned Vi'ra's condition while not caring about the Royal Flames. Didn't ask one question about them."
Nari huffed before narrowing her eyes.
"That's not all, is it?"
"Py'ra likely believes that we have a spy around her. Stated how it would be strange that I knew she would be here after I let a statement slip about how dealing with her was my mission."
"Her capabilities?"
"If she was on the island, she would be the third or fourth fastest magicat. Take away her magic though, and she would likely fall to 86th. While I wasn't able to get an accurate reading due to dealing with a light injury, she was moving faster than Mach 150 with the amount of afterimages she was leaving behind and the lack of sonic booms. She can use high leveled spells such as Armor for Lightning, Fire, and potentially Ice. Her healing factor is strong, but it looks like it can be overdone or suppressed through some facet of magic, seeing as She-Ra can do it."
"What are our chances of getting Py'ra back to the island without an interloper?"
"Willingly? None at the moment. She has chosen Catra, a relationship similar to choosing someone as their mate. She hasn't declared it, but I can see that she likely cares about Adora nearly as much."
"And not?"
Rani went quiet for a moment.
"I'd either need 3 months to get more information and plan from there, or I'd need Luna, you and I, or Queen Selina to be certain of it if it comes down to a fight."
"You're certain of that difficulty?"
"Py'ra could give me a good challenge should I be given permission to go all out. As of now, she can keep up with me when I limit myself to only Electricity to increase my speed while only attacking with Light. Other than that, she is heavily dependent on Electricity and Fire spells. Disable those and you just need to deal with her natural speed, which all of the top 20 speedsters could do."
"...Very well. We'll wait for a moment when Py'ra is alone and has no need to worry about others. As of now, you will be able to use 50% of your power in a normal conflict and all of it should your life be in danger."
Rani smirked.
"Understood. Rani out."
She hung up before putting the tablet back up while chuckling lightly.
"Oh, Py'ra. You're too confident in being the fastest. That was first challenged by Bolt, but he showed you how to get better through Armor spells. So I wonder…"
She walked back to the group's area with one final comment.
"How will you deal with something you can't hit?"
Tigra tried to breathed but found it hard with two muscular arms around her body.
"I'm so glad you're alive!" Scorpia exclaimed, swinging her side to side.
"Uh, Scorp, you may need to let her breathe?" Catra suggested.
Scorpia looked down at Tigra, who was faking as if she was about to lose consciousness.
"Oh, Lord!"
Scorpia let go and Tigra landed back on her feet and took dramatic breaths.
"You good?"
"Yeah. Scorp just has the strongest hugs you'll find in the Horde. But how are you holding up? I know the sight must have worried you on top of the cold?"
"I'll speak to Seraph when we return home."
"Seraph?" Catra and Tigra asked.
"My therapist."
"You have a therapist?" Adora asked, not understanding.
"Yeah? Doesn't everybody?"
"Nooo." Tigra drawled.
"Well, they should. Therapists - yes, even the few in the Horde - aren't allowed to speak about anything you say unless it sounds like it will be harmful to your wellbeing to anyone. Not even Lord Hordak is allowed to know what I tell Seraph."
"Huh. See Dora, even Scorp has one." Catra nudged her.
"Yeah. It means that all of us have the option." She threw back.
"Uh, yeah? The Rebellion has them too, right?" Scorpia loudly whispered to Glimmer.
"Yeah, but from what I managed to get from the two of them, yesterday was highly traumatic for all of them. They made a deal where each of them may get a therapist as long as the others did as well."
"What's the problem then?"
"Vulnerability." Tigra interrupted them, walking next to them. "I don't know if it's the same for you Scorp, but there's a difference between telling someone who understands your problems because they have been beside you for years, and talking to someone who is looking at you as a project to fix. Telling some random person about parts of you when you're weakest? That's largely frowned upon in most of the Horde."
"We should change that." Scorpia declared.
"We will. It will likely take a decade or two to tear down that mentality, but we'll get there."
"You know, maybe you'll be a better Horde Lorde than Hordak if you're that focused on the people of your kingdom." Glimmer mentioned.
Tigra watched as the two groups practically melded into one with conversations and slight teasing each other.
"Yeah…my kingdom."
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