Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ravnica and its inhabitants are no strangers to disaster and the destruction caused by the rampaging krasis was no exception. The Selesnya sheltered and healed the victims, the Izzet started rebuilding and the Golgari scavenged anything that they can salvage. In a month or two no one would remember the 200ft tall monster that was set loose upon the city. The monster that Adora had set loose.

Things were supposed to be simple, but Adora knew that they hardly ever are. Release the monster, watch the Simic create some weird containment spell, steal the spell, kill the monster and deliver the spell to her superiors. Everyone would be happy, the Dimir could use the spell to save many lives in the future and Adora would go back to working undercover with the Azorius. If only Catra hadn’t caught her.

It was because of Catra that Adora was standing here right now. Waiting in the shadows of an alley next to her favorite restaurant. Catra deserved some closure and Adora was gonna give it to her or as close as the Dimir could offer.

As usual Adora did not see or hear Catra approaching until she was right next to her. Adora may be the spy, but Catra was the one raised in the sewers. There are passages in this city that only Catra knew and Adora just accepted that she would just pop up out of nowhere some times.

“Here to tie up loose ends?” Catra’s voice dripped like acid and brought with it an unspoken concern ‘are you here to erase my memories?’ Adora felt a bang of guilt in her heart at that implication. She would never touch Catra’s mind without her consent.

Adora tried not to melt under Catra’s piercing gaze “In a way” she finally spoke “I know I can never atone for what I did and I’ll not try begging for your forgiveness, but I can offer you a chance for closure”

Catra raised her eyebrow, unconvinced “That is it? You brought me to the restaurant we had our first date in, just to talk to me? Don’t your bosses want me dead or something?”

“Second date actually” Adora never forgot about Catra’s silly comment the day they met “and no, they do not care if you live or die. My mission was completed and they know no one would believe you” Catra clearly wasn’t reassured by that, but Adora pushed through the lingering awkwardness “Well, what I wanted to say is that you can never see me again if you want to?”

“Excuse me?” Catra sounded extremely offended by the idea. Did she think Adora was gonna off her or something?

“I know it sounds weird, but I was gonna talk to my superiors about changing districts and I just wanted to say goodbye and let you say whatever you have to say. That way you can get it all out of your system and then move on with your life like I was never here. If you want I can even erase myself from your memories and-”

Adora’s verbal hemorrhage was cut short by Catra’s palm against her forehead “What was that for?”

“First you betray my trust, then you disappear for weeks and when I finally find your sorry ass you want to fucking leave?” No amount of mental preparation could have saved Adora from the guilt these words inflicted. Years of training were stripped away by the furious words of the woman she loved “Listen here you, dumbass. I trusted you, I cared for you and I fucking loved you, but I can’t do any of those things right now”

If Rakdos could erase Adora from existence right now she would gladly take that opportunity. This was the second time Catra had ever mentioned love and it was destroying Adora. She opened her mouth to say something, but Catra was having none of that.

“I can’t even be sure if the Adora I knew was real, that you weren’t putting on an act from the day I met you, that you didn’t just mess with my memories while I was asleep” That last accusation hurt Adora more than she could describe “And I will be more than happy if I never see your stupid face again” Catra took a deep breath “But if I never see you again then I don’t want my last memories of you to be of hate”

“Wait. You can’t be suggesting that-”

“Of course I’m not suggesting that you mess with my memories, you dumbass” Adora was almost relieved by hearing these words “I mean that I’m giving you one more night. One last chance to give me a good memory and after that we’re parting ways”

Adora perked up at this small ray of hope “Then I’m gonna make this the best night of your life. Trust me on this one” she visibly cringed at her own eagerness, but Catra just laughed at that

“How did you ever keep that a secret?” She shook her head “I guess I should’ve known. There is no way an Azorius would be any good in bed” Adora blushed and laughed at that shameless comment. Even if it was not meant to last, she was happy she got to see Catra’s smile one more time.

Chapter Text

Step back, shoot, step forward, strike, repeat. That had been Catra’s dance for the last few days. The wild dance of the hunt, accompanied by the song of howls and screams. It was Catra’s favorite dance and it had become second nature to her.

Step back, shoot. Perhaps in Barovia she could leave this trance and talk things out, maybe even make friends. Step forward, strike. But this wasn’t Barovia and the only way to face the evils here is to put them down. Step back, shoot. At least her new sword was being put to good use here. Sept forward, stri-

“Easy there” That voice froze Catra in place. It took her a second to realize what she was about to do and the ease with which she would do it filled her with dread “Caught you in a bad moment?”

Adora was standing in front of her with her gorgeous, dumb smile. Completely oblivious to the fact that Catra nearly killed her or perhaps she just didn’t care all that much about it.

Catra was quick to regain her composure “Took you long enough” was all she said before putting down her gun and the Sunsword.

“You didn’t exactly make it easy. A demi-plane inside a demi-plane? You’re lucky I could ever find this place” she took off her hat and only now Catra realized Adora was wearing her hat all this time “Though your gift did help. I guess you’ll want it back”

“Oh don’t you dare take that hat off” Catra pushed her hat back to Adora “You look better with it anyway” Catra could feel the amusement sipping from the conscience inside the Sunsword. The weapon couldn’t actually talk, but its constant stream of emotions was enough for Catra to know she was being mocked.

“So” Adora said, trying to act nonchalantly “It has been quite the long trip between realities and I could use some time to relax. You wouldn’t happen to know a good place to rest for a bit, would you?”

Catra rolled her eyes at Adora’s attempt at playing smooth “I cleared most of the streets that way” She pointed towards the direction she came from and started making her way back

“Sure” Adora sounded almost disappointed, but followed anyway “Nothing more romantic than monster guts and the smell of charred meat”

Catra smirked “I thought you just wanted to catch some rest” She pulled Adora’s coat, placing their faces so close to one another they could feel each other’s breaths on their skin “but if you want something romantic I’m sure I can help tire you out some more”

The feeling that struck Catra as her lips finally met Adora’s could compare only to the thrill of the hunt, but while hunting felt like watching her own dreams, this moment felt real and grounded in a way she hadn’t felt like since she had left Barovia.

Catra couldn’t comprehend why she had ever decided to return home anymore. How could she ever leave this behind to rejoin the haze of sameness of her homeland? How could she ever give in to her hunting instincts again when the instincts that pulled her right now felt so much stronger?

The sound of Adora’s eldritch shot brought her back to her senses. Catra hadn’t even realized when she got on top of her, but Adora didn’t look like she was complaining. Her index finger was pointing away at a now smoking carcass “You missed one”

Catra jumped back on her feet and pulled out her weapons “How about we continue this another time?” She could smell more beasts coming. Finding a safe place to ‘rest’ with Adora was gonna be a shore.

Adora slowly stood back up, put her hat back on and took out her Book of Shadows. “I didn’t have any plans for the night anyway and we both could use some target practice” she pointed her fingergun forward and gave a confident smile “It was still good to see you missed me that much”

Catra rolled her eyes, but didn’t bother to argue with her. Adora was right anyway, but she wasn’t gonna miss her any longer.

Chapter Text

Catra was really getting used to the idea of being punched into and out of buildings. She knew she shouldn’t, but it was the inevitable reality of having a super strong super hero as your archenemy. What she hasn’t gotten used to is the fact that her archenemy had to be the most attractive girl on the damn planet. That was just cruel and unusual.

She dragged herself out of the hole she had just been punched into and there she was - standing all majestically - Adora “Ready to surrender now or do you wanna keep this dance going a little longer?”

Catra just smiled and fell into a combat stance. “Like there was ever another option there, princess” and so they returned to their favorite dance. Catra’s highly advanced sword versus Adora’s perfect and indestructible hands.

“Care to explain why are you doing this again?” Adora asked without even slowing down her attacks

“Oh the usual” Catra answered as she nimble dodged all of her attacks “Rebelling against the system and trying to rebuild society. You know how it is” They had that conversation so many times and Catra was ready for Adora to start talking about justice and the american way at any moment now, but she never did

Catra couldn’t quite tell, because she had just been punched into a support beam, but she could’ve sworn she heard Adora mutter “There has to be another way” She remover herself from the structure and gave Adora a quick slash to snap her back to reality.

“Don’t tell me you’re having doubts now” She capitalized on Adora’s momentary distraction and pushed her back with a few quick strikes “Is the white, straight and incredibly marketable hero finally seeing how messed up her world is?”

Her answer to that was a quick punch to the stomach and Catra was very grateful that her cyborg body allowed her to turn off pain receptors “It is not that simple. Going around putting people in danger is not gonna do the world any good”

Catra slowly stood up again “And neither is just shutting up and doing what people expect you to do” Adora remained silent as their fight continued, but without the constant commentary it just wasn’t the same thing and soon both of them just stopped.

“Did you ever even hurt anyone? I can’t remember you doing anything other than just being a menacing asshole” Catra wasn’t a fan of that description or the implication.

“Of course I have” Adora just stared at her for a moment “Fine! It was mostly in self defense or by accident. Are you happy now? Your archenemy is bad at her job”

“Archenemy? You are my rival at best” Adora commented mockingly “And that is a good thing really. It means you can still do some good. If you’re willing to try that is” Adora sat down in some random pile of debris to rest for a bit.

“Are you seriously expecting me to play by your rules?” Catra could not believe a word she was hearing “Especially after you insult me like that”

“No, not my rules” Adora seemed to think for a moment “You can do things that I can’t and as long as you don’t hurt anyone I’m more than happy to let you keep doing those things. Maybe we can help each other make the world a better place”

Catra had to sit down and think for a second. Was she really suggesting that? A little hero-villain colab? “I’m gonna need some time, ok? I’ll find a way to contact you if I decide you’re not messing with me”

Adora smiled at that “I guess I misjudged you” she laughed softly before adding “And you clearly misjudged me” Catra shot her a confused look “I am definitely not-” she stopped herself when she realized what she was going to say.

A small part of Catra’s brain dared to be hopeful as she heard what she believed to be Adora admitting that she wasn’t straight, but the rest of her knew she was still a potential enemy, so she decided to stick to her classic brand of sarcasm and mockery.

“I guess I was wrong. There really was at least one victim to my actions” Adora looked at her confused, but ready to withdraw everything she had said “Your sexuality clearly hasn’t survived me” Adora hid her face in her hands and made a small undignified sound, meanwhile Catra just laughed. This was gonna be a good partnership.