Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

4: The Roof

Five days. Catra hadn't seen Adora in five days. That wasn't like her. She always came by the shop, no matter what was going on. 

The dumb hospital said they couldn't give out patient info to strangers, including whether or not people were even patients in the first place. When Catra had called back ten minutes later, using a fake voice and identifying herself as Adora's wife, the same receptionist yelled, “Stop playing on my phone!”

The giant purple lunkhead at the fire station – the only one who was nice enough to not whistle and make kissy sounds at Catra like a 10 year old when she walked in – quietly told her that Adora was sick and taking a couple days off. 

“You Catra?” she asked, hands shoved into the pockets of her blue starchy chinos. 

She was built like a boulder. With Adora awakening some kind of interest in beefcakes in her, Catra saw how this woman could maybe be pretty hot. The way Catra was wired though, she’d need to spend at least 6 months in this woman’s presence learning all about her before she could even begin to feel the tingles of any kind of actual attraction. 

“Yeah,” she answered with a short nod. “Wait. How do you-”

“She talks about you,” the woman grunted out.

Catra fought to keep her voice neutral. “She does, huh? Like how?”

“Grizz,” she called to one of the guys playing cards around a small round table, this one a particularly hairy beasty, “What’s that Adora’s always saying about the donut shop girl? She wants to pass her a note asking if they’ll go steady?”

“Okay, well, thanks for fucking nothing,” Catra muttered, already turning to leave and never ever return here again.

“She wants to take her to a sock hop,” Grizz answered.

“She’s gonna make a promposal!” someone else called out behind Catra as she maneuvered onto the sidewalk.

Being vulnerable for 10 seconds was once again her downfall.

“Hey, kid,” the purple woman shouted after her. She sounded surprisingly kind considering she’d just let Catra get heckled out of the fire station. “If I see her, I’ll tell her you’re looking for her. Don’t worry, though. Adora’s tough.”

Catra was not worried. She barely knew the girl. However, as a member of the general public, it was practically her right to know that Adora, a public servant, was okay and not being held against her will by Etheria’s two most bizarre police officers. Her taxes paid Adora’s salary – Catra was allowed to make sure she was showing up to work. Probably.

She'd been out searching for Adora all day. Well, okay, fine. Half searching for Adora at those two places and half just kinda wandering the neighborhood hoping to run into her.

But it was getting dangerously close to reset time, when the game would begin a new day with new challenges and Catra needed to make sure her sanctuary was up and running to its fullest potential. Plus, everyone was on at reset time. This would be her best chance at getting Lonnie and Rogelio’s opinions on what to do. Too afraid to just text them out of the blue and explain everything, Catra figured she could at least jump on Twitch and then pretend to casually shift the conversation to the mystery that’d been keeping her up at night. Well, technically, one of the mysteries but this Adora stuff was helpfully distracting her from all the other trainwrecks in her life.

Catra’s neighborhood was kind’ve a dump, you know, in that lovable loser way. The buildings were too small, too narrow to fit all the folks they housed. She was sure that if people weren’t literally seemingly awake and out at all hours (her own nocturnal self included) that the local rodent population would have the time to unionize and take over, as they outnumbered the people 3 to 1. There was always some fucking racket, like the time Catra accidentally wandered up on two guys have a fistfight while a third guy sat literally 3 feet away, reading the fashion section of the newspaper. Where the fuck did one even get a newspaper these days?

Whatever. The point is when Catra first heard a bunch of weird sounds as she was rounding the block to head towards her place, she didn’t pay it any mind. Her ears picked up hands hitting flesh. Another fight, no surprise there. It came from up above, which, sure – that was strange. Most people didn’t go up on their roofs to throw hands. That added the thrill of possibly falling to your demise over a fucking game of cards or some shit.

There was what sounded like another punch landing. Then another. And another. Catra winced as someone let out a huge “Oof”, followed by a loud groan as another blow hit home. The more she walked towards her building, the closer the sound got. That repeated dull thud of a fist hitting a body – that didn’t sound like a battle. It sounded like a beat-down.

The poor bastard took what Catra imagined was a big punch right in the gut before they coughed and dry-heaved. Once she was safely in her apartment, maybe Catra would yell ‘I’m calling the cops’ out of the window. Hopefully that would get the assholes to disburse.

A couple doors down from her place, Catra realized she was literally right underneath this scuffle. With her luck, one of them would trip and fall, crushing her in the process. That particular building was only three stories tall. The guy could probably walk away with only a sprained ankle if Catra was an unintentional landing pad. 

“This is pointless,” she could just barely hear someone say. “You’ll never be able to beat me. Come home.”

Catra froze in her tracks. Because no. She’d been looking for Adora all day. It was impossible that the creepy cop who’d attacked her was literally a few feet from Catra’s home.

Purple lasers, flying hulk soulmates, and now this?

She weighed the pros and cons of getting involved. Unintentionally  becoming a witness to whatever was happening was a big con. Getting any further involved in the already-suspicious bullshit that seemed to follow her lately – another con.

The pros were incredibly limited. Maybe Catra would gleam some small clue about Adora? Or, at the very least, about what Adora was wrapped up in?

The universe had a funny sense of humor though because the next thing Catra heard was clearly Adora’s voice.

“Neve-”

She was cut off by what must have been another punch.

Without even thinking about it, Catra found herself speeding to get closer.

Not seeing any way up immediately, Catra glanced around for a back staircase or-or-or something to scale. Anything! Luckily, her pure panic didn’t win out over logic and it wasn’t too hard to find a fire escape one building over. Catra grabbed the recessed metal ladder hanging 6 feet off the ground and used it to pull herself up onto the landing outside of someone’s window. Thankfully, no one was home to scream at her or actually call the cops. From there, she raced up the stairs, not stopping until she reached the top of the building.

From the black tar-covered roof, Catra peered down at Adora and Hope. The detective was in another dark suit, this one slightly wrinkled from apparently kicking Adora’s ass. Aside from needing a press though, there didn’t appear anything else out of place for her as Hope casually paced next to Adora. The blonde, on the other hand, was knelt on the ground, trying to catch her breath. Her ponytail was mussed as all hell, face flushed and angry. Adora was clearly in so much pain that she had to grit her teeth to bear it.

“I am never,” she said slowly, pausing to take a shallow breath between words, “going back.”

Catra watched in horror as Detective Hope lazily lifted her boot-covered foot. With barely any effort, she placed it in Adora’s side and pushed until the girl’s arms gave out and she was forced to lay on the ground. Adora rolled onto her back, defiance and rage still all over her face as Detective Light Hope loomed over her.

Catra wasn’t about to wait around for whatever big finishing move Hope had in mind. This building was a bit higher than what she was prepared for though. She’d have to make a jump for it to reach Adora. Two stories down. Just, uh…tuck and roll when she hit the ground.

“Oh, shuttlecock!” Catra could hear being whispered from behind her.

She spun quickly. Obviously it was stupid move to race up here without checking to see if she was alone. But it was an emergency and it’s not like Catra had had any experience with any real life cloak and dagger shenanigans before. Cut her a break.

Trying (and failing horribly) to hide behind the door leading to the stairwell inside the building was that Scorpiani cop. Except she was dressed down today, a black tanktop and jeans and cherry red leather jacket the only thing covering her carapace and large muscles. She dwarfed the small structure though and Catra could clearly see her distinct white hair, pincers, and nervously swinging tail.

The other cop, the purple menace, didn’t even try to hide. She stood right in the open staring blatantly at the show in front of them.

“Wildcat, you really can’t be here,” the Scorpiani told her. “It’s too dangerous. How did you even find us?”

“Find you?” Catra asked incredulously. “I can’t seem to outrun you goons.”

“Catra lives two buildings away,” the brains of the operation explained. “That was why I suggested this might be the most opportune place to search. She-Ra seems to follow Catra. Likely because they're sou-”

She was cut off by a pincer not very subtly poking her in the stomach.

Catra felt her tail twitch in annoyance. She-Ra. That’s what Adora had called herself when she was all drunk or drugged or whatever bizarre shit happened to her. 

“Are you all using codenames? She-Ra – that’s Adora’s, right?”

The two exchanged a quick look.

“In a way, yes,” the Scorpiani said slowly. “Come on. I’ll get you out of here while Entrapta observes.”

“Entrapta,” Catra repeated, looking the other woman over. The name felt fitting, with all her gadgets and bullshit. For whatever clandestine shit they were up to, she’d worn black overalls with what appeared to be multiple recording devices shoved into her many pockets.

Catra set her jaw and made sure not to flinch as she walked over and got in the Scorpiani’s face. “I’m not going anywhere. Adora’s in trouble. I’m gonna help.”

She turned to figure out what the fuck she actually could even do, when the Scorpiani grabbed her hand.

“That’s what we’re here to do too.”

“Well, you’re doing a shit job of it,” Catra spat back, just as Hope landed a kick right in Adora’s ribs.

Entrapta and her partner shared another look.

“She’s going to transform,” Entrapta said finally. “Right now it’s…unstable. She doesn’t have full control. We shouldn’t get too close.”

“What does that mean? Who the hell are you two?” Catra demanded.

The Scorpiani shrunk back. Her pincers came up to cover her mouth anxiously. “Uh. Hello. I’m Scorpia. Cancer sun, Pisces moon, Cancer rising. ESFJ. House-”

“This isn’t speed dating!” Catra hissed. “Tell me who you really are.”

“We’re princesses,” Entrapta explained. And then she said nothing else as if that was sufficient and not a made-up thing that told Catra literally nothing.

“Oh, so you’re both delusional. Cool. Got it. I’ll just be on my way then.” Catra turned back, now absolutely sure that she needed to get Adora out of the grasps of all these fucking loons that she associated with.

Princesses? No wonder they’d asked her so much about Witch Hunter. They were kooks themselves.

“We’re part of a small group called the Alliance,” Scorpia added, clearly sensing that Catra wasn’t buying what they were selling. “We were asked to pick you up the other day and see if you knew anything, which you didn’t so that was great! Sorry we were so rude. I think we just got too into character.”

“Apology not accepted!” Catra hissed.

Scorpia winced. “Sure, fair is fair. Our main assignment is just making sure Adora’s safe. She doesn’t really make it easy though, running off at all hours, getting herself into scrapes.” 

They all watched as Adora attempted to rise to her feet, only to receive another swift kick from Light Hope.

“You still don’t understand your power, Adora,” the older woman began to lecture. “That’s why you cannot transform. You cannot even begin to fathom what She-Ra is capable of. I can show you the way.”

“No,” Adora muttered but she sounded so defeated. So close to her breaking point.

“We have to do something,” Catra begged the others.

“Well, see…the thing is….we’re not really supposed to fight,” Scorpia replied. She winced, either embarrassed by this or afraid of Catra’s reaction. Either would be appropriate. 

“Why the hell not?” Catra nearly yelled. “If you’re princesses like you say – which by the way, I don’t fucking believe a second of that – use your magic powers or whatever. Poof Adora out of here.”

“It doesn’t work like that,” Entrapta said. “Powers are very specific. They’re not the unlimited, all-powerful magic of the myths you grew up with.”

“We’re only supposed to observe,” Scorpia added. “I’m very new to my powers. I barely understand them.”

“And my battle bots aren’t finished yet.” Then a wild look filled Entrapta’s eyes. “But you, Catra! You’ve logged thousands of hours in Witch Hunter. You should be a master tactician by now.”

“Well, it’s not like there’s turrets and shit here!” Catra huffed. She didn’t have 700,000 troops at her disposal or an alliance full of people to reinforce her. Also, she was pretty sure that in this particular scenario, she wasn’t supposed to be waging war against the magical beings. 

Catra took a deep breath. There was no time to take this all in. They needed a plan. They needed to know what could run Hope out of here long enough to get Adora to safety.

“We just need to distract her for a minute,” Catra told them. “Then strength in numbers.”

Once again, Entrapta and Scorpia exchanged a look, silently communicating with each other.

Catra had to hold herself back from full-on pleading. “Come on. You're not really cops, right? You'll help?”

“I applied to be a crossing guard but they told me I was too nice,” Scorpia replied.

Entrapta began pulling another random piece of tech from her pocket, this one resembling a mini-flashlight. “I actually invented the pre-cog technology from Minority Report. Before I destroyed it, it predicted the exact day I'd be arrested so I'm just living on borrowed time here. I'd love to help!”

Catra nodded, still unclear on where to file any of this shit for processing later. “Great. Let’s get weird.”

“So, magic-” Entrapta began.

“I don’t really have time for exposition right now,” Catra tried but Entrapta was unconcerned with the urgency of the moment.

“This is important! You have to know what you’re about to face, Catra.” 

“The cliffnotes please, Entrapta,” Scorpia suggested.

She looked very annoyed but complied, listing off quickly, “Fine. Magic is real. We’re princesses instead of priestesses. Descendents of ancient bloodlines, all connected to runestones, like the Moonstone here in the middle of Bright Park.”

“The old ruin?” Catra asked. It was just a strange old rock. Well, an old gem really, but it sat right in the center of a huge park uptown. It was more of a tourist attraction and a place to take instagram photos than anything.

Entrapta nodded. “Yes, lots of people forgot their history. You’ve come to think of them only as aging ruins now. But the runestones are still sights of great power. She-Ra can unlock more of that. I just haven't figured out how yet.”

“That’s what Hope is after,” Scorpia finished for her. “She, by the way, is an actual cop. And a ‘kook,’ like you say. She hates magic. According to Adora, Light Hope used to be her mentor. Now she wants to use She-Ra to bring more order to the planet.”

Catra whispered to herself, “Like G.L.O.W.,” thinking of one of the annoying big bosses you have to rally against in Witch Hunter. It was a creepy AI set on bringing order to the world at any cost, an enemy of both the priestesses and the rebellion, playing both sides until you took him out. Something told Catra that Light Hope was unlikely to fall victim to her placing a bunch of different-colored tiles in order and shooting gamma-powered shotguns at the woman.

“Okay, fine. Got all that,” Catra said. “So how does that help us?”

“Uhhh,” Scorpia helpfully replied.

Her non-idea was cut off by Adora’s screams. Hope was kneeling over her now, resorting to jabbing her fingers into all of the damage she’d done on Adora’s ribs.

Before Catra could open her mouth to suggest that they finally fucking do something, Scorpia grabbed her under one arm, grabbed Entrapta under the other, and took off sprinting towards the other roof. Mid-air, Catra wished she’d maybe thought through even a second of this before running straight into what could quickly escalate to a life-threatening situation.

They hit the ground hard. Scorpia’s landing shook the roof so much that Hope looked away from Adora for the first time. The big bug held up though, shielding Entrapta and Catra from the impact until she could place them gently on the ground.

“You-” was about all Hope could get out of her mouth before Scorpia raised a pincer at her.

Scorpia grimaced as if she was regretting what she was about to do. Catra watched in confusion as red tendrils of electricity began forming at Scorpia’s feet. Slowly, they eased their way up her legs, her torso, until they reached her shoulders and crawled up her pincers. With another grimace, Scorpia braced herself, widening her stance.

Hope’s face shifted from rage to ‘a plague on all your houses’ seconds before the electricity shot out of Scorpia’s pincer and hit Hope square in the chest. For a full minute, she shook like she was being tased. Fighting against it, teeth gritted and all, she tried to stay on her feet but finally was brought to her knees as the energy continued to course through her.

“Fascinating,” Entrapa whispered.

Catra was absolutely stunned. They weren't lying after all. Okay, no, they were probably lying about a shit ton of other things, but these two weirdos were definitely magic beings. You couldn't just fake a light show like that or at least not Hope convulsing on the ground, red sparks still flying off of her.

“I am so sorry,” Scorpia told Hope, while the woman continued to tremble. She dropped her pincer and the energy surrounding her dimmed until it was gone. “It’ll wear off in a bit. Probably. Maybe. I’ve never really done it on purpose before.” She stopped her rambling to lift Adora into her arms. “Just…stay here, okay? Don’t do anything evil please.”

It took some convincing to get Entrapta to leave Hope behind as the rest of them made their way into Catra’s apartment, the closest safe space. Entrapta had been interested in taking the detective with them to study Scorpia’s powers. Catra thought it probably wasn’t a good idea for any of them to pick up a person literally filled with electricity.

Catra gave the two of them her permission to leave and complete their shady business though, as long as she could keep Adora, who passed out as soon as Scorpia had picked her up.

Well, passed out after she’d given Catra a goofy smile and said “Hey, you,” in a weird, dreamy voice that had Catra fighting to ignore the butterflies in her stomach.

Scorpia gently placed Adora in Catra’s bed. After some useless offers to make tea or run and grab medical supplies, Catra had finally pushed them both out.

Adora was breathing okay. Her heartbeat seemed normal. There were no cuts or lacerations, just some bruising on her torso that didn’t look good. No injuries to her head. She wasn't spitting up blood or anything so based on her knowledge from tv, Catra assumed that meant no internal bleeding. Adora probably just needed to rest.

Catra covered her in a blanket and joined Adora in bed, just to keep a close eye on her. And that’s how she stayed for hours, watching Adora’s chest steadily rise and fall. 

For the first time that she could remember, Catra missed reset time.

Catra awoke to a searing pain in her head. Her alarm. Fuck. She'd picked the loudest, most grating sound that her phone offered and every morning it was absolute hell but it worked. 

Without opening her eyes, she reached over to turn it off.

“Did you trap a soul in there or something? How'd you find such an awful alarm?”

Catra shot awake, sitting up in bed and pressing her back against the wall. There was Adora, still lying next to her and smiling shyly. She didn't look like someone who just woke up. Or someone who'd just been in a fight for her life.

No, Adora looked normal. Great, even. One might go so far as to say ‘gorgeous.’

“You okay?” she asked for some reason.

“Are you okay?” Catra turned back around on her, since she was the one who'd gone 12 rounds with the steel toe of a boot.

Adora sat up easily, no slow cautious movements or signs of pain. “Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for letting me crash.” She reached over and grabbed Catra's hand gently. “And thanks for the other day. Sorry I had to run off.”

‘I was worried sick,’ Catra started to say before remembering that they were indeed not friends and that was an overreaction.

“Do you need a hospital?” she tried instead.

“Oh, no,” Adora laughed nervously. “It wasn't that bad. I'm grood. Great and good. No need for that.”

With that same anxious energy, she suddenly jumped out of bed and began looking around, gathering her stuff.

“Let me just find my shoes and my jacket and I'll be out of your hair. Gotta get to the station.”

“They said you're taking some time off,” Catra pointed out.

Adora paused for a moment, one shoe halfway on. “You checked in on me?” She sounded a lot more pleased than Catra would be if a casual acquaintance was showing up at her work and asking around.

“Well, when someone gets kidnapped in front of you, you're duty-bound to look for them.”

“You didn't tell the cops, right?”

“No. Duh. From all I've seen, they're a part of whatever conspiracy you're wrapped up in.”

Adora snorted. “There's no conspiracy. I warned you about spending too much time online.”

Annoyed, Catra began to list off. “We've got fake cops with electricity powers. Real cops with rage issues. Kidnapping. Moonstones. Secret alliances. And that Glitterbomb fucker, who I'm sure is involved somehow cause she seems hella sus.” 

By the end, she realized she'd steadily raised her voice until she was screaming in Adora's face. When the hell had she even gotten out of bed and stormed over? Gods, this whole thing was starting to make Catra lose it.

Adora put her hands up in an attempt to calm her. “Everything's fine-”

“Nothing is fine, Adora! Everything's been covered in shit and lit aflame!” 

Yes, when given the chance to wrap her head around this, maybe Catra would be able to admit that the earthquakes and lasers and soulmate thing might have been slightly contributing to her panic. But Adora was here and tangible so she was getting the full brunt of it.

“Tell me what's going on,” Catra found herself demanding from yet another person.

Adora looked away to some spot on the wall just right of her. “Nothing,” she said quickly. “Just some, um, misunderstandings between me and an old friend.”

“She's hurting you.”

“She's not.”

Catra reached over to demonstrate this, tugging at the bottom of Adora's shirt until it was raised up to the band of her sports bra. She didn't even have time to register what a huge fucking overstep this was. On Adora's stomach, there wasn't a single mark from earlier in the evening. All of the bruising, the deep angry red and purple marks she'd seen while Adora slept, was gone. Like magic.

“You're a princess too,” Catra heard herself whisper. Because logically, yes, whatever the hell She-Ra was was probably something special if she could tap into runestones. Catra just hadn't had enough brain cells left over to put that together.

Adora made some kind of high-pitched lying liar sound of denial. Her hands rushed to smooth her shirt back down.

“No, I just…heal quickly? Firefighter and all. Fast, uh, healing metabolism?”

“Are you an idiot or do you just think I am?”

Adora scowled. “You can't get involved in this, Catra. Trust me. The less you know, the better.”

“Involved? You're the one who won't stop passing out in my arms!”

The accusation made Adora turn bright red but she finally met Catra's eyes once more.

“Why are you creeping around my apartment?”

“I wasn’t!” Adora denied quickly. “I was just...passing by, checking around to make sure you were okay.” Much much quieter, she admitted, “I’ve been trying to stay away from you for a little while actually.”

Catra felt her mouth sour. “Didn't realize I was so horrible to be around.”

Adora immediately looked horrified. “You're not! You're in danger! There's so much going on that you don't know about. I'm staying away to protect you.”

“You would have died twice without me.” Catra knew she had to stand her ground. This was ridiculous. Adora was trapped in some shady shit and wasn’t being reasonable at all.

“Okay, one: I saved you from the actual person creeping around here. And I wouldn't have died,” Adora said, rolling her eyes. “Hope isn't trying to kill me. She's not evil. Just... misguided.”

Catra couldn’t believe her fucking ears.

“Misguided is wearing socks with sandals. Not drugging someone or trying to throw them off a building!” She stopped to give Adora a hard stare, daring the girl to question how serious she was. “Why are you being so dumb? Let me help!”

Adora shook her head vehemently. “No! She’s starting to target you. She knows she can get to me through you. I can't let you get hurt, Catra! I have to protect you!”

It was idiotic. Adora could barely keep herself in one piece. How the hell was she supposed to keep Catra safe?

What an absolutely brave, annoying, thoughtful fucking dumbass.

Catra shrieked in a rage, which seemed to surprise Adora as much as it did herself. But truly, the most surprising part was that next Catra was closing the very short distance between the two of them. 

She practically slammed her lips into Adora’s, frustration and fear and want and months of longing just making Catra feel like she had to make the most of this moment where they were both relatively safe and together. Adora kissed her back frantically like she understood and felt it too.

Her hands gripped Catra’s hips hard. Catra’s fingers were pulling at Adora’s ponytail, which was already half-hanging on from the fight earlier. She completely ripped the elastic out so she could bury her claws into Adora’s long locs and pull her even closer.

There wasn’t a whole lot of grace or finesse to these kisses. Skill-wise, it was really only a couple steps up from a drunken makeout at last call down at the bar. But Catra didn’t mind. Fuck, the butterflies in her stomach and the heat she was starting to feel all over would argue that she downright loved it in fact.

Adora barely gave her space to breathe. Everytime Catra pulled away, Adora chased her lips, held her firmly like a lifeline. When Catra lifted her head and offered her neck just to give them both a break, Adora trailed kisses lower. She bit and sucked on Catra’s pulse point until she was sure there would be a bruise.

Aw, fuck. A bruise. Somewhere, Catra’s glowing soulmate was gonna have a phantom hickey.

A part of Catra felt…well, not bad. A little guilty maybe? Here she was, having the time of her life and kinda rejecting the poor bastard who’d been cosmically saddled with her.

She tried to pull away genuinely now, break off from Adora’s lips, which were soft and greedy and fucking perfect.

“Adora,” Catra called out weakly. Even to her ears, it sounded like a moaned plea for more.

So Adora obliged. Her hands slid around to cup Catra’s ass. Honestly, a few more minutes of this probably wouldn’t make a difference in the global scale of things. 30 seconds or 2 hours didn't matter — Catra had probably already broken some sacred soulmate rule that she knew nothing about. Might as well just keep going.

When those strong hands began to knead at her ass, Catra couldn’t hold back the purr that had been building in her chest. Good Gods, this was even better than she had imagined. 

Adora gave a pleased hum, teeth now working their way down to Catra’s collarbone. “Bed?”

Catra nodded quickly. She was about to sprint there herself when Adora used the grip on her ass to loft Catra right into the air. 

Or…at least she tried. Adora lifted her a couple inches before she stumbled, the two of them nearly falling until Adora caught her balance and kept them upright.

“I don’t need to be carried, dummy,” Catra said, laughing.

“It’s romantic!” Adora grumbled. She sounded annoyed at herself. After all, she’d just been in a knock-down drag-out battle. Even being a firefighting princess, she probably shouldn’t rush into anything too strenuous.

Catra would’ve pointed that out but Adora dove back in for another kiss. Needy hands pulled at her ass again until Catra felt her feet hovering a few inches from the floor. At first, Adora didn’t move. When she made no steps towards the bed, Catra braced herself for a very ungraceful descent to the floor. That was fine. At this point, any hard surface would do really.

Adora grunted, signaling that yes, maybe the floor was where they’d be spending the next hour or so. And then she groaned, so deeply that it reverberated through Catra’s chest, in tandem with her own purr.

The hands on her bottom grew stronger and more sure. Uh…and also, they literally grew. Adora was no longer just palming Catra’s ass, she’d engulfed it. The blonde hair around Catra’s claws felt longer and…deep-conditioned? Her feet were definitely no longer just a few inches from the ground; it felt like she was floating completely in the air.

Adora began to walk them towards the bed when Catra’s brain, clouded in horniness, finally snapped out of it. Her eyes shot open.

Adora was no longer Adora. No no no. She was bathed in that weird golden glow that Catra had now seen far too many times for her liking. In Adora’s place was an 8-foot living breathing warrior statue with ridiculously long hair billowing in the wind thanks to some invisible, conveniently-placed fan. Her simple jeans and a tshirt were gone, replaced by white spandex, gold shield thingies on her wrists and shoulders, and a fucking cape!

In a panic, Catra began to push against the now-way too muscular arms that held her. She dug the claws on her feet into the fucking concrete abs in front of her. Not-Adora barely seemed to feel it.

She opened her eyes at the sudden loss of Catra’s lips though. When she saw what probably looked like the face of a feral cat about to be dumped into a tub of ice cold water, Not-Adora (Maybe-Adora? Super Adora?) froze. It bought just enough time for Catra to jump out of her arms and into a corner to hide like a coward.

“Oh fuck,” Adora whispered, looking down at herself and back at Catra. Suddenly, she was frantic, the words spilling out quickly. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know how to control it yet. Don’t freak out. Please. You don’t have to be afraid of She-Ra…of me.”

Okay, so scratch everything earlier. Cause yeah no. This was actually the most surprising part for Catra – Adora was She-Ra, sure. But She-Ra was the…

“Glowing monster!” Catra shouted in a complete daze. 

Those weren’t the words she’d meant to say. It was a sort of internal shorthand that Catra had been using. ‘Glowing monster’ was somehow much easier to believe and deal with than ‘my soulmate.’

But the words were out there, just hanging in the air between them. Adora stumbled back like she’d been slapped. Her mouth hung half open and her chest was heaving in panic. Even bathed in gold light and looking so different in her She-Ra skin, the look of pure hurt on her face was very much Adora.

Catra moved forward a step to take her hand, try to explain the million thoughts racing through her head at this moment. But Adora turned and rushed to the window, the AC she’d knocked out days ago still just sitting there nearby on the floor and leaving plenty of space for her to hop up on the windowsill in its place. Adora took one peek out into the streets then one last heartbroken look at Catra.

And then she leapt.

5: The Break In

There wasn’t a giant hole in the sidewalk so Catra figured that She-Ra used her magic powers and flew away. Fine. They each needed time to process or something.

Of course, Adora was processing that she’d just turned into a princess and basically been called disgusting by a complete idiot. Said idiot was processing that she’d found her fucking soulmate. And somehow, hilariously, her soulmate was not only a supernatural being but also the hot dorky weirdo that she’d been crushing on for months. It was kinda a lot.

As a rule, the universe never gave Catra what she wanted. She’d ask for a bike and get the world’s worst case of chickenpox instead. She’d be dying to go to the mall and end up at the dentist for an emergency extraction. And really, don’t even get her started on the debacle that was junior prom. Witnesses were probably still talking about that in horror.

The universe threw She-Ra/Adora at her on a platter. While Catra was sure that this was somehow a trick to poison her or something, she couldn’t help still wanting Adora. Nothing seemed to curb it. Catra tried working, tried throwing all of her time back into Witch Hunter, but all she could think about was Adora.

Adora sprinting in shorts, red all over from the cold. Adora trying to suggest the most disgusting donut flavors. Adora giving Catra useless advice on staying safe on ‘the web,’ like someone’s grandfather. Adora saving her from the robber and not even staying around to take credit. Adora on the verge of tears as Catra called her a monster.

silentbutdeadly
There’s been nothing about her in the news
She’s probably okay
Just laying low

kyle2558355934
Did you try calling her?

wildcat
Oh, I totally forgot phones exist
Let me just try that right now
…

thelonandonly
You saved her life and you still didn’t her ******* number?

Chadtastic
Guys, for real
Can you please not use the chat for this?
But yeah wildcat that’s ******* embarrassing you didn’t get her number

kyle2558355934
Shut up, Chad!
Cat, I mean *calling* her
Soulmate style

“Yeah, that’s how I tell Sea Hawk I’m ready to be picked up,” Mermista said, eyes still half-closed as she used a 50-pound bag of flour as a mattress with a smaller thing of sugar as a little pillow. 

Kyle didn’t actually have any guidance for how a soul call worked and tried to immediately shift the subject away from any knowledge he personally had about soulmates in general, the damn coward. The internet said a bunch of bullshit about feeling your bond and “breathing” the words to life. Honestly, the more research she did, the more Catra realized that many people didn’t actually ever manage to make meaningful contact with their soulmates; or they did, but navigating the whole cosmic-connection-to-actual-relationship pipeline was tricky. According to most accounts, this mess was a lot more complicated and a lot less black and white than the first page of internet search results would have you believe. 

So reliable info was hard to come by. Unfortunately, Catra knew of someone who very likely had intimate knowledge of this ludicrous ‘soul call’ process.

More unfortunately, she was able to find Mermista curled into a ball in the back of the kitchen, completely passed out. She was surprisingly helpful once Catra pretended to knock over a bunch of metal mixing bowls and Mermista startled awake.

Her use of the power was sus though. “You have a soul-level connection and you use it like a fucking Uber app?”

Mermista shrugged. “What the fuck else am I supposed to use it for? It’s not good for instructions. I can’t tell him to bring me a pizza or anything helpful.”

Perfuma strolled into the room, clearly en route towards the register. She stopped when she saw her only two employees committing the laziest act of time theft.

“Catra, did you leave the front unattended?” she asked rhetorically. Next, she turned to Mermista, “Are you still here? Please go to your home. I’m begging you. What if the health inspector comes and finds you using all of our equipment and ingredients to nap on?”

“It would be the least outrageous thing they’ve ever seen in a kitchen, trust me,” Mermista replied. “I’m teaching Catra how to call her soulmate.”

“Oh.” Perfuma fully turned towards them. Her attention was clearly piqued. “Still no luck getting in contact with Adora?”

Catra bared her teeth at both of them. “I never said my soulmate was Adora.”

“No, you just only started asking about soulmates and marks and destiny and shit when Adora suddenly stopped coming to the shop to stare at your face every morning,” Mermista said.

Perfuma gave a very pitying nod. Catra opened her mouth to tell them both to mind their business, only to be interrupted by Mermista.

“You have to think your thought until it vibrates.” 

If you’d given Catra 100 chances to guess what Mermista’s response would be, she’d never come up with that. 

“...what?”

Mermista impatiently huffed. “Ugh. Think about how much you want Adora-”

“I didn’t say it was her!” Catra tried to interrupt.

“-whoever and concentrate on that completely,” Mermista explained, now fully closing her eyes. She was pretending to demonstrate but Catra could tell she was just milking this for another nap.  “Think it and think it, over and over…” her voice faded out and Catra was certain that Mermista was already asleep again. Right up til she added, “Until it fucking vibrates.”

It was the worst advice Catra had ever gotten in her life. She was at home in bed, contemplating what absolute awful directions those were when someone knocked on her window. Her 3rd story window, to be precise.

The surprised scream Catra let out in response was apparently answer enough. She-Ra wrenched the window open and leapt through immediately, giant sword in hand, prepared to fight imaginary threats.

Catra had tried thinking about Adora for about 20 whole seconds before she gave up. It couldn’t have been more than 4 minutes later and Adora was already there. Huh. Just concentrate on her and an 8-foot lesbian shows up on your doorstep? You couldn’t even pay for service this good.

Adora did a quick scan of the room. When she didn’t find anything except Catra frozen on her mattress, she lowered the sword and relaxed her fighting stance.

In a flash, the blonde was cocking a hand on her hip and tilting her head to the right in a terrible attempt at being cool. “Hey,” she began, voice lower than usual. “What up?”

Catra was too astounded by her success to laugh at Adora behaving like a high school boy. “You came.” 

She could hear that she sounded breathless. She-Ra was…well, she definitely wasn’t a monster. So tall her head practically touched Catra’s low ceiling, so ripped and strong, thighs as thick as tree trunks, huge pillow-y boobs. Gulp. She-Ra was a fucking Goddess. Catra was amazed and proud of herself for not immediately weeping at how majestic this woman was. And she had Adora’s face – Adora’s open, doofy, cute as a fucking button face. 

Catra slyly moved one hand so she could clandestinely pinch herself. It was a helpful reminder to remain present and play it cool.

Adora laughed awkwardly. “Yeah. Not really sure what happened. I was out making sure things were okay. Then it was like…you were whistling. A song just for me, even.”

“You know I hate whistling,” Catra joked. Kinda. She did hate that stupid high-pitched sound but she'd never actually meant it any of the many many times that she'd told Adora to cut it out.

Adora whistled a few seconds of one of the annoying tunes she badgered Catra with each morning. When Catra reflexively grimaced, she laughed again. Adora paused for a deep breath. On the exhale, She-Ra faded away. She merely rolled off in waves of pale blue mist until standing in front of Catra, in jeans, a fire department tshirt, and a gold shimmering arm bracer that reminded Catra of one of her favorite Witch Hunters, was just regular degular Adora. 

Catra had missed her. So much. A surprising amount really.

“I’m sorry,” they both said in unison.

Catra didn’t wait for whatever fake-nice game of chicken people usually played. “Shut up. Take a seat.” She politely waited while Adora sat down on the bed next to her. “First: I’m sorry for what I called you last time. That’s what the guy you saved me from called you. I never even got a good look at you. Didn’t realize you were… you.”

Adora gave another nervous chuckle. “Yeah. I’m me. She-Ra’s just…me. Plain ol’ Adora.”

Catra frowned, not much liking the self-deprecating sound of that. “You saved my life, Adora. A couple times actually. And you save lives all the time, just as plain ol’ firefighter Adora.”

“I had to take a leave of absence from work,” she said. Her face was glum and Catra imagined it must have been hell not being able to do the thing that brought her so much joy. “Turns out being magical is a full-time job. I have to learn all this stuff and figure out how to use my powers.”

“I’m sorry. I know your job means a lot to you.”

Adora tried to smile but it fell short. “I’m sorry I scared you.”

“You didn’t,” Catra replied with a small shake of her head. “I was just surprised.”

“Yeah, me too,” Adora mumbled. “She-Ra tends to pop up at the worst possible moments. I wasn’t even intending to turn into her that day you got robbed – I just got there too early, saw the gun, panicked, and whoops! There she was. I'm still learning all sorts of things about her. Like how she can be drugged by broken old tech, apparently.”

“How'd this happen?”

“I found a sword – the sword – during a forest fire. I wasn’t even supposed to be there. The Whispering Woods is waaaay out of my company’s domain. But it was an all-hands-on-deck emergency so we volunteered.”

Catra remembered that. A bizarre occurrence a couple months prior where the overgrown park that separated the riffraff of Bright Moon City from the yuppies upstate suddenly went up in flames. Everyone thought it had to have been arson but she never heard anything concrete.

“I was removing a bunch of brush and then I just saw it there,” Adora continued. Her eyes glazed over a little like she was right back there again. “Just stabbed right into the ground. I probably could have left it but something about it called to me. Kinda like you tonight actually.”

So Catra was in a polycule with Adora and a sword? Got it. This was starting to sound more like the kind of treatment she was used to from the universe.

“Two people showed up looking for it at the same time. They’re nice. They’ve been trying to help me understand what this all means. Where I might come from.”

“What do you mean? ‘Where you come from’,” Catra repeated.

“Oh.” Adora glanced down. This was clearly info that she wasn’t super comfortable sharing.

“Sorry – you don’t owe me that.”

“No, it’s okay. I, uh…I want to tell you. I want to tell you lots of things.” Adora kicked her shoes off and resettled herself in the bed more comfortably, inching closer to Catra. 

How many times had she fantasized about this? Adora cozying up to her at home. Catra getting to be a one-person audience for all the things Adora wanted to share. Instinctively, she shifted even closer to the blonde, having to ignore the way all of her fur started to stand on end as if she'd been lightly shocked.

Adora took another deep breath before looking Catra in the eyes. “I got dropped off at a fire station when I was a baby. No one knows by who. I grew up mostly in foster homes. The squad from that station though – they always kept in touch. Always checked up on me.”

All of her altruism was starting to make a lot more sense. “That’s why you became a firefighter?”

“More or less,” Adora admitted. She seemed almost sheepish about it. “I wanted to help people, like they did.”

“And…” Catra asked slowly. Maybe she was reading too much into what she’d seen. “Detective Hope was one of them?”

“No, she came later.” Adora paused, searching for words. “She just kinda…showed up, I guess. When I was in high school, she popped up in class one day and said we’d been paired together in some sort of ‘disadvantaged youth/older mentor’ program. I don’t even remember signing up.”

Catra felt her claws start to extend against her will. She didn’t like where this was going.

“Anyway, she always gave me advice. Helped me get better at sports and school and everything. After a couple of years in community college, she really wanted me to join the police academy. I think she was really disappointed when I went to the FDBM academy instead.”

“Did you tell her about the sword?” Catra asked.

“I didn’t have to. She just stopped by my apartment the next night. Said she could feel that things were different. I was different. Etheria was different. It was time, she said.”

Catra regretted not just livestreaming this whole part of the conversation to Kyle. He’d probably have a dozen theories on what Hope’s game really was.

“What does she want you to do?” Whatever she’d told Adora was definitely only half the truth. But a glimpse into Hope’s plan was better than nothing.

“Etheria is made of magic,” Adora told her. “My friend Glimmer – her and her mom have confirmed that. I’ve seen what the two of them can do. The rest though…” Adora trailed off to put her face in her hands. “Light Hope thinks I can unlock more magic for us to use. She believes there’s a huge threat to Etheria on the horizon and I have to be prepared.”

“Sounds like you don’t believe that,” Catra gently observed. She was a bit relieved that she didn’t have to press Adora to see Hope’s bullshit. After the last time, with Adora swearing that Hope wasn’t a danger, Catra had plenty of reasons to be worried.

“Yeah, nope. She just wants power. She’s not even trying to hide it well. I guess she’s had this plan for years, doing all this research and hoarding all of these old antique weapons she’s found. Suddenly, she thinks she’s part of some big plan to ‘cure’ Etheria and I’m afraid of what she’ll do if anyone else gets in her way.” Adora lowered her hands to look at Catra. “That’s why I tried to keep my distance from you. Out of nowhere, Hope started asking all of these questions and I just couldn’t risk her hurting you to manipulate me. She’s gone completely off the deep end.”

Again, the idiot. Trying to be sweet and not considering for a second that Catra wasn’t someone who needed protecting. Catra slid a little closer, already prepared to explain just how much she was absolutely not some wilting damsel.

Adora just kept on being dumb though. “And I really like you. So much, Catra. I like seeing you all the time and I like your stories and the way your mind works and how funny you are.” She paused, like she was figuring out how to word this next part. “But, I…I don’t have a soulmate. At least, I don’t think. I’ve never gotten marks like everyone else. I noticed how you’d cover up sometimes – wear long sleeves when you didn’t need to or leave your hair down. I really don't want to overstep whatever you and your soulmate have.”

Catra almost laughed. It took a lot of self-control not to. After how she’d run Adora out last time, she didn’t want to seem insensitive after everything that had just been laid bare for her.

For real though. It was pretty hilarious.

“Adora. Have you considered that housing a magical being like She-Ra, who has magical healing abilities, might have interfered a bit? She-Ra’s not just the sword, right? Entrapta says you're all part of an ancient lineage. She-Ra’s you. Inside of you. Fixing you up, covering your injuries, like how she did a few nights ago.”

Catra watched as her eyes widened. 

“Shit,” Adora whispered. 

She looked off into the distance, likely calculating if this theory actually made any sense. Catra had no way of knowing; it was just a hunch. Magical person + magical body = - annoying soul marks. Catra was the one walking around carrying all the weight for them.

It was taking Adora too long to work this out though. Best to just skip ahead.

“You're so dumb,” she said as kindly as possible. She reached over and took Adora's hands, those ridiculous hands that carried swords and put out burning buildings and truly had no business being as soft as they were. “Adora, you're my so-” 

Catra cut herself off as she heard a floorboard creak. It sounded like it came from the bathroom, the only place that wasn’t immediately visible in her tiny studio. There was nothing in there but a window that never closed all the way, an ancient toilet that needed a paperclip to flush it, the sink you couldn’t run when anything else was on, and the narrowest shower ever created. Maybe a rodent had finally moved in to really round out the vibe.

“Did you hear that?” she asked.

Adora’s eyes were fully focused on Catra now though. She was practically leaning forward in her seat just to hang on to Cara’s every word. “No. What were you about to say?”

There was another faint creak.

“There it is again.”

“Just kinda felt important,” Adora urged, still laser-focused.

“Shh,” Catra ordered, straining her ears to pick up on anything.

“Catra-” Adora pleaded.

“What part of ‘shh’ don't you understand?” Catra shot back.

Before she could ask Adora to magically retrieve that giant sword of hers, just in case, the bathroom door shot open. Adora's hands wrenched away but Catra really couldn't focus on that as she herself was leaping to her feet. She'd had a couple break-ins in this place before – usually just kids thinking the apartment was empty and looking for something small yet valuable to nab.

“I've got a machete and a family of pitbulls I’m fostering,” Catra lied, like she had all the previous times before.

She expected to hear the person shoving themself back out the window. It was much easier to break into versus the heavy metal front door that the last tenants had installed; one day, she really needed to get bars put on that window so that these casual brushes with complete strangers in her own home weren’t so common. 

Instead of the retreating footsteps that Catra expected, as she crept closer, a long arm reached out and grabbed her wrist. She couldn't help the involuntary scream that leapt out of her throat. A second hand went to cover her mouth and then she was face to face with Detective Hope.

The woman looked wild. Feral almost. Her eyes were huge and the smile she gave was all predator as her grip tightened painfully.

“I'd apologize for the door but really, it's an upgrade,” she said.

Catra tried screaming but all that escaped Hope's palm on her mouth was panicked jumbles.

“You're coming with me. I've warned Adora time and again that she needs to let go of distractions like you in her life and focus on her mission. The mission is all that matters. Etheria must be aligned.”

Speaking of Adora, Catra could hear her in the bedroom somewhere whispering “Transform transform, gods please!”

“If Adora won't do what needs to be done,” Hope continued, “then I must. These Etherian bonds are quite beneath her anyway. What is a bug to a God?”

Theoretically, Catra agreed. In reality though, she was sure that she and Hope might differ on whatever batshit plan the woman had for getting Catra out of the way.

With way too much force, Hope yanked Catra's arm behind her back and spun her around. It was clearly an easy, practiced motion for her, one of the perks of the job for Hope probably. She must’ve not been used to having to do it with one hand though, cause she released Catra’s mouth to grab at her free arm.

“She-Ra!” Catra screamed as soon as she was free. Well, not free completely, she realized as a handcuff tightened around her right wrist. It was as fucking painful as it looked on tv, the metal biting into Catra’s skin roughly.

That now-familiar blinding gold light appeared in front of them immediately. Adora’s face was completely filled with rage. Hope truly had a lot of fucking gall for pissing off a giant lady with a sword.

“Let her go,” Adora practically growled. Her frame didn’t really fit into Catra’s bathroom doorway, even with the wood splintered a little from where it had been kicked open.

Catra didn’t expect to be released easily. That didn’t seem like how things worked with power-hungry weirdos who behaved like super villains. So she was shocked when the grip fell away from her left arm. Lightning fast, Hope reached down towards her own pocket. 

And then…

Well, that was kinda it...

Honestly, everything went so dark so fast that the next thing Catra expected to see was a boat waiting to take her across the River Styx. When she came back to slight consciousness though, she was definitely still in her shoddy-ass bathroom, laid out on the floor.

There was a searing pain in her head, a sort of repeated throbbing that felt like someone was trying to chisel into her brain.

“Oh, hi,” a voice said, trying to hide its panic with cheerfulness. “You’re awake. Everything’s okay, Catra.”

“Why are we lying to her? Bitch, we thought you were dead.”

Sadly, Catra was very much alive. Her head hurt so badly that she couldn’t focus enough to quite figure out what words were.

“Ooooraaa?” she mumbled helplessly. The cold tile felt good against her face. Maybe just a couple more hours down here and she’d feel better.

“What is she saying?” someone asked. It was probably…uh, that one. That…person. You know the one.

“Mmm,” Catra said, still trying to come up with the name of what she was sure was one of her dearest and closest friends.

“She probably has a concussion,” the other voice said. It was a ‘P-something’, right? “You can’t go back to sleep, Catra. Stay with us.”

It was a nice offer but the floor and sleeping forever sounded much much better. Hands cupped Catra’s face and began to shake it lightly. Whoever this was really needed to take a fucking chill pill. The floor wasn’t so bad. Maybe she should try it too and stop being so judgy.

Catra tried to slump down further to demonstrate how comfortable it was but found her movements limited by something hanging onto her wrist.

“Mmrow,” she complained.

“Stop it, Mermista!”

“Just one video! If she lives, she’s gonna fucking hate this.”

Living sounded like it took too much work so Catra just angled her body so that it was more comfortable to continue sprawling out without her arm. Who needed it anyway?

“Catra, please-”

Those words were cut off by Catra shrieking at the top of her lungs. She was jolted into full consciousness by a dousing of ice cold water right in her face. Her vision was still a little blurry and every time she moved her head, it felt like she was moving through a wet sandbox full of knives, but Catra was up and awake. She quickly became aware of her surroundings, of Perfuma and Mermista in front of her, and, most importantly, of Adora and Hope missing.

“I have to find Adora!” she shouted in a panic.

Perfuma, knelt down on the floor next to her, pointed towards Catra's arm. Hope had smartly handcuffed Catra to one of the rusty pipes leading to the sink. 

“Goddamnit!”

“What happened here?” Perfuma asked. “We've been trying to get ahold of you for hours.”

“That cop bust in and kidnapped Adora. We gotta figure out where they went.”

“Adora was here? In your home?” Mermista asked from where she was leaning against the broken doorway. “Yeah, we're gonna need to hear everything on the way. Just let me call Sea Hawk real quick. If anyone can pick a pair of handcuffs, it’s that hoodlum.”

As she walked away, Perfuma turned back to Catra. “How’s your head? Does anything hurt?”

“I feel like I fell into a cement mixer.” From her room, she could hear the bed shifting under Mermista’s weight. “You better not be taking a nap in there!”

Catra's head pounded, protesting the screaming very much. 

“Shh. I gotta focus!” Mermista yelled back.

Probably because of the concussion, it took Catra far too many long moments to realize that Mermista isn’t talking about using her phone. That gave her a half-baked idea.

“Hey, Merms. That connection – it go both ways?”

“Yeah, just like me and Hawk,” she joked.

“No, you jerk. I mean…could you use your dumb vibration trick to get him to vibrate back or whatever?”

Perfuma tilted her head in curiosity. “Like, instead of summoning Sea Hawk, could Mermista use it to get him to summon her, you mean?”

“Oh, so I'm an asshole for using it for a ride but now you wanna *69 your girlfriend?” Mermista asked.

Rather than waiting for confirmation, Catra decided to just try it herself. It was worth a shot at least. Plus, she didn't really have any other options while she was shackled to her fucking bathroom.

Perfuma seemed to think it was polite to give Catra privacy, puttering into the kitchen to grab water. The first attempt at this had barely taken any effort. Catra was hoping that wasn't just beginner's luck.

Relaxing her cuffed arm as much as she could, Catra tried to find her center or whatever. Deep breaths. Quiet her thoughts. Notice her body, which mostly just reminded her that she needed medical attention and not to go rushing off to save anyone.

It wasn't hard to let her brain drift to Adora, primarily cause, you know, Catra was worried out of her mind. 

She'd always thought of herself as a visual person for some reason without any evidence to back that up. Rather than trying to follow Mermista's advice and vibrate out towards Adora, Catra focused on conjuring the blonde in her head. Adora's eyes, her smile, her smell – oh, for fucks’ sake! 

Once it hit her how absolutely creepy this was becoming, Catra tried to pull back.

Right before she opened her eyes and decided to play this off as if it had never happened, Catra felt something latch on. It was kind’ve…an urgency tugging at the back of her head. That sort of feeling when you get somewhere and you’re completely certain that you left the stove on and you better book it back home fast. 

In opposition to literally all of her survival instincts, Catra leaned into it. It was a muddy connection, a staticy old rotary call during a thunderstorm, but it gave her hope. Catra tried making her mind as available as possible, which was hard to do when she deeply wanted to make fun of herself for believing this shit was real. Sure enough though, the more she relaxed and kept herself open to the connection, the clearer it began to feel. It was a fleeting shadow but it was very real.

Adora was terrified. Pissed. Defiant. Hopeless. Fighting like hell.

There was something there with her, some power that was almost as loud as her own feelings. It was just a hunch really, but Catra thought she might know exactly what it was. It fit with Hope’s scheme at least.

“The Moonstone,” Catra said aloud. “We gotta get to Bright Park.”

+1: The Sword

“Pandemonium” didn’t really fully describe the magnitude of the shitshow that greeted them in Bright Park. They had to stick close to avoid being mowed down by the droves of tourists and joggers and dog owners that were running from every direction, screaming and sweaty and wide-eyed with panic.

Catra was well aware that she'd been a coward for most of her life. She was never really the type to stick her neck out for someone else (since no one had ever done it for her) or leap at the chance to play hero. If this was literally anyone else, she'd already be packing a go bag and hotwiring someone's car to hightail it out of the city. 

But this was Adora. And Adora was, well… everything between them was complicated. Catra would have to set that aside – Adora was a giant warrior goddess who needed her help. Hope had shown that she'd stop at nothing and Catra imagined whatever her plan was, it didn't include puppies and cupcakes and universal healthcare for all. This was some deep shit. But. Save Adora, save the world, Catra figured.

The Moonstone stood at least 10 stories tall. Even with the huge trees surrounding, it wasn't hard to make out exactly where they needed to go. In all the years that Catra had lived in Bright Moon, she'd only seen the thing a handful of times. It was a massive, dull-looking gem, like a giant pearl that a titan-sized alien had accidentally dropped on their way back to their home planet and completely forgotten about. It was usually covered in some form of moss or other remnant of nature, water damage and time dimming its glow.

Not today. Today, the thing towered in the distance, gleaming majestically. That scared Catra even more than the people practically crawling over each other to get away from whatever horrors they'd just witnessed.

Together, Catra, Perfuma, and Mermista moved towards it. The closer they got, the more Catra understood the terror that people were running from. The air changed – it was hot and freezing and humid and dry all at once. Catra found herself struggling to breathe in it. Even the moons didn't know what the fuck they were supposed to do. All 12 seemed to be all out at once, the sky a mixture of day with darkness looming just behind it.

She expected to encounter news helicopters or cops or something. But even the birds seemed to be avoiding this place.

“This is fucking freaky,” Mermista mumbled. 

Catra turned to her, about to agree when she saw that Mermista’s focus wasn't on their creepy surroundings. It was on her own two hands. She looked mesmerized as she watched a turquoise glow, similar to the gold one Catra was used to seeing on She-Ra, slowly descend across her skin until Mermista was bathed in it.

“Oh my,” Perfuma said in similar wonder. 

A pale pink glow had begun to overtake her as well. A new light shined behind both of their eyes, otherworldly and yet weirdly comforting. This might actually help make it a fair fight with Hope; Catra could schedule time to freak out about the details of why and what was happening with her friends later.

Catra glanced down at her own hands to see if this princess shit was contagious. It wasn’t, she realized as her own regular-ass fingers proved. Figures. Everyone got powers and Catra ended up as the only basic bitch running around out here.

“How do you feel?” she asked, curious to know if there was some type of warning sign. Something that alerted them to the change.

“Strong,” Mermista responded. She swept one hand through the air. One of the nearby ponds that the park was full of rippled until a small stream shot right up in the sky.

“Everything.” Perfuma flicked her wrist and the trees in front of them parted immediately, lying out a clear and much faster path to the Moonstone. “Etheria is not in harmony with whatever’s happening here.”

“You’re taking this really well,” Catra pointed out. She was too concerned about Adora to be very worried about this, but she didn't get their deal. They were surprisingly calm for two people who just learned that the entire world was different from the way they'd always believed it was.

The two exchanged a knowing look.

“Before we found you, we ran into your two friends,” Perfuma began tentatively.

“She means the two kidnappers we became witnesses and/or accessories for,” Mermista interjected.

“And let’s just say, some things they said made sense.” Perfuma bowed her head slightly as if that explained anything to Catra. “We have a lot to talk about later.”

“So you’re both made of magic, great,” Catra said sarcastically. “Well, at least you’re using your powers for good.”

“...for now,” Mermista whispered with a creepy smile. 

Catra was 99% sure she was just joking. Another problem for Future Catra if she made it through this day. Mermista was the pettiest person she'd ever met so Catra wasn't looking forward to her having the ability to manipulate water. Kind’ve a cat's worst nightmare.

Grumbling to herself about how dumb this all was, Catra took the lead through the path created for them.

It took them several minutes, with Catra creeped out by the lack of animals, insects, or anything else remaining in the park, but when they reached the meadow that housed the Moonstone, she felt her panic finally rise to an appropriately high level. 

She-Ra was there in her full glory, billowing cape, golden glow, sword and all. It was hard to tell if she was even fully aware of her surroundings. Adora’s face was screwed shut in pain, eyes closed and teeth gritted. She stood just inches from the Moonstone while Light Hope kept a much safer, more reasonable distance, the fucking chickenshit.

As they tried to surreptitiously move closer, hiding as best as they could on basically flat land, Catra noticed the sword stabbed into the ground just near the runestone. Adora's hands were wrapped around the hilt in a vise grip. Catra couldn't tell if she was trying to pull it out or shove it further in but Adora seemed locked in place.

Most frightening, the sword seemed to be surging power right into the grass around it. It was a strange contrast to golden girl Adora, the weapon lit up in a cool pale blue. The energy traveled a few short feet to the Moonstone, which Catra was starting to notice was dimming slightly. Much like the shitty light in her kitchen, the runestone couldn’t seem to hold a full charge as it flickered brightly then weaker inconsistently.

“Concentrate!” Hope yelled. “Everyone is counting on you, Adora. Don’t you want to keep Etheria safe? Don’t you want to keep Catra safe?”

With a roar, She-Ra’s arms flexed and a jolt of magic flowed from the sword and into the Moonstone. The gem’s glow was bright enough to make the daymoons irrelevant for a moment.

“Yes,” Hope hissed, eyes totally bonkers. “More! Etheria must be aligned.”

More? Adora was clearly already giving it her all. Catra had a sinking feeling that this alignment was a one and done kind of situation. Once Hope got what she wanted, would she even have any use for Adora? Or was She-Ra just a battery? Maybe after she aligned the planet, she would just be…empty. Gone.

“We gotta get her out of there,” Catra said.

Perfuma nodded. Catra could have been making it up but she seemed to be glowing just a bit stronger as well. “Okay. That shouldn’t be too hard.”

She quickly extended both arms, palms facing upwards. The ground rumbled as a series of half a dozen brown roots stretched their way out of the dirt just ahead of them. Catra was a little awed by how quickly Perfuma had taken to her powers. Adora was still bumbling around like a newborn baby deer, unable to stay in her She-Ra form. That gave her an idea – maybe if Catra could get to go back to regular Adora that would be enough to stop this.

Perfuma’s great root offensive rose about 6 feet in the air before they darted towards Hope with surprising speed. For someone who was committed to non-violence, Perfuma didn’t seem very concerned with possibly running their enemies right through. It probably would have happened too, since Hope hadn’t even noticed them yet, if not for the giant fucking green nightmare fuel that erupted from the earth right in front of them. The roots uselessly bounced off of its body, looking like tiny toothpicks in comparison to its size.

“Don’t try to stop us,” Hope called out to the trio. “The Moonstone will protect itself if needed.”

As if in agreement, the gross thing in front of them half-lunged to scare them back. It resembled a worm, if worms were dinosaur-sized and had fallen into a vat of radioactive waste. The thing was probably more than twice as tall as She-Ra, with too many eyes and way too many tongues. There were teeth where teeth shouldn’t be. The next time Catra was feeling okay about herself and her choices, she was sure this abomination would immediately come to mind and ruin that, teetering on its giant fleshy green body and spitting in her general direction. 

“Guardians,” Mermista grumbled, already over this.

“Guardians?!” How was she so calm about this?!

“Gods, they really teach you nothing in FZ.” Mermista huffed, droning out, “Lying dormant in Etheria’s core, ancient protectors, blah blah.”

“You can’t skip over the important parts like that!”

“It’s fine,” Mermista groaned. “We’ll keep it busy. Just try turning Adora off or whatever. We don’t want to find out which of the creepy FZ myths are true.”

That was probably correct since the base level of FZ myths about the princesses involved people getting  flayed alive.

“Try to flank it from both sides then attack. I’ll keep an eye on Hope,” Catra instructed. Yes, her Witch Hunter experience was useless here but her run-ins with Hope had taught Catra to trust her instincts. Besides, you didn’t get out of FZ without knowing how to take down a bully.

Perfuma regrouped by clasping both hands in front of herself. She shot them up into the air before bringing them down in a stabbing motion that was not very becoming of a hippie. A nearby pine tree ripped itself out of the dirt to come at the guardian like a shiv. One of the creature’s several mouths opened to intercept it just as Mermista shot water from a nearby lake into a few of its eyes, stunning it.

Figuring that they had this covered, Catra dropped to all fours to race towards Adora. She was less than 10 feet away when a laser narrowly missed. It zoomed right past Catra’s eyes, where just a tick to the left, it would have probably hit her right in the temple. She skidded to a stop, falling on her knees, only to catch sight of Light Hope aiming for a second shot.

Serpentine. That’s all Catra could think to do. If she rushed at Hope, zigzagging around laser shots, she could take the woman down. It would give her a free path to Adora. It would also mean leaving Adora to continue having the life sucked out of her by the Moonstone. Or Catra could focus on saving Adora first and pray that Light Hope was a terrible shot. 

Those were shit options and Catra had only literal seconds to make a choice.

She regrouped quickly, running as fast as she could towards Adora. Hope wouldn’t shoot She-Ra. Probably, right? This whole thing hinged on keeping She-Ra alive and connected to the sword up until Hope no longer had use for her.

Catra dove behind the warrior as another beam flew towards them. It caught She-Ra right in the chest but she barely seemed to notice. Her hands stayed glued to the sword, her whole body stuck in place yet shaking from concentrating on whatever hoodoo Hope had set her up for.

Changing a glance around She-Ra’s shoulder, Catra spotted Hope beginning towards them.

“You should not have come,” she yelled. “You will only be in her way.”

“Hey, She-Ra, knock knock!” Catra whispered. “Any chance you’re able to defend yourself right now?”

It was unclear if this was her response or just a by-product of the process, but Adora let out a guttural groan.

“Okay, that’s fine. I got you, babe,” Catra told her. She sprang from behind She-Ra, readying herself to to launch at Hope and go absolutely fucking apeshit.

All the confusion, all the rage, the fear and panic she'd been feeling lately, Catra was glad to finally have a target to take that out on. Something tangible to sink her claws into. Besides, she liked Etheria more or less. It was where she kept all her stuff. Maybe it was just paranoia but Catra was sure that whatever Light Hope’s alignment meant, Etheria wouldn't be the same afterward.

Hope was advancing towards them, trying to set her aim on Catra. She swallowed her remaining nerves. Claws extended, Catra took off to attack. She narrowly dodged the first blast by faking to the left and throwing all of her weight to the right. Hope's reflexes weren't nearly as fast as hers, so Catra had that one advantage. But Catra was also in shit shape so diving to the ground meant she ended up landing rather ungracefully in the grass, wrists stinging.

Before she could recuperate, Hope was charging her weapon once more, prepared to take another shot.

A very quiet ‘whoosh’ flew past Catra’s head. An arrow of all fucking things landed right in the grass an inch from Hope’s ugly boots, the sharp point digging itself in deep. Catra didn’t have time to wonder if this was someone’s idea of a joke or if the local boy scouts had decided to drop in and help. Hope’s face held the same confusion and yet she was about to just step right over it when the arrow began beeping frantically. She lifted her leg, probably to run, when the…uh, end thing? Catra didn’t know shit about arrows!...exploded and a huge fucking net shot out and wrapped itself around Hope’s body. She went down with a heavy thud, practically foaming at the mouth as she tried to slither her way out.

Catra turned to look for her savior just in time to see that help was actually on its way. In the distance, Scorpia ran towards her, followed closely behind by Entrapta and some guy in a croptop carrying a full quiver on his shoulder. Interesting choice of battle gear.

Glimmer literally popped into existence in a burst of sparkles and glitter so completely fitting that Catra was amazed she wasn’t hallucinating that part. Overhead, a huge shadow quickly passed. Catra looked up and was just barely able to make out that MILF who Sparkles brought by Plumeria with her. Except now she had huge glimmering wings and was flying! straight towards the Moonstone.

While the others leapt into the fight, arrows, sparkles, and red electricity joining the barrels of plants and water that Catra already had to avoid getting accidentally hit by, she rushed back to Adora.

“The sword!” Entrapta screamed as she headed over as well.

“Yeah, source of power, needed to align the planet, yada yada,” Catra interrupted. She lowered her voice as she got nearer to Adora, not stopping until she was within reach to touch if she dared. 

This close up, beaming in all of her power, Adora looked like the brightest constellation of stars. It almost hurt to look at but Catra never wanted to look away. 

“Hey, She-Ra. Anyway you could give me a sign that you hear me?”

She-Ra’s face wrenched in further pain. “Ca…?” came out as a choked wail.

“Yeah, that’s me. Local donut purveyor and ne’er do well. Wanna hear a funny story? I’m actually here to save you this time.”

Entrapta was not concerned with their private moment as she intruded right in on it. “I’ve been studying the history of the sword. Origin, powers, weaknesses. Many ancient texts actually differ greatly on not only the sword’s capabilities but also its true intent.”  

“Can you give me the ‘we’re gonna die in the next 30 seconds’ version?” Catra asked. 

“It’s handcuffs,” Entrapta said impatiently, unaware that handcuffs were currently a sore subject around here. “The sword isn’t of Etheria. It’s for shackling Etheria. Keeping the planet’s magic weakened and more manageable. So that people like Light Hope can control it for themselves. If we don't stop it, she could control all of the planet. She could turn our entire world into a giant weapon of destruction and use it to wipe away all of the magic that she hates.”

Light Hope was currently still wrapped up in the net while Glimmer used her sparkle power to keep the woman temporarily blinded and confused.

“So how do we take the cuffs off?” Catra asked.

“I think we have to break the sword.”

“You think?”

Entrapta shrugged. “Well, it’s unlikely that anyone who was interested in the sword’s creation would have theorized on how to stop it. We just have to trust that this is the best course of action.”

Catra opened her mouth to ask more questions but was cut off by a tortuous yell from Adora. She turned back to She-Ra, who was screaming as if she was in unbearable pain. Catra’s eyes raced to find a cause – Hope was still down, the Guardian was still surrounded on all sides by the others. The only person she couldn’t place was-

At the top of the Moonstone, Glimmer’s mom was floating in the air, both palms towards the runestone while energy flowed from her straight into it. Glowing white waves that should have been calming – finally a responsible adult was present – except she seemed to just be making things even worse.

“What the hell is she doing?” Catra wondered aloud.

Entrapta pulled a pair of goggles from her overall pocket before putting them on to watch. “Angella’s powers are tied to the Moonstone. She’s probably trying to overpower She-Ra’s influence. I don’t think that will be effective.”

“Well, stop her! She’s hurting Adora!”

Entrapta looked like she might argue but Adora screamed again and the pure anguish in Catra’s blood must have been apparent in her face. Entrapta scrambled away, shouting in Angella’s direction.

Okay. Catra took a deep breath. They were a ragtag group of weirdos trying to beat fate. Trying to stop an ancient power from being unleashed and taking over their planet. Catra could do this. Okay.

She tried not to notice that she was trembling as she approached She-Ra. Seeing a goddess in such clear torment was somehow even more terrifying than all the threats that surrounded them. Adora was a part of something that was so so much bigger than any of them and Catra was sure that she couldn’t even begin to understand it.

She didn’t really have to understand it though. She understood Adora.

“Well, I can’t believe I’m about to say this but I think Hope was right, Adora,” Catra began. “You gotta let go.”

She-Ra practically growled in response, buckling down like she was pushing back against Angella’s attempts to kick her out of the Moonstone.

“You’re a helper, Adora. That’s why you became a firefighter, right? You’re one of those dummies who comes and saves the day. But this sword…whatever Hope’s doing is gonna hurt people. It’s probably gonna hurt everyone, you included. You gotta let go of this.”

She-Ra continued struggling, showing no signs that she’d heard any of that. Feeling particularly bold and out of good ideas, Catra let herself reach over. Her left hand cupped around Adora’s on the hilt of the sword.

It was like someone injected espresso right into her veins. A jolt shot through Catra that made her feel like she had enough power to kick Hope right into the stratosphere. It was dangerous and scary and fucking thrilling and so godsdamn alive.

She ripped her hand away with a shudder, tingling all over. There wasn’t a part of Catra that didn’t feel completely alert and…connected. Connected to power and Adora and Etheria.

Once she was able to slow her racing heart, Catra moved towards She-Ra. For the first time, Adora was staring back at her, semi-alert but still pained, like she was being torn apart from the inside.

“Catra?” Her voice sounded so small. Lost but surprisingly determined. “You have to leave. You can’t be near this.” 

Catra scoffed, trying not to get lost in Adora’s eyes, which were unnaturally brighter and bluer than ever. “Yeah, no shit, princess. I’m trying to get us both out of here. Now, put down the sword and let’s go.”

Adora shook her head. “I can’t. She-Ra – I need her to fix this. I can take back her power, undo what Light Hope’s done. I just need a little more time to get the sword to listen to me.”

They didn’t have time. Not with the apocalypse seemingly scheduled to arrive in the next couple of minutes.

“She-Ra’s not the sword. You know that. She’s in you, remember? She’s always been there. You just needed something to bring her out. But now you have and you don’t need the sword or Light Hope or even the fucking runestones anymore. Drop the sword and you can end all this right now.”

She-Ra closed her eyes once more. Her head lowered in defeat and Catra could feel how untethered she was. The glow of the Moonstone dimmed and surged with each breath that she took. But she still didn’t release the sword, holding on even though they were doomed.

“I’m sorry,” Adora whispered.

Catra, heart in her throat, somehow managed to reply, “You don’t hav-”

“No, I’m sorry, She-Ra,” Adora finished.

With one last anguished cry, she ripped the sword from the ground and lifted it above her head. The Moonstone flashed as the rush of power knocked Angella back, scrambling to not float away, and kicked Entrapta right on her ass, several feet off in the grass. Even the Guardian seemed to stand still.

From behind her, Catra heard Hope scream, “No!” There was more yelling then the sound of Glimmer shouting in pain.

But it was too late. Hope rushed forward just as She-Ra drove the sword into the side of the Moonstone, practically roaring in anger. The weapon, this ancient unknowable thing that held power untold, cracked from the impact, like a fucking Halloween prop. Tiny fractures formed up and down the blade right in front of their eyes, until it was just a useless relic.

She-Ra, still in all her wondrous golden splendor, stood there looking equal parts miserable and triumphant. Catra reached over, placing a hand on her forearm to comfort her. It probably didn’t mean much, not when Adora was holding her broken destiny in her hands. The simple touch drew a whimper from her that seemed out of character for such a giant warrior. 

The thing about touching a star though is that they fucking burn. For a brief second, everything around them went still. It made the ensuing rush of piercing sounds feel just that much more frightening and out of place. 

With one last gasp, the sword’s lifeforce buzzed. Screamed. Wept.

A flash of rainbow-colored light poured out of it in rays. They grew and grew, looming brighter until Catra could barely see anything else. That's why she didn't quite catch the sword exploding in She-Ra’s grip. Nor it taking Light Hope with it on its way out.

Metal and heat and power and magic splintered like shrapnel all around Catra. She wasn’t sure which of those many many awful options was tearing through her but the pain was so bad that she couldn't even open her mouth to scream.

It was too much for her to remain upright so Catra tumbled helplessly towards the ground. Strong glowing arms reached out to grab her before she was able to make contact. Gently, She-Ra turned Catra so that they were facing each other, the warrior knelt next to her rapidly failing body. 

The sky above was normal again, Catra noticed. It was almost sorta nice.

Once when they were teenagers, Lonnie accidentally kicked a soccer ball right smack-dab into Catra’s tits. It was kinda funny to think about now as she was gasping for breath, just like that day. Not as funny to think about how the last conversation she had with Lonnie, Rogelio, and Kyle would indeed be the last. She’d left so much unsaid.

Same with Adora, who was now fully panicking. She couldn’t seem to figure out where to focus as her eyes rushed from Catra’s face to all along her body, probably cataloging what must have looked like a complete horrorshow.

It took a lot of strength and courage but Catra glanced down at herself. Yeah, there were definitely holes where none should be. Pieces of her clothing ripped away or soaked through with blood already. Huge glowing gold marks peppered through the patchwork of her actual wounds.

She tried to say Adora’s name, begin to give them both some kind of closure.  

“‘s okay,” Catra muttered. It sounded wet. Weakly, she reached for her mouth but Adora’s thumb got there first, wiping something away. They both silently agreed to ignore how much red there was.

“It’s not,” Adora argued. Her voice sounded wet too. Before Catra could worry about that, she noticed the tears in Adora’s eyes. “I let you get hurt. I failed.”

Catra shook her head as much as she could manage. “You saved us.”

“I failed you.” 

There was a loud sound and a bright pop and suddenly Glimmer was there at their side. 

“My Gods.” She looked distraught. Catra wanted to tease her about not being there next Thursday to give her something to complain about in therapy but she probably shouldn't go out on a joke. “Adora, I can teleport her to a hospital.”

It was a kind offer but it was definitely too late. This was fine. Okay, technically, it wasn't. Catra was terrified but too tired to actually be that scared. She was freezing, which was the fucking worst. But her body didn't have the energy to mimic all the usual signs of anxiety since it seemed to be focused on silly critical functions like keeping her heart pumping for the next couple of minutes. So she felt shockingly chill. Epically bummed about all the shit she would miss and not knowing where her soul would venture to next, but at least she'd be heading out with dignity.

Her soul, jeez. Religion wasn't really a thing in her house growing up so Catra didn't know shit about the many afterlife levels that most Etherians believed in. Hopefully, there wouldn't be a test on that. Flirting with the admin would probably get her nowhere. Gods, it was her driving exam all over again and she’d probably up in the purgatory version of a learners permit for all of eternity.

All the stupid doom-googling she'd done on soulmates in the past few weeks had turned up a bunch of nonsense about what happens when one half dies. A lot of folks never even knew they had a mate, some anonymous person who they probably lost years ago when the marks suddenly stopped. Some grieved their whole lives, some moved on appreciating their free will. 

Adora could do whatever she wanted now. Girls would be lining up to date a magical hero firefighter. Good for her. This whole soulmate shit was kinda dumb anyway. Look at where destiny had just gotten them, fighting for their lives. Fate could go ahead and fuck right off.

“Mates,” Catra whispered, interrupting where Adora was arguing with Glimmer that she wasn't leaving.

She-Ra turned back to her, shocked and distraught. “I know!” she scoffed out. She shut her eyes for a second and tears broke out to pour down her perfect face.

It clicked for the first time – She-Ra was holding her. Entrapta had been right. Adora was special all along, not just some derp who stumbled onto a sword.

“No,” Catra added, voice coming out in a wheeze. “You're free now.” She hoped Adora realized she meant that in more ways than one.

An angel descended near them next, floating down and blocking the glow of the Moonstone. Apparently it was time to go already.

“Adora,” it said. “Let Glimmer take her. I'll carry you there as well.”

“No!” When Adora opened her eyes, they were unnaturally blue once again. “I can fix this.” Catra felt herself being pulled closer. “Come on, Catra. You're not done yet.”

She'd never exactly pictured herself as an old biddy. It was actually perfectly fine for her to be done now. Gods, she really should've cleaned out her fridge though. Now Catra would have an excuse to haunt Mermista for a while until it was taken care of. Something to look forward to in the afterlife at least.

She-Ra wrapped herself around Catra's weak body. She was warm, which helped. She rested their foreheads together as Catra tried in vain to reach up and hold her. She-Ra kept whispering but it was too hard to concentrate, to pick out words that she could understand. Slowly, Catra felt her eyes drift shut as her hands fell limply in the grass.

“Oh!” Glimmer said, thoroughly surprised when Catra shot up from underneath the counter. “You're here.”

Catra shrugged like she hadn't just been napping, assuming no one would be annoying enough to show up today. Most people’s brains were still reeling from the mysteries of the past week; rumors that the local donut shop was full of dangerous witches and under surveillance by the state was helping to keep lookie loos away. 

Catra was working on listening to Mermista’s advice. All this magic shit took a lot out of a person. Better grab some shut-eye wherever you can and the small crawlspace under the counter wasn’t such a bad place once some of the cobwebs were cleaned up.

“You look…”

“Alive?” Catra suggested.

“Alright for a corpse,” Glimmer finished.

Catra supposed she was looking a bit better than usual. Apparently She-Ra’s healing powers didn’t just stop at life-threatening injuries. That weird cracking sound her ankle made after she twisted it on a pothole in the sidewalk last year was finally gone. Her carpal tunnel from holding her phone for hours to play Witch Hunter had cleared up. Honestly, her fur was even softer. Catra would have to create a fake yelp for She-Ra and leave a 5-star review. ‘Highly recommend almost dying in her arms. 10/10 experience.’ Minus the residual exhaustion the past few days, Catra was feeling better than she had in years.

“Thanks, I guess. The usual?” 

Glimmer shook her head. “No, I’m here to meet with-”

“Sea-Ra!” Mermista yelled, jumping through the kitchen’s swinging doors. She had both hands in fists, resting on her hips, like the world’s corniest superhero.

“You’re planning to copyright that and sue Adora for infringement,” Catra guessed.

“My costume isn’t gonna pay for itself,” Mermista replied, dropping her stance. 

Glimmer looked like she was already regretting her whole life. “I don’t know why I have to repeat this yet again, but we’re not superheroes. We’re witches, descend-”

Mermista cut her off with, “Don’t care.”

“She’s already planning her own spin-off,” Catra warned. “There’s a 90% chance that she’s been a double agent this whole time.”

“I can’t believe I’m inviting you people further into my life,” Glimmer complained.

Perfuma exited the kitchen next, carrying three full mugs. So great, Catra would get to stand there and eavesdrop on their secret Alliance plans. As Perfuma began to lead the others towards a table, Glimmer lingered at the counter.

“You could join us, you know,” she offered. She didn't seem particularly happy about it but she was even more annoyed when Catra quickly shook her head. “There’ll be other threats to Etheria. We could use a tactician. Plus Scorpia, Entrapta, and my mom are all obsessed with you for some reason. I'm sure Adora would personally invite you but no one's seen her since…” Glimmer waved vaguely at Catra's torso, where her organs were once again intact and not spilling out everywhere.

Catra just stared her down. Glimmer was alright or whatever but it was fun to give her a hard time. Besides, it was appropriate to allow a person at least a few days after they almost died before you invited them for a second ride on that rollercoaster. Have some fucking manners, Glim.

With a sigh, Glimmer finally said, “If you run into her, tell her we're proud of her. And we'd love to have her back.” Her voice got small at the end, lonely and vulnerable in a way that made Catra uncomfortable.

She didn’t really know anything about Adora and Glimmer’s friendship so Catra continued to keep her mouth shut. Adora could make her own choices. With one last hopeful look, Glimmer relented to join Mermista and Perfuma.

kyle2558355934
The Witch Hunter devs want to create a new sanctuary skin based on the Battle of Bright Park

thelonandonly
**** no
They better make you a hero in the game or we’re rioting

silentbutdeadly
Prime released a statement saying that he doesn’t support real life princesses
Or witch hunting

wildcat
I’m releasing a statement saying he can eat a bag of *****
Agreed on the new hero tho
I’ll send him a bunch of unsolicited costume designs
I'm thinking something asymmetrical

kyle2558355934
I’m starting an online petition right now

thelonandonly
We’re proud of you, you ******* ****

Chadtastic
Dudes, come on
Congrats, wildcat
But can we keep the channel clear

kyle2558355934
Catra, omg
Did you just make me an Alliance Commander?
Ooh, can I kick Chad?

Chadtastic
The ****?

Catra laughed to herself as she entered the apartment quietly, leaving her shoes near the door and taking care to place her keys gently on the counter. Her plan was to tiptoe towards the bathroom, where the door still half-hung on. The super had promised that he'd get to fixing it some time in the next couple of weeks but Catra wasn't expecting to see him until the summer at earliest.

A quick shower would be nice and then she could pass out for the next 30 hours or so.

Her steps were quickly interrupted when Catra caught sight of Adora standing in the open fridge, completely awake for the first time in days.

“Hey, princess,” Catra whispered. “You’re up. You okay? Hungry? Thirsty?”

Adora rolled her eyes with a small smile. “You don't have to call me that. And you don't have to keep taking care of me. I'm feeling a little stronger.”

She looked it too. For the first several hours after Catra had felt herself fade to black only to be jolted back into a golden glowing consciousness, she and Adora had taken turns keeping watch over each other while one of them slipped into a deep, uneasy sleep. The healing process had taken so much out of both of them, though Catra supposed Adora had it worse. Even now, her skin was covered in blue marks, the same color of Catra’s right eye, that She-Ra didn’t seem to have enough energy to get rid of. Some were a constellation of nicks, others huge gashes that scrambled Catra’s brain a bit too much to think about for long.

“I know I don’t have to,” Catra replied. She wanted to. Adora had done the same for her. Hell, Adora had risked it all just because Catra told her to trust her. “You don’t have to stick around here and keep an eye on me.”

“I do,” Adora said quietly. “Since it was my fault and everything.”

Catra sighed, reluctant to go through this conversation again. What little clarity Adora had between long bouts of sleeping was spent on guilt-tripping herself for putting Catra in danger. For nearly killing her. It was so dumb.

She went to grab them both a glass of water from the kitchen and finally noticed what Adora was up to. Her first order of business after recovering some of her strength was to throw out everything in Catra’s fridge. Apparently being a hero extended to even common household chores. Adora looked a little sheepish as she tossed out the last takeout container that had been in there for probably ages.

Not too gently, Catra pushed the dummy out of the way, one hand firmly in the middle of her chest until Adora’s butt hit the counter and she relaxed. There wasn’t a lot of space in the kitchen so every time Catra made a move, tying up the trash, grabbing water, she had to ignore the electricity she felt as she casually brushed by Adora.

“It wasn’t your fault,” she repeated yet again. “You know that. Besides, it was kinda cool. I got to be all heroic and shit.”

Adora took the offered glass but barely seemed to notice it as she once again was examining Catra for any lingering wounds. For some reason, Adora was convinced that she didn’t heal her ‘correctly.’ Not that either of them was anywhere near strong enough to try it again.

Forgetting about the shower, Catra leaned against the counter next to her, leaving Adora plenty of space. They’d been sharing the apartment – the bed mostly, giving each other such a wide berth that it was practically platonic. Now that Adora knew they were soulmates, Catra didn’t want to feel like she was pressuring Adora into anything. It was sexy and thrilling to make out with a pining rando who just saved you from a rooftop fistfight. Doing it with your soulmate who you just brought back from the brink of death brought to mind much less sexy ideas like ‘commitment’ and ‘forever.’ She didn’t even know Catra’s last name. No need to rush into anything that Adora would regret later.

“Did you only do it cause we're…you know?” Adora asked with a shyness that Catra hadn't quite expected. It didn't match her usual calm confidence.

“I’m gonna need you to spell that out for me a bit more,” she said truthfully.

Adora sat the water down to lift the sleeve on her tshirt up to the shoulder. There was a particularly awful looking glowing blue slash that ran diagonally up her bicep, an unsettling reminder of what they’d survived. 

“Did you save me cause of this? Cause of us?”

For a long second, Catra just considered that. She hadn't really decided on a clear motive before rushing headfirst into the fight. Protecting Adora. Proving herself. Doing one good thing in her life. Letting go of this idea that any of their story – Catra's story – was already written in stone or that even ‘medium happy’ came without risks.

“No. It was the right thing to do,” Catra said resolutely. “That lady gave me a bad vibe. Like a ‘set the world on fire’ kinda vibe. I wasn't happy to be correct about that but someone had to stop her.”

This wasn't necessarily all exactly true. Afterward, as Adora tried to rush off with her in her arms, Catra had weakly rubbed it in Perfuma and Mermista’s faces that she was right the whole time. When she told the whole saga to Lonnie, Rogelio, and Kyle, Catra had practically rewritten the tale so that she was the genius who cracked Hope's plan from the start. Catra rarely got a win – she was allowed to milk this one a little, okay?

“How long have you known?” Adora asked. She tapped the glowing mark once more before lowering her sleeve.

Catra pointed towards her eye, though the evidence was long gone. “The first time you saved me. I didn't know it was you until we kissed though.”

“The glowing monster,” Adora said. She glanced off to the side, deep in thought. After a long moment, she started to laugh. “You really thought your soulmate was a huge glowing monster?!”

With a growl, Catra bit back, “Well, that’s all I saw! This is your fault for skulking around all mysteriously.”

Adora kept laughing. “I'm imagining you trying to introduce her to your friends. Going shopping for wedding dresses. Trying to sleep with her glowing like a giant flood light next to you.”

The dummy didn’t seem to realize she was the butt of her own joke. Last night, she'd been muttering Catra's name in her sleep and got so into whatever dream she was having that she transformed into She-Ra without even waking up. Catra’d had to cover her with a blanket like a lampshade to block out her annoying glow.

Now that Adora was improving, Catra figured it was time to approach the subject they’d been avoiding the past couple days. It’d been nice sharing space – actually ‘nice’ was an understatement for one of the better times of Catra’s life – but it had to come to an end sooner or later.

Taking a deep breath, Catra prepared herself for the speech she’d mentally been crafting since Adora’s big reveal. “Look. I want you to know that…just because we’re soulmates or whatever doesn’t mean you have to force yourself to be with me, Adora. I don't expect anything. I don't even believe in that bullshit. If you want out, I get it. No hard feelings.”

All traces of laughter were gone from Adora’s face. Instead, her features pinched themselves together.

“I-? Why wouldn’t I want to be with you? To at least try?” She scooched slightly closer, eyes suddenly intense. “Catra, I didn’t know who you were besides the cute, funny girl in the donut shop and so I changed my entire commute and workout routine just to see you every morning!” Adora loudly ranted. Then she seemed to realize she was yelling and looked mortified. At a much more appropriate volume, she said, “I hope it doesn’t sound creepy out loud to you too?”

Instead of a reasonable reply, a small gust of air came out of Catra. Out of her mouth to be clear. At least, she hoped it was.

“I don’t even like donuts that much. They clog your arteries. Thank Gods I had all those long runs to work ‘em off,” Adora added. Apparently, she was still talking. She was a firefighter, a person who saved lives. And she couldn’t even notice that Catra had gone still as a stick and was probably (once again) not on this mortal plane.

“This user no longer exists,” Catra whispered without thinking. To be fair, she definitely felt like she was dying again. Adora was the godsdamn possible savior of the planet or some shit and she was worried about pining after Catra like a weirdo?

“Uh…what does that mean?”

“Destiny hasn’t been super kind to you,” Catra felt compelled to point out.

“Oh my Gods, have you listened to anything I’ve said?!” Adora relaxed against the counter again, exasperated but smiling. “I’m dating you…I wanted to be dating you way before I even knew anything about us being soulmates. It’s pretty much irrelevant to me.”

Catra tilted her head in surprise. “Are we dating?”

“A second ago, you thought I wouldn’t want you. Now you’re trying to break up with me?” Adora asked, amusement twinkling in her eyes.

If the dummy wanted to be annoying, Catra could be annoying. “What is your definition of dating exactly, Adora?”

“We’re sharing a bed…” she pointed out.

“You’re convalescing.”

“So I’m no better than a sick aunt?”

Catra ignored the bundle of nerves her stomach was turning into. “Don’t you have to ask me out?”

“Subtle,” was the sarcastic response.

“Adora,” she said impatiently.

The blonde tried to make a serious face but it was ruined by the smile she kept trying to rein in. “Catra. How do you feel about sushi?”

“Like…conceptually?”

With a frustrated groan, Adora surged forward and kissed Catra, pulling blindly at her hips until they were flush together. When that didn’t seem sufficient enough for her, Adora let out a frustrated groan and, in one quick  and very thrilling tug, Catra was seated on the counter with her legs wrapped around the blonde’s waist. 

This was much better than their first kiss, a much more accurate representation of Catra's skillset, she thought. Though Adora was impatient, Catra slowed the pace down, gently teasing Adora's bottom lip with her fangs before slipping her just enough tongue to make her thirsty for more. A very lovely moan escaped Adora's mouth. 

Catra was diving in for more when suddenly the hips she was hugged across grew broader. She felt herself craning her neck up to continue meeting Adora’s lips, higher and higher until it was impossible to ignore.

She pulled back just a breath, only to find She-Ra standing before her. What a treat it was to watch Adora’s face go from disappointed to confused to immediately embarrassed.

“I’m sorry!” she said quickly. “I’m still trying to control her. Without the sword, she's even more tied to me. Tied to my emotions, I think.”

Catra savored this up-close look at She-Ra. She was a little worse for wear but really it was a wonder how much she’d grown on Catra since that first disastrous non-meet-cute. 

“Honestly, it's kinda starting to do it for me. Is that weird?”

Adora immediately perked up. “Oh, really? No, that’s good! I can totally work with that.”

She-Ra cut her a break and leaned down so she wasn’t fully towering above Catra. They resumed kissing, with Catra only sorta wondering how long it would be before she had to ask how this whole costume thing came off. The cape could be hot though. It had kinda replaced the firefighter strip show dream recently.

Adora pulled back from the kiss to move her hands to Catra's face. “Hey,” she whispered. “I choose you. This is all me. Not fate or destiny or the God-”

Catra shut her up with another lingering kiss, really letting herself melt in She-Ra’s arms.

“I know, princess,” she paused to whisper. “I choose you too.”