Chapter Text
Adora didn’t remember moving. One second, she was by the gym doors. The next, she was sinking to her knees in front of Catra. Catra; who lay utterly still.
“Catra?” Adora’s lungs could barely push out the word, and her hands shook as they reached out. She gently cradled Catra’s head in her lap. It didn’t matter that she could feel Shadow Weaver approaching behind her, Bow and Glimmer unwillingly trailing behind. It didn’t even matter that she could see a tall man walking slowly towards her, a smile creeping up his face that reminded Adora of a lion as it stalked its prey.
All that mattered was that Catra was still breathing.
“Adora. At last we meet.”
Adora reluctantly tore her eyes away from Catra’s prone form and looked up into the face of Horde Prime. He stared down at her with his hands clasped behind his back, a small smile on his thin lips.
Adora stole a glance at Bow and Glimmer. Based on their defeated expressions, and the rest of the school still sequestered in the corner of the gym, Entrapta hadn’t succeeded in restoring their powers in this room yet. She spotted Principal Angella held separate from everyone else; in a web of Shadow Weaver’s magic.
“Well? Is this night everything you’d hoped for? It certainly exceeded my expectations.” Horde Prime tilted his head.
Adora clenched her jaw. If he wanted to gloat; fine. It gave her more time to come up with a plan, to save everyone, to get Catra to safety.
“Ah, Catra.” Prime clicked his tongue as he circled her. “Such a shame. It didn’t have to be this way, you know. I promised her a world of peace; no more pain, no more heartache. Ah, well.” The echoes of Prime’s footsteps stopped as he paused in front of Adora. “I guess some creatures are only meant for destruction.”
For the first time in her life, Adora saw red. Her head was buzzing and the world around her seemed to blur before her eyes. Her hands, which still gripped Catra, were shaking. She closed her eyes.
As the drums sounded off in her head, she heard a gasp from behind her.
“Uh…Adora?” Adora opened her eyes at the sound of Glimmer’s voice, but it was impossible to see her because of the…light? Adora raised a hand to block it out; and quickly realized the light was coming from her. Her arm, no, her entire body was glowing.
She looked up at Horde Prime, and was surprised to see his eyes widened in shock. Shadow Weaver too, had taken several steps back and was staring at Adora with an open mouth.
Entrapta must have turned the power neutralizer off. That must be it. Except no one else was glowing; and Adora faintly registered that she felt…good. She felt a buzz through her muscles and could feel her own power surging through her, unlike she’d ever felt it before.
Adora looked down at the girl in her arms, now illuminated in light. She tilted her head down and touched her forehead to Catra’s. “Come on Catra, you’re not done. Not yet.”
Adora wasn’t exactly sure what she was doing (she hadn’t taken any classes on reviving your almost-dead girlfriend via previously unlocked superpowers; maybe that was only for upperclassmen), but she closed her eyes and focused on Catra. She squeezed her tighter and held her closer; willing the power she felt running in her own veins to run into Catra’s. It was only fair, after all. Catra had always made Adora feel powerful, safe…loved.
Adora was simply returning the favor.
All of a sudden, Catra was coughing into the crook of Adora’s arm, and finally, finally, those beautiful eyes of hers opened. She peered up at the blonde and gave a tiny smile.
“Hey, Adora.”
Adora gave a soft gasp and pulled Catra in tighter. The glow dimmed down around them, and Adora took stock of their surroundings once more; Weaver with her fists clenched, shadows at the ready once more. Horde Prime, his lip curled in range. But Adora noticed something else. Hidden away behind a mask of fury, located just beyond the whites of his eyes, was fear. He was afraid of her.
Adora stood and pulled Catra to her feet. Prime smiled and raised a hand to signal the clones behind him. “Get them.”
Adora moved her body into a fighting stance, but before she could even raise her fists, a tidal wave poured down, seemingly out of nowhere, and knocked a legion of clones against the far side of the gym.
“That’s for ruining my dress, my date, and my hair.” Mermista stood, arms crossed, leaning against the open door of the gym, as Seahawk, Scorpia, Entrapta, and Perfuma came running in behind her. “Oh, and in case you couldn’t tell, Science Geek got rid of the power neutralizer.” She took in everyone’s blank stares and open mouths, and sighed. “So you should probably like…fight back, or something. You’re welcome.”
It was as if a switch had been flipped. Everyone swung into action at once as the crowd broke through Shadow Weaver’s magic. Bow whipped out his arrows and began firing them off towards the remaining clones. Glimmer disappeared in a sparkly poof and Adora spied her reappearing behind various clones, karate chopping them from behind as she made her way towards Angella, who was ushering the younger, more frightened looking students out of the gym.
Adora looked for Horde Prime, who had retreated behind a wall of clones and Shadow Weaver, whose shadows were keeping everyone at bay. Adora scoffed. “Coward.” He made eye contact with her and smiled.
She took a step towards them, but Catra threw her hand in front of Adora. She jerked her head towards Weaver and growled. “She’s mine.” In a flash, both of Catra’s hands had their signature ball of flame in them.
Mirroring Catra, Adora also threw out a hand to stop the other girl. “Together?”
Catra raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Sure, together.”
That smirk lit a fire in Adora that had nothing to do with the heat rising from Catra’s palms. “You know…we never got to dance tonight, did we?”
Catra practically purred. “Why no, we didn’t.”
Adora held out her hand and Catra extinguished the flames as she took it. She let out a distinctly un-Catra-like squeak as Adora reeled her in. With Catra pulled taut against the front of her body, Adora leaned in with the newfound confidence that only comes from pulling your possible girlfriend back from the brink of death. “You were right, by the way.” Adora whispered in her ear. “I love the suit.”
Emboldened by the blush on Catra’s cheeks, Adora spun around with Catra in her arms, planted her feet, and threw the other girl with all the force She-Ra could muster. She smiled as she watched Catra land practically on top of Shadow Weaver, fire magic at the ready, immediately gaining the upper hand over her mother.
Before Adora could rush into the fray herself, Glimmer materialized next to her. “How goes it over here?”
Adora’s smile broadened as Weaver screamed various insults at Catra. “I think we’re winning.” But Glimmer’s attention had already been taken by Bow; who was pulling off an impressive pirouette spin as he fired off arrows at a group of clones that had surrounded him.
Glimmer sighed and smiled dreamily. “My boyfriend’s so cool, isn’t he?”
“Uh Glim? You’re…not actually dating, as you keep reminding us.”
“Oh…yeah, right. Well, someone should do something about that then, huh?” Glimmer cupped her hands and yelled out across the gym slash battlefield. “Hey, Bow!”
He casually ducked and bobbed as he faced off against a clone, casting a glance in their direction. “What? Kinda busy here!”
“Do you want to be my boyfriend?”
Bow lost his footing and narrowly missed being hit in the face by the clone. But when he turned in their direction, he had the biggest grin Adora had ever seen on the boy, and that was saying something. “Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes!”
Adora laughed as Glimmer’s face turned pink. “Took you long enough.”
“Shut up, Adora.”
“Uh, hello? A little help? Some of us are fighting for our lives, here!” Mermista’s voice broke through the sound of the battle, and oh yeah , they’re in the middle of a battle.
“Mermista! That’s not a very nice way to ask for help.” Perfuma chastised her as her vines strung up two clones by their feet, suspending them in mid-air.
“Yeah, you gotta say something like-” Scorpia was cut off as a clone tackled her from behind. “Oof!”
“Scorpia!” Perfuma dropped the two clones and they landed in a pile at her feet. Her face contorted in anger; she held her hands out, and a thick vine grabbed the clone and threw him across the room.
Scorpia weakly gave a thumbs up from the floor. “Thanks for the save, babe!”
Perfuma blew her a kiss. “Anytime, babe!”
Adora was distracted by a glint of metal clutched in one of the clone’s hands.
The portal ray.
“Catra!” At the sound of Adora’s voice, Catra leapt away from Shadow Weaver, and followed Adora’s line of vision until she spied the ray as well. She nodded to the blonde.
“Got it! Just give me a minute to wrap this up!”
Shadow Weaver roared as she thrust her hands out and thick, dark tendrils of magic made a beeline for Catra.
“Catra!” But by the time the word had forced its way out of Adora’s panicked throat, the girl had already leapt into the air and landed gracefully behind Shadow Weaver.
Catra’s hands had their usual fire in them; and her eyes carried the same heat. “Too slow, old woman.”
Catra raised a hand, but as Weaver flinched, she smiled and lowered it; the flame extinguished. She stepped aside to reveal Principal Angella, who immediately trapped Weaver using her own magic. “She’s all yours, Principal Sparkles.”
Weaver snarled and lashed against her restraints. “I’m not done with you yet!”
Catra knelt down till she was eye level with her mother. “Too bad. Because I’m done with you.” She rose and didn’t spare a single glance back as she walked over to Adora. “So, what’s the plan, princess?”
Adora took her girlfriend’s hand and kissed her on the cheek. She pulled back and smiled at the blush spreading over Catra’s face.
“What was that for?”
“I’m proud of you.”
Catra blushed harder and elbowed Adora. “Shut up.”
Just then, a blurry shape that Adora dimly registered as Sea Hawk went flying past them and landed in a heap nearby. He got to his feet slowly. “I’m fine! Totally fine!” He stumbled as he limped back into the fight.
Adora looked at Catra. “We should probably…”
“Yeah, let’s go.”
~~~~~~~
When she looked back on that night, Adora, of course, remembered the fight. She could recall making her way through the clones to get to Horde Prime. The way his eyes lit up in anger when she got close to him; the most emotion she’d seen from him all evening. The shock in his face when Catra managed to wrangle the ray out of his hands; as if he didn’t think she was capable of overpowering him.
Underestimating her was the last thing he ever did.
Adora remembered how victorious she felt as Catra tossed her the ray. The smile she wore as she opened a portal, directly where Horde Prime stood. Holding back laughter as he stumbled ungracefully back into the same dimension her parents had sent him to.
She remembered her breath of relief as the portal closed around him. The way the clones shut down without their leader; the way even Shadow Weaver seemed to give up her fruitless struggling.
But all of that paled in comparison to the rest of the night.
She remembered the way Mermista had squealed (actually squealed with delight) and picked up Sea Hawk by his waist to spin him around. She remembered Bow and Glimmer, standing off to the side, their foreheads resting against each other. It was the quietest Glimmer had ever been; she simply stayed in Bow’s arms, a small smile taking residence in the corner of her mouth for the entire evening.
She remembered Perfuma using her powers to clear away the debris, so students could pick up where they left off on the dance floor. Her laughter ringing out as she and Scorpia attempted to waltz to some fast paced rock song.
But more than anything, she remembered the feel of Catra’s hand in hers. Her laughter as Adora spilled punch all over her shoes. Her gentle teasing; and the way even her sharpest words fell around Adora like a blanket.
The way they kept on dancing, long after the music had ended.
When Adora looked back on that night, she remembered that in Catra’s arms, and with her friends by her side, she had never felt more powerful.
~~~~~~~
“So yeah…that’s how my best friend became my girlfriend, and then my arch-nemesis, and then my girlfriend again.” Adora chuckled nervously as she finally glanced up at her parents. She had been telling the bulk of the story to her shoes, as staring down at her laces was less scarier than looking at either of them. “But hey, that’s high school, right?”
Her parent’s faces were twin expressions of shock, their mouths hanging open. Then, they both started yelling at once.
“We were only gone a few weeks!”
“How did we miss-”
“I am going to have WORDS with Angella-”
“Wait, what happened to Swift Wind-”
“But you’re fine? You’re fine, right?”
“A PARTY?”
Over the noise, Adora heard a loud honk come from the street. “Oops, gotta go!” She grabbed her backpack and paused in the doorway. “And don’t worry, I’ll fix the roof!”
“ADORA!”
“Sorry, I’ll be late!” She turned and ran out the door, laughing as she went. She was still laughing as she sat down on the bus, taking the seat in front of Bow and Glimmer; the rest of their friends around them.
Bow smiled at her. “What’re you so happy about?”
“What, a girl can’t just be in a good mood?”
Glimmer groaned and rested her head on Bow’s shoulder. “Not on a Monday morning, no.”
Bow leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. “Aw, my grumpy girl.”
“I’m just glad we’re all in the same class now!” Scorpia’s voice echoed from a few seats away.
“Yes, no more of this hero slash sidekick lunacy.” Perfuma grinned.
“Personally, I’d be in a better mood if you all had let me study the portal ray before we destroyed it.” Entrapta sounded wistful.
“NO!” Everyone yelled at the same time, as Mermista shook her finger at Entrapta. “Don’t even think about it, science geek.”
The bus rolled to a stop and Adora looked out the window in anticipation, unable to keep a smile from spreading across her face. It only broadened as a figure hopped onto the bus, and took the seat next to her.
Catra smiled.
“Hey, Adora.”