Chapter Text
Follow her they did.
If they hadn’t followed Adora, Catra would never have saved Glimmer.
If they hadn’t followed Adora, Catra would never have gotten the chance to remind herself and Adora of who she was beyond the scars she left on Etheria, on Glimmer’s family, on Adora herself.
It was Adora’s birthday, and Catra wouldn’t have it any other way.
The sky was a cobalt blue.
Normally, the lazy young woman would never skip out on extra pillow talk with her girlfriend— shit, she still couldn’t believe Adora was her girlfriend —but today was her birthday, Adora’s first birthday since they saved Etheria at the Heart together, and Catra’s plan required precise timing.
Catra grumbled and ran through the gallant halls of Bright Moon in her modified black-and-red tank top and black-and-maroon leggings. Her short hair ruffled with the bursts of air that came with her quick pace.
She bumped around the walls like a drunken Bow had done during the post-saving-Etheria bash, only he was slower and laughing as Glimmer lugged him to their room. Catra stopped, rubbed her eyes of sleep, and continued in a straight, coordinated line until she reached the runestone of Bright Moon.
Just inside the glowing mass, Catra had hidden a carefully carved and nicked rose from the clearest ice she could find. Or, maybe she just asked the kitchen staff to freeze her a jewelry-box-sized ice cube. Same shit. Besides, this ice reflected light so much better, which would work with-
Glimmer erupted into view in her trademark cloud of fairy dust. Catra liked to call it fairy dust, anyway.
“Speaking of the devil.”
“Morning, Horde Scum.”
“Hey, Sparkles.”
Ever since her and Glimmer talked about Queen Angella’s death, and ever since Catra pledged her allegiance as Commander of the Rebellion’s troops and as a member of the Best Friend Squad, conversations were a lot smoother between them. It was now a matter of time to wait, and wait, and wait for the weight that suffocated them both to slowly, slowly, slowly lift off their sore, fatigued shoulders.
They opted to treasure the peace they had with each other in favor of the bitterness that sat on a shelf called the past.
Catra moved so that the clear flower was in Glimmer’s view. The Queen’s eyes flickered with fire, and crinkles formed at the edges of her eyes as the warmth manifested itself in a smile.
“It’s beautiful.”
“Thanks. I... hope Adora remembers.” Queen Glimmer sauntered in a line to Catra’s downcast face, and held her gloved hands on her bare shoulders.
“She will.” Glimmer’s brows furrowed into a mountain as she fixed her eyes on Catra’s as they tilted upwards.
“It took her a long time to open up about that night.”
Catra’s insides cracked as she let out a long sigh, and Glimmer trailed her hands from the feline’s shoulders to her shaking hands.
“She’s going to love it, Catra. But not as much as she loves you. ”
The lean, scarred woman’s lips grew across her face naturally and comfortably as a tree would.
Glimmer prepared her permanence spell.
‘I know who I am.’
Glimmer prepared her color-staining spell.
‘I’m going to take care of my scars better than anyone else could —better than even Adora could .’
Catra skittered back to Adora’s room after Glimmer enveloped her in a hug, after she let her fur sink into the Queen’s touch.
‘Adora’s proud of me beyond words, less for what I did to save Etheria, and more for what I did to save myself.’
As you can tell, Perfuma’s lessons on reframing internal dialogue were already helping Catra a bunch.
Catra knew Glimmer would kill her for it—she’d spent a whole hour the week before convincing her she needed to do this just before the break of dawn—but she let Adora sleep in.
She let Adora sleep in: there was no Shadow Weaver to punish her for what she’d “made” Adora do, no timeline for their dance. She set her ruby-stained ice rose (more accurately named ‘glass,’ now that Glimmer had put a permanence spell on it) on Adora’s nightstand.
She shifted to Adora’s ‘SPT’—‘Strategic Planning Table’ (ridiculous, I know)—and scrawled a quick note that she would place beside the rose:
“I want to try something.”
Catra sat on the balcony’s railing and gazed down at the entirety of Bright Moon’s kingdom. She sensed something beside her, turned to look.
Little Catra smiled up at her, yanked at the little tear in her red-and-grey shirt’s neckline. She tousled her fluffy, wild streaks. She felt the trees blossom forth across her cheeks in a wide, close-mouthed smile; she breathed in the freshness of the feeling.
‘Just because your head goes wild doesn’t mean you’re worthless, okay?’
Little Catra rested her head on Adult Catra’s side.
Catra put her arm around that little girl just like she’d done to Adora back in the woods.
She still felt cold, but she wasn't alone anymore. Warmth would come and go.
But Catra was never going to abandon herself again.