Chapter Text
Catra shrieked in suprise as she got tackled to the ground, and a blade shoved against her neck. Her childhood friend Adora was in her tall-sona and had her eyes locked on Catra since she had seen her. Adora had always been power-hungry and a showoff, which in turn can sometimes get everyone put into dangerous situations. But mostly just be a gigantic pain in the ass.
Catra recalls when Adora had bunjee-jumped into the Trench, an awful hole in the middle of the Hoarde base which is used for training the highest commanders. She was only 13 at the time and was desperate to prove to prove to Catra she could. and the rusted cord had snapped. The only thing that had saved her was Catra jumping in after (like she always does) catching her (like she loves doing) and breaking her nails climbing up the stone walls with double her usual weight (which happens more than often and hurts everytime).
Or when Adora had decided to pull a prank on an upperclassman that took a gift she had given Catra. By prank, of course, you mean throwing an extreme amount of contrabanded pepper into the guy's morning rations. The guy was deadly allergic to pepper and had gotten rushed to the medbay immediately. Adora had imitated the guys suffocating face, and had laughed for days. Even Catra had thought that was out of line and never takes any form of revenge to the point of near death. Adora sometimes had shown a bit of a sadist streak. Never stopping the simulations until everyone was cut and bruised, kicking her opponents when they were down. Shadow Weaver has had to pull her off the cadets in mosh fights that were all too common in the Hoard. Pretty ironic for a "princess of power".
The princess herself was holding Catra down right now, golden eyes feirce and hating. Catra wondered if she'd have the audacity to kill her.
Clearing her throat despite how the movement caused the blade to sink deeper. A thin line of blood drips carefully down her throat and disappears behind the jacket she's wearing. Catra made an annoyed gesture with the hand that wasn't trapped at under her. "Do you mind?"
Adora just narrowed her eyes once more. "Why are you here Catra? Why did you think you could waltz into Bright Moon's wards and not expect any repurcussions?" An edge of exasperation creeped into her voice. "And why would you do this at 3 in the morning?"
Catra attempted a shrug. "I admit it's pretty low—even for me! I know you need your ~beauty sleep~." Her mouth turned sour at the thought of what she had to do next. "I came here to warn you though, something big and bad is coming from the Hoarde. Something that could destroy the entire planet if they are not careful. I know I don't have the best track record, but this planet is just as much as my home as it is yours."
Adora studied her face for what seemed like forever, until she sighed heavily. She stands up from her crouch-like position, golden blade still pointed at Catras chest. "You cannot be trusted. I don't know why you wasted your time coming here." She rolls her eyes. "Buuuut, I know Queen Angella would kill me if I let valuable information slip."
Suddenly, her sword turned into a familiar hand offerning to help her up. Her glittering armor into red pajamas, and hair in a comforting ponytail. Normally Catras ego would prevent her from taking it but she had been through hell of a lot. She took the outstretched hand, and thought of it as a peace offering.
She stood up with a small groan of discomfort. The cut on her arm and multiple wounds to her stomach made her feel faint, and eyes unfocused. The only thing grounding her was the hand attached to hers.
"Woah." Adora gasped. "What happened to you?" Her voice sounded muddy, like she was underwater as a wave of pain submerged Catra.
Her vision doubled and she abruptly felt incredibly weak and unsturdy on her feet. As her knees buckled she felt strong arms catch her, and a familiar scent embrace her.
She didn't know when her ears began ringing, but she faintly heard Adora saying her name. Everything then went black.
Catra wakes up in a luxurious bed, with every part of her body aching. She attempts to get up but her body just sinks deeper into the massive matress. She gives up several tries later, and hisses loudly.
Her sounds of annoyance are interrupted by a laugh. "You okay 'princess'?"
The other girl groaned. "No," she turned her head to where the blonde was sitting and stuck out her bottom lip. "Help me please?"
Adora got up, seemingly without thinking, and lifted the girl out of the miles of blankets to set her on the edge of the matress. Despite her gentle hands, Catra winced when she got put down.
Seeing her wince, Adora got up hands placed on her hips. Her "mom stance" as the cadets called it. "Care to tell me how you got this hurt? And why you didn't TELL ME you were this hurt until you passed out?" Adora started pacing in front of the bed. "And I hurt you more! I almost slit your throat! You didn't think to say, oh I don't know, 'Hey Adora! My guts are slipping out from a gigantic cut on my stomach—maybe quit the intimidating and help me'?" Adoras voice raised to an almost shout and her hand motions were getting more and more erratic. "Why are you even hurt this bad in the first place?"
She huffed and sat down on the floor in front of Catra. She didn't know if she wanted to tell the princess everything just yet.
"First, what time is it?" If she missed the time to talk to the queen—
"You've only been asleep for 20 minutes or so," Adora gestured to the dark windows. "The sun hasn't even risen yet." She looked at her feet, still in her pajamas, "No one knows your here, I wanted to make sure you were...okay first."
"I'm not." Catra replied.
"Yeah, I can see that. Do you want to take a bath and get healed?" Adora looked her up and down. "And a new set of clothes?"
The feline nodded carefully, and began to stand up. She stood slowly, wincing along the way. Adora made her way to the corner of the room where a bathtub sat and turned on the tap. Catra made her way to the mirror on the opposite corner. What she saw shocked her to say the least.
Her hair was matted with blood, and her helmet discarded. Her face had a large scratch from her temple to her chin and her nose was slightly crooked and heavily bruised. The shallow cut from Adoras sword scabbed over, but the track of blood remained.
The jacket she threw over herself didn't protect her as much as she'd hoped. There was still rips in her shirt, burns, and her entire torso ached from god knows what. Her leg armor was scuffed on the left knee and completely broken on the right. And her belt, along with any weapons she had, was lost in the forest. Layer after layor of dirt and blood coated her feet and lower legs, along with the bottom of her tail.
Catra had to admit: she looked awful. Her wounds were worse than she felt, but that might be the shock. The jacket was discarded and suprizingly her arms and back weren't as damaged as the rest of her. Catra lifts the shirt above her head as well, hissing where the fabric sticks with a bloody seal. Her stomach looked sickening.
Besides the scratches from tree branches, there's a burning hole from one of the combat guns. She inspects it closer and sees that it missed it's target, the strip of skin above her pelvis, but the bullet had already dissolved meaning...
"Adora!" Catra shouted to the girl across the room. "I need you to do that healing stuff now!"
Catra looked through the mirror towards the blonde. She stopped messing with the bath and ran towards Catra, picking up the sword on the way.
"For the honor of Grayskull," she mutters as she hurries towards the other. She lands infront of her and Catra spreads her arms with her eyes closed as if waiting for a message from some sort of deity.
"Sooooo I don't exactly know how to heal people... But I can try." Said Adora, sounding awkward.
Catra slowly explained without opening her eyes. "Adora. I got hit with a particula mortem bullet, and that was hours ago. It missed my pelvis, thank God, but I don't know how much longer I have. It could already be in my blood stream working towards my heart." Her eyes slit open and land on the now towering woman infront of her. "I am begging you to do whatever it takes to get this dust out of me." Her eyes slam shut once more, arms still raised.
"Do you trust me?"
Always, Catra thinks.
"Yes," she awnsers instead. The tip of the golden blade settles against her heart.
"For the honor of Grayskull!" Adora drives the blade home.
The sword glows such a bright gold Catra can see it behind her eyelids. She feels such an intense warmth and vaguely wonders if she's dying. Heat travels from her chest to her fingers and down her legs. She feels slow and detached but utterly at peace. And then the fire fades and she opens her eyes.
"Is it done?" She asked, her voice suprizingly steady.
"Yeah, the poison is gone. You're going to be fine." Adora shrinks down until she's only a few inches taller than Catra and throws her sword aside. "The bath is ready, I'll, ummm, go to Glimmer's room! I'm sure she won't mind, haha, just knock on the door when your finished." Her face blushed a deep red as she stammered the sentence. It was oddly endearing.
"Okay. Bye." She closes the giant door behind her, but her voice still bleeds under. "Why do you laugh like an idiot? 'I'm sure she won't mind'. Ugh!" Adora's voice trails off as she gets farther down the hall.
Catra glances at the bath and slowly sticks a hand in. It's temperature is perfect. She takes off her ripped leggings and the strap of fabric around her chest. The entire stomach wound is gone— there's just a faint silver scar where the hole was. She also feels fully rejuvenated, like she had slept for three days and not like she had run for a few hours on the maybe brink of death.
While she washes her hair and body the water slowly becomes more and more red. Catra however, feels fully relaxed. And underneath her nails is finally clean! She steps out and rifles through her clothes before deciding they cannot be worn. The hunt begins for any sort of coverage and warmth (it was cold in that room!). She finds a robe laying on top of a chair and wraps it around herself. Satified she leaves the room in the direction Adora had left.
The tile was cold on Catras bare feet and made a soft slapping noise as she walked down the castles corridor. It wasn't morning yet, so the only light was blue and from the stars coming through windows.
She didn't know which door was Glitters and didn't want to knock on any non-suspecting doors. Or worse, guard doors. She decided to stroll around the hallways until she heard either of the princesses voices.
The path she was on led to a balcony door, the door handle was smooth and Catra felt compelled to open it. She did.
Outside was wonderful, the air smelled faintly of spring and summer mixed together. A floral scent combined with the faint smell of the sea made Catra relax and sink into the massive chair sitting by the railing. The balcony itself was pretty yet odd. There was only one chair, the one that Catra was occupying, and there were pots filled with dark soil but no flowers or plants. These didn't bother Catra at all, in fact as soon as she noticed them, the thoughts dissolved into nothing.
Catra layed back and gazed at the stars. She had never seen some of them before, the harsh lights of the Horde making most star gazing impossible. She and Adora always found a way. They used to scale the girls dorm wing and lay on the roof making up their own constilations, laughing and telling secrets and fears for hours on end.
Adora was scared of failure, Catra of being abandoned.
One time, before they had stargazed, they snuck into the kitchens and stole anything they could find that was sweet. It wasn't much, they were just army rations after all. But Adora made it work, she sprinkled artificial sugar packets on stale bread and smiled and made it all worth it. That night might of been the happiest one of Catras life, they had just talked forever, and layed down side by side.
It was the intamacy of it, the rawness that had made it so memerable. There were no lies, and there were no boundaries. Anything was fair game. They discussed what they hated about themselves and what they hated about each other. They confessed their worries about the Horde, and anxities about what would happen in battle. Adora expressed how fucking mad she was that her whole life was made for this, and she didn't even know her own birthday. She said she was scared, of the Horde, of herself, of the future. That was the first moment Catra had felt love for Adora. Non-platonic love. Protecting love. Run to the end of the world and back just because you desired it love.
She felt as if her insides were going to burst of this warmth feeling. After that night the feeling just got worse. Adora made her coffee despite knowing that she hated it, but the coffee tasted delicious—Adora made it for ~her~. She drank coffee everyday after that.
Adora had knocked Catra down during training, and smiled at her. "8-6 and Adoras winning." She outstretched her hand and Catra took it, her out-of-breath-ness not being because of the fall.
And when Shadow Weaver would kick, hit, and burn Catra, Adora was there patching her up, using far too many bandages, and kissing her knuckles.
When Shadow Weaver would embrace Catra in darkness for hours at a time because of a small mistake showing her images of horrors, Adora would sleep on the lower bunk with the light on.
It was these small things that made Catra believe that maybe what they had was more than friends. But then Adora had abandoned her. She had left her and known what it would do, she knew it was Catras greatest fear. She used an excuse of the Horde causing damage, being hurtful. Catra knew this! Catra had lived it! She delt with the sick abuse her entire life! And it wasn't enough to get Adora to leave for her, but some stranger got hurt by the Horde and its the end of the world? Why does everyone matter to Adora more than Catra does? Why wasn't she enough?
After Adora had left there was no one to go on the roof top with. There was no one to patch her wounds, or to sleep with on the bottom bunk to keep her nightmares at bay. Catra was appointed as second in command but she didn't want it, she just wanted Adora.
It hurt her so much that she began to hurt others, Adora included. She fought with her on the battlefield, and almost killed her on multiple occasions. These became her new nightmares.
Visions of finding Adora wounded or dead, and discovering herself with the weapon clouded her mind at night. She regrets her decisions so much but doesn't know how to forgive, much less apologise.
Catra is jolted by a familiar hand on her shoulder. "Hey, are you okay?" She asked.
Catra realizes shes crying and wipes her eyes on the robe sleeve. "What happened?" Her voice was rusty.
"The succulents, they feed on any type of emotion, often drawing it out like a well. This balcony isn't used anymore, I'm sorry I didnt tell you." Adora looks sheepish, her hand rubbing her neck. The pots are full now, looking freshly watered and are a bright blue. That explains the drainage and reminiscing.
Catra stands and her knees give out immediately, Adora catches her once more. "Twice in a night? Might just say you're falling for me Catra?" She chuckles and sets Catra down on the floor while sitting next to her.
"The first time I came out here I thought about the nights we would spend on the dorm roof, looking at the stars. I miss those days, they were simpler." Adora looks at the scar on her left pinkie, a twin one is on Catras right. A pact and a promise. "Are you cold?" She was only in a robe after all. Now that she was out of the chair the chill was creeping up on her. She nodded.
"Let's get inside and get some sleep before we see Glimmer and Bow later. Angella has meetings all throughout tommorow, so you can meet with her the day after that." Adora stood up and offered her hand, Catra accepted it. As they walked out the plants began to burn brighter and Catra had to wonder if Adora was thinking about her.