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Catra and Adora had finally learned how to relax.
Even after the war, they were still so tense, nearly all the time. It took them years to unwind anywhere other than their bedroom in the dead of night. With Bow and Glimmer’s encouragement, they explored a plethora of relaxing experiences: spa days, cooking classes, spinning pottery, and more.
The beach was their favorite. There was something about lying out in the sun, hearing the waves, and facing a massive body of water that brought both Catra and Adora peace. After living in the Fright Zone for twenty years, they both had a strong appreciation for nature. Maybe they enjoyed making up for lost time.
In the following years, Adora and Catra traveled to the coasts of Mystacore and Salineas, found a lake beach within the Whispering Woods, and spent a weekend at the oasis in Scorpia’s desert kingdom. Sure, their lives were busy, what with She-Ra and the Magicats and the reconstruction of Etherian society—but for the longest time, they had been able to carve out a little sliver of us-time.
And then they had a baby.
Their son Forrest was born during a diplomatic visit to the newly-renovated Horde. Catra had been very pregnant at the time, but still insisted that she accompany the Bright Moon procession on behalf of the Magicats. She went into labor during their first night in the Fright Zone, but refused to have her baby there—so Forrest was born in the Whispering Woods.
Adora and Catra had been twenty-nine at the time, relatively stable from a near-decade of therapy. When they decided to have a child, they agreed to give him the safe and loving home they never had. Forrest would grow up in their Thaymor cottage and rooms in Bright Moon Castle. He would know love, warmth, and safety, a stranger to the war his moms fought, the lives lost, the pain caused and endured.
Someday they’d tell him everything, of course. But five years old was too early for Forrest to understand or even comprehend his parents’ past.
He was so their kid, with his tabby grey fur and curly hair parting for triangle ears. He had two bright blue eyes like Adora’s, and although he looked more like a kitten as an infant, he was rapidly growing into the 90% human, 10% beast ratio of a mature Magicat. He was sweet, sensitive, and kind, enthusiastic to learn about magic and literature and nature. He made his moms proud every day—even the ones with tantrums over why he absolutely may not play with Adora’s sword.
Adora and Catra had brought Forrest to the beach at Mystacore for the weekend, having put their respective duties on a two-day hold. They met up with Glimmer and Bow, who they hadn’t seen in a few weeks due to Glimmer’s queenly responsibilities and Bow’s work with Entrapta in Dryl. The two weren’t a romantic couple—at least, that’s what they told everyone—but they remained close after the war, despite conflicts that arose after Glimmer’s coronation. And of course, they remained fond of Adora, as well. Catra… they learned to tolerate, then begrudgingly respect, then genuinely like, to the surprise of all parties involved. It didn’t hurt that she had returned King Micah to Bright Moon after her stint on Beast Island, although the wound of Angella’s loss would never fully heal.
Adora and Catra had spent their entire morning playing with their inexhaustible child. Adora loved showing Forrest the best strategies to assemble and secure a sandcastle, while Catra taught her son how to put a conch shell up to his ear and listen to the ocean (even though the ocean was literally right there). Despite Catra’s disdain for water, they all stood at the shallow ocean’s edge, each mom holding one of Forrest’s tiny hands as they jumped over incoming waves.
As the afternoon sun cast golden rays onto the sand, Adora and Catra told Forrest they needed a break from running around. Bow and Glimmer, who had spent their morning enjoying mimosas and sunbathing, happily tapped in.
Now Catra and Adora relaxed, their beach towels side-by-side, Adora doing her daily stretches as Catra read a spy novel. In her open-backed one-piece bathing suit, the blonde gave her wife a view of her gorgeously toned muscles and sun-kissed skin. Catra waited until Adora looked elsewhere, then lowered her book and sunglasses to admire her form.
“Caught you,” Adora teased as she met Catra’s gaze.
Catra only shrugged, putting her book down on the sand and raising her hands behind her head. After a moment’s pause, she smirked at Adora. “Well, go on.”
Adora rolled her eyes and continued her stretches, blushing slightly from her wife’s attention. Catra put her face in her hands and leaned forward, her tail lashing behind her.
She sat up from lying on her belly and pulled her red cover-up tighter, walking over to where Adora held a complicated yoga pose. Her wife’s eyes were closed in concentration, which gave her the perfect opportunity to—
“ Adora! Catra! ”
Both turned their heads to the source of the call: Glimmer and Bow, carrying a crying Forrest still dripping from the sea.
Catra and Adora sprinted to their son and Adora took him in her arms. She winced at a 2-inch cut on Forrest’s leg, thankfully not too deep but bleeding nonetheless.
“What happened?” Catra asked, her protective instincts kicking in. Adora shushed Forrest and held him against her chest, muttering calming words as he whimpered.
“He got cut up by a shell,” Bow quickly explained. “We were just playing in the water, and then he cried out, and it was all our fault—”
Catra sighed and mustered a reassuring smile. “It’s not your fault,” she told Bow and Glimmer. “Could have happened with anyone.”
Bow exhaled and Glimmer’s expression softened as Catra squeezed Forrest’s hand. “It’s gonna be okay,” she comforted her son. Forrest continued to hiccup-cry and she ran a hand through his curls. “I know, I know, getting hurt’s the worst. Let’s find our stuff so we can fix you up.”
Forrest put on a brave face as he looked into Catra’s eyes. “Okay, Mama.”
“My strong little guy,” Catra said as she led Adora, Glimmer, and Bow back to their towels. She grabbed the first-aid kit from Bow’s beach bag (bless that man) and pulled out disinfectant, cotton balls, and bandages.
“All right,” Adora said as she sat Forrest down on her towel, sitting behind him so he rested between her legs. She gently elevated his wound as he continued to sniffle, watching Catra pour disinfectant onto a cotton ball.
“Mom,” Forrest said, leaning his head back against Adora’s chest.
“Yes, baby?”
“Is Mama gonna make it stop hurting?”
“Of course she is.”
Bow and Glimmer smiled nervously as Catra approached Forrest with the cotton ball. She knelt down and looked her son in the eyes.
“I have to clean the cut before I put on the bandage,” she warned him. “It’s going to sting.”
Forrest’s eyes filled with tears again. “But it already hurts!”
“I know,” Catra said, “but it’s important because it keeps your insides safe.”
“My insides ?”
Catra smirked. “Yeah. Gross, right?”
Forrest stuck out his tongue, momentarily distracted. Catra slowly raised the cotton ball to the cut and he moved his leg away.
Catra didn’t get angry, she didn’t even flinch. She just sighed as Adora repositioned Forrest’s leg and kissed the crown of his head.
“Count down with me?” she said as Adora held Forrest’s hand. Forrest squeezed his eyes shut and nodded.
“Three—you too, Adora, Glimmer, Bow—and two, aaaaand… one.”
Forrest hissed as Catra disinfected the wound, but stayed in place as Catra worked. She removed the cotton ball, threw it at a startled Glimmer, and picked up the roll of bandages.
“Almost done?” Forrest asked, opening only one eye.
Catra chuckled. “The hard part’s over, I promise.”
“Now Mama just has to wrap it up,” Adora said, smiling as Forrest played with her fingers.
Catra hummed as she dressed the cut perfectly, a leftover skill from her time in the Fright Zone. She had saved lives in the war because of her ability to help the wounded. Granted, her son’s two-inch cut from a seashell was far from a gaping stab wound, but it was still nice to know she had it in her.
“All done!” Adora cheered, raising Forrest’s hands in celebration.
“Moo-o-om, I’m not a baby,” he said, yanking down his arms and crossing them over his chest.
Catra raised an eyebrow. “You’re a baby and you’re tough,” she teased. “Tough baby.”
“ I’m a tough baby,” Bow volunteered, raising his hand.
“Me too,” Glimmer added.
“Me three,” laughed Adora.
Catra just smirked. “Well, I’m an adult and I can do anything, but you’ll probably get there someday, champ.”
Forrest laughed while Bow and Glimmer groaned. Catra sat criss-cross on the sand and took her son into her lap.
“Okay, one more thing before you go back to playing,” she said, motioning for Adora to join them. “We’ve gotta kiss it better.”
“Bow and Glimmer too?”
Catra shook her head. “Nah, they’re exempt ‘cuz I say so. And as we established earlier, I am the adult in charge.”
“Yeah, sure,” Glimmer said under her breath, receiving a stifled laugh from Adora.
Forrest looked up at Catra, his eyes wide. “Kiss it better? What does that even mean?”
Catra lifted up his leg and lightly pecked the bandage, lowering it back down with a smile on her face. “That’s all,” she said, “just makes it better somehow. Tell me you don’t feel better.”
Forrest considered the challenge briefly, but quickly folded. “I guess it does a little...”
“You guess?” Catra gasped, mock-offended. “Looks like I’ll have to do it again—”
“No way,” Adora interrupted, “my turn!”
They play-wrestled over the privilege to comfort their son as Glimmer and Bow exchanged an exasperated look. Finally, satisfied, they released Forrest from their clutches.
“Stupid seashell,” Forrest said, brushing the sand off his bathing suit.
“You tell ‘em!” Catra cheered as she pinned Adora to the sand, winning the never-ending wrestling match between them for now.
Bow began to ask Forrest what he’d like to do next, but Adora cut him off. “Wait, before you go,” she said, hopping to her feet and running to the beach bag. “Sunscreen. Reapply. Now.”
Forrest and Catra both groaned. “We have fur ,” Forrest said. “Mama says we don’t need that stuff.”
“Yeah, well, you didn’t see Mama that one time we went to Scorpia’s kingdom and she nearly fried.”
Catra jumped up with a start. “A- dor- a!”
“Nope, no arguments, we’re all reapplying,” Adora said, already squeezing lotion on her palm. “You too, Bow and Glimmer.”
“Uh, no, I think we’re good,” Bow said, holding his hands out defensively.
“We’ve been reapplying, Adora,” Glimmer reassured her.
“Fine. But you two stinky kitties, report to me immediately.”
“Yes, sir, yes ma’am!” Forrest shouted, saluting and heading to Adora. Catra smiled and rolled her eyes behind him.
“Okay, soldier,” Adora said, “you know the drill.”
Forrest nodded dutifully and allowed Adora to reapply. She finished by booping his nose with a dollop of lotion.
“You’re ridiculous,” Catra said, rolling her eyes again as she accepted the inevitable.
“That’s not how you address a commanding officer,” Adora teased as she passed the sunscreen over.
“I wouldn’t know,” Catra said as she reapplied. “I was never a kiss-as— butt-kisser like you.”
Forrest found this banter hilarious, to Bow and Glimmer’s confusion and mild concern. Catra and Adora were weird as a reunited couple in the Rebellion, then as a newly married couple, and now as moms in charge of their equally weird child.
But they were happy, and that was what mattered. Winning the war, restoring the stars, revolutionizing the planet… it was all to ensure happiness and safety in Etheria.
Catra tossed Adora the sunscreen and she started to apply. His interest wavering, Forrest began to tell Bow about a cool rock he found earlier that day.
“Hey, Catra,” Adora said, “can you get my back?”
“Sure thing, Princess,” Catra answered smoothly, taking the sunscreen yet again. Adora pulled up her hair and turned around, exposing her bare back to Catra, Bow, Glimmer, and… Forrest.
“Mom,” her son said, suddenly frozen in fear. “What happened to your back?”
Catra’s eyes widened as the sunscreen fell her from her hands. Adora’s gasp came out loud and short and pained.
They hadn’t intentionally hidden the scars from their son, but it was a subject they preferred to avoid until Forrest grew old enough to question it.
Apparently five years old was the unlucky number.
Adora lowered her hair, covering the evidence of Catra’s attack during the Battle of Bright Moon. Nothing else Catra had ever done to She-Ra had scarred as clearly and angrily as this.
Adora turned to face Forrest, unable to speak a word. Silence hung in the air as Forrest glanced from Catra to Adora, his beautiful smile now a deep frown.
“Soooooo Glimmer and I are gonna go hit the bar,” Bow said, wrapping an arm around the shorter woman.
“Forrest…” Adora said quietly, her voice cracking.
“Right now,” Glimmer added, turning them both in the direction of the bar. They fled as fast as they could in sandals.
The churning waves persisted as Catra and Adora stood before their son.
“I’m sorry,” Forrest said, “did I do something wrong? Was it mean to ask you that?”
Adora shook her head. “N-no, baby, you didn’t do anything wrong at all.”
“It’s a good question,” Catra said, her voice quiet and firm. “They do look pretty scary.”
Forrest plopped down on the towel and waited for his moms to join him. Realizing this at the same time, Catra and Adora rushed to sit on either side of their son.
After a puzzled silence, Forrest tugged at Adora’s shoulder. “Can I see them again?”
A strangled noise came from Catra as Adora lifted her hair, angling her scars into view. Fascinated and fearful, Forrest ran a tiny hand down her back.
“Does it hurt?” he asked, suddenly withdrawing.
Adora shook her head. “Not for a very long time.”
“That must have been a big shell,” Forrest observed, glancing down at his bandaged wound for reference. Beside him, Catra lowered her head into her hands.
“Mama, what’s wrong?” Forrest asked, abandoning Adora’s back. Catra’s shoulders began to rise and fall, and Adora could hear her wife’s quiet sobs.
“Mama!” Forrest cried, pulling on Catra’s arm. “Why are you sad?”
“Baby, baby, please” Adora cooed, trying to pull Forrest away. She knew that Catra couldn’t handle too much physical contact during panic attacks, but Forrest was determined to stay attached.
“Forrest,” Catra managed to say, “Forrest, I’m so sorry, I never—”
“Wait, Mommy,” Forrest interrupted, staring down at his own hands. He retracted his claws by default, but he certainly knew how to use them. He’d seen the little scars on his mother’s hands and arms from before he learned how to control it. Those were tiny, but Adora’s…
“Did someone scratch you?” he asked. “Someone like me?”
Catra finally released a loud sob, crying uncontrollably from then on. Adora stood then fell to her knees beside her, wrapping Catra in a tight hug. She knew made the right choice when her wife retreated into her arms.
Adora started taking slow deep breaths, encouraging Catra to join as they’d done for a decade. In and out, in and out, together. Catra settled limply as her hysteria passed.
Adora watched her son extend and retract his claws, fear and confusion written on his face. “Forrest, it’s not—”
“No,” Catra interrupted, finally lifting her head. “Adora, let me explain.”
Adora wanted to argue, but she knew it wouldn’t change the truth. No amount of tact was going to make this easy.
“Forrest,” Catra said, wiping tears out of her eyes. She reached out for his hand and he immediately gave it to her. “I gave Mom those scars.”
“ What? ” Forrest cried, releasing Catra’s hand and jumping backwards. Adora immediately started to stand, but Catra held her down. She was surprisingly calm as her son reeled at her betrayal.
“You know that Mom and I grew up together,” Catra began, earning a stiff nod in response. “And then we helped Glimmer, Bow, and the princesses save the world.”
“Yeah,” Forrest said, “and Aunt Scorpia, Sea Hawk, Swift Wind—”
“I wasn’t always on their side,” Catra interrupted, the words poisonous on her tongue. “I wasn’t always friends with Mom—or She-Ra.”
“But that doesn’t make any sense,” Forrest cried. “You grew up with the bad guys, but then you left because they were bad.”
Catra took another breath. “Mom left first,” she said. “A year before me. She became She-Ra, met Bow, Glimmer, and the other princesses, and fought against the Hor—uh, the bad guys.”
Forrest’s eyes widened. “But where were you?”
“I stayed,” Catra said. “Mom went, and I stayed.”
“She left you?”
“No, Forrest, she didn’t. Mom did everything she could to take me with her. I chose to stay.”
Forrest thought for a moment, then finally reached a conclusion. “ You were the bad guy that Mom fought, Mama.”
Catra nodded. “One of many. Some were badder guys than me. Some, like Aunt Scorpia, were just trying to make the best of a bad situation.”
Forrest was still apprehensive, keeping his distance from Catra and Adora. “So you hurt Mom?”
“Yes.”
“Did it hurt as bad as the shell?”
“So much worse,” Catra answered, her voice cracking at the end.
“Did Mom hurt you too?”
Catra shook as she tried to hold back her tears. “I… I don’t know if I can…”
Adora kissed Catra on the head and returned to her son’s side. “Forrest, baby. I need you to listen to me, okay?”
Forrest nodded as Adora took Catra’s trembling hand, reminding her that she was still there.
“When I first became She-Ra, I wasn’t very good at it,” Adora began. “I learned that everything about my life before was bad, so I started a new one where everyone needed me to be strong.”
“You are strong,” Forrest said.
“I wasn’t then,” Adora continued. “I was so afraid of letting my new friends down, failing to stop the bad army I used to call my home. But, baby—I was already failing from day one. There were good people, people I knew my entire life, on the bad guys’ side. Uncle Rogelio and Uncle Kyle, Lonnie and Aunt Scorpia. And the person who made me happier than anyone else in the world… your mother.”
“But they were the bad guys ,” Forrest argued. “They were hurting Etheria. Hurting Bow and Glimmer, your friends!”
“It was never simple,” Adora said, “but you’re right. They’re called the bad guys because they did bad things.”
“And Mama did bad things? Like hurting your back?”
“Yes.”
Forrest gasped, then turned to glare at Catra. “I thought you loved Mom.”
Catra couldn’t even bring herself to respond.
“You say you love me ,” Forrest continued. “Are you going to hurt me, too?”
At that, Catra went blank. She sat up and looked her son dead in the eyes.
“I will never let anyone hurt you,” she said. “I would die before I let that happen. And if anyone ever tries, I will hurt them worse… even if it makes me a bad guy.”
Tears ran down Adora’s cheeks as Forrest crawled into her arms. “I’m scared,” he said, tucking himself into her chest. Catra breathed heavily, frozen where she sat.
“We were both scared back then,” Adora softly continued. “Scared because we were fighting a war. Scared because we were fighting each other. Scared because we needed each other, but instead we were enemies. The world was broken during that year. I couldn’t fix it as She-Ra, and Catra couldn’t end it as the bad guys’ leader. Eventually we got scared by someone scarier than the two of us combined, and saved Etheria as a team.”
Forrest hummed thoughtfully, though he still seemed unconvinced.
“Everything we did back then was because of fear,” Adora said. “It’s how we were raised, it was the only thing we knew. Except, when Mama and I were together, we felt something else on top of fear—love. And when we left each other love left us, and our lives got so much worse. When we found each other again, baby, and put words to our feelings… we knew we wouldn’t be torn apart again.”
Forrest turned slightly outwards, glancing at Catra for a second.
“We never want you to make choices because of fear,” Adora explained. “We want you to only know love. But scary things exist in the world, in your family, even in yourself. Just remember, whenever you’re scared: love makes you stronger than fear.”
Forrest looked at Catra again, this time for a while longer. “Did Mama ever tell you she was sorry?”
Adora managed a chuckle. “Like, a trillion times.”
“Good ,” Forrest said fiercely, now fully locked on Catra. “And did she kiss it better?”
Catra finally took a breath as her son studied her from afar. She matched his gaze and slowly blinked, and after a moment’s pause he slowly blinked back.
“You know, Forrest,” Catra said softly. “I never did.”
Forrest’s expression turned stern, his demand implied.
“You are a tough baby,” Catra muttered as she stood up. She began to approach them, but paused. “Is it okay if I come closer?”
The answer came quicker than she could ever have dreamed. “Yes, Mama.”
Crying tears of relief, Catra embraced her wife and son from behind, coming face-to-face with her younger self’s mistakes.
“You paying attention, Forrest?” Catra asked.
“Uh-huh.”
“Me too,” Adora teased. Catra sighed and leaned down towards her scars, the image that would haunt her for the rest of her life.
“Hey, Adora,” Catra began, kissing the first of many marks on her skin. “Did you know ( kiss ) that I am ( kiss ) the luckiest woman ( kiss ) in Etheria?”
Adora snorted. “You’re ridiculous.”
“We have ( kiss ) the life ( kiss ) we always deserved.”
“Yeah,” Adora agreed, looking fondly down at their son. “We really do.”
Catra finished her kisses and spoke tenderly to her wife. “And for the trillion- first time, I’ll say it: I love you, and I’m sorry.”
Adora cupped Catra’s face from behind. “I love you too, and I forgive you.”
Forrest reached his tiny hand outward and Catra inhaled. Slowly, carefully, she circled around Adora and took it in her own.
“Will you ever tell me more about that year, Mama?”
Catra smiled softly. “I’ll tell you whenever you want,” she said, “but you might not understand until you’re older. Maybe you never will.”
“I want to try,” Forrest insisted, his eyes so much like his mother’s.
“Thank you.”
“And Mama?”
“Yes, Forrest?”
“Do you still feel scared now?”
Catra enveloped him in a hug, Adora’s strong frame embracing them both. Mother and son’s purrs filled the ocean air.
“No,” Catra answered. “Only love.”
Meanwhile, at the Mystacore Beachside Bar…
Glimmer threw back her third mimosa of the afternoon, releasing a burp worthy of a queen.
“Nice one, your majesty,” Bow said, subtly moving her glass out of reach.
“Wh-what’s up?”
“Just cutting you off,” Bow shrugged. “Being a good friend, you know.”
Glimmer’s annoyed expression melted to a grin. “You’re the best friend, Bow.”
“Oh, thanks—”
“Wait, whoah, I just remembered! I wonder if Catra and Adora are okay, with Forrest?”
Bow smiled reassuringly. “I’m sure they’re fine. Catra and Adora have gotten through much worse.”
Glimmer nodded, but then suddenly began to giggle.
“What? What is it?”
“I just remembered,” Glimmer said, wiping tears out of her eyes. “Someday they’re gonna have to tell Forrest that Catra literally broke time and space.”
Bow immediately poured himself another drink.