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They're getting ready for a final battle. Glimmer and Catra already escaped from Horde Prime and Adora has to fight along with everyone, but she doesn't have the sword anymore and feels really insecure and scared she might not be any good without it. The scenario isn't helping at all. They are at the War Room and just don't seem to come up with any actually useful plans (and the weight of their -already huge- disadvantage is something not helpful either).
Adora just felt too overwhelmed with those feelings, cutting off Glimmer's plan and saying she was gonna take a break. Everyone in the room was a little worried, especially a certain new participant: Catra.
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As soon as Adora shut the door, the room was left with nothing but silence and confusion. Glimmer knew her friend's worried tone, so she quickly decided to break the stillness, determined.
"Guys, I'm going after her... i'll try to make it back as soon as I-"
"No" a voice came from one of the distant chairs. Suddenly, all eyes were on Catra.
"Excuse me?"
"You finish your plan, Sparkles. There's just no more time left to waste on this, we have to come along with at least some strategies for the attack!"
Glimmer was just used to the kitten's annoying ways at this point. Always trying to be in charge and call her "sparkles" in the process... but still, she had a point.
"And Adora?"
"I'll... I'll check on her" Catra's voice cracked. She knew Adora would hate this, especially being as determined as she was to never share another word with the feline ever again.
Somehow, Glimmer's expression gave her comfort. As if she was doing the right thing? As if she was being... not an inconvenience?
"Sure, thanks Catra."
The kitten then left as quickly as she could, still trying not to show any sight of her feelings.
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Adora didn't go too far, for she could be seen with her face over one of the pillars at the hall. Her mind though, was somewhere else completely far from there.
She was just so mad, so overwhelmed, so... guilty.
"Even though at the moment there was nothing else I could've thought of to stop the weapon, except for breaking the sword... I'm still guilty for destroying the biggest advantage we could possibly have against Horde Prime at the moment."
"How did I let this happen?"
"I should've known better"
"Sure any other She-ra would've thought of a better solution than to BREAK the sword"
"Now everyone will die and it's all my fault"
"It's all my fault" "It's all my fault" "It's all-"
Suddenly, strong arms were felt coming from behind. They were familiars. They were Catra's.
As the girl quickly recognized those arms, she backed the feline off instantly. So she turned around, an angry expression forming on her face.
"What the hell?! I told you to stay away from me! Look, I appreciate you saving Glimmer's life back when you two were captured, but that doesn't mean I trust you or forgot your past record. I know better now. So don't you dare doing as much as getting any near me"
That was hard to hear. It hurt, even though Catra saw it coming... But still, she didn't regret it
"Sorry, I just had to break you from those thoughts" was all that left her mouth, but it was enough to get Adora at least intrigued - even if the blonde tried to sound as casual as she could.
"What do you mean? What thoughts?"
"Sometimes you do this thing with your body when your thoughts start spiralling, and they're never good ones… So I saw you doing it again and tried to stop it"
Adora's mouth fell open. Now that the ex-best friend mentioned it she used to, in fact, always manage to pull her out of her own head in the most random ways...
"I- didn't... I thought you were just being random when you did this back then, I guess "
"It's okay, I would always do it in different ways so I can be sure it will distract you enough."
Silence took over the Bright Moon halls again. Adora looked down, awkwardly. She never realised Catra would always help her like this... that she would even pay enough attention to her to figure this out on her own. But then again, she couldn't have figure that out since the other one was never the kind to actually express things.
Catra then proceeded, looking right onto the blonde's face, as if expecting to make any sort of connection.
"It's not real, you know"
"What?" Adora then looked back, and Catra instantly turned away. She has never been the best at connecting anyway... but at least she was trying.
"Whatever it was you were thinking. You don't have to listen to it, it's only trying to bring you down. Heh, trust me, I know." - with a sad smile, Catra managed to look back at her.
She then noticed the Adora's face closing, as a cold chuckle left her mouth "As if you did! Our minds work way too differently, now you trust me."
The kitten looked away, sad. She then tried as hard as she could to acknowledge this wasn't really about her this time... Adora was just trying to push her away. Something she also knew too well.
"Why don't you enlighten me then?" was the best she could do, mostly because she wasn't used to leaving her own pride aside... but at least they wouldn't start an argument that way
Adora's eyes went wide for a second, and the kitten could tell she was not expecting that answer... just their usual argument cycle to go on instead.
"W-well… whatever, I'll just tell you because it can't get any worse than this"
She looked back at Catra. Still no sign of anger on her face... so she looked away again, a little tense for not really knowing where their conversation was gonna go this time
"I… I'm no good at any of this, I wasn't even good when I had the sword but at least it was a huge advantage. Without it, I'm just useless and weak and shouldn't be leading such a huge fight. Not sure I should even be in the battle at all."
Catra turned her head so quickly to face her that the blonde just had to look back, worried about what that meant. She then caught sight of a pissed ass feline, making Adora instantly arm her defenses again.
"What?? Bet you thought the mighty She-ra didn't have any problems, huh?! Or... oh! Maybe you think I'm pathetic for not feeling good enough when Shadow Weaver CLEARLY gave me every reason to be!!"
She was furious, with no doubt something of that nature was gonna leave her ex-best friend's mouth. But then again, she was... wrong about her?
At least what she saw was Catra's face softening, with sadness and guilt breaking in again... but she managed to reply:
"No… at least, not anymore. What I think is absurd here is... the fact that Shadow Weaver is much more of a bitch than I ever imagined. I mean, she even manipulated you into thinking you're not good enough! You, I mean, the most incredible person in this whole world! She is such a fucking bitch"
Catra then realised what she just said, blushing hard at the exposure. Trying to gain her composure as quickly as she could, with a loud sigh as if to lift the weight off of her shoulders, she kept going:
"Adora, look, I know you're scared, we all are, but YOU definitely don't need that stupid sword to win this! The way you have of leading people, with this insanely huge heart… no one, even Shadow Weaver, could take that away from you because it's what you're made of and it's exactly what takes to be in front, leading! People believe in you, not that stupid sword. Dude, clearly She-ra is the one missing out here!"
Adora laughed warm-heartedly at that, tears already forming on her eyes, and Catra couldn't help but smile too. She then grabbed both the blonde's arms, squeezing and shaking them as if on a "snap out of it" motion.
"We don't need She-ra to lead the war, we want Adora. Now get your ass back on that Battle room and show them what Adora is made of!"
Still with that warm smile on her face, Adora whispered a slow "thank you" and quickly placed her hands on Catra's face, placing a small kiss on her left cheek, but softly enough for the kitten to feel every bone on her body get rigid. The blonde then returned to look back at her with confidence already written all over her face - and, God, that suited her good.
"Let's do this."
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SCENE 2:
The war was over. Even though Adora's whole body ached and blood was coming from a lot of different places... she finally felt relieved. Also, every soldier and princess and normal citizen was on a similar state, but they couldn't care less: they won and that's all that mattered right now.
They cheered loudly when the blonde's figure started to show from the Whispering Woods, walking slowly as she greeted everyone, but with the main focus of searching for her friends, her well-known worry starting to kick in a little bit again.
When she turned around, all thoughts immediately stopped, leaving the girl only with lots of tears quickly falling down her face and a broad smile forming with the view of two injured, but happy friends rushing to hug her.
None shared a word, they were too focused on the relieve each was feeling to see the other one alive, and so they got closer and gave a Best Friend's Squad hug only the three of them could provide.
Adora was crying like a baby, she was so happy with everything, possibly happier than she's ever been.
But then it hit her, her eyes opening up again as she broke apart from the hug
"Where... is she?"
A lump instantly got back on her throat, along with a feeling that lead her to start thinking the worst possible scenarios. Bow and Glimmer knew her too well though, as they quickly called her so she would stare back at them, revealing her two friends smiling softly and separating to show an injured, limping feline coming from afar.
"Oh my god" was all she could manage to say in between all the tears that instantly spread across her face as she laughed, relieved once again. Her heart was too warm, so she ran towards the annoyed feline that, once laid eyes on her, had the same reaction.
"Catra!!! You're okay!!"
"Hey, Adora" she tried to sound like her usual cocky self, but her heart was speaking much louder as the girl got closer to her
The blonde then reached her, not stopping the pace for a second and throwing herself right onto Catra's opened arms.
Catra didn't even complain she was too hurt to get such an impact, being too busy with the feeling of finally wasting no time to wrap arms around Adora's waist, allowing her to do the same to her neck. They squeezed each other too tight, laughing at the intensity of the whole thing, or maybe just the joy of being around each other.
Catra was too immersed on her own tears to see Adora's face properly once they broke the hug apart, but it was okay since she could see the other's outline well enough to place hands around her cheeks, leaning in for a kiss.
Fireworks, Light, Joy, Gratitude, Colors. It all hit Catra in a split second. Even though her eyes were closed, she swore she could see it all. She was experiencing some new kind of joy, and that was incredible for someone who hasn't experienced happiness in a long, long time.
It was as intense, as tight as that hug, for their mouths felt like glued together, pressing hard against each other a if trying to express how they didn't wanna let go of this moment.
Tears kept falling down until eventually they broke apart, staring full of... a lot of different feelings, at each other.
Glimmer and Bow then showed up, taking Catra and Adora's side respectively, to soon be joined by Scorpia, Lonnie, Kyle, Rogelio, Double Trouble, and the other princesses. Soon enough, the whole crowd of habitants from Bright Moon and other members of the battle started clapping at them and so they clapped back, for all of them contributed to this on their own unique way. Some people at the front even started cheering for "She-Ra", making Adora so amused at the whole situation.
As if her heart wasn't already pounding fast enough before, it certainly was now that she realized she was holding Catra's hand.
Not only that but also the cat-girl didn't push it away like all the other times before. And she didn't have to hold it too tight this time either. Then, it hit her:
There were no actual promises, but that's what gave them the actual freedom to just: hold onto each other.
The feeling was too good, she hoped Catra was feeling the same. The blonde then laid eyes on her, to see a blank expression on her face. "Was she... not happy? What did that mean?"
Adora then squeezed the feline's hand, making her come out of that trance and look suspiciously at her
"Hey so, um... Just wanted to make sure this - she gesticulated over the whole crowd, specially the ones cheering for her - is okay by you? I mean, you don't have to be here if you're uncomfortable... I know it might take a while for you to actually-"
Catra was confused at first. But then what Adora was trying to say finally hit her "She's nervous I might be jealous, or feel diminished."
With this realization, Catra only stared deep and slowly into Adora's worried blue eyes, smiling softly and she gently pulled both their hands up, giving Adora's a slow kiss while squeezing the hand a little bit. The kitten then starred back at the people cheering for Shera's name and, with a fist raised in the air, started yelling:
"Adora, Adora..."
Their friends then followed her, encouraged, and so did the people that cheered for She-ra before. Suddenly, everyone at the crowd was cheering for Adora, not She-ra.
The blonde felt like she could melt at any second, tears already starting to take over along with a light-hearted smile, but her attention was soon enough taken over to Catra
"Dude, don't be a dummy! Raise your fucking fist in the air!!!"
The girl's expression changed again, and as confident as ever she raised it, gaining loud cheers from everyone around her. In that exact moment then, the girl realized:
There were no promises, no She-ras, no "we must be strongs",
There was nothing pushing her, she was already strong enough.