Chapter Text
This was a ridiculous idea.
A stupid, idiotic idea that Shadow Weaver could not believe she thought was a good idea for even a second, let alone actually going through with it. She could have just left the Fright Zone with Adora, made sure she was safe, made sure Hordak didn't even get the chance to send the girl to a meaningless death or cripple her in one of his ludicrous training sessions .
But no. No of course she couldn't leave the rest of Adora’s little group in that hell hole, some small but very loud part of her wouldn’t let her. So here she was, in the middle of the Whispering Woods, with five children she had to feed herself, living in a makeshift tent she had to share with said children.
Why she was doing this, was completely lost on her.
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“Ms. Weaver!”
She had just come back from a nearby village with enough food for the rest of the week (most of which was stolen) when she heard the shrill cry of her favorite of the children she took. Looking in the direction the girl was coming from she saw Adora running as fast as she could towards her with a distressed look on her face.
When the girl finally reached her, panting for breath, she let out an annoyed sigh “Yes, Adora?” She could already feel the headache coming.
“Lonnie chased Catra up a tree!” she exclaimed. Of course she did, trouble seemed to follow that cat like a plague, just yesterday she was washed down the river trying to catch fish in her mouth. She sighed before walking further into their camp and setting down the food, save one bag.
“I thought I told you to look after her, Adora.” The blonde girl’s face scrunched up in anguish. “I tried to stop Lonnie but-” Shadow Weaver shushed her. “Just show me where they are.”
As they began walking towards the two remaining girls Adora began rambling on about what happened, none of which was acknowledged by Shadow Weaver as she simply tried to keep the throbbing in her head at bay. “Where are the boys.”
“Kyle and Rogellio went looking for berries near the river.” she answered. At the very least she did not have to worry about them for the moment.
As they went further into the woods, the sound of yelling eventually cut through the silence. As they finally reached the tree the kitten was stuck in Shadow Weaver could see Lonnie on the ground throwing twigs at the girl, while Catra seems to have dug her claws as far into the wood as possible.
“Lonnie.” The girl in question drops the stick in her hand before turning, her face etched with fear. “What are you doing?” Lonnie looks around, before unconvincingly responding “Catra won’t come down from the tree so I thought I could knock her out of it…”
“SHE’S LYING!”
“HOW WOULD YOU-”
The three girls froze as the area around them seemed to grow darker and colder. They all turn towards Shadow Weaver, who seems unnervingly calm. She walks up to Lonnie before dropping the remaining bag into the girl’s arms. “Go make dinner Lonnie.”
The girl opens her mouth to argue before thinking better of it and running back to camp. Once out of view Shadow Weaver turns her gaze from Lonnie to the girl currently shaking in the tree. “Catra, get down from there.”
The kitten shifts uncomfortably, “...i can’t…”
“What do you mean you can’t Catra.”
“I don’t know how…”
“You will never know how if you never try, Catra.” she says glaring at the girl. Catra nervously eyes the ground before making her way to the trunk and tries to climb down. About a third of the way down she starts to slip.
Adora panics, “CATRA!” She runs towards the tree to try and catch her best friend, but ends up just using her body to break the cat girl’s fall. As they both sit up Weaver let’s one of her shadows relax. It’d be a hassle if Catra ended up breaking a limb.
As Adora begins worrying over Catra, Shadow Weaver walks back to their camp. She had to make sure Lonnie doesn’t poison their food…
...again.
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After dinner Weaver goes straight to bed. She’s tired and her headache won’t leave her.
Their tent isn’t anything special, just a sheet covering the entrance to a shallow cave that used to belong to one of the many monsters that inhabit the woods. She’s attempting to build a proper shelter for them with her shadows, but they didn’t exactly teach architecture at Mystacor.
Once she’s settled in and closed her eyes however she finds sleep evading her, inevitably leading to her thoughts running rampant. Why is she doing this, in the Horde she had everything she wanted, power, authority, a runestone for god's sake. Why would she throw all that away for these children! Why would she-
These thoughts are interrupted when the cloth covering their shelter is opened and quiet footsteps echo through the cave. Soon enough the whispering begins.
“A-are you sure this i-is a good idea…?’
“It’ll be fine, stop your worrying.”
“Y-yeah but-”
“If you keep talking you’ll” wake her up!”
Gods these children would be slaughtered if they were ever sent on a stealth mission. The thought sent a twisting feeling in her gut. Why-
Weaver feels herself still as five small bodies crowd around her. They are uncomfortably close and she really should tell them to move…
Maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea...