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Catra treaded through the sand, uncharacteristically slow. Something burned behind her eyes; something between vengeance and a manic bloodlust. A smirk tugged at her lips as she inched closer and closer towards her target. Adora.
Adora, now free from distraction, having just sent a troupe of horde soldiers fleeing for their lives, turned quickly at the unmistakable sound of paws on sand.
This filled Catra with glee, as she finally had the opportunity to spout her infamous line,
“Hey Adora.”
Now Adora was smirking, thinking this would be just another quarrel that might end with a few scrapes and a black eye at most. Thinking this would be another round of witty banter and that both would return safely to their respective living arrangements and plot for the next battle.
“Hey Catra.”
Catra was slightly taken aback by this, but persisted anyway, saying nothing in return.
“What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue?”,
Adora said with a wink, leaning forward on her sword.
They were face to face now, glaring into each other’s eyes in a manner that suggested that either would be ready for the other to strike.
Catra was the first to do this.
She tackled the blonde to the ground, knocking her sword out of her hands in the process. She clasped a hand around Adora’s throat, digging her claws into the tender flesh.
“What the—“
Adora choked, spitting up bits of blood.
“What the FUCK, Catra?”, she sputtered between gasps.
Catra lifted her other hand to Adora’s jaw, tracing the edge with her finger and staring wistfully at the way it glided along her smooth skin. She smiled as she made her way down to the rivulets of blood streaming from her neck, swiping a drop of it and placing it onto her tongue in an overly exaggerated manner.
Adora growled in response, struggling under the other girl. She successfully lifted her knee to Catra’s back, but this only propelled her forward and forced her claws deeper into Adora’s neck. She howled in pain at this, and then wondered when her wrists had been pinned down by Catra’s knees. Seeing no other option, she resorted to spitting in her face.
Wrong choice.
Catra stumbled backwards, lifting herself from Adora entirely. Her pupils dilated to slivers, and before Adora could grab her, she lifted the sword from the ground and positioned it with relative ease. She had the end pointed straight at the other girl, the tip nearly touching her torso.
Adora was no longer She-ra now. Tears pricked at her eyes, and her heart was nearly vibrating. She fell to her knees and began to cry.
Catra responded with a coy look of faux-sympathy, pouting her bottom lip and uttering a soft, “awww, poor thing.”
“Why are you doing this?”, Adora heaved,
“This isn’t like you.”
“Oh, but isn’t it?” Catra finally spoke.
Adora’s eyes widened, and for a moment, she almost resembled a wounded golden retriever.
“I have every right to hurt you,” said the brunette, voice teeming with venom.
“You ABANDONED me. You have no idea how much pain you’ve caused me since then, and no matter what I do you won’t FUCKING BUDGE. You’d rather be a self righteous, glittery little castle-dwelling PRINCESS than be with me. Am I really that unbearable?”
Adora felt as if every last breath had been ripped out of her lungs. She clutched the claw marks on her throat and sank even lower to the ground.
“I- I’m sorry, Catra.... I never meant to hurt you. I didn’t—-“
“Didn’t what? Didn’t think about me? How I’d feel? Didn’t think that maybe I loved you more than life itself? That you leaving me would be like tearing the sun out of the goddamn sky?”
Catra tightened her grip on the sword and sobbed violently.
“You love me?”, Adora whispered, nearly inaudibly.
She rose to her feet, and shakily made her way towards Catra. She began to wrap her arms around her, but was met with all the fire and rage that had built up for all those years, manifested into one fateful gesture.
Without thinking, Catra swung the sword.
It was reflexive; a gut reaction to an unexpected hand on her shoulder. She didn’t mean to. She swore she didn’t mean to.
Adora flew backwards, landing back-first onto a jagged stalagmite jutting from the ground. It was hard to say which killed her first; the sword, or the rock. But one of them did, and it was something that would haunt Catra for the rest of her life.
“ADORA!!”, she screamed hoarsely, rushing to her side.
Adora had a gash running from her left rib to her right hip. Catra had never seen so much blood spill out of one person before. Of course the first time would be the love of her life. Of course.
She desperately clung to Adora’s body, wracking sobs into the shoulder of her jacket, feeling the warm scarlet on her back. Dirty blonde hair tangled
with her fingers as she savored the last bittersweet moments together. She sat there for a while, nearly crying herself to sleep before she heard two voices calling from over the hill.
Her heart dropped when she recognized them.
Surely enough, the sprinting silhouettes of Glimmer and Bow came into view past the clouds of sand, frantically calling Adora’s name.
Panicking, Catra picked herself up and booked it for the nearest cliff.
She sat on its plateau, just out of sight of Glimmer and Bow, watching as they both began to panic as well. Watching as they yelled about who could’ve possibly done this, and why did it have to happen now, and cursing at no one in particular. Watching as Bow cried over Adora’s body just as she had, and Glimmer pulling him off of her and picking her up with trembling arms.
And finally, watching as Glimmer and Bow teleported away with Adora.
Watching as the love of her life left her, for a third time.
Watching the sun being ripped from her sky.