Chapter Text
In the early morning light of a clearing in the Whispering Woods, She-Ra stood ready, sword aloft. She scanned the trees that surrounded the meadow, muscles taut and ready to leap into action at the slightest flicker of a shadow.
“Hey, Adora.” A voice purred.
She-Ra whipped around just in time to see a dark shape descend from the canopy behind her. With a shout, she went tumbling backwards but was able to use her momentum to fling the attacker off of her. She jumped to her feet and charged forward, only to realize that where her opponent should have been, there was only empty air.
“OK, Catra,” Adora whispered, “Where are you?”
“Were you talking to me?” Catra appeared over She-Ra’s left shoulder and then disappeared just as quickly when her sword came swinging down.
“Ha!” She said, “Too slow!”
Showing off the full extent of her acrobatic prowess, Catra backflipped out of the way She-Ra’s strikes. Not to be outdone, Adora took a soaring leap over her head, twisting mid-air to face her as she cut off her path of escape. For a moment Catra froze, wide-eyed, but then with a bright fanged grin, she vanished from sight.
“I liked you better before you could turn invisible,” Adora grumbled, shooting a glare at the patch of sunlight where a now invisible Melog likely still lolled contentedly in the warmth.
“No, you didn’t.” Catra’s disembodied voice called back.
She-Ra turned to the far edge of the clearing where the taunt had come from. Instead of charging over, she paused and watched the grass for movement. Sure enough, a patch of weeds rustled and she traced the tell-tale disruption of plant-life as it moved steadily back towards her along the edge of the clearing. Just as it was about the reach her, She-Ra spun sideways and pinned a now very visible Catra against a nearby tree.
For a second the two stared at each other, wide-eyed and breathless. Then with a grin, Adora phased back to her normal height.
“I win.” She breathed and leaned down, eyes fluttering closed.
“You wish,” Catra said, and taking advantage of her wife’s distraction, knocked her legs out from under her. She followed her tumbling to the ground, and after a rolling scuffle across the meadow, ended up on top again. With one hand, she pinned Adora’s arm above her head, and with the other, she stroked her cheek before swooping down to kiss her.
“Mmm,” Adora sighed into her lips, “still kind of feeling like I won this one.”
“Shut-up,” Catra growled and pressed kisses all over Adora’s face until she started giggling. With a contented purr, she rolled off of Adora and onto the grass next to her, grabbing her hand so she could trace absentminded shapes on her palm.
“This is nice.” She murmured, tilting her chin up to look at Adora.
“You know I would NEVER complain about helping Bow and Glimmer with final preparations, but yeah, getting out of the castle… just the two of us… It is nice,” Adora said, shifting onto her side so their foreheads were almost touching.
Catra snickered, “For someone who claimed they wanted a ‘small family and close friends wedding’ Glimmer sure has gone overboard with party planning.”
“I mean it doesn’t help that Bow’s family alone is the size of a small army.”
“Or the fact that their close friends list includes most of Etheria and the entire council of the interplanetary alliance.”
“That’s what we get for spreading peace and magic across the galaxy, I guess.”
“I guess,” Catra smirked, leaning in to press one last long kiss to her wife’s lips before sitting up in the grass. Adora rolled up beside her but then froze, eyes fixed over her shoulder.
“Catra, look.” She whispered and lifted her hand, pointing into the shadows of the forest. From the trees, a massive beast emerged, all sinew and muscle it padded into the meadow and lifted its enormous fanged snout to sniff the air. On instinct, Catra made to leap to her feet, but Adora grabbed her arm, stilling her.
“It’s okay,” She said, searching blue eyes asking Catra to trust her. “I’ve got this.”
It went against every fibre of Catra’s being to watch her wife slowly rise to her feet and take a cautious step towards the predator.
“Hey there,” Adora crooned, taking another step forward, “I won’t hurt you, you’re alright.”
The beast fixed its eyes on her, muscles tensed, claws protracting from the pads of its feet.
“Adora,” Catra said, voice taut with worry, but Adora just shooed at her with one hand while the other extended out towards the beast who began to release a low rumbling growl.
“Adora!” Catra cried, but she just closed her eyes and took the final step, her hand pressing onto the snout of the beast.
For a second Catra was sure she was going to have to carry her wife home in pieces, but instead, the great beast gave a shuddering sigh and leaned into Adora’s hand.
“That’s it girl.” Adora smiled, weak with relief, “It’s okay.”
Adora took a step back and for a second the two beings stood in silence, contemplating each other. Then the beast gave a huff and tossed its head towards the forest, beckoning three tiny cubs forth from their shadowed hiding place. The beasts in miniature came rolling into the meadow, leaping and pouncing on one another in reckless abandon. One particularly brave youngster left its siblings and cautiously stalked towards Adora.
Adora looked from the cub to the mother beast.
“Uh, can I?” She asked, and Catra swore she saw the animal lift its head in a gruff nod.
Bending down, Adora extended a finger for the cub to sniff. At first, the little creature wrinkled its nose in disgust so obvious it made Catra burst out into nervous laughter, but on second examination, the cub deemed its new friend acceptable and crawled onto her lap. Eyes wide, Adora wrapped her arms around the little thing and began to rock it in her arms, gently scratching behind its pointed ears. She looked up across the meadow towards her wife and smiled so wide it made Catra’s heart hurt.
For one brief moment, Catra pictured a future, an impossible future.
Suddenly, the meadow was enveloped in a blinding flash as a beam of light erupted out of Catra’s chest and collided with a twin beam emanating from Adora. The beast howled in alarm and sprang down to pluck her cub from Adora’s arms before tearing into the forest with her other two young in close pursuit. Alone again in the meadow, Catra ran to her wife, clawing at the flashes of pink and blue light that seemed to be emanating out of her chest, just above the heart.
“Catra!” Adora cried, and then amongst the chaos, they were in each other’s arms, seemingly drawn together across the distance of the clearing.
“What’s going on!?” Catra shouted as the light churned between them.
“I don’t know!” Adora yelled back.
Then, as quickly as it came, the blinding light dimmed.
Catra scrunched one eye open and then the other, quickly releasing Adora as she realized her claws had dug into her back.
“Are you okay?” She asked, spinning Adora around to make sure she hadn’t accidentally drawn blood in her terror.
“Catra, I’m fine.” She laughed and then lit up in a wicked smirk, “You’ve scratched me a lot harder than that during s- what in the stars is that?”
Catra spun around and then shrieked in alarm at the many-coloured flickering sphere floating in front of her. She sprang back but the sphere pursued her, trailing behind her even as Melog turned her invisible and she scrabbled up the nearest tree. Hissing, she turned on her branch and sprang at the sphere, but as she moved forward, so too did the sphere, hovering just out of reach.
“Hold on!” Adora yelled, making her way far less eloquently up the tree.
“What are you waiting for?” Catra asked, still invisible “Get it! She-Ra up!”
“Catra, whatever it is, I really don’t think it’s going to hurt us.”
“How do you know?” Catra spat, “It’s been chasing me!”
“I don’t think it's chasing you,” Adora said, taking a cautious step forward on the tree branch. Catra reluctantly flickered back into sight so she could grab hold of her shoulder.
“I think its… bonded to you.” She continued.
“Bonded to me?” Catra asked.
“Yeah, and to me too? I don’t know it’s a feeling like a-“
“Magic She-Ra thing?” Catra quirked an eyebrow but Adora just shrugged.
“Like a warmth.” She finished.
Catra paused and stared at the sphere as it continued to flicker between colours. Pink and blue then orange before back to pink and blue, except the pink was more of a purple which was shifting into a red but then! Gold.
Catra blinked. It was warm.
“Okay,” She said, “so the yellow ball isn’t going to do anything to us, what do we do with it?”
“I think we’re supposed to take it with us.” Adora said simply, and then turned to scramble down the tree.”
“Take it with us,” Catra muttered, “Why not?”, and she followed down after her wife, the now monochrome golden sphere in tow.
“Come on, it’s time we get back anyway!” Adora yelled as she strode across the clearing “We’ve been out all morning! Glimmer is going to kill us.”
“Where have you been?” Glimmer scolded, “do you think I have time to be worrying about you running off and getting into some mad adventure when it’s my wed-“
Glimmer paced across their bedroom floor, teleporting back in front of Adora’s face for emphasis.
“Glimmer, I’m sorry” Adora cut in, “I swear we just went out to get some air but then something… weird happened.”
“Weird?” Bow asked, placing a calming hand on Glimmer’s shoulder, “And where’s Catra?”
“I’m in here,” Catra called from the walk-in and Melog added a confirming meow.
“Why is she in the closet?” Glimmer asked wearily.
“Ok now don’t freak out, but we’ve brought back a… strange new friend.” Adora said, “Catra? Come out now.”
The door to the walk-in creaked open and Catra stepped into the room, Melog at her side, the sphere of golden light bobbing in front of her.
Glimmer’s jaw dropped in shock while Bow clapped his hands to his mouth and squealed.
“Oh, I knew it, congratulations!” He said.
“This is… Oh, wow, you guys!” Glimmer spluttered, slowly lighting up into a grin.
“Uhhhh what’s happening?” Adora asked.
“They seem waaay too excited,” Catra said as she walked up and grabbed Adora’s elbow.
“Of course, we’re excited for you!” Glimmer laughed, “You’re going to have a baby!”
“We’re going to have a what now?” Adora laughed along uncertainly.
Bow’s look of joy was replaced by one of confused apprehension, “You’re pregrant...?”
“We’re what?” Catra asked as Melog turned a sickly grey color.
“We’re going to have a what now?” Adora repeated, stunned.
“That,” Glimmer said using slow careful words as she pointed towards the sphere, “-is going to be a baby. Your baby.”
“But… but how did this even happen?” Catra stuttered, glancing down at her hands.
Glimmer and Bow exchanged a bemused look.
“Well, when two people love each other very much and decide they want a baby-" Glimmer started.
“-then the magic of Etheria binds their souls together and forms a child!” Bow finished.
Adora and Catra stared at them, blank-faced.
“You’re kidding,” Catra said.
“Didn’t anyone ever teach you guys where babies came from?” Bow asked, concerned.
“I mean, I came through an interdimensional portal across space-time,” Adora said.
“I showed up in a box.” Added Catra, still in shock.
“Ok… but you never thought about where you came from before that?” Glimmer asked.
“Well,” Catra said, “there was that one time when Shadow Weaver told me I was a parasite who grew inside my mother’s stomach until I got too big and she popped open, but I’m pretty sure she was just trying to make me feel bad.”
Now it was Bow and Glimmer’s turn to be caught off guard.
“That’s… horrifying.” Glimmer choked out eventually.
“Eh, Typical Horde childhood” Catra shrugged, but Adora noticed the stiffness of the gesture and leaned in to slip a reassuring hand around her waist. She rested her cheek on Catra’s shoulder and stared into the golden ball of light that hovered in front of her chest. When she looked closely, Adora could see that the was orb with rhythmically expanding and contracting, like a pulsing heartbeat.
“Catra, that’s a baby.” She said, voice hushed with wonder.
“Yeah. A baby.” Catra said, a strange look crossing her face. Suddenly, her eyes widened in panic, Melog flashing red, and she jerked back to grab her wife by the shoulders, “Adora, what are we going to do with a baby!?”
Glimmer laughed and threw her arms around the mothers-to-be, “Take care of it silly! And you’re not going to be alone, you’ll have me and Bow to help!”
“I’m gonna be an uncle!” Bow sniffed, eyes misting over with happy tears “I mean, I already have eighteen nieces and nephews, but I’m gonna be an uncle again!
“But first,” Glimmer said, “you’re going to be a husband. Chop chop people! The wedding bells ring in t-minus three hours and after your little romp in the woods you two,” She pointed at Adora and Catra “are filthy.”