Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Finn!!! Give that back right now!!!” Mother yelled as I ran down the castle hallway. She wasn’t exactly happy that I took her sword.
“I think I’ll pass!” I gave my best smirk and went to turn the corner but ran right into a brick wall. Or well I ran into my Aunt Sparkles, but honestly what’s the difference. Either way I still ended up on my ass.
Sparkles had her hands perched on her hips. “Return the sword Finn.”
There was no use arguing with her. “Ughhhhh… Fine. Here Mother” I handed her the sword, stood up and started fixing my hair. Like Double Trouble always said, you can’t have a perfect day without having perfect hair. Guess I must have styled it wrong this morning.
“Don’t you think you should apologize!?” Aunt Sparkles, though shorter than me, was very intimidating. She had angry sparkles in her eyes.
I knew she was right but what’s the fun in that “Don’t you think she should apologize to me for not letting me borrow it!?” I straightened my back in attempt to look even taller, raised my brows and gave Aunt Sparkles a smirk.
“Cut the crap kid!” My ears dropped and I backed off. I hadn’t heard Mom approaching. “Yes Mom.” Mom was better at the intimidation game than Mother. “I’m sorry Mother. I should’ve taken it at night when you’re were asleep.”
“Finn!” Mother glared at me. Mom on the other hand was laughing
“That would have been smarter my child!” She ruffled my hair and put her arm around my shoulders.
“Catra! Don’t encourage them!” Mother looked at Mom who just smiled at her.
“What, Adora!? It was funny!” She went back to Mothers side and nudged her with her hip.
Mother put her face in her hand. “Just run along Finn and don’t do it again.”
“Okay Mother!” I said with a big smile and took off for the door. Guess I’ll just have to try it again later.
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I found myself perched in my favorite tree in the whispering woods. It was in a less dense section not too far off from Brightmoon but still far enough away that few people knew about it. In fact, Flora and my bandmates were really the only ones who knew I came here. The tree was near the edge of a cliff that overlooked several of the towns surrounding Brightmoon as well as a few of the old First One’s ruins. My moms took me to visit the ruins years ago when I was much younger, but I haven’t been back since. Mother was very strict that I was not to go near them without her. “They are very dangerous Finn. You could be hurt, or worse, killed. I don’t want you going near them without me.” She then went on to tell me all the horror stories of nearly dying in the First One’s ruins. Not going to lie, the stories were scary enough to keep me away. Looking out past the ruins you could see the edge of Plumeria. The spot was inspirational and great for thinking. It was easy to get lost in watching the creatures living in the Whispering Woods. My personal favorite being the large, winged beasts that would fly over the woods around sunset. I always thought it would be nice to fly. Some of my best songs and poems came from being perched in the upper branches of the tree watching life go on around me. I let my leg and tail hang down and leaned back against the trunk. I watched the sun slowly start to set. My ears twitched when I heard a light stepping sound approaching. It must be Flora. No one else could walk that lightly. I decided to scare her. Quickly and silently I pulled my leg and tail up out of view and got ready to drop.
“Finn!!” Flora shouted as she approached the tree. “I know you’re here! Come on!” She had on her favorite light teal dress with the sleeves that wrapped around her upper arms, leaving her shoulders bare. It was a very simple dress but somehow she made it look beautiful. She had a pink shawl draped around her arms but it had pooled at her elbows. That day she had pink rose petals in her white hair. Flora always had petals in her hair and they changed almost on the daily.
Once she was next to the tree, I dropped inches in front of her. She was a bit shorter than me so I had to look down to hold her gaze. “Hey Flora.” I gave her a big smirk showing my fangs on one side, my hand still holding the branch above me.
“AAA!! Finn!” She stumbled back with good balance and wide eyes. I swore I saw her blush. “Do you always have to do that!?” She shot me an angry look even though she was smiling. I chuckled and felt my own cheeks turn red. Quickly, I went to fixing my hair and turned away, hoping she didn’t notice.
“You walk so loudly. I knew you were coming from like a mile away!” I had to mess with her. She’s actually a rather silent walker. She’s the only one other than Perfuma and Mom that can sneak up on me.
Flora punched me lightly on the shoulder. “So I take it operation sword thief didn’t work?” Flora was now next to me playing with a flower she had conjured up.
“Mother caught me sneaking out of the room. I made a run for it but damn sparkles was around the corner and stopped me. Ugghh.. They never let me do anything fun.” My ears dropped and I felt Flora’s tail brush my legs. She put her hands on my arms and forced me to face her.
“I think you mean let you do anything dangerous.” She raised her brows and tilted her head before crossing her arms. She wasn’t wrong. For the most part my moms let me do what I want. But if they thought it was going to be even the slightest bit dangerous, they went into protection mode. It’s why I rarely told them about the bands adventures off the stage.
I rolled my eyes. “I guess.” I let a small smile escape “I’ll just try again later at night”
“Yo! Lovebirds! Hurry it up! Or do you want to be late to your own event!?” I hated when Coral called us that. Flora and I were just friends. My lip curled and eyes narrowed as I dropped my ears and shouted back “We’re not lovebirds you bitch!”
“Finn!” Flora smacked the back of my head rather hard. For being a tiny flower, she sure packed a punch.
“Ow! What? She deserved it!” I rubbed the spot she hit me and smiled at her. We started off towards Coral. I may think she’s a bitch at times but she’s actually our good friend and bandmate. Well my bandmate. Flora wanted nothing to do with getting on stage. Coral’s outfit matched her attitude. Baggy dark teal sweater, blue and black pleated skirt with a large chain hanging from the side and platform boots with several buckles up the front that made her taller than me. Her hair was a replica of her mother’s dark blue but messy like her father’s. It hung in tangled loose curls around her shoulders. The only thing containing it being a red bandana tied up as a headband.
“So where’s the sword? Or were you too chicken to steal from She-Ra?” Coral teased once we reached her.
“Got caught and had to forfeit before getting a face full of glitter.” I put my hands in my pockets and lowered my head. I hated to admit defeat.
“I thought cats were supposed to be stealthy?” Coral nudged me and I hissed. “Save it for the show Drama Lord!” Coral rolled her eyes. “Speaking of word are you wearing that?” She gestured to my outfit with a raised eyebrow. I forgot I hadn’t changed. “I know you enjoy the open side shirts Finn but come on where’s your usual show pizazz!? AND YOUR MAKEUP!!?? Are you for real doing a show without the flare???” Coral was practically in my face and pulling on all parts of my outfit. Flora just laughed while I turned circles trying to get away.
“Oh yes Flora so funny…. You’re being such a help right now you know” I glared at her and she just laughed harder. It wasn’t hard to get her to laugh. “You could have told me to change!”
“OH! I would never DARE give you fashion advice Finn!” Flora said in her best sarcastic tone putting her fists on her hips. She was rarely sarcastic but, oh gosh when she was, she was brutal. She then stuck the flower she had been holding behind my ear and tapped my nose while drug me along.
I was finally able to wrestle free from Coral and straightened my shirt and bandanna before getting all my hair back to one side. I was careful not to hurt the flower. “I have a spare outfit at Double Trouble’s place. It’s on the way.”
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Double Trouble’s place wasn’t far from the concert venue. Actually, the venue was owned by Double Trouble’s partner Peekablue. DT and I had been close friends ever since I could remember. They were my theater mentor back when I was still acting, which honestly wasn’t long ago. I still remember the long days of practice and the many “Louder Darlings!” from DT. If I recall correctly, they eventually had to say, “Ok now quieter darling”. This memory brought a smile and chuckle to my face. I missed the theater.
We arrived at Double Trouble’s house and I flung the door open, I used to pretty much live with DT half the time so they were used to me barging in. I even had my own room. “DT!! Are you home?”
“Hello Superstar! Aren’t you supposed to be on stage?” DT entered the living room. They had on an elegant black gown with big hoop earrings and stunning eyeliner. Gosh I’m glad I learned how to do makeup from them! They swirled a wine glass while waiting for an answer.
“I forgot to change before leaving the castle.” I motioned to my current outfit.
“Oh superstar I’m glad you noticed because I sure didn’t want say anything!” DT made a dramatic motion to my outfit, insinuating that it was horrid. “Come on darling, let’s get you fixed up! Oh, Coral and Flora come in and make yourselves at home! Would you like some wine?” Both Coral and Flora sat in the living room and denied the wine. We have a strict policy in the band about not drinking before shows, though I still took the glass when DT handed one to me. I kept it out of sight of Coral and Flora and downed it before starting the outfit selection process.
“Easy Superstar! Wine is meant to be tasted not inhaled!” Double Trouble took the now empty glass from me and started helping me get ready. It was nice to be with DT working on outfits and makeup again. It’s been a while. We may have gotten a bit carried away. Outfits were everywhere before we found the perfect fit. I ended up going with something a bit similar to what I always wear on stage. Ripped up black jeans, tight black crop top, and a loose-fitting flannel. Typically, I have my red bandana or a scarf of sorts but this time DT talked me into a red leather choker. I kept my fingerless gloves on since they made holding the mic easier.
“Ok I know you’re both fashionistas but come on! We’re gonna be late!” Coral appeared in the doorway, followed by Flora.
“Just finishing the final touches!” I stayed as still as possible as I painted on the last few roses on my face. I would never go on stage without my typical down the eye face paint. Flora helped me design it. She took the sword we use as our band logo and wrapped a green vine with pink roses around it. She thought it would look striking over my eye and it sort of became a thing from then on. “There! Done!” I put the brush down and started to clean the area.
“Now don’t you worry about cleaning up darling, I can handle it! I don’t want you to be late!” DT ushered us to the door. “And Finn! Don’t forget to stop by more! We miss you at the theater!”
“Don’t worry! I’ll stop by! You still owe me an eyeliner tutorial!” We waved and started off. Why did they have to bring the theater up?
Once we were a little ways away both Coral and Flora looked at me and in unison said “YOU QUIT THEARTER??!!” making me wince.
I knew that question was coming after DT mentioned it but I was still not prepared. I averted my eyes so I didn’t have to make eye contact with either of them. “Uhhh…. Yea… I uh… wanted to put more focus on the band.” My hands went to working with my hair, I hadn’t had much time to work with it at DT’s.
Both eyed me and looked right into my soul. They were good at seeing through me. Uggghhhh… Lifting my eyes I told them “I’m serious! Theater was taking up a lot of time and I didn’t have the time needed to work on songs and such.” How could I make them believe me? They both knew that theater was pretty much my whole life. “I figured I’d rejoin after I had time to work out more stuff with the band. You know time management and shit.” Coral seemed to have bought it, but Flora was suspicious. I assumed this was a conversation we would be having later. Oh yay. Not a conversation I was looking forward to. Also, maybe I shouldn’t have downed the wine. I was starting to feel the world wobble.
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“How are you even late??” Agnes was gesturing wildly, their pink and purple hair all frizzy with stress but still managing to sparkle. “We literally left about the same time!” Agnes lived with me in Brightmoon. They’re parents were Sparkles and Bow so we pretty much grew up together.
“Finn thought it was a great time to play dress up and got stuck looking in a mirror.” Coral teased before pushing us all to the stage. The venue was outdoors but there was a hidden building behind the stage for set up and to keep electrical equipment safe. There was a thick black curtain hanging around the stage to block set up from the audience. Meanwhile, there was a smaller performing area on the ground below the main stage for the opening act, which had already started. Wow we really were late.
Crystal and Twister were already getting the instruments set up and finalizing the setup on stage. Crystal was our go to for anything technical. She could re-wire an amp in her sleep. Her dark blue pigtails bounced like crazy as she leapt from one side of the stage to the other moving amps and mics and testing sounds. Just as always Emily2 was following her around. Twister was the unofficial manager. She made sure we all drank our water and got where we needed to be, meaning she was not going to happy that I was late. I felt the breeze before she even reached me. “Finn!! What the hell!!??” Her wavy pink curls settling from the wind she had created.
“I know I know!” I threw my hands up. I may be the one in charge on paper, but she was the real leader. “Won’t happen again!” It was an obvious lie, but I meant well. I stumbled a bit getting up on stage, cursed and went to testing the mic hoping no one saw. What was in that wine? I was never a lightweight. But then again, I usually didn’t down a near full glass of wine in seconds. I started to realize that was a mistake.
I must have been a bit off balance because Coral glared at me with a grin while she was tuning her bass. “Are you drunk?” Coral could solve a mystery before it even began so it was useless to try and lie but that didn’t mean she needed to know the full truth.
“I may have had a smidge of wine.” I held my hand up with my fingers barely apart to indicate I had a small amount. She didn’t need to know that I downed almost a full glass of wine.
“Really Finn!!?? You’re the one who made the no drinking rule!” Coral said just a wee bit too loud. She was right about the rule, but I wish she had not said it that loud. I winced knowing what was coming.
“YOU’RE DRUNK??!!” Twister yelled. Flora and Agnes were now glaring at me too. Crystal had disappeared to get the lights ready but Emily2 was still there and made a disappointing beep. Great. I was getting shamed by a bot too.
I waved them off. “I may be slightly tipsy but I’m fine.” That much I knew. I may have been a tad drunk but nothing that I couldn’t function around.
“You better be!” Twister was already handing me water. “Down this now.”
I didn’t argue. Coral was laughing because, truth be told, she drank too. This set Twister off on a tangent about the safety of not drinking before shows. While those two dished it out, Flora came up to me with her hands on her hips and a look of disappointment across her face. My ears dropped. I hated seeing her disappointed.
“Really Finn?” She glared into my soul but not before I caught the smell of wine on her breath. Perhaps she forgot I had a strong sense of smell. But before I could say anything, she was laughing. I just looked at her confused before laughing with her. Her laugh was infectious. “How are you this drunk!?”
“I may or may not have ‘bottoms up’ed the drink DT gave me. But please don’t tell Twister! I don’t think I can handle downing another glass of water before the performance!” I didn’t have an issue being honest with Flora. We were close friends, and she would have figured it out somehow anyway.
“Finn! That’s a waste of fine wine!” She seemed more pained by my wine drinking technique than by my decision to drink before the show.
“Also, I thought you and Coral declined the wine?” It was my turn to give a pretend disappointed look.
“Double Trouble snuck it to us before joining you in the room. Remember YOU’RE the one who made the no drinking rule. We figured it best for you not to know.” Flora just laughed and fixed the strand of hair hanging in front of my face before I could. “Just don’t stumble mid song! You don’t want to start an accidental crowd surf!” She put a rose in my pocket before wishing me luck and heading backstage. She was always conjuring flowers and trying to stick them on us before shows. I don’t think she’s managed to put one on Coral yet though. Coral was rather anti-flower and was almost as aware of her surroundings as I was, making it very difficult to sneak up on her.
We all took our places and did one last mic and amp test per Crystal’s demand. I was front and center with the mic. Twister behind me to my right at the drums, Crystal behind to the left at the keyboard, Agnes to my left on the guitar and Coral to my right on the bass. I stole a quick glance to Flora backstage and she waved. Then the lights went out, the crowd cheered, and Twister set the beat. I took a deep breath, put on a smirk, shrugged one side of the flannel off my shoulder, and we were off. The curtain was pulled back and the lights flashed on as the music took off! I tapped out the beat before jumping in with the lyrics. From then on, I was in the lead, the musicians were trained to my antics and could change tempo or melody on a dime but, in the same breath, I had a trained ear to them and could follow their hidden cues. We all jumped about and put on a show. The crowed loved us. I mean who wouldn’t? Not to brag but we were one of the best bands in Etheria. We knew how to keep a crowd going.
The music slowed as we reached our final song and we got ready for the finale. I couldn’t hold back the smile thinking about our next trick. It was the first time we were attempting it live. As the song faded, vines curled around our feet. Small pink flowers blooming as they grew and wrapped up our instruments. Fog rolled across the vines and then bang! The beat dropped hard and heavy just as Twister and Coral teamed up to create a spinning matrix of water droplets around us that pulsed with the beat. Crystal’s lights added in a strobe effect that followed along. I took off with the lyrics again and Agnes lead the melody. The crowed ate it up! On the final chord stroke, the ball of water droplets exploded, and petals flew from the vines with a gust of wind. We all stared to the crowd panting and exhilarated. It worked. The crowd was on their feet.

PART TWO~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“It worked!!! Wooooo!” I threw my fist in the air and spun, spilling my drink a bit but not caring.
“Hell yea!” Coral joined in the celebration.
“Twister, Coral! The water net worked so great!! The crowd went crazy! And Flora! The petal explosion! YES! And Crystal the fog and lights! How’d you even rig that up!?” I was ecstatic and maybe drunk.
“What no praise for me?” Agnes punched my shoulder with a smile.
“You had my back out there with the melody! We rocked it!!” I threw my arm around their neck and then my other arm around Flora. It quickly became a band group hug. We were all hanging in the Whispering Woods at our typical spot, which was a meadow not far off from Brightmoon located next to a large rock formation. There was a small campfire going thanks to Coral. We were all dancing around, drinking, and talking about how well the plan went. Well, I may have been the only one dancing. I honestly can’t remember. “I’m going to do it!” I shouted and stared at the others.
“You want to be more specific?” Coral raised her eyebrows.
“The sword!” I jumped up on the log I was standing in front of. “If we do what we just did and had the sword hovering in the air above us it would make for a killer album cover!” I was at this point throwing my hands about so before I could spill anymore of my drink, I chugged the rest then jumped back off the log. Flora took the cup from my hands, probably so I wouldn’t refill it. She could tell pretty quick when I was near my limit.
“Didn’t that plan fail last time oh mighty sword lord?” Coral gave me a smirk.
“That plan did but this one won’t!” I drunkenly retorted, stumbling a bit when I pointed my finger at her.
“And what’s your plan this time?” Agnes was now laughing and pulling me to sit down so I didn’t fall into the fire.
“The exact same as last time just at night when they are for sure sleeping!” I was very drunk. Usually my plans were much more detailed and well thought out.
“Finn, maybe you should save sword theft for when you are sober. I’d much rather you not cut your tail off.” Twister advised while trying hard not to laugh. I just rolled my eyes at her.
“Oh! Here Finn!” Crystal tossed a tiny bot thing at me. “It’s a remote camera! That way you can stay hidden and plan the heist better! You know, find the sword before just barging in” Crystal shot me a look that basically said ‘you know, not like last time.’
“Thanks!” I immediately went to figuring it out, even though my coordination was pretty much gone. It was a remote control that used a tracker pad as the main control unit. I felt Flora’s eyes on me while the others continued to celebrate so I flicked my eyes to her, and she quickly looked away. I had to mess with her. Stretching big and pretending to yawn, I lounged myself across her lap, careful not to rub my face paint on her dress. She inhaled sharply, just barely, but loud enough for my ears to catch, before calming and resting her arms across my side and fixing my flannel so that it covered my shoulders. This was not the first time I’ve laid across her lap, but it still caused me to start purring. I had no control on the purring, especially when drunk. It just happened anytime I was relaxed and or happy. Flora and the bandmates were used to it, though Coral often still teased me about it. I felt my eyes turn heavy and figured I’d close them for a moment.

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“Finn! Finn!” Flora was rocking me. I just groaned, turned over, and wrapped an arm around her waist. I then felt and heard the sharp and loud breeze of someone blowing on my ear and bolted up, nearly knocking heads with Agnes.
“What the hell!!??” I hate people blowing on my ears.
“We have to get going if we want to get back to the castle before daybreak!” Agnes exaggerated but I noticed everyone else had gone. Ughhhh. My head throbbed. I put a hand on my head while I stood up slowly. “Fuck!”
“Hungover much?” Agnes teased as both them and Flora helped steady me.
“How long was I out?” A hangover shouldn’t have set in yet right?
“Like four hours” Flora gave a small laugh. I hadn’t realized I was asleep that long. Flora was always nice about letting me sleep when I needed too. Though I had to admit I was a bit surprised she let me sleep on her lap for four hours.
“Uuggghhhhh” Agnes handed me a bottle full of water which I nearly downed.
We headed off towards the castle, Flora heading back to Plumeria. Luckily, once I got moving, I was mostly ok. I was familiar with hangovers at this point. It had just been a while since I had a bad one. It didn’t take us long to reach the castle.
“You two are late!” Uncle Bow and Mother were waiting for us at the door. Crap.
“We got a bit caught up celebrating the successful trick!” Agnes beamed. We had told our parents about the water net trick and they insisted we show them before the show. They would typically all come to watch but tonight they had several meetings. Agnes knew bringing up its success would divert both of their attention to being proud and not mad about us being late.
“Oh I’m so glad it worked!! How did the crowd react!? I’m sure they loved it!” Mother was excited and practically bouncing. Good. Maybe she wouldn’t notice that my ass was drunk. She was fine with me drinking but not when I drank in excess. Mom would have been more chill about it.
“It went great! The crowd went crazy!” I forced myself to act excited. Good thing I was a trained actor. I really just wanted to get to bed. Her and Bow launched themselves at us and pulled us into a huge hug. That did not mix well with a spinning head. I tried to push away with no success.
“Dad!! Adora!!” Agnes choked out through the tight hug, making Bow and Mother drop us.
They kept us talking for good bit before we made it obvious we were tired. Agnes hung in my room a bit while I worked on getting the makeup off. “So are you really going to try it again?”
I had forgotten about the sword. We needed that picture though. I had already tried asking Mother, but she always said no and that it was too dangerous. My moms were sticklers for safety. Drove me a bit crazy considering their history. Mom taught me how to use her old whip but that’s about it in terms of weapons and fighting. It’s not like I didn’t use to steal the sword all the time when I was a kid. They even found it cute. But once I got older they started to care about safety a lot more.
“Yo! Etheria to Finn!” I blinked and shook my head. “Yup! Once Mother is asleep.” Hopefully, my head wouldn’t be spinning as much then.
“Any way I can help out?” Agnes always offered to help but I could always sense the hesitation. They weren’t the best with stealth. Plus, we always seemed to get caught with they helped. I just waved them off and they understood. “I figured once I have it I’ll head out and stay over with Coral.”
“Not Flora?” Agnes knew me well. We grew up together and I was always sneaking out to Flora or sneaking Flora in. Needless to say Flora and I were very close.
“Too obvious. Moms would immediately know where I went. It would be best if they didn’t suspect where I was in case they wake up.” I didn’t expect them to wake up early which is why we planned the shoot for early morning at the old Fright Zone, but I still didn’t want to risk it.
“Makes sense! Come get me before you head out and I’ll go too!” I thought about this for a minute. If they stayed here to cover for me, how would they explain the missing sword?
“Sounds good to me.” I finished getting all the face paint and makeup off. “Ok time for you to leave! I’m going to change into something easier to sneak around in. Be sure to pack a bag for anything you need for the shoot.” Agnes left and I put on a loose crop top and shorts. I also took the time to put my foot wraps back on. They made it easier to grip the slippery castle floors. I threw a bag together with my outfit for the shoot and all the makeup. It was still a bit early to try the stunt, so I took a moment to meditate. No one knew I did this except Flora. She taught me how to focus my mind. It worked great in moments like this when I needed a clear head or when I just needed to slow down my thoughts.
By the time I finished the mediation, I was calm and focused, and it was time to go, adrenaline pushing the hangover away. I dropped my bag off with Agnes before sneaking down towards my moms’ room. I hid around a corner and sent the bot to the door. Locked. Damn it. I heard the guards approaching and used the table next to me to hoist myself up to the ceiling. I knew how to balance myself between the walls and not be seen. Once they passed, I dropped quietly and headed for the castle garden. I knew I could get in their room from the balcony. It took no time at all to climb up to the ledge. Staying hidden I sent the bot in to see where she had her sword. Crap! They put some sort of charm on the entrance creating an invisible barrier. They must have guessed I would try to steal the sword again. Well this was a great time to practice the sorcery Mica had been teaching me. While staying hidden behind the outer wall, I drew up a spell that was used for dropping shields. After a deep breath, I pushed the spell forward to the wall. I tested the wall again with my claws and it worked! “YES!” Shit! I covered my mouth and crouched down. OK, celebrate later. I sent the bot in. Melog was asleep at the foot of the bed with both my moms fast asleep. Using the tracker pad that Crystal gave me, I moved the bot through the room till I found the sword under mother’s pillow. Of course she slept with the damn sword. I walked the bot back to me and put it away before sliding into the room and staying low to the ground. I crouched and crawled along the base of the bed till I reached mother’s side. Melog stayed asleep too. Good. I stopped my breathing long enough to steadily pull the sword out from Mother’s pillow. She groaned and turned. I dropped to the floor and got ready to bolt but she stayed asleep. I let out a silent breath and silently started making my way to the balcony, but before I could get there I heard “Finn?” in a quiet and tired voice. I turned and saw mom sitting up in bed. Her yellow and blue eyes glowing. Shit. I froze. She glanced at mother before smiling and putting a finger to her lips and laying back down. She was helping me? I didn’t hesitate and bolted to the outside of Agnes’ room. I climbed in through the window and dropped a bit heavier than I anticipated. The hangover kicking back in now that the adrenaline was calming down.
“Finn!” Anges startled. They were obviously not expecting me to come in via the window.
“Let’s go!” I whispered back as I grabbed my bag.
We left via the window and ran to the Whispering Woods before stopping to make sure we weren’t followed. Once I knew we were clear, I let out a congratulatory shout! Perhaps too soon.
“Mrow?” Melog was staring at us with a note in their mouth. I took the note and read it out loud. “Be safe and get your ass home before your mother wakes up. Good luck with the photoshoot. Love, your cool mom. Ps. Melog is going with you to make sure you don’t do anything stupid.”
“Wait? Catra knows you took the sword?” Agnes seemed worried.
“Yea she caught me escaping and just gave me the signal that she wouldn’t say anything.” I was still a bit shocked honestly. I mean she’s helped me before when I was a mere kitten but never when I was old enough to actually injure myself. I shook my head to clear my thoughts “Let’s go. Come on Melog. We are going to Salineas.” Melog urged us to climb on, they must have been able to sense my lack of balance. We didn’t hesitate.

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Coral was very shocked when we showed up at her bedroom door with the sword and Melog. She opened the door half asleep wearing a baggy shirt and boxers. Her hair a crazy mess and her eyes barely open “Not gonna lie I thought you were too chicken. Also what..?” She just pointed to Melog.
“Last time I checked I was a cat not a chicken and turns out mom is cool with me stealing the sword as long as Melog joins. Mother still doesn’t know” I explained and tossed the sword across my shoulders. This made Melog growl, but I assured them I was being careful.
“Also, maybe send a warning before just showing up?” Coral yawned and motioned for us to come inside. The Salineas castle was very different than the one at Brightmoon. It was underwater for the most part, except the entryway. From what I’ve been told it wasn’t always that way, but after the Fall of Salineas in the Horde War they had to re-build it. Because of this, Coral’s windows looked out into the ocean and you could see all sorts of fish swim by. At night you could see the bioluminescent jellyfish. Melog enjoyed this. “So why bug me and not your girlfriend at this hour Finn?”
I knew she probably was referring to Flora but I sill tossed her a confused look and tilted my head in attempt to play dumb. “Girlfriend?”
“Really Finn?” I just blinked at her, knowing full well who she meant. She threw a pillow at me. “Your flower goddess?” She motioned to the rose in my pocket. I had moved it to my new pants pocket when I changed. I thought it looked nice with the outfit.
“We’re not dating ,you know that right?” I gave a flat glare to Coral. I really hated her teasing me about it “We’re just good friends.” Agnes choked back a laugh and Coral raised her eyes.
“Not dating YET” she smiled at me. I felt my cheeks go red and I chucked the pillow back at her.
“Drop it Coral. I said we are just friends. That means we are just friends. Plus, she’s the first person my mother would think I stayed with if she wakes up to see the sword gone.”
Coral just rolled her eyes and fussed at us to get sleep. Agnes and I curled up against opposite sides of Melog. I couldn’t sleep right away. I was still thinking about the sword and the concert and Flora. Wait. Why was I thinking about Flora? I noticed quickly that I had been playing with the rose from my pocket. I tossed it with the sword, let out a quite sigh, and threw my face into Melog’s side. I should never drink again.

Chapter Text

Waking up early after little sleep was not my favorite task but, I also was not about to be late to the photo shoot. I chucked a pillow at Coral who tossed it right back mumbling something about it being too early. Agnes was only slightly more enthusiastic than Coral in that they didn’t require a pillow toss to wake up. I was already dressed and ready. Agnes didn’t take long to get up and head to Coral’s bathroom to start getting ready. Coral on the other hand was refusing to wake up. She just needed some encouragement. I ripped the cover off of her and when that didn’t work, I jumped on her. She startled and her fight instinct kicked in, as I expected it would. She twisted us around so that she was over me. I just gave her a smirk and kicked her off the bed. My plan had worked. She shot me an angry glare and sent the water by her bed flying into my face with the flick of her hand. I doubled over laughing, and Coral was cussing under her breath. As soon as her back was turned, I drew up a spell and sent the water flying into the back of her head.
“Fuck you Finn!” She launched herself at me with her teeth bared, half growling and pinned me down. At this point her and I had the same competitive look as we wrestled trying to pin each other.
“Really…?” Agnes appeared in the doorframe and we paused to glance at them. “You two really can’t be left alone for two minutes, can you?” Coral and I gave each other agreeing looks and chucked pillows at Agnes, who ducked just in time. Coral then got up and headed to get ready. Once she was out of the room Agnes shot me a raised eyebrow in which I just laughed and shook my head before getting up to retrieve the sword. The flower Flora gave me was still healthy and so I put it back in my pocket, but not before lifting it to my nose. Was it weird that it smelled like Flora?
“You really are the ladies’ cat, aren’t you?” Agnes nudged me and my ears perked up big. Their comment took me off guard. But as fast as my ears went up, they dropped, and I narrowed my eyes at Agnes.
“I get it I get it! They’re both just your friends!” They threw their hands up in surrender but ducked their eyes with a smile showing that they didn’t believe the words they said.
“Ugggghhh.. Agnes your supposed to be on my side! You can’t betray me now! You know I’m serious when I say Flora and I are just friends.” I sent Agnes pleading eyes. I did not need another person teasing me about Flora and I.
“I know Finn. I’m just messing with you.” Agnes gave a soft smile and put their hand on my shoulder, but that’s when it registered.
“Wait? Did you say both?” They better not be talking about Coral. And as soon as I thought it, they motioned their eyes toward the bathroom where Coral was. “NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!” I shook my head and waved my hands making Agnes laugh. Before I could say anything else, Coral reappeared.
“You ok Drama Lord?” Coral shot me a puzzled look.
“I’m not teleporting.” I put my hand to my face and turned to the door. I knew how to deflect conversations. “Time to go. We don’t want to be late.”

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I may have forgotten that with Melog we would get to the Old Fright Zone much faster. Teleporting via Melog was way smoother than when Agnes did it. I refused to let Agnes teleport me. The Old Fright Zone was quite a sight. Old metal buildings and pipes intertwined with vines and other odd plants. Many creatures found the now empty buildings to be home but not all of the Old Fright Zone was empty. Many people still lived there too, though the conditions have greatly improved from what I’ve been told. Technically, the place was Scorpia’s kingdom, but she chose to stay in Plumeria with Perfuma instead.
“See, I told you it was too early Finn!” Coral shot me a very grumpy look.
“You can never be too early or too ready for a photo shoot” I didn’t even look up at her and instead continued to work on adding volume to my hair and fixing my makeup using the small mirror I brought with me. We were the first ones to arrive, which was no surprise.
“Uggghhhhh!!!! Why did I get stuck with Drama Lord!!??” Coral threw her head back and her hands up while rolling her eyes. “Agnes, you agree right? It’s way too early!?”
“Actually, going to have to side with Finn on this one. At least this way we may get the chance for a sunrise picture.” We barely got any sleep last night. Celebrated a wee bit too late and agreed to meet for photos an hour before sunrise. In total, we each got maybe two or three hours of sleep. “Anyway, it gives us the chance to discuss the important things. So, Finn, any luck on a tour name?”
Our band had become rather popular and we were potentially getting offered a funded tour. We had a big concert coming up in which the organization that would be hosting the tour was going to judge our performance to see if we were worth their time. But we all agreed it would be best if we had everything in order before that concert so, if asked, we would sound prepared. “Nothing yet.” I stared off at the Old Fright Zone, my eyes allowed me to see pretty well in the dark.
“What do you mean not yet!? Finn you are like the master of dramatic names?” Coral was shocked. For good reason too. Typically, I spat song and show names on the spot. But this one had me a bit more puzzled. It had to be meaningful to the band yet catchy enough to draw attention.
“Well do you have any bright ideas Water Girl?” I shot an annoyed glance to Coral.
“What about…. The Alliance Strikes Back!” Coral beamed as if she just said the best name in the world.
“That sounds like a comeback tour….like as if the band had broken up because, I don’t know, Finn now has a kid or something, but then there’s a serious midlife crisis and the band gets back together because they all miss each other.” Agnes scoffed.
“Wait! Why am I the one who has to have the kid?” I shot a look of betrayal to Agnes.
“Because you’re the lead singer! It’s always the lead singer! Ugghhh fine, you don’t have to have a kid but you have to at least cause drama like.. hmmm… oh! A love triangle!” Agnes explained. I just groaned and put my hands to my face, carful not to smudge my makeup.
“Let me guess, Drama Lord likes Flora but Flora is in love some hippie dude?” Coral shot me raised eyebrows. I blushed and threw my hands down from my face to argue but Agnes beat me to it.
“No. It would have to include band members to add to the drama and cause a fracture between the trust of the band so maybe….” Agnes paused to think. “You and Finn are dating, because you know the bassist is also always involved,”
“I thought that was the guitarist?” Coral asked with a frown and glared at Agnes.
“Yes but Finn and I are practically siblings so that wouldn’t happen. So you and Finn. But Finn develops feelings for Flora and goes behind your back and cheats on you but you catch them! Big fight then the band splits! But years later everyone realizes the childish mistake and wants to get the band back together.” Agnes smiled at Coral and I who were glancing back and forth between each other and Agnes with our jaws slightly dropped. Both of us wide eyed.
“You put waaaaayyyy toooo much thought into that Sparkles Jr.” Coral was actually blushing, but I guessed it was out of embarrassment not nerves.
“Yea. I would never cheat on anyone!!” I shot Agnes another look of betrayal.
“Really Drama Lord? Aren’t you like the master of deception and acting?” Coral crossed her arms and smirked.
“Hey! I may come across as your stereotypical Rockstar heartbreaker, but you both know damn well I’m loyal!” I retorted. Coral scoffed quietly and her smile dropped as she lowered her gaze, Agnes probably didn’t hear her. My eyes widened and my mouth stayed open very briefly before I too ducked my gaze. “Yea…. Ummm so uhhh” I cleared my throat. “Any tour name ideas from you Agnes!” Anything to get the topic off of me and Coral.
Agnes just stared at us before jumping in “How about… The Alliance: Dawn of She-Ra!” They could sense the push to change topics. They better not ask me about this later. Luckily, Agnes was much less nosey than Flora.
“No. I am not naming the tour after my Mother. Also, that sounds like a dramatic movie retelling of the tales of She-ra!” I retorted with a sigh and laid my back down on the metal grating I had been sitting on. “I’ll think of something soon.”
We continued to banter back and forth about tour names and ideas while waiting on the others to arrive. Crystal and Twister were the first ones to join us since they were in charge of getting the equipment set up. Those two were inseparable. They’ve been best friends since way before the start of the band. Similar to Flora and I. They knew how to work around each other, which for the most part was just Crystal telling Twister what to and not to do with the tech equipment. Twister was in charge of the band vehicle that we used to cart instruments and ourselves around. It was a big tank like vehicle from the Horde War that Crystal had modified, with the help of her mother Entrapta, to have bunks and separate rooms for storage, hanging out, and sleeping. It was especially great for longer distance concerts.
“You’re early! After the concert yesterday I fully expected you to be the last one to arrive.” Twister smirked at me with one eyebrow up.
“Oh! But it’s for a photoshoot! Finn would never be late for a date with a camera!” Flora had snuck up behind me and stood over me giving me a sarcastic smile.
“Hey! I’m usually never late to anything!” I sat up and turned to give her a proper angry glare.
“Except your own concerts!” Twister was smiling at me.
“That was one time!” I snaped back.
“Actually it was four and before you all start fighting how about you get your asses over here before the sun comes up!” Crystal yelled over all of us and waved for us to join her at the Old Fright Zone building. We all listened because otherwise Emily2 would start pushing us. “Ok so I’m thinking we should utilize the balcony system that runs along the outside of the building with each of us in different spots yet keeping the picture balanced. Finn you should be on the ground front and center since you are the lead and then Agnes and Coral should be on the ladders leading to the second level since you are typically beside Finn. Then Twister and I up on the balcony since our roles tend to be in the back. We should do a few takes with and without instruments of course to see what looks best. Also, some takes with and without the water net and vines. Flora, Emily2, and I guess Melog? Wait. Melog?” Crystal just looked confused and turned to face me. That’s when Twister and Flora also realized that Melog was with us. I explained what happed as quickly as I could before ushering Crystal to continue the photoshoot rundown. We didn’t want to risk losing the sunrise opportunity. “Well, as I was saying Flora, Emily2 and now Melog too will be in charge of the photography. Emily2 knows how to work the camera and can lead that section. Flora is good with angles and details so she’s in charge of that.” Crystal was phenomenal with being able to picture a scene and then bringing it to life. She was always in charge of any band related designs. Other than the logo of course. That was Coral and I’s design when we started the band a few years back.
Crystal took to positioning us before commanding Emily2 to get ready for the pictures. As soon as the sun started to rise, Emily2 started with the pictures. We hurried to get two sets in, one with instruments and one without, before we lost the golden glow and shade effect of the sunrise as it came up over the building. Then we prepped for the big one.
“Okay small break then let’s get back to it” Crystal took off to start rigging up the strobe lights and fog machines.
I went to fixing my makeup and outfit for the next set when Flora came up next to me.
“So technically your theft plan failed. And you call yourself a master of stealth!” She mocked me with her hand on Melog’s back, who just meowed and nuzzled her face.
“Hey! I have the sword don’t I?” I narrowed my eyes, leaned towards her, and gave her a smirk. “So technically not a failure!”
She put her hands on her hips and leaned in too. “You got caught. It’s not a successful heist if they catch you. Then it’s just called a gift.” She tapped my nose. “So looks like you’ll have to be demoted to novice of stealth.” She shot me a look to tell me she knew she won and leaned back. I felt myself start to blush but before I could snap out of it and give her a retort back, I was interrupted.
“Okay are we ready for the big one!?” Crystal was practically bouncing up and down as we gathered around her. “Finn you will still be front and center with your hand up, holding the mic. The rest of us will be in our typical positions with our instruments. Flora will then position the vines, and it’s alright for them to wind up us and be more dramatic than what we did at the concert. I will then que the lights and fog. Then it will be up to Twister and Coral to do the water net. Got it?” I held the sword up since she seemed to not know that I had it. “OH! Sword! Twister do you think you can float the sword and manage the net?”
“Depends. Where is it going to be floating?” Twister eyed me specifically, knowing I was thinking up something dangerous.
“Above me.” I said flat faced and glaring back at her.
“Then no. I am not floating a sword above you Finn!” Twister’s mom voice came out.
“No need.” I drew up a rune that Mica had taught me and then pushed it to the sword. It started to float, and I was able to lift it up.
“Hold on now. Didn’t you tell me you had problems with that rune holding up?” Agnes began the interrogation. My ears dropped. I wish they had just kept their mouth shut.
“It’ll be fine. But the longer we take the more likely I get impaled so maybe let’s get started?” I moved into position not giving anyone time to argue. I didn’t steal the sword for nothing.
“MROW?!” Melog grabbed my tail and yanked me back. I gave a very loud hiss with all my fangs exposed and swatted at Melog with my claws out. I didn’t actually hit Melog, just gave a warning. Melog released my tail but I had already lost my focus on the spell and the sword fell to the ground behind me.
“What the fuck Melog!?” I was pissed and holding my tail.
Quickly Melog grabbed the sword changed shape so that they were much taller and went invisible. This gave the appearance that the sword was floating. My ears perked up and I let go of my tail.
“I like Melog’s idea!” Twister had a huge smile on her face.
“Agreed! I’d rather not have to fix Finn.” Crystal chimed in.
“Fine fine. But the spell would have worked had Melog not yanked my tail.” I brushed my tail over Melog on my way to my spot to let them know I appreciated their help.
Once we were all in place Emily2 gave the que to start. Crystal set off the fog and lights, Flora positioned the vines, and Twister and Coral created the spinning water net around us. Emily2 began the countdown to the start of the photos but Flora quickly interrupted. “Wait!!” She created a vine that weaved around the sword with roses budding off of it, just like the facepaint I wore. “There!” None of us argued since we all knew Flora had an eye for details like that. Emily2 re-started the countdown and then was off taking photos from all different angles and positions. They were very fast and the shoot was over before we knew it.
“Hold on! Keep the net going!” Crystal yelled. “Flora! Get in here! Next to Finn! Back to back!”
“Emily2! You too! Set the Camera to auto and get up there with Crystal!” I added. The bot was part of our team. “You good Melog?”
“Mrow!” Melog meowed back in confirmation.
“Ok! Ready?” I turned to everyone and they all gave the thumbs up. “Ok Emily2 do your thing!”
Emily2 set the camera to auto, or perhaps it was a distance mode. Emily2 could remotely control the camera. Once set they and Flora darted into position, Coral and Twister making a brief opening in the net so they didn’t get wet. As soon as Flora was next to me, I felt her revive the rose that was still in my pocket. I gave her a quick smile before returning to position.
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The photoshoot ended after we did individual shots, but we hung around and chatted a bit before Melog began meowing like crazy and tugging at Agnes and I. My ears went up and my eyes widened. Melog was in tune to my Mom and could tell she must be worried. Mother must be about to wake up.
“LET’S GO FINN!” Agnes grabbed my arm and we hopped onto Melog without much warning to the others except a panicked goodbye.
Melog got us back into Agnes’s room before leaving to check on Mom. Agnes still looked panicked. “How are you going to get the sword back if Adora is about to wake up?”
I ignored them for a minute while I pulled out the tracker pad and mini bot. I set the bot in the hallway and sat on the floor. Agnes sat next to me and looked over my shoulder. I started to guide the bot towards my moms’ room to check what was happening. Luckily, the door was open just a smidge. The bot easily slipped in. My moms were no where to be seen but I knew better than to look for them. Instead, I grabbed the sword and, with the tracker pad in hand, went to return the sword. Agnes followed me, invested in the mission. Also, we both agreed it would be easier to return the sword with two people. One could keep watch for the other. We stayed calm and tried to look casual as if we were working on something band related while we walked, keeping the sword hidden in front of us.
“FINN GREY MEOWMEOW!! AGNES ANGEL ARCHER!!” We both froze as Mother’s voice roared behind us. She never used my full name unless it was serious. Slowly we both turned, my ears dropped. Mother looked furious. “DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH TROUBLE YOU TWO ARE IN!?” Mother walked briskly with posture to grab the sword and tracker pad from me. It jolted me a bit when she took the tracker pad. “This sword is not a toy you two! You could have been seriously hurt!”
I had my mouth open and hand up waiting till she stopped ranting so I could speak. “Mother… MOTHER!” She just glared at me. “Agnes had nothing to do with it. I’m the one who took the sword. They did not help in anyway. Honestly, they didn’t even know I was planning to steal it.” That last part was a lie but I wasn’t about to let Agnes take the fall on this one. Agnes shot me a confused look which I cut off with narrowed eyes. They caught my hint and nodded in agreement.
Mother looked a bit taken aback. It wasn’t normal for me to be upfront and take the blame. Truth was I was tired and knew arguing would just delay my nap, and I felt a little bad for going behind Mother’s back. “Fine. Agnes you can go.” With that Agnes took off briskly but not before whispering under their breath so that only I could hear, that they would get the bot.
“What’s all the ruckus Princess?” Mom approached Mother and stretched up to kiss her check.
“Finn. Sword.” Mother did not take her gaze from me and I could feel I was about to get a big lecture. Mom’s ears dropped as she realized I hadn’t been able to return the sword in time. “Finn. You know we love you but behavior like this is completely irresponsible! Swords are weapons and not toys or decorations for your band. Someone could have been seriously hurt! Or what if I needed it? Did you think of that? No! You were being selfish!” I dropped my head in defeat. She was right.
“I’m sorry Mother.” I started to comb my fingers through my hair and kept my gaze on the floor.
“Adora.” Mom put her hand on Mothers arm. “Finn was safe and careful with the sword. I sent Melog to watch over the band while they had it.”
“YOU KNEW!!!??” Mother swatted Mom’s hand away.
“Yes Adora. I caught Finn sneaking out with the sword. They’re old enough to take care of themselves. Plus, as I said, I sent Melog for safety.” Mom talked calmly but with frustration.
“Finn, I think it’s time for you to go to your room. Don’t think you’re getting out of this without consequences. You’re grounded. No leaving the castle and no band rehearsal tomorrow.” Moms very rarely restricted my band events since they were proud of the band and knew how much it meant to me. I lifted my hand like I was going to argue but then thought better of it.
“Can I have the tracker pad back, please?” I shot Mother a puppy dog eyed look and used please to make it more convincing. “I need it to contact the band and let them know I won’t be at rehearsal.” In reality, I just wanted to message Flora.
Mother paused and thought for a second before saying she’d have Agnes let the band know. I just nodded with lowered ears and started off to my room. As soon as my door was closed, I flopped on the bed and sighed. I stayed there for a few minutes before getting up to take off the makeup. Falling asleep with bright paint on my face seemed like a bad idea. I also put-on shorts and took off my flannel and scarf. My band outfits were eye catching and fun but far from the most comfortable. Yawning, I crawled into bed to take a nap. At least I now had an excuse to rest tomorrow.

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I woke up from my nap to my stomach growling. Other than the few snacks that Twister brought to the shoot, I hadn’t eaten anything today. I knew the Brightmoon kitchen would have something, so getting out of bed, I put on a sleeveless white crop top with open sides and headed to the kitchen. My nap must have been longer than I anticipated as it was nearly dark out. On my way to the kitchen, I heard loud shouting coming from my moms’ room. They were always arguing about stupid things like which ice cream flavor was better or who was faster so I didn’t think anything of it. I just smiled, shook my head and kept walking. Until I heard my name. I stopped, wide eyed. They were fighting about me? I backtracked and put my ear to the door.
“They’re irresponsible! No! Both of you are! How could you go behind my back like that Catra!?” I had never heard Mother’s voice this angry.
“You need to let Finn grow up Adora! They’re not a kid anymore! You need to let them learn things on their own and not keep them cooped up in this damn castle!” Mom sounded pissed.
My knees locked and my hand went to my mouth. I let my back rest on the door and slid to the floor, curling my tail around my ankles. I knew I shouldn’t be eavesdropping and honestly, I didn’t want to be, but I couldn’t move. My moms had never sounded this angry. This fight was real.
“I do not keep Finn locked in this castle! You know damn well I let them run around with their friends and learn things for themself! I just have no intention of letting them handle dangerous weapons until they can prove they are responsible!”
“No Adora. You KEEP Finn from learning things for themselves! You keep them in a fucking safety blanket! How many times did they ask you to TEACH them to use the sword? How many times did they ASK to borrow it for a single picture? Adora you could’ve offered to teach them sword safety but no. Instead, you blocked them from ever touching a weapon! And look how that worked out! You’re no better than Shadow Weaver!” I could hear the fire in Mom’s voice when she spoke. This wasn’t one of their petty arguments. And it was all my fault. They continued back and forth. At one point I think one of them threw something and I saw the flash of Mother turning into She-ra. I was frozen. My heart was pounding and the world around me was disappearing. I wanted to run, to get away and hide, but I couldn’t. Tears rolled down my check and I felt myself start to hyperventilate. They were fighting because of me. I barely saw Glimmer and Bow walking towards me.
“Finn!” Glimmer put her hands on her hips and scowled, too far away to see me crying. “Are you eavesdropping on your moms?” I tried to lift my head, to face her, but I stayed frozen with my hands on my face, curled up as tight as I could. “Finn?” Glimmer’s voice softened. “FINN!? What’s wrong?” Her and Bow started to rush to me. Glimmer knelt and put a hand on my back and a hand on my knee, almost as if she were trying to hold me. Bow had a hand on my other shoulder. Glimmer looked at the door, realizing what my moms were yelling about. “Bow, take Finn to their room. Finn, it’s going to be ok. You’re moms are idiots who fight all the time. I promise things will be ok. OK Finn?” She put her hands on my cheeks while Bow lifted me to my feet. I was still frozen but managed to give her a small nod. Bow guided me down the hallway towards my room, half carrying me, but not before I heard Glimmer open the door and start yelling at my Moms. I don’t know what she said. I couldn’t focus on the words. Bow sensed my tension.
“Finn. Finn! Look at me” Bow stopped me, put his hands on my shoulders and forced me to hold his gaze. “Breath in.” He took a big breath and I copied. “Breathe out.” He exhaled and I copied. He did this with me a few times before having me count up to and down from ten. This helped me regain some of my focus again and gave me a chance to process what was happening. My hands went to combing my hair. Bow just looked at me and smiled. “It’s going to be ok Finn. Your moms love you dearly. They may be idiots at times but they still love you.” I just nodded. Bow then stopped and pulled me into a hug. The crying started again and I went limp in his hold.
“It’s my fault.” Is all I could muster.
“FINN! NO! It is not your fault! Your moms are just intense and can’t settle things normally. Don’t forget they started a war because they couldn’t express their emotions.” This made me chuckle a bit and I offered Bow a smile to say thanks. He smiled back and walked with me the rest of the way to my room, keeping his arm around me. I knew my Moms still loved me. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that I started their fight.
“Is there anything you need before I go?” Bow asked as I got onto my bed. He seemed worried about me.
“Umm.. maybe some food. I haven’t really eaten today.” My ears dropped. I wasn’t overly hungry anymore, but I knew Bow would feel better about leaving me if I had a request that he could help with.
“Of course! I will be right back” Bow took off to the kitchen and I curled my knees to my chest. I still couldn’t shake the fight.
Bow returned quickly with a whole plate of things including cake, which was the first thing I took a bite of. This made Bow smile and he gave me one last hug before leaving. Once the door was shut, I got up and locked my door, not wanting to be bothered. I finished the food faster than I probably should have; my appetite had returned after tasting food. After clearing the bed, I laid down and curled up, but I couldn’t sleep. I let my eyes wander to the flower Flora had given me. It was starting to wilt since I never put it in water. That didn’t stop me from bringing it to my nose. I stayed like that, curled up with the rose to my nose, breathing in and out slowly, for what felt like forever. Lowering the flower, I closed my eyes and let my mind go blank, or at least I tried to let my mind go blank. I could still hear the yelling, having no idea if it was my memory or in real time. That was it. I needed to get out of the castle. I put the flower in my pocket and opened my window to crawl out.

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I quietly and quickly climbed the vine outside Flora’s window, being sure to stay in the shadows so no one could see me. Once at her window, I lightly taped on the glass with my claws. I knew Flora would still be awake, so I didn’t feel too bad. Though honestly, she was used to me sneaking over at wee hours in the morning anyway.
“I take it you got grounded?” she smirked when she opened the window.
“Not even a hello?” I huffed sarcastically before stepping inside. Once inside I immediately went to sit on her bed. I was tired, “but yea grounded.”
Flora just smiled and came to sit behind me. She started braiding a small flower vine into my hair. Other than Double Trouble, she was the only person I would let touch my hair. “Well, on a good note, I looked through the photos from this morning and I think you have your new album cover!” She slid her hands over my shoulders and down to my elbows before resting her chin on my shoulder to look at me with a smile. I glanced down and gave her a smile back. That was good to know. We hadn’t had much time to look through the photos before having to go. She then sat back up, tapped me on the nose and narrowed her eyes “So Finn. Are you going to explain why you quit theater?” Damn it. There it was. Flora knew me very well so she probably already guessed that I hadn’t chosen to quit. Theater was practically my life and she knew it. I just wasn’t wanting to have this conversation right now. Not after everything that had happed, but there was no dodging the question now.
I dropped my ears without thinking and decided I could try and lie. “Like I said, I needed more time for the band. Writing songs and planning routines and such takes a lot of time. I figured take a small break from theater to focus on the band and get it going in the direction we want then if time allows I’ll rejoin the theater. Especially with the potential tour coming up.” I thought maybe, just maybe she would believe me if I made it about the tour.
“Mmm hmmm…yea and let me guess, next you’re going to tell me Etheria is back in Despondos?” Flora had one eyebrow raised with her hands perched on her hips glaring at me. She caught me. I sighed and then shifted so that I was mostly facing her. My legs were crossed, and I curled my tail around my feet in front of me. I couldn’t look at her when I told her the truth because I knew she would be disappointed.
“I got kicked out.” My ears dropped as low as they could go and I slumped over a bit, using my hair to hide most of my face from her.
I felt her move my hair out of the way so she could look me in the eyes before asking in a very calm but concerned voice “What happened?”
I lifted my head and sighed. I really was not wanting to have this conversation. Tears started to form but I held them back. “I… um… got into a fight.”
“Rose!” she sounded more worried than mad. “Are you ok?” It made me smile when she used her nickname for me. When her and I were much younger we had a big conversation about what flowers reminded us of each other. She told me I was a rose, elegant and rich in beauty, belonging on a stage. I told her she was lavender, simple and modest, yet powerful and calming. From then on we called each other by those names. Though lavender got shortened to Lav over the years. We were the only two who knew about the names and we only used them when we were alone. The band would only tease us if they found out and the names were sort of like a secret inside thing between Flora and I, we didn’t want to share that with anyone else. Flora had now shifted closer to me and was looking at me with wide eyes almost as if she was searching for evidence of the fight.
I smiled and laughed lightly. “I’m fine Lav. It happed a while ago. Like maybe a month now? But it was a bad enough fight to get kicked out of Prince Peekablue’s theater troupe. Double Trouble forgave me quickly since it was about an outfit and I was right but Peekablue did not. In fact, I think he’s still mad.” My smile dropped at the thought that I may not be able to rejoin the theater.
“I’m sure he’ll forgive you. I mean come on. You’re the star student!! The Protegee!” Flora beamed. I knew she was just trying to cheer me up and honestly it was working. Just being around Flora was enough to put my mind at ease. But then she caught what I said. “Wait. You fought over an outfit?” She raised her eyebrow again and paused before continuing. “Honestly not sure why that surprises me.” She just laughed and waved her hand at me. I couldn’t help but smile.
“You should have seen the other person!” I laughed with her. Flora was shaking her head with her eyes lowered, and I couldn’t help but stare. In this moment I wanted nothing more than to be close to her. To tell her what happened. To curl up in her arms.
“Only you Finn, only you!” She looked at me and kept laughing. I laughed with her before deciding to tackle her to the bed, wrapping my arm around her waist and resting my head on her shoulder.
“FINN!” She was laughing harder now “MY DRESS!” She was trying to wrestle her dress back to a more appropriate position while I was trying to give her a bear hug. This just made us laugh more. Typically, we never curled up like this but on occasion, when one of us was upset, it was nice to just be close. Flora ruffled my hair into a giant mess before resting her hand on my shoulder. Still laughing under my breath, I pulled her as close as possible and buried my face in her neck. This felt nice. Comforting. Flora always made me feel calm. Safe.
“Finn!” Flora was just giggling like crazy, probably from my ear tickling her neck. She slowly stopped laughing before looking at me with a concerned face. “Is everything ok?”
My eyes went wide but I stayed next to her. It was starting to hit me again. The fight. My mom’s words back and forth. The screaming. All because of me. I just grabbed a fistful of Flora’s dress and started crying.
“Finn! Finn!” Flora turned so that we were now facing each other. She pulled me to her and I just curled up into her chest while she rested her chin on my head. “You’re ok. It’s ok my Rose.” She ran one hand through my hair and the other on my back. I told her everything through soft sobs. I told her about my moms shouting at each other behind the closed door. About what they said. About how I was the cause.
“Oh Rose!” Flora wrapped her arms and tail around me and pulled me as close as she could, resting her chin on my head. She stayed like that until I started to calm. She then relaxed, moving her hand from my back to my hand and offering me a rose. She knew roses were my favorite. I took the rose, closed my eyes and brought it to my nose. This made me smile. Flora rested her forehead on mine and we stayed like that for what seemed like forever.
Neither of us heard the footsteps approaching the door. “Finn!” Perfuma threw the door open and I bolted upright my eyes wide and my hair all messed up and in my face, Flora’s little braid still intact. Shit shit shit. I was not ready for another big fight. It’s not that our mothers weren’t used to us sneaking in and out to see each other but they also knew we tended to do it only when we were in trouble. But that’s when I noticed Perfuma had on a gentle expression and a small smile. She came to sit on the edge of the bed, Flora now sitting up as well. Perfuma moved the massive tangle of my hair from my face and placed her hand on my cheek before taking my hands in hers. “Glimmer told me.” And she then hugged me. I threw my arms around her and before I knew it I was being lifted off the bed in a giant hug from Scorpia. I hadn’t heard her enter. “Oh come here!” Scorpia gathered us all into a hug, which made us all chuckle.
We all sat on the bed talking for a long while and Perfuma and Scorpia told me I could stay the night here. “Thanks.” I said weakly but with a smile.
“This is typical of your moms Finn. I promise they will be over it by morning.” Perfuma kissed my head before her and Scorpia left the room.
This time Flora tackled me causing us to both laugh again before curling up and falling asleep.

Chapter Text

Flora

Finn ended up staying the following night as well. I messaged the band yesterday saying that Finn had canceled rehearsal and that we would all meet the next day instead. Finn hadn’t actually canceled; in fact, they didn’t even know I messaged the band until they woke up. I knew they needed the break, and they were appreciative, even if they did try and argue the point with me. We ended up spending the day relaxing and having fun like old times.
Yesterday began with a morning meditation with my moms. Then Finn and I took off to walk through the Plumeria gardens and explore in the Whispering Woods. By now we had seen just about all of the woods, but it was still nice to poke around. We came across a small group of horned creatures and Finn nearly got themself impaled trying to catch one. I laughed before joining in to help. Of course, I ended up catching it first. Finn gave me a jealous look before smiling and laughing. It was always nice to see them laugh. Most of the time Finn had this serious or neutral look on their face, as if always in thought, or always analyzing. But every now and then they would light up, especially when goofing off with the band or when we were alone. I couldn’t help but smile back.
“You cheated!” Finn narrowed their eyes at me still laughing.
“You’re just jealous that I’m better than you!” I released the loose vine I had used to catch the creature and it ran off, clearly annoyed with our antics.
“You are not better than me.” Finn rolled their eyes sarcastically and nudged my shoulder. I raised my eyebrows and without Finn noticing positioned my tail so that they tripped over it as they tried to walk away. They landed practically on their face and I doubled over laughing, distracted long enough for Finn to pull me down next to them. We were both laughing now and I rested my head on their shoulder. This was just like when we were younger. We stayed like that for what seemed like forever watching the clouds, calling out the different shapes we saw.
Recalling yesterday made me smile. I sat up and rested my back against the headboard while Finn was still asleep, curled up facing away from me. It was rare to see Finn calm. They were always in motion, stressing themselves over every detail. I wanted to push their hair from their face and curl up behind them, but I didn’t. Finn needed to sleep. Plus, I wasn’t sure how Finn would react. We didn’t often curl up together but rather would just share the same air space. At most, we slept back-to-back, unless, like the other night, one of us was troubled. I let out a quiet sigh and just sat there watching them before tilting my head back against the headboard and daydreaming. I must have fallen asleep again because I was jolted awake when I felt Finn curling their head into my lap. Finn was still fast asleep and wrapped an arm around my waist. They started purring making me smile. Finn always purred when they were relaxed, but the other night they didn’t, meaning they were upset. The fact that they were purring now meant they were doing better. This time I couldn’t resist the urge to move the hair from their face, but as I did, I got the sudden urge to kiss their cheek. The feeling took me by surprise and I froze. Finn was very adamant that we were just friends, and I didn’t dare push that boundary, no matter how badly I wanted to. I know Finn would likely think nothing of it, considering they lived with Glimmer, however, the thought still made my cheeks turn red. Just in time for Finn to wake up from me moving their hair. Of course. I tried to hide my blushing, but I could tell Finn still noticed when they gave me their typical playful smirk. They were about to tease me. “What Rose?” I tried to smirk back but my voice cracked and I ended up with a sleepy looking smile. That was smooth… But they didn’t tease me.
“Nothing Lav.” They closed their eyes, turned their head back into my torso and just smiled. I could’ve sworn their cheeks were red too and I curled my tail around them. “What time is it?” I debated lying, telling them they still had time to sleep, but I knew Finn would not want to miss the rehearsal.
“Time for you to wake up if you want to make it to rehearsal on time.” I started braiding their hair.
“And how much time do I have if I want to be fashionably late?” Finn smiled with their eyes still closed. I don’t think I had ever heard Finn say they wanted to be late. The thought of Finn wanting to spend more time alone like this made me blush redder than what my cheeks already were. Good thing their eyes were still closed. Truth was, I had already let Finn sleep long enough that we were going to be pushing it for time, but Finn needed the rest.
“I’d say an hour.” I smiled back, the back of my hand resting on their cheek as I finished the braid and put a small flower behind their ear. Finn just purred and wrapped both arms around me in a tight hug. I felt their breathing slow again as they fell back asleep, still purring.
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Finn

I wasn’t ready to face the world again. I wanted to stay here alone with Flora as long as I could. She was understanding and made it easy to relax.
“Rose?” Flora gently moved the hair from my face as she always did and leaned over me so she could see my face. “We will have to get going soon if you want to get to practice before it’s over.” She gave me a soft smile when I opened my eyes. I turned my face up towards hers and returned the smile, our eyes locking. Flora moved the hair that had shifted into my face when I turned behind my ears and her hand lingered on my check a second longer than normal. We both froze a bit before I quickly darted my eyes away and sat up facing away from Flora. I yawned big and stretched. Flora took this as a chance to mess with me and taped one of my fangs mid yawn. Probably to help us both snap out of the awkward moment.
“Gah!” I pulled back, falling off the bed. Flora was laughing and rested her elbows on the edge of the bed to look down at me.
“There’s no time for sitting on the floor Finn! You wanted to be fashionably late not distastefully late, remember?” I just scowled before flicking her face with my tail and pushing myself off the floor. “Also, since you nearly destroyed your outfit during yesterday’s adventure…” Flora shot me one of her most devious looks with her hands behind her back. I slowly backed away when she stepped towards me.
“No no no no….”
Flora just chuckled before trapping me against the wall and pulling a dress over my head. I did my best to fight her, but she had the thing fastened around my neck before I could do anything. When she stepped back I just hissed at her. “Are you even going to look at yourself before giving me attitude fashionista?” Flora had her hands perched on her hips glaring at me.
I huffed in disapproval before fixing my hair and going to her mirror. She had at least chosen one of my favorites of her dresses. It was knee length and black with small white flowers all over it. The dress was sleeveless but tied around the neck. It had a full front, with the top part being sheer, an open back and was loose enough that it flared out with spins. Of course, I had to test that in front of the mirror which made Flora chuckle. I pinned my ears at her. She loved when I wore dresses and I hated it. I honestly think she just found it a game to try and get me in them. “I’m not wearing your dress Flora..”
Flora sighed and walked over to me. “But it looks amazing on you Finn! It complements your hair!” Flora wasn’t wrong but I was not about to do band rehearsal in a dress. I did too many acrobatic moves for that.
“Yes, but you know what it’s going to look like if we show up late together and I’m wearing your clothes right?” I just raised my eyebrow at her.
“Finn!” She shoved my face and I just chuckled. “It’s the band. They’re honestly just going to think you did something stupid and needed a new outfit.”
I opened my mouth to argue and Flora just raised an eyebrow at me. She was right to a degree. The band would totally think we were secretly dating too. At least Coral would. And we’d never hear the end of it. “I’ll just wear the nearly destroyed outfit.”
“Nope!” Flora just started pushing me in the direction of the door. “We are already late. You are wearing the dress and we are leaving.”
“But pants!” I reached dramatically behind me. Then pretended I was feint and leaned my whole weight onto Flora who was still pushing me. “Oh dear pants, you are the light of my soul! How doth I go on without thee?”
“Oh my stars Finn!” Flora was laughing and having to hold up my weight. “Get your tail out the door now!” I chuckled and then stepped forward making Flora lose her balance. But when I noticed she was actually falling, I turned quick to catch her. She scowled and I just closed my eyes and gave her a big smile.

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Twister

It wasn’t like Finn to be late to rehearsal, let alone cancel one. We had already finished warm up and decided to wait for Finn to arrive before we moved on. Based on Flora’s message the other day, I’m assuming Finn was wiped after the concert and must have fallen asleep around Flora. She was very protective of Finn and their sleep which I was grateful for. Finn had a tendency to overexert themself and could never maintain a normal sleep cycle.
“I’m sure their fine Twist.” Crystal was at my side sitting on Emily2. “You know how Finn is. They always bounce back.”
“I know but you have to admit it’s odd that they canceled practice.” I looked down at Crystal who was looking at her tracker pad.
“Technically Flora canceled for Finn. Which can only mean they are with her and she must be playing sleep guardian again.” Crystal glanced up with a smile to reassure me.
“You’re probably right.” I looked back to the rehearsal stage in which Coral and Agnes were arguing about something.
“I know I am.” Crystal beamed as she handed me my clipboard “We might as well start planning the band vehicle upgrades while we wait.”
Crystal and I started walking through what would need to be done to the vehicle if we ended up doing the tour. It worked great as it was for short weekend trips but for a long haul it would need better sleeping and practicing arrangements. The small bunks wouldn’t cut it for a couple months trip. Crystal was bounding around and explaining all of the upgrades. She was always the positive one of the group, and by that I mean she was always smiling. But trust me when I say she could also be the most intimidating, despite being the youngest and shortest. I took notes as she talked and interjected with info about the tank when necessary. We made a great team. She knew a lot about tech and computers while I knew a lot about vehicles and mechanics.
“IT’S ABOUT TIME DRAMA LORD!” Crystal and I both looked at each other when we heard Coral yell.
“I hypothesize that Finn has arrived.” I chuckled.
“That is a scientifically sound hypothesis.” Crystal joined in the laughter and we made our way back to the group.

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Finn

“Why are you wearing a dress?” Coral was sitting on the edge of the stage as Flora and I approached. “Wait! Is that Flora’s dress!?” Coral said with a beaming smile, her eyes widening. She looked from me to Flora with one eyebrow raised, wearing a cheeky smirk.

I sighed and lowered my head. This is why I didn’t want to wear her dress.  I opened my mouth to explain but got interrupted by Flora.

“Finn tore their shirt while climbing down out of that tree of theirs and I offered them to wear one of my dresses so we wouldn’t be late to rehearsal. Also, we may have overslept a tad bit.” Flora was surprisingly good at lying.

“Why didn’t you just get an outfit from Brightmoon?” Coral of course had the blunt questions.

“Because technically tore my shirt yesterday without realizing it and was heading to Flora’s to discuss band photos.  We stayed up a tad too late looking through them and doing edits.” I was not about to tell the band about the fight between my moms. They would worry too much.  Coral was still smirking and looked away to say she didn’t believe us.  At least she didn’t say anything else. 

“Ok well let’s get started as we have our big concert coming up and we need to be ready.  Finn go warm up mic and vocals.  Others let’s get ready with the instruments.” Twister continued talking but I tuned her out and went to get the mic positioned in the stand. Once I was alone with my thoughts, the fight resurfaced in my memories. Perfuma had told my moms, or maybe she just told Aunt Glimmer, where I was and that she’d keep an eye on me until I was ready to head home.  I knew my moms would respect my need for space but I was still dreading the going home part.

“Finn?” Twister looked at me as if waiting for an answer.

“Hmm?” I just stared blankly at her.

“What is the focus for today?” She repeated calmly with a smile.

“Oh.. umm..” I paused to think which made the others look to me concerned. They never had to ask me about the plan. Usually, I’d have started the rehearsal with a rundown of what the goal was and everything we’d be covering.  But since I was late, I didn’t do that. Also, I sort of just forgot. “Let’s keep today short and just focus on the new songs. No choreography just working out how the instruments fit together with the vocals.  Umm… also should run through what I have so far for Tango the Moon to see how its sounding with all instruments together.” I paused again looking at the ground before nodding to indicate that was it. It was a very short and vague plan.  Twister looked a bit stunned before giving me a small smile and quick nod.  She turned to the others and walked through a more detailed version of my plan while I warmed up. Twister was good at picking up when something was wrong and would step in without drawing attention to the situation. I appreciated that about her.

I wanted to get started as soon as possible so we could leave as soon as possible, so I gave Twister the signal that I was ready and she led the rehearsal.  On the first song, we had to restart several times because I kept coming in too early or late with the lyrics. On the sixth mess up, I couldn’t take it.

“GAAAHHHHHH” I screamed and threw my hands to my head with my pupils narrowing into slits, claws out and fangs showing. It was a good thing I was using the mic stand or else I would have chucked the mic. I stepped away but stayed on stage.

“You need a break Finn?” Twister was noticeably concerned.

“Yea it’s unlike you to fuck up this much!” Coral added with a chuckle.

I hissed and shot a pissed look her way with my claws still out.  She dropped her smile and her eyes widened. She finally realized something was wrong.  Great. The whole band now knows something’s up. I let out another angry noise and jumped off the stage cursing while walking away to blow off steam.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Coral start to get up to follow but when she saw Flora moving toward me, she stopped.

“Finn.” Flora put her hand on my arm and spun in front of me so I was forced to look at her.  She was good at diverting my attention elsewhere and helping me to focus. Also, she was one of the only ones not afraid to approach me when my claws were out, Coral and Moms were the only other ones who would. I hissed, but when I saw who it was, I dropped my ears and sheathed my claws. I was starting to lose it again.  The yelling. The fighting. It all kept swirling in my head. Then the thought of not being ready for our big concert because I couldn’t get through one song. Not being ready for the tour that we didn’t know if was happening or not. The concern for what my moms would say when I went home.  It was too much.  I threw my hands to my face and dropped to my knees.  “Rose!” Flora whispered so that only I’d hear, and I tossed my arms around her. I could feel the tears, but I fought them.

“Finn?” Coral and the others had run over when they saw me hit the ground. I could feel her hold up her hand to touch my shoulder, hesitating before deciding not to. The others were talking but I didn’t hear what they were saying. No no no. This isn’t what I wanted. How to shrug them off? I felt my heart start to race and my breathing quickened. I tightened my grip on Flora’s back in an attempt to ask for help. It had been a long time since I had a panic attack like this and I didn’t want to worry the band. Not before the big concert.

“Finn was feeling feint and had to sit. I had them lean onto me for support so I could control their path to the ground.” Flora ran her hand through my hair and moved her other hand to my lower back.  I could tell she was worried, but she knew I wanted to hide my panic from the band and told a small lie. She began tracing shapes on my lower back and I copied. It was a small trick we came up with to help each of us calm down or refocus. This helped ground me and I was able to think a bit more clearly again, my breathing slowly returning to normal. 

“I’ll get the water!” Twister was gone in a flash. “Also, Flora, get Finn to lay on their back with knees up!” She turned back and yelled.

Flora pretended to help me get on my back.  We both knew that if we didn’t do what Twister said then there would be consequences and I wasn’t about to tell the band the truth. I knew they would be supportive, but I didn’t want them to worry about me. Though I guess I failed at that now.  

“I said knees up Finn!” Twister shouted with her mom voice.

“I’m in a dress.” I mumbled.

“Do I look like I care?” Twister retorted and turned back to getting the water.  I sighed and complied. Luckily, Flora had brought a pair of her shorts, which she never wears, and gave them to me last minute to wear under the dress. She knew I had a habit of being an acrobat on stage.

“I’m sure Flora’s enjoying that view.” Coral said with a smirk to try and lighten the mood when the dress fell to my hips.

“She better. She’s the one who made me wear this thing.” I could tell Flora was blushing even with my eyes closed. It was fun to mess with her every now and then. I would never tell her, but she was cute when she was flustered.

“MADE you? I thought you HAD to?” Coral had caught the hole in our story.  Shit. Agnes and Crystal were looking at us now too.  At this point Twister walked up with the water.

“Finn sit up slowly and drink this.”

“No bother Windy. Drama Lord’s faking.” Coral shot me a huge grin.  She was a little too good at solving mysteries.  Probably because of all the mystery novels she read. I blame her mother.  Coral never showed this side of herself, but she was an avid reader and very smart. “So what’s really going on with you two?”

I sighed and sat up. “There’s nothing going on.  Just having an off day.” I didn’t look at anyone and kept my eyes on the ground.  Coral would have typically taken this as a chance to tease me but I think she caught the water in my eyes. She softened her smile and put her hand on my shoulder, this time not hesitating.

“You know you can trust us Finn.” She motioned to the band. “We’re your family. We will always be here no matter what.” Everyone was now looking at Coral with confused shock.  This was probably the first time the band had seen her be caring.  I was used to it.  Coral and I use to be closer than Flora and me, so I knew a lot more about her than she let on. I put my hand on hers and gave her a weak smile to say thanks. She locked eyes with me for just a second before I let go of her hand and took Flora’s, who helped me stand up.  I saw the corner of Coral’s lip drop a little at this, but she quickly caught her action and fixed her smile.

“How about we go on an adventure tomorrow? We haven’t done one in a bit and I think we could all use the break?” Twister suggested once we were all standing again.  She knew I wasn’t wanting to discuss what was wrong.  No one argued and we immediately went to the band vehicle to discuss.

“So I’m thinking we ‘borrow’ a few of the old skifs from the Old Fright Zone and have a few races.” For being the mom friend, Twister had great ideas when it came to adventures.  Most were a bit on the dangerous side, which I loved. I beamed at this idea.

“I think Finn’s face confirms that idea!” Crystal was laughing. We all joined her and began discussing the details.

“Ok, sounds like we have a plan then. Guess we should wrap it up here then.” Twister started to stand to pack things up, but I stopped her.

“I want to do one last run through.”

“Finn, I think it’s best for you to rest.” Twister eyed me.

“I’m not actually feint as you now know.  I’ll be fine.  I have something I want to try with Tango the Moon. Is the catwalk easy to set up?”  I looked to crystal for the last part.

“Not difficult at all! Emily2? Will you do the honors?” Emily2 beeped in approval and hustled over to the stage. Crystal and Twister had somehow rigged the stage with a pop out catwalk.  Those two were honestly geniuses.

“Thanks!” I beamed and then turned my back to Flora. “Undo this thing” I said pulling my hair out of the way of whatever hooks or ties the dress had.

“Uh.” Flora’s voice caught and she coughed to clear her throat. “What now?”

“You heard the Drama Lord! Strip them!” Coral gave Flora a big smile.

I turned my head so I could see Flora and she was redder than ever and frozen.  I gave her a soft smile and explained “I don’t want to ruin your dress with my idea.  I have shorts and a crop top on under this thing. I just don’t know how it fastens so I can’t do it myself.”  Flora caught my eyes and relaxed now that she knew what was going on. She quickly undid the dress so I could pull it off.  Honestly, I could have done rehearsal without it, but I figured I’d let Flora win the battle of the dress. Also, I can’t lie, it looked good on me. Once out of the dress, I gathered the band at the stage and directed Coral and Flora in what I needed them to do. I had an idea for the choreography but hadn’t tested it on the actual catwalk yet.  “I won’t be singing for this run through, just focusing on the initial choreography test. I want the music going in the back to not only see how its sounding but also to make sure I can find the beat for the move. I only need to test out the new move so I plan to only do that part of the song. How about you all get the instruments warmed up again and I will do the initial move test without the water?” I was back to being able to direct. It helped that this was one of my favorite songs that I’ve been writing. Flora was smiling from her post at the front of the stage.  She was going to be my literal safety net in case I messed up.  Her vines created a landing pad.

The initial test went smooth so we moved onto the bigger trial.  Coral got ready with the water and when the beat hit I ran into a slide on my knees, a hand behind me to brace and Coral pushing water with me to one look cool and two to provide momentum with less friction on my knees. Once I hit the end of the catwalk, I pushed off with my hand and flipped my hair, singing the first few lines of the chorus. I heard Coral cheer something behind me about being sexy and I just laughed.  I then heard the others agree. This made me fall back on the stage laughing.  “It was supposed to look badass not sexy!”

“Badass can be sexy!” None of us were expecting Flora to say this and we all looked at her. “What!? I’m not wrong!”

“Well, we know Flora wants a bad boy now.” Coral looked to Flora, then me “Or perhaps a bad cat?” I gave a short hiss to Coral who just laughed and retorted “Save it for the honeymoon wildcat!”

Before I could respond Flora chimed in “You’re just jealous I was at the end of the catwalk!”

I cleared my throat loudly and stood up to walk back to the main stage. Everyone was laughing, me included, but I also wanted nothing to do with the conversation I knew was about to happen. Flora and Coral had an interesting way to argue. Usually, it ended in a feisty sarcasm battle in which I often ended up the main topic. It may seem like humorous banter but when those two got going you could feel the fire between them. Twister cut them off before they got out of hand but as soon as she walked away, they started up again. Twister sighed, put her hand to her face and walked with me back to the vehicle.

“And here I thought you were the dramatic one” Twister chuckled and glanced back at Flora and Coral who were still going at it with their sarcasm battle.

I smiled. “You see, I’m a thespian. I only know controlled drama.” I gave Twister a sideways smile and she just glared at me.

“Aren’t you the one who went into an angry monologue last rehearsal because you smeared your makeup? And then proceeded to launch said makeup with magic?” Twister’s frown curled into a smile that said, got you.

I went to argue but Twister nudged me with her shoulder making me laugh.  She was right, but in my defense, I did grow up on the stage.

“Is everything ok Finn? It’s not like you to have off days and I’m worried” Twister’s face turned to one of concern as she put her hands in her pockets.

My ears dropped and I sighed. “Moms got into a pretty serious fight.”

“Those two are always picking fights. I’m sure everything will be ok” She offered me a smile and we entered the vehicle.

“They were fighting about me.” I had to choke back tears when I said it.  I knew everything would be fine, but it still hurt.

“Oh Finn!” Twister threw her arms around me and I didn’t even try to argue. Twister was almost as good of a hugger as Scorpia, even if she had a tendency to choke you a bit. “You know you always have a family here.” She was right.  The band was my family.  I hugged Twister back and thanked her before we heard Flora and Coral approaching and still yelling.

“Ughhhhh.. Will those two ever stop!” Twister’s mom voice came out again.

I just laughed until I heard “You just wish you were successful at getting in their pants!” I don’t know which one of them said it and I DID NOT want to even know what they were on about. I threw the vehicle door open and with my best fake anger yelled “WILL YOU TWO KNOCK IT OFF ALREADY!!” They both shut up pretty quickly. “THANK YOU!” I slammed the door and fell onto one of the seats with an embarrassed groan.

“Looks like you have a fan club!” Twister laughed and sat on the table in front of me.

I slid farther down into the chair with a sigh. “I would just like it if my fan club would leave my pants out of their arguments.”  This sent Twister into a laughing fit.  I couldn’t help but join in.  It ended up being a good rehearsal.

*********************************************************************************************

I hung back at the stage when the others went to leave.  There were still a few aspects of the routine I wanted to figure out and I wasn’t ready to go home. Flora hung back with me, but she stayed quite while I maneuvered around the stage.  Her head was hung low and her tail curled at her side.  I sat down next to her without warning, and she jumped, making me chuckle. “What’s wrong Lav?” I gave her a concerned look and flicked my tail around her.

“I’m sorry Finn.” Flora sounded embarrassed and near tears. My smile dropped and I turned her face to mine.

“Sorry for what?” I tilted my head in confusion. “You mean the scuffle with Coral?” I offered her a smile.

Flora looked away. I laughed and jumped down from the stage to stand in front of her, resting my hands on either side of her and forcing her to look at me. “You have no reason to be sorry! I’m pretty sure Coral started the fight and I’m tired of her teasing us too!” I offered her a smile and pushed the hair from her eyes, fixing the petals she had in her hair.

“I still let it get out of hand.” Flora kept her gaze away from me and conjured up a flower. “I didn’t mean to make you mad.”  She worried about others too much. I pushed my forehead to hers.

“I was a bit embarrassed by the subject of your argument not actually mad” I gave her a soft chuckle and I saw her start to blush. She caught on that my anger from before was an act. I pulled my face back enough that I could give her a smirk. “So… which one of you is trying to get in my pants?” I said it in hopes to make her laugh.  Flora’s face went into shock and her cheeks turned bright red. Out of instinct she pushed me away and used her other hand to cover her mouth.

“You heard that?” she asked in a whisper. I dropped my head in laughter, my hands still resting on the stage.

“I think everyone heard that!” I said through laughter.

Flora covered her face and picked her knees up with a groan.  She was totally embarrassed. Still laughing I put my hands and chin on her knees. Taking the flower she had from her hands, I tucked it and her hair behind her ear and grabbed her hands.  “Come on!” I jumped back up on stage and pulled her to her feet. “Help me figure out this choreography.”  Still embarrassed she danced along with me and offered advice.  We worked on the routine for a long time before I decided to stop and pull her into a dance. Flora was back to her normal self and laughing as I spun her around the stage. I led her through the steps, speeding up and adding in more complex moves as I noticed her catching on. Flora was by no means the best dancer but she was catching on quick. I sent her into a spin that turned her around so that her back was against me and I wrapped my arms around her in hug, burying my face into her neck.  Flora laughed before flipping herself around so that she could toss her arms around my neck to hug me back. She pulled back from the hug, her arms still around my neck and my hands still at her waist. Flora moved a hand to my face and I pressed my cheek into it without thinking. I felt myself start to purr and pulled her closer to me again out of instinct in a motion like I was going to kiss her.  Luckily I caught myself and quickly hid the motion in another hug that made Flora laugh lightly. Shit. Did she notice? Please tell me she didn’t notice. Fuck. I did not want to cross that line. I couldn’t cross that line.  

“Rose?”  I realized I had spaced out and shook my head to clear my thoughts. I then cocked my head to let Flora know I was listening. “You ok?” she just smiled. I must not have fully returned my face back to normal…

“Yea!” I said a bit too energetically. Clearing my throat I added “I’m just thinking about the name for the tour.” It was a total lie, but one I knew she’d believe.

“No you’re not” Flora called me out. Shit.  Why did I even try to lie to Flora?  I sighed.

“I’m just not ready to go home. Not ready for the conversation with my moms” That was partially true. I was delaying my return home.  Flora pulled me into another hug before pulling me down to sit on the edge of the stage again.

“Well, then tell me more about the band tour name you’re thinking about.” Flora offered me a smile. She never pushed me to do things I wasn’t ready to do.

I laid back on the stage “That’s the thing.  I can’t think of one.”

Flora let out a fake and dramatic gasp, putting her hand to her moth to emphasize it.  “Did I hear you right?  You? Finn? My Rose? Can’t think of a name???!!”

I smiled and rolled my eyes at her. She laughed and laid down, resting her head on my shoulder. “It’s just, it has to be catchy, but also meaningful to our band.  I haven’t been able to think of something that works yet.”

“Hmmm…” Flora sat up in thought. She then looked at me and smiled before creating a rose and handing it to me. I sat up and took it between my teeth. “The Alliance. The Petals of the Rose tour.” My face lit up and I dropped the rose as I smiled big. Without words and without thinking I pulled Flora to me in a big hug and kissed her cheek. Realizing what I just did, I pulled back apologizing. Flora was laughing even though she was redder than ever.

“Finn! Finn! It’s fine!” She picked up the rose that I dropped. “I take it you liked the name then?”

It took me a second to regain words. “I… uhh.. yes! Yes! I loved it!” I gave her an embarrassed yet excited look. The name was perfect. Though maybe I was biased because she included my nickname in it. We stayed there talking until the evening.

“It’s probably time we get heading home.” Flora said looking at the sky then jumping down off the stage. “Are you coming back to Plumeria or heading to Brightmoon?”

I sighed and jumped off the stage as well.  “I think it’s time I go back home.” I looked up to the sky, stars were just starting to become visible.

“I’ll walk with you.” Flora grabbed my hand with a smile.

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Catra

“Oh Catra! I’m so worried! What if they never come home? What if they hate us? Oh we messed up!” Adora was pacing back and forth in front of our bedroom door. She had been doing so for what seemed like hours.
“Adora, it’ll be ok! You know how Finn is.” I stood up from the bed and went to stop the jock from burning a hole in the floor. Melog curled around Adora’s legs as I placed my hands in hers. “Finn knows we love them. They will be home when they’re ready. If it would make you feel better, I can send Melog out for them.” Melog meowed in agreement. “Finn just needs space to think.” This wasn’t the first time Finn had run off for a few days. Though, I couldn’t help but worry either, our fight must have been terrible for Finn. I couldn’t shake the words I had said. My hands tightened in Adora’s, and my face fell as tears started to fall.
“Catra!” I felt Adora’s arms wrap around me, and I tossed my arms around her. We were both worried. Usually, Finn would be home by now and they hadn’t been answering messages.

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Finn

“Moms?” I pushed open the bedroom door lightly, a bit nervous for the interaction.
“FINN!!” They both yelled in unison, and I felt their arms around me before I saw them. Even Melog joined in.
I stumbled back before registering what happened and threw my arms around both of my moms. The comfort was nice. I felt my grip tighten and tears started to form. “I’m sorry..” I whispered through tears.
“Finn! You have no reason to be sorry!” Mother stepped back and had her hands to my face. She wiped the tears from my eyes and kissed my forehead. “We are so sorry for what we said! We love you, Finn! We always will!”
Mom kept her hand on my back and her other hand on Mother’s waist. “We want you to know we are very proud of you Finn!” I could feel the vibrations of Mom’s purring and started to purr myself.
“Thanks.” I gave them both a soft smile before looking down and dropping my ears. “I’m sorry I’ve been irresponsible.” The words from their fight were still hanging over my head.
“If you were responsible, you wouldn’t be their kid!” Aunt Glimmer was standing in the doorway. She gave me a big hug and kissed my check. Bow was by her side and ruffled my hair.
“Says the one who is supposed to be in a meeting right now!” Mom put her hands to her hips and shot a smirk to Glimmer.
“I don’t have to be responsible! I’m the queen!” Sparkles stuck out her tongue and Bow looked poised to argue. Glimmer pointed a finger at him “And your queen says zip it!” Bow surrendered.
“What??!! You get to skip the meetings, yet you get mad when I do!!??” Mom huffed, annoyed.
Glimmer just gave an evil chuckle before teleporting her and Bow out.
“This isn’t over Sparkles!!” Mom yelled down the hallway.
Mother and I were laughing.
“Finn.” I turned to look at Mother. “I know I’ve been a little protective –“
“A little?” Mom chuckled with a smile and crossed arms.
“Ok a lot protective.” Mother rolled her eyes. “How about we start sword lessons?”
I could feel my eyes dilate big and I started purring loudly. Moms chuckled before I could even say yes. I guess the damn purring gave it away. Oh well. I wasn’t even mad.
“Ok mini wildcat we can start whenever you’re ready!” Mother laughed and pulled me into another hug.
“Thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!!” I practically picked her off the ground.
“Your mom and I have to go to a meeting now but perhaps after we can start with the basics!” Mother seemed excited too.
“I love you both but I don’t think either of you should be tossing a sword around in the dark.” Mom eyed us both sternly.
“Hey! I’m plenty good with a sword!” Mother retorted and then proceeded to grab her sword to spin it but managed to toss it across the room and pierced the bed. Mom fell over laughing. I coughed back a chuckle and Mother put a hand behind her head with a sideways smile and sighed “Don’t tell Glimmer…”
“Umm.. As much as I’d love to start sword practice tonight, I was actually thinking about going to Double Trouble’s place tonight. I uh. Wanted to discuss my choreography with them while it’s fresh on my mind.” I was hoping they wouldn’t be upset about me running off again.
“That’s ok Finn!” Mother said with a smile. “We know you have a big concert soon! Just be safe and tell Double Trouble we say hi!” Mom nodded in agreement.
“Thanks moms! I’ll be back tomorrow night most likely. The band and I are going to meet up in the morning.” They didn’t need to know why. It was best if I left out the stealing skifs and drinking part. Though I’m sure Mom would love the idea! I gave them one last hug before heading out. I made sure to change before heading out to Double Trouble’s. The last thing I wanted was for them to see me in my torn-up outfit. I had stopped at Flora’s to change out of her dress before heading home, meaning I was back to my torn-up shirt and shorts.
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Double Trouble lived on the outskirts of the whispering woods nearby, so it didn’t take too long to get there.
“Hello Superstar!” DT opened the door with a grin and a glass of wine. They were in the most elaborate nightgown with large hoop earrings in and eyeliner on point.
“Hey Double Trouble!” It was always nice to see them, and it seemed Prince Peekablue wasn’t around which was good. We still didn’t get along since my fight at the theater. They motioned for me to come in and sit. After handing me a glass of wine they sat down on the chair in front of me.
“So how are you Finn darling?” No matter the situation, Double Trouble was always poised like a model. It made me notice that I was hunched over and so I quickly fixed my posture and propped my arm with the wine up on the arm rest. “Glimmer told me about the fight. She said you may find your way here. Do I need to let Kitten know?”
I let out a light chuckle at their nickname for my Mom. “No. I actually came from home. Things are good again.” I took a sip of the wine before continuing, “I actually stopped by to get your input on choreography for our next show.”
“Well spare me no detail darling!” Double Trouble sat up taller with excitement.
“The part I’m working on now is for our new song Tango the Moon. We did a test run for a new move this morning and it went well even if it did not get the intended reaction” Recalling practice made me smile. “The new move is a slide down the catwalk with water to ease the friction and add flare. At the end of the catwalk I push up onto my knees to sing the chorus.”
“Hair flip?” DT raised an eyebrow.
“Of course!”
“I taught you right. Do continue” They sipped their wine and waved their hand for me to go on. I went on to explain the rest of the choreography and what ideas we had. Double Trouble nodded and interjected periodically. As I explained the plan, I started to feel a lot better and gained momentum, gesticulating and laughing. I started to describe the specific steps and key moments of the show and DT offered suggestions. “Have you considered combining pyrotechnics with Twister’s wind? I mean you have a living fire extinguisher on stage with you so you might as well.” They were referencing Coral.
I chuckled at their joke. “More like a living explosion,” but I had another concern “Also, fire and plants don’t mix.”
“Has Flora finally joined the band!?” DT was very excited at this concept, for good reason. Flora was the best singer out of all of us, but she refused to join us on stage.
“Sadly no. But she is always backstage to assist with stunts.” I let out a small smile.
“Well, that’s disappointing” DTs smile dropped and they turned back to the wine.
“Hey! Is my singing not good enough!?” I shoot DT a playfully hurt look.
“You’d be better if you got a tattoo.” Double Trouble immediately took the fashion approach. But little did they know…
“I already do!” I crossed my arms and shot DT a I won look. We went on to discuss outfits with DT getting up to refill our glasses. We sat and talked for what seemed like hours, rating outfits, discussing current trends, and planning new looks for future shows. It was nice hanging around DT again. Talking fashion was always relaxing. I think they could tell I was delaying going home again and suggested they test out a new makeup style for me. Of course, I was not going to say no. I actually had to try hard not to purr. DTs makeup was always perfect and dramatic and I would do anything to be that skilled!
“So Finn, why are you really here?” Double Trouble was on the last parts of the makeup and knew I was trapped until they were done. I should have known they would ask the deep questions eventually. They were basically a parental figure to me.
I sighed; I couldn’t lie. “I’ve been a smidge stressed out and the fight is still on my mind. I know it will be ok and I’m not mad or anything but it’s still in my thoughts.”
“Chin up darling” DT tilted my chin up and moved onto the final touches. “Stressed about the tour?”
“Yea. Just lots of big decisions.” It was a partial lie, but I wasn’t ready to admit the other reason. Double Trouble could sense this.
“You should move out of that castle. Give yourself space to rest and think. Your mothers are not what I would call quite, or calm. Neither is that sparkly queen.” Double Trouble started to fix up my hair. “I have a small place not far from that stage of yours. You should move in there and it can be yours. That way you can rest and stop sneaking out all the time at night.”
“Really?!” I liked this idea. Though it would be a bit weird not living at the castle. Especially if I couldn’t bug Agnes all the time. And then having to travel for meetings, even though I hated them I sill attend the Brightmoon meetings. I guess being the child of She-ra means I’m obligated to help protect Etheria.
“You just say the word and it’s yours” Double Trouble turned the chair to the mirror. I couldn’t hold back the purring. “You’re just like your mom.” Double Trouble laughed and I gave them a huge smile. We continued to discuss the house and went back out to the sitting room.
“Why hello my beautiful shapeshifter!” Peekablue had gotten home. “Hi Finn.” His smile dropped when he looked at me. I dropped my ears and looked down.
“Should I prepare your room for you Finn?” Double Trouble tried to ease the tension, but it didn’t work.
“That’s ok! I think I will head back to Brightmoon.” I offered a smile to DT before dropping my eyes again.
“At this hour?” Double Trouble had a concerned tone to their voice.
“I’ll be ok! Bow gave me a flashlight before I left.” I had no intention to use it. “I’ll try to stop by before the concert!” With that we said our goodbyes and I left.
I did not want to head home yet but I also did not want to be in the same room as Peekablue. I thought about going to visit Flora, but it was late, and she’d probably be asleep. That’s when I had another idea. It was maybe a little stupid, but I didn’t care. Changing direction, I headed towards Salineas. Once on the outskirts, I trekked through the woods until I found the cave I was looking for. I hid and listened near the entrance. When I didn’t hear anything, I slowly wove my way through the hidden entryway and ducked inside. My face dropped. Everything was gone. I took out Bow’s flashlight just to be sure. This was Coral’s hideout of sorts. We’d spend long nights together working on songs, getting drunk, and singing shanties. She used to have the place lit up and covered in her shell collection. There had been a makeshift bed and bookshelves upon bookshelves. It was like her own place. The only thing left behind was the firepit. She never told me she took it down. I guess I understand why though. I let myself lean against the wall and sigh, turning the flashlight off. For half a second, I considered starting a fire and staying here regardless but then thought better of it. I’d rather not have Coral find me here by mistake. Instead, I took off again toward my tree. Once there, I climbed up to my favorite branch and leaned back against the trunk. I looked up at the stars, crossed my arms, and felt my eyes start to close.

Chapter Text

“Nice of you to finally join us, Finn!” Coral shot a playful grin in my direction and crossed her arms as I joined the band at our meetup spot. Twister punched her in the shoulder giving her an angry mom glare. That morning I had to run back to Brightmoon to clean up and grab food after spending the night in the tree, so I was a tad bit late. “Hey!” Coral shot Twister an anger filled stare and held her shoulder.
Twister ignored her. “Ready to head out?” We all nodded, but she knew better. “Agnes, food?” They nodded and motioned to their bag. “Coral, rum?” Coral opened her side bag with a grin, exposing several bottles. Twister’s eyes widened a bit but didn’t say anything. “Crystal-”, Crystal responded with a yes and a pat on Emily2’s head before Twister even finished. “Flora, blankets?” Flora nodded. “Ok looks like we’re good to go!” Luckily, I wasn’t responsible for anything this time. I think Twister knew my brain would be a bit hazy after everything that’s happened.
We headed out towards the Old Fright Zone on foot because it’s hard to be sneaky with our tank. As we got closer in, Twister took a wrong turn. “Uhh… Twister? Shouldn’t we be –”, I motioned in the right direction, and Twister just turned around with a devilish grin.
“Change of plans.” She then turned and whispered something to Crystal. They talked in hushed voices and all I could pick up was something about open spaces. “Hey Agnes, if I gave you coordinates do you think you’d be able to hone in and transport us there?”
“WHAT!?” My eyes shot open wide. I was not about to be teleported.
Agnes ignored me and went to join Twister and Crystal. They looked at the map and agreed. “Ok everyone get closer together and hold hands.”
I stayed frozen and watched everyone join the circle. “You know, I think I forgot something back at Brightmoon, I’ll just catch up with you all later!” I slowly took a step back.
“Fuck that Finn!” Coral stepped away and grabbed me by my wrist before picking me up bridal style and tossing me into the circle. Flora then wrapped an arm around my waist before I could back up and Agnes teleported us.
“Ughhhhh………” I hit the ground on all fours before rolling onto my back.
“You’re just being dramatic!” Coral stood next to me with crossed arms. “Come on!” She held out a hand to help me up but the world started to spin when I reached up to take it. It had been a very long time since I had last teleported via the Agnes express.
“Just a min.” I put my hand back down and closed my eyes. Flora and Twister quickly knelt down to try and offer assistance. Neither of them had teleported with me before, Coral on the other hand was familiar with my reaction. Her, Agnes, and I used to teleport everywhere when we were teens.
“You ok Finn?” Flora sounded very concerned and reached out to touch my shoulder.
I then felt Coral kneel and grab my wrists pressing her thumbs harshly on pressure points right above my palms. She then swung a leg over my lap in order to pull me up to her so I could rest my head on her shoulder while the world stopped spinning. It’s what she used to do when we transported a bunch to help stop the severe motion sickness. I relaxed into Coral and the world slowly became stable. She stood up and helped me to my feet. Twister then immediately handed me water, of course. I turned to Coral, my hands still in hers “Thanks! Glad to know you still know that trick!”
“I mean I’ve had to do it like a hundred times –.” She tossed an arm around my shoulder and ruffled my hair causing me to hiss and try to pull away. Coral laughed and tugged me up to where Agnes and Crystal were. I turned my head and stretched out an arm for Flora and Twister to follow but Flora was gone, she had already moved up with Agnes and Crystal. My ears dropped before I realized where we were. I pulled away from Coral and nearly tackled Twister. “The Crimson Waste!!” I was purring and could tell the others matched my sentiment. It’d been a while since we adventured out this far.
“It seemed easer to have skif races with open space.” Twister grinned. “Plus, this place is way cooler than the Old Fright Zone.” Twister started down the dune but I jumped ahead and surfed down the sand. Coral following suit. Out of habit, I turned to catch her at the base as she slid into me. I stumbled from the momentum and we both nearly fell over laughing.
“What are you all waiting for!?” I shouted up, releasing my hands from Coral. Twister was the first to join with Crystal and Emily2 at her side. Agnes was hesitant but joined as soon as Flora did. It felt great being carefree for a change. I bounded ahead before realizing I had no idea where we were going and turned to bow to Twister, directing her to the front to lead. She ruffled my hair as she passed, making me hiss and stand to fix it. What was it with people ruffling my hair today? Twister directed us to lie low and led us to a rough and tough town in the walls of a valley. She spent a lot of her youth training with Huntara and could navigate the Crimson Waste blindfolded. We wound through the busy street at the bottom of the valley until we ducked down an alley into a large hidden cavern. Inside were several skifs from the Old Fright Zone.
“Ok. Stay low. Agnes, Finn, how are your spellcasting skills? Any chances of hoisting the skifs up?” There was an opening at the top of the cave large enough to lift the skifs through.
“Can’t we just ride them up?” Coral asked but still staying low.
“Too loud.” Twister replied. “Well? Agnes, Finn?”
“Maybe if I lifted one at a time…” Agnes got a spell ready to go.
“I can try…” I was honestly not sure I could but still drew up the levitation spell. It worked! Agnes and I started lifting the first two out with ease and went to the next two. I let my confidence get the best of me and slipped up on the spell, sending the skif down with a very loud crash.
“Hey! You there!” We were spotted.
“TIME TO GO AGNES!” Twister shouted and without hesitation Agnes teleported us up to the skifs and out of sight. I hit the ground once again. Not as bad this time, the motion sickness only a dull haze.
Everyone started cheering and once I regained my balance, I joined in. We took the skifs back to our original hill to get out of sight. Once back, we set a race path and took a break for lunch.
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Coral
“Ok! Two to a skif and the finish line is back here. Everyone remember the path?” Twister checked in before giving the signal. I went to team with Finn but they quickly turned to Flora and ran off skipping hand in hand. Ok, so not actually hand in hand or skipping but it sure seemed like it. I heard Twister come up behind me. “Team?”
“You just want to make sure I don’t do something stupid.” I groaned without looking at her.
“Actually, I want to beat Finn into the ground in this race and you wind surf, so you have the upper hand. Now let’s get moving before they get ahead!” This seemed unlike Twister. Her and I never got along. But I liked her energy. She got the skif started as I hopped on and took off before I was even at the stand. She knew I was used to waves. I grabbed the controls with her. We quickly caught up to Finn and Flora. Agnes, Crystal, and Emily2 were in the back but not by much. I shouted to Twister what we needed to do in order to push ahead and she listened. It wasn’t much different than wind surfing.
“Faster now!” I pushed the throttle and Twister grinned. For being the mom type she sure was ok with danger. Her and my sister, Ember, were always going off on dangerous adventures when Ember wasn’t out at sea. They sometimes drug us along but always kept things a bit more tame when they did. To be fair Twister was built like a tank and my sister could navigate almost any situation. I felt the speed increase again as Twister pushed us even faster. She looked at me with a grin and I returned the sentiment. It was nice having her treat me as an equal. I looked up and saw Finn helping Flora at the controls, they were slipping. Time to let my anger ride. My lip curled into a snarl and I took the controls from Twister who let me and I pushed us faster and closer to the other skif.
“Coral…” Twister sounded concerned as I neared Finn and Floras skif, but I knew what I was doing and she gave me a short nod to let me know she agreed. I was not about to let Finn win. With a near growl I pushed the skif faster, the turning point just entering our vision. This was going to be easy.
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Finn
“SHIT!” I exclaimed and turned my gaze back to the path ahead. Coral and Twister just overtook us at high speed. I let out a low growl and pushed the throttle. Flora bracing and shouting with excitement. My gaze swept to her briefly. The wind made her dress and hair flow behind her and she had on the biggest smile. She was braced on the controls, highlighting her slim but muscular physique. I smiled and took the skif faster. The turnaround was just up ahead, then onto the home stretch. We could still win.
“Finn, the turn is up ahead!” Flora sounded concerned at our speed but was still grinning.
“I’ve got this.” Coral had taught me her tricks on the waves. I knew how to play her game. I pushed to full speed.
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Coral
I heard Finn and Flora’s skif approaching fast. Handing the controls to Twister for half a second, I turned to investigate before taking the controls back. The turn was just up ahead. “They’re coming in too fast!” I shouted to Twister. “Finn’s going to overshoot the turn!” I knew Finn could handle things on the waves but they hadn’t considered acceleration. I on the other hand knew how to drift at high rates of speed. Twister caught my concern and tried to flag Finn to slow down. I was at the point of no return for speed, I couldn’t slow or I’d mess up the turn and I couldn’t speed up or I’d overshoot it. “Hold on Twister!” I threw the skif into a turn but angling the controls so that we drifted smoothly around the bend and had a straight shot back to the finish. Twister let out a celebratory cheer but soon took it back. “NO!” Twister was facing behind us with a look of panic.
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Finn
FUCK! I overshot the turn and the skif fishtailed, tossing us over the edge. In faster than a blink of an eye I tugged Flora to my chest and wrapped one arm at her waist and another over her head, twisting so that is was me who took the brunt of the fall. We rolled in the sand hard but I didn’t dare loosen my grip. I made sure I landed over Flora, propping myself up to keep my weight off her yet protecting her at the same time; I saw the skif headed in our direction.
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Coral
Damn it Finn! “HOLD ON AND BRACE!” I shouted to Twister before turning harsh. Twister listened but kept a hand free to help her push a gust of wind to knock their skif off course so it didn’t crush them. My arm reached out of habit to cut through what would normally be water and hit nothing but sand. A skif was much larger and had a lot more power than a windsurfing board but I managed to guide us through the tight turn and pushed full speed back to Finn and Flora. Agnes and Crystal were catching up and headed to join. I nearly jumped off the skif before it stopped, Twister hot on my heels. “FLORA! FINN!” Flora crossed my mind first, which was odd, but I knew Finn could take a hit. I wasn’t so sure the Flower Goddess could. When we got there both were sitting up but still breathing heavy. Twister and I immediately started checking them over. When the dust settled they got up stiffly but with smiles and were both laughing at the mistake. However, I could sense the nerves in Finn’s laugh. They were rattled bad.
“YOU TWO COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED!” Twister was on her mom rant now that she knew things were ok. “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING TAKING A TURN THAT FAST!!??”
Finn flinched and darted their eyes to Flora before dropping their gaze. “I fucked up the turn. Forgot to consider speed.” Finn looked back to Flora who reached out and tucked Finn’s hair behind their ears, I’m assuming that was her way of saying she was ok. I turned and headed to collect the runaway skif. Somehow it didn’t get damaged. Once I had the skif back to the group Twister started to assign us rides back.
“Finn, Flora, you are not driving back.” Finn’s ears dropped but Flora looked relieved. “Finn go with Agnes, Flora go with Crystal and Emily2. Coral come with me.” I was surprised she didn’t want to drive Finn back herself, but I didn’t question it. Twister let the others go ahead before turning to me. “Are you ok?”
“Huh?” Her question took me off guard. Why the fuck would I not be? I didn’t just get tossed off a skif flying at full speed.
“I saw the look in your eyes Coral.” Twister sat down on the skif next to me. Oh. Shit.
“I’m fine.” I jumped up onto the skif, my back to Twister. “We should probably get going.” I was not going to have that conversation with Twister, or anyone.
“You don’t have to tell me anything. I just wanted to check in. You want to drive us back?” Twister stood up and motioned for me to take the controls.
I looked to her and sighed. I guess it was ok to drop my guard for a minute. “Do you mind if you drive us back?” Truthfully, I was still shaking from before.
Twister smiled and nodded before taking the controls. I guess she didn’t hate me after all.
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Finn
Twister forced us to return the skifs before teleporting back out to the hill we started at. She wasn’t thrilled at my idea of using them to get home, which was understandable. Not sure I would have wanted to drive one back anyway. My eyes darted to Flora. She didn’t blame me for the fall but I blamed myself. Even though my shoulders and elbows took the brunt of the hit, she still got cut pretty bad. Her arm was wrapped up from where she hit the skiff when we got tossed. She also had many smaller scrapes and bruises just as I did, and it made me feel like an ass. I’m the reason she got hurt. I curled my tail around my propped-up knees and looked down at the rum Coral had handed me.
“Finn. If you’re not going to drink it then hand it over!” I snapped back to reality when Flora grabbed the bottle from me. We had found a few logs to put around a fire that Coral made. The hill looked out over the Crimson Waste and the sky was clear making the stars stunning. Flora tossed back the rum and immediately went to laugh at a joke that Agnes made. I felt myself smile at her.
“What?!” Flora turned to me with a questioning smile, her cheeks red from the buzz of the alcohol.
“Nothing!” I laughed and turned away. “Gimmie that!” I snatched the rum from her to take a swig.
“Woo! Finally, we can get this party started!” Coral cheered sarcastically before nodding to Crystal.
“Emily2?” Crystal turned to her bot. Emily2 beeped in question. “TURN IT UP!” Crystal jumped up with Coral as soon as Emily2 started playing dance music, complete with a small light show.
“Hell yes!” I jumped up and pulled Flora with me. Not even a half hour passed before we were all beyond tipsy, even Twister. I grabbed Flora’s hand and pulled her into a dance. The others caught on and partnered up for one of our classic games. Somehow, I managed to turn ballroom dance into a party game, I blame alcohol, and theater. Flora stumbled and stepped on my toes, but I held her close and laughed. We spun, switching partners. Agnes took my hand, and I knew I’d have to lead. Agnes was not what I would call graceful, but they had spirt. The game continued as we changed partners and tried to avoid the fire. Even Emily2 joined in. Dancing with a bot is a lot easier than it seems. Emily2 had skill. We spun again and I landed right into Coral. Hand in hand we froze for a second both feeling the adrenaline of the dance, warmth of the fire, and buzz of the rum. She gave me the most devious grin and I knew instantly what she was going to do. I returned her expression and fixed my posture. She started with the lead and I followed. Our feet narrowly missing each other as we stepped close together in perfect synch. She tossed me into a dramatic spin before pulling me back and twisting me so that my back was to her chest. We kept the rhythm and slowly increased the complexity of our moves. When the song dipped, we paused briefly for Coral to reach behind her and pluck a flower off the tree to toss to me. I caught it smoothly between my teeth and pulled her back to me, our faces inches apart as I took the lead. We spun again before I picked her up. She wrapped her legs around me for just an instant so I could grab her waist and lift her into a spin. We continued like this. Listening to the song and adding more and more dramatic tricks. I pulled her close, my hand going to her face, and our eyes closing as the song lifted. On the drop Coral’s eyes jolted open and she snatched the flower from my teeth into her own, her lips lightly brushing mine. We were fully in synch, just like old times. Both of us had tuned out the cheers from the others and for the first time in a long time it was just her and I dancing. We listened as the song started to end, Coral back in the lead. Hitting every beat she spun me around before catching me into a dramatic dip. As the song faded I stood back up and took the flower in my teeth next to Coral’s. It was a slight deviation from our typical signature ending but I don’t think she minded. The others were cheering loudly but we didn’t hear them. For a split second it was just Coral and I. We kept our eyes locked, smiling, as Coral took the flower in her hand but we were then quickly jolted back to reality when the others pulled us back to the group. Coral and I shared one last look before we both started laughing. We used to dance like this all the time, always stealing the show at princess prom or on stage. Before the band Coral and I would perform together in local venues. Nothing big but big enough that we got known as a dynamic duo. That was until I messed up. I felt my gaze drop until Flora fell onto me, her hand on my shoulder and the bottle being waved around.
“You are both so hot!” Flora stumbled a bit and I caught her. All eyes turned to Flora. Coral darted her eyes to me and the only way I can describe her expression was confused, disgruntled fear. It was hilarious.
“WHAT!?” Flora tossed her arms up and I tried to snag the bottle before she poured it on herself and keep her steady at the same time. “You were all thinking it!” She was all laughter and I coaxed her to sit.
“Never thought I’d have to cut Flora off from drinking...” Twister was confused in a different way.
“Here. Let me take that.” I gently took the rum from Flora who didn’t argue. I turned back to the group but then my eyes went wide, ears shot up, and I nearly jumped out of my skin when I felt Flora harshly grab my tail and curl it around her hand. Coral fell over in laughter and it was my turn to display confused, disgruntled fear. I looked down to Flora, the same expression on my face.
“You’re cute.” She smiled up at me and I turned to the group, my expression probably more dramatic than before. “So are you.” She leaned her head toward Agnes, who just raised an eyebrow at her before taking water from Twister to hand to her. Apparently, Flora gets flirty when drunk. Great…
I shook my head and tossed back the rum. It was intended to be a sip but it turned more into a few large gulps. I was too sober to deal with this. I heard Coral chanting chug in the background and the others actually joined in, even Twister which was shocking. She was drunk to be fair. I obliged and finished the almost empty bottle before sitting next to Flora, luckily, they were much smaller than the bottles Coral normally had. Flora instantly put her head on my shoulder.
“Well that confirms we are staying the night here!” Twister said with a chuckle. She got up to get Flora’s bag that had blankets. I helped her lay them out before the rum fully kicked in. We all stayed up and partied a bit longer. Flora was the first to crash, I picked her up carefully and carried her to one of the blankets, so she’d be more comfortable. I then went to help Twister clean up while Coral put out the fire, Crystal still dancing with Emily2. Agnes crashed next but luckily was sober enough to find their own way to the makeshift beds. Twister, Coral, and I could hold our liquor well. We were all drunk, but still in control physically and mentally, give or take some stumbling. Twister and I stayed up talking a bit after she convinced Crystal to head to sleep, and Coral followed suit to the blankets. I told her about the tour name suggestion from Flora and we discussed tank upgrades. Her and Crystal had a lot of great ideas that would give us three separate rooms for sleeping with one room doubling as a practice space. The way the tank was now was similar but on a much smaller scale. She also talked about a way to build in a kitchen and more seating. We stayed up talking a good bit before she headed off to sleep. I stretched out over the log I was on when I noticed Coral sitting up on her blanket messing with something in her hands. I got up and went to sit next to her.
“Can’t sleep?” She quickly grabbed whatever it was that she was messing with and tucked it away, turning to look at me with a startled look. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to sneak up.”
“You’re an idiot you know” Coral leaned back and looked up to the stars. I just tilted my head in question. “Taking a turn that fast. You clearly didn’t listen to me when we were surfing.” She sent me a smile to let me know she was kidding. I ducked my gaze away. “I’m glad you and Flora are safe.”
I turned my gaze back and lifted my ears with a smile. “Thanks. Guess I just got caught up in the moment.”
“Caught up in the moment or caught up in Flora?” She said it playfully but it still grated my nerves. I was done with her teasing me about something that happened long ago.
“Fuck off Coral.” I went to stand but she tugged me back down. “What!?” I whispered it but with force. Coral let go and looked at me in shock and almost a hint of fear. “I know I fucked up ok?! Can you let it go!?”
Coral paused before dropping her head and gave a slight nod. This time she let me walk off. I didn’t go to my blanket but instead headed to the forest edge and climbed up one of the taller trees. The rum starting to wear off and a light hangover setting in. I stayed like that looking out at the stars before I felt myself fall asleep.
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Coral
When I lifted my head to speak, Finn was gone. I was about to get up to look for them when I saw their silhouette in a nearby tree. Shit. I fucked that up. My head dropped back to my lap and I uncurled my hand to expose my guitar pick. I took it everywhere but never played with it. It was from the first show Finn and I did. We were both excited and thought it would be fun to sign the picks we used as tokens to remember the night. They had a matching one, but I doubt they kept it. Well shit. I felt a tear roll down my cheek and turned to lay down before wiping it away just in case Finn was watching. As soon as my head hit the ground, I felt sleep creep up on me and I fell asleep with the guitar pick in hand.

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Finn

My ears dropped as soon as I saw Glimmer standing at the entrance of Brightmoon with her arms crossed. I looked to Agnes who shared my expression. Agnes and I were headed back home after yesterday’s adventure. We all traveled back together and avoided teleporting as a few of us were still feeling the hangover. And by that I mean Flora was barely able to walk a straight line. I ended up carrying her most of the way. She decided to hang with Twister before heading home as her mothers were not nearly as chill as mine about partying.
“Wasn’t there an important meeting this morning?” Agnes was still looking at their very angry mother. The fact that she was waiting for us to approach her and not teleporting to us told us she was pissed.
“Shit. You’re right.” We both paused for a second to figure out what to say. “They thought we were at rehearsal yesterday too.”
“We’re screwed.”
“Just a little.” I sighed. “Technical issues?”
“Technical issues.”
We both sighed one last time and nodded before heading to meet Glimmer. She said nothing when we got to her.
“Sorry mom. We had technical issues during practice and ended up having to stay late. Decided it was best to stay there instead of walking back that late.” Agnes lied poorly and I tried not to flinch. They forgot I had night vision. Glimmer said nothing and just shifted her eyes to me.
“I strained my eyesight when testing our new strobe, so night vision was sub par.” I shrugged at Glimmer hoping she would buy the lie and not ask questions. I wasn’t sure it was even possible to strain my eyesight.
“Hmmm.. Catra! Is that even possible?” Glimmer smiled and looked behind us. I hadn’t heard mom come up from behind. My ears shot up and Agnes and I both panicked.
“Not even in the slightest.” Mom just laughed. “Gee kid, you need better lies!” Melog curled around her legs as she went to stand next to Glimmer. “So, Sparkles, I’m thinking dungeon.”
“Dungeon seems fitting Horde Scum.” Glimmer and Mom shared a devious glare before turning the glare to us.
“Ok! Ok! Ok!” I threw my hands up and Agnes looked concerned. They needed to trust me more. There was no way I was going to give the full story. “I may have had a smidge too much to drink and vision was ever so slightly impaired.” I grinned a bit but kept my gaze away from Mom. I knew she would be cool about it.
“So you were hammered?” Mom grinned and put her hands on her hips. Glimmer snickered. I went to argue but then just shrugged with a grin. “And how’d you injure yourself?” She motioned to the scrapes from where I hit the sand.
“Well, like I said, smidge too much…” I left it open ended and Agnes saw this as a great chance to mess with me now that we knew Glimmer and Mom were ok with the situation.
“They fell out of a tree.” Agnes said bluntly and crossed their arms, tossing their eyes my way.
I snarled “Did not!” Mom busted out laughing, clearly believing Agnes. Glimmer joined her. Even Melog started laughing. I shot an angry look at Agnes who shrugged with a cheeky grin. “We’re going inside.” I walked off angrily while Mom, Glimmer, and Melog were using each other to hold themselves up from laughing. Agnes followed me.
“Try landing on your feet next time!” Mom yelled after us. I rolled my eyes and groaned. She was never going to let me live that down.
Once Agnes and I were back to my room we sighed in relief.
“You didn’t have to say I fell out of a tree!” I crossed my arms and glared at Agnes. That was like the one thing I didn’t do.
“It worked though!” Agnes chuckled and propped their feet up on the chest in front of them.
“I don’t fall out of trees.” I grumbled.
“Except for that one time…” Agnes started but I hissed to cut them off. “Fine, fine!” They put up a hand to surrender. When they turned away, I shot sparkles at them and quickly jumped over a chair to duck behind it before they could return fire. Mica had taught us a harmless sparkle spell when we were first learning magic and from then on, we used it to play fight. We kept it up for several minutes, both laughing and ducking around furniture to avoid getting hit. Agnes eventually called truce and flopped to the floor, their back against my bed. I joined them.
“Any progress on Tango the Moon?” Agnes was still out of breath from laughter.
“I think I have it just about done now!” I was also out of breath. “Just need to play around with a few things. Maybe later you can help me work out a few kinks.”
“Yea! Of course!” I was always asking Agnes to help key out the music behind the lyrics. “So how you holding up? You took a nasty fall yesterday. I know you can bounce back quick but I also know you hide pain.” Agnes turned to me. They were trying to hide their concern behind a sly grin, but it was obvious to me. Agnes was practically my sibling and I told them nearly everything.
“I’m fine honestly! A bit sore but I knew how to land the fall so luckily didn’t hit as hard as it looked.” I flexed my arms to show I was still able to move normally. “I was more worried about Flora.” I dropped my arms and looked down. “I’ve taught her how to fall but she got snagged rather hard by the skiff when we were tossed.” I sighed. “I also fully thought the skiff was going to hit us. I didn’t see it change directions before we stopped.”
“Well it’s good you both only had minor injuries!” Agnes put their arm around me. “I know you’re worried but trust me, Flora does not blame you. None of us do. Well, Twister might…”
I gave Agnes a smile and threw my arm over their shoulders too. They knew exactly what was bugging me. But to be fair, I was voicing my concern to them after we split ways from the others.
“Oh, Double Trouble offered me a place to move out.” I took my arm from Agnes and stood up to pace. I liked being in motion. Also, I was ready to change the topic.
“That’s awesome! Are you going to take it?”
“I’m thinking about it. Though I want to wait until after we find out about the tour. No point in moving out if we go on tour.”
Agnes nodded in agreement. “Have you seen the place yet?”
“Not yet but Double Trouble told me how to get there if I wanted to”
“We should go check it out!” Agnes was already standing up. “Do your moms know?”
“I plan to keep it quite until I make a decision. Not sure how they will react…” We both shared the same expression on that thought. My moms were just a wee bit clingy.
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Catra

“Yea, they were ok! Just band shenanigans again.” I hugged Adora who was still on edge about Finn.
“Oh good!” Adora perked up once she knew everything was ok. “What was it this time?”
“They both blamed it on technical difficulties.” I couldn’t help but laugh. “They didn’t explain anything else! It was a terrible lie!” Adora laughed with me. We were ok with Finn and their band adventures as long as they were safe. Also, nothing got past Twister. “Finn had a few scrapes and bruises but nothing bad. If the story is true, our nimble kitten got drunk and fell out of a tree!” I busted out laughing again.
“CATRA!” Adora shot me an angry look. “Don’t laugh at our child’s injury!”
This made me laugh harder. “Based on where their injuries were, it means our kitten did not land on their feet!”
“I can think of another cat who doesn’t always land on her feet.” Adora was now looking at me with a smirk.
“I always land on my feet!” My tail puffed up and Adora crossed her arms with a grin. I hissed and she hugged me.
“Anyway, it was good they weren’t at the meeting.”
I turned to face my wife, my smile dropping. “Any word from Entrapta?”
“Not yet. She’s still running tests.” Adora held my hands in hers and Melog curled around us both, letting out a concerned mew.
“We’ll have to tell them all eventually.” Adora knew I meant the kids.
“I know. Let’s wait until we know for sure.” Adora put her forehead to mine making me smile and start to purr. “There’s always a chance it’s nothing.”
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Finn

Agnes and I were deep in the whispering woods heading to go investigate what may be my new place. Typically, we would go around on the outskirts where it was lighter and less dense, but we decided to take the more direct route this time. I was able to navigate easily through the dense vegetation where Agnes kept tripping over the thickets.
“You know I could just teleport us?” Agnes suggested, tugging at the hem of their skirt that had gotten stuck on a thorn. I ignored them and leapt over a tree that had fallen. “Have you been this deep in the woods before?”
“Yup! Quite a bit actually. Flora and I have pretty much explored all parts of the Whispering Woods.” I smiled thinking about all our adventures from when we were younger.
“So have you finally decided to ask her out?”
“WAAAAAAHHHHHH?????!!!” I turned abruptly to look at Agnes, stumbling over a log and landing on my ass. That idea wasn’t even on my radar.
Agnes laughed “You’re literally falling for her I see!” I hissed but still took Agnes’s hand to stand up. Agnes never teased me about Flora, but they did hint on it occasionally. I didn’t mind all that much.
“I don’t like Flora.” I said grumpily, brushing the dirt off my pants.
“Then why are you always with her, worrying about her, talking about her, keeping every flower she gives you?” Agnes had a sly smile as we both started walking again.
“I mean I like Flora, but like, not like that. Like she’s just relaxing to be around, and I enjoy hanging out with her and stuff. We’re just really close.” I tried hard to not stumble my words and felt my cheeks start to go red. I put my hands in my pockets and forced myself not to smile.
“You’re literally blushing Finn.” Agnes called me out.
“No I’m not.” I turned away and used my hair to hide my face from Agnes.
“You totally like her.”
“Shut up!”
“You’re not denying it!”
“No! I mean SHUT UP!” I whispered harshly and crouched down listening. I thought I heard voices. Agnes got what I meant and followed suit. Whatever I heard must have passed.
“AH! Adora dearie!” I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard the old woman approach us from behind. “Come on now! We are going to be late!”
“Razz??!!” Based on the looks of the older woman she matched the description from the stories Mother told me. I looked to Agnes confused as hell and startled.
“Well of course dearie!” She started to walk off. “Keep up now Finn!”
My eyes shot wide when she said my name and I looked to Anges again and mouthed ‘what the fuck?’. Were we supposed to follow her? Agnes looked just as confused as I did and shrugged. We decided to follow her but quickly lost her in the depths.
“Well that was normal.” Agnes was staring blankly at the last spot we saw Razz.
“Mother mentioned Razz only appeared in important situations when she was most needed.” Honestly, I was terrified. How did she know my name? Mother told me Razz had already known hers but that was because she was She-Ra. I was not, so why did she know me? My heart was pounding.
“You ok Finn?” Agnes put a hand on my shoulder and snapped me back to reality. I shook my head and stared blankly, still in thought.
“We can’t tell anyone.” I blinked and looked at Agnes sternly. “Swear to me you won’t!”
“I fully agree with you Finn. Honestly.” Agnes put their hands up with the same look of fear. “What are you going to do?”
“I need to find out more.” I thought for a second. “Swift Wind!” I turned to Agnes with energy. “We can ask Swift Wind! He will know what to do.”
“Can you trust him?” Agnes didn’t seem to think so.
“Yea. Swift Wind’s good at keeping secrets.” I nodded. Agnes wasn’t convinced. “Just trust me.”
Agnes shrugged and followed me back to Brightmoon.
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When we got back, Agnes got pulled away by Aunt Glimmer, so I went on the search for Swift Wind on my own. I started in the castle since he was often with Mother.
“Hello Finn!” I heard Perfuma call out from the meeting room. They must have been having another meeting.
“Hi Perfuma!” I waved and walked over to her. “Have you by chance seen Swift Wind around?”
Perfuma pointed angrily into the meeting room. “He won’t stop singing. It’s messing up our meditation!”
I chuckled, Perfuma was not pleased. “Could you tell him I’m looking for him?”
Perfuma didn’t respond, instead she grew a vine around Swift Winds waist and pulled him into the hallway. “Finn needs you.” She then walked back in and slammed the door, not before waving goodbye to me though.
“What’s up Finn!?” Swift Wind seemed unfazed by having been drug out of meditation.
“Can we talk outside?” I whispered and motioned in the direction of the castle doors.
“AH! Secrets! I love secrets!” I may have forgotten how loud Swift Wind could be.
“SHHHHH!!!” I put my hand over his muzzle. “Yes. Secrets. You know those things you don’t tell other people about…” I said in an angry whisper.
“Oh yea! Right.” Swift Wind got the hint and we headed out. That’s when I decided maybe Agnes was right and I ought to bend the truth a bit.
“Sooooo…..What’s the gossip!!” Swift Wind nearly headbutted me ounce we were outside. “Do you have a new girlfriend!? Did you get the tour!? Are you writing a new song!?” I stumbled back and almost fell over from his excitement.
“No, Not yet, and yes but you’ve already heard it. But that’s not what I wanted to talk about.” Swift Wind tilted his head to inquire. “So I was thinking about all those stories Mother told me about becoming She-Ra and all that and I was wondering if you could tell me more about Razz. Flora and I have been all over the Whispering Woods but have never seen any trace of her.” I started walking along the path outside and Swift Wind followed. Walking and talking was better.
“Well Razz always seemed to appear when Adora needed her. And she was always a little crazy. Oh! And she loves pie!” Swift Wind started to explain and I looked at him to continue. “Razz had a unique way of guiding Adora and it sounded like Mara too, the She-Ra before your mother.”
“Does Mother still see Razz?” Mother had told me no but I wanted to be sure.
“No. We haven’t seen her since the end of the war.” Swift Wind looked longingly at the woods. “I just hope she’s alright. I mean she’s a crazy old lady living alone in the woods.”
I got an idea and started to smile. “Do you want to go on an adventure?”
Swift Wind reared up and shared my excitement “Do I!”
I hopped up on Swift Wind’s back and we took off towards the Whispering Woods.
“Razz was usually always in the deep parts of the woods, where the magic was the strongest. Now that the magic has been released, she could be anywhere.” Swift Wind was looking around and I was lounged across his back, propping myself up against his neck.
“I say start in the depths. It’s the spot I haven’t been as often.” I was still bending the truth a bit.
“You got it!”
I started to hum a tune, a shanty, as we traveled deeper into the woods. We were going slow so we didn’t miss anything, but the silence was eerie. Swift Wind started nodding along and so I started to sing the lyrics. He listened for a bit before butting in “Isn’t that the shanty you and Coral wrote!?” He turned to look at me and I stopped singing immediately. I hadn’t even realized what song I was singing. “Well, why’d ya stop?”
“How about you choose the song Swift Wind?” I immediately wanted to change the subject and I knew Swift Wind would take the bait.
“Really!? Ok!” He started to sing some random song about apples that ended up being quite catchy and I jumped in to sing along. Soon we were both singing at the top of our lungs and dancing as we traveled. At the songs end we both laughed and took in our surroundings. We were rather deep in the woods at this point and hadn’t seen anything.
“Any sign?” I turned around so I could ask better.
“Nope. Just lots of trees.” Swift Wind paused to look around better.
“Perhaps try the Crystal Castle?” I suggested knowing it was a key part of Mother’s stories.
“Not on my watch! Adora told you to stay away from there without her. I won’t be the one responsible for bringing you!” Swift Wind shook his head. It was worth a try.
“Oh well, guess we better head back then if we want dinner.” I grabbed Swift Wind’s mane to let him know I was ready to fly and he took wing.
Ugghhh. Why didn’t we find her? I had directed Swift Wind to where Agnes and I were earlier, without telling him of course, and we found nothing. I was annoyed but also relieved. Part of me wanted to pretend I hadn’t seen her. I was worried for what it meant.
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After dinner I headed back to my room and lounged on my bed unable to sleep. I kept thinking about Razz. With a groan I got up and grabbed my lyric book. I guess I could finish up Tango the Moon but no matter how hard I tried, I could not put my focus on lyrics. They just made me think of the band and all the craziness going on. I flopped back onto my bed again and decided to message Flora. A few minutes passed and no reply. She must be busy. I jumped off the bed and turned out the lights, letting the moonlight shine into the room. Might as well meditate.
When I got back in bed and saw that Flora still hadn’t replied I got worried. She always replies. I sent another message, and once again no reply. I sighed. I hope she’s alright? Flora had never been that drunk as far as I know. She usually knew her limit and didn’t like to go beyond it. But considering she forgot being flirty, she was well beyond her limit last night. I had the urge to go visit her but I knew she needed sleep with rehearsal tomorrow. The big concert was soon and we wanted to start doing full dress rehearsals. I could check on her then. It’s possible she just crashed early. Ugghh. I got up again and went to one of the rose bushes I had in my room. They smelled nice. I plucked one of the flowers and took it with me back to bed. The scent was relaxing and helped lull me to sleep with a smile.

Chapter Text

Chapter 5
“Etheria to Finn!” I nearly jumped from my seat on the edge of the stage when Coral tapped my shoulder. “Jumpy much?” Coral laughed at my reaction and waved her hand for me to follow her. “Come on. We’re going to run through the set once more.”
Our big concert was just days away now and we were trying to do as many full-dress rehearsals as we could without burning out. We usually didn’t do more than a handful and we rarely practiced full sets, but with this being the make it or break it concert we wanted perfection. A few days had passed now since our adventure to the Crimson Waste and I still had not heard from Flora. It was safe to say I was distracted. Did I do something? Was she mad about the fall? I wanted to go visit her but with the concert coming up I hadn’t had much time. At this point, we had started to plan around the thought that Flora may not be joining us for the big performance. I let out a silent sigh with my hands to my face before getting up and heading back to center stage. Honestly, I was ready for rehearsal to be over.
“You good?” Twister eyed me from the drums. I nodded and gave her a forced smile to signal I was ready. No need to make her worry. I knew I would be ok once the music started.
Crystal cut the lights. We were going to start from the beginning. Twister tapped the beat, and we took off, sailing easily through the set. We were planning to start with our current songs, saving Tango the Moon for the end. We had a few other new songs ready but wanted to save them for the tour as a way to introduce our new album. When it came time for Tango the Moon, I took off with the crazy choreography, pretending there was an actual audience in front of me. On the final note of the set, we all cheered. It wasn’t the first successful full-dress rehearsal, but we still celebrated.
“You want to call it there Finn?” Twister asked.
“I think we should. Don’t want to tire ourselves out. I’m thinking break tomorrow too.” I put the mic back on the stand and stretched. The others agreed. “Though I do think we should discuss any issues or changes now. If we have any big ones, we can meet for a short practice tomorrow evening to get them figured out.”
We closed up the stage and headed back to the tank to talk.
“I think the beginning needs a bit more flare. We want people hooked from the start. How about wind first, subtle LEDs with water flow across stage front avoiding the electronics, then light fog and when the intro chorus hits, wind picks up spraying the water droplets and fog over the crowd and we go into Crystal’s lights.” I propped my feet up on the table and looked to the others.
“I like this. We could go for an eerie bog feel.” Crystal piped in. “Emily2, que up the lights, let’s see what this might look like.” Emily2 projected onto the wall a simulation of what the setting would be and it was dark and edgy. I gave a small grin and the others agreed. It was a good idea considering our first song started low and matched the feel.
“Speaking of pizazz, Finn you should interact more with the audience this time, especially with Tango the Moon. It has a romantic feel to it, as if you’re talking to someone. Interacting with those at the stage front will enhance that emotion. Not to mention you’d drive everyone nuts!” Coral leaned back and chuckled.
“Are you asking me to flirt with the audience?” I narrowed my gaze.
“Coral’s got a point.” Twister chimed in. We all looked at her with confusion. She never agreed with Coral. Even Coral’s jaw was dropped.
“Ugggghhhhh.. Fine. I can try.” I usually interacted briefly with the audience the same way any singer would but it was usually like knuckle punches and selfies, not flirting.
“What do you mean try? Finn you’re a fucking natural flirt!” Coral looked to the others for agreement and they all nodded, I just rolled my eyes. Actor yes. Flirt no.
“You should hand out a rose!” Agnes suggested. “I mean you literally always have one in your pocket.” Coral chuckled again and looked like she was going to say some sort of joke but glanced to me and stopped. The rose was always from Flora. She dropped her gaze and leaned back into her chair.
“That would fit with the tour name.” Crystal shrugged. She wasn’t wrong.
“I can give it test run and see. But I refuse to hand it from my teeth.” I looked right at Coral with a smirk. She had her finger pointed at me like she had the best idea and immediately dropped her smile and crossed her arms with a huff. Passing a rose from my teeth was a signature move from when her and I performed together.
We continued to discuss small changes that we should make before heading out, Twister and Crystal staying back to finalize a few last-minute tank modifications.
“I’ll meet you back at Brightmoon.” I looked to Agnes. Usually, we would walk back together but I had other plans.
“Going to Flora?” Agnes smiled at me.
“Actually no. I want to go the long way through the depths of the Whispering Woods and skirt around the border of the Crystal Castle.” I looked out to the woods with concern, my ears dropping.
“I’m coming with. I want to know what’s going on too.” Agnes started following me. I was thankful for the company and gave a smile to Agnes to let them know. I wasn’t really wanting to figure this out alone. To be honest, I was scared.
“Though um. Speaking of Flora. Have you heard from her?” I looked to Agnes who caught the worry in my eyes.
“Sorry Finn but no. I tried to message her the other night for you but, no reply.” I ducked my ears farther back and my tail twitched. Agnes put a hand on my shoulder. “I’m sure everything’s fine Finn. Maybe you should take a break and go visit her tonight. I know you will just continue to worry if you don’t. She’d probably be happy to see you.”
I smiled, knowing they were right about me worrying. “Wish I could but we have that meeting at Brightmoon tonight. Moms seemed worried so I didn’t want to miss it.” Also, I wasn’t sure Flora wanted to see me and the meeting was a great excuse.
“Y-You’re not skipping a meeting!? Are you sick?!” Agnes pretended to check my temperature. I laughed and pushed them off.
“Moms usually don’t look that worried.” Agnes thought for a second and nodded in agreement. Glimmer and Bow were the same way recently.
It didn’t take us long to reach the deep part of the woods and what we found was a whole lot of nothing. Damn it. I let out a short growl and swatted at one of the plants. Agnes put a hand on my shoulder and went ahead of me. They saw something. I followed. Agnes had started following a path of small glowing particles that looked like gold dust floating in the air, lighting up the forest around us. I paused and sniffed. Pie? I eyed Agnes confused, they smelt it too. We were close to the Crystal Castle now. I pulled Agnes down and listened. We stayed still for what felt like forever before I felt something bristly hit my head.
“Fucking hell!” I stood up and turned to see a short old lady with wild hair holding a broom up. My ears perked up.
She swatted me with the broom again and I flinched with an OW! “Language dearie!” Agnes laughed and Razz hit them next. “Come both of you. You’re late for pie!” Razz started off and this time we didn’t hesitate to follow her, scared we would lose her again. She led us to her home which was more of a cave than a house. It reminded me of a less decorated and less organized version of Coral’s old hideout. She pushed back the curtain of a door and we followed her inside. Razz immediately started throwing things around looking for something. “Adora dear, can you hand me those berries?” I looked to Agnes who shrugged. I guess she meant me. I started looking around for the berries but didn’t see any.
“Razz I don’t –“ She didn’t let me finish.
“AH HA! Here it is!” She pulled out an oven mitt from a pile of things laying around and tossed it to Agnes. “When that timer goes off take the pie out dear.” Agnes didn’t question her and went to watch the timer by the oven. “Now what about those berries Finn?”
“I can’t find them Razz.” I said in my kindest voice. She may be crazy, but she was still a little old lady.
Razz walked past me and grabbed a basket full of berries. WHAT!? That was not there when I looked. “Looks like you need these more than me!” She took her glasses off and put them on me. I nearly fell back. Dear She-Ra this woman was blind. I took them off and stopped her before she tripped. Gently I put the glasses back on her and helped her with the berries.
“Razz?” She looked up to me. “So, I was wondering, how do you know me?”
“Don’t be silly Adora!” I lifted my hand to argue but she was already taking the pie from the oven, after stealing the mitt back from Agnes and grumbling about them missing the timer. Agnes shot me a confused look and I just shrugged with a smile. I wasn’t going to lie. Razz reminded me of a crazy but sweet grandma. She sat us at her table, and we ate pie while she talked about stars. After pie she rushed us out saying we would be late, and I gave her a small hug before leaving.
“She’s sweet!” I smiled at Agnes and headed back through the woods towards home.
“She’s crazy!” Agnes was still confused. “Are you going to tell your moms yet?”
“Oooohhhhh hell no.” They were already worried. And to be honest I still wasn’t ready to admit what meeting Razz might mean. Mother said she only appeared in critical moments. “I do think I will visit her again though. She makes good pie.” Agnes rolled their eyes at me, and we headed home.
*********************************************************
Catra

“Any news Sparkles?” I looked worriedly at Glimmer, my arm wrapped around Adora’s. Glimmer shook her head with a frown.
“Entrapta said her test may take a bit longer than expected. Hordak is making her take extra precautions” Bow walked over and put his arm over Glimmer’s shoulders.
“If anyone can figure this out it’s her.” Mermista piped in, Sea Hawk standing with her.
“What about the kids?” Spinerella held Netossa’s hand, “Their performance is in just a few days.”
“Let’s continue to keep this under wraps until we know what it is.” Adora directed, looking to Glimmer for confirmation.
Glimmer agreed. “We don’t want to worry the kingdoms. It’s likely nothing.” She turned to look at Spinerella and Netossa. “The kids performance is well off from our areas of concern so they should be safe, but let’s make sure we keep eyes on them until we know for sure.” I could hear the doubt in her voice. She was worried too. “For now, let’s just continue the meetings and increase security. Perfuma, Scorpia, have you both checked on the Black Garnet recently?”
“Yes.” Perfuma answered. “We were there just this morning. Nothing seemed out of place.”
“We could just smash it!” Frosta stood up with ice fists. Perfuma gave her a stern look, I laughed. “I’m just kidding!” She removed the ice fists and held up her hands in surrender. “So far everything is good in the Kingdom of Snows. I’ve increased security sweeps to be sure.”
My ears stood up as I caught footsteps and I shushed the group.
“Is everything ok?” Finn and Agnes walked in looking a bit surprised to see everyone. I caught their gaze linger at Perfuma, their ears and tail twitching ever so slightly. Something must be up with Flora.
“Everything’s fine Finn!” I walked over to them and gave them a hug, Adora soon following. “Just discussing routine procedures.” We had forgotten that we asked Finn and Agnes to join the meeting. The initial plan was to indirectly ask if they’d seen anything odd during practices, but we got ahead of ourselves.
“Ok! Let’s all take a seat and we can begin.” Glimmer obviously didn’t want to raise suspicion and decided to continue on, pretending as if the meeting had never started. We had already discussed everything of concern but knew Finn and Agnes would be smart enough to pick up on the uneasiness if we told them. “I’ve caught word of a large creature out in the Whispering Woods that has been causing unrest between citizens. Has anyone had eyes on what this might be?”
“The band and I haven’t seen anything unusual during practices.” Finn spoke up. They were always out in the woods.
“I’ve heard a few unusual sounds but nothing that seems concerning.” Perfuma was next to speak. Making up a story to add to the white lie. “Flora mentioned seeing a larger winged beast the other day. Not one she had seen before.”
Finn’s ears twitched at Flora’s name, but they shook it off and replied “Did she describe it?”
Perfuma seemed almost annoyed at Finn and had a harsh look on her gaze when she turned to answer them. I narrowed my own eyes and put my ears back. No one looked at my kid like that. I felt Adora’s hand on mine and calmed myself. “She said it was bigger than the others with an orange tipped tail. However, she said it was much higher up and hard to see clearly.”
Finn nodded and thought for a second. “I think I may know that one. It occasionally flies with the others but is often too high to see in detail. I’ve heard it once and it did have a rather distinct call. I could keep watch for it if that would help. I know where it frequents.” Finn glanced to Glimmer and I gave a sly smile in Perfuma’s direction. That’s my Finn. I looked to Adora who shared my admiration at our young adult. Though I was a bit taken aback that they had actually seen Perfuma’s made up creature.
“That would be great Finn! Are you able to fit that in with your rehearsal schedule?” Glimmer seemed more concerned about them overworking themselves than the responsibility. Which made sense considering it was a fake task.
Finn nodded with a smile “I can go there tonight. We are breaking tomorrow as well and I can scout around a bit. The adventure will be nice.”
“Thank you Finn!” Glimmer nodded and looked deep in thought. Probably trying to think if there was anything else she could cover. “That was our main concern for tonight. The citizens have been on edge. I will let them know the situation is under control. Thank you Finn and Agnes for joining us. You are welcome to leave if you’d like. Finn make sure you eat before scouting tonight.”
Finn nodded and they and Agnes got up to leave. Once out of earshot, Glimmer laid her head down with a groan. “I made that up… I wasn’t expecting there to actually be a beast…” I laughed but it quickly stopped when I caught a rough glare from Perfuma. I matched the look and gave a silent snarl.

**************************************************************************************
Finn

“You agreed to that just to piss off Perfuma didn’t you?” Agnes shot me a smirk.
My ear twitched with a stern look on my face. I did sense the tension from Perfuma but it honestly just made me more worried about Flora. With a flat tone I replied, “I actually knew about the beast.”
Agnes shrugged. “Are you going to go see Flora since we got out early?”
I shook my head. “I promised I’d do the watch.” In reality, I still wasn’t sure if Flora wanted to see me. Agnes could tell I was frustrated. I kept my gaze forward when they said goodnight.
Once in my room, I let out a sigh and went to clean up in my bathroom. The rooms in the castle were very open meaning there wasn’t a door separating my room from the bath space. Instead, there was an open arch with small cutouts in the walls next to it, perfect for keeping roses. The bathroom was almost the same size as the room with water features running throughout and a small bridge where the indoor river cut across the room. It flowed over to my balcony as well. Aunt Glimmer had been very adamant that the water features were not for bathing. Apparently, my moms were to blame according to her. However, I didn’t care. If they weren’t for sitting in, then they wouldn’t be heated. Mom hated water but I on the other hand found it relaxing.
I stripped off and slipped into the water, letting steam fill my nose as I rested my head back against the ledge with a smile. The sound of the small waterfalls was peaceful and must have lulled me into sleep because I startled when I heard a very quite “Finn?” come from my room.
SHIT! Flora never sneaks in without me. My brain raced thinking what to do. I was just out of eyesight and had barely enough time to wrap a towel wound my waist and slip on my bandeau top before Flora appeared around the bend. I hadn’t intended to rush in to hug her, but when I saw her, she had tear stains on her cheeks.
“Finn!” She startled at my motion, but I felt her hug me back tightly and bury her face in my neck. She was clearly upset. I unintentionally started purring, pushing my cheek against her head, relieved that she was ok. This made her laugh and pull back to look at my face. I kept my arms around her. “You’re all wet!” she said with a chuckle looking down at my arms. That’s when she noticed what I had on. “And naked….” She went bright red and darted her eyes away.
I laughed and pulled her back to me. “Technically no. I have on a top and bottoms!”
“Your bandeau hardly counts as a top Rose.” Flora raised an eyebrow at me with a small smile. “And I highly doubt society counts a towel as wearing bottoms.”
“It’s not like you haven’t seen me in the bandeau before!” I returned her raised eyebrow stare. I often wore just the bandeau for sleeping and rehearsal in the summer. “Plus, I think this look is quite stylish!” I stepped back and propped my arms on my hips as if posing for a picture. “Soon it will be all the rage!”
“I’ll be sure to pass that on to Double Trouble!” Flora tapped my nose.
“OK fine!” I held my hands up in surrender. “You win!” I did not even want to think of what DT’s reaction would be.
We both laughed until I rested my hand on Flora’s cheek and lifted her gaze to mine with a concerned look. “Are you ok?” I’m glad I was able to make her laugh, but I was still worried about what was wrong.
She ducked her face but still pulled me closer to her, “I’m ok. Mom’s are just not happy.” She rested her head on my shoulder, her arms wrapping around me.
“Did you want to talk about it?” I leaned my head on hers, putting my arms gently around her back.
“How about you put clothes on first.” Flora chuckled and lifted her head.
“Or we put on bathing suits and get back in the water.” I put my forehead to hers.
Flora laughed and nodded so I went to fetch her a pair of my swimming shorts and a shirt she could wear. We both changed and got into the water. Flora sat across from me and started to explain “My mom’s aren’t happy with the band’s behavior. When they saw my arm they panicked and took away my tracker pad. They won’t ban me from being around the band since one, they want me to make my own choices, and two, I’m an adult. But it’s just so annoying! And my bratty brothers of course found out about my hangover and told moms. That made things worse.” Flora threw her hands up in anger. “They want me to make my own choices yet won’t give me back the damn tracker pad and then get mad when I do make choices! It doesn’t make sense! UGGGHHHH!!” She splashed down on the water. I felt a light shock as her hands hit the water and flinched. Flora rarely showed her electric power and when she did it was very small scale and typically only when she was mad. She was always worried about losing control of it. I reached my hands out to grab hers and pulled her toward me, standing up slightly so I could hook an arm under her knees, pulling her into my lap. I threw my arms around her and she copied, her face buried in my neck once again. I felt her sigh and her voice cracked. “None of that maters to me. What hurt was my Mother called you a bad influence, and made it obvious she didn’t want me around you.” I felt Flora’s grip tighten around my shoulders and it felt like she was going to say more but decided not to.
My ears perked up and I froze, my eyes wide but out of view from Flora. I tightened my grip on her back, being careful to not scratch her. Tears started to fill my eyes. “I’m so sorry Lav.” I buried my face into her hair and wrapped my tail around her arm where she had gotten cut. It was my fault she got hurt. My fault her mothers were mad at her.
“Finn, are you blaming yourself for the accident?” Flora lifted her head and tilted mine so that I had to look at her. I ducked my eyes. “Rose, that wasn’t your fault! I was right there with you. I made the same decision as you. My hands were on the controls too.” She lifted my chin again and put her hand on my cheek. “You are not a bad influence at all. You are always pushing me to improve! I mean have you seen my dancing?” She smiled and I laughed, returning my eyes to hers. I slowly closed my eyes and pushed my cheek into her hand with a smile.
“You know you always have a place in the band Lav. If YOU feel like you need a break we understand. But do what you want, not what your moms want. You are you. You are perfect Flora.” I pushed her hair out of her face like she always did to me. It wasn’t something I usually did but she smiled, her hand moving to trace the base of my ear. Why did I want to kiss her? My heart nearly skipped a beat. I couldn’t cross that line. Not with her, not now.
“You’re perfect too Finn.” We locked eyes again but only briefly before Flora splashed me, both of us ready to break the awkward tension that now surrounded us.
“Hey!” I splashed her back. We kept this up for a short while before both getting out to dry off and change.
“How have rehearsals been going?” Flora jumped on the bed next to me, both of us back in dry clothes.
“Really great! We have just about everything ready! Just a few small changes to the choreography and set.” I leaned back on the bed using my arms to prop myself up. Flora’s back was to the headboard, and I was in front of her. “And I have been outvoted and am being forced to flirt with the audience.” I rolled my eyes with a smirk.
“Forced?” Flora raised an eyebrow and gave me a sly smile to say she didn’t believe it.
I shrugged and smiled. “Flirting is just not my game.” Though everyone seemed to think it was.
Flora chuckled still not believing me “But being dramatic is.”
I gasped putting my hand to my chest and looked astounded. “I am not dramatic! How doth thee even suggest it!” I moved the back of my hand to my forehead and looked away for emphasis.
Flora threw a pillow at me. “So if flirting isn’t your game, why’d you write a love song?” Flora had her arms crossed and was looking at me with a grin.
“I’ve written love songs before! It’s just a Rockstar thing!” I retorted back.
“Yea…. because ‘Steal Back the Crown’ and ‘Burn the Castle’ are love songs…” Flora’s eyes narrowed.
“They’re metaphors!” I ducked my eyes knowing she had caught me.
“Mmhmmm. Sure. So who do you have a crush on Rose!?” She leaned forward putting her face closer to mine in the same fashion an investigator would and pretended to hold a magnifying glass.
I nearly fell back and dropped my ears. “No one!”
“It’s Coral isn’t it!” She crossed her arms, sitting back and returned to her sly smile. “You’re not over her are you!?”
“Hey! I thought we all agreed to forget that ever happened!” I was beet red. It was true Coral and I used to date. In fact, it was her idea to start the band. But we had a bit of a falling out and were told we weren’t the best for each other. Or at least Twister didn’t seem to think we were. In her words we were ‘a hot mess’. I ducked my eyes, it still hurt though. I may regret how things ended. We all vowed to pretend it never happed and to continue the band like normal, but I don’t think her and I ever really got over what happened.
Flora put her hands up in surrender, noticing she hit a sore spot. “Ok but who though?”
“No one! Honestly!” I really wanted to get off this topic. “It’s just a song that came to me one day! You know about dancing and bonding, but it wasn’t supposed to be as romantic as it ended up.” I looked away and dropped my ears. I sighed internally knowing it was a lie. I hated lying to Flora but I also refused to tell her more about the song. About who inspired me. Right now I didn’t want anyone to know.
“Fine fine fine!” Flora laughed. “Though after Tango the Moon you are bound to have all eyes on you, especially if you keep that choreography from before.”
Why was everyone teasing me all of a sudden!? I smiled and decided to return fire, annoyed. Mom may have taught me a few tricks on intimidation. With my best acting I leaned forward with narrow eyes and a snarl, lifted her chin with a claw and locked eyes. “All eyes?” Flora froze, blushing and I fell over laughing. Flora always got flustered when I pretended to flirt, even if it wasn’t all pretend. She threw another pillow at me. “Are you going to stop pestering me about my love life then? Or do I have to start asking about Mark?” Mark was Flora’s first partner. He was always stoned and talking about becoming one with the plants. Flora swore she was going to marry him. They didn’t last a week.
“Oh dear She-ra! Ok! You win! I’ll stop!” Flora held up her hands in surrender and I sat up still laughing. “So anything else new since the last time we talked?” Flora was all of a sudden willing to change the subject.
I recalled the meetings with Razz and debated if I should tell her. I knew she’d keep it secret but I didn’t want her to worry. It was just all so weird.
“Finn?” I heard the concern in her voice. Shit. She noticed something was wrong. Looks like I have to tell her.
“I met Razz”
“Like THE Razz?” Flora was just as confused as I was and so I explained everything to her. “Do you have any idea what it means?”
I shook my head. “Honestly trying to not think about it until after the concert. Also keeping it from my moms. They would panic.” I groaned. “The place DT offered me is starting to sound nice!”
“Wait? DT offered you a place?” I forgot I hadn’t told Flora about this.
I nodded and explained what DT told me. But then I had another thought and smiled enthusiastically. “You could join me. I know you’re tired with your moms and brothers and I mean if you wanted you could move out with me.” I felt my cheeks go red. I hoped she didn’t notice and I went to fixing my hair.
Flora stared at me startled a bit before dropping her gaze and I could tell she was recalling the argument with her moms. But she then smiled and said “I’ll think about it.”
“DT also made it clear that they back my decision that you should sing in the band.” I leaned back again with a sly grin, knowing what her answer would be.
Flora rolled her eyes with a smile, “You must love being rejected? How many times do I have to say no?!”
“But you’re like the best singer!” I then huffed and added “DT even agreed.”
Flora sat up and lifted her hands “Wait! Did DT say I was better than you!?” Flora fell back laughing.
“Don’t rub it in!” I smiled at her before positioning myself to tackle her. Flora must have been thinking the same idea because as I went to push her down I felt her arms wrap around my neck to pull me down, and instead of landing next to her like intended, I landed flat on top of her, nose to nose. We both froze, eyes locked in shock. I blinked before lifting myself up enough to actually see her face. Flora was blushing with her lips parted, startled. My expression matching hers. Neither of us really knew how to react. I felt Flora go to move the hair from my face as she always does. She had on a soft smile and looked beautiful. I chuckled and returned her smile, leaning back into her. “You did that on purpose.” Flora huffed with a wide mouth grin to argue and started to shove me off, but I nearly jumped off when I heard Mom at the door.
“You know you can lock the door right?” Mom was leaning against the door frame with her arms crossed and looking at us with a huge smirk. I practically fell off Flora and threw my hands up to defend myself but before I could speak Mom started laughing. “I’m messing with you two! And no worries, Perfuma and Scorpia have no idea you’re here Flora.” Flora sighed. Both of our moms were very familiar with Flora and I’s closeness. If the stories are true, my moms used to be the same way. “But I am here to tell you that if you want food, dinner is ready.” She then turned and shut the door, making a scene of locking it as she left to mess with us again.
I faceplanted onto the bed. Flora laughed at me and leaned on my back. “At least you had clothes on this time.”
It was my turn to hit her with a pillow. “That was not my fault! You’re the one who snuck in unannounced while I was in the bath!”
“It wouldn’t have been sneaking if I announced myself!” Flora tapped my nose again and I sat up, giving her a slight nudge with my shoulder.
“Speaking of sneaking, I have to stalk some weird flying creature after food. Do you want to join?” I stood up and stretched.
“Ooo! What creature?” Flora sounded excited and intrigued.
I turned with a puzzled look. “The one you told Perfuma about?”
“Finn, if I saw a weird creature you would have been the first person I would have told.” Flora almost sounded hurt that I thought otherwise.
I turned away and whispered under my breath “She lied to me. They all were.” My eyes narrowed. Something was going on that they weren’t telling us about. Whatever. I had my own concerns. “Well looks like I just got relieved from beast watch! You want to go get high in a tree?” I had a tinge of anger in my tone.
Flora caught on quick that I meant Perfuma had lied to us. “Yes. Yes I very much want to get high in a tree.” She also had a tinge of anger on her voice.
I grinned and told Flora the plan. We ducked out of the room, grabbing a bag to carry snacks and things in. Casually, while the others were eating, we snuck into my moms’ room. Keeping low, I directed Flora to Mom’s dresser and used my nose to sniff out what I was looking for. Quickly, I grabbed Mom’s ‘Catnip’, at least that’s what she calls it, stash and pulled Flora to the side of the dresser, out of view of the door. Two guards walked past and once gone Flora and I escaped back into the hall to raid the kitchen. That part was much easier. I left the bag outside the room while Flora and I got food to go, telling Mom and Mother that we would be starting the beast watch now. We then grabbed the bag, put the containers of food in and half ran out the castle laughing. People were used to us running around so no one thought anything of it. Once out, we headed to my tree.
“Oh no! What else did I say!?” Flora buried her face in her hands and laughed as we passed the ‘catnip’ back and forth in the tree. We decided to climb to one of the higher lookouts.
“Well, you called Coral and I hot, then grabbed my tail, and started flirting with Agnes and I.” Flora groaned as I explained what she did when she was blackout drunk. She said many other things too, but I didn’t want to embarrass her that bad. “I think that’s the most drunk I’ve ever seen you get!” I handed the blunt back to Flora who took it readily as if trying to smoke away her embarrassment. I laughed and threw my arm around her and rested my head on her shoulder. Luckily it was a big tree with two branches side by side. “It was honestly quite cute. Other than the grabbing my tail part.” I chuckled and she joined, turning to put her face to mine and pass the blunt back.
“Well glad to know I was cute I guess!” Flora and I were both laughing still. “Though I do vaguely remember your dance with Coral and damn you should teach me to do that!”
“We need to work on your balance first. I’d rather not get stabbed!” I tapped the stinger on the tip of her tail. She didn’t have the same toxin like her mom but it still hurt to get stung.
“Aww! Where’s the fun in that!?” Flora pretended to flick her tail as if she were going to sting me and I flinched. Apparently I made a great face because Flora just pointed and almost fell over laughing. I reached to grab her so she didn’t. “Finn! I know how to keep balance in a tree!”
“I know! But you’re the one with the ‘nip’!” I snatched it from her to take a hit. We were both starting to feel the buzz.
******************************************************************
Coral

Finn seemed very out of it at rehearsal today and I thought I’d check on them. I knew it was a stupid idea and halfway to Brightmoon I decided I would just check their tree and if they weren’t there I’d leave. If they were in the tree at this hour, then I knew something was likely bugging them. I brought rum with me thinking it would be nice, and because I didn’t think I could handle being around Finn completely alone while sober. I had already drank a good portion of the bottle on my own. As I neared the tree, I heard Finn talking and stopped to prepare myself for this conversation. I wanted Finn to know I still cared. But then I heard Flora. Shit. I started to back away, my heart racing. I knew this was a bad idea.
“Water Girl!” I heard Finn shout from the tree and looked up to see them and Flora awkwardly leaning over to see me.
“Hey Coral!” Flora waved then they both just looked at each other and laughed. Either they had a terrible inside joke about me or they were both high off their assess.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I did not want to be alone with the lovebirds. Ok, fine, I knew they weren’t dating but they both obviously liked each other. At least, I knew Finn liked Flora.
“Get over here!” They both yelled at me. I groaned and tossed back another good portion of the rum before heading to the tree.
“Are you two high?!” I shouted up and they nodded before yelling at me to join them. I rolled my eyes and took to climbing the tree. Why did they choose such a high up branch? I may be a strong dancer but I was not a strong climber. Having five-inch-high platform boots didn’t help. Finn and Flora both helped me up and I perched myself on the same branch as Finn, using the branch Flora was on to prop up my feet. I was starting the feel the rum. Before I was even settled, Flora was handing me a blunt. I took it without question then passed it to Finn. I had to admit I was a bit surprised that Flower Goddess was getting high. Then again, she did live in Plumeria. “So what brought you two to a tree to get high?” The urge to call them lovebirds was strong, but I knew Finn was getting annoyed with the teasing.
“Caught parents all lying about some creature that I was supposed to watch so we decided to get high instead.” Finn leaned back against the tree. “Something’s going on and they aren’t telling us. So why are you in a tree getting drunk?” Finn started laughing. They were rather adorable when high. Finn and I used to smoke a bit more often than I should admit.
“Dad started talking squats again…” not the whole truth, but also not a lie. Dad was going a little squat crazy tonight. “Anyone want to watch me do some squats!?” I imitated my dad as best I could and we all busted out laughing. “I take it no rehearsal tomorrow?” I said as I took the blunt from Flora.
“We don’t need it!” Finn waved the idea off. “I’ve only called this many because of Twister. I think we do best when we improvise the minor details.” Finn took the blunt from me.
“Finn tells me you all are making them flirt with the audience. Are they actually being forced? Cus I think they are being dramatic and not wanting to own up to being a flirt!” Flora gave Finn a throw you under the bus look before laughing and turning to me.
I joined the laughter. “Was my idea based on past performances but then Twister actually backed me up! Though I agree, Finn’s just being a dramatic ass about it! They are a natural flirt!”
“I am not a flirt!” Finn jumped up to stand on the branch and put one hand on their hip and rested the fingertips of their other hand on the their chest. “I am a performer!”
“Well then let’s see that performance! Flower Goddess, que the rose!” I shot a smirk to Flora who immediately joined in my messing with Finn and tossed them a rose.
Finn took it and dramatically bowed to hand it to me. I reached to grab it but Flora interrupted “That’s the best pizzaz you got? I thought you called yourself a performer!” Flora could pack a sarcasm punch. I chuckled at Finn’s disgruntled look.
Finn stood back up and took the rose in their teeth. I expected them to turn to Flora not me but to my surprise Finn knelt down and placed a hand behind me on the branch so that I was forced to them, using their other hand to lift my chin to pass off the rose. If I hadn’t done this with Finn nearly a hundred times I may have been a bit flustered, but this was a standard dance move for us. Though, to be honest, my heart was beating a bit faster than normal. Once I took the rose Finn stood up and bowed. I copied but stayed seated. Flora cheered. Finn sat down and took the blunt from Flora before passing it to me.
“Show me how to do that!” Flora grinned at Finn and produced a new rose. Finn chuckled and stood back up to do it all over again. This time I forced a cheer, even though it hurt to watch. “Ok! My turn!” Flora produced yet another rose and I expected her to hand it off to Finn, not put her hand behind me. I lost my balance and had to brace with one hand, my other hand instinctively going to Flora’s waist to catch myself. Flora copied Finn’s motion and lifted my chin to the rose and I took it in my teeth still a bit shocked. Was I blushing? Shit! Why was I blushing? I realized I still had my hand on Flora’s waist and jerked it back, Flora giggling.
“Damn Flower Goddess! You learn quick!” I just wanted to break the silence. I then took the blunt from Finn hoping it would help take away my embarrassment.
“I’d say so!” Finn dug into their bag and pulled out snacks. I scooted closer to them and Flora so I could share the food. When I did, Finn wrapped their tail around me. They were always very cuddly when high. I started to stroke it out of habit and Flora looked heartbroken.
“So Coral can touch your tail but if I do you freak out!” Flora put her hands on her hips.
Finn laughed “Coral is stroking my tail, you flat out yanked it!”
“That’s the alcohol’s fault!” Flora turned her nose away and crossed her arms.
Maybe it was the blunt kicking in or the half a bottle of rum but I grabbed Flora’s hand and placed it on Finn’s tail which was still across my lap, my hand lingering over hers for a brief moment. This made Finn laugh. “Why is my tail so entertaining!?”
“SOFT.” Flora’s eyes were wide and she was staring intently at Finn’s tail. I chuckled and agreed.
“It’s just fur!” Finn seemed so confused but was laughing the entire time.
“Have you pet it!?” Flora looked to Finn who put their head to Flora’s shoulder. “Well?”
“I mean yes. It is sort of attached to me you know!”
“But have you just sat and pet it? Like just focused on the soft?” Flora was admittedly adorable when high.
Finn gave in and started to pet their own tail with us. They seemed more mesmerized than they likely wanted to.
“See!?” Flora and I said in unison. We all had our heads together and were laughing hard.
Finn got an idea and grabbed for their tracker pad. They held it up to take a picture of us and went to start sending it to the band. Flora and I both leapt for it yelling about Twister’s reaction but Finn had already sent the pic. Flora and I just laughed and fell onto Finn. I ended up with my head in Finn’s lap and Flora resting on their shoulder. This was rather relaxing honestly, though I blame that on the rum and blunt. Had I been sober, this would be the last thing I would want to do. Finn put an arm across my back and an arm around Flora’s shoulders before leaning back to close their eyes. We unintentionally ended up falling asleep like that.

Chapter Text

I was standing alone, in the depths of the whispering woods. Shiny gold specs floated around and creatures of all kinds hid in the foliage. I took cautious steps, unsure of where I was. How did I get here? It was some sort of hidden space, full of what I could only guess was magic. Mother used to tell me stories of this place and how it was used as a camp during the war, but I had never been able to find it.
“Finn dearie! Hurry up now!” Razz appeared out of nowhere and tugged me by the tail.
I tried to speak to ask where I was, but nothing came out. When I turned back to Razz we were in her house. I turned my head in every direction, but the woods were gone. I felt Razz open my hands and in them she placed a sword.
“It’s time She-RA.”
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I bolted awake panting. My eyes couldn’t move fast enough, taking in the view from the tree. It was just a dream. I laid my head back against the trunk and closed my eyes until my breathing started to slow. Everything slowly started coming back to me. The catnip, the laughter, the drinking. I felt Flora and Coral still curled up next to me in the branches and started to relax, tightening my grip on both of them, and letting myself drift back into a light sleep.
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Coral

Though I am a deep sleeper, I still felt Finn bolt up, panting. I cracked open my eyes to watch them and when I noticed them drift back to sleep, I did the same. It wasn’t until a good bit later that I woke up to find myself curled up against them. They were still asleep and so I let myself enjoy the moment a tad longer. That is, until I realized my hand was interlocked with Flower Goddess’s. I pulled my hand away quickly, feeling my cheeks go warm. Luckily, she wasn’t awake, or so I thought. But of course, when I lifted my gaze, she was staring right at me with the same blushing look of shock. Fuck. We both quickly sat up and looked away from each other, silently vowing to never discuss it. Dear She-Ra I really should never smoke again. I can handle my alcohol but apparently not my ‘catnip’ as Finn calls it.
Finn was still dozing. I desperately wanted to just leave and pretend this never happened, but I was worried about Finn. They jolted awake rather violently earlier and I wanted to be sure they were ok. I could tell Flora felt the same.
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Flora

Well this couldn’t be anymore awkward. Nothing like waking up next to your crush while holding hands with their ex. Ugghhh. I could tell Coral wanted to leave just as I did, but we were both worried about Finn.
“Ummm. Coral… I –“ I started to try and fill the awkward silence but Coral cut me short.
“Can we not?” Coral turned her back to me with a sharp tone to her voice and crossed her arms in her lap. “As soon as I know they are alright I will leave you two alone ok?”
I dropped my gaze just as Finn started to sit up, looking a bit dazed. Coral and I both immediately turned to them with looks of concern.
“Is my hair on fire or something?” Finn offered a groggy smile before stretching their arms above their head and yawning.
“We both felt you startle awake rather harshly.” I eyed Coral who nodded in agreement.
“Is everything ok?” I could sense the worry in Coral’s voice. It was unusual to see her be caring but it was also endearing to know she actually had a heart.
“It was nothing. Just a bad dream.” Finn grabbed both of our hands and pulled us both back to them. Part of me thinks they were too groggy to know what they were doing.
Coral and I landed nearly face to face and both went wide eyed before trying to pull away from each other. Finn kept their arms around us and leaned back against the tree. I could tell Coral was well out of her comfort zone as was I. Finn was being very casual about the whole situation.
“Ok! Nope! Flower Goddess may be one to let you sleep but I on the other hand am not.” Coral sat up abruptly and splashed Finn with water.
“Gahh!!” Finn jolted and went to clear the water from their eyes.
I chuckled and shot a smile of thanks to Coral. We were both ready to move beyond the awkwardness and we needed Finn awake to do that.
“Ok! Ok! I’m awake!” Finn raised their hands in surrender before Coral could hit them with more water. “What?” We were both staring at Finn with crossed arms. “Did I do something wrong?” Finn was confused with a hint of fear.
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Finn

Why were they staring at me like that? I expected harshness from Coral but not Flora. Flora always lets me stay asleep. My ears dropped and I curled my tail around my feet. What did I do to make them angry?
“So you’re telling me that a simple bad dream nearly made a cat fall out of a tree that they sleep in almost every other night?” Coral raised an eyebrow.
I put a hand to my face with a sigh, my ears and tail returning to normal. They were concerned, not angry. Good. But still why the harshness? “It was just a very real nightmare.” Images of Razz, the clearing, and the sword flashed in my head. When I realized neither of them were going to accept that as an answer I added “I’m just stressed about the concert. I’ll be fine, honestly.” I didn’t want to discuss the actual dream.
“You’ve been spending too much time practicing that new song of yours!” Coral said while fixing the bandana in her hair. “How about you cancel the last rehearsal. You know as well as I do that we don’t need it.”
I chuckled knowing she was right, but we all knew Twister wouldn’t have it. “You might have to bring that one up with the boss!”
“That’s you Finn.” Coral looked pissed. “You are literally the fucking boss! That was like my one condition for starting the band! You be the boss and I get the bass!”
I lifted my hands in surrender and grabbed my tracker pad to send the message but when I lifted the screen my face dropped.
“What…” Coral and Flora said in unison as they leaned in to see. I forgot about the picture I sent the band. Shit.
“We tried to stop you.” Flora gave me a smirk and Coral busted out laughing. We were going to be in for an ear load next time we saw Twister. I slouched back against the tree and dropped the tracker pad with a groan. Looks like I can’t cancel practice now. That’s when I felt Flora snag the thing from me and start typing.
“There.” She handed it back to me with a smile.
Coral’s own tracker pad dinged, and she went to look at what Flora sent.
‘Flora typing. Finn is too scared to cancel practice so I’m doing it for them. They and Coral and I all agree the band doesn’t need it. You all do best when you improvise. You will be great!’
Coral snickered and I shot Flora a grumpy look. “I am not scared!”
To this Coral busted out laughing. “Oh really Drama Lord?” I glared back at her. “So, what are you going to do now that you are free?”
I lifted my eyes to the sky to think before shrugging with a smile. “You’ll argue but I’ll probably go work on Tango the Moon or go poke around the whispering woods.”
“FINN! The whole point of no rehearsal is NO rehearsal!” Coral threw her arms up in the air. I laughed. “Well you go do whatever but I am heading out! I’m not about to spend the time rehearsing!” Coral laughed too and started to gather her things and head down from the tree. I got up to assist and Flora followed us down.
Coral waved goodbye and Flora turned to me. “Are you really going to rehearse?” She raised an eyebrow at me.
I smiled and stretched. “I mean yes but I’ll do that in the evening. For now, I have something I want to check in the woods. Are you heading home? I can walk with you.”
“I’m going with you.”
“Huh?” I was not planning on having anyone join me on this adventure.
“I’m going with you. There’s no way I’m going home yet.” I blinked at her before smiling and giving her a nod. “So where are you going?”
“You’re not going to like it.” I gave her a playful smile.
“Try me.” She returned the expression.
“The crystal palace.” I turned to head out, flicking my tail across Flora’s cheek. I thought she would try to stop me, knowing the place was dangerous. But instead, she leapt to be at my side and grabbed my hand. My ears shot up and I looked down to her.
“Let’s go!” She rested her other hand on my arm.
I smiled and buried my face in her hair with a light purr before squeezing her hand and pulling her along at a jog. She laughed and ran to keep up.
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Catra

“But what does that mean!?” I could feel my temper rising as Entrapta tried to explain her findings. We may be friends now but her scientific explanations were still long and confusing. “Just get to the point!”
“Catra!” Adora wheeled me around to face her with a stern expression.
I exhaled and looked away. “Sorry Entrapta. Please continue. Just in simpler terms if you don’t mind.”
“Sure! There seems to be something going on with First One’s tech. Several First One’s ruins all over Etheria have started to show elevated signs of activity according to the readings.” Entrapta briskly moved to her screens, hovering as she always did, using her hair to move. All of the princesses had gathered in Dryl to discuss what she had found out.
“Any idea as to what’s causing it?” Perfuma huddled closer to Scorpia and had a concerned tone to her voice. We all did. Even Entrapta’s enthusiastic tone had a hint of worry.
Entrapta shook her head and replied “Not yet! But Hordak and I are making headway and will keep working. For now, it’s best to keep people away from any First One’s ruins.”
I looked to Adora who shared the same look of concern. The sword. Even though it was no longer First One’s tech, we all knew what the tech could do to its runestone. Entrapta seemed to read our minds and lifted the sword from Adora. “It’s best that we protect the runestones to ensure they don’t become compromised as well.”
“But they aren’t First One’s tech” Glimmer chimed in.
“You’re right but they used to be connected via the Heart. And we all saw what the tech could do to She-Ra.” Entrapta had a tinge of concern to her explanation. We were all thinking the same thing. Keep the kids safe.
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Finn

Flora and I had gotten distracted along our way and were chasing each other and goofing off instead. We had started up a game of tag, trying to hit each other with plants and magic. I stuck my tongue out at her before darting between the trees. She sent a vine flying but I was able to quickly dodge behind a tree.
“I think your aim’s getting worse!” I teased from my hiding spot.
“Yours isn’t too great either Rose!” She yelled back.
“Maybe I’m going easy on you!” I knew she would know it was a lie, but it was all in fun.
“Well that was a stupid idea.” She jumped around the tree and now stood in front of me. Perfect. I gave her a grin and went to tackle her but quickly realized I was tied to the tree. When the hell…? Flora bent over in laughter. “Your so easy to distract!” She then leaned close to my face and tapped my nose as she always does.
I huffed and looked away but couldn’t keep the grin off my face. “You’re getting good at sneaking past my hearing.” She closed her eyes in a big grin and I took advantage of the moment. Quickly I used a claw to draw up a spell to snap the vines and was able to grab her around the waist and spun her around into a hug. She startled but soon started laughing, bracing her hands on my shoulders. When we stopped I grinned big and pushed the hair from her eyes, pushing my forehead to hers. Flora giggled and then reached her arms around my neck, resting her head on my shoulder. I could feel myself purring and pressed my cheek to her head. This was nice. It was nice just goofing off with Flora again, not thinking about the dreams or the concert. I knew I was probably blushing but I didn’t even care. Right now I wasn’t afraid of my emotions. Right now I just wanted to be with Flora. When Flora pulled back she rested her hand on my cheek and I smiled. It was just her and I. I leaned my face towards her, ready to give in to the emotion I knew Flora felt too but right when I saw Flora copying my motion, the visions hit.
“GAAAHHH!!!!” I stumbled back away from Flora, my hands going to my head and my knees bowing. Visions of Razz, the sword, She-RA, and pie blocked out the world around me. I could hear Razz saying it’s time, other voices mixing in and calling out my name. Flashes of light blinding my thoughts as the images changed rapidly in my head. I felt my knees hit the ground, breathing heavy and closing my eyes.
“Rose!” Flora hit the ground in front of me and grabbed my hands, leaning down to try and hold my gaze. “Rose! It’s ok! You’re ok! Just breathe. Follow me.” She inhaled and exhaled slowly trying to get me to copy. I could barely hear Flora above the noise but when my eyes caught hers the world started to slow again. The visions faded as I felt myself grounding.
“I think we are here” I said still breathing heavy. My gaze lifted up and I saw the Crystal Palace just visible above the trees. Flora and I sat for a minute on the forest floor until my breathing was back to normal. With a slight squeeze of her hands, I stood up and started off towards the palace, Flora following hesitantly behind me.
“Finn! Wait!” Flora grabbed my arm and pulled me back to her. I tilted my head down to look at her. She was terrified with worry. “Are you –“
I lifted my hand to her cheek and smiled. “I’m ok. I will be ok.” I pulled her into a hug and pressed my cheek to her head before letting go. “Wait here.” I didn’t want to get her hurt again.
“I’m coming with you.” She stepped forward to take my hand and I wrapped my tail around her. Grabbing her other hand I turned to face her.
“No. I don’t want you getting hurt. This place…” I turned my gaze to the castle. “This place is dangerous.”
“Finn! Where you go, I go.” Flora looked at me sternly with a tight grasp of my hands. I sighed, ducked my head and smiled. There was no telling her no.
“Ok.” I let go of one of her hands and curled my tail around her waist, grateful that I didn’t have to face this alone.
“Are you sure you want to go in?” Flora paused but still held my hand firmly.
I nodded. We had discussed my plan on the way here. I wanted to enter the castle to learn more about what was going on. I could feel something pulling me here and I needed to know what it was.
We approached the door and I placed a hand to the inscription. “Eternia.” Mother had taught me how to read First One’s. The door opened and we entered. There was a soft and eerie blue glow as the light flickered across the crystal structures. I casted a spell to give us more light. The entryway was huge and empty except for massive crystal pillars along the edges of the space. I ran my hand across one of them. It was cold to the touch. Flora tightened her grip on my hand and I curled my tail around hers. I could tell she was uneasy. So was I. This place was deserted and something felt wrong, yet I could still feel the pull. Razz’s words echoed in my mind, it’s time She-RA.
“Let’s go,” I tugged Flora to the door and she nodded. Whatever was going on could wait. The tour was enough concern on its own and I was starting to get scared for Flora’s safety. For my safety.
We walked in silence for a long while, until we felt far enough away from the palace. Flora stopped and I turned to look at her, keeping my hands in hers.
“Are you ok?” She looked up at me with concern.
“I think so. Just worried.” I lifted my gaze back to the castle. Flora hugged me and I looked down a bit startled before wrapping my arms around her. “Do you want to stay with me tonight?” I tried to hide my own concern. I really didn’t want to be alone after that.
Flora smiled and put a rose behind my ear. I could tell she sensed my uneasiness. “That would be nice.”
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“FINN GREY MEOWMEOW! FLORA TARA D’REAM” Flora and I froze in the hall when we heard mom shout. Oh fuck. This wasn’t the first time the two of us got in trouble for some sort of mischief but it sure had been many years. I dropped my ears and turned slowly to see Mom cross armed and pissed, Melog growling red from around her legs. Flora turned to me with fear in her eyes. Mom was typically the one laughing at what we did, not yelling at us. “Did you really think you wouldn’t get caught!?” Mom started walking towards us. “Or did you forget my sense of smell is stronger than yours?” Shit. I forgot about the ‘catnip’ smell. “I know you’re both adults but really??! That’s low stealing another cats nip!”
“What’s this about ‘nip’?” Glimmer appeared from around the corner and Mom jumped. Glimmer stood with crossed arms and a sly grin looking at Mom. “You have ‘catnip’ in my castle Horde Scum?”
“So what!? Are you going to sparkle me!?” Mom changed her anger over to Glimmer and I tried to not laugh.
“I might if you don’t share!” Glimmer held up her hands playfully as if ready to fight.
“Get your own!” Mom returned the look with a smirk. “Why’s everyone stealing mine?!”
I tugged Flora’s hand for her to follow. As I passed Glimmer, I cleared my throat for her to notice me and put the rest of the ‘catnip’ in her hand.
“HEY! TRAITOR!” Mom yelled. I just laughed and tugged Flora into a jog as Glimmer grabbed Mom and transported away yelling a thanks after us. We were both laughing and out of breath by the time we reached my room. I’ll have to thank Glimmer later for getting us out of trouble and I should probably get Mom more ‘nip’. We had burned through a bit more than we intended to last night.
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I woke up when my tracker pad dinged. Ughh.. I forgot to silence the thing. With my eyes closed I groggily reached over already knowing it was Twister telling me to get my ass out of bed. I quickly replied letting her know I was up and getting ready before flopping my face back into the pillow. It had been a few days since Flora stayed over and it was the morning of our big concert. I hadn’t heard from Flora since then except for a brief good luck message from her last night.
“Rise and shine beautiful! Time to get that ass moving!” I jumped up before turning to face Agnes who had barged into my room, my hair all frizzed and in my face. Be late to a concert once, and suddenly, the whole band was my alarm clock. I checked the time and then chucked a pillow at Agnes.
“I had a full extra hour before my alarm you asshole!” I got up and stretched before starting to gather my things. We decided to get an early start to set up the stage and do one last test of the intro.
“You’re the one that was late last time!” Agnes chucked the pillow back at me.
“That was once.” I glared at them.
Agnes snickered before replying “Oh really?! I seem to remember a certain couple always being late.”
“Shut up.” I felt myself blushing and quickly turned away, knowing they were right.
Agnes threw up their hands in surrender and started to help me pack up. “You might want to go put on pants before we head out.” Agnes pointed to the fact that I was still not dressed and I groaned, putting on the first pants and shirt that I grabbed. This made Agnes gasp and look at me with fake shock. “Did the fashionista just grab random clothes!?”
I rolled my eyes. “Did you just assume the fashionista doesn’t know their closet backwards and forwards?!” To be honest I just didn’t feel the need to coordinate for a morning rehearsal. Now the outfit for the performance was a different story. I had spent many days planning that one.
“Touché!” We finished packing things up and headed out to meet up with the band. Twister, Crystal, and Emily2 were already at our practice stage when we got there. They were doing last minute tech checks and making sure the instruments were all packed into the tank.
When Twister saw me, she turned with a frown, shades covering her eyes, and crossed her arms. Oh great here came the lecture. “I can tell you three had fun the other night.” She said with a flat tone.
I rolled my eyes. “It’s not like it was the night before the concert Twist! We were stressed out and wanted to relax. Don’t worry I worked on a few things over the last few days. You know I wouldn’t risk messing this opportunity up!”
“I know you wouldn’t! But that still doesn’t give you the right to not invite the rest of us!” Twister punched my arm playfully making me loosen up and laugh. Good. She wasn’t actually mad. Sometimes it was hard to tell when she was going to go scary mom mode or chill daredevil mode.
“It was a bit of a last minute decision. You could totally have joined! I sent the pic for a reason!” I nudged her back.
“You all know that the concert isn’t until evening right?” Coral walked up with her hair un-styled and still wearing her pajama top with a random skirt. She didn’t even have her platform shoes on. It was odd being her height again. However, she did have on her staple choker with the big hoops and chains hanging off of it. I don’t think she ever left the house without one. Once at the tank she added her bass to the instruments. “Took it with me last night to tune it.” Coral was not a morning person in the slightest.
“Oh what a lovely morning miss Water Girl!” I bowed dramatically in front of her.
“Oh shut the fuck up Drama Bitch!” She was not impressed.
Of course I had to push her buttons. “Too tired to remember my nickname?”
She just flicked me off and leaned up against the tank. “So what’s the plan ya dick?”
I scoffed before jumping into the plan. “The venue has given us permission to practice there for the day and set up on the main stage early. Once we arrive we will first get the critical tech up and running. Crystal and Emily2 will handle that part. Next will be getting the instruments tuned and ready for a short rehearsal, that will be Agnes and I. Lastly, we need to make sure we have the fog and lights ready for the start. That will be Twister, Coral, and Crystal when she is done with tech. We should also use this time to meet our two opening bands that the venue selected for the performance. I’ve been told they are both start up bands, similar to how we were not long ago so let’s use this as a way to be inspirational and make connections. If we get the tour we will need opening bands. Once everything is set up and ready we should run through a quick song test and rehearse any key parts. We’ve practiced hard and we don’t want to push ourselves so let’s be sure to end early enough to eat and rest prior to the performance. Let’s do this!” I threw my fist in the air and helped Twister gather the last few things into the tank.
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Everything went smoothly and we were getting ready for the performance. The audience started to arrive and we all looked out trying to spot our families. No sign of Flora, but Scorpia and Perfuma were here for some reason. I bet Glimmer forced them. We already had all of the instruments ready to go and lights in place. All of us were backstage trying to keep our nerves down, the agent watching us was near the front of the stage taking notes. This was going to be our biggest show yet. I started to fix my hair while pacing. The venue host let us know that we would be on in thirty.
Coral looked over at me before getting up and turning to Twister in thought. She then just pointed and said “I’ll be back,” before darting off.
“CORAL!” Twister was pissed and stood up to watch her. She then rolled her head back and groaned in anger. I wasn’t paying attention. “Finn! Your bassist just ran off.”
I looked up and shrugged. This wasn’t uncommon to me. Coral often got ideas and acted on them then and there. I was used to it from when we used to be a duo before the band. “She’ll be back. Don’t worry. This is normal.” And I was right. In just a few minutes Coral came back in and walked right up to me with her hand held out.
“Here” She didn’t look at me when she handed me the rose. I paused with a slightly open mouth and took it slowly. “You always go on with one and I know Flower Goddess isn’t here to make one.” Coral turned to walk off but I grabbed her hand and pulled her to me in a hug.
“Thanks.” I went to rest my head on her head for a second but hit her shoulder forgetting that she was taller than me in her boots. She hesitated before returning the hug briefly before pulling away. I took the rose and toyed with it gently as I looked out to the audience. It was almost time.
When we were given the signal, Crystal cut the lights and cued the fog. We used the eerie cover to take our positions. Twister counted our beat and Agnes and Coral took the lead for the intro with Crystal and Emily2 adding in sound effects. When Twister jumped in with the beat, Crystal triggered the strobe lights and joined in with the keyboard. My face twisted into a grin, it was time. I was instantly relaxed and ready to take off with the lyrics. Our first song was a hit, full of theatrics. Before the end we already had the crowd on their feet singing along with the parts they knew. I took that energy and ran with it. Keeping close to the front of the stage and jumping around making sure to interact with the band as well. By song three, we were all in our comfort zone. Agnes and Coral took off on a guitar vs bass solo showing off crazy stunts, including exchanging the instruments mid chord before tossing them back. On song five we knew we had won the crowd and this time it was Twister who took off on a solo creating a tornado around her at the drums and crashing the wind down around our feet at the end. The rest of the night went like this with each song creating a bigger energy from the crowd. It was time. Crystal transitioned flawlessly into a keyboard solo with Agnes joining in slowly. I didn’t even need to count the beats. With my back to the crowd I started soft and slow with Tango the Moon, letting my heart poor into the words. This was a slower song for us, but not for long. The crowd was silent in anticipation, knowing the beat would hit soon. On the last word of the intro Coral and Agnes took off, energizing the song, and I turned with a grin jumping into the fun. Coral knew her cue and I slid down the catwalk with the rose between my teeth, pushing off and flipping my hair, literally sliding into the chorus. It was time to flirt as the band said. With my best flirtatious grin I looked down to those in front of me, tossing out my hand to the girl in front and nearly froze. I was not expecting Flora to be the one taking my hand. She smiled and I snaped back before even missing a beat, giving her a devious grin. It was now or never. Twisting my hand to grab her wrist, I pulled her up on stage, her face in a look of shock, and started to spin her back to the main stage. I kept my hand at her waist and held the mic between us. She looked up at me, not sure what my plan was, but when I missed the note to start the next line she knew I wasn’t kidding and took off singing. I already knew she knew the song. The band hid the missed note flawlessly and the audience was screaming in excitement. To them it looked like I just pulled a random girl onto the stage. Only a few knew Flora traveled with us. Her voice was beautiful and I guided her in the dance steps until she gained her confidence and I saw her face light up. I added in the backup vocals and on the chorus we were singing to each other, eyes locked and dancing around the stage with both of us holding the mic between us. When the song faded out I kept her close to me, forehead to forehead. It was just her and I in that moment.
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“OK please tell me you two planned that because it was genius! Though next time please inform us of your plans!” Twister was ecstatic. Both thrilled and annoyed at what happened. The whole band was celebrating now that the show was over. We had gotten the word that we got the tour and none of us could stop smiling or cheering. This was a huge success!
“It was not planed at all honestly!” I laughed and pulled Flora to my side. “I just saw an opportunity to get her on stage and took it!” I gave Flora a sly grin. “This means you’re joining the tour right?”
Flora giggled and looked away. “I hardly expect my mothers will be ok with that.”
“Who cares!” Twister added. “You’re talented as hell Flora! I didn’t know you could sing like that! We could use another vocalist!”
I looked up just in time to see Coral duck her head into her bass. Though she did celebrate with us initially she also seemed distant. Coral used to be the second vocalist in the band, before we split. I went to say something to defend the fact that we had many vocalists but got cut off when I saw Flora’s mothers and twin brothers approaching. The rest of our families had already joined in our celebration to congratulate us before heading off. Flora nearly hid behind me when she saw them.
Perfuma was hard to read and almost seemed pissed. Scorpia I could tell was proud but trying to hide the excitement. Her brothers on the other hand were ecstatic and full of energy as usual. “FLORA!” Perfuma had her hands perched on her hips and her head held up. But when she saw Flora ducking her head her face softened and her and Scorpia rushed in to hug her, Scorpia nearly lifting her up and her brothers joining in soon after. Flora was surprised but in a good way with a smile and laugher. She hugged her moms back. “We are so proud of you Flora! Why didn’t you ever tell us you liked to sing?”
“Well, I knew you weren’t fans of the band idea.” Flora looked to us and I gave her a smile. Once again, it was now or never.
“Perfuma, Scorpia. I know you have not been thrilled at the bands behavior and we recognize we made a few reckless mistakes, but I assure you it was all in good fun and with safety in mind. We are a family. Your daughter is an incredible musician and I ask you to look beyond our past mistakes and let her join our group. We would be honored to have her on stage with us and the world would be honored to hear her voice. A talent like hers does not happen often.” I put on my best formal appearance and held myself confidently. Being a trained performer had its perks.
Perfuma and Scorpia looked to each other and the band looked to me in shock, forgetting for a moment that I knew how to be professional.
“You’re going to be a rockstar!!!” Fig, or maybe it was Fern, jumped up and down in front of Flora who giggled at her little brother.
“Is this what you want Flora?” Scorpia asked.
Flora looked to me and I offered her a smile with a small shrug to say it was up to her. She looked back to the band and then to her mothers. “It is.”
Her mothers hugged her, once again surprising Flora. “Then we support you!” Perfuma then looked to me sternly. “But if she gets even the smallest scratch, I have no problems hitting you with plants.”
I held up my hands in surrender and took a step back, my tail going between my legs. Perfuma was terrifying.
“She will be in good hands as long as I’m here!” Twister added, which gave Perfuma reassurance.
This was amazing. Flora was going to be joining us! I honestly wasn’t sure what I was going to do if she didn’t join the tour. I felt like I needed her there. Looking back to Flora I started to purr. Damn it! Flora just laughed and went to celebrate with the band. I looked over at Coral and caught her smiling at Flora. It was nice to think they didn’t totally hate each other.

Chapter Text

After dropping everything back at our rehearsal site, we decided to celebrate at our typical spot in the Whispering Woods, all walking together still hyped about our success.
“WE’RE GOING ON TOUR!!!” I jumped up and spun, landing with my hands on Flora’s shoulders as we walked.
“This is amazing!” Coral was still stuck in disbelief. “We actually did it! We are a band!” She was nothing but smiles. This was her dream after all. She started the band. I grabbed her hands and spun her in a circle which made her laugh.
“And we now have Flora! I told you adding Flora to that album shoot would be handy!” Crystal flung an arm over Flora’s shoulders while perched on Emily2 who beeped in agreement. Flora turned to smile at her and the bot.
“Yea! You were amazing Flora!” I picked her up in a hug, practically dragging Crystal with us.
We continued like this. Talking loudly about the crowd’s reactions and our favorite parts from the show. We luckily had a full moon, so the paths were easy to follow, and everything seemed at peace for once. Flora and I fell to the back of the group, and she grabbed my hand as I was going on about my excitement for the tour. When I looked down to her, she had the biggest look of admiration. “Thank you, Finn.” I smiled and turned back to the ground blushing with a big smile. As much as I told myself I couldn’t cross the line with Flora, I really wanted to, especially in this moment. But I know it was a bad idea. I didn’t want history to repeat itself, my gaze crossing Coral. That’s when I saw Flora lift onto her toes, and I instinctively turned my head to see the movement. Because of this, Flora’s intended kiss on my cheek nearly turned into a kiss on my lips. I went wide eyed with mixed emotions. I was happy but scared. Excited yet nervous. My eyes locked with Flora’s and her smile melted my fear. But it quickly came back.
“Did you two just kiss??!!” It was Coral, looking at us with a sly I knew it grin and a tinge of anger in her eyes but hiding it well. She must have looked back right at the wrong moment. Now the whole band was staring at us. My eyes darted to Flora who was still smiling until she saw my look of panic. I looked back to the band. “I knew you two had something going on during that song! Finally making things official, huh?” Twister nudged Coral harshly to get her to stop, noticing my pupils starting to narrow. I could feel my heart race and my tail start to fluff out and twitch. I dropped my ears and felt my claws unsheathe in attempt to defend myself. My fight or flight instinct kicking in. No. I didn’t want to cross that line. I couldn’t. No. No one could know. I took a step back and tried to shake my head. Flora reached for my hand to try and help ground me, but I pulled away. Coral was now concerned. I caught her eyes and that’s when my vision dropped out. Images crossed my mind of the sword, of Razz, of the Crystal Castle. I could feel the pull, the blood in my veins ready to run. The wind started to pick up, or at least it felt it. When I regained my own sight, I bolted. I had to get to the Crystal Castle. I had to get away. Had to respond to the call. I heard the band shout after me but I was faster and the pull was stronger. I ducked under branches, bending and twisting through the foliage as I got deeper and deeper into the woods. As I got closer the voices in my head got louder and pull was almost a gravity. I almost hit the door before I saw it. I paused, still in flight mode, looked up at the castle and closed my eyes to try and calm myself before holding up a hand.
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Entrapta

“Hordak hand me that crystal.” I held out my hand and he placed one of the first one’s crystals into it. This particular one being star shaped and similar in composition to the one that infected She-RA. Wrong Hordak had brought it back from his check of the woods for me to analyze. I held it up to the monitor in front of me comparing the writing on it to that of the crystal on my screen, my hair helping me get close enough to see details. “There!” I pointed at the screen before dropping down to be eye level with Hordak. “In the code!” I handed it back excitedly, hoping he saw it too.
“I’ll run the simulation.” Hordak took the crystal to his monitor and typed away. I moved to stand over him keeping my hands on his shoulders. He hit the start button and we froze wide eyed at the screen. No. This can’t be. I squeezed Hordak’s shoulders, and he placed a hand on mine.
“I have to alert Glimmer!”
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Finn

“Eternia.” I said it clear and calm and the door fell open. I stepped in but this time the door shut harshly behind me, making me jump. It was darker than last time. I walked blindly, trying to get my night vision to focus. Raising a hand, I drew what I hoped would be a light spell, but nothing. I tried again and again until I bumped into something hard and fell back onto the ground.
“State your query” I nearly jumped out of my skin when the hologram appeared. Mother told me about them, but I had never seen one. This particular one was blue and purple and tall with square shoulders and what seemed to be a cloak of data. When I didn’t answer they repeated themselves “state your query.”
“I uh..I .. who are you?” I stumbled my words as I tried to slide away. The hologram suddenly glitched and turned red.
“Administrator not detected.” I heard doors open that I couldn’t see, and hundreds of red eyes appearing. Shit. I got my feet under me but staying low, thinking what to do. Looking over my shoulder I could just see the outline of the door I came in. Could I make it? My eyes darted between the door and the red eyes before I decided to bolt. Bad decision. A metal claw reached out and knocked me down. I caught myself and pushed up off the ground, claws out, and got ready to fight. I leapt at the nearest spider looking creature and struck it as hard as possible with my claws, sliding across its metal back and twisting in mid air to catch myself before running towards the next one. I was focused now and hit the second one with the same force but didn’t see the third one coming. It struck hard and I hit the ground with a howl. The second one then reared back and fell down on me just as I rolled away, scratching my shoulder in the process. I stood, wobbly and holding my shoulder but took in my surroundings and lunged again, this time making sure to watch around me. I took the second one down quickly and put my attention to the third, when I heard more approaching. There were too many. Fuck. I looked to the door again. If I didn’t get out of here I was surly dead. I bolted, sliding under the spider in front of me and using the next as a launch pad. Somehow, I hit the door, but no matter what I did it would not budge. Fucking hell! I slid away just as a spider claw hit where my face used to be. It was fight or die. I yelled and charged once again hitting the spider in front of me from the sky and twisting to hit the next. All those sparing sessions with Coral and Flora were starting to pay off. Now if only I had a weapon. Shit! I paused too long and a spider nearly pierced my shoulder as it sank its claw deep into my flesh. I fell forward feeling the searing pain of the gash. As quickly as I could, I rolled over and pushed up with my good arm to get away. Another spider crashed into me sending me face first into the ground as another raked my arm. I managed to pull away just in time for one to bite my leg and one to grab my arm. This was it. Shit. I screamed again knowing I couldn’t get free. That’s when I felt it. A growing heat in my free hand. What was this? I focused on it and could feel the magic. My eyes darted wide as I recalled Razz’s words. With all the force I could manage I reached for the warmth, feeling metal hit my hand and copied my mother “FOR THE HONOR OF GREYSKULL!” I felt the light hit me and swung what I could assume was a sword in front of my body, sending the spiders flying back. Now this was a fair fight. I bared my fangs and took off. Swinging the blade as best as I could at the creatures. Using my new height to my advantage. I was used to magic and in less than a second, I closed my eyes and channeled the magic using the blade to direct it where I wanted it to go. With an explosion of light, the spiders disappeared and I fell to the ground. Collecting my breath, I looked down to see I was in a white and gold suit with the same emblem as my Mother’s on my chest. I went to stand and felt the searing pain from my wounds. I had used all my power to fight that I never healed. The same light that brought this new form took it away and I hit the ground hard, my vision fading. Fuck. At least I beat the spiders. My vision went dark.
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Flora

“FINN!!” We took off towards them. They were laying motionless curled up in the middle of the room. Crystal and Emily2 had to stay back to man the door. Twister and Coral darted off with Coral nearly hitting the ground in a slide to get to Finn. I ran to join but Agnes grabbed me as Twister gave a cue to hang back. It pained me to hang back. I needed to know if they were ok. Oh she-ra. This was all my fault.
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Coral

Finn looked bad. Twister had tried to hold me back but when she saw my reaction, she knew she had no choice. I was going to be at their side first. I moved their hair from their face and went to assessing their wounds while Twister checked their pulse. They were torn up and had lost a lot of blood. Whatever happened, it was not good. I tried hard to hold back tears. Twister and I were both sure they were gone. But when Twister sighed with a smile I relaxed and gave a nervous chuckle before putting a hand to Finn’s face letting my tears fall. Twister told everyone they were ok but in bad shape.
“No. Mom” Finn was barely audible as they slipped in and out of consciousness before us.
“Finn!” Twister hit the ground, unable to keep Flora and Agnes back.
“They said no mom.” I looked back to Finn. “If I know Finn that means don’t tell moms.” I looked up to Twister knowing her and I were both on the same page. We were going to seek help but also respect Finn’s decision. They were not actively bleeding from what I could tell which made things a lot less serious, but we still had to be careful.
“Call Ember.” Twister demanded and I didn’t argue.
My sister answered with a groan but her tone dropped when I said flatly through tears “Crystal Castle now. Bring med kit.”
“YOU NEED TO GET OUT!” Crystal shouted with worry. “SOMETHING IS WRONG!” She was frantically typing away on her tracker pad that she and Emily2 had used to hack into the castle. An electrical whir started to grow in volume.
“Flora! Vine stretcher now!” Twister took charge and I moved to keep Finn’s head still. We were going to have to move them without causing more harm. Luckily, Twister and I had medical training. Though she didn’t know I did.
“And neck brace with body restraints.” I added. “We want zero movement, especially with a hit to the head that hard.” I had taken inventory of their injuries and it seemed they had a pretty bad head wound. Twister just looked at me in shock. “Agnes go grab my bag and meet us out. And here. Give new directions to Ember. I know a place.” I handed over my tracker pad and proceeded to give Agnes the coordinates to my cave. “Twister go assist Crystal. You know tech. Flora help me move Finn.” Twister nodded and heeded my directions. I could tell Flower Goddess was scared. I locked eyes with her and gave her a nod to let her know things were ok. I knew what I was doing. We managed to get out just in time for the door to slam down. What the hell happened Finn?
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Finn

When I came to I was in a cave on a bed of vines with the soft glow of a fire. Flora was next to me holding my hand and before I could sit up to see the others, she nearly tackled me. She was gentle and careful of my injuries.
“Where am I?” I still felt hazy as I started to recall everything that happened.
“Coral’s secret cave. She said you would know it.” Flora sat back down with a soft smile.
I went to sit up and winced at the sharp pain in my shoulder. Looking down I realized I was in Coral’s sweater and my briefs. Part of me didn’t even want to think about why. Flora looked at me with tears.
“Finn I am so sorry!” She said it in a hushed voice, so others didn’t hear. “I didn’t mean to bring about any harm or anything like that! I was just caught up in the moment and after that song and the performance and I’m so sorry!”
“Lav, it’s ok!” I whispered back and grabbed her hands. “It’s not your fault. I had a panic attack and then I – “ I paused recalling the events. What do I tell her? I still hadn’t processed what happened and I didn’t want to think about what it all meant. But I had to tell her something. She already knew about Razz. “I started hearing Razz’s voice and that mixed with the panic made me freeze up. I bolted because of Razz not you.” I offered her a light smile to say things were ok. My mind kept flashing back to the spiders, the hologram, She-RA…. I shook my head and looked around.
“Twister!” Flora called over to Twist who had been lightly dozing while standing against the wall of the cave. I swear Twister did everything in the most intense fashion. Even in her sleep she was a daredevil. Flora then turned back to me. “She asked me to alert her when you were awake.”
“How are you feeling Finn?” Twister knelt down next to the bed with concern.
“I’m torn up but alive.” I offered her a smile to let her know I was trying to be comical.
“So what happened?” She ignored my comedy and kept on with the concerned questions.
I sighed and ducked my head. “Administrator not detected.” The words echoed like a nightmare in my mid.
“Defense system.” Twister echoed my response. She stood up and crossed her arms. “Now that you’re awake we need to reevaluate your injuries. We could only do so much with you passed out. Are you sure you don’t want to just go to Brightmoon? It would be much safer.”
“You haven’t told my moms?!” I was honestly shocked that she listened to that request.
“We are family, did you forget?” She smiled and grabbed my hand to let me know she fully intended to respect my wish. “Which means I am going to whoop your ass when you are feeling better!”
I laughed as did she. She went over to get Ember who I could only guess was going to be the one to assess me as Twister put it. But Ember shook her head and went to explain something to Twist. My hearing was still fuzzy so I couldn’t catch what they were saying. Instead, Twister turned and went to wake up Coral. Oh no. Please tell me half asleep Coral was not going to be the one doing this? I guess more pain was in my future.
Coral lifted her head groggily but once Twister started talking, she bolted up and followed her over, a look of worry in her eyes. “Hey.” Coral sat on the bed. “How are you?” She placed a hand on mine.
“Somehow alive.” I chuckled. I started to feel tears well up knowing that the band was the only reason I was here right now.
Coral smiled and put a hand to my face. I let my cheek press into her palm and smiled. Her face quickly turned to a smirk as she said “Ok. Now take off the sweater.”
My eyes shot open and those at the bed turned to look at Coral. “Wait what?”
Coral laughed at my reaction to her joke and explained better “In order to assess your wounds I need to see your wounds. Especially that gash on your shoulder. I did quick stiches to close up the main wound but it still needs some better cleaning and stitching.”
I looked to Twister still confused as to why she wasn’t the one doing this. Not that I didn’t trust Coral but her methods were usually a bit rough and blunt and I was in enough pain as is.
Twister shrugged. “She’s the one who assessed you initially and has a broader first aid knowledge base, so you’re stuck with her.” I gave a glance to Ember next who just glared at me with disdain. She hated me. Fair.
I groaned and went to sit up, which hurt. Coral and Twister were watching me like hawks which made this so much more awkward. Flora at least ducked her gaze. I didn’t have a problem changing in front of other as I grew up in the performing arts and everyone in this room was used to me walking around in my bandeau and briefs but stripping with an eagle-eyed audience was not ideal. Before I could lift off the sweater Coral handed me some sort of cloth. I recognized it as the cloth she kept on her for molotov cocktail making. “Your bandeau got ruined.” She gave me a soft grin and turned away to prep her medical tools. Twist went to help her. Her gesture made me smile and I did what she said.
Once that was done, Coral started looking over the major injuries including the deep gash in my shoulder and the bites on my leg and arm. Twister asked questions regarding the fight. I presume to figure out if I had any possible internal damage, other than my dignity. According to Coral they had already fully assessed my vitals and internal conditions as best as possible but still wanted to know the details. Coral waved for Ember to bring the med kit as she looked more closely at my shoulder. “So we can do this the painless way or my way.”
“Painless sounds great.” I looked at her questioningly. Why would I choose the other method?
“Great! So am I calling Adora or are you?” Coral propped her hands on her hips and Twister busted out laughing, obviously amused that Coral was attempting to get me to tell my parents.
“Ok fine. I guess we do it your way then.” I gritted my teeth in annoyance and Coral grinned a bit too deviously.
“Flora? Do you think you could make vine restraints?” Flora covered her mouth to stifle a laugh and I looked to Flora with a smidge of panic before returning my gaze to Coral.
Flora nodded and before I could argue she had me restrained to the makeshift vine bed.
“Great!” Coral grabbed some form of liquid from the kit. I now understood why she wanted to restrain me. That shit burned like hell. Once done she went to work cleaning and stitching the gash better than she could before. Flora released me and I shot up holding my shoulder.
“OWWWW!! Aren’t you supposed to have some sort of sedative for that?” I looked disgruntled at Coral who just smiled and winked before starting to clean her tools.
“You’re lucky the other cuts are all shallow. A few could really use stitches but not like that one on your shoulder. You should be able to deal with those without restraint. Remember, I am not the one who decided to keep this a secret from the person who can point a sword at you and heal you instantaneously without any trace of scars. Also, you need a license for sedatives.” Coral gave Twister a side eyed glaze. Of course, now those two are in cahoots. I knew they were right but I didn’t want to have to explain why I was there or what happened or about the transformation. I still wasn’t sure if that was real. Moms said that place could cause hallucinations. Coral did the other stiches with much less pain.
“It’s almost morning.” Ember looked over to us. “You may want to come up with an excuse if you’re all not going to be home.” She was stationed by the cave entrance. As far from me as possible.
She had a point though. I was in no shape to go home. One look and it would be obvious I was severely injured. “Just say it was a celebration. We decided to spend time as a band and go on an adventure today.” I went to stand but quickly sat and laid back down instead. The trashing from before intensified the soreness.
Twister nodded and went to typing. She probably had a better way to word my idea.
“And how do you plan to hide your very obvious gashes from your moms?” Coral raised an eyebrow.
“Don’t forget I learned how to do makeup from Double Trouble.” At that everyone shrugged and nodded in agreement. I let myself fall back asleep.
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We stayed the next day in the cave and headed home the following morning. Flora offered to walk with Agnes and I, but I told her we would be alright and that I knew Moms would be eagerly waiting to talk. Though it was true, I also just wanted the time alone to clear my thoughts. A lot had happened. Flora and I were now under the bands watch more so than normal and I still wasn’t sure what her kiss meant. We’ve kissed cheeks before, or at least I’ve kissed hers in excitement, I blame Glimmer for rubbing that habit off on me, but never in the gentle and intimate way she did that night. Not to mention she nearly kissed my lips instead! Then the transformation happened! Or perhaps just the illusion of the transformation? No. It was too real. It had to be real even if I didn’t want it to be. Was I the new She-RA? GAH! That name would have to change!
Agnes and I walked in near silence until we saw the gates to Brightmoon.
“Are you ok Finn?” Agnes paused and turned to me. I had been limping most of the walk as the bite in my leg was still very sore and walking was agitating it. Luckily, I had spare clothes at the band tank so I was at least back in a normal outfit.
I straightened up, shook out my hair and shifted it all to one side then gave a slight nod to Agnes. “I’m a cat. I know how to hide pain.” And with that I headed off toward the castle with no limp in site. It hurt. A lot.
Agnes rolled their eyes at me and hurried to catch up. “Even in pain you manage to walk like a diva.”
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“FINN!” Mother ran and grabbed me into a big hug and I had to bite my tongue to not wince. “I’m so proud of you!!! And you too Agnes!!” She then pulled Agnes into the hug and before we knew it we were dangling a few feet off the ground in the arms of She-RA.
“Mother! We still need to breathe!” I coughed out with a small laugh and she quickly put us down and transformed back into her normal self.
“A bit excited much?” Mom appeared at her side with Melog jumping around behind her meowing up a storm.
Mother just eyed Melog then gave Mom a smirk. Mom dropped her ears in embarrassment before turning to me with a grin. “Congratulations kids! I knew you would make it!” Mom hugged us tight and Melog jumped up to join in with a big lick to my cheek. It was safe to assume Mom was also excited. However, this time I couldn’t hold back my wince of pain as my shoulder got squeezed for the second time.
I let out a quick yelp before pulling back to grab my shoulder. Agnes came to my side for support, but I stood back up quick. Mother looked concerned and Mom just put her hands to her hips with a grin “Perhaps we should have some tree climbing lessons before your tour.”
I raised my eyebrow at Mom confused as to what she meant.
“Twister already told us about your second drunken tree fall.” Mom couldn’t hold back laughter at this point and hit the ground holding Melog. Just great.
“CATRA!!” Mother stared down at her in annoyance. “Do not laugh at our child’s pain!” Then turning to me she added “Are you ok?”
My hand was already to my face and ears down in embarrassment. Why was the band’s go to me falling out of a tree…? Fall out of a tree once and no one lets you forget. Twister was going to hear about this later. Mother took this as me being upset and pulled me into another hug. I let out another yelp and Mother apologized and stepped back. “I’m fine. Just hit my shoulder hard.”
“And you sort of buckled your knee bad.” Agnes shot me a sly look. I knew what they were up to.
I gave them a nasty look back but with eyes to say thanks. I no longer had to hide the limp. Mom laughed harder.
“Do you need anything? Can I help? Let me make you food! And get you an ice pack! Oh! And you probably need water too.” I grabbed Mother’s hand before she could take off.
“I’m ok Mother!” I gave her a smile. “I just need some rest I think. And maybe that ice pack.” She nodded and told me she’d bring it to my room. Before heading off she turned to Mom and transformed, picked her up over her shoulder, and exclaimed something about a spray bottle. Mom’s eyes went wide and Melog’s mane went red as she reached out and mouthed save me!
Agnes and I laughed and made our way to my room. I laid back on the bed and put the ice packs mom brought on my shoulder and leg. Luckily the arm bite wasn’t as bad and didn’t feel as sore. The cold felt nice against the burning injuries and I let my head sink into the pillow. I was close to letting my eyes shut when I felt Agnes jump up onto the bed next to me.
“So are you going to explain what actually happened?” Agnes gave me a stern look. They were with me when I ran into Razz for the first time and already knew I had been determined to go to the Crystal Castle.
I let out a sigh. “I’m not allowed to lie am I?” Anges shook their head. “Fine. I started having visions after Flora kissed my cheek and the band put their eyes on us. Visions of Razz and the Crystal Castle and She-RA, and it was just all a bit overwhelming. But I felt the pull. Like I had to go find Razz. So I took off in a bit of a panic in the direction of the pull and found myself face to face with the defense system of the Crystal Castle instead of Razz. I can safely say I now hate spiders.”
“You’ve always hated spiders. I have literally seen you –“ I stopped them there not wanting to relive that past memory. Just thinking about it made me want to jump.
“Perhaps that’s how I won the fight.” I tried to lighten the mood and push Agnes away from the serious topic I wasn’t wanting to discuss. “So we are now going on tour? It’s hard to imagine!”
“Hard to imagine? After that stunt you pulled? The second your knees hit the stage we were going on tour!” Agnes lit up and dropped the talk of the unmentionable crawling things.
“The stunt was nothing! The whole performance was great! We really felt the rhythm and kept the audience going.” I let my eyes drift shut to recall the concert. Floating around the stage with my closest friends. It was a dream come true!
“Though many of your fans will be disappointed to know your taken.” Agnes shrugged.
I bolted up. “Wait what now!?” I shot a confused look to Agnes then winced and shifted my weight off my injured arm. I was not taken.
“You and Flora? I mean everyone saw the chemistry during the song.” Agnes was returning my confused look as if it were common knowledge that Flora and I were together.
“That was just an act, and maybe a slightly improvised trap to get her to sing on stage. We aren’t together. You know how I feel about this conversation.” I shot them a firm look.
“And I also know how you feel about Flora!” Agnes shoved me slightly and I couldn’t hold back my smile. Instead, I just threw my pillow at them. There was no point trying to hide my feelings from Agnes anymore. But I also didn’t trust my emotions. This Agnes also knew.
“You also know that I need sleep and for you to leave!” I stuck my tongue out at them and they returned the gesture before getting up to leave.
Finally. Alone. As social as I am, I much enjoy processing my thoughts on my own. I fell back into the bed and tossed an arm over my eyes, finally able to drop the mask I had been wearing. I was scared. There was still this pull, as if something was wrong, as if I was needed. Out of curiosity I held out my hand, closed my eyes, and cleared my mind as if preparing to cast a spell. I steadied my breathing and focused my thoughts on the light, on the sword, on She-Ra. The pull got stronger, but it was hard to tell if that was because it responded or because I started to think about it harder. Either way, nothing happened and I dropped my arm back to the bed. There were still a few days before the tour kick off and I planed to use them to process what all these visions meant. The tour itself didn’t start for a few weeks or so but the band had planned to get started early on preparations and spend the time getting familiar with the layout of the vehicle.
All the thinking of the tour and the visions stressed me out so I got up slowly and went to grab one of the roses from my plant. The scent was calming and I curled myself back into bed with the flower still in my hands. It reminded me of Flora. Agnes was right I did have feelings for her but everything was just so confusing. I mean I have a feeling she likes my too but she’s not usually the bold type, and tries to respect everyone’s boundaries. However, there were other emotions I still hadn’t processed that made everything all the more confusing. In the end, I tossed the rose onto my side table and tried to get comfortable with a slight stinging in my shoulder. Luckily, I soon found sleep.

Chapter Text

The sun was just starting to rise as a flock of winged beasts flew over the Whispering Woods. I swore I saw the large beast with the orange tail tip and had to do a double take, but they were gone before I could see. Shaking my head, I sighed and leaned back against the cool bark of the tree, soaking up the sun as it crested the tops of the trees. I was a bit higher up than normal this morning as I wanted the better view. My moms had waken up early to say goodbye before Agnes and I headed out to the meet the band for the start of the tour. It took a long time because Mother didn’t want to let go and it’s hard to wiggle out of an eight-foot-tall warrior’s grasp, especially when she was your clingy mother. The thought made me smile. As annoying as her protective nature was, it was also nice. I wish I could talk to her and Mom about everything going on, but I was worried they would overreact, and I also wasn’t sure I was ready to face whatever was happening. But no matter what, there was still this nagging pull. It’s hard to describe but it felt as if I needed to follow it, to help it in some way. But there’s something eerie about it too. Last time I followed it, I nearly died. It’s why I told Agnes I was going to my tree for a bit to meditate and would catch up with them later. There was no set time we planned to meet today so I didn’t feel too bad.
When the sun started to hit my face, I closed my eyes and let myself drift off in thought. Before I knew it, I was asleep.
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Where was I? Was this the Crystal Castle? I stumbled through a dark and fuzzy room until my back hit a solid structure. I jumped and turned to see a glowing stone.
“I see you found the runestone of power dearie!” I turned to see Razz standing next to me. Only she seemed more hologram than human. “Well, go on dear, touch it.” Her hand buzzed like a glitching hologram as she pointed to the stone.
I hesitated and then reached out. As soon as my hand touched the cold stone, I saw a flash of blue, then red, then black.
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I bolted up and could feel the light dissipate from my eyes as I opened them. Looking down I checked to make sure I was still me and started to calm down when I saw that I was. I let out a sigh and closed my eyes again to allow my breathing to slow down. Right as my heart started to return to normal, I heard a loud scream at the base of the tree.
“FINN!!” Flora shouted up, startling me once again. “LAST TIME I CHECKED THE TOUR WAS NOT IN A TREE!!”
“I just needed some time!” I yelled back as best I could but didn’t move from my spot, still on edge from my dream. What the hell did it mean? Why was Razz not Razz? Was I just stressed?
“Well why don’t you come on down. Yelling is getting hard. And we haven’t talked in a few days now!”
“I’m not coming down!” I was starting to have doubts about the tour and wasn’t sure I was ready to face Flora after all that happened. Once I had gotten home that night, I had kept to myself most of the time. The days went by, and I spent a lot of time in Bow’s dads’ library, reading everything I could about the Crystal Castle, visions, Razz, She-Ra, and many other things, including dragons.
“Well then I’m coming up!” I heard her start to climb. Flora was great at climbing and reached my typical branch in no time, which was still a few below where I was “Wow you’re high up today? So what’s wrong? I can tell you’re in your thoughts.”
“There’s just a lot happening. I’m still processing what happened in the Crystal Castle. And the dreams I keep having.” I lowered my ears and pulled my knees to my chest.
“Do you want to talk about them?” Flora was concerned. I could tell she wanted to comfort me but was hesitant about climbing any higher. She wasn’t used to the narrow branches like I was.
I sighed and hid my head. I appreciated her company but was still unsure how I should act around her now. We hadn’t discussed what happened between us and that emotion just added to my confusion. “They’re all the same basically. About Razz or She-ra or that pull I keep feeling. I think I’m just stressed.” At least I hoped I was.
“I’m sure once you get on the tour things will lighten up! Just think, the stress of the big make it or break it concert is over! You did it!” She shot a big smile in my direction to try and make me feel better. “Though not to brag I think the audience liked me better.” She then shot a devious grin in my direction.
“Did not!” I returned her smile. This was nice. I had let myself forget how comforting Flora is.
“Then get your tail out of this tree! Or else I will be the star and not you!” Smooth trick Flora, but I wasn’t about to get out of the tree. Even if I did want to climb down to win the argument. Now it was a game.
I huffed and tilted my head back against the tree, crossing my arms.
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Flora

I could tell Finn was worried, confused, stressed, and maybe even scared. Their tail had been flicking constantly and they rarely climb up that high for fun. I was also a bit nervous that they had been avoiding me, but I could tell in talking with them that that wasn’t the case. Or at least hopefully not. I hadn’t meant to cause confusion or drama from the kiss but after the moment we shared on stage I guess I just got carried away, briefly forgetting that Finn was a trained actor on stage. But the flicker in their eye when I called them out told me they were toying with me now. And I had a most ingenious plan.
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Finn

“Well looks like I have to come to you then.” Flora started to make her way up finding the best footholds and using her tail for balance. I eyed her nervously, my ears flicking. She usually didn’t climb up this high without my help. “GAHH!” She lost her footing and slipped.
I didn’t even think, I just acted and before I could blink I was holding her waist and pulling her back up. My eyes large and heart pounding. I looked her over for signs of injury before locking eyes with her in worry.
“Hahaha! I knew that would work!” She leaned into me, and I watched as she uncurled her tail from the tree branch behind her. She had faked it.
I narrowed my eyes and scowled, still holding her close out of concern, but then she gave me a soft smile and locked eyes. She went to move the hair out of my face as she always does and I flinched, darting my eyes to her hand. Flora chuckled knowing I was still on edge from her stunt. Her laugh made me smile and I pressed my check into her hand. I don’t know if it was the look on her face or the way the sunlight made her glow but for once I felt certain of my emotions. Gently I pulled her into me, keeping one hand on her waist and the other still holding a branch for balance. I leaned into her level so that we were nose to nose, hesitating for a moment before closing my eyes. It was Flora who closed the gap and as soon as her lips were on mine, I felt weightless. The world seemed to slow as Flora tossed her arms around my neck. Why was I ever worried about this? When the kiss broke we were both giggling and smiling, as close as can be.
“I love you Lav” I said as I kissed her cheek.
“I love you too Rose” She caressed my cheek again. “but can we please get out of the tree now?”
I laughed and nodded, helping her down out of the higher up branches. I landed a bit harsh and winced at the pain from the still sore injury but all that went away when Flora grabbed my hand and pulled me to face her. She once again put her arms around my neck and this time I kissed her. It was a bit easier not having to keep both of us balanced on a narrow branch. We stayed at the tree for a while, sitting at the base, talking, kissing, and watching the creatures fly by.
I leaned my face to her cheek and grinned, still purring. “So does this mean you’re my girlfriend now?”
Flora giggled and went red “Only if you’re ok with the band mocking us for all eternity!” She had a point there.
“Don’t forget Twister chaperoning our every date while on tour!” It was my turn to giggle. From there we both agreed it would be best to keep this a secret until the right time. Or at least until we knew how the tour was going to go.
I tossed my legs over Flora’s lab and curled my face into her neck, hugging her waist. She giggled and hugged me back. This was nice, this was relaxing. I felt my eyes start to close now that I was safe in Flora’s grasp.
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“Finn?” Flora shook me awake lightly.
I groaned and sat up with a groggy expression before stretching and hugging Flora again to kiss her cheek.
She smiled “We ought to go meet the band before anyone starts to worry. Also, Twister has already started messaging me. She knows you fell asleep. And I think DT messaged you too.” Flora handed me my tracker pad and I rubbed my eyes, took the pad and laid back on her shoulder to read the messages. It was nice being able to curl up with her again. Though I didn’t stay curled up long before springing up with excitement and pulling Flora to her feet. She stumbled and I caught her, pulling her into me with a big grin.
“Tell Twister we will be late. You and I have a date!” Flora laughed and motioned for me to explain. “Just tell her you have a date with fashion. She’ll understand!” And with that I grabbed her hand and pulled her off in the direction of Double Trouble’s place.
Double Trouble opened the door before I could knock. This time they had on an elaborate red boa and sleek red leggings with knee high heeled boots. But the thing that made me grin, and embarrassingly start to purr, was the fact they had on one of our bands t-shirts. DT never wore t-shirts. I hugged them and nearly knocked them off their feet, but they didn’t seem to mind and instead hugged me back. Double Trouble motioned for us to come inside, and I grabbed Flora’s hand to pull her along. We quickly went upstairs which led to a wide-open fashion studio. The walls were lined with fabrics and gowns and threads of all kinds. Tables were set up with various machines and tools and patterns were sprawled out everywhere. I grabbed Flora’s hands and started to bounce with excitement. DT joined us and put a hand on my shoulder.
“How about putting that energy into the dress?” DT looked down at me with a smile and motioned to the studio. I loved working in the studio, helping design outfits and create costumes for theater. “The fabric you asked about is over on the far table. If you need anything I will be downstairs.”
“Thanks DT!” I hugged them again and then tugged Flora to the far table and made her stand on the round platform. Still purring, I grabbed the measuring tape and went to work.
When I went to start taking Flora’s measurements she laughed “What are you doing?”
“You don’t have a band outfit!” I paused to grin at her.
“Finn, I have plenty of dresses.” She was attempting to defend her fashion sense.
“I know! I just thought it’d be nice to make a special one for you. You know, something with a rockstar flare! Something to say, welcome to the band.” I smiled at her, feeling my cheeks go red. “I um, designed a dress for you that I thought you might like.” I ducked my eyes down. Why was this all of a sudden embarrassing?
I felt Flora’s hand on my cheek, now eye level with me on the pedestal. She rested her forehead to mine, “I’m sure I will love it!” Then she leaned back and booped my nose. “Just tell me what to do fashionista!”
I grinned and went to directing her how to stand for measurements.
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Flora

Finn was adorable bouncing around, jotting notes, pulling me in almost every direction. It was great to see them happy and excited after everything that has been happening. I had never really seen Finn in their fashion element before unless it was their own outfit that is, it was quite amusing seeing how they could take a handful of numbers and translate that into an intricate design. Finn refused to show me their idea until it was done, saying something about a surprise. Once Finn had the measurements done, they started to sketch and cut and pin and before I knew it, they were handing me some sort of hot pink silky fabric.
“Here! This is the first part. It’s a dress. Put it on and I will make adjustments and then start on the next part. I have a quick question for DT and will leave you to change!” Finn smiled and darted out after kissing my cheek. I looked down at the fabric they handed me. This was a dress? It was short and seemed very small, but I knew better than to second guess Finn’s fashion choices. I changed quickly and found a mirror. When I saw my reflection, I started to blush. I was not used to tight anything.
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Finn

“Flora?” I knocked on the outside of the room to make sure she was dressed.
“You can come in!” Flora responded.
“Great! So now I will start – “ my voice trailed off when I saw her. I hadn’t seen Flora in anything but her loose sun dresses before. Even her swim wear often included a cover up or skirt of some kind. I dropped my ears, blushing and embarrassed. The dress I had handed her was a form of skintight, mini dress, meant to go under the second piece to the outfit. She turned to look at me with a smile and chuckled when she saw my reaction. “So, um –“ I cleared my throat trying to regain control over words. “How does it fit?” I ducked my head again and started to run my fingers in my hair.
“It fits perfect” Flora had silently moved to stand in front of me and tapped my nose, clearly amused by my expression. I was not expecting her to toss her arms around my neck to pull me to her. “You are the master of fashion remember!” She then kissed my cheek “Now come on! You said this was just part one?” She stepped away and lead me back to the pedestal.
I just nodded. Still a bit dazed by her boldness. I took a deep breath and shook my head. Ok. Back to work. I grabbed my pins and made a few adjustments to how the fabric bunched up then moved on to the next piece. This would be a teal dress that fit over the pink one with one side completely cut out. It would flare out with pink tulle lining the skirt of the dress. The strap would cross from under one arm to over her other shoulder. This time I had to start with a large piece and pin it to fit it to her. I started with the skirt piece and pined it to the under-dress to hold it up for now. I then directed Flora to hold out her arms so I could position the upper half. It didn’t take long to get everything in place and sewn together. I helped her pull the top dress on over the other one and positioned it just right, then stepped back and made her turn in all sorts of directions. I then grabbed the pink tulle that would go under the skirt and knelt down next to Flora, lifting the teal dress to pin the tulle in place.
“Finn….?” Flora looked down at me as I lifted the dress up. I had gotten a bit caught up in the fashion moment that I forgot lifting up someone’s dress is probably not the most normal motion.
I let the dress go and looked up with a hand behind my head. “Sorry! I have to pin the tulle in place to know how it fits. How about we start with the next step and come back to this one.” Flora chuckled and told me it was ok, but I was already handing her the black leggings. She slipped them on without question, then I went back to pinning the tulle. Once the tulle was pinned, I had Flora take off the top part. I set it on the table and stretched.
“Superstar, you aren’t planning to make that whole outfit in one night are you?” Double Trouble appeared in the doorway. “Please, why don’t you two just stay here tonight?”
Flora and I agreed to stay and joined DT for dinner. Luckily Prince Peakablue was out of town for a few days. Afterwards, her and I went back upstairs to finish a few final touches.
“Are you sure you can’t show me the final design yet?” Flora hovered over my shoulder as I made a few notes and I quickly turned to pick her up and carry her from the table.
“It’s a surprise!!” I laughed and set her down in front of me, my arms at her waist.
“Not even a tiny peek?!” Flora stood on her toes, her hands on my shoulders to be face to face.
“Not even a peek.” I smiled and leaned in to kiss her.
“Really!? I thought this was supposed to be a fashion thing not a date!” Twister stood in the doorway with a cross expression. Flora and I startled but then Twister blinked her eyes and Double Trouble’s were in their place. “Hahaha! Do I need to put you two in separate rooms tonight?” Double Trouble now stood in the doorway where Twister had been with a sly grin.
Flora and I both sighed in relief and started to chuckle. DT was spot on with the Twister impression.
DT laughed. “Even if I did, I’m sure one of you would just sneak out to the other.” They moved to put their arms around our shoulders and guided us downstairs. “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”
“Thanks.” Flora and I said at the same time with smiles.
Once in my room I rummaged around for pajamas that Flora could wear. We hadn’t really planned on staying the night so she didn’t have anything with her. I on the other hand had many things that I kept in my room at DT’s place. Unfortunately, a nightgown wasn’t one of them, and apparently neither were pajama pants or shorts or any form of sleepwear. Wow. I never realized I was that much against pajamas.
“Looking for something like this?” DT reappeared in the door and held out their hands. I turned and saw they were holding one of their nightgowns. Flora grinned and thanked them. “I figured you would need something more comfortable than whatever Finn had here.”
“Thanks DT!” I put a hand behind my head and grinned. “You’re probably right.” Most of the clothes I kept at DT’s were meant for performing. DT smiled and let us be.
After we got ready for bed I hopped up on the bed next to Flora and nearly tackled her with excitement. “Can you believe it Flora!? Tomorrow we are going on tour!!”
She put her face to mine, matching my excitement. “I know!! I never thought moms would let me join but oh I am so glad they did!”
“Me too!” I pressed my forehead to hers, purring a bit loudly I must admit. Flora giggled and pulled me down so that I was laying next to her. She wrapped her tail around me and pulled me to her, resting her head on mine. I curled up into her, my tail wrapping around hers and fell asleep. This was nice.
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It didn’t take long for me to finish the outfit in the morning.
“There.” I placed the shoulder piece I had made for the dress over where the teal dress crossed her shoulder. It was designed to match the exoskeleton of her tail, similar to her mom’s but on a much smaller scale. “Now the final touches.” Flora grinned in excitement. I went to grab the lavender and rose flowers I had set aside and started to fix them to the shoulder piece on onto her arm warmer. Lastly, I placed lavender petals in her hair and a large rose behind her ear. “Done!’
Flora started off to the mirror, but I quickly remembered something and pulled her back. “Wait!” I grabbed my makeup and copied the sword I draw over my eye but on the opposite side and with lavender flowers instead of roses. “Ok now done!” I took her hand and walked her to the mirror.
Flora’s hands darted to her mouth and she started to twirl. I chuckled and looked away blushing. “I’m glad you like it.”
“I love it, Rose.” She pulled me into a big hug and kissed me. I returned her kiss and held her close, careful to not ruffle her dress. “I take it we ought to get to the band now?”
“One more kiss.” I smiled and pulled her to me again, my hand against her cheek. She slid her arms around my neck and ran her hand through the short hairs at the base of my neck, pulling me closer. We let the kiss last a bit longer, knowing once we arrived at the band vehicle, we would be keeping secret. Luckily Flora and I would be sharing a room on the tank. Twister thought it would be better than pairing Agnes with me and Coral with Flora. No one wanted another screaming match and Twister had already claimed staying with Crystal. Flora broke the kiss and rested her head on my shoulder, wrapping her arms around me. I copied, burying my face in her hair. This felt right. I smiled and felt myself purring, which made Flora giggle. I purred louder to make her laugh; I could make the purring louder but of course had no control on stopping it, which was a bit annoying at times. “Ok. Now we should head out. I’ll pack up the outfit for you once you change.”
We said our goodbyes to Double Trouble and headed out to meet our bandmates.
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Catra

“What do you suggest we do?” Adora turned to Glimmer, who was seated at the head of the table.
Glimmer took a while to respond, deep in thought. “We must keep everyone safe. That is most important. We will slowly send out extra security as to not alert anyone. Second most important is to not cause panic.” Glimmer then turned to Adora. “Have you taken care of the sword?”
Adora nodded and I put a hand on her shoulder.
“What about the kids? Their tour is starting soon.” Perfuma spoke up, voicing everyone’s concern. Scorpia put a pincer around her back for comfort.
“So far we think they will be safe based on the planed route. We will also have constant communication with them and can check in often.” Glimmer responded. “I’m sure they are all expecting the worried parents to call every now and then.”
We had discussed telling them, but in the same breath we still weren’t fully aware of what was happening. And we knew if they thought there was danger, they would try to help. We didn’t want them to get injured, plus, not all of them had proper training in defense. They never had to, not like Adora and I. This was the only big threat we had faced since the end of the war. Why hadn’t I spent more time teaching Finn to fight? I dug my claws into the table. “We can’t stand by and hope they are safe. They should be trained to fight, to defend themselves.”
“Coral is the head guard of Salenias and is fully trained in battle strategy.” Mermista said flatly. “Also,-“ She pointed to Sea Hawk who was playing with the candle in front of him, paying no attention.
“Twister is strong and skilled.” Netossa spoke next, almost sounding offended that I thought she was weak. I flinched, scared she still had the spray bottle. “She went to train with Huntara for a few years.”
“Flora has full control on her plant powers” Perfuma sounded proud of her daughter.
“Crystal is quick with tech! Also, she has weapons.” Entrapta perked up at the chance to brag about Crystal. Though I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what the weapons were.
“Agnes has trained with Mica.” Glimmer saw the look of failure in my eyes and quickly added. “So has Finn.”
Adora put her hand on mine and knew she had the same worry. Had we failed at preparing our own child? We didn’t want Finn to grow up having to train the same way we did. The others seemed to notice.
“Finn and Coral used to spar all the time. Believe it or not, Finn is very skilled with a trident.” Mermista added.
“And a little too good with fire…” Frosta sounded pissed. Did I want to know why? Probably not. Though I’d likely be proud.
“Flora and Finn would spar as well, specifically focusing on magic and special abilities.” Perfuma had walked over to Adora and I. “They are prepared. You did train them well. Just in a different way. A better way.”
Adora hugged her and I put a hand on her shoulder to say thanks. We were all worried. But we were all ready.
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Finn

DT’s place wasn’t far from our meetup point and we were there in no time at all.
“Did you get cold feet Drama Lord?” Coral gave me a sly grin standing with her arms braced in her trident, before dropping it and jumping up to hug me, practically spinning me around. I stumbled back but laughed and returned her enthusiasm. This was her and I’s dream for as long as I can remember, and it was finally happening. “CAN YOU BELIEVE IT FINN!” She grabbed my hands and was nearly nose to nose with me, happier than I had seen her in a long time. With one last hug she turned to Flora and tossed her arms around her, picking her up in a spin as well, which surprised both Flora and I. I stood watching with my mouth slightly ajar. As far as I knew, Coral hated Flora and only tolerated her for the sake of the band. Flora barely had time to process what happened before Coral pulled away, seeming to realize what she just did and clearing her throat. “Welcome to the band Flower Goddess!”
“Hey Fashonista! Glad to see you could join us!” Twister started to walk over, brass knuckles on her hands. She must have been training. Wait… I looked around and realized everyone had some sort of weapon with them.
Ignoring Twister’s greeting I asked “What’s with all the weapons? I mean I know we sing about starting riots but –“ My thought trailed off.
“I always come prepared.” Twister grinned and I turned my gaze to Coral who was back to using her trident as an armrest.
“Mom forced me to take it.” Coral shrugged, spun the trident so it was across her shoulders and tossed a glance behind her, “Glimmer forced Agnes to bring their magic bow and Crystal was told she should upgrade Emily2’s defenses.”
I looked down in thought. What was going on? I felt Flora’s hand on my shoulder and had to quickly remind myself I couldn’t just turn and hug her. I shook my head and smiled up at everyone. There was enough to worry about with the band, I didn’t want to be worrying about anything else right now.
We all spent the next few weeks prepping and planning and rehearsing, taking small breaks here and there to relax. Before long it was time to hit the road for real and head out to our first concert of the tour. When the tank started to move, I knew it was real. My dream was coming true, OUR dream was coming true.
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Part one Epilogue - Finn

The hairspray crashed to the floor when I dropped it to grab the sink for support as the vision hit me.
Finn….
The room went dark, and I saw a sword appear in front of me.
You can’t fight your destiny…
The pull was back. Stronger than before. I felt the power consuming me, making me lose motor control as I reluctantly reached for the sword. I tried to fight back. Scared. Images of the Non-Razz returning.
Don’t resist your power…
I lost the fight and grabbed the sword. The room snapped back, and I stood staring at my reflection in the mirror above the sink, my eyes glowing red back at me.