Chapter Text
Adora drummed her fingertips along her kitchen counter restlessly. The same rhythm that had gone interrupted for over a minute, in an unsuccessful effort to satiate her perpetual boredom.
It was her one day off in the week, and soon the afternoon would be giving way to the evening. Her next task would be cooking dinner, but it was slightly too early for that. She’d spent her day cleaning her house from top to bottom, doing laundry, and any other household chore the young woman could think of. But she’d completed all her tasks for the day, leaving her with nothing left to do for the moment.
Adora had never taken free time well. She always needed a task to work towards, something to keep her mind occupied. With Glimmer and Bow still at their respective jobs while poor Adora was stuck at home with her lousy day off, she couldn’t even ask her friends to keep her entertained. It was times like these she missed her ex-best friend, Catra. It had been years since she’d seen her, but Adora’s heart still yearned to reconnect.
And that’s why, try as she might to avoid doing so, Adora’s mind still flitted to reminiscing, desperately hoping that one day their paths would cross again.
“Catra, slow down!” a teenage version of Adora called out to the back of Catra, still sprinting a few feet ahead of her.
“Can’t hear you over the sound of how slow you are!” Catra called back, slight chuckles seeping into her voice.
“But I’ve got something to tell you! Something important,” Adora pressed on, ignoring the burning sensation in her legs.
“Guess you’re gonna have to catch me first then, dummy,” Catra shouted back as her feet continued thudding down the street.
“But that’s not fair! You’re faster than me,” Adora pouted. The petulant shift in her tone worked like a charm as always, causing Catra to look back, skidding to a stop as she saw the sad look on her friend’s face.
“Alright, what did you need to tell me?” Catra walked over to Adora, who had hunched over, panting to catch her breath amid the stabbing pain in her side. She waited for a moment as Adora’s breaths slowed down. But it took a few more seconds for Adora to finally speak. There was a look in her eyes that gave Catra a bad feeling.
“It’s-uh-it’s just that-I-um,” Adora stuttered, completely failing to meet her friend’s mismatched eyes as she repeatedly laced and unlaced her fingers. That’s when Catra knew that something was wrong.
“What is it Adora?” she asked, unable to keep the worry out of her tone.
“I’ve got to-“ Adora started, before a shadow fell over the two of them.
“Catra!” the voice of their caretaker spat with disdain. “What do you think you’re doing, dragging Adora out all this way?!”
“Ms. Weaver, please. It’s not Catra’s fault. I asked her to-“ Adora started to defend her friend before Ms. Weaver reached a bony finger to slide under Adora’s chin, carefully tilting it up to subtly force Adora to look up into her eyes.
“Adora, you must keep her under better control,” Ms. Weaver’s voice shifted, from hatred to tenderness at the flick of a switch. “Even though after today, she won’t be your problem anymore.”
“What?” Catra hissed, feeling even more concerned at the malicious smirk Ms. Weaver shot her way.
“Come now, it’s time you two were getting back,” Ms. Weaver announced before steering Adora back in the direction of the two girls’ foster home. And like it had been for over a dozen years, where Adora went, Catra followed.
A few hours later, Catra finally found herself alone with Adora in their room, eager to ask the question Ms. Weaver had denied her earlier.
“What’s going on, Adora. Why does Ms. Weaver think I’m ‘not your problem after today’?”
“I uh, I’m being adopted,” Adora answered, a bittersweet smile on her face as she was still unable to look Catra in the face. Fortunately, Catra hadn’t picked up on the unease just yet.
“We’re getting out of here?” Catra surged forward, grabbing Adora by the shoulders, lightly shaking the other girl in excitement. “That’s awesome!” Her voice was so full of hope, her mismatched eyes shimmering with happiness that it physically hurt Adora, knowing that she’d have to break it to Catra gently.
“Ms. Weaver, um, she said you’re not coming,” Adora managed to force out sheepishly.
‘What happened to gently?!’ Adora screamed at herself in her own mind.
“What?!” Catra squeaked, instantly releasing her hold on the other girl, and Adora already missed the contact. As Adora forced herself to look up, she could see Catra’s gold and blue eyes wide in outrage, eyebrows narrowed.
“I tried, Catra-“ Adora started.
“Bullshit!” Catra exclaimed.
To anyone who didn’t know Catra, they’d probably think by looking at her that she was severely pissed off. But to Adora, who knew Catra better than she thought she could know any other person, she could feel the hurt radiating off her best friend. Something that instantly filled her with shame.
Adora reached out to Catra. As her fingertips were mere inches away, Catra hissed and flinched back out of arm’s reach. Without another look she turned and took off running out of their bedroom, her brown hair flying in the air before she disappeared from view, slamming the door furiously behind her. Adora heard a couple more slammed doors echoing in the house before she decided to give chase.
Adora finally found Catra twenty minutes later. She’d tried a couple of Catra’s hiding places before realising exactly where she’d be. And as she began to climb, she was rewarded with a view of Catra’s back.
She was on top of the fire escape, the tallest point they could get to. Whenever Catra was upset, Adora always found her here. Even from a distance, she could see Catra curled up into a ball, hugging her knees. Her heart broke for the upset she’d caused in her best friend.
Adora reached the top and opened her mouth…before promptly snapping it shut. She realised that she couldn’t think of anything to say that would make her friend feel better. The situation sucked for her; there was no way to ignore that.
Even when she saw Catra finally notice the splotch of dried ketchup on her arm from dinner and quickly lick it clean, Adora was still standing there, silent as a statue. Considering how useless she felt in that moment, she may as well be.
“You sure do like picking the hardest places to get to, huh?” Adora finally broke the tense and awkward silence.
“Point being I can be alone, and not being bothered by you,” Catra shot back. Unlike their usual banter, the words were said bitterly, with true anger behind them. Adora shivered.
“I thought you could be, I don’t know, happy for me?” Adora pressed, beginning to feel like perhaps Catra was being just a little bit selfish. But she definitely understood why.
“Sure, I’m happy you’re abandoning me,” Catra said with scorn.
“Catra, it’s not like that!” Adora exclaimed. She knew Catra would take it badly. But she didn’t realise she’d take it this badly.
“Whatever,” Catra rolled her eyes. “You’re getting out of this dump. Congratulations,” she mumbled dejectedly, but Adora knew it was far from sincere.
“Come with me,” Adora suggested, reaching forward to grab Catra’s hand, tugging her best friend’s gaze away from the ground she’d been staring at the entire time. Adora stroked her thumb over the back of Catra’s hand, gliding across the smooth skin, keeping her eyes focused on Catra’s long nails, sharpened to a point to resemble claws. “We can fix this, I’ll get them to take you too.”
Catra hissed as she recoiled, snatching her hand out of Adora’s hand. A growing part of her was satisfied at the hurt look on Adora’s face. “Are you kidding me? Ugh! They didn’t choose me Adora, they chose you. That’s not going to change.”
Lost for any words to make the situation better, Adora stood there uselessly as Catra pushed past her and descended to make her way back into the house. Adora was all alone, just like she was about to be without her best friend.
Present day Adora shuddered as the memory replayed in her head. It was unpleasant, but it was still her last memory of Catra. Her best friend had made herself scarce the following day when Adora had left. And Adora couldn’t blame her, as much as she had desperately hoped for one last good memory.
Adora was broken out of her thoughts by a quiet mewling sound, followed by repeated scratching noises coming her door. As confused as she was, Adora was glad for the distraction. She opened the door to find a cat perched on her doorstep, looking up at her. For a moment, Adora thought she saw familiarity in those two mismatched eyes. One golden, one a dazzling blue.
Adora shook her head to dismiss the thought. Clearly, she’d let the memories of her old friend mess with her head too much.
While she didn’t have a habit of taking in strays, Adora felt herself shiver from the biting chill of the air. She especially felt sorry for the mystery cat, whose brown fur stood on end in the cold.
“Oh, hello!” Adora exclaimed in surprise before mumbling, “whose cat is this?” to herself.
'Are cats eyes supposed to be that wide?' Adora thought to herself. It was almost as if the cat itself looked shocked to see her.
“Come on inside,” Adora motioned to the inside to the cat, before slapping her hand to her face. How stupid of her, thinking a random cat would understand her. But much to her surprise, the cat seemed to read her lips as Adora spoke before slinking inside, as per her instruction.
As she followed the wayward cat into her kitchen, Adora couldn’t help but feel there was something strangely familiar about this cat that she’d never seen before in her life.