Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Another fight, another night, another victory party for She-Ra, champion of the universe, or whatever the fuck they were calling her now. Adora was across the room, 7+ feet tall, broad shouldered and stunning, surrounded by a motley and many-hued crew of aliens slapping her on the back with their wings and tentacles and pincers and pseudopods. From the look of it Adora had a complimentary drink in each hand and was getting two more shoved into her face. At least she wasn’t doing tricks with her sword. And at least no one around her was drawing a knife.

For her part, Catra was slumped by the wall, drinking alone, nursing a few minor bruises and scrapes, flexing her aching hands, checking her claws to make sure she’d gotten the blood off, and gingerly touching her bloody knuckles as they started to scab. There had been more fighting in the past year than Catra had bargained for - pirates, warlords, local juntas - all the thugs that had lived on the fringes of Prime’s Empire, struggling to survive, preying on the weak and hoping they wouldn’t be the next to fall when Big Brother stretched his hand out across the stars again. Catra understood these people, though it still surprised them how many tried to fight She-Ra. Or hell, how many of them tried to fight her, or Sparkles. She wasn't sure if knocking the shit out of people who reminded her of herself was redemption, but fuck it, she was good at it, and she was with Adora. Then there were Horde Prime's dead enders, clones who were still trying to follow their last command, and various cultists and creeps who missed the old days. Fighting them was significantly more disturbing. But whoever they were up against, it was usually over pretty quickly. Hence all the victory parties. Still, it didn’t make the fights easier. Especially watching Adora dive into the middle of them - Catra's eyes snapped back to the crowd around Adora. Still no weapons out. Adora was still safe. Catra looked down and saw her claws gouging her glass. She shook her head. Maybe she just needed more to drink.

At least this party wasn’t in some fancy, weird alien ballroom. At least this wasn’t one of those balls where all the dances required tentacles or the ability to become incorporeal to complete. At least this was in a dive bar. If there’s one thing Catra had learned in the past year, it’s that the universe had an enormous number of dive bars. And for some damn reason Adora loved them all. It was probably the booze. Adora had a staggering thirst for strange forms of strong drink, and Catra was surprised she hadn’t poisoned herself yet, especially after Catra gave up on trying to test all of Adora’s drinks for her. For her part, Catra didn’t mind the dives. She liked the scumfuck clientele - the smugglers, pirates, loan-sharks, spies and bounty hunters. These bars reminded her of the Crimson Wastes. Between Catra’s savvy and the sheer terror that Adora inspired in bullies and villains of all kinds, she and Adora made out pretty well in places like this, even when the bar wasn’t throwing Adora a party for beating up some locally infamous and little-loved pirate king.

Honestly though, the best part of these cantinas was how viscerally uncomfortable Sparkles was being in them. Maybe it was Catra’s revenge for Glimmer dragging them to so many diplomatic galas with arcane etiquette and fancy balls with the weird dances and luncheons where the main course was some kind of giant paramecium. Maybe Catra just liked seeing her friend (yes, her friend) squirm a little. Most likely, Glimmer was just hilarious in sketchy bars. Right now she was overcompensating for her discomfort by getting way too drunk, somewhat belligerent, and was on the verge of glitter-punching what looked like a self-aware sea anemone. Just then Glimmer's copious stream of obscenities carried over the murmur of the crowd and the distorted, raucous music. Catra stifled a chuckle - she hoped it didn’t come to blows, that sea-anemone didn’t stand a chance, and probably hadn’t done anything wrong. Nothing so bad that it deserved to get a rainbow beat down from Sparkles. After all, Glimmer had nearly killed her often enough that Catra knew just how scary her Most Shimmery Pastel Majesty could be. Plus, she’d just seen the woman teleport onto a pirate ship and beat the living shit out of the entire bridge crew. Anyway Catra wasn’t in the mood for one of Glimmer’s signature bar fights tonight. She resolved to run over and break things up if it got out of hand, but for now she was going to amuse herself watching. Eh, Bow would probably break it up anyway, hopefully not so soon that he spoiled her fun.

But where was Arrow Boy? Catra scanned the room, struggling to pass over her girlfriend flexing her muscles and laughing at herself, and failing when Adora caught her gaze and winked. Damnit, woman. I was trying to think. About what? Definitely not what those arms would feel like around her, or what those hands would feel like pinning her down. Focus, Catra. You were looking for...Bow. And you’re not that drunk, not drunk enough to be this distracted. Catra broke Adora’s stare, for now. I’ll get you for this, my love, she thought, as she returned her eyes to the crowd, checking again for weapons.

“What’cha doin’, Catra?” Catra finished her sweep of the room, turning her head over her left shoulder. Well she’d found Bow.

“Oh you know me. Just people watching. Or weird alien watching. Whatever.”

“Are you alright?”

“Why wouldn’t I be alright?”

“Well for one thing, your girlfriend's getting drunk and you’re not next to her, laughing at her.”

“I can see Adora from here, and it’s plenty amusing. And speaking of drunk girlfriends…” Catra waved at Glimmer, who was apparently now best friends with the sentient sea anemone. Because of course she was.

Bow chuckled. “Don’t change the subject.”

“So a woman can’t drink alone?”

“No, you’re welcome to. But I just wanted to check in.”

“I’m fine.”

“That’s good. You had me worried back there. And you are scanning the room like you are on a recon mission”

“Me? What? I was fine. Just a few scratches.”

“You nearly took a disintegrator beam to the chest, Catra. In a skirmish with some local starship-jackers.”

“Yeah well I didn’t.” Catra downed the rest of her drink. Why did every species have some booze that tasted like black liquorice? And why did she drink it anyway when she hated the taste so much?

“You were just...you were fighting pretty recklessly. I was worried about you.”

“Me, reckless? You should talk to Adora, she’s always charging in like nothing can hurt her…”

“Catra, she’s a warrior demigoddess with the power of a planet in her chest. She can take a hit. You can’t. Any more than I can.”

“Eh, I’ve got Melog.”

“And you decloak and draw everyone's fire. What good is having Melog with you then? Sometimes it’s like you’re trying to get yourself killed.” Bow gave her a searching look. Shit. Catra sighed.

“Bow, I’m not trying to get killed. Believe me, I’ve never had more to live for. I’ve never had more to lose.” She looked up at Adora, like a sap, then caught herself and tried to force a laugh. “I’m over all that self destructive shit, Bow. I want to live. I mean if I wasn't around who would make fun of Adora?"

“Well that’s good. But you’re still worrying me. Something’s going on.”

Catra glared at Bow. “Of course something’s going on!” she hissed. “The woman I love is the savior of the universe and she’s skipping between the stars swinging her sword and nearly getting killed, and it’s stressing me out, okay!?” Catra breathed. She unclenched her fist, which had grabbed bow’s collar. Catra recoiled.

“Sorry!”

“Catra, it’s fine. But you need to take care of yourself. You think it’s easy for me to see Glimmer dink and duck with sudden death?"

"I don't know, is it?"

"Of course not! But I trust her and I respect her, and I don't want her to get hurt if I die doing something stupid. Try to think about how Adora would feel if you got hurt. You’re smart, you and Adora are good at planning, you both are so on the ball with every briefing. And then the shooting starts and you’re rushing in trying to protect a woman who can take a lot more damage than you can. So please. Just...be careful out there"

"Alright, I'll try, if it’ll get you off my back.”

“Well that’s a start. But you still haven’t told me why you’re scanning this room like you’re checking your back in the middle of battle.”

“This is a pretty sketchy bar, Bow. Bad things can happen.”

“You are so stressed you scratched your glass, Catra.”

“Damnit, Bow. I’m really used to my friends being dense as bricks. How did you get so good with this feelings shit anyway?"

"You...have met Glimmer and Adora, right?"

Catra snorted. "I have. Yeah I guess you need to be all touchy feely when those two express their emotions by screaming or hitting things." Just then, as if on cue, Catra heard Gimmer scream "Motherfucker!" from across the room. At least it wasn't followed by the sound of a gelatinous body hitting the floor. Meanwhile, Adora was lifting the biggest squid-person in the room over her head one handed and giving her cockiest grin. It was hilarious, and stupid, and actually kind of hot.

"Uh, Catra, were you finished?"

Catra turned back to Bow and willed herself not to glance back to Adora. "Oh, yeah. Sorry. Just checking out... ah, checking in on my girlfriend."

"Right...but anyway, yeah one of us needs to be the sensitive one."

Catra snorted again. "Man I guess it is even worse with me here."

Bow chuckled. "You make jokes about everything and pretend you don't care. At least it's a change of pace."

"From the anger and casual violence and like, pointless stoicism?"

"Something like that."

Catra chuckled. Arrow Boy was alright. Even if he was annoying. Catra glanced at Bow and was about to ask something sly about Glimmer when she felt a larger, strong, and not very gentle hand on her shoulder

“Hey Catra…” Adora slurred beside her. Catra jumped and wheeled around. How the hell did a drunk 7 and more foot tall Amazon sneak up on her? The question was quickly driven from her mind as Adora looked down on her. Lovingly, maybe lecherously and certainly drunkenly.

“You look like such an idiot.”

“Oh do I. Well that’s. It’s an opinion. And I’m fair. So I’m going to note your opinion. Because She Ra, Champion of the cosmos, listens to all. Even to mean girlfriends.”

This was six drinks Adora. She had reached the point of slurring, but was at least semi-coherent. Normally, Catra would find this hilarious, but now she was mostly thinking of how defenceless Adora was.

Adora cocked her head and gave Catra her best smile, pretty crooked six drinks in. “So, you wanna have sex?”

“Adora! We’re in public!”

“I didn’t mean here, Catra, I’m not...I’m not stupid. We can go back to...the ship!”

“Adora, you still don’t just.. Say that so loud.”

“Awww you’re blushing. You’re so modest, Catra. Fine. I’ll be quiet.” Adora said, dropping her voice into what was still a very loud whisper.

“Adora, you’re pretty drunk, I wouldn’t want to, you know, take advantage of you.”

“Aw, you’re so noble, too. It’s hot.”

“No one has ever called me that.”

“Fine, I guess I am... kinda drunk. Tongue’s not working so good. That’s not great. I can fix it.” Adora held out her hand, and the air shimmered and solidified into a sword.

“Uh, Adora, please don’t do sword tricks. That didn’t work so well last time.”

“I’m not doing sword tricks. But those are pretty fun. Maybe I should do sword tricks... What was I doing? Oh yeah!” Adora breathed deep and held her sword aloft, and she was bathed in many-colored light. Her skin glowed, her hair shone, her eyes sparkled. She looked divine, and Catra couldn’t help but stare. The glow faded and Adora turned to her with that smug grin on her face, much less crooked this time.

“This thing is so useful.” Adora said, still grinning at her sword as she flicked her wrist and it returned to the aether or wherever it lived.

“Did you just use your sparkle powers to sober up? You are such an idiot.”

“I think I used my sparkle powers so I’d be sober enough for my girlfriend tonight. So aren’t you going to thank me?”

“How are you such a cocky meathead?” Catra said, smiling through it all. Damnit, Adora. Damnit Catra more like it, she was making this way too easy for Adora.

Adora chuckled. “Oh you love it. Damn. I’m getting a crick in my neck.” Adora grabbed Catra’s collar and lifted her with one arm, shoving her into the wall and fixing her with that fierce blue gaze. “That’s better. Isn’t it Catra?”

Catra swallowed hard. "Hey Adora," she choked out as she felt a wave of heat flush over her.

Catra woke up with a start. Heart racing, claws out, every instinct was screaming that something terrible was about to happen. That something terrible had happened. They’d hit Adora, she hadn’t been breathing. No, that wasn’t right. She was in bed. She wasn’t on a battlefield. She was in Adora’s cabin. The light of 3 alien moons poured in through the porthole. The air smelled of Adora, and sex, and not much like blood and not at all like burned flesh. She was naked. She was almost afraid to check, but she did - Adora was beside her. Was she asleep? Was she alive? Catra was about to jump over and shake her when a half-snore confirmed that Adora was very much alive. Catra breathed out. It was a dream. Another one, yet one more dead Adora dream, like all the rest. She guessed they were better than the ‘Adora realizes that I’m a monster and leaves me’ dreams, and also better than the ‘Adora kills me and I deserve it’ dreams. Those had been fun to talk about with Perfuma. And at least she didn’t dream as much about being held down by Prime’s clones and having a tube shoved down her throat and her body being tugged around like a puppet while thoughts that weren't her own took over her mind.

It was just a dream. Adora was alive. Adora was next to her, looking soft and beautiful and peaceful, except for the smug smile still on her face. How the hell did her girlfriend look cocky even when she was asleep? Catra tried to muster loving annoyance at Adora, as if it could dissipate the fear.

Catra lay back down and took stock of herself. Some mornings she woke up with Adora’s arms around her and hair in her mouth and Adora’s murmurs in her ear. Some mornings, like this one, Catra woke up with skin and just a little blood under her claws and the sheets shredded, the walls scratched, and her body covered in a surprising number of scratches and bite marks (wasn’t she the one with the claws and fangs?). Normally she liked both kinds of mornings, and she wasn’t about to complain about last night (far from it) but it was hard to bask in ecstasy when the first thing she thought about when she woke was her girlfriend’s dead body. Catra looked over at Adora. She was completely fine, without even a loving scratch on her, only the old scars on her back showing ghostly white in the moonlight. Catra wanted to roll over and embrace her, hold her, tell her that she loved her and feel her heartbeat, remind herself that Adora was alive. Adora was hers, somehow. But Catra held back. She got up out of bed, as light as she could, and went over to the tiny head attached to the Captain’s Cabin of the ship (Catra still didn’t like calling it Darla).

She turned on the sink and splashed cold water on her face, shocking herself awake the rest of the way. Her eyes stared back at her in the mirror, yellow and blue. What was wrong with her? All she needed to do was just be happy. But Perfuma told her that kicking herself until she was wasn’t going to work. She was pretty sure Bow would agree. Things are better, she reminded herself. Life is better. You don’t want to die anymore, which is nice. You don’t feel dead already. You only hate yourself about one fourth of the time. And even your fears are better; you’re not convinced Adora’s going to wise up and leave you in the middle of the night anymore. Now you’re just terrified of her dying. And you can listen to these feelings and even talk about them, which helps, supposedly. So, you know, progress.

Ugh, it was these missions. It was all the fighting, and the strange new worlds. Catra would be lying if she said she didn't often love it but mornings like this she wanted to be home on Etheria with Adora more than anything. Adora, just for her. Adora, safe.

Maybe their next mission would be nice and boring. It was supposed to be a diplomatic summit with some kind of space-nomads. Catra tried to soothe herself with that thought as she quietly washed her face, cleaned her claws, tucked her shoulder-length hair behind her ears and dressed. She slunk out of the cabin and onto the bridge. There wasn't much to do, it was 0500, and Glimmer and Adora would be sleeping it off. Catra just curled up in Adora's chair. It smelled refreshingly of her, but here Catra could watch the moons dance with each other without waking Adora. She liked watching them. Seeing three together reminded her of home, and a time when the moons were the only thing in the night sky and the only person in the world who would look at them with her was Adora.. And now...Catra turned around. They had all of that to look at too. Stars in clusters, superclusters, galaxies. It was all pretty incredible. Catra looked back from the windscreen on one side to the other, thinking in turns of Etheria and of the countless worlds beyond it. She was so homesick and yet she didn't want this to end. Sometimes she liked this shit far more than she would ever admit, especially to Glimmer.

Catra heard soft feet padding behind her.

"Well there you are," she said with a smile.

"Are you feeling better?" Melog asked.

"Better than what?"

"I can feel your emotions, Catra. You startled me with your dream."

"Sorry, buddy. I guess I feel a little better. Just a dream."

"They are strange things. I tried having one once. It was odd."

"You don't dream?"

"I don't sleep."

"Right. Of course. Just...come over here?"

Melog did that little growl-purr of theirs and rubbed themself against Catra's outstretched hand.

"I'll be fine. I just think l need for things to be boring for a little while."

Chapter Text

Adora rolled over sleepily, and reached out over an empty bed. That’s when she started awake. Damnit, Catra, why can’t you stay in bed? Adora sighed. She had been looking forward to slowly waking up with her girlfriend in her arms, even when she was asleep. Had she woken Catra up thrashing around again, ‘sleep fighting’? She hoped not. If she couldn’t sleep peacefully after a decent fight, a good party and a wild time with her girlfriend, when could she relax? She didn’t feel stressed. But Catra and Bow both said she was bad at telling. She shrugged to herself, staggered into the head, washed, dressed in a fresh thermal shirt and clean red jacket and tied back her hair. Not for the first time, she wondered if she should just transform into She Ra and save herself the trouble. The hair was always better. But ducking through the hatches was awful.

Adora walked onto the bridge and found Catra lounging in her chair, tail wrapped around herself, looking at the stars.

Adora smiled, but she wasn’t going to let her girlfriend off that easy. “I think that’s my seat.”

“I didn’t see you in it, Princess. Captain. Ma’am.” Catra gave the world’s most insolent, casual salute. Adora walked over, picked Catra up, and sat, setting Catra back in her lap.

“There, now we can both sit here.”

“I was just keeping it warm for you.”

“I’d rather you keep me warm in bed. I hope I didn’t wake you up by…”

“Punching and kicking me out of bed while you slept? Pft, no. You were fine. I just...woke up early.”

Catra trailed off and looked away. Melog’s mane glowed a darker blue. Adora remembered how Catra been acting the night before, at least, she remembered the parts from before she was three sheets to the wind. Adora almost opened her mouth to ask her girlfriend what was wrong, but it was Catra. She would tell her in her own time, or not at all. Adora just scratched Catra behind her ears and was rewarded with a half-hearted bat of one hand and a weak ‘stop it’ and then a purr.

They sat there, together, mostly in silence, gazing at the stars for a long time. Adora smiled to herself.

"Last night was a lot of fun," Adora said.

"Well you sure seemed to enjoy yourself."

"Hah, so did you. I seem to recall you telling I was, what were the words? 'Amazing.'"

"Yeah and then you grinned like an idiot and said 'I guess I am pretty amazing.'" Catra said with a dopey smile, in her best and most cocksure Adora-Voice.

"Hey I can't help it if it's true. And you love it."

"Better than that time you pumped both fists in the air and said you were the greatest lover in the galaxy."

"Well I mean…"

"Pfft, whenever I don't give you shit you let it go to your head. Face it, I am the only thing keeping you humble, Adora."

Adora laughed, and smiled. But she couldn't help see Catra's smile fade slowly and see her look away, back to the stars.

They sat there until Adora’s stomach growled and forced her to the galley. 7 Dehydrated eggs, two of those alien donuts that were shaped like a ∞, and 9 slices of bacon from a kind of squid-pig from an ocean planet half a galaxy away, washed down with a smoothie of protein slaw and yogurt from a 7 legged yak that lived 10,000 light years away. Catra ate smoked salmon out of the package and brewed up coffee for them both. She wiped the fish-grease off her hands before reaching over to grasp Adora’s. For her part Adora stopped stuffing her face just long enough to look across at Catra and smile.Then she returned to her eggs. Her girlfriend would still be there in two minutes, but her breakfast would not. Not if she had anything to do with it, anyway.

Adora was just polishing off the last of the bacon and scraping her plate when Bow walked in.

“You’re up early, Arrows. If you wanted to get some food before Adora devoured everything I think you’re too late, though.” Catra said.

“Guys...you need to see this.”

“Bow, it’s a tracker pad. You’re always carrying one, like your arrows but less cool. I mean...lamer. Like your arrows but lamer.”

Adora chuckled. “What is it, Catra, too early for proper put-downs? That was almost nice.”

“I’ll be wittier with coffee. Here’s yours, not that it’ll do much good.” Catra nodded and smiled to herself. “See, already back on my game.”

“Guys can you stop the bicker-banter for a second. This is important.”

Adora finally looked up, took the coffee from Catra and walked over to peer over Bow’s shoulder.

Bow started talking before she even arrived. “Last night we got the star charts of the Cephalapodian nomads. They were sharing them before our summit.”

“So we can help them pick a new homeworld. Right. Sparkles and I already have a list anyway.”

“Sure, I was already cross-referencing your list and comparing their database with…”

Adora sighed inwardly. This was more diplomatic business, the kind Bow and Glimmer and Catra settled so well on their own. All she needed to do at this summit was show up and just...be She Ra. Get gawked at, be inspiring, show them the hands that had slain Horde Prime, flash her sword around. The best she could hope for is that they’d ask her for a magic demonstration and some feats of strength and not go on and on about how she was a symbol of hope to the universe or expect a speech about change and a new age of magic to come. Adora drank from her coffee and tried to focus. Bow was excited about something.

“...and after I did that comparison, I noticed this report. ‘Planet appeared during a brief ejection of gas from Luminous Blue Variable Star Ω563. Exploration party sent Galactic Month 342.12, contact maintained until Galactic Month 342.17. Planet inhabited, pre spaceflight technology. No signs of horde incursion…”

“If it’s inhabited why do we care? The Cephalapodians need a new homeworld for She-Ra to magic up, and I’m not evicting some poor saps to do it.”

“Can I finish? This isn’t about the Celphalopodians.”

“Fine.”

“‘Inhabitants furred, six limbed, three sexed, reproduce by...etc etc.’ Oh here it is. ‘Inhabitants display ability to spontaneously generate lights from their hands, and can cause spontaneous plant growth. They display other connections to the planet and can affect it in ways which our current understanding of physics cannot explain.’ What does that sound like?” Bow asked, looking up excitedly.

“Confused explorers?”

Adora shook her head. “Magic. They have magic. We found another planet that kept magic.”

“Exactly. This is huge. Maybe Etheria isn’t the only place. Think of all the things we could learn, what it means for our mission…”

“Admit it, Bow, you wish Entrapta were here right now to start squeeing about this.”

“It would be nice to have someone who was properly enthusiastic, yes, Catra.”

Adora put a hand on Bow’s shoulder. “Well I think this is amazing. Let’s go!”

Bow stared back at her. “What you mean now? We have a summit…”

Adora sighed. Catra was looking down at the floor, thinking.

She looked up and Bow, and spoke, rapid fire. “Wait, that report said contact maintained until Galactic Month 342.17. What do they mean ‘contact maintained until’?”

Bow looked through the report again. “I’m not sure. It’s strange, normally there’s a return date. Wait.” Bow looked up from his data pad. “Contact with the explorers was lost.”

“So there’s a magic planet, and it eats explorers. That sounds great.”

"Wait, Bow, what's the current galactic month by the Cephalopodian calendar?"

"It's…243.9.”

"They haven't been missing for long. We could offer to find them." Adora saw Catra scowl immediately. "It's just an idea."

"Or we could not get killed rescuing some explorers we don't know from a cursed planet. If we're brainstorming, that's my crazy idea."

"Well we should at least ask them about it."

“Oooof, fine. I’ll brief Sparkles when she isn’t hungover. Well, when she’s less hungover. How is Glimmer, anyway, Bow?”

“I’m really hoping she’s able to keep breakfast down.”

“Bacon always helped me.”

“Adora, you just She-Ra heal all your hangovers. I don't think you're an expert.”

“Well if we have a summit Adora should probably heal Glimmer too. Can you get her in here? We need to talk to her,” Catra said.

Bow paused a moment then nodded. Catra and Adora were alone with their coffee. Adora sighed inwardly. Another exciting chance to explore the universe was going to become another agenda item that Catra and Glimmer would expertly push to the bottom of the meeting. Adora looked over at Catra. Judging by her ‘plotting’ face she was already planning on how to do just that.

Adora took her coffee and went back to her cabin. She unrolled a few star charts she’d made, then rifled through maps of some planet’s she’d enjoyed. There was the shattered moon of Empryx, a maze of chasms and rock spires left over from an impact that had nearly destroyed it. There was the dead city-world of Askuru, once the capital of a race older than the First Ones, now an empty and lifeless city that spanned a planet. Okay, she hadn’t -liked- Askuru, far from it. But it had been exciting to be the first living being to set foot on it in over a thousand years. Even if she was left wondering if it was her people who had destroyed it.

Well, maybe this summit wouldn’t be too bad. Maybe they could get out and explore after all. Adora looked through her notes and sketches and added in a few new stars from the last few weeks.

The rest of the morning Adora spent in the hold working out, in between healing Glimmer's catastrophic hangover and etiquette practice. The Cephalopodians were sexually fluid and their language had eight different genders of pronouns to reflect where they were in their reproductive cycle, their personal identity, or both, and they were big on family lineages.

But 1300 came soon enough, and the Cephalopodian caravan fleet dropped out of warp all around them. Huge spaceships surrounded them, looking like cities on disks - towers and domes piled on top of each other. Darla flew on, into the center of the largest ship. Alright, even if she dreaded all the eyes on She Ra, this was kind of incredible.

As Darla flew on autopilot into the vast city-ship they flew between the spires and over the domes. They could see thousands of lights in apartments and in promenades facing out into space and under the domes they saw parks, plazas, gardens, and amphitheatres with teeming masses of people in all of them. Even separated from it by the vacuum of space, they could feel the city-ship pulse with life. It was nearly as large as Prime's flagship, but Adora couldn't think of anything more different than the deathlike sterility of The Velvet Glove. Murals and mosaics adorned nearly every flat wall of every building, and statues jutted out from the towers, reaching their tentacles as though they were going to embrace the stars themselves. Adora looked over at her companions. They were all wide-eyed, even Catra.

"Well I guess the Cephalopodians are doing alright for themselves, even without a homeworld," Catra said nonchalantly, but her eyes told a different story.

"This is amazing!" Bow said, clutching Glimmer's shoulders. "It's a city in space!"

"Entrapta's going to be so sorry she missed out on this."

"Pffft, if she wanted to see cool shit she shouldn't have gone on that honeymoon with Hordak. I dunno what parts of the galaxy he wants to visit but I bet they're pretty lame."

"I don't think their trip is a honeymoon, exactly..."

"Entrapta, Hordak, some clones and like 7 robots? That is definitely Entrapta's idea of a honeymoon." Catra said with a sideways grin. Adora and Glimmer both suppressed a chuckle. "And I mean, good for her. A girl's got needs." Bow turned red and Glimmer and Adora lost it.

Adora caught Catra with a sideways glance. Normally she would have said something about how Catra's needs seemed simple enough, but they were about to meet an alien delegation and now wasn't the time to grab her ass. Or maybe it was the perfect time? As Adora's hand hovered, Catra batted it away with her tail and mouthed something about 'business'. Adora pouted.

Darla flew into the central building, a broad, tall tower with curving walls and a dome on the top. Force-fields closed behind them, and the air hissed in.

"Now remember, the Cephalopodians are friendly but formal. They may seem a little stand-off-ish. Just remember your forms of address and listen to everyone's lineage from all four of their parents. But they don't believe in hierarchy so give them all equal attention..."

Catra stepped forward and put her hand on Glimmer's shoulder. She smiled. "Sparkles. It's fine. We've got this. You've got this." She turned to Adora. "Alright, Champion of the Cosmos, you ready to do your Savior of the Universe thing?"

Adora sighed. She was ready enough, so she smiled and waved them onwards while she transformed into She Ra. Adora held out her hand and concentrated on her sense of purpose, her mission to restore magic to the cosmos. The light shimmered in front of her palm, and she could feel the strange warmth in her eyes growing, but nothing came of it. Adora grunted and tried again. The others hadn’t noticed, they were walking out now. Adora finally pictured all of them in front of her, next to her, especially Catra, and gestured again. Her sword solidified in front of her and she felt herself grow and glow. She breathed out. The others walked out of Darla in reverse order of precedence. The announcement for each of them sounded in Adora's communicator as she waited in the ship, just out of view. Bow was first, 'Esquire Bow of the Court of Bright Moon, Son of George and Lance, artificer of the third order.' Catra, who insisted on no title, was still introduced as 'Catra of Etheria, esquire of Bright Moon, lady protectrix of Erlandia, vanquisher of the Eyril Armada, consort of She-Ra.' At the mention of She-Ra, there was a pause, and then a cheer. Adora couldn't see her girlfriend's face, but she'd seen Catra blush whenever some official mentioned the 'consort' part (an honorific Adora insisted upon). Adora smiled to herself - that blush made even the stuffiest reception just a bit better. The announcements continued. 'Queen Glimmer of Bright Moon, the first of her name, daughter of Angella and Micah, Ambassador of Etheria, peacebringer, warbreaker, liberator of the Gliopholus Supercluster and mistress of sorcery.' The Cepahlopodians really did love titles. And for a people that didn't believe in kings, or queens, or rulers, or laws, they sure seemed to like monarchs and all their pomp.

Alright, showtime. Adora summoned her sword and set it on her shoulder, balancing it with well-practiced and hard-earned care to keep from cutting herself. She turned the corner and began to walk down the ramp.

The crowd was still and silent , and very, very large as she walked toward them. Each Cepahlopodian had four eyes with rectangular pupils and all of them were fixed on her as she walked out and was announced. "Adora of Etheria, She-Ra, vanquisher of Horde Prime, liberator of the galaxy, savior of the universe, toppler of tyrants, healer of worlds, morning star of the new age, bearer of magic and keeper of the Sword of Protection." Adora heard all these words, and couldn't help but imagine they were talking about someone else, some other savior of the universe. She nearly left her body, and watched herself walk toward the silent, still crowd. She raised her sword in the air, and it shone with many-colored light, bathing the entire square in a shimmering prismatic glow. Just like she'd done seven dozen times before.

Then the entire square erupted in cheers, and surged toward her. Whatever their love of formality, they had lost it - dozens of Cephalopodians surrounded her with over a hundred tentacles nervously reaching up toward her, as though to make sure she was real. It would have been terrifying if the cuttlefish-like aliens weren't so damn cute. Nonetheless, it was still entirely too much. Every Cephalopodian was speaking rapidly out of both of their mouths, so fast the translator couldn't catch it all.

"The She Ra!"

"The sword!"

"She's so tall!"

"She's so beautiful!"

"We're saved!"

But mostly the voices were lost in a twittering, keening jabber of squeaks and whistles as the translator struggled to keep up.

And then, in the back, a few more skeptical voices that would have made Adora smile if she hadn't been so overwhelmed. "I thought she would be taller." "Pretty impressive doing all that with only two arms." "And two eyes!"

The maelstrom of very friendly tentacles and cheerful, excited voices and intent but kind eyes only abated when there was a series of whistles, recalling each Cephalopodian to their proper position in the half-circle around the ambassadors. Slowly, reluctantly, they left Adora to take her place by Catra's side.

"Looks like you've got fangirls, Adora." Catra said with a chuckle.

Things calmed down and Glimmer and Catra took charge. The Cephalopodians announced themselves, each syndicate introducing their representative by chanting in unison, and the representative then reciting their own lineage and accomplishments. Fortunately, their genders were apparently color coded based on their irises, so the forms of address were easier than Glimmer and Catra had feared, and they cheerfully and graciously accepted every introduction with the proper reply.

Then they were led into the formal reception room, and Glimmer and Catra took over completely, playing their well-practiced roles with Bow's help. Glimmer was the face of the group, all curtseys and charm. Bow was the heart - reading the room, chatting people up informally at every break, trying to figure out what they wanted and how they felt. Catra was the wit - raising an eyebrow here, tapping a claw on the table there, deftly maneuvering grandees and plenipotentiaries and magnates around the inconvenient fact that once magic was restored to their world, they wouldn't have nearly as much power over everyone else as they were used to having. Well, that last part was less necessary with the Cephalopodians, who seemed to be the galaxy's most formal and courteous anarchists.

Adora listened intently to everything they had to say about themselves - the loss of the homeworld to Horde Prime 300 years ago, their flight to the stars, their rebuilding of a civilization always on the run, their life warping from star to star. But the Cephalopodians didn't want to talk about themselves. They seemed determined to ask Glimmer and Catra and Adora to tell the same story that they had recited 300 times before. Adora, fighting back on Etheria. She Ra, defying Horde Prime to his face. She Ra, Glimmer, Bow and Catra, solving the mystery of Krytis and the hidden weakness of Horde Prime. She Ra, saving the universe, slaying Horde Prime, healing Etheria. It was her story, but the more she heard it, the more it seemed like something that had happened to someone else. For one thing, Catra insisted on leaving out anything 'too personal,' which meant leaving out Adora's favorite parts, the parts with Catra in her arms and pressed against her lips, the parts where they’d risked their lives for each other, stood by each other and saved each other. So it was all incomplete, and running from start to finish it was a grand struggle for galactic freedom that she didn't recognize, led by a woman she didn't know. Through the whole story Adora kept on her best She-Ra face - slight smile, determined stare, set brow.

The negotiations themselves were easy enough. The Cephalopodians had apparently decided most points among themselves, so they could clearly articulate what they wanted, and were eager to defer to Glimmer and Catra's suggestions on everything else. Before they broke for hors d'ouvres several hours later, Glimmer, Catra and the Cephalopodians had narrowed down the choice of homeworlds to three planets.

When they broke for the meal, Adora at least knew what to do - she went over to the table and began piling her plate with heavy snacks. Entrapta would love this meal of exclusively tiny food, she thought, as she proceeded to shovel canapes and eggs clusters and unidentifiable meats wrapped in magenta leaves into her mouth. It was then that her fangirls found her again, when She Ra had a mouth and two hands full of food.

"It's the She Ra!" There was something about the definite article in front of her title that made it seem even more like something that belonged to someone else. Adora nearly looked over her shoulder to look for this She Ra woman who had saved the universe. Adora swallowed and smiled.

"Um, hello. Your ships are amazing. It's such a...privilege to meet all of you, and you have such delicious food."

"We are honored by your gracious words."

"We took great care to ensure that all foods would be non-toxic to Etherians."

"We are gratified that they are also delectable."

Adora tried to keep her smile. They were all staring at her, waiting for something. "So uh, do you want to see how strong I am or..."

"There is no need."

"We know your legendary might."

"Merely seeing you gives us hope for the future."

"You have done so much for us already."

"Well I'm glad I did. I'll be happy to bring some magic to your planet once you pick one. You've all been so kind." Adora looked back down at them. She was really at a loss of what to say. Normally she could throw a space ship or a rock or cleave a battlecruiser's armoured plate with her sword. Or at least give her usual speech about how She Ra could restore magic to planets, but once she did it was in their hands to use it. Instead there was just an awkward silence and those very kind but extremely intent eyes looking up at her, unblinking.

"Oh and...I'm sorry that you lost contact with your explorers. Maybe we can do something about that." Adora saw two things at once. The Cephalopodians all looked at each other in overjoyed shock, and Catra whipped her head around, clenched her jaw and glared at Adora. Ooops.

All hell broke loose, like back in the Fright Zone when the commissary was giving away surplus, expired ration bars. Every Cephalopidian that Adora had been speaking with rushed back to their ship-syndicate and summoned them with a whistle, and began excited talking amongst themselves. Glimmer looked up from her slime-mould canapes at Catra, then at Bow, then Adora. Seeing Adora's guilty expression Glimmer silently unleashed her signature groan. Bow just looked confused.
The chaos lasted as long as snacks did, but soon they were seated again, and the Cephalopodians were once again all business.

"She Ra has graciously expressed concern over our missing explorers, lost on planet ~35.^π°832. We had hoped that her legendary powers might assist us in searching for them. Since she has raised the issue, we would humbly request that She Ra investigate the matter. Especially since the planet exhibits some unusual properties, which we are unacquainted with."

"But which She Ra may be."

Glimmer nodded, perfectly gracious and entirely concealing a frustration that was obvious only to people who could see her fist clenched beneath the table. "We are glad to assist. However we are loath to leave these negotiations before they are complete, and after them, we must begin assisting with resettlement..."

"We entirely agree, the negotiations must continue. But you have them so well in hand? Could She Ra be spared?"

Adora looked up hopefully. She wanted to go. Exploring a planet with magic, rescuing lost explorers (or retrieving their bodies) - this was what she was good at. This is what She Ra was for. She could even chart some new maps. And she could do all of this alone, without anyone watching her. Besides, this was the right thing to do.

Glimmer looked across the table at the dozens of expectant eyes. She sighed, audibly this time. "I suppose she could be."

At Adora's other hand, Catra's eyes and ears drooped, and she let all her breath out. She looked up and spoke in a measured tone.

"If She Ra is to leave us, she will need a companion. I will accompany her."

The Cephalopodians all looked at each other and nodded, and Glimmer bowed her head in resignation.

"We thank you. We ask that you return them to us alive if they still live, or collect their cuttle-bones if they are dead."

"If they are to be buried, we wish to bury them on our new homeworld."

The rest of the negotiations picked up where they left off, but Catra didn't say anything else for the entire afternoon. Sometimes Adora caught her looking at the side of her eyes at her, looking either sad or annoyed, it was hard to tell.

The rest of the day was a blur. Adora couldn't concentrate and was already busy thinking about how she'd prepare for a trip into the unknown. She had a mental packing list ready before dinner, and surreptitiously studied the star chart on her data pad all through the appetizers. After dessert (which was shockingly good if completely unidentifiable) she took Catra away by the hand and pulled her into a spare corridor.

"Adora, now's not the time to make out, I'm really not in the mood." Catra said, already turning to leave.

"Catra, I didn't pull you away just to make out. Though I mean, if you wanted to..." Adora gave a joking grin.

"No."

"Fine. I want to plan this trip! I already have a packing list and I think I know the route we can take and we need to talk to the Cephalopodians. They have more detailed reports that they uploaded to Darla when we docked and this data is fascinating!"

"You're really loving this, aren't you?"

"Of course! I can do something useful and not just...stand around."

Catra growled. "I'm not really excited about you facing death to retrieve the bodies of 24 Cephalopodians that are certainly already dead, Adora. Let's think this through. It's not worth it."

"But this planet has magic! And if it has magic, maybe I can figure something out about magic, about Etheria, maybe about She Ra? I don't know, Catra, this feels important."

Catra sighed. "Yeah, great. Well if it's important to you we better do this right. I'm not losing you because you flew in with some harebrained scheme."

"I wouldn't dream of it, Catra. Besides, it'll be fine. I have you."

Even Catra couldn't help but smile at that, however weakly.

Chapter Text

When Adora left her, Catra went to a cargo bay, found an empty metal crate, and tore it to shreds. She sealed the door and screamed. Every instinct was telling her that this would end in disaster. Every experience she'd had in her 20 and more years had taught her that this kind of thing never ended well. And there was the woman she loved, the woman that could make her angrier than anyone else in the universe, telling her that everything would be fine. Being stupidly confident, happy, even! Bullshit. Adora was glad to go off and risk her neck for some dead aliens. Catra even liked the Cephalopodians, they were cute as hell, but a corpse was a corpse. And she didn't want Adora's corpse added to all the others.

Why? Why was Adora like this? Catra's hair stood on end and her tail flared out as she remembered Shadow Weaver's 'lessons' to Adora about her destiny, and duty, and sacrifice. Catra hadn't understood what Shadow Weaver had been doing to Adora until that snake had revealed her plans under Mystacor. Then it had been clear enough, and a couple months later Micah had cleared up any of Catra’s lingering doubts about what Shadow Weaver wanted from her ‘chosen ones.’ Catra ripped apart another box. She remembered what Adora had told her about Light Hope and she wanted that damn AI to come back just so we could smash her circuits into dust. Of course Adora was going off to save 24 people who were dead already. It is what she had always done. It’s what those bastards had groomed her for and what the rest of the fucking universe was all too happy to welcome. She was going to use herself up, get herself killed, and there would be nothing left for Catra, or for Adora herself.

And Adora didn't even take this seriously. Was she bored? Almost certainly. But it wasn't like Catra found all these diplomatic games exciting. Alright, maybe she did. Maybe she was good at them. But couldn't Adora see how much safer she was flashing her sword around and flexing her stupid muscles than diving headlong into some fight or journeying into the unknown? She screamed again. And then, as her scream died down, it caught in her throat and curdled into a sob. The thing that frustrated Catra the most was knowing that this time, and forever after, she didn't have a choice. She couldn't leave Adora again. She couldn't lose her again. So she was doomed to stand at Adora's side while she risked herself, until one day when Adora's luck ran out and Catra was left without her, forever.

Catra looked up and saw Melog through the blur of her tears. They walked right up to her and put their head in her lap, and did that growl-purr. Adora insisted that Catra sometimes made the same noise, but Catra was pretty sure her girlfriend was hearing things. She looked at Melog, sniffed, wiped her eyes and thought back to Adora.

Maybe Adora was going to die. Everyone did eventually. For now...even one more day with her was worth it. Even if she died tomorrow, it was worth it, Catra thought as she stroked Melog’s head. They'd promised each other that they would stand beside each other, and finally sticking to her end of the bargain had been the best decision Catra had ever made. It still was. Even if her heart was going to get broken, worse than it had before. Catra felt the tears start to flow again. Catra wiped her eyes again and breathed deeply. This sucked. Fuck all of this. Being with Adora was the best thing that ever happened to her and right now it hurt like hell. But there wasn't anything to do but go with Adora and keep her from getting herself killed. She didn't have a choice.

Catra pet Melog and thanked them, then left the Cargo bay, ears flattened, tail swishing behind her. She found Adora talking to some Cephalopodian navigators and stellar cartographers, charting out possible paths through the nebula, around the gas ejections and radiation bursts of the cluster of supermassive stars that ringed this world. They were also yammering about some other shit that just screamed once again that this was a terrible idea. A Cephalopodian scientist was talking excitedly - then again, they were almost always excited.

"...modeling the radiation for the past 50,000 years for this planet's local group and recent supernova activity, this planet shouldn't have an atmosphere. To say nothing of life! Not even bacteria should be able to survive."

"And yet, here we have not only life but sentient life, with all indications of a sophisticated society."

The next Cephalopodian nodded and brought up a hologram of the planet - a vast ocean with ice caps at each pole and a few small continents clustered here and there, with a big one somewhat north of the equator. "The planet is mostly water, and it is quite cool on average, but doesn't suffer the extreme temperatures at the poles or equator that some worlds do. As you can see the biggest continent is right here, and initial surveys indicate that this continent also has the most developed settlements. Our team was planning to land there on Galactic Month 242.18 and survey the largest city."

"There is another thing," one of the other scientists said. "This asteroid field here, that forms rings around the planet - I've been analyzing it since I first received the data read out. It's not rock, or ice, or dust. It's metallic and ceramic debris, much of it shaped into flat surfaces ."

Catra's ears perked up. Adora jumped on this. "So it's artificial."

"It appears to be the remains of star ships or space stations. A great many starships in fact. Whatever it is, it appears to be quite old. Its radiation signature matches the ambient radiation of this star system, so its own radioactive elements have long since decayed.” Adora looked up, and Catra could tell she was wondering about the First Ones. Adora had never seen this system on a First One’s map, and it wasn't on Horde Prime's star charts, either.

Adora thanked the Cephaalopodians and they filed out, chatting quietly about how much of an honor it was to serve She Ra. As soon as the last of them left, Adora transformed back to her own, smaller form, and immediately set up a series of charts and holograms in front of her.
Catra slid into the room. "Hey Adora," she said, trying to sound cheerful but mostly sounding surly instead.

"Oh hi Catra. Did you hear what they said?"

"The part about how nothing on this planet should be alive, or the part where these pretty rings are a bunch of old smashed up spaceships? Neither of those things are worrying at all, by the way. Not like they're both perfect reasons not to explore this star system in the first place."

"Yeah that was about it. Now we just need to plot a course in here and figure out the best way to scan the planet and find the missing explorers. They didn't mention First Ones ruins but I wonder if there are any...with space wreckage that old, who else could it be?" Adora turned around and looked at Catra for the first time. Her expression of eagerness deflated into one of concern.

"Catra, you've been crying." It wasn't a question.

Catra stood there, looking right into Adora's grey eyes, which were so full of worry. She tried to think of a joke, but she couldn't come up with anything, so she deflected in the weakest way she could. "Oh it's nothing."

"It's not nothing, Catra. Something has been bothering you and you don't have to tell me but don't pretend you're not upset."

"Fine Adora. I'm upset. Happy?"

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really."

"Is there anything I can do to make it better?"

"Not go on this mission?"

Adora slumped her shoulders and looked away. "If you are asking me to...really asking me. I could say no. You could find me an excuse. You're good at that."

"But you want to go, Adora. I can tell." Damnit, Adora, we both know you want this. Don't twist the knife by asking me to tell you to give it up. You wanting this is half the problem.

"I do. More than I've wanted to do anything like this in a while."

Catra dug a nail into her palm.

"And that's why I'm upset. Because you want this so badly, and I look at it, and all I can think about is all the ways you can get killed. It's like you're deliberately trying to find ways to get hurt, or inventing new ways to put yourself in danger." Catra didn't add her final thought - can't we just be happy together? Why do you need this? Am I not enough?

"I'm not, Catra. You think I would miss out on another sixty years of driving you nuts?"

Catra took a step back. "Alright, no, you're not going to get out of this by proposing."

"I'm not proposing, idiot."

"That's my line. And you are still trying to distract me."

Adora's smug smirk dropped away immediately. "I'm sorry. You are being really open with me. Thank you."

"Now you sound like Perfuma."

"And now who's trying to change the subject? Listen, Catra, I want this. I don't even know why. For so long I've felt. I dunno. I feel weird. And it's fine when I am with you or even Bow and Glimmer but then I go to these big galas and all these people look at me and...I don't know. I don’t feel right."

Catra sighed. Of course Adora couldn't say what she wanted. "Well when you figure it out let me know. But I want you alive, and this idea is stupid."

Adora looked away for a time, then spun around, eyes alight. "What if I put you in charge? I will do whatever you say. You can tell us to turn around whenever you want. That way you don't have to worry about me doing anything crazy."

"You would really do that for me?” Catra looked up at Adora, who just nodded. Catra rolled her eyes and looked away. “Ufffhhh. Fine. Let's do this. Now what was your stupid plan again?"

Planning went like it always did - Adora laid out her ideas, Catra poked holes in them, Adora improvised solutions or revealed she had already thought of this or that contingency. Catra scoffed, Adora smirked and laughed and blustered even more the more Catra mocked her. And through it all the two of them drew closer together until they were half-wrestling and batting one another's hands away. It went on until Adora gave Catra that look and they somehow made it back to her cabin without causing a diplomatic incident.

Catra awoke, screaming. Adora was dead. She'd been holding back, pulling her punches, trying to find a peaceful solution and some bastard had taken advantage of her weakness. Just like Catra had so many times before.

"Babe what's wrong?"

Catra came to her senses. Adora's arms were around her. That was Adora's voice in her ear and her breath on her neck. Adora was alive. Catra tried to tell that to her racing heart and burning nerves. She felt tears on her face. Damn it.

“Just a dream, Adora. Just...give me a minute okay?”

“Hey I can’t complain, I’ve punched you in my sleep enough times. I’m here for you, okay?”

She’s here for you. She’s here for you. Catra tried to tell herself that, and push away all the thoughts of what was coming the next day - dodging gamma ray bursts and weaving through magnetic fields to get to some death world. Her mind raced through the maps, their plans, and all the flaws in them, and all the other flaws she didn’t even know about yet. Catra had to force herself not to sit up and run through her data pad in the middle of the night. Instead she let Adora’s arms enfold her and clutched her hands for dear life. Soon enough, Adora was snoring lightly and Catra was still staring at the darkened wall.

Some time in the night, Melog came in and curled up at Catra’s feet. Hemmed in on both sides by two beings she trusted completely, Catra felt herself relax, like she had when she was a kid and Adora wrapped her in a blanket. At some point Catra must have fallen back asleep because it was Adora who woke her up with coffee under her nose.

“Good morning. Sorry to wake you but like you said last night, we have to head out early.”

Catra opened an eye. Adora smiled down at her with a sweetness that was especially obnoxious at 0445. But Catra only allowed herself ten seconds to close her eye again. Now wasn’t the morning to roll over, force Adora to try to wake her up and drag her back into bed with her. Getting up at 0430 had been Catra’s idea, after all. She’d been pretty annoyed at Adora at the time and might have been trying to spite her. She made a mental note not to schedule her wakeup times when she was pissed off. Catra opened both eyes, bolted upright and seized the coffee.

“Thanks babe. Fresh coffee makes my waking up at what would be the ass crack of dawn just a little better.”

“Fresh coffee and my smiling face I hope?”

“Honestly I could do with a little less grinning, idiot.” Catra growled slightly to herself as she took her first gulp of coffee. Adora chuckled and Catra handed the mug back to her and dressed in a hurry, nearly tripping over the bag Adora had packed for her

“You all ready? I put all your usual things in there - and our survival supplies and rations are already in the shuttle.” Adora said brightly. Catra swore her cheeriness was there just to mock her.

Catra ran her fingers through her hair and pulled down on the shoulders of her top to straighten it. “Ready as I’ll ever be. Let’s blast off.”

It was only a few turns down the corridors to get to the shuttle. Adora was practically whistling on her way, while Catra had to make some effort to keep her claws retracted and her curses inaudible. Melog walked up to her and she tried to calm her annoyance and fear, if only to keep him from giving her away. When they got to the shuttle bay Catra was shocked to find Bow waiting for them, and even more shocked to find Glimmer with him, looking like she’d been brought back from death. Seeing Sparkles even more tired and miserable than herself did cheer her up a little, and Catra nearly grinned like Adora just to annoy Her Majesty - except Glimmer was probably too groggy to notice. Still it was nice to know Sparkles cared.

“We’re here to see you off,” Bow said with a smile. “Need help with anything?”

“Oh I think I...I think we’ve got it all. Thanks Bow!” Adora ran up into the shuttle before she was even done talking, leaving Catra facing Bow and Glimmer leaning against him.

"If you're here to tell me to take care of Adora, don't worry, I won't let this idiot get hurt." Well, I can try. For what it's worth, Catra thought to herself. Maybe that will be enough.

"Actually I was going to tell you to take care of yourself."

"Pfft, that's what I'm best at. I'll be fine. You guys look pretty dumb standing there worrying about me…" Catra started with a smile.

Glimmer cut her off, forcing herself awake enough to stand up straight and look Catra in the eye. "No we're serious. We're worried about you, Catra. Do it…" Glimmer struggled to find the words, still sleepy.

"Do it for Adora if you can't do it for yourself. You didn't see Adora back when you were apart, much...but she's so much happier with you. She’s so much more...alive. She needs you." Bow finished.

"I mean now she's also kind of an arrogant jackass." Glimmer said. "But in a fun way."

Catra snorted. "You're damn right she is. Alright, Bow, just bring Sparkles back to bed before she falls asleep in the shuttle and we accidentally take her with us."

Bow chuckled and nodded. Glimmer waved weakly and muttered ‘take care of yourself, horde scum’, and they left. Well, they may be dopes, but they care, so that’s also nice, I guess. Catra was used to thinking about how much they cared about Adora, but she was reminded that they cared about her, too. Melog looked after them and grunted out a slight, sharp purr.

“Yeah I like them too, buddy. Just don’t tell anyone.” Catra turned and boarded the shuttle.

It was cramped inside. There was only the cockpit, really- two seats that could recline into bunks, the usual controls and holographic readouts, and in the back a very basic food dispenser and a tiny head where the sink overhung the vacu-toilet so you needed to sit on the shitter while you washed your hands. Adora was already in the pilot’s seat, running through the final checks, chatting amiably with the shuttle’s computer. Catra looked around at the displays and diagnostic readouts, looking for anything weird. She didn’t have a good head for this technical stuff like Bow but she’d nearly memorized the ‘normal’ readings on the shuttle. Unlike Darla, Entrapta had built the shuttle more or less from scratch, scavenging First One’s tech, pieces from Hordak and wrecked ships from Horde Prime’s fleet. Before she’d delivered the shuttle to them she’d cheerfully told them that ‘this one hasn’t blown up, unlike prototypes 1a-1e! For now I’m considering it a success!’ That ‘For Now’ hung in Catra’s mind as Adora sealed the ship’s hatch, as the airlock opened and as Adora powered on the ship’s engines.

“Alright Katrina, punch it!” Oh yeah, this ship was named Katrina. Catra had once joked to Entrapta that Katrina, Darla and Emily should have a girl’s night out and Entrapta had excitedly captured Catra’s ‘wonderful idea’ in her voice recorder. As Adora and the autopilot cleared the Cephalopodian fleet and engaged the warp drive, Catra tried to think more about Entrapta’s other robot friends, and her own ship Esmerelda II, and not think about the warp-drive overload that had claimed Esmerelda I in her shakedown cruise. What kind of wacky hijinks were Entrapta and Hordak up to, Catra wondered, trying not to focus on the sound of the warp core powering up. Man, she was on edge. She looked out at the crushing void of space, at the distant stars - she saw a cluster of incredibly bright blue ones ahead and to the port. Was that where they were going? She remembered something Hordak had told her, looking up at the sky, before he had left.

“The eternal silence of these infinite spaces frightens me.” That had been it. Just a stray thought, a pensive moment, without explanation. But sometimes Catra saw the vastness of space and couldn’t help but agree. Like now. Or maybe it wasn’t the eternal silence, or the infinity of space, but the very particular fear of whatever lurked at the end of their actual flight path.

And then the stars all shifted colors, distorted and blurred and turned into a swirling kaleidoscope as their tiny ship bent and folded space around them. Well, at least they didn’t blow up. Catra looked over at Melog, whose mane was standing on end. “It’s okay, buddy.” She said, both to Melog and herself. She unstuck her claws from the armrest and reached out to offer it to Melog, who rubbed against it. Adora reached over and took her other hand.

“Hey love. You okay?” Adora looked over her shoulder and smiled out of one corner of her mouth.

Well, might as well try honesty. “Not really, but this helps.”

Adora broke out into a full grin. She was about to say something self-congratulatory, but she caught Catra’s eyes beginning to roll and just smiled like an idiot instead.

“Well we have 29 hours of warp flight before we get there. And it’s just the two of us. What do you want to do in the meantime?”

“Adora, it’s 0500 and we’re in a shuttle. Please tell me that’s not a come-on.”

“Hey even I’m not that bad. I mean, if you wanted to…” Adora shot Catra a particularly obnoxious smirk.

“You’re an idiot. Besides, Melog’s here.”

“I care little for your mating rituals, though I am glad if you are happy, ” they said.

“You’re not helping, Melog.”

“Oh are they also suggesting that it would be a great way to pass the time?”

Catra sighed. Adora looked away.

“Sorry, I was just playing around. I can shut up. I know you’re stressed about this ”

“And you’re not!?”

Adora looked up for a moment, as though considering. “No, not really.”

“Well that’s because you’re an idiot.”

“So I hear. And yet here you are, following me. Into the jaws of death and everything. What’s your word for that again?”

“See, you’re so dumb you’ve made me stupid too.”

“All those diplomats keep telling me I’m an inspiration. I guess it’s just what I do.”

Catra just laughed to herself, and smiled against her better judgement. Adora beamed. Damnit, Adora. Looking into those grey eyes, as full of dread as Catra was, there wasn’t any place in the universe she’d rather be.

“But seriously, you want to go over this planet and our approach again? I know we kind of rushed things last night.”

Well, that was one way to put ‘I was nibbling on your ear and whispering obscene and tantalizing suggestions in it while you were trying to work.’ But Catra did not make that retort out loud.

Adora looked at Catra more intently. “Well what do you think, Captain? After all, we’ve warped, we’re on our way, now you’re in charge.”

“I think I want to check over what you packed for me.”

“Do you not trust me? I think I know you pretty well.”

“Sure you do. But I’m wondering what kind of nonsense you snuck into my space-bag.” Catra tore into her bag and started throwing carefully folded items all over the cockpit. A few extra sets of underwear landed on Melog, and another hit Adora’s face.

“Adora, I don’t need 12 pairs of undies. No wonder this thing is so stuffed.”

“We could be gone a while!”

“So I’ll turn them inside out and wear them again. Then I’ll do the smell test on them. I have a very sensitive nose, you know. I can trust the smell test.”

“Oh I remember the smell test.” Adora said with a chuckle.

“Thanks for remembering my data pad charger. Even if you did pack too many clothes. Adora, do you really think I’m going to need my parka? This thing takes up half the bag.”

“This planet is cold! Plus you look adorable in it.”

“Ugh. Wait. Why’d you pack this?” Catra’s hand felt a long, coiled piece of braided leather. She felt an involuntary stab of guilt and regret.

“Oh, you found your whip? I remember you telling me that Scorpia had given it to you a few months ago, and she’d told me how much you’d like that whip you got in the Crimson Wastes. So I thought if we’re going to go on an adventure I might as well pack you some adventuring gear.” Catra felt her tail flick and her fur flair. She could see Melog’s mane shifting from blue to purple. She breathed deeply and closed her eyes, and felt her body relax. Now wasn’t the time to break down in front of Adora, let alone lash out at her.

“Well anyway, let’s go over our approach path into this system. Catra said as she stuffed her clothes back into the bag.
They reviewed the flight path - it was contorted, avoiding the worst of the nebula and dodging the ejection jets of the nearby variable stars. Then they would enter the system. That’s where Melog would come in. Catra figured whatever wiped out the Cephalopodian expedition wouldn’t think to check for a magically cloaked ship. Even if whoever or whatever it was had magic. Then again, chances were the explorers had been killed by some terrifying space bullshit or by some horrifying thing on the planet, not by something with a brain and advanced technology that could track them through space and attack them there. Still, Catra was feeling like Melog’s shroud of invisibility was the only place she could be safe on this mission.

Then they went over the planet. Adora brought up holograms, and even started drawing maps of the surface while Catra tried to nap. All the surveys were incomplete, but the more Adora looked at them the more she went on and on about possible First Ones ruins. Which didn’t make sense. If the First Ones had been there, why was there still magic? Horde Prime had conquered Krytis before they could suck it dry, but Horde Prime had never been to this place.

“Well maybe the First Ones left because of something else?”

“Like, someone powerful enough to fight them off? Something powerful enough to smash a fleet of starships into a fine debris field and give the planet a new set of rings, maybe?”

Adora nodded, half conceding the point. Catra tried to put the idea out of her mind. That was too bad even for her to think about.

Adora wasn’t done yet, though. “Not necessarily. Maybe they couldn’t deal with the radiation, or a star next to them went nova. They seem to do that a lot around here.”

“Great, that makes me feel so much better.”

“Well if Entrapta were here she’d tell us that the chances of a supernova while we are nearby is several million to one.”

“Then she’d also tell us that it would kill us instantly if it -did- happen. Then she would laugh, and smile, and wander off and start humming to herself.”

Adora laughed. “She definitely would.”

“I’m glad our death is so amusing, Adora.”

“I’m not worried. Maybe She Ra can block the blast of a supernova.”

“Can we not find out?”

As their day wore and as the ship’s indicator snaked along their flight path, Catra grew more and more nervous. Planning was relaxing because it made every shitty thing that could happen into another piece of a puzzle. It was a problem to solve and not some doom looming over Catra and the woman she loved. But as they got closer, everything became more and more real. It wasn’t normally like this. Maybe Catra was losing her edge. Or maybe Adora’s obnoxious good mood was just driving her nuts. Or maybe...maybe the more that idiot became a part of her life, the more afraid Catra was of losing her. All this thinking about her feelings shit was not making things better.

Adora went on and on about all the neat stuff on this planet, and Catra kept a mental list of all the ways that neat stuff could kill them. Adora talked excitedly about the inhabitants - those furry Six limbed aliens with three sexes, however that worked. Apparently the ones that the Cephalopodians had met were nomadic hunter-gatherers, but the planet showed signs of cities and agriculture. So somewhere out there there were probably empires and armies. Great.

After a long day they reclined their seats and tried to sleep, reaching out to touch one another’s hands before they drifted off. Catra had drunk Perfuma’s calming tea and taken a couple of sleep-hormone tablets. Hey, whatever works, she told herself. Somehow, they did work, because she awoke from a dead sleep when the proximity alarm sounded to let them know they were arriving in system.

Chapter Text

Adora was awake before the alarm sounded, pouring over the sensor read-out. It was still mostly static and blurry images - the nebula and the radiation were playing havoc with everything. Catra awoke with a start, eyes darting, tail straight, claws out. Melog’s mane flashed red. Adora looked down and gave Catra her most calming smile.

“It’s all right. It’s just the proximity alarm. We’re dropping out of warp. If you want you can go back to sleep, captain. Sir.”

“Isn’t it my duty to command your dumb ass?” Catra asked, raising her seat back to sitting.

“It is what captains, do, sir.”

“You’re enjoying this too much.” Catra said with a sideways look. “Where are our comms?”

“Gone, like we thought. We’ll need to warp out of the nebula to send a tachyon beam clear back to Darla and the Cephalopodians.” Adora went over what she had just said. Did she get it right? She had tried imagining the words coming out of Bow’s mouth, or Entrapta’s, and it sounded right from them. So it was probably right. Still, all this technical talk was still like a foreign language.

“Great.”

“All part of the plan. They’ll come get us if we don’t check in in five days.”

“I hate that part of the plan. Anything on sensors?”

“I was just checking. Fuzz and static. Some pretty nebula clouds, though.”

“I’ll be sure to admire them. When are we going to get out of this cloud?”

“Not sure. The Cephalopodian notes were hard to follow. Do you know what a Heliosheath is?”

Catra shook her head and shrugged.

“Me neither. But a star system shouldn’t have a nebula this close in. This place is...different. But we should be through it any moment.”

Catra looked down at Melog.”Alright buddy, do your thing.”

Melog glowed dully, then began to fade into a kind of mist, and soon Catra and Adora could see that same glow surround them and their entire ship, just like it had when they’d run Prime’s blockade over a year before. They were invisible. Catra breathed out, and a little of the tension left her.

She didn’t ask Adora any more questions. They just took in the clouds around them, and looked beyond to the pale white sun that was shining through them. Soon enough, just like Adora said, the nebula clouds parted and their tiny ship sailed on into the light of this system’s star. It was white, hot, and still quite distant. But the star was so hot and the planet was so cold that the planet itself shouldn’t be that far away - it was maybe 7 times further away from its star than most habitable planets. Adora took in the new sensor readings. This was all the information she had needed two days before, and now she still couldn’t understand half of it. She could sure use Entrapta right about now.

“You have no idea what half these readings mean, do you?” Catra asked

Adora stifled a frown and turned to Catra, smiling again. “No sir.”

“Why the hell did I do this?”

“I think it was something about you loving me. Ring a bell?”

“Nah, doesn’t seem right. Must have been morbid curiosity. Or maybe boredom.”

“Don’t pretend like you’re bored at those negotiations, Catra. You’re good at them. You love them.”

“Aren’t you forgetting something?”

“Oh right. You love them, Sir.” Adora saluted and chuckled.

“Okay but seriously does all this crap mean anything to you?”

“Like you said, about half of it does. We’re only about 3 hours travel from the planet at our current speed. We’ll need to start slowing down soon.”

“Well make it so. But where is this place?”

“Just off the port bow. There! You can see it! It’s looks kinda...blueish. Or white-ish It’ll get a lot bigger soon.”

“Oh huh. And nothing else?”

“No starships, no energy signatures, no weapons discharges, no sensor sweeps. No radio transmissions, no microwaves, x-rays...no gamma radiation except from the stars and their...star stuff…”

“I get it. These poor bastards don’t have spaceships or electricity or whatever. Still feels kinda weird though. Quiet.”

“Yeah.” Adora shook her head. “But it’s just what we’d expect. So everything’s fine. Except...”

“Except there’s no Celphalopodians, either, you mean?”

“No. No distress beacon. Not even the radio one. We should be getting that by now.”

“Well, didn’t really expect anything else. Alright, helm, take us in.” Catra said, gesturing forward.

“Aye Aye.”

For the next couple hours Catra didn’t make another joke, and Adora didn’t try to tempt her. They both put on their spacesuits and set their helmets beside their seats, just in case. Even while she was zipping herself in Adora went over sensor read outs, again and again. They weren’t getting much - they weren’t using active sensors, only passive, so everything she saw was an echo or a reflection of the sun’s rays or some stray source of radiation out in the nebula. Passive sensors were mostly meant to track starships and other things with reactors and engines and shields. Not look at rocks in space. So Adora looked again and again for some sign of the Celphalopdians. So blip, some trace of them or their ship. If it had been destroyed they’d have seen debris glowing with gamma radiation. But there was nothing. Not yet. It was as though they’d disappeared.

“We want to try active sensors? Uh, sir?”

“No, that’s not the plan. We don’t know who could be hiding and watching.”

“Aye Aye. We’ll just need to get closer. A lot closer.”

The planet was growing in their viewscreen, brighter and brighter and then larger and larger. Soon they could see a halo of white light around it. Then they could see the rings, thin bands around the planet, and make out some of the planet itself - white ice caps at each pole and vast blue seas. A lot of clouds. This planet wouldn’t be very sunny. Finally they could make out the small island continents. But still no signs of the Celphalopodians. But they weren’t the only thing Adora was looking for.

Even the sun’s reflected rays were now enough to clearly scan the rings. The fragments in them were definitely metal, and ceramic, and very flat. Adora pulled up a visual in one of her holo-viewers and magnified as far as she could. It was unmistakable - the planet’s rings were the pulverized remains of an entire star fleet.

They drew even closer in, and the planet filled their vision. The shuttle began to spiral in toward it, caught by its gravity. They maneuvered into the debris field in the rings and synchronized their speed with all the other space junk, and cut their engines completely. All just as they’d planned. Even with Melog cloaking them, they couldn’t be too careful. And besides, they couldn’t keep up the cloak forever.

Adora scanned each of the continents next.

“Looking for the Cephalopodians, Adora?”

“Yes but also...I’m looking for the First Ones.”

“You still think they built something on this planet?”

“It would make sense...wait. There. That’s...it’s huge. Look at it.” Adora swiped at another holo-viewer, revealing the image of a vast, ruined city of prism-like buildings. “That’s it. It’s a First Ones Ruin.”

“Yeah you people sure did get around. But no signs of our missing explorers?”

“Nothing.”

“Well that’s all great for our report. But you know the schedule. We have 24 hours in orbit to find these guys, then we’re history.”

“Aye-Aye.” Adora went back to her scans of the city. It was on the biggest island continent, near its northern edge, surrounded by very tall mountains and what looked like ice fields. Adora took out her rough sketch from yesterday of the continent - there was a valley leading almost all the way to the ruined city. And there...Adora looked more closely. Was that a settlement? It was so hard to tell when people didn’t keep their lights on. Adora touched up her map a little, but then a passing piece of debris caught her eye. It was some shattered fragment of a much larger space ship. One side was perfectly flat, almost crystal like, like Darla or the First Ones Ruin on Etheria. The debris turned slowly, and as the faint sunlight caught it Adora could clearly see First One’s writing. There was no mistaking it - this planet was ringed with the wreckage of an entire First Ones fleet.

Adora looked at her scans again. There were no old spires or wrecked horde ships, none of the wreckage of Horde Prime. What else could have destroyed an entire First Ones Fleet? Could rebels like Mara’s have done this? A faint alarm sounded next to her, the slight ‘bing’ of a new contact on sensors. Catra turned to Adora, eyes wide.

“What’s that?”

“I don’t know. It’s not a ship. No engines, no radiation trail. No subspace wake. None of that other stuff Entrapta talks about. Maybe she could figure this out…”

“Well can we get a visual?”

“Not yet.”

“Damnit. Where’d it come from?”

“The planet. Somewhere on that big continent. The scanner I had looking at that ruin picked it up.”

“Well it can’t see us, right?”

“Right. We’re cloaked and we’ve got space junk all around us.”

“Why doesn’t that make me feel much better?”

Yet despite their perfect hiding spot and supernatural cloak, this thing was coming straight at them. Adora felt a strange feeling looking down at the planet, where this thing should be coming at them from. It was a feeling of...recognition. Whatever this was, she knew it. “Catra, I’ve got a strange feeling about this.”

“Oh really? I do too. I have a strange feeling that whatever’s out there ate our explorers.”

A sensor beeped again and the blur of a hologram solidified into a shape. It was long, snake like, or maybe lizard like. It had...wings, six of them, it was covered in what looked like scales. It had a beak-like mouth, a long, whip-like tail and six legs ending in six sets of talons. In space, it seemed small. For a living thing, it was enormous.

“Adora is that…”

“It’s a dragon.”

“It’s a dragon in space.”

Adora turned to Catra, meeting Catra’s horror with her own wonder. Catra shook her head.

“No, Adora, this isn’t good. This isn’t exciting. This could kill us. Even you, She Ra. Don’t you think it might have...Done all this?”

“I don’t know, but I’ve never seen something like this before. You think I could ride it? I still want to ride a dragon.”

“Adora, I don’t want to be around to find out more about this thing. And I definitely don't want you to get out and try to ride it.”

Adora swallowed her retort. She said only “You’re the skipper. But we are hidden. We don’t know it can see us. Still, maybe you should put on your helmet, Sir.” Catra nodded and they both put on their helmets.

Whether it could see them or not, it was getting closer, but soon it became clear that it wasn’t really heading straight for them. It headed into the rings perhaps 70,000 meters behind them and began weaving its way through the wreckage, gliding between fragments of hull plating and reactors and engines. It glowed, faintly. Its scales were a purple-red, but they shifted and changed colors in the light. It had five eyes - two on each side and one in the center of its head. It turned its head right and left, up and down, bringing everything around it into the gaze of that eye.

And then Adora heard a voice in her head.

"Greetings, Eternian. I know you are with me, above my world. I have foreseen your coming. So you are the one who slew the god-tyrant of the universe. No mean feat, though it does not impress me as much as it may impress others."

Adora looked over at Catra. Her hair was on end, her pupils were wide and her tail stood straight up. Her ears were pulled back. Melog's mane was a burning red ring around their head, and they were snarling. Catra looked at Adora with a look of panic.

"Adora can you hear her?"

"Yeah I can."

"This isn't good Adora. She's going to find us, she's going to hurt us. She's going to hurt you and she's going to make me…"

Adora furrowed her brow. "Catra what is she saying to you?"

"You don't know?" Catra stopped and thought, then came to the same realization that Adora had - they were hearing different things. "Then...then you don't want to know. We need to get out of here."

Adora looked around and realized that the haze of magic around them was dissipating. “Catra, we’re decloaking!” Adora yelled. Fortunately they were still dead in space, hopefully invisible unless the dragon looked right at them.

“I’m sorry I can’t help it! Now I’m seeing things! Adora, we need to leave.”

But as Catra spoke, Adora saw things in her own mind - it was as though she was imagining them herself, but another mind was picturing them for her and placing the images in her head. She saw the same scene that she saw outside of the windscreen, only there was no debris, just a massive flotilla of crystal-like starships. And then, dragons, not many, flying up to meet them, and lasers firing, and dragons breathing fire or beams of light from their mouths, and dragons falling back toward the planet, and the ships exploding, one by one, until they were shattered and pulverized into a cloud of shards suspended over the planet and one dragon remained, flying through the wreckage. She saw the planet’s orbit stretch them into rings, and then she saw a different ship approach. She saw it fly up and down from the planet, and then she saw a dragon glide up on the aether and snatch it from space, like a falcon taking a pigeon mid-flight. Her vision changed and she saw the kind but frightened faces of the Cephalopodians, wounded, tired, alive, looking up at her with 96 eyes of different colors.

Adora snapped her head over to look at Catra. Catra’s own eyes were wide, she wasn’t looking at anything, every hair was standing on end. She was shaking her head slightly, and whispering. ‘No, no. no. Please stop. Please stop.’

“Catra! The Cephalopodians are alive!”

Catra started and stared at Adora, eyes still wide and wild. Melog was shrieking.

“Adora we need to leave now. Now!”

“Sir, did you hear me? The explorer’s are alive! And if we move then that dragon will see us! We need to…”

“We need to leave, that’s an order!”

Adora breathed out, closed her eyes, and nodded. She’d promised she would obey Catra as her commander, and here they were. She swiped the controls, pointed the ship out of the debris field, and powered the engines to full. They couldn’t warp yet, not without a course calculated and not in the planet’s gravity well, but they could in maybe 15 seconds. The computer began its calculations as soon as Adora pushed the button, and the warp core whined and hummed. Then the ship rocketed to life, gluing Catra and Adora to their seats and Melog to the rear bulkhead. They were approaching escape velocity in 3 seconds.

“There you are, Eternian!” Adora heard in her head. There was a flash, and an alarm.

And then the whole world exploded. Every alarm rang. The shuttle jumped, and shook, and began to spin until they were pointed -back- at the planet. The engines sputtered wildly and then cut out. There was a whoosh of air leaving the cabin, and then silence. They’d lost all their pressure in a second. Adora glanced behind her - Melog was still wedged against the back wall, Catra was still buckled into her chair. Good. Adora swiped at the controls. She saw all the indicators falling as the ship lost fuel and power. Adora hit the distress beacon release to shoot off a probe to broadcast their location and flight data. In the same motion she swiped the controls, turning off system after system - sensors, comms, life support, navigation, warp core, main engines. She powered back on the emergency thrusters. There was a single green light in the sea of red alert holograms. Adora smirked. She blasted the thrusters to full, and took the helm. It was crazy, but if they were going down, there was only one place to go.

“Captain, we’re going in!”

There was no response in the communicator in her helmet. Adora looked back. Catra was still, staring at nothing, whispering something to herself.

“Captain I said we can’t escape, we’re going to make an emergency landing!”

Catra snapped back. “We can’t escape? Adora we need to escape. We need to get away from that thing! We need to get out of here…”

Adora turned back to the planet, growing larger and larger, and to the auxiliary indicators for their angle of approach. They were already entering the upper reaches of the planet’s atmosphere.

“Sir we have no engines and no power for warp and no oxygen. We can’t get out. The only way is down.”

Adora heard a choking sound through her headset, and felt a hand on her shoulder. “Do what you need to do Adora.”

Adora nodded. She looked at her angle of approach again. She powered on navigation for an instant, flicked the controls to correct their course, and turned it off again. She powered off the thrusters and powered on the shields, which began to glow against the atmosphere thickening all around them.

“Adora?”

“Yeah Catra?”

Now the shields and the thickening air were incandescent around them. If they could see themselves, they’d be streaking through the sky like a shooting star.

“I’d say this has been the best year of my life, but that’s not saying much is it?” Adora heard Catra force a laugh and choke down tears. “I love you so much it scares me. Everything has been worth it, Adora.”

“I’d watch what you say Catra. After we walk away from this landing I’m never going to let you live that down.”

Adora heard another forced laugh, and felt Catra’s grip tighten on her shoulder. She reached up her own hand and grasped Catra. She looked behind her and smiled at Catra, who smiled back through her tears.

The ground was getting closer. A proximity alarm sounded, then another alarm - auxiliary power to the shields was failing. One final alarm, and then a roar, and the controls went dead. Auxiliary power failed, the shields dropped and the whole ship caught fire. Oh damn. Time for Plan B. Adora unbuckled her seatbelt and whispered to herself. “For the honor of Greyskull!” and she felt herself grow and glow. She looked Catra in the eyes. “We’re getting out of here.”

The ship groaned and strained and the deck buckled under Adora as she ripped the straps off Catra and took both Catra and Melog in her hands. The shuttle was disintegrating in midair. The wind screen burst inwards in a sheet of flame and titanium glass shards. Up was down, everything was spinning, and the flames gushed in from outside or from the fuel or somewhere, burning their clothes and skin, and Adora couldn't find the hatch. So she slashed a new one open with her sword and leapt out, turning her sword into a shield to ward off the flames and still holding on to Catra and Melog with her other arm.

Now it was Adora streaking through the sky as a meteor. Her shield broke the air in front of them and deflected the searing heat and blazing flames, mostly. They shot through the air, down and down, until the shield glowed red and they gradually slowed in the now thick, breathable air. Now they were just in free fall, and it was almost calm by comparison. Adora flew, floated, weightless for a second until she saw the sea rushing toward them. Somewhere over her head the shuttle's fragments streaked toward land. Adora tucked Melog into one arm and Catra Into the other and braced herself and both of them against her shield as the gray water rose to meet her. There was a tremendous thud, and what should have been a bone-shattering impact against her arm. She felt waves pulling her, then something else dragging her up and onward. Through it all she held on to Catra with one hand and Melog’s neck with the other. Waves pummeled her, she couldn’t breathe, she could feel Catra limp in her arm. And then she looked up and saw Melog drag her onto a rocky beach. It was a good thing that golems could swim, she thought, then she pulled Catra the rest of the way out of the surf and took off her cracked, partially flooded and now useless helmet. Catra's space suit was burned and shredded, and Adora could see burns and gashes underneath. She focused all her love, her care, her hope into her hands and felt Catra warm and begin to move. Catra coughed, blinked and looked at her.

Chapter Text

Catra woke as a wave of pain rolled over her, broke and ebbed into a dozen different dull aches. She was cold, and wet, and the first thing she saw was Adora’s face looking down at her, loving and dopey and comforting. Adora was whole, healthy, alive, happy. She wasn't torn apart, bloody, dead eyed, begging for her life, or screaming in agony. Adora was really here. Catra reached up and caressed her cheek.

"You're alive! You're here!"

"You're one to talk," Adora said with a chuckle. "You had me scared for a bit."

Catra moved her hand up behind Adora's head and pulled her in for a kiss. She felt her with her lips, tasted her, breathed her in. Catra broke off and looked into her girlfriend's eyes as they opened again and smiled down at her. This was what was real. This was real, Catra told herself again, focusing on the image in front of her and trying to drive those other pictures from her mind and forget that voice in her head, the voice that promised her that Adora would die, and that Catra would watch it happen.

“Hey are you okay? I know you just fell out of space. Did I heal you okay? Are you dizzy or dazed or…”

“I’m fine, Adora.” Catra looked away. “Well... I don’t think I have a concussion, or you healed it, anway. I just…I don’t feel like this is real.”

Adora gently turned Catra’s head back so that they were eye to eye again. "This is real. We’re alive. We’re alive!” Adora started giggling to herself, then chuckling, then cackling, until she was doubled over on the rough sand, laughing her head off. Catra couldn’t help joining in, feeling the relief wash over her as she felt the cold air on her fur and skin and felt the water squelching in what remained of her spacesuit.

“Adora, how did we survive that? Where’s the spaceship? I think I got knocked out.”

Adora scratched behind her ears and looked sheepish. “Well, I kinda cut us out of the shuttle as it fell apart, and then re-entered the atmosphere with only my shield for protection and with you and Melog tucked under my arms. Then I broke our fall with the shield. But dragging us to dry land was all Melog. The shuttle? I guess the smoke there and there and there is probably pieces of the shuttle.”

“And let me guess, the only thing keeping you from declaring yourself the universe’s biggest badass is knowing that I’m going to tell you that it’s insane that any of that shit worked?”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

Catra rolled her eyes, then looked sideways at Adora. “Still, I guess I should thank you.”

“Well make sure you thank Melog, too, I’m not that good a swimmer.”

“Thanks buddy.” Catra said, and Melog came over and nuzzled her.

Catra stood up and looked around for the first time. They were on a low beach of rough sand and rocks, with some kind of sandbar or spit beside them. All in front of them was a gravel bar, nearly half a mile wide or more, and flowing through it was a river - or Catra thought so, she couldn’t see it, only hear it rushing continuously in between the rhythmic pounding of the surf. Beyond the gravel bar on each side was a great, dark forest of impossibly tall, blueish-green trees, like the few she’d seen growing in the Kingdom of Snows - Spruce or something like that, Perfuma would know. Catra didn’t. The forest quickly rose into a mountain slope, which went up and up and up, impossibly tall, steeper and steeper, until it ended in snow-capped bare peaks. Looking inland, the mountains were higher still, capped in great cracked masses of ice and shrouded by clouds. If Catra wasn’t stranded and the wind weren’t blowing straight through her and her teeth weren’t already chattering Catra would have maybe called it pretty.

But she was freezing, and she was wet, and the weak light was already fading, so everything about this place screamed that it was trying to kill them. And they had nothing - even their space suits were shredded, wet and useless. Catra looked at the palls of smoke marking the fragments of their ship, their supplies, their hopes of leaving this place. Catra shivered more as the wind whipped at her. Snow was beginning to fall. This planet is the worst, Catra thought. Catra remembered how they got here, and she felt anger and guilt and fear rise up in her, swirling around in her guts and up her throat like they had so many times before. She felt the searingly shameful memory of her panic, and she tried to push it away, to find something else for her anger and disgust with herself to latch onto. This was Adora’s stupid fucking idea, her chance to play the savior to all the randos of the universe - why the fuck was Catra here? Because her girlfriend was bored? Because being a big damn hero to everyone wasn’t good enough for Adora? And now Adora was going to die and Catra was going to watch it happen and it was all Adora’s fault. Catra felt her fur bristle and her ears draw back and heard Melog growl. She turned back to glare at Adora, but she could see Adora was already thinking something similar, if her downcast expression was any guide. Good, she deserved to feel bad.

“I should have known this would happen.” Catra said, without venom or warmth. “I did know this would happen. What the fuck were you trying to do, anyway, crash land us into a mountain?”

Adora looked up, and her eyes blazed. “I was trying to get us to the Cephalopodian spaceship, since that’s the only thing that can get us off this planet!”

“Oh great idea, what are we going to do, just steal it from under that dragon’s nose?” Catra didn’t tell Adora everything else that was flooding into her mind. - ‘What are you going to do, get killed? Don’t you know that thing will kill you? Can't’ you just run away? Can’t we get away? Can't you just be safe?’

“Well do you have a better idea? You’re supposed to be in charge but you were freaking out back there and I had to make a decision before we burned to a crisp. And like you said, at least we’re alive!”

Catra recoiled. Melog's back arched and Catra felt her claws come out. She was ready to retort with another taunt or launch into a tirade when she caught Adora’s eyes, her blonde hair blowing over her mouth, and she took Adora in, just everything about her. Her hair was down, loose and wild, the way Catra loved it. Her eyes were fierce, and angry, and loving, her jaw was set. She was standing tall, unbowed, defiant. Adora was alive, and she was everything Catra wanted. It was just them and Melog, and a whole damn planet. And she loved this woman more than anything and...and this was her fault. Catra took a deep breath in. She had panicked, lost control, and endangered them both. She had to face it. 'Sometimes, we must work through the pain. We must feel all our shame and guilt and fear, and allow them to pass, because they are true, but they’re not all that is true.' That’s what Perfuma had told her. And Catra thought through all that now, and she let herself feel her guilt and anger at herself without trying to push it away or throw it back at Adora. She even did that stupid breathing exercise as Adora stared her down, ferocious and beautiful and maybe a little frightening. Melog's mane flattened and its color cooled.

Catra sighed and looked up at Adora. “I’m sorry. I panicked back there. I could have gotten us killed.”

Adora’s gaze softened instantly. “Catra...you don’t need to apologize. Just tell me what’s going on. Tell me what’s been going on.”

Catra looked away from Adora. She looked up at the mountains and the snow and the forest, then back out to the purple-grey, surging sea. “The dragon, she talked to me or...put words into my head. It reminded me of...well you know, all that shit with…” Catra scratched the back of her neck. “..with him. The Dragon told me she was going to kill you. She told me how she was going to do it and how she was going to make me watch. And then she showed me. I saw her kill you, Adora. No, not just that, I saw her torture you, rip you apart, tear off pieces of you.. And I just…” Catra took a deep breath. She wasn’t going to start sobbing now. “I freaked out. Because that’s not the first time I’ve seen it. I’ve been dreaming about you getting killed for...I don’t know. It’s been a long time, now. And I can’t take it anymore. I can’t lose you.”

Tears were streaming down Adora’s face. "Catra, come here." Adora pulled her into an embrace. It felt good, especially in the cold. Catra buried her head in Adora's shoulder and sobbed.

"Catra I'm not going anywhere. Besides. I kicked Horde Prime's ass. You think I'm scared of a big lizard?"

Catra forced a weak laugh, but she didn't respond to that. She just held Adora closer, as they shivered together in the cold wind and blowing snow.

"I just…" Catra sniffled and wiped her eyes with a free hand. She wanted to make a joke or mock Adora, or say anything other than what she was really thinking. She felt exposed, defenseless. Every instinct told her she needed her guard back up. "I guess I've gotten used to having you around. I don't know what I would do with myself if you weren't here to make fun of." Catra said as nonchalantly as she could. It wasn't a lie.

Adora snorted. "We both heard you back in the shuttle when you thought you were going to die, Catra. I promised I'd never let you forget it." Adora pulled back and gave Catra a wicked look.

"That's no fair, Adora."

Adora's smile dropped. "You don't always have to play it cool with me, you know."

"Well I don't, always. But like I said, if I got mushy all the time you'd become intolerable." Adora chuckled. Catra half broke away from Adora and looked out over the savage landscape. "If you really want to talk more about feelings maybe we should do it when we're not freezing to death."

"Maybe some supplies survived reentry." Adora said, nodding at the rising smoke. "It's worth a shot," she said, without looking terribly hopeful.

"Yeah maybe at least one of those space blanket things. Let's move out."

"Is that an order, sir?"

"Ugh. I resign my commission. Besides my ship is on fire and in pieces so there’s not really much to command, is there?"

Adora shook her head. "Well you're not pawning this command job off on me like latrine duty when we were 9. If we do this, we do it together."

Catra smiled out of the corner of one mouth. "If you say so. Let's go, I guess."

Catra shivered again, and started walking up and off the beach, leading Adora and Melog.

Walking onto the gravel bar, the smoking wreckage was even further than it had looked on the beach. Moving further inland was slow going as they stumbled across the rocks and climbed over bleached white tree trunks washed up by long past spring floods and slipped on the gathering snow. They got to the river soon enough - it was nearly milk-white with foam and some kind of silt, too fast to swim and too deep to ford. Fortunately the debris of their ship wasn’t on the far side of that.

They reached it after another several hours (it could have been three, or six) of slow progress. By now they were both shaking uncontrollably. Catra looked back at Adora - her lips were blue, and even her skin was a kind of purple-white. This wasn’t good. Catra was already having trouble thinking straight.

“You know, Catra, I don’t think She-Ra can freeze to death.”

“Good point, well I guess warm yourself with the honor of Greyskull then,” Catra said.

Adora muttered the words and transformed. At once she embraced Catra with those strong, massive arms.

“Alright Adora, now’s not the time for a hug…”

“Just trying to warm you up. Does it help at all?”

“A little, probably would be better if I got out of this fucking space suit. But that’s my only clothes, and at least it keeps the wind off.”

“Well let’s look at the wreckage. Maybe your parka is here!”

Catra chuckled. If her parka survived, packing it would just be another thing for Adora to pat herself on the back for, she thought weakly.

There was no such luck. Everything was burnt to a crisp. Everything except…

“Seriously? No space blanket, no clothes, just...this?” Catra held up the whip, which was barely singed, unlike the smoking detritus scattered around it.

“You should keep it. It might come in handy. Catra?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“You’re not looking so great.”

“I’m fine, Adora. Just sleepy.”

Adora just shook her head, came over the Catra and held out a glowing hand, which warmed Catra to her core and cleared her head.

“Wow, I can’t believe that worked.”

“You just find new She Ra powers every week, don’t you? But I don’t suppose your glow-powers can keep us alive for five days.”

“Probably not”, Adora said with a sigh. “For one thing I can’t stay transformed when I sleep.”

With her head clearer, Catra could take everything around her in better. Night was already falling - twilight seemed to take a long time here, though. They couldn't see the sun set behind the clouds but they could see the light fading. Catra hadn’t even finished looking around when she caught something with her nose. A stray scent in the air, creeping in between the smells of scorched metal and burnt clothes. Catra tried to listen, but she couldn’t hear anything over the roar of the river. Except...there. There was a growl, A grunt. Catra whirled around, looking across the frothing river in the gloom. Good thing she could see in twilight. There, a flash of movement, another...and there.

“Oh damn,” Catra whispered. “Adora, don’t move too suddenly or anything, but get your sword ready. We’re being watched.” Melog’s mane flared from blue to purple and they growled.

Adroa shielded her hands with her body and flicked her wrist. The sword flashed into existence. Adora held it low, trying to look casual and only partly failing. “What’s watching us?”

“Something big. And judging by how it’s looking at us, I’d say it’s something predatory.” Catra studied the shape in the shadows. It was huge - broad shouldered and tall, taller than She-Ra even walking on all fours, or sixes, or however many legs it had. Catra couldn’t see it’s face well, or the ends of its paws, but she could guess at the kind of teeth and claws she’d find if she could.

“Adora, can you promise me something?”

“Uh, sure Catra.”

“If it comes to a fight on this planet, don’t hold back.”

“What?”

“I said don’t hold back. Just end it. I know how strong you are, and fast, and how sharp that fucking sword is. And I know better than anyone just how vulnerable you are when you’re holding back, trying not to kill someone, so don’t try not to” Catra was glad it was getting so dark. Adora wouldn’t see her wince when she said that last part. Catra hoped Adora couldn’t sense how many painful and guilty memories were compressed into those few words - ‘I know better than anyone just how vulnerable you are.’

Adora was silent, looking off into the night in the opposite direction from Catra. “Alright Catra. As long as something doesn’t talk.”

“What?”

“I don’t want to just go around decapitating the locals, do I? Killing sentient creatures? My people have done enough conquering for the next few millennia. Whatever I do here, I’m not going to do what they did .”

“Huh? Whatever. Well I don’t think this thing can talk. But it’s not doing anything. And it’s all the way across the river. Maybe…”

“Maybe it’s just watching us? Then we shouldn’t provoke it. The magical creatures on Etheria respond to stress and aggression.”

“Great, I’ll try my breathing exercises.” It actually wasn’t a totally stupid idea, at least to keep the thing from knowing that she’d seen it. Catra tried to relax, and could see Melog’s mane slacken a bit.

Then there was a roar from down the valley, creaking and breathy and hissing, and Catra saw a sickeningly familiar tendril of shadow wrap itself around the creature and...enter it. And then the creature sprung forward - impossibly fast, but not at her. It was pouncing on Adora.

“Adora, look out!” Adora swung around and Catra leaped herself, trying to catch the creature in mid-air before it could reach Adora.

And as Catra saw this great beast leap across the river and launched herself, she heard another sound behind her. A roar. There were two of them, one of them was behind her, and it was too late for Catra to turn around.

Catra didn’t have time to think about it before something swiped her out of the air and slammed her into the river-rocks below and tore into her suit and her flesh, raking her flank. Catra was pinned by some great weight, unable to even twist her head. She felt a rush of hot air on her neck and tried to twist aside, but she couldn’t move. Then she heard an echoing roar, and the weight was lifted off of her. Catra rolled onto her back and sprung to her feat, wincing at the agony burning up her side. Melog was crouching, staring up and snarling at the six-legged, shaggy-maned, sharp-toothed mega predator that towered above them. Catra heard a roar and Adora grunting. She forced herself not to turn, not to worry about Adora. She’d already made that mistake once. She deadened herself to the pain shooting from her hip to her shoulder, the same way she’d learned under Shadow Weaver’s hands. Compared to that it was easy to ignore the warm wetness pooling beneath her clothes and trickling down her leg. She forced herself to see her enemy clearly, and to see nothing else.

The beast lunged for Melog, lowering its head and snapping. That’s when Catra saw it. There was her opening. Straight for the eyes. Catra leaped again, claws extended, reaching out, flying through the cold and and then...Got it. She felt, well, she’d started clawing eyes out when she was six. She knew what it felt like, She raked her claws, the beast screamed, and grasped at her, wildly, and she held onto its mane for dear life. It swiped at her, hit her and Catra felt something break in her chest. Melog was pouncing, clawing, snarling, biting somewhere on this creature, and still it was thrashing. Catra felt the whip at her side. She took it into her right hand, then snapped it around the creature’s neck, catching it with her left hand. She held onto its neck with her legs, and she tightened the whip and pulled with all her might, and kept pulling, until it stumbled and fell over. Still she kept it up, until the beast stopped twitching and she could no longer feel its pulse with her legs and she was about ready to pass out herself. She let the whip fall from her grasp and collapsed to one side of the animal. Now she felt the pain, and she nearly blacked out. She forced herself to keep her eyes open, and with even more effort she forced herself to look up. She saw She-Ra walking toward her, eyes blazing, sword in hand, covered in blood. Behind her was the other monster and, maybe 5 yards away, its head.

“Damn you’re beautiful,” Catra said weakly.

Adora started, and her face fell. She rushed over to Catra.

“I know it looks bad but you should see the other guy,” Catra said with what she hoped was a smile.

Adora knelt, and Catra felt She-Ra’s warmth envelop her for the third time in maybe five hours. She really needed to stop getting hurt, she thought as her head cleared and the pain dulled. Was she losing a step? Going soft? This was almost embarrassing.

“Catra, did you just call me beautiful? I’m covered in blood. And I just took that thing’s head off.”

“What can I say, it’s a good look for you. Also, I hate to admit it, but I guess that stupid whip came in handy.”

Somehow, Adora managed to keep her mouth shut and only nod and smile slightly.

Catra looked around for Melog. They were okay, crouching nearby, looking anxiously at Catra.She turned back to Adora.

Adora looked down at her. “Well that was exciting. But we’re still freezing and now it’s night. I guess we could always climb into the corpses for warmth.”

Catra opened her mouth in incredulity. “Or we could just use the burning wreckage to set some of this dry driftwood on fire and not stuff ourselves into something’s dead body.”

Adora thought for a moment. “Yeah your idea’s much better.”

Adora helped Catra up so they could gather wood, and Catra didn’t even complain.

“Seriously Adora, crawl into the carcasses for warmth? That's your first idea? What the fuck.”

Chapter Text

Catra moved stiffly behind Adora as they gathered firewood, but at least she was still cracking wise. She ribbed Adora for her grisly survival plan for several minutes, and Adora played along, adding in gory details just to make everything more ridiculous. While Catra picked out pieces of driftwood Adora shone the light of her sword around the snow-covered river rocks all around them, looking for anything from the wreckage. There! That looked like fabric. Adora triumphantly pulled out a ripped open sleeping bag, and held it up like she’d just found three sausage links stuck together in a breakfast buffet.

“Hey look, it almost looks like it could keep us warm.”

“It’s better than nothing. Also better than monster guts. Definitely better than monster guts.”

Adora chuckled. Catra was obviously on edge, she didn’t normally milk old material like this so long - she wasn’t Glimmer, who would take a joke and beat it until it stopped twitching. Or Adora herself, she had to admit.

Adora didn’t find much else - their clothes and food had all burned up. But sticking out of the snow, Adora did see a single cylinder, and she nearly yelped for joy - there was her map case. In it would be her map of this exact valley, drawn from their scans as they approached the planet. Adora looked over her shoulder to make sure Catra wasn’t watching, and just about danced as she picked it up.

In another few minutes (time was tricky here) they returned to pile their firewood. Adora threw the sleeping bag on the softest-looking patch of ground she could find, in the lee of a huge log that would hopefully keep the wind off. Catra took care of building the fire, and Adora took a second look at the animals that had attacked them. The animals they’d killed. They were huge - six legs, sharp claws at the ends of all of them, blunt snouts, vicious fangs, thick grizzled-gray fur. At least it looked gray, in the dark it was hard to tell. Standing they would have been maybe 9 feet tall at the shoulders and three times as long. Seeing them dead was still...it was sad. Even dead, Adora could still feel the magic seeping out of them, like the boars of the Whispering Woods. They were probably beautiful when they were alive - Adora loved huge animals, especially the dangerous, predatory ones. They reminded her of herself, in a weird way. She had a sad, silly thought, that maybe if these two hunted as a pair then maybe they were mates. Not unlike her and Catra. And what had happened felt strange. These animals hadn’t attacked until they’d heard that roar, to start with. This whole planet was strange. The magic was wild, Adora could sense it but also...it wasn’t running free. She couldn’t describe it. It was like the difference between the Whispering Woods and Plumeria. Glimmer would know better than her and Micah definitely would. But they weren’t here.

Adora shook her head. She’d have time to think about this later, and time to feel bad about killing these beautiful, wild creatures. But tonight, she was hungry, and her girlfriend was cold. She had work to do. Adora gave a weak ‘sorry’ to the creature and set to work with her sword - skinning, gutting and cutting off some meat for them to eat right now.

By the time she was done Catra was already basking in the warmth of a roaring bonfire and the snow was melting and steaming all around it, even as it fell thicker and thicker from the sky. Adora joined Catra with her handiwork - several hunks of purplish meat, and enough shaggy hide to cushion them when they slept and protect them from the cold of the ground. Adora speared the meat on sticks and set it by the fire, and set out their bedding on top of the hide.

“Where’d you get so good at skinning and butchering stuff, Adora? It’s been years since we did survival training.”

“Hey I aced that course.”

“That course was bullshit.”

“Yeah I figured that out in the Crimson Wastes.”

“So where did you learn to do all that?”

“Well, speaking of the Crimson Wastes, Huntara taught me.”

Catra sniffed. “Oh. Right. Her.” Adora suppressed a grin. Occasionally Catra’s jealousy was annoying, but most of the time it was...kind of flattering all around. Catra both cared enough to be jealous, and also assumed that Adora was so irresistible that other women were always after her. Adora admired this other Adora that seemed to live in Catra’s mind, the ladykiller who’d just trip over herself and land face first in some gorgeous woman’s lap. Still, there was a particular edge in Catra’s voice when Huntara came up that Adora didn’t like. Oh well.

Adora shrank back to her normal size and struipped off the ragged, sodden remains of her space suit, then dove under the scrap of sleeping bag, shivering.

“Join me?” Adora asked with a smile.

“Sure, I’d love to get out of this thing. I can’t even tell what’s seawater or melted snow or my own blood in here anymore. Anyway, it’s wet and it smells.” Catra tore the rags off of herself and slid under the sleeping bag with Adora.

“The fur mattress is a nice touch.”

“I didn’t scrape the skin so good on the other side, so we’ve probably got 12 hours before it starts smelling.” Adora said with a grin.

Catra chuckled. “Thanks for the warning.”

Adora wrapped her arms around Catra. She always enjoyed how they fit together - even when she wasn’t She Ra, wrapping herself around Catra’s taut, lithe limbs and slender frame made her feel big and strong. Both Adora and Catra were sticky and matted with blood and salt and sweat, just like Catra had said. Yet as far as Adora was concerned her partner had never felt so wonderful. Lying in Adora’s arms, Catra’s shivers were finally dying down, replaced by just the hint of a purr.

“Hey Catra. How are you? This has been...it’s been a day.”

“A pretty shitty day, you mean?”

“I dunno, any day that ends with me and you curled up in front of a fire can’t be all bad, can it?”

“You’re a sap.”

“I’m your sap, Catra. But really, how are you? You were…” Adora struggled to find the words. She didn’t want to ruin the mood by saying ‘you acted like an idiot’ but Catra had nearly gotten herself killed, again. Like she had fighting the space pirates, or before with those creepy Prime cultists. Adora had thought she was just being competitive but with those dreams… “...I can’t tell if you were trying to steal my glory or trying to, I dunno, protect me.”

Catra sighed. “You know how much I want to steal your thunder.” Catra said, without conviction.

“Hey, I love it when you get all competitive, it’s hot.”

“Yeah, well it’s not all foreplay, it keeps me on my toes too. Don’t tell anyone I said that.”

“I’m pretty sure Glimmer assumes it’s all just a weird sex thing.” Adora said with a chuckle. “But was that really all that was going on here? I know you’re worried about me.”

Catra sighed.” Yeah. I am. I have been, Adora. You can keep telling me that you’ll be fine, and that you’re not trying to get yourself killed but...sometimes it’s hard to believe. You spent a long time trying to get killed. I know, I was the one trying to kill you for a lot of it. And Scorpia’s filled me in on what you were like when I was gone. You know, when I was...off planet. She was worried about you. They all were.”

“Sorry Catra. All I can say is that I really, really don’t want to die. Because then I’d lose you. I’m done sacrificing myself to save the world.”

Adora heard a sniffle. Catra was turned away from her, but Adora could imagine her fighting back tears. “Thanks Adora. I guess it helps.”

“I mean, the universe is a nice place and all but I’m not sure saving it is worth never getting laid again. So next time it needs saving I’d better figure out a way to save it and live. I’m sure I can with your help. Like you did before,” Adora said in a more flirtatious tone of voice, deliberately letting a hand roam over Catra’s body.

Catra chuckled.

“But I’m also trying to be serious. Catra, you’ve got me worried. Especially on this planet.”

“You mean this planet that is trying to kill us?”

“Yes, this planet that is trying to kill us.”

“Well now we’re both worried about the other one getting killed. So I guess we’re even.”

“Well can you promise me something?”

“I can try.”

“Take care of yourself, first. Survive. You’re good at it. Don’t go...risking your life for me. I promise I won’t try and sacrifice myself, you just...live. Keep on living, Catra. I feel like both of us are going to have to try our damndest to survive this and I can’t do this without you. We can have each other’s backs, I know saving each other is what we do, even if it’s a stupid idea. But just don’t...don’t dive in front of any monsters for me.”

“Okay, Adora, I’ll do my best.”

They lay in silence for a while, holding each other, watching the fire and the snow fall on them and all around them. Catra got up every little while to stoke the fire, and Adora turned the meat, then tore into it when it was finally done cooking, transforming into She Ra in case it was poisonous (Adora had no idea if that would work, but she might as well be safe). Catra started eating after a few minutes, then ribbed her cooking technique, and Adora offered to finish Catra’s piece if she hated it so much. Then they talked about their predicament. They would miss their check-in in five days, it would take a full day for any rescue party to reach them, and then their rescuers would hopefully receive the telemetry from the capsule Adora had jettisoned before they crashed and then they would know what had happened. So it would be a week until anyone showed up to rescue them. Only Adora was worried about what would happen when they did approach the planet. If that dragon could take down an entire First One’s warfleet, Darla didn’t stand a chance, especially without Melog. The prudent thing to do would be to stay at a distance and plan a stealthy rescue somehow. That was the protocol - if team members were lost to hostile and overwhelming force, wait for reinforcements, do not engage alone in their unarmed spaceship. If Bow and Glimmer followed the protocol, then they’d stay safe on the edge of the nebula and not charge in headlong. But Glimmer would be in command in Adora’s absence, and Catra for one had no confidence in ‘Sparkles’’ prudence or patience. Glimmer was a wildcard, without a doubt. Catra suggested if they could find the Cephalopodians, which they couldn’t, then they could sneak in with Melog and get a transmission out. Adora didn’t tell Catra what she was really planning. Telling her girlfriend ‘I feel like I need to confront that dragon’ would just start a fight before bed, and they both needed the rest. So Adora stayed quiet and thanked the stars that her infamously wide-open face was concealed by darkness.

Catra fell asleep before Adora, leaving Adora to tend the fire and watch for monsters, dragons or angry aliens. Melog could handle standing watch, but they didn’t have thumbs, and Adora wanted to keep Catra warm with a roaring fire. But it wasn’t all just waiting. The snow stopped for a little. Looking up, Adora could see the strangest sky through a break in the clouds - off-black and purple from the nebula, completely overwhelmed by a half dozen brilliant blue-white stars, it was like no other night sky Adora had ever seen. Of course, she’d only been seeing stars for 18 months. Sitting there, feeling her beloved’s warmth curled around her, watching the flames dance, Adora couldn’t help but smile. She was on watch, guarding against the dangers of the night, tending the fire, and all the while feeling the old weight of responsibility settling on her as she worried about Bow and Glimmer and the Cephalopodians. And yet she wasn't worried about herself, or Catra, and right now all those others, those responsibilities, seemed so far away. And so in another part of her she felt...relaxed. Free. She was looking forward to tomorrow, strangely, and for tonight, she had everything she needed. Adora put a final, big load of logs on the fire and felt her eyelids start weighing downwards. Adora took her dagger out of her boot and put it under the mass of extra fur that served as her pillow, then lay her head down and felt the comforting hint of hardness beneath her. She looked up at Melog, whose eyes weren’t so much as blinking.

“You got this for us, buddy? Just yowl if something is trying to eat us.” And with that, Adora drifted off into the soundest sleep she’d had in a month.

Adora was awoken by Melog’s sharp cry. She was on her feet and out of bed at once, scattering the snow that had settled on her during the night. She didn’t even shout before she started transforming - she just thought of Catra defenseless next to her and she felt her eyes glow and her legs lengthen and her arms bulge. She wheeled around to face the coming threat. She pulled out the dagger from under her pillow and put it into She-Ra’s boot. Catra rolled sleepily out of their bedroll and into a ready crouch.

There, on the far side of the nearer carcass was a group of a dozen or more large, six-limbed aliens carrying bronze-headed axes and spears and wearing what looked like furs, just visible in the grey light of a cloudy doawn. They were furry...no… they were feathered. They had many-colored plumes on their heads of various colors and sizes, and short, less vibrant short feathery hair on their bodies and limbs. Adora didn’t have much time to admire them, though, because as soon as they saw her stand they readied their weapons.

“Well you’re the diplomatic genius, Catra. Any ideas?”

“Me? I just find new ways to tell people they’re stupid and call them on their bullshit. Bow’s the one who’s good at making nice and Sparkles is good at the fancy talk.”

“And I’m the one who cuts battlecruisers in half for everyone’s amusement. Sure you don’t have any ideas?”

“Well nomads and shit are really into hospitality. Maybe we could say we’re travelers who need shelter and food.”

“Worth a shot. You want to do this or…”

“Oh for fuck’s sake, Adora.” Catra walked out a couple of steps on the snowy rocks, careful not to slip. “Greetings! We are travellers from uh, distant lands. We’re um, new to these shores and we ask...uh, succor?” Catra dropped her voice and spoke out of the side of her mouth. “...Is that the word?”

“I think so?” Adora once again wondered how their universal translators worked, but only for a second. Mostly she was glad they did.

The aliens...no, the local inhabitants, the strangers… looked at each other and whispered a conversation that soon ounded like it was getting heated. The biggest one finally shook her head and turned to Catra and Adora.

“You have already slain the sacred beasts of our tribe and sullied this valley with your footsteps. You are not travellers, you are invaders, and we will not succor you. Nor will we let you pass.”

“Oh come on!” Adora yelled in frustration. “These animals attacked us! We were defending ourselves, can’t you at least let us leave?”

The strangers looked at each other, shook their heads, and started inching toward Catra and Adora.

“Alright Catra, bar fight rules. Let’s not kill anyone.”

“Seriously? They have axes and spears!”

“Seriously. Closed fists, no claws, no blades, and most importantly….

“Yeah, yeah, eyes stay intact, in their sockets, un-gouged. I know. Please don’t die, Adora.”

“Not planning to.”

The strangers charged. Melog ran up to Catra, who disappeared, to some consternation but no panic from their attackers. Meanwhile She-Ra shook her head and ran right for the biggest of the strangers, fists swinging. The stranger ducked Adora’s first punch and followed up with two of her own. Adora barely dodged one and blocked the other with an open hand, then grabbed the other’s arm and threw her while kicking her legs out from under her. Another stranger swung for Adora’s head with an axe and she parried it with a shield she summoned at the last moment, then she ran under the blow and head-butted her attacker. Catra blinked back into view behind the others with Melog roaring, cracking her whip and ensnaring weapons and arms, knocking her attackers flat on the snow and stones. She was lithe and lethal, and Adora nearly took a war club to the head staring at the way her girlfriend moved. Then in an instant she was gone again, cackling all the while. Three more attackers came at Adora, surrounding her. She charged at one with her shield raised, kicking their legs out from under them and elbowing them down as they passed, then turning and cracking the next in the jaw with her shield.

It went on like this, but Catra and Adora hadn’t joined Glimmer in barroom brawls in dives across the universe for nothing. They were all headbutts, sharp elbows, knees, jabs, uppercuts, grapples, arm-bars, boldly slams and throws. Even armed their opponents were no match for two-thirds of the undefeated bar fight champions of the cosmos. Pretty soon the fight was just Adora and Catra decking their opponents as they staggered to their feet and foolishly charged again, and Adora could finally admire just how gracefully Catra cracked that whip and threw her opponents. Adora took her eyes off her girlfriend and turned back to the strangers.

“Alright, now can we talk!?” Adora yelled at the groaning mass around them. “I don’t want to hurt you. More. Uh..any more than I have. Can we just...start over?”

One of the strangers struggled to prop herself up.

“We can talk. What do you want?”

“We want you not to kill us.”

“And hospitality would be nice, too, while you’re at it.”

The stranger nodded and turned back to her companions, the ones who were still conscious. They struggled up and started talking amongst themselves.

Adora turned back to Catra. “You really think they’re going to treat us like guests after we beat them up?”

“After we beat them up, do they have a choice? This is like the Crimson Wastes, Adora. And you’re already doing pretty good - you just punched out the biggest gal here. Classic opening move.”

“I’m not here to conquer anyone, Catra. I mean it.”

“Who said anything about conquering this dump? Just show ‘em who’s boss. You’re doing fine, Adora. You’re kind of good at this, for such a goody-goody.”

The stranger coughed and Catra and Adora turned. “You may pass through our lands, we will not attack you again. But you have not treated us as guests treat their hosts, so while we shall not hinder you, we will not help you either. We have our own wounds to tend to now.”

“I can help with that. I’m kind of great at healing people, actually. Want me to give it a try? Here, hold out your head and I can fix that black eye.” Adora smiled as she spoke. She wasn’t lying, she was good at healing people, she knew how strong her powers were. She just had no idea if they’d accept her offer. She tried to swallow down the strange feeling that she wasn’t the first Eternian to land on this planet and start swinging her fists, or worse.

The stranger looked up at She-Ra and gave an odd, skeptical smirk. Then she shrugged and nodded, and Adora laid a hand amidst the stranger’s plumes. Adora’s hand and the stranger’s head glowed, and then the stranger straightened and looked at Adora, and smiled. The others looked at Adora with odd expressions, then shared glances amongst themselves. They seemed impressed, but not awed, just like they had been annoyed but not afraid when Catra disappeared. These people knew magic. Seeing other people acknowledge her powers but not stand in awe of them felt...different. Adora liked it. Adora felt herself relax in spite of everything as she went among them, healing many bruises and two broken bones (“Sorry!”) and countless lacerations from Catra’s whip. The last to be healed was the big woman who had attacked Adora first. She woke, saw her companions standing around Adora and not attacking her, and gave a kind of exasperated sigh and shook her head.

Finally everyone was whole and healthy. Catra and Adora stood in front of the strangers with Melog beside them.

“Can we do this again? I am Adora of...Etheria, and this is Catra, of Etheria.”

“And Melog of Krytis!” Catra chimed in

“We are travellers from far away. We ask for your hospitality. We mean you no harm. And I hope, if we have harmed you, that I’ve been able to, kinda make that better.” Adora trailed off. Glimmer was so much better at this stuff.

The strangers nodded to each other. The big woman didn’t speak this time - instead it was the first stranger Adora had healed.

“We welcome you, travellers, as our guests. We see you have a fire. We will join you there. You have slain two Grayyaghi - in your lands, do you know how to skin them? Have you performed the ceremonies for their spirits? We will help you if these customs are strange to you, since you are our guests. Since you have conquered such beasts, and since you are out guests, we must rest and have a feast.”

“Uh,That’s really wonderful. We do not know much of your lands or about the...Grayyaghi, so we would be happy if you helped. Thanks um...”

“I am Elix, and our band are the Illithi.”

“What do you call your speci...er, your people. Everyone who looks like you.” Catra asked.

They looked at each other. This was a strange question. “We are Suverii. And you are...Etherii? But you do not look like each other.”

“Oh, man, that’s complicated. But yes. We’re called Etherians.” Kinda. Adora didn’t want to get into her own origins with them.

“Then welcome, Adora and Catra of Etheria, and Melog of Krytis. Welcome to the Valley of the Illithi.”

Catra and Adora smiled. Catra stepped forward. “Thank you for having us.” And then she shivered - she was not wearing anything more than she’d worn to bed, while at least Adora was both dressed in her white leggings and immune to the cold.

“Are you without clothing? Very well, our males will take the Grayagghi hide and make you clothing. Come, let us set their spirits to rest.”

Adora and Catra each went to the Grayaggh they had killed and repeated the warrior’s words as she said a brief prayer for its spirit. Other Illithi were arriving now - smaller, with more brilliant plumes, and others, medium-sized and less spectacular, with children in their arms. “The males and the nurses are here. Come, let us sit by your fire and talk while they tend to the hides. It is not work fitting for warriors - for women.”

Elix went over to talk to some Illithi, and other warriors threw fur cloaks over Adora and Catra. Catra looked at Adora.

"Are we seriously just going to trust them?" She asked in a low voice.

"Catra we just beat them up in three seconds. I don't think they'll try it again. And if they do, well I guess then your claws can come out. Besides, what does Melog think? And how do they smell?"

Catra sniffed. "Pretty relaxed, actually, and Melog likes them." Catra shrugged. "Maybe they are on the level."

"See? Anyway I could use a feast."

Elix finished talking to the others, walked up to them and gave them a smile. “Now you must tell the story of how two naked travellers killed two Grayagghi. That sounds like a tale!”

The other warriors nodded. Catra and Adora looked at each other.

“There’s...not too much to tell,” Adora began. Catra shook her head.

“Now’s not the time to be modest, my love. You’re the one who beheaded that Grayaggh with, what was it, a single stroke of your sword?”

“Well all it takes is one when you’re good, Catra.” Adora said with a smile. “And besides, how did you kill that other one?”

“Oh, I leapt up on its head, took out its eyes and strangled it with this.” Catra held out the whip.

All of this got the attention of the Illithi. They insisted on seeing Adora’s sword, since they’d only seen her unarmed, and insisted that Catra demonstrate more of her prowess with a whip. Catra and Adora were happy enough to oblige - Adora threw a rock up, summoned her sword in a flash, and split the stone before it hit the ground. Catra arched an eyebrow, threw a spruce-cone into the air, and took it out of the air with a single crack of her whip. Once they’d nodded appreciatively at their guests’ martial abilities, the Illithi started showing off themselves - throwing axes and spears, egging each other on until Catra and Adora had joined in on the whistling and whooping with the rest. Next up, they asked to see some demonstration of Adora’s strength, since she was even bigger than they were. So she tossed a boulder over her shoulder and into the river, 500 yards away. Any warriors who had thought to demonstrate their own strength wisely decided to concede the point to Adora. Adora then shrunk back to her normal size, to even more amusement from the Illithi. Nothing awed them, some things impressed them, and many things amused them, it seemed. Catra shook her head, called Adora an idiot, and kissed her on the cheek as Adora nestled beside her under her own fur cloak. The Illithi whistled and Catra whispered into Adora’s ears.

“Not bad for some people who were trying to kill us an hour ago, Adora.”

“Hey this is all your idea.”

“Is not!”

Adora just smirked.

The warriors showed some of their own magic - mastering the snow as it fell, causing flowers to bloom in the midst of winter, forming shapes in the fire. It was a lot like what she’d seen from the Princesses back on Etheria. Adora watched with open wonder, but at the same time another part of her was wondering how much time was passing. How much closer were they to Glimmer and Bow warping into the system and into danger? Adora didn’t do sessions with Perfuma, but Catra had convinced her to see this one psychic sentient slime mould once. One thing they’d told her was to focus on what you could do, not what you wished you could do. Accept all things not in your power and then change everything that was in your power. Adora tried to do that now - they needed to wait for new clothes, at least, and they needed food and whatever other help the Illithi could give them. Four years ago Adora would have charged off into the woods naked anyway, but whatever Catra said she was smarter than that now. She might as well enjoy this. And she already felt a part of her doing just that. She had wanted an adventure, and when she wasn’t worried about Glimmer and Bow she was enjoying nearly all of this.

Soon enough the meal was served by the medium-sized Suverii - roast Grayagghi, but better prepared than Adora’s half-scorched, half raw hunks of flesh from last night. Apparently the trick was wrapping the lean meat in fat before you roasted it. They also ate what they assumed were the Grayagghi’s hearts, but it was hard to tell. They were actually pretty delicious. After the meal they passed around a skin full of what could only be booze. Adora drank a sip and passed it along - there was no need for her sillier alter-ego to make an appearance right now.

“Man it’s still morning! I like your style!” Catra crowed, also drinking only a sip. No doubt Catra was thinking how no one needed to deal with a sad drunk, either.

Adora turned back to Elix. She chose her words carefully, trying to sound like Glimmer. “We have told you...um... something of ourselves, what about you? What is...what is the story of your people? How did you come here? Have you always lived here?”

“This is a deep question. Some among the Illithi have always lived here. But our band are not all kin. None of our people, the free people, are kin to the rest. We are not bound by our lineage or our ancestors, but by how we live.”

“And how is that?” Catra asked, ears perking up.

“Freely! Long ago the Illithi and other Free People refused to bow to Telika and the priestesses that serve her. Nor do we bow to their queens and nobles and merchants. We defy all the ones who rule the people of the cities - the People of the Code. Many here once lived among them in their cities, or on their farms, or our mothers did, like my mother did. But we fled, or escaped. We rejected the Code of Telika. We do not give her tribute or sacrifices. We do not honor her rites or her priestesses. We live without Telika and the other gods, just as we live without their laws.”

“You’re not some isolated tribe. You’re outcasts. Outlaws.” Catra said with a gleam of recognition.

“Those are among the things they call us. They also call us barbarians, heathens, apostates, heretics. Many of us take their names with pride. I am proud to be a barbarian, for instance,” Elix said with a smile. Catra and Adora smiled back.

“Who is Telika?”

This was the first question that Catra or Adora had asked that shocked the Illithi, who were mostly unflappable. They shared a few strange glances, and then Elix responded in a whisper that was nearly drowned out by the sound of the fire and the river. “She is the last god. The god who lives. The great dragon who lives in the Dead City.”

“Oh. Her.” Catra said. “Yeah I think we know her.”

Adora looked away. She’d need to ask more about that later. “So these are the lands of your tribe?”

“We should think so! But the People of The Code, the city people would say that this is the Sacred Valley of Telika. This is the valley through which their Road of Queens passes, after all.”

“The Road of Queens?”

“Perhaps 500 paces into those woods. It is an ancient road, said to be laid down by Telika’s ancient foes, those who came from beyond the stars.” Adora felt herself start. That could be only one group of people. “They laid it as a path to their city. Now it is the road to Telika’s temple at the city’s gate...and to the city itself, if you dared to set foot there.”

Catra glared at Adora. Damnit, her face had betrayed her again.

Catra changed the subject once more, as abruptly as possible.

“So there were people who came from beyond the stars?”

“That is what the priestesses tell. Many among us think that these are just more of their lies. I suppose it might be true - someone built that road, which snow does not lie on, and which glows with runes. Someone built the city, though no one alive has seen it. But I will not worship and sacrifice to a dragon because she freed our planet thirty generations ago. Why honor a liberator who would have you as her slave?”

Catra and Adora asked more questions of Elix and the others. Some males came and measured them while they talked, and discussed how to make clothes for them amongst themselves - they found having four limbs and no feathers strange, but cloaks would fit the same and they thought they could do something about Adora's bare skin and Catra's too thin fine fuzz of fur. They’d need something to keep their limbs warm, since Catra’s fur was so fine and short and Adora’s skin was bare except for her soft, billowy 'plumes' on her head.

After the males left, Catra and Adora asked as delicately as they could about the Suverii gender, and Elix answered as bluntly as she could.

"We are the warriors." Elix began.

"Your sex or gender identity is...warrior, got it." Catra replied.

"Perhaps it is not so with you. But we are female, and we are warriors. We carry the seed of life. The males, with their beautiful plumes, we lay with them and they ah...water the seed of life. I am sorry, I do not have better words." Elix smiled. "Normally I only have to explain this to children, so I only have small words." Elix chuckled. "Then we lie with the nurses, and they take the watered and growing seed. It grows into a Suveri within them. And they feed and nourish the child after they are born. Is it not so with you?"

Catra and Adora looked at each other. "Ah, not exactly. We have men, and women", Adora began.

"And some people are neither or both or something else." Catra finished while Adora nodded.

"And normally we only need two to have a baby. Sometimes it's a man and a woman, sometimes it's two men, sometimes two women. Sometimes there is magic involved. But normally there's only two parents." Adora felt herself flush. Talking about people having kids around Catra made her stomach flutter and twitch, even though it wasn't like she was talking about them having kids.

"I dunno, I feel like Lonnie's kids are gonna have a mom and two dads." Catra added with a smile.

"But the important thing is, we only need two."

"You come from strange lands," Elix said, shaking her head, smiling and chuckling.

"So uh, if you warriors and the nurses are both female, how does that work? Like, what's the difference?" Catra asked.

"All girl children are just...girls. They are not warriors or nurses. Then, when she comes of age, the girl will either become a warrior or a nurse. She chooses her path, and we help her to become what she is. But that may change later as well. Many warriors become nurses, some nurses become warriors."

Adora looked between Elix and one of the nurses. Elix was muscular and lean. The nurse seemed smaller and was definitely softer and rounder. So when they changed, it seemed to be a physical change, and not just a social one? It felt rude to ask. And judging by the number of warriors in even this small band who had different size plumes or smaller statures, not everyone called a ‘male’ at their birth was really a male as far as the Illithi were concerned. Which was like Etheria or most planets, really.

"So it's like this for all the Suverii?"

"Our bodies are no different from any others, though the settled folk are less well fed. But they do not have any choice in who they become. My mother told me that the eldest daughter always became a warrior, only for them it is not always a warrior-many among them just...labor, or count money - and all her younger sisters are to be nurses. She is not given a choice. Your destiny is chosen for you at your birth, in all things."

The Illithi spoke more about the customs of the Settled People with bewildered and somewhat outraged contempt. It sounded stifling - everything about the settled peoples did. They have money, and laws, but also slavery, a nobility, royalty, castes and a priesthood that held everything together, all dedicated to Telika, their god.

Now the males were done skinning the Grayagghi, most of them and the Nurses joined the warriors, children in tow, and soon Elix and all the other warriors were just as likely to coo over a baby or caress a male or a nurse as they were to arm-wrestle each other or try to beat each other at throwing spears (or for the matter, caress one another). Seeing everyone starting to curl up together, Catra and Adora instinctively nestled closer to each other.

“So you two are lovers?” Elix asked Catra and Adora.

They looked at each other, and burst out laughing because there was nothing else to do.

Before Catra could sputter out some lame evasion Adora took Catra’s hand.

“Yeah we are.”

“How long have you been with each other?” Another warrior asked.

“I dunno, who’s counting?” Catra said with a smile.

“We have been friends since we were children. But…” Adora looked nervously at Catra. She wanted to say this part. But she knew how Catra felt about it. ‘Can I say it?’ Adora mouthed at her.

‘Fine, Adora’. Catra half-whispered back.

“We’ve also been foes. We’ve fought...a lot. Catra was my most cunning and dangerous enemy for three years.” Adora turned to Catra with a loving, admiring expression.

This got the attention of nearly everyone. Catra looked half embarrassed and half interested, but she played along. “Adora wasn’t quite so cunning, probably, but she was definitely my strongest foe.”

“Now this sounds like a tale!” Elix said with a smile, inviting Adora to continue. The skin was passed around again.

So Adora told their story. Adora didn’t tell things exactly as they happened. She didn’t lie, but she left out quite a bit - the details of Etherian politics, but also some of Catra’s worse actions, some of the more personal hurts they’d inflicted on each other. She left in the epic battles, though, and Catra provided her own retellings at times, adding color to Adora’s simple descriptions, adding details, making jokes. Adora included the important parts, like the forces turning her and Catra against each other - Hordak, Light Hope, Shadow Weaver - and even said a bit about the Sword and how it was designed to control her and how she’d broken it and rejected her fate. Adora definitely included her abiding love for Catra, and Catra told quite a bit about her love for Adora, so it was an epic tale of fighting and flirting and star crossed romance. It was fantastical, and more than a little idealized, but even as she told it Adora felt that it was truer than the dry recitations of facts and grand speeches about the power of hope she had given to so many delegations. The important things - her love for Catra, her search for herself and what she wanted - that was there. It was hard to tell the story of Prime without talking about people from beyond the stars, so why not - Adora included that too. How they’d been reunited when things seemed darkest, how they’d saved each other. By the time they were done Catra had pinned Adora with the reenactment of their first kiss and everyone sat spellbound by Catra and Adora’s tale, even as the snow had fallen thick all around them.

Chapter Text

Catra looked on at Adora as she told the story of their life together. It was weird. There were good memories even in the bad old days, Catra supposed, but so much of their life until a year ago was so raw and painful and so immediate that she still hated thinking about a lot of it most of the time. It wasn’t like she and Adora were like normal couples - they couldn’t tell a cute story like ‘remember when I nearly took your head off?’ on a date night. Though once that had actually happened on a double date with Glimmer and Bow and it -should- have been hilarious. Maybe it would be some day. But for now, the wounds were barely scabbed, and Catra felt them sting every time her thoughts brushed against them.

It was all like that. Their anniversary was the anniversary of Adora nearly dying and then killing the god-emperor of the known universe, and that was a happy day by their standards. All these memories were twisted together with each other, with good and bad, with Catra's love of Adora and disgust with herself - everything was fucked up. Some things - Angella, the portal, betraying Adora, betraying Scorpia and Entrapta and even Hordak - some things were too painful to ever think about too hard, and the idea of really reliving them made Catra want to run screaming into the cold. Fortunately Adora didn't bring those up, but still, Catra was on edge at first. Catra was not looking forward to this story as Adora started, and it was hard to focus on Melog and her breathing and not dig her claws into the ground. If Catra herself talked about the bad old days, she tried to pass it off as a joke. ‘Remember when I was evil? Yeah, that was hilarious.’ Other people even laughed along, but Catra secretly didn’t think it was very funny.

But hearing Adora tell it, it wasn’t so bad. Sure, her girlfriend left out all worst things Catra had done, but more than that Adora was telling a story about how much they loved each other. How much they always had. As Adora told it, their most vicious battles were almost some fucked-up kind of flirting, and any fight was as likely to end in a make-out session as it was in their grisly deaths. And was Adora wrong? It’s not that Catra hadn’t noticed even back then how fighting Adora always felt different, more exciting, how it made her feel more alive. How she'd looked forward to it, and not just because she had convinced herself she wanted to hurt Adora. Some days the chance to see Adora, to fight her, had been the only thing that got Catra out of bed. Some days it was the only thing worth doing in the grey-green misery of the Fright Zone. Hearing Adora recount some of their most epic fights with love in her eyes and with her arm wrapped around Catra, Catra couldn’t help but see the whole sorry story the way Adora did, at least a bit. “I never hated you,” Adora had said. That idiot really meant it. Catra could at least try not hating herself. She’d been trying. It was easier with Adora stroking her and beaming down at her and Melog curled up beside her.

What really dragged Catra into the story, though, was that Adora kept getting it wrong. Oh the facts were right. But the excitement, the drama or whatever, that was missing. Adora started telling the story of their epic, fucked-up romance like she was giving an after action report. Plus, Adora always missed how hilarious a lot of this shit was. So of course Catra had to add some color, some excitement and some humor, just to keep the Suverii entertained. Soon even Adora took the hint, her storytelling rose to the challenge and she and Catra were sparring with each other with their words as they told everyone about how they’d once fought with sword and claws. At some point Catra started actually enjoying herself. Catra and Adora really got into it once they told the story of how they were reunited - Adora was positively beaming through it all and Catra couldn’t help but grin along through their adventures in space and back on Etheria, especially since Adora left out the worst parts. With Adora there telling the story she didn't have flashbacks of Horde Prime or mind control. She could just remember what it was like opening her eyes and looking up at Adora after she had dragged Catra back from death. She could remember seeing Adora transform into the real She-Ra, the Adora She-Ra, and fully admitting to herself that she'd never stopped loving this woman. She could remember the thrill and power of fighting by Adora's side and not against her, and the creeping warmth of realizing that Glimmer and Bow were her friends too. The pride of finding Melog and being chosen by them, the shocking thrill of helping people, even saving them.

So that's how it went. Adora boasted, Catra joked and jibed and rolled her eyes, and they both wrapped their arms around each other and made eyes at the other. It ended with the big damn kiss that saved the universe, and Catra was impatient enough with Adora’s explanation that she just reenacted it right there for everyone. There were cheers and applause. Normally Catra would be embarrassed, but she was never going to see any of these people again, and it was fun, and Adora kissed her back passionately enough to take Catra’s breath away.

The whole production had taken over two hours, and at the end of it the group kind of broke up to talk amongst themselves and tend to the next phases of the meal, finish sewing the clothes they were making for their guests, wrangle children and handle other...Illithi business, whatever that was. Catra and Adora were left on their own. Catra wrapped herself in the oversized fur cloak they’d leant her and waded through the snow over to the river. She needed to be alone, just for a little while, at least she told herself that. The Illithi were fun, but they were still -people-, and new ones at that. That made them exhausting. Melog padded after her, but Adora stayed by the fire, leaving Catra and Melog alone with her thoughts.

Catra brought herself back form her happier memories. Back to the present, here and now, as messed up as this was. What the fuck, Catra thought, shaking her head. Even by her standards, the past day was too damn much. It was all crazy, and stupid, and maybe infuriating. The crash, the long walk overland, the battle with two alien megapredators, the brawl with the Illithi and now there was a feast for some reason? Meanwhile somewhere there was a dragon that wanted her girlfriend dead and that same dragon apparently ruled this stupid planet as a god. None of this surprised her, really. Any two of these things would be a standard weekday for her and Adora, but all together it was just annoying. Catra breathed out and in. They’d survived a dragon attack. They’d survived a spaceship crash on a strange planet, and a fight with two monsters, and an encounter with hostile locals, and now they’d apparently made friends. But Adora was always making friends. That’s just what she did. Catra tried ticking off all their successes to keep from thinking about what else was out there. Mostly Telika. The Dragon. She tried not to think of what Telika had threatened to do to Adora, what she had promised to do to Adora, or about how much power a dragon-god had to make good on her promises. She especially tried not to think of those images or those sounds - the blood, the tears, the tearing and screaming, the terror in Adora's face, Catra's helplessness. Shit.

Catra looked down at Melog, whose mane was a furious red and whose back was arched. She felt her claws digging into her own palms as she balled her fists. 'Alright, Perfuma, I'll try this mindfulness shit. It sounds better than freaking out,' Catra thought. She couldn't afford to freak out again - she'd better try something different. Catra looked at the water, rushing past her with a soothing roar. She breathed in. And then out. Those things she had seen weren't real. This was real - the cold wind and snowflakes on her skin, the warmth of this fur cloak, the snow piled around her, the roar of the river. She heard Adora's laugh in the distance, over her shoulder. Adora was alive. Adora loved her. They had each other. All that was real, too. But for how much longer?

Catra growled and shook her head. She was done arguing with herself. They needed a plan. Something that could get them in touch with Glimmer and Bow or let them escape. But that road led straight through the dragon. Damnit. This wasn't helping either. She breathed in again. This calming shit worked so much better when there wasn't an actual crisis. Fuck it, what could she do? Just stick with Adora and keep them both alive, somehow.

She turned and looked at Adora. Adora was laughing at something Elix had said, and smiling at an awkward but cute Suveri kid. Her eyes were fucking sparkling with mirth. Catra felt a surge of anger - they were stranded, they'd nearly died three times over, and some kind of divine dragon wanted to kill them, and Adora was having fun? But she also felt something softer and sadder. She hadn't seen Adora like that enough lately - she'd seen flashes of it when Adora had won some impossible victory, or in a dive bar defeating all comers at arm wrestling or when she and Catra were giving each other shit. Catra had often seen a more intimate face of that happiness when they were in each other's arms, but mostly she hadn't seen it enough, especially in moments like this, in public. Catra hadn't even known she had missed it. Adora was almost relaxed now, she was happy. Catra realized only then that Adora had been unhappy for a while. Or at least, she hadn't been happy. She felt another pang of sadness at this, and also the gnawing, mocking doubt that if Adora wasn't content it was because Catra wasn't good enough, wasn't fun enough, wasn't kind enough, just wasn't enough. Then Adora looked over her shoulder right at Catra and beamed.

Fuck, I love this woman, Catra thought. And seeing her like this makes damn near anything worth it. When the hell did she turn into such a sap? She also knew that she would do anything to keep this woman alive, this woman who was so much better than her, this woman she didn’t deserve. And for now, that just meant sticking with the big dummy and maybe trying to enjoy the ride before it all came crashing down.

Catra turned to Melog, whose mane was now a cooler violet. “How are you holding up, buddy? You haven’t really said anything since we landed, and it’s been...it’s been a while.”

“I am feeling the magic of this place. It is strange. It is not trapped like the magic of Etheria was, or wild like the magic of Etheria is now. It’s not depleted like the magic of my home. It’s different. It’s...regular. Channeled. What is your concept for it? Geometrical, you call it. Adora senses it as well.”

“Huh. Yeah I don’t know shit about magic but that does sound pretty interesting to all you magicky-types.”

“We are bonded. You are a magicky-type as well.”

“Yeah, right, Melog. Next you’ll be saying I’m a princess.”

“Glimmer did try to call you one. Repeatedly.”

“Hah! And we saw how that worked out for her. Damn, the snow’s coming down. It’s all over your back”

“I do not mind. Do you wish to rejoin the others? Your mind is so much calmer when you are with Adora.”

“Ugh, you don’t need to remind me. Fine.”

Adora nearly pulled Catra into her lap when they returned. She was asking Elix and some males all kinds of questions about Suveri culture, their history, old stories, visitors from beyond the stars, anything. The Illithi answered casually, and without any reverence, and they often contradicted each other. They didn’t agree on what the real history of the Suverii was. In fact, they got sidetracked for what seemed like half an hour on a theological debate about whether if, since Telika was a false god, there were any true gods at all. Apparently there were three Illithi and four opinions about this and everything else. But Catra kinda liked it, as annoying as it was when she wanted a straight answer. The Illithi thought for themselves, obviously, and they rolled with the punches. They must have put together that she and Adora were from a different planet or whatever, and they didn’t seem to give a shit. Plus they were obviously fun at parties.

The Illithi got back to the point and Catra could see what Adora was getting at - she wanted to know about the First Ones and what they’d done to the planet. Catra could see a kind of anxious guilt around the corner of Adora’s eyes, and she wished she could just smack it off of Adora’s face. Instead she just sighed. Not that it mattered. The Illithi didn’t know for sure what had really happened with those invaders from beyond the stars 30 generations ago or whatever, and they didn’t quite care. They just knew that they hated Telika and her stupid rules. Honestly they seemed to have their priorities straight.

After a while of talking about ancient history and Elix and the others asking increasingly probing questions about their personal lives, a couple of excited males joined them, bearing furry bundles in their arms. They presented Adora and Catra’s new, barbarous clothes to each of them. Adora got a fur cloak, gloves, a top that didn’t seem to cover that much and big fur lined boots. No sleeves though - as soon as Adora put everything on, everyone was invited to the gun show. Catra got a similar cloak, fur-lined leggings, a short skirt and a top that did the job, plus arm-length fingerless gloves that almost reminded her of sleeves. Adora turned to Catra and subtly flexed a muscle.

“How do I look?”

“Like an idiot.”

“So same as always, huh? Anything else?”

“You actually do look kinda badass. How about me?”

“Beautiful and deadly, my dear. You look beautiful and deadly", Adora said. Catra could feel her eyes as they ran over Catra's body, resting here and there on a few favorite places.

“Damn Adora, we’re in public, keep it in your pants,” Catra said, blushing and looking sideways. Adora guffawed.

“Really, it reminds me of one of my favorite outfits of yours,” Adora said with a wink. She probably meant the one with what she called the ‘thigh highs’ and the black leather sleeve and the low cut top. Leave it to Adora to see black leather and lingerie and not a badass battle uniform for a terrifying warlord, or maybe to see both at once. Catra sighed inwardly. That outfit had been wasted back then.

“Yeah I could get used to this.” Catra said, turning to Elix and the...tailors? Should she call them tailors? Skin-sewers? Furriers? Whatever. She gave them a smile and a dorky, awkward little bow. Sparkles would be so much better at this. Elix and the tailors smiled, and Adora and Catra uncurled themselves just a bit out from under their cloaks. Those were the best part, really - they were made of shaggy Grayagghi back fur on the outside, and soft belly fur with the guard hairs plucked out on the inside. They were impossibly warm, and Catra guessed waterproof. Adora moved to take a stray bit of thread and tie her hair back, but Catra caught her hand.

“I know you like that stupid ponytail, but I really like it better this way. Plus it kind of completes the whole barbarian look.” Adora shook her head and smiled. She left her hair down.

“If you want I can braid some of it up to keep it out of your eyes.”

Adora cocked an eyebrow. “Do you even know how to braid hair?”

“Sure, Sparkles taught me, I’m great at it.”

Adora gave a skeptical smile and shifted so that she was below Catra with her head in her lap.

They sat there while Catra tried again and again to get this stupid crown braid to work while concealing her growing frustration. Adora asked a lot more about the Illithi, and they answered a bit more - as long as the questions were about them and not about ‘The stories of priestesses’ the Illithi had a lot to say. They talked about magic, which Catra barely followed - though they did say that the Priestesses and Telika controlled the 'flow' of planet’s magic, and the Illithi used the magic they could draw from the living things and the elements around them. But their magic was free - it was theirs, not some way of controlling them, like the dragon’s magic. That dragon was everywhere, damn her. Catra remembered that sickeningly familiar tendril of shadow that had wrapped itself around the Grayaggh before it attacked. Catra had a better and better idea of what that was the more she thought about it. She didn’t like thinking about it.

There was another meal, and more stories. Catra finally fixed up Adora’s hair so that a crown braid kept some out of her eyes and the rest was down. It actually looked kind of great. Adora smiled to see her reflection in the ice and kissed Catra on the cheek. Catra and Adora told some stories of their adventures on other worlds. Adora brought out her map to show the Illithi, who thought it was a strange thing. “It’s like a picture of the Valley, but from high above.”

“But the valley does not look like that. It is a strange picture.”

“Don’t you have maps? How do you find your way?”

“We know the stories of this valley, we know the shape of the rocks and trees. We have walked these paths many times. And we have...you may call it a map.”

One of the other warriors unrolled a skin and angled it toward the firelight. It was a kind of diagram. A series of lines, drawn between pictograms. Adora looked at it, confused. Mapmaking was maybe her only hobby, and she had never seen one like that.

Catra pointed to a pictogram. “What’s that?”

“That is us. The Illithi.”

“And that one?” Catra asked.

“The Sisyxri, our sisters down the coast.”

“So this line is...like a trading route or something?” Adora asked.

“It is that, and the bonds of friendship between our bands. The mates we have taken from among them, the mates they have taken from among us. The children of theirs we have raised, and those of ours for which they’ve done the same.”

Catra nodded. It wasn’t a map of places, not really. It was a map of people. Of how they knew each other, what they meant to each other.

Adora pointed at another glyph on the map. “What’s that strange symbol there?”

“That is the temple of the People of the Code. It lies at the head of this valley. The Priestesses say it is the gateway to the Dead City. And to Telika.”

“Oh.” Catra’s ears fell.

Adora continued. “And what’s this line here? It doesn’t look like the others.”

“It is the sacrifices who are brought up to the temple. The Silver Ships from Andilar beyond the sea bring them to their fort on the coast, and then they walk overland on the Road of Queens.”

Catra felt a strange chill at the word ‘sacrifices.’ Probably some livestock or grain or something. Still weird.

Adora perked up. “You talked about that road before. So it leads to the Temple and the Dead City?”

Catra glared at Adora and nearly rolled her eyes. Of course Adora heard about a place called ‘The Dead City’ and thought ‘I want to go there.’ She’d loved that death planet which was just ruins for hundreds of miles. Catra couldn’t even remember that damned place’s name.

“Yes, it leads there. Or so the priestesses claim. We know it leads to their temple. But we do not know where it leads beyond there.”

“If it leads to anywhere, it must go beneath the mountains. The crags and glaciers cannot be crossed, unless you have wings,” said another warrior.

Adora looked at her own map. She took out a pen from the case, drew in a rough line for the Road of Queens, and marked the head of the valley with an X. Catra swallowed. Well, they had to get there somehow, unless they were going to wait for Sparkles to crash Darla into the planet. There had to be an out. Some other way. But Catra couldn’t see it. Adora rolled up her map and turned back to Catra. She gave a reassuring smile. Catra just shook her head but took Adora’s hand.

The sun set. The Illithi turned to telling stories of great hunts from the past, great deeds in war, mighty fests of magic, beloved nurses and beautiful males. They told what sounded like fairy-stories for the children, the kind that Sparkles got all wistful talking about and that Catra and Adora hadn’t heard until they were grown. And at last, two by two, and three by three, the Illithi started going to bed. Soon Adora and Catra were left alone with their new Illithi style blanket and bed roll and their cloaks thrown over them. Adora turned to Catra.

“Hey Catra.”

“Hey Adora.”

“Some day, huh?”

“Is that your only line?”

“Shut up. Don’t make me come over there,” Adora said with a smile and a wink, pulling Catra toward her. “I think today was better than yesterday.”

“Well I mean we didn’t get attacked by any dragons who are apparently also planet-ruling gods. So yeah, that part was nice.”

“I like the Illithi.”

“You would! It’s an entire tribe of buff chicks who throw rocks when they’re trying to flirt.”

“You’re not jealous, are you?”

“Maybe I would be if you weren’t all over me today. Seriously Adora, have you no decency?” Catra asked in mock outrage.

“Not when it comes to you,” Adora said with a leer, and Catra cackled. But Adora sighed, and her smile faded. “I know that story must have been a lot.”

“It was nice, actually. Kinda sappy, but not too lame.” Catra’s own expression shifted to a more serious look. “Is that how you really remember it? I remember a lot more…”

“Heartbreak?”

“Yeah.”

“I do too. But there were good things too, and we’re together now, and I never get to talk about, I dunno, us. Not to other people. Not when I’m being She Ra and uh...the ambassador of magic? Is that what Glimmer calls me? I can never remember.”

“It’s been seven months and you really don’t remember your title?”

“Never really paid that close attention to it, honestly.”

Catra laughed. “And people call me a slacker.”

Adora laughed with her, and then looked serious.

Adora reached out and touched Catra’s cheek. “Without talking about you, it’s not the same story, though. This one feels, I don’t know. It’s more true. More...me, maybe? You know how bad I am at feelings, it’s hard to talk about.”

No Adora, Catra thought, you’re bad at -your- feelings. You can practically read my mind but you were apparently in love with me for a decade and didn’t know it. But Catra didn’t say that. Instead she put on her most encouraging voice and said “please try. To talk about your feelings, or whatever. I do have to live with them.”

“I know. It’s just, when we were talking to the Cephalopodians, or the other people we’ve met, and Glimmer and I tell the Story of She Ra, I feel like we’re talking about someone else. Because you’re not in it. Not really. But you’re the whole reason I am She Ra. You, and Glimmer, and Bow, and everyone I love. I think about you guys every time I shout that stuff about Grayskull. And everyone acts like I did what I did to, I don’t know, give hope to the universe. I didn’t, though. I wanted to save it, sure, but it wasn’t the universe I was thinking about at the Heart of Etheria. It was you. It was us.”

Catra couldn’t be sure but she thought that there was a tear in the corner of Adora’s eyes.

“And they talk about how I’m the slayer of Horde Prime. What was it, the tyrant-killer?”

They call you some other crap that is way scarier, Catra thought. But she let Adora continue.

“Do you know when I decided I was going to kill Horde Prime?”

‘Decided’ - that was a word. Sometimes Catra almost forgot that she slept next to a woman who just made ‘decisions’ like ‘I’m going to kill the god tyrant of the known universe,’ or slept with a knife under her pillow. Still. But Catra played along. “I dunno, when he decided to erase all of existence?”

“It was when you were having nightmares, back in the sick bay on Darla. We were barely talking back then, you remember.”

“If I didn’t the 2 hour story we told would’ve probably jogged my memory, Adora.”

“Anyway, when I saw how much pain you were in, when I saw how much he had hurt you, I just knew I was going to kill him. With these hands. I promised that I would do it, and I promised I would enjoy it. Guess I’m a woman of my word.”

Catra smiled and shook her head, but mostly to keep from staring, or crying. “So you killed the emperor of the cosmos for me.”

“And I’d fucking do it again, Catra. Still, when it actually happened it was mostly just one of those things I had to do. Like restoring magic to Etheria or like turning his flagship into a tree.”

“I think you mean a space-broccoli.”

Adora snorted, then shook her head and breathed in, serious again. “When I first decided to kill him I figured I’d wring his neck or snap it, or run him through. Not just ...magic him into nothingness.”

“Wringing his neck would have been sweet.”

“Yeah.” Adora smiled and held Catra closer. “Thanks for playing along. I know the past is...it’s hard for you. Is that why you didn’t like bringing the whip? I had thought that was a good memory for you but…”

Catra swallowed. She guessed it was time to talk about all this feelings crap herself. Oh well. “It would be a good memory but... there aren’t any good memories for me from back then. Or I mean...nothing that’s just good, without something bad all...mixed together. You were right, the Crimson Wastes...that was good for me. No Hordak, no Shadow Weaver, just me, my wits, my whip and Scorpia. Scorpia told me it was the happiest she'd ever seen me. It was probably the happiest I ever was between you finding the sword and everything and you...you know, rescuing me. But then I threw it all away. I was almost happy, and I chose to be miserable. Not like I felt like I had a choice.

"Adora, after I got that whip, I took you, and the sword, and I went back to the Horde. Shadow Weaver destroyed that whip with her lightning when she and Glimmer nearly killed me."

Adora grimaced and locked her jaw into a scowl. She'd nearly decked Sparkles when she'd heard the full story. But Adora reached out and touched Catra behind her ears. Catra closed her eyes and continued.

"Then I pulled that lever. You and Glimmer lost Angella. I betrayed Entrapta, and Scorpia, and even Hordak. Basically every friend I still had, and it’s something I don’t like even thinking about and when I do...I can’t understand myself anymore. I did that, I fucked everything up and it's all on me. But I don’t understand...I dunno. I don’t understand the woman who did that. I remember it, I know why but, it feels so far away and it doesn’t even make sense.” Catra felt herself about to come apart. This twisting, desperate urge to tear at herself, to twist around, run scream, and freeze at the same time. But she was used to it. She knew what to do. She just let herself feel like shit. Eventually she wouldn’t. The wave of regret would pass. Still, only Adora’s touch kept her from rushing off into the night.

“Catra…” Adora was struggling for words. Instead she just held Catra in her arms and stroked behind her ears. “You’ve just... grown so much. We’ve grown so much, and we’re better people than we were. And I’m just glad to have you. I’m glad to have you here. Just the two of us against a whole planet.”

“Just the way we always talked about, huh?”

“Two girls, taking on the world. And winning. We can do this, Catra.”

“Damn you’re an optimist.”

Adora just winked and they lay in silence for a little while.

"Catra, you know you don’t have to keep the whip. If you don't want to.”

“Actually I’m starting to like it again. It always was badass. Maybe I can make some better memories with it now.”

As long as I can keep you alive, my love, Catra thought.

They fell asleep in each other's arms, with Catra purring loudly.

Catra was awoken by Melog licking her face and Adora gently shaking her by the shoulder. She gave a small growl to them both and batted them away from her face. Of course they were ganging up on her to wake her up early. She momentarily thought she’d stay in bed just out of spite, but the sun was out, and she was never going back to sleep now. She hated the morning. She thought about what the day would bring, and she hated it more. She hadn’t dreamed of a plan to avoid the dragon and still escape the planet. Catra raised herself from the bedroll with a groan.

Adora had already left her side and was talking to the Illithi, who were already nearly packed up and ready to move out. Catra realized she needed to roll up her own bedroll, but she swiveled one ear to listen to Adora and Elix at the same time.

“So how far is this temple if we take the Road of Queens?”

“It is a little less than three whole day’s journey, if you walk quickly, as unburdened warriors do, and if you stop little and walk from dawn until dusk. I warn you, the road is quick, but it is not without danger. The warriors, the guards of the People of the Code march along that road. Only the strongest of our warriors may fight them, and only when we walk in great numbers.”

“Elix, you’ve seen us fight. Do you really think it isn’t something we can handle?” Catra saw Adora beam her most self-assured smile up at Elix, who shrugged to half-concede the point. Adora started..“Oh! I need to show you something. I think I’ve figured this out. For the Honor of Grayskull!”

Adora held out her hand, and light spread from her eyes across her body as her arms and legs lengthened and swelled. A ray of light solidified into steel in her hand, and Catra’s crown arched around her face, her boots grew wings, and the fur of her top combed itself into a heart.. She was She Ra, but her clothes had barely changed - everything was fur and hide, her arms and legs were still bare, and that cloak was still streaming behind her. Her hair was long, but it was down except for the braid Catra had plaited last night, and it blew in the wind like a warrior’s helmet crest.

“Pretty neat, huh?”

Even Catra stared a bit, and the unflappable Illithi were genuinely impressed. They went up to Adora and slapped her on the back and complimented her cloak, and the ‘plumes’ of her hair. Catra huffed at how the woman she loved was also the galaxy’s biggest idiot. She gave the mildest hiss to herself when a warrior called She-Ra ‘beautiful’, then she just sighed. Women loved She-Ra and, the heavens help her, She-Ra loved women.

But there were more important things to worry about than her girlfriends only partly reformed flirtatious ways. Catra tried to think through their next steps as she finished lashing their bedroll angrily and tying it around herself, as well as slinging a hide bag full of Grayagghi meat over her shoulder. There had to be some way out of this, some angle. Sneak past the temple under cloak, rescue the Cephalopodians and fly off to safety? Telika could catch them and they’d be even more fucked. Sneak into the Cephalopodian ship and try to get off a transmission telling Glimmer to stay away? If a recording of a fucking dragon attack wouldn’t convince Sparkles not to leap into danger, and it probably wouldn’t, Adora begging her over the radio wouldn’t work. Though at least it would let Sparkles know they were alive. Still not enough. What was left? Distracting a dragon? Damnit, Catra hadn’t even had breakfast and she was trying to plot for two people. Because there is no way Adora’s plan was anything more or less than ‘walk up to the dragon to make friends with it and/or fight it.’

Catra looked over at her nearly 8 foot tall barbarian warrior queen of a girlfriend. Everything about her from her fur cloak to her sword to her boots to her smile said ‘I am a woman that is going to punch a dragon in the face.’ Still, it was hard to be pissed at her when she looked that damn good. Catra found her eyes wandering over Adora’s thigh muscles and biceps again. At last Catra’s stomach growled and she could distract herself with the breakfast the males had laid out - fatty pieces of Grayagghi meat fried on a hot rock next to the fire. There were only two pieces left. Catra didn’t even need to ask if Adora had had breakfast. She smiled to herself and took both pieces.

“Thanks for leaving me some, jerk!” She called over to Adora.

Adora looked over her shoulder. “You should thank me for leaving anything. After all, you snooze, you lose!”

“Not even you need to eat seven helpings of alien bacon, Adora.”

Adora scoffed. “Like I said, you’re lucky I left you any.”

Catra turned to a young Illithi. “You see what I have to put up with?” but she grinned through all of it.

Catra looked back over at Adora. She’d mentally called her a ‘barbarian queen’ and that was true. She laughed louder, she stood taller, her smile was quicker and broader. Adora was sometimes hesitant, self-doubting, second-guessing, or bored and listless. Supposedly it was worse when Catra wasn’t around. But here, on this planet, in these clothes, that Adora was almost entirely gone. What remained was a savage, swaggering goddess, ferocious and dangerous. Catra had to remind herself just how ridiculous her girlfriend was just to keep from staring or drooling.

Adora slung her own sack around her shoulders and draped her cloak over it. Then they said their goodbyes. They thanked Elix, and the tailors, and everyone who had cooked, and the warriors who came up and slapped them on the shoulder and headbutted Adora goodbye. Elix and the others parted with half-shouted advice about enduring the cold, and warnings not to trust the words of the civilized folk and their priestesses - and to trust Telika least of all. Waving, Adora and Catra walked through the snow, over the rest of the gravel bar and then among the towering trees of the forest. At least they reached the Road. It was purple-pink, crystalline and etched with those weird glyphs the First Ones loved so much. Snow was piled around it, but it was dry and bare. Squeezing Catra’s hand to reassure her, Adora let them out on the Road of Queens, walking toward the Temple, the Dead City and the Dragon.

Chapter Text

Adora of Etheria, She-Ra, tyrant-slayer, walked down the Road of Queens, struggling to keep a smile off her face. Catra walked beside her, long limbed, lithe and lovely, and Adora had to force her gaze away from the woman by her side and onto the landscape around her.

It was beautiful. The sun was coming out from behind the clouds, and all around them the forest was dappled in deep shadows and brilliant light. It was not so different from the Whispering Woods, but colder, and with even bigger trees, evergreen, not broad-leaved, but still it reeked of magic. In between the widely spaced, huge evergreens there was a canopy of leather-leafed shrubs as tall as trees themselves, and above them the arching trunks of other trees, smaller than the evergreens but still tall, and bare of leaves. Adora had spent enough time with Perfuma to wonder what the forest would look like in summer. Would those huge shrubs erupt in flowers? Would there be ferns, herbs, small bushes? All that assumed there was a summer here at all.

Here and there the forest would clear enough that they could see the nearly sheer walls of the valley and even taller ice-capped mountains beyond them, now visible in the clear sky. Those mountains were taller than any in Etheria - miles tall, though it was hard to tell without surveying equipment. Adora resisted the urge to stop and note down some peaks and heights on her map, but she made a few mental notes for later, not just the mountains around them but also the course of the road they walked on. Mostly though, Adora took in the whole landscape. This whole valley had been carved by ice long ago. Adora could see the marks of the ancient glaciers everywhere, and they were majestic - hanging valleys, frozen waterfalls, sheer smooth granite cliffs, boulders scattered around them like a young giant's toys. Adora started to point them out to Catra.

"You see that hanging valley? That must have been where a smaller glacier flowed into the big glacier. Oh you can still see ice in the back of it! And look at that rock! That's a glacial erratic. And look at that cliff! See the grooves from…"

At this point Catra burst out laughing. "How the hell are you both the galaxy's biggest barbarian badass and the third biggest nerd in the known universe, at the same time?" She asked, laughing and smiling up at Adora.

"I...er... you're the nerd!"

"Nice comeback, She-Ra."

"Wait who are the two biggest nerds?"

"Arrow Boy and Entrapta, obviously."

"What about Hordak? He literally never went outside. He even met his girlfriend doing a science project. There's no way I am nerdier than Hordak."

"You know, you have a point. You’re only the fourth biggest nerd in the known universe."

“Thanks.”

“Seriously though, you look like you should be talking about…”

‘Crushing my enemies?” Adora said, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah and driving them before you and hearing the lamentations of their men, or some shit.” Catra laughed. "Seriously Adora, if you ever want to get into the warlord racket, we could make something happen."

"Oh, so I should just become some space faring barbarian queen?"

"You already look like some kind of space lord motherfucker. Adora, vanquisher of kings. Or some shit like that"

"They already say stuff like that about me, Catra."

"And now you look the part."

“That is the look I’m going for.” Adora chuckled to herself. “I could get used to these clothes.”

Adora was serious - she felt large and powerful, even shrunk down to her normal size. She felt better than she had in a while. She’d loved the bluntness of Elix and the other Illithi, their delight in their strength, their way of boasting around the campfire. She loved the way they looked at her, as a great warrior, strong, fast, cunning. She could almost see herself that way. No one here knew she was She-Ra. No one even knew what that meant. Here she was just Adora the Etherian. She was still She-Ra, but she was herself. She didn’t symbolize anything to anyone. The only person who knew anything about She-Ra was Catra, and Catra would never see Adora as a symbol, only as the woman she loved. It was weird, but Adora had been feeling better ever since they’d crashed. Was it not having anyone’s hopes on her, anyone’s eyes on her? This She-Ra stuff meant too much to too many people, sometimes. Now she was free of all that. Adora felt freer, lighter, unburdened. It felt amazing.

And now she knew she was only three or four days away from the Cephalopodians and the dragon, and she knew what she had to do, and she even knew she had enough time to confront the dragon before Glimmer dropped out of warp and flew Darla right at Telika. If Adora could face down Telika and convince her or defeat her, then everything would be alright. The Cephalopodians, Bow and Glimmer, Adora and Catra - everyone would be safe. No one would have to die. It was all up to her wits, her strength, and her heart. Wearing these clothes, sword in hand, impressing those warrior women and most of all with Catra beside her, Adora even felt like she could do it.

Catra interrupted her thoughts. “You just like showing off your biceps.”

“Complaining?”

“No, I’m mocking, Adora, that’s totally different.” Catra smiled slyly out of the side of her face, and Adora just beamed.

Catra shook her head. “Dork.”

They felt easily into teasing each other more. Catra seemed to drift into her own thoughts, from time to time, and her ears and tail drooped sadly, so Adora pulled her out. She opened herself to mockery with awful pick-up lines or particularly bizarre trains of thought that Catra couldn’t help making fun of. One time Adora just threw a snowball. And then they’d fall into flirting, and soon Catra and Adora would be hanging off each other, wrestling and tugging at each other, laughing together, taking the piss out of each other until they were both smiling.

Even with all that, Adora and Catra made good time on the road. With decent boots and light burdens they could step quickly and keep going. When dusk finally fell and they needed to stop to camp they’d travelled nearly twenty seven miles by Adora’s reckoning, though the road curved a great deal. She didn’t have surveying equipment with her, but as Swiftwind flew they’d probably gone closer to fifteen miles. For dinner they ate cold Grayagghi meat, and they entertained each other telling their favorite Kyle Stories from back when they were kids. Like that time he’d tried to warm up and soften his ration bar by stuffing it down his pants on a 10 kilometre march. Or the infamous Rogue Boot Incident, a Kyle mystery so perplexingly pointless that only Rogelio had ever gotten to the bottom of it, and then no one else could quite get the gist of what had really happened through all the convoluted -lizard noises-. By the end even Melog was laughing. Catra and Adora once again fell asleep in each other’s arms with Melog watching over them - with their cloaks, fur blankets and bedrolls and each other for warmth, they didn’t even need a fire.

When they woke the next day, they were warm but covered in snow, and Melog was a soft glow beneath a drift. They ate more Grayagghi meat, threw on their packs and stumbled through the near white-out back onto the road. But when they found the road it was as easy going as ever. It was a strange way to travel - a clear path before them, a blizzard all around them, it was like they were travelling in a bubble, or not travelling at all. Adora gave up trying to figure out how far they’d gone, and she and Catra just focused on keeping a steady pace. Without the mountains and forest to distract her, focusing on the road ahead, Adora couldn’t help seeing the First One’s runes written all over their path. It was mostly just numbers for each section of road, and something that might be magic, or technology, or both, labelled ‘snow dispersion field’.

But even seeing their writing reminded Adora of how she was walking in the literal footsteps of her ancestors, people who had come to this world, and done nothing good, as far as she could tell. She thought about the other planets where she had seen the marks of the First Ones. Magic sapped from the land, people colonized, and yet nothing was left of her people after a thousand years but ruins and hollowed out worlds. Sometimes she wondered about Eternia. What it was like, whether it even still existed, whether it could feel like home. But most of the time, Adora hoped she never found it. She thought about the First Ones building this road and she promised that she would never be like them.

"You alright, Adora?" Catra asked.

"I'm fine, just thinking." Adora stopped. "Wipe that smirk off your face."

Catra looked like she was struggling between snarking and concern. “As much as I love laughing at the idea of you thinking, something’s bothering you, Adora. “

“Something’s bothering you too, Catra.”

“What’s bothering me? Oh just the dragon-diety who wants to kill us and who has nearly absolute power over this entire fucking planet. Other than that, not much. So what’s bothering you?”

“Just thinking about the First Ones.”

Catra nearly let out a groan worthy of Glimmer, but she swallowed it and asked instead “what about them?”

“Don’t you mean ‘us’? I’m one of them. And we did...all of this. Just like we did to Krytis and Etheria.”

“Oh come on Adora. You’ve never met another First One. You’re not some...heir of their empire, or whatever the fuck it is you’re thinking.”

“But that is my heritage. That’s the legacy I’m inheriting…”

“Adora you’re an orphan. I remember, I was raised by the same shitty people as you were, and I didn’t see any First Ones back in the Fright Zone. You’re an Etherian. Don’t you feel like an Etherian?”

“I do. But the First Ones...they’re the reason I’m She-Ra.”

“Yeah how’s that worked out for you?”

“Kinda great, sometimes,” Adora said, flashing a smile and making a muscle and laughing weakly.

“But you made it great, Adora. That wasn’t them. That cosmic asshole was right about one thing. The First Ones were a race of tyrants, and they made you their weapon. They were going to use you to destroy most of the galaxy, and kill you doing it. Light Hope…” Catra literally growled in rage. “Light Hope used you. She manipulated you. She nearly killed you. You don’t owe the First Ones shit. They didn’t give you shit. You don’t have an inheritance. You’re another one of their victims.”

Adora looked over to Catra. Her claws were out, her fur was on edge, and Melog’s mane was glowing red. Catra looked over to her and took a breath. Melog’s manel cooled, and her fur relaxed.

“Sorry, Adora. They way Light Hope treated you and what the First Ones did to you, making you She Ra and everything...it just pisses me off. Fuck, I’m angrier about it now than when you first told me. The better shit gets for us the more the crap people did to you pisses me off. Shadow Weaver and Light Hope and even fucking Sparkles sometimes. You deserved better than all that destiny and duty shit, Adora. What Light Hope did to you, she was just twisting the knife Shadow Weaver stuck in you when we were kids. And I think about that and I want to scream and rip something to shreds. And then you piss me off even more by acting guilty, like you were the one conquering the galaxy and not the unlucky fuck who got stuck holding the sword when the party was over.”

Catra turned away, but not before Adora could see her tears. “Fuck, Adora I love you. You know how much it hurts to see you feel guilty for shit you haven’t even done?”

“Catra...what you say is true. But...it’s also really complicated.”

Catra wiped her eyes. Adora thought she could hear a sniff. “It’s not complicated, Adora. You didn’t conquer the fucking galaxy. You didn’t gain anything from the First Ones conquering the galaxy. Besides, didn’t Razz say Etheria made you She-Ra?”

Adora nodded. “She did.”

“So the First Ones didn’t even give you this power. Etheria did. The First Ones just tried to use you. So why are you acting like you’re inheriting their shitty legacy?”

Adora sighed. “Catra, you’re not wrong.”

“There’s a word for that. I think it rhymes with ‘light’. Oh yeah, ‘Catra, you’re right. That’s what I think you should say right now.” Catra said, chuckling and blinking through tears.

Adora laughed in spite of herself. “Catra, you’re right. But I’m still a magically powered alien landing on this planet and I don’t want to fuck it up like my ancestors did. I’m not here to conquer anyone, or hurt anyone. I just want to get the Cephalopodians and leave.”

Catra nodded. “Yeah, I get that. But what if Telika and her priestesses don’t let you? What are you willing to do?”

Adora looked away. “I don’t know.”

“See that’s what I was talking about with holding back. You want to tell me ‘bar fight rules’ when we’re fighting Telika’s fucking cult? I have a bad feeling about this. I’ve had a bad feeling about this since before we got to this star system. And I’m terrified you’re going to try to do the right thing instead of saving yourself. So save yourself. Please. Save yourself for me, if no one else, Adora.”

Adora looked at Catra. She was crying softly, and hugging herself, and wringing her hands. Melog’s mane was a dismal and mottled violet, and it was drooping nearly as much as Catra’s ears and tail.

Adora’s heart reached out to Catra. But she was also frustrated, and tired of this argument, and even more tired of being second-guessed. “What do you want me to say, Catra, that I’m going to kill them?” Killing was not something they talked about often. They’d talked about it once or twice, because they talked about everything. They’d both killed people. Adora knew that not every tank crew had bailed out before she blew up their ride, that sometimes those space pirates didn’t survive their ships getting cut open, and Adora couldn’t even count how many clones she’d cut through on Prime’s ship. When she’d killed someone, it had never been personal. Death by She-Ra didn’t have anyone’s name on it, it was just sent ‘to whom it may concern.’ Catra...Catra had gotten those claws bloody in ways neither of them liked thinking about. For her it had been personal, and she still woke up screaming sometimes. Killing again...Adora didn’t want to be someone who showed up on someone else’s planet and started cutting people down, just like she’d told Catra before.

“Adora, all I want to hear is what you made me promise. You’re going to do what you need to do...in order to survive. In order to make it out of here.”

Adora looked over at Catra. “I promise.” It was not a lie. Adora wasn’t going to sacrifice herself. She was going to live, and fly off into the sunset with Catra, and live happily ever after until she died when she was like, 90. But she was also going to find a way to save the Cephalopodians, and not kill the Suverii, and maybe even change Telika’s mind. Because she was She-Ra, she was Adora, and that’s what she did.

“Whatever it takes?”

“Whatever it takes.” Moments like this Adora realized that breaking Catra’s heart was one thing she could never forgive herself for.

Catra smiled back through her tears. “Thanks Adora.”

They walked on in silence, side by side, for maybe an hour. Then it became too much and Catra started ribbing Adora.

“So what’s your plan to defeat Telika? You’re the tactical genius, aren’t you?”

“I figure I’ll just punch her in the face. Still working on the details, you know me. I like to wing it.” Catra somehow managed to laugh and recoil in horror at the same time. Adora wasn’t going to say anything about her actual plan, which involved at least trying to talk to this dragon that Catra was terrified of.

Things went on like that for the rest of the day. The snow slackened from a blizzard to a normal snowstorm, and by the time twilight was settling in they could almost see the shadows of the valley walls around them. They settled into a camp a short walk from the road, once again not bothering with or risking a fire. Catra turned to Adora as they lay together, waiting for their hearts to slow enough for sleep to take them.

“Hey Adora.”

“Hey Catra.”

And then Catra looked at Adora with that alluring grin, mismatched eyes shining in the light of the stars as they came up from behind the clouds, and if Adora wasn’t happy before, she was happy then. This was all she needed.

They woke with the dawn again, when the sun was still behind the mountains and the high ceiling of clouds.

“At least it’s not snowing.” Remarked Catra as she rolled out of her bed roll with a grown and tossed Adora a fatty hunk of Grayagghi meat. At this time of morning, Adora could only grunt appreciatively and tear into her food.

Neither of them wasted any time getting ready. They were both eager to get to the end of this journey, and the more daylight they had at the end of it the better. So soon they were off.

The valley narrowed as they continued on the road. The walls and the mountains behind them began to blend together, until soon there were only two nearly sheer rock and ice covered slopes towering above them, disappearing into the clouds. They could see those mountains all the time now, because the once-vast trees had thinned until they were stunted and scattered. Lush rainforest had been replaced with a frozen taiga. Even Catra seemed impressed, though mostly she seemed cold - now the wind whipping down the valley cut through even their cloaks, and soon Adora wrapped Catra in her cloak and arms and they walked together like that, Adora shielding Catra from the cold. But soon enough they turned a corner, and there they saw the head of the valley - a slope that the Road of Queens snaked up, and above it a nearly sheer wall that ended in the cliff-life face of a glacier. Halfway up, unmistakable, they saw the dirty gray-brown straight, hard lines of buildings. For the first time since they’d crashed, they saw their surroundings shaped by something other than ice, wind, and water. It was a strange collection of buildings - low houses, crowded together, made of something like stucco, in terraced layers spreading down the slope, surrounded by a kind of wall on the downhill side, and protected by near sheer cliffs on the other sides. Above them were two great buildings, made of the same weathered material, but much larger, and capped with snow-covered domes. Catra and Adora gave each other a single look and walked on, toward the Temple of Telika.

As they grew closer and the temple and valley’s head loomed higher and higher over them, Catra turned to Adora.

“So we’re doing this.”

“We’re doing this.” Adora said, setting her face and giving a grim smile out of one corner of her mouth.

Catra shook her head. “Why are you so...I dunno. Confident? Are you really that much of a cocky jerk that you think you can just walk up and punch a dragon in the face?”

“Catra, you and I both know that my cockiness knows no bounds.”

“I mean you did scream ‘I am a fucking sex goddess’ at the top of your lungs, on our balcony, after we had been dating for like a month.”

“You called me that first.”

“That was pillow talk, okay. And, hey maybe I had a really good time and I was kinda blissed out. But that’s not the point. Is this, all this...really just about you feeling invincible?”

“In these clothes, I certainly feel like I could punch a dragon or two.” Adora gave her crookedest, most self-assured grin. Catra rolled her eyes. “But no, it’s not just that.”

“What is it?”

“You’re going to say it’s sappy.”

“I mean, probably, but when has that stopped you?”

Adora laughed. “Fine, Catra. Do you remember when we promised each other that we’d always look out for each other?”

“Adora, you keep asking me if I remember shit that I could never forget. Do you think I’m brain damaged?”

“So you remember.”

“Yeah, I recall talking about it a couple times.”

“Well, that wasn’t the only thing we said.We also said that as long as we were together, nothing they did could really hurt us.”

“Yeah, I remember that. So what?”

“So what? We were right. Think about everything we’ve done since we’ve been back together. We beat Horde Prime. We’ve kicked asses from one end of the galaxy to the other. We are undefeated in barroom brawls and actual space battles throughout the universe. Catra, ever since you came back into my life...we’ve been unbeatable. I’m not invincible, Catra. I don’t think I am. But when we’re together, we can do anything. We can beat anybody.”

“You’re right. That’s sappy as shit.” Catra said, but Adora could see her smile and feel her tail wrap around Adora’s waist.

"So since we are so unstoppable together, do you have a plan for waltzing into that town?"

"I do, actually."

Catra looked genuinely surprised."Wait, seriously, you, the princess of winging it, have a plan?"

"Yup."

"Care to share with the rest of us?"

"Oh I guess I should. You are kinda important to my plan."

"Well then out with it, don't just look at me with that shit-eating grin."

Adora chuckled. "I am going to transform into She Ra, walk up to the gate, and demand entrance."

"That's not a plan."

Adora ignored her. “I’m going to demand entrance, and you and Melog are going to stay cloaked and watch my back. If they turn me away you are going to find a back way in and let me in anyway. Meanwhile I’ll try to talk to them, whatever happens, and figure out what I can."

"And if they just attack you on sight?"

"I can take them, but you can help out. Don't reveal yourself, though. If they bar the gate you'll need to slip in and let me in. Or I could just blast through it." Adora shrugged. "But I like having you around as a surprise. Plus you can watch my back and scout things out while I try to talk to them. Maybe you can find out how to get to the Dead City so we can rescue the Cephalopodians."

"That's…" Catra looked aside, and then at Melog. Melog's mane was half-ruffled with worry, and Catra's tale was twitching. "That's actually a pretty good plan."

"What did you just say?"

"Ugh. If you want me to be nice to you can you not make such a big deal out of every little compliment?"

“Well maybe if you were freer with them I wouldn’t be so…"

“Annoying? Such a smug dipshit?” Catra retorted with a broad smile. Her tail hadn’t left Adora waist, and Adora knew it.

“Eh, you keep me on my toes.”

“You know it.” Catra swooped in and gave Adora a peck on the cheek.

Adora stopped and turned to Catra. “This is about the last tree before we get to the temple. I should transform. You should probably cloak.”

Catra nodded, and she and Melog disappeared.

“For the Honor of Grayskull!” Adora shouted. She felt the sword solidify in her hand, light, quick and deadly. She felt her hair billowing behind her, felt the strength swelling in her arms and legs, felt the warmth behind her eyes. She felt the reminders of the people she loved envelop her - Bow’s heart, Glimmer’s wings, Catra’s crown. She felt the power of Etheria itself flow through her. She looked behind her, to where she knew Catra was standing, invisible but so present, there to support her. She turned and fixed her icy eyes on the temple complex and its gates. She was She-Ra, she was Adora. Whatever that temple held, she could face it. Adora walked up the Road of Queens toward the Temple complex.

It was a long and hard road, switch-backs and switch-backs twisting one after the other, snaking up the mountainside. Adora kept glancing up over her shoulder at the temple gate. There was no way they hadn’t seen her. She didn’t see the gate open, or even see any faces on the parapets of the gatehouse. Sitll she walked on. The wind blew cold down the from the glaciers all around her, and snow whipped into her eyes and stung her cheeks. She didn’t look over her shoulder to where Catra followed in her footsteps. That would be suspicious, and she couldn’t see Catra anyway. “You may want to hang back a bit, in case they send a seeing spell at me. That way they won’t see you.”

“Damn, look at the big brain on Adora here! Where were all these smarts back when you were trying to beat me?”

Adora snorted. “Guess you bring out the best in me, Catra.”

She didn’t know how long she climbed the mountain, but the sunlight filtering through the clouds was still strong when she approached the gate. Only now did it open. Silver-masked warriors in glittering bronze armour poured out, brandishing spears, axes and wickedly curved swords.

“Greetings, I am Adora of Ether---” Adora began in a loud, clear voice.

Adora ducked on instinct as a burning gout of black flame exploded past her head. Her eyes widened just a twitch. That purple-black, all consuming shadow could be only one thing. Adora snarled, grabbed her sword out of thin air, and whipped around to face her attacker. But even as she did more tendrils of shadow flew out, grasping at her, wrapping around her sword, her arms, her throat. Adora flicked her sword and like a solid ray of light it cut through the darkness, burning it away like snow shrinking before a bonfire. Adora could feel light pouring out of her now, throwing off the spells they were trying to bind her in. Adora roared out a battlecry. Seeing dark magic sent her into a rage. She had come to talk, to bargain, to seek understanding. But that magic had hurt too many people she loved, and now these warriors had the gall to use it on her. Peace was never an option, apparently.

She locked her eyes on one of the Suveri warriors, who was waving one set of arms in an invocation even as she held a spear and shield in the other pair. Nice trick, Adora thought, smirking. She swung her sword and light flew out like a wave, slamming into the warriors which as much force as the sea. They staggered, flew back, splayed out on the ground, and Adora charged, sword flashing. A few of them stumbled up and rushed at Adora, struggling to meet her, slashing at her with swords, hacking with axes, stabbing with spears. Adora swung her sword in a wide arc. It burned through wood, melted bronze, seared flesh. The Suveri warriors staggered back in shock. Some winced and turned away, as though blinded by the light of She-Ra. Now she was among them, and they were all around her. Tendrils of dark magic clutched at her and strangled her, weapons swung at her. Adora felt a great weight crushing her throat as one of them tried to throttle her, and felt the sting of a sword slashing her thighs. But it would take more than that to stop her. She twirled her sword around in a wide arc and spun around, cutting through the unhallowed spells and forcing her opponents back. They came at her again and again, and Adora kept swinging. One of them blasted her with fire and she swiped it away. Adora heard a fierce yell and then a shocked cry behind her, and saw a Suveri warrior with a great bronze mace pulled off her feet by a whip without a (visible) wielder. Adora winked in that direction even as she spun around to meet her next attacker.

As they tried to pile on her Adora only grew angrier and stronger, throwing off their spells and breaking their weapons. Adora’s fists and feet and elbows and knees did nearly as much work as her sword. She felt masks bend and faces crumple under her hands and her elbows. One disarmed warrior tried to grapple Adora, so she head-butted her unconscious, then kneed her companion so hard the warrior bent double. A single blow with her sword pommel sent that Suveri to the ground too. Others charged her, Adora threw them like dolls. They landed with a crunch and a groan. Still others stumbled and fell, tripped up by a whip that came out of nowhere and left just as suddenly. Adora kept swinging, kept punching, kept kicking, until she started, stared around and saw only groaning, crumpled bodies all around her. She kicked a few that were particularly still until they twitched and groaned. No one was dead, yet.

“Now will you talk? How’s it going to be? I can do this all day!” she screamed at the gates. At least the Ilithi had told her why they were trying to kill her. And they hadn’t used black magic to do it.

There was no reply. The gate was shut again. It was impressive - some dark wood like ebony, embossed and reinforced with bronze studs and straps. Adora grinned at it derisively. She took three steps toward the gate, bringing her sword down as her foot hit the ground the last time. It cut through the gate, burned through the wood, melted through the bronze, and the wave of magic that it flung out shattered all that remained and blasted it inward. Adora walked into the town through the smoking wreckage of the gate.

How would these Suveri remember this? Adora wondered, possessed by a strange thought.

“And so hither came Adora, the Etherian, flaxen-haired, blue-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the world under her booted feet.”

Chapter Text

There was a flaw in Adora's shockingly sensible plan. It required Catra to stand back, hidden, while Adora strode off into danger. It required Catra staying hidden while Adora fought alone and apparently, it required Catra staying hidden while Adora was burned, throttled and nearly swallowed by the snaking shadows that haunted Catra's nightmares.

So Catra froze when she saw the first undeniable tendrils of dark magic wrapping around Adora. This was a nightmare alright, an old one, where this time it was Adora choked senseless by thick shadows and it was Catra frozen helpless, watching. Catra felt Melog shift and the air quaver. She snapped out of it long enough to duck behind a snow-covered boulder just before her emotions revealed her to the world. “For fuck's sale, just this once, hold it together, Catra,” she told herself. “Adora needs you.”

“I can do this.” Catra said to herself, and Melog. She didn’t think of her fear, or the knot twisting in her gut, or her hair standing on end. She thought of Adora, the woman she loved, and how there was no place she’d rather be than by her side. Melog mewled and cloaked them again. Catra leaped out from behind the rock. Adora was still wrestling with tendrils of black magic, spinning and swinging her sword to cut them away and keep her many attackers at bay. She was bleeding from the leg and an ethereal arm darker than night itself was throttling her. Catra’s eyes widened and she charged at Adora’s attackers at a run. It seemed like she was too far away, and time was moving too slow. Adora lashed out, cut the tentacle from her throat and sent the Suverii hurtling back. She slashed at them, knocked them down and left them doubled over, staggering and clutching their wounds. Adora was one woman, bathed in light, nearly surrounded by shadows. Right now it almost looked like the light was about to get snuffed out. Catra stopped herself and struck, cracking her whip around a warriors ankles and jerking her feet away savagely just before she crushed Adora under a bronze mace. The warrior splayed out on the ground, and Adora finished her off with a kick to the head. Catra swore that her girlfriend even smiled in her direction and winked. Adora was fighting 20 magical warriors at once and she was fucking winking.

Even more quickly Adora turned and swung at the next, and kneed the one after that, and threw a third. And on and on. Catra cracked her whip, taking warriors off their feet just as they stood back up, or just as they were swinging for Adora, leaving them off-balance and helpless when Adora kicked or punched or grabbed them. The setting sun finally came out from behind the clouds and bathed them all in carnelian light. For a few seconds Catra’s was too captivated by Adora to remember to be afraid - covered in sweat and blood, thigh and arm muscles straining and chiseled in the onyx shadows cast by the crimson sunlight, moving like both a wrestler and a dancer, Adora, She-Ra, was the most beautiful thing Catra had ever seen.

Soon Adora stood alone, surrounded by her foes as they lay groaning, wounded and scattered all around her. She kicked a couple until they twitched, but made no other movement toward them. Adora must be seriously pissed if she wasn’t healing her fallen enemies immediately, Catra thought. The mass around Adora smelled of perfume and spices and incense, soiled with blood and fear. Catra had little time to think of it, because then Adora screamed at the gates and charged them, slashed and blasted through.

So much for Melog and her sneaking in and undoing the latch, Catra thought. Catra ran after Adora to follow her through smouldering, splintered wreckage of the gates and into the streets of the town. She-Ra or not, the giant glowing oaf was going to need someone to watch her back.

Catra snapped her head to the side as soon as she charged through the gate, quickly enough to catch a warrior trying to charge Adora from behind. Catra cracked her whip, and the warrior fell with a clatter, then Adora knocked her unconscious with She-Ra’s blast of rainbow light. Catra looked above her and the windows and balconies above them, set against the sky and icy slopes above like yawning mouths and jagged teeth, bathed in the bloody sunset. They looked nearly as forbidding as the warrior that walked beneath them. Catra glanced at Melog and nodded. Together they leapt onto the nearest low rooftop, mercifully sending off only a slight puff of snow. Catra grinned to herself and they leapt to the next roof. From here they could see behind and beside Adora, and even down the dark, twisting alleys that opened up at each side.

So Catra and Melog leaped above the streets and aided Adora, unseen, as she fought a running battle through the village and up the terraces with their ramps and stairs. Adora swept the streets with She-Ra’s prismatic lances and waves of light; Catra and Melog threw attackers off buildings and pounced on them from above, ensnaring them, tripping them and then leaping away before anyone could discover them. Even as she fought, Catra took in the town out of the corners of her eyes. She could see Suverii fleeing from them - some in brilliantly colored, voluminous robes, with metal masks glinting off their faces. Others were bare faced and dressed in rough and scanty clothes. And after the clean, almost sterile smell of snow-covered forests, the town was a riot of scents - cooking food, rotting refuse, incense and perfume, spices, and something that might be sweat and excrement. But most of all, Catra smelled what could only be fear. Adora had struck this town like an avalanche, a barbarian war-goddess from their nightmares, probably. Soon even the warriors were running from her. “That’s my girl.” Catra thought.

At last Adora climbed the last terrace and sauntered into the central square between the two great domes and in front of two pillars even taller than she was. In the square, around the pillars Suverii stood to meet her, the first to face her in a while. Catra and Melog crouched behind a low wall on the edge of the terrace. No one could see them anyway, but Catra always felt strange standing in the open. Adora, for her part, was standing toward in the square, bathed in a nimbus of light, hair and cloak streaming behind her in the cold wind, crown glinting in the sun. She looked every inch a conqueror, all seven and more feet of her. Facing her there was a delegation of elaborately robed Suverii. Some were warriors - a few fresh ones in immaculate robes and shimmering armour, with those perfect silver masks with their serene faces. There were even more warriors that were dirty, and still panting, warriors who had probably been running all the way from the town gate and were only now turning to face Adora. Now a few more ran up the steps next to Catra to approach Adora from behind. Catra felt her tail flick and her ears flatten. She suppressed a growl. Adora looked casually behind her and shrugged with a grin.

Between the warriors in front of her there were other Suverii. Four of them were dressed in robes of purple, blue, black and crimson, spangled with gold and silver threads and ornaments - the colors and metals shown sparkling or iridescent in the fading light, the blacks darker than the coming night. Their robes were so vast and so long that they dragged behind them and small, bare-faced, furtive looking Suverii followed behind them, lifting their hems off of the dirty snow of the ground. Two of these, those on Catra’s right, were clad in darker raiment, and their masks were mostly black, like they had been carved from obsidian, adorned only with deep violets, purples and blues. The others wore brighter robes and golden masks. The two on the inside each carried staffs with a twisted golden serpent mounted on its head. The two on the outside seemed thinner, and the one of these in the dark robes seemed almost...nervous. Could they be children? Adolescents? They looked like some of the younger Illithi Catra had seen. Just behind them were the two pillars, of glistening black stone, twice as tall as Adora. One was topped with a bas relief of a six-winged serpent, and beneath it was a great deal of writing. The other had no figures, only a few boldly carved words, one after the other, written down the length of the pillar. Below the pillars the Suverii looked on at Adora.

Adora looked at them and tilted her head defiantly. “Are you going to attack me? If you are, get it over with. I have places I need to be.” Catra smiled in spite of herself. She’d prefer that Adora just blow them all away with magic, but if she was going to talk, that was a good start.

“We are not here to attack, but to parlay.”

“I was at your gates to parlay or whatever you want to call it, and your guards tried to choke me to death. Why should I talk now?”

“Do you still wish to speak? Now we are ready to listen,” said the other, her voice as smooth as the gold of her mask.

That took Adora aback. Damnit Adora, just blast these bastards and get this over with, Cata thought so hard it felt like she was yelling. Catra tried to project her own confidence and anger into Adora, as though that would work. Adora was just starting to look like her more doubtful, hesitant self and Catra could hardly stay put behind the wall.

Adora gathered herself. “Why did you attack me? I hadn’t harmed you. Even now, everything I’ve done, I’ve done to defend myself.”

“Yet you struck down our guards, burst through our gates, sowed terror through our streets and now you, a barbarian, stand on the sacred threshold of our holiest places, with a sword in your hand.”

Catra’s heart sank. Adora was more vulnerable to a guilt trip than she was to the sharpest claws. Catra should know, she’d struck Adora with that weapon enough times herself. “C’mon Adora, I know you can do it. Tell them to get fucked.”

Adora nearly snarled. “I hadn’t lifted a hand against any of you when your guards attacked me. It’s not my fault when your guards pick a fight that they are bound to lose,” Adora said with a smile, and Catra could have hugged her. “They didn’t even tell me why, and neither have you. You say you will talk? Why did you try to kill me?” Catra breathed a sigh of relief.

Each of the central figures talked in turn, finishing each other’s sentences.

“You are a foreigner.”

“You are a barbarian.”

“You are dressed in the raiment of those who forsake the code.”

“Those who deny their birth.”

“Those who curse Telika’s blessing.”

“And you approached the most sacred temples of the gods.”

“The Temple of Telika, the God Who Lives,” said the one in the golden mask.

“And the Temple of the Gods Who Live Not.” finished the one in the black mask. Catra’s fur stood on end and she shivered. The more Catra heard of the gods of these ‘People of the Code’ the less she liked.

Adora stood, blinking and clearly at a loss for words. She looked over one shoulder, and then another, as though Catra was there to give her a cue like when she was at some gala and she’d forgotten what She-Ra was supposed to say to inspire hope in the universe. Catra didn’t believe in any gods, and wouldn’t worship any if she did, but she still would have prayed to anyone who was listening to keep Adora from putting her giant, beautiful foot in that fierce, pretty mouth. And maybe Catra’s not-prayer worked, because Adora sighed, and looked straight ahead. “Well it’s all done now. Are you finished attacking me?”

The two figures - priestesses, Catra guessed - looked at each other, two expressionless, masked faces staring at one another. They turned back to Adora. “We will not strike you again, if you sheath your sword.”

Adora nodded, flicked her wrist and her sword disappeared with a flash. “It’s sheathed.”

“Who are you?”

“I am Adora, the Etherian.”

“What brings you to us?”

“To the temples of gods you do not honor.”

“You could have asked me that before you tried to kill me.” Adora breathed in and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Fine. I’m looking to go through the mountains. I’m going to the Dead City.”

There was a gasp in the assembled crowd. The two priestesses cocked their heads slightly, but the others next to them recoiled in shock along with everyone else. Adora raised an eyebrow.

“And why do you seek the dead city, traveller?”

“I wish to speak with Telika. I have heard she lives there.”

There was another murmur, louder this time. Some of the Suverii shook their heads. A few in the back - the ones without masks, mostly - turned away and left the square, like people who expect trouble. This time the priestesses didn’t hide their surprise.

“A mere mortal does not seek an audience with a god.”

Adora looked back fiercely, blue eyes blazing. She glowed even more, as if to ask if she looked like a mere mortal to them. But she said nothing. “I’m just...I’m a traveller, and I am very far from home. And I have come to speak to Telika. I mean no disrespect.”

Leave it to Adora to half- apologize when she had burst into a temple complex, beaten the inhabitants half to death and was now demanding an audience with a god. Catra nearly chuckled. This would be hilarious if it wasn’t fucking terrifying.

The priestesses looked at each other again. One nodded, then the other. They turned back to Adora.

“Very well.”

“We shall speak further tomorrow.”

“For now, our servants will show your lodgings.”

“Fit for a traveller such as yourself.”

And then the warriors parted and some of those maskless Suveri came out and led Adora away. Melog and Catra sprung after them, skirting the outside of the square in case anyone thought to use magic to look around. Catra could see the Suveri ‘servants’ now. They stood shorter than other Suveri, but that was more their stoop than their size. They had no plumes - maybe born without them...or maybe they had been cut off, or plucked, Catra thought. They all shied away from Adora, or even the light she radiated, as though She-Ra’s glow could burn them. Behind Adora there walked a company of eight warriors, who looked at each other nearly as nervously. They took Adora around one of the temples, and then down some stairs, onto a small terrace next to the cliff that the town was built into, and from there into a house. They gestured in, and Adora entered. Catra and Melog snuck around the back, found a high window, opened it softly and jumped in.

Catra peaked down from the loft she landed on to see a few of the servants fitfully setting out food and drink, stoking a fire on the open hearth and climbing the ladder to unroll a bedroll in the loft. Catra and Melog glued themselves to the wall, and didn’t move. But the ‘servants’ (Catra hated the word, in stank like euphemisms always did) quickly finished all their tasks and stood by the door, waiting for something from Adora.

“Um er...thank you.” Adora said.

Still they stood.

“You may go now.”

There was a sigh of relief and everyone but Adora streamed out the door.

“Catra, are you there?” whispered Adora into the darkened house. Catra softly padded down the stairs from the loft and then shimmered into view, just behind Adora.

“I’m here, you big glowing dummy,” Catra replied with a smile. She-Ra almost started, then she swung around and swept Catra off her feet and spun her around the room, smiling all the while.

“What, did you miss me?” Catra purred, looking up.

Adora shook her head and half-rolled her eyes. “Maybe a little. At least you could see me. I kept telling myself I could feel you behind me. It’s lonely beating up a whole town by yourself.”

Catra shook her head. “Dork.” She looked down at herself. “Damnit Adora you got blood on me.”

“Sorry?”

“I can’t even tell whose blood this is.”

“Probably theirs. Do you think everyone’s going to be okay? Maybe I should go back and heal them…”

“Adora, they tried to kill you. Anyway it’s not like they’re dead. I think.”

Adora shrunk back down to her normal size and looked away. “Catra, did I...is this the right thing to do?”

Catra stifled a sigh. “Adora, are you really wondering that or are you just worrying about it?

Adora looked back. “Just worried I guess. We do need to reach Telika...”

“Or at least get to the Cephalopodians.”

“And I don’t see any other options.”

“Because the only way is through this town, and you don’t actually know the way through the mountains, so someone here is going to have to tell us. So....”

“So I don’t have other options. I get it. Still, I wish you were there to negotiate with those...priestesses, I guess?”

“Yeah I think they were the priestesses.” Catra turned back around, facing Adora. “Adora, do you really want to know what I think?”

“Of course.”

“I wouldn’t have told you to negotiate.”

“Catra! Should I have just killed them? In cold blood?”

“Maybe? Okay, no, but at least make them surrender. Now they’re still armed and they still have all their guards. Well, the ones who can still walk, anyway.”

“Catra, what do you call blasting open the gate of a town and demanding that it surrender?”

“I dunno, winning?”

“Conquering, Catra. It’s called conquering. And I’m not going to conquer this planet. Or any towns on it. I told you that.”

Catra sighed and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, you told me. Seriously though, do you think they’re just going to let you sleep peacefully and let you be on your way? To go yell at their fucking god?”

Adora looked aside, thinking. “Probably not. They’re probably going to try to kill me in the night. But they don’t know Melog’s here. Or you.”

“Well thanks for volunteering me to guard your dumb ass while you sleep.”

Adora grinned and shook her head. “I knew you’d want to help. Catra, we can both sleep. Melog can stand guard. Can’t you, big guy?”

Melog chirped out a yes to Adora. “Gladly,” they said. Melog disappeared and gave a mewl by the window - ‘Let me out. I shall watch from the roof.’ Catra let them out and returned to Adora.

“Come to bed with me?” Adora asked, holding out her hand and grinning sideways.

“Dork.” Catra said, shaking her head. There wasn’t any point bringing up everything Catra was afraid of. Melog was thankfully not here to reveal Catra’s feelings. No, now wasn’t the time.

“Hrm, you want to eat first?” Adora asked, gesturing at the food.

“I dunno, you think they poisoned it?”

“I can always transform into She-Ra, Catra. Besides I don’t think they had time to do anything like that.”

“Yeah probably not. And we’re out of Grayagghi meat so it’s either eat this or starve.”

So they ate - first Adora, transformed into She-Ra and took bites of everything. She tried to be cautious at first, but after 30 seconds she was devouring it like a giant Crimson Waste scorpion eating a bird. Catra watched her girlfriend, one eyebrow raised, then tentatively took a couple bites, a few minutes later. But then she couldn’t help it either and she devoured it too. Maybe there was a slow acting poison. Maybe there was a magical curse that could kill even She-Ra. But they were both starving, and Catra was tired from being on guard, and even she had to admit it was harder to be afraid with Adora next to her. Besides, the food was actually pretty good - some kind of roast fish or something, and a warm porridge, and something sweet and a bit alcoholic to wash it down. At the end of the meal Catra actually felt warm in a way she hadn’t felt since they’d crashed, outside of Adora’s arms.

They climbed up the loft, took out their furred bedrolls and spread them on the thin mattress, then threw their cloaks over themselves. Adora was asleep sooner than Catra would have thought possible, almost as soon as she laid down. Once Catra was sure that her companion was truly out she rose gingerly and walked lightly over to the outside wall, to one side of the window. From here she could see if anyone opened the shutters and came in, but they couldn’t see her until they were inside the house. Catra wrapped herself in her cloak and curled into a ball, even flattening her ears against her skull. It was cold in here, especially without Adora to keep her warm, and the night was going to be long. Still, that beautiful, world-beating idiot needed her on her toes.Adora wasn’t going to protect herself - she rarely did.

Catra awoke with a start to Melog’s most high-pitched, keening whine. The one that Adora couldn’t hear. “Catra, there is a thief at the window.” Catra started to curse herself for falling asleep when Adora needed her, but there wasn’t time, because then someone knocked at the window. What the fuck kind of half-assed assasin knocked on her victim’s window? Catra thought. She almost wanted to answer and berate the dumbass for cocking up their mission of murder. But she stayed still. Adora stirred in her sleep and snorted out a snore, then rolled over. Catra shook her head. Adora had become a much heavier sleeper since they’d started sharing a bed. This never would have cut it during the war. What would Adora do without her?

Finally the window creaked open with a gust of cold wind and a shower of snow, glistening in the moonlight. One leg stepped in, then another, slowly, like someone who was trying to move with stealth but had never tried before. The wind blew the intruder’s scent all over Catra - the salty, earthy smell of a Suveri woman buried under the smell of smoke and incense and perfume, like so much of this town that wreaked of gods and holiness and mystery. Her head was behind the shutter, so Catra could see her and she couldn’t see Catra, or Catra’s whole half of the room. This chick has no idea what she was doing, Catra realized. Catra crouched, ready to strike.

The intruder stepped forward, and Catra leapt on her. In an instant she slammed into the figure, pinning her to the floor, one set of claws pressed into her neck and the other hand over her mouth.

“If you so much as move, or scream, or even look at me weird, I’m going to rip out you fucking throat and wash this floor with your damned blood. Got it?” Catra hissed. The other whimpered and cried through Catra’s hand, eyes wide with confusion and fear, but at last she nodded.

“Hey Adora, I got one.”

At her name Adora drew her dagger from under her pillow and bolted upright, eyes already locked on the Suveri woman on the ground.

Adora shook her head and blinked. “Catra, we’re going to need to talk to her. How do you want to do this?”

Catra nodded and turned down to her prisoner. “Listen, I’m going to remove the hand from your mouth. But the other one is staying on your neck. And so are these claws. Now, i’ve never found anything I can’t tear through. Wood, stone, metal, whatever. And I don’t think that your neck is going to be the first thing they can’t tear open. So don’t do anything stupid. Got it?”

The Suveri nodded frantically and almost seemed to give a crazed smile with her eyes. Catra withdrew her hand from the intruder’s mouth, but pressed her claws just a little bit harder into the sides of her neck, where she could feel her pulse through her short feathers.

The woman gasped, but didn’t cry out. She looked up and Catra, then strained her eyes over toward Adora.

“Well Catra, she’s going to need to talk. So maybe you should tell her she can speak?”

“Fine. You can speak. But whisper.”

The stranger nodded. “I didn’t expect two of you.” Her voice was melodious, lilting, almost like a song or a chant. It was thin and breathy, like a girl who was still filling out. “I am sorry for the oversight. I did not mean to offend.”

Catra blinked at that. Even Glimmer had never apologized for a breach of etiquette while Catra was threatening her life. The room was silent again, the only sound the creaking shutters and the blowing wind, In the distance, Catra thought she heard the glaciers creak and groan above them.

“Um, thanks?” Adora said, unable to not fill an awkward silence. Catra shook her head. Back to business.

“Who are you?”

“I am Daa’na’ka. I am of the Temple, a servant, I belong to the gods, and their priestesses.”

“Are you saying that you’re a slave?”

Daa’na’ka half nodded. “I am an outcaste and a bound servant. I had pledged my service to clear my debts, and those of my family. But I cannot serve any longer. That’s why I am here. I wish, I wish to escape. I wish to help you. I pray that you will accept me, honored strangers, mighty warriors...I may be unworthy to be your companion, but I can aid you, for I know the path you seek.” At this she looked straight at Adora.

“You know the way to the Dead City?”

“It is secret, and known only to the priestesses and those bound to the temples. But I know the way. I can take you. But I also come with a warning - the Priestesses plan to slay you before dawn. I know not how, but they do.”

Adora and Catra looked at each other. Figures. They both shrugged and turned back to Daa’na’ka. Adora spoke this time. “What do we need to do?”

“Well, I do not wish to escape myself, alone. There are others. Others in the temple, we all desire freedom. If you free us all, the others can flee the town. And I, I will lead you to the Dead City.” She finished with a weak, uncertain smile. Catra looked at her again. She was wearing a tight head wrap, and what might be underclothes, with a blanket thrown over her shoulders. Catra smelled at her again. Something was off.

Adora looked at her with those kind grey eyes. “We do need a guide. And we’d love to help free your friends. But...why me? I came into your town and I um, struck down the temple guards, and I know I scared everyone. Why do you trust me?”

Daa’na’ka paused before she continued. “Maybe I don’t, but the priestesses fear you. And you are mighty, and so many guards have been wounded that I don’t think we shall have a better chance again. Besides, stranger, if the whole town is up in arms against you, who will seek out a few runaway outcastes?” She added with a sly smile. Adora chuckled to herself.

Catra looked on. Something was still off. Adora might sense something too, because her face fell. “Well I guess that makes sense. But why are you offering to guide me to the dead city? Wouldn’t you rather run away?”

“I uh. Well, someone must help you. Mustn’t they?” Daa’na’ka replied, finishing with a confident nod.

“I suppose so.” Adora said, looking askance at Daa’na’ka. Catra smelled her again. Incense, burning, perfume, something else that might be blood. Catra had smelled all of that before. And where had she seen that nervous tilt of the head, that way Daa’na’ka gestured boldly with one set of hands and wrung the others. And if she was a bound servant and an outcaste, why was she dressed in such fine linen? And why didn’t she smell of sweat? All of this was familiar, Catra had seen it and smelled it before. Fuck.

“You’re not an outcaste, are you?”

“What do you mean, of course I am, I am of the Temple, servant to the Priestess…”

Adora looked at her again. “The way you talk. The way your voice sounds...it seems awfully familiar.”

At this point Daa’naka twisted in Catra’s grip and Catra pressed a claw into her captive’s throat. Realization dawned and Catra’s head snapped around. “You’re the junior priestess. The one in black.”

Adora’s eyes widened and she lifted her dagger again and leaped forward.

“Why are you here? If I were you I’d tell the truth,” Catra whispered, drawing a claw against a pulsing artery on the Suveri’s neck. Adora motioned with her knife.

“I told the truth about why I’m here. I want to run away with you, and take the bound servants and others with me.”

“Why?” Adora asked.

“Because I do not want to spend another day serving these dead gods any longer. Because I am young and I don’t want to spend my life draped in incense and darkness performing rituals and making sacrifices. Because I renounce Telika’s code. Because I want to be free. And because...because this way I...because this way perhaps my conscience will rest easily. Someday”

Adora was staring her in the eye. Here was one woman who had renounced everything to do what was right more than once, looking at another woman who was claiming to do the same thing. Adora closed her eyes, and nodded.

“I believe you. Catra, let her go. Let’s talk.” Catra scoffed, but withdrew her hands.

“Is your name really Daa’na’ka? Or should we call you something else, priestess?” Catra asked.

“Daa’na’ka is what...what my friends have called me. The temple took my first name and gave me another when I was promised to the Gods Who Live Not, but I will not need it now. Yes, Daa’na’ka will be my name now.” She smiled and almost laughed to herself. “I get to have my own name. I get to choose my own name!” She breathed out and looked up at Adora and even Catra, beaming. “What are your names? You are Adora?”

“Yes, I’m Adora. I am also known as She-Ra.”

“And you?”

“I’m Catra. I am also known as Catra.”

Adora snorted. Daa’na’ka seemed distracted - she was touching her own face, and looking back between Catra and Adora. She undid her head wrap, stretching out the plumes on her head. They shimmered, faintly iridescent purple and gold in the ghostly light of the moon. “It’s been so long since I went bare-faced, without my mask. It’s been so long since I saw someone else’s face...looked into their eyes. Except the outcaste, of course, but they are taught not to look upon me. And they cannot speak freely, of course, since I control their fate.”

Adora and Catra shared a glance. Catra looked at Daa’na’ka. “But you think the outcastes will run away with you.”

“Yes, I do. They loathe the temple, and the priestesses. Including me.” She looked away. “But I hear that they talk often of running away to join the Illithi - that is where so many of the Illithi come from. When I was a girl, I was taught that it was shameful that they were outcastes, but now I don’t think it is shameful at all. Why shouldn’t someone make their own fate? Why shouldn’t one throw aside their caste, their family, their honor and live for themselves? Though the philosophers argue that…” Daa’na’ka looked up. “I am sorry. It’s been so long since I could speak freely, and I am babbling.”

“So you haven’t had your own name, you haven’t been able to show your face, and you can’t speak your mind.” Catra said, counting the points off on her fingers.

“Yes. Um, no? I haven’t been able to do any of that. Until tonight.”

“And you’re basically the what, second most powerful person here?”

“Well, second in honor. But yes, by the law, I am second in authority only to the high priestess.”

Catra raised her eyebrow and shrugged. “Yeah, sounds about right. So what’s your plan?”

“My plan?”

“Yes, your plan.”

“Horde Force Captain’s don’t take a dump without a plan,” Adora muttered to herself with a chuckle. Catra shot her a look. That was an old joke about Octavia and a low blow to use on her. Daa’na’ka was too stunned by the question to notice.

“Um, well I thought that you could, I suppose, burst into the outcaste’s barracks, and the antechamber, and gather the bound servants and the other captives. And then they can escape.”

Catra looked at Adora. “Is everyone who decides to abandon everything they’ve ever known to do the right thing a fucking dumbass, or just you two?”

Adora looked up with a sideways grin. Catra could tell she was about to make a wisecrack about Catra’s own plan back when she’d given up everything to do one good thing, but then she looked away. They both knew that Catra’s plan had been ‘save Glimmer and die’ and only Adora’s heroic idiocy had messed that up. Even Catra and Adora couldn’t laugh at that.

Catra turned back to Daa’na’ka. “You need a better plan than that. Do the outcaste and the other captives know anything about what’s going to happen?”

“There is a rumor that you are of the Illithi, since you wear their clothing, and that you are going to free them. So they will expect you to come to for them.”

“Do they know that you’ll be on their side?”

“Uh...one among the captives does.”

“Uh-huh.” Catra said, looking sideways at Daa’na’ka.

“What are these other captives, Daa’na’ka? Are they prisoners of war? Convicts, I don’t know, dissidents?”

“No, it isn’t like that. They are…” Daa’na’ka breathed in deep. “They are sacrifices.”

Adora’s face when slack. Catra reeled, then nearly slapped herself. Of course. Of fucking course. The Silver Ships of Andilar who brought the sacrifices up the Road of Queens. The smell of blood that hung around the temples, musty and old and dried, but unmistakable. The stench of death that clung to Daa’na’ka no matter how she might cover it in perfume and incense and nervous laughter. It was all so obvious. The only thing that had kept Catra from seeing the truth was her naive optimism that a species wouldn’t be so monstrously fucked up as to sacrifice sentient beings to some deities. Let alone to some deities that weren’t even alive anymore, whatever the fuck that meant. No wonder the Illithi had turned their backs on this whole shitty society.

Adora set her jaw and her eyes hardened. “You sacrifice people? You, you murder them so your gods can do what, drink their blood?”

Daa’na’ka looked away, and worked her mouth uselessly, and wrang one pair of hands while brushing the other through her plumes. “They are...they feed...their blood sustains the gods who live not by...yes." Daa'na'ka nodded. "We murder them.”

Daa’na’ka looked up, eyes suddenly as fierce as Adora’s. “And I won’t be part of it. I won’t sacrifice anyone, I won’t shed any blood, I won’t burn a stick of incense to these things that have been dead a thousand years.” She grew more animated, more certain with every word, still whispering, but talking more and more fiercely all the while. “I won’t make another person serve me, I won’t eat the bread I’ve stolen from their children’s mouths. I won’t do it, any of it any longer, Adora of Etheria. I renounce it all. I renounce the gods who live not, whose names may not be spoken, but I dare to name them. Echtros, Myrrhos, Avelar, Lyrrithi, Umbaeril, Tethos, Ygari, Gylesil, Ambras, Q’roth, Viduil, Barados, Venuril, Nydaroth, Polidares. I name them and I renounce them, and I renounce my own name, and my caste, and my family. I curse all these former things and I cast them aside. I renounce my oath and my office and I reclaim myself from the gods. I name myself, Daa'na'ka of the free people, who rejects the Code. And I finally, I curse Telika, our oppressor,” Daa’na’ka finished, nearly spitting.

“You rehearse that whole speech, Daa’na’ka?” Catra asked.

Daa’na’ka turned to look at her, eyes still blazing. “Yes, Catra, I have. It is the oath of the Free People. I have been pondering it in my heart for three years, and reciting it in my mind these past six weeks.”

“What changed six weeks ago?”

“I...I met someone who inspired me, that is all.”

Catra grinned reluctantly and shook her head. “That captive you were talking about?”

Daa’na’ka glared at Catra, but nodded her head.

Catra snorted. So a horny teenaged priestess had gotten it bad for a sacrifice and was going to renounce her gods and her entire life in order to save this chick and get laid. Fuck it, Catra could get behind that.

“Well good for you,” Catra said with a bitter chuckle.

Adora didn’t say anything. She was looking at Daa’na’ka intently, her jaw half-opened but her lips still closed, they way she looked when she was about to say something. Catra gave her a sideways glance.

“Have you ever murdered...have you ever sacrificed, anyone, Daa’na’ka?”

Daa’na’ka looked back at Adora. “I...It is not the junior priestess's place to spill blood. I do not hold the knife.”

Adora let out a disgusted breath. Catra stepped over and placed her hand on Adora’s shoulder. “Maybe we shouldn’t ask any more questions, Adora. You've always believed in second chances, haven’t you?”

Adora nodded. She closed her eyes and breathed in. "Alright. It's not like we can just let your people kill these captives. Let's do it."

Chapter Text

It was three hours later and still long before dawn when Adora and Catra slipped out into the pale night, under the cover of Melog’s cloak. They had their own capes wrapped around them, their bedrolls on their backs and a few leftovers stuffed into their too-light haversacks. They would not be returning. Though neither of them had slept since Daa’na’ka had left they were wide awake. They walked through deserted streets that shone bright with ice and moonlight. Even walking carefully it took very little time at all for them to come to the Temple Square and the shadow of the twin obsidian pillars.

Adora looked at these, studying them now that she knew what they were. On her left was the Code of Telika, with a bas relief of Telika carved at the top and her righteous statues carved beneath. Adora couldn’t read them, but talking just a little to Daa’na’ka she knew what they said - the proper relations of the castes, the purity and righteousness of the priestesses, the holy obligations of loyalty to queen, matriarch and mother, the accursed place of the outcaste and the many ways one might become outcaste, the conditions of bondage for bound servants and the always-ignored obligations of their masters, and last but not least the right of any casted Suveri to do anything they wished to an unbound outcaste. Looking at that pillar, it took all Adora’s willpower not to crack it in two with her sword and blast it into sand. But she was not here to impose her will on the Suveri, even as a liberator. They would have to free themselves, and between the Ilithi and people like Daa’na’ka maybe they would do just that. Adora told herself that they would. She needed to believe that.

To her right was the Cenotaph of the Gods - not a grave marker, because gods have no graves. Those names that Daa’na’ka had spat out were carved boldly into the pillar, one below the other. Catra had scoffed at these names before Daa’na’ka had left them.

“What can dead gods do to us anyway?”

“They aren’t truly dead, Catra. Nor are they alive. They are dreaming their waking dream beyond the gates of the world we sense. Their restless slumber is sustained by the blood of sacrifice. It is by the blood of the sacrifices that they have their being, the blood of sacrifices that keeps them from being swallowed by oblivion. They are beyond death itself. Have you ever been touched by the mind of a dead, dreaming god, Catra?”

Even Catra had recoiled from Daa’na’ka’s words and her distant, haunted eyes.

“When I began to doubt, I meditated upon the night. I darkened my soul, asking my gods for answers. And you might say that they would answer me naught. How could they? They are dead.” Daa’na’ka hadn’t relented from her fierce gaze at Catra. “But they answered my prayers. I felt their hunger, their envy for all that live. And I felt other things for which we have no words. Images that no living eye can see. Thoughts that no living mind cannot comprehend. Cold, alien passions that no living heart has ever felt. They say that to touch the mind of the gods is to go mad. And perhaps. Perhaps I will always be a little mad.” Daa’na’ka smiled. “But there are some things beyond even the gods, and perhaps that saved me.”

“You ask after Gods Who Live Not? They are abominations. Things that should not be. But they are vaster than our imagining.”

Looking at those names, Adora felt herself shiver even in her warm cloak, even with her heart pounding and her blood hot on her skin and her right hand almost grasping her sword in thin air. Catra may not have realized it, but there was only one thing that could keep something not-dead and not-alive through blood sacrifice - dark magic. Adora could feel it already. In the ground under the snow, coursing through the pillar, oozing out of the Temple of the Gods Who Live Not. Melog must sense it too - they were more furtive than usual, reflecting some hesitance of their own, not just Catra’s. The sickening force all around them was growing stronger.

“We need to get Daa’na’ka, now. I don’t like this,” Adora whispered to Catra.

“Well I don’t like any of this. But...neither does Melog. Something’s off. Fucking magic.”

Catra and Adora walked quickly across the square, giving the pillars a wide berth. Adora looked up at the tiny windows carved out of the cliff face, searching for the light that Daa’na’ka had agreed she would set to indicate that everyone was gathered and ready to escape. There was nothing there - every window was dark. Adora turned to Catra, and the other woman’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. Adora could guess what Catra suspected - that Daa’na’ka had betrayed them. Adora didn’t know - she had seemed sincere, though Adora was terrible at spotting a lie. But still Adora worried that they had not been betrayed at all, but that Daa’na’ka and the others had been caught. Which was probably worse. Catra and Adora wordlessly asked one another what to do while these thoughts raced through Adora’s head, and while parallel thoughts raced through Catra’s.

And then the stars went out in the sky, one by one. Adora looked up. It was not a cloud, instead, the sky itself seemed to dim. The faint purple of nebula was already gone, replaced by a blank black void. Star after star dimmed and was extinguished by the dark, and the moons grew fainter and fainter with each beat of her heart.

To her right, Adora could hear a dissonant, droning chant echoing out from the Temple of the Gods Who Live Not. Without thinking, Adora knew what she needed to do.

"Do you smell that?" Catra whispered.

Adora shook her head.

"It's incense or some shit. Some…"

"Ritual. Invocation. Maybe a summoning." Adora barely remembered Micah’s lessons, but she could feel something vast and alien stirring under the ground, beyond the sky, just outside the corners of her own sight. It was coming from the temple.

"I don't like any of those words, Adora."

There was only one thing to do, one place to go. The sickening feeling of unreality was strongest in the temple. The chanting coming out of its doorway grew louder, and more insistent, every dissonant chord tearing at her mind. And so, that is where she would go, where she had to go, into the midst of it. It drew her in like the heart of battle, like the most dangerous monster - wherever what she feared was strongest, loudest, most threatening, that’s where she would go. Once she would have gone alone, to take the danger for herself, to die, if need be, so that everyone else could live. Now she went knowing tha Catra went with her, even into the jaws of madness. And that warmed her heart and brightened her path, even if the stars themselves were darkened.

Adora turned to Catra. "Catra, stay hidden with Melog. I’ll go in uncloaked - they'll see the door open anyway. But if they only see me they might not think to look for you with magic. Come in after me, before the door closes."

Catra's eyes went wide. "Adora...I…"

"We need to do this, Catra. You'll know what to do when you are inside. Remember, nothing anyone, anything, can do can hurt us, as long as we're together. I love you." Adora smiled with her eyes and one corner of her mouth.

Catra didn't reply, she choked something down in her throat. Adora walked out from under Melog's cloak. She didn't say any words, she just thought of Catra behind her, and she felt She Ra's power course through her limbs. Her radiance pierced just a little way through the almost palpable dark, like a weak candle in a vast vaulted chamber. Adora could see her light reflected against the smooth obsidian of the temple’s base. She strode forward and opened the door to the sanctum of the Gods Who Live Not. She walked in, bringing her light with her into the temple’s eternal night.

No one stopped Adora, and after a few steps down a short entry hallway she walked out into the great domed central chamber. The magic and the malevolence of the room sucked away her light before it could even reach the ceiling, or the walls. Faceless figures were only dimly visible all around her, so she was at once floating in nothingness and surrounded by foes. Even as she walked into the midst of them, the chanting continued, surrounding her with a monotonous and yet clashing drone of a dozen alien voices.

Walking into the room, Adora could see an altar at its center, and a robed, masked figure standing over it. In her hand a dagger gleamed dimly in Adora’s fading light. Beside the figure there were two more - one holding the other, and on the altar there was a fourth figure laid on the altar, stripped bare and bound. The central, standing figure was shouting and pleading and gasping out half-words above the chorus of chanting voices in a kind of shrill, maddened descant. Adora recognized the gleam of the high priestess’s mask on the figures face, and recognized the flowing robes that spilled around her and behind her like oily smoke.

The priestess stopped her frenzied invocation and turned. She might be looking at Adora - it was hard to tell behind the mask and in the shadows that consumed her.

“Who dares to defile the holy darkness of the gods with mortal light? Oh but who else! Adora, the Etherian! Adora the Barbarian! Reaver, slayer, thief, blasphemer, defiler! Even your hubris is no matter - every part of you shall be consumed by the gods. Even you shall be made holy in death.”

Adora snarled and smiled at that, raising her sword into a high guard, pointing the tip right towards the priestesses’ heart. Adora could hear the clang of bronze all around her as unseen guards readied swords, spears and axes. Still the chanting continued, and somehow the darkness grew. Adora kindled her light - thinking of Catra, of Bow, Glimmer, of her favorite place in the Whispering Woods. For a little while She-Ra’s light beat back the shadows, and the Priestess recoiled by a hairs-breadth before the brightness. But in the brighter light Adora could clearly see the woman who was held helpless next to the priestess. Daa’na’ka. Unmasked, stripped of all but her under-clothes, she looked unmistakably young, and very much afraid. Adora could also see the dagger held at her throat.

Adora waited. One heartbeat. Two. Three. Seven. Adora saw warriors advance from behind the priestess’s shoulders, and she didn’t need to turn around to know that warriors were advancing upon her to her right, her left, and behind her. Any other time she would have smiled at that, welcoming the challenge. But two innocent people were helpless in front of her, and they could be murdered at any moment. And Adora felt malice pouring from the altar, and felt the life of everyone in the room being sucked into it. And at the room’s edges, Adora could feel the shadows shift, grow and writhe. Adora knew very little about magic and less about soul-thrashing black sorcery, but she knew that if so much as a drop of blood hit that altar then something unspeakable would tear its way into her world and devour her.

Eleven Heartbeats. Adora said nothing.

“Drop your sword, heathen. It is pointless to fight the power of Gods who are beyond death itself.”

Despite everything, Adora laughed. “When you threaten me, you’re supposed to say I have something to lose. All you’ve told me is that I can die with my sword on the ground, or die with it in my hand. But we both know what will happen if you hurt that woman on the altar, or if you even touch Daa’na’ka.” Adora twisted her sword slightly so that its tip gleamed in the priestess’s eyes. Seventeen heartbeats. That should be enough.

“Oh? I am ready to die for my gods.”

The priestess plunged her dagger downward. But it was too late for her. The air shimmered around the falling knife. An unseen hand grabbed her wrist and wrenched it around with a kind of popping sound. There was a roar and a purple blur, and the warrior holding Daa’na’ka was thrown to the floor. Melog and Catra appeared before Adora. “Duck!” Adora yelled, and Catra crouched and flung the priestess to the floor while Melog pulled Daa’na’ka down with a paw. Adora swung her sword around her head and in front of her and let it carry her whole body around in a spin, like when she danced with Catra. As it arced around her She’Ra’s sword flung out a blast of many-colored light. It slammed into the warriors and the chanting acolytes, sending them flying and piercing even the deepest shadows, illuminating black glassy stone in purple, pink, white and red. Adora thought she heard an uncanny cry, somewhere between a shriek and a death-rattle. Adora rushed forward and cut away the bonds of the sacrificial victim. The Suveri rolled off the altar.

Adora turned to Daa’na’ka. “Go and get the outcastes. We’re escaping, and we’re taking them with us. Melog, go with her - Catra and I can take care of this.”

Melog chirped and Daa’na’ka and the victim limped out past the groaning warriors and acolytes. Adora turned around to survey the room. Perhaps half of the warriors were struggling to their feet and gathering their arms back into their hands. The other half lay on the floor - some groaning, some still.

“Where are your gods now, asshole?” Catra taunted the priestess. Adora heard a struggle and was about to turn to the priestess and Catra when she saw three warriors rush forward toward Catra. She brought up her sword and began to swing.

But even as she saw all this and reacted Adora heard a gasp and an incredulous “Did you really just cut yourself on my claws?” from Catra, followed by another struggle and then Adora saw the priestess slam her bloody hand down onto the cold black stone of the altar. Then the shadows swallowed her, and She-Ra’s light was snuffed out.

The room disappeared. In its place there were twisting shadows and a vague glimmer that was not light. All around her she half-heard whispers that made no words, at least no words that a mortal mind could comprehend. Perhaps there were faces in the shadows, or something like eyes, or gaping mouths, uncountable, indefinable, surrounding her. Perhaps there were claws, talons, tentacles, hands. But whatever it was, something was all around her, and it was moving. No, not just moving. It was closing in.

But what did movement mean, or time? Here time was dead, as was distance, proportion, cause and effect, sense and reason. Everything was swirling darkness, the same twisting void which had gaped before the stars ignited. The same long night that would stretch out infinitely when the stars were no more. It was vast, so much larger than her thoughts, her beliefs or desires. She felt like nothing next to this, and so the nothingness grasped at her and made her its own. Nothing lived in this, nothing died, but these -things- stirred in it, and they were pulling her deeper in.

“No,”Adora thought. This was not all there was. She had felt the pull of death before. But this was different, no, she was different. She knew her own heart. She knew her own power. She was She-Ra, she was Adora. What did the vastness of primordial chaos matter compared to her love for Catra? Her love of her friends? The void could be as big and final and powerful as it wanted to be, it would not change how she felt, who she loved, or who she was. She was stronger than this, stronger than them. Time existed for her - she had a past - every agonizing month and moment that had made her stronger, and taught Adora her worth. She had a future - growing old with Catra, retiring in peace to a cabin in the woods. Maybe having a family? Now wasn’t the time to ask that question, so Adora put that aside. Whatever happened to her, she wasn’t about to leave Catra alone. Her sword began to glow, and her eyes pierced the shadows.

From very far away Adora heard Catra’s voice. It was smug, mocking, and half desperate in that way it was when she was trying to convince herself and everyone else of something she only half believed, while remaining completely confident.

“You think you’ve won? You think you can beat She-Ra? You think your gods can stand up to her? They call my girlfriend a lot of things, but I’m thinking of one in particular right now. She says it’s too negative and over the top, but me, I think it’s kinda badass. People call her tyrant-slayer, toppler of empires, liberator of the cosmos, stuff like that. But when they’re really scared of her they call her the godkiller. And you’re about to see why.”

As Catra finished speaking Adora’s eyes and sword flared, stronger than ever, and she heard Catra give an exultant laugh. As Catra laughed, Adora remembered Daa’na’ka naming the Gods Who Lived Not, and the power if had given her. These powers, these things, weren’t really forces beyond the world. They had hidden themselves in dark magic, made themselves something they were not, trying to slip beyond the reach of death itself. They were not nameless, or indefinable, or unbeatable, they had just made people afraid to name them, afraid to know them and so unable to understand them.

“Do you want to defeat me? I, She-Ra, Challenge you! In the name of Etheria, show me your true faces, if you can. Come out! I call you out!” And she named them, remembering the list that Daa’na’ka had recited, remembering that these were not immortal forces, they were mortal beings, and they should be long dead. “Come and face me, Echtros, Myrrhos, Avelar! I challenge you, Lyrrithi, Umbaeril, Tethos! Fight me if you dare, Ygari, Gylesil, Ambras, Q’roth! Are you afraid of me Viduil, Barados, Venuril, Nydaroth, Polidares? If you are not, show yourselves!”

Adora blazed with light, and the even the darkest corner of the temple was flooded with She-Ra’s radiance. The writhing shadows around Adora shrank and burned away - small, weak and furtive without the greater darkness to shroud them. Adora held up her sword and let her power flow through it and blast out from its tip. She-Ra blew through the roof, exposing the room to the night’s sky, and far above the beam of light pierced through the veil and revealed the hidden moon and stars.

Out of the corner of her eye Adora saw Catra fling one of the warriors holding her and claw the other. All around them the warriors recovered and charged, and the shadows redoubled, coiled in on themselves like serpents and then struck out at Adora. Adora grinned. She’d never thought this was going to be easy.

“You alright, babe?” She called out to Catra as she twirled around, sword out, warding off both the mortal warriors and undead powers of darkness with her blade.

“Been better. Could be worse.” Catra replied, vaulting over a Suveri and wrenching the warriors arm out of its socket as she went. “Did you really just yell ‘come at me’ to some gathering of dead gods or whatever they are?”

“I guess I did. It seemed like a good idea at the time.” Adora shrugged, slashing at two warriors in front of her, elbowing one beside her and kicking a fourth behind her all at once.

“Idiot.” Catra huffed. Adora didn’t have to turn away from the primordial chaos grasping at her face to tell that her girlfriend was smiling. Adora hacked at the abomination in front of her. It shrieked as it burned away. The Gods Who Live Not struck at her again and again, the warriors hurled themselves at her, but Adora was too fast, too strong, her sword was too sharp, and whenever she missed a step or a Suveri lined up a cheap shot, Catra swatted them away. Adora felt Catra’s presence like a second self. They would part, fling themselves and each other off into the room, then draw each other in again. Adora had danced so many times like this as Catra’s enemy, but it was so much better doing it as her comrade. Working together, they had no blindspots, and hardly any weaknesses. Their mortal opponents fell before them, and even the Gods who Live Not could hardly land a blow. She-Ra blazed one final time and the last smoky wisp of night burned away, leaving only the peaceful shadows cast by Adora’s own brilliance.

Then more warriors burst into the temple. Adora launched herself at them, and Catra was at her side. Then in an instant of them grappled Catra, and one pulled a knife to her throat. Adora blinded them with her sword, then sung it down, cutting at them. They reeled back, wounded, and Catra rolled away.

But there were still four more warriors. Adora turned to face them, but then she saw Catra leap up and scream something at her. Something like ‘she’s got a knife’.

And that’s when Adora felt the pain lance through her back, and then felt her strength flow out of her. Out of her hands as she dropped her sword. Out of her legs and she collapsed. Out of her eyes as they fluttered and struggled to stay open. Out of her mind as unconsciousness took her like a wave pummeling her against the beach. And then Adora knew no more.

Chapter Text

Catra had almost been enjoying herself. Adora was just too ridiculous, all 7 feet and more of cheerful aggression and wreckless abandon and rippling muscles. Nothing that dumb should be that hot, but Adora staring cosmic horrors in the face and headbutting them was too perfectly her not to be hot. Maybe that’s what everyone meant when they said Adora was an inspiration to the universe - she was just too cocky and too stubborn and too impatient to back down in the face of anything, no matter how nightmarish it was. And damn it but that shit was infectious, at least when you loved the woman. All the time Catra should have been scared. This was all something out of her nightmares - dark magic everywhere, dark magic swallowing the woman she loved alive, knives at her throat, enemies all around her. Catra should have frozen -she had for a moment, when she first walked in, only a heartbeat, but everything had flooded back, all those years of terror. But then she’d felt Melog next to her and seen Adora in front of her and they were so much more important than her memories of Shadow Weaver or Prime or every other fucked up thing she’d seen or had inflicted on her, and she’d forced herself to walk on.

For every moment since Catra had been too angry at these fuckers and their pointless rituals and stupid dead gods to remember to be scared, and maybe Adora had just distracted her enough. Or maybe Catra also liked fighting, and these days only remembered that when she felt her claws slice through solid bronze. Even when the shadows had nearly eaten Adora in front of her Catra had kept it together. She’d swallowed down her panic, and mocked that preening priestess and her unliving gods, and so Catra was ready with a laugh when Adora went full She-Ra and really wrecked the place. And Catra had let her guard down a bit, she’d forgotten to even think of being afraid as she and Adora had danced around the room, flinging their foes like toys, mocking each other like they were back in a training simulation all those years ago. For a moment, Catra felt only young and alive and in love. All the awful shit could take care of itself later. She had Adora, Adora had her, they could take on this world and every other.

But now the old priestess was sticking a knife in Adora’s back, and Catra felt something break inside her. This was her worst nightmare, coming true in front of her eyes. And she felt...nothing. Just something cold where her heart should be and her claws unsheathing to their full length. Catra had been angry most of her life, she knew what it felt like, surging in her, taking over until it was making her decisions for her. She didn’t feel that heat now. Just a cold certainty that when this was over she and Adora would be the only ones left alive. Because Adora had to be alive. She had to be. If she wasn’t...

Catra lunged forward and slashed the priestess, deep. Catra could feel the blood on her hand as she dove down to her knees and caught Adora before she fell. Catra cradled She-Ra in her arms, stroking her face with the flat of one claw, whispered in Adora’s ear that she would be alright, and blinked back her own tears. All the while Catra looked over Adora’s muscular shoulder at the shocked warriors gathering themselves and eyeing her. Somewhere next to her the Priestess slumped to the floor and stopped moving. The warriors were still, looking from Adora to Catra to the priestess and all around them at the wreckage of the temple. There were sounds behind them, and two of them turned and inched toward the door. The other two began to creep toward Catra and Adora, swords and axes raised in a full guard. Catra looked up from Adora and snarled.

Catra pounced before they had time to react. She leaped at the first, and her right claw was in the second before she was done wrenching her left claw out of the first. She turned to the next two. One swung a sword at her, but Catra’s claws sliced through it and into the warrior’s face behind it. Catra leapt on the next one and fell on her, tearing at the warrior until she stopped struggling. Catra looked down at herself. She was covered in blood. Adora’s, the Suveri’s, maybe her own, and the smell of blood was overpowering. Catra’s head snapped back to Adora, who was bleeding on the floor. She rushed over to her and cradled her, brushing her hair out of her face, feeling desperately for a heartbeat. It was still there. Catra touched her hand against Adora’s face and felt blood dripping from her mouth. She felt the icy pit in her chest grow colder.

“Come on Adora. You’re She-Ra. Just heal this and you’ll be alright. Just do that stupid glowy thing and leap up and give me that dumb grin and wink at me like an idiot..” Catra paused. She-Ra didn’t stir. “Please, Adora.” Catra heard her voice breaking.

The thing was, She-Ra was glowing. Maybe she was bleeding less. The knife was still in her, though. Catra looked down at it and panicked for a moment. It looked evil, oozing primal darkness like an oil slick all around it, struggling to spread out and smother Adora’s light. You weren’t supposed to pull a knife out of a wound, Catra had slacked off all through first aid class but she remembered that much. But this wasn’t a normal knife. Catra closed her eyes and wrenched it out with a grotesque sucking sound. It burned her hand, she threw it on the floor. Adora didn’t groan, she didn’t whimper, she didn’t stir. She lay there, and glowed, and bled, and breathed, not strongly enough. Not nearly strong enough. Catra felt her own breath hitch in her throat.

She closed her eyes. She was all Adora had, she had to get this right. She opened them, and looked around. The dust from the collapse of the roof was still settling all around her, catching the moonlight. It was probably beautiful, but Catra couldn’t say. All around the room guards and acolytes were slumped, some still, some moving weakly, none standing. The priestess next to her lay in a growing pool of blood, the guards Adora had slashed down were stirring slightly, the ones Catra had cut down weren’t. Toward the entrance there was a stir of sound and movement. Catra held Adora tighter and watched the doorway, feeling her own heartbeat in her ears and Adora’s weak pulse on her fingers. If some other Suveri warrior or priestess or whatever came through that door, she was dead, Catra swore it. Catra prepared to strike, holding Adora all the while. Something was coming through. Catra almost sprang when she felt a strange feeling of recognition. Warmth, concern, all that stuff. Melog walked through the door. Its mane was a furious red mass of spikes and jagged edges, but its eyes were full of concern, and they widened as soon as it saw Adora. Melog bounded forward and nuzzled Adora, and that’s when Catra’s eyes burned and she felt the tears come streaming down her face.

Catra breathed deep again. She couldn’t lose it. She still needed to get Adora out of here. She looked up again, and saw Daa’na’ka and the sacrificial victim and a small horde of Suveri streaming in. They were without plumes, and thinly clothed in coarse cloth, and even in moonlight their faces looked weathered from going unmasked in the wind and sun. But their eyes burned, and their mouths were set. They looked determined, fierce, exultant. As soon as Daa’na’ka saw Adora she, the would-be sacrifice and another Suveri rushed over.

“Catra, is she…”

“She’s alive!” Catra said, probably too fiercely. Melog growled and the sacrifice started.

Daa’na’ka swooped in and looked all over Adora, running her eyes and hands over her while Catra cradled her and the other Suveri watched with a cocked brow. “Cy’alla, Sialaku, help me,” she called over her shoulder.

Meanwhile the outcastes were making their way around the room, kicking any acolytes who were stirring too much and doing worse to the warriors, from the sounds of it. Catra didn’t much care. Daa’na’ka looked up at her and Catra’s whole world narrowed to the single question - would Adora be okay? Would she live?

“Adora is wounded.”

“I can tell that, your holiness.”

“And she is cursed.”

Catra felt her ears droop further. Black magic, figures. Catra should have known, she did know, but it was different hearing it from someone who seemed to know what she was talking about.

“This is a terrible curse. She should be dead. Yet she breathes. Anyone else - on this world or any other - would be dead. Only one with the strength of a god could survive this.”

“Lucky her.” Catra heard herself say. She couldn’t think straight. There was still no answer to the most important question - was Adora going to live?

“I can break the curse. But not here. We must move her. Sialaku, could you…”

The outcaste next to Daa’na’ka nodded as he whistled and four Suveri came and took Adora. Catra struggled with her urge to cling to her as they lifted Adora up and slung her over Melog’s back. The other outcastes got a few last kicks and punches in on their former oppressors and streamed toward the doorway and Melog, Daa’na’ka and Catra followed out into the night air.

It was strange walking back into starlight. There were sounds of commotion all around them in the town below as the villagers rallied and gathered themselves against this assault. Yet the temple square was still, the wind from the mountains smelled of nothing but snow and ice, and the stars and moons above shown clear once more, their light glinting off the shattered fragments strewn across the square - all that remained of Telika's Code and the Cenotaph of the Gods. It should have been a cold, peaceful night, the kind that Catra loved to spend in bed with Adora and far away from the chill air. Catra kept and hand on Melog to calm herself, just barely brushing Adora’s limp hand.

The party came to a gate cut into the mountainside, blocked by an ebony door shod in bronze. There was no lock Catra could see, and no hole for a key. Daa’na’ka made a gesture, spoke a word and it opened. The party passed through into a kind of crack in the mountainside, and headed up a strange staircase. Daa’na’ka lead the way. After a while they came to a ledge. Above them they could see the glacier towering over them, glistening white and blue in the moonlight. All around them they could see the scattered ice-boulders and shards it had shed. To one side, a path snaked down the mountain. To the other, another path led up and under the glacier itself. Daa’na’ka turned to Catra.

“It is here we must part ways with the outcaste.” She turned to the outcaste leader. “Sialaku, I will go with Adora and Catra. This is your…” Daa'na'ka stopped, searching for some word.

“The word you seek is revolt, priestess.”

“I am no priestess. Call me Daa’na’ka. But yes, this is your revolt, your plan. I merely…”

“You were indispensable, Daa’na’ka. We thank you. Even if we do not understand your reasons, we thank you. We shall tell the Illithi of your deeds when we join them. We will remember what you have done, and our children will remember after we are gone.”

Sialaku nodded to Daa’na’ka, and turned. The outcaste filed away down the path, snaking slowly downward with their twists and turns. Cy’alla stayed. She was wrapped in a blanket, but still shivering. Daa’na’ka looked at her with an expression that was all too familiar to Catra.

“I think this is goodbye, Cy’alla. You will not forget me?”

“I couldn’t if I tried, Daa’na’ka. But...are you sure you must…”

“Yes, I must. You cannot walk with me. None can take this journey with me. Even these two strangers, we may walk together for a time, but this journey is mine alone, and I will be alone at its end.”

“I hope you find your answers, Daa’na’ka.”

“I have to. Even when I do I’m not sure they’ll be worth parting from you.”

“Then you could…”

“No. I can’t.”

Cy’alla nodded. She pressed her head to Daa’na’ka’s in some kind of Suveri kiss. Catra looked away. As someone prone to PDA herself, it was the least she could do. When she turned back, Daa’na’ka stood alone, trembling slightly and touching her face with one set of hands while she hugged herself tight with her other two arms..

Daa’na’ka shook herself and hardened her face, then turned to Catra. “There is shelter ahead. If your...Melog can carry Adora there, I can break this curse. And then she should be well.”

Catra nodded and they set up the mountain, toward the glacier.

“Should be well?”

“I cannot be certain of anything. I have never seen a curse this powerful before…”

Catra sighed to herself. Of course Adora was cursed with some horrifying invocation of some unspeakable eldritch power. It was just their luck.

Before Catra had any more time to fume at this the road leveled and headed straight under the glacier, into an ice cave. Without so much as glancing back Daa’na’ka led them inside and Melog and Catra ducked in behind her.

Daa’na’ka motioned to Catra and together they slid She-Ra off of Melog, Catra straining to keep Adora’s head from slamming into the icy floor. Catra rolled Adora’s cloak into a pillow while Daa’na’ka worked to roll her on her side, then held her up for Daa’na’ka as she worked.

“So you do this often?”

“Never in my life.”

Catra’s ears drooped, and Melog’s mane dimmed even darker blue. “There better be a ‘but’, your holiness.”

“But I’m the greatest student of the hidden arts in five generations, and I know exactly what to do.”

“Better than nothing.”

Daa’na’ka gave a strange nod and began engraving lines in the stone around Adora with a dagger, drawing some kind of 7 pointed star with odd symbols inscribed in each arm. At the point of each she placed a black candle. When all were set, Daa’na’ka set a single word and blue flames kindled on the wick of each. The hair stood up on Catra’s neck. Fucking magic. But she’d let Daa’na’ka take her own blood if it would save Adora.

Daa’na’ka closed her eyes and loosely clasped one pair of hands while the others ran over Adora’s back. She muttered phrases in some language that Catra’s translator didn’t recognize. The moonlight in the cave dimmed. Dark shadows gathered around Adora.

Catra bit back panic rising like bile in her as she recognized those shadows. “What are you doing? What’s that? Daa’na’ka…”

Daa’na’ka waved one free hand, motioning Catra to silence. She finished an incantation and looked up at Catra with distant, faintly glowing eyes. “You may fight this curse with magic like your She-Ra's. But you may only undo the spell by invoking the power that wrought it - the power of the Long Night."

Catra’s felt her arms grow weak, but somehow she kept holding Adora. Catra reminded herself that if Daa’na’ka hurt Adora with this dark sorcery, the priestess wasn’t leaving this cave alive. It helped, a little. At least she didn’t feel so helpless.

The moonlight faded to nothing, and somehow the candles gave off no light. They were in utter darkness, the kind of that made you start to see things. And sure enough, Catra could see stars in front of her as her brain freaked out and tried to make sense out of something that made no sense. Catra blinked. The stars disappeared. Catra opened her eyes again, and she saw stars all around her - they weren’t just in her head. There was no cave any longer - only a vast, infinite night’s sky stretching out in every direction. Beneath her, if there was a down anymore, Catra could see the heptagram glow beneath Adora. And then she saw it darken, pulsing with oily dark clods out to the candles, where they climbed into the flames, sputtering and smoking. Catra looked back at Daa’na’ka, who looked up, her eyes dark and filled with stars themselves. Daa'na'ka smiled a distant, enigmatic smile, like the face of a goddess in a temple.

And now She-Ra glowed herself, brighter and brighter, looking like the sun dawning and washing out the purple star-studded sky to a brilliant blue. Catra looked around again. They were in the cave once more - Catra could see the blue ice above them, and the gray stone below them. The candles were out, and when Daa’na’ka looked up again her eyes were normal. Catra shifted and ran her eyes and hands all over She-Ra’s body There was no more wound. No more oily stain leaching out her life. Catra felt for Adora’s pulse. It was strong, confident, regular. She placed the back of her hand in front of Adora’s face and felt her breath blow over the fine hairs covering Catra’s skin. Catra brought her own face to Adora’s neck and breathed her in and smelled only Adora’s saltiness and that verdant, spring-smell of She-Ra’s magic. Catra looked at Adora’s face. She was asleep, but sleeping peacefully, more peacefully than she ever did in their own bed, honestly. Adora was going to live. Adora was going to live. Catra started laughing to herself, and felt tears running down her face, and Melog was there, bowling her over with a nuzzle and a purr. Catra looked up at Daa’na’ka.

“I...how did you?” Catra took a breath and stopped stammering, she sounded like Adora. “Listen, I don’t know how any of this works. But...thank you. I don’t know what I’d have done without this. Without you.”

“You’re welcome, Catra. It is the least I can give to the woman who helped me to free myself, who helped Sialaku and Cy’alla and all the rest free themselves. Perhaps she is the woman who will help all my people free ourselves. That is” Daa’na’ka breathed, looked up, and smiled. “That is a nice thought.”

Catra rested her own bedroll under Adora’s head as a pillow, set Adora’s roll out beneath her and threw her cloak over her, talking to Daa’na’ka as she did so.

“But seriously, how’d you do it?”

“The powers of darkness are not evil, Catra, though they may be used to evil purposes. The darkness that existed before all things is not simply dissolution and destruction. It is possibility - the unformed, the uncreated, the unmanifest. Something that can be anything. When you meditate on these things as I do...it’s not even darkness. It’s that there is no difference between darkness and light. What I did...well I suppose you could say I took the curse and I...un-created it. I returned it to what it was before it was a curse - merely another word unspoken. Just as the curse sought to make Adora what she was before she was Adora, which is to say…”

“Nothing. It was trying to make her nothing.”

“Yes. Magic as you know it is the power of love, connection, attachment. Once our people could command that magic, but it is weakened in these days. Magic as I practice it is...it flows from the power of detachment. We call it the Way of Negation, or the Path of Night. But not all detachment is the same. It can be compassionate, all caring, all loving. Or it can be callous and indifferent. I learned to love alone, in the dark. I told you that I found things there that were greater and older than the gods. I found hope.”

Catra and smiled. “You’re talking to the wrong woman, your holiness. Adora would be all into this magic and hope shit, probably. And Sparkles.. well when you meet Sparkles you can talk her ear off about this stuff. If she doesn’t talk your ear off first.”

“But you…”

“Probably the most important thing to know about me is that I’m not magic.”

Melog mewled out a laugh.

“Quiet, you.”

Daa'na'ka gave her enigmatic smile. "To answer the question you have not asked, Adora will need to sleep all the night. Tomorrow she shall wake and all shall be well. Her magic is so strong, like nothing I have ever felt...except Telika herself."

"Well that's great, but isn't someone going to come looking for us?"

"Not without the High priestesses of Telika and the Gods Who Live Not to lead them. The junior priestess of Telika is younger than I and does not know the spell to open the gate."

"Wait what happened to the Priestess of Telika?"

"You need not concern yourself with that, Sialaku and his fellows took care of it."

Catra snorted. "Well whatever it was I am sure she deserved it."

"I suppose she did. Of course, even if they could follow us, even if they weren't paralyzed by their own fear, no one would expect us to follow this road."

Catra looked up.

"This is still the road to Telika, isn't it?"

"But of course."

"Adora's nearly dead, Daa'na'ka!"

"She will be better come morning. And besides, do you have another path you may walk? You must go to the Dead City. As must I."

Catra bit back a snarl. She looked down at Adora to try to calm herself, but she just got angrier. Adora had gone and dragged her to this planet, and Adora had walked into that Temple and Adora had gotten stabbed and now Adora was going to walk out and face the one thing in the universe that was as powerful as she was, and the smug asshole was going to do it all smiling! And she'd survived her spaceship disintegrating and the Grayagghi and the Illithi and the the Suveri warriors and the Gods Who Live Not but what if he hadn't? What if she had stepped into a spear or been swallowed by the powers of darkness, what if Daa'na'ka had fucked the spell up, what if the priestess hadn't missed Adora’s kidney? What if Catra had messed up and Adora had died, and she would live with that for the rest of her wretched life? Catra felt herself choking on her own rapid breaths. Melog was growling and nearly thrashing, and she felt herself about to pass out.

So she focused on the thing she could control. She caught her shallow, rapid breaths and forced herself to breath deep and slow. She looked down at her hands and retracted her claws digging them out of the floor. She reached over and felt Melog, feeling calmness flow from it to her and from her to it. Catra looked up at Daa'na'ka, who had the sense to look away to hide her concern.

"Wherever you are going, perhaps we should discuss it in the morning." Daa'na'ka suggested gently. Catra nodded. Morning would come soon enough, anyway.

Catra wrapped herself in her cloak and grimaced at the hard floor. Giving Adora her bedroll for a pillow had been sweet but stupid. But the big glowing idiot looked so peaceful it would be a crime to disturb her, and anyway the woman had just been stabbed and nearly cursed into oblivion. Catra could deal.

But she couldn’t sleep. Her heart was racing too fast, and whenever she started drifting off she’d see Adora there, nearly dying in her arms, or see all the times Adora could have died but didn’t. So much for sleep. Judging by her fitful stirring, Daa’na’ka couldn’t sleep either.

“You still awake, your holiness?”

“I just threw away my life to do the right thing, and I do not know if I will ever return from this road I am on. No, I cannot sleep.”

“Well if it helps, your holiness, I know that feeling, and Adora knows it even better. And we’re still here,” Catra said with a weak laugh.

“Thank you. But please do not call me your holiness. I am not a priestess any longer.”

“Well you’re something sacred and creepy, Daa’na’ka, and your full name sounds so...I dunno, formal. How about Daany?”

“I like that.”

“Well how about I call you Daany and your holiness.”

Daany chuckled. “If you must.”

There was a brief pause as both women stared at the ceiling and though their own dark thoughts. Catra broke the silent. “So you and Cy’alla, huh?”

Daany laughed a little sadly and sighed. “You don’t miss much, do you, Catra? Yes, she and I.”

“I figured something was up. I don’t know what’s going on in that head of yours but...it was obviously hard for you to leave her.”

“It was...but I must do this.”

“You keep saying that, and I have no idea what you need to do.” Daany stirred, but Catra continued. “Eh, you don’t need to tell me. It’s probably some weird mystic shit I wouldn’t understand anyway. Still. Love...believe me, it’s not something you just walk away from.”

“I know. It’s not. So...you and Adora?”

“Hah, you don’t miss much either Daany. Yeah, me and Adora.”

“She is your mate? Your lover?”

“Eh, let’s go with lover. We’re still young.” ‘Mate’ was a lot, and awful close to ‘spouse’ and ‘wife’ and all the questions and fears about the future that those brought up. Catra had struggled to imagine another day with Adora, another morning waking up with her. A lifetime of waking up with her, waking up to her was too much, too good to be believed.

Thankfully Daa’na’ka continued. “You are older than I am, I think.”

“Daany no offense but most people are older than you.”

Daany just laughed at that. “How long have you…”

“Oh, a year. Or a lifetime, I guess. Depends on how you count.”

“A lifetime?”

“Yeah we grew up together. Best friends, then enemies for a while, and now - this.” Catra reached over and stroked Adora. She hoped ‘this’ would last for a long time. As long as Adora didn’t get herself killed first. Catra swallowed, she was trying not to think about that. “It’s a whole story, anyway. We told it to the Illithi.”

“Well then I won’t ask you to tell it again.”

“It’s a good one, or so I’m told. And I’m not sleeping and…”

“Neither am I. How did you two become enemies?”

Catra sighed. “That’s the part I don’t like talking about, Daany. It was my fault. Well, maybe her’s too, just a little. She’d say it was hers too and I guess it’s kind of hard to be enemies with only one person doing anything.”

“It is hard to be lovers that way, either.”

“Yeah and that’s…” Catra laughed. “The two were always closer for us than they were for most people, I guess. We never stopped loving each other, even when...well, even when things got bad.” Catra felt all her worst memories bubbling beneath the surface. She touched Melog with one hand and Adora with the other and let the memories pass. She rallied and continued, “but the important thing is, we were raised by some pretty vile people. We were...I guess you could say we were promised to a kind of dead god ourselves, and we were raised to do some pretty fucked up stuff. And Adora doesn’t just figure out, eventually, just how bad this is, but she gets it into her head to do the right thing, instead. Walk away from everything, burn all her bridges. She gave me the chance to join her and...I didn’t. Anyway, like I said, Adora’s walked away from her whole life to do the right thing once before. Twice, I guess, I wasn’t there for the second one. Kinda wish I was though, just to see the look on that damn hologram’s smug fucking face…”

“I do not know what a hologram is.”

“Right, yeah, well that’s not important. What’s important is that Adora can give like, lessons on blowing up your life to do the right thing. You should talk to her tomorrow.”

Catra looked over to Adora. She had shrunk - she wasn’t She-Ra anymore, just Adora. No glow but her own skin in the faint reflected moonlight.

“Daany, Adora’s back to normal, does that mean…”

“Her magic has done its work. Now she only needs to rest. Adora will be well, Catra.”

Catra felt tears streaming down her face. She smiled. “Well I’m still not sleeping, so if you want to hear more about our whole thing…”

“I’d love to.”

Chapter Text

Adora woke up to the sound of Catra talking and laughing, and a strange laugh replying to it, one she couldn’t quite place. Daa’na’ka. That was her laugh, Adora thought, more quickly than she normally managed first thing in the morning. She’d never heard Daa’na’ka really laugh before, not like this. Adora caught a few words, enough to realize what they were laughing at - the story of one of Adora’s thankfully short lived engagements during her diplomatic visits to different words, one of several involving a particularly bizarre alien psychology and even stranger courtship rituals. Adora was glad Catra was laughing now because she had not been laughing at the time.

"Did she actually say that?"

"Oh absolutely. The Grand Voivod was speechless, and we just kind of...walked away."

"So saying the exact wrong thing…"

"Was actually the right thing to say, yeah. Classic Adora."

"So she does possess secret wisdom."

"That, and a lot of dumb luck. I think she stores them both in her hair."

Adora grinned. But then she looked around, barely turning her head. She was in an ice cave, dimly lit blue-gray in the light that came before dawn. Adora thought back for a moment. She remembered fighting against dead gods and living mortal warriors, and winning. And then she remembered nothing. No, not nothing. She remembered pain, and darkness, and a faint feeling of being held. She remembered tears that weren't hers falling on her face, and Catra's voice speaking from a great distance. And then she remembered being among the stars, and nothing else. Adora turned her head slightly and saw Catra sitting up next to her. “She saved me.” Adora thought this and knew it was true as soon as she did. She felt herself smiling. She waited for a moment when Catra was quiet. And then she spoke.

"Hey Catra," Adora said, as casually and flirtatiously as she could manage. Catra looked down, starting and then smiling almost at once.

“Hey Adora. You’re up early.” Catra’s voice was anything but casual, or flirtatious. It was warm and genuine and so sweet that if Bow had heard her like this Catra would have pounced, claws out, just to end the embarrassment.

Adora could only dismiss Catra’s comment with a grunt. Catra hadn’t slept at all, Adora realized. Now probably wasn’t the time to mention that. Instead, Adora cracked a grin.

“Did you just jump into a temple full of dead gods for me?”

Catra scoffed. “Maybe. But not because I like you.” Catra cracked a grin, but it began to fall around the edges of her mouth, and her eyes weren’t smiling.

Adora wiped the smirk off her face. “You saved me. Again. Thank you.”

“Yeah well Daany helped. And she even brought food, so you can thank her for that too. Hope you like black bread and Draayaaalggiir’s milk cheese, whatever that is.”

Adora lay still for a moment and felt her stomach rumble. “I’m pretty sure I’ll like anything that’s edible right about now.” Adora sat up, and Daa’na’ka brought her hard black bread and even harder greenish cheese. Adora devoured both, barely looking at them long enough to register the colors. “Thanks” Adora mumbled through a stuffed mouth as she reached for a water skin and washed it down.

“It was Sialaku who brought the food and gave it to me. Really you should thank him.”

Adora nodded, and Catra smirked. “Well I guess it’s not too bad, then.”

“Better than ration bars, Catra.”

“Adora, you haven’t eaten ration bars for over 4 years. You don’t need to compare everything to them anymore. Heck I had to eat them longer than you did!”

“Fine. It’s better than rehydrated protein slaw.”

Catra rolled her eyes. “You’re hopeless.”

Adora smiled back, but she could see that neither the words nor the eye-roll had their usual conviction. Something was bothering Catra. Probably...probably the fact that Adora had nearly died, apparently, would soon face Telika. But Adora was alive now, and she was with Catra, and they had work to do. The Cephalopodians still needed rescuing,they had maybe 2 or 3 days before Glimmer came streaking into the atmosphere, and Telika was still out there. Adora could feel the dragon’s magic flowing out of the cave, like the cold wind off the ice. Adora stood up. She felt...powerful. Fit. Well. There was the normal hangover from She’Ra’s healing, an ache all over her, seeping into all her muscles, settled in all of her joints. But it was only pain, and she was used to pain. She had her strength back, and that’s what mattered. Catra looked at her.

“Feeling better?” Catra asked cautiously.

“I’m a little sore from…” Adora was about to say ‘nearly dying’ with a broad grin, but Catra was on edge, and gallows humor wasn’t going to land right. “...from last night. It’s not every day I fight dead gods.”

“Thankfully.”

Adora turned to Daa’na’ka. “Daa’na’ka...Daany, is this the road to Telika?” In the corner of Adora’s eye, Catra’s tail swished violently.

“It is, Adora. My road leads me that way, to the City of the Dead, to Telika. And yours?”

Adora looked over at Catra, who turned away. “I don’t have any other path. Neither of us do. Do we, Catra?”

“I think you’ve already made up your mind.”

*****

Adora looked over at Catra, so expectant and so loving and so fucking patient that Catra didn’t know whether to kiss her or scream. Four years ago Catra would have not even heard her question - she would have known it was rhetorical, why wouldn’t it be, because Adora knew best. Or maybe four years ago Adora wouldn’t have thought to ask, because back then she really did think she knew best. But now Adora was asking, really asking Catra, about what she thought and about what they should do. And Catra hated it, because she didn’t have an answer. She’d been only half listening to her own stories about Adora as Daany laughed along with them, turning everything over in her mind, looking for some angle, some con, some loophole. But there was no angle, no con, no loophole, no exit and no escape. They couldn’t sneak off the planet out from under the fire-breathing nose of a draconic deity, a being as powerful as She-Ra herself. All they could do is face her. And when they did...who the fuck knew. Catra managed not to think about what Telika had promised to do to Adora. She only half succeeded.

So Catra looked away and said something bitter and felt crappy about it and Adora nodded and they packed up and walked down the tunnel, deeper and deeper into the dark, even as the sun rose over the glacier far above them. She-Ra held out her hand to light the way in dark places. Catra wrapped her cloak tight around herself against the chill of the air and the even colder feeling settling in her guts. Daany asked questions with that unnerving and somewhat unnatural cheeriness, eyes sparkling in the darkness.

“Catra tells me that you have twice walked away from your old life to do what you felt was right. She called you an expert on it, actually. Is this true?”

Adora laughed nervously, and if there was anything that could take Catra’s mind off of their impending doom, it was Adora being awkward.

“If she says so. The first time I guess I...I half convinced myself I didn’t have a choice, I said it was my destiny.”

“Was it?”

“Only because I decided it was, I guess.”

Catra nodded to herself.

“And the second?”

“And the second time I decided that if my destiny was being someone else’s weapon then I would rather not have a destiny at all.”

“I think I know how you feel.”

“So what about you? How does a high priestess decide to reject her Gods?”

Catra swivelled an ear on Daany to listen better. The apostate priestess breathed in. “I suppose the priestess asks too many questions. Or perhaps she believes too much in the things she is told, and when they do not make sense, she cannot simply ignore them. Or maybe…” Daany laughed, the way she normally did, without much joy. “Maybe it took someone else to open my eyes. A band of the free people kidnapped me when I was younger - four great seasons ago, you might call them years, perhaps. I say kidnapped, but taking hostages and ransoms is...it is a way of life for them. It is much of the reason that they fight. And sometimes it is more like, how shall I put this...it is more like an adoption. They did not teach me their ways, but I saw their ways nonetheless. I argued with them, tried to show how Telika’s code was righteous, but they did not agree with me, or even argue, and they didn’t seem damned or wretched or depraved like I had been taught. And they...they treated me with a kindness I had not known. They treated me as myself, not as the anointed of the Gods Who Live Not. They...they did not use my name, because it was my name as a priestess, and I was not a priestess to them. With them I became Daa’na’ka. But I did not follow them. When I was ransomed, I returned to the temple, and I redoubled my studies, my prayer, my fasting, my meditation.”

“I know what it’s like to realize that what you’ve been taught doesn’t make sene.” Adora said.

“I read every scroll I could find or buy or smuggle in, even the heretical works of the unbelieving philosophers who live in the great cities to the South.”

“There are settled Suveri who don’t worship Telika?”

“Some among the learned, yes - they venerate her as a protector, but argue we need not worship her as a goddess.”

“Huh. Guess I’m kind of surprised that the Queens would tolerate that kind of thing,” Adora said, half to herself.

“Oh I’m sure there’s a catch.” Catra muttered.

“The philosophers claim to prove with reason that the outcaste are natural servitors, and that all must obey the Queens’ just authority, and that the riches of the merchants are the just reward of shrewdness and effort, and that members of all castes are disposed in accordance with the dictates of reason and the designs of nature.”

“...And, there it is.” Catra said with a bitter laugh. “Called it.”

Daa’na’ka didn’t seem to notice the interruption. “I found their reasoning specious, their arguments unconvincing, and their conclusions laughable.”

“Well I mean their conclusion was ‘reason and logic prove that the people in charge should be in charge’ which does sound kind of suspicious now that you mention it…”

Adora snorted, and even Daany laughed a little.

“But where the philosophers taught me nothing with the light of reason, I found my own answers in the dark.” Daa’na’ka said, turning around and smiling, gesturing at the pitch black all around them. She looked at home, like Mermista in water, Entrapta surrounded by machines, or Catra and Adora on a battlefield. Catra thought she saw the stars shining in her eyes.

"What did you find, Daa'na'ka?"

"Like I said, there is a reality beyond the gods. Perhaps you have felt it as She-Ra. We are part of one whole. Everything hangs together, no being is an island."

"Yeah I might know what you mean."

Catra rolled her eyes. They sounded like Perfuma explaining the connection to the universe that she felt when meditating. All Catra had ever gotten out of that meditation stuff was some obnoxiously effective breathing exercises and yeah, maybe a sense of calm or something like that.

"It makes sense to me," Melog trilled. Catra looked aside at the golem, and shook her head. Adora and Daany went on like this, talking about some mystic stuff that Catra didn’t bother following, where up was down and inside was outside and the future was the past and the present moment was eternity or some shit. Daany went on about how the shit that supposedly mattered the most couldn't even be described except by describing what it wasn't. Catra couldn't keep track of it all, but she barely rolled her eyes. She even kept her comments to herself. Until she didn’t.

"Perhaps there is something vast expressing itself in the cosmos, and in our consciousness, so that it is growing and evolving in all of us and all around us. Perhaps we are part of one great vast mind or soul…"

Catra shook her head and finally spoke up. "Man if the universe and everyone in it - you, Adora, Sparkles, that fucking dragon - is part of one soul or mind or whatever, then the universe is crazier than I am." Catra laughed.

Daany just shook her head with a smile.

Catra pressed her. "So let me get this straight, you abandoned everything you knew because you had what, a divine revelation? You found enlightenment?"

"One does not find enlightenment like a mislaid purse, Catra. It finds you, or so I am told. I wouldn't know, because for everything I have experienced, I am not enlightened. And everything I experienced was not enough to change my mind, no.”

Oh, here was the real story, behind all the metaphysics or whatever it was.

“And what was enough?” Adora asked.

“And what was her name?” Catra chuckled, smiling broadly, genuinely happy for this crazy kid.

Daany stopped walking and turned, staring at Catra with that distant, haunting gaze. Then she broke into a grin and chuckled.

“Oh we both know that you know her name.”

“Well I don’t!” Adora exclaimed, almost indignant. Catra just laughed louder, and even Daany joined in.

Daany looked up. “Cy’alla. Her name is Cy’alla, Adora.” Daa’na’ka grew serious again. “Perhaps I would have done what I did no matter who was to be sacrificed. I was the one who was to prepare her soul to be consumed by the Gods Who Live Not, it is, it was supposed to be a great honor to be consumed, and it requires painstaking preparation. So I spoke with her, yet she did not accept the honor, and she was not calm. She refused to die, refused to be consumed, refeused to be at peace. And I was not at peace either. As we grew to know each other, and she reminded me of a world I had half forgotten from my days as a little girl - marble cities full of people, speakers on street corners, merchants bringing in cloth and spices and incense, Suveri from every island and every land across the wide seas. Then I thought about how she would never see any of that again, and of how I would be the cause of it. And perhaps that was enough. I hope it would have been enough. Everyone likes to see themselves as righteous, I suppose, though it is merely a vanity, you cannot possess goodness like coin, but still. Like I said, I am not enlightened.” Daa’na’ka shook her head. “There was so much on my mind, and so much wrong with everything I was being asked to do. But even with everything happening, even with everything that refused to make sense and my own conscience screaming at me that this was all wrong, I did notice that she was beautiful, and that...it is not nothing. I do have eyes to see.”

“I mean you were sworn to the powers of darkness, but you weren’t dead, right?” Catra said.

“No, I am not dead, and I’d have to be dead not to notice her.” At this point Daany was nearly leering, and Catra was grinning.

“See, I don’t know about enlightenment, or the will of the cosmos or whatever the fuck you’re talking about, but that- that I understand. Like I told you, this dummy and I wanting to make out saved the universe.”

“It’s so much more romantic when I tell the story.”

“Yeah well you were unconscious so I told it my way. Try to keep up, Adora.”

Adora snorted, and Catra swatted her back and Daany smiled and for a moment Catra forgot that they were all walking toward what was probably their doom. Listening to Adora laugh like that Catra couldn’t believe that anything bad could happen to her, or to Catra. Maybe that was the way Adora felt all the time, Catra thought.

“So you do not think at all about...things that are beyond yourself, Catra?” Daany asked.

“What, you mean like the spirit of the universe or the intelligence of being or the universal mind or the ultimate reality or whatever? Not really. Never worshipped any gods, either, we don’t have those on Etheria, and I didn’t want to pick one up while we’re travelling, they seem more trouble than they’re worth.”

“But isn’t She-Ra...divine?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that…” Adora started.

Catra laughed “I mean you are worshipped in at least like, 4 different globular clusters. And by those weird schsmatic Clone cultists who think that because you killed Prime you replaced him. Ew. But yeah, the word ‘Goddess’ gets mentioned a lot, it’s kind of annoying. So fine Daany, the only goddess I believe in is the one I’m sleeping with, and you can’t really worship someone who shares your bathroom.”

“Did you really just call me a Goddess?”

“Shut up,” Catra said, batting at Adora even as she wrapped her tail around her.

*******

Adora grinned at Catra, feeling the tail wrapping around her waist and Melog rubbing against her. They had been walking for hours now, climbing all the way. The tunnel under the glacier was straight, and in the dark Adora could see First One’s crystals at regular intervals - they were probably what kept the ice melted and prevented it from crushing them. Pacing them out, they were perhaps each 200 paces apart, and by counting them Adora could tell how long they had gone - there would be around 9 crystals a mile. There were 23 crystals before the tunnels went under rock, and they left the ice-caves behind, but now there were new crystals, probably to prevent cave-ins. There was nothing written on any the crystals, which was just as well, it gave Adora less to think about, and she definitely didn’t want to think about the First Ones now more than she had to. Adora couldn’t see Catra in gloom, which worried her - she knew Catra was shaken, and scared. She reached out her hand and received a half-hearted squeeze back.

Adora couldn’t think of much to say, and she knew just how poisonous Catra’s thoughts could be when they were left to fill the silence, so she invited Daany to speak more about the Suveri - their cities, their society, the geography of their world, anything and everything. For one thing, their world was called Hyboria, which Adora noted for her future maps.Their society was much as the Illithi had described it - wealthy, powerful city-states ruled by priestesses and queens, strict hierarchies of birth, gender and caste, and an ever-growing number of desperate and impoverished outcastes who were outside the system and had to bind themselves as servants to receive any kind of legal status at all, or join the Free People out in the wilds.

“How long can people live like this, though? It sounds like there are more and more outcastes and fewer members of the artisan or laboring or farming castes, and that can’t be good, can it?”

“Indeed, in the past four generations the outcaste have doubled in number with each new generation. Now they outnumber any caste, and much of the work once done by artisans, farmers or laborers is done by them. And all the profit goes to the merchants, the queens, and the priestesses. Oh, and the warriors, who defend the rest and keep the bound servants and the free people quelled.”

“Oh of course the warriors, can’t let them go hungry, or get too poor.” Catra said.

“Something...something has to give. Doesn’t it?”

“It does, perhaps. But nothing will give if Telika has anything to say about it.”

“That fucking dragon.” Catra said, wearily.

“Who is Telika, Daany? What is she?” Adora asked

“She is a goddess, a dragon, for the gods take the form of a dragon, those who arise in might…”

“Then what is a dragon, or what is a goddess to you? No one has explained this to me.”

“A dragon is like unto a lizard, but with many wings, and it breaths…”

“I know that, Daany,” Adora interrupted.

“Daany was that a joke?” Catra asked.

“A priestess does not tell jokes.”

“You’re not a priestess anymore.”

“No, I guess I am not.” Daany replied, and now she laughed, and Catra chucked along. Adora rolled her eyes.

“You still didn’t answer my question. What is a dragon?” Adora asked.

“A dragon is..a being who has absorbed the magic of our world. Not just absorbed the magic...it has also been absorbed by it...they are beings who are...entwinted with the magic of this world. In a way they are...it is said they are anointed by our world, or chosen by it.”

Adora stopped in her tracks. “Telika is your She-Ra.”

Melog trilled something, but Catra didn’t translate.

This made too much sense. That was the feeling Adora had been feeling since before they had landed, that sense of the familiar, of knowing Telika somehow. Telika was like her. They were both guardians of their planets, both entwined with their planet’s magic. Thinking about that, Adora couldn’t help but feel connected to Telika. Other than maybe Melog, she’d never met a being who had been chosen by a planet before. And now she could. This is what she had wanted. This was why she was here.

And yet...Telika had apparently presided over 1,000 years of worsening tyranny, indifferent to the Suveri, writing their oppression in stone. Including the sacrifice of sentient beings. Thinking about that, Adora felt sad and angry and...offended. She was offended that anyone could take this incredible gift of magic - of light and love and hope - and let it curdle in them and turn into something obscene and monstrous. She couldn’t imagine doing it, it would alien not only to her but to the magic that lived in her, the trust Etheria had placed in her.

But still, she needed to talk to Telika, that much was clear. One anointed planetary guardian to another. Maybe even a thousands-year old dragon could hear reason and could see the right thing to do. Adora couldn’t really believe that any being that had felt the pure love and life of magic like she had could have turned to evil. “But what about Shadow Weaver?” A voice asked inside her head. And perhaps that voice was right. No one had loved the magic of Etheria more than Shadow Weaver, who loved it to the exclusion of everything and everyone else. Perhaps Telika was more like her than like Adora.

But there was another piece missing.

“Daany, you have answered what Telika is. But I also asked...who is she?”

“You are, in your own way, as sharp as your companion, Adora of Etheria. Telika is a woman. A powerful sorceress. Or she was. She is a Suveri, because the Suveri and the dragons are one and the same - we are all, potentially, dragons, and the dragons were all once Suveri.”

“Wait what?” Catra strammered.

“I said what I meant. This is the other wisdom I found - not in meditating but in reading ancient and heretical texts, holy books stricken from the canon of our temples. Telika and the other gods were Suveri, like me. They were chosen by the planet, and took its magic into themselves, and they were transformed. They fought the Eternians, long ago, and only Telika survived. Perhaps once she was a woman much like me. Perhaps she loved a girl and left her behind. Perhaps she mourns the friends she lost. But she has cut herself off from us, set herself above us. And as long as she has this power over us, Hyboria will not be free.”

Adora turned to Daany. “So the others, her companions, they all died?”

“Yes, and they become the Gods Who Live Not. Telika commanded that we sustain them. It is her first and greatest commandment, to give burnt offerings to the unliving gods. For as long as we give them sacrifice, though they do not live, they will not truly die.”

Adora thought about this. She wondered - were Telika’s companions her friends? Perhaps some had been more than friends, she didn’t know how dragons felt about things like that. She wondered how she would have felt if Entrapta and Glimmer and Bow and Catra had all died in the struggle with Prime. Would she have felt alone? Cut off? Insane with grief? How could she be She-Ra - loving, compassionate, healing - without someone in her own life that she loved? Maybe Daany could do it all out of a love for the planet itself, but for Adora, everything she did and everything she was had always been too wrapped up in the people she cared out. Still, no matter what had happened she probably wouldn’t have commanded that people start sacrificing themselves or their first born to keep her friends around as wraiths or ghosts or whatever they were. But still, maybe she understood Telika better now.

Just then, they turned a corner, and saw light up ahead. In five hundred paces, less than half a mile, they were walking out into daylight, just as the day itself was fading. Adora, Catra and Daa’na’ka looked around them. Below them a vast, circular valley of back rock spread out, surrounded by tall mountains capped in ice. It was a caldera, Adora realized. The remnants of a volcano so vast that it had built up mountains taller than any on Eheria simply as its shoulders, and had left a great valley of blasted rock in its wake when it erupted for the last time. Their road continued down into the valley, toward its center. And at the end of the road, and in the center of the valley, there were salt flats and still water that gleamed like a mirror. In the lake, rising out of the water, there were sharp, angular ruins, like half-shattered crystals sticking out of the ground. It was a First one’s ruin, the greatest Adora had ever seen. It lay before them, the dead city. They had arrived at the end of their road.

Chapter Text

Catra walked out into the twilight beside Adora while the other woman looked steadfastly ahead, fixing her gaze on the Dead City. its ruins lay before them, surrounded by this vast, perfect desolation of black rock and obsidian shards that stretched out beneath them. All around them the mountains and their glittery caps of ice hemmed them in like a wall. Catra turned her eyes to her girlfriend and took her in - the muscular, bare arms and thighs, the knee-high hide boots, the plaited hair blowing in the wind, the fur cloak wrapped around her against the cold. Adora had always looked at home in this barbaric garb, like she never looked at home around a conference table or a diplomatic gala, and she looked at home now, even striding boldly toward her own death. She looked happy. She’d been so fucking happy this entire time, with a few exceptions. This whole trip had been like some fucking barbarian vacation for Adora, and Catra’s fur bristled thinking about all the gnawing panic and anxiety she’d been carrying with her since they blasted off while Adora had been busy enjoying herself all along. Catra rested a hand on Melog to steady her feelings as they walked down the road through this high, cold dessert, passing by the toppled statues and cracked monoliths of the First Ones on each side. The jagged ruins of the city loomed larger even now, and they grew with every step.

She held it all in - the anguished questions, the accusations, the snarls. They had a job to do, and someone needed to be the brains of this crazy operation.

“So what’s the plan?” Catra asked.

Adora nearly shrugged. “I was thinking we could walk down. You and Melog could cloak yourself - with magic Telika could see you, but if she doesn’t use it you’ll be safe. You go find the Cephalopodians. Make sure they’re okay, see if they can get out of here while I distract them. And then you come back and help me with Telika. If things go bad you can help me escape once the Cephalopodians are away. Then...then we can figure out some way to distract Telika when Glimmer arrives.”

Catra bit her lip. It was a lousy plan. Adora would be alone against Telika, and even with Catra’s help, beating Telika was a 50/50 shot, if that. Catra couldn’t even count all the things that could go wrong. The Celphalopidian ship might be completely busted. Telika might see Catra and Melog. Telika might hurt Adora immediately and go after Catra. It was a lousy plan. But Catra didn’t have a better one, no matter how hard she wracked her brain. Without distracting Telika, there was no way that any ship could escape. And escape was the only way to even contact anyone outside this star-system - otherwise the Cephalopodians would have already done it. So either they beat a dragon-god or the Cephalopodians blasted off and warned Sparkles while Catra and Adora...hid or something. So this lousy plan was their only hope. Catra cursed. She cursed this fucking planet, this fucking situation, this fucking dragon, all of it. It was like being on Prime’s ship again - no angle, no one to manipulate, no way to bargain.

No, it wasn’t like Prime’s ship. This time she had Adora. She had someone so dumb and so stubborn that she could make even the shittiest plan work. Someone who had driven Catra to distraction for two and half years by winning against impossible odds, pulling half-baked strategies out of her ass and wrecking all of Catra’s best laid plans. Someone who had jumped off a ledge just after her best friend had fallen to her death, broken both her own legs and only then transformed into Etheria’s anointed one and completely humiliated the god-tyrant of the known universe. Someone who saved the universe with the power of love by kissing her and then murdered that same god-tyrant with the power of friendship.. Adora was someone who made the craziest shit possible, and more than that, Adora was someone Catra loved. This time, Catra had Adora. It wasn’t nothing. It still didn’t mean they would survive.

Daany turned to Adora and Catra, pulling Catra out of her thoughts.. “I can scry for Telika, and for these Cephalopodians.”

“How do you do that?”

“All beings cast shadows. I will not look for the beings, I will look for their shadows. Or perhaps, I will look for where they are not. That is the way of negation.”

Catra just shook her head. Fucking magic, she thought.

Daany turned away and made some strange gestures in the gathering dark around her. Runes glowed faintly where her hands traced their path, then she blew them away. She turned back.

“Telika is not here, but she is returning soon. Your Celphalopodians are in the center of the city, not far from Telika’s lair.”

“Where’s their ship? Their uh...sky-vessel?” Adora asked.

“I do not know, I can only detect living beings. This ship could be with them, or it could be far away. We do not know. But we must head toward the central square. We shall journey together until we reach it. I shall accompany Adora when we part.”

Adora and Catra both looked sideways at Daa’na’ka.

“I have my own business with Telika. And I think I may yet have some part to play in your story, Adora of Etheria. Besides, I know some magic. Perhaps it will be of service to you again.”

Catra shrugged. If Daany wanted to get eaten along with Adora that was the least of Catra’s problems, compared to the love of her life getting devoured. And she liked Daany. “Well at least Melog can cloak us all until we split up.” Catra nodded at the golem, and it chirped and the air shimmered all around them.

They walked down the road, passing more broken pillars and cracked columns and defaced stellae while the sepulchral ruins of the city loomed above them, closer and closer and the sun sank further toward the mountains. Catra looked over at Adora, worried that she’d once again be wracked with misplaced guilt about the First Ones or whatever. She wasn’t - she still looked determined, almost eager. And that was almost worse. Adora had loved nearly all of this crap they’d done on Hyboria, and nearly all of this crap had been hell for Catra. And why had Adora loved it? Because she was bored without someone trying to kill her? Because she just liked hitting things? Because she knew she looked hot with bare thighs and knee-high boots? Catra felt the fur on her tail begin to bristle, but she breathed in, and out. Now wasn’t the time to freak out. Now was the time to tell Adora how she felt, just like that mantis-like couples counselor had told them. Fuck it anyway, she couldn’t hold this in. Especially since there was nothing she could do to actually stop any of this, and especially since this might be the last time she ever talked to the woman she loved.

‘You’re happy, aren’t you?” Catra asked, and accusation crept into her voice more with each word.

Adora looked over and breathed in. “I suppose I am, Catra,” Adora responded, shaking her head. She sounded guilty.

“How? Why? Why, Adora, why?” Catra asked, her voice breaking.

Adora turned back to Catra. Her blue-gray eyes flashed violet in the setting sun, and she smiled sadly. “I feel like...me. What else can I say? You know I’m not good at this stuff,” she said, shaking her head.

“Yeah, you’re not,” Catra said, smiling in spite of herself.

Adora was silent for a time. They walked on, further down, further in. They were almost to the city now. The wind blew and Catra could see the light reflected from the ripples of the salt lake playing off the crystals, turning them into even more fantastical prisms in the sunset. Catra didn’t even bother asking anything else about their plan. She was out of plans. She just saw and felt the ruins looming over her and closing in around her. Would they show Catra her own memories, like the Crystal Castle? And if they did, what would she see? How many awful things could this dead city torment her with? Catra looked at a broken spire and thought she saw Adora charging at her, alone, nearly suicidal, determined to take on all of Catra’s spite and malice and absorb all her pain and rage so that Catra couldn’t hurt anyone else. Another shadow of a tower twisted like Shadow Weaver herself, convincing Adora to die for all Etheria, to die for her friends. Or did she see something else? Would the city mock her with memories of this past precarious year of delirious happiness? Catra thought she saw her own tousled hair with her lover’s fingers running through it, Adora’s bare back and shoulders the way they looked when Catra first opened her eyes in the morning. She could lose this, all of this. She would lose this, if Telika carried out her promise. Catra shook her head. This wasn’t real. This was in her mind. Adora was real, Adora was with her, here, now. Catra turned back to her, and Adora finally found her words.

“I don’t often feel like...like me, I guess? Like Adora, I mean. Most of the time I feel like...someone else. This other She-Ra, this...savior, this...I don’t know...this symbol. This woman who did all these incredible things for all these idealistic reasons and all of them were the furthest thing from my mind when I was fighting Prime. It’s like...it’s like what I said about the story I told the Illithi, how when people tell the story of She-Ra, it’s not my story. But it’s more than that - when I meet with these diplomats and delegations...I’m still in that other story. I’m still playing that role, pretending to be this other She-Ra, this amazing woman who lives to bring magic back to the universe, who never gets angry or scared and never just wants to punch something or stay in bed with her girlfriend rather than being the person she needs to be for the rest of the universe. Most of the time I’m this...symbol of hope. For everyone.” Adora sighed and turned to Catra. “This probably doesn’t make any sense.”

“You know, I’ve never been a symbol of hope for anyone so that part’s kind of hard for me, Adora. But...keep talking, dummy. Try to make me understand.” Catra didn’t have anything else. If she was going to die, she might as well listen to her girlfriend first. Maybe she could understand a little more of this seemingly simple woman who still felt like a mystery after twenty years.

“I’ve been losing She-Ra.”

“What?!” Catra stopped in her tracks. The cloak shimmered around them. Catra breathed, touched Melog, grounded herself in Adora’s eyes, and forced herself into something like calm.

“Sometimes I’ve felt like I was losing her like I did back when Shadow Weaver was...when she was creeping around when we went to Mystacor, or back in that bunker. The way I was losing her before you saved me at the Heart.” Adora looked up at Catra. Catra had always loved those clear eyes. She still did.

Catra shook her head. “Adora this is...that isn’t good.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“Adora you should have told me…”

“I probably should have. But…” Adora breathed in. “Our mission is so important and…”

“Fuck our mission, Adora, this is you. You matter.”

“Yeah I know. You keep telling me that, Catra. But it’s not just me, it’s you and Bow and Glimmer, too...and I saw how much you love all this...diplomatic stuff. I saw how good you are at it. Just like you were good at reconstructing Etheria. You and Glimmer together...you’re amazing. You inspire me, Catra. I couldn’t complain and ask you to give it all up. And I don’t know about any of this and I didn’t even really know what was going on until I got here and I felt so free but even then I don’t want to ask you to...”

Catra rolled her eyes and motioned for Adora to shut up. “You know I always say flattery will get you everywhere, but I’m not forgetting the part where you weren’t able to transform. What the fuck, Adora. You can’t...you can’t sacrifice your identity or whatever just so that I have a job that I like.”

“When I say it out loud, it does seem bad, doesn’t it? It’s not like it’s always bad. When I’m actually restoring magic, or solving those problems, when I’m channeling that power, then...then I feel like myself. Then it isn’t about how people see me or what they expect, it’s just...it’s about what I can do. And I can do a lot. It feels good. But then we spend so much time in these meetings and I need to be this other person the whole time because so much depends on me inspiring them and reassuring them and letting them hope and believe and it’s exhausting.” Adora sighed.

“But it’s not a problem now, here, because ever since I’ve been here, I’ve never had any trouble transforming. Here, I don’t know. Maybe it’s that everything’s simple, and no one sees this other woman or this symbol, they only see me. And no one expects anything of me, so I can just be…” Adora breathed, and shook her head, and smiled. “...myself. I can be myself. And since I feel like myself again, I guess...I feel like She-Ra again.” Adora flicked her wrist, the sword materialized, and she gave half of a winning smile. Catra looked back at her. Adora hadn’t just been bored, this wasn’t just like her shaking her leg or zoning out in meetings or exhausting herself on the punching bag or the weight rack after sitting all day. This wasn’t even some weird guilt trip about helping people. If Adora was telling the truth, then this was about who Adora was. If she was telling the truth, Adora had been smiling and nodding and trying to be who people needed her to be and ignoring who she was and what she wanted. Just like she always fucking did. If she was telling the truth then Catra had been letting her do it for months. If she was telling the truth, crash landing on a strange planet with Catra and becoming wandering barbarian warriors had been the best thing that had happened to Adora since they blasted off of Etheria. And Adora always told the truth. Fuck.

Catra shook her head. “So the real Adora is a barbarian badass who takes on a room full of alien warriors and breaks their faces and challenges dead gods to a fist fight and wins? Oh, who am I kidding. Of course that’s the real Adora.” Catra looked away. “You really do love this. All the fighting, all the danger, everything.”

Adora grinned guiltily, shrugged and nodded, like she did when Catra called her out on eating an entire box of donuts. “Catra, be honest with me. Don’t you love it too, at least a little bit? Sometimes?”

Catra looked at Adora. She looked more beautiful than she had in a long time. Strong, fearless, dangerous. Catra looked down at her own fur and hide clothes. She saw the blood spattered on her long gloves and caked under her claws, the mud and ashes streaked across her leggings. She felt dangerous herself, in these clothes, standing here. In the past months she had felt competent, smart, useful, helpful even. But she had rarely felt dangerous, and she'd missed it. She felt the chill of the wind, and smelled the uncanny alkaline savor of the salt lake ahead of them and she smelled Adora beside her -smelling of sweat and blood, smelling of Adora. She heard the silence that followed Adora’s question. It really was her and Adora, just like she’d always said she wanted it. And she had wanted this, for years as a girl and sometimes even in the last few months on Darla, or in stupid meeting with some stupid dignatary. How often had she wished that she and Adora could just be together, taking on the world and kicking its ass? After years of fighting Adora, how amazing was it to fight beside her?

For a moment, Catra didn’t think about what might happen, or what would happen, or anything like that. She forgot Telika’s promise to murder her girlfriend. Instead she remembered her dance with Adora, surrounded by enemies on all sides, but untouchable as long as she was by Adora’s side. She managed not to think about what a stray knife could do to her girlfriend, what a stray knife had done to her girlfriend, only the exhilaration before it all came crashing down. She felt her own power, and she felt Adora next to her, and Melog behind her, and she felt like she could do anything.

“Yeah Adora, sometimes I do. But...I can’t lose you. You nearly died, Adora. You didn’t see it but it was bad. There was so much blood, just, a fucking a puddle of it all over the floor and all over me. And what if I hadn’t stopped it? What if I hadn’t saved you, what if Daany wasn’t fucking magic and you were still on the floor of that cave bleeding and I was still watching you and thinking about how you’d never wake up?” Catra could feel the tears stream down her face. Their cloak had dropped, she knew it. She’d lost control again. But how could she not?

Adora looked down at her and reached over to wipe away her tears. “I know how you feel, Catra. So many times I’ve wondered...what if I hadn’t saved you? What if my healing wasn’t strong enough on Darla after I got you back? What if I hadn’t caught you on the ledge at Princess Prom? What if...there’s so many times. They’ve kept me up. Sometimes they still do. But then I remember that I have you. And that I was there. I did save you. And I’ll save you again. And you were there and you saved me, back in the temple and back in the heart. Because just like we said, when we’re together, there’s nothing we can’t do. They can’t touch us.”

Catra looked up at Adora and into those big, deceptively dopey eyes. Adora trusted her absolutely, trusted Catra with her life. Maybe that’s what hurt, being trusted so completely. Wasn’t Catra going to mess this up like she always did? But Adora’s look was so gentle and so intense and her words were so stupidly confident that it was obvious she had no doubts. Maybe Catra could borrow Adora’s confidence in her.

Catra breathed in. “You keep saying that Adora. I guess I need to believe it. ‘Cause, I can’t stop you. It felt like shit seeing you get hurt. And now, thinking about you going out there to face that fucking dragon? It scares me. But I’m not going to stop you, I’d never be able to stop you. This is who you are. You beautiful, strong, unconquerable dumbass.”

“If they ever make a statue of me, make sure they carve that on the plinth, Catra.”

Catra blinked back tears. She gave in to the knotting sense of longing in her chest and pulled Adora down for a kiss, cradling her face in her hands, barely brushing her claws on Adora’s cheeks. Adora returned it and bent her over double, then pulled them both up, broke off and smirked down at Catra, only inches from her face.

“Aww do you like me? That’s so embarrassing for you!”

“Shut up, idiot.”

*****

Adora smiled down at Catra, then looked ahead. They were standing among the first lengthening shadows of the great necropolis's outskirts, and the shattered spires of the great dead city itself rose above them. Adora had been contemplating this ruin for five days. First as a scanner read-out on their now-wrecked shuttle, then in her imagination, or maybe her dreams. She’d known that she would come here, somehow. She’d spent days wondering about The First Ones and their empire, and she felt the tinge of guilt and anxiety rising in the back of her mind. Then she remembered Catra’s eyes rolling and her exasperated dismissal of Adora’s guilt. The least Adora could for her girlfriend was to not worry about all this now. She could deal with the legacy of the First Ones later. She had a dragon to face.

That was the heart of it. The dragon was why she was here, not the First Ones. She and Telika were linked, bound together by their purposes. Each was anointed by her world, each was entrusted with awesome power. Adora shouldn’t be looking forward to meeting the dragon - if nothing else, Catra was terrified of Adora getting hurt, and Adora hated worrying Catra. But if she had the chance to meet another world’s guardian, its She-Ra. Adora couldn’t pass this up, even if she had a choice, and she didn’t have a choice, thankfully.

Not having a choice made things so much simpler - Catra was worried sick, and Adora hated it, but Adora had to face Telika in order to save the Cephelopodians and Catra and Glimmer and Bow and herself. There was no way around it. The only way out was through. And maybe Catra was right and Telika would try to kill her. Perhaps. Adora had faced death so many times already, and this time she’d face it knowing her purpose. And what was that? Adora felt the scars of the Failsafe ache on her chest and felt the ancient power within her. She had taken this power, first as She-Ra, then as the guardian of Etheria’s wild magic, then as the woman who would carry magic back with her among the stars. She knew this magic, she could feel its love, its power to heal, its power to create. And if Telika had betrayed that power, or corrupted it, then she’d betrayed the world that had entrusted her with that power. And Adora would be betraying her own world and the power within her if she didn’t do something about that. She didn’t bother explaining this to Catra. She wouldn’t understand, she’d roll her eyes at all this ‘magic bullshit.’ Catra just needed to know that this was important, and she needed to know that Adora wasn’t doing this because she wanted to die, or because she was bored, or because she loved Catra any less, but because this is who she was. And in the end, feeling the power within her and feeling Catra’s arm and tail wrapped around her, Adora couldn’t imagine anything in the universe that could hurt her.

This is who she was, Adora thought again. Adora felt more sure of that than she had in months, except when she was in Catra’s arms or maybe getting drunk with Glimmer or listening to Bow enthuse about, well, anything. Adora looked back at Catra, sinuous and deadly and nearly glowing in the setting sun. Her brow was creased, but her topaz and turquoise eyes were kind. She got it, Adora thought. Adora looked behind her at Daa’na’ka. Daany understood so much of this. How much, Adora didn’t know. She clearly had designs of her own, plans that Adora nearly guessed, but it seemed almost rude to think too hard about them. Daany would explain when she was ready.

Adora looked around at the ruins as they passed into the city. Every building, every stone glowed in the light of the setting sun, pink, purple and blue, matching the colors of the sunset behind them. The road was raised just out of the shallow waters, while the ground around them was covered in shimmering brine. Everywhere the scars of time and violence were gouged into the landscape. The buildings thrust upward at weird angles, like leaning tombstones in a disused graveyard. The tops of some towers were sheared off, others were cracked in two, still others lay on their side. To their right and their left and ahead and behind shards of shattered buildings lay scattered, as large as Etherian houses. Everywhere Adora could read the boasts of her people - tributes to their glories of Eternia, dates on cornerstones stretching back more than a millennium, references to ‘harnessing the dawn’ and ‘conquering the stellar wind’. Strangest of all were the names, names of plazas and buildings and streets, names of great heroes of her people, names that hadn’t been spoken in a thousand years. Names she had never seen before, but which seemed strangely familiar. Adora couldn’t even count the names.

But more than what she could read, many more words were defaced, scratched out of the diamond-hard crystals by claws even more powerful than the tools of her ancestors. And not only the words were wiped away. Once this entire city had been covered in images: glowing incised lines on the stones, mosaics of thousands of iridescent tiles, jewel-colored stained glass like in the Crystal Castle, angled to catch the weak white light of the distant sun. But every icon was wiped out, every statue smashed, every mosaic and window shattered, their tiles scattered in the shallow water and coated in a thousand years of salt. And the buildings themselves had not been felled by time, or earthquakes - nothing the Eternians built would simply decay. No, these buildings, the entire city, had been destroyed by the same power that had destroyed the First One’s fleet above them. Telika’s claw marks ran across every building, and the scorchmarks and molten slag left by her breath marred their walls. Some of the crystalline towers looked almost as though they had melted and turned back to glass, like the pavement of obsidian left by this volcano’s last cataclysmic eruption. Their once angular surfaces were now twisted and distorted the dying light as the sun set behind the mountains, playing light and shadows on their faces so that they looked like ghosts themselves.

And then light failed, and the darkness came. The city glowed with its own ghostly light, pale and unearthly. Even cracked and half-toppled the towers shone weakly in the darkness. But they gave off hardly any light. The remaining glyphs of the first ones gleamed dimly as the first stars appeared above them. The wanderers walked on as the dark of night pulled itself across the sky, driving out the sunset like a wine-dark wave washing away sand. It was sinister, and beautiful, and Adora couldn’t help but think at how her ancestors had looked up at those same stars before Telika had destroyed them and everything they’d built. Adora had longed for the stars since before she remembered the word for them, before she knew they were there, and she would never stop loving them.

But then the glow of the city around them twisted and changed. It darkened, or perhaps paled. It turned sickly, and the towers all around them loomed and leered like vast dead giants about to crush them. There was a dissonant, uncanny cry in the distance, one she had heard before. Catra flinched, Melog tensed, Adora nearly reached for the knife in her boot.

“I suppose that’s the dragon. We should hurry,” Adora said. Catra growled a reply. It was not a no. They quickened their pace, nearly running down the streets. Now the Dead City surrounded them, stretching in every direction, seemingly endless, disappearing into the nothingness of the desert now that even the shadows of the mountains were hidden by night. In the ghastly light the city’s straight lines and sharp angles seemed to turn or shift into a new, strange geometry that hurt Adora’s eyes. As they ran through the night, the straight way was lost. They made four lefts in a row, but never doubled back, they went straight and found themselves standing where they had been five minutes before. There was another cry, closer, piercing their ears. Adora could feel the crystalline stones of the buildings around her humm and creak and shriek as they resonated with that cry. Daany scried again, and again, nodding and pointing and leading them down roads that made no sense, but somehow they kept going deeper and further in. Now the salt water of the lake was at their feet, still strangely warm from the heat of the sun that had just set.

There was another cry, nearly on top of them now. Even the water quivered, and Adora could see the buildings tremble. Yet they still staggered on. They reached the end of another block, and Daany whistled at them to halt. “This is the last turn. One more left turn, and we shall reach the central square. Your Cephelopodians are on the far side. Telika will be here any moment.”

Adora nodded. She closed her eyes. She didn’t need to look back to feel Catra behind her and she didn’t need to shout anything to transform. She let herself feel Catra. She promised that she would return to her, return to her embrace, see her laugh again, look into those mismatched eyes. She felt her sense of purpose - to defend Catra and Glimmer and Bow and Daany and other people she had never met, to honor the power of creation that she carried in her. To be She-Ra, to be herself. She opened her eyes and knew that they were glowing. She felt She-Ra’s magic swelling in her chest and coursing through her limbs. She bent down and touched the waters. She felt the lines of magic flowing through the city, into the square. The city was drawing in the planet’s power, like the Heart in Etheria, and this square was the center of it. Adora could feel the network of energies that converged here. She noted every line, every ebb and flow of magic. She would need to remember it. Only when she was done did she turn around to face Catra.

“I’d ask for a kiss for good luck but you’d just make fun of me,” Adora said with a grin.

“You’re such a dork,” Adora could hear Catra’s voice shaking.

“You keep telling me that, but you keep coming back. So who’s the bigger dork, me or the dork that loves me?”

“Shut up, idiot.”

“Doesn’t matter, anyway. You can kiss me when I win.”

“Yeah. I’ll do that, Adora.” Catra promised, half-choking out the last words.

“And when I win, maybe...”

“When you win I’ll let you tell the story of She-Ra your way, wherever we go. I’ll make sure you can be...Adora.” Catra finished with a smile, looking up.

Adora smiled back. “I was going to say, when I win, maybe we can go home. To Etheria. I always feel like myself when I’m with you. And maybe we could both use a rest.”

Catra smiled again and shook her head. Normally Adora would have made fun of her tears but now wasn’t the time.

Adora turned and walked into the square, then stopped and looked back. “Catra, I’m going to come back. If I don’t you can kill me again yourself.”

“Don’t think I won’t hold you to that, dummy.”

Adora turned and walked out of Melog’s cloak, into the square. Daany walked behind her, darting into the shadows of the ruins. Adora couldn’t see her but she knew that Catra was running off around the square, toward the Cephalapodians.

Adora threw her shoulders back and strode toward the center. Each footstep she took sent out ripples that set the reflected stars twinkling in the shallow water. All around her the dead city glowed dully. There was no sound but her own footsteps splashing. Adora reached the center of the square, where stood a large, nearly cubic block of translucent purple stone - the great empty pedestal of a fallen statue. With four steps, Adora bounded up onto it. Catra always told her she had a flair for the dramatic, she might as well live up to it. She could just imagine her girlfriend looking over at Adora standing on this pedestal across the square and then rolling her eyes and muttering ‘idiot’ to herself. Adora smiled at the thought.

Adora looked up and scanned the horizon. The towers of the Dead City hemmed her in on every side - she could not see very far at all. She tried to look beyond them to see some hint of six beating wings or the whip of a scaled tail, but she only saw the cold light of those crystalline spires and the far more profound darkness between them. Adora snarled into the night. She hadn’t come this far to play games, or to wait. She would end this.

“Dragon! Telika of Hyboria! I call upon you! Show yourself!” Adora shouted into the night. “I am Adora of Etheria, bearer of its magic, called She-Ra. Answer me!”

Adora heard no reply, but she perceived one in her mind.

“You intrude upon my world, and then demand that I show myself to you, Eternian? Your people have not changed in a thousand years.”

There you are, Adora thought. Despite everything, Adora grinned grimly to herself.

Adora squared her shoulders and reminded herself of who she was on this planet before she responded. She was She-Ra, Tyrant-slayer, vanquisher of the Gods who Live Not, wanderer, outlaw, barbarian, warrior. Godkiller. “You may know all about my ancestors, but you don’t know about me, dragon!” Adora roared.

“Oh but I do, Adora of Etheria. Your Prince Peekablue is not the far-seer in the universe. I saw your...adopted world emerge from hiding. I saw you launch yourself into stars you could not even name. And yes, I saw you slay the great god-tyrant, Prime, and end the second greatest empire the universe has ever known. You are quite the destroyer, Adora. You have shattered the only order this galaxy has known for a millenium.”

“Desolation is not order. You know that, wyrm.”

“Wyrm! What word! Truly you are a warrior-poet, Adora of Eternia.”

Adora scanned the sky around her again. She saw nothing. Except...the light of the stars themselves twisted, stretched, distorted, just on the edge of the square, just beyond her sight. She could feel magic all around her. Circling her, tightening around her, closing in.

Telika spoke again in her mind. “But you are not wholly wrong. The desolation of the Horde was not order. What chaos is more pure than the entropy of complete destruction? Perhaps you did the rest of the galaxy a favor, oh great liberator. But you will excuse me if I do not applaud.”

Adora heard a snarl from the night, in the shadows of the towers around her.

“I do not need your aid, oh Eternian. I never did. I have protected this world for more than one thousand of your years. I have protected it alone, and I will continue to protect it and keep it. And woe to those who would seek to harm it!”

There was another snarl, which grew into a creaking, breathy roar.

Adora shook her head and yelled back. “I am not here to harm your world! I am here to gather two dozen travelers and then leave it in peace!”

“Liar.”

Adora felt her face flush. It wasn’t simply an insult. It was such a maddening misunderstanding of everything she was doing, of everything she was. She couldn’t not respond, she had to show this Dragon.

“I am not a liar!”

“You are a liar if you declare your peaceful intentions while you attack my world!”

“You attacked me!” Adora breathed in. She thought of the power of love she carried with her. The sense of peace she felt restoring magic to new planets. She wasn’t here to fight. She was here to heal, to grow, to learn. “Please, Telika, we don’t need to fight. After all, both...we both carry this power in us. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.” Adora smiled into the night.

Behind her there was a terrible grating, croaking sound, a laugh from vast, ancient lungs. “Oh I have heard of how you Eternians Come in Peace. I have heard it all before. Then they killed those who I loved best in this world. And then you tried to kill them again, kill even their shades! Did it offend you that your ancestors hadn’t wiped them out completely? Did you come to finish the job?!” The vehemence of Telika’s thoughts hurt Adora’s mind.

She wouldn’t argue with grief like that. She would reason with it, appeal to Telika’s own duty.“I’m not here to destroy anything! I’m here to restore magic everywhere, return what my people stole! You could help me, or at least teach me. We have been given such an incredible power, and I can’t wait to talk to you about it. We have so much in common.” Adora smiled, but as soon as the words escaped her mouth, Adora knew they were a mistake. Her face fell.

“Oh yes we do, Eternian. We share our power. Which means that you are the only being in this universe that can threaten me and what I love. I have preserved this world for too long for you to harm it.”

“Harm it!? You attacked me!”

“Oh I did attack you. I attacked you because you are a threat, Eternian, and because long ago I swore an oath to the shades of those I loved that I would slay every one of your race I ever saw.”

“Telika, there’s a better way.” Adora was nearly crying. She was so close to someone like her. There had to be a way. Or at least, Adora had to try. She hadn’t come this far just to give up.

“You presume too much, child. I am far older than you can imagine.”

There was a ripple in the stars to Adora’s right, spiraling in and close to her, and now something vast was eclipsing them. A great, sinuous, six-winged shadow.

“I am the keeper of this world.”

The shadow came closer, circling around her, distorting all the stars around it and bending their light until their colors shifted from blue to green to red. Adora felt the air move, not with the stroke of those wings but throbbing with the power of magic.

“I have seen empires rise and fall, seen worlds die and stars fade like fireflies winking out. You have nothing to teach me, child. I have learned the hard lessons of time, seen the insignificance of mortal lives. For I have seen the best of us die, Adora. Only the cowards remained to continue, those who were not brave enough to fight your people, those too weak to seize the power to free themselves.”

The shadow fell from the sky, grew and filled it. Not only the stars but the whole world around Adora twisted into a mad, writhing mass of warped lines and impossible angles. The shadow thickened and solidified, thin air congealing into sinews and dusky purple scales. Telika materialized before Adora, shimmering on the colors of the dawn and her own light. Telika drew herself back and enveloped her in those six wings. Her five eyes fixed on Adora, as sharp as her rows of teeth. Adora met their gaze, and smiled with one corner of her mouth.

“Hello Telika. It’s an honor.”

The dragon snarled. Adora could feel the supernatural heat of her breath and see the hatred in those eyes.

A voice came from outside the cavern of Telika’s wings. “Too weak to free themselves, tyrant!? You have kept our people enslaved with your code. You have kept us under the heel of the queens and priestesses and merchants and in your name they have taught us all that we are born to be subjugated!”

Telika’s eyes flashed, and her head turned. Adora saw Daany standing in the water, a hundred yards away from Telika’s coiled, taut form.

“You are born to be subjugated, child. There is not a Suveri alive who deserves freedom, not after they betrayed my friends with their cowardice when they surrendered to the invaders, not after they betrayed my friends with their sloth when they let the Eternians build this temple of blasphemy against our world, not when they betrayed my friends with their treachery when they told the Eternians our plans. Your people never wanted freedom, never struggled for it, and even fought against it. Yet I am pledged to preserve you, and let it never be spoken that I am a goddess who betrays her oaths. So you shall be preserved, in your proper state. And your people will continue to honor those you betrayed, forever, by preserving their shades. But you know this, for you are a priestess of my dead friends, the Gods Who Live Not.”

“I am their priestess no longer, Telika. I have renounced them and all the dark works that sustain them.”

Telika laughed again in an ugly, grating rumble. “Who are you to presume that your renunciation carries any meaning? And who are you to pass judgement on the Gods, or their obsequies? Were you there when I razed this city, whose towers dwarf the Cedars of Lo’arquim? Were you there when I and my sworn companions charged into the sky and plucked down the sky-ships of our oppressors? Were you there when I spoke my code to the priestesses, to end an age of lawlessness and murder? Answer if you have words to speak, or repent in sackcloth and ashes.” Telika laughed again, and blue fire escaped her mouth with each hacking breath.

“I was not there when you wrought your deeds of power. But I was there when our people sold their lives to one another to live in servitude, I was there when the Queens and priestesses closed their grannaries while the people starved. I was there when my mentor, my mother-of-the night, slit a woman’s throat so that your precious friends could cling to their unlife. I have seen enough.”

True anger flashed in Telika’s eyes, which narrowed to serpentine slits. She coiled and prepared to strike. Adora felt a cold fury surge within her.

“Telika! Don’t you dare!” Adora roared.

The dragon’s head snapped back. “Dare? You presume so much, Eternian. I dare nothing, for I am the mistress of this world. What can you say to that?”

Adora nearly cried out in frustration. She wanted to leap off the plinth and stab Telika in the throat. But Telika was so determined to destroy, and oppress, so obsessed and sad and paranoid. If only Adora could make her see, if only she had the right words, then maybe she could prevent all of this.. But then Adora heard Catra’s laugh in her head. ‘You’re never going to show someone what they don’t want to see, Princess. Believe me, I know.’ She’d said that about the first delegation that had refused them. Adora had bitten her tongue and then ripped Darla’s punching bag in two the next hour. But Catra had been right. She still was. Adora’s face hardened. She knew what she had to do.

“Say what you will, Telika. I am not here to argue with you and neither is Daany. I am here to take the Cephalopodians and leave, and to make sure that you never hurt that girl.”

Telika smiled back at Adora with all those rows of teeth. The water below them burst into pale blue fire. And then the dragon struck.

Chapter Text

Catra vaulted onto Melog and ran off into the night, leaving Adora behind her. She willed her eyes forward, struggling not to turn and look back. It wouldn’t do any good, she told herself, the only way to help Adora was to get these Cephalopodians and rush back. Catra cursed under her breath. She cursed the Cephalopodians’ obliviousness, blundering into a damned space dragon, she cursed the planets creepy magic, she cursed Adora’s heroics and most of all she cursed Telika, who was trying to take away the love of her life when Catra had only had one year with her, more than she’d ever hoped for and not nearly enough. Catra’s head was a mess, she was barely holding it together enough to keep Melog from throwing her and hissing at the night, but still Melog knew the way, dashing out of the square and into a confused heap of ruins, vaulting over crumbled masonry, leaving only splashes in its wake.

Catra heard a roar behind her. She felt a shadow pass over her. She forced herself to look ahead. Melog leaped up and up, climbing a mountain of shattered towers, leaping over fissures, until they reached the top. And there, perched awkwardly among the jagged rubble of the First Ones, Catra saw the smooth curves of the Cephalopodian ship.

Catra heard Adora’s voice from over her shoulder. She couldn’t make out the words but she could hear its timbre - so strong and defiant and reckless and desperate. Just like she’d heard it so many times, screamed at her across a battlefield. Melog stopped and began to turn.

“No buddy...you know how much I want to. But this is the way to help Adora,” she said, her voice nearly breaking. If Catra didn’t rescue these damned explorers then her girlfriend would be risking her life for nothing. Melog chirped and galloped toward the ship’s hatch. Catra leapt off and nodded at Melog, and it dropped the cloak and revealed them to whoever was watching. Catra heard another roar from Telika, and a defiant shout from She-Ra, just as fierce. She kept her eyes fixed on the hatch. Melog’s mane was jagged and crimson at her right hand.

“Ummm...my name’s Catra, I’m here to rescue you!” she yelled.

The hatch opened and at least two dozen eyes with irises of a half dozen different colors looked out at her, blinking.

“Aren’t you a little short for a Suveri?”

“And a little furred?”

“Instead of feathered!”

“And so we must conclude…”

“You are not a Suveri!”

“Definitely.”

“And what is that glowing maned creature!? Fascinating!”

“Since there are no other sentient lifeforms on this world other than the Suveri and the dragon…”

“You’re an offworlder!”

Catra blinked. She couldn’t decide whether to be annoyed by the Cephalopodians talking about her in that...way of theirs, or grateful that they’d made any explanation unnecessary.

There was another roar, creaking, breathy, screeching. Melog arched its back and growled at the sound, while none of the Cephalopodians so much as flinched. Catra swallowed and pressed her hands together in front of her face and closed her eyes. She breathed out. Melog’s mane slackened next to her.

“Yes, I am an offworlder.” She smiled brightly, with her teeth. “Does your spaceship work? We’ve been through a lot to get to you.”

The Ceaphalopodians looked at each other. They shrugged with all of their tentacles.

“It can take off.”

“But it cannot achieve warp.”

“And the dragon has made it very clear that she does not wish for us to leave.”

“Yeah well my girlfriend’s taking care of that and I’d really, really like to help her so can you maybe figure this out...right now!” Catra snarled and clenched her jaw. The Cephalopodians changed to the color of the ship behind them, and one squirted out a small amount of reeking ink. She breathed deeply again, smelling the Cephalopodians' shock.

“I’m sorry, I’m just a little stressed because a fucking space dragon is trying to murder my girlfriend right now and my friends will be here any day now and then the dragon is going to try to kill them too. So I just need a little help.” Catra breathed in again. And out. “If you can’t warp out, what can you do?”

The Cephalopodians looked at each other. They wiggled a few tentacles, but said nothing. Then they all nodded and turned back to Catra.

“We could distract the dragon!”

“Since this girl friend of yours is attempting to confront her.”

“But we don’t see much hope, sad to say.”

“This dragon is much too powerful.”

“You’d need to be the She-Ra to even have a chance.”

“Well about that...” Catra said, forcing half a smile.

Two dozen eyes widened in the response as a golden light pierced the night in the distance.

Catra finally turned around. There was Adora, She-Ra, standing on the pedestal of a fallen idol, defying the vast wyrm that towered over her and nearly enveloped her in its wings. The dragon’s coils were vast, her armour of dark crimson scales glittering like red jade, giving just a hint of their color in the faint light. And yet it was Adora Catra saw, not the beast. She was far off but Catra could still see her grizzled fur cloak and golden hair streaming behind her. Even at this distance Adora’s beauty was nearly enough to leave Catra slack-jawed - that hair, those bare arms and thighs, all of it. What Catra couldn’t see she could picture in her mind - Adora all smooth curves and ripply muscle and sharp sinew, defiance and fury. She couldn’t see Adora’s face, but she knew the expression Adora wore - determined, proud, almost mocking as it invited everyone and anyone to just try to take her. She could see those fierce, blazing eyes. For a year Catra had awoken from her nightmares with those eyes still in her mind, half convinced they’d be the last thing she’d ever see. Times like this Catra remembered that her girlfriend was the most frightening woman in the universe, and it brought a smile to her face.

This was Adora, even if sometimes it was so easy for Catra to forget it. Even if it was easy to pretend that Adora was just the harmless, lovable dork that greeted her every morning with a smile, or the smug asshole who needled her and flirted with Catra when she should be working or seduced her with a wink and a grin and a ‘hey Catra.’ But that wasn’t all there was, it never would be. Catra could believe all those wistful fantasies she and Adora shared about a cottage in the whispering woods or a townhouse in Erlandia, she could smile along with Adora’s conspicuously indirect allusions to a future, to a lifetime together, even to children, for fuck’s sake, as terrifying as that was. Catra could believe all that crap, fuck she could make that life hers and Adora’s if they returned to Etheria, when they returned to Etheria, but that would never be all. Behind the awkward smiles and dorky laugh, Adora would always be a warrior. She would always be the ferocious woman who had time and again defied her destiny and everyone around her and Catra not least of all in order to do the right thing, the woman who would do anything, turn against anyone, walk away from any loyalty or love no matter how dear if her conscience demanded. The woman who had saved the universe three times over, even when it meant decking her best friend or shattering who she thought she was or walking to her own death. Catra could never keep a woman like that safe. No one could. But she could love her, and by all the stars, she did. She could know that Adora loved her in return, and now she understood that Adora would come home to her or come home with her after all her wanderings and quests, as long as she breathed. She knew Adora would apply all that ferocity and strength to return to her. Catra knew that, now. Catra supposed that would have to be enough. And fuck it, if Adora really was domestic, if she really was safe, could someone like Catra really love her? Catra almost laughed at the thought. Catra had fallen in love with a warrior. She’d keep loving her, even if it broke her heart. Somehow...knowing that was enough, at least for now.

Behind her the Cephalopodians were clamoring about their distraction. Catra turned to Melog and climbed onto its back. “C’mon buddy, let’s go help Adora.”

****

Telika was beautiful. Her many-fanged maw glowed with an inner light as it rushed toward Adora, and her sharp eyes shone like suns, blinding in their brilliance, enchanting in their depth. Adora willed her mind away from those eyes and willed her limbs to move and just rolled aside from the dragon’s gaping mouth before those jaws closed in. Adora heard them snap shut just beside her and felt their wind blow against her cheek. Adora smelled Telika’s breath - rich with myrrh and incense, sharp with sulphur, pungent with blood, intoxicating in its deep musk. But Adora would not be enchanted by Telika’s eyes or intoxicated by her scent or entranced by her dread majesty.

Adora snorted to clear her nose, flicked her wrist and felt her sword solidify in her hand as she turned and stabbed upward, into Telika’s neck. Adora felt the sword strike a scale and nearly skip off but she forced it in, wedging it between scales and felt the sword’s steel bite flesh, but only just. Telika thrashed and bucked her head back and Adora wrenched the sword out just before she was taken with it into the sky. Talons slashed at Adora, long and sharp as scimitars. Adora blocked one claw, and leapt away and off the pedestal as another slashed toward her.

Adora fell into water and cold fire; baleful flames splashed all around her. Adora leapt to her feet and Telika turned to her, drawing her head back as if to strike. But the light within her throat glowed hotter and brighter. Adora changed her sword to a shield and raised it in front of her just as Telika belched out a sheet of blinding blue-white fire, like the flaring of a vast, violent star. The world melted around Adora. The burning lake turned to steam and flames, and everything was brilliant white light and searing white heat. Adora could feel the magical power of the flames burning against the cool, protective magic in her heart. Time was lost in the flames, along with all the outside world. Only two things were true: Telika’s power, and her own, striving against each other. Adora looked up at the blinding heart of the flames and saw Telika’s sun-like eyes blazing far away. She walked toward them, slowly, pushing against the force of the flames. The salt and pavement beneath her boots was all melted to glass, smooth and slick beneath her feet. It was hard to walk on, but Adora, She-Ra, walked on, closer and closer as the flames grew hotter and hotter. The dragon’s mouth was just in front of her. Adora smiled to herself. She took one more step with her right foot, cocked her shield-arm for a punch, then leapt forward from her left leg, thrusting her shield up and forward in an uppercut, deflecting the flames into the dragon’s eyes and punching her in the snout just as She-Ra’s shield blasted Telika with its own magic. Telika choked and coughed and the fire stopped. Adora followed up with a punch from her right hand, aimed squarely at the soft spot just below Telika’s jaws. Adora’s fist connected, and she saw those blazing eyes wince. She didn’t let up, bashing the dragon again with her shield then shifting it to a sword in her other hand. She slashed, but hit only the hard horn of Telika’s beak.

In another instant Telika’s claws were slashing at her again and Adora was blocking, dodging, shifting her magic between a sword and a shield to parry and then strike back. Telika’s tail whipped out, Adora leapt out of the way. Her jaws snapped at Adora’s head, Adora ducked. Adora struck every opening and pressed every advantage. She punched and jabbed and slashed with her shield and sword and firsts again and again. She sent rainbow beams of light blasting into Telika’s flanks and belly and head. But the most she could show for her skill was a few great drops of amethyst blood falling down into the lake and Telika’s eyes narrowing in impatience and hatred. Telika was too vast, She-Ra’s mightiest blows were flesh-wounds to her. And Adora’s magic - the power of life, of healing, the power to rebuild and repair - had little power to wound another magical being. Telika wasn’t a canker on another being’s soul like Horde Prime, she was her own planet’s holy protector. Adora was fighting with one hand tied behind her back, and Telika would slay Adora with one blow if she could land it. Nonetheless, Adora felt the strength of Etheria burning in her heart and flowing through her limbs, strengthening her sinews. She could dodge and parry and strike back all night if she must.

Telika looked down at her with those brilliant, day-bright eyes and muttered something. Adora felt magic coursing through the ground beneath her, into Telika. The fifth eye in the center of her forehead closed. When it opened the sky opened with it and the horrors that Adora thought she had left buried beneath Etheria reached out of that hole in reality to crush her - the weapons of the First Ones, controlled and empowered by Telika’s magic and mastery of her old enemy’s technology. Telika had opened a portal and unleashed the things on the other side upon Adora.

Now a mass of robotic tentacles struck out, swiping, grasping, trying to catch Adora and crush her. Adora dodged one, cut the next apart, blasted the third and blocked the fourth with her shield. Still they came, each one closer to catching Adora and dashing her against the lakebed. Telika breathed her fire again, and Adora barely had time to summon her shield and crouch behind it. As soon as the fire let up, the tendrils struck again from above, the left, the right, behind. Adora’s sword was a whirlwind around her, cutting and parrying the tendrils at all sides. She struck the ground with her sword and it erupted with magic, blowing the tentacles away just long enough to give Adora a moment of respite. The portal above her was a writhing mass of snaking mechanical limbs, each dripping with venom. Telika was before her, waiting for any sign of weakness to rush in and strike the final blow. Adora needed a new strategy, but she was already out of time to think, because the next wave of attacks was descending at her.

And then they stopped in midair, frozen in a shadowy gray haze. Telika turned her burning eyes away from Adora and toward the young girl standing in the lake. Daany stood there, furiously tracing runes in the air with her hands. Telika breathed her white hot sheet of flame at Daany, but it was swallowed by a pall of darkness, snuffed out, uncreated by the Way of Negation.

Adora looked around again. She had an instant before Telika overpowered Daany. Adora saw nothing. But what could she feel? She breathed deep and closed her eyes and felt the magic flow around her. There - it moved in streams toward the center of the square, toward Telika. Telika was feeding off the First One’s own system for channeling Hyboria’s magic. If she disrupted that and freed the magic from their conduits and channels, then Telika’s power would wane. She felt the nearest channel, running under the water and the pavement beneath it, only 20 feet away from her. Adora charged toward it and lept onto it, thrusting her sword down into the flagstones. She blasted the ground and the conduit underneath with She-Ra’s power, and magic exploded in a shower of blue flames, shards of quartz and many colored lights. Jets of Hyborian magic burst into the sky in brilliant geysers. The portal sputtered and closed, sucking in the still-frozen tentacled horror that had burst from it. Telika turned away from Daany with a snarl and glared at Adora, two sets of brilliant eyes meeting one another. The dragon sneered, turned again and pounced on Daany.

White blades pierced tenebrous shields, layer after layer falling to blow after blow. Adora charged across the lake, parting the water before her and roaring her challenge. “Turn and face me dragon! I said you will not harm that girl and by Etheria and Greyskull you will not as long as I’m standing!” Adora pointed her sword ahead of her as she ran and blasted Telika with a diamond-hard beam of light. The dragon hissed a curse but continued to rain blows on the mortal beneath her. She belched fire again, and Daany’s last defence was pierced by Telika’s flames. Adora leapt ahead to close the last ten yards between her and Telika’s flank, diving in with her sword. Telika raked one claw lazily at Daany, who nearly dodged, but failed. A single scythe-like claw slashed across the front of Daany’s body, and Adora’s sword pierced between Telika’s scales and deep into her side.

Daany fell into the water, face up, just as Telika coiled and turned, snapping at Adora with those many-fanged jaws. Adora held on with one hand, thrusting her sword deeper with the other, twisting it, grimacing. Telika’s jaws just missed Adora - she was just behind her first shoulder, too close to her neck for the dragon’s fangs to reach her, too close to her arms for the dragon’s claws to grasp her. Telika twirled and turned until Adora was half dizzy and violet blood flowed out over her hands and arms, but still she held.

A voice spoke in Adora’s head as the dragon spun, turned left and right, and even rolled on the ground. “I shall destroy you, just as I destroyed all your kin. But first I shall devour your pet Suveri, this mewling, defiant priestess, and then I will rip your beloved apart before your eyes.”

Adora snarled in reply, growling about as fiercely as Catra herself. “Do you know who the last person that hurt my girlfriend was, dragon? Horde Prime. I killed him with these hands, and I’ll kill you with them too, wyrm.”

Telika snarled but made no reply. Instead, she launched herself into the air with a leap, Adora heard her mutter something and thought she saw that fifth eye flutter in a trance. Inky black tendrils of shadow grew out of the night and wrapped themselves around Adora, grasping around her limbs and her neck, pulling, squeezing, forcing themselves down her throat when she opened her mouth to cry out. Adora concentrated and blazed with her own power, burning through Telika’s sorcery. But blown by the blast of her own magic, Adora lost her grip on Telika’s blood-slicked scales and fell.

Adora could see the pavement rising to meet her in the darkness. She had only an instant, and she hoped to the heavens this worked. She reached out with her sword and let Etheria’s full lifegiving power flow through her sword. A copse of trees exploded from the paving stones and salt and rose up to meet her. Tiers of branches broke beneath her and slowed her until she finally tumbled and rolled onto the ground. A root bruised her side, and she felt a strange pop in her left shoulder as she rolled on it, then a pain shooting up and down her arm and into her chest. She reached over with her right hand and wrenched her shoulder back into place. This was only pain, her old childhood friend. Pain was nothing compared to Adora’s purpose. Daany was depending on her. Catra was depending on her, not only to win but to live. Adora rose to her feet and walked out from under the trees to face Telika again.

The dragon circled the square above her, one sinuous body and six wings eclipsing the stars. But within that shadow 5 eyes burned, following Adora as she walked out toward the center of the square. Adora could not see the blood flowing from Telika’s flank, but she could see how one wing beat more weakly than the rest. Adora smiled to herself. Telika was vast and powerful and ancient and she had honed herself into a living weapon using the tools of her former oppressors. But all she had done to Adora was dislocate a shoulder and bruise a rib. Adora had made Telika bleed.

“Are you afraid, Dragon? Now do you see what I did to your dead friends? Come down and let’s end this!”

Telika growled and circled lower. She blew fire down at Adora, still flying, circling Adora, closer and closer. Adora crouched beneath her shield and waited for an opening. Finally Telika swooped in and stopped breathing fire for a moment. Telika slashed with two talons, Adora dodged and struck with her sword, nicking Telika’s leg.

So they fought - Telika circling Adora, trying to wear on down with fire, then swooping in. Adora struck at every chance she had. Sometimes she landed a blow, sometimes a claw blocked her sword. Once Adora dodged a twelfth of a second too late and a talon drew an ugly gash across her thigh and blood streamed down her leg, once Telika struck an instant too slow and Adora sheared off a claw at its root with her sword, once Adora raised her shield too late and her right shoulder was seared by Telika’s flames. Whenever Telika seemed to turn or open up distance between them to rest, Adora blasted her with her magic, and the ancient beast would swoop back down. They fought on, time losing its meaning in the rain of lightning blows and parries and belches of fire and lances of light, until Adora did not know how long it had been and both she and Telika were ragged and bloodied from half a dozen wounds.

Then Telika circled again and looked over with her fifth eye at a small crumpled mass on the ground some hundred paces away. Daany. Telika smiled, and Adora ran and leapt over Daany’s prone form and raised her shield just as Telika spewed her fire at the defenseless, wounded girl.

Telika followed her flames with a rain of blows from above and every side. Adora was faster than any warrior on any world, but still she could only parry one blow before the next come in. She was on the defensive, forced onto her back foot, and it was only a matter of time before she missed a step entirely and Telika broke through her defenses.

****

Adora wasn’t there when Catra caught sight of the square again. In her place was a whirlwind of flames and flashing blades and fangs and claws. But at its center Catra could hear Adora’s voice, infuriatingly smug, nearly laughing as she goaded this monster older than their own world’s recorded history. It was so stupid, and so Adora, that Catra couldn’t help but smile, even as she jumped off Melog. Looking out at the flooded plaza only a couple hundred paces in front of her, Catra was already thinking through how she could walk across the water without drawing too much attention. Fucking water, she’d have to hope that she and Melog could cross it in a dash and that the Cephalopodians distraction worked.

A voice spoke in Catra’s head. “I know you are there, child. Hide as much as you like, I shall find you. I have seen the flight of a butterfly across a meadow on a world suspended in the spiral arm of a distant galaxy. I have seen empires rise and fall across superclusters without leaving Hyboria. Seeing through your magic is a simple matter. And when I do…”

Catra’s mind was flooded with images worse than her nightmares, all of Adora. Always bloodied, always sobbing, always dying.

“You already know your beloved’s fate. She seeks death, does she not? How cruel to you, how callous towards those she will leave behind. How selfish, not to think of you, the woman who loves her. You and I shall share the pain of losing those we love, Etherian. And is that not justice? But I am merciful - I will not force you to endure it for long - soon I will end your suffering. Your last moments will be agony, child, but all things end. There is peace in that, is there not?”

Catra thought the phrase “Go fuck yourself” as hard as she could.

But now she didn’t see Adora and Telika in front of her, or see the jagged crystalline ruins around her. Instead she saw Adora, standing alone between Catra and Bright Moon, throwing herself at Catra, letting her tear into her back. Catra saw Adora’s blood and her agony and she saw Adora just keep coming, even when she was beaten, so determined and desperate that Catra wanted to look away, close her eyes, run away from this. Fuck that. Catra forced herself to look ahead. She blinked and focused. This wasn’t real, this was just Telika projecting memories just like that fucking hologram had done to manipulate her back in her Crystal Clubhouse. But she wasn’t an 18 year old dumbass looking for an excuse to destroy herself anymore. Adora wasn’t her enemy anymore and Adora didn’t have a death wish and Adora was right there, fighting for her life. Catra blinked and she could see the square again, just in time to see the dragon swoop down at Adora. Catra dashed forward, dodging between the buildings. Then she saw something flash in front of her and she stopped short again.

Catra saw Adora, surrounded by the swirling vortex that could only be the portal, volunteering to take the sword and close the portal off forever with her inside. She looked so sad and so fucking scared and so determined Catra wanted to reach out and slap her and tell her that she was worth more to everyone alive than she was dying to save them. Catra felt her eyes burn and the tears wet on her face and her breath hitch. But she kept breathing instead. This wasn’t real either. This wasn’t Adora anymore. Adora wasn’t alone, ready to sacrifice herself to undo the damage Catra had caused. Catra looked into that younger Adora’s eyes, and forced herself to really see her. The sadness, the guilt, the resignation, the hopelessness of following her destiny and sacrificing herself so that everyone else could be happy. Three years ago, two years ago, she’d only seen a weakness to exploit. Now she saw all that pain on the face of the woman she loved. The wind shifted and Catra caught Adora's scent on the breeze, nearly overpowered by the dragon's perfumed stench. Adora's scent reminded Catra that she hadn’t seen Adora’s face look like that since the Heart. The furrowed brow was gone, so were the tight lips and the stiff shoulders and the quavering voice. Catra heard Adora’s real voice in the distance, and she could swear it was fucking laughing. She walked on, right through the projected memory of Adora sacrificing herself, and she was rewarded with a prime view of Adora giving a Dragon a run for her money.

Adora had never looked better bound by gravity. She was fast, fierce but in control. Even as Telika attacked her, Adora controlled the flow of their fight - Telika could fly, but Adora was too dangerous to leave alone, and she proved it with a blast of magic every time Telika turned away. Adora wasn’t just attacking Telika, she was striking at the First One’s conduits for magic beneath the square, sapping Telika’s power at its source. Catra briefly noted the irony of Telika ‘freeing’ her world from the hated First Ones, only to take up their own instruments of oppression and rule from their old capital. How much had her revolt really changed? But who gave a damn? Catra looked back at Telika, searching for an opening, and then things changed.

Telika flew over to a crumpled bundle on the ground - Daany, Catra realized, and Telika would have burned her to ash but for Adora’s shield. Now Telika rained blows down on Adora, who was stuck defending not herself but Daany. Catra cursed to herself. Adora may not be looking for ways to die anymore, but she was still sure as shit willing to stick her neck out for just about anyone. Then again, if Catra were out there, wouldn’t she have done the same? Damnit all. Telika flooded Catra’s mind with images of the dragon breaking through Adora’s defenses, sweeping her sword aside and mauling her with those fangs and claws. She heard Telika’s voice, promising ‘this is how it ends for her, try to stop me.’ It took all of Catra’s willpower not to just rush out and charge in, even if it killed her. Adora was in danger, again, Adora needed her, Adora needed to be protected from all the terrible things Telika was promising to do to her. She fought back her panic and fought away the foreign voice in her head promising to gut her girlfriend alive. She breathed. She would help Adora, not by rushing out like an idiot and dying, but by being smart and striking Telika when she least expected it. She would fight like herself, dirty and underhanded and cunning. Catra looked for her opening, but Telika was sweeping that blazing fifth eye all around her, and even here, behind the rubble, Catra could feel its intensity - if that eye fixed on her, she’d be naked before the dragon. Adora was wavering, Catra didn’t know how much more Adora could take fighting this dragon, or how much more she could take watching her.

Catra was just about to mutter ‘fuck it’ and charge across the plaza when there was a roar above her, a blast of thrusters so powerful it rattled the rubble and sent ripples all across the surface of the water. The Cephalopodian ship screamed overhead, and Telika turned to look at it. Catra looked out across the turbulent, shallow waters and grinned. She vaulted on to Melog and it charged ahead. She had maybe 300 paces between her and the dragon, but she knew exactly what she had to do. She didn’t need to tell Melog where to go. Telika wheeled once in the air, almost about to chase after the ship, and seemed about ready to blast it with her breath or some horrifying spell, but Adora held out her sword and struck Telika with a beam of light and the dragon wheeled again and dove at Adora and Daany. She was swooping in and lowering her head to snap her maw closed around Adora just when Catra reached her and leapt off of Melog and onto Telika’s head. She caught herself on a horn, spun around, raised her claw and slashed. Catra knew what to do, she’d been gouging out eyes since she was six, even if this one was so much bigger. With one stroke, a sickening squelch and an anguished, gurgling cry, Telika’s fifth eye was blinded. Her once all-seeing eye was sightless.

****

Adora raised her shield above her head and Daany’s crumpled body, ready to ward off the dragon’s snapping jaws again when Catra flashed out of the air, landed on the wyrm’s head and plunged her claws into Telika’s fifth eye. The dragon screamed and thrashed, roaring and breathing fire. She swiped Catra away with a talon, flinging her at the square’s pavement, but Catra disappeared before she hit the ground. Adora laughed. There was Melog, and Catra was safe. With Telika’s head turned, Adora charged and thrust with all her strength and weight, plunging her sword into Telika’s neck.

It would have killed anything else that lived. But Telika roared, bled, and slashed at Adora with those lethal claws. Adora parried one hand, but the other just grazed her face from one side to the other. Blood blinded Adora’s left eye and pain exploded around her head. Adora winced and struck again. It was only pain and a little blood, and she was Adora the Etherian, reaver and slayer, and she was going to slay this dragon.

Their battle turned ugly as they struggled, nearly grapply each other. Telika grasped for Adora with her claws and twisted her neck to bit, Adora spun and doged and hacked at every side, hewing at Telika’s neck, her arms, her tail, her face. Out of the corner of her good eye Adora saw Catra in a blur, raking a claw across an unarmoured spot in the dragon’s armpit, then saw Telika buck her head again, throwing Catra before she could slash at another eye. Adora felt the sting of salt water on the gashes that covered her legs and side and face, but her strength didn’t fail, while Telika’s fire glowed weaker and weaker in her throat. The dragon coiled again and sprang, flailing at Adora with all her claws. Adora spun her sword in front of her, batting away the dragon’s claws, and she ducked under the dragon’s mouth just before it bit her in two. Without looking, Adora took her sword in both hands and stabbed upwards through the thin scales just below Telika’s jaw.

And that was the end. Adora had to roll out from under the serpent before all her bulk collapsed on her. She sprung to her feat and held her sword out in front of her and across her body in the high guard the fencing mistresses of Brightmoon called ‘The Unicorn’. She waited for another attack that never came, breathing heavily, looking at Telika’s glow die before her eyes. Still she waited. Telika couldn’t be dead, or defeated. She was about to come back and rush at Adora again, even as the water at Adora’s feet was inky purple with blood the same color as the night sky above them. In the distance, the few stars shown, cutting through the nebula with their brilliant blue light. All around them the monuments of Adora’s people stood, toppled and cracked and useless, and the woman who had wrecked them lay there in front of her, nearly as dead. Adora felt a sob come out of her throat and felt tears streaming out of both eyes, joining the flow of blood, mixing and dropping down to the waters below.

“Well fuck Adora, you look like shit.” Catra said behind her with a laugh, and Adora turned with a chuckle. Catra didn’t look so good either, fur matted with water and salt and blood that was either hers or the dragon’s or both. But as far as Adora was concerned, with the starlight glinting off her and her barbarian furs and skins hugging her body, Catra was the most beautiful sight she’d ever seen.

“Really?”

“I mean, either that or you look incredibly hot right now, but if I said that you wouldn’t let me forget it.”

“Then I’ll say it first, you’re so beautiful right now”

“Idiot,” Catra said with a smile and a shake of her head. Adora could just catch the glint of a tear on her cheek in the faint light. In the distance Adora heard the Cephalopodian ship whine and land, but she didn’t turn away from Catra.

Adora looked over to Daany and saw the girl stir. She walked over, placed one hand on her wound, and let Etheria’s healing power flow out of her hands. Adora felt her own wounds mend on her face, arms, legs, and side. Daany stirred and coughed, and looked up at Adora with wonder in her eyes.

“What an incredible gift you have from your world, She-Ra.” She looked over at the square and chuckled at the trees and vines that had grown out of blasted salt lake where She-Ra had unleashed Etheria’s power. “It must be so incredible, to heal, to kindle life...and now you have saved my life with it. Thank you.”

“Just returning a favor, Daany.”

Daany looked over at Telika and furrowed her brow. She stood up, motioning away Adora’s offer to help her to her feet.

“The dragon lives, Adora of Etheria.”

“Really?” Adora said, not quite stopping a smile from breaking out in one corner of her face. She hadn’t ended that ancient life after all. But what now?

“She lives yet, but she must die. You know that in your heart, and in your mind. You see what she has done to our world. We will never be free as long as she walks Hyboria.”

Adora swallowed. “So you want me to kill her? I don’t know if I can...this...it’s your world, Daany. I can’t just...”

“No, Adora. You are right, it is my world. So I will kill her.” Daany spoke a strange word and made a motion with one hand and a tear in the world opened up behind her finger and formed a sickle-like blade of pure shadow in her hand. Daany looked up. She looked as young as ever, but her eyes were set and distant and cold. “This is my purpose. I have travelled here to achieve it. But I ask a favor of you, She-Ra.”

“What?”

“I want you to take her power into yourself when she dies. So much of the planets magic is within her, or flowing through her, that if she just died it would…”

“Explode. It would explode.”

“Yes. And I cannot take it all at once. It would kill me.”

“It would. I’ve done this before. I know what to do. But I don’t want to steal your world’s magic, I want to…”

“You want to give it back? You will, Adora. You will.”

Daany turned away and walked toward the dragon’s twisted, prone form.

“Such a sweet girl. Little creepy, sometimes.” Catra said in as even a voice as she could manage. She and Adora both snorted out a little laugh together, which died just as quickly.

The apostate priestess approached the fallen goddess slowly, reverently, as she would approach an altar. Her black robes hung wet and limp around her, and in the night she looked like a walking shadow, or like death itself. The dragon in front of her looked more like a pile of boulders left by a landslide than a living being, or a dead one, and she was as silent as the ancient city's deserted streets or the distant stars. But then Adora and Catra saw four eyes open and shine out like moonlight glinting off a dagger.

Daany stopped. “Do you know why I am here, Telika the Ancient?”

The voice that replied echoed in all their heads. “To do the Etternian’s bidding, like all your servile ancestors.”

“No, oh revered one. If anything, she is doing mine. As have you, most holy. I helped the Etherian to reach you here, healed her, knowing that you would attack her, knowing that her hopes of speaking reason to you would likely fail. Her purposes and mine were one in this, however, because I knew she would fight you rather than let you win. And if her hopes to persuade you away from the path of tyranny came to fruition, was that not so much the better? But as I thought, you struck at her, a woman who only ever offered you friendship. And here you are, weakened and bloody. No, I do not come here to do any Eternian’s bidding, not even Adora’s, who has nothing in common with her ancestors but the blood in her veins. I come here to do no one’s will but my own. I come here to kill you.”

Adora and Catra turned to one another and each cocked an eyebrow. They should be mad, though Daany had never lied to them or given them any false hope that Telika would end this peacefully. But they weren’t even mad. Actually, they were both kind of impressed. Adora could see that grudging admiration in Catra’s curled lip and the flick of her tail and the twitch in her ears. Adora just shook her head and turned back to Daany.

Telika did not respond with thoughts. Instead she hissed and growled, like a cornered beast. Daany shrugged.

“So you can die like an animal at the slaughter, or you can get on your feet, face me and die like a woman.”

Telika growled again and struggled to her feet. She narrowed her eyes to serpentine slits, gathered herself like a coiled viper.

Adora pushed off against the ground, ready to leap to Daany’s defense, but an arm barred her way. “Let her do this, Adora,” Catra said.

Telika struck with her fangs, blindingly fast, but it was clumsy nonetheless, telegraphed across the square. Daany stepped aside like she was dodging a passerby in the street and slashed up with her dark blade, cutting through Telika’s neck where her scales were weakest. Telika skidded across the square and the fire in her eyes died before she stopped, and then her body glowed with a brilliant light.

Adora didn’t have time to take it in - she rushed forward and placed her hands on Telika’s burning hot scales and channeled all that power into her. She felt it burn in her chest and tingle up and down her arms and pour out of her eyes like tears. But then she was done. Telika's flesh had been seared away, and now all that remained of the once-living goddess was a pile of bones that shone dimly in the night.

Adora turned to Daa’na’ka. “Well you said I’d give this back to Hyboria, do you want me to...Magic the ground? I’ve done this before after all.”

“No, Adora, I want you to take my hand.” Adora saw Catra’s tail flair out and her fur stand on end. “This magic will stay on my world. But it will stay in me.”

Adora looked intently at Daany, then thought this through, more worried about the mechanics of this than whatever Catra was bothered by. Daany couldn’t handle a sudden eruption of magic, but perhaps she could stand magic flowing through her, more controlled and well-channeled, filtered through She-Ra’s life-giving nature.

“Daany, what are you doing?” Catra asked, her voice cracking. Adora’s eyes widened as she realized, just a few moments after Catra.

“You know what I am doing, Catra. Do you not trust me?”

“It’s not that at all, Daany. You’re...fuck you’re so young. You’re in love. You know how amazing that is. And you can't have that if you do this, can you? That’s what you meant when you said goodbye to Cy’alla.”

“Indeed, Catra. Either I would die here, or I would be changed. Either way I shall never see Cy’alla face to face again. At least, not with this one.” Daa’na’ka smiled, and gave a little laugh, but she was crying. “And besides, while I may lose some things, what else will I gain? Catra, Adora, I will be able to fly among the stars, see distant worlds wondrous people...before you came, all I knew of other worlds were our legends of tyrants descending from the sky. Now I can go there! Isn’t that worth it?”

“Daany, that all sounds wonderful but I wouldn’t trade a single night with the woman I love for all of that.”

“Aw, love you too sweetie.”

“Don’t call me that. C’mon, back me up, Adora, you’ve done both. If you had to choose, which would you pick?”

“Oh definitely se...love. I’d choose love. I chose love, heh. I mean, leaping through space is nice and all but it’s not nearly as nice as...well, you know. A woman who loves you. And all the things you can do together.”

“See, Daany...you don’t have to do this.”

“I do, Catra. Our world still lives under tyranny. If I do not take this power upon myself, who will guide us to freedom? Worse than that, if I do not take this power, what if some priestess or queen takes it for herself. My people have suffered enough. The time has come to break our chains. And I will be the woman to do it. Besides, a world needs a protector. I think that it should be me.” Daany laughed to herself. “You may call me suspicious, but I don’t trust anyone else to do it. I have been preparing my whole life for this...for something worth living for.”

“I know how you feel, Daany, I felt the same way. But the thing about life is, you don’t need something to make it worth living. It’s worth plenty just by itself. Especially when you have people to share it with,” Adora said with a sad smile, then looked at Catra. Catra walked up to her and wrapped her arm around Adora’s waist and her tail around her leg.

“You’re right. But my world needs me. And I do want this, even if I wished I didn’t have to choose. This is my choice, Adora. I will take Telika’s place, and become a dragon.”

Adora nodded. Catra growled and held her back for a moment, but Adora looked down, shook her head, and Catra released her. She walked forward to Daany and took the girls hand in hers. She closed here eyes and felt Hyboria’s magic in her. It felt different from Etheria’s - wilder, colder, the magic of blizzards and storm tossed seas and vast mountains of ice, not of green fields and warm oceans and cold winters spent together around a fire. Wilder magic for a wilder world. She pushed it out, no, she released it, and flowed out of its own accord, through her hands, slow at first, then faster and faster until it flooded out in a torrent and Adora could feel the warmth in her hand and that tingle of eldritch power.

She also felt Daany’s hand grow in hers, until she was holding it no longer but wrapping her and around a claw, then simply holding her hand against a claw like she might touch the trunk of a sapling. Adora felt the flow of Hyborian magic wane and then stop, and felt hot, richly scented breath blowing over her face and through her hair. She opened her eyes and found herself looking into Daany’s eyes, still very much hers even though they were so much larger and brighter and more numerous. Adora stepped back to take in this girl, this dragon. Her scales were black above and glossy, like an armour of obsidian shards. But on the underside of her scales Adora could just see a shimmer, like starlight. Where Telika’s eyes had burned like suns, Daa'na'ka’s gently twinkled, almost playfully. Somehow that dragon, with her vast face and sharp beak was smiling just as shyly as the girl had smiled the night before.

“How do I look?”

“You look beautiful, Daa’na’ka.”

Daany smiled, rows and rows of teeth just barely showing. She looked down at the waters to catch her own reflection, and reached up one talon to touch her face. She laughed. “I have been born anew. A new name, and now a new body.” She stretched her wings. “I have wings, Adora! Catra, I have wings!” She laughed a little again, and a small puff of indigo flame escaped her mouth. She looked up again and smiled more broadly, and it was the happiest Adora had seen Daany since they’d first met. “I think I can fly?”

“You can, Daany. I think you already know how,” Adora said with a smile.

The great dragon Daa’na’ka the Black launched herself from Hyboria with a leap and soared away on her six wings, until she was circling above them, twirling in the air, looping and spiraling and laughing with the joy of it.

An excited voice came from behind Adora’s shoulder.

“That Suveri transformed into a dragon!”

“Biologically fascinating!”

“We had assumed dragons were a separate species.”

“Perhaps it is a reproductive phase…”

“No, there would be more dragons, then, there’s no way for a single individual to create a breeding population.”

Adora looked behind her at a gaggle of Cephalopodians, none of whom seemed to pay any heed to their former captors death and all of whom were fascinated by their latest observations.

“She’s magic.”Adora said, simply. “Just like me. That’s why she’s a dragon.”

“OOOOOOOOHHHHH”

“Why aren’t you a dragon then, She-Ra?”

“We don’t know how different species react to magic, however.”

“Magic is an unknown variable in our observations.”

“We have no point of reference to compare it to.”

“But still, this dragon transformation is biologically intriguing.”

“And culturally significant! Dragons are revered as gods in Suveri culture, but this means that they are not revering a distinct species.”

“Are the Suveri aware of this relationship? Our studies indicated Telika had lived for more than fifty but under 100 Suveri generations, meaning that her origins would pass out of living memory…”

The Cephalopodians continued their discussion, and were so invested and involved in it that they did not notice the dragon land behind them.

“What are the socio-political implications of this transfer of power? The previous dragon was the center of the Suveri religious and social system. Will the new one seek to uphold the same repressive social order?”

“What if she seeks to liberate the planet from its current state of social stratification and religio-political hegemony? Killing the previous dragon would seem to indicate a dissatisfaction with the existing power structures.”

“Are they always like this?” A voice sounded in Adora’s head, and Catra’s too, judging by her gleeful cackle and rueful nod. Adora herself looked at Daa’na’ka and nodded with a smile.

And the Cephalopodians continued. “Any attempt to impose social revolution from above would be fraught - using force or existing systems of religious power would only reinforce the existing power structures rather than dismantling them, just as the previous dragon-goddesses co-option of colonial power structures ironically re-capitulated the colonial dynamic she had rebelled against.”

“However, large numbers of Suveri have already formed parallel power structures and live outside the hegemony of the religious, political and economic elite!”

“Many Suveri do show an incredible capacity for mutual aid and non-hierarchical organization.”

“So there’s hope!”

“Indeed, this is a fascinating problem of revolutionary organization.”

“It’s a shame that we won’t be here to observe.”

“Or advise! Political theory is nothing without revolutionary praxis!”

Daany looked down at the small but boisterous crowd and all their tentacles waving with excitement, none of whom even noticed the dragon watching them. She raised two eyebrows and grinned.

A voice sounded in everyone’s head, brimming with mirth. “If you have any suggestions about how I should act to free my world, I am open to them.”

The Cephalopodians turned around in shock and glee. Several of them slapped tentacles in some mark of excitement, while others flung them up in the air and let out a kind of excited whistle. Adora had never seen two dozen cuttlefish-people look so happy since they’d greeted She-Ra. The Cephalopodians turned inwards and talked among themselves in their chattering whistles and clicks. Then two turned to Daany and one approached Adora and Catra.

The Cephalopodian looked bashfully at both of them. “We are terribly sorry, since you went to much trouble to free us, but we were hoping that we might stay on this world, in order to further our study of Suveri society and advise in their own self-liberation. Please send our regards to the caravan fleet, and let them know that we look forward to some day visiting our new homeworld and feeling its magic once She-Ra has awakened it.”

Adora looked over on Catra. Rage, frustration and finally amusement played across her face until she burst out laughing. “Of fucking course. Go stay. Have a blast!” Catra said with a cackle, wiping away a tear.

“Seriously?” She muttered to Adora.

“Seriously Catra, did you expect any less?”

“I shouldn’t have.” Catra chuckled to herself, shaking her head.

The Cephalopodians talked busily amongst themselves about 630 year old revolutionary theories, the difficulty of preventing revolutionary power from becoming oppressive power, and the long hard road of self-determination and the beauty of cooperative organization and the excitement of...well they were excited about everything, because they were Cephalopodians and being excited is what they did. They didn’t notice that Daany had walked softly over to Adora and Catra and was now looking down at them with a sad smile.

Catra looked up at Daa’na’ka with a worried expression. “Daany...whatever you do…”

“Yes, Catra?”

“Don’t do this alone. I know you’re a dragon now and all, but you still need friends. Loving the universe and everyone you meet is great and all I guess but...I don’t think it’s the same as having someone in your life. Of having a lot of people in your life.”

“Catra’s right. You need people. They’re what kept me human. Without them I’d be...just a job I guess. And I’m learning that I can’t be just the job...because She-Ra is me, and if I can’t be myself I can’t be her or do the things she does. And it’s my friends, and Catra, that let me be myself.”

“I mean, Daany, I think half of Telika’s problem was that she didn’t have any friends. Not that I blame all of you for avoiding her with her charming personality and all, but only loving dead people is a pretty good way to end up alone. And when you’re alone...you can do some pretty bad things, Daany. I know that.”

Daa’na’ka looked down at both of them. “I will not forget what you say. I hope these...Cephalopdians can be friends. Perhaps some among the Suveri could be friends…”

“Try the Illithi, it’s not like they’re going to worship you.”

“And you can’t be friends with someone who worships you.”

Daany snorted at that with a small flickering of flame. “No, I don’t imagine they will.. But I do hope that I have two friends already.”

Adora looked up at Daany with a grin. “You definitely do. And now that you can fly between the stars, may some day you could help me restore magic to the universe some day, if you’re not to busy here?”

Daany smiled and nodded her vast head.

“And maybe you can visit some time? I think you’ll know where to find Etheria.”

Catra looked over at Adora. “So that means?”

“I told you we’re going home, at least after I magic up a new homeworld for the Cephalopodians. I think we could both use a break, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I could use a break. Still, I hope you’re going to keep the clothes.”

Adora laughed and looked at Catra’s scanty furs. “Oh I’m definitely keeping the clothes, but only if you do too, Catra.”

Catra’ didn’t respond. She only embraced Adora, wrapped a tail around her, and purred.

“Well Bow and Glimmer should be here any day now.”

“They should. But before they come, I do have a favor to ask of you, Daa’na’ka.

“Oh?”

“It’s just, something I’ve wanted to do for years. I hope it won’t be embarrassing.”

Daany chuckled. “I must say I am intrigued. What would you ask of me?”

And so in five minutes Adora the Etherian, conqueror of Telika the Cruel, Tyrant-Slayer, Godkiller, She-Ra, was flying through the air on the back of Daa’na’ka the Black, sword aloft, shouting at the top of her lungs.

“WAAAAAHOOOOOOO!!!!!!”

Fin.

Chapter Text

Glimmer was already behind the command chair when the first proximity alarm tone sounded over Darla’s cockpit speakers and Bow bought the out of warp. She looked ahead with a steely gaze as the clouds of the nebula parted before them and revealed a distant, white star. She scanned the blank expanse of space for some twinkling point she could latch on to, some blue-white dot that she could seize on and tell herself ‘fuck it, that’s where my friends are. As long as I can get this fucking flying archaeological site there, everything will be okay. They will be safe.’ But she saw nothing.

“Where the fuck is this planet, Bow?” Glimmer muttered with a heat she instantly regretted.

Bow sighed slightly. Glimmer didn’t have to look to tell he was furrowing his brow. “Over there,” he gestured. “It’s hard to see with the naked eye, but it’s right there.” He flicked a wrist and brought up a magnified hologram.

“Huh, looks like this planet has rings. They’re kind of pretty, aren’t they?” He said with a weak smile.

Glimmer couldn’t control her grimace, or the small groan that escaped her mouth. “They’re fucking gorgeous. How long until we reach the planet?”

“At reasonable sub-warp speed, three hours.”

“Uuurrrggghhhh!” Glimmer groaned. “Fine. Can you tell me anything more about the planet that kidnapped our best friends?”

“Um, sure.”

Bow rattled off all the kind of stuff that he and Entrapta loved. Average temperature, mean albedo, axial tilt, perihelion, aphelion, orbital period in mean galactic years, rotational period in standard hours, percentage of the surface covered by water, all of that. Glimmer tried to pay attention, but as Bow kept up his too-chipper list of facts she found her mind wandering to the same places it had been going for these past 2 days. What had happened to Catra and Adora? What had befallen the two strongest, toughest, fiercest women Glimmer had ever met? What had outsmarted the former trickster-strategist of the Horde or overpowered She-Ra, the closest thing Glimmer had ever seen to a Goddess? Glimmer gripped her staff until her hand ached and clenched her jaw until pain shot through her head. She silenced the final thought - that if anything could take out Catra and Adora, how did she stand a chance?

Glimmer started paying attention a bit again when Bow started adding in new and not at all terrifying information, like how the planet’s rings were made of a pulverized star fleet that was apparently hundreds or a thousand years old. Or how the planet held one of the largest First Ones ruins he’d ever seen, which only prompted the question, where did the First Ones go? Prime had never been here, apparently. So something or someone else had made them leave.

Then, the first bit of good news. A ping on the radio, then another. A slow, steady pulse. No voice. But a message.

“Bow, is that…”

“It’s intergalactic distress beacon #17. Which is uh...alive, ship damaged, spaceflight impossible.”

Glimmer spun herself around and kissed Bow on the cheek. “Alive! They’re alive!?”

“Well…”

“Bow...If you pull a fucking ‘well by alive I actually mean dead but their bodies are intact’ you will be fucking walking back to Etheria.”

“Who would do that? And what does that even mean? Nevermind.”

“Sorry.”

“What I was about to say is that this is a Cephalopodian signal, and I’m getting another signal that looks like our shuttle’s black box.”

“The black box...like it crashed?”

“Well, like they sent out a probe with their flight data before they crashed.”

“Well what does it show?”

“Um...catastrophic depressurization, loss of all power and engines and a terminal course toward the planet’s surface?” Bow said with a steadily rising and increasingly creaky voice.

“Bow?”

“Um, yes honey?”

“That sounds an awful lot like...like that other thing I said. Which I’m not going to repeat because if I say the words out loud I might just lose it.”

“This is you...not losing it? Of course it’s not. Hah.” Bow chuckled weakly to himself. “It looks like they hit something, or maybe they were…” Bow swallowed “...maybe they were attacked.”

“Attacked.” She’d known it.

“It’s not clear at all from all this stuff, it’s pretty messed up. You know, Glim, standard procedure tells us to…”

“I know, Bow. I helped write the standard procedures. But do you really want to retreat and call for backup when Adora and Catra could be...when they are down there somewhere?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Well that settles it.”

Bow left Glimmer to stare off at a bulkhead as she fumed and resisted the urge to smash a console.

“Huh.”

“Huh? Seriously Bow, ‘Huh!?’ Are you trying to fucking torture me?” Glimmer pleaded.

“Sorry just the time data in this black box reading is several days old, and this distress signal just started.”

“Like now?”

“Yeah, it’s a new signal, not a weak one we just picked up.”

“So…”

“So someone really is alive, or they couldn’t send that signal.”

Glimmer could hardly describe what she felt surge through her. It was a cold wave that passed from her guts all the way up her throat and throbbed in her temples. It was hope, and fear, and other things so muddled that Glimmer couldn’t even name them. It was exhausting, especially when she had barely slept in the past two days.

Somehow Glimmer held it together for the next two hours and more as the tiny white speck grew bright and brighter and then larger and larger in their window. She distracted herself by imagining a dozen different ways that Adora and Catra could have survived crashing onto a strange planet after falling out of space. She imagined them sheltering in a mostly intact shuttle, safe from the rain. Or Adora building a lean-to with all those wilderness skills she was bragging to Huntara about and Catra catching small game while they waited to be rescued. Maybe the Cephalopodians had rescued them. Maybe Adora had guided their ship down exactly to where the Cephalopodians had crashed. Maybe She-Ra’s powers had saved them.

Glimmer didn’t let herself think about anything else. About how maybe this Cephalopodian signal was a trap, or about what could have been strong enough to attack them, or how anything at all could have attacked them when all of Bow’s scans showed no technology capable of spaceflight at all - just low, sprawling cities of packed-together mud-brick houses with temples towering over them. The planet grew in their view screen until it filled their vision, and then it grew even more. Still there was no contact on sensors, no sign of Adora and Catra’s attacker, and no sign of them except the distress signal. They sailed past the rings of debris. Glimmer mentally ran through her five favorite combat maneuvers. She didn’t bother asking Bow if he’d packed his ‘serious’ arrows - the ones that exploded, or shocked, or burned. Catra and Adora were in danger. They both had to be ready. Ready…Glimmer felt a familiar tingle at her fingers.

Glimmer traced a rune in the air and smiled to herself when it glowed in front of her. She still had just enough charge from Adora’s stored Etherian magic to teleport maybe another 3 dozen times and to pack a powerful, sparkling punch whenever she hit someone. With her sorcery...whoever it was would have to look out.

Bow took them down into the atmosphere and over the planet’s surface. It was around nightfall on this part of the planet, so they could just barely see the savage landscape beneath them - deep valleys with thick forests at their bottom and sheer rock walls at their sides and glaciers piled above them. A huge ice sheet covering a large plateau, and in its center, a perfectly circular caldera valley with a cold desert on its floor and a ruined First One’s city at its center.

They came in fast to surprise any enemies that were waiting for them. In less than a minute they were screaming down into a long-abandon square that was now overgrown with an explosion of trees and thick bushes. The whole ruin was an oasis of life in the black, blasted desert. The sun set just as they landed, and Glimmer and Bow rushed out into the gathering night. To their left was a vaste white heap that almost looked like the bones of some ancient creature, but Glimmer wasn’t worried about dead monsters, only live ones.

Bow didn’t say anything, just looked down at his tracker pad and pointed up a hill at the only thing in this ruin that wasn’t a crystal or a tree. Glimmer nodded and teleported them, materializing right in front of the darkened hulk of a Cephalopodian ship.

Bow rushed in with his pad, and Glimmer followed right behind, fists sparkling and crackling with magic. There was no one there. There were consoles, and a mess table, and all the usual chaos of drawers and cupboards on the ceiling that she was used to on Cephalopodian ships. Things were put away neatly, mostly, but a few things were left out, like whoever left them was planning to return. There was no sign of struggle, or even hurry. One half-eaten bowl of fish stew was cold but otherwise fresh on the table.

Glimmer looked over to Bow, who was glancing back and forth between the room and his tracker pad. He bit his lip, rubbed his head, and walked back out the hatch.

“Oh.”

“Oh what? Please tell me that’s a good ‘oh’.”

“Well it might explain a few things. Take a look, Glimmer.”

Glimmer walked out and there, plain as could be, was an arrow pointing down the hill, toward a ruined building. Now that the twilight had deepened, Glimmer could see firelight flickering in the night.

Glimmer nodded at Bow. They didn’t need words, now. Bow tucked his tracker pad away and brought out his bow and knocked a single arrow. His tracker pad wasn’t any more use - whoever was here wasn’t giving off any signals. But they might need his bow before this was all over. Glimmer gripped Bow’s firm shoulder and gave the slightest smirk out of the corner of her mouth. They could do this. They headed down the hill, paused only a moment at the entryway, and entered the building.

Glimmer walked out into a great hall, illuminated by a burning fire in an open hearth and the far end. There was a dais beyond it, with someone seated on it, but Glimmer couldn’t make them out through the flames. Glimmer and Bow walked in and onwards, deeper and deeper into the hall.

Glimmer could see the dais more clearly now. There was some kind of seat or throne on it. And in that throne there was not only one person, but would seem like two, or perhaps, one creature with many limbs. Bow motioned to Glimmer and indicated their path, she nodded and they both rounded the hearth, one on each side. Just as she was about to step out from behind the fire Glimmer realized she heard a strange noise reverberating off the hard walls, barely audible beneath the fire. A kind of deep rumble. Perhaps a growl. Glimmer raised her staff, stepped out from behind the fire and confronted whatever was on the dais.

And there, bathed in the firelight, were Catra and She-Ra. Sitting, no, lounging on what looked suspiciously like a throne, Catra mostly in She-Ra’s lap but with one leg sprawled lazily off the side of the throne and one arm wrapped around Adora’s neck and a tail wrapped around her waist. Catra was holding some kind of jug, while She-Ra’s sword was casually leaned against the throne like an umbrella by the door. In that instant, Glimmer realized she recognized that rumble - Catra’s purr. Catra looked up lazily and smiled.

“Oh hey Sparkles! Nice to see you.”

Only now did Glimmer fully process what Catra and Adora were wearing, and what they weren’t wearing. Because that was...more of their skin than Glimmer was used to. They were dressed in some kind of furs and hides that mostly covered their limbs and yet still showed quite enough that Glimmer felt her face grew hot. Adora’s boots ended just above her knees and Glimmer had never seen that much of She-Ra’s thighs, while Catra’s leggings and short skirt and the distance between them was even worse than that distractingly sexy number Catra had pranced about in while she was trying to conquer Etheria.

“What the fuck!?” Glimmer exclaimed. “What’s going on here? What happened?”

Adora cocked her head. “What’s it look like?” Oh great, Adora was tipsy.

“Well it kind of looks like you two are lounging around in a throne room dressed like sexy barbarian warlords drinking alien booze and necking while I’ve been worried sick about you both!?”

“We thought you might be dead!” Bow exclaimed, his voice rising. Years ago, it would have cracked, but Bow wasn’t a kid anymore, Glimmer reminded herself.

“Necking?” Adora asked.

Catra grinned with her fangs. “Seriously, who says ‘necking’? And I’m not even going to mention how the first thing you call us is ‘sexy barbarian warlords.’ Anyway Sparkles, trust me, we’ve been doing a lot more than ‘necking.’ Just be grateful you didn’t show up an hour earlier. At least we’re wearing clothes.”

“You’re the sexiest barbarian warlord, babe,” Adora murmured into Catra’s ear.

“Hey you look pretty amazing in furs yourself,” Catra purred in return.

Glimmer looked on at Adora and Catra while they stared lovingly into one another’s eyes. “And what did you two do, did you...conquer this planet and then...canoodle on your throne?”

“No! I would never conquer a planet.”

“I suggested it but killjoy here insisted that she wasn’t going to conquer anyone.”

“I did kill the dragon that ruled the planet. Well, we killed her. Helped kill her. I couldn’t have done it without Catra. But that isn’t exactly conquering.”

“Wait what?”

Catra continued for Adora. “Oh yeah. That was after the dragon blasted us out of the sky and our spaceship disintegrated on re-entry and She-Ra...shielded us, somehow…” Something passed over Catra’s expression, and kind of imperceptible shudder.

“Because She-Ra survived re-entry. Which is apparently a thing she can do. A thing I can do.”

“So that was why the black box was launched out…”

“...and after our clothes got shredded and soaked on reentry and after we beat these furry magic mega-predators” Catra gestured at their furs “and after we beat up and then befriended a band of barbarians and after we befriended this weird priestess chick and fought a bunch of dead gods” Catra’s expression darkened again, “...and the priestess healed Adora and after we rescued the Cephalopodians.”

“Wait just how many people did you beat up and/or befriend?”

“Sparkles, it’s Adora. That’s her and like, everybody.”

“You’re not wrong, Catra.” Bow interjected.

“I guess I am the best at punching and friendship. Go me.” Adora drank more from her jug. “Huh, I guess that is really...what being She-Ra is all about. Punching and friendship. And making out with my girlfriend. I wish Razz had told me that part, would have saved me some time.”

“So yeah sorry about not being able to get a signal out and all but as far as the Suveri are concerned Bronze is just about the best thing ever, and the Cephalopodian ship is a little...janky.”

“Dragon-damaged.”

“That works too. I like ‘janky’ better.”

“You know, you left out the part where Daany became the new dragon after she killed the old dragon,” Adora observed.

“Yeah that part was important, sorry Sparkles.”

Glimmer pinched the bridge of her nose. “And I say again, what the fuck?”

“Sorry, I know it’s a lot. But the important thing is, it’s been a week for us. We nearly died like five times. So that’s why we’re getting tipsy and, how did you put it? canoodling while waiting for you and while the Cephalopodians and Daany went to find more Suveri to turn into dragons or whatever.”

“They said something about ‘the perils of individual leadership and the importance of consensus-based action.’”

“Yeah in addition to being a dragon Daany’s mostly taking advice from a bunch of tentacled anarchists. So this should be fun.”

“So that’s where the Cephalopodians went.” Bow said thoughtfully.

“So yeah, Adora and I have fucking earned a couple of evenings to enjoy ourselves, your majesty. I’m sorry you were worried, but we were kind of busy.”

“So let me get this straight. You didn’t conquer the planet.”

“We would never do that.”

“But you killed the space dragon that ruled it. And your...weird priestess friend is the new dragon, but she doesn’t want to rule anything. And she and our anarcho-cuttlefish friends are going around doing what, overthrowing the entire political system?”

“Don’t forget the entire religious system.”

“And the eco...econym...money stuff system.”

“And you did this all in a week.”

Adora looked up at Glimmer and gave her most winning She-Ra smile. Catra only cackled and looked back at Glimmer.

“Yeah, classic us, huh?”

Glimmer stood there and took in her friends. They were safe, and happy, and beautiful, and she allowed herself to admit, incredibly sexy. (A fine and normal thing to admit, that your friends were hot. Most of her friends were hot. She was blessed). Catra’s smile hid something darker sometimes, when she looked at Glimmer, but when Catra turned back to Adora she was glowing again. They’d been through a lot, even more than she had. And now, once again, they had each other. Glimmer cracked a grin.

“Yeah, classic you.”

“Hey Glimmer, you want to join us for a drink? Best friends squad style?” Adora asked with a crooked and mildly conspiratorial grin.

Glimmer looked at the proffered jug. Getting drunk with these three, that was...an idea. Getting drunk with her gorgeous boyfriend, and She-Ra, perhaps objectively the most gorgeous woman in the cosmos, and Catra, who was maddeningly distracting on a good day and whose new outfit was already going to keep her up at night. This was a plan without flaw, and would definitely not result in Glimmer saying or doing anything embarrassing or regrettable.

Fuck it, she may be queen, but she was 20, she’d had a rough couple of days, and what was the use in being young if you weren’t going to make a few bad decisions (and what was the use in being friends with Catra if you weren’t going to let her encourage you?)

“Absolutely, Adora.” Glimmer took the jug and drank.

“Best friends squad style!” Bow cried out, and rolled them all into a hug.

The End (for real)