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On the House - A She-ra Fan Fiction
“Are you sure you’re ready for this?”
“Are you?”
Adora paused and stared down at the floor. Catra sighed and smiled weakly, softly lacing her fingers into Adora’s hand and bringing it up to kiss the back of her palm. There was something in her eyes. There was always something in her eyes, and Adora was still re-learning all of their tiny intricacies.
“Look, it’s going to be fine, okay?” Catra told her, though she didn’t seem so sure. Adora couldn’t blame her. She nodded her head lightly and brought her gaze back to the building looming before them.
Ever since the Heart was destroyed, the Beacon seemed… unsure of itself. Adora wasn’t sure how a building could be unsure of itself, but nothing with the First Ones ever made sense. New life had joined the climbing berry bushes that Madame Razz liked to pick from, and now the Beacon looked as though it was becoming one with the Whispering Woods. Or, the woods were trying to bury it deep beneath the ground, punishment for its role in trapping Etheria’s magic.
Catra was the brave one and took the first few steps forward.
She’s always been the brave one, Adora thought to herself. Catra had fought and clawed her way through life, and she nearly lost every step of the way. But, somehow she’s still here. Somehow I’m still here, too, she pondered.
Adora followed her into the Beacon, trailing behind a few steps. Catra was growing her hair back, and it was officially in the awkward stage of growth. Her bushy hair popped out from her head in unexpected places, no two tufts going the same direction as it tried to find itself once again. Adora thought it was cute, but she had definitely seen Catra glare at it in the mirror on occasion, and knew she was a bit embarrassed by it. She never really liked to show weakness. Baby steps.
They entered the large central atrium of the Beacon, and looked around, apprehensive. It was lit up brightly, and the glow of the First One’s tech felt strange and unnatural compared to the beauty of the woods outside. Catra approached the central dais with a slight twinge of nervousness, reaching her hand out towards the console. Adora put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.
"Wait, let me get it. Light Hope may be gone, but this place may still be able to send those annoying spiders at us if we aren’t careful.”
“By all means.” Catra stepped back and made space for Adora to transform easily. Or perhaps she just liked to back up a little to get a better view. Adora blushed slightly at the thought, and reached out her arm, eager to show off for Catra.
“For the honor of Gra-,”
“WAIT!!!!”
Adora and Catra quickly turned around, ready for battle, but couldn’t find the source of the voice. They looked around the atrium, baffled. From behind one of the columns, Entrapta suddenly appeared, carrying herself forward with her dexterous purple hair. She stretched her arms out, shaking her hands furiously to stop them.
“If you transform right now it could upset a very delicate balance in the mechanisms we’ve set up!”
Catra looked at her suspiciously, with a slight tone of hostility. “What are you doing here, Entrapta?”
Adora stepped forward between the two of them, turning to Catra with a gentle smile on her face. “It’s okay, nothing to worry about. I asked Entrapta to poke around and make sure things were working before we got here.”
“You said it was just going to be the two of us.” Catra crossed her arms, mildly frustrated.
“I know, I know, but I wasn’t sure how much time you’d need in your sessions with Perfuma, and I just wanted to make sure that the Beacon was still functioning so it wouldn’t be a waste of time…” Adora placed her hands under Catra’s and held them lightly. “It’ll still just be the two of us, I promise.”
“Okay.” Catra sighed again and took a deep breath to steady herself. “I guess I’m a little on edge.”
“I know.”
“Well, is it working, Entrapta, or is this a waste of time?”
“Oh it’s working alright! I’ve been rewiring the main framework and using the tricks I learned from fixing Darla to boost its overall functionality. There’s soooooo much to work with in here!” She sighed dreamily. “Even without the Light Hope program I could spend my whole life picking through every inch of the conduit paneling and internal software and-“
“And leave me all alone in the workshop?” Another voice appeared from above them. Adora glanced up to see Hordak hanging upside-down, high up on one of the columns, fixing an open panel with a blowtorch.
“Does the workshop have the ability to synthetically atomize and reconstitute materials into existence at will?”
“Fair point,” Hordak huffed lightly and happily, and went back to work on the panel.
Adora turned around to see Catra glaring at her, or right through her. Her eyes looked vacant and furious. Her brow furrowed, and her fur was slightly raised. She trembled slightly, and her breath was shallow and quick. Adora had seen her like this a couple of times since they had returned from Horde Prime’s ship.
“What’s wrong with Catra?” Entrapta leaned forward and whispered so that Adora could hear. “She doesn’t look right.”
“Just, give us a minute, okay?”
Entrapta nodded, staying in place and staring at Adora. After a moment, something clicked inside her mind. “Oh, you mean alone. Right!” Using her hair, she swung herself up the column and joined Hordak high above them.
Adora gently placed her arms around Catra, bringing her into a timid hug. Catra’s eyes closed slowly, and she whispered in a low and shaky voice.
“Why is he here?”
“You know they work on everything together.”
Catra huffed, exasperated. “Why is he here?”
“I didn’t think about it when I asked Entrapta. I’m sorry.” Adora tried to get Catra to match her breathing, a little deeper and calmer. “Do you want me to ask them to leave?”
“Just… give me some space for a few.” Adora nodded, and let her go. Catra walked away and sat down behind one of the other columns.
Adora turned around to see Wrong Hordak strolling into the room, carrying a lunch platter. He gingerly stepped up onto the center platform, and Entrapta quickly leapt down and intercepted him, directing him away from Catra and Adora. Adora heard her quietly say, “We can’t go over there right now, Catra is emoting.”
Adora stood by herself in the center of the room, mentally kicking herself for not thinking about this in advance. Catra was working through so much back in Brightmoon, but Adora knew she kept her distance from Hordak. She’d made a lot of apologies in her time since the war, but she wasn’t ready to face him just yet. Adora wasn’t even sure Hordak was ready to face her either. Between everything that happened on Etheria, and everything Catra experienced on Horde Prime’s ship, Adora knew that wound was deep.
Brightmoon was such a strange place to be these days. After the war, it became the formal capital of Etheria, and it felt like it was growing everyday. There were often clashes in the hallways, out in the markets, in the streets, as people on both sides of the conflict tried to find ways to live together after everything. It was one thing to win a war, but how were they ever going to heal all the damage it caused? Community service could only go so far, and Catra herself was still on a form of probation as they sorted things out.
Adora was lost in thought when she felt Catra’s claws lightly tap on her shoulder. She refocused, and saw Catra facing her, composed but weary. “We don’t have to do this today if that’s too much, we can always come back tomo-,"
“I’m fine, Adora.” Adora’s face must not have believed her, and Catra scowled. “I mean it. Flower girl actually has some good tips now and then.” She smirked. “Don’t tell her I said that.”
"And have her find out you’ve gone soft?”
“Now you’re making me sound like Huntara.”
“You should be so lucky.” They laughed lightly, and Catra leaned in to kiss Adora. Something about that always blew Adora’s mind. They could just do that now. All these years and all these memories and everything, and now Adora can finally just kiss her. She hoped the magic of that would never fade.
“It’s ready, if you want to test it out now.” Entrapta’s voice called them back to reality. They turned back to face her. “If you’re done emoting, that is."
Catra smiled, and Adora nodded to Entrapta. “We can take it from here, Entrapta… Thank you for all your work.”
“Are you sure? We’d be happy to oversee it and make sure nothing falls apart while you’re in there.”
“I think we can handle it. What’s the worst that can happen, it sends more spiders at us?” Adora smiled and looked back to see if Catra was smiling too. Her heart fluttered a little when she saw Catra looking away with a grin across her cheeks.
“Oh it can do SO much worse! Light Hope’s programming actually had her holding back so-,” Entrapta stopped herself. She looked thoughtful for a moment and turned back to Hordak, who was climbing down the column. “Too much excitement over dangerous thing?” She tapped her fingers together quizzically.
“A tad,” Hordak smiled at her. Adora couldn’t help but enjoy seeing the two of them work together, even if it was strange to see Hordak smile.
“Anyway, hope it doesn’t try to kill you!” Entrapta gleefully walked off and started helping Wrong Hordak pack up their tools.
Hordak stood awkwardly in front of them. Catra averted her eyes away from him, and he seemed to be trying to say something. After a few tense moments, he said, “I hope this work is acceptable to you, and helps you on your journey. I- we, worked hard to make it satisfactory.” Hordak’s voice was serious, but attempting to be kind.
Adora nodded and thanked him. Quietly, behind her, she heard Catra whisper, “Thanks.” It’s something, Adora thought to herself. The three of them walked down the entrance hallway, out of sight. Adora took another deep breath, and turned back to Catra.
“We can still turn back if we want to. Now that it’s done we can come back whenever-,”
“I told you I’m fine.” Catra looked at Adora perceptively. “Are you ready to do this today?”
Adora looked down at the floor quietly. “I don’t know.” She paused a moment. “But we have to try.”
“Okay.” Catra grabbed Adora’s hand and held it for comfort. “Let’s do this.”
They cautiously began walking down another hallway, which seemed to go on forever. They gazed at the walls, lightly teeming with pulses of energy. Both of them kept expecting something to happen, but nothing did.
“Maybe they didn’t fix it after all,” Catra mused.
“I don’t think it’s that.” Adora stopped walking and pondered the walls a moment. “This place has always responded to memories, even when Horde Prime was attacking it.”
“Just never the happy ones.” Catra thought for a moment, and seemed to have an idea. “Maybe it needs something to work with. We can stroll around happily forever, but it’d have nothing to go off of. It uses our emotions to bring up memories that confront us, right?”
“I suppose.”
“Well, we came here to dig through emotional memories. Let’s give it something to worth with.”
“What, are you saying we should fight?” Adora held her wrist lightly. Since the sword was destroyed, she didn’t actually wear it anymore, but it helped to imagine it there when she needed it.
“Not with your sword, dummy.” Catra smirked and tapped Adora’s forehead with amused condescension. “With your words.”
“Oh.” Adora turned back to face down the hallway. “Are you really sure that’s what we need to do? Maybe we should just have Entrapta build a control mechanism or someth-,”
“Look, we can’t run from this, okay? At some point, we gotta work through everything, and we’re already here now.” Adora smiled, looking at Catra with a proud grin across her cheeks. Catra looked confused and mildly embarrassed, like she was missing something important and didn’t like the feeling. “What?”
“I’m proud of you for not running away from your feelings.”
“You’re an idiot.” She blushed lightly and faced away from Adora, trying to pretend like the compliment meant little to her. Baby steps, Adora told herself.
“So… we need to argue. Right.” Adora stared at her with a nervous expression. She smiled, but mostly because she was uncomfortable. “What do you want to argue about?”
“We don’t need to think of something new. We already know what it has responded to in the past.” Catra sighed and braced herself. “You never protected me,” as she spoke, the Beacon came alive, and suddenly Catra looked three years younger, right after Adora left, “Not in any way that actually put you on Shadow Weaver’s bad side!” Her tone changed, angry and full of pain, as she fully embodied the memory.
Adora was overwhelmed as the memory erupted into focus. The halls of the Fright Zone materialized around them, and Adora was both haunted and comforted by their familiarity. She was disoriented again as the two of them kept shifting between themselves as children, and themselves as young adults.
“Admit it, you love being her favorite,” Catra sneered in a childlike exasperation.
Adora froze. Being in the memory was so strange. You get caught up in it, unable to control yourself and unable to change it. At times, you can feel yourself watching it as though in third person, simultaneously aware that this isn’t real and simultaneously unable to do anything but let it wash over you. But, there are moments when it splits and you forget your lines, or something pulls you away. And then it changed, again and again and again. Adora hated this place.
She continued to freeze, seeing Catra’s childhood in a new light. All of the rage and pain and confusion and abandonment, all of it washed over her and she couldn’t handle it. She suddenly felt like her breath was stolen from her lungs, like the walls would collapse even though they were just projections. The memory changed around her, and suddenly Catra stared at her through those terrible green eyes, older now, and in Horde Prime’s uniform. Adora’s stomach plummeted as Horde Prime appeared behind Catra, his arm possessively placed on the back of her neck.
Adora felt her voice call out against her will as the memory took hold. “Catra! You have to fight it!”
Catra responded, in that warm and lifeless alien voice, “My place is with Horde Prime, Adora. I don’t want to leave.”
“Tell her what I’ve done for you,” Horde Prime encouraged. He grinned at Adora, taking glee in seeing her pained desperation. He was in control, and knew it.
Catra walked forward towards Adora. “Prime has given me peace. Something you could never do.” She leaned forward and placed her hand on Adora’s jawline. “You broke my heart, but he has made it whole again. Don’t you see? This is for the best. I’m happy here. You could be happy, too.” Her hand creeped towards the back of Adora’s neck.
Adora stared at her, terrified and desperate. She could feel her next line, and knew the memory told her she glared down at Horde Prime with a confidence she didn’t feel, but Adora couldn’t do it. The memory paused around her, as she stared at Catra’s face in terror. Adora closed her eyes, feeling the beginnings of those quiet and heaving sobs she felt when this memory invaded her day.
She was startled by a gentle kiss on her forehead. Adora opened her eyes to see Catra looking at her with a softness that was rare for her. She still wore the costume of the memory, but her eyes were her own once more.
“Adora, I’m still here. I’m alright.” She cooed softly, pulling Adora’s head into a soft caress in her neck. “It’s hard, but we know how it ends, right?” Adora moved her head in a tiny nod. Catra pulled her back enough to look into her eyes again. Catra paused, thinking about her words carefully a moment, and Adora began to fully appreciate how much emotional work Catra had done. “We can come back another day, like you said.”
Adora paused and tried to catch her breath. “No, we should keep going. I can do this.”
Adora was surprised to see Catra sigh, mildly frustrated, and pull her into another steadying hug. “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you have to, Adora. We’re not at war anymore.” Adora felt Catra’s claws dig in ever so slightly on her back and neck, and knew Catra was acting much more at ease than she actually felt. “You don’t have to be a warrior right now or ever again, okay?”
“I… I don’t know what to do if-,” she was interrupted as the scene changed around them. They returned to their normal clothes as the walls looked like an empty void. A doorway opened, pouring the fluorescent light of the Fright Zone across their faces. Catra stared at it as well, seeming to understand what it was.
“We don’t have to go in there.” As Catra spoke, yet another doorway opened, on the other side of them, and Adora heard her younger self say the same words with her. She could see the two of them, as young adults in the war, watching as their own childlike versions walked into the Black Garnet chamber. Adora looked down in shame. Catra paused a moment, then walked forward towards the first doorway. Adora apprehensively followed her.
She once again saw the Horde’s training room appear, as their whole cohort was doing a combat exercise. She saw Catra and herself as teens, fighting with a competitive attitude. Next to her, Catra’s fingers brushed against hers, and Adora took the sign and held her hand firmly. They watched on as their teenage selves battled. Young Catra knocked Adora down, but was suddenly attacked by Lonnie charging behind her, letting Adora run free. She rebounded and defeated Lonnie, only to have Adora come in for the easy finish on Catra, winning the round.
“Nice work cadet,” the overseer said, walking towards Adora, “this win will definitely be reported back to Lord Hordak.”
A few minutes later, the young Catra sundered off towards the locker room, alone. Adora felt Catra’s hand next to her squeeze slightly, and the two of them followed her. Adora looked back at her younger self, basking in her victory, and she felt empty inside.
They entered the locker room, and saw Catra leaning over the sink, holding back a painful sob. Adora turned to the older Catra beside her, only to find that she was no longer there, and had taken the place of her younger self in the memory.
“Catra, I knew I would find you sulking in here.” Adora turned around and saw Shadow Weaver glide into the room. Adora felt an intense wave of emotions swirl in her chest, seeing her again.
Catra turned around to glare at her. “I’m not sulking.” She bared her teeth slightly and hissed.
“Enough,” Shadow Weaver waved her hand dismissively. “Once again your performance continues to be an embarrassment to me and to the Horde.”
“Embarrassment!? I was second place! The only person I didn’t beat was Adora, and that’s only because Lonnie ganged up on me-,”
“Silence!” Shadow Weaver towered over her, as her magic cast darkness all around the room. “I will not have you throwing doubt on Adora’s performance. She will be a Force Captain someday, and if you smear her name again, I will ensure that SHE is the one who punishes you for your insolence!”
Catra looked like she wanted to say something, but held back. She folded her arms across her chest and faced away from Shadow Weaver.
“Now, you will go and be an obedient trainee and join Adora for her celebration.” Shadow Weaver’s arm gripped Catra’s shoulder tightly. She shoved Catra towards the exit. “And you will not ruin this for her.”
Catra walked out the door, and the scene shifted as she left. Suddenly, Adora saw her on the balcony that overlooked the whole Fright Zone, a place they would always come to. Catra looked a few years older, and she stood at the edge of the platform, precariously close to falling. Without thinking, Adora was swept into the memory.
“Back up a little, will you?” Adora leapt onto the platform behind her, and Catra startled slightly. “If you fall, who’s going to help me beat Lonnie and Rogelio next week at the two-on-two tournament?”
Catra’s shoulders slumped, and she looked back at Adora with a smirk, though there was a sadness in her eyes. “I couldn’t bear to hear Lonnie gloat about that for the rest of my life.
“What’re you doing up here, all alone?” Adora sat down on the railing next to her, casual and content.
Catra sighed, “I don’t know… enjoying the sunset?”
“That was a lie, you know.” Adora was started to hear Catra’s voice speak from the other side of the platform. She could feel the memory tremble slightly, and it froze around her as she faced the present day Catra, with her cute-but-awkward hair. “I always hated the sunset in the Fright Zone.”
Adora looked at her, still shaking the feeling of the memory away. “What were you doing there?”
Catra looked at the ground for a moment, and then looked back up with pained eyes. “Trying to figure out if I’d survive the fall.” Adora felt like she’d taken a kick to the stomach. She watched, wordlessly, as Catra slowly walked towards her younger self, still standing at the edge. She placed her hand on her former self’s shoulder, and brushed the memories’ hair out of her face. “I never was able to bring myself to do it. I couldn’t give Shadow Weaver the satisfaction. Or leave you alone.”
Adora didn’t know what to say. She stared at Catra with intensity, unable to bring herself to make any words.
“You talked me away from that jump more times than I could count. I never told you that.”
Catra stared at her former self with an expression that could speak the world into existence. There was pain in her eyes. And tenderness. And compassion. And shock and horror and love and hurt and everything and nothing. She leaned in close to her memory, and whispered, “It all turns out okay. I promise you, it all turns out okay.” Her voice broke, and she shook as tears pooled in the lashes of her eyes.
Catra looked back at her, and Adora could feel herself spiraling. Would she survive the fall? The fall. The fall. THE FALL. The fall the fall the fall the fall the-
Catra let out a surprised shriek as the memory collapsed around the two of them, and suddenly they were falling. The green glow of Horde Prime’s ship crashed into the darkness of the air around them as they fell from his throne room. Adora looked down to see the air rushing past Catra’s body as she plummeted towards the floor below. Adora saw her land hard on her side, and even from far above she could hear the dull sound of Catra hitting the ground. Pain shot through her legs as she struck the ground a moment later.
Adora tried to stand back up, but her legs gave out from under her, and she tumbled to the floor. She crawled towards Catra, unable to handle the wave of terror that she felt, unsure if Catra survived. Then Catra was in her arms, and she stared at her, trying to will her to life.
“Catra? Catra? It’s okay. I’m here.” She hoped beyond herself that Catra was alive. There was no sound around her, and that moment seemed to last a lifetime. It wasn’t until Catra let out a shaky breath, clinging onto life by the finest thread, that Adora could feel anything again. She pushed Catra into her chest, holding onto her as though it could stop death.
Footsteps appeared from behind her. Adora looked up to see that she was surrounded by Horde Prime’s clones. One of them stepped forward, under Horde Prime’s control.
“I am sorry for the needless waste-,” the clone’s voice distorted as the memory split apart, and suddenly Shadow Weaver stood in front of her. Suddenly she was sitting up in her bunk bed in the Fright Zone. Suddenly she was a child again.
“- meaningless waste of time, Adora. You need to focus if you wish to achieve greatness,” Shadow Weaver continued. Adora felt a small pit in her stomach. Shadow Weaver was disappointed in her, and she hated that feeling. “Your new 'friend', this Catra, will drag you down to her level if you are not careful. Some creatures in this world will never achieve anything. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Shadow Weaver.” Adora nodded, sorry to have upset her. She wanted to make Shadow Weaver proud, and to do that she needed to succeed. She resolved not to let herself get more distracted.
“Good. Now I want you to promise me not to hang around that nuisance anymore.”
“I promise.”
“Good." She seemed reassured. "Get some rest, Adora. Tomorrow is another day for you to pursue greatness.” Shadow Weaver departed, and Adora laid back down to go to sleep.
She closed her eyes, but was startled by the feeling of another body plopping onto her bunk. She sat up to see Catra, with her bushy hair and baby teeth, sitting up at the foot of her bed. “‘Tomorrow is another day for you to pursue greatness,’” Catra said, in an impression of Shadow Weaver. She laughed defiantly, and Adora couldn’t help but smile, though she felt nervous.
“What’re you doing here? You heard Shadow Weaver, she doesn’t want me to hang out with you anymore.” Adora bunched her thin blanket up in her hands, nervous and embarrassed.
“And you listen to her?” Catra laughed again and playfully tackled Adora.
“Catra, I’m serious!”
“‘Catra, I’m serious!’’’ Catra mocked her back lightly, and the two of them laughed. “Come on, let’s play for a while. I’m booooorrreeed.”
Adora bit her lip and thought for a moment. “Fine! But we cannot let Shadow Weaver find out. I don’t know what she’ll do to you if she catches you-,” Adora felt her head swirl as the scene changed yet again.
“‘-catch her eating the spare rations again, I will send her to BEAST ISLAND!’” Catra laughed, as the two of them walked through the Fright Zone. They were older now, teenagers again.
“Come on, Catra, if anyone hears you mocking Shadow Weaver like that they’ll-,”
“They’ll what? Send me… to Beast Island!?” She laughed again, and this time Adora couldn’t help but smile.
“Whatever,” Adora grinned, “but I’m taking your soap ration when you’re gone.”
“Admit it, you’d miss me too much.” She pushed Adora playfully, and Adora laughed. They walked on a bit longer, content. “I bet Beast Island isn’t even that bad of a place. Anywhere is better than here.” She sounded smug, confident. But far behind those words there was a terrified seriousness.
“Oh, come on, Catra. It’s not that bad here!” She pushed Catra back, swinging her arm around Catra’s shoulder.
Catra blushed, turning away. “I guess it’s not all bad.” She thought to herself for a second. They found a window and stared out of it, looking out across the twisted and haphazard skyline of the Fright Zone. “What… what if we left?”
“Left? And go where!?” Adora laughed at her, and didn’t see the serious look on Catra’s face.
“I don’t know, out there somewhere.”
"What would we eat? I can only carry like ten ration bars, we’d starve within the week!” Adora continued to joke.
“Forget it.” Catra tossed Adora’s arm off of her shoulder
Adora looked back as her, surprised by the sudden coldness, but Catra was already walking away down the hall. She jogged over to her and caught up, trying to figure out what happened. “Catra? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Oh, come on, don’t be like that. What’s wrong?”
“I told you it’s nothing.”
Adora stepped in front of Catra with her arms spread out, blocking her path. She smiled at her friend, trying to reassure her. Catra didn’t look amused. “I promise you Catra, if they ever try to send you to Beast Island, they’ll have to send me, too! Where you go, I go.”
Catra looked down at the ground, trying to hide her blush. After a moment, Adora could feel her energy shift, as the coldness disappeared behind her walls and she smirked. “Idiot, we both know you’d never survive on Beast Island. You’d just slow me down.”
“Well, then you better not leave me-,” Adora could hear her own voice fade away as the walls around her did. They were replaced with fires and smoke, battle scars across the village of Thaymor. The sparks of Horde bots crackled as they lay on the ground, destroyed. Adora felt the world spin as she fell to her knees, holding She-ra’s sword in her hands.
She looked up, and standing next to a battle tank Adora has just destroyed, was Catra. Catra looked on at her friend, scared, confused, angry, and feeling profoundly alone. Adora called out to her, but Catra didn’t respond. She slowly crept back into the smoke, and the last thing Adora could see was the fear and fury in her eyes.
Adora stayed like that for a while, kneeling amongst the wreckage and staring into the smoke. Tears dripped down from her eyes and landed softly onto the dirt below, but Adora couldn’t feel them. She felt empty, like the emotions came from nowhere and didn’t belong to herself, but she knew that couldn’t be true. She was in shock, overwhelmed. She rubbed one of her hands on her forearm, and could barely feel it. She held herself tightly and closed her eyes.
A sound called her back into some form of reality. Groggily, she looked up into a bright light that slowly faded as her eyes adjusted. Her vision was blurry with tears, and she wiped them away. Catra came into focus, along with Hordak’s sanctum. Adora felt herself lurch, and couldn’t control herself as she was thrown into the memory.
She was tied up against one of the columns, staring on in horror and desperation as Catra’s hand gripped the lever that activated the portal. Adora begged and pleaded, desperately wishing she wouldn’t do it, but deep down, she knew what Catra was capable of.
Catra looked back, with all the power to be in control but knowing she wasn’t really. She wanted to make them hurt. Adora was terrified by the look in Catra’s eyes. She’d never seen anything like the unimaginable pain they held. Powerless, they craved power. Wounded, they wanted the world the burn. It didn’t matter if Catra was hurt along the way, she was going to finally make them pay.
Staring into those eyes again, Adora finally understood that this was the first time Catra actually stepped off the edge. She threw the lever.
A hand reached out and stopped it. An older Catra, the one who had survived the fall, held the lever in place. She stared into her younger eyes with a compassion Adora had never seen before. Tied up still, there was nothing she could do but watch.
In a voice that was finally in control, Catra leaned in towards her younger self and said, “I forgive you.”
The walls slowly dissolved around them, gently leaving the memory and setting them back in the hallways of the Beacon. Adora fell to her knees, suddenly no longer tied up, and looked up to see Catra, staring into the eyes of her past as she slowly faded away. Adora was surprised to see a tender and warm smile on her lips. Catra stood there for a moment, still gazing as though the memory were around her. She closed her eyes and took and deep breath that filled her lungs with a contented air. When she opened her eyes again, it looked as though a massive weight was lightly lifted from her shoulders.
Catra walked forward and kneeled down in front of Adora, pulling her into a hug. Adora could feel Catra’s hand on the back of her neck, warm and reassuring. She buried herself in Catra’s arms, feeling safe. She took a deep breath, comforted by Catra’s familiar smell.
“I forgive you, too,” Catra whispered in her ears. “You were lost and alone like I was, and you tried your best. I’m sorry for holding that against you.”
Adora didn’t realize how much those words would mean to her, and she began sobbing into Catra’s shoulder. They were deep heaves, and with every exhale, Adora could feel herself letting go of the enormous burden of the past she didn’t even know she was carrying. It was the kind of crying that felt astonishingly refreshing, like the river that had been dammed up could finally flow normally again. Walls came down that Adora didn’t even remember putting up.
After some time, Adora finally felt the tears stop flowing, and she leaned back a little, facing Catra. She looked at Catra’s shoulder and was embarrassed to find that it was drenched in tears and snot, and she laughed weakly. Catra leaned forward and kissed Adora on her cheek.
“Maybe I’m not the only one who needs to spend some time working with Perfuma,” Catra chuckled in her ear.
Adora felt herself smile wide and bright, too exhausted to feel any defensiveness about the suggestion. “Maybe you’re right.”
“Of course I am, dummy.” Catra slowly stood up, lifting Adora up with her. She put her arm around Adora’s waist and started walking the two of them back down the hall. They left the Beacon, and began the walk a back to Brightmoon.
Adora stopped for a moment, and took Catra’s face in her hands. “I love you.”
Catra’s eyes darted to avoid her gaze, blushing and embarrassed by the affection. “I love you, too.” Adora stared at her like that for a while, and Catra pushed her hands away, smiling and laughing. “Whatever, blondie.” She fixed a few strands of Adora’s hair that had fallen out of place. “Let’s get you back to Brightmoon and get cleaned up.” Adora nodded, and Catra leaned in closer to whisper. “I know a shower that has room for two.”
Catra pushed her playfully, and ran off down the path, into the woods. Adora felt her face flush with warmth, and she stood in place, enjoying the happy feeling inside of herself. She took one last look at the Beacon behind her, and then charged off into the woods after Catra.