Chapter Text
A cool, playful breeze carried a pine scent through the rustling branches of the trees that surrounded the long road. The winding path flowed downhill as if it were a natural river, its smooth pavement occasionally lined with traffic signs that were worn with age. An ocean of green, orange, and red trees encroached upon the dirt border between them and the road like a rising current.
Branches shook in one lone tree, and a flock of birds made flight. They glided down the hill in no predetermined path underneath a pale blue sky. Ahead was the pink horizon, and below was the serpentine road. Once in a while, the hum of an engine would echo across the forest as a lone car zoomed by.
And at one point down the road, that car would drive past another that had parked on the dirt path at the side. Its engine was silent, but the three women surrounding it were not. If anyone had their window open as they drove by, they’d hear one of them say:
“Fuck,” Adora muttered under her breath.
Catra put a hand to her mouth and teased, “Wow, things must be bad if Adora’s using that kind of language.”
“I just can’t remember if we went right or left after leaving that one road,” Adora grumbled. She rested her hands on the warm car hood and stared at the paper she’d been scribbling on. Goosebumps popped up on her arm. If it was this cold for her, then it was cold for her girlfriends too.
She looked up at Catra. The girl next to her had her hands in her hoodie pocket and leaned back against the car, head turned downhill towards the waves of mountains. Her brown hair was tucked into the hood that she'd pulled snugly over her head.
“You should be in the car if you’re feeling cold,” Adora said with a frown. She glanced at Glimmer, who stood a few feet off in front of the car holding her phone up in the air. Unlike Catra, she wore just a denim jacket over a t-shirt and a black skirt. The red flip flops on her feet couldn’t have been keeping her warm either. There were still bits of sand stuck to it. Adora called out, “You too, Glim. You guys are gonna get a fever.”
“I’ll go inside if you do too,” Glimmer replied in a singsong voice. She looked at her phone, and then huffed. “Seriously? Our internet was working perfectly an hour ago!”
Catra called out to her, “I told you we shouldn’t have taken a detour.”
“But that beach was completely empty! And it was so beautiful too,” Glimmer said with a wistful look. She gave Catra a smug look. “You didn’t even want to leave once we got there.”
“Yeah. That’s cause we’d already taken the detour by then,” Catra defended with a shrug. “Might as well enjoy it.”
Glimmer huffed at her excuse. “Well, I don’t regret it.” She held her phone up again and wandered around the area.
Catra shuffled in place and dug her hands further inside her hoodie pocket as another breeze blew over. She asked, “Hey, are you sure your friend won’t be mad if we’re late?”
“I doubt it,” Glimmer answered. “You’ve met Bow. Does he really seem like the kind of person who’d get mad at something like that?”
Adora jumped in without looking up from the paper, “No, but we still have to be punctual.”
There was a pause, and then a groan. “Yeah, I guess…”
Catra absentmindedly kicked a small pebble near her foot. “I’m worried about Melog, too. We’ve never left her alone for this long before.”
“She’ll be alright,” Adora assured her. “Perfuma is like, the pet expert. Melog won’t even notice we’re gone.”
Catra hummed to herself as her nerves settled. She looked down at Adora, who’s depiction of the trees surrounding them was adorable, but also looked like burnt pizzas. “How’s the map coming along, captain?”
“Not bad,” Adora asserted with a strained smile. “I just need to figure out how our detour connects to the original path we were supposed to take, and then we’ll know exactly where to go.”
Catra raised her eyebrow.
That was all it took to break Adora’s fragile cover. She sighed. “I am having a hard time trying to figure it out, if that’s what you’re asking.” She grumbled, “I can’t believe I didn’t think to bring a physical map.”
“I’d help, but I don’t remember anything about how we got to the beach. I was too busy arguing with Glimmer when she tried to say that dumb thing about how powdered sugar and granulated sugar are the same.”
The wind just happened to carry those words to Glimmer. “They’re both sugar!”
Adora smirked. “I know you weren’t just ‘arguing’. Don’t think I wasn’t paying attention to the back seats. You guys started making out in the middle of that conversation.”
Catra turned beet red. She stammered, “It was just one kiss! Also, what happened to keeping your eyes on the road?”
Her girlfriend laughed. The blonde said in a more cheerful tone, “It’s alright. I’m sure I’ll remember something eventually. And if I don’t-” Adora glanced at their frustrated girlfriend. “Maybe Glimmer will have better luck.”
Catra pursed her lips. She followed Adora’s gaze and watched Glimmer desperately try to get a signal so that she could search up directions. As cute as her grumpy face was, Catra wished there was something she could do to help. Unfortunately, her phone was out of battery, and her memory was just as unreliable.
Another gust of wind blew through the trees. Bits of disturbed gravel rolled down the road ahead, the faint clatter almost drowned out by the rest of the environment. Catra’s eyes followed their movement until they met the curve in the path. It twisted to the side, and the rest of the asphalt disappeared in the cover of trees.
So Catra looked up instead, down the mountain towards the rolling mountains. The surfaces of the ones closest to them were covered with woodlands and the occasional dirt roads that forked through them, but the ones further away were just a blend of brown and blue and green. They jutted up towards the sky, out of the rolling sea of fog that covered the rest of the land.
Despite the overwhelming mist, there was something peaceful about it. The soft cover of sunlight reflected off the golden leaves and contrasted with the pale blue fog, and it made Catra’s heart bloom with… something. A kind of peace that she couldn’t remember feeling before.
The tension in her shoulders relaxed, the cold forgotten for now. Catra glanced down at Adora, who’s hair radiated in the sunlight.
Adora must’ve felt her gaze. She looked up and caught Catra’s eye. With a small frown, she asked, “What’s wrong?”
Catra shook her head. “It’s nothing. Just…” She pressed her arms closer to her torso. “I’ve never been in a place like this before. It makes me feel… weird.”
“Weird?”
“I don’t know,” Catra defended. “It feels too peaceful, I guess.” A pause. “Don’t you ever get that feeling? Like things are going so well that you start to think that there’s secretly something wrong. Something that you can’t see.”
Adora looked down in thought. “I know what you’re talking about.” She addressed Catra again, “I felt that too; for a long time after I came to Brightmoon. I think it’s because I wasn’t used to it.” She smiled. “But it went away for me after a while. That’s when I really started to enjoy moments like this. I’m sure the same will happen for you, too.”
Catra tilted her head. She glanced at the view ahead again, where the calm scenery washed over her. The tiny voice in the back of her head kept her alert, but it wasn’t loud enough that she couldn’t ignore it.
“It’s not that bad,” Catra said, her gaze fixed. “And I think I’m already enjoying this. Her voice grew soft. “I think I’m happy being here with you two.”
Adora beamed. She looked at Catra with adoration in her eyes and quietly said, “I love you.”
Catra blushed, but returned the smile. “I love you too.” She nudged Adora’s shoe with her own. “Dork.”
Adora laughed. She turned back to her map-
Glimmer’s sudden cheer captured both of their attentions. Their girlfriend held her phone with both hands and stared at the screen with hope. Her smile reached her eyes, and she rushed over to the two of them.
“It’s working!” She zoomed right up to Adora’s side and slammed the phone onto the hood. At least she had the hindsight to wince. “Oops. Got too excited.” She nudged Adora. “C’mon, I’ll search up the directions, and you write them down.”
Her enthusiasm was contagious. Adora nodded with a grin. She sharpened her pencil while Glimmer tapped on her phone. The three watched the loading screen with bated breath, hoping that their far-off position wouldn’t screw them over.
The directions popped up. Adora let out a sigh before putting pencil to paper.
Catra watched the two of them. Adora, sticking her tongue out while concentrating on Glimmer’s phone, and Glimmer, fingers tapping the side of her phone nervously as she carefully watched the network icon on the top of the screen.
Every little thing about them made Catra’s heart swell.
Yeah, she was happy here.
“Oh no,” Glimmer’s sucked in a breath. “I think it’s failing. If the connection dies on us now then I’m going to-”
Adora held up the paper with a smile. “It’s okay, I got it. Most of it. We don’t need to know more because I memorized the rest of the directions before leaving. I can take us the right way from here.”
Glimmer perked up. “You did? What am I saying, of course you did.” She enveloped Adora in a hug.” My girlfriend is so smart.”
Adora blushed. “I don’t know about that…” She playfully nuzzled Glimmer and hugged her back, who giggled at the surprise contact.
Now that they had the directions, Adora folded the paper and happily strolled around the front of the car to the driver’s seat. Glimmer put her phone away and walked past Catra to the passenger door. She spoke over her shoulder as she opened the door. “What’re you waiting for, Catra? Let’s-”
The look on Catra’s face made her stop. Her girlfriend stared over the road, at the fog blanketing the space between the mountains, with a distant gaze. Glimmer let go of the door and slowly approached her.
“Hey, are you alright?” She gently asked.
Catra blinked out of her stupor. She glanced at the worried girl. “Y-yeah, I was just…” Rustling leaves replaced her voice as she trailed off.
Glimmer knew that look. She smiled and gently put her hands on Catra’s arms. Stepping closer, she leaned up to kiss her girlfriend.
Catra accepted with a smile. Soft lips met firm ones. Warmth swept in to block out the cold flowing over the mountains surrounding them. Catra leaned forward to wrap her girlfriend in an embrace.
As nice as it was, Glimmer’s icy cold skin made Catra’s eyes widen in shock.
She pulled back and looked Glimmer over with alarm. “Wow. I hate to say it, but Adora was right-”
“Hey!” Came from inside the car.
“-You’re freezing. We should get inside before you turn into a sparkling popsicle.”
Glimmer rolled her eyes. “That’s what I was doing a second ago…”
“It’s okay, I get it.” Catra smirked. “You just couldn’t resist me.”
“Ugh, I’m taking back that kiss,” Glimmer replied with a half-serious pout and marched back to the car door.
“You can’t take those back!” Catra teased, grinning as she followed.
The two clambered into the back seats, one with a wide smirk and the other rolling her eyes, right as Adora put on her seatbelt. She glanced at the rear view mirror to make sure her two passengers were wearing seatbelts too before starting the car.
A hum filled the air as the heater turned on. The engine roared quietly underneath the sound of all them sighing in relief at the sudden warmth flooding the space. Adora slowly started turning the car onto the road, where the soft shadows of the trees behind them waved and shimmered. The peaceful quiet outside complimented the lively conversation that had started in the car. Adora grinned at the teasing remarks the two exchanged, and then blushed when they started including her in it.
All the while, the sky turned pink and orange. Gleaming sunlight shone down on them as they continued their journey down the road.