Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Floris chewed on his pencil, it was a bad habit but one he didn't have the heart to break. Outside the sun was slowly dragging itself down, and bringing the slowly cooling late summer afternoon with it. The teacher was droning about something that he was pretty sure he already knew. And he couldn't stop his mind from wandering. 

His parents were doing something or other tonight so he would have to walk home, not much of a problem but it sapped his already low reserves of energy. He would also have to get his own dinner, though there was probably some pizza in the fridge. 

Content with his plan he slowly turned himself back into reality, his eyes making a scan around the classroom. It certainly was an interesting cast of characters, and it tugged a strange melancholy string in his heart. 

He had always felt like an outsider, never quite able to connect deeply with anyone else in school. There was the so-called “Best Friend Squad,” a group of three or so that he had always been friendly with. But after he apparently stole Bow away from Glimmer last school dance, something he hadn't even been aware he was doing, there had been a bit of tension that had kept him away from the two of them. 

Adora, the third member, was interesting, she was kind, and dedicated, but had always been a bit too surrounded by drama for him to feel like he belonged. Plus they had each other, so it wasn't like they really needed another friend. 

He was ok with that, he was happy just being friendly with them. That was the case with pretty much everyone to be honest. He really couldn't think of one person he wasn't friendly with. Even Catra, the standoffish second half to the walking drama that was Catra and Adora’s relationship, at least tolerated him. But there didn't really seem to be any chance for real friendship there, no real shared interest, plus Catra was always hanging out with Entrapta and Scorpia like a weird mirror of the Best Friend Squad. 

Entrapta was just on a completely opposite wavelength to him, so he had always found himself appreciating her, but at a distance. Hard STEM robotics and hippy gardening just didn't often mix well. 

Then there was Scorpia, Scorpia was interesting. He had always liked her, in some ways she reminded him of himself. She was kind, and friendly with everyone. And yet, she clearly had deeper friendships than he did. But there was a problem with that, he had a crush on her, not a huge one, but enough of one that it just made the whole idea feel so complicated. Not helped at all by the fact that she was clearly gay, like stereotypically gay, like sports, flannel, and obvius crushes on her best friend gay. 

This thought led him away from friendship for a moment, and he chuckled to himself lightly. Sometimes it felt like he was the only straight person in the whole school. Ironic considering how classically hippie his whole family was, but what are you gonna do? Yawning quietly to himself, he leaned back in his chair, and stuffed his hands into his ever present hoodie.

Yup he definitely already knew what the teacher was going on about, and for a moment he considered trying to sneakily put his earphones in and put on a podcast or something. But it sounded like too much effort for his liking. So he just stared out the window. Shadows seemed to have swallowed up everything in sight though the sky remained a light gray blue. Definitely getting darker sooner, though this seemed a bit extreme, maybe it would rain, his plants would like that. 

A sigh escaped his lips, and he found himself feeling like he could cry. It surprised him, nothing was wrong, nothing should be making him feel this way, and yet here he was. 

Biting his lower lip, Floris mentaly grit his teeth. Not the time, not the place, he knew what to do with sadness. He would just have to wait till he got home to meditate and let himself breathe through it. Until then he would simply have to deal.

The rest of the class slid by uneventfully, and Floris found himself standing outside in front of the school alone. The sky was fully gray now, and ringed by the dark shadowy trees that covered Etheria. He could taste the coming rain on his tongue. He bit his lip and pulled the faded green hood of his favorite hoodie over his head. 

Now he was faced with a bit of a dilemma, did he push to get home before the rain, and maybe get caught in the coming storm? Or did he try to wait out the heaviest rain but risk walking home in the dark. He groaned, this was definitely not what he needed right now.

A crashing chorus of thunder, and the beginning of a downpour, and the answer to his dilemma was handed to him. 

“Crap, crap, crap, crap,” Floris muttered, holding his hands over his head in a vain attempt to stop the rain. The only place he could really think of that would be dry and somewhat comfortable was the greenhouse, and that was all the way across the campus. 

By the time he had made it he was pretty well soaked, and he groaned wearily as he shut the door behind him, this was not what he needed today. 

The greenhouse was probably his favorite place in the whole school however. Almost always sunny and warm, it was a special kind of comforting that always seemed to calm his nerves. Of course it wasnt sunny now, but the patter of rain on glass, and the warmth that prevailed still gave the whole small place a pleasant feeling, even if it was different than usual. 

But there was something new in the green house, something he had never seen there before. A door, placed inconspicuously in the corner of the small room, slightly too short for most people, and covered in vines. It was odd, he felt he should be afraid of the door, I mean, it wasn't there yesterday, heck, it wasn't there earlier today. And yet, it seemed so… Fitting, like it belonged there, just sitting in the corner waiting for something, or someone…

He took another step back, and then finally noticed the second thing that was out of place in the green house. He wasn't alone, sitting in the corner looking rather guilty was Scorpia. The athletic woman was staring at Floris, looking rather uncomfortable. 

“Oh, I’m sorry, is this green house taken?” Floris asked, raising an eyebrow.

Scorpia laughed, and seemed to relax, “no no, it's ok! I could use some company, I think the tomatoes were starting to look at me weird…”

It was Floris’s turn to laugh now, and he pulled up one of the few uncomfortable metal chairs and sat down opposite to Scorpia. She was quiet, probably the most quiet he had ever seen her, and as he was pulling the chair over she seemed to wipe her eyes. Though whether she was wiping some water off her face or wiping away tears he was unsure. 

“So, what brings you here?” Floris' voice surprised even himself, sounding so loud in contrast to the steady drum of rain on glass that filled the small building.

“Oh, uh, there was a change of plans,” Scorpia was hesitant, and a slight crack in her voice told Floris there was more than he was being told. “Had to stay a bit later,” she motioned with her hand to the roof and rain above, “then all this started, so, here I am…”

Floris nodded, there was definitely something else going on, but he would have to take this slow. Scorpia was talkative, but he knew if you pushed her about something she was anxious about she would shut down just as hard as Catra. 

So he just narrowed his eyes and smiled. Over the years observing his classmates Floris felt he had built up a basic profile of all of them. And though some were easier to read then others, and some were far less accepting of his help then others, there probably wasn't a single student in their small school who hadn't gone to him for advice at least once. He knew he could figure out what was wrong, it would just require a little patience. And that, luckily, was something he had plenty of. 

Scorpia seemed less willing to wait, and her eyes darted around the room while large fingers nervously drummed a discordant tune onto the table.

“So uh, why are you here?” Scorpias voice was hesitant, and some part of Floris felt heartbroken to hear the normally cheery girl sounding so fearful.

“Oh you know, I had to walk home, the rain started, I didn't want to walk through the rain,” he shrugged, “simple as.” 

Scorpia nodded slowly, probably trying to remember if she knew where he lived, she didn't, and also probably desperately searching for a new conversation topic.

Floris decided to help the poor woman and relieve the tension with another question. It would turn out to be the most stress inducing decision he had made all day.

“So do you know where that door came from?” He nodded his head toward the inconspicuous wooden door sitting in the corner. It was easy to miss from this angle, and so covered in vines that he could see it being easily lost to the untrained eye. 

Scorpia stared at it for a moment, clearly thinking, before shaking her head. “Uh, is it not supposed to be here?” 

Floris stood with a small ‘hup’ and quietly strode over to the door, speaking as he walked. “Well, it wasn't here yesterday, and I didn't hear anything about it. But I don't know? The teachers are always doing stuff without telling us.” This comment immediately conjured images of the crystal debacle, in which the chemistry teacher Castaspella had decided the entire class needed to be kept overtime to hear about the uses each of her specific crystals had and how they could be used in everyday life. 

Floris had not especially minded, but he knew it had stuck with some of the less energetically minded students as an example of teacher… Over excitement. The same principle could probably be applied here, though it still didn't explain why some teacher who seemed to have taken an interest in carpentry had installed a wood door into a glass and metal building.

Getting closer he noticed a sentence engraved into the wood, one that despite clearly being written in a language he had no ability to speak, seemed to almost jump off the wood into his mind. ‘Ad Principem et militem: perdas te in silvis’ 

“For The Princess and The Knight: lose yourself in the woods…” He muttered, his voice caring through the quiet greenhouse. He wasn't sure if it was a threat, a promise, or a proposition, and he certainly wasn't sure who this Princess and Knight were. But as he stood there studying the strange door he suddenly found that his hand had reached out without thinking and was clutching the cold handle. 

Scorpia began to speak suddenly, “hey, maybe we shouldnt open that, what it it's some kinda pr-”

But her voice was cut off, as Floris had without fully thinking, turned the handle and in one fluid motion pulled the odd door open. Revealing its hidden contents of… Nothing. 

But not the nothing he had expected, not the slightly too small portal back out to the dark rainy world outside. No instead nestled in its warm brown frame was truly nothing, just a glowing white, like staring into a ceiling light, or the bright light of an oncoming headlight. It stayed like that for a terrifying impossible moment. And then it got worse. The blinding light got larger, it spilled out and seemed to swallow up everything in its path. Slow at first then so blindingly fast that Floris only managed a half step backwards and to weakly throw an arm in front of his face before he was completely consumed. And then, nothing…

Chapter Text

Scorpia was not having a good day. Actually she was having the exact opposite of a good day. She threw her head back, letting out a shaky sigh, and feeling the sound of rain on glass flow over her. 

Her mind wandered and she found herself having to hold back tears again. She just wanted a chance, just a chance to prove to Catra that she could be the person she deserved. But no matter how hard she tried she seemed to get nowhere. It was supposed to be today, she was supposed to ask for a ride home from Catra, then when they got to her home she would invite her in, revealing that she had a meal ready to be cooked. It 

would be a beautiful night and Catra would finally see all the effort she put in, see how much she cared. 

And it wasnt that she didn't like Adora, but how many times had they fought? How many times had they broken each other's hearts? Catra deserved someone else, someone who would stay, not Adora. 

But when she had gone to find Catra and put her plan into motion, she was gone. Run off with Adora somewhere. And just like that all her plans, and her ride, had vanished in a puff of smoke. And all Scorpia could do was cry. She had called someone to come pick her up, but they couldn't make it until after work, and she couldn't walk, especially not in this rain, so here she was, stuck, alone in a stupid greenhouse with her heartbreak.

Her very melancholy thoughts were interrupted by a crash, as the greenhouse door was thrown open, and in stepped certainly no one Scorpia was expecting to see. It was Floris, the quiet boy who seemed to sit in the back of every class, and apparently almost single handedly ran the school garden. 

He had clearly been out in the rain, as whatever small protection his ever present hoodie had offered him wasn't enough and his long blonde hair clung to his neck and was noticeably darkened by water, while somehow his ever present freckles seemed even more prominent with his face dotted with rain. 

He was cute, for a boy, and Scorpia found herself mulling over the fact that, if he had just been born a different gender she probably would’ve been heads over heels for him. As it was she just appreciated and wondered idly what could’ve been. Not that she did that often, to be entirely honest she had never really paid much attention to him. He seemed kind, but at the moment that just made her more embarrassed to have run into him like this. 

Despite her fears Floris seemed to have not noticed her yet. Instead he seemed transfixed by the strange wooden door that sat quietly in the corner of the greenhouse. Scorpia had noticed it, but just chalked it up to some weird teacher, or possibly some overly elaborate prank. 

Finally he seemed to snap out of whatever trance the door had put him under, and he took a tentative step back, his eyes doing a sweep of the dark building. He barely registered surprise at seeing Scorpia, just quirking his eyebrow slightly, and pursing his mouth into a slight smile. 

“Oh, I’m sorry, is this green house taken?”

Scorpia laughed, despite herself, and felt some of the tension drain out of the room. “No no, it's ok! I could use some company, I think the tomatoes were starting to look at me weird…” She cast what was supposed to be a faux suspicious glare at some of the supposedly offending nightshades, but ended up mostly just cringing at herself slightly. 

Floris seemed to find it funny enough however, as he laughed and pulled up one of the uncomfortable metal chairs and sat down opposite to her. Scorpia winced slightly, becoming aware of tears that still stained her face, and she hastily wiped her face hoping to maintain some degree of dignity. 

He looked at her strangely, and Scorpia felt herself squirm slightly, and shrink back, the way his eyes bored into her and seemed to see through her made her nervous.

“So, what brings you here?” It was an innocent enough question, but it sent Scorpia into panic mode. The last thing she needed was word of what had happened with her and Catra to get out, and while she liked Floris, she wasn't sure if she trusted him. 

“Oh, uh, there was a change of plans,” She winced slightly, she had to make sure Floris didn't hear too much though it was hard to imagine hiding anything from those piercing eyes. “Had to stay a bit later,” she motioned with her hand to the roof and rain above, “then all this started, so, here I am…”

Floris nodded, and again seemed to look past her eyes into something deeper and she felt the need to change the topic, if just to make him look at something else. “So uh, why are you here?” Scorpia felt herself cringe slightly at how sad her voice sounded, but thankfully Floris picked up the conversation.

“Oh you know, I had to walk home, the rain started, I didn't want to walk through the rain,” he shrugged, “simple as.” 

She nodded slightly, trying to remember if she knew where he lived, he lived close, she knew that but she could not for the life of her, think of where he might live. It was strange, he had been around for as long as Scorpia could remember but she had never seen him really act close with anyone. It was strange, he should be popular, he had everything the other popular kids did, there was nothing that she could think of that would affect that. 

And yet, she considered herself friends with more people in the school then almost anyone else, and even she couldn't say that she was exactly close with him. There was a detachment there, as if no matter what he said, or did there was something else he wasn't telling you. It made her wonder what was below the surface, who was he, really?

“So do you know where that door came from?” 

That brought her out of her train of thought, and she shook her head after thinking about it for a moment. “Uh, is it not supposed to be here?” 

Scorpia was pretty sure she had been in the green house like once before, so she was trying not to assume anything. But it had seemed weird to have a random wooden door on a building otherwise all metal and glass. Plus, and she wasn't sure about this, but when she had first been walking around to find her way in she didn't remember seeing any door there on the outside. Of Course she could just be misremembering, and she wasn't about to assume it was some kind of magic door that just happened to be in her school's greenhouse for some reason. Nope probably some prank, or weird teacher project.

“Well, it wasn't here yesterday, and I didn't hear anything about it. But I don't know? The teachers are always doing stuff without telling us.” He had gotten up off his chair and was now walking towards the door, an act which inspired an odd amount of anxiety within Scorpia. He seemed transfixed once more however, and appeared to be wordlessly reading something off the door, mouthing the words to himself. Yeah there was definitely something wrong with that door. Scorpia couldn't decide if it was just a really weird prank, or something more, but she definitely had a bad feeling about it. 

“For The Princess and The Knight: lose yourself in the woods…” Floris had whispered, but in the quiet of the greenhouse it seemed to fill the space and wash over Scorpia from every direction. A shiver ran up her spine and she felt she had to stop Floris from opening that door, even if something in her gut seemed to tell her that it was going to be opened no matter what either of them wanted.

“Hey, maybe we shouldnt open that, what if it's some kinda pr-” She was too late, Floris had thrown the door open and Scorpia felt herself gasp more then she heard it. There was nothing on the other side, not the dark rainy outside that there should be, and not even the glass of the greenhouse wall. There was just, nothing, just a blinding white light that seemed to sit there barely contained by the flimsy wood frame of the door. Scorpia wasn't breathing, couldn't , breath, then the bright white light spilled out of the door, and in a second had completely consumed Floris. If Scorpia had been thinking she probably would’ve leaped for the door outside, she might've even made it, but she didn't. No she lunged forward, hoping to reach Floris in the light and drag him out. The light swamped her before she even realized he wasn't there, and then everything was white, and everything was gone. 

Scorpia gasped, falling back into consciousness and stumbling forward barely keeping herself steady. Everything was gone. There was no greenhouse, there was no Floris, no school, nothing. There was just an endless plane of black stretching out forever in every direction, barely distinguishable from the sky which was a deep purple with no sun or stars and no moon. 

The oddest thing however, was how calm she felt, logicly this should be horrifying, it was literally nightmarish, but she just didn't feel afraid. Then she noticed she wasn't alone. 

Standing across from her was, well, her , it was as if someone had dragged her shadow up into the third dimension. Same hair, same figure, even, disturbingly enough, the same eyes. And it was just standing there, like a mirror. 

Something brushed against Scorpias leg, and she felt her breath hitch. But she was frozen in place, whether by fear or something more she could not say. Whatever it was had wrapped itself around her leg now, and was slowly crawling up her body. 

She could see her mirror across from her and it also had whatever this was slowly reaching up. It looked snake-like, but thinner, and she couldn't see its head, so it seemed almost more like a long tube. Then the tube thing stuck, darting forward and striking Scorpia in the chest, right over her heart. Her eyes went wide, but she couldn't seem to find her voice to cry out. Then it started, she could feel the tube, or snake, or whatever it was, start to drain her. It was sucking her, and her copy, dry of blood or whatever they had in this strange shadow dimension. 

She tried to choke out a word of protest, but no sound came out. And suddenly she felt herself getting dizzy, and having a very hard time standing. 

Her mirror, stumbled too, clearly affected in the same way. But then it did something different from her for the first time. It reached up, and in one tug dislodged the tube, casting it aside. 

Scorpia knew she should do the same, that this snake, or tube, or whatever it was, was draining her of life. But she just couldn't seem to find the strength. So she sank to her knees, staring up at her mirror that now seemed to tower over her. She reached weakly up to the shadow, hoping that maybe… 

But it stayed impassive, and she collapsed onto the black ground, if it even was ground. Stuck staring up at her own eyes, which seemed to meet her faltering gaze with a strange mix of pity, and disgust. Then black folded into black, and she was falling again. Falling through the black floor, and into light again. All the while a sentence seemed to blare on repeat through her head, and she couldn't seem to tell if it was being blared at her from some unknown speaker, whether she was screaming it herself, or if it simply was all she could think of. 

“Into the woods a princess and a knight wander, their destinies just out of reach.”

It sounded familiar somehow, like a nursery rhyme, but she had no memory of ever hearing it before. It bounced around her head, easily making itself heard even over the steadily increasing rush of wind. Scorpia finally screamed, as the words seemed to tumble around her, blending into the rush of wind that was nearly deafening now. When finally another voice pierced through it all. It was a woman, stern, but loving, and it reminded her of a grandmother. 

“Knight! Wake yourself up and crush that snake, your princess has need of you.”

Scorpia woke with a gasp. Cringing away from even the soft light that filtered through the leaves that painted a scattered patchwork across the sky. It was warm, and dry, not like the greenhouse she should've been in. And nothing like that dark place she had just been in. 

Sitting up and letting her eyes adjust to the light, Scorpia quickly saw why she was lying on the ground deep in a patch of woods she had never seen before. All around her trees, bigger than any Scorpia had ever seen, reached up to a bright blue cloudless sky. The ground was filled with roots and moss and was much more comfortable then any forest floor Scorpia had felt before. 

“Floris!” Scorpia exclaimed, whipping her head around. She had almost forgotten, he was probably wherever she was as well. He was actually right next to her, sprawled out on the ground, his hair spread out behind him along with his arms and legs. It sent the oddist feeling shooting through Scorpia, as though she was looking at a fairy tail sleeping beauty. She let out a relieved sigh, as she saw his chest rise and fall slowly. He was ok, that was good. She had literally zero ideas as to where they were, and no clue as to how they got here, but at least she wouldn't be alone. And despite their general lack of familiarity Floris had an aura of calm control that told her he would do well in emergency situations like this. 

At least she assumed this was an emergency, it was kinda hard to tell. Scorpia had squatted down next to Floris' sleeping form while thinking, and now, slowly reached out hoping to gently wake him up. She hesitantly poked his cheek, definitely making sure not to notice how soft it was and whispered softly,

“Floris?”  

In a moment, he sat up ramrod straight, eyes wide, hair still billowing around him, a look of pure panic on his face, and he screamed.

Chapter Text

Floris gasped as he landed on the ground. The ground, which was completely black stretched out to the horizon where it met a dim purple grey sky with no stars, moon, or sun, nothing at all to break up the grey static that seemed to be the only source of light here. 

His heart was hammering in his chest, and he could feel pinpricks of sweat beginning to bead on his forehead. Despite this he found that he couldn't seem to stand up. It was if he was weighed down, and was trapped, able to lean forward at best but unable to stand. 

Then she appeared. She was completely jet black, as if she was made out of the very ground; only her eyes seemed to be different, though he couldn't really see them. She stood still, staring down at him and, even though she couldn't have been taller than he would be standing, she seemed to tower over him. 

Her hair was flowing out behind her and it almost seemed to blend into her dress. Flowers were woven into her dress and hair, though it was impossible to tell what they were without color. Her build was willowy and reminded Floris of his own, though she held herself with a confidence he was sure he had never had. 

“Please, help me…” Floris whispered, surprised by his own voice, but he still reached out, hoping whoever this was would help him overcome whatever force seemed to hold him in place. 

She moved closer, staring down at him still, her face seemed to be twisted in a strange mix of frustration, sadness, and pity. Still he reached out further, even as some part of him realized he still couldn't make out her eyes. 

There was a moment where they both seemed to stare at the other, and in that timeless place, Floris couldn't say if it lasted a second a minute or a year. But he simply reached out, and she stared, as if judging him for some crime he had no knowledge of commiting. 

“I’m sorry, please I…” again his voice came out horse and quiet. “I just want to go home, please, I’m sorry…” 

Something seemed to change, as suddenly she moved forward, grasping his outstretched arm on her own and pulling him forward. Still he felt a great weight pulling him down, and without thinking his other arm reached out and she grasped it as well, finally dragging Floris up to his feet. 

He was finally face to face with the figure, and though he still couldn't make out much from her face he could finally see her eyes. They were his own, the same eyes that had stared back at him from mirrors, photos and videos his whole life now bored back into him.

Floris choked back a scream and tried to step back, but he could feel her still holding on to his arms and he glanced down hoping to break free. It was a mistake. She was definity not holding his arms. But neither was he holding hers. Instead it would be accurate to say their arms had blended together, the black shadow that seemed to compose both of them now, blending smoothly, with it being impossible to tell where one stopped and the other started. 

Floris screamed and thrashed desperate to break the connection. But it was in vain, the figure simply kept her eyes locked onto his own and began to walk forward. Within a second Floris had lost his arms, finding himself pressed up against her chest, though in horror, he could feel even that begin to give as she slowly moved ever forward. 

Floris screamed, and screamed, until he found in horror that he couldn't even do that. He could still feel his body, still feel his heartbeat, still feel his lungs. He just couldn't control any of it. And still she marched forward. Floris would have screamed, but his mouth refused to obey his commands. The last thing he saw was those eyes, his eyes, staring into him, as if they could see every thought he ever held. He found little humor in the thought that they probably could . Then he saw nothing. Then he was falling. 

“Into the woods a princess and a knight wander, their destinies just out of reach.”

The sentence he had read on that door seemed to play in his mind on repeat and he could feel the air whipping around him. The air seemed to swallow his screams, leaving nothing in his lungs and that sentence was all he could focus his mind on. 

Then another voice cut through it all. It was old and matronly, but stern, and Floris was reminded of the veritable coven of old women that was ever present in every family gathering he had been to. 

“ One tires of being a shield eh? Just try not to let you, keep you from who you could be. Now wake up princess, your knight will need you soon, and you will need her even more.”  

Floris woke up screaming. Scorpia shot backwards, clearly startled, before reaching out hands upturned. 

“Hey, hey, it's ok! It’s just me alright?”

Floris clenched his fists, fighting to stay in control of his breathing. He was on the ground, the actual ground not the strange cold shadows that made up the earth in that awful place. He could feel the sun's warmth and the ground was soft with moss. He blinked rapidly, trying to adjust his eyes while he looked around. It was a forest, though not any he had seen before. Massive trees reached up to a bright blue sky, and the air held a crisp but not cold texture that felt fresh. 

“Wh-” He blinked again, the image of the shadows eyes still seared into his head, “where are we?” 

“I’m uh, not sure,” Scorpia muttered, she was so obviously worried that Floris found it endearing. “You opened that weird door then there was this weird light, and uh, I had a really weird dream, and then I woke up here.” 

Floris nodded, slowly collecting himself, and rising to his feet, still rubbing his hands together every so often to check they were still there. 

“Yeah, that- that sounds about right,” he looked around again, this time however, something jumped out at him. A tree, even larger than the others, standing almost alone a few feet from where they had both woken up. More importantly it had a door inlayed into its side. Scorpia seemed to have noticed it now, and they both approached, wearly. Though Floris’s fears were immediately confirmed. ‘Ad Principem et militem: perdas te in silvis’ the same phrase that was on the door in the greenhouse was emblazoned here. Without thinking Floris reached out and twisted the handle. This door took them here, wherever here was, he was certain it could take them back. But it didn't open, the handle rattled slightly, and he heard Scorpia let out a breath, he tried it again, and again, each time eliciting a slight rattle and nothing more. 

It had been a long time since Floris had gotten really mad, it was an old habit he had, something small would set him off and he would just lose it. He hadn't felt that anger in a long time, but hearing the rattle of that stupid doorknob Floris had to fight the urge to rear back and kick the stupid door with all his strength, or perhaps to get Scorpia to hit it, she seemed like she could do some damage. 

Instead he took a breath, and while breathing out he focused on feeling the air leave his body and his anger with it. It worked well enough that he was able to face Scorpia with only a slight eye twitch to reveal his rage. 

“Well, this might be a problem.” 

Probably twenty minutes later and they had made depressingly little progress. There was nothing on or around the tree and intensive investigation of the door had yielded nothing. The only thing they had found was a trail leading away from the door, though whether it led out of the woods or deeper in was impossible to know. 

At first they had both agreed following the trail was a bad idea. It could lead anywhere! They should probably just wait until someone else walked through the door. That had lasted about five minutes until Scorpia brought up the fact that if anyone did open the door there was no guarantee it would let them out. Floris had agreed that It was a magic door; the normal rules of doors were pretty obviously out the window, but still the path was risky, and they really didn't want to get lost.

Ten minutes in and Scorpia had pointed out that they really didn't want to get stuck in the mysterious magic woods when it became night time. Cause even though they hadn't seen anything more than a very cute squirrel and a bird or two you never knew. Floris had agreed, though he had argued that it had been night when they came in here, and as far as they could tell the sun, if there was one here, had not moved. 

At fifteen minutes Scorpia had directly asked him why he didn't want to check out the path. He didn't have an answer and just sputtered something about wilderness safety then scurried off to angrily stare at the door somemore. 

The truth was he didnt know why the idea of following that gentle trail terrified him so much, but it did. A deep stomach fear, like before a huge test, or right before a scary conversation. It didn't make sense but something told him that if he started down that trail something would change forever. And that thought terrified him more than anything.

At twenty one minutes Floris had run out of arguments. 

He was leaning back against the tree staring out at the woods. He could hear Scorpia on the other side trying to talk to the squirrel. He sighed, and leaned his head against the tree, feeling the roughness of the bark scrape his skin. He was going to regret this, he could feel it, but maybe it would work out in the end. There was only one way to know, though he wasn't excited to find out.

“Alright, let's check out the path.” 

The trail was the same as they found it, still slowly snaking out into the woods, leading them off to somewhere unknown. They had been walking for maybe five minutes, when Scorpia spoke, her voice slightly nervous.

“Hey, do… Do you think we're dead?” Scorpia’s question stopped Floris in his tracks, and he blinked a few times just trying to recover slightly. 

“Uh, what? I mean, probably not, do- do you think we're dead?” 

“No? I don't know, I mean I’m just trying to figure out what's going on here you know? It's like, before this I didn't even believe in ghosts, but now .” Scorpia let out a noise somewhere between a huff and a raspberry. “I just don't know! Like if we're not dead then I guess magic is real or something, and that's… just a lot to think about you know?”

Floris let out a sharp laugh, and shook his head slightly, “you know, I hadn't actually thought about this until now, guess you're right though, it's pretty crazy once you start thinking about it. I don't even know where to start. It's like the more I think about it the crazier the possibilities get…”

Scorpia was quiet for a minute, and Floris enjoyed the warm air on his skin and the peace of the woods. 

“Uh, I- I don't know how to say this without being weird… But, uh,” Scorpia bit the inside of her lip, cringing and avoiding Floris’s gaze. “I’m glad I’m trapped in here with you…” Scorpia flinched and she seemed to rush to fix an unknown faux paus, “I mean! Uh it's just you're really smart, and seem to know what you're doing, and you're really nice despite everything andimtalkingtomuch.” 

Floris blinked, and then laughed, light and floaty, but still hard enough that he felt like he might cry. After a moment he managed to regain his composure and put a hand onto Scorpias shoulder, she was bright red and he really hoped she wasn't feeling hurt. 

“Me too, I’m really glad I’m stuck, wherever this is, with you. Your kind, thoughtful, and…” now it was his turn to turn bright red, he knew he would probably regret this, but his desire to raise Scorpias spirits overruled his anxiety. “And you look like you would give great hugs.”

Scorpia beamed, and immediately scooped him into a bone crushing, but very safe feeling hug. He was pretty sure her eyes were full on sparkling. “Oh my goodness! Thank you! Oh my gosh you're so kind, I love giving hugs, but none of my friends really like them! Oh!” she stopped and stepped back from Floris, both of them still a little red. “Sorry- Uh- I just kinda assumed, I won't, uh-”

Floris cut her off with a hug of his own, blushing slightly. “Guess I was right,” he held the hug for slightly longer than was probably expected, but he felt like he deserved a little extra after everything that had happened. But eventually he pulled away and coughed slightly, “uh, I guess we should keep walking,”

Scorpia also seemed to be avoiding eye contact, and Floris felt a spark of shame, he really shouldn't be acting like this. The absolute last thing he wanted to do was make Scorpia even more uncomfortable about being here. 

The path wound on for some time more, the sky remaining the same brilliant bright blue all the while, while the trees seemed to wrap around the two of them in a gesture that Floris couldn't decide if it was protective or menacing. 

They stayed quiet, each lost in their own thoughts, and so it was that they were both surprised by the Cabin. Honestly, calling it a cabin might be a bit generous, it looked more like an overgrown tent. Hunched over and covered in branches and leaves, both living and dead, all the while a trickle of smoke curled up out of the crooked chimney. 

An old woman, absolutely engulfed by a fluffy shawl with the largest glasses Floris had ever seen was sweeping in the doorway. She stopped and looked up at the two of them and regarded the now frozen interlopers with a slight indignation. 

Scorpia opened her mouth to say something, but found herself cut off by the old woman, her voice sounding identical to the one Floris had heard in that strange shadow dimension.

“Well well well you finally showed up! You girls have kept Madame Razz waiting long enough don't you think!” The short woman moved so fast she almost seemed to vanish and reappear in front of the two of them. Before grabbing a hand each and practically dragging the two of them into her house. “Come come! No time for dawdling, you girls have plenty to do, and Razz doesn't want to spend all day waiting!” 

Chapter Text

Scorpia had lost track of what was going on a while ago. If she had to choose an exact moment it would probably be when Floris had hugged her back while they were walking on the trail. At the time she was pretty sure her heart was going to explode she could feel it beating so fast. But it didn't make any sense. Not that she didn't understand why she had a crush on Floris, he was kind, and smart, and seemed to know exactly what to say. It was more that she wasn't sure how any of that had overcome the main irrefutable issue. He was a guy, and she was very gay, at least as far as she had last checked. 

Scorpia closed her eyes, concentrating for a moment, yup, still gay, the idea of dating a guy, still weird. But the idea of dating Floris ? Not actually that weird. A little weird, but she could almost see herself doing it. Scorpia knew these kinds of things were complicated, there was always more to attraction and love than you thought. And yet, it was as if there was something more she was missing here. She knew what it was like to have a crush on a girl, and she knew what it was like to try to have a crush on a guy. She could admire someone, or acknowledge they were attractive, but it never felt the same. And that was what was so weird about Floris, she didn’t get nearly the same feeling of aggressive disinterest as she did thinking about any other guy. It really was like he was any of the other girls she’s had a crush on, and Scorpia really had no idea what that might mean. 

She tuned back into what was happening around her just in time to remember how completely lost she was. As the strange old lady, Razz she was pretty sure her name was, darted around the small cluttered cabin muttering something about pie. All while Floris seemed to basically be begging her to listen. 

“You girls really took your time I must say! Razz was waiting for hours! Or maybe it was minutes its hard to tell, but anyway you shouldn't keep old women waiting like that, not very respectful! And any way you look all weird what happened to your dress dearie? You looked so pretty in it.” Razz went on but Scorpia was much more concerned by Floris's reaction. His entire face appeared to be red, and his mouth hung open a little bit, he was clearly completely flabbergasted, though whether from Razz’s unyielding assertion that they were late or from Razz’s seeming insistence that he was a girl, Scorpia could not tell. 

“Please, ma'am we just want to know how to get home-” Floris started for about the fifth time sounding quite exhausted with the whole issue before he was cut off by Razz yet again.

“Always with the same question don't you get tired of asking about something you already know? Honestly, what is with you girls today, acting like you don't even know Razz. And you say I’m the crazy one.”

Scorpia was pretty sure she could physically see the last straw snap-on Floris’s face, and for a moment she was seriously concerned that she was about to watch an old woman get punted into next week. Luckily for all involved Floris just opted to let out a scream of pure frustration followed by a string of profanities that would have seemed extreme for Catra, let alone someone who Scorpia had heard talking about how best to align your chakras. It didn't end there though, as Floris continued to stare down the diminutive woman he kept speaking, now pivoting more into an angry rant than pure profanities.

“And I don't know what your problem is you old hag, but we have no idea why on earth were here- and, and- stop calling me a girl, I- I know I’m not… I can’t be…”

Floris finally fell silent, only his trembling breath filling the cabin. Scorpia was stunned into silence herself, she had never heard Floris speak like that, it was, disconcerting to hear… And she braced herself for whatever vengeance the old lady had planned. For his part, Floris seemed shocked as well, his hand reached out slightly before twitching back. 

Razz was quiet and just looked, first at Floris slowly taking him all in, for seemingly the first time, then over to Scorpia before she let out a weak sigh. 

“Oh dearie I’m sorry,” her voice was soft “Razz, forgets when she is sometimes, I- forgot this was the first time.” She smiled warmly and placed a hand on Floris's arm. “Don't worry sweetie Razz will get it right now. And trust me it gets better you-”

Scorpia cut her off this time as what the old woman exactly said caught up to her. “Sorry, you meant, forgets where she is sometimes, right? Not-” 

In turn, she was cut off by Razz who seemed to be already moving on to the next thing, “Razz knows what she said, now come, come, there will be plenty of time for explaining, but first, we must make this pie! It is integral!” And the old woman was off again sweeping the two of them along this time. Scorpia cast a look at Floris, trying to gauge what he thought, but he seemed to be lost staring out his fingers twitching slightly. 

Scorpia felt a bit sick, she wasn't sure what to do, she so badly wanted to do what was right but she just didn't know. She stopped for a moment, Floris needed help, he needed something to focus on. She didn't even think, just reached out and grabbed his hand, squeezing gently. 

“Hey, I don't think this old lady will tell us anything until we make this pie, and uh, maybe it’ll be fun?” she whispered and blushed slightly at the closeness, but she still squeezed his hand again. And let out a relieved breath when Floris seemed to come back to his senses a little and nodded.

Scorpia let out a tense breath, as she watched Razz dart back into their room and drop a bunch of baking supplies in her lap she decided, she couldnt lead, that just wasn't her, but maybe she could keep things together until Floris was ok again. 

The baking it turns out was quite fun, and Scorpia found herself easily getting swept away laughing along with Floris at Razz’s antics and blushing when brushing some flower off Floris’s nose that he had failed to notice. Everything seemed to fall into an easy rhythm and before she knew it it had been a few, hours? Minutes? It was hard to tell with the light outside never seeming to really change. But time had certainly passed and the three were now settled around a table finishing off the last of the pie and laughing about something or other. When Razz, apparently finally satisfied let out a content sigh and smiled up at the two teenagers, “ah it's always a treat to have you two over. Now, I believe it's about time for questions if you still have any,” 

Scorpia glanced over to Floris who sighed and nodded slightly. “So, what is this place? Why are we here? And how do we get home?” 

Razz nodded and an odd emotion that might've been nostalgia, or perhaps regret filled her face. “Ah, where to start? Well, I suppose the beginning is a good place.” She had stood up suddenly, and walked over to the fireplace staring into the embers. 

“Many many years ago when people still knew about magic, there was a witch-”

“Like a witch hat, black cat, kinda witch?” Scorpia interrupted earning a glare from Floris and a chuckle from Razz.

“Eh more the communing with nature and power from the moon kind but it doesn't really matter, the point is, this witch was powerful, she could heal you if you were sick, and make you sick if you had done wrong, she could call the rain or clear away the clouds. She was who you went to for anything from a lost cow to an unjust governor and trust me, she could fix whatever you went to her for. But for all her power-” And here the embers in the fireplace flared up into roaring fire, and Scorpia suddenly felt the air grow much warmer than she would like and she felt herself gasp slightly and shift away from the fire. “For all her power, and all her respect, she was alone. She had someone she had loved once but she had lost them long ago, driven away by her refusal to see outside of her own status and control-” 

Razz turned around and the fire lowered back into a low flicker, there was a strange look in her eyes, as though she was seeing past the two of them and into something else. “And as she grew older she released what a mistake she had made and she sought to fix it, to have another chance at the one thing she had ever truly needed. So she poured her power, all of it into something that would let her try again, let her understand what she needed to do, and fix and repair what she had lost, even if she had to bend time itself. Unfortunately, it was too late, and even using all she had learned she could not fix what was broken. But what she had made remained, imbued with the power to find people in need and help them see what they needed to see.”

The speech was odd, rehearsed sounding, and yet deeply emotional, and it didn't fit with Razz’s normal pattern of speaking, a glance over at Floris however who was staring, misty-eyed, told her enough to trust the fantastic tale. 

“So… are you the witch? Can, you just send us back?” Scorpia chimed in, as the room seemed to settle back into normalcy. 

Razz stared at her for a moment, utterly confused, “what, no, Razz is Razz, don’t as such silly questions.”

“But, but how did you get here? Is the door helping you with something?” 

“Razz is here cause this is Razz’s home, where else would Razz be?” Razz tilted her head and stared at Scorpia, clearly completely perplexed by what Scorpia felt was a rather reasonable question.  Scorpia just bit back a confused retort and just nodded not convinced but certain she wouldn't get anything more out of her. 

Apparently, it was Floris’s turn to ask questions now as the still slightly misty-eyed teen cleared his throat and spoke up, “so how do you know who we are? And we still don't know how to get back home.”

Razz looked at him, a strange emotion flitting across her face, it almost like surprise, or disappointment, as though she was expecting someone else when she turned to look at Floris. 

“Well, the door doesn't much care for time or place, it's all about need and connection dearie. So to you, this is the first time you’ve met Razz, but for me,” she shrugged and waved her hand as if dismissing the very concept of spacetime. “It's a matter of perspective truly.”

Scorpia blinked once, and then Floris blinked, and then he shook his head “well I guess that makes as much sense as anything.” Razz nodded in firm agreement, “but still how are we supposed to get home?”

Razz hummed “well it's simple really, you have to listen to the door. Trust me, dearie, if you’re thinking about trying to find some other way out it's not gonna work. My advice is just to listen to whatever that door told you to do and you’ll be out of here in no time.”

Floris scrunched up his face and seemed to take a moment to pick out the perfect words before continuing. “But, what if I didn't understand what exactly the door was trying to tell me?” 

Razz smiled knowingly and simply replied, “don't worry sweetie, you’ll figure it out, you always do.”

Before Floris could drill further into that can of worms however Scorpia found herself butting back in. All the talk of time and its seeming absence here had piqued her curiosity about something in particular. 

“Hey is there like, nighttime here? Do we have to sleep?” Scorpia already had something of a hunch that they didn't actually have to sleep while here. Despite everything they had done already she hadn't once felt the urge to sleep. She had gotten physically tired, and certainly emotionally tired, but nothing like the heavy weariness that always told her the day was coming to a close. It was sort of like she was on a constant coffee high, though more pleasant than she imagined that would feel like.

“Nope! No sleep, I haven't slept in-” Razz suddenly stopped, and stared off into the middle distance for a minute while she and Floris cast anxious glances between them before suddenly returning. “Well, it's hard to tell time here, no night, or sun for that matter! No matter, to Razz, it just means more time for pie.”

Scorpia suddenly found the strange woman's mannerisms much more understandable when confronted with the seeming arbitrary of time in this place. Along with that a strange nostalgia for the moon and the night found its way into her heart. And she found herself wondering, just how much time had they spent in this place already?

Razz with all her strange unknowable wisdom seemed to have sensed this, and disappeared for a moment before returning with two bags. the old woman was about to hand them over before she froze for a moment, and asked, “if you don't mind dearies, what was it that was written on the door again? I can never keep it straight in my head, to be honest, always so many different adventures.”
Scorpia bit her lip trying to remember exactly how the door had put it, something about a princess and the night? Or a prince and the right? Oh drat. Luckily right when she was about to speak up Floris spoke, his voice seeming oddly distant. 

“ Into the woods a princess and a knight wander, their destinies just out of reach. ” 

Razz smiled and placed the two bags on the table. “Ah, that's a good one I remember now. You kids will have fun.” A moment later she had swirled out of the door, practically dragging the two of them with her. “Now any last questions?” 

“So wait what are we even supposed to do? Cause there was like this weird voice which told me to be a knight or something and it just doesn't make much sense, and-” Scorpia was cut off by Razz shoving her forward onto the trail and dragging Floris along right behind her. 

“Bshup, no more questions-” 

“But you just-”

“No more questions! Now just listen to each other alright, you're more than you think. Now off you go! And remember to come visit!” and just like that Razz vanished back into her cabin, leaving the two of them alone again. 

The sudden quiet of the woods was overwhelming and Scorpia felt suddenly very uncomfortable and very alone.

“Well, that was… something,” Floris grumbled, running his hand through his hair with a sigh. “God damn it!” Floris suddenly yelled kicking the ground sending a spray of dirt up. His voice was angry and strained, and Scorpia was shocked by its violence. “What are we gonna do? I- I-”

Scorpia wasn't sure exactly what was going on in his head, but it seemed pretty obvious that this wasn't helping. She swept him into a hug, and then in her best comforting and reassuring voice said, “don't worry, it’s gonna be ok alright? No matter what’s down this trail, we’ve got each other alright? And it's like I said, there's no one I would rather be here with than you. We can do this, together.” She stepped back remembering to let Floris breathe. 

Floris was facing away from her, but she could still see the blush that must've covered his entire face. She wasn't sure how she felt about that, but given the way, her heart swooped it would be wrong to say it was bad. 

“Together?” Floris chirped, sticking his hand out blindly towards her while still facing away from her. it was simply put adorable, and as Scorpia took Floris's hand she was struck with the fact that she had a crush on Floris irregardless of how much sense it made. And, to be honest, she didn't really mind. 

“Together…” Scorpia echoed, and then, they were off following the trail to wherever it would lead.

Chapter Text

It was a strange thing to walk in these woods. Scorpia was used to any forest she walked in having an end. Knowing in the back of your mind that you could just pick a direction to walk in and knowing you’d reach the end of the forest. But these woods were different, they were strange, deep, she felt that she could walk in one direction for her whole life and never find the end. It was intimidating, but not as terrifying as she would have assumed. More than anything it just made Scorpia feel small, an emotion that certainly wasn't common to the tall woman. 

She found herself wondering how Floris was doing. His behavior at Razz’s had been… Erratic, and it seemed to go against everything she had assumed about him. It just didn't make sense, she had never, even seen him raise his voice before. But he had unleashed a Catra level or more, a tirade of anger against a forgetful old lady. It was odd, to say the least, and she knew there had to be more to it. She just had no idea how to ask. 

She glanced over and sighed internally, they had been walking in silence for maybe half an hour now, and Floris was still just staring straight ahead. Clearly, he was thinking about something , she just had no idea what. 

“Hey, I know we aren't super close, but you know you can talk to me about whatever's going on right?” 

Floris grimaced for a moment, before plastering on a smile and turning to Scorpia. “Ah, well that's very sweet of you but-” he cut off mid-sentence his eyes going wide as he very obviously stared at something behind Scorpia. “What is that?”

Scorpia had to stifle the instinct to scoff, “come on Floris I get if you don't want to talk about it, but I would hope we could talk about it instead of using stupid tricks on…”  She had turned around, however, expecting to see the same open expanse of forest that spread out in every direction. And she did see that mostly but there was something else. A grey crystal, maybe the size of a small stump stuck out of the ground next to a tree. 

All arguments were shelved, as the two teens crowded around the small crystal, enthralled by its seemingly completely out-of-place nature. Floris was on his stomach, brushing leaves away from its base to free more of the strange octagonal crystal. Scorpia however took a step back and scanned the woods again, so far nothing had appeared by random in these woods, and she had a very hard time believing random things were about to start appearing now. 

“Look, maybe we should…” her thoughts were cut short however when her eyes caught on another much larger crystal maybe twenty feet away. “Another one? What on earth are they doing here…” 

Scorpia approached slowly, biting her lip. These crystals tripped all her alarms. Clearly, they didn't do the same for Floris however, as she watched him run past and immediately start poking and fawning over the strange crystal. 

There was something offputting to Scorpia about the crystals, as though they were dead, or perhaps hibernating. Like a lightbulb sitting unactivated for who knows how long. There were more along the trail increasing in number and size as you went along. 

“Hey, maybe we should go back and ask Razz about these?” Scorpia asked trying to dislodge Floris from the crystal he was currently examining. 

“These are fascinating, I’ve never seen any crystals that look like this, and they have such a unique aura!” Floris grabbed Scorpia’s hand and led it to the crystal which she touched with a small squeak. But as no electric shock or allergic reaction seized her she found herself feeling oddly comforted by the crystal. It was smooth but with enough imperfections to not make it feel alien, and it was surprisingly temperate. 

“Uh yeah I guess, I’ve never really been much of a crystal person.”

“Well we should fix that, I can already think of a few crystals that would do you some good, maybe I could give you some extras from my house you know? I think…”

Floris kept talking but Scorpia had checked out, she was too focused on the fact that they were still holding hands, and the fact that Floris was talking about hanging out after this. In hindsight, it might've been a bit silly but Scorpia had just kinda assumed they would just kinda go back to not talking to each other. Go back to being friends of friends. But here was Floris offering a hand, and she realized, maybe it didn't have to go back to how it was. Scorpia smiled as she listened to Floris go on about crystals and auras and as she felt him grip her hand a little tighter, she couldn't help but think, who knows, maybe things could get better than she had dreamed… 

They had lapsed into a comfortable silence after a while, with only the sounds of footsteps and the occasional distant bird call, however, The woods around them had changed. Slowly but steadily the trees grew more sparse, and the strange crystals more and more common. The soft pine needle-covered dirt was slowly replaced by strange grey sand. And most recently the previously bright blue sky getting a cover of grey clouds. It made Scorpia think of some strange alien planet, or perhaps an apocalyptic wasteland, and she found it hard to reconcile with the strange but comforting woods that they had left behind. 

Casting a glance over to Floris she noticed he seemed to have finally adopted her more apprehensive view of this new terrain, though something else seemed to be troubling him that Scorpia couldn't quite place. She wanted to ask about it, but she could never figure out just what to say. So she just bit her lip and kept quiet, only letting out a small sigh, it was probably for the best, Catra had never liked when she pried even if she was just trying to help. Though comparing Floris to Catra seemed, wrong somehow, plus she was pretty certain they would both protest pretty strongly against the comparison. But she still felt there was something there, they both seemed to hold a silent strength that others overlooked. They both seemed to care deeply for their friends, and they both had a deep passion and willingness to fight for what they loved. 

The path had been sloping upwards for some time now and as the two silent travelers reached the top of the hill Scorpia was instantly shaken out of her thoughts. Stretching out in both directions was a giant ravine, it just sat there open like a shadowy maw, its teeth grey rocks bathed in shadows. There was only one way across along the entire length of the ravine that she could see, and it was a rickety-looking rope bridge that sat in front of them swaying slightly in the breeze. 

The two travelers were quiet for a moment before Flor let out a groan and seemed to deflate slightly looking both ways. 

“I knew this was too easy. I guess we're just gonna have to pick a direction and hopefully we can find a way across.” He grumbled starting begrudgingly to look around for a way across. 

Scorpia blinked, this, didn't make any sense, there was a bridge right there, and while the way it swayed in the wind certainly didn't encourage confidence in Scorpia it's not like anything they could build would be better. Could he not see it? Was she wrong and there wasn't actually a bridge there? 

She slowly and carefully approached the edge, feeling her stomach drop as the real depth of the ravine hit her. She took a breath and tried to get her nerves under control. Slowly she began to reach a food out, all she had to do was feel it, if she could really feel something under her foot then she could start working out what was really going on here.

 “Hmm which way do you think we should go?” Floris's voice startled her and she let out a surprised yelp, which in turn caused him to turn and look at what she was doing. Immediately upon seeing her, his eyes went wide, and he shot forward, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her back. Unfortunately, Scorpia was not prepared to be yanked firmly away from the yawning ravine, and stumbled backward, knocking over Floris before collapsing into the sand. They sat there for a moment in silence before Floris launched himself forward, grabbing Scorpias face and staring into her eyes intensely enough to make her blush, luckily he seemed more concerned with checking for signs of head trauma than reading her emotions. 

“What on Earth were you thinking? Are you ok? Is your head hurt? Did a fairy enchant you with evil fairy magic? I will kill an evil fairy for you” Seemingly satisfied with his head trauma slash evil fairy check he again grabbed Scorpia by the shoulders and fixed her with one of the most intense gazes she had ever seen. All while she was still recovering from the first one, plus his declaration that he would be willing to kill a fairy for her. Honestly, it was quite unfair. 

“ Never do that again ok?” He pulled her forward into a crushing hug, again unfair that was her thing, and practically whispered into her ear. “I- I can't do this without you ok? So whatever this is we can talk about it, or we don't have to if you don't want to, but please don't leave me here alone…”

Scorpia honestly wasn't sure whether she wanted to cry her eyes out or kiss Floris as hard as she could. She was certain she had never heard someone need her like that. None of her friends really needed her, they were nice and they liked her, she knew that, but she wasn't anyone's best friend, no matter how much it hurt. And her parents while they loved her, were so wrapped up in their work and each other to really spend much time with her.

“Hey hey, Flor’ it’s ok, I’m sorry I promise I won't do that again ok? I’m here I promise…” And it was a funny thing because for years she had thought about saying something like that to Catra, thought about Catra begging her to stay, thought about Catra looking at her with an ounce of the hope that Floris had in his eyes when he pulled back from his hug. She had spent years trying and hoping, fighting with Catra to be given the time of day. She had always thought, on some level, that it was her fault, that she was just somehow in some way, unlovable. 

But here was Floris looking at her like she was the Sun and the Moon, like she looked at Catra, and goddamnit if her heart didn't feel like it was about ready to explode. 

“I know you might think I’m crazy, but I swear, there's a bridge across the ravine and I can see it, and- and I’m pretty sure I could feel it. I know I probably sound totally nuts but I swear it's right there, and- and, I just didn't want you…” She breathed in a rattling breath, but none of the words seemed to fit. “I didn't want you to be mad at me… To think that I was stupid…”

Floris was quiet for some time, just staring at her, and she wished for the life of her she could know what he was thinking. 

“I would never . Your sure you see that bridge? You were able to touch it?” 

Scorpia just nodded, truthfully she was at a loss for words. She didn't know what to say or do anymore. 

Floris locked eyes with her once more, a slight smile on his face. “Then I just have to ask one thing, would you lead me across?”

Somehow he managed to one-up himself every time she thought he had reached the height of her luck and his compassion the universe one-upped her. 

“Ok, I- I can do that.” Scorpia walked up to the bridge again and let out a breath. Slowly, steadily she put a foot down right onto the first plank. It was solid, so she shifted forward and placed her other foot down, feeling the bridge shake slightly but stay together. She turned slowly, fear building in her stomach. She knew what Floris had said, she knew what he would be seeing, but still, the fear that he would shoot her down, that with a word she would be dismissed remained. 

When she finally finished turning and held out a hand to Floris what she saw took her breath away. Floris was staring at her with what she could swear were stars in his eyes. And for a moment she just stood there, hand outstretched wind blowing through her hair, asking him to trust her with his life. Then his hand was in hers and his feet were on the bridge, and she could tell by the way his legs shook that there still wasn't anything there but he trusted her. 

The bridge took barely a minute to cross, Floris didn't look down once, and Scorpia couldn't blame him, it was nerve-wracking for her and she could see what she was putting her feet on. As soon as their feet touched the ground, no matter how sandy it was they both collapsed in a pile of nervous giggles and exhilarated laughs. 

“ That was insane,” Floris choked out in between a laugh that sounded somewhat like a malfunctioning blender, and a coughing gasp that was reminiscent of a car from the 1900s. “I never want to even think about crossing another bridge as long as I live…”

Scorpia nodded in agreement, and giggled, wiping tears out of her eyes. After they had finally regained some composure she spoke again, however. “Hey, uh, thank you, for trusting me, and-” She cut herself off with a steep breath, “just, thank you… I’m sure that wasn't easy.”

Floris stared at her, blinking once before a grin broke out across his face. He was, well most people would’ve probably described him as handsome, smudged with dirt and dust, wind-tossed hair, but with a shining smile and eyes under it all and he was. But, and maybe it was just Scorpias inescapable gay bias, he looked beautiful to her, a real wild beauty that would wear a dandelion in her hair like a princess would a tiara. 

“Oh no, trusting you was the easy part, I would do that again in a heartbeat. I’m the one who needs to say thank you.” In one fluid motion, Floris stood again, brushing himself off again and holding out a hand, a gesture that was quickly becoming something of a routine between the two of them. “So, thank you, for helping me see,” and he looked away again a light blush on his face, “and, uh, thanks for holding my hand, I don't really like heights and that… well that really helped.” 

Scorpia put her hand on his, gently at first, then in one motion she brought herself up and pulled him into a gentle hug. A moment later and they had both broken away, blushing furiously, but still holding hands, and Scorpia cleared her throat. “So… Think you ready for more weird magic trials?” she looked back to Floris raising an eyebrow mischievously and with a light blush on his face.

“If it means more of my favorite hugs? Absolutely.”

And that was when Scorpia realized without a doubt that she was absolutely, irrefutable, inconceivably, fucked.

Chapter Text

“And then I said-” Floris broke off midsentence devolving into giggles, “I said sure, as long as I get paid I don't care what you need that cactus for.”

Scorpia gasped for air, wiping tears away from her eyes. They had been walking again, snacking on the baked goods given to them by Razz. After the ravine, they had now fallen into a comfortable routine joking back and forth while slowly making their way further along the trail. The terrain had stayed mostly the same, with crystals regularly sprouting out of the ground, now joined by various small rocks and the rare deep slash in the ground. She could see the trail ahead of them, winding ahead slowly. 

There was a destination now, having come into view shortly after they crossed the ravine. A grand mountain seemed to loom up out of the earth, standing alone and dominant in the alien landscape. It was all brown grey rock and sharp angles. Scorpia wasn't exactly sure what they were going to do there, but given all the two of them had seen already she figured pretty much anything was on the table. 

“So, what do you think is next? Riddles? Maybe an obstacle course?” Floris asked, and though his voice was filled with dry humor he still turned to look at Scorpia clearly truly interested in her thoughts on the subject. 

Scorpia wasn't exactly used to being looked to for ideas and sputtered for a moment before weakly replying. “Oh uhh, I don't know? What do you think?

Floris cocked an eyebrow at Scorpia “I was asking you, I mean, your the one who could see the magic invisible bridge. So clearly something here likes you.”

Scorpia blinked again trying to get her thoughts back in order, “ah well, I’m not sure. I mean, there doesn't seem to be that many rules here, so, kinda hard to figure anything out you know?”

Floris just hummed and nodded as though she had said something really profound, Scopia just felt kinda silly, but if her advice helped she wasn't about to complain.

They fell back into a mostly comfortable silence for a time, until Scorpia spoke up again, though she immediately wished she hadn't. 

“Why don't you like Catra?” She cringed immediately, wishing she had just kept her mouth shut. “I’m sorry! I should’ve just, kept that one to myself, I- I was just thinking cause we talked about hanging out after this, and I know you don't like Catra that much, which I understand she can be a bit abrasive but she’s really nice when you get to know her, and I just-” 

Floris thankfully cut her off before she passed out, by putting a hand on her arm. “It's ok, I-” his eyes darted to the side for a second, and he was clearly thinking hard about just what to say. “I think she probably is good at her core, I just-” a different emotion flashed across his face, it was defensive but also angry, and if Scorpia honestly thought he could feel it, she would’ve assumed it was jealousy. “I don't appreciate how she takes some of the things in her life for granted, and I wish-” His eyes darted away again, and he sighed before taking his hand off her arm. “Well I don't know, It’s not really my place…” He was quiet again for a moment, staring off into the distance, “and just for the record, don't worry about asking that kinda stuff ok?” He turned around with a warm smile on his face, and Scorpia was honestly worried she might just up and die. “You're not gonna ask the wrong question or something like that,” his expression changed just slightly to have a very subtle sharpness to it, “I don't work like that, alright?”

All Scorpia could do was nod, and follow behind. Floris had started humming some tune she didn't recognize and she found herself falling into it easily. She really truly had no idea what to do. It would’ve been hard enough to have someone show up and completely sweep her off her feet while some part of her was still pining over Catra. But to have it be an assumably straight boy ? Well, she was certain there was really truly no guidebook for that. 

She tried, not for the first time, to think about what her moms would say. Probably something like “follow your heart!” or “don't let your labels define you!” both of which was much easier said than done, and still didn't tell her how to even tell if Floris had any feeling close to similar. Ugh, why was life so complicated? 

Scorpia noticed something new the next time when Floris broke the silence, his eye twitched slightly, and he seemed to silently mouth something that might have been ‘shut up,’ before he turned to Scorpia and asked, “so, over or under?” 

The strange contents of the question were enough to cause Scorpia to forget about Floris’s odd behavior for the moment. “What? Over or under?”

 Floris blushed slightly, before reiterating, “ah, I meant like, do you think we're gonna have to go over that mountain or under it?” 

Scorpia snorted the absurdity of the question overwhelming her desire to be polite. Floris in return turned even redder and stuttered out a retort, “what! I-its not, look I don't know! This place is really weird what do you want! And- and I mean we're gonna have to go past that mountain right? So- well- yeah, guess that doesn't sound kinda silly.” Floris sighed, dragging his hands over his face. “Man if the weird magic here didn't stop me from getting tired I would say I was exhausted, but I guess I don't get to have that excuse.”

Scorpia laughed again even as she stumbled a bit when Floris playfully shoved her on the shoulder “Sorry sorry, just not what I was expecting to hear?” Floris rolled his eyes but he was grinning, and clearly, he did agree that it was a bit of an odd question to just drop out of the blue. 

“But to answer your question… I’m feeling tunnels made by giant moles, you know?”

Floris nodded sagely, and added, “Like from Avatar…” In a tone that made it sound like a massive insight, but just succeeded in setting Scorpia off giggling again. 

“I thought they were badgers?” Scorpia managed to get out in between bouts of giggles.

This just made Floris grow even redder, and wave his hand in front of his face emphatically as though he was shooing away his mistakes. “Badgermoles actually, but I don't think anyone's keeping track.”

Scorpia stifled another giggle attack and managed to nod furiously in agreement. “You know, while we're on the subject, what kind of bender would you be?”

Floris answered immediately, “waterbender, like Katara you know?” 

“Mmm that makes sense,” Scorpia nodded, the more she thought about it the more Floris actually reminded her of Katara, both clearly nurturing but still with a real strength to them. And both are capable of anger while still preferring other reactions in the moment.

“What about you?” Floris asked, casting a curious glance over toward Scorpia. She hummed noncommittally, and shrugged, 

“Well my friends always said earth bender, but I think that might've just been because I'm so big.”

Floris put a finger to his lips, clearly thinking for a moment, before he spoke again, “I think… Firebender.”

“Really?” 

“Yeah, I mean you’re very passionate, you have so much love in your heart, I think firebending fits you perfectly.” Floris gave her a smirk and winked, “plus you know, your pretty hot.”

Scorpia was certain she was bright red, and all she managed to do was nod and let out a squeak. Floris seemed to suddenly go red as well, his head snapping forward. “Sorry- I- that was- I’ll just be quiet now.” 

Scorpia could still feel her heart beating loudly and felt her face was still quite hot. Luckily Floris seemed equally incapable of continuing the conversation so Scorpia was saved from further panic. 

The rest of the walk was in silence and seemed to go by much faster than Scorpia had expected. Though this seemed rather minor a detail to be hung up on at this point. Honestly, spacetime bending around them to make their walk a bit less awkward seemed almost quaint at this point. 

Getting closer to the mountain only seemed to heighten its intimidation as massive chunks of brown stone jutted out of the ground of either side of the path giving the impression they were more entering a canyon than approaching a mountain. Then there was the end of the road. The path led into what appeared to be a sheer cliff face with nothing beyond except for cold rock. The sky above was dark grey, and the wind howled around the rocky peaks. 

“Well then, what next?” Scorpia asked. The strange sudden end to the path was unnerving. And she found herself suddenly extremely aware of how her fingers fiddled with her jacket zipper and the way the scuffing sound of dirt echoed around them each time she shuffled her feet. 

Floris hummed, and walked up to the cliff, feeling the rock and examining it for any irregularities. “Maybe there's a secret button or hidden door somewhere?” 

Scorpia nodded, she was eager to help but the last thing she wanted to do was get in the way. Floris had been very kind in letting her help and even lead the way earlier, but she knew with this kind of thing she would just get in the way. So she bit back any comment and just scanned the cliff wall with her eyes, hoping she might find something obvious. 

“You gonna come help? I could use the brains of this operation right now.” Floris asked, his voice joking but the request seeming serious. Scorpia froze and let out a nervous chuckle. 

“Heh, that's a good one, uh the brains heh, yeah, really uh got me there…” 

Floris just blinked at her for a moment, before he broke out into a grin. “I’m serious you big goof get over here,” Floris jumped forward, grabbing Scorpia by the wrist and dragging her over to the wall. Floris froze for a second slowly turning to look at Scorpia. And if the heartbreak in his eyes didn't make Scorpia want to cry what he said would've completely broken her. “You don't think, I think your stupid do you?” 

“We- well, I mean…” Scorpias eyes darted everywhere but Floris, and when she spoke her voice was almost too quiet to hear, “doesn't everyone?” 

Floris stared at her seeming aghast and Scorpia could swear there were tears in the corner of his eyes. “Scorpia… I don't think you're stupid, I think your brave, I think you're smart, and I think you have a huge heart.” He pulled her into a tight hug, and Scorpia could swear her heart was about to explode. “As long as your with me I don't want you to go around thinking your stupid ok?” Floris stepped back for a second, hands still resting on Scorpias arms and he took a deep breath squeezing Scorpia's biceps a little where he was holding her. “I-” Freezing after a moment he looked away, his face bright red before continuing, “I know it's a bit selfish, but I really like you, and- and I don't like it when you act like your stupid, or- or annoying alright? And-” Floris was crying lightly now, and Scorpia was floored, she wasn't sure what to do. He looked almost pained now, and bit his lip, “and I know I keep making things weird between us all cause I just can't seem to ” His voice gained a level of anger to it that she hadn't seen since Razz’s and he quickly switched tracks, even as the unfinished sentence sat in Scorpias head. ‘ Can't seem to what?’ what was Floris dancing around? 

Floris unaware of Scorpia's inner conflict took a deep breath and seemed to compose himself, looking back at her with a deep sadness in his eyes. “Man, we just can't seem to stop doing this whole teary conversation about how much we mean to each other huh?” 

He dropped his hands to his side, and shoved them into his hoodie pockets, casting a look of anger and frustration down at the apparently offending clothing that she had never seen him give it before. 

“I guess we should probably try to put them on hold until we finally get out of here huh?” He said, his voice was dry and kinda shaky. There was something else he wasn't saying, something that was weighing him down, probably the same thing from Razz's. And Scorpia had no idea what it was. Was it- could it be them? They weren't well, anything really, friends, but that was certainly a new thing. And yet, even just thinking that sent a twinge of sadness through Scorpia. 

Sure it was confusing but he was so sweet, and he seemed to really value her in a way no other friend she had seemed to, and every time he looked at her she could feel her heart doing little loops, and- Oh, wait a minute. 

Scorpia fought the urge to swear, how could she be so stupid? Floris had no idea about any of that. All he knew was he was being overly close with someone who had never been interested in guys like that. He felt bad. Of course, he did! He probably felt like he was being creepy, and overstepping, and making her uncomfortable, and-. Her eyes went wide slightly, what if he tried to avoid her after all this? What if he felt so bad he transferred schools! Well, that was probably an exaggeration, but she couldn't let that happen. 

Floris had gone back to searching the wall, his eyes downcast and just generally looking kinda miserable. Scorpia couldn't let that stand. She slammed her right hand against the wall, she was gonna settle this right here right now! She wasn't sure how it would go, and she could feel the fear clenching in her chest, but she couldn't let this go on. Not when it was clearly so painful for Floris.

 Then the entire wall seemed to disappear, retracting into somewhere in the rock and Scorpia found herself stumbling into the black that loomed up out of the mountain. 

“Scorpia!” Floris cried out, jumping in after her. As soon as Floris had fully stepped into the tunnel the door slammed shut behind the two of them leaving them trapped in darkness. A moment later and they were bathed in a strange purple light, the same light revealed that they were in a tunnel, large enough for a train to fit through, and illuminated by large crystals that stuck out of the wall at regular intervals like torches glowing an otherworldly purple. The tunnel went on deeper into the mountain, though the light did not and the path was quickly swallowed by darkness. 

The two of them just stood there awestruck for a moment, before Floris said, a little breathlessly, “huh, guess you were right about the moles…” 

“Badgers…” Scorpia corrected, still slightly in shock over thinking the mountain had just eaten her and thoroughly shaken out of her plan. 

Floris just looked at her, and snorted, “well, badgermoles technically, but who’s keeping track.” 

This broke the spell that seemed to have possessed the two of them, as Scorpias snorted out a laugh herself, before standing up and holding out a hand to help Floris up. Neither said anything as Scorpia took a tentative step forward, flinching when a new pair of crystals at the edge of the darkness flicked on, revealing more smooth stone. 

The two walked forward slowly, every couple of feet another pair of crystals would flicker to life. It was a strange feeling, and Scorpia would’ve said it almost felt like they were entering another world if she didn't already know what that felt like. And then the music started. It was faint at first, like a slight whistle on the wind, and Scorpia couldn't be entirely sure if it was in her head or not. 

“Do you hear that?” Floris whispered, and Scorpia let out a relieved breath, very pleased to hear she wasn't entirely crazy. 

“Yeah, it's like…” Scorpia trailed off, biting her lip, it was sort of waltz-y, sort of jazzy, and a little bit haunting. Kinda what she would imagine being played by a bunch of 1920s ghosts. “Well, I’m not really sure.”

Floris nodded, clearly equally entranced, “it is pretty though…” With each step, the music grew louder, and then the path took a sharp turn to the right and Scorpias breath caught in her throat. Turning the corner revealed the source of the music, the tunnel opened up into a massive unground hall, illuminated by those same purple crystals that lined the walls and hung from the ceiling. All carved out of the same strange dark stone that shimmered and glittered in the light. A dance hall stretched out in front of them, filled with ethereal figures swirling in dance. All while an equally ethereal band played the haunting tune that drifted through the entire hall. 

The whole scene was magical, completely surpassing anything Scorpia had expected to see. The two of them just stood there for a second, completely awestruck. A group of eight or so of the ghostly figures literally glided over to them whispering excitedly among themselves. 

“Oh thank goodness, you’ve finally arrived! We’ve all been just torn with worry that you two wouldn't make it!” The ghost that seemed to be leading the small detachments tinkling voice cried out. The mob of specters then descended, surrounding them and completely flooding Scorpia with questions and compliments. 

“I love your hair!”

“I think black would be a good color for you.”

“What do you like to drink?”

“Are you a ruby woman, or a garnet woman? Wait don't answer, let me guess!”

“So how long have you two been dating?”

“What song are you gonna sing?”

Scorpia realized at that moment, they were separating her and Floris, leading the two of them off in different directions. She reacted immediately, trying to push through the specters. The strange see-through beings were tangible and she could feel them all around her, but they seemed to have less resistance in them than your average person, and Scorpia felt if she really tried if she could just push through them entirely. 

The ghosts seemed to recognize Scorpia's panic and they backed off, still maintaining a ring around her but no longer dragging her. Scorpia stopped pushing, her eyes darting around trying to size up the various ghosts that surrounded her to find a weak link.

One ghost, in particular, floated forward out of the ring, its hands raised in a placating gesture. It paused a few feet away from Scorpia and looked her up and down. 

“Yes that’ll do nicely,” it pinched its fingers as if it was trying to grab Scorpias feet before flicking upward in a single motion. Scorpia felt a tingling sensation all over for a brief moment, and glittering sparkles seemed to fly off of her clothes in every direction before finally, Scorpia sneezed, and looked down. The red windbreaker and old tank top she had been wearing along with the black jeans she had thrown on this morning had all transformed into a sleek black dress. Meanwhile, she could feel the unfamiliar weight of earrings on her head along with her hair feeling much more under control than usual. 

The ghost was smirking slightly, clearly pleased with its work, and it snapped its fingers causing a mirror to appear in front of Scorpia. She looked great. It was a look completely different from what she usually went for, but it still managed to work. She was stunned, and just blinked at the mirror for a minute. 

“I- I don't understand, why are you doing all this? Why doesn't anyone explain anything here? ” The ghost looked at her for a moment, before bowing and responding through a smile.

“My dearest apologies, I had assumed you were told of us before arriving, given your position. But if you are unaware then please grant me the honor of introducing you to-” It paused for a moment, swirling around for a dramatic reveal, “Horror Hall, and to the Blackstone Ball, the greatest event of the century! And you my dear, happen to be the guest of honor!” It swooped forward, leaning in conspiratorially and whispering. “Now while your date finishes getting ready if you don't mind telling me, what song will you be singing?”

Chapter Text

Scorpias brain was completely fried. She had just made it away from the ghosts by muttering something about ‘freestyling it’, and ‘needing to talk to Floris about something’. Thankfully that had finally got them to leave, buying her a bit of space even if she could still see their spectral forms nodding and tittering to each other and glancing back at her conspiratorially. Ignoring them to the best of her ability, she slowly, almost stumbling, walked off trying to find Floris. 

Who she found however was possibly the most beautiful person Scorpia had ever seen. It was Floris, looking for all the world like a flower princess. Hair braided in the back and interwoven with flowers, the usual hoodie gone, replaced with a flowing pink sundress. Scorpia was floored, Floris had always been pretty, but now it was as though she was standing in front of someone from a fairytale. 

“Scorpia can you believe it! One of these ghosts did some kinda magic and whoosh! Now I look like this and- and-” Floris swept forward, hugging Scorpia so hard it's almost hurt. She wasn't sure if she had ever seen Floris so excited before and she couldn't fight the smile that seemed to burst out from her chest. 

“Wow yeah, uh that's really great Fl-” She froze midsentence, as a look of pain shot across Floris’s face, just for a moment but it was clearly noticeable if you looked for it. So she swerved mid-sentence, “Hey, I know this is all kinda weird, but do you wanna see if there's any cool ghost drinks or something?” She was still uncertain as to what kept causing Floris spikes of sadness, but perhaps, with a bit of observation she could make sense of the strange boy and figure out how to approach him about her feelings. 

Scorpia smiled to herself and followed behind Floris, who had immediately jumped at the idea of drinks and darted off to where a bar of some kind had been fashioned out of natural rock outcroppings. Once again she was thankful for what she had picked up from her mother about psychology and from Catra about subtlety. 

Scorpia sidled up beside Floris a moment after he arrived she didn't miss the way his smile grew wide when the ethereal bartender asked 

“What can I get you, girls?”
“Do you have anything nonalcoholic?” Floris practically chirped, and Scorpia had to stop herself from laughing, not that she didn't understand and agree with his reasoning, but just the responsibility and earnestness of it seemed so quintessentially Floris. 

The misty form on the other side of the makeshift bar seemed to grin, before turning around and rifling through a shelf full of strange bottles. “Very responsible ma'am, and don't worry I think I have just the thing for you and your companion.” 

If being called ma'am upset Floris at all Scorpia certainly couldn't tell, in fact, he seemed more visibly happy than ever before, and Scorpia found herself thinking that maybe the answer to what was going on with Floris was a lot simpler than she first worried. 

With a clink the spectral bartender set two glasses filled with a strange foggy-looking liquid, Scorpia sipped it hesitantly. It was sweet and vaguely smokey, and she found herself surprised by how tasty it was. 

Floris sighed sipping on his drink, before casting a smirk at Scorpia “so, I hear that you’re gonna put on a bit of a performance.”
Scorpia blushed, taking another sip of her drink. “Ah, yeah I don't know… They want me to,” she blushed again, “but ah, I don't know…” She couldn't quite face Floris, so instead, she just ran her finger around the rim of her glass over and over. 

“Can you?” Floris asked, 

“Can I?” 

“Sing, or, you know like perform or whatever,” Floris's voice trailed off and Scorpia could almost feel the anxiety from his voice in her own stomach. The truth is she could, she had been singing and performing since she was a child, but basically never outside of the house, and never in front of friends. 

“Ah well you know, I’ve done some singing in the past, just some basics not much,” her voice came out as a mumble and she found herself staring intensely into her glass. The idea of singing in front of people who weren't her family, or even worse knew her personally was terrifying. She knew what would happen if she went around singing or just generally expressing that part of herself at school. Dismissal at best, and at worst… Well, she didn't like thinking about that, the point was she enjoyed having friends too much to go around annoying people with her hobbies. 

Floris seemed to pick up on her anxiety and downed the last of his drink before standing up and holding out a hand to her, with a gentle smile on his face. 

“You know, there's a whole dance floor out there if you wanna try it out with me…” An easy grin broke out across Scorpia's face, and she found herself being swept along by Floris towards the dance floor. Scorpia had never been much of a dancer, but it didn't seem to matter, everything seemed to move and sway with the two of them. The music dipped and soared with each move, and even the other dancers seemed to match their moves. Scorpia was completely enthralled, allowing herself to be swept away following Floris. It was as if the world melted away, only leaving the two of them in a sea of music. 

“So, where do you think we're gonna go from here?” Floris's question snapped Scorpia out of her trance. 

Scorpia blinked a few more times than necessary, the sudden question knocking her off her flow.

“Oh, I don’t know, I kinda don't want to have to go somewhere else, it's so nice here, you know?”

Floris nodded, and pressed his head up against Scorpias chest, causing the larger woman to feel as though she might pass out, though she fought to stay calm.

“Yeah, I understand, it's not fair you know? It's like, sometimes just I want to not think about everything or get reminded of something hard I have to do. Sometimes you just want to relax and enjoy life… Even if it feels like a lie… ” Floris's voice had dropped to barely a whisper, and Scorpia was sure she wasn't supposed to hear the last part. 

“Hey, I- Well, you know I was-” Scorpia screwed her face up, man it just wasn't fair how some people got all the ability to talk. Floris just smiled and gazed up at her, however, sending Scorpia off into a spiral of thinking about how she wanted to get to see Floris look up at her like that whenever not just during a weird ghost dance. Or even just during a normal boring school dance, or not a school dance, or- Scorpia sighed, forcing herself to start again. 

“I guess I just wanted to make sure you knew that I’ll be your friend no matter what ok? So like, if there's anything you worried about me knowing, don't worry about it you know? And I just don't want you thinking I’d leave, or think you were weird if you told me- Not that there's anything you need to tell me, it's like a just in case thing you know!- But like I don't need to know if you don't want to tell me, cause that's how sure I am that it's fine!- Even though I would prefer if you tell me so I could help, cause I would, but you wouldn't have to! But you could- and I would like you too and-” 

Floris cut her off with a hug and a whispered  “Thank you…” That left Scorpia stalling for a moment. When she eventually found herself all she could do was hug back, lost in the swaying music again, if just for a moment. 

Time seemed to flow by then, the two of them dancing, laughing, or just enjoying the moment. It was a few hours later when Scorpias thoughts again landed on the performance, the thought of which had settled into her stomach like lead. The two of them were sitting on a smooth rocky outcropping, slowly sipping something that tasted vaguely like Coke and watching the shifting forms of the dancers. 

“So, what are you gonna sing?” Floris asked, breaking a silence that had settled over their small corner of the cave in the last couple of minutes. 

Scorpia paled, and took another hasty sip of her drink, “ah I don't know, I mean, I don't even know if I should, it certainly wouldn't be very good, not nearly as good as you could do I’m sure.” Her voice was tense, and the words came out faster than expected, but Scorpia surprised even herself with how honest they felt. She wasn't a singer, she wasn't meant to be the center of attention. 

Floris snorted and shoved Scorpia lightly. “Oh trust me, anyone would have a better singing voice than me. I can barely stand my voice most of the time, there's no way I would subject all these innocent, people? Ghosts? Whatever they are, to that.” 

“It can't be that bad! I mean I think your voice is pretty,” Scorpia flushed bright red realizing what she just said. “I mean, well- eh I- It’s like- I just…” Scorpia buried her face in her hands, “just kill me…” 

She couldn't see Floris but it was easy to imagine the look of confusion on his face. She jumped when suddenly a hand touched her shoulder, Floris’s voice shaking her out of her spiral.

“Hey, It’s ok, you can do this.” Scorpia glanced over and felt her heart melt a little. “In fact I want you to repeat after me, I can do this, I can do this. ”

“ Floris can do this, Floris can do this. ” 

Floris snorted, before punching Scorpia in the arm, “you know that’s not what I meant you doofus. But really, why can't you? If you can sing, and you want to, then what's stopping you?”

Scorpia felt her stomach flip and could feel her anxiety bubbling up again, threatening to overwhelm her. “It- It's just not who I am, that's just how it is… I’m- just not Important like that.”

Floris didn't speak for a minute, then leaned over, resting his head on Scorpia's shoulder. “I get that, you don't have to do anything you don't want to.” He was quiet for another minute, before turning back to look at Scorpias face, “but… I would really enjoy hearing you sing, so…” He looked away, face bright red, “like- if you wouldn't mind, maybe it could just be for us you know?” Scorpia watched his eyes get wider after realizing what he said, and she could see him about to apologize or backtrack or make some other desperate last-minute attempt to save from what he must have seen as a horrible mistake. 

But she wasn't about to let that happen again, so with a deep breath, Scorpia mustered all the courage she had and did what she did best, charge forward with enough force that nothing could even dream of stopping her…

”You know, I like that idea,” she stood, feeling her dress swirl around her, and being horribly aware of what felt like hundreds of eyes watching her. But there was no stopping, not anymore, so she shot Floris her best confidant expression smile, said “I’ll be right back, don't worry,” and added on some finger guns for good measure before vanishing into the crowd of spectral part attendees. 

She walked ahead more focused on keeping her breathing steady than where she was going, but given the way the misty forms parted and seemed to guide her, it seemed she was headed in the right direction. Her mind was racing, and she was mostly panicking about the fact that she had no idea what she was going to sing. Her mind was racing, and songs flew past in her memory appearing and disappearing faster than she could count, none seemed right however and she was suddenly very afraid that she might actually get up on stage and be completely unable to sing. 

And oh, look at that, that was the band, their seethrough limbs somehow grasping their instruments, and oh, they were looking right at her, of course, because she needed to tell them what she was going to sing because she was going to sing something. And oh no, she was so screwed. 

Honestly, why couldn't she be just half as good at anything as Floris seemed to think she was… 

Oh, that might work, she just hoped the band would somehow know what song she was talking about. But as she turned back, still feeling a little out of body, she saw the band already prepped and looking at her kindly, and then a misty hand pressed a microphone into her hand, and she was stepping up onto the stage and the piano was playing, and no words were coming out of her mouth, and everyone was staring at her, and- and- and- and- and-.

Oh, there was Floris, standing staring up at her with stars in his eyes, the misty forms crowded around but never seemed to obscure him. It didn't make sense to Scorpia, how someone like Floris could find so much to be amazed about within her. She knew who she was, she was a side character in her own life, everybody's second or third favorite friend. Even in her own home it was hard not to feel like a third wheel to her moms, they were so wrapped up in their own world. 

And that was just how it was: people liked her, people appreciated her, but none needed her. 

And yet, here was Floris, smart, kind, wonderful Floris, looking at her like she was the sun and moon, like he needed her, and damn it she wasn't about to let loose that, even if she didn't understand.

The piano swelled one last time, and she could feel herself holding the microphone close to her chest and clutching it so hard her knuckles must've been turning white, and then it was all on her.

“ If I could begin to be

Half of what you think of me

I could do about anything

I could even learn how to love, ”

She expected it to hurt, to feel like she was pulling teeth, straining against herself to keep singing despite the fear. But it wasn't, when she looked out over the crowd the only person she could see was Floris, staring up at her. No one booing, no one cringing, no one even rolling their eyes. She took another breath and continued,

“ When I see the way you act 

Wondering when I’m coming back

I could do about anything

I could even learn how to love

Like you…”

The music seemed to flow out of her now, no struggle to remember the lyrics, no fear crushing in her chest.

“ I always thought I might be bad

Now I’m sure that it’s true.

‘Cause I think you’re so good

And I’m nothing like you…”

She swayed across the stage, letting the music lead her just as much as any thoughts. 

“ Look at you go

I just adore you

I wish that I knew

What makes you think I'm so special"

It wasn't just Floris now, sure he was still there, still at the core, but there was a whole hall filled with people each enraptured by her. Each was impressed by her. And Scorpia wasn't sure if she felt like flying or if she felt like exploding.

“ If I could begin to do

Something that does right by you

I would do about anything

I would even learn how to love

When I see the way you look

Shaken by how long it took

I could do about anything… ”

Scorpia had thought a lot about what she was going to do when she got home. She had worried, had been excited, had wondered what her life could look like when she got back. But she wasn't doing that now, somehow she wasn't worried about getting home, wasn't worried about what people thought about her, or worried if she was doing a good enough job. She was just enjoying singing. Enjoying being appreciated. Enjoying being loved.

“I could even learn how to love like you

Love like you

Love me like you… ”

Chapter Text

Applause thundered through the hall, threatening to overwhelm Scorpia like a rogue wave. She could feel a buzz deep in her chest and her hands were shaking. But it didn't matter, they loved her, they were cheering for her, Floris was cheering for her. 

She stared out across the hall, still shocked by the adoration, the excitement, all for her , all because of what she did. Her face hurt from smiling so hard, and she could feel her heart beating, not from anxiety, but from excitement. It was like the air itself was charged with electricity and she couldn't help but breathe it in. 

Then the band started playing again, a tune she recognized, a tune she knew the words to, and she was singing, and the crowd was cheering, and Floris was cheering and-

Well, one song turned into two, which turned into three, which turned into five, and then she started to lose count. The band always knew what to play, even knowing a song she had written down months ago about a spy, that she was certain she had never shared with anyone else. But when they played it, it was like magic. 

Some time had passed, she wasn't sure how much, she had stopped singing and rejoined Floris out on the dancefloor. The two of them were laughing while spinning each other around in what was probably supposed to be a dance but looked closer to two tornados. The world continued being as accommodating as ever, however, and the two never even brushed into another dancer, the hall itself seemingly more than happy to give the two of them room. 

Scorpia tripped first tumbling to the floor in a pile of laughter, followed almost immediately by Floris, who landed directly on top of her. The two lay there for a minute, just laughing, and enjoying the break, and if Scorpia was loving having Floris laying on top of her, who was there to judge.

They were interrupted by one of the specters approaching them, it had its hands behind its back, and though it was smiling there was a sense of seriousness with which it carried itself that stood out from the other more free-flowing forms. In fact, it was the same one that had initially greeted the two of them, and the same one that had given Scorpia her magical make-over. 

“I’m quite sorry for interrupting ladies, however, there is something I would like to discuss.”

Scorpias eyes quickly darted over to Floris, and while he seemed disappointed to have to get up there didn't seem to be any negative reaction beyond that… Well, put another mark into the tally she had started keeping. Hopefully, she could figure out how to bring that up in a way that wouldn't be the most awkward thing anyone had ever done. But that was a problem for future Scorpia, right now she had to focus her attention back on the ghost. Man her life had gotten real weird real fast huh.

“Uh yeah, what's up?” Scorpia asked, dusting herself off. 

“I just wanted to let you know, that while you are more than welcome to stay as long as you would like, the way forward is available to you now if you wish to take it.” 

As the specter finished speaking Scorpia, for the first time, noticed a great doorway behind the stage, it was carved out of the stone of the mountain, and it both drew Scorpia in and held her back out of fear. 

“Unfortunately the next trial is one Ms. D’ream will have to tackle herself, though I guarantee you will be reunited after, and I would be happy to accompany Ms. Terra while you are preoccupied.” 

Scorpia and Floris shared a look, and Scorpia could feel some indecision and anxiety already twisting up in her stomach. She didn't want to leave Floris, and she honestly didn't want to have to go back to walking along that stupid path. But, she did still want to get home, and it would be fair to say she was curious as to what lay on the other side of that door. Even if she was anxious she wouldn't be able to tackle it with Floris. 

“Go. Don't worry about me ok?” Floris put his hand gently on Scorpia's arm, along with a warm smile, though Scorpia couldn't help but feel some sadness emanating from her companion. She gave a smile and turned, staring back up at the stage and the door behind it. 

She knew she could stay a bit longer. Probably dance some more, but that door, whatever was beyond it called to her. She cast one last glance back at Floris who waved timidly and gave her a weak smile. She smiled back, though it came out grimmer than she wanted, before stepping back onto the stage. It was abandoned, as was much of the hall now that she could see from a higher perspective. The door slowly slid open, the sound of rock grinding carrying across the whole hall, its reverberations sinking into Scorpias bones. The other side was simply a staircase. It was dark and hewn out of the same rough stone the rest of the hall was, but somehow it felt older. As Though it had been here long before someone thought to make the hall and they simply figured out a way to hide it away. 

She slowly took the first step, then the next, and while she was lifting her foot, just gaining some confidence, the door slammed shut behind her cutting her off from Floris, and the ability to back out. She grit her teeth and fought back the panic that was rising in her chest threatening to strangle her breathing and cloud her mind. 

“Ok Scorpia this is fine, take stock of your surroundings, and just keep yourself steady and you’ll be ok, everything will be fine…” She muttered to herself, when a voice, very similar to Catra’s, seemed to respond, echoing from every direction.

“ Yeah, keep telling yourself that, how long are you gonna try and keep this whole thing up? ”

Scorpias head shot around, it was dark, but not pitch black, though Scorpia wasn't sure how, and there was nowhere really to hide. And yet, somehow she had no idea where the voice had come from. 

“H-Hello?” Scorpias voice echoed through the stairwell, but no response came. So she kept walking, each step bringing her further up along the staircase, and yet, she couldn't help but feel she wasn't ascending but descending, deeper, further, each step bringing her back into an ancient past long forgotten. 

The walls were changing, streaks and fractal veins of a strange red crystal breaking up the dull grey brownstone. A light emanated from the crystal, not enough for the hallway to be lit, but enough that it wasn't pitch black. 

Scorpia felt as though she was floating, each step bringing her no further from the start and yet no closer to her goal, she wasn't even sure if she was climbing up a staircase, walking down a hallway, or descending into the depths.

Then like the tinkling of a windchime, Scorpia heard the voice again, 

“ What are you trying to accomplish here Scorpia… ” It was Catra her voice was distorted, or perhaps muffled would be more accurate, but it was definitely her voice, and despite how impossible it was Scorpia couldn't help but call out.

“Wildcat? Where are you? Can you hear me?” And then, despite the way it made something twist in her stomach, “Are you ok?”

“ I’m fine… But clearly, there's something wrong with you. I mean come on, coming here all by yourself, singing? That bridge stunt? Honestly, it’s a miracle that you’ve gotten this far, if I was a betting woman I would’ve put money on you choking before this even started. ”

Scorpia wilted slightly, “Hey, that's not fair, I mean I do soccer all the time back home, and- and that's scary!”

The voice snorted, though it sounded more like someone shattered a glass thanks to the kaleidoscoping effect all the voices words were put through. “ Let's be honest, you don't exactly excel at the parts of soccer that don't involve kicking very hard. ”

Scorpia didn't respond, she simply clutched her hands tighter and kept trudging forward. She noticed the cracks of crystal seemed to expand as she progressed. Unfortunately, it seemed the voice got louder the further she went as well.

“ Not very good at the parts of anything that requires, a more ah- analytical mind shall we say? ” Scorpia could swear she saw Catras grin reflected in the dark red crystal, Cheshire and mocking and all fragmented across the hallway leaving its cruel visage unescapable. 

“ Not that there's anything wrong with that per se, someone’s got to be the muscle. And man are you the muscle, I would imagine the woman are just throwing themselves at you with a physique like that huh?” 

The cracks of crystal had grown large enough that Scorpia could see Catra reflected wherever she turned, her mouth still set in that taunting grin, and her finger now resting on the corner of her smile. 

“ Of course, you never quite got the one you wanted… Kinda makes you wonder why? I suppose looks can only make up for so much, and let's be honest you were trying to make up for a lot. ”

The image seemed to twist and float in its own world, stopping when it seemed to be lying on its side, one eyebrow raised as though examining Scorpia with a critical eye. It was all Scorpia could do to keep pressing forward, desperate as she was to let the vision and its words pass over her she was tempted to run, to get this trial over as quickly as possible. But there was no guarantee that running would even speed things up, in fact, given the way this world had seemed to react to her emotions there was a decent chance it would make things even worse. So she set her jaw and pushed on, if she could just ignore the voice, ignore her smile, ignore her , she could make it…

“ I mean, hey you got someone eventually, so good on you Scorps. Of course, it makes sense that the one person whos willing to tolerate your… quirks is a straight boy… ”

“Don't say that! I- I know you don't like Floris, but- but you don't have to say anything ok? I just want my friends to get along…” Scorpia knew she messed up, you never, never engage when someone was taunting you, that was what she had learned over her years. 

“ Aw Scorps, I like Floris. I mean, as much as I like anyone. I’m just saying, let's not kid ourselves here, let's have a little self-respect huh? He’s a straight boy in high school, he would roll over for anything that had a pair of tits. But your right he’s nice, perfect for you, I guess it's just too bad you have to settle for a guy. I certainly couldn't do it. But at the end of the day you were always more accommodating. ”

“You- I- You know that's not fair!”

The veins of crystal had grown large enough that she could clearly see almost all of Catra. In fact, no matter where she turned she saw Catra as though she was in a hall of mirrors but instead of her reflection, it was Catra. Staring at her, smiling at her, judging her. 

“Sure, sure it isn't Scorps. Look, I like Floris, he’s nice, fine, I’m just saying it's too bad you have to compromise-”

“I’m not compromising! Ok?” Scorpia’s voice echoed out “I don’t know why you're being so- so-” Scorpias voice trailed off, and she shied away from Catras disappointed glare. “Sorry, I- I shouldn't have yelled… I just-” for a moment she glanced back up at Catra making eye contact for a brief second before she snapped her head away again. Catra remained silent, staring down at her, and Scorpia tugged her jacket closer around her shoulders, fighting down a shiver. She hadn't noticed that her clothes had reverted to the red windbreaker, burgundy tank, and black jeans she had worn into this strange world until now. Though she wasn't surprised. 

Catra finally broke the silence, her voice caring a stern tone even about the strange modulations it went through, “ Really though, what are you doing here Scorp? I mean-”

“I don't have many options now do I?” Catra glared at her, and Scorpia could feel her stomach drop, “sorry…”

“ Yeah, so like I was saying, what are you doing here, and not like ” Catra waved her hands, gesturing all around her, “ But like, here. ” To emphasize her point Catra jerked her thumb down, pointing to where the ground should have been. Though, now that the crystal completely surrounded Scorpia she could see that Catra was just floating over nothing. 

“ It just doesn't feel like your… style to take the lead like this, I know I wouldn't trust you to keep everything together if I was there. ”

Scorpia flinched slightly at the words but didn't fight back. 

“I don't really have much choice? I mean, we had to cross the bridge, and we had to get through the Hall, and both of those had to be me. It w- well it didn't really feel like I had any choice there.” 

Catra nodded, seemingly contemplating something, “ Well I suppose… But now I’m here, so why don't you just let me take the lead from here huh? ” 

Scorpia froze, her foot halfway to the next stair. She- she really didn't like the sound of that. The idea, that after all this she had to give up any control and go back to being in Catras shadow… But she was right, Catra would handle this so much better than she could.

“ Look Scorp, you’ve done… Surprisingly well so far, but just let me take the lead, and then you and your boyfriend can run off and stop bothering me. ” 

“But- but-” Any words Scorpia could think of seemed to twist in her throat. “Wildcat… I don't know…” She couldn't seem to stop wringing her hands, and her heart was racing. 

“Oh my god, Scorpia just let me do it, I swear this is just getting sad to watch. I mean honestly, what do you think is gonna be at the end of this staircase? An annoying hug competition? A stupid tea-making battle? No, it's gonna be something that requires actually useful skills. You know stuff that I’m good at, so just shut up, get out of the way and let the people who actually know what they're doing take care of things for once, instead of just hogging the spotlight. Christ, I bet even your tree-hugging boyfriend could've told you half of that…”

Scorpia felt her stomach twist and her legs shake. She, she wasn't doing that? Was she? Floris, wouldn't say that, wouldn't think that, but- but- 

“S-sorry,” Scorpia mumbled, hanging her head.

“ Right. now then how bout you follow me, and help me out of this stupid staircase huh? ” Catra started moving further up the stairs, or, well her equivalent, and Scorpia found herself running slightly to keep up with the reflection. 

“ So I was thinking once I find my way outa here we should figure out some way to get back at Adora. Cause I was at this party last week and she was ignoring me! She spent the whole time talking to those new friends of hers, and completely ignored me! The nerve, I mean seriously what does that sparkly bitch have that I don't! ”

“Uh, s-sorry to interrupt here Wildcat, but didn't you tell Adora not to talk to you last week?”

Catra glared at her, face contorted in a sneer. “ I don't remember asking for your opinion now did I? ” 

Scorpia could feel something twist in her chest, but stayed silent, the only sign that she even heard Catra at all was a slight slow in her pace. Scorpia felt like she was floating. She knew they weren't getting any further, it was as though she could feel the hallway stretching out in front of her, each step she took not bringing her any closer to the end. It wasn't fair, she had been doing so well, she had helped Floris, she had sung in front of all those people. But here she was, just following Catra again. Letting her trash her friends, letting her trash Scorpia. 

Her hands clenched, hard enough to ache slightly. She didn't want to fight Catra, she still cared about Catra, and still wanted to keep Catra as a friend. But she wasn't sure if she could go back to this. 

“Wildcat… I-” Scorpia managed to choke out, freezing when the cascading reflections of Catra turned to look at her all at once. 

“ What … come on speak up. ” Scorpia could feel her stomach twist and churn. She wasn't sure what to say, there was so much she wanted to but she couldn't find the words. Catra just glared at her, pinning her in place. She noticed then, somehow right in front of her was the door at the end of the stairway. Carved entirely out of red crystal, and nearly featureless except for a small handle, and of course one of the many reflections of Catra that stared out at her angrily. And it was hard to explain, and it didn't make sense, not logically, but Scorpia knew just knew, that Catra was blocking her way to that door. 

“Wildcat, I really need to get through that door.” 

“Oh? You do? And why should I let you? What possible reason would I have to do that?”
Scorpia was a little stunned, why was Catra, or at least this projection of her, acting like this. Catra wasn't like this, not really! Sure she could be a bit pushy and she wasn't super patient, but she wasn't mean! I mean not really, right? Except for all those times she skipped out on plans because of Adora drama. Or that time she let Entrapta get suspended for something she did. Or well, now that she thought about it there really were more examples of Catra not being a good friend than she remembered. But she was still her friend she still cared about her, right?

“Come on Wildcat, we’re friends, I don't understand why your fighting me on this?”

“ We’re friends? Oh, are we now? Cause I don't remember ever saying I wanted you to be your friend. All I remember is another annoying person following me around. So no, I’m not gonna let you through just cause ‘we’re fwends’ or something. ”

Catra was breathing hard now, her voice echoing throughout the whole staircase, and Scorpia wasn't sure if she wanted to cry or give her a hug. 

“Cause once you step through that door your gonna leave me! Just like everyone does, and- and- I won't let you! No one is ever going to leave me again! So your going to stay there and listen to me and I am going to make sure you cant ruin anything like you always do! Or- or else!”

Tears were streaming down Catras face, but she was still staring down at Scorpia full of fury. It was just one Catra now, the multitudes of reflections gone, leaving just one Catra facing down Scorpia all alone. 

Scorpias eyes darted around, seeming to take in everything about her friend that she could, cause no matter what she said that's what they were, friends. Her eyes were red, her clothes were disheveled but not in the purposeful way they had always seemed before. Had that ever been purposeful? Her hands were clenched and shaking at her side. She looked terrified.

She was a wreck. 

“Oh.” Scorpias's voice was quiet but still seemed to pierce through any other noise that tried to crowd the stairwell. She was crying, but she didn't feel broken, she was hurt but life wasn't over. And as she whispered her thoughts pouring out of her, she slowly made her way up the last stairs. “I- I can’t fix you. Not when you don't want to get better…”

She was face to face with Catra now. Her different colored eyes were wide, and she had taken a step back, tears still streaking her face. “Wildcat, I- I’m sorry, but I think this is for the best, for both of us.” 

Scorpia reached out, clutching something that might’ve been Catras shoulder, or might've been the handle for the door. She took a deep breath, her lips pressed together in a thin line. “I- No. Wildcat, you are not a good friend. And, I hope, one day, we get to try all this again, and we get to do it right. Until then, I-” She pressed her eyes together for a moment, before opening them again, locking eyes with Catra. “Until then, goodbye Wildcat, I love you…” 

Then she opened the door and stepped through. The room she stepped into was dark, dark enough that she couldn't quite make out the walls even with the relatively small space. In its center sat a giant crystal, it was a deep red, nearly black, and seemed to radiate light despite its shadowy coloration. 

Her breath caught in her throat, and she found herself reaching out toward the crystal despite her reservations. She wanted to grab it, to take hold of her future and not look back. But fear still tugged at the back of her mind. What if she wasn't good enough for Floris's friends? What if Floris decided she wasn't good enough at all? She could feel herself hyperventilating, and her hands twisted together with anxiety. In fear, she took a step back from the crystal, the deep black-red monolith suddenly seeming imposing and threatening rather than mysterious and enticing. 

What if Floris was just as bad as Catra? What if she traded one cruel fake friend for another? How would she even know? Was- Was she being a bad friend already by doubting Floris? The room seemed to shrink, and the air grew hot. Scorpia pressed her hands to her head, desperately trying to stop the thoughts that were rushing by like a freight train. 

She wasn't supposed to be here, she realized that now, this- this must all be some huge mistake. Scorpia collapsed onto the floor her back pressed up against the crystal doorway now sealed shut behind her. None of this was right, someone else should’ve come, someone else should’ve been taken!

 Maybe, Adora, she was like Scorpia in so many ways but seemed to be just that extra bit put together. Just a bit more confident, just a bit more attractive, just a bit more lovable. Or Glimmer she was great, so positive, so excited, always ready to take on the world. Scorpia was sure she would’ve helped Floris through this so much better. Or Bow! Oh, Bow he was so sweet and kind, and gentile, and so much that Scorpia tried to be and just wasn't. 

She wasn't perfect like Adora, she wasn't a leader like Glimmer, and she wasn't someone people went to for support like Bow. She was just Scorpia, just the muscle you threw at a problem till it broke. Just the henchwoman, just the backup, just the, ‘Yeah, I guess we’re friends...

“ And yet here you are dearie. You're the one Floris needed, not anyone else. ” 

Scorpias head shot up, eyes wide, “Razz? Razz where are you?”

“ Ah, I am quite sorry dearie, but unfortunately even old Razz can’t be in two places at once. But you seemed like you needed some help so here I am! ”

“I don't need help,” She sighed, resting her head back on her knees, “I need to be someone else.”
“And why would you think that dearie?” Scorpia laughed ruefully and then sighed. 

“Nobody needs me , they make do with me you know? They put up with me…” Silence filled the darkroom for a minute, and Scorpia almost thought Razz was gone until she spoke again. 

“ Floris needs you dearie, not Adora, or Bow, but you. ”

Scorpia let out something between a laugh and a snort. “Nah, he doesn't, pretty much anyone else could’ve done what I did… I just got lucky to be able to tag along with him.”

Even without a physical form, Scorpia could swear she felt Razz shaking her head in frustration. “ Ah, you are doing it again! You let her get into your head and now you cant tell the difference between her thoughts and yours! It is no good!” Scorpia could swear she felt something strike her head and winced before realizing she was still completely alone. 

“No! I’m sorry Razz but you're wrong… When- when we first got here you said I- you said I was a knight… But I’m no knight, I’m not brave, or- or cool or anything. I’m just the muscle… And Floris doesn't need that, he needs someone more…”

“ Dearie, all you need to be a knight is to be there for your person when they need you. To be kind, to be what they need. And most importantly to know your own worth. And dearie, maybe I’m wrong, but I think you’ve been doing that this whole time.” 

Scorpia could feel tears rolling down her cheeks though she hadn’t noticed she had started to cry till she felt them drop onto her hands. 

“ Dearie, I won't say you have to do anything, or that things need to turn out one way or another. But the door put the two of you together for a reason. Floris needs someone to support her, and you, you need someone to support, someone who loves you.”

Scorpia felt like she was floating she was tired, and some part of her, a part that sounded a lot like Catra, was arguing against her. But she would be lying if she said Razz didn't make sense.

“If- If that's true, then what do I do? How do I help, how?”

Razz was silent for another minute, and when she finally spoke her voice was quieter than before, but it still carried all through that small room. “ Dearie, all you need to do is be there for her, she’s going to need something new to protect her soon. And If I’m being honest I think you’d do a much better job than what she’s got now… ”

Then she was gone, Scorpia waited a minute or two but it seemed that once again she was alone. She sighed, dragging herself to her feet. 

“So it's just you and me again huh?” The crystal unsurprisingly didn't respond, it stayed there, glowing slightly beckoning Scorpia forward. 

So she stared back, her fingers nervously drumming at her side while she tried to decide what to do. Fears and concerns whizzed through her head, all while her heartbeat anxiously. She wasn't sure what to do! This was really not her area, all this pondering and debating and figuring out just what made the most sense. 

Scorpia had always followed her heart. And sometimes it hurt her, and sometimes it was right, and usually, it was somewhere in the middle. So she stopped, she wrangled the buzzing cloud of thoughts that were in her head, she took a deep breath and focused on slowing her heartbeat. And she asked her heart what it wanted to do. 

As soon as the palm of her hand connected with the crystal red lightning arced out striking across the room and causing the hair on Scorpias arms to stand on end. Despite this Scorpia couldn't fight the grin that appeared on her face. Long heartwrenching conversations about friendship and self-identity were fine, but whatever this magic lightning crystal was about to throw at her felt much more up her ally. Her ally of course was anything that required an undue amount of physical effort to achieve.

Lightning continued to dance around the room, bathing Scorpia in red light but never struck her. suddenly a great burst of force, almost like a huge gust of wind slammed into Scorpia, almost taking her hand off the crystal before she pushed it back. The force didn't let up though, and Scorpia quickly hunched her back, planting her feet as solidly as she could. As she went to place her left hand on the crystal however the force started up again, even stronger, pushing her back nearly an inch and leaving only the fingertips of her right hand on its smooth surface. 

Scorpia grimaced and took a deep breath of the charged air around her. The force pushed against her as hard as ever, and the lightning seemed only more eager, however, she would not be deterred. One step forward, followed by another, both hands held out in front of her. Setting her jaw and gritting her teeth, even while each new pulse sent a wave of strain through her muscles. 

The fingertips of her left hand brushed against the crystal causing a wave of electricity to surge up her arms and settle in her stomach. She cringed, or maybe smiled, it was hard to tell the difference with all the adrenaline coursing through her body. The crystal seemed to react as well sending another wave against her. 

Except she wasn't sure if it was pushing against her anymore. Because even as more electricity surged through her she didn't feel any pain or even anything shoving her away. It was more like she was rooted to the ground feeling the power flow through her.

Bother her hands were firmly pressed against the crystal then. And the energy seemed to shift again, drawing her in so hard she found herself digging her heels in as to not get crushed into its ebony surface. The Scarlet lightning continued to arc off, increasingly erratic and rapid. The air was charged, each breath sending an ozone tinged tingle down her throat. 

She wasn't sure where she was being pulled anymore. Only that she was being dragged somewhere though her body wasn't being moved. Her stomach twisted and flipped like the floor had just dropped out from under her, and suddenly she was somewhere else. Staring down at someone else. 

They were blonde and willowy. Though when she tried to stare closer, to get a better idea of who it was their outline seemed to shift. At first, she thought it was just their clothes but she could see after a moment it was more than that. Their shoulders, their arms, everything seemed to shift. Slightly but noticeably. The only things that stayed the same were the hair and the eyes. The eyes looked just like Floris’s.

The figure doubled over, clutching at their head and Scorpia immediately ran forward to comfort them. Before she could she felt a hand on her shoulder stopping her. Her head immediately snapped to the side, and her eyes widened. It was Floris, though he looked slightly different. There were deep bags under his eyes and what looked like slight stubble on his chin. But he had the same sad but comforting smile that she had seen before, and the same gleam in his eyes, though it seemed a bit off now. 

“Thank you.” His voice was deeper too, though not by much, and it was soft as always. 

Scorpia was still too stunned to really process what was happing, however, and just stuttered out a weak, “wh- what? No, uh no problem? What's going on? Will, she be-” 

“I tried to protect her for so long that I guess… I guess I forgot how to stop, but, she doesn't need that now…” He took his hand off her shoulder, and after one last look back turned and began to walk away, deeper into the white that Scorpia only now realized seemed to make up this strange in-between realm. He paused while walking for a second, however, and spoke again. “Take care of her ok? She deserves all the love in the world.” then he was gone, and Scorpia was alone with the other figure, the one that was still clutching her head but had stopped shifting.

She was wearing a pink dress very similar to what Floris wore in the Hall, though her hair lacked the flowers he had.

“Hey, F-” She stopped herself, remembering the pained reaction that had garnered back in the Hall. “Hey, it's ok, I’m here alright?” She crouched down and pulled the shaking form into a deep hug. “Shhhh it's alright, it's alright, everything's going to be alright…” 

“I’m scared,” she spoke, and her voice was just like Floris’s and yet, not at all, it was even softer somehow. And even though it was just a whisper it shocked Scorpia to her core, electric energy flowing across her skin from head to toe. 

“Don't worry, I won't let anything hurt you, I’ll be here no matter what, ok?” The figure seemed to stop shaking, and pressed deeper into Scorpias embrace, something she took as a good sign. Then she spoke again, she wasn't quite sure what inspired her to speak the words, it was as though they just poured out of her. “I’ll be your knight…” As soon as they left her lips Scorpia could feel the ground drop out from under her again and she lost track of everything.

Scorpia jolted awake, her right hand pressed firmly against the side of the crystal as though nothing had happened. But she quickly realized, something was different. A pair of dark crimson fingerless gloves that came all the way up to her elbows hugged both her arms. Their material was thick but comfortable, and they were perfectly tailored to her. There was something else there as well, like a power that hummed in her fingers and then trailed all the way up to her shoulders where it sat tense and coiled, but not painful just waiting. 

As she drew her hand away from the crystal, a web of red lightning trailed behind it crackling. And as her awareness of her surroundings slowly returned she noticed how the walls seemed to sparkle in a way they hadn't before. Adding to that was the doorway that was newly opened in the wall opposite her. There was a short flight of stairs blocking much of her view, however light still poured in casting the whole room in a sparkling rainbow that seemed so foreign here. 

She took a deep breath and climbed the stairs, a shudder running through her slightly at the feeling of the sun hitting her face. Slowly she climbed up the short stairway still a bit stunned to be out in the open after what felt like so long. It opened up to the outside, back into that same grey desert filled with those same strange dead feeling crystals. 

As soon as she stepped onto the sand the energy in her shoulders pulsed and filled her whole body, leaping down her spine and pooling in her stomach. She felt like a lightning rod, or a battery filled to the brim with energy and only barley able to contain it. 

The sand stretched out in every direction reflecting the grey of the cloud-filled sky. But there was a whole, a single piercing patch of blue standing alone in the monotone ash colored sky. 

As soon as Scorpia laid eyes on it she could feel all the energy pooled within her leap and surge forward, tugging on her fingers and sending tingles across her whole body. 

Slowly, like she was in a dream she raised her hands to the sky, and specifically toward that small patch of blue. As soon as her arms were even with it each finger extended and grasping a massive tingle ran through her entire body, starting deep in her chest and pulsing out to the rest of her. It didn’t reach all the way to her fingers, however, not even making it to her forearms. 

Then another wave washed over her, even more intense, this time washing all the way to her wrists, though no further. All the energy was forced into her hands which buzzed so hard they almost hurt. But still, she remained, rooted to the ground, unable to move her legs and with her arms still locked pointing up to the sky. 

She felt it building deep in her chest. A final wave that would either force all the power from her or it would destroy her. Scorpia grit her teeth, desprate to get a lungful of air despite the pressure that seemed to be crushing her from every direction. It was getting harder to focus, and she was starting to suspect that she wouldn’t make it through the final pulse when she heard it. 

“ Scorpia! ” It was Floris, his voice was quiet, though Scorpia had a feeling that was more to do with her situation than his location. But the concern was clear and pleading.

It was all Scorpia could do to growl out a choked up laugh and a half-smile she hoped was thrown in the right direction, before right as the final wave bared down on her she yelled back, her voice horse and tense but seeming to still project a confidence she wasn't sure if she mirrored on the inside. 

“Don’t worry babe! I got this, I’m the muscle remember? All this is kinda my job!” Then with a deafening crash, and the brightist flash Scorpia had ever seen a solid pillar of briliant red lightning erupted from her fingertips surging into the sky before expanding out in a roaring torrent of scarlet energy. 

The last thing Scorpia saw as she passed out was Floris, no longer wearing the dress. Around him, the previously grey looking desert now shone with brilliant rainbow light. The previously dead crystal each gave off a gorgeous prismatic display, and even the sand, previously monotone and cloying now sparkled and shimmered with every color imaginable in the warm soothing sunlight. 

‘ Well, that's not a bad view to pass out to huh? ’ was the last thought that crossed Scorpias mind before everything went dark and she hit the sand with a thud.