Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Catra’s day wasn’t going too bad, all things considered, until Shadow Weaver called. Catra’s phone buzzed in her pocket, startling her and making her glad she was hiding- uh, taking her break, in the back room of her shop. She had an image to maintain, after all. 

“Hey, Shadow Weaver,” Catra drawled when she picked up the call. “Lose another shade?” 

“Catra,” Weaver half-snarled. It was always nice to know that Catra could still make her angry. The odd silence that followed also told Catra that her guess had been on the money. “Yes. Several of their personal effects will be waiting for you in your… post box.” 

Given that Catra and Melog had spread the bloody entrails of the last demonic delivery boy across half of Bright Moon, it wasn’t a huge surprise that Shadow Weaver had finally decided to listen for once and stay the hell away from Catra’s apartment. 

“I can’t wait,” Catra replied, not bothering to hide her dripping sarcasm. 

“Do not be flippant with me-” 

“One more word and I hang up,” Catra snapped. The days of letting Shadow Weaver berate her were long over. Her escape might not have been as permanent as she would have liked, but she was still sort of free, and she was going to milk that as much as she could. 

Shadow Weaver didn’t say anything for a long moment. Catra spent the time imagining the demonic sorceress muting her phone and screaming in rage inside her literal hellhole. Real or not, the idea made Catra feel all warm and fuzzy inside. 

“This is a crucial task. Do not fail me, Catra.” 

“You have so little faith in me,” Catra shot back, letting her smirk bleed into her voice. “I’ll handle it. And in exchange, you’ll release the third Link.” 

Catra knew she was pushing it. If it was that important of a rogue shade though, she would take her dues. 

“Fine,” Shadow Weaver said a moment later. 

“Great. Thanks!” Catra crooned before hanging up. She cackled a few times, a rare reaction to finishing a phone call with her demonic adoptive ‘parent’. Normally talking to Weaver made her want to find the nearest bridge, but the prospect of losing her third Link was too good to let the sorceress corrupt her happiness. Assuming she didn’t fuck this up, she’d only have one more Link binding her to Shadow Weaver’s will. She’d be actually free, instead of the shitty Terms and Conditions Apply version she was living at the moment. 

Catra ambled back into the shop proper, which was a dusty, gloomy place lined with rickety shelves bearing lots of weird shit. Most of it was garbage, fake necronomicons and talismans and whatever. The whole store was mostly just a cover for Catra’s actual business, namely that of handling whatever bizarre supernatural shit Bright Moon’s ‘in the know’ individuals needed help with. It turned out that being a displaced demon from Hell meant that Catra had an excellent pulse on local spooky shit, and she made good money investigating, expelling, and otherwise dealing with all kinds of weird stuff. Weird stuff by normal human standards, that is. The word had lost most of its meaning to Catra by now. After scraping gremlins off of the rolly part of a steamroller from 1922 with a pink plastic spatula, she’d learned to just kinda take things in stride. 

Anyway, the shop was a good place to meet with clients, and an even better way to launder the cash she got for her less-than-legal activities. There weren’t any laws against banishing shades or killing vampires and things, but it was still better to keep the government out of it. Also, it was hers. Her space, her responsibility, her everything. Sure, she only had the one employee and by all rights the store should have gone under within a month of opening, but it was still hers. After growing up in Hell under Shadow Weaver’s heavy, oversized, invasive, evil thumb, that meant a lot to Catra. 

Kyle jumped from behind the counter when Catra walked in, still smirking. He looked vaguely terrified, but he always looked like that around her. For some reason the skinny blonde was convinced he was one mistake away from being fired at any given moment. It was pretty funny. If Catra had been trying to run a legitimate business maybe she wouldn’t have hired her old roommate’s boyfriend, but he was mostly just there so she didn’t have to drag herself out of bed every morning to open the place up. That and to do customer service for the occasional normie who stumbled in. No one wanted to see Catra attempt that particular endeavor. 

“Hi Catra!” Kyle squeaked. “What um, what’s up?” 

“I don’t know, Kyle. What’s up?” 

Pure terror shot across his face. Catra’s smirk became fang-filled, just for good measure. Actual sweat started to bead across his forehead, even if he couldn’t see the fangs themselves. 

He was saved by the literal bell hanging from the front door. It jangled loudly as someone pushed the door open and entered the shop. Catra didn’t have any clients that week, which meant the newcomer was probably one of the aforementioned normies there to ogle all the scary occult stuff Catra stocked because it made her laugh. The real supplies were in the back. 

Catra turned toward the door to get a peek, but whoever it was had already ducked behind one of the shelves. With her luck it was a robber or something. If Kyle got shot Lonnie would kill her. Customer service was pretty much the last thing Catra wanted to do ever, but if it was in the name of stopping Lonnie from finally trying to stab her, it would be worth it. Maybe. 

She dodged around the edge of the nearest shelf and nearly slammed into them. Tall, wearing a worn red bomber jacket and dark jeans, with a blonde ponytail pulled back to make a dumb poof in the front, there was no discernible reason that Catra’s stomach decided to flip. Gray-blue eyes widened in surprise, and the newcomer’s mouth made a comical ‘o’ before their voice stammered to life. 

“Sorry! I didn’t see you there.” They actually looked contrite, which would’ve been funny if Catra hadn’t begun to sweat for no reason at all. They gave Catra a second appraisal, which was never a good sign. She felt her hackles rising, and she had to sternly tell her tail not to knock anything off of the nearby shelves. “Cute costume. Do you come here often?” 

Catra glanced down at herself. Costume? And does she come here often?

“Yep,” Catra drawled. “Given that I own the place.” 

“Oh. Oh! You’re Catra!” 

Uh, nope. Weird humans who knew her name but she’d never met were an even worse sign than the long looks. Catra’s ears pinned back against her head and her tail started to lash. She was very glad of the illusion covering her non-human features. She’d learned to control her expression just fine, but her tail and ears had long resisted her best efforts. 

“Woah,” the newcomer breathed. “Are they animatronic?” 

“Who are you?” Catra said, doing her best not to snap because this was a customer. Then their words sank in. They… could see her. They thought the ears and tail were a costume which, sure, it was only a week after Halloween. But they could see through Catra’s illusion. 

Catra had escaped to Etheria just over a year ago, and her illusion had only failed her once before, when Entrapta had built those freaky interdimensional goggles that disassembled an empty parking lot before putting it back together perfectly. Before the explosion, she’d seen Catra’s true form. But that was it. 

“Oh, sorry! I’m Adora, she/her,” Adora said, offering her hand with a wide smile. The tension in Catra’s belly redoubled, and she glared at the outstretched hand. Adora dropped it a moment later without losing the smile. Catra needed to hand this person off to Kyle as soon as possible, because no one in the world would be dumb enough to keep thinking her tail and ears were animatronic if they watched them for more than ten seconds. Adora had to be pretty oblivious to think that at all. 

“Kyle can help you find what you need,” Catra said, even though Kyle didn’t know what a quarter of the things in the shop were, real or not. She just needed to escape before this feeling in her chest got worse. 

“I hear you carry cleansed water,” Adora said, ignoring Kyle completely. Dammit. “How much will three bottles run me?” 

“Can’t you just go to a-” Catra choked the word out “-church?”

“Cleansed water, not holy water,” Adora replied, wrinkling her nose in a way that tugged on something beneath Catra’s collarbone. “Holy water has too many side effects.” 

Well, she wasn’t wrong there. “A hundred,” Catra said, mostly because she wanted Adora gone as fast as possible. To Catra’s dismay, Adora didn’t even blink. 

“Done. Where is it?” 

“In the back,” Catra said. “Kyle will ring you up while I grab it. Three bottles?” 

Adora nodded. “I’d like to test it first. People have tried to sell me mineral water before.” She huffed. “Do I look like an easy mark to you?”

Catra couldn’t help but smirk at her. “Yes.” 

Her eyes flicker back up to Catra’s ears, and the feline did her best to keep them stiff and artificial-looking. She fled to the back as fast as she could without making it look like she was running, and started rifling around the myriad boxes and other clutter that she’d already accumulated. She found the cleansed water easily enough, mostly because she’d been using it recently herself. Good thing, too. She somehow doubted that bottled water would fool Adora, ‘animatronic’ ears notwithstanding, and this way Catra got to stick it to some of the evilest corporations on the planet. A win-win in her book. 

She grabbed three jars of the stuff and slunk back into the shop proper. Adora had her cash out already but was holding onto it for the moment. She gave the jars in Catra’s hand an expectant look. Catra plunked all three down on the counter and watched as Adora unstoppered the first and dabbed a bit of water onto her finger. She sniffed it, licked it, then held the jar up to the light, where it sparkled under the pale incandescence. Catra gave her a critical glance. Any one of those methods might have detected a fake, but all three was almost guaranteed to. Adora knew her business, then.

“Looks good,” she said before stoppering the bottle and plopping five twenties down on the counter. She stuffed all three bottles into her jacket pockets. “Thanks! Do you stock this regularly?” Catra nodded warily, because she did and this was easy cash. “Great! Maybe I’ll see you again sometime. Bye!” 

She practically skipped out of the store. Fucking weird. 

“I think I’m getting sick,” Catra announced while staring up at the ceiling of Lonnie’s apartment. She was laying on the big, squishy couch her old roommate had bought for the new apartment, trying to decipher the swirling sensations twisting through her as she replayed the day’s meeting. 

“You’re a demon from Hell,” Lonnie replied from where she was slicing up chicken for the evening’s dinner. “You can’t get sick.” 

“You don’t know that.” 

“Uh, yeah, I kind of do. I’ve been dating one for years. Rogelio has quite literally never gotten sick, and neither have you.” 

Catra groaned, because Lonnie wasn’t wrong about that. “Then tell me why I feel all weird.” 

She turned to raise an eyebrow at Catra’s prostrate form. “Yeah, I’m gonna need a little more to work with than that.” 

“This girl came into the shop today,” Catra began. 

“You got a real customer?” Lonnie interrupted. “Damn, that is weird.”

“Fuck off. Anyway, she comes up to me and asks do you come here often, which like, isn’t that a shitty pickup line?” Lonnie nodded, eyebrow still raised. “Anyway, she knew who I was, which is creepy.” 

"You did name your shop after yourself," Lonnie said mildly.

Catra paused. "Oh. Right. That's not important." She ran a hand through her hair. "Anyway-"

“What’d she look like?” Lonnie interjected again. “Maybe I know her.” 

“Uh, tall, maybe five-eight. Blue eyes that felt like she was cutting a hole in me, blonde hair in a dumb ponytail thing, and cheekbones that-” 

Catra stopped, because Lonnie was doubled over, shaking with wheezing laughter. She had to support herself with one hand on the kitchen counter while tears streamed from her eyes, gasping for breath. 

“Oh my god,” she choked out. “Holy shit. This might actually be the best thing I’ve ever heard.” 

“It’s not funny,” Catra insisted, growing increasingly irritated. Lonnie was always a bit of a prick, but she was usually more helpful than this. “I think she put a spell on me or something. I haven’t been able to think straight since she showed up.” 

Lonnie snorted. “Yeah, you’re definitely not thinking straight.” 

Catra was starting to get worried now. Was there something actually wrong with her? She knew that her understanding of humans was a little… skewed. Probably because most of her information about human interactions came from TV shows, and her only friends were the asshole in the room with her, said asshole's goofy boyfriend, another demon, and a geek who spent more time with technology than people. But this seemed like an overreaction from Lonnie. 

“Are you gonna explain what’s so funny or just keep getting snot on our dinner?” Catra asked, because Lonnie was supposed to be making fajitas. “Do you know what’s happening to me?” 

“Do I know-” she snorted, but kept it together. “Yeah, yeah I know. Your stomach flipped a few times when you saw her? Maybe when she talked to you?” Catra nodded, feeling relieved that Lonnie was familiar with this particular ailment. “You probably stared at her when you first saw her, right?” 

“Yeah.” Catra sat up on the couch. “You seem pretty experienced with this. What’s wrong with me? How do I fix it?” 

Lonnie barked out a laugh. “Fix it? Honey, you can’t fix it.”

“Fix what? ” Catra demanded. 

“Based on your symptoms, I’d say you just got your very first crush.” 

Catra blinked. “Crush?” 

“Oh, come on, really?” Lonnie sighed exaggeratedly. “You know, you meet someone and you’re attracted to them. You can’t stop thinking about them, the thought of being close to them, touching them, is exciting. How many times have you gone over whatever conversation you had with her?” 

“...More than once,” Catra admitted. “But I’m not- I’m not attracted to her. I’m not attracted to anybody. I’m a demon from Hell. I mean, how would that even work?”

Lonnie gave Catra a sidelong glance as she finally got back to making dinner. “Pretty easily. And yeah, from the sound of it, you are attracted to this girl. Don’t worry, it’s normal.” 

“How long does it take to go away?” Catra asked, because it was seriously inconvenient. And weird. 

“Depends on how serious,” Lonnie said. “You might forget about her next week. She might haunt you til your last day on Etheria.” 

Catra groaned again and buried her head in her hands. “This sucks.”

“You know, there’s always one way to get over a crush quickly,” Lonnie said. Catra didn’t miss the devious undertone to her voice. 

“What’s that?” Catra asked warily, because as much as she’d grown to fear Lonnie’s devious streak (with good reason), she definitely didn't want to spend the rest of her life thinking about someone she exchanged ten words with. 

“Ask her out,” Lonnie replied promptly. “Either you hit it off, or more likely, you don’t and realize it never would have worked out. Way easier to forget about it that way. None of those pesky ‘what if’s’ hanging over you, you know?” 

“I can’t do that!” Catra yelped. “I- I don’t even know how!” That wasn’t strictly true, but Catra was pretty sure that copying things from shows was more likely to mortally embarrass her than land her a date.

Lonnie rolled her eyes and chopped up another pepper. “Only one way to learn.” 

“I’m not doing it,” Catra declared, turning her nose up at the very thought. 

“Suit yourself. Don’t expect me to put up with your weird pining, though.”

“I’m not pining,” Catra shot back immediately. She definitely wasn't still imagining Adora's face, and certainly wasn't picturing it with the goofy smile the blonde had been wearing when she'd skipped out of Catra's shop. That would just be weird. And pathetic. And obviously not happening.

“Catra, you’re laying on my couch talking about a girl you spoke five sentences to. You’re pining.” 

She tossed more spices into the bowl where she was marinading the chicken, which was starting to smell really good. Catra let herself get lost in the delicious aroma, both because it was great and well worth getting lost in, but also because it smelled better than literally all of Hell ever, and she suddenly wanted a reminder that she wasn’t there anymore. That she was mostly free, and got to do things like lay around on her ex-roommate’s couch while she made dinner and just talk. 

Of course, that reminded Catra that she was going to have to spend the night hunting a rogue shade across Bright Moon rather than getting to curl up with a good book or rewatch one of her favorite shows. Maybe she could convince Melog to come along this time. They had to be bored after so much time alone in her apartment. 

“So, about this date,” Lonnie said after flicking on the stove. “You’ll have to see the girl again at some point to ask. I doubt she gave you her digits.” Catra shook her head cautiously. “She might also just say no, which is the shortest solution. Don’t even have to bother with the date then.” 

“I don’t know why you think I’m just gonna ask a random human on a date in the first place,” Catra grumbled. Then she remembered the perfect out to this whole conversation, which she really should have led with. “Especially when she can see through my illusion.”

Lonnie turned a wide-eyed glare on her. “You just thought to mention this?” 

Catra shrugged. She wasn’t about to admit that it had almost slipped her mind in favor of daydreaming about- no one. Daydreaming about no one. 

“What was she even doing in your shop?” Lonnie asked, still a little off-balance. 

“Buying cleansed water,” Catra said. 

“Can’t she get that for free from a church?” 

“That’s what I said! But she complained about the side effects, which true, holy water has all kinds of issues. Fleeced her for a hundred bucks, though.” Catra probably shouldn’t have sounded proud about that, but Lonnie didn’t comment. 

“So she knows the difference between two extremely similar magical… things,” Lonnie said. 

“Reagents,” Catra corrected, just to be annoying. 

“Whatever. That means she’s probably in the know. More than I was when I started dating Rogelio.” 

“And your point?” Catra demanded.

“I don’t think it’s a big deal,” Lonnie said, grabbing an onion. 

“Not a big- What?! How is me being from Hell not a big deal?” 

“Rogelio’s from Hell and he’s one of the nicest people I know,” Lonnie countered. “I really don’t see the problem.” 

“Yeah, but you’re weird,” Catra said. “Most people would have a problem dating a literal demon.” 

“Because you’re such an authority on what ‘most people’ think,” Lonnie smirked. Catra hissed at her, because she wasn’t wrong but it was still rude. “If you think it’s a problem, I don’t know, wear a hat.” 

“She’d still find out eventually! I have a whole-ass tail, Lonnie. It’s kinda hard to hide.” 

“Yeah, and you leave enough fur around for two dogs,” Lonnie agreed. She paused. “Look, can I level with you?” 

“Were you not before?” 

Lonnie rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean.” Catra shrugged and looked away. “I get why you’re a little freaked out about her finding out.” 

“I’m freaked out about anyone finding out,” Catra corrected. “Pitchforks and torches, Lonnie.” 

“Normal people, sure,” Lonnie allowed. “But if she’s already in the scene, it’s not a big ask. It wasn’t for me, anyway.” 

“Again, you’re weird,” Catra maintained. “What if she finds out and tries to cut off my ears for her collection or something?” 

Lonnie snorted. “Then you blast her ass and feed her to Melog. I’ve seen the two of you take down way nastier things than a hot blonde.” 

Catra grumbled at that, even though it was true. 

“Either you ask her out, keep pining, or get over it,” Lonnie replied. “The first one is the only actual solution, if you ask me, her weird ability to see through your magic aside.” 

“Whatever,” Catra said, but Lonnie was in fact the expert here. She had in fact been on the opposite side of a sort-of similar situation with Rogelio, anyway. Whatever that was worth. Asking couldn’t hurt, right? Adora would just say no. Hopefully she’ll come back to the shop tomorrow for something else. Catra could ask her, she got to say no, and then they never saw each other again. That would be the simplest thing. Then Catra could stop feeling like angry bees were trying to bounce their way out of her insides. Easy.

Rogelio ambled into the apartment, hissing a greeting to Catra before attempting to sneak some of the grated cheese off of Lonnie’s cutting board. She smacked his clawed hand away and kept on cooking.

“Catra has a crush,” she announced, to Catra’s utter mortification. 

Because Rogelio was a giant sap at heart, he turned and gave her heartfelt congratulations. Catra rolled her eyes and tried to hide her face in the couch cushions. 

“She doesn’t believe me,” Lonnie explained. 

“I didn’t say that,” Catra mumbled through the pillow. “I just don’t like it.” 

“Why not?” Lonnie said. “Rogelio got one on me and Kyle, and look how that turned out.” 

“Yeah, but…” 

“But what, Catra?” Lonnie asked, and for once she didn’t sound sarcastic. 

Catra felt her ears fall. “I don’t know.” 

Rogelio sat down on the couch next to her and rumbled encouragement. She rolled back over and gave him a half-hearted smile, because she appreciated the attempt. 

“Dinner should be ready soon,” Lonnie reported, sensing that a subject change would be welcome. “Kyle just texted. He’ll be home with the ‘surprise’, whatever that is.” 

“Good. I’m starving,” Catra announced. 

Rogelio mumbled something about her hunger for more than just food, and she glared at him without any real heat. Lonnie cackled but otherwise stayed on task. 

Ten minutes of random conversation later, Kyle walked through the door. He greeted his lovers with a kiss and a hug each, promptly complimented Lonnie’s cooking and Rogelio’s new shirt, then opened the box he’d carried in. 

“You bought a cake?” Lonnie asked, skepticism and confusion apparent in her voice. 

“I was going to make one, but then it wouldn’t have been a surprise,” Kyle said brightly. “It’s for Rogelio’s third anniversary! I know he technically crossed over the day after Halloween, but today was the day when we first met him. Happy uh, sort of birthday!” 

Kyle beamed at his boyfriend. Lonnie laughed as she crossed over to the cake and swiped a bit of frosting. Catra rolled her eyes, but couldn’t deny the warmth she felt at the gesture. For all the shit she gave Kyle, he wasn’t so bad. 

Still, between the cake and Lonnie’s words before, she couldn’t help but feel a little melancholy for the rest of the evening. Her own ‘anniversary’ had been almost two weeks ago, and no one had bought her a cake. She probably would have laughed at them if they had, but seeing the easy love flowing around in front of her, she felt… lonely. 

That feeling of loneliness persisted all the way back to her own apartment. She unlocked her door and dumped her coat on the floor instead of hanging it up before locking the door behind her. She turned and trudged towards her bedroom, hoping to get a few hours sleep before setting off on her not-particularly-voluntary mission. The moment she stepped into the bedroom, Melog leapt up from one of the nearby chairs and flattened her to the bed. Even in their disguised form, that of a huge Maine Coon with an astonishingly fluffy tail, they were heavy enough to pin Catra down while they greeted her effusively. 

“Ew, gross,” she laughed as the hellcat licked her face. “I missed you too, buddy.” 

“Food?” Melog asked. 

“If you get off me,” Catra replied. “Lonnie made a little extra for you.” 

“Awesome.” 

Catra rolled off of the bed and returned to her discarded coat, where she’d brought a ziploc bag of leftover chicken for Melog. She fished it out and grabbed a bowl from one of her cupboards. Melog wound around her legs, doing their best to trip her for no particular reason. 

“Dude,” Melog insisted when Catra put the chicken in the bowl. 

“I gotta microwave it first,” Catra said. “You don’t want cold chicken.” 

The look they gave her informed her that yes, they did in fact want cold chicken if it meant now chicken. She rolled her eyes and turned the microwave on. Melog’s gaze switched to the appliance, as if they could make it go faster by sheer willpower. Catra tapped one claw on the counter impatiently, because her bed was still calling to her. Finally the damn thing beeped. Catra took the chicken out, tested the temperature, and set it on the floor for Melog. 

“There.” 

“Dude,” Melog said gratefully. They gobbled the entire bowl up in about three seconds, tongue licking forlornly at the clear glass long after the last traces of chicken were gone. They looked up pleadingly at Catra. “More?” 

“Sorry,” Catra said. “I’ll tell Lonnie to make more chicken next time.” 

Melog seemed satisfied with the answer, though still a little sad. They trotted away back to the bedroom. Catra dumped the spotless bowl in the sink and followed them. 

“Shadow Weaver called,” she told Melog, who’d already claimed the bottom half of the bed. “We’ve got another shade to return to sender. You wanna come this time?” 

Melog sniffed, not raising their head from where they were sprawled on the bed. “Naw.” 

“You gotta be bored,” Catra tried. “You haven’t left the apartment in like a week.” 

“Naw.” 

“Dude,” Catra said, aiming for their masterfully disappointed use of their favorite word.

Finally Melog lifted their head to stare at Catra. She could see the gears grinding. 

“I’ll buy you more sausage,” she added enticingly. 

Melog yawned incredibly wide, baring razor-sharp fangs that no Maine Coon in history had ever grown. “Fine.” 

Catra scratched behind their ears, eliciting a rumbling purr from the hellcat. “Knew that one would work on you.” 

Melog didn’t dignify that statement with a reply. “Now?” They asked. 

Catra shook her head. “Gonna nap first. Never hunt a shade on poor sleep.” 

Melog glanced back at her dubiously. “Never?” 

“That one last month was an exception.” 

“Huh.” 

Melog could say more with single syllables than some people could with whole sentences. 

Catra’s alarm blared beside her head and she swore viciously. Well, tried to. Mostly she just grunted unintelligibly. Melog was snoring incredibly loudly from the foot of the bed, and Catra nudged them awake with one foot. If she had to suffer, so did they. 

The clock beside her bed sadistically informed her that it was 11PM. She stayed up later than that often enough, but somehow being woken up that late was deeply offensive. 

She pulled on some thermal underwear because early November in Bright Moon got cold at night, then got the rest of her clothes back on. Melog had fallen back asleep, and Catra was tempted to just let them sleep. But she selfishly wanted the company, and maybe the help, so she poked their belly. 

“Time to go,” she said. 

“Dude,” Melog grumbled, telepathic voice full of reproach. 

“If we do this quick, we can be back here and asleep in an hour,” Catra told them. She shrugged on her coat. “Just gotta run by my post box, grab the shade’s shit, use it to find them, and then send ‘em on back downstairs. We’ve done this plenty of times.” 

“Uh-huh.”
No one has any faith in her. 

If anyone on the subway thought it was weird to see someone carrying a full-sized Maine Coon on their lap on the train in the middle of the night, they didn’t comment. Catra gently stroked Melog’s luxurious fur, more to keep herself occupied than anything. Public transit was irritating, but she didn’t have a driver’s license and the one time she’d tried to drive Lonnie’s Civic she’d scraped half of the paint off of the driver’s side door. After that, everyone had wisely agreed not to let her behind the wheel of anything that moved faster than she could walk. At least she didn’t have to pay for gas this way. 

The subway creaked and groaned its way to a halt at her stop, and she had to work to keep her tail from thwapping the empty seats beside her. Invisible didn’t mean soundless, after all. Melog yawned again, and Catra hauled them off her lap and to the floor of the train before standing. She was pretty sure she got at least one jealous look, because who wouldn’t want a huge Maine Coon that followed them around? The doors jerked open, and Catra walked through with a suspicious look at the gap between the floor and the train. 

She and Melog ascended the stairs and emerged into the Bright Moon night. It wasn’t all that dark. Streetlights lined the road, giving Catra’s excellent night vision ample illumination to work with. Between Melog and her own demonically-sourced abilities, she wasn’t worried about any of Bright Moon’s nightlife bothering her. 

She set off through the largely-deserted streets, heading for the post office. The office wasn’t open this late at night, but that had never stopped her before. Better yet, she had Melog along. She wouldn’t even need to do the breaking and entering part herself. 

The post office was part of a long strip mall, but it had a loading dock out back for deliveries. Catra strolled down the alley like she owned the place, Melog at her side. She slowed, eyes scanning for her target. There. She pointed out one of the places they sent packages through to Melog, who promptly shrank down and bounded forward. They disappeared inside the building, leaving Catra to casually lean against a nearby brick wall. The wind picked up, rustling the trees and sending bits of trash dancing through the air. It also made her glad for her layers. There was no reason Bright Moon had to get this cold this early in the season. Fucking bullshit, if you asked her. 

Melog reappeared five minutes later, pushing their way through the previously-locked back door with a brown paper bag in their mouth. They dropped it at Catra’s feet, went back in through the door, locked it with a swipe of one paw, and disappeared again. While waiting for them to complete the ritual of not getting some poor postal worker fired for leaving the back door unlocked, Catra busied herself by opening the bag. 

Waiting for her inside were a variety of delightful objects. A fountain pen, a knife covered in dried blood gone a rusty brown with age, a worn bible, and- 

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Catra snapped. “Couldn’t she have just given me some fucking hair?” 

Melog picked that moment to reappear and peer down into the bag. They eyed the severed, withered finger for a moment before looking up at Catra skeptically. 

“That’s not the sausage,” Catra promised. Melog looked relieved. 

Wishing she’d thought to bring rubber gloves or something, Catra closed the bag up and stalked away. She needed somewhere more secluded to work her magic. 

The nearby park was perfect. It was why Catra had picked this particular post office, in fact. All of the trees save the towering pines had lost their leaves, the bushes were little more than piles of sticks, and brown oak leaves crunched beneath her feet as she headed for the little hollow near the center of the park that was well out of sight of the surrounding streets. She reached it and crouched down inside, dropping the bag beside her. Melog sniffed it again, then decided to curl up on the ground a few feet away. 

Catra pulled out the bible, the pen, and the knife. A piece of paper was taped to the back of the bible, and she pulled it off to read it. 

“Maximilian Versod Cavendish,” Catra read aloud. “Born 1857, died 1894. Used this knife to murder six people before he was caught and hanged. Fun.” 

It explained why Shadow Weaver was willing to ditch the third Link, anyway. Serial killer shades tended to go right back to their preferred pastime, only with the added perks of being able to go through walls. If Catra didn’t catch and banish this guy tonight, some poor human would probably end up dead. Catra really enjoyed those kinds of stakes. 

“Just one more Link,” she growled to herself. “Then you’re done with this shit.” 

To that end, she gingerly reached into the bag and picked the finger up with as little skin contact as she could manage. With her other hand she pulled out a jar of cleansed water. She was just lucky it hadn’t turned into cleansed ice. She popped out the stopper with her thumb and tilted out a drop onto the finger. Then, she drew on power. As always, it made her feel vaguely nauseous, but she persevered and formed the spell, murmuring the incantation as she guided the power through the water into the finger. 

A brief spark, a sensation of vertigo, and a magical impulse against her senses told Catra the spell had worked. She waited a moment just to be sure. She felt the pulse again, pressing against the inside of her forehead in a slightly different spot than the first time. Good. 

She shoved everything back into the bag, thankful she wouldn’t have to fuck around with anything more complicated. She could have used a matrix of the other objects to track the shade, but a body part was usually the simplest. 

“Alright,” she said. “Doesn’t feel like they’re too far.” Bright Moon was one of the only places in all of Etheria where shades (and other things) could cross over from other dimensions. Catra used to know all the metaphysical bullshit that explained why, something about latitude lines and magical attunement, but she really didn’t care these days. What was important is that her quarry was probably only a single subway ride and some walking away. 

Said single subway ride later and Catra was really regretting not finding some coffee before embarking on her grand quest. She’d nodded off on the train and nearly missed her stop. If Melog hadn’t smacked her in the face to wake her up, an event that had drawn no small amount of laughter from the three other passengers, she would have ended up halfway across the city. It was a good thing she’d been smart enough to connect the tracking spell to Melog before boarding the train. 

Embarrassing catnaps behind her, she was now hiking through the University of Bright Moon’s crop research fields, or whatever they were. A bunch of empty cornfields in the middle of the city, basically. It was convenient, because it meant she wouldn’t have to worry about gawkers, but also really annoying, because she had to hike through a fucking cornfield at midnight. Melog was having a good time at least. They were bouncing around, rushing back and forth between sources of new smells with reckless abandon. It was pretty cute. 

The pulses had been increasing in frequency since leaving the park, but now they were approaching critical mass. Catra was close. She spotted movement, her ears snapping to their alert posture. Melog picked up her sudden focus and started looking as well. Something was off, though. The pulses were slightly displaced from where she’d seen the movement. Had she fucked up the spell? 

She crept closer, ghosting through the night. Melog was silent at her side, shifting back into their true form, all rippling muscle and short purple fur with a faintly glowing blue mane and tail. Catra spotted the source of the movement, and resisted the urge to gawk. It wasn’t a shade at all. It was a familiar tall blonde in a red bomber jacket. 

“What the fuck?” Catra hissed. As she stared, Adora stopped in her tracks and glanced around. Catra wisely zipped her lips. Melog went stock still as well. When Lonnie had said to ask Adora out, she probably hadn’t meant in the middle of a cornfield at midnight. 

After a moment, Adora resumed her… search, apparently. Because she was definitely looking for something. She was repeatedly consulting something in her hand while scanning the landscape. Catra picked up a few muttered curses as well. 

Once she overcame her befuddlement, Catra set off after Adora, her mission forgotten. She could have blamed it on her natural curiosity, on the mystery posed by Adora’s presence here at all, or on her desire to irritate Shadow Weaver even when the sorceress wasn’t present. Catra didn’t even think of any of those excuses, because no part of her brain was even questioning why she was following Adora in the first place. It was quite simply inevitable. 

Catra stalked Adora for a solid four minutes before the magical pulses increased in frequency to the point that they were a single continuous buzz. She shook herself out of her strange hyperfocus and stopped, because she had to be right on top of the shade. Which also meant that Adora was right on top of the shade. The serial killer shade, in fact. 

And there he was. Standing in the center of the cornfield, head cocked slightly at Adora. He was dressed in old-timey clothes, and like all shades he looked a little too solid for Catra’s liking. Moonlight glinted off of his teeth as he grinned. 

Adora spoke, her soft voice clear in the night. “Hi. I’m Adora. You’re probably pretty confused right now, and I promise it’ll all make sense in the end. Right now though, will you accept my help crossing over? It’s not right for souls to linger here.” 

Cavendish just smiled wider. Adora took a step back, and Catra hoped she would just run away now. She obviously thought this was a shade who’d failed to cross over after dying, rather than the opposite. In the back of her mind, Catra couldn’t help but respect the attempt. No one deserved to be stuck in this world with no way out. Unfortunately, most of her brain was dedicated to freaking out about the fact that some random human was about to get sliced up by a murderous shade right in front of Catra. She was about two seconds into trying to find a way to stop this trainwreck without exposing herself as, you know, a demon, when Cavendish struck. 

He moved impossibly fast, which, duh. To Catra’s astonishment, Adora managed to dodge the first strike from the shade’s spectral dagger. Great. Apparently he’d been so attached to his murder weapon of choice that he’d managed to take it with him to Hell.

“I’m trying to help you!” Adora shouted as she ducked another swipe. “You don’t belong here and you know it! You feel it.” 

Cavendish didn’t speak, instead choosing to stab at Adora again. She probably would have dodged it had she not tripped on something, likely a broken-off cornstalk. Catra’s ears flattened against her head as Adora screamed in pain. 

Fuck this. She wasn’t about to watch someone get killed to protect her secret, even if Adora would probably try to burn her at the stake just for existing after this. 

Catra surged into motion, Melog flowing along with her in perfect sync. Catra went left, Melog went right. Catra channeled power and launched into the air with a blinding kick that sent Cavendish flying through the darkness, his victim long forgotten. Melog bounded after him, and by the time Catra caught up, Melog had the shade pinned to the ground, bleeding smoke. Catra wasted no time whipping out her cleansed water and dripping a circle around the immobilized shade. She chucked the bag of personal effects into the circle next to Cavendish and began the spell. Magic swelled, and Melog took it as their queue to leap away. Catra closed the circle with a mental impulse and completed the spell. 

Cavendish screamed in rage as he began to dissipate, his essence seeping away into the cold ground below. His scream faded along with him. 

Catra held the spell for a second longer, just to be sure. Adora’s groan shattered her focus anyway. The spell fizzled out and Catra rushed back to where the woman was lying in the dirt, blood pooling around her. 

“Oh, shit.” That was a lot of blood. Catra wasn’t exactly a trained medical professional, but she knew that getting stabbed in the side was not a healthy life choice. “Adora, can you hear me?” 

“Catra?” Adora murmured. She sounded woozy already. “What are you doing here?” 

“Don’t worry about that,” Catra said, both because she needed Adora to focus on staying awake and also because she needed Adora to not worry about that. “Just focus on me, okay? I’m gonna put your hands on the wound. You need to apply pressure while I call an ambulance.” 

“No hospitals,” Adora gasped. 

“Fuck that,” Catra snapped. Was this girl serious? “You got stabbed. I’m getting you to a hospital.” Where hopefully the medical professionals would save her life and assume any stories about people with cat ears and a tail were the product of painkillers or just general delirium. 

“No hospitals,” Adora repeated. She sucked in a shuddering breath. “Please.” 

Something about the word jolted through Catra, and it was her turn to take a breath. There was one other thing she could try, but it would definitely blow her cover even more than the night already had. But there was a woman bleeding out under her right now, and Catra couldn’t let that happen. 

“Okay,” she said. “Okay, just… stay awake, alright?” 

“Yeah,” Adora whispered, hands still pressed against her side. 

Catra reached into the other pocket of her coat and drew out a small vial of glittering blue essence. She didn’t have many of these left, and only used them in emergencies. This qualified. She cracked the top open and dribbled a circle of the stuff around both of them, channeling magic through it as she did. This particular spell reminded of her worse days, but her childhood trauma was definitely less important than the vicious physical trauma unfolding in front of her. She murmured the words as she formed the matrix in her mind, checked that Melog was beside her and that no limbs were hanging outside the circle, and crushed the vial in her hand. 

Shadow and confusion swirled around them for a short eternity, and when it cleared Adora was lying on Catra’s cramped kitchen floor, Melog beside her. Catra suppressed her surprise that the spell had worked and leapt to her feet. She didn’t have a first aid kit, because she didn’t exactly need one herself and there were never any humans in her apartment anyway. She did have a thin leatherbound spellbook of healing spells she’d ‘acquired’ a few months back, more out of curiosity than anything. She had yet to use it. She dashed into her bedroom, yanked her drawer open, and pulled the book out. She frantically flipped through the pages, searching for spells to fix stab wounds. Finally she landed on one that she had the ingredients for and rushed back into the kitchen, spellbook in hand. 

“Please don’t fuck this up,” she muttered at herself. 

“Hey, Catra?” Adora asked dreamily. “Where are we?” 

“My place,” Catra replied, pulling a jar of saffron out of the cupboard. 

“Wow,” Adora said, drawing out the word. “You move fast. I hadn’t even asked you out yet.” 

The organ to the left of Catra’s sternum lurched, and she almost dropped the jar in her hand. 

“This might hurt a little bit,” Catra warned as she shook saffron into her hand and began the spell. 

Adora gasped when Catra pressed her hand onto the wound. “You weren’t lying.” 

Catra didn’t reply. She was focusing too hard. She felt the wound beginning to knit closed under her palm. It was working. She let the spell draw more and more of her own energy, until the last of the gash was sealed up by new skin. 

Her fingers shaking, she stepped back. Adora had passed out, likely because of the pain of regrowing a few inches of skin all at once, but she was breathing steadily, if a little pale. Catra’s limbs felt leaden, and all she wanted to do now was collapse into bed and sleep for a month. Instead, she bent down and lifted Adora off of the floor as gently as she could. She staggered into the bedroom, for once thankful for how tiny her apartment was. She tried to set Adora down on the bed but ended up dumping her onto it instead. Catra checked her pulse and found her skin cold. Blinking away fatigue, Catra hauled her prodigious collection of blankets over Adora’s unconscious form and tried to settle her in as comfortably as she could manage. Then Catra stumbled over to the comfy armchair stuffed into the corner of the bedroom, fell into it, curled up, and passed out.

Chapter Text

Even after the toll last night’s magic had taken on her, Catra still woke up first. That was probably a good thing, because the last thing she wanted was for Adora to try to murder her in her sleep for being a demon or whatever. Or try to move in general, because while Catra’s panicked spell had healed the wound itself, it hadn’t done anything about the couple pints of blood Adora had lost beforehand. 

Feeling like she had the worst hangover known to man, Catra slunk out of her chair. Melog was snoring away on top of Adora’s blanket-covered legs like nothing was wrong, though thankfully they were smart enough to have shifted back into their disguised form. The only thing worse for someone’s mental health than waking up with a demon sleeping in the same room as you would be waking up with a hundred-something pound hellcat cutting off circulation to your feet. 

Catra went in search of coffee, because it was the only thing she could think of that might help her find a way out of the predicament she was in. She had a human woman asleep in her bed. One that could see through her illusion, and had seen her work not one, not two, but four different spells in one evening. Even the humans who knew about and practiced magic would be hard-pressed to do any three of the things Catra had managed last night. 

“Fuuuuuuck,” Catra groaned as she realized just how bad this was. She pulled out her box of instant coffee, because even if it was shit it was still caffeine, and set about making a mug. She needed to get Adora out of her apartment, preferably before she woke up somehow. While the water was heating up in the microwave, Catra stole back into the bedroom. Maybe there was some other normie she could call on Adora’s phone, someone who wouldn’t see through her illusion. Catra could tell them Adora had a wild night out on the town, they’d take her away, and that would be that. Plenty of people operated like that, right? At least they did on TV. Admittedly, those usually weren’t Catra’s favorite shows, but that didn’t mean they were unrealistic. 

Adora’s phone was easy enough to acquire. Catra lifted it out of Adora’s jacket pocket, and, feeling a little weird, unlocked it by digging Adora’s hand out of the bedding and gently touching her thumbprint to the home button. Adora mumbled something and wiggled deeper under the blankets, but didn’t wake up. 

Catra ducked back into the kitchen, heart rate slowing. She didn’t even need to dig around in Adora’s contacts, because someone was absolutely blowing up a group chat. The contact name was ‘Glimmer’, which Catra assumed was a joke, but whoever they were, they were pissed. The other member of the group chat was named Bow, which was only marginally better than Glimmer. They were trying to be the voice of reason, but were clearly still not happy about the situation. Adora must not be one for blowing off her friends overnight. 

Catra considered trying to explain herself (lie about everything) over text, but this Glimmer character didn’t seem like someone she wanted to cross typeface swords with. Besides, Catra figured a normal human in this situation would probably call about it rather than text. She picked Bow to call, since they seemed to be the more rational of the pair. 

“Oh thank God,” Bow exclaimed, letting out a huge sigh. “Are you okay? Where are you?” 

“Don’t freak out,” Catra said, because that was totally a surefire way to keep someone from freaking out. “Adora’s fine. Mostly. Uh. She’s in my bed. In my apartment.” Catra broke off, because she belatedly realized what that sounded like. “Uh, not-” 

“Who is this?” Bow asked, already sounding on the edge of a complete breakdown. Apparently Adora was not one for spending the night in random beds either. 

“Uh, Catra?” Catra said, then wanted to smack herself for sounding unsure. 

“Can I talk to Adora, please?” Bow asked. Catra had to give him credit for staying polite. 

“She’s still asleep,” Catra said. “She was uh, pretty out of it.” 

Catra heard something that sounded suspiciously like ‘what the fuck did she do last night’, but Bow did his best to keep it under control. 

“Can you give me your address? I’d like to pick her up. We had plans to grab brunch today.” 

Catra somehow doubted that, but respected the white lie. “Yeah. I’ll text it.” She sent the apartment address and number. 

“Thank you,” Bow said. “I’ll be there in ten minutes.” 

That was fast. He must live nearby. 

“Cool,” Catra replied. An awkward pause followed. “Again, she’s fine. She uh…” Catra trailed off, because she hadn’t come up with a lie yet about why Adora was asleep in her bed. 

“I’ll ask her in person,” Bow said firmly. 

“I’ll buzz you in when you get here,” Catra said, because she had nothing else to add to this incredibly awkward conversation. And distressing, at least for Bow. He probably thought Catra had pressured Adora into shooting up or something. 

Catra ran a hand through her hair and finished making her coffee. She sipped at it as quickly as she could without burning her tongue, which given the whole ‘grew up in Hell’ thing was pretty fast. The mug was half-empty when she heard a disturbance in her bedroom. Oh shit. 

Catra crept over to the mostly-closed bedroom door and peeked in. Adora was awake, but had made no moves to even sit up, much less get up. Melog had also woken up and detected a possible source of scritches. The hellcat was now sprawled shamelessly across Adora’s chest while she scratched behind their ears. Melog’s purr was loud enough to shake the hinges. 

Catra retreated, because this was a serious hole in her whole ‘don’t let Adora see your ears again’ plan. Bow couldn’t get here fast enough. On cue, Bow texted his arrival. Catra pulled out her own phone and buzzed him in before unlocking her front door. Bow showed up a few moments later, huffing a bit like he’d sprinted up the stairs. He turned out to be a tall, well-built Black guy wearing jeans and a crop top with a huge heart across the center. He also looked like he hadn’t slept a wink last night. 

“Are you Catra?” He asked. 

“Yeah,” Catra said. “Adora’s inside. She just woke up.” As Bow rushed past her to save his friend, Catra fished out Adora’s phone and handed it to him. “Almost forgot.” 

He took it with a tight smile and squeezed into the apartment. 

“Adora? Are you alright?” 

“Bow?” 

Bow busted through into Catra’s bedroom, which in other circumstances would have been deeply offensive to her. At the moment, she couldn’t exactly blame the guy. She was still a little offended.

“What happened last night?” Bow demanded. Catra didn’t need her excellent hearing to catch every detail, even through the kitchen wall. Her apartment was fine, but not exactly soundproof. “We were worried sick! I had to stop Glimmer from calling the police four times!” 

Catra expected Adora to lie about going to one too many bars. 

“I’m really sorry,” Adora said. “I went to help another shade last night, but it uh, didn’t go as planned.” 

“You what?!” Catra winced at the volume. If she got a noise complaint because of these jackasses she was gonna be really unhappy. “Alone? Adora, I thought we were clear about this. No supernatural stuff without the whole squad. None!” 

“You sound like Glimmer,” Adora grumped. 

“Well, she’s right! What even happened?” 

Catra considered slinking away right then. Finding a new apartment under a new name and reopening her store somewhere else would be a lot of work, but it was better than getting exorcised by what she was increasingly sure was some kind of paranormal hit squad. 

“I found the shade like normal, but it uh, tried to kill me? With a knife.”

Bow was definitely getting Catra a noise complaint. 

“I’m okay!” Adora insisted. “I’m fine. I uh, well, I got a bit stabbed, but Catra saved me. I think. Everything gets a bit fuzzy.” 

Catra breathed out a sigh of relief. If Adora didn’t remember too much from last night, maybe Catra’s cover was intact. Mostly intact, at least. 

“You got stabbed?!” If Bow had been on the edge of a breakdown before, he was holding on by a single hangnail now. 

“I’m fine now! Catra healed it with magic, and I already feel totally better. It’s fine.” 

Yeah, even Catra didn’t believe that one. 

“We are not done talking about this, Adora,” Bow said. “Let’s get you home.” Something clearly processed in his brain. “Wait. What do you mean Catra saved you?” 

“Oh, Bow, it was badass,” Adora said. “She suckerpunched the shade and banished it in like, three seconds flat. Then she teleported us here, and healed my stab wound. She’s gotta be the best catgirl sorcerer I’ve ever seen.”

The sound that Bow made then reminded Catra of the old copier at Lonnie’s last office job when it finally up and died. Lonnie had recorded the event on her phone and played it daily for weeks. Catra had never known just how much hatred a human being could hold for an inanimate object until that moment. 

Which happened to be a good mental segue into how much humans could hate scary evil demons from Hell. 

Bow had apparently finally recovered enough to speak. “I don’t even know where to start with that. Any of that.” 

“Well, you could start by thanking Catra,” Adora said. “And maybe for me too. I think I passed out before I got the chance.” 

Catra heard what sounded like a very deliberate deep breath. 

“Can you walk?” Bow asked a moment later. 

“Totally,” Adora replied. Catra heard rustling, a thump, and then the sound of a body smacking into the floor. “Or not.” It sounded a bit like her mouth was squished against the floor. “My body is betraying me.”

Bow laughed the laugh of a madman. Catra was itching to intervene for reasons she couldn’t untangle, but she knew that showing her face to Adora in daylight was unacceptable. Bow would just have to drag her or something. 

“Hey uh, Catra? Can we get some help in here?” 

Catra resisted the urge to curse. “One second,” she called back and began desperately searching for the huge ugly beanie she’d bought last winter because her ears kept getting frozen. She found it in the pocket of her coat (duh) and pulled it over her ears. With a wince she pulled her tail out of its tailhole and shoved it down the leg of her pants. Professional-grade disguise complete, she entered the bedroom. 

“Hey!” Adora greeted her from the floor where Bow was supporting her torso. “Thanks for saving my life.” 

“Uh, yeah,” Catra replied, because what else was she supposed to say? “Do you need help getting her to your car?” 

“That would be great, thanks,” Bow said. He still looked ready to crack at any moment, but at least it wasn’t directed at Catra anymore. 

Catra ducked down and got one of Adora’s arms around her shoulder. Bow took the other, and together they hoisted her up and got her moving. Adora’s clothes were still bloody, but her jacket was red before so it didn’t look too bad. If no one looked too closely, they were just some friends helping a hungover woman get home. 

The stairs proved harder to navigate, but the three of them managed to keep all their limbs unfractured. Bow steered them out the front door of the building and to his car, a stubby little electric something-or-other. 

“Thanks, Catra,” he said once they got Adora into the passenger seat. “For helping with that. And apparently saving her life.” He paused, meeting her eyes. “Did that happen?”

Catra shrugged. “Basically.” More words seemed ill-advised, but that might've just been the magical hangover talking.

Bow blinked. “Alright. Well, thank you for saving her life, then.” He thought for a moment. “Let me buy you dinner. It’s not much compared to a life, but you can pick the restaurant.” 

“I uh, I don’t really-” Catra stammered. 

“I didn’t meant like that,” Bow said, his eyes going wide as he realized what he’d asked. “I’m spoken for. I was offering purely as friends.” 

Friends. Catra didn’t have many of those. Really, just Lonnie, her two boy toys, and Entrapta. 

“Not gonna turn down free food,” Catra said, knowing it was a mistake. He was just a difficult person to say no to. And, well, free food.

“Great!” Bow smiled. “Can I get your number?” 

Catra took his phone and entered it. “There.” 

“Cool,” Bow said. He glanced back at Adora, but the blonde had fallen asleep again in the car. 

“Cool,” Catra parroted like an idiot. Then, because it was relevant information she really should have given a while ago, she blurted it out. “She lost a lot of blood. I don’t really know how long it takes to heal from that, but I only fixed the stab wound itself.” 

“I’ll have to get the full story from you at dinner,” Bow said. “Last thing, and you totally don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.” Catra braced herself. “From what Adora said, you sound pretty talented. I know folks like you don’t go around flaunting your stuff, but my friends and I, Adora included, might be able to use your help sometimes. We know a few sorcerers, but Micah doesn’t like to get involved and Casta’s a bit of a wild card.” 

Catra felt her jaw clench, because the phrase ‘folks like you’ had hit a little too close to home. 

“Aaaand I can see I crossed a line,” Bow said with a wince. “I’ll be leaving now. Thanks again, Catra.” 

Catra just stared past him. She didn’t move until the car had long since left her sight. 

Adora winced for the hundredth time over her bowl of hearty cereal as Glimmer’s tirade continued. 

“-you would have died, Adora! If this Catra person hadn’t just happened to show up and save you, you’d be dead right now. Do you understand that?” 

“Uh, yeah,” Adora said mulishly. “Because I am in fact the person who got stabbed.” 

Glimmer didn’t even hear her. “And God knows who she is! Are we really supposed to believe that someone you met earlier that day just happened to be wandering through the same creepy fucking cornfield in the middle of the night as you? She was probably stalking you! Or worse!” 

“Catra wasn’t stalking me,” Adora said. “She was probably after the same shade I was. You know how much trouble shades that don’t pass over can cause.” 

“I don’t think this was someone who got lost on their way out of this plane,” Bow put in from across the kitchen of their apartment. “I’ve never heard of a lingering shade trying to hurt anyone directly, much less being physically able to do it. Sure, they can cause a ruckus mostly by accident, but this one stabbed you. With a knife.” 

“What are you saying, Bow?” Glimmer asked. 

“I think it was a shade that crossed back,” Bow said. A pregnant silence followed that declaration. Glimmer was the first to break it. 

“Catra fucking summoned a shade to kill you!” 

“I don’t think-” Bow began, but Adora cut him off. 

“That’s ridiculous,” she snapped. “If she wanted me dead, I’d be dead. And if she wanted to rob me, she could have robbed me. She could have done quite literally anything she wanted while I was sleeping in her bed.” 

“And how do you know she didn’t?” Glimmer demanded. “Maybe she mind-controlled you and stole all of your bank passwords. Have you even checked your accounts?” 

“Glimmer,” Bow admonished. “If Catra was powerful enough to do that without Adora remembering, she could make way more money in a thousand other ways. No, Adora is right. Catra was after the rogue shade, and we should all be grateful she got there in time to save Adora’s life.” 

“And that’s it,” Adora said, before Glimmer could launch into another tirade. Adora loved her friend, but she had also been dreading a lecture about her antics the previous night from the moment she awoke. At least Glimmer was concerned about her, though. Adora was willing to forgive a lot if the intentions were good, which Glimmer’s usually were. And the last thing Glimmer was going to start talking about was ‘balance’ and ‘responsibility’, unlike the other candidate for lecture-giving in Adora's life. 

Glimmer harrumphed, but didn’t say anything for a minute or two while Adora slowly ate. The pink-haired menace suddenly gave Adora a calculating look. 

“Wait,” Glimmer said. “Before Bow and I left for our date, you said something about a hot woman you’d met that you were gonna ask out next week. Was that Catra?” 

“No,” Adora lied horribly. 

“Oh, my God! It totally was! No wonder your judgment is flawed here! Bow, back me up.” 

Bow chose to physically back up instead. “Glimmer, I don’t see how that’s relevant.”

“What do you mean it’s not relevant? Adora’s getting conned right now and she can’t even see it. Give me your phone, Adora. I need to check your credit history right now.” 

“Uh, no,” Adora replied. “No way.” She did her best to fend off Glimmer’s grabby hands. “Can you let me eat my cereal in peace? I’m suffering from acute blood loss, in case you forgot.” 

“Only because you ran off to hunt down a shade on your own,” Glimmer exclaimed. “Which you still haven’t told us why, by the way. Did Catra tell you to?” 

“Now you’re just being absurd,” Adora shot back. “Why would she even- like, what? ” 

“Fine. Why did you do it, then?” 

“Because I didn’t want to ruin your date night with Bow!” Adora finally confessed.

Glimmer was taken aback. “Wait, really? That’s it?” 

“Yes!” 

“That’s kinda sweet, actually. But no. We can always reschedule. Best Friend Squad spooky shit always comes first. That was the deal.” 

“I know,” Adora sighed. “I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.” 

“Good. Now that that’s settled, we can return to the problem at hand.” 

“What problem is that?” Bow asked hesitantly. 

“Catra, obviously,” Glimmer said. 

“How is Catra a problem?” Adora demanded, bristling again. She wasn’t sure why she was getting so defensive about this, but she also couldn’t help it. 

Glimmer began counting off on her fingers. “One, she’s apparently hot as fuck. Your words, not mine, Adora. Two, assuming you weren’t hallucinating from blood loss, she’s a crazy powerful sorcerer. As good as my dad, if not better. Three, she runs an occult shop like ten minutes away.”

“Fifteen,” Adora corrected. Glimmer glared at her. 

“Four, she apparently wore cat ears to work.” 

“And a tail,” Adora said. 

“And her name is Catra.” 

“She has a really cute cat, too,” Adora added. “Biggest Maine Coon I’ve ever seen. Super cuddly.” 

“Aww,” Bow said. “I wish I’d seen it.” 

“Five,” Glimmer snapped, clearly not happy about being interrupted. “We’ve all apparently decided that she is totally trustworthy.” She dropped her hand. 

“Ooookay,” Bow said slowly. “So, what’s the problem?” 

“How do we get her on a date with Adora, obviously!” 

“I had this weird idea of just asking her,” Adora said. 

“That’ll never work! You’re hopeless with women, Adora! Everyone knows it.” 

“Okay, ouch,” Adora said. “I’m not hopeless.” 

“Yes, you are,” Glimmer said. “The fact that you look this good and are still single is living proof of that. Bow, back me up here.” 

He sighed. “I would have phrased it more productively, but…” 

Adora scoffed at them both. “You obviously don’t know what you’re talking about. My game is on point.” 

“Your game consists of flexing your biceps and awkwardly laughing at your own jokes, Adora,” Glimmer said. Adora opened her mouth to argue, then closed it. “With the occasional bad pun thrown in if you’re feeling extra adventurous.” 

“I don’t have to sit here and take this,” Adora said instead of refuting any of it. “I’m going to take a nap.” 

“If you do, you’ll never learn how to woo Catra!” Glimmer said. 

“I can’t believe you just said ‘woo’,” Adora smirked. 

“Adora!” 

“Why are you so invested in this?” Adora demanded, her bed calling to her. “It’s not your love life.” 

“No, but if you die a lonely useless lesbian it’ll look bad on my record,” Glimmer replied. “And maybe you would stop going off on solo missions because you felt like a third wheel.” 

“That’s not why I-” 

“Face it, Adora. You need a girlfriend.” 

“I really don’t,” Adora said, feeling compelled to argue the point for no particular reason. “I’m perfectly happy on my own.” 

“That’s exactly why you need a girlfriend!” Glimmer exclaimed. 

Adora looked over at Bow, hoping to find some form of sanity in the room. To her utter dismay, he was giving Glimmer a thoughtful look. That could not be a good sign. 

“Bow, you’re on research duty,” Glimmer ordered. “You said she agreed to a thank you dinner for saving Adora’s life. Find out everything about her there. I’ll snoop around, see if she has friends or family who can source information for me. Adora, this week you’re learning how to channel your inner confidence on demand, so you don’t freeze up in front of her like every other pretty woman you see.” 

Adora finally decided it was easier to just bow to the inevitable here. Bow had apparently decided the same, since he just smiled and nodded at his girlfriend. 

“Great! There’s no way this plan fails!” 

“This plan is doomed to fail,” Adora groaned as she peeked through the grimy windows of Catra’s shop the following day. 

Glimmer poked her in the ribs. “Stop spiraling.” 

“I wasn’t spiraling. I was making an honest assessment of the situation.” 

Glimmer snorted. “This is exactly what I mean, Adora. You are hopeless. You’re the most confident person I know, right up until you have a crush on someone.” Adora opened her mouth to protest, but Glimmer rolled right over. “And don’t say you don’t have a crush on her. Bow told me everything, Adora.” 

Adora sighed, because while Bow was an excellent listener and she loved him (who else would have put up with an entire car ride of Adora drunkenly replaying Catra’s heroics over and over again?), he had also long since surrendered to Glimmer’s complete lack of boundaries. 

“And you know what? I get it! If I wasn’t dating Bow, I’d probably have a crush on her just hearing about all of this. Though I’m still not completely convinced she didn’t set this whole thing up herself.” 

Adora scoffed at that notion once again, but was saved having to reply by movement inside the shop. “I still can’t believe part of your ‘confidence training’ involves stalking her at her workplace.” 

“We’re not stalking anybody,” Glimmer replied brightly. “We’re ensuring the safety of the establishment before entering to purchase goods.” 

Adora had no response to that. Not an uncommon state regarding Glimmer. 

“There she is!” Glimmer exclaimed. “Alright, you’re going to go in, say hi, thank her for saving your life, and just, I don’t know, make normal conversation. I’m going to interrogate the guy behind the counter.” 

“This is a terrible plan,” Adora muttered, but allowed Glimmer to drag her through the front door of the store. The bells jingled. Adora could already feel a blush creeping up her neck. 

“Remember. Confidence!” Glimmer whispered before disappearing between the shelves. 

Adora took a deep breath. Glimmer might be nosy and obsessed, but she also wasn’t wrong. Adora tucked a few stray hairs back and walked up to the counter, still moving carefully. Most of her fatigue and wooziness had faded after another full day and night of rest, but she wasn’t a hundred percent just yet. 

“Hi,” Adora said to the guy behind the counter, Kyle if she remembered correctly. “Is Catra here?” 

“Uh, yeah! She’s in the back. You’re Adora, right?” 

Adora nodded. “Yeah.” 

“Cool,” Kyle said, smiling widely at her. “I’ll just be a second.” 

He squeezed out from behind the counter and disappeared into the back. Adora leaned against the counter and waited. She caught a glimpse of Glimmer creeping around the shelves, searching for the opportunity to strike. 

Adora turned back just in time to catch Catra peeking out of the door leading into the back, tugging her beanie over her head. It wasn’t that cold, but Adora knew she always ran hot herself. She wasn’t about to say anything on the subject, anyway. 

“Hey, Adora,” Catra drawled, staring at her like she was expecting bad news. “What are you doing here?” 

“Sorry if it’s weird showing up at your work,” Adora began, wincing a little. “I just wanted to thank you. In person, with all my faculties intact.” 

Who says ‘faculties?’

“Oh. Uh, you’re welcome.” Catra sidled behind the counter, one leg moving stiffly. She opened her mouth to say more, but froze. 

“I hear Bow’s buying you dinner,” Adora said, hoping to give Catra cover for whatever she’d just had a momentary freakout about. Adora knew those perfectly well. 

“Uh, yeah.” 

The single sentence answers weren’t a great sign, but Adora thought Catra looked more stressed than uninterested. Not that stressed was a great reaction to a conversation either, but hey, Adora was stressed too! 

“This might be weird,” Adora began, even as a voice in her head that sounded suspiciously like Glimmer screeched at her to just be confident, Adora. “And like, I don’t normally do this, but-” 

Catra, who had been staring at her with widening eyes the whole time she talked, jumped in place and let out an absolutely adorable little squeak. She fished her phone out of her pocket and grimaced. 

“I gotta take this,” she said. “Just a minute.” 

Adora gave her a sickly smile as the bottom dropped out of her stomach. “Yeah, totally.” 

Catra flashed her a small but seemingly genuine smile as she retreated towards the back, already raising her phone to her ear. Just before the door closed, Catra shoved the beanie back a bit to reveal… a hint of a large, fuzzy ear. Wait, what? Was she really still wearing the costume? 

Adora had more pressing concerns than the fact that Catra might be a little too attached to the whole Halloween thing, namely that she’d faked a phone call even before Adora had asked her out. Adora was not above admitting that it stung. It stung a lot, actually. So much so that she considered just up and leaving to go nurse her failure at the nearest bar, nevermind the fact that it was the middle of the day on a Sunday. 

But that would be rude, and also Glimmer would never let her hear the end of it. She went back to leaning on the counter, trying to pretend like nothing was wrong. 

A minute or two later, which really wasn’t that long but still felt like an eternity to Adora, Catra shoved her way back through the door. She looked angry and unsettled, and it began to dawn on Adora that maybe the woman hadn’t faked the call at all. 

“Everything okay?” Adora asked. 

Catra shrugged. “No worse than usual. More work, actually.” She glanced up at Adora. “If you get the urge to go shade-hunting again this week, don’t.” 

Adora blinked. “Uh, okay. Why not?” 

Catra’s shoulders fell. “Can’t really talk about it.”

“Oh. Okay.” Adora knew this was the part where she was supposed to pick up where she’d left off and just ask Catra out, but it no longer felt like the right time. Not with the clear distress scrawled across Catra’s whole body in block letters. Her leg was even twitching oddly under her pants. “I’ll see you around?” 

“Yeah,” Catra said. Adora turned to leave. “Adora, wait.” 

Adora glanced back to see Catra fidgeting in place, unwilling to make eye contact.

“What’s wrong?” Adora asked. 

“Nothing. Just… Bow asked me the other day that you could use some magical help sometimes,” Catra began. “Well, if you do need it, here’s my number.” She held out a slip of paper with a phone number written in blue ink. “Just in case.”
“Thanks,” Adora said. “I’ll give you a call if anything comes up.” 

It wasn’t the best way to get a girl’s digits, but it was better than nothing. Right? 

“Technically, Bow already had her number,” Glimmer noted after Adora recounted the conversation. “So no, it’s not much better than nothing.” 

“Way to be supportive,” Adora grumbled. “I did my best!” 

“I know,” Glimmer said, patting her arm. “And I got three minutes of uninterrupted conversation with Kyle. He was very sweet, but not all that helpful. All I really got was that Catra opened the store about eight months ago and was rooming with Kyle’s girlfriend until four months after that. He didn’t know anything else.”

“If you try to run a background check on her I’m done,” Adora warned, only half-joking. “I don’t actually need you to root around in her business.” 

“But it’s so fun,” Glimmer replied, smirking devilishly. “Besides, it’s Sunday. What else am I supposed to do with my time?” 

“Literally anything.” 

“You’re so boring.” 

Adora huffed. “Not wanting to be a creeper doesn’t make me boring.” 

Glimmer made a dubious noise but didn’t argue the point further. She got in the driver’s side of Adora’s car, since Adora wasn’t dumb enough to drive while recovering from losing that much blood. 

“Where are we going?” Adora asked, already dreading the answer. 

“To that lunch place you love. I am starving."

Adora tried to keep her sigh of relief surreptitious. She'd been afraid Glimmer was about to announce that it was 'makeover time' again.

“So you’re telling me that she came to the shop, made conversation with you, didn’t disappear after you faked a phone call, and you still didn’t ask her out?” Lonnie threw up her hands. “Are you serious right now?” 

Catra glared right back. “I didn’t fake a phone call. Shadow Weaver called me again, about another shade.” 

“You literally cut her off in the middle of the sentence where she was going to ask you out,” Lonnie replied flatly. “It doesn’t matter if the call was real or not.” 

“She wasn’t about to ask me out,” Catra protested. “And I’m not trying to date anyone.” She did her best to make the word into a curse, just so it was clear where she stood on the whole topic.

“See, but Adora’s not just anyone. You saved her life while she was trying to help a shade pass over, Catra. Assuming she hasn’t already figured it out, you’re not gonna keep your secret forever. Then either she runs for the hills or doesn’t give a shit.”

Catra sighed. Lonnie… might have a point. If Adora kept sticking her nose into Catra’s life, she was gonna figure it out eventually. Catra couldn’t wear a beanie forever, anyway. 

“Why is this so hard?” Catra asked the ceiling. 

“Because you’re making it hard,” Lonnie replied. “You literally saved her life, Catra. I don’t think she’s gonna try to murder you because you have cute ears.” 

“It’s not- whatever,” Catra grumped instead of trying to explain. Lonnie didn’t get it, and that was fine. “I’ll just wait for her to call.” 

“You gave her your digits?” 

Catra nodded. “Bow said they might need sorcerical help sometimes.” 

“That’s not a word.” The rest of the sentence processed, and Lonnie pinched the bridge of her nose. “You gave her your number and said it was for business? Are you trying not to get laid?” 

“It was an obvious lie!” Catra shot back. 

“To you, because you’ve never done a day’s work in your life,” Lonnie said. “To a normal person, there’s a thousand different ways she could interpret that.” 

“Ugh, whatever. I’ll just get her number from Bow tomorrow,” Catra grumbled. “He insisted on buying me dinner for saving her life.” Lonnie raised an eyebrow. “Not like that,” Catra clarified. “He was very clear.”

“How much you wanna bet you get her number and still don’t text her?” Lonnie challenged. “I’ll start at a hundred.” Catra glared, but said nothing. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

Chapter Text

Catra peered around the restaurant. She’d almost picked somewhere fancy and expensive to milk the free meal as much as she could, but had realized at the last minute that she didn’t have any clothes nice enough. Also it felt a little mean. And she didn’t really get fancy food sometimes. 

Bow waved to her from a table in a dim corner of the restaurant. The place was all hardwood, low ceilings, and moody lighting. Or mood lighting. Catra didn’t care about the difference. Anyway, she was less worried about some random seeing through her disguise here. That fear had been plaguing her since the moment Adora had asked about animatronics, because she still didn’t know why Adora could see through her illusion. That uncertainty left her feeling exposed, vulnerable. Which made it all the stranger that she’d actually agreed to this whole thing. 

She steeled herself and stalked across the restaurant to slide into the booth opposite Bow. The hardwood bench didn’t leave a lot of space for her tail, but she wiggled a bit and got comfortable enough. 

“Hey,” Bow said. “I’m glad you made it.” He chuckled quietly. “I was a little worried you wouldn’t show up.” 

“Free dinner,” Catra replied. Bow laughed again. “What’s good here?” 

“I’ve always heard the burgers are excellent,” Bow said. “I usually get the pesto flatbread and a salad. A friend of mine converted me to vegetarian a while back, so burgers are a no-go.” He looked a little pained at that. 

“Cool,” Catra said. She gave the menu a cursory glance and decided on a burger with fries, because fried food of any kind had turned out to be reason enough to escape Hell all on its own. 

“What’s it like, running your own business?” Bow asked after the waiter took their drink orders, a Diet Coke for Bow and water for Catra. 

“Eh,” Catra shrugged. “It’s cool, I guess.” She didn’t exactly have a lot of experience to compare it to. 

“I’m so glad I get to set my own hours these days,” Bow said. “The 9-5 about killed me when I worked in finance. It’s better now that I’m doing something I enjoy, but still.” 

“What do you do?” Catra asked, out of basic human politeness more than anything. She didn’t care, obviously. That would just be weird. Even if Bow exuded the kind of general niceness that Catra had only ever seen on TV from those goody-two-shoes characters who usually ended up being pretty boring. She hadn’t thought there were real people like that. 

“I teach archery courses around Bright Moon,” Bow replied. “Places hire me to do sessions. It’s not exactly lucrative, but I love doing it, and that’s what matters. And it leaves a flexible enough schedule for um, side projects.” 

“Sounds riveting,” Catra said, because again, she had no idea what a real human job looked like. She slept in till noon most days. If the sarcasm bothered Bow he didn’t show it.

“What about you? What did you do before you opened up your shop?” 

Catra paused, thinking about all of the dirty work Shadow Weaver had made her do down in Hell. She’d hated every second of it, and not just because of being told what to do by Weaver. 

“Retail returns,” Catra finally said. “With a real shitty boss.” 

Bow winced. “Yeah, that sounds pretty hellish.” 

“You have no idea,” Catra muttered. 

Their drinks arrived, and Catra took a swig of water. 

“Adora mentioned you had a call the other day,” Bow said after sipping at his Coke. “Do you do consulting on the side?” 

“Uh, yeah,” Catra said, stumbling around for a lie. “Sort of comes with the territory of, well, you know.” 

Bow nodded. “I hear you. Adora, Glimmer, and I pick up the odd job around Bright Moon when people need help with stuff. It’s a good gig, important, but it’s not exactly lucrative.” 

Catra failed to suppress her giggle at the name. Bow gave her a strange look, and she coughed. “Uh, what kind of stuff?” 

Bow shrugged. “You know. Hauntings, setting up wards, investigating strange happenings. The works. We had a Bigfoot sighting last year, but it turned out to be a hairy guy out for a late night hike.” 

“And shades?” 

Bow paused. “That’s been Adora’s personal thing for a while. We still do it as a group, but no one hires us for those, not usually. She just… gets a feeling and goes looking. At least, she did. Maybe this whole ordeal will make her take her own safety a little more seriously.” 

“I’ll say,” Catra murmured. “She pretty much just walked up to a serial killer’s ghost and said ‘hey, stab me!’” 

Bow chuckled. “Yeah, that did not sound like her greatest moment.” He sobered. “I’m just really glad you were there. She’s important to a lot of people. And…” he paused, as if choosing his words carefully. “She’s special.” 

Catra’s stomach flipped in that increasingly-familiar way, and she nodded, if for a completely different reason than Bow meant. “Yeah. She is.” 

Catra was back home in her apartment, curled up in her bed watching one of her favorite episodes when her phone buzzed on her nightstand. She grumbled, paused her show, and flopped her hand around until it grabbed her phone. It was nearly four in the morning, but it was Friday and Catra had finished another shade hunt not two hours before. She needed her time off, sleep schedule be damned. Kyle could handle things tomorrow. Well, technically today. Ew. 

It was a text from a number she didn’t recognize, but her contacts list was not exactly overwhelming. The message itself made her heart stop. 

Unknown: 

I know what you are.

Catra didn’t reply. She muted her phone and put it in her nightstand drawer for good measure. It was still hours before she fell asleep. 

“Dude.”

Catra growled into her pillow. 

“Dude.”

She felt her claws dig into her mattress. “No.” 

“Dude. Company.” 

Catra’s eyes snapped open. “What?” Who?!”

Melog gave her a very sarcastic look. “Me.” 

Catra glared right back at them. “Why are you like this?” 

“Hungry.” 

Catra glanced over at the clock on her nightstand and groaned. 3:42PM. Melog hadn’t eaten all day, which meant they were actually being quite polite at the moment. “One sec.” 

She flopped out of bed and poured a giant bowl of dry cat food for them before telling Kyle he could close the shop early today. She saw another text waiting for her, and felt a jolt of panic before realizing that it was from Adora. Catra had gotten her number from Bow and made a contact, but had been too busy to text. Also it had been really late at night. And she had no reason to text Adora in the first place. Obviously. 

Adora: 

Hey Catra! Bow said he had a great time last night, and I still feel like I owe you one. Maybe lots of ones. Would you let me buy you dinner sometime next week? 

Totally fine if you don’t want to, no pressure :). 

Catra glared at her phone. This sounded suspiciously like a date. Lonnie would be ecstatic. Catra was not. But a second free dinner sounded really nice, and she could pick a restaurant where the beanie wouldn’t be out of place. Whatever. She could do the date and get over this stupid ‘crush’. That was all she was trying to do, obviously. 

Catra:

sure

the blue goat on friday?

The response was immediate. It was Saturday, after all. 

Adora: 

I love the Blue Goat! What time were you thinking? I could pick you up at your shop if you want.

Catra wasn’t about that at all. 

Catra:

i was thinking later

and i can get there on my own, princess

Adora: 

Great! I’m not really sure if I’m supposed to be driving yet, actually. I still get a little dizzy when I stand up. 

Catra:

that's just cuz you’re freakishly tall

The reply took long enough that Catra got a little worried she’d actually offended Adora. Her stomach twisted strangely, and she resisted the urge to chuck her phone across the bedroom. She was pretty much just giving her fingers free reign to type with no regard for consequences, after all. Sort of like everything else she did. 

Adora: 

I’m only in the 96th percentile.

Catra:

you totally just looked that up, didn’t you

Adora: 

Maybe.

Catra snorted despite herself. The twisting feeling had eased into something lighter, but still defied identification. Definitely.

“I can’t believe you screwed this up,” Glimmer moaned. 

“I asked her to dinner!” Adora protested. Glimmer grabbed her phone and scooted out of reach on the couch in her and Bow’s living room. 

“Yeah, except you made it sound like the same thing Bow did, which he was very specific about not being a date. Ambiguity helps no one, Adora. If it turns out that she’s not interested or doesn’t even like women, all you did was waste time. And like thirty bucks on dinner.” 

“So, what,” Adora said. “What should I have said?” 

“All you had to do was include the word ‘date’ somewhere, but no. You were too awkward to manage even that.” 

“If I wasn’t recovering from blood loss I’d kick your ass right now,” Adora grumbled. “You’re not being very supportive.” 

“Well, I tried supportive, but that’s how we ended up in this situation,” Glimmer replied. Adora wasn’t sure when Glimmer had done this alleged supporting, or what it might have looked like. She was smart enough to know not to say that, though. “So now I’m trying to bash through the brick wall you hide all your feelings behind sometimes.” 

“I’m allowed to get to know someone without going on a date first, Glimmer,” Adora tried. 

Glimmer was having none of that. “Tell me to my face that you’d be fine just being friends with Catra.” Adora pressed her lips into a line, but said nothing. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” 

“I don’t want to make it weird!” Adora exclaimed. “She just… she seems so cool. I mean, she’s a badass sorcerer who runs her own occult shop. That’s like, the definition of cool.” 

“And wears cat ears to work, apparently,” Glimmer muttered. “Adora, the worst that happens if you actually tell her what you want is that she says no. That’s it. She literally saved your life when she’d basically just met you. So just woman up and be honest.” 

“Nobody says that,” Adora grumbled, even though she’d been known to say it on more than one occasion. She was too busy rolling her eyes to stop Glimmer from swiping her phone right out of her hands. “Hey!”

“This is for your own good, Adora.” 

Because Glimmer had never learned the definition of boundaries , she already knew Adora’s passcode. If Adora hadn’t still been recovering from her blood loss, she probably would have been able to catch Glimmer before her soon-to-be-ex-best friend sent a single text. As it was, Adora got her phone back just in time to watch the message go from ‘Sending’ to ‘Delivered’. 

Adora:

Want to call it a date?

“Glimmer…” Adora growled. She was used to her best friend’s questionable decisions, but this was too far. She was forestalled from chewing Glimmer out by the message changing to ‘Read’ and typing bubbles appearing. Adora stopped breathing. The bubbles bounced along, disappeared, and reappeared. They disappeared again, and did not reappear. Adora’s gaze fell upon Glimmer’s smirking face. 

“You literally just said you wouldn’t be happy just being friends with her, Adora,” Glimmer said. “This is just saving you some time either way.” 

“That’s not the point,” Adora began, but her phone buzzed. She stared down, heart and stomach clenching alike. 

Catra: 

sure, princess. ur buying

Glimmer leaned over, read the text, and laughed. “See! Easy.” 

“We are not done talking about this,” Adora grumbled, now panicking for entirely different reasons. 

That must have been evident on her face, because Glimmer reached over and grabbed Adora’s upper arms so she could stare eye-to-eye. “Adora. You’ve got this.” 

“I’ve got this,” Adora said, mostly because it was the only thing that would get Glimmer out of her personal space. She was already making notes on how she was going to have to enlist Bow to have another ‘talk’ with Glimmer. 

Glimmer smacked her on the shoulder with way more force than anyone her size should have been able to generate. 

“You totally do. Just don’t freeze up, freak out, or get stabbed again, and you should be golden. Good luck!” 

Friday finally rolled around, but the day conspired to drag on and on. Two of Adora’s regulars canceled their appointments, which meant she had a huge block of empty time in the afternoon with nothing to do but panic about her upcoming date. Her and Bow’s ‘talk’ with Glimmer about not stealing people’s phones and meddling in relationships had sort of worked and Glimmer had been legitimately contrite, but to the surprise of no one but Adora, the date was still on. 

Her boredom and nerves swirled together for hours as she poked around the gym pretending to be busy, until she rounded a corner and slammed into someone. Through them, actually. 

“Hello, Adora,” Light Hope said in her usual not-quite-monotone. “You missed your training session again.”

“I was uh, still a little under the weather,” Adora half-lied with an awkward chuckle. “The flu is real nasty this year, hehe. But I’ll be there this weekend, I promise!”

“Good,” the light spirit said. Adora had long since given up trying to convince Light Hope to not haunt Adora’s place of work after the third lengthy essay on metaphysical anchor points and mana flow. She was pretty sure Light Hope had made that one intentionally obtuse just to get Adora to stop asking. 

“Is there a reason you’re bothering me?” Adora asked, with a little more irritation than was wise. 

“Bothering,” Light Hope echoed without a hint of sarcasm. “Yes. I am bothering you because the world is changing. Forces are beginning to move once more. You are not ready. You have made great strides in controlling your power, but you do not yet understand the need for balance.” 

Adora scoffed. “I understand just fine. You certainly talk about it enough.”

“Adora. This is your destiny. If you should fail to maintain balance, the world as we know it will fall. You cannot let that happen.”

And there they were, the words that opened that familiar pit in Adora’s stomach. 

“Why me?” she asked, not for the first time. “Why was I given this power? I never asked for it, and honestly it’s mostly just made my life more complicated.” And deadly, she carefully did not add. 

“It is a great honor to wield the power of She-Ra,” Light Hope said, as always never quite answering the question. “You were chosen. This is your destiny.”

Adora wanted to scoff again, but something stopped her. Regardless of Light Hope’s evasions, Adora had felt the same change in the world. It wasn’t just the shades. It felt more like a change in seasons, only she couldn’t identify any of the signs. Something just beyond the edge of description, but no less real for it. 

“I’ll be there on Sunday,” Adora promised. She paused, because asking for something now felt doomed to fail but she was really sick of lying to her friends. “Can I tell my friends soon? At least a little?”

Light Hope shook her head. “No. She-Ra is too powerful to risk. If she were to fall into the wrong hands, it would have devastating consequences.” 

Normally Adora found the emphasizing flash of Light Hope’s eyes to be a little comical, but she was too worried about having to keep up this charade in front of Bow and Glimmer. And now Catra, who had already covered Adora’s ass once. If Adora had ended up in a hospital, Light Hope would have found out, and that was a terrifying thought. The first time Adora had used her new power ‘unsupervised’, she’d thought Light Hope was going to murder her. But what the light spirit didn’t know didn’t hurt her, and she didn’t know about Adora’s side projects because of Catra. 

“Fine,” Adora said, her shoulders slumped, “I’ll keep it secret.” 

But not forever.

“I don’t have this,” Adora mumbled to herself when she walked into the bustling restaurant and spotted Catra lazing against the wall near the host stand. She looked stunning as always, even in sweatpants and a soft, worn hoodie. The beanie had become a permanent presence, which Adora sort of got. It was getting chillier as November crept onward. 

“Hey, Adora,” Catra drawled. “How’s it hanging?” 

Adora froze up. It was quite possibly the single most casual thing Catra could have said, in pretty much the lowest-pressure date environment possible, and Adora still couldn’t force a single word through the wall between her brain and her mouth. The entire English lexicon evaporated beneath the image of one dressed-down beanie-wearing sorceress. 

“You uh, you okay there, Adora?” Catra asked after a few seconds. 

“Great!” Adora chirped automatically. “Everything’s perfect. Yep, totally good.” She shot finger-guns Catra’s way. “A-okay, as they say.” She added a nervous chuckle for good measure. 

Catra stared at her for a moment, just long enough for Adora to start to wonder if she’d already botched all of this. Instead, Catra broke out into squeaky, explosive giggles. 

“You sure you’re not still short a pint or two?” Catra teased after getting her laughter under control.

Adora blushed. “Uh, pretty sure. No professionals involved though, thanks to you.” Catra’s expression faltered, and Adora realized how her words might have been misinterpreted. “Which I am grateful for. That uh, wasn’t sarcasm at all.” 

Catra snorted again, but the host chose that moment to inform them that a table for two had just opened up. They followed the host over and sat, neither woman bothering to open the offered menus. They only had eyes for each other. 

“What’s the deal with that, if you don’t mind me asking,” Catra said. “The whole ‘no hospitals’ thing, I mean. It almost got you killed.” 

Adora froze again. She should have prepared a lie for this, because the question wasn’t exactly a surprise. She was lucky Catra had listened at all about the hospital thing that night. 

“Ummm,” she said, sparring for time to get her brain back into gear. “I… have active police warrants?” 

Catra raised an eyebrow at the awful lie. “If you don’t want to answer, it's whatever.”  

Adora gave her a grateful smile. “It’s complicated,” she said after a moment. 

Catra readily accepted the deflection, but Adora still figured a more thorough subject change was in order. “Where did you learn all your uh, you know, stuff?”

Catra squinted for a second before getting it. Adora was unprepared for the way Catra’s face went pale, and it nearly distracted her from the very odd way that Catra’s beanie suddenly jumped. Nearly. 

“You don’t have to answer,” Adora said quickly. “Just making conversation.” 

Catra didn’t say anything, but her relief was clear. They were now zero for two on conversation attempts. Still, bullet dodged. 

Or not. A moment later, Catra’s eyes snapped up to focus on something behind Adora, locking onto it with laser precision. Her face went even paler than before, and before Adora knew it she slipped out of her chair. 

“I uh, I gotta go,” Catra said, her voice unsteady. 

“Wait, what?” Adora stammered. “We just got here.” Had her terrible attempt at lying really ruined this? 

“I uh, I left the oven on,” Catra replied. Adora had never been particularly good at spotting lies, but one that bad was still insulting. 

“Catra, wait,” Adora said. “I’m sorry for-” 

But she was gone. Adora’s gut twisted. She knew she wasn’t the smoothest operator, but this was pathetic, even by her standards. This was now the second conversation Catra had fled from after less than a minute. This was why Adora never got a second date. 

The real fear in Catra’s eyes finally processed and shoved its way through Adora’s wall of insecurities. A few gears started to grind, and after five agonizing seconds of thought, Adora came to the conclusion that maybe this hadn’t been about her at all. Catra might be in some kind of trouble. Given that she’d saved Adora’s life, there wasn’t much Adora wouldn’t do to try and repay that. 

At least, that was Adora’s justification for dropping a fiver on the unused table and following Catra out into the early evening. She caught a glimpse of Catra’s hoodie rounding a corner down the street, and she walked towards it as fast as she could without it looking weird. The turn Catra had taken led into a dim alley. Frigid fingers crawled up between Adora’s shoulder blades. At first she thought it was just from fear, but as the feeling strengthened she recognized it as something else. Magic. And not the pleasant kind. 

She picked up the pace, no longer caring if someone saw her. She jogged down the alley, dodging chunks of asphalt and scattered bits of trash before coming to a stop behind a big green dumpster. The feeling of dark magic was so strong now it felt like an evil masseuse was trying to add knots to Adora’s spine. She peeked around the dumpster, and saw it. 

A tall, spindly man with ghostly pale skin, his body wreathed in dark flame, towered at the entrance to a tiny parking lot split off from the alley. He was blocking the only way out. The only way out for Catra, Adora realized. Catra was hemmed in by silently-snapping forms of coiling darkness, each assault getting a little bit closer to flesh. 

Adora didn’t wait any longer. She leapt from her cover with a cry, summoning her own inner strength. She knew she was supposed to avoid using her power on her own, but she couldn’t watch Catra be torn apart by dark magic right in front of her. Rules and ‘balance’ be damned. 

The spindly man whirled faster than Adora ever would have expected and launched a wave of darkness at her. She rolled out of the way and hurled power back, nearly blinding herself from the blast of golden light that flashed through the alley. In a burst of shadows, the man disappeared. Adora stared at the spot, momentarily dumb-founded, before turning to make sure that Catra was okay. 

Half-hunched against the wall, one arm covering her stomach, she looked angry and afraid. To top it all off, her beanie was gone, and there was no chance Adora would find it in the low light. 

She stepped forward, hoping to get a better look at any possible injuries. She stopped, because Catra turned and hissed at her, spitting furiously. Adora backed off and raised her hands. 

“Hey! I’m not trying to do anything. Just want to make sure you’re alright.” 

“I’m fine,” Catra snarled. 

“Who was that?” Adora asked instead of getting into an argument. 

“Why do you care? He’s not your problem.” 

“He is now,” Adora replied, voice hard. “He was trying to kill you.” 

“Big fucking deal.” 

Adora paused. “How can I help?” 

“By leaving,” Catra snapped. 

Adora flinched. “I- okay,” she murmured. “I’m sorry. For whatever I did. Will you get home safely?”

“I’ll be fine, princess,” Catra drawled, some of the heat draining from her voice. Adora turned back just in time to use the reflected headlights of a distant car to get a proper look at Catra’s face. She still looked angry and afraid, but something heavier, more personal, had joined the party. And Catra was still wearing the ears?

Oh. Oh. Wow, Adora was an idiot. Glimmer would never let her hear the end of this. Before she could stop herself, she spoke. 

“You’re not human, are you?” 

Catra froze solid. Adora half-expected her to launch an attack. Instead, the woman deflated, ears falling. “No.” 

“What um, what are you, then? If you don’t mind me asking.” 

It felt like a bizarre parody of their aborted conversation inside, but Adora wasn’t leaving Catra alone without an explanation. 

“It’s not important.” 

“Of course it is,” Adora said. “It’s not every day I get to meet someone special.” 

Catra actually laughed at that, but it was a harsh, mirthless sound. “Special. Right.” Adora waited. “Fine. Fuck it. You wanna know what I am? I’m a demon. A vile creature of Hell, full of base impulses and unholy desires. Nothing more than dark power wrapped up inside a sinful shell. That’s all I’ll ever be.” 

Adora frowned. “That’s not true.” 

Even from across the alley Adora could see Catra bristle. “You think I don’t know what I am?” 

“No,” Adora said. “Just not all the other stuff.” 

“What?” 

“You’re not sinful or unholy,” Adora said. “You saved my life. You could’ve just let me bleed out in that field and no one would have had any idea. Instead, you risked yourself, your cover, to save me. You wouldn’t have done any of that if you were evil or vile or whatever you think you are.” 

Catra was silent for a short eternity. “You don’t know anything about me.” 

“I know enough to know that I’d like to know more,” Adora said. 

“Well, that’s just dumb,” Catra muttered. Encouraged, Adora took a slow step forward. Catra didn’t move. 

“We should probably get out of here,” Adora suggested. She had a very limited window of time to get back behind the wards in her apartment before her mentor could isolate the magical signature of the power she’d just used and trace it to her. “Magical duels in back alleys usually draw some kind of attention. Did you drive here?” Catra shook her head mutely. “Can I give you a ride?” Catra looked up to eye her warily, but nodded a moment later. “Great.” 

Adora repeatedly checked over her shoulder as they both walked out of the alley, just to make sure that Catra was still following. Her ears hung low, and Adora kicked herself again for ever thinking they were anything but real. A blush crept onto her face as she recalled their first meeting. Oblivious indeed. 

Adora stopped in front of her beat-up old Volkswagen, and half-expected Catra to make a snarky comment. Instead, Catra just ducked into the passenger seat, keeping her eyes straight ahead the whole time. Her ears stayed low and stiff. 

It wasn’t until Adora was halfway back to Catra’s apartment that the apparent demon spoke. 

“Thanks,” she murmured. “For uh, helping me back there.” 

“Who was that?” Adora asked again. 

Catra hugged her arms to her chest and looked away. “Hordak.” Adora waited. “He’s someone my old boss knew. You’d probably call him a necromancer, but that’s not really accurate.” 

Adora took a cautious right turn as gears spun. “The shades,” she guessed. “That’s why there have been so many recently. Because of him?” 

Catra nodded. “He must be helping them escape from Hell, in exchange for doing his bidding.” 

“Sounds a lot worse than zombies,” Adora joked weakly. A ghost of a smile tugged at Catra’s mouth. 

“I don’t know how he found me,” Catra said. “He probably wants me dead because I’ve been sending his shades back before he can get what he wants out of them.”

“But you don’t know how he’s tracking you,” Adora said, because she had some experience with this kind of thing. “Is your apartment safe?” 

Catra didn’t say anything for a moment. “No. Not against him. Against Shadow Weaver and other demons, sure. But he’s a human sorcerer. He plays by different rules.” 

“I think you should stay the night at my place, then,” Adora said. She glanced at the clock on the dashboard. She had time to squeeze back to Catra’s place either way, but, “My apartment is warded against every kind of mortal sorcery I can think of.” And some immortal sorceries. 

Catra turned a glare on her. “I don’t need your help.” 

Adora almost argued and said that Catra obviously did, but caught herself just in time. “I know that. But I owe you pretty big, and I want to pay you back.” 

Catra’s jaw clenched and she turned away once more. “Fine. But I gotta get Melog first.” 

Adora hid a smile. Anyone that attached to a cat had a good heart. “Sure. We’re nearly there anyway.” 

Adora resisted the urge to follow Catra out of the car and into her apartment building. She knew she was already pushing it, and the last thing she wanted was to make Catra flee. The seconds stretched into minutes with no sign of Catra. Adora began to chew on her nails at the five minute mark. She really didn’t have time for this. Finally the entrance to the apartment building swung open and revealed Catra walking side by side with Melog. If anything, Melog looked bigger than Adora remembered. Catra opened the door of Adora’s car and the cat hopped up with effortless grace before sitting primly in the backseat, eyes alert, tail faintly twitching. Catra slid back into the passenger seat. 

“Got everything you need?” Adora asked, noting the addition of a backpack to Catra’s hoodie ensemble. 

“Yeah,” she said. More quietly, she added “thanks.” 

Adora nodded, and almost said something like ‘no problem.’ She caught herself, because for some reason she didn’t think that would go over well with Catra. 

“You’re welcome,” she said instead. 

Chapter Text

Melog was the first inside Adora’s cramped studio. They strolled through each room, sniffing with interest and making it eminently clear that why yes they appreciated this addition to their domain. Catra was less at ease. She glanced around the apartment, noting the near-obsessive cleanliness, the lack of real furniture, and the lone queen-sized bed that Adora had only ended up with because Bow and Glimmer had shoved cash into her hands and begged her to get anything other than a bare twin mattress. 

“I’ll take the floor,” Adora said. 

“Your house,” Catra replied. “You get the bed. I’m fine wherever.” 

“If it’s my house, it’s my rules. And my rules say that the guest gets the bed.” 

Catra looked ready to argue, but a huge yawn squeaked out of her throat. Adora hadn’t commented, but Catra was still clearly favoring her left side, and fending off that much magic would exhaust anyone. 

Even a demon. 

Adora hadn’t really processed that yet. She’d actively tried not to process it, in fact. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe in demons. She’d seen weirder stuff in her two-plus decades on Etheria. It was just that Catra didn’t much fit the classical bill of what demons supposedly looked like, much less how they acted. She was surly and closed off, sure, but Adora could tell she had a good heart. Catra had risked her own skin to save Adora’s when it could have cost her everything. She’d apparently made a real effort with Bow at dinner, and the only thing she’d been worried about when a literal necromancer came calling was her cat, of all things. In other words, she wasn’t all that demonic. 

“Can I um, get you anything?” Adora asked as Catra dumped her backpack beside the bed. 

“I’m fine.” 

Yep, definitely closed off. “Alright, just uh, let me know.” Adora started digging through her closet in hopes of turning up extra bedding she knew she didn’t own. Not even a spare blanket to lay on the floor. She could feel Catra’s eyes burning a hole in her back, but stoically did not turn. 

“I could’ve brought some shit if you’d asked, Adora,” Catra said, clearly having seen the empty closet. Thankfully her voice carried dry humor rather than frustration, but Adora still blushed. 

“Sorry! I just- I guess I wasn’t thinking this through.” 

“Wow, I’m shocked. The woman who walked up to a serial killer’s ghost unarmed is unprepared? I don’t know how my heart will recover.”

Adora half-expected her floorboards to start melting under the sarcasm dripping from Catra’s tone. 

“I should check my wards,” Adora said, and began to rush around the apartment. She did in fact check each rune with painstaking care, because they were the whole reason Catra was here at all. That, and nothing more. The process took Adora most of five minutes, and when she got back to the main room from the tiny attached kitchen she found Catra in her bed, lying stiffly on her side up against the wall. She wasn’t even using thirty percent of the available space. 

“Mind if I steal a pillow?” Adora whispered, uncertain if Catra was asleep yet. Catra rolled her head over to stare incredulously at Adora. 

“You’re gonna sleep on the floor? With one pillow?” 

Adora shrugged. This whole plan had been her idea. If anyone was going to wake up with a backache, it should be her. “It’s my fault for not having extra blankets and stuff. I’ve never really needed them.” Adora stuttered. “Because I run hot, obviously. No uh, no other reason.” 

Catra snorted. “You’re ridiculous.” She rolled back over to face the wall. There was a beat before she spoke again. “The bed is huge.” 

“Umm,” Adora mumbled, because Catra couldn’t possibly be offering what Adora thought she was. She yelped when Melog hopped up and sprawled luxuriously in the middle of the bed, leaving almost half untouched. Adora wasn’t sure if having the huge Maine Coon between them made it better or worse. “Are you sure?” 

“I’m not gonna offer again,” Catra grumbled, sounding more sleepy than anything. Apparently she crashed hard after an adrenaline rush. Or Hordak’s magic had done more damage than she’d let on. “If you try to add my ears to your collection or something, there are forty razor-sharp claws in this bed right now.” 

Adora gulped. Maybe the floor wasn’t such an awful idea after all. 

“Get in the goddamn bed, Adora,” Catra said. 

Adora’s mind said ‘yes ma’am’ and before she knew it, she was lying atop her freshly changed sheets from the night before. Not that she’d been expecting anything. It had just been laundry day yesterday. 

“I wasn’t kidding about the claws,” Catra added just when Adora had managed to begin relaxing the slightest amount. Adora did her best to keep a respectful distance from the two cats in the bed with her while not falling off the side. She wasn’t afraid of them. Melog was big, but they were just a cat, and Adora was getting the sneaking suspicion that Catra was actually a softie somewhere under all that armor. Maybe Adora was just projecting her hopes. Maybe. 

Catra awoke to warmth, calm, and the sound of gentle purring. Something soft pressed against her chest, and something heavy and vibrating laid across her ankles. She was also purring, she realized. That alone was enough to send her eyes snapping open. It took her a moment to decipher the sight in front of her, mostly because it was right in front of her. Tousled strands of blond hair in an unfamiliar bed. 

The purring stuttered to a halt. The previous night’s events returned, and Catra snapped awake. Her arms were wrapped around Adora, she was in Adora’s bed, and her body wasn’t quite sure why she was so afraid of those two facts. 

Some part of her panicked awakening must have roused Adora, because she twitched her way back to consciousness while Catra laid behind her, petrified. Adora smacked her lips a few times in a way that should have been annoying but wasn’t, yawned in a way that should not have been cute but was, and gently stroked the hands still wrapped around her tummy. Catra’s hands, as it happened. 

A lot of things happened at once just then. Adora tried to leap to her feet, but was still uncoordinated from sleep and held in place by not one but two obstacles. Melog had been laying across both Catra and Adora’s ankles, but Adora’s sudden motion sent the hellcat straight into the air and running for cover with a spooked yowl. Adora ended up in a pile of limbs on the floor, and Catra wanted to melt into the mattress and disappear forever. 

“I’m so sorry!” Adora exclaimed, somehow managing to come to her feet. “I didn’t- I mean, I wasn’t- god, I can’t believe-” 

She cut herself off completely, going so red Catra was worried that she would burst into mortified flames on the spot. Nevermind the fact that Catra had been the one to glue herself to Adora’s back like a zebra mussel trying to cross state lines. 

Melog ended up coming to the rescue, because it was too early in the morning for Catra to form sentences even on a good day, and staring up at Adora’s embarrassed, half-clothed body, all her sluggish brain could really think about was how warm she’d been only a few moments before. The hellcat, still in Maine Coon form, ambled over to Adora as if they hadn’t just screeched away like an archangel was on their tail. They gave her a very obvious once-over, sniffed at her, and headbutted her knee. Adora twitched and looked down, her mouth hanging open. Melog headbutted her again, demanding attention like all cat-kind. 

“Scratches,” Catra croaked. “They want scratches.” 

Adora, whose eyes were still huge, nodded a little dumbly and reached down to scratch Melog behind their ears. Shameless as ever, Melog thrust their head into Adora’s hand, demanding ever more. Catra studiously denied every part of her that tried to be jealous of her cat. She clambered over the bed to get up, wincing in pain as the movement pulled on her side. Hordak had only managed one real hit last night, but he had the power to make it hurt, and she’d worn a hoodie instead of her rune-enhanced leather jacket, like an idiot. She hissed in pain as she stood, which got all of Adora’s attention on her once more. 

“Are you alright? I’ll get my first aid kit. Just a sec!” 

“Adora, I’m fine,” Catra attempted, but Adora had already disappeared into the bathroom. Melog turned to Catra to see if more scratches were available, but the way Catra thumped down to sit on the side of the bed probably told them otherwise. Instead they wandered towards the kitchen, which normally would have made it to the top of things Catra should be worried about. At the moment, it barely made the top ten. 

Adora reappeared with a red bag with a white cross stitched on it. She bustled towards Catra, but froze a few feet away, her face going red again. “Look, uh-” 

“It’s fine,” Catra said, hoping to just dodge the whole conversation and move on. “You didn’t even do anything.” She held Adora’s gaze for a moment, hoping to make her sincerity clear, which, ew. 

Adora didn’t seem happy, but she didn’t press. “If you're sure.” She opened the bag and started pulling stuff out. “What do you need? I’ve got tylenol, aspirin, bandaids, neosporin, aloe-” 

“I’m a demon, remember?” Catra said. It was strangely easy to say. “I don’t think I need neosporin.” 

Adora frowned in thought. “Are you sure?” 

Catra shrugged. “It doesn’t hurt that bad.” Not compared to some of the things she’d survived before. “I’ll be fine.” 

“Can I at least take a look at it first?” 

Catra eyed Adora as the other woman blushed, but apparently Adora wasn’t going to let this go. “Fine.” Catra pulled up the edge of her shirt to reveal a blossoming purple and blue bruise along her left side, clear even through her thin fur. Adora sucked in a breath but thankfully kept her hands off. “See? Nothing you can do.” 

“You should take some tylenol for the pain at least,” Adora said when Catra dropped her shirt. 

“I’ve survived worse.” 

Adora was forced to finally drop the issue when a horrendous clattering sound burst out of the kitchen. She leapt to her feet and bolted towards the source of the noise. Catra groaned. 

“Melog, dude, we’ve gone over this,” she called. “You gotta have thumbs to cook.” 

A frazzled, embarrassed mrowwww was the hellcat’s only response. 

Adora stopped in the doorway to the kitchen. “Ummmmm…”

“They’re stuck, aren’t they,” Catra muttered. “Goddammit.” She hauled herself to her feet and shuffled over to join Adora in the doorway. Melog was hanging from a pot rack above the sink by their back legs, staring mournfully down at the floor far below them. Catra dragged a hand down her face. “Dude. How did you even do that?” 

“Should we help them?” Adora asked cautiously. 

“I kinda just want to let them stew in their mistakes for a while,” Catra drawled, still staring at Melog. The hellcat tried to give her an offended glare, but the effect was ruined by, well, the fact that they were hanging from the ceiling. “But they do actually need breakfast or they get a little ornery.” 

Adora chuckled nervously, which yeah. Catra wasn’t an expert on dating, but having someone bring their cat over after a first date had to be a red flag. Said cat immediately ransacking the kitchen and getting stuck in a pot rack probably turned that flag into a whole value-pack. 

Catra crossed over to the sink to get Melog down, but quickly realized that she couldn’t reach. Adora stepped up beside her but didn’t say anything, just looking at Catra expectantly. Catra groaned again, because tall people. 

“Can you get them down?” she asked through gritted teeth. 

“Will I come away with all of my fingers?” 

Catra paused to consider. “Probably.” 

Adora chuckled again like she wasn’t quite sure if Catra was joking. Just to be sure, Catra sent a stern mental impulse to not hurt Adora. She got an irritated mental “dude…” in response, which she probably deserved. Melog was better behaved with company than she was most of the time. 

“Nice kitty,” Adora tried to purr, but still sounded way too nervous to fool anybody as she reached up to extricate Melog from their self-inflicted predicament. Melog tried to look offended, but was fooling about the same number of people as Adora. 

Adora managed to get a solid grip on the cat and lifted them up with a grunt of exertion. “Wow, they’re heavy. What do you feed them?” 

“The blood of virgins,” Catra deadpanned. Adora squinted at her. “Joke. Duh. Gimme my cat.” 

“Oh, right!” Adora handed the beast over, who promptly tried to burrow into Catra’s arms. No shame whatsoever. 

“Nice try,” Catra told Melog. “But I need my hands to get you food. Not that you understand that fact, apparently.” 

Adora giggled, probably thinking Catra was dumb for talking to a cat like this. Catra felt her ears fold back slightly in embarrassment. 

“Sorry. It’s just cute,” Adora said. That did not help Catra’s embarrassment in the slightest. 

“I’m not cute.” 

Adora looked like she was working very hard not to smile. “Totally.” She paused. “I uh, don’t have any cat food.” 

Catra rolled her eyes. “Obviously. I came prepared.” She exited the kitchen and rifled through her backpack until she found the big ziploc bag of dry cat food she’d filled in a hurry last night. It wouldn’t last Melog even a day, and still took up half the space inside Catra’s backpack. Adora’s eyes got big again when she saw the bag. 

“Uh, how long were you planning on staying?” She went red. “I’m not kicking you out! You can uh, stay as long as you need! Until it’s safe?” 

“This will last about ten hours,” Catra said, hoisting the bag. “Do you have any bowls you don’t mind getting cat drool on?” 

“Dude…” Melog said reproachfully. Catra smirked down at them. Melog was very fastidious when they decided to give a shit. Catra had never seen them actually drool on anything. But the image of the pot rack incident was still fresh in her mind, and she couldn’t help but give her friend a hard time. It was in her DNA. 

“Also I hope you have a mudroom,” Catra continued. “They track all kinds of shit in.” 

Melog didn’t dignify that with a response, instead raising their tail high and practically mincing their way back to bed. Adora watched them go. Her wide-eyed state seemed more or less permanent. 

“I didn’t know cats could be that sassy,” she said. 

Catra snorted. “Trust me, you have no idea.” 

Adora cooked eggs for breakfast. Everybody liked eggs, right? Catra seemed mostly at ease, and devoured the food placed in front of her fast enough to scorch the plate, but Adora still couldn’t quite read her. She was in the middle of pondering the Catra question when her phone rang. She checked it. Oh no. Glimmer. 

“Oh fu-, I mean, fudge,” Adora said. “I gotta take this.” 

Ignoring Catra’s squeaky laugh at Adora’s choice of curse word, she retreated to the bedroom and accepted the call. 

“Adora!” Glimmer screeched. Adora held the phone a few inches away from her ear. “Why aren’t you answering your texts? How did the date go?!” 

“Uh, well, things got a little crazy,” Adora said. A dreadful pause. 

“What kind of crazy? The good kind or the bad kind?” 

That was in fact the question Adora had been trying to answer from the moment she realized Catra wasn’t actually going to eviscerate her for the whole accidental jetpack incident. 

“Ummmmm…” 

“Oh god. The bad kind,” Glimmer decided. “Are you okay? Did anything happen to you? If Catra messed with you I’ll blow her fucking house up. I’m not kidding.” 

This was not going well. Judging from the further squeaky laughter in the kitchen, Catra could hear every word. “No, Glimmer. No blowing things up. I just regrew my eyebrows.” Adora took a breath. “It’s fine. I’m fine. Catra didn’t do anything bad. But uh, the rest is…” 

“If you say ‘complicated’ I’m coming over right fucking now and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.” 

Adora loved Glimmer. She really did. Just, this was not the time. She had no interest in trying to deal with Glimmer discovering that Catra had spent the night in Adora’s bed after a first date. Not even a full one at that. A discovery like that would not end well for anyone. Not to mention the whole ‘oh yeah, Catra’s a demon with really cute ears and a fuzzy tail.’ Really, the last thing this mess needed was Glimmer Moon cannonballing into the middle of it with her usual reckless abandon. 

“You took too long. You were going to say complicated, and you’re trying to think of a different word.” 

“No,” Adora lied. “The rest is fine. We can-” 

“Nope! I’ll see you in ten!” Glimmer announced in her ‘I sound sweet but I can and will kill you with my pinky’ voice. Great. Just great. 

“Your friends are fucking weird,” Catra called from the kitchen the moment Adora set her phone down. 

“Sorry,” Adora said. “My closet’s pretty empty if you want to hide.” 

That got a bark of laughter from Catra. “I think I can handle someone named Glimmer.” 

Oh god. This was exactly what Adora didn’t want. “You don’t even have your beanie.” 

Catra’s form ghosted into the doorway so they could have an actual conversation. 

“Yeah, about that whole thing,” Catra said. “I have an illusion spell running pretty much all the time. Humans aren’t supposed to be able to see my demonic form. So far, you’re the only person I’ve ever met that can.” 

“Oh,” Adora said. That explained… well, a lot. “And you still went on a date with me?” 

Catra groaned. “Blame Lonnie.” 

Adora didn’t know who Lonnie was and this didn’t seem like the time to ask. “Okay, well, we still have to come up with a cover story.” 

“I thought your friends were in the know,” Catra said, tilting her head slightly. It was as cute as everything else she did. Not that Adora was going to risk saying that out loud. “And you don’t seem like you can act for shit anyway. Just tell her the truth.” 

“You want her to know you’re a demon?” Adora asked, maybe a little too incredulously. 

Catra shifted in place. “You can skip over that part. The rest makes sense without it anyway. The necromancer raising shades wants me dead because I keep sending shades back. Simple.” 

Adora blinked. That was pretty simple. “Okay. Sure. Uh, what about…” she made a vague gesture at the bed. Catra’s shoulders hunched a little. 

“You sold me on your wards or whatever. It’s not that weird. Unless she’s a complete problem, she won’t think that’s weird.” 

Adora’s heart, which had started hammering from the moment she’d seen Glimmer’s caller ID, finally calmed down a little. 

“Right. Nothing weird. You’re chill, I’m chill, we’re all chill.” 

Catra let out another squeaky, explosive laugh. “Yeah. That really sells it.” 

Glimmer arrived two minutes early, which meant her usual disdain for things like speed limits had been magnified to an unhealthy degree. Adora decided not to pick that fight today though, because Glimmer busted through the door with fire in her eyes. 

“Adora!” She turned and saw Catra. “Oh. Oh.” The sudden calculating look she shot Adora’s way did nothing to calm Adora down. The opposite, in fact. “Wow.” 

“Glimmer, this is Catra,” Adora said, hoping to inject the barest amount of normalcy to this battlefie- conversation. “Catra, this is my best friend Glimmer.” 

“Hey,” Catra said, eyeing Glimmer with a little more wariness than was polite. Adora couldn’t exactly blame her. 

“A pleasure, Catra,” Glimmer said. She did not offer her hand. “Adora, can I talk to you for a minute in the kitchen?” 

Saying no to Glimmer was a risky proposition in the best of circumstances. Adora nodded meekly and followed her best friend into the tiny kitchen, where the detritus from breakfast was still apparent. 

“I gotta use the bathroom,” Catra called. It probably wasn’t true, but Adora appreciated the attempt to pretend that Catra wouldn’t hear the entire conversation. Adora suspected those ears of hers did more than just look cute. 

Glimmer waited until she heard the bathroom door close before fixing Adora with a truly terrifying stare. 

“Adora, I love you,” she began. That was a good start, right? “And we’ve known each other for a long, long time. In that time, you’ve dated a grand total of two whole people.” 

“Three, actually,” Adora interjected. 

“Someone you only went on one date with before realizing they were a vampire trying to drain your blood and your bank balance doesn’t count,” Glimmer told her. Adora grumbled, but Glimmer had a point. “More importantly, you never even see the other person’s car until the third date. You are the epitome of overly cautious when it comes to dating.” 

“You’re saying that like it’s a bad thing,” Adora muttered, unwilling to meet Glimmer’s eyes. 

“It’s not,” Glimmer said. “Which is my point. You’ve known Catra for like, not even three weeks. You went on one date. And somehow you two ended up sleeping together?!” 

Adora winced at the sudden volume, but that was typical Glimmer. “We didn’t sleep together-” 

“Adora, I know you don’t own extra bedding, and I sure as hell don’t see a fucking sleeping bag anywhere in this apartment.” 

“Okay, we shared the bed, but-” 

“But what? You went on a first date with a known badass sorceress and ended up in bed with her? How do you know she didn’t put a spell on you? Or maybe-” 

Adora scoffed and shoved herself to her feet. “Glimmer, stop. It’s not like that at all. Any of that.”
“Well, what is it like then?” Glimmer demanded. 

Adora pursed her lips, trying to figure out a way to tell the story without outing Catra’s secret. “We went to the Blue Goat. We were talking, but she saw someone outside and ran. I followed her, and it turned out she was battling a necromancer who wanted to kill her. I drove him off, and brought her back here because her own wards aren’t strong enough to keep Hordak out.” 

Glimmer blinked, her mouth dropping open. 

“Wow,” she eventually managed. “How did you manage to make that story boring?” 

A sudden insistent mrow sounded from the doorway. Melog ambled in, tail and head held high, staring a challenge at Glimmer. 

“You stole her cat?” Glimmer screeched. She calmed down long enough to add “I mean, I would have too, they’re really fucking cute.” She shook herself and got loud again. “You can’t steal pets, Adora!” 

It was taking all of Adora’s patience not to pick Glimmer up and shove her out the front door. “I didn’t steal Melog. Catra was worried they wouldn’t be safe at her apartment either, so we picked them up on the way.” 

“Oh. That makes sense.” 

This was shaping up to be one of the weirdest, least pleasant Saturday mornings Adora had enjoyed in a while. Including the one where she was recovering from being stabbed by a ghost. 

“Yes. Now would you chill out, Glim? I promise you I haven’t gone crazy or been, I don’t know, bewitched by Catra. She needed help, and I still owe her my life. Letting her stay in my apartment for a few nights isn’t much at all compared to that.” 

“Lesbians,” Glimmer muttered. “Even if you didn’t fuck, which I’m not sure I believe, you’re both still ridiculous. Bringing the cat over after a first date has to be some kind of record.” 

Adora would have laughed awkwardly at that on a less-frazzled morning. “It’s fine, Glimmer. You’ve got nothing to worry about. Except the necromancer, I guess.” 

“Yeah, that seems kind of important,” Glimmer agreed. “Why was he trying to kill Catra?”

Careful, Adora. “We think he’s the one who’s been helping shades cross back over from Hell. Catra’s been sending them back to Hell, so he wants her gone.” 

Glimmer thought about that, probably searching for ways to poke holes in the theory. She grumped, evidently stumped. “Okay. Fine. Where does he live? Let’s get Bow and-” 

“Blow his house up?” Catra drawled from the bedroom. “Yeah, that won’t work, Sparkles.” 

“My name is Glimmer,” Glimmer gritted out. 

Catra waved it off. “Yeah, I won’t be able to make it through a sentence without laughing if I call you that.” 

Glimmer squawked in offense, but Catra ignored her. 

“Hordak’s not a chump. He’s got plenty of power, lots of allies, and even more experience. If he wasn’t such a lazy recluse, he could have taken over half the city by now.” Catra’s gaze darted away for a moment. “If we’re taking him off the board, we need a plan. A real plan, not something involving pipe bombs and fake mustaches.” 

Adora bit her lip to keep from laughing. She didn’t know if Catra had just gotten lucky or had somehow heard about that particular incident last month, maybe from Bow, but Glimmer was fuming so hard now Adora had to check the air for steam. 

“We can do that,” Adora said. “We’re great at plans.” 

“Uh-huh. Did you miss the whole part where this isn’t your problem? I can handle it myself.” 

Glimmer, who had been about to tell Adora exactly that, broke off to stare at Catra incredulously. Adora was glad she wasn’t the only one who thought the whole ‘lone gunslinger’ thing was absurd. 

“You saved my life, Catra,” Adora said. “I’m not leaving you in a lurch now.” 

Glimmer groaned. “She’s right, Catra. You may be really annoying, and might have possibly put a spell on her, but you’re the only reason she’s even standing here. The Best Friend Squad has your back.” 

Adora smacked her forehead, already bracing herself. Catra’s laughter returned in force. “I’m sorry, what? You call yourselves the Best Friend Squad?” 

“No!” Adora denied fruitlessly. “Definitely not.” 

“You totally do!” Catra managed through wheezing giggles. “Holy shit, this is the best thing I’ve ever heard.” 

“You can make fun of the name as much as you want,” Glimmer said, folding her arms over her chest. “But we’re in this together now. You fuck with one of us, you deal with all of us.” 

Catra got her laughter under control and ran a hand through her hair to smooth it down. “You people are ridiculous.” 

Adora couldn’t help but smile, because Catra wasn’t wrong. 

“I’ll give Bow a call,” Glimmer said. “Let’s go. We can start planning at my place.” 

Adora expected Catra to argue, but instead she just grabbed her backpack as Melog wound around her ankles. 

“Works for me. You’ve got the same wards as Adora?” 

Glimmer nodded. “Yep. I made most of these myself, anyway. I’ve probably got more at my place, actually.” 

“Cool. Let’s roll.” 

Adora grabbed her jacket and tugged on her boots. “I’ll take my car there. Catra, you want to ride with me or Glimmer?” 

Catra and Glimmer both snorted at the same instant, then glared daggers at each other. Catra folded first, if only to glance over at Adora while she spoke. “Take a guess.” 

“Great,” Adora said, hoping she adequately hid the weird spike of relief she felt. Catra had said everything was fine this morning, but Adora still felt guilty about what had happened in the bed. Intellectually, she knew she hadn’t done anything wrong. But she still felt like she’d broken a boundary, even by accident. 

“You two lovebirds have fun,” Glimmer teased. “We’ve got a lot of planning to do.” 

Catra smirked. 

“That can wait. The Best Friend Squad is on the case. I’m sure Hordak is shaking in his boots.”

Chapter Text

Because the universe hated her, Adora’s obnoxious car decided to autoplay her last Spotify playlist when she plugged her phone in to charge. She scrambled to unlock and pause the music before Catra could get in and tease her for her taste in alt rock, but just ended up knocking her phone into the bottomless pit between the seat and the transmission. The passenger door opened, and Adora braced herself for Catra’s mocking drawl. She was not disappointed. 

“Lose something?”

Adora twisted up to look at Catra, the tips of her ears turning red. “Sorry! It autoplayed, and I was trying to turn it off but then I dropped it, and now it’s stuck and-” 

Catra snorted. “Calm down, Adora. It’s not a big deal. I like this band anyway.” 

Adora froze, because there was no way someone as cool as Catra, scratch that, a demon as cool as Catra, liked the same music as Adora. 

“Really?” 

Catra shrugged. “Sure. They’ve got good rhythm.” 

Adora finally retrieved her wayward phone, but set it down without pausing the music. “I can still turn it off. You have sensitive hearing, right? I don’t want to-” 

“Adora.” 

“Right.” 

A loud, satisfied purr rumbled from the backseat. Adora turned and found Melog preening next to Catra’s backpack. 

“They have abandonment issues,” Catra deadpanned. Melog seemed to give Catra a deeply offended look, and Adora couldn’t help but wonder if there was a little more going on there than a usual house cat. Then again, she’d never met a Maine Coon before. Maybe they were just smart. 

“We getting this show on the road?” Catra asked, snapping Adora out of her reverie. “Because I’m happy to take Hordak down myself. I don’t need the help of the ‘Best Friend Squad.’” She was clearly working hard not to laugh again. Adora’s ears were red again. 

“Totally,” she said as she turned the car on. “Bow and Glimmer don’t live too far away.” 

“Still can’t believe someone like Bow can put up with Sparkles,” Catra noted once they were underway. “Talk about opposites attract.”

Adora laughed. “Yeah, it’s a bit of a mystery sometimes. But honestly, they’re their best selves with each other. They moderate each other, mostly.” 

“I guess I could see that,” Catra said. Adora thought she might say more, but she went quiet. 

Two more minutes passed. 

Adora pursed her lips in thought. “Can I ask you something?” 

“You just did,” Catra drawled. 

Adora rolled her eyes. “Very funny. Seriously though, I don’t want to overstep.” 

“It’s cool,” Catra said. “I know you’re just going to sit there and vibrate until you ask anyway.” 

Adora blushed but forged ahead. “What um, what’s your story?” She winced. “Wow, that came out dumb. I meant like, how did you end up on Etheria? Aren’t demons usually stuck in Hell?” 

Catra didn’t reply for long heartbeats, enough to make Adora worry that she’d offended Catra after all. It was almost a surprise when Catra finally responded. 

“I ran away. I finally got fed up with my boss and all of her bullshit, and I took off. Ended up here, in Bright Moon, for the same reason shades tend to cross over here. Thinner barrier between worlds or whatever. She tried to bring me back a few times, but pretty quickly ran out of underlings willing to try that.” 

Adora couldn’t help but smile at the satisfaction in Catra’s voice. 

“Now I’m just…  here, I guess. Doing jobs, making money. Honestly, this is the most excitement I’ve had since getting here.” 

“When did you cross over?” Adora asked. 

“About a year back,” Catra replied. “I knew a few folks who’d done it already, and they helped me get set up, I guess.” Her jaw clenched suddenly, and she turned to stare out the window. Adora got the message, and let the conversation end without a fight. 

She was lucky to find parking on the block of Bow and Glimmer’s apartment complex. The street was lined with cars, probably for the game in the nearby stadium. Glimmer’s car was already parked and dormant a few spots away, which meant that she’d had time to spill everything to Bow already. Great. 

Catra was still blankly staring. 

“We’re here,” Adora said. 

Catra jumped in her seat. “What? I knew that.” 

Adora smirked at her. “Yeah, totally. Come on, let’s get inside.” She paused. “Uh, can Melog fit under your shirt? The building doesn’t exactly allow pets.” 

Catra gave Adora an incredulous look. “How do you think the volume there would work? They weight like, thirty pounds.”

“And you are pretty tiny,” Adora agreed. Catra squawked offendedly. 

“I am not! You’re just freakishly tall.” She folded her arms over her chest. “You’re the worst. And it’s fine. Melog can do their thing.” 

Adora glanced back at the cat in question. “Uh…” 

Melog stood, stretched luxuriously, looked Adora dead in the eyes, and disappeared. They were just… gone. 

Adora yelped. “Where’d they go?” Something soft brushed her forearm, and a buzzing purr sounded barely a foot away. “Your cat is magic?” 

Catra nodded. “They were my buddy down in Hell. Came with me when I ran.” 

Adora squinted at thin air for a moment before her eyes went wide. “I slept in the same bed as a hellcat?” She had to work not to check she still had all of her fingers and toes. 

“They’re pretty chill,” Catra said, seemingly unconcerned with Adora’s minor freakout. “Just don’t fuck with their tail. Or mine, for that matter. Ears are invitation only.” 

Adora took a moment to wonder if that second part also applied to Catra as well. She figured asking out loud would be ill-advised, though. Definitely not post-first-date territory. 

“Uh, well… let’s go up,” Adora settled on, still trying to work through the fact that she had woken up with a magical being laying on her ankles not two hours earlier. “Glimmer and Bow are probably waiting.” 

Catra paused. “They’re… fine, right? This isn’t weird?” 

It took Adora to realize what ‘this’ was referring to. 

“Not at all,” Adora assured her. “We help people with supernatural problems all the time. Maybe not necromancers, but between the four of us we can handle it.” 

Something bumped into her leg, causing her to jump back. 

“Five of us,” Catra corrected with a smirk. It faded a moment later. “You’re sure? I don’t want to-”

“It’s totally fine,” Adora said. “You saved my life, Catra.” 

“Yeah, well, don’t make a big deal out of it,” Catra muttered. “It was one time.” 

The phantom scar across Adora’s side twinged. “Can’t say I’m looking to make it a habit.” 

Catra snorted. “Good. You look good in red, but not that red.” 

Adora was saved from dealing with the compliment by the door lurching open. 

“Adora!” Glimmer shouted. “Stop making moon eyes at your hot date and get in here. We have a mission to plan.” 

Adora’s face turned as red as her jacket. She turned to Catra without making eye contact, spluttering furiously. “I- That’s not- She’s not-” 

“Wow, harsh,” Catra drawled. “Not even gonna give me a second chance at a first date? I don’t think the one last night really counts.”

Adora was pretty sure that the sudden sound of a deflating balloon that filled the hallway came from her. Glimmer rolled her eyes and muttered something along the lines of ‘useless’. Catra’s mismatched eyes gleamed with devious delight. 

Glimmer hauled Adora inside and motioned for Catra to close the door behind the party. Adora’s brain didn’t restart until they were standing in the hallway outside Bow and Glimmer’s apartment, when Glimmer yelped. 

“Something just touched me!” 

Catra giggled. “I don’t see anything.” 

Glimmer turned her glare on Adora. “What aren’t you telling me?” A rumbling purr shook the air that was definitely not coming from Catra. Glimmer’s eyes got big, and she looked ready to throw hands or bolt. “Okay, what the fuck?” 

“Melog, dude, don’t give the shrimp a heart attack,” Catra drawled. 

“Shrimp?!”

Whatever expletives Glimmer was preparing to lay down on Catra died somewhere in her throat when Melog shimmered out of thin air, looking very smug. 

Bow chose that moment to open the door. “Kitty!” He exclaimed. Before anyone could tell him that the fluffy Maine Coon was once a denizen of Hell, he reached down and scooped Melog into his arms. 

“Wait-” Adora began to say, because she had no idea what might make the ‘hell’ part of the hellcat come out in force, but picking up cats without permission was a surefire way to add that particular word to even the tiniest of house cats. No claws appeared. Melog instead snuggled into Bow’s arms and increased the volume of their purr even further. 

“Wow,” Catra said, looking legitimately surprised for once. Her tail twitched back and forth slowly, her ears forward and alert. “Was not expecting that result.” 

“Oh! Do they normally not like strangers?” Bow asked, still stroking Melog’s fur. 

“You could say that,” Catra muttered. “We should get inside before someone sees them.” 

They piled into the apartment, Adora making sure to lock the door behind them. She gave the nearest wards a cursory inspection, but Glimmer was actually better at them than her, and they all checked out. 

Catra had claimed the comfiest armchair in the living room by the time Adora made it in. Bow and Glimmer were on the couch together, of course, which left Adora to grab one of the kitchen table chairs and haul it over. Catra was folded up in her armchair, looking smaller than usual. Her ears hung low, and her gaze kept flickering around the room. She was nervous, Adora realized. Uncomfortable, even. Between the constant needling and just general cool Catra oozed, Adora hadn’t even entertained the possibility that the literal demon might find a new place like this less than enjoyable, especially considering the circumstances. 

“Can I get you anything?” Adora asked, ready to kick herself. 

“Adora, this isn’t even your place,” Glimmer informed her. 

“Yeah, and you’re being a terrible host, Sparkles,” Catra said, her voice betraying nothing but raspy irony. “I’d go for coffee. As long as it doesn’t taste like dirt.” 

“Coming right up,” Adora said and beelined for the kitchen. 

She was halfway through brewing a mug when she realized the problem with this plan. She’d just left Catra alone with Bow and Glimmer, of all people. Catra was probably halfway to ‘panini’ status right now, given Glimmer’s propensity to grill people and her utter disregard for basic social niceties when she was after something. In this case, the ‘real story’, as she would call it, of what Catra and Adora did the previous night. 

Abandoning her beverage project, Adora rushed back to the living room, nearly in a panic. Of course, instead of finding Catra cowering under Glimmer’s interrogation, she found the three of them laughing together. 

“Really?” Catra wheezed. “She thought that’s how it worked?” 

“On my life!” Glimmer exclaimed. “How someone gets to twenty-five and learns absolutely zero basic life skills is beyond me. Oh, hi Adora. We were just talking about you.” 

Adora felt her ears go red instantly. 

“Only good things,” Bow promised, then winced. “Mostly good things, maybe.” 

Catra smirked at her. “I’m learning so much.” 

That was not good. Adora barely stopped herself from snapping at Glimmer that she was supposed to be helping Adora score a date, well, another date, with Catra. Glimmer’s ‘help’ had so far been nebulous at best in that particular arena though, so maybe this was for the best. 

“I still can’t believe you got stabbed because you didn’t want to feel like a third wheel,” Catra continued. 

“That is not- you know what, fine. I’ll own that one.” Giggles all around, as if Adora was not being a mature adult and taking responsibility for her mistakes. “And on that note, we’re supposed to be planning on how to stop anyone else from getting stabbed.”

“Just find them a date, obviously,” Glimmer said, eyes sparkling. 

Adora covered her face with one hand. “Oh my god.”

“She’s not wrong,” Catra said in an unusually serious voice. Adora’s heartfelt ‘thank you’ was halfway to her lips when Catra spoke again. “If your coping method for your two best friends sleeping together is going to cornfields in the middle of the night to hunt shades, you really need to get laid.”

Glimmer mumbled something under her breath that Adora couldn’t hear. Judging by the way Catra went bright red, it was something embarrassing and deeply inappropriate. Catra didn’t protest though, and Adora was too busy being stricken by Catra’s betrayal to push on it herself. 

Bow finally decided to take pity on her. “We should actually get to work, though.”

“Coffee, Adora,” Catra said. From anyone else it would have been rudely blunt, but the tentative smile went a long way to taking the edge off. Also Adora had probably burned it already. 

That smile followed her all the way back into the kitchen, and refused to leave her brain for the rest of the day. 

After an hour of planning, which mostly involved Glimmer and Adora coming up with shitty ideas and Catra shooting them down, not to mention the toll the previous night’s events had taken on her, Catra really just wanted a nap. In her own bed, preferably, but anywhere would be fine. She thought she wasn’t letting it show, but Adora kept turning that worried blue gaze on her every time there was a break in the conversation. Maybe that was just how she always looked. 

The bruise on Catra’s side ached, but she had lots of practice hiding pain. Mostly it was just motivation to kick Hordak’s ass the next time she saw him. 

“Even I know that’s a bad plan, Adora,” Glimmer said in exasperation. “You are the worst actor I’ve ever seen. Including Bow!”

“Hey!”

“Besides, you don’t even know anything about plumbing!”

Catra smirked at Adora’s defeated expression.

“Yeah, maybe.”

Catra decided to cut in. “As fun as this is, I’d like to not spend my entire Saturday going in circles. We don’t need finesse, or some thirty page outline. We’ve got his address, we know what he’s capable of on his own, and he can’t use his shades during the day. Let’s just roll up tomorrow and take care of it.”

Glimmer nodded firmly. The other two were less convinced. 

“‘Take care of it?’” Bow asked nervously. 

Catra eyed him. “You want me to spell it out for you? Remove the threat. Send him forth from this mortal plane.”

“Wait,” Adora frowned. “You want to kill him?” 

“Uh, yeah,” Catra said. “We can’t exactly just tell him to do some soul-searching and hope he stops summoning ghosts of serial killers to murder people for him or whatever.” 

“So instead we’ll be the murderers,” Adora said, fire lighting behind her eyes. That probably should have been a warning, but Catra was tired and cranky and really just wanted this to be done. Having Shadow Weaver over her shoulder was shitty enough. She really didn’t want to also have some dumb necromancer joining the party. 

“If you’re squeamish about it, I can do the gross part. And dispose of the body.” 

Bow looked a little green at that, and even Glimmer paused. Catra’s fur began to prickle under the trio’s unified gaze. She almost told Melog to cloak her, but fleeing now wouldn’t solve her problem. 

“No,” Adora said slowly. “We’re happy to help protect you, Catra, but we aren’t killing anybody.” 

The granite certainty in her voice finally got through, and Catra took a step back. Her ears and tail betrayed her sudden turmoil, and with a stab of fear she realized that for once, that betrayal was visible. Her emotional guts were just spilling out there for Adora to see, and that more than anything finally forced her into flight. 

She made it to the front door of the apartment complex, Melog trotting along beside her with a silent question on their face before Adora caught up with her. Catra ignored her and tried to haul open the door, but Adora pressed one hand up against it and held it closed without visible effort. 

Catra whirled on her, claws unsheathing. “Get out of my way.” 

“I will,” Adora promised. “I just want to talk first.” 

“What’s there to talk about?” Catra asked, tone and tongue bitter alike. “I’m a demon. My first instinct is to kill people when they cause me problems. I don’t belong here.” Adora blinked, but before she could say anything Catra turned away. “I shouldn’t have come.” 

“I wanted to kill him too,” Adora murmured. “In the alley. I saw he was trying to hurt you, and I threw enough power at him to fry a normal human. I didn’t even blink.” 

Catra’s breath stuttered. She’d missed that part of the fight, too busy trying to recover from Hordak’s one good hit. 

“But it would have been wrong, and I would have regretted it. I’m glad he survived it. Survived me.” 

“I don’t know if I’m glad,” Catra admitted quietly. “I don’t see another solution here. I know Hordak. He’s not the kind of guy to call it quits. Ever.” 

“He won’t be the first rogue magic-user we’ve put away,” Adora said. “Glimmer’s mom can handle him. All we have to do is find him and subdue him and she’ll take care of the rest. With no one dying.” 

Catra stared at Adora for a long time, longer than was polite. When she finally spoke, her voice came out rough. “Okay.” 

Adora smiled at her. “Okay!” She took her hand off of the door, but Catra made no move to open it. Nor did she move to return to the apartment. She had to be sure. 

“This will work? He won’t be able to hurt anyone else?” 

Adora nodded emphatically. 

“And um, your friends…” Catra ran a hand through her hair. How was she supposed to ask if they would be okay working with someone, helping someone, who wanted to murder people?

“They’re fine,” Adora assured her. “Monday-morning Glimmer is more homicidal than you’ve ever been. I’ll handle it if it’s an issue. Without outing you,” she added quickly. “Not that they would care. I mean, Glimmer’s mom is sort of an angelic being, so it’s not that weird.” 

Catra made a mental note to be sure never to meet Glimmer’s mother ever. Catra was oil and water with most humans. Being in the same room as a whole-ass angel would probably be fatal, maybe even literally. 

“Cool,” Catra said. 

“Cool,” Adora parroted. “So…” 

“Guess we should get back to planning,” Catra said, feeling a strange urge to grin. 

“Guess so,” Adora said, matching her deadpan almost perfectly. Melog ruined everything by headbutting Adora’s leg and shaking the floor with their motorcycle-engine purr. 

“Kyle!” Catra called when she walked into her store, Adora in tow. She heard a yelp and a crash. Five seconds later, a mussed, red-faced Kyle appeared behind the counter. He had a guilty grin plastered over his face, and bite marks on his neck.

“Who else is in here?” Catra demanded, then answered the question herself. “Rogelio, don’t you have a job?” 

The reptilian demon sheepishly slunk out of the back room. 

“It’s uh, Saturday,” Kyle ventured. “He works nights anyway.” 

“Woah,” Adora said, eyes going wide at the sight of the hulking lizard. “You didn’t tell me you had demon friends, Catra.” 

“Wow, Adora, you can’t just call someone a demon to their face,” Catra said, feigning offense. 

Adora instantly looked ready to implode on the spot. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry, I didn’t-” 

She cut herself off when Catra started cackling. Rogelio joined in, his hissing snickers filling the store right beside Catra’s squeaky laughter. 

Adora, still flushed, glowered at them both, but Catra saw that she was fighting back a smile. Kyle decided to jump in and ruin the moment, of course. 

“Hey Adora, nice to see you again! How are uh, things? Also, you know about Catra. So that’s a thing.” 

“Yeah, yeah, she’s very special,” Catra cut in. “We’re here to grab some shit and scoot. If you two lumps crushed any of my stuff during your makeout session you’re fired.” 

She brushed past Rogelio to get into the back room, leaving a petrified Kyle behind the counter. Adora followed a moment later, still a little pink. 

“I uh, I didn’t actually offend anyone, right?” she asked. 

Catra snorted. “No, Adora, you’re fine. I was just fucking with you.” 

Adora breathed out an audible sigh of relief. “Okay, good. I know this is the first time you’ve uh, really had anyone know. Except Kyle, I guess.”

“And Lonnie,” Catra said. “And Entrapta.” 

Adora brightened. “Oh! Okay, so it’s not weird.” 

It took Catra a second to realize what ‘it’ meant. “They can’t see me. They just know, because I lived with Lonnie for a while and I got sick of lying about where the fur in the shower was coming from. Entrapta figured it out on her own because she’s scary smart.”

“Oh,” Adora said, much more quietly. “Right, you said that before.” 

“Does it bother you?” Catra asked before she could stop herself. Normally human interaction ranged from irritating to revolting. For some reason, it was different with Adora. “That you’re the only one?”

“Not, uh, no,” Adora said, going red again. “It’s uh, it’s not the weirdest thing that’s happened to me.”

Catra almost asked, but then realized that would open up the possibility of Adora expecting her questions to be answered, and Catra wasn’t ready for that yet. Maybe not ever.

With a bag full of loot and a strange spring in Adora’s step, she and Catra departed the shop just as the sun began to set. 

“Do we really need all of this stuff?” Adora asked. 

“If you don’t want to get stabbed by another shade, yes,” Catra said. “I thought you were a professional.” 

“I’m a professional personal trainer,” Adora corrected. “I’m an amatuer supernatural snoop.” 

“Great,” Catra drawled. “This is gonna go so well.” 

She was halfway into Adora’s car when she noticed Adora was frozen next to the driver’s side door. “Uh, Adora?” 

“Yes! Sorry! Did you want me to drop you off at your place and pick you up tomorrow?” 

Catra blinked slowly at her. “I have not in fact manifested wards against human sorcery in the past six hours.” She paused, trying to keep her ears from wilting. “If you don’t want me staying the night at your place again I get it. It wouldn't be my first choice either.” 

“It’s not that!” Adora exclaimed, practically hyperventilating. “I just didn’t want to assume. Well, I did grab a camping pad and sleeping bag from Bow before we left, but that was just in case!” 

“Uh-huh.” Catra pulled her seatbelt on, really hoping that this awkward-as-hell conversation was over. Adora seemed willing to let it drop, at least. 

“What do you want for dinner?” Adora asked as she took a haphazard right turn. 

“Ground unicorn horn,” Catra deadpanned. 

“I was thinking takeout? With the whole ward thing I figure we can’t go anywhere, but… maybe we call this another date?” 

She sounded so nervous it took all of Catra’s willpower not to laugh. She might not have any idea what she was doing, but she was fairly sure that getting laughed at after asking someone out was pretty much the worst response possible. 

“Or not! If that’s weird, since, you know, you can’t go anywhere.” 

“Adora, it’s fine,” Catra said, a chuckle bubbling up unbidden through her words. “This can be a second date. Or a first date. Whatever.” She glanced out the window to hide her smile. “This is strictly because Lonnie would never speak to me again if I didn’t go on one real date with you. Not because I like you.” 

She could hear Adora’s smirk without turning around. “Sure.” 

So that was how Catra ended up in Adora’s apartment again, bearing an armful of supernatural ingredients and a few boxes of Thai takeout. Melog didn’t carry anything of course, but Catra had had to fend off Adora’s repeated attempts to carry everything herself. As funny as watching her topple over might have been, Catra really wanted her curry. 

Melog claimed the sleeping bag Adora set up almost immediately, which was a problem for later. Catra had long since learned the risks and just general difficulty of dislodging them from their chosen spot. For now, she and Adora were seated at the little table in Adora’s kitchen munching on takeout. To Catra’s complete and utter astonishment, she actually found herself chatting with Adora. It was terrifying. Who just talked to other people about stuff? Meaningless stuff, like why frogs were better than toads and how mint chip ice cream was actually created to punish bad behavior in schoolchildren. Adora had scoffed in offense at that one, but hadn’t taken up the argument. Catra had kind of wanted her to, because the way she got animated when she was passionate about something made Catra’s stomach flip in that weird way that she was slowly beginning to enjoy, or at least accept. 

“This is delicious,” Adora said for the tenth time. “Thanks for showing me that place.”

“Blame Lonnie,” Catra replied. “She’s the foodie.”

“What’s she like?” Adora asked. “You’ve mentioned her a few times.”

“She’s an asshole,” Catra grumbled. “She’s the whole reason for this.” Catra waved an encompassing hand around the kitchen. 

“You mean she’s the one who pressured you into going on a date with me?”

The edge in Adora’s tone caught Catra off guard. 

“Um, yes? Basically I told her about meeting you and she told me to go for it. Wouldn’t shut up about it.” 

That was apparently not the right answer, given the way Adora seemed to shrink in her chair. Dammit. Catra wasn’t about to admit that the reason Lonnie had pestered her about this was because of Catra’s diagnosed crush on Adora. 

But Adora looked about ready to have a panic attack. Catra had to give her something. 

“I uh, haven’t exactly dated before,” she said, averting her gaze. “Not a lot of time for it since crossing over. Lonnie gave me a uh, push out the door. But it was my idea.” 

That wasn’t strictly true, but whatever. Somehow it was easier to lie about being vulnerable than do it honestly. 

Adora’s eyes searched her face for any hint of dishonesty. She must not have found any, because she gave a sheepish smile. “Well, I’m glad she did.”

Catra’s heart decided it was time to do its best impression of a bass drummer made of cheap chocolate on a summer day. Her tail thumped against the chair, and she began to realize exactly what the word ‘crush’ actually felt like. Lonnie had been wrong before, or at least had jumped the gun. This was what she’d been talking about. 

Well, shit. 

Adora was probably freaking out right now, but Catra was too busy worrying about herself to think that through. She didn’t need a full life on Etheria to know that usually people didn’t rush to the bathroom in the middle of dinner and lock the door behind them. She didn’t care. She pulled up one of the six contacts on her phone (so many!) and dialed. 

“Catra? Where have you been all weekend?” 

“Lonnie,” Catra hissed, trying to keep her voice down. She knew firsthand that the walls in this apartment were thin. “Fuck, this is bad.” 

“You in trouble?” Lonnie asked, instantly getting serious. “Where?” 

“I’m at Adora’s apartment. I forget the address. That’s not important.” 

A slow pause. “Okay, I’m gonna need some context here, assuming you’re not in immediate danger. Are you?” 

“No,” Catra said, sternly telling her poofed tail the same story. “Worse. I have a crush on Adora.” 

Silence. Deafening, terrifying silence. 

Catra was about three seconds from total panic when Lonnie finally spoke. Her words came out strangled. “You serious right now?”

“Yes! This is bad, Lonnie.” 

“Okay, hold on,” Lonnie replied, sounding like she was on the verge of a complete breakdown. “Where are you right now in her apartment? Cause that sounds like tile echo.” Catra glared at nothing. “You’re in her bathroom right now. Oh, my god. I take it back. This is the best thing I’ve ever heard. You were what, literally just talking? And you freaked out and hid in her bathroom, didn’t you.” 

“No,” Catra protested, fooling no one. “Just- can you stop making fun of me for five seconds and tell me what to do?” 

Catra had thought she was doing fine with the whole flirting thing. She’d even been enjoying it. Mostly she’d just been copying what she’d seen characters do in shows and stuff and doing things that felt natural and made Adora blush but hey, that still counted. Whatever this was required an expert opinion, and Lonnie was the closest thing Catra had available. Dammit. 

To Catra’s astonishment, Lonnie actually listened to her. “Fine. Are you having fun?” 

Catra paused. Was she? She thought back over the aborted time she’d had with Adora over the past few weeks. Other than the mortal peril, repeated phone calls from Shadow Weaver, and Catra’s own terror about interacting with human beings in general, she was. She enjoyed needling Adora, enjoyed plotting and eating and just talking with her. It was a foreign feeling mostly, but a good one. A very good one, even. 

“Yeah,” Catra said cautiously. Obviously not all of it was shits and giggles, but in a world with no Shadow Weaver and no murderous necromancers, it probably would have been. 

“And she’s good to you? Doesn’t push you into things you don’t want to do?” 

Catra couldn’t help but smile at Adora’s constant anxiety about doing exactly that. “She doesn’t.” 

“You like her, don’t you?” 

Catra tried to pin her ears back on principle, but the damn things refused to listen. “Yeah,” she sighed. “I think I do.” 

“Then go for it. I don’t know what kind of fucked up shit you and her are getting into with all the stuff Kyle said you grabbed from the store today and I’m not gonna ask. Sounds like she’s pretty involved in spooky shit already.” Lonnie paused. “If she can see your ears and shit, has she really not figured it out yet?” 

“I told her yesterday,” Catra said, because it sounded more mature than the truth. 

“And she didn’t freak out?” 

“No,” Catra said, sounding equally surprised. “She didn’t.” 

“Sounds like a keeper to me,” Lonnie decided, which was way too soon. Saying that wouldn’t do Catra any good though, so she kept her mouth shut. “Go get her, Catra. And if she can’t handle the heat, give me her address. Nobody fucks with my weird demonic ex-roommate and gets away with it. Especially not with her heart.” 

Catra hung up on her, because that was way too earnest to stomach. She then sat on the closed toilet for another ten seconds pretending not to freak out before finally getting over herself, flushing the toilet, and running some water in the sink. She ran a hand through her hair to compose herself, and emerged from the bathroom. 

“You okay?” Adora called from the kitchen. “I’ve got some stuff for your tummy if the curry was a bit much. My eyes were watering just smelling it.” 

Catra liked her food pretty spicy, and apparently that gave most people digestive troubles. It gave her a good cover instead, which was a nice perk, if a little embarrassing. 

“I’m good,” she called back, creeping into the main room of the studio. They’d burned most of the day planning and gathering supplies, and now most of the evening ‘just hanging’, which meant soon it was time to risk Melog’s wrath. They had gotten up to mooch food off of Adora as well as get their actual dinner, but had returned to the sleeping bag before Catra could get a word in. They were still curled up there, softly snoring. 

Adora appeared in the doorway to the kitchen. “I cleaned everything up.”

“Thanks,” Catra said. She cast a meaningful glance down at Melog. “We’ve got a problem.” 

“Can’t we move them?” Adora asked, staring down at her borrowed sleeping bag. 

Catra snorted. “Not unless you don’t need all your fingers tomorrow.” 

Adora went visibly pale. “Oh.” 

“Melog,” Catra said in her sternest voice. “Time to scoot, dude.” 

“Naw.”

From the way Adora jumped, Catra figured Melog had included her in the conversation. 

“Dude,” Catra insisted. “You can share the bed with Adora, I don’t care. But the sleeping bag’s mine.” 

“It’s uh, mine, actually,” Adora said. “You’re the guest.” 

Catra rolled her eyes. “Not the point, Adora.” 

Melog still hadn’t moved.

“Seriously dude, we gotta go to bed. We’ve got a necromancer to take down tomorrow.” 

“Bed,” Melog said, finally raising their head to tilt it at the empty, queen-sized bed. 

“Yes, you in the bed,” Catra agreed. 

“Naw. You.” 

“If I get in the bed, will you come?” Catra tried.

“Naw.”

Catra closed her eyes and took a deep breath. 

“You know, this makes a lot more sense than when I thought they were just a normal cat,” Adora said. 

Catra pinched the bridge of her nose. “What will it take for you to move?” 

“Nothing.” To emphasize the point, they sprawled out to cover the entirety of the sleeping bag and associated camping pad. Then they gave Catra a pointed look and flicked their ears at Adora. 

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” she mumbled. Melog was trying to get her laid. Or at least get her some cuddles. Apparently they’d seen the setup that morning and decided that it was the way of things now. 

“What’s wrong?” Adora asked. 

“What are your thoughts on sharing the bed again?” Catra asked. Melog looked very smug. 

Adora blinked. “Um, yes? If you’re comfortable. I know this morning wasn’t-” 

“That was me, Adora, not you,” Catra said with an exasperated sigh. She looked to the side. “I must’ve gotten cold or something.” Yeah, that was it. “Are you comfortable?” 

“I was, yeah,” Adora said. She flushed when she realized that had not been the question. 

“With tonight,” Catra said firmly. She was not about to read anything into Adora’s accidental admission. 

“Yes! If you are, that is.” 

“Well, I am.” 

“Cool.”

“Awesome.”

Melog let out a squeaky, jaw-splitting yawn. Then, in a voice that sounded disturbingly similar to Sparkles, they spoke. 

“Hopeless.”

Catra was wrapped around her again. This time Adora had managed enough chill to not leap out of bed when she realized that fact. Now, she was lying in bed, wide awake, with Catra’s arms wrapped around Adora's belly while she snored quietly in Adora’s ear. Her steady breathing tickled Adora’s neck with each exhalation, and Adora could feel the barest hint of a rumbling purr vibrating against her back. 

It was the most comfortable way Adora could ever remember waking up. She dared not move for fear of disrupting it, even though they’d agreed to meet Bow and Glimmer a block or two from Hordak’s lair outside of the city in barely two hours. The moment felt… precious, in a way that Adora couldn’t articulate. Also when she tried to move, Catra’s grip on her had tightened and Melog had let out a quiet growl from the floor beside the bed. All in all, it seemed safer to just stay put for the moment. 

Half an hour later, Catra stirred. Her claws flexed against the t-shirt Adora wore to bed, pricking at her skin and provoking a sharp gasp. 

“Hey, Adora,” she mumbled. Something must have clicked then because she stiffened suddenly. “Fuck.”  Her hands started to pull away. 

Adora moved faster than she thought possible and covered Catra’s hands with her own, holding them in place. She heard Catra’s breath hitch. 

“You sure?” Catra asked, her voice small. 

“I am,” Adora replied. 

Catra sighed, and for a moment Adora thought she was going to leave anyway. Instead, Catra pulled herself tighter against Adora’s back, her purr growing stronger by the second. A moment later, Melog joined the chorus, and Adora was now surrounded by half-asleep, purring felines. The number of claws in the room didn’t even enter her mind.

Chapter Text

Adora's phone blared another twenty minutes later, startling everyone. Melog disappeared into another room in a scrabble of claws, and Catra mumbled a string of curse words in what sounded like Latin. Adora fumbled for her phone, and groaned when she saw the caller ID. 

“Hi Glimmer,” she said, injecting as much fake cheer and wakefulness into her voice. 

“You two better be up and on your way or so help me,” Glimmer began. 

“Yep,” Adora lied flawlessly. “Totally. Walking out the door as we speak.” 

A pause. 

“You’re both still in bed, aren’t you. Don’t try to lie to me, Adora.” 

Adora made an indignant noise, but didn’t attempt further deception. “We’ll be there. Maybe a little late.” 

She heard Glimmer’s scoff clear as day. “She tire you out last night?” 

Adora nearly choked on nothing. “I- no! We- it was our first date!” 

“See you soon!” Glimmer said in her most saccharine tone before hanging up. Catra gave a dirty chuckle. 

“Your friend is a menace.” 

Adora sighed. “Yeah. She’s not wrong though. This is one appointment we probably shouldn’t be late to.” 

Only then did Catra begin to untangle herself from around Adora. “Guess so.

“You feeling okay about this?” Adora asked as gently as she could. “Hordak sounds… pretty nasty.” 

Catra shrugged after rolling to her feet. “I’ve handled worse.” 

Adora barely stopped the immediate question from leaping out of her mouth, because she’d only known Catra for a few weeks now but had figured out how little Catra wanted to talk about her past long before learning she was a demon. Still, Adora’s curiosity burned at the back of her tongue, because Catra also had an infuriating tendency to dangle statements like ‘I’ve handled worse’ regarding a rogue necromancer pretty much daily. How was Adora supposed to not ask? 

Catra stretched her arms above her head, highlighting lines of muscle even as she let out a squeaky yawn. Adora didn’t notice she was staring until Catra caught her in the act. Adora blushed and yanked her eyes away. 

“Sorry,” she said. “You’re just…” She trailed off, already feeling like a creep. But at Catra’s drooping ears and tense shoulders, she decided honesty might be in order. “You’re just really pretty.” 

Catra glanced up, bi-colored eyes wide. “You- what?” 

“Sorry! Was that weird?” Adora cringed. Catra didn’t look offended, though. She looked… bewildered. Like it was the first time she’d ever heard that. Maybe it was. So Adora took another chance. “You are. You’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever met.” 

Catra turned away, and for a moment Adora was terrified she’d overstepped. But she caught the profile of a quiet smile. 

“Thanks, Adora.”

Adora’s words were still swirling around in Catra’s mind after breakfast. It wasn’t that people hadn’t ever complimented her appearance. Lonnie had used the term ‘smokin’ more than once, and Entrapta had called her disguise ‘objectively attractive according to four different metrics’, to say nothing of the catcalls she sometimes got walking around Bright Moon. But none of those really counted. 

Adora’s simple words apparently did. She could see Catra, see all of her, no magic to hide behind. And she still stuck around. Catra had confessed to planning a murder and Adora had still let her stay the night, just to keep her safe. It shouldn’t have surprised Catra that Adora wasn’t put off by a tail and some bigger ears than normal, but it did. Pretty much everything about Adora surprised Catra, and even she couldn’t lie to herself about that being a bad thing. 

Okay, maybe not everything about Adora was a surprise. Catra had pegged her as oblivious as fuck from minute one, given the whole costume episode, and she’d certainly lived up to that. Somehow that was just one more thing that drew Catra closer, made fucking butterflies, of all things, tear up a storm in her belly every time she met Adora’s eyes. It felt dumb and trite, but Catra wasn’t equipped to describe it any other way. 

Catra caught herself staring at Adora’s concentrated expression for way too long. She was just lucky Adora was too focused on the road to notice. Adora might have accepted Catra’s demonic features and tendencies for now, but that probably didn’t extend to creeping on her. Normal people didn’t just stare at side profiles in the car, Catra was pretty sure. 

They were halfway out of the city proper when Adora’s phone rang again. Catra glared at it, but her ire faded when Adora saw the caller ID and went pale. Without a word, she pulled over onto the shoulder of the highway and grabbed her phone. 

“Adora? You good?” 

Adora just shook her head. “I um, I kinda have to answer this. Can you-” she inhaled sharply “can you stay in the car?”

Catra nodded slowly, wondering if this was all a long con to strand her out in the middle of nowhere for a ransom or something. 

Adora flashed a quick, sickly smile at her and fled the car. The door thunked closed behind her, and Catra’s ears twitched as Adora answered the phone. Between the highway ambience and the car, Catra could only pick up Adora’s side of the conversation. 

“Light Hope!” Adora said with fake cheer. “How uh, how are things?” 

A pause. 

“I’m uh, on my way to a friend’s place.” 

Catra had to work not to claw up the upholstery. She felt awkward and annoyed and guilty all at once. She continued to eavesdrop anyway. 

“I was at home all night yesterday. That couldn’t have been me.” 

Oof. Even through a car door Catra could tell that was a lie. 

“I know that. You say it enough, anyway.” 

Catra caught the barest hint of a stern, female voice over the line after that one. Something about the cadence sent shivers down her spine. This whole thing felt a little too familiar. 

“I’m sorry, Light Hope. I promise I’ll be more diligent. I have some extra time this week to train, even. Can I call you back, though? I’m sort of pulled over on the side of the road right now. Later today?” 

Catra turned to stare vacantly out of the opposite window in the faint hope of pretending she hadn’t heard all of that.

“Thank you.” 

The car door opened again, and a frazzled Adora slid back into the seat. “Sorry about that. One of my uh, clients. She’s very demanding.” 

Catra gave her a level look. “Has anyone ever told you how bad of a liar you are?” Adora looked a little panicked at that. Catra rolled her eyes. “I really don’t care. I’m not expecting you to pour all your darkest secrets out to me just because we’re…” 

What were they? Catra hadn’t really thought about it. Were they friends? Maybe. Catra hadn’t ever slept in someone else’s bed before though. They’d gone on two, well, one, date. 

“Dating?” Adora supplied hopefully. 

“Yeah,” Catra said, because she was coming up dry with on better names and it was all whatever anyway. Obviously. “It’s not like I didn’t hide something pretty big when we met.” 

Adora let out a nervous chuckle. “Yeah, I guess so.” She started the car again. 

Catra had a weird urge to say more words. Like, comforting words. Gross. But Adora’s hands were gripping the steering wheel so tight that Catra was worried she would crash the car and kill them both. That was the only reason she said anything. Definitely.

“Not trying to pry or anything,” Catra began. “But I’ve got some experience with uh, shitty clients.” She figured the euphemism might make it easier for Adora to not freak out. The quiet laugh confirmed her success. “They uh, they suck.” Catra knew she was supposed to say something else, something meaningful and heartfelt. “Like, a lot,” was all she managed to come up with. Somehow, it worked anyway. Adora seemed to relax, and dared a glance over at Catra with blue eyes that had somehow become deep enough to drown in. 

“Thanks, Catra.” 

“This is where Hordak lives?” Adora asked incredulously as the four of them crept up to the three-story suburban home with white siding and a perfectly kept lawn. 

“Yeah, why?” Catra asked. “Did you expect him to have upturned gravestones in the front yard? Maybe a sign saying ‘I’m evil, Jehovah’s Witnesses welcome’?”

That got a snort from Sparkles and a blush from Adora. 

“Well, no,” Adora said. “It just looks so normal.”

“‘Normal people’ are the scary ones,” Catra replied. “I thought you would have figured that out by now.”

Catra didn’t actually believe that Adora understood that particular foundational world principle, because she seemed to have mile-wide blind spots in great supply. She’d seen Catra’s ears and thought they were animatronic, for fuck’s sake. 

“That says a lot about you,” Sparkles piped up. Catra growled at her on principle, but she couldn’t exactly say that Sparkles was wrong. 

“Everyone’s clear on the plan?” Adora asked, probably hoping to derail the pair before they got any louder. 

“Yep,” Bow said. He had an actual bow in his hands, a compact compound thing with gold highlights that was kind of an eyesore. At least it matched the quiver on his back. 

Glimmer hefted her crescent-tipped staff. “Let’s kick this guy’s ass.”

Catra resisted the compulsion to check the pockets of her rune-inscribed leather jacket for her supplies. She knew they were there, and she didn’t want to betray her nerves to her audience. It didn’t matter how fast her heart was racing if she didn’t show it, right? 

Melog thumped their head into her calf reassuringly, and she instinctively gave them a few scritches in response. It helped more than it should have. Still, her hands went to her pockets before she could stop them, surreptitiously cataloging each and every item she’d brought for this fight. 

Two bottles of cleansed water for containment. Her last three vials of essence, which she was really hoping she wouldn’t have to use right next to her thin book of healing spells which she had the same hope for. The jacket was equipment all on its own, reinforced with layers of protective enchantments against everything from bullets to acid. And finally, a cheap plastic taser. Simple, effective, and easy to hide. All that combined with her claws and other gifts, and she felt as prepared as she would ever be. Most of their planning session had involved trying to predict the exact defenses, magical or otherwise, that Hordak’s lair might hide. They hadn’t come up with many hard facts, and not even because Catra was trying to hide her transitive association with Hordak. She truly didn’t know what level of paranoia they were dealing with. 

She turned to Melog. “Alright dude, you’re up.” 

For once, they didn’t give her any sass. They closed their eyes, focused, and disappeared in a burst of yellow-orange sparks. 

“That is cool,” Sparkles breathed. “I wish I had a magic cat.”

Catra felt Adora shift uncomfortably beside her. Adora hadn’t said anything, but it was clear that she wasn’t thrilled about keeping Melog’s true nature a secret from her friends. Catra got it, sort of. She just wasn’t about to expose herself or Melog to anyone she didn’t need to. Yeah, Adora had accepted the truth easily enough, but she was… well, Adora. Bow and Sparkles were their whole own thing. 

“Stay quiet,” Catra said. “Being invisible doesn’t mean shit if you yap the whole time.”

“You’re such a pleasant person to be around, Catra.”

Catra barely caught her annoyed hiss in time. Adora defused the situation by just getting started. Melog could only cover so much ground with their invisibility, which meant the whole group was forced into relatively close proximity as they began to creep across the aggressively green lawn. The garden gnome by the front steps stared into her soul. 

Her hackles had just started to rise when Adora stopped. She pointed a blue-outlined ghost of her hand at the gnome and whispered on the barest edge of audibility “ward.”

Catra eyed the gnome, and sure enough her hackles stood up all the way. Whatever it was that let Adora see through Catra’s illusion magic must let her see other forms of magic as well. Handy if still unexplained. This definitely wasn’t the time to pry, though.

Adora seemed to assess the situation for another moment, then led the group around the gnome. The only sounds were the distant highway, the rustle of sharp-cut grass, and Catra’s hammering heart. Her hackles refused to relax even after they got around the side of the house and out of sight of its diminutive defender, and her body remained one loud noise away from bolting as Adora stepped up to the house’s basement door. 

Catra moved up beside her, because she had laid claim to the task of breaking and entering at the very start of their planning session as long as no one got too close to see how she did it. Adora obviously knew about her claws, but even she might be surprised at just how effective they could be. 

Catra knelt down by the latch and poked at it, painfully aware of the two goons looming behind her. Somehow reading her perfectly, Adora casually sidled over to block their view. Catra’s tail brushed her ankle in a way she hoped conveyed gratitude, because she sure as hell wouldn’t have said it out loud even if they weren’t twenty feet from an evil gnome. 

Reasonably sure now that her secret would stay just that, she unsheathed her claws and cut into the siding surrounding the latch, moving slowly to keep the scraping noise down. It was kind of shitty siding and split easily under her Hell-borne tools. Seven seconds of careful cutting and the door swung open freely. A sudden hand on her shoulder made her jump, but she twisted and saw Adora’s encouraging smile. The simple expression gave Catra more calm than she would have believed, and the emotion was no less powerful for being borrowed. 

With the door open, the five of them stalked into Hordak’s lair. The stairs were old and creaky, and Catra winced at the volume more than once. But the second door at the bottom of the stairs likely blocked the noise, and to her surprise turned out to be unlocked. She pushed it open the tiniest of cracks and peeked through, her eyes easily adjusting to the gloom. 

The basement matched the house’s outward normalcy almost too well. Ugly linoleum, the occasional cobweb, laundry machines, and an over-sized freezer were the only objects in the immediate vicinity, and a quick sniff told Catra that if there were any skeletons in closets, they were very old or very well-sealed. It only made her more on edge. She eased the door fully open, but nothing screeched in alarm or tried to murder her. 

“This is weird,” Sparkles whispered, and Catra was too busy mentally agreeing with her to tell her off for talking. They’d picked the middle of the day because any shades Hordak had summoned wouldn’t be able to affect the corporeal world in daylight, but Catra had still expected some kind of resistance by now, even just spooky decor. But so far, nothing. 

The five of them collectively decided to head for the staircase on the opposite side of the space without saying a word. Apparently Catra wasn’t the only one who didn’t want to dig any deeper into a necromancer’s basement than she had to. 

The stairs leading up into the house proper looked less rickety than the outdoor ones, but that wasn’t saying much. Losing the element of surprise because of shitty contractors would be pretty funny except for the part where they would all die. Catra tested her weight on the first step. It creaked, but the sound was barely audible even to her so it would probably be fine. She somehow doubted this was the worst risk she would end up taking today. 

She held up a hand to keep the others from following her yet. More weight on the stairs or whatever. She eased up the stairs, and that was when she heard it. A faint thrum of active power in the air. Someone was working magic in the house at this very moment, and there was really only one ‘someone’ that might be. 

She turned and waved to the others to follow her. Stealth was no longer as valuable as speed. Whatever Hordak was doing, even just summoning another shade, he had to be stopped. She still winced as the clumsy humans creaked their way up to join her in front of the closed door at the top of the stairs. Catra opened it cautiously, ready to leap back if something decided to explode in her face. More than usual, anyway. All she was greeted with instead was another normal room, this one a kitchen. The only thing mildly out of place were all the dirty dishes in the sink. The bone deep sensation of rising power continued to grow, and Catra abandoned the kitchen in favor of following her instincts towards the front of the house. She felt the others behind her, and she was surprised at how much reassurance their simple presence offered her. She wasn’t used to working with anyone but Melog, and even then only sometimes. But having backup, someone to watch her back… it was kind of nice. 

Of course, every positive thought was immediately banished from her mind when she peeked around the corner into the living room. Hordak was there, pale and menacing even with his back turned. Far more menacing was the wide, complex circle filling most of the empty floorspace of the room. The summoning circle, Catra realized. And inside it, swirling shadows, darkness, and the rotten-meat stench of magic that was all too familiar to Catra. 

It was odd, a detached part of Catra thought, that she would discover a way to stop time at the worst possible moment in her life. She stared at the looming darkness springing to life inside Hordak’s summoning circle, knowing she needed to do something, anything, and being physically incapable of moving. The others didn’t know what was going down yet, but Catra had figured out what was truly happening here the instant she felt that horribly familiar magic. Hordak hadn’t been summoning shades all this time to do his bidding. He’d been practicing. 

With a final gesture, he closed the circle and the form within snapped into clarity. Long red robes with black detailing hung off of an improbably gaunt figure. Bony gray hands protruded from the sleeves, and waving tendrils of black hair framed a smooth mask painted in lines of red, black, and white that slowly shifted the longer you watched. Burning white eyes were sunken deep in the mask, and they narrowed in focus as Hordak’s summoning spell concluded. 

Sulphur filled Catra’s nostrils. Crackling flames jabbed at her ears, and a wave of remembered heat washed over her, fetid and dry and scouring all at once. She knew she wasn’t there, wasn’t back in Hell, but as reality processed and Shadow Weaver’s eyes locked onto Catra’s invisible form, she wished that she was. At least back in Hell she’d been the only one in the line of fire. 

Adora gasped beside her, a sudden and unwelcome reminder that she wasn’t alone. That she had dragged a bunch of unsuspecting humans here, and now they were all going to get splattered across the walls and it would be her fault. Just fucking perfect. 

“You,” Shadow Weaver hissed, gaze boring straight into the empty spot where Catra would keep her soul, if she had one. Melog’s invisibility dropped as they shifted back into their truest form, an echoing growl shaking the floorboards as their mane flared red. Catra braced for the pain that would come next, like it always did when Shadow Weaver turned her attention on Catra. She couldn’t even process what the others were doing through the darkness at the edges of her vision. 

But the pain didn’t come. No fire scorched her skin, no lightning transfixed her. Instead, Shadow Weaver’s eyes widened as they fell upon Adora. 

“It’s over, Hordak,” Glimmer called. “Give it up, and this won’t hurt much.” 

A nasty part of Catra wanted to laugh at just how pitiful Glimmer’s bravado was in the face of this particular paradigm shift in the local power dynamics. The rest of her was still too busy alternating between stunned silence and chanting obscenities in her head. 

Shadow Weaver chuckled. “You’re quite right. It will not hurt much, for us.” 

Glimmer bristled and readied her staff, but she wasn’t fast enough. A bolt of blinding red light zig-zagged through the air with a thunderclap and slammed into her chest, picking her up and tossing her into the distant dimness of the rest of the house. Bow let out a wordless cry and sprinted off after Glimmer, and Adora-

Adora began to glow. 

Catra thought she was hallucinating at first, but the golden glow emanating from Adora’s skin began to cast lurid shadows through the living room, and judging from Hordak’s shock and Shadow Weaver’s wide eyes, they could see it too. 

“For your sake,” Adora began slowly. “I hope that she’s alright. If she isn’t, I will make you regret being born. And after I’m done with you, Angella will make you wish I wasn’t.” 

Something lodged in Catra’s throat, because in all her time in Hell she’d never heard a threat delivered with such single-minded intensity. She hadn’t expected it from Adora, all bubbly awkwardness and earnesty. Somehow, that only made it more powerful. 

Hordak, for his part, looked unnerved, his gaze darting between Shadow Weaver’s back and Adora’s stony face. Catra hardly dared to breathe. Her fingers itched to move, to cast a spell, to tear ragged lines through Shadow Weaver’s smug fucking face, but she couldn’t. Something was rooting her in place, so all she could do was watch. 

“Such power,” Shadow Weaver crooned. “And so little control. Why, if you’re not careful you could flatten this entire neighborhood. And to think that you stumbled in here.” She sighed, and it sounded joyful. “You and I are going to do great things together.” 

The words I think the fuck not burned on the tip of Catra’s tongue, but she couldn’t force them past her lips. It felt like some outside force was freezing every muscle in her body.

“I don’t think so,” Adora said. “If you try anything, I won’t hesitate.” 

“Oh, but you already have,” Shadow Weaver said, and Catra’s brain finally pieced it together. The final Link. Shadow Weaver was burning it here and now, using her last shred of control over Catra to stop her from fighting or warning Adora what the demonic sorceress was capable of until it was too late. Catra fought it, fought with all of her strength, and it wasn’t enough. All she managed to do was force silent tears to trickle down her face. 

Adora saw them, and her resolve cracked. “Catra?” 

“Too weak, as always,” Shadow Weaver said, addressing Catra now. “You care about this one, don’t you? You’ve never fought me this hard before. And she cares about you, doesn’t she?” 

Adora must have figured something out, because she took a single step forward, fists clenched her sides. “Let her go.”

“Or what? I have total control over her body. With a single thought, I can stop her heart. You aren’t fast enough to stop me.” 

Catra watched the blood drain from Adora’s face, and wanted to scream. Emotions flickered across Adora’s face, too fast to track, but finally she settled on the one Catra had been most dreading: furious, terrified resignation. 

“What do you want?” 

Mask or not, Catra could hear the smile in Shadow Weaver’s next words. “Nothing complicated. You will come with me. You will follow my every order to the letter, or Catra dies.” 

Fury surged up through Catra’s chest, and she battered her will against the Link again and again, hard enough to make her whole body quiver, and still to no avail. She could feel it slowly burning away, candle wax melting under a blowtorch, but it wasn’t happening fast enough. It didn’t matter that Shadow Weaver’s hold over Catra wouldn’t last another minute, not if she took Adora away before Catra could show her the truth. Adora would be subjecting herself to pure evil for no reason at all. 

“Give me your word,” Adora said. “Give me your word that if I do what you say, you won’t kill her.” 

Shadow Weaver paused before replying, because even one of the top demonic sorceresses of Hell could not break her word frivolously. Only in this case, it wasn’t relevant in the slightest. “I give you my word.” 

Catra was pretty sure she was the only one who heard the smug satisfaction in Shadow Weaver’s voice. 

“Fine,” Adora said. Her glow began to fade. “I’ll- I’ll go with you.” 

“Good,” Shadow Weaver crooned. “Hordak, start the car. We will be joining you shortly.” She turned back to Adora, ignoring Hordak’s hasty departure. “Don’t look so afraid. Together we will put your power to far greater use than you ever would have alone.” 

Adora looked sick as she glanced back at Catra. Their eyes met. Catra was so close. Ten more seconds. If Adora could just stall for- 

A bony hand landed on Adora’s shoulder and steered her out of the living room, leaving a ghost of glistening blue eyes in her wake. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, the last of the Link’s power surged through Catra, igniting every nerve in her body while she remained locked in place. Her vision went spotty, and the last thing she saw before white-hot agony claimed her conscious mind was Glimmer’s furious expression looming over her. 

Wakefulness returned with the discomfort of an old acquaintance you never liked all that much showing up at your house and asking for money. Everything ached with half-remembered fire, and when she finally peeled her eyes open she found herself in darkness. Her eyes slowly focused, taking in the details of the small but clean and well-furnished bedroom at the same time as she fumbled with the thick blanket covering her. Catra needed to move. Adora was out there, taken because of her. Because she hadn’t been strong enough, because she’d lied. It was a hell of a thing to swallow, but she could wallow around in her guilt later. Right now, she needed to get out of… wherever she was and hunt down Shadow Weaver. A summoning like that would leave a magical trail, but not forever. 

She finally defeated her first opponent and threw the blanket off of her. She swung her legs over the edge, noting that she was still dressed in her own clothes. She had no clue where she was, but given that she wasn’t in chains or, you know, dead, Shadow Weaver must not have taken her. That really only left one option. The quiet aura of magic permeating the air reinforced Catra’s theory and her resolve alike. She needed to get out of here, because there was no way she would survive a meeting with Sparkles’s supposed angelic mother. Catra didn’t understand why she wasn’t already in shackles and behind wards. She knew her illusion magic wouldn’t stand up to an actual being from Heaven, and worse, she deserved it. Adora was in Shadow Weaver’s clutches and it was Catra’s fault. 

She wobbled a little as she came to her feet, already missing the soft warmth of the bed. Soft, warm beds were exactly what had gotten her into this mess, gotten Adora into this mess. Served Catra right for trusting her emotions. 

The door beckoned, a simple thing of painted wood without a lock in sight. Even if it was locked, Catra’s claws would make short work of it. She gave the handle a try first, and the door swung open without a sound. She shielded her eyes against the glaring light in the hallway and almost tripped over the body leaning against the wall. She yelped and leapt away, her sleepy limbs almost betraying her. Her antics didn’t receive a response, and her heartrate doubled again in the span of a second. She recognized Bow’s unconscious form, and with the way he was slumped against the wall… was he dead? 

Sternly telling her fingers to stop trembling, Catra reached out to poke him. Just before her fingers made contact, Bow let rip the loudest snore Catra had ever heard. She barely stopped her squeak in time, ears fluttering in a combination of surprise, embarrassment, and relief. She didn’t know why Bow had chosen this particular place to nap, but if he was trying to guard her room he was doing a terrible job. Satisfied that he wasn’t going to wake up and blow her cover, she crept away down the hallway, escape at the front of her mind. Judging from the distant sounds of the city, it was late at night. All the better. 

Her luck lasted all the way down the ornate hardwood staircase leading to the entryway of the house. She was halfway to the front door when she caught movement to her right. 

“Hello, Catra.” 

Catra whipped around, zeroing in on the source of the calm, refined voice even as her claws came out. A tall, stately woman sat in a comfortable armchair in the living room, filmy wings betraying her nature even before Catra sensed the understated power emanating from her. Shit. This was the angel. And Catra was well and truly fucked. 

“If you wish to leave, I won’t stop you.” 

The words came with a small smile, and both them and the expression did their best to fry Catra’s already-questionable brain. Sure, there hadn’t been a lock on her room door and the guard on duty should probably have been fired, but there was no reason that an angel, a living embodiment of all of the good things Catra would never be, would let her go now. Especially after what Catra had let happen. 

Because her body loved betraying her even without Shadow Weaver’s magic, she remained locked in place. Her instincts quailed at the power before her even as she did her best to stare it down, because she knew that defying people more powerful than her never did anything but hurt. She just never learned how to do anything else. 

The angel sighed, closing the small paperback in her hands and setting it on the nearby coffee table. She turned a level gaze on Catra. “No one will hurt you here. If there’s something I can do to show that to you, please tell me.” 

Catra said nothing. What was she supposed to say? ‘I’m a demon and you’re an angel, we’re born to hate each other?’ That seemed counterproductive at best, regardless of how true it was. ‘Why didn’t you lock me up?’ felt more immediately relevant, but Catra also didn’t want to give her ideas. 

“I need to go,” Catra finally murmured. “This- this is my fault. I have to help her. Shadow Weaver-” 

She broke off, because she felt tears welling up and this was so far from the right place to shed them it wasn’t even funny. 

“So it was her,” the angel murmured. “Glimmer was correct about that at least.” Her focus returned to Catra. “You are acquainted with her.” 

It wasn’t a question. Catra nodded anyway. 

“My name is Angella. As you likely know, I am Glimmer’s mother. She informed me of her… questionable plan, as well as the unfortunate outcome of that plan.” She sucked in a breath. “However, there are a few gaps in her knowledge.” Angella raised one eyebrow, the question implied. 

“I-” Catra’s breath caught, the reality crashing over her again. “I… I lost her. Shadow Weaver took her. And I couldn’t do anything.” 

One more shuddering breath was all it took to break. Seeing Shadow Weaver again, being hurt by her again after thinking she was free, and losing Adora, getting Adora taken, was all too much to handle. All of Catra’s walls finally crumbled under the weight, and she shattered. Squeezing her eyes shut did nothing to stop the tears. 

Without warning, thin, gentle arms encircled her, followed by the brush of wings. Catra’s heart and breath stuttered alike, but there was no sense of constriction, of control. Just the simple comfort of someone else’s presence telling her it was safe to let go. And so she did. 

The moment passed, and Catra braced for the inevitable. Oil and water, after all. But it didn’t come. Angella just held her, gently stroking her back as she put herself back together. It might’ve been the kindest thing anyone had ever done for her. It should have felt wrong. Everything Catra knew about the world told her it was supposed to feel wrong, but like so many things that she’d felt over the past few weeks, it didn’t. As she clung to a woman she’d only just met like she was the last mast of a ship in a storm, clung to someone who by all rights should hate her, the only word that came to mind was peace. 

They sat down across from one another in the living room, the angel and the demon. For a long time, the only sounds were those of distant cars and the faint creaking of the house under a midnight breeze. The demon shifted in her chair, tail tucked in, ears low. She didn’t know what to say. The angel watched, a hint of a smile tugging at her mouth, her eyes warm. And finally, the demon spoke. 

“She raised me. Shadow Weaver. Down in Hell. She taught me magic, made me do her dirty work, but I was always just an afterthought. A pathetic weakling weighing her down in her pursuit of power.” Catra stared at the floor, hugging her knees to her chest. “I- I was never good enough for her. She told me herself that the only reason she kept me around was because she couldn’t be bothered to kill me.” She shuddered violently once, and her burning eyes flashed up to meet those of Angella. “I don’t even know why.” Catra looked away once more. “Finally I got fed up with it and ran. Escaped to here about a year ago, but she still had power over me. Four Links. I couldn’t get rid of them myself, so when she called and made me do her dirty work again that’s what I traded. I only had one left before…” 

“Ah. That is what happened, isn’t it? She used that final Link to stop you,” Angella said. 

Catra nodded. “There- there wasn’t anything I could do. Maybe if I’d told the truth earlier about what I am, or-” 

“Stop,” Angella commanded. Catra stopped. “What happened today was not your fault. It was Shadow Weaver’s fault. It was Hordak’s fault. And, in a way, it was my fault.” 

Catra looked up before she could stop herself. “What?” It sounded absurd, but one of the only things Catra knew for sure about angelic beings was that they were prohibited from lying. Catra didn’t know where they stood on being wrong, though. 

Angella sighed. “I have been aware of Shadow Weaver for some time. I was unsure of her goals, but I suspected they involved this plane. She has broken immortal law by coming here. I suspect the only reason she survived the leap was because of this Hordak character. Someone that I or the Guild should have kept better track of.”

“The Guild?” Catra asked. 

Angella blinked. “You have not heard of the Guild of Sorcerers?” Catra glared at her. “Well, it’s just that. A ruling body of mortal sorcerers on Etheria, governing and regulating the use of magic. Hordak’s summonings, both of shades and now of a greater demon, have broken numerous Guild laws. Micah and Castaspella are already assembling a task force to bring him to justice.”

Catra shouldn’t have been surprised that there was a whole magical organization Shadow Weaver had never told her about. It was certainly in line with all of the other lies she’d bombarded Catra with over the years. 

“What about Adora?” Catra asked. “We have to get her back.” 

“We will,” Angella assured her. “Even if she weren’t family, we cannot risk leaving such a powerful soul in Shadow Weaver’s hands.” 

Catra paused to think that one over. On one hand, Adora was obviously human. Goofy, awkward, driven, and principled, but definitely human. But normal humans also didn’t randomly start glowing. There was clearly more going on here than Catra understood, but she wasn’t dumb enough to ask. She would get the answer from Adora herself when they saw each other again. 

A sudden, terrifying realization hit Catra. “Where’s Melog?” she demanded. They were okay, right? They had to be. The confusion in Angella’s eyes made Catra’s heart leap into overdrive. “My cat. My friend.” 

Angella shook her head slowly. “I’m sorry. Glimmer and Bow only returned with you.” 

Desperation setting in, Catra sent a mental impulse out into the night and listened. She could still feel her bond with them, but it was so very faint. All it told her was that they were alive. In a rare moment of internal pragmatism, Catra decided to cling to that fact rather than continue to spiral about their safety. If they’d survived for however long she’d been unconscious, they weren’t in immediate danger. That would have to be enough for her. 

Catra’s fear was interrupted by creaking stairs behind her. She twisted in her armchair to find Sparkles on the steps, bags under her eyes and a stunned look on her face. 

“Oh, uh, hi mom,” she said. “I was just grabbing a snack.” Her gaze fell on Catra. A multitude of emotions flickered across her face, but the only one Catra could decipher was anger. She opened her mouth, probably to launch a stream of invective at Catra, but was stopped by Angella’s wry tone. 

“Why don’t you get that snack, Glimmer. Catra and I were just talking.” 

A spark of something that looked like, but could not have been, jealousy, flared to life in Sparkles’s expression. Catra felt an urge to make a snarky comment, but it was easy enough to douse given her internal turmoil. Picking fights with the people around her was an even worse idea than usual at the moment. Instead, something else snuck out.

“I’m sorry.” 

Catra froze, not quite able to believe that she’d just said that out loud, and to Sparkles of all people. Apparently Sparkles was surprised too, judging from her gaping mouth. Catra knew she should say more, but couldn’t muster the words. She just sank back into her armchair, watching Sparkles with a mixture of wariness and guilt. 

“I… okay. Thanks, but it wasn’t your fault.” Sparkles took a breath. “I- I should have called in backup. Or…” she stared down at the floor. “I don’t know.” 

Catra opened her mouth to reject pretty much all of that, but froze. She darted a glance over at Angella with an unspoken question on her face, and received the barest shake of her head in response. Angella hadn’t told anyone. She’d seen through Catra’s illusion, hard not to given the whole ‘angel’ thing, and she had kept Catra’s demonic nature a secret. That didn’t make any sense, but at this point if Catra was going to pick at all of the things that didn’t make sense about what had happened to her in the past few days it would take her a year to catalog it all. 

Sparkles left without another word, and Catra made the unspoken question spoken.

“Why?”

“It is not my place to tell,” Angella said simply. “I want you to feel safe here, Catra. After what I’ve learned about you from my daughter and her friends, and from you, you deserve that much. Adora is like family to me. I can’t imagine living without her.” 

Catra got the double meaning there. Angella was thanking her for saving Adora’s life in the first place, but also making the stakes clear. If Catra fucked this up even further… 

Nope. She was not going to think about that. She’d have plenty of time to worry about divine punishments after she failed. No sense in getting a headstart now. 

“A plan,” Catra said. “We uh, need a plan. I can track Shadow Weaver for a few days, but…” she didn’t want to admit it, but it was the truth, and lying was what got her here. “She’s stronger than me. I- I can’t beat her.” 

“Catra, look at me,” Angella said, a soft note of command in her voice. Catra met her eyes, and found nothing but empathy. “You already did. You survived her with your heart intact. That is a far greater victory than she could ever imagine.” 

Catra’s chest seized up as Angella’s words burned a line of fire through her mind. A thousand jagged memories fought against those three sentences, and for once, the memories lost. Because if a being of pure good like Angella could believe that, then maybe, maybe, Catra could too. 

She coughed and looked away, overwhelmed by earnesty. 

“Yeah, uh, thanks,” she mumbled. “Plan?” 

Angella smiled wryly, but didn’t press or mock her. “If Hordak and Shadow Weaver have separated, Micah and Castaspella can handle Hordak alone. They’ve already begun tracking attempts. As for Shadow Weaver. Once we locate her, I will banish her back to Hell.” 

Catra sucked in a breath. “I thought angels couldn’t-”

“Not under normal circumstances. But she has broken immortal law. Etheria is not where her kind belongs, and I have every right to correct that error.” Angella paused. “And I have spent too long ‘playing it safe.’ Urging restraint only has value when both sides are willing to be rational, but Shadow Weaver has abandoned rationality. She will not stop. She must be stopped.” 

“You know her, don’t you?” Catra ventured. 

Angella nodded. “Yes. She has made many attempts at greater power, through whatever methods and means possible. This is not the first time she has attempted to use a strong mortal soul for her own gain, but it will be the last.” 

Catra couldn’t deny feeling a rush of violent satisfaction at the iron certainty in Angella’s voice. 

“You should try to rest,” Angella said. “The aftereffects of that kind of magic, of her magic, can be unpredictable. I will be sure to wake you if anything changes.” 

“I- yeah,” Catra agreed. Between the late hour and wringing out her internal emotional sponge, she was ready for another nap. She rose, but before she left the living room she turned back. “Angella?”

“Yes?” 

“Thank you.” 

“Of course.”

Chapter Text

Sparkles and Bow ambushed Catra in the mansion’s surprisingly cozy kitchen the following morning. Well, Sparkles did. Bow mostly looked like he was there to reluctantly mediate. 

“So,” Sparkles said, her voice sweet. “You have some explaining to do.” 

Catra stared at her water, wishing it would boil faster so she could flee- uh, get on with her day. It appeared that Sparkles’s restraint was based entirely on her proximity to her mother.

Bow sighed. “What Glimmer means is that before we start planning Adora’s rescue, we need to know what went wrong yesterday and how to avoid it.” He shot a look at his girlfriend.

Catra almost told them to ask Angella and leave her alone, but the thought of the angel telling this pair all of Catra’s darkest secrets made nausea start to worm up her throat. Still, she was not about to tell a single soul anything she wasn’t absolutely forced to. 

“It won’t happen again,” she said. “Ask your mom, she’ll back me up.” 

Sparkles’s eyes flashed. “And why is that?” Her tone was practically lethal now. 

“Because I explained it to her last night,” Catra replied flatly. She really needed her coffee. She tried to moderate her voice anyway. “Look, I get it. It looks kinda bad. But I didn’t, I don’t know, betray anyone. And it won’t happen again.” 

“It better not,” Sparkles muttered. 

Catra missed the stern glare Bow gave Sparkles, but his voice was even when he spoke. “Micah and Castaspella will be here soon. Are you comfortable helping us plan the rescue mission?” 

“Are you planning on coming at all?” Sparkles added, and oh that was needle one too many. 

“Back off, Sparkles,” Catra snapped. “Why the fuck would you think I wasn’t?” 

“I don’t know!” Sparkles exclaimed. “Maybe because the last mission we went on together, you just fucking watched as a greater demon stole Adora!” 

Bow made a worthy attempt to stop these two trains from colliding. “Glimmer, hold-” 

“Maybe if you’d told your all-powerful mother the plan in the first place, none of this would have happened!” Catra shot back, her quest for caffeine forgotten. 

“You seemed pretty okay with that part at the time!” Sparkles said, which was true for all the reasons Catra couldn’t admit. “And yeah, I fucked up! But I also didn’t know Hordak was gonna summon a fucking greater demon in his living room! And I’m not the one who froze up in the middle of a fight!” 

Catra flinched. The kitchen went quiet. Bow opened his mouth to speak, probably to try and put various words back inside people’s mouths, but Catra turned and left, tail tense, ears low. Sparkles didn’t know what she was talking about. Right?

Somehow Bow found Catra on the roof a half hour later. She wasn’t sure how he’d managed to get up here and she wasn’t about to ask. She wasn’t about to initiate a conversation at all, actually. 

Apparently Bow wasn’t either. He ambled over to where she was sitting near the edge of the roof, knees hugged to her chest, invisible tail wrapped around her ankles, and sank down beside her. Then, he just… sat. No words, no interrogation, no nothing. Just offering his presence. 

They shared the silence for a long time, watching the wind tug at the barren branches of the trees lining the boulevard. The anemic November sun cast lukewarm light across the morning, barely adding to the day’s unseasonal warmth. Finally, Catra spoke. 

“That’s not what happened,” she said quietly. “I didn’t freeze up.” 

“I believe you,” Bow replied. “And you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. You already saved Adora’s life once, Catra. I trust you.”

Well, that was a hell of a thing to just come out and say, especially to someone you’d known for a month. It shouldn’t have warmed Catra’s chest, but the part of her that wanted to laugh in his face for his naivety was for once outweighed by something more honest. 

“I… thanks.” Her breath caught in her throat for a moment. “It was magic. But she won’t be able to do it again. To anyone.”

Bow gave her a discerning look, which she should have expected. There weren’t many forms of magic that could hold someone in place like that, and even fewer that a greater demon could employ. But he didn’t press, and that was enough for Catra. 

The shackles chafed at Adora’s wrists, but the pain wasn’t the problem. The problem was the spread of sickly runes etched into the dark stone that blocked any hint of magic. The power within her wasn’t gone, but it was buried under so much hostile magic it might as well have been. At least her cell wasn’t too bad. No rats or stinking pools of water, at least. The building even had central heating. Adora had managed to sneak a peek at it on her way in, which hadn’t told her much. Just an old single-story brick box that had probably held either an architectural firm or a spy headquarters back in its heyday. Maybe both. The fluorescent strip lighting was the same, anyway.

Now though, a pall of dark magic, heavy and oppressive, hung over the place. Then again, that might not be new either, considering Adora’s one short experience temping in an office. 

Anyway, the building’s origins didn’t matter. What mattered was that she had no idea where it was, no idea how to get out, and no idea if Catra was alright. Glimmer had taken harder hits than that lightning bolt and come up swinging, but Adora had never seen magic like what Shadow Weaver had done to Catra. The greater demon, which Adora was certain she was, had given her word that Catra wouldn’t be harmed, but that was small comfort in the face of everything that had happened. Adora wasn’t technically sure, but everything pointed to Shadow Weaver being the ‘shitty boss’ Catra had described. This wasn’t the best way for Adora to learn that Catra was prone to occasional massive understatement. 

Adora paced back and forth in the windowless room, trying and failing not to spiral. She hadn’t gotten any sleep the night before, and was now dead on her feet. It seemed unbelievable that only a day ago she’d woken up next to Catra, safe and warm and happy. Adora half-expected Light Hope to appear out of thin air and begin berating her, because this was the exact situation she had worked so hard to avoid. Adora was trapped, powerless and at the mercy of someone who very clearly wanted to use She-Ra’s power for evil. 

Something touched her leg, and she nearly screamed. She looked around wildly, but the room was empty. 

“Dude. Chill.” 

The slow drawl of a telepathic voice sounded distinctly annoyed at Adora’s antics, and she could have wept with relief. 

“Melog?” she whispered, barely able to believe it. 

“Duh.”

They sounded almost exactly like Catra for a moment, and a pang of fear pulsed through Adora’s gut. 

“Is Catra okay?” 

“Safe,” Melog said. A pause. “Escape?” 

“I don’t know,” Adora murmured. “I can’t work magic with these shackles, and I’m sure Shadow Weaver is tracking them.” A rumbling growl shook the floor at the name. “Can you get them off?” 

She felt a gust of air as Melog, still invisible, crept closer to her. She held her hands out in front of her, and felt the scrape of claws on metal. 

“Nope. Sorry.” 

Adora deflated. “It’s okay.” She thought for a moment. “How did you get in here?” 

“Crack under the door.” 

Adora stared dubiously at the inch-tall gap between the door and the floor before remembering that Melog was a shapeshifting cat of all things. They could probably fit into a Coke can if they really wanted to. 

“Can you bust down the door?” 

“Could,” Melog said. “Shouldn’t.” In a much smaller voice, they explained. “Shadow Weaver.” 

Adora’s heart clenched at the fear in their words. “That’s okay,” she said. “We’ll figure something out.” 

“Coming,” Melog said, voice sharp. 

“Hopefully eventually,” Adora said, because she knew her friends would already be planning a rescue. “But they can’t be here yet-” 

“Coming,” Melog hissed, fear and fury bleeding into their voice. Adora heard approaching footsteps a moment later and whipped around to face the door. Hopefully Melog’s invisibility was enough to cloak them from the sight of a greater demon. 

When the deadbolts scraped back and the door slid open, it wasn’t Shadow Weaver on the other side. Hordak loomed, his expression flat. Judging from the power tugging at the air around him, he was ready to react to anything she might try. 

“Come with me,” he growled, stepping aside and motioning for her to walk ahead of him. Adora glared up at his stony face, but obeyed. She would get her chance. 

Hordak prodded her through the grubby, dimly lit off-white corridors. She desperately wished she knew if Melog was still with her, but had to trust that the hellcat knew what they were doing. Helplessness was not a feeling Adora was well-equipped to handle. 

The tracking spell pulsed against the inside of Catra’s forehead in time with her nerves and hammering heart. The ugly office building was the only structure around, a lone survivor in the midst of a chain-linked urban wasteland. In a few years some construction company would probably turn the entire block into a highrise or something, but for now, the squat building remained, trying and failing to loom over her in the growing dusk. 

It positively reeked of dark power, more than Shadow Weaver could have possibly managed to release in such a short time. Whatever had created this well of energy was old, older than the building itself, maybe even the entire city. That fact was not calculated to ease Catra’s nerves. Nor was the fact that she was effectively surrounded by strangers. Bow and Glimmer flanked her, bringing some small familiarity, but the rest were new to her. Catra wasn’t great with names in the best of times, mostly because she didn’t care, and the flurry of introductions that morning hadn’t given her much time to tie names to faces. Other than Bow, Glimmer, and Angella, who she already knew, there was a guy with salt streaks in his hair and beard, a woman dressed in stupendous robes, and a lady with a sword who seemed to have pointed ears, of all things. Given the general witchy vibe of the first two, Catra figured they were from the Sorcerer’s Guild. The lady with the sword just looked generally angry, which was fine with Catra as long as it wasn’t directed at her. The anger or the sword. 

She missed Melog. They were annoying and lazy and very demanding, but they were also the only real constant in her life for as long as she could remember. For all their faults, they were steady, and as she crept up to the not-quite-abandoned building with a bunch of strangers in tow, she needed that steadiness. Also the invisibility would have come in handy.

With an inaudible growl, Catra shoved that line of thought down. She needed to be focused here, not wallowing around. Melog would be okay. It was Adora that was the one in deep shit at the moment. Between what Angella said and Catra’s own theories, Shadow Weaver was after Adora’s power. Catra didn’t know exactly what that power was, but she absolutely fucking knew that Shadow Weaver could not get it. Catra had spent most of the day doing her best not to imagine all of the fucked up things Shadow Weaver might be doing to Adora, and failing utterly. Catra knew all too well what the demonic sorceress was capable of, and the thought of that happening to someone as good, as pure, as Adora, made her want to claw the world in half. 

Murder charges be damned. If Catra got the chance, she was putting a greater demon in the ground today. 

She fingered the three vials of essence in her jacket pocket. All of her supplies were still there, untouched from when Bow and Glimmer had apparently carried her out of that fucking suburban nightmare house. Catra was still a little surprised they’d done that. If it had been her, and she’d seen someone just watch as her best friend was hauled away by evil magic users, she wasn’t sure if she would save them. Maybe that just made her an asshole. 

She led her uninvited flock of goons up to the building in silence. Everyone knew the plan. They just didn’t know that Catra had no interest in following the plan. Letting the so-called ‘heavy hitters’ take point after discovering that Hordak and Shadow Weaver had not in fact separated sounded all well and good, but this was Catra’s mistake to fix. She wasn’t about to sit in the back for this one. Or ever, really. 

The bearded guy made some vague hand gestures at everyone when they reached the front door. He got a positive response from the robes-wearing woman, which was apparently enough for him. He stepped back, carved a glowing sigil in the air with one hand, and let loose a gout of flame at the unsuspecting door. It was loud, and Catra regretted not covering her ears. The metal and glass melted under the magical assault, and he didn’t even wait for the splattered steel to cool before dashing into the building, the others close behind. Catra waited a moment to let them get ahead, just like in the plan. Instead of following them though, she did a slow pan with her head, letting the tracking spell zero in on its target. Shadow Weaver. 

Catra darted away, into the depths of the office. The others could handle Hordak. Shadow Weaver was hers. 

Adora’s gut, already twisted, threatened to betray her when she saw the dull steel of the operating table in the middle of the empty room Hordak led her into. She already hated doctor visits, but the stainless surface lined with restraints sitting in the exact center of a wide magical circle made real panic begin to climb up her throat. She dug in her heels, eyes dancing around the room in search of options, any options. Hordak all but yanked her arm out of its socket in response. 

Shadow Weaver oozed out of the darkness at the edge of the room, eyes burning with pure greed. “Prepare her,” she said to Hordak. 

“What do you want?” Adora demanded, shoving back against Hordak’s grip to buy herself time. “Why are you doing this?” 

“Oh, but it’s quite simple,” Shadow Weaver said, in the tone of someone educating a child. “That power within you, untapped, unconstrained, belongs to me now. I will shape it, and together, you and I will change the world.” 

“I’m not helping you do anything,” Adora snapped. “I won’t give her to you.” 

“Her?” Shadow Weaver’s eyes tilted in understanding. “Ah. So you have some idea of what it is you were blessed with. No matter. In a few minutes, you won’t need to understand.” 

That was an ominous statement. Adora stared for a moment, then redoubled her efforts to escape. Hordak was having none of it. She felt a magical impulse behind her, and an instant later the blast slammed into her back, throwing her to the floor and stunning her completely. When her vision cleared and feeling returned to her limbs, it was already too late. 

“That’s better,” Shadow Weaver said, looming over Adora on the table. “Now-” 

A distant crash sounded, shaking the very foundations of the building. Adora shoved against the restraints but made no progress. 

“What was that?” Hordak growled. 

“Intruders,” Shadow Weaver said, not sounding overly upset. “Hordak, deal with them while I get to work.” She reached down to stroke Adora’s cheek. 

Adora flinched away from Shadow Weaver’s bony fingers, the touch sending waves of nausea through her stomach. “Are you ready to cast off the shackles that have been placed upon you, Adora? Are you ready to become what you were born to be?” 

“Go to hell,” Adora snapped. “I will never help you.” 

Shadow Weaver laughed. “Oh, you will be quite happy to help me, once I wipe your mind.” 

Catra was close. She could feel it, the tracking spell all but constant now. But whoever had laid out this office was a monster on par with Shadow Weaver, because it was a fucking labyrinth of identical white corridors lit by failing fluorescent strip lighting with no room numbers in sight. The dark power permeating the air gnawed at Catra’s skin with every step, making sure she remained on edge even before she heard the scream. 

Gut-wrenching, piercing, and unending, it was the sound of someone’s soul being ripped from their body. It stabbed at Catra’s sensitive ears, burrowing all the way down into her heart as she took off down the corridor. Because as much as it hurt, the scream did one more thing. It told Catra exactly where she needed to go. 

Adora gasped for breath, cold sweat dripping down her temples. Her mind was aflame, her efforts to hold onto herself having turned her brain into a battleground. Needles stabbed at her eyes, her forehead, and the only solace she found was that Shadow Weaver had retreated for the moment. 

“Resisting me will only make this more painful,” the demon said. Adora’s only response was a choked gasp. She still remembered who she was. Had she lost anything? Would she even be able to tell?

“Make this easier for yourself. You and I do not have to be enemies. We were destined for each other, after all.” 

“F-fuck you,” Adora managed between heaving breaths. 

“Suit yourself,” Shadow Weaver said, and reached for her skull once more. Adora braced, squeezing her eyes shut against the inevitable agony.

“Get the fuck away from her.”

Shadow Weaver whirled, the only proof that Adora wasn’t hallucinating. Because Catra’s low, furious, deadly voice was the last thing she’d expected to hear. She twisted on the operating table, and managed to get a glimpse of Catra facing off with Shadow Weaver. Her mismatched eyes were narrowed in a bone deep anger Adora knew better than she would ever admit, her claws glittered by her sides, and she was holding a combat stance, low and fluid. 

“Catra,” Shadow Weaver spat. “Again I am astonished by your ability to get in the way of greatness.”

“Thanks,” Catra crooned, fangs in full view as she grinned. “Guess I’ve had a lot of practice, huh?”

Shadow Weaver growled, and the battle began. Shadow Weaver loosed a bolt of red-black lightning, but Catra was already moving. The feline demon leapt out of the way of the attack, launching herself through the air before using the far wall to redirect her landing behind Shadow Weaver. Catra made a quick gesture with one hand and fired a concentrated bolt of pure midnight black at Shadow Weaver’s back. The greater demon whirled, but wasn’t fast enough to dodge the attack. She roared , and tendrils of darkness exploded out from her form, filling the room entirely.

But again, Catra was faster. She rolled out of the way of one tendril and deflected a second with another burst of tightly controlled power. She fired two more bolts of energy, but Shadow Weaver was ready this time and blocked them both with a single contemptuous gesture. 

Adora watched, heart in her throat, as Catra danced between bolts of lightning and tendrils of oily darkness, always bare inches ahead. She threw power back, weaving it into her evasions with fluid grace. The attacks seemed to enrage Shadow Weaver rather than truly hurt her, but as yet another wild bolt of lightning splashed wide of the mark, Adora realized that was the point. Catra couldn’t match Shadow Weaver’s raw power, so she wasn’t even trying to. She was just… surviving. Needling her aggressor, forcing Shadow Weaver into making sloppy mistakes, into underestimating her at every turn. It was one of the most impressive things Adora had ever seen. 

It also couldn’t last forever. Adora could see clearly that Catra was flagging. Each new attack came a little closer to landing. Her breathing became ragged, then desperate. Shadow Weaver saw it, and smug satisfaction bled through her anger. 

“You never were good for anything more than a distraction, were you?” she taunted. “Always wasting my time with your pointless squabbling. I should have thrown you back where you came from the moment I laid eyes on you.” 

“We probably both would have been better off!” Catra snarled. She launched herself off the wall and whipped something out of her pocket. Mid-air, she sketched a hasty rune in front of her and detonated it in a blinding flash. Shadow Weaver shouted in wordless fury as she staggered back and lashed out mindlessly. Adora heard the clatter of broken glass hit the floor. She strained, desperate to help, to do something. Something scraped at the shackles, and Adora whipped her gaze down. She saw nothing, but the scraping occurred again, and a long groove appeared in the engraved stone. Something sailed through the air towards her, and Melog flashed into existence to catch and crush the vial of shimmering blue essence in their jaws. A wave of light rippled down their body, and they chomped down on the stone shackles suppressing Adora’s magic. 

The stone shattered with a crack, but Adora’s elation at the rush of magic returning to her consciousness was instantly flattened by Catra’s ragged cry of agony. Fury and power bubbled up inside Adora’s chest in equal proportions, and with strength that wasn’t quite her own she ripped the operating table in half and whirled around, unfettered at last. 

Catra hung in the air, wreathed in ever-tightening shadows. Shadow Weaver’s cruel grip was evident, and it was only at the sound of wrenching steel that she turned and faced Adora. Her eyes went wide. 

“Let. Her. Go.” 

Shadow Weaver’s eyes narrowed, and her grip on Catra tightened. Adora didn’t make the same mistake twice. She drew back, channeling all of the power she knew she wasn’t supposed to use, and thrust it at Shadow Weaver’s masked face. She saw the demon’s eyes widen for a fraction of a second. Then, she was gone. She disappeared in a familiar swirl of smoke and shadow, just like Hordak had two nights before. 

Catra dropped to the floor in a heap. Melog and Adora rushed to her side in unison, Melog placing their front paws on her chest while Adora pulled Catra’s head into her lap. She wasn’t moving. 

“Catra?” she whispered, all of the power fading from her limbs. Melog let out a low, uncertain mrow. They sounded so lost, and it broke Adora’s heart. She hugged Catra closer, desperately denying the truth. She hadn’t been fast enough. 

Catra twitched, eliciting a gasp from Adora and a hopeful, inquisitive mrrp from Melog, whose head was shoved up against Catra’s face. Adora looked down, searching for any sign of life on Catra’s face. Her eyes fluttered open, unfocused but radiant. 

“Hey Adora,” she croaked. Then, “fuck that sucked.” 

Adora released a wet chuckle. “You okay?” 

“Been better.” She let out a shaky breath. “Adora, I-”

Adora never got to know what Catra was about to say, because a veritable army of people barged into the expansive chamber. Bow and Glimmer were the first at her side, but she spotted Micah, Castaspella, Juliet, and to her utter surprise, Angella. 

Catra saw them all too, and for some reason her first reaction was to bury her face in Adora’s shoulder. Adora got the message loud and clear.

She raised her voice to cut through all of the frantic questions. “We’re both fine. We can talk about all of this once we’re out of here.”

She couldn’t be quite sure, but she thought she heard a faint purr from Catra at that.

Glimmer for once decided to use her power for good. “You heard her! Let’s get the fuck out of this creepy-ass office!”

“Language, Glimmer,” Angella said mildly. Adora didn’t need to see Glimmer’s face to know she was rolling her eyes. 

“Mom, we just took down a real life necromancer. With shades and everything! I think I’m allowed to swear.”

Catra didn’t say much on the way back to the Moon’s house. Adora, also exhausted, wasn’t about to press. She knew she had an apology to make, but wanted to wait until she had all of her wits about her. Catra deserved that at least. There was also the other problem of explaining Shadow Weaver’s relationship with Catra to everyone else without outing Catra’s nature as a demon too. Adora had no idea where to start on that front. 

But upon arriving at the sprawling mansion, she wisely decided those were all problems for tomorrow. Leaning on each other for support, she and Catra hiked up the steps and through the house towards the guest rooms. 

“Safe here?” Catra mumbled once they arrived. 

Adora nodded. “Safest place in Bright Moon.”

“Mmkay.” Catra pulled off her jacket and dumped it by the door to the cozy bedroom. It only contained a dresser and two nightstands flanking a luxurious queen-sized bed, but at the moment that was all either of them wanted. Melog prowled into the room for a quick inspection, then prowled right back on out and sat down in front of the door. Adora stared blearily at their alert pose for a moment before understanding. They were standing guard. 

When she closed the door and turned back to face the room, Catra was already in bed, stiff as steel. She was shivering slightly, and that was enough to bypass whatever awkward barriers had managed to survive the events of the past three days. Adora ditched her excess clothing and climbed into bed next to Catra. She hesitated, then reached out and brushed Catra’s shoulder. 

Catra twisted around, but instead of the surprise or fear Adora had half-expected to see, she was met with two deep, luminous eyes. 

Worried she’d overstepped, Adora withdrew her hand. “Sorry.”

Instead of recoiling, Catra blinked once, long and slow. Under the sheets, something soft brushed Adora’s leg and stayed there. And Adora decided to take a chance. 

She reached out again, slowly this time, in full view of Catra’s wide eyes. She brushed a stray lock of hair back from Catra’s cheek, and before she could ask if this was okay, Catra leaned into the touch and closed her eyes. They inched closer to each other in the same moment, shrinking the distance until there was none left between them. All of the fear and pain of the day bled away in the simple comfort of each other’s warm embrace, and everything was alright.

Chapter Text

Catra awoke to an empty bed. The only thing that stopped the spike of fear that yesterday’s successful rescue had been a dream was the fact that she was in a queen-sized bed, and that she could still smell whispers of Adora’s scent. She still had to take a moment to calm her nerves, because honestly she was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. Sure, Shadow Weaver had almost killed her, but Adora was safe and Hordak was done. Behind bars or wards or whatever. He couldn’t hunt Catra anymore, and couldn’t summon shades to stab unsuspecting cornfield-wanderers anymore. 

Catra slipped out of bed, feeling stupid for feeling a little betrayed by Adora’s absence. She hated waking up cold, that was all. Definitely. 

She pulled her jacket back on, glad that she’d had time to swing by her apartment and grab extra clothes while the sorcerers had set up for the rescue mission. She probably needed a shower too, but her fur took forever to dry and she didn’t want to suffer through that at the moment, even if the last time she’d showered had been before her date. 

God, that felt like… well, a lot longer than four days ago. It was Tuesday now, assuming Catra hadn’t slept through an entire day by accident. She was hungry enough that she might have, anyway. To that end, she cracked the guest room door open, checked for interlopers/guards/maybe-friends, and ducked into the hallway when she saw it was clear. Melog fizzled into view beside her, clearly picking up on some of her discomfort. It wasn’t the general aura of magic pervading the Moon’s home, or even the fact that it belonged to a literal angel. It wasn’t even the fact that she was hiding a big fucking secret from almost everyone around, people who had now risked their lives to help her. It was simpler than that. Catra had never really liked being in new places or meeting new people. She’d done way too much of both of those unpleasant actions recently, and the only thing that had made any of it bearable had been Adora. She made Catra comfortable in a way that should have been terrifying. If Catra were prone to introspection she might have been able to analyze why that was true. 

As it was, Adora’s absence bothered her. Melog butted up against her leg and she bent down to scratch behind their ears. Catra appreciated the reassurance even while feeling stupid for needing it. She resumed creeping through the house towards the kitchen, and distracted herself from thinking about Adora by worrying about getting kicked out or magically nuked or something when everyone learned that she was originally on the same side as the people that they’d just beat the shit out of. 

Because she was an idiot, she didn’t think to check her phone until she was halfway to the kitchen. Her heart sped up when she saw she had texts from Adora. 

Adora: 

Hey Catra! Sorry I had to leave so early, had to go to work, you know how it is!

I talked to Angella and Micah about Hordak and Shadow Weaver. Hordak is locked up in the basement, and they’re both calling in contacts to search for Shadow Weaver. We’ll find her and stop her, I promise. You can ask Angella about the details, but I didn’t tell anyone about you. 

I fed Melog with the rest of the food in your backpack, I hope that’s okay! If you need anything just ask Glimmer, she can help you out! I’ll be back from work around 6! If you have work or need to go home, just let Bow know and he can give you a ride. Call me later, okay?

Catra stared at the perfect grammar and punctuation for a few moments while the actual words processed and she cataloged her reactions. Relief for one, that Melog was sated and not plotting to overthrow the state government. Irritation that Adora had decided to ‘handle’ everything herself without talking to Catra first. Appreciation that she didn’t have to handle any of the sticky details and risk outing herself to anyone. Anyone else, that is. Skepticism that Bow or Sparkles would be anywhere near as accommodating as Adora seemed to think. Well, Bow might give her a ride to get rid of her, but no more than that. Relief again that Adora at least wanted to give an excuse for leaving. That was a good sign, right? 

Catra didn’t have the energy for social interaction of any kind, so she just sent back ‘k’ and stuffed her phone in her pocket again, feeling lighter. Adora deserved more of a response from her, but that would have to wait until after coffee. 

Sparkles caught her rifling around in the kitchen cabinets a few minutes later. Well, she mostly just trundled into the kitchen and mumbled something that was probably supposed to be a greeting. It wasn’t her fault Catra bristled up defensively, an instinctive reaction borne of everything she’d been thinking about this morning. 

Sparkles didn’t even notice. She hauled the fridge door open, pulled out some leftover pizza, and tossed it into the microwave. The beep of the buttons was a little piercing, and Catra had to take a breath to stop herself from letting out her irritation. Sparkles deserved it for invading her personal space in the morning, but Catra also wasn’t looking for a fight with someone who could dish it out as well as she took it.

Catra finished brewing her coffee and felt an unexpected pang of… she refused to call it longing, but couldn’t find a better word. Adora made good coffee. And good eggs. 

The microwave beeped again (so loud!), but Catra’s growl was arrested by Sparkles thrusting something at her. The plate of pizza, as it turned out. 

“Sorry,” Sparkles said, almost managing to sound like she wasn’t gritting her teeth. “About yesterday. I was really worried about Adora, but I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”

Catra took the plate and turned to set it on the counter, mostly to hide her dumb expression of shock. 

“It’s uh, it’s fine,” Catra said, deeply confused and weirdly guilty. “I get it.” 

“And I’m sorry for not trusting you. I was just worried that… Adora and Bow can be too trusting, you know?” Catra snorted, because yeah . “But they were right about you, and I was wrong.” She offered her hand. “Friends?”

Catra stared at the outstretched hand, her guilt finally resolving in her mind. Glimmer was apologizing to her for not trusting her, and here Catra was, eating her pizza, drinking her coffee, and lying to her face. 

“I…” she began, but the words got stuck in her throat. All of the evidence, well, almost all of it, told her that it would be fine. If Adora had been fine with it, if Angella hadn’t seen a problem with Catra’s demonic nature, Glimmer probably wouldn’t either. But as the awkward instant turned into moments, Catra’s rigor mortis refused to abate. 

Her tension was shattered by a gasp from the entrance to the kitchen. She glanced over and saw Bow with his hands clasped together watching the scene. He was making actual heart eyes at his girlfriend, not seeming to notice Glimmer’s growing confusion or Catra’s inaction. Catra’s instincts took over, damn them, and she shook Glimmer’s hand. 

“Friends, I guess,” she agreed. Then she took the plate of peace offering pizza and her coffee and walked out of the kitchen, what was left of her inner decent person screaming at her the whole time. 

Adora was in the shower at the gym cleaning up after work when what she’d been dreading finally happened, which was pretty much the worst place possible. She was rinsing away the last of the soap when the wall shimmered and Light Hope appeared, severe as ever. 

Adora yelped and tried to cover herself, barely avoiding a catastrophe. Light Hope just watched, faint perplexation on her face. 

“Could you not do that?” Adora wheezed, her face a furious red. “Not here, maybe?” 

“This is the first time you have been alone today,” Light Hope said, like it was obvious. “I could not contact you before without arousing suspicion.” 

“Yeah, but- whatever,” Adora settled on. Light spirits didn’t care about human nudity. At least that was what Adora told herself as she tried to marshal her argument. “I’m sorry about Sunday. I uh, I got a little sidetracked?” 

“Sidetracked,” Light Hope echoed. “You were abducted by a higher demonic presence who wished to use your power for great evil.”

“You know about that?!” Adora yelped. 

“I know many things,” Light Hope said. Adora didn’t think it was supposed to sound quite so ominous, and maybe Adora was just projecting while she tried to recover from her surprise that Light Hope already knew about Adora’s weekend activities. Then again, it wouldn’t have been hard to locate the old building after how much power Adora had used there, and Light Hope was scarily good at reconstructing events from the smallest details. It was one of her more annoying qualities, in fact. 

“But it uh, it all turned out okay,” Adora attempted. 

“You still bear traces of hell-borne magic,” Light Hope replied. “It is not ‘okay.’ This is precisely what I feared. If word of your power spreads, more will seek to corrupt it for their own ends. Yet you still resist me. Why is this?” 

Adora turned the shower off, resolutely refusing to face Light Hope until she had a towel around herself. “I’m not ‘resisting’ you,” she said. “I just… you don’t tell me everything, and it’s hard. I don’t keep secrets from my friends. They wouldn’t try to do anything bad! They’re the best people I’ve ever met.”

“That may be true,” Light Hope said, not sounding like she believed it in the slightest. “It is still imperative that She-Ra remains hidden. She is too powerful to risk.” 

Adora frowned at that, familiar anger building beneath her chest. “What’s the point of having all this power if I’m not supposed to use it? I should be helping people, protecting them. Not sitting on my hands doing nothing while evil necromancers hurt people!” 

She turned her back again and got dressed, tugging her clothes on with sharp movements. Light Hope teleported in front of her, which was just obnoxious. 

“You are behaving erratically. Are you certain you have not been compromised?” 

Adora scoffed. “Compromised? What does that even mean? The only thing I’ve been compromised by is a conscience.” She shrugged her red bomber jacket on and moved to leave. She was late anyway. 

“Adora,” Light Hope called after her. “Adora!”

Adora didn’t look back. 

Adora dumped her bag inside the Moon residence and beelined for the living room. Bow and Glimmer were curled up together on the couch with their phones out, and they both looked up as she entered. 

“Is Catra here?” Adora asked after trying to tone down her frazzled energy a little. 

“I dropped her off at her shop a few hours ago,” Bow said. “She got a call about a client, I think. Said she and Melog needed to take care of it.” 

Adora tried and failed to hide her disappointment. She still felt a little bad about leaving so early after everything, but she had already missed too much work this month. She just hoped that Catra hadn’t taken it the wrong way. 

“Cool,” Adora said. “Thanks for doing that.” She paused. “Did she say if she was coming back?” The confused looks she got from both of them answered that question. “Obviously not. Forget I asked.” She pulled out her phone. Other than the ‘k’ she’d sent this morning, there was nothing from Catra.

“Adora,” Glimmer said. “You’re allowed to spend time apart, you know.” 

Adora laughed nervously. “Pff, I know that! I’m not trying to be clingy or anything. I just, was wondering what she’s up to.” 

She’d spent most of the day doing that, in fact. Wondering how Catra was feeling, what she might be thinking about, what she might be doing, eating, anything. It had felt a little weird, but that hadn’t stopped Adora’s mind from wandering. She’d almost dropped a dumbbell on one of her client’s feet because of it. 

Glimmer and Bow shared a knowing look. Bow spoke first. “Glimmer and I were actually planning on heading out soon. I figure we can all use some time to decompress at home.” He winced, darting a glance over at Glimmer. “I mean, I love this house, but…” 

“It’s not ours,” Glimmer agreed. 

“Oh,” Adora said. “Yeah, that sounds good.” 

Bow unfolded from the couch and got up to give her a quick hug. “Hey. It’s alright not to be alright. And if you need anything, we’re here for you.” Glimmer gave a firm nod. 

“Thanks guys,” Adora said with a soft smile. “I’m alright, really.” It wasn’t a lie. She wasn’t worried about the whole kidnapping thing or the necromancer locked up in the basement. None of the things she should have been worried about, at least. All of her anxiety was occupied by the low-grade fear that she’d screwed up with Catra. That morning, all she’d really been thinking about was how bad being late to work after another random callout would be. Tuesdays weren’t even a busy day at the gym. She’d probably fucked it up for nothing. 

“Adora,” Glimmer said, snapping her out of her spiral. “Stop moping. If you’re that lonely, just call her.” 

Glimmer was terrifyingly perceptive at all the wrong moments. 

“I’m fine,” Adora repeated, plastering a grin over her face. 

Glimmer just rolled her eyes. 

“Emotional honesty is attractive in a mate,” she said. She ignored Adora’s bout of red-faced spluttering to add “and honestly, you two need to talk about what happened. My mom and Bow both shut me down when I tried to figure out what went wrong back at Hordak’s lair, which I guess I get. But you of all people deserve the truth.” 

Adora got a little pale, because she had an idea about the truth already. Not the specifics maybe, but more than Glimmer. “Uh, yeah.” 

“Honestly, I’m still a little confused on how chill my mom is being about this whole thing,” Glimmer continued, her voice rising. Adora braced herself for the impending rant, and was not disappointed. “Like, a necromancer and a greater demon try to kidnap you, Catra just lets it happen, she and my mom have some weird heart-to-heart at two in the morning, and it’s all chill? You almost get what, sacrificed in an evil ritual? And you just go back to work the next day?” Glimmer threw up her hands. “How is no one freaking out about any of this? We have a necromancer locked in the basement, for fuck’s sake!” 

Adora sighed. She got where Glimmer was coming from, she truly did. She just only had a certain amount of space in her brain for worry, and all of it was devoted to Catra. Shadow Weaver had almost wiped Adora’s memory, but she’d almost killed Catra. Adora wasn’t quite sure what the relationship may have been between the two of them, but it seemed like it was a little more than just ‘old boss’. At least, Adora had never had a boss who hated her enough to use shadow magic to squeeze the life out of her body. 

“We talked about this, Glimmer,” Bow said warningly beside her. “People process things in their own ways.” 

Adora gave Bow a grateful look. 

“I’m fine, Glimmer. Seriously.” 

Glimmer groaned. “How? Because I’m not!” Adora froze with her mouth half-open. “You’ve almost died twice in a month and you’re just acting like nothing happened! That’s- that’s not normal.” She turned to Bow. “I know I sometimes freak out about stupid things, but please tell me I’m not crazy and that this isn’t one of them.” 

A wave of ‘wow I’m an idiot’ washed over Adora’s entire body, and judging from Bow’s expression, she wasn’t alone. Glimmer’s rant wasn’t about her at all. Adora crossed to the couch and sat down beside her, sandwiching Glimmer between her and Bow. Glimmer had tears in her eyes that didn’t look like they would remain unshed for long. 

“I can’t lose you guys,” she sniffed. “I don’t know what I’d do.” 

Adora had no idea what to say, so she just put her arm around Glimmer’s shoulders and squeezed. “I’m not going anywhere. I promise.” 

“What do you need us to do?” Bow asked, and the gentle kindness in his voice cracked the shell around Adora’s heart. 

Glimmer sniffed and rubbed her nose. “I don’t know. Maybe- can we go home and get drunk and watch shitty rom-coms all night? All three of us?”

“I think we can manage that,” Bow said with a smile and a quick glance at Adora to confirm. She nodded enthusiastically. “Alright. You ready to go?” 

Glimmer nodded. “Thanks, guys.”

“Of course,” Adora said. “I’ll meet you guys there. I just have to pick up some stuff from my apartment.” 

“Drive safe,” Bow told her as she headed out the front door. She gave him a wave and pulled her jacket tighter around her as the late November chill hit her. Hopefully it would snow soon. There was no sadder sight than leafless trees and gray skies with no snow in sight. 

Adora caved and called Catra the moment she got inside her apartment. She really only needed a change of clothes and some snacks, but figured she had the time to check in. She ignored the voice telling her that ‘checking in’ with someone she’d gone on two dates with was weird. The multiple life-threatening situations they’d survived together overrode that, right? 

Catra picked up on the fifth ring. 

“Hey Adora,” she said. She sounded a little frazzled. 

“Catra, hey,” Adora said, hating how her voice got a little breathy with excitement. “How are you doing? Sorry for leaving this morning.” 

“It’s cool,” Catra said, her effortless drawl revealing nothing. “I get it.” It sounded a bit like something shattered in the background. Catra’s groan confirmed that. “Fucking- Jerry! Get off the damn counter!” 

“Uhhh…” 

“Sorry,” Catra said. “People who regularly leave the house after dark should not get a gremlin as a pet. Fucking amatuers.” 

Adora wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “Are you- are you petsitting a gremlin? Don’t they, you know, eat people?” 

“Only the big ones,” Catra said, apparently unfazed. “Jerry’s still small enough to- no, don’t. Don’t you fucking dare-” 

It sounded like someone dumped an entire silverware drawer onto the floor. 

“I am not cleaning that up,” Catra muttered. 

“Haha, yeah,” Adora laughed. “I uh, I just wanted to see how you were doing. After, you know, almost dying.” 

“What? I’m fine. Not the first time Shadow Weaver’s tried to kill me.” 

Adora paused. “Wow. That’s pretty awful.” 

She picked up chittering laughter over the line. Jerry was having the evening of his life, apparently. 

“It’s whatever,” Catra said flatly. “What about you? You’re the one she tried to fucking mindwipe.” 

“You got there in time,” Adora said. “Pretty sure I remember everything still. Everything important, at least.” 

“You sure about that? Seems like it would be hard to tell.” 

That was something Adora was afraid of, and to her surprise Catra didn’t sound mocking at all. She actually sounded sincere. Worried, even. 

“Yeah,” Adora murmured. “It’s a bit freaky.”

“God, she’s the worst,” Catra muttered. “Did you want- Jerry, no. Get out of the bookcase before you-” 

A two-story house came thundering down on the other end of the phone call. 

“-knock everything onto the floor,” Catra finished with a sigh. “I fucking hate this job sometimes.” She huffed. “Look, can I call you back later?” 

“Yeah, totally,” Adora said. “I’m just hanging out tonight. Super chill, you know me, hehe.” 

Catra snorted. “You’re an idiot.” 

Being insulted definitely should not have excited the butterflies in Adora’s belly, but here she was. 

“Yeah, I know,” Adora laughed. “I um, I know this is a little fast-moving, but would you want to have dinner at my place again this week? I’ll cook.” 

More chittering laughter from Jerry, which Adora did her best to remember wasn’t actually about her at all. 

“Sorry, what did you say? Kinda got my hands full right now.” 

Adora flushed with embarrassment. “Uh, nothing. Call me later?” 

“Yeah, if this fucking monster doesn’t burn the house down,” Catra muttered. “Are you kidding me-” 

The line went dead. That had gone okay, right? Other than Adora chickening out of asking Catra on another date, obviously. She didn’t even have a good reason. She would ask again later, when Catra wasn’t losing a battle with a gremlin. It would be fine. Right?

It wasn’t until the credits rolled on the third rom-com that Adora realized Catra hadn’t called. It was nearly midnight, and both Glimmer and Bow had fallen asleep in each other’s arms twenty minutes ago. A soft smile on her face, Adora got up and turned the TV off. She gathered the scattered dishes and carried them into the kitchen, doing her best to keep anything from clanging. She did a little more cleanup, grabbed her jacket, and headed out to her car. It was cold. Not frozen-nose-hair cold, but cold enough that Adora wished she had a hat. And maybe some gloves. A shiver ran down her spine, but she just attributed that to the cold as well. 

She was just starting her car when her phone rang. Stomach bubbling with way too much excitement and a healthy dose of nerves, she answered it and set it on the other seat. 

“Hey Catra,” she said, only now noticing how tired she sounded. She had to suppress a wide yawn. 

“Adora?” Catra sounded nervous, which weirdly enough gave Adora a bit of relief. Maybe she wasn’t the only one fumbling around in the dark here. Catra’s next words doused every ounce of that relief in frigid water. “Are you home? Somewhere safe?” 

“I’m in my car, driving home,” Adora replied. “I was just at Bow and Glimmer’s. Is- is something wrong? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Catra said, which really told Adora absolutely nothing. “I just- I felt something just now. Something bad. I think- I think it was from her.” 

Adora couldn’t help but glance around the dark street that the streetlights were struggling to illuminate. She felt that same shiver down her spine, and this time recognized it wasn’t from the cold at all. She put the car in gear and began to drive. 

“I’m leaving now,” Adora reported, eyes still scanning the night. “My apartment is only ten minutes away.” 

“Did you feel something?” Catra demanded. 

“I did,” Adora admitted. “A minute or two ago, and again just now.” 

“You don’t have ten minutes,” Catra said, her voice going flat with what sounded like anger but Adora was fairly sure was actually fear. “Get back inside, behind wards, anything. Do it now.”  

“Fuck,” Adora muttered. She’d literally just left Bow and Glimmer’s thoroughly-warded apartment. She wheeled her car around, the hair on the back of her neck standing at attention as the darkness pressed in on her. She hadn’t gotten far thankfully, and slammed the car into park before grabbing her phone and shoving the door open. Thank god Glimmer had made her a key when she and Bow had moved in. 

Adora got in the front door easily enough and locked it behind her with a sigh of relief. Her friends’ apartment was on the first floor. She didn’t have far to go.

Rotting fingertips began to climb up her back, cold and wet. 

“Adora, you need to go now,” Catra snapped, more fear than Adora could remember hearing filling her voice. “She just-” 

Whatever Catra had been about to say was cut off by the crackle of static as every light in the building burned out at once. Adora’s phone died in unison with the lights, plunging her into total darkness. The only sound was her panicked breathing. That is, until she heard the shadows begin to whisper. 

Adora stopped wasting time. She turned and bolted, boots thumping on the carpeted hallway as she traced the familiar path to her friends’ front door. Even in the pitch black, she almost made it. Something coiled around her ankle ten feet from the door and she hit the floor hard enough to leave her gasping for air. Her key disappeared down the hallway.

Adora rolled, kicking wildly at whatever had grabbed her. Her foot connected with something amorphous and squishy, like a water balloon full of runny Jello. It hissed and released her ankle. She scrambled to her feet, but was still left blind. She did the only thing she could think of. She channeled power. Golden light began to emanate from her skin, battling back the darkness of the hallway. Her eyes went wide as she took in the fact that she was very much not alone. 

A dozen shapeless masses of darkness filled the hallway on either side of her, their only defining features being cyclopean red eyes and faintly twitching tendrils at the extremities of their forms. 

“Ooookay,” Adora breathed. “Nice shadow monsters.” 

That was apparently not the correct password. They rushed her as one, hurtling through the air and along the walls in an effort to surround and overwhelm her. But Adora had had enough of getting pushed around by dark magic. She charged them right back, letting her power surge through her body as she suckerpunched the first shadow monster she could reach. She poured magic into the strike and was rewarded with the creature exploding into thick mist. She destroyed another one with a second punch and leapt out of the way of the four rushing along the floor. 

That left six more, and she couldn’t dodge them all. Two slammed into the small of her back, knocking her off balance. Another one went for her face, forcing her to cover her head with her arms. That left her wide open for two more to wrap themselves around her knees just as the last one sank frozen fangs into her left calf. 

Adora let out a cry of pain as she fell to the floor once more. She punched out the monster still menacing her head and reached down to yank off the ones trying to immobilize her. Yet another shadow monster dragged glittering claws down her forearm, and by then it was too late. Adora only managed to kill one more before three of the things wrapped around her wrists. 

Only then did she think to call for help. Glimmer and Bow were only a wall or two away. She yelled, but her voice sounded dull, flat. The cause became clear a moment later when she saw where the last three shadow monsters had gone. They had elongated and linked together, forming a perfect circle on the floor around Adora. Once closed, the circle apparently blocked sound going out, but more importantly, it could be used for all sorts of magic. Teleportation magic, for example. 

Adora felt a vibration behind her forehead and a dead rat between her shoulder blades. She screamed in frustration, again hearing the sound bounce right back at her, mocking her. The shadow monsters held fast around her limbs. The sensation of foreign, foul power built and built. It would only be seconds now. 

A ragged battlecry cut through the oppression of the circle just as a bolt of magic punched straight through the invisible barrier. Adora twisted and saw Catra crouched just outside Glimmer and Bow’s door, shadowy remnants of her own fading as the magic of her teleport dissipated. The power building in the circle went out in an instant, and Adora felt redoubled strength within herself. She focused, and in a heartbeat ripped apart the shadows holding her. They retreated with a chorus of furious hisses as Adora rose to her feet. She could see almost perfectly in the hallway now, and a quick glance down at herself revealed that the glow was almost painfully bright. 

“Adora?” Catra called, her voice tight and confused. “You good?” 

“Oh, definitely,” Adora replied. “Do you think beating the shit out of these things will make Shadow Weaver mad?” 

“Oh, definitely,” Catra mimicked, her confusion replaced with violent satisfaction. “Shall we?” 

Adora gave a single savage nod, and the pair got to work. Shadow Weaver’s minions didn’t stand a chance. 

Adora stomped the last shadow monster into oblivion with a growl. The instant she did, the lights in the hallway came back on. She felt her magic recede, and she sagged back, the day’s exhaustion catching up with her and reminding her that it was past midnight. 

Catra didn’t look much better, but Adora didn’t get a chance to ask, because the door to Bow and Glimmer’s apartment swung open. Glimmer stood in the doorway, rubbing her eyes. 

“Is someone-” she paused to yawn incredibly wide “-doing magic out here?” 

Catra and Adora both blinked at her before sharing a look. Then, they both burst out laughing.

Chapter Text

It was closer to one by the time Bow and Sparkles had been filled in on the attack. Sparkles had never quite woken up, which Catra considered a blessing. She’d done her best to steer the retelling away from questions like ‘how did Catra know Shadow Weaver was up to something?’, but she would take any advantage she could get in that fight. Still, the half-asleep interrogation had mostly just distracted her from healing the deep bite in Adora’s calf, leading to a lot of quiet hisses of pain from Adora and matching winces from Catra. After the third mistake, Catra, already at the end of her patience, bared her fangs and hissed at Sparkles. 

Sparkles kind of just ogled her. “Wow. You’re really going all out with this-” a huge yawn “-whole catgirl vibe. You even put fake fangs in.” 

The words took a welding torch to Catra’s irate exhaustion. Her illusion spell was slipping. Between the teleport, the fight with Shadow Weaver’s monsters, and now healing Adora, Catra was running out of stamina and focus to hold even such a well-practiced spell. 

She snapped her mouth shut and turned away, desperately hoping that her ears and tail weren’t about to phase into visibility. She was glad that she hadn’t had the focus to teleport Melog with her, because she was sure the hellcat would have been puffed up and bright red in reaction to Catra’s sudden fear. 

Adora must have picked up on it, because she spoke first. 

“Glimmer, can you get me some water?” 

Catra blinked, because even Catra knew that Adora was chronically incapable of asking for things. Sparkles was too far gone to notice the inconsistency and ambled away towards the kitchen. 

“Thanks,” Catra mumbled. She heard Adora take a breath to speak, and preempted her. “I know what you’re gonna say. I almost did the other day. I just… I don’t know.” 

She risked a glance over at Adora’s face. To her surprise, Adora was smirking at her. 

“I was just gonna say I should have asked if you needed water too.” She sobered. “I know a bit about keeping secrets from my friends. It sucks.” 

“You mean the whole glowy thing?” Catra asked, raising one eyebrow. She laughed when Adora paled. “It’s not exactly a secret, Adora. You lit up the whole damn hallway.” She paused. “You know that it’s why Shadow Weaver’s after you, right?” 

Adora nodded. “I do.” 

“You gonna explain that to them?” Catra asked, nodding towards the kitchen. 

Adora looked away. “I want to.” 

Catra laughed again, but it was a little harsher this time. “And you’re lecturing me on keeping secrets.” 

“I wasn’t, actually,” Adora frowned. “I didn’t even bring it up.” 

“I-” Catra growled, mostly at herself, because Adora was right. This whole conversation was Catra’s fault. “Whatever.” 

“I have a lecture if you want one,” Adora offered, some of the spark returning to her expression. “It’s about opening yourself up, and trusting people, and loving yourself. I practiced!”

“Of course you did.” 

“Seriously though,” Adora said. “I’m not trying to pressure you. For the record, they won’t mind at all. But it’s your choice, and I respect that.” 

Catra clenched her jaw in a futile attempt to force down the emotions those words evoked in her. They weren’t a surprise. But after the weekend, after Shadow Weaver, they hit harder than Catra ever would have expected. In the end, all she could manage was a quiet “thanks.” 

Sparkles returned a few moments later with a full glass of water. She handed it to Adora, stared a little too intently at the both of them sitting on the floor together, then shrugged. 

“You two should stay the night. I don’t trust either of you to drive right now, and with the… the whatever-” she waved her hands in the air dismissively “-bad idea.” 

Catra glanced over at Adora, who was already looking right back at her. “Is that fine?” 

Sparkles was already gone by the time Adora shook herself and nodded. “I crash here all the time,” she said. “They even have extra blankets!” 

Catra couldn’t help but giggle at Adora’s excitement. “Great. You’re taking the couch.” 

“Uh, no way,” Adora replied. “You saved my life again. You earned it.” 

“Yeah, well, you’ve saved my life a couple times too,” Catra shot back. “I got the floor. I’ve slept on worse.” 

Adora paused for a second, before a weirdly devious look crossed her face. “I’ll grab the stuff. Don’t go anywhere.”

She hopped to her feet, sucked in a pained breath, and hobbled away. Catra must have thoroughly botched the healing spell, but she could try again tomorrow. If she was tired enough for her illusion to be wavering, it was no surprise she couldn’t manage something as difficult as healing living flesh. 

Adora caught Catra draining her glass of water when she returned, a family’s worth of extra bedding bulging in her arms. 

“Oops,” Catra deadpanned. 

Adora snorted, then nearly toppled over when her injured leg wobbled. She ended up dumping the load of blankets and pillows all over the floor. One of the pillows thumped Catra in the face. “Sorry!” 

“You don’t even have blood loss to blame,” Catra teased. She tried and failed to hide her yawn, which came out squeaky and utterly exhausted. Between the fight and that fucking gremlin, she was about ready to drop. She wobbled up, grabbed more-or-less half of the stuff Adora had brought, and turned around to start making a nest for herself. Adora moved beside her and began to do the same. 

“What are you doing?” Catra asked. “You’re the patient. You get the couch.” This whole argument felt familiar. In a dumb way, mind you. 

“Nuh-uh,” was the extent of Adora’s argument. She continued to pile bedding on the floor. 

Catra’s willpower was rapidly fading, but she would be damned if she took the couch over Adora. If Adora wanted to pass it up, that was her problem. 

Catra got her nest nearly perfect, then made the mistake of looking over at Adora’s mess. She clearly had no idea what she was doing. 

“This is not because I like you,” Catra said, just so it was clear. She scooted over and did her best to fix Adora’s total disaster. She was halfway done when she caught Adora staring at her. “What?” 

“Um…” 

“Spit it out.” 

“Would it be easier if we made only one?” 

Catra stared at her for a second. “You just want to cuddle, don’t you?” 

It maybe came out a little more accusatory than Catra meant. Adora went a little pale. 

“Uh… is that okay?” 

Catra thought back to the past few nights with Adora. The mornings, really. The warmth, the comfort, the safety. “Sure. It’s fine. But only because it’s fucking cold in here.” 

Adora got with the program and gave her a sly smirk. “Uh-huh.” She paused. “You sure?” 

The uncertainty caught Catra off guard. Between her fatigue and how worried Adora seemed to be about this, she managed to muster some honesty. “Yeah, Adora. I’d like that.” 

So that was how Glimmer found them the next morning, a tangled ball of limbs and blankets, touching in just about every place possible. For once, Adora didn’t leap to her feet. She just held Catra tighter and braced herself for whatever wild shit Glimmer was about to spout. 

“Too early,” was all Glimmer said before stepping over them to get out the front door. Catra didn’t even twitch. Glimmer was even kind enough to not slam the door. 

Adora went back to her previous task, gently stroking the thin fur at the base of Catra’s neck. She kept well away from Catra’s ears, recalling what she’d said last weekend, until Catra, moving seemingly unconsciously, shoved her head up into Adora’s hand. Adora froze, but at Catra’s quiet grumble and another needy motion of her head, Adora slowly began to caress the incredibly soft fur where Catra’s ears met her hair. A deep purr shook the room, rumbling its way into Adora’s bones and heart alike. 

Catra eventually snorfled her way back to the world. Her eyes opened, blue and gold startlingly beautiful, and Adora’s breath hitched in wonder. Her fingers froze. 

“Why’d you stop?” Catra mumbled. “Feels good.”

Adora overcame her nerves and got back to scratching. Catra’s eyes fluttered closed, and she wiggled even closer to Adora. Her tail wrapped around Adora’s still-aching leg, and somehow it made the pain recede, just a little. 

It was only when Bow began banging around in the kitchen to make breakfast that Catra unfurled from her space heater. 

“Bathroom?” she asked. Adora pointed the way without getting up. The apartment wasn’t exactly a labyrinth. Once Catra was gone, Adora hauled herself to her feet, brushed off some of the fur her body had collected overnight, and ambled into the kitchen. 

“I called out of work for you,” Bow said from the stove. 

Adora froze, pure panic wrenching at her gut. “What time is it?” 

“Like 11:30,” Bow replied. He glanced over at her. “I was gonna make you stay home anyway, with your leg and all.” Seeing that his words hadn’t had much effect, he tried for a reassuring smile. “Hey, these are the first sick days you’ve used at your job, what, ever? It’s not a big deal. And if it is, it’s a shitty workplace that doesn’t deserve you.” 

Adora nodded, but still couldn’t suppress the guilt and anxiety roiling through her stomach. She was supposed to be-

“You’re out of toilet paper.” 

Adora yelped as Catra’s raspy voice ripped her out of her panicked thoughts even through two walls.

“Oh, we have more in the closet,” Bow said. “Adora, mind grabbing some?”

“Uh, yeah, no problem.” She hurried out of the kitchen, grateful for the task even if it was just a symptom of Morning Glimmer. 

“Ask if Catra wants pancakes!” Bow called after Adora. 

Adora retrieved a pair of rolls from the closet and approached the closed bathroom door. She knew Catra could probably hear her footsteps, not to mention Bow’s question, but she knocked lightly anyway. The door opened a few inches and a clawed hand shot out. 

“Gimme.” 

Adora did. The hand retreated with its prizes in tow. 

“You uh, heard Bow?” Adora asked. 

“Pancakes are good,” Catra replied. 

“Cool.” Adora retreated, trying and failing to ignore how… domestic, the morning had felt so far. She was very glad she hadn’t said that out loud to anyone. Glimmer would have mocked her, Bow would have sighed and told her not to rush anything, and Catra- well, Adora was pretty sure it would not go over well. Then again, Catra had surprised her before. A few times, actually. Adora still wasn’t going to say it. That was just weird. 

She returned to the kitchen. “She said yes.” 

“Awesome, because I might have overestimated how much batter I was making,” Bow admitted. He already had a half-dozen pancakes cooling on a plate, and the bowl of batter didn’t look less than half full. Adora had to check her chin for drool, because Bow made the best pancakes ever and she was still a little hungover and wrung out from last night. 

Her desperate stare must have been obvious to Bow, because he chuckled. “Go ahead. I don’t think Catra will mind.”

“She might,” Adora said, still staring at her prey. “What if she’s deeply offended and never talks to me again, all because I started eating your ambrosia without her?” 

Bow ducked his head in embarrassment at the compliment but forged ahead. “I saw you two this morning. I really don’t think that’ll happen.” 

Now it was Adora’s turn to flush with embarrassment. “We didn’t- She just likes to cuddle.” 

“Didn’t look like she was the only one,” Bow said with a smile free of judgment. “I’m happy for you.” He paused. “Even if this week has been a bit of a ride.” 

“Yeah,” Adora agreed. “It has. Is Glimmer doing better?” 

“I mean, getting woken up at midnight by a magical battle outside her apartment wasn’t ideal, but I don’t think she really processed that it was another attempt to kidnap her best friend. Not yet, at least.” 

Adora winced. “Yeah.” 

“Weird coincidence, that you start dating Catra and this Shadow Weaver person suddenly starts hunting you,” Bow said. Adora resolutely did not look at him, and he sighed. “You really like her, don’t you?” Adora nodded. “You two probably need to talk about it, you know. I don’t know her all that well yet, but even I can see that she feels guilty about everything that happened. I know you’re kind of the queen of bottling up your emotions, but this is one time where that will only hurt you both.” 

Adora wilted, because she knew that Bow was right. She just really didn’t want to, and only partially because it would mean explaining, at least in part, what she was. 

Bow flipped pancakes. “Do you want to talk about what’s making you so nervous? Is it because she’s a demon, or because of your magic?” 

Adora’s heart stopped. “Wha-what?” 

Bow gave her a very patient look. “Adora, I’ve known about your magic since you showed up at Glimmer’s house when you were twelve.” Adora clenched her jaw, because that brought up a whole host of memories she really didn’t want to think about at the moment. Or ever, really. Bow’s expression softened. “If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s okay. We can pretend this conversation never happened. I just wanted you to know that I think it’s pretty cool.” 

Adora had to clear her throat a few times before speaking. 

“Really? That long?” 

Bow bit his lip but still failed to hide his smile. “Yeah, Adora. You had a tendency to randomly start glowing all through high school. It’s kind of a miracle nobody else noticed.” 

Adora had known that, of course. She just thought she’d done a better job hiding it. Lots of rushed trips to the bathroom might have gotten her weird looks and a few points off of her grades, but it was better than lighting up Economics like a Broadway stage. 

The first thing Bow said finally worked its way through Adora’s jumbled brain. 

“You know that Catra’s a demon?” she demanded, working to keep her voice as low as possible even as it tried to screech in shock. “Can- can you see her?” 

Bow blinked. “What do you mean?” 

Adora made a helpless motion at the sides of her head. “You know, the ears, the tail.” 

“Uhhhh, no. She has a tail? Is it pointy?” Bow looked inordinately excited about this. 

“What? No. It’s like, really soft and fuzzy.” Bow’s heart eyes nearly distracted her from the point, which was “how do you know she’s a-” 

The toilet flushed, and they both froze. 

“Cool if I take a shower?” Catra called. 

“Of course!” Bow called back. He turned back to Adora and dropped his voice to match hers. “It wasn’t that hard to figure out. A greater demon used either a death mark or a Link to stop her from helping you, and a death mark on a mortal is pretty much the biggest breach of immortal law out there. She’s also probably the most talented magic user I’ve ever seen, including Glimmer’s dad, she randomly showed up in Bright Moon barely a year ago, and she sends shades back to Hell. Once I figured out what happened at Hordak’s lair, it all fit together.”

“That’s what a Link can do?” Adora demanded, suddenly nervous for an entirely different reason than accidentally outing Catra’s secret. 

Bow nodded slowly before scooping the next batch of pancakes onto the plate. “Yeah, why?”

“Uh, no reason,” Adora lied poorly. Bow looked like he wanted to ask, but settled on something softer. 

“You know you can always talk to us about things, right?” 

“Yeah,” Adora sighed. “If it were up to me, I would.” 

Something happened then that Adora wouldn’t have expected. Real anger flashed in Bow’s eyes. 

“Who’s stopping you?” 

It wasn’t accusatory. It was a serious question, demanding a serious answer. One Adora had promised not to give. But she was sick and fucking tired of hiding this from her friends. Light Hope could suck it. 

“There’s um, someone. She’s been helping me learn to control my magic, and- well, I really needed it for a while. Like, really needed it. But I’m getting the hang of it now, and she’s really obsessed with secrets, which kind of makes sense now with Shadow Weaver, but she told me not to tell anyone about She-Ra, and I feel so guilty for lying to you guys for so long.” She took a shuddering breath and faced the wall so she didn’t have to see Bow’s reaction. She heard a slow breath, and the clicking of the stove being turned off. She braced. 

“Adora, can you look at me?” She reluctantly turned, but all she found in Bow’s eyes was compassion. “I’m not mad. I’m a little sad you didn’t think you could tell us before, but I’m not mad.” He smiled that perfect Bow smile at her, and her armor cracked. A single sob broke free, and before she knew it Bow crossed the distance and enveloped her in a warm, firm embrace. 

“You’re really not mad? But I’ve been lying to you for years.” 

“I mean, we always knew something was up,” Bow said. “Glimmer wanted to press a few times, but we decided that you would talk to us when you were ready. Are you ready now?” 

Adora nodded, hiding her tears in the safety of Bow’s shoulder. “I think so.” 

“Okay,” Bow said. “I figure we should wait until Glimmer gets back from work. I’ve got a session from 2 to 5 as well. Before then, can you answer one question for me?” Adora nodded again. “Why did you react that way when I mentioned the Link?” 

“Light Hope has one.” Adora murmured. “With me. That’s how she found me in the first place.” 

Bow inhaled slowly. “Ah. Light Hope is the woman teaching you?” 

“She’s a light spirit, but yeah,” Adora said. “Lives at the gym.” 

“All those extra sessions on weekends,” Bow said with dawning understanding. 

“Yeah.” 

“Okay,” Bow said. “Do you trust her?” 

“Mostly,” Adora said. “She wouldn’t- she wouldn’t hurt me.” Not like Shadow Weaver hurt Catra. “I just- kinda freaked out there. Sorry.” 

“Nothing to apologize for.” 

Adora’s stomach growled, and she slipped out the embrace easily. “Thanks. I think I need some of those pancakes now.” 

Bow smiled and built a plate for her. “Here.” 

“Thanks,” she said as she sat down at the tiny table. She wasn’t just thanking him for the food, and he understood that. 

They heard the shower shut off. Adora buried herself in her breakfast, hoping her distress wasn’t outwardly obvious. She still had to shove a few lingering tears out of the corners of her eyes. 

Catra appeared in the entrance to the kitchen a few minutes later, looking a bit bedraggled. Showers clearly weren’t the easiest thing with all that fur. 

“Hey,” she said, but whatever else she was going to add took a backseat when her eyes fell on the stack of pancakes on the counter. She glanced over at Bow. “Mine?” 

“Sure,” he said. “I’ve still got more batter to go.” 

Catra apparently needed no further encouragement, because she grabbed about a hundred pancakes and began to slather them with syrup. Her single-minded determination was pretty cute, actually. Though most things she did were cute, so it wasn’t exactly a surprise. 

“Good,” she mumbled through a mouthful after her third pancake. “Thamkf.” 

Bow beamed at her, and Adora caught his eyes darting to the sides of her head. Adora’s heart lurched, because she was pretty sure Bow was about to say something and springing the fact that he’d figured out Catra’s secret would definitely ruin the whole morning. 

“Thanks again, Catra,” she said. “For saving my life again last night. Though we really need to stop meeting that way.” 

Catra snorted through a mouthful of food. At least she swallowed before trying to talk. “Speak for yourself. Saving your ass is kinda fun.” 

Stating that she liked to be thrown into life or death situations on the regular probably should have been a red flag. Instead, Adora felt a surge of attraction, and that was a hell of a thing to admit, even to herself. 

“Will you need a ride anywhere, Catra?” Bow asked, probably to interrupt the burning stare that Catra and Adora had fallen into. “I’ve got a teaching session at 2.” 

“I can do it,” Adora said. “I only need one leg to drive.”

“Ah, okay,” Bow said, glancing between the two of them at the table. “Well, if there’s anything you two need, just let me know.” He took the last pancakes off of the stove and grabbed a plate of his own.

“I gotta check on Melog soon,” Catra said. “They weren’t exactly happy about being left behind last night.” 

Adora got back to wolfing down her pancakes. Somehow Catra’s plate was already clean. Adora met Catra’s eyes and saw the amusement there. “Don’t choke. That one’s not in my spellbook.” 

They said their goodbyes to Bow and cleared out of the apartment. Adora had a feeling Bow was already texting Glimmer about everything. Well, hopefully not everything. She had wanted to say something before about respecting Catra’s privacy, but couldn’t exactly do that standing in front of her, and now she couldn’t text Bow because A: Catra was still right there, and B: Adora was the driver. 

“Your place?” Adora asked as she crossed the street. 

“Yeah,” Catra said, then took in Adora’s car. She let out an explosive giggle that quickly accelerated into full-throated laughter. “That’s your parking job?” 

“Hey, I was being chased by evil shadow monsters,” Adora protested. “And curbs are just a suggestion anyway.” 

“Yeah, sure,” Catra said, still laughing. “Like, I don’t even have a license and I could do a better job than that.” 

“It’s not that bad,” Adora attempted, then took a real look at where she’d stuffed her car in her panic. The front right wheel was fully up and over the curb, the car was probably at a thirty-odd degree angle from being parallel to the curb, and there might have been a piece of the bumper sticking out from under the Volkswagen. 

“Maybe I’ll just take the subway,” Catra said.

Adora huffed. “You’re the worst.” 

“It’s been said.” 

They piled into Adora’s car to get out of the worst of the cold, but Catra was still shivering by the time Adora eased her car off of the curb. 

“D-d-doesn’t this thing have heat?” 

“It takes a bit to get going,” Adora said apologetically. 

“F-f-f-fuck me,” Catra grumped, hugging her arms around her chest. “F-f-fucking 45th Parallel metaphysical b-bullshit.” 

“Huh?” 

“That’s why sh-sh-shades cross over here,” Catra said. “Intersection of the 45th Parallel and some f-fucking ley line.” Her breath misted in front of her. “Stupid.” 

Adora cranked the heater to full even though she wasn’t all that cold. “Pretty warm down in Hell?” 

Catra glared at her. “Har har. Yes, it was hot. But at least I could always feel my fingers.” 

“I’ll just have to buy you a new beanie,” Adora said. She was mostly joking and was not prepared for Catra’s stunned reaction. 

“You- you’d do that?” 

“Uhm, yes?” Adora replied. “Is- is that a bad thing?” 

Catra turned to face the window. “No, it’s- no.”

“Is this some cultural thing I’m missing, or do you just really miss your hat?” Adora joked, feeling supremely awkward. “Are beanies like demonic engagement rings?” 

Catra chuckled. “No, Adora. I just- I don’t know, it’s dumb.” 

“I won’t laugh,” Adora promised. When Catra stayed silent, she tried again. “Seriously. I want to know how you feel, what makes you happy, what annoys you, everything. Maybe that’s weird, but…” she let the rest remain unsaid. 

Catra sighed. “I used it to lie to you. To hide from you. And I’ve been waiting for you to be, I don’t know, mad about that? But…” 

“I’m not gonna be mad about it, Catra,” Adora said. “You didn’t do anything wrong.” She paused, eyes on the road. “Now, if I’d slept in a bed with forty magical claws and hadn’t known, I might be a little annoyed. But, you literally told me on our first date, Catra. There’s still plenty I haven’t told you about myself.” 

“Oh yeah?” Catra challenged. “Like what?”

Well, Adora had just set herself up for that one, hadn’t she?

“Uhhh…” she settled on an easy one. “My middle name is Rainbow.” 

It took Catra a while to get her cackling under control. “You know, that fits. Suits you.” 

Adora snorted. “Alright, I gave up one secret. You wanna give me one? Seems only fair. Like… what’s your middle name?” 

“I don’t have one,” Catra said instantly, and Adora almost believed her. But the response was too fast, too certain. Practiced, even. 

“You totally do, don’t you?” 

“No,” Catra insisted. 

“Come ooonnnn, you know you want to tell me,” Adora begged.

“I- god, fine. I did not pick it.” 

“Usually how names work,” Adora said. 

Catra folded her arms over her chest. “It’s Applesauce.” 

“What?!”

Catra covered her ears. “Can you not?” 

“Sorry, it’s just… Applesauce?” 

“It’s better than Rainbow,” Catra shot back. 

“No, I don’t think it is,” Adora giggled. “Rainbow at least isn’t a food.” 

“Ugh.” Catra covered her face with her hands. “Are we there yet?” 

“We are, actually,” Adora said. She sobered a moment later, remembering what she and Bow had talked about. “Hey um, this might be weird and you can totally say no, but…” 

“What?” Catra asked, her face’s impassivity betrayed by her drooping ears. 

“I’m gonna explain some things to Bow and Glimmer tonight. About uh, me . If you want, I can pick you up on the way.” 

For the second time in as many minutes, Catra looked totally stunned. “I- I wasn’t expecting- I mean, I wasn’t going to ask.” 

“That’s why I’m offering,” Adora said. “You deserve an explanation just as much as Bow and Glimmer do. You’re the one who keeps pulling my ass out of the fire, and- well, I like you. I’d like to keep doing this, if you do.”

“This?” Catra asked, her voice half-strangled.

“Us,” Adora said, making the most of her surge of honesty. “If not, I get it. And you don’t have to decide until after. But, will you come? Please?” 

“I- yeah, of course.” Catra cleared her throat and glanced away, her voice dropping into its usual drawl. “I mean, sure. Not doing anything else tonight.” 

Adora couldn’t help but smile. She would be lying if she said she didn’t enjoy Catra’s banter and sharp exterior, but the moments when something softer shone through felt special, and Adora treasured them all the more for it. 

“Thank you, Catra.” 

“Uh, yeah.” Catra paused for a second, then hastily got out of the car. She stuck her head back in a moment later. “Actually, do you want to come in? I never healed your leg properly.” 

The bite wound pulsed in painful reminder. “If it’s no trouble,” Adora said. 

Catra rolled her eyes and pulled her head back out of the car. “Come on.” 

Since this was Adora’s first time in Catra’s apartment while not suffering from dangerous blood loss, she took her time as they walked in, doing her best to absorb everything about the cozy little building tucked away in a forgotten corner of the city. She did her best not to imagine herself living in a building like this with a certain sarcastic sorceress. Baby steps, Adora. For her sake and for yours. 

Catra ambled into the kitchen and started rooting around in the cupboards. Adora leaned against the counter to take some weight off of her leg while Catra piled supplies next to her. 

“So uh, how did you know? About Shadow Weaver last night, I mean,” Adora said. 

Catra shrugged. “Just… got a feeling, I guess. Living in Bright Moon is like standing in the middle of one of those dumb hippy grocery stores during rush hour sometimes, but her magic has always felt different. Worse, really. And she’s predictable, in a totally evil sort of way. Eventually I just started asking myself ‘what’s the worst thing she could do right now’ and going off of that. I was usually right.” 

Adora took a moment before replying. She had her own parental trauma, though at least hers had just died and left her to be raised by her aunt rather than actively trying to murder her. 

“I’m really sorry about that,” Adora said. “That’s pretty awful.”

“It’s whatever,” Catra said, deflecting as always. 

“No, it’s not,” Adora replied. “You deserved better than that. Deserve better than that.”

She glanced up to see Catra staring at her with wide, mismatched eyes. Catra glanced away an instant later, her ears folding back. 

“I- I guess,” she murmured. Adora felt supremely awkward, but this wasn’t exactly something you could try to walk back. Catra cleared her throat a moment later and her voice returned to normal. “Alright, drop your pants.”

She said it so casually Adora wasn’t sure she heard her right at first. 

“Umm, what?” Adora had to hope her ears weren’t as bright red as they felt. 

Catra blinked. “So I can heal your leg? Can’t do healing magic through jeans.”

“Oh!” 

Now it was Catra’s turn to blush, but she matched it with a devilish smirk. “Have you been waiting for me to ask that for a while?” 

Adora had her buckle halfway undone when Catra’s comment sent her spluttering anew. Catra burst into squeaky laughter, and Adora couldn’t help but drink in the light, joyous sound. There wasn’t much she wouldn’t do to hear it again. 

Adora finally got her jeans off, sternly telling herself it wasn’t weird, they’d literally cuddled in pajamas already. Catra glanced down, then did a double take when she took in Adora’s toned muscles. The tip of her tail began to twitch, and Adora started to get a little worried that Catra was about to pounce. Instead, Catra turned away and started picking out spell ingredients. 

“This’ll just-” she cleared her throat and swallowed “-just take a minute. Hold still.” 

The gentle touch of Catra’s fingers on Adora’s ankle sent tingles of electricity up her skin, and it had nothing to do with the magic involved. Power hummed through the tiny kitchen, and Adora gritted her teeth. It wasn’t so much the pain that was the problem. She had a fairly high tolerance by now. It was the sensation of muscle tissue and skin regrowing in five seconds flat, all itchy, squelchy, and just generally nasty. Still, healing from a deep bite wound in thirty-odd seconds was eminently worth it. 

“Thanks,” Adora said, hopping up to test the limb again. There was no residual ache at all. “You’re really good at that.” 

She half-expected an elusive dismissal like ‘got plenty of practice’, but instead Catra blushed deeply. 

“It’s… nice,” she said, in the tone of a confession. “To be able to do something good with magic. I never got a lot of chances for that before.” 

She sounded so sad and lost. Adora closed the distance between them before she knew what she was doing, but stopped herself before making contact. 

“Can I hug you?” she asked. 

Catra darted a brief look at her eyes, then nodded as she looked away. Adora pulled her into a soft embrace, leaving her an easy escape if she wanted one. Instead, Catra buried her face in Adora’s shoulder and hugged her so tightly Adora feared for her ribs. 

“Dude.” 

Melog’s annoyed drawl took a sledgehammer to the moment. Catra slipped out of Adora’s arms and turned away to hide her face.

“They uh, need food, don’t they?” Adora guessed. 

Catra nodded. “There’s extra sausage in the freezer. Can you heat it up without burning my apartment down?” 

Adora scoffed. “You’ve literally watched me make breakfast before.” 

“Yeah, on an electric stove,” Catra teased. “Bet you don’t know how to handle a gas range.” 

Adora’s squawk sounded more like a scoff. “I’m not an amateur.” 

“Then give me a show, princess,” Catra purred. Adora’s blush was probably visible for miles.

Chapter Text

After feeding the beast, there wasn’t much excuse to keep hanging around. Still, Adora was loath to leave. She had plenty of running guilt about skipping another day of work, but it was easy to forget around Catra. Also it kept Light Hope out of her hair, which was especially important today. Adora knew herself well enough to know how easy it would be to chicken out of telling her friends tonight under that flat, translucent stare. 

So, when the dishes were done and Melog was sated, or at least as close to sated as they ever got, Adora made a proposition. 

“Want to go on a walk?”

Catra furrowed her eyebrows. “It’s like, twenty degrees outside.” 

Okay, not the best start. 

“We can layer up,” Adora said. “I’ll just have to run home and grab some stuff.” 

Catra pulled out her phone, probably to shove the weather in Adora’s face. 

“Better idea,” she said. “You drive me to Entrapta’s house, because apparently her newest experiment…” she trailed off as she read, then pinched the bridge of her nose. 

“Yeah?” Adora prompted. Instead of replying, Catra just flipped her phone to show the notification. Adora did not coo at Catra’s background, which was an absolutely adorable picture of Melog snuggled up in Catra’s bed. She read the text from a contact named ‘explosion hazard’, then glanced back at Catra, unsure if she was being pranked. 

“Is- is she joking?” 

Catra shut her eyes and shook her head. 

“So… how do you even catch invisible pixies?” 

Catra groaned. “It’s so much fucking work. But Entrapta works for like, three different big tech companies at once, so she pays really well. Also she’s pretty cool.” 

“Well, now I have to meet her,” Adora joked. “Anyone you think is cool has to be worth knowing.” 

Catra rolled her eyes. “You’re an idiot.” She paused. “I can get there on the subway if you have somewhere to be.” 

“Nope!” Adora said. “Nowhere to be. Actually, um, would you want some help? With the pixies, I mean. Not that you can’t handle pixies, obviously. I mean, you could probably handle anything, if I’m being honest. If you’re a solo operator, I totally-”

“Adora,” Catra interrupted with a smirk. “Breathe before you pass out.” Adora snapped her mouth shut. “If you really wanna waste your afternoon catching invisible pixies I’m not gonna stop you. Probably faster with two people, anyway.” 

Adora nodded enthusiastically, and before long the three of them piled back into her car and hit the road. Catra was a surprisingly good navigator, and they got across the city without any trouble. The highways were empty, probably because it was the middle of the day on a Wednesday. Melog was very interested in the occasional passing car, so much so Adora was a little afraid for her car windows. 

Catra pointed out their exit and steered Adora to a strip mall she’d never seen before. 

“Park in front of the donut shop,” Catra said.

“Entrapta lives in a donut shop?” Adora asked. That seemed odd, but Catra had spent the drive telling increasingly ludicrous stories about her friend. After hearing about the Tesla coil incident, a donut shop abode was the least of Adora’s concerns. 

“Yes, she supplements her multiple six-figure salaries with extra shifts,” Catra drawled. “No, dummy. I’m hungry, and sugar is the best way to catch pixies.” 

“Oh! That makes sense.” Adora had never had to handle pixies specifically, so it was good that Catra seemed to be an expert. Also donuts sounded really good. 

A baker’s dozen later and they were back on the road. Melog stared hopefully at the box the whole way while Catra nibbled at a chocolate-glazed delicacy. Adora would have partaken, but she had a completely rational terror of driving with one hand and figured that she could wait until arrival. Even if the box was filling her car with absolutely divine aromas. 

Entrapta’s place wasn’t far. When Catra told her to park, Adora glanced around the mostly-empty warehouse district dubiously. 

“Uh…” 

“She lives in that one,” Catra said, pointing across the street. “Park anywhere, no one gives a shit.” 

‘That one’ turned out to be a smallish building that looked more like a place where you'd store a small private aircraft than a home. From what Adora had learned of Entrapta, it seemed fitting. 

“She doesn’t have anything like, radioactive in there, right?” Adora asked as they got out of the car and started towards the warehouse. 

“Eh, I’ve never brought a Geiger counter,” Catra replied way too casually. Adora snorted and stepped up to the front door. Catra’s hand flashed out and grabbed Adora’s arm just before she touched the handle. “Uh, let me text her.” 

Adora felt herself grow pale. “Should I be worried?” 

Catra shook her head. “Not really. Well, maybe a little? She told me she removed the tasers after the incident with the delivery driver . But uh, just to be safe.”

Adora blinked and retracted her hand. “Yeah, that um, that seems prudent.” 

Catra fired off a text and pocketed her phone. Not three seconds later, the door burst open to reveal a short woman with absolutely massive purple pigtails. 

“Catra! You’re just in time. They just started figuring out the ventilation-” she swiveled to Adora and stopped. “I don’t know you.” 

“She’s with me,” Catra said, and such a simple statement shouldn’t have sent so much warmth through Adora’s chest. 

“I’m Adora,” Adora said, offering her hand. Entrapta stared at it like it was a particularly slimy fish. Adora took the hint and dropped it without embarrassment. “Catra said you have an invisible pixie problem?” 

“Yes!” Entrapta exclaimed. “I was working on my interplanar portal machine, and it worked! Sort of. I mean, it pulled several dozen invisible pixies over to Etheria before melting down, but that is progress!” 

That mostly just sounded like a fire hazard to Adora, but she kept her mouth shut and followed Catra inside the warehouse/hangar thing. She immediately heard a buzzing sound, and ducked as a pixie, very much not invisible, tried to divebomb her with a rusty nail. 

“Hey!” Adora exclaimed. “What did I even do?” 

The pixie buzzed away, and Adora watched it rejoin the group of at least thirty matching tiny humanoid figures with wings. It shook its tiny fist at her. 

“Wait,” Catra said. “Can you see them?”

Adora nodded, not taking her eyes off the aerial posse. “Guess so. That will make this easier, right?” 

“Hell yeah it will,” Catra said. “But you forgot the donuts.” 

“I was driving!” Adora protested. “You were the passenger. They were totally your job.” 

Catra grumbled. “Gimme your keys, I’ll get them. Try to keep the crew from getting any more pissed off.” 

Adora wasn’t sure how to do that. Entrapta had already disappeared deeper into the vast interior of the warehouse, which was filled with huge shelves of half-constructed robot things, cardboard boxes that looked big enough to store a compact car, and what looked like the tip of an ancient stone obelisk. It most definitely did not feel like a home, and Adora kind of understood the pixies’ anger. If someone had accidentally dragged her into another dimension, she’d be pretty pissed too. She gave the posse an awkward wave while they hovered a dozen feet above her and prayed that Catra would be back soon with the bribe. They were certainly not lacking in makeshift miniature weaponry. Worst of all, Adora couldn’t quite remember if her tetanus shot was up to date. 

Between the donuts, Adora’s magical sight, and Catra’s long-suffering experience dealing with the aftermaths of Entrapta’s magical science experiments, the sun was only just beginning to set when they coaxed the last pixie into the box, which Entrapta promptly took and cackled her way into the depths of the warehouse. Melog just lounged the whole time, of course.

“She’s just gonna send them back to their own plane, right?” Adora asked, casting a nervous glance after the geek. “She’s not gonna, uh, experiment on them or anything?” 

“Nah,” Catra replied. “She’s probably too excited to have something to throw back through her portal.” 

That… wasn’t all that reassuring. Catra must have picked up on her uncertainty. 

“Seriously, she’s not actually as crazy as she seems. I’ll check tomorrow and make sure she got them home.” 

“Thanks,” Adora said with relief. 

Catra smirked. “You’re such a bleeding heart.”

Adora blushed. “Maybe a little.” 

Catra pulled out her phone. “Shit, it’s almost five. What time do we gotta get to Sparkles and Bow’s place?” 

“I think Bow said five-thirty,” Adora offered. “But we can be a little late.”

Catra nodded, but the gesture lacked her usual insouciance. 

“Hey,” Adora said gently. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to.” 

“It’s not that,” Catra said, but she looked away. “I just… you’re about to do the whole heartfelt confession thing, they’re gonna be all understanding and supportive of literally anything you say, and I’ll just be there. Lying to them still.” 

Adoro blinked, utterly unprepared for the honest pain in Catra’s words. She opened her mouth to spout some denial, but Catra continued first. 

“The only reason I told you was because you could see me. If you couldn’t, I would still be lying to you.” She wrapped her arms around herself for a second before growling and dropping them. “I’m so fucking sick of being scared.” 

Adora took a long moment to choose her words. 

“You know you don’t owe them anything, right?”

Catra looked over at her, eyes wide with confusion. “What?” 

Adora felt a little awkward, given Bow’s confession that morning, but she forged ahead anyway. “You don’t have to tell them anything you don’t want to. I’m not doing this to make you feel guilty. I’m doing it because it’s something I should have done a long time ago and it’s eating me up. It doesn’t have anything to do with you.”

Catra let out a surprised chuckle. “Wow, harsh, princess.”

Adora blushed again. “You know what I mean.”

Catra was silent for a moment. “Yeah, I guess. I’ll… think about it.”

“I’ll support whatever decision you make,” Adora said. 

“Gross,” Catra muttered, but Adora felt her tail coil around her leg in a gesture she was beginning to suspect was gratitude. “We should get going. I know you were trying to be cool about being late, but you’re already starting to vibrate.”

“Am not!” Adora protested. Catra just smirked at her. “Okay, maybe a little. Should we tell Entrapta we’re heading out?”

A muffled explosion cut through the expanse of the warehouse, followed by a piercing cackle. 

“Or we could just leave,” Adora said. Catra’s squeaky giggles lasted all the way to the car. 

Catra’s trepidation only increased as they drew closer to Sparkles and Bow’s apartment. She’d actually enjoyed the day with Adora so much she’d almost forgotten her original purpose for dragging Adora along with her the whole way, namely to keep her safe in case Shadow Weaver tried any other nasty tricks. But it had turned into a day of fucking around, and it had been really nice. 

The fun part was over, though. It was time to face the music. Catra tried to tell herself that Bow and Sparkles wouldn’t freak out, but she also knew that if they did, Adora would choose them over her every day of the week. Catra wasn’t prepared for that, and that realization sent another spike of terror through her. She’d only known Adora for a month and change, but the goofy, earnest woman had wormed her way into Catra’s life like she belonged there, and now Catra wouldn’t have it any other way. She’d gotten better sleep the past few nights with Adora than she could ever remember, anyway. 

It was only after Adora opened the front door to the apartment complex that Catra realized her tail was fully fluffed out. She hissed at herself and smoothed it down, to no avail. Adora noticed and wilted slightly. 

“Look-” 

“Not about you,” Catra interrupted before Adora could fall on her sword. Adora blinked, and Catra felt her ears pin to her head. “Just- let’s get this over with.” 

“Seriously, Catra,” Adora said, bringing them both to a halt in the hallway. “I’ll drive you home right now if you don’t want to be here. I get it.” 

“I do,” Catra said. “I’m just not- it’s dumb.”

Adora sighed, but before she could press Sparkles burst around the corner. 

“Adora! You’re late! Honestly, you drop some weird cryptic shit to Bow this morning, disappear for the day, and then turn up half an hour-“ 

“It’s not even five-forty yet,” Adora tried, but got run over. 

“-late, with Catra. Did you two burn down a building together or something? You were never late until you met her.” 

“I’m right here, Sparkles,” Catra drawled, but honestly she wasn’t offended at being the reason Adora was late to things. Everybody could use a little less time obsession in their lives. 

“Did you two elope?” 

“No, Glimmer, this has nothing to do with her,” Adora said in her most long-suffering tone. “It’s about me. Can we go inside now?” 

Sparkles looked mollified and a little embarrassed. Good. “Yeah, of course. Bow’s halfway through making dinner. He’s even making extra chicken for Melog.” 

That got a rumbling purr from the invisible hellcat at Catra’s side. Sparkles jumped a little before remembering, and the four of them trundled into the apartment. Melog immediately shifted back into their Maine Coon and claimed the center of the couch, sprawling out luxuriously.

“They’re here!” Sparkles shouted. 

Catra covered her ears. “Can you not?” 

Sparkles gave her a weird look. “Uh, sorry?” 

Right. Even Catra’s instincts thought the pair already knew the truth. She needed to rip this band-aid off, the sooner the better. If they tried to exorcise her, well, at least she wouldn’t waste any more time here. 

“Ten more minutes,” Bow called back, and the aromas wafting through the apartment reinforced his claim. “Melog’s chicken is ready now, though.” 

It was amazing, just how fast the hellcat could move when it suited them. In a flash they launched themself from the couch and blurred between everyone’s legs to skid to a halt next to Bow at the stove. They sat down on their haunches and gazed up expectantly at the cook. 

Bow chuckled and reached down to scratch behind their ears. He offered them the bowl of still steaming chicken, and Catra nearly goggled at the amount. Shit, that was like, twenty dollars of chicken. 

Bow didn’t seem to care about the burning dollar bills in front of him, though. He was too busy making heart eyes at Melog while the fluffy menace devoured his entire paycheck. He finally looked up and smiled at Adora. 

“Hey, you two. Have a good day?”

“We caught invisible pixies!” Adora reported. Bow blinked, then looked at Catra. 

“A client had a portal accident,” Catra explained. “We were the cleanup crew.” 

Bow nodded like that made the slightest amount of sense. “Sounds like fun.” 

Adora beamed at him. “It was!”

‘Fun’ was a stretch, but Catra wasn’t about to rain on Adora’s weird parade. She wanted to get some of whatever Bow was cooking before she got chased out of the city. 

“So, were you thinking dinner first?” Bow asked Adora. 

“I’m kinda starving,” Adora admitted. 

“You’re always starving,” Sparkles teased from the living room. “Now get in here and stop bothering my boyfriend. He can’t cook with you harassing him.” 

“I mean, the chicken’s just baking down a little more,” Bow said. “I’ll bring it out when it’s ready.” 

They all headed back to the living room. Catra went to claim the armchair, then noticed that Adora was sort of just standing awkwardly at the edge of the room. Catra rolled her eyes and steered her into the armchair. 

“Sit and stop freaking out.” Adora sat but did not stop freaking out. Sparkles was watching, but Catra really didn’t care. She poked Adora’s forehead with one sheathed claw. “Hey. You’re the one who keeps telling me your friends are chill.” Still nothing. “I can clear out if that will make this easier.” 

Adora’s hand flashed out and grabbed Catra’s wrist. She released it an instant later. “Sorry. Just, uh, don’t leave.” 

Catra resisted the sudden need to check the skin of her wrist for sparks. “You sure? There’s a bit of a difference between talking to your best friends and someone you’ve known for like, a month.” 

“You’re more than that, Catra,” Adora said quietly. “At least you are to me.” 

Catra’s breath caught in her throat, and she had to swallow before she could speak. “Uh, yeah. You- you are to me, too.” 

Adora finally smiled. 

“Oh, Bow’s gonna be so mad he missed this,” Sparkles crowed from the couch. Catra spun to hiss at her. “You’re both such saps. And I love it!” 

Catra decided to be the bigger person and channeled as much zen as she was capable of. It wasn’t much. 

“Glimmer,” Adora growled, apparently also struggling with her zen. 

Sparkles mimed zipping her lips, but she was still smirking at them both. 

Catra cleared her throat and straightened up. “I’m gonna grab something to drink.” 

“Water?” Adora asked. 

“Sure.” 

Melog was still licking at their bowl with no chicken in sight. Bow was on his phone, leaning against the opposite counter. He popped up when Catra walked in. 

“Need something?” 

“I got it,” she said and brushed past him to grab a pair of water glasses. “Your girlfriend loves to ruin moments.” 

Bow looked down at the floor with a fond smile. “Yeah, she’s got some impressive timing.” 

The oven beeped and he peeked inside. “Ooh, that looks done. Mind helping me serve?” 

“Sure.” 

Bow cut while Catra stacked chicken breasts smelling of lemon, thyme, rosemary, and perfection on four plates. Melog coiled around her legs, eyes locked on the counter where the food was. 

“You got yours already, dude,” she told them. “Go bother Sparkles.” 

They apparently took that as an order, because they disappeared in a flash of orange sparks. A yelp sounded from the living room a few seconds later, followed by Adora’s laughter. 

“Oops,” Catra drawled to Bow, who just smiled. They loaded up on plates and drinks and returned to the living room, where Melog was sitting on the couch looking very smug. Sparkles was glaring at the cat, which she turned on Catra. 

“Your cat is an asshole sometimes,” she said. 

“Matches their owner,” Catra replied, unbothered. That got another laugh from Adora. 

Sparkles glared for a moment longer before inhaling the scent of Bow’s cooking. “God, Bow, you’re a magician. That smells divine.”

“I think it’ll be extra good this time,” Bow proclaimed. He handed a plate to Sparkles while Catra set a matching one on the side table next to Adora. She went and dragged a chair over from the other room, by which point Adora was already halfway through her meal. The other two were eating at a more reasonable rate, with lots of appreciative noises. Catra eased into her chair and started eating. God damn Bow could cook. 

Catra was mid-bite when Adora set her spotless plate aside and set her hands on her knees, looking tense. Catra was busy warring her inner asshole in an attempt to offer encouragement when Adora began to speak. 

“You guys know my parents died when I was a baby. Car crash. My aunt Mara took me in, but she disappeared when I was seventeen. Before she was gone, she told me I was special, that I had powerful magic I would need to learn to live alongside. She started teaching me, but it wasn’t until she was gone that I could really tap into it, by accident or otherwise. Bow, you said you and Glimmer noticed the glowing, but it was a lot more than that. I tended to bend bench-press bars at the gym if I wasn’t careful.” 

“You also put that guy in the hospital, uh, what was his name…” Bow said. “Chad.” 

“God, that guy was a prick,” Glimmer muttered.

“Yeah,” Adora murmured. “I was contacted by a light spirit when I turned eighteen. Light Hope. She offered to help train me to control my power, and to hide me from people who wanted to use it for evil. She told me the source, too.” Adora took a shaky breath. “I have a bond, I guess, with an ancient magical entity called She-Ra. I asked Light Hope if She-Ra is a god or a spirit and she kinda dodged the question. Light Hope says I’m not supposed to use her power, but she won’t explain why other than just that it draws attention. She kept me from telling you guys for years.” Adora stared at the floor. “God, I’m so sorry for lying to you guys. I never wanted to but she was so sure that if anyone learned about me they would try to steal She-Ra’s power and I knew she was wrong and I still didn’t do anything. I’m such a fucking coward.” 

Catra missed most of the comforting words that Bow and Sparkles showered upon Adora, because her mind had leapt into overdrive the moment Adora had revealed the source of her power. Adora got her magic from an ancient spirit/god/entity. Adora had the same ability to see through illusions of all kinds except for true shapeshifting, just like Angella. Adora was not, however incapable of lying. Bad at it, sure, but she had the physical capacity. That ruled out this ‘She-Ra’ as a being of heaven. But she wasn’t anything hell-borne, because Shadow Weaver would never have let go of this kind of power in the first place. That meant…

“Fuuuuuuuuuck,” Catra groaned aloud. The trio, who’d somehow migrated to the couch as an Adora sandwich, all turned to look at her. Her ears flattened against her head at the accidental attention. “That explains why Shadow Weaver wants you so bad,” she said. “You’ve got divine power with no rules locking it down. You could rob a bank or save a thousand cancer patients, and nothing could stop you. Hell, you could do both on the same day.” 

Adora wiped tears from her eyes, looking confused. “What?” 

Bow nodded slowly. “The more powerful a being, the more rules placed on that power,” he said, reciting one of the foundational maxims of the world with careful reverence. “But if this She-Ra being wields her power through you, none of those rules would apply.” 

“That’s… kinda terrifying,” Sparkles admitted. Catra shot her a glare and she quickly changed course. “Not you! Just, the whole concept. I mean, my mom can be pretty scary sometimes and she pretty much lives under five feet of angelic red tape just for being here.” 

“So you’re saying that I’m, what, a ticking bomb?” 

“Uhhh…” Catra glanced over at Bow for support.

“No, not at all,” Bow said. “Just that Light Hope wasn’t lying about needing to be careful. You can do whatever you want with your power, good or bad.”

“Which is why Shadow Weaver wanted to wipe your mind,” Catra said. “She can’t drain the power out of you because it’s not actually yours, and she can’t kill you since that wouldn’t get her anywhere. She needs to control you. Which is not gonna fucking happen.” That was half- okay, maybe like, a third- of the reason Catra had spent her whole day with Adora. Shadow Weaver’s magic was stronger at night, but she was wily and had thousands of years of experience. Catra wasn’t about to take any chances while the demonic sorceress was free on Etheria. 

“I’m not a bomb,” Adora said slowly. “I’m a tool.” 

“No, that’s not true,” Glimmer said instantly. “You’re our best friend. Fuck what demons and light spirits think. You aren’t just your magical energy or whatever they want from you. All of the people in your life that matter cared about you without any magic bullshit, and we will no matter what.” 

As far as flowery speeches went it left something to be desired, but the emotion and honesty in it had a power all of their own. Catra had to swallow a lump in her throat at the realization of just how much these people loved each other. It only brought her own lunatic hypocrisy into focus. 

Adora, Bow, and Glimmer were in the middle of another tearful hug when Catra’s mouth decided to just go ahead and ruin everything. 

“I’m a demon.” 

She clamped her mouth shut in utter shock, wide eyes staring at the trio in terror. They didn’t even notice. She had to suppress a deeply inappropriate laugh, because she’d just accidentally confessed one of her darkest secrets and none of them had even heard her do it. 

“Sorry Catra, did you say something?” Bow asked a few seconds later, looking genuinely remorseful. 

Catra’s words got caught in her throat. Adora looked over at her, and the soft smile on her face told Catra that at least one person had heard her. Well, she couldn’t exactly back down now. She cleared her throat and stared at the floor, her ears falling. Still, she couldn’t find the courage to actually just say the damn words. So she did something simpler. She let her illusion spell falter. 

The matching gasps from Bow and Glimmer sent her already-racing heart into sixth gear. Glimmer was the first to speak. 

“Holy shit. Adora, you’re unbelievable. You saw this-“ a quick glance up told Catra that Glimmer was waving an all-encompassing hand at her “-and thought it was a catgirl costume?” 

“It was right after Halloween!” Adora protested. “I thought that maybe she was just really into it or something.” 

“Unbelievable,” Glimmer repeated. She turned back to Catra. “So, are you like, a shapeshifter?” 

“Glimmer!” Bow exclaimed. “You can’t just ask that.” 

“Well she clearly wants to show this to us now, instead of when it might’ve been useful,” Glimmer said. “So yeah, I’m gonna ‘just ask’ whatever I want.” 

“I’m not a shapeshifter,” Catra said. “I’m…” she looked desperately to Adora for help, because even now she couldn’t just say it. Such a fucking coward. 

“She’s a demon,” Adora said gently. 

“WHAT?!” 

Catra flinched at the volume and felt her tail coil protectively around her legs. So far this was going about as poorly as she’d expected. Then something happened that she didn’t expect. Adora stood, puffing up to her full height as she stepped between Glimmer and Catra. 

“Glimmer, don’t.” 

“Don’t what?” Glimmer demanded. “Do you get what’s happening here? This whole thing is a setup! Shadow Weaver sent her to like, scout you out before grabbing you! And you fell for it!”

“You’re not serious right now,” Adora said, and she sounded so angry Catra couldn’t help but take a step back. “She’s saved my life, what, three times now? Two of which were from Shadow Weaver? She survived a conversation with Angella, and you really think she’s evil? Get a grip, Glimmer.” 

“I need to get a grip? You’re the one she put a love spell on!” 

“Glimmer, can I talk to you in the hall for a minute?” Bow said way more calmly than he had any right to. She looked ready to argue, but whatever she saw on Bow’s face made her deflate slightly, though her eyes were still glittering with fury. 

“Fine.” She leveled a glare at Catra. “If you touch her while I’m gone, they won’t be able to identify your body.” 

She turned and stomped out of the apartment. Bow cast an apologetic look back at the two of them as the door closed. 

The moment the latch clicked, Adora teleported to touching distance of Catra. 

“Can I hug you?” she asked, her voice tight. Catra nodded before her brain got in the way. She sank into the warm embrace, because having her most pessimistic predictions fulfilled was not particularly vindicating. “God, I’m so sorry. I didn’t think she would react like that at all. I think- she was pretty worried about the whole multiple attempted kidnappings thing. I guess I didn’t realize how paranoid that would make her.” 

Catra didn’t have a response to that, so she just buried her face deeper in Adora’s shoulder. Melog mrowed at her side and headbutted her leg encouragingly. Fucking optimists. 

They stayed like that until the apartment door creaked open once more. Adora immediately placed herself between Glimmer and Catra again, but given Glimmer’s hunched shoulders the protection probably wasn’t necessary. She moved to stand in front of both of them, her eyes downcast.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I shouldn’t have freaked out. Adora, I should trust you to take care of yourself more. And Catra… sorry for jumping to conclusions about you. It’s been a rough week, but that’s not an excuse. Adora trusts you, Bow trusts you and apparently knew you were a demon all along-“ she took a moment to glare at her boyfriend “-and my mom trusts you. Since she can literally see your soul, that’s… enough for me.” 

Catra blinked in shock. “Uh, okay. Thanks, I guess.”

Glimmer stepped forward and offered her hand. “Friends? For real this time?” 

Still half-expecting this to be a prank, Catra shook her hand. “Friends, I guess. Sorry for, you know, lying.” 

Glimmer looked like she was about to snipe at her, but a stern glance from Bow forestalled any sharpshooting. “I think I get it. You could have tried for a softer landing, though.” 

Adora was still glaring at Glimmer, but broke her stare when Catra’s tail finally unraveled from around her ankle. “You okay?” she asked Catra. “Don’t say you’re fine.” 

Catra rolled her eyes. “I’m all good, princess. Unless Sparkles here starts screeching again. They don’t make earplugs in my size.” 

Glimmer winced. “Sorry.” 

“It’s whatever,” Catra said. She poked Adora in the belly. “Now would you stop flaring your nostrils? You’re staring at Sparkles like you’re a bull and she fell into a vat of red dye.”

Adora blinked. “Right, sorry.” She paused, and her jaw clenched. “Honestly, I think I’m gonna head out. I need some time alone. Catra, do you need a ride?” 

“Wouldn’t say no to one,” Catra said. She concentrated and brought her illusion spell back into place before following Adora to the front door. She glanced over her shoulder and caught Glimmer looking guilty and glum. She would have thought that would have been more satisfying to see than it was. Instead, she just felt shitty. 

Adora was halfway to her car when Catra caught up with her, breath misting in the chilled air. 

“I’m sorry,” Catra said, her gut twisting. “That didn’t really go how I wanted it to.” 

“It wasn’t your fault,” Adora murmured. 

“I kinda derailed your whole thing,” Catra continued. 

Adora snorted. “Good. I hate being the center of attention like that.” 

Adora unlocked her car and Catra slipped around the hood to get in the passenger side. Once the Volkswagen rumbled to life, Catra found it in her to speak again. 

“You’re really lucky to have those two.” 

Adora blew air out of her nose. “Most days.” 

“Are you really that mad at her?” Catra asked. “I can’t say I don’t get where she’s coming from. The timing, everything, it’s all pretty suspicious. If I were her, I wouldn’t trust me.” 

Adora let out a long, slow breath. “It’s not really about you. Why I’m mad, that is. Glimmer just- she always thinks she knows what’s best for everyone. And then she tries to actually make it happen, which is worse.” Adora’s ponytail thumped against the headrest. “For once I wish she’d just trust me. She didn’t even trust me to talk to you.”

“Uh, what?” Catra wasn’t sure what snakepit she’d stumbled into, but now she was kinda stuck. The car wasn’t moving yet, but diving out the passenger door would be a bad look. 

“She literally stole my phone to text you,” Adora said. “And yeah, it worked, but who does that?” 

“Which texts?” Catra asked, curiosity and nerves driving the question in equal proportions. 

“The one asking you on a date,” Adora said. “Which like, yeah, maybe it was good not to be ambiguous about what I was looking for. Maybe you and I would never have gone on a real date if she hadn’t stolen my phone. But that’s the point. I don’t need someone else running my life, good intentions or not.”

“Can’t argue with that,” Catra murmured. “Can’t argue with that.” 

Adora glanced over at her, a question on her face. 

“Shadow Weaver,” Catra explained. “She managed to not give a shit about me and still control everything I did. That’s why I finally left. I was sick of it. I just wanted to live my own fucking life.” She cut herself off, because she was suddenly furious and she didn’t even know why. Her tail lashed against the seat, and she jumped a little when Adora took one of her hands. 

“I’m glad you got away from her,” she said. “For your own sake, and for mine.” 

Catra resisted the urge to fake-gag. Instead, she squeezed Adora’s hand back and did her best to let the anger drain out of her. 

“Yeah,” she eventually said. “So am I.” 

It wasn’t until Adora parked the car in front of Catra’s apartment that Catra realized her plan was about to be foiled. 

“So uh, I’ll text you when I get home?” Adora asked. “You’re probably sick of me, but I’d love to hang out again sometime. Can I make you dinner? I’ve got a killer chicken marsala recipe I think you’ll like.” 

“Uhhhh…”

“Or not! I totally get it. This has been uh, a hell of a week.” Adora cringed. “Can I say that? Or is that offensive?” 

Catra’s giggle caught them both off guard. “I think you’re fine, princess.” She paused, trying and failing to come up with a reasonable excuse to guard Adora for the night. Melog took this as their cue to wander into Adora’s lap from the backseat. 

“Home,” they said, and headbutted her chin. 

“You’re welcome!” Adora said. 

“Naw.” 

Adora’s face fell. “Oh. I’m… sorry?” 

“Bring home,” Melog said. “Sleeping bag.” 

Adora looked helplessly at Catra, who had to work not to drag her claws down her face. This was not the kind of excuse she had been looking for. 

“They want to sleep on your sleeping bag again.”

“Oh! That’s fine! I guess they had a whole night to themself last night.” She paused, and a knowing look crossed her face. “And they’re the only one who wants to sleep in my apartment?” 

Catra glared out the windshield. “I could be convinced.” 

Adora snorted. “Catra. Do you want to sleep over at my place tonight?” 

“Yeah, I guess so.” She tried to play it cool, but Adora clearly saw the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. 

“Great!”  

It wasn’t until Catra crossed the threshold that she realized her whole plan was moot. Adora’s apartment was fully warded. Catra had known this. It had been the whole reason why she’d stayed over that first night in the first place. Somehow she’d conveniently forgotten that fact, and she couldn’t exactly explain the slipup to Adora now without exposing her entire plan. But as Adora pulled on pajamas and her bed beckoned, Catra wasn’t about to complain about the mistake.

Chapter Text

Adora was halfway through a light breakfast before work when a series of sharp knocks sounded at her door. She set her cereal down and warily cracked the front door, well aware of Catra’s sleeping form curled up in the bed behind her. 

A man and a woman dressed in boring black suits stood in front of her apartment door. 

“Uh, can I help you?” Adora asked. 

“Agent Mermista, with the Special Investigations Service,” the woman, who sported stunning blue hair, drawled. Adora had never heard someone so unbelievably bored with life before. It was honestly pretty impressive. 

“And I am Junior Agent Sea Hawk!” the man beside her proclaimed in a tone that could not have been better calculated to contrast Mermista’s. She groaned and presented a very official-looking badge. 

“Whatever. Are you Adora Gray?” 

“…Yes,” Adora said. 

“Where were you this Sunday at 3:32 PM?” 

“Out with friends,” Adora said, which wasn’t actually a lie. “Can I ask why you need to know?” 

“No,” Agent Mermista said, just as Agent Sea Hawk shouted “Why of course!” Mermista stabbed him with a glare and he shut up.

“Do you know this woman?” Mermista held up a small photo. Adora peered at it for a moment before hiding a gulp. The picture was of Catra. Minus the ears and tail, but unmistakable nonetheless. It was odd to finally see the mask Catra presented to the world, and the image felt wrong. It looked like Catra, and it was her, undoubtedly. Just not all of her, and that made it wrong. 

“Nope,” Adora said. “Never seen her in my life.”

Mermista locked eyes with her. Sea Hawk was too busy fixing his hair in the reflection of the window behind him. 

“We’ll need to search the premises,” Mermista said a moment later. 

“Uh, no way,” Adora replied. “You need like, a warrant for that.” 

Mermista stuck her hand out towards where Sea Hawk had been standing a moment before. She glanced over and groaned again. “Sea Hawk, I swear to god if you lost the warrant-“ 

“Right here!” Sea Hawk exclaimed. “I have it right here. Nothing to worry about, dearest!” 

Dearest? What kind of cops were these two? 

Sea Hawk produced a very official-looking, only slightly crumpled sheet of parchment and thrust it at Adora. Before Adora had a chance to protest, or, you know, read the thing at all, the agents pushed past her into her apartment. 

“Hey!” 

Adora was about to summon power, because she was pretty sure getting caught lying to Special Investors or whoever these people were would not go over well and they were about to find their wanted woman in Adora’s bed. But when she turned around, she found nothing but rumpled sheets and an empty bedroom. It didn’t take the two agents long to search her studio, and they clearly came up dry. 

“Guess you’re clean,” Agent Mermista muttered on her way out. “I told him this was a waste of time. Come on, Sea Hawk.”

They rushed out of her apartment so fast Adora wasn’t sure they were even real. If Catra hadn’t shimmered back into reality in one corner of her bedroom looking tense, Adora might have thought she’d imagined the entire thing. 

“Who the fuck were those people?” Catra demanded, angry and afraid. 

“I have no idea,” Adora replied. “But I’m gonna find out.” 

Catra never did figure out what Angella’s day job was, or if she even had one. Presumably an immortal angel didn’t need to sell insurance. Still, this was her first time approaching the Moon mansion in daylight while she wasn’t in some state of mental shambles, and it finally hit her just how fucking fancy it was. No wonder Sparkles was a handful. 

It wasn’t until Adora had parked the car and was reaching for the car door handle that she seemed to think one part of this surprise investigative visit through. 

“Did uh, did Angella know about you before you told Glimmer?” Adora asked. She sounded like she was doing everything she could not to show her sudden anxiety. 

“She did,” Catra confirmed. “Kinda hard to hide it from a literal fucking angel.” She glanced behind her to see if Melog was going to come inside the mansion with them, but they were fast asleep in the backseat, and Catra didn’t plan on being gone long enough for it to get too cold in the car. Best to let sleeping hellcats lie. 

“Right, right,” Adora said. “I guess if I can see you, she definitely can. Still, you can stay in the car if you don’t want to come in. Glimmer should be gone for the day, but…” 

“I can handle Sparkles,” Catra lied. “You know you didn’t have to call out of work for me. I could’ve done some digging on my own.” That was another lie. Catra had already been planning on lurking around outside Adora’s gym just in case something else happened. Honestly, she was a little surprised Adora had actually intentionally skipped work for this. She seemed pretty obsessively guilty over missing a few days this week already. 

“I know,” Adora said quickly. “I just didn’t… I didn’t want you to think you had to do this alone.” 

Catra was still trying to figure out what that meant by the time Adora let herself into the mansion with a key. She slipped off her shoes and poked her head into the living room. 

“Angella?” she called. 

“She’s in her office,” Micah said from the kitchen. When Catra peered around Adora, she found the man sitting at the small kitchen table reading an honest-to-god newspaper. Like, with paper. Catra thought that was only a thing in movies. She felt a weirdly overwhelming urge to run over and slash the offending object up with her claws and had to turn away to stop herself. 

“Thanks,” Adora said and headed for the stairs leading up. Catra padded after her, her fur buzzing with the passive magic filling the house. It wasn’t necessarily unpleasant, but it was constant and a little irritating. 

Adora stopped in front of a closed door at the end of the second floor hallway and knocked lightly. 

“Come in.” 

Adora eased the door open, being weirdly hesitant about the whole operation. “Hey Angella, are we interrupting anything?” 

“I always have time for you,” came the angel’s reply, which was sappy enough for Catra to roll her eyes. “How are you, Catra?” 

Catra followed Adora into the neat, comfortable office and picked the comfiest chair to fold up in. Adora decided to lean awkwardly against the nearest wall. 

“I’m good,” Catra said, because even she knew that it was really the only societally acceptable answer. 

“Some uh, some people came to my apartment this morning,” Adora began. “They said they were with the uh…” 

“Special Investigative Service,” Catra supplied. 

Adora shot her a grateful look. “Yeah, that. They were looking for Catra.” 

Angella frowned. “Did they state why?” Adora shook her head. “That is somewhat concerning. The Special Investigator Service is a government agency that, hm, investigates supernatural activity. They most commonly attempt to mitigate the damage that comes from rogue magic-users or supernatural beings. But I cannot think of a reason why they would be after you, Catra. You’ve never harmed a mortal being, and you’ve done an excellent job of keeping a low profile here.” 

Catra blinked, her tail suddenly poofing up as anxiety surged through her. “You’ve been watching me? For how long?” 

Angella offered a wry smile. “I keep track of any supernatural beings who cross over in Bright Moon, as best I can. It is my purpose here.” 

Catra did her best to calm her hammering heart, because it wasn’t like she could bolt now even if she wanted to. “So you’ve been- you’ve been tracking me?” 

Angella’s brow creased. “No. I took note of your behavior for the first several months after you crossed over, and was satisfied that you posed no threat to anyone.” She paused in thought, her face serene under Catra’s burning gaze. “I had, quite honestly, forgotten you existed until last weekend.” 

A quick glance told Catra that Adora seemed weirdly unhappy about that statement, but it let Catra lean back in her chair and set aside her building panic. Angella wasn’t tracking her movements, wasn’t trying to control her or hurt her. She was just protecting people. 

“Okay,” Catra said after a moment. “So why are these goons after me?” 

“Shadow Weaver,” Adora said suddenly. Catra suppressed a growl at the name. Adora blushed. “Sorry! I just- it makes sense, right? She’s pissed at you for rescuing me, so she like, gives them a ‘tip’ about a dangerous supernatural in Bright Moon.” 

“How did they know to come to your apartment?” Catra pointed out. 

Adora blinked. “Oh.” She chewed on her lip for a second. “Well, you’ve been spending a lot of time there. Maybe they have a way of tracking that?” She turned to Angella as she raised the question. 

“It is possible,” Angella allowed. “They have a number of tools to aid them in their investigations. If Shadow Weaver had some item with a connection to you, she could have given it to them so they could find you.” 

“Great,” Catra muttered. “Shadow Weaver is fucking me over by proxy now, too.” 

“I have a contact within the agency I will leverage,” Angella said. “In the meantime, I have a task for you two.” Catra snorted when Adora visibly perked up. Judging by the twinkle in Angella’s eyes, she saw it too. “The Guild is still working on finding Shadow Weaver, but in the meantime Hordak has proved less than cooperative. The only thing he has given up is the location of a safehouse in the city. While it is highly doubtful that Shadow Weaver is utilizing it, Micah and I believe that there may be clues as to her plans on Etheria there. I would like the two of you to scout the location and, once you’ve determined that it is unoccupied, search it for any information you can find. Catra, I will of course compensate you for the work.” Catra squinted at her for a second, trying to figure out if she was joking or not, but she seemed completely serious. Well, Catra wasn’t about to complain. The angel clearly wasn’t hurting in the bank account department. 

Unfortunately, Angella decided to add “I’m not sure where Bow or Glimmer are, but you could enlist them as well.” 

Adora’s jaw clenched. “I think we can handle it ourselves,” she said. Angella didn’t comment on the way her fists balled at her sides, so Catra didn’t either. Her stomach decided to rumble, breaking the awkward silence. 

“Why don’t you two get something to eat before you leave? The safehouse isn’t going anywhere.” 

“Uh, right,” Adora said with a questioning glance at Catra. Catra shrugged and unfurled from her chair. She pretended not to notice the way her traitor tail coiled around Adora’s ankle on their way out of the office. 

Adora’s cooking skills were not apparently limited to breakfast. Somehow she managed to toast a pair of perfectly-crispy paninis in like, ten minutes, using ingredients she dug up from someone else’s kitchen. Black magic, if you asked Catra. 

“Good?” Adora asked after Catra’s first bite. 

Catra rolled her eyes. “Obviously.” It came out sort of muffled, but she wasn’t about to take time in between further bites to speak clearly. She forced herself to save the last quarter for Melog, and honestly it was the hardest thing she’d done in months. 

Adora’s own sandwich was long gone by the time Catra headed for the front door. Angella had given them the relevant address, and while Catra was still half-convinced that Angella had made the entire thing up just to give Adora a way to feel useful, she was getting paid and was not about to complain. Not about that, at least. 

“Fuck why is it still cold,” Catra whined-groaned, as she stepped out into the frigid December air. 

“It’s barely even winter yet,” Adora giggled. “How do you survive in January?” 

“I don’t,” Catra grumbled and made a beeline for the car. Melog was still snoozing, but perked up when Adora unlocked it and they both piled in. 

“Food?” 

“Here.” Catra handed them the last bit of her panini, which promptly disappeared down their gullet. There was no way they even tasted it. 

“Where to?” Adora asked after. Catra plugged the address Angella had given her into her phone with frozen fingers. Fucking winter. 

Catra stared uncomprehendingly at the gaudy sign announcing the building as Geoffrey’s Pizzas!  

“Huh,” Adora said. “Are you sure this is the right place?” Catra kept staring. Adora’s stomach rumbled. A second later she added, “do you think they’re open?” 

Catra turned her befuddled stare on Adora. “You literally just ate.” 

Adora shrugged. “Yeah but now I’m thinking about pizza and it sounds really good!” 

Catra couldn’t help but laugh at Adora’s sudden excitement. Adora went a bit pink but grinned back at her. Catra decided to busy herself with double-checking the address instead of meeting Adora’s smile, because it made her feel light enough to float away. 

Catra stared at her phone, then back at the listed address. 

“Shit. This is Jenkins Street North. We needed to go to South.” 

“Aww. Okay.” 

Catra rolled her eyes. “We can get pizza for dinner or something.” 

“You’re so good to me,” Adora replied, and it somehow sounded both sarcastic and honest at the same time. 

“Yeah, whatever,” Catra grumbled. “Don’t get used to it. I’m just here to get paid.” 

“Mh-hm.”

No fucking respect. 

“Now this is more like it,” Adora said as she parked in front of the abandoned warehouse. Catra rolled her eyes, even if Adora was right. The warehouse was rife with boarded-over windows, rusting metal, and the total stillness of somewhere truly devoid of life. 

“Glad something is finally matching your stereotypes?” Catra teased. 

It seemed like it was getting easier to make Adora blush. Catra would have thought she was building an immunity, but apparently the opposite was true. 

“I’m just glad it wasn’t another office building,” Adora replied. A quick glance told Catra that Melog was still passed out in the backseat, and Catra left them to their rest. She wasn’t expecting any real danger here, given that Hordak was still locked in the Moon mansion basement. Between her and Adora, they should be able to spot any mortal wards before they did real damage. No reason to risk waking the beast. She turned back to Adora.

“Can’t argue with that. Let’s break in.” 

“Catra, hold on-” 

Catra ignored her and darted up to the looming artifact of a bygone age of industry. The doors were chained shut and padlocked, and while Catra could have cut through the metal eventually, it was easier (and more fun) to find a way around. She eyed a mostly glass-free window on the second floor, and leapt. Adora, who had only just caught up to her, let out a startled yelp as Catra launched into the air. 

Catra landed with barely a sound and glanced down at her partner in crime. She cackled at Adora’s bewildered expression. “Need me to throw you a rope or something?” 

Adora rolled her eyes. “I’ve got this.” She stepped up to the locked door, drew an audible breath, and slammed her closed fist through the padlock and chains. The ripple of magical power reached Catra a moment later, sending a tingling wave through her fur. Adora smirked up at her before striding through the front door and into the dusty warehouse interior. 

Catra dropped off the catwalk to land beside her. This place was almost definitely abandoned, but she still didn’t like the idea of splitting up. The tension in Adora’s neck muscles told Catra that she was not alone in her reasoning. Or maybe Adora was still mad about Glimmer. 

“So what are we looking for, exactly?” Catra asked. Maybe that should have been a question for Angella, but it was a little late for that. 

Adora thought for a moment before replying. Her thinking face was cute enough to make Catra smile despite herself. She barely managed to hide the expression in time when Adora glanced over at her. “You know, I’m not quite sure. Suspicious stuff? Maybe magical reagents, or tools that might give us a clue at what he and Shadow Weaver were planning?” 

“Works for me,” Catra replied, and set off deeper into the warehouse. 

Even through the frigid winter air, she could still smell the remnants of grease, metal, and smoke. Nothing out of the ordinary. Still, her fur remained prickled up long after the last of Adora’s magic faded. There was something here, or had been at least. Her instincts made that plenty clear. They were less helpful in identifying just what was tweaking them, but after a few minutes the point became moot when she and Adora came to a halt above a dilapidated staircase leading down beneath the warehouse floor. It practically oozed darkness. 

“Still glad your stereotypes are being fulfilled?” Catra teased to cover up the frozen claw squeezing her insides. She could see pretty well in the dark, and the thought of going down there still freaked her the fuck out. 

Adora rolled her eyes and bumped shoulders with Catra. “That just means you think there’s something important down there too.” Catra groaned. “Hey, at least you’re getting paid for this!” 

Catra gave her a flat look. “Can’t spend money if you’re dead.” 

Adora pondered that for a moment. “Can you, you know, die? How does that work?” 

Catra looked away. That really wasn’t a topic she wanted to think about right before venturing into a creepy warehouse basement. 

“Sorry!” Adora squeaked. 

“It’s fine,” Catra replied. She paused to form her reply. “If I get banished, Shadow Weaver will drag me back to Hell, and then probably spend a few thousand years torturing me as a warmup before getting to the nasty stuff. If I had a strong enough tether, I could probably escape back here, but I haven’t really been on Etheria long enough for that. Building a tether usually takes years.”

“Got it,” Adora said, and steeled her shoulders. “I’ll go first, then.” 

“You’re an idiot.” 

“Guilty,” Adora replied with a grin before ducking down the stairs. Catra inspected the distant ceiling for a moment, because she really didn’t know what she’d done in a past life to deserve any of this, then followed Adora down. 

Her eyes adjusted quickly, revealing pretty much what you’d expect from the basement of an abandoned warehouse that a necromancer had used as a hideout. It had a great deal of delightful things to offer: cobwebs, dust, scattered metal and concrete detritus, and an inescapable sense of doom that would make a sane person turn right the fuck around and leave. Adora was already halfway to the spooky steel door at the far end of the dungeon. 

“Can you get this open?” she asked Catra, who gingerly picked her way across the suspect floor before inspecting the reinforced metal. 

“Not quietly,” Catra replied. 

“Alright,” Adora said with a shrug. “Maybe stand back?” 

Catra did exactly that, because while Adora’s power wasn’t angelic in nature, meaning it probably wouldn’t fry Catra with the barest contact, she still had a lot of it, and Catra had precisely zero interest in getting ash in her fur. Golden light flared to life, casting lurid shadows through the cobwebs, and Adora blasted the door off of its hinges with a single burst of power. 

“Damn,” Catra said before she could catch herself. Adora glanced over her shoulder with the cockiest smirk Catra had ever seen on anyone in her life. It absolutely should not have done anything for Catra, but of course the beehive that had taken up residence in her belly oh, about a month ago, decided it was time for all hands on deck. She managed to recover well enough to smirk back and gesture towards the now-missing door. “Ladies first.” 

Adora snorted and stepped through with far too much confidence. Catra darted after, just in case there was some horrible monster waiting inside, but the space was too full of workbenches and shitty shelving units to hide anything larger than a medium-sized dog. Then again, some of the nastiest monsters in Hell were tiny dogs, so that wasn’t a huge comfort. Still, nothing leapt out at them, so after a moment of caution, Catra took in the dark room. 

The shelves were full of jars, boxes, and bundles of magical ingredients of all kinds, and the two workbenches were covered in esoteric tools strange enough that even Catra only recognized half of them. This was a storeroom and lab all in one, and there was enough shit here to work pretty much any kind of magic imaginable, if you had the power for it. 

“Wow,” Adora murmured. “This is a lot, isn’t it?” 

Catra nodded. “Yeah.” She strode up to the nearest workbench and got to work rifling through things. Adora followed suit on the other side of the room a moment later. They spent almost fifteen minutes digging through the safehouse with nothing to show for it. All of the stuff they found made sense, mostly just magical supplies and tools. But Catra couldn’t shake a sense of heaviness that hung over the dark chamber. 

She clawed at the back wall of the room with a frustrated growl. Adora’s head whipped around. 

“Catra? You okay?” 

“There’s something here,” Catra snarled. “And I can’t find it. Do you feel it too?”
Adora paused for a moment, and slowly cast her gaze about the space. “I think I do. But…” She kept looking, until her gaze locked on the floor in the corner of the room furthest from the door. “Hold on.” 

Catra followed at a safe distance, watching Adora cautiously. “What is it?” 

“Something,” Adora said unhelpfully. She knelt down and poked the floor with one finger. “Can you claw through this?” 

Catra gave her a withering look, which bounced off with no effect. “The floor?”

“Yeah.”

“Nothing better to do,” Catra grumbled, and tried to pretend her fur hadn’t started standing on end as she got close to the denoted spot. Adora’s instincts were, as usual, spot on. 

“Right here?” Catra asked as she lightly scratched the rusted metal of the floor. 

“Yeah.”

Catra shrugged and got to work. She stuck her claws in and started cutting. Two minutes of careful slicing later and she hauled a three square foot piece of metal back to reveal a safe set into the floor. 

“Huh.”

“That has to be important,” Adora said from where she was looming over Catra’s shoulder. 

“Probably,” Catra agreed. “Just a sec.”

It only took another thirty seconds for her to drill the safe open. 

“You know, you could be like, a super-criminal if you wanted to,” Adora joked. “You can turn invisible, cut through metal with your bare hands, and you’re super hot. Perfect trifecta. No one would ever catch you.” 

“Except Angella,” Catra said, mostly as a way to deflect from the third qualification Adora had chosen. She knew she was blushing anyway. “I think she might have an issue with a demon stealing the Mona Lisa or something.” 

“Eh,” Adora said. “Depends on who you stole from.”

Catra yanked the safe door open instead of replying. She peered inside and frowned. 

“Huh.”

Three heavy scrolls sat rolled up inside, all thick yellowing parchment and bad vibes. Catra grabbed all three and set them on the ground beside the safe.

She unrolled the first one, and her eyes went wide. She let it roll back up and hastily checked the next one, and the third. 

“Catra? What’s wrong?” 

Fuck fuck fuck fuck.

“Catra?” 

It was only when Adora’s hand brushed her shoulder that Catra realized she was hyperventilating. Her body leaned into the contact, and she didn’t have the mental fortitude to pretend that she didn’t want to do just that. Adora’s arms encircled her, telling her with warmth what she never would have listened to with words, and it was enough to let her ride out the panic, or at least give her time to let the initial rush ebb. She wasn’t sure if she would ever be totally free of the terror spawned by the lines of ink on the three scrolls. 

“Fuck,” she whispered, her eyes still squeezed shut where her face was pressed into Adora’s shoulder. 

“What is it, Catra?” Adora sounded like she was ready to join Catra in her panic. “Please talk to me.” 

“I-” Catra rattled down some air and stepped just far enough back to speak. “Those- those scrolls. One is a seeking spell, but a big one. It’s for looking for wells of power. Non-angelic power. It’s old, too. Hordak must have used it dozens of times already.” 

“So he was looking for a source of power?” Adora asked. “That doesn’t seem that weird. Pretty in line with the whole ‘help summon a greater demon’ thing.” 

“This isn’t a mortal spell,” Catra explained. The clinical description was helping her center herself, distance herself from the cumulative dread of what the scrolls meant. “Shadow Weaver gave it to him, which means he was looking for power for her .” 

“Oh. Looking for me.” 

“Or someone like you,” Catra confirmed. “Someone or something with unrestricted power. No rules in the way to stop Shadow Weaver from using that power for herself.” 

“What about the other two scrolls?” Adora asked. 

Catra swallowed. “I can’t really read the second one, but it looks like a binding. A big, nasty one. For- for you, I guess” 

“Not for me,” Adora murmured. “For her. For She-Ra.” 

Catra thought that through, matched the strength of the binding up against the obvious power Adora was capable of wielding through her connection with the magical entity she called She-Ra. It fit. “Yeah. That makes sense.” 

“And the third?” 

Catra’s grip tightened on Adora once more. “I’ve never seen a spell like this. Not anything close to this. But I know what it does. I know what she wants.” Catra faltered, memories of Shadow Weaver’s insane rants and matching punishments racing through her mind. “This spell, it has to do with the barrier between worlds.” 

Adora sucked in a breath. “You mean-” 

“She wants to close Etheria’s connection with, well, everywhere,” Catra said, nausea rising in her throat. “Forever. Shades wouldn’t be able to cross over after dying, no one in Hell could escape here, and no angels could break through to stop her from doing whatever she wanted to on Etheria.” 

“And she wants to use me to do it,” Adora growled. “That’s not going to happen.” 

It might. Catra had barely saved Adora in time the last two times Shadow Weaver had gotten her boney fingers on Adora. She wasn’t sure if she had a third save in her. 

“We need to tell Angella,” Adora said. “Like, now.” 

Catra paused a moment before replying, because while one part of her said ‘yeah duh’, another part of her was so furious, so angry and afraid, that all she wanted to do was hunt down and violently murder Shadow Weaver herself right fucking now. 

“Let’s go,” she said before her darker instincts could take control. “Grab the scrolls and let’s get the fuck out of here.” She beelined for one of the shelves while Adora scooped up the offending parchment. Catra briefly inspected the six bottles of glowing blue essence before cramming all of them in her jacket pockets. She’d used up the last of the essence she’d brought with her from Hell when saving Adora, and a refill was desperately needed, made all the sweeter by the fact that she was stealing it from Hordak. 

Petty theft complete, they braved the stairs back out into the wider world and hurried back to Adora’s car. Catra was too freaked out to even complain about the slow heater. She didn’t exactly get things like speed limits, but she was pretty sure that Adora was driving faster than she was supposed to. The situation warranted it though, even if it would be a hard sell for a cop. ‘Oh, yeah there’s a greater demon scheming to end the world as we know it so I really gotta get home to talk to this angel I know to maybe come up with a plan to save said world, please don’t arrest me’ wasn’t exactly the best way out of a ticket that Catra could think of. 

Thankfully no cops appeared to ruin everything, and Adora screeched the Volkswagen to a halt in front of the Moon mansion. They both piled out, and for once the magic oozing from the place wasn’t enough to give Catra pause. Adora all but kicked the door down, and it was probably a good thing Angella was reading in the living room, if only to spare the rest of the woodwork. 

“Adora? Did you find-“

“Shadow Weaver is trying to cut Etheria off from the other planes,” Adora interrupted. Angella’s eyes went wide, though whether that was because of the words said or the fact that Adora had actually cut her off was unclear. 

Angella, always a little too perceptive, glanced at Catra. “How do you know this?” 

Catra took a breath before replying. “Hordak’s safehouse had a couple of her spells written down. Adora?”

Adora pulled the scrolls out of her jacket pocket and handed them to Angella, all the while vibrating with nervous energy. If Catra hadn’t been so thoroughly in her own head, she might have tried to comfort Adora, but as it was, all of her emotional energy was focused on just holding it together. 

Angella took the scrolls and inspected them one by one, her tension clearly growing with each passing second. She set the last scroll down gently on the coffee table and looked up. 

“This is a serious danger to everyone on Etheria. Thank you for coming to me with it.” She didn’t say it, but Catra heard the rest of that sentence anyway, and felt a stab of shame that she’d considered going off on her own to try and ‘solve’ this herself. Angella continued. “But a working of this magnitude requires an immense supply of power, far more than Shadow Weaver could possibly draw from her connection to Hell.”

“That’s why she was looking for Adora,” Catra said, because wasn’t that obvious? 

“Forgive me if I’m misremembering,” Angella said, even though everyone in the room knew that angels had perfect memories. “But when she first saw Adora, she appeared to be surprised, correct?”

Catra blinked. “She was. But the first spell-“

“Searches for non-angelic power,” Angella supplied. “But this version is tuned to inanimate objects, not people.” Catra’s jaw clenched, because she hated missing details like that. 

“So, what, she was searching for artifacts?” Adora asked. 

“They would be a lot easier to find,” Catra said. “No conflicting magical energies fucking up the signal. Honestly Adora, you don’t even read as magical until you start blowing shit up.” Catra turned back to Angella. “So you’re saying that Adora was a lucky break for her, but she’s looking for something else?”

“It is possible,” Angella said. “And if so, then we cannot simply protect Adora and hope for the best, though I do appreciate you taking that task upon yourself, Catra. No one could have done a better job.” 

Adora frowned at that, but Catra was too busy freaking out once more to investigate that particular reaction from Adora. 

“We have to stop her,” Catra said, hoping her desperation wasn’t too obvious. “There’s- there are people still in Hell who-” she cut herself off, because she figured that ‘yeah I’ve got some demon buddies in Hell who really oughta get let out, trust me they’re cool’ would be about as effective at convincing Angella as her previous story she’d been planning on giving to the cops. 

“We will,” Angella said. “Though this time I would appreciate it if you notified me of any last-minute changes of plan.” 

Catra hid a flinch. “Uh, yeah. Sorry about that before.” 

“It’s quite alright,” Angella said with a small, knowing smile. “On a related note, I received a reply from my contact in the Service. Your hunch was correct, Adora. It seems an unidentified woman left a tip about you, Catra, with a photograph and several possible addresses, including Adora’s apartment. My contact couldn’t get the other specifics of the case, but it was enough to send two agents searching for you. That means they are taking it quite seriously.”

“That is pretty creepy,” Adora said. “Has Shadow Weaver been stalking us?” 

“Makes sense,” Catra said. “If she was trying to kidnap you this much, it’s not exactly a surprise she knows your address.” 

“I guess,” Adora said, sounding shaken. Catra’s tail curled around Adora’s ankle, entirely of its own volition. Obviously. Adora shot her a hooded smile anyway. 

“That still doesn’t answer the question of what Shadow Weaver was looking for before she learned about Adora,” Catra said. “If she’s after some artifact, how do we know she doesn’t have it yet?” 

“She may,” Angella allowed. “But this working will channel an immense amount of power. We would know the moment it began. Either she has not found it, or is waiting for a specific moment to attempt the spell. The Guild is growing closer to discovering her location, and Micah is confident that he will find her soon. Until then, we wait.” 

Catra hated waiting. Almost as much as she hated Shadow Weaver. Worse, she was waiting for other people to do something. All Catra had ever wanted was to be free to do her own shit, as Lonnie had once succinctly put it. To not have someone breathing down her neck, to not be waiting and praying other people didn’t fuck something up for her, intentionally or not. Relying on other people sucked. Sometimes, at least.

They actually did end up getting pizza for dinner. Working with some kind of psychic sense (definitely not a surreptitious text from Catra), Bow and Sparkles appeared that evening with four large pizzas in tow. 

“Adora,” was Sparkles’ only explanation for the amount of food. 

“Also leftovers,” Bow added a moment later. 

“But mostly Adora," Glimmer finished.

Given that Adora’s reply was an embarrassed blush, Catra decided not to question it. Also the pizzas smelled really fucking good. Adora started in on her own pizza (like, she grabbed a whole large pizza and just chowed down. It would have been kinda gross if it weren’t impressive) while Catra loosely filled Bow and Sparkles in on the day’s events. They must have been able to tell that Catra was still kind of freaking out, because they were both on their best behavior while she talked. Sparkles only interrupted twice. 

“So are we talking like, apocalypse?” Sparkles asked when Catra was done. “Or like, just really bad.” 

“Shades won’t be able to leave Etheria when they die,” Catra drawled, because needling was really her only defense against the mind-numbing terror of how the world would end up if Shadow Weaver got her way. “Do the math.” 

Sparkles got a little pale. “So, bad.” 

Catra was about to say something actually nasty, but Adora waved a slice of pizza in front of her nose and she took the bait a little gratefully. It wasn’t Glimmer’s fault that she was going through the exact same emotions that Catra had four hours ago, just a lot slower. 

“But your dad is getting close,” Bow told her. “Chances are he finds her before she can dig up whatever artifact she’s searching for.” 

Catra couldn’t help but stare at the man. Who was dumb enough to tempt fate like that? Also, how was he that stupidly optimistic? In a matchup between a greater demon and just some random human guy, Catra knew who she would pick every time, even if it made her teeth grind. She went in for another bite of pizza, because what else was she supposed to do? Everyone else seemed to be fine with just waiting, and the last time she’d gone for a solo play, she’d been about three seconds from getting the life crushed out of her. Being a ‘team player’ kinda made her want to gag, but she couldn’t deny the benefits. Well, she could, and probably would do exactly that if anyone asked. But only outwardly, because somehow this crew of goofy angels, humans, and whatever the fuck Adora was were actually worth trusting. Go figure.

Chapter Text

Catra unlocked the door to her apartment and let it swing open wide. She locked it behind her, Melog winding around her legs, and let out a groan that was mostly directed at herself. She’d wanted to stay at Adora’s again tonight, even though with Hordak locked away and Adora’s own wards there was no magical reason for it, but between her stress and the fact that she’d been with other people nonstop for like, multiple days in a row, she knew she needed time alone to just… be. The last thing she wanted to do was lash out at Adora just because she was in a bad mood from too much contact. 

It was a testament to Catra’s frazzled state of mind that she didn’t notice the closed bedroom door until she was halfway through opening it. She never closed her own doors. Way too much work, and she was sick of replacing them after Melog demanded entry. The delay meant she was only beginning to draw power when the door opened fully to reveal four people in black suits lurking in ambush. One had a pair of engraved metal cuffs in her hands. Two more had bulky tasers, and the fourth had a black cloth bag that looked about head-sized. 

Catra didn’t waste any more time. She and Melog moved as one, flowing into violent motion through the comically-cramped bedroom. She raked her claws across the first taser-armed suit’s face and she went down hard. Melog took on the second one with a tearing-canvas warcry, but was picked up and thrown by the bag holder. They hit the wall and disappeared, but Catra couldn’t spare the attention for her friend. She dropped the second taser guy with a spinning kick, and twisted to face down the bag holder. 

She didn’t get a chance to strike. Pain exploded across the back of her head and she dropped in stunned agony. She tasted blood, and all she could do was snarl as the cuffs clicked shut around her wrists. Her illusion spell snapped off, her power gone. One of the goons hauled her to her feet while the least-damaged one spoke.

“Catra Smith, you are under arrest for multiple acts of necromancy, accursed rituals, and now assaulting an officer of the law.” 

The agent motioned to the other one still behind Catra, and all she managed to say before her vision was cut off by the bag was a slurred “go to Hell.”

Go fucking figure.

The cuffs cut Catra off from her magic, and the bag muted all of her senses. So much so that by the time they pulled it off, she had lost all sense of place and time. The dull gray interrogation room she was cuffed to a chair in could have been a ten minute car ride from her apartment or a continent away. One more terrifying fact to stack on to the fact that the fucking men in black had found her, and apparently thought she was responsible for, well, everything Hordak and Shadow Weaver had done over the past few months. 

It had all been a setup, Catra had realized while blind, deaf, and furious. From the first shade Shadow Weaver had ordered her to return to Hell. She had never intended to let Catra be free. If it weren’t for the opportunity with Adora, Shadow Weaver probably would have used the fourth Link to get Catra caught directly on another shade hunt, or near her own summoning. The previous ‘jobs’ from the demonic sorceress had probably been legitimate, mostly just mundane item retrievals or information gathering, but ‘probably’ was one of those words. The rest, though… Catra could barely even blame these goons, because Shadow Weaver had managed to place Catra at every single summoning and ritual. If the Special Interest Service was searching for Catra’s magical signature, well, they’d find a pretty incriminating set of them. Hell, they might even throw in the portal experiment at Entrapta’s warehouse if they weren’t particularly skilled at reading magical half-lives. 

So Catra was, in a word, fucked. Shadow Weaver had played her perfectly, and she’d walked right into it at every turn. The only question now was what the government did to rogue magic users, especially non-human ones. Her ears and tail were out for all to see, and that more than anything set her heart hammering. She’d barely managed to come to terms with the fact that Adora could see her, and Adora had never done anything but make her feel safe. These assholes? Not so much. 

The goon who had pulled the magical hood off stalked around the table to loom over Catra across it. Well, she tried to loom. She couldn’t have been more than five feet tall. Blue hair and a scowl sharp enough to cut rocks didn’t match up all that well with the fact that the woman couldn’t have been more than eighteen. Catra would have laughed if she hadn’t been so befuddled by the sight. At least she knew that this hadn’t been one of the goons who’d kidnapped her. She would have remembered someone so unimposing. 

“Listen up, hellspawn,” the woman said. “My name is Agent Frosta, and I’m about to become your worst nightmare. Unless you tell me exactly what you and your master have planned in Bright Moon.” She slammed her fist on the metal table for emphasis. 

Before Catra could let loose a cutting response, the interrogation room door swung open to reveal one of the agents that had come calling to Adora’s apartment that morning. She looked even more done with life than Catra remembered. 

“I want to talk to my lawyer,” Catra said before the newcomer could speak. Catra didn’t have a lawyer. Shifty bastards. Worth a shot, though. 

“Yeah, that’s not how this works,” the woman said. “I’m Agent Mermista, and you’ve done some bad shit. Like, ‘you’ll never see the light of day again’ bad.” 

Catra laughed in her face. “I haven’t done anything. I was framed by the actual threat here.” 

“A likely story,” Frosta growled. 

Catra rolled her eyes. “What is this, bring your kid to work day?” 

Was needling the people currently imprisoning her a bad idea? Probably. Was she going to stop? The thought barely even crossed her mind. 

“Look, kitty,” Mermista drawled. “You can either cooperate, and maybe we’ll give you a cell with a window, or you can start the rest of your life in a warded concrete box early.” 

“What’ll it be, hellspawn?” Frosta added. 

Catra just smirked. 

“Ugghhh. Why do we always get the hard cases?” Mermista complained. “For once I want a case with a dumb kid who blew up the garage by accident.” 

“Where’s your boss?” Frosta demanded. “The greater demon you summoned last weekend.” 

“She’s not my fucking boss,” Catra snapped. “And I didn’t summon her. I tried to stop her from getting summoned.” 

“Uh-huh,” Mermista said, unconvinced. “We received a tip that a lesser demon has been aiding…” she trailed off uncertainly. 

“Shadow Weaver!” came an exuberant voice over a hidden speaker that could only belong to the other agent that had shown up at Adora’s place. Seagull or something. 

“Yeah, her,” Mermista said. “Helping her wear down the barrier between worlds here with necromancy, and then summoned her last Sunday.” 

It really sucked to be right all the time. Having Catra’s suspicions about the frame was only a little gratifying. Mostly it just pissed her off even more, because she’d figured it all out too late. Angella’s calmness about the whole ‘government agency’ thing had lulled her into a false sense of security, and now she was going to pay for it for the rest of her life. Catra couldn’t escape, and she couldn’t imagine that Melog would be able to find her, much less break her out of wherever she’d been taken to. 

“And you assaulted officers of the law,” Frosta put in. Apparently the only tone of voice she was capable of was an over-exaggerated growl. 

“Because they tried to kidnap me!” Catra shot back. “You people broke into my apartment and ambushed me! Literally anybody would try to not get kidnapped in that situation.” 

“Do you think we’re stupid, hellspawn?” 

“Yes.”

Frosta spluttered for a moment, but was cut off by another Mermista groan. 

“Look… whatever your name is.”

“Catra!” Seagull provided. 

“Whatever. Are you gonna cooperate or not?”

Catra tried to throw up her hands, but all she managed was to jangle the cuffs. Both agents flinched at the sudden motion. “I’d love to cooperate! I’m all about cooperating! I didn’t do anything. So unless you get your collective heads out of your asses, I don’t think me talking more is gonna be all that helpful to anyone. So you may as well just get it over with! Shadow Weaver will laugh the whole time while she turns this plane into a wasteland, but don’t worry, the fearless protectors did their job, locking up innocent people for shit they, you know, didn’t do.” 

Catra locked eyes with Mermista for a long heartbeat. The agent was the first to look away. 

“Whatever,” she said. “Agent Frosta will take you to your cell. I gotta go talk to the boss.” 

‘Agent’ Frosta looked like she wanted to take Catra to a cemetery rather than a cell, but there wasn’t a lot Catra could do either way. Fucking anti-magic cuffs. Mermista dragged herself out of the room while Frosta detached the cuffs from the chair and tried to haul Catra to her feet or something. Catra hopped up quickly, but the smack to the head she’d taken while being straight-up kidnapped was still fucking with her balance, and she stumbled. She probably would have bashed her head open on the edge of the table if Frosta hadn’t darted around the table and caught her. A few weeks ago, her instincts would have forced her to lash out and probably hit the deck anyway. Now, she was just scrambled enough, and had recently received enough reminders that not all touch was bad to catch the violence before it translated to motion. 

Frosta helped her stay vertical, and once the dizziness passed, Catra eyed her. 

“Why?” was all she said. 

Frosta gave an uncomfortable shrug. “Even if you did everything we think you did, you’re still a person.” Her armor returned a moment later. “But don’t try anything. I know all your tricks.” 

Catra snorted. “I doubt that.” 

Frosta rolled her eyes and opened the door. “Come on, hellspawn.” The word carried a little more irony than before, unless Catra was imagining things. 

“Lead the way, Short Stuff.” 

She got a disgusted sound in reply and cackled. Too easy. 

The interaction was a short-lived distraction from the reality of her situation. Frosta led her down a short cell block lined with featureless gray doors. Even through the cuffs, Catra could sense the oppressive aura filling the space, weighing down on her mind. It was a place designed to hold beings with far more power than she would ever lay claim to, and it only further reinforced the futility of an escape attempt. Any desire to poke at her jailor evaporated when Frosta hauled open one of the blank doors and motioned for Catra to enter. 

“How long are you gonna stick me in there?” Catra demanded, feet planted. 

“If you’re telling the truth, until we find your boss. If you’re lying, get comfortable.” She unclipped the cuffs from each other but didn’t remove them, at least allowing Catra freedom of movement. “Call us if you decide you want to be helpful.” 

With that Frosta pushed Catra into the cell and locked the windowless door behind her. Catra thumped down on the thin mattress and resisted the urge to scream in raw frustration. Shadow Weaver was plotting to destroy the world as they knew it, and Catra wasn’t going to be able to do a goddamn thing about it. Just fucking perfect. 

Light Hope jumped Adora the moment she walked into the locker room to change into her work clothes. 

“Adora. Where have you been? You have missed several training sessions. You are behaving erratically.” 

Adora ignored her. She had to get ready for work anyway. 

“Adora. Your resolve appears to be wavering. This is concerning.”

“You were wrong, you know,” Adora said. “I told them. And look! I’m still here. All the kidnapping attempts happened anyway, before I told anyone the truth.” 

“Adora, you are behaving erratically-”

“I don’t care,” Adora said without heat. “I really don’t. Even if you have my best interests at heart, you’re wrong. You paralyzed me with fear for years about the best people I know, so no. Me finally doing the right thing isn’t ‘erratic’.” She took a breath. “You taught me a lot. How to control my power, and the importance of doing the right thing, even if you didn’t mean to. But I’m done. Goodbye, Light Hope.” 

She grabbed her towel and turned and walked out of the locker room. And for once, Light Hope had nothing to say. 

Adora blew in the door to the Moon mansion after work. “Has anyone seen Catra today? She hasn’t replied to my texts.” 

One look at the four people poring over the dining room table told Adora that Catra’s unresponsiveness was in good company as far as concerning news went. Angella, Micah, Bow and Glimmer all turned to look at her, faces drawn with worry. 

“Adora,” Angella said gently. “I’m sorry to hear that, but I’m glad you’re here. Micah has discovered something rather disturbing.” 

“I believe that Shadow Weaver has found whatever she has been searching for,” Micah said. “We’ve been monitoring the delocalized magical impulses from her spellwork, and we were narrowing our search for the past several days based on them. But the impulses stopped yesterday and have not started again. Our going theory, supported by the scrolls you found, was that those were traces of her seeking spells.”

“And if they stopped…” Adora completed. “That’s uh, that’s bad, right?” She really wished Catra would respond to her texts. “We need to make a plan, then.”

“Catra?” Bow asked. 

Adora shrugged. “I don’t know. I dropped her and Melog off at her place last night and haven’t heard anything since.” She resolutely did not look at Glimmer. She wasn’t angry still, per se. She just still needed some time to move on from their fight. 

“I’m sorry,” Glimmer said anyway. “Was it… because of what I said?” 

Adora shrugged. “I don’t know.” She was pretty sure it wasn’t. Catra had been far more understanding about Glimmer’s outburst than she should have been. Glimmer had accused Catra of being in league with someone trying to destroy the world, and Catra had mostly just shrugged it off. Adora didn’t know if that was a sign of impressive resilience or some serious self-esteem issues, and she wasn’t going to try to decide. She was far from a psychologist, and had much more pressing things to worry about. 

“Do you think you and the other Guild members can find her, Micah?” Adora asked, mostly to distract herself from her anxiety about Catra. Catra was perfectly capable of defending herself. More than that, what could have happened? Shadow Weaver wasn’t after her for her power. But… the SIS was. Micah was halfway through his response when Adora interrupted him. “Angella, can you maybe check with your SIS contact about Catra? Just in case.” 

Angella looked momentarily surprised, then nodded. “I can, yes. May I ask what has you so worried?” 

Only the fact that Catra hadn’t been out of contact with Adora for more than six hours since their first date, and that Catra knew better than anyone just what was at stake. 

“I figure if she was going to ghost me it would have been after the first life or death situation, not now,” Adora said, a weak attempt at a joke. It got a few chuckles and a serious look from Angella. 

“I will make the telephone call, please excuse me for a moment,” the angel said. Normally Adora might have made a joke about Angella’s archaic word choice (comes from being an immortal being who was on Etheria before the phone was invented), but she wasn’t feeling up to it. 

“As I was saying,” Micah said, though without the bite Adora half-expected the words to carry. “Castaspella and I have narrowed down her signature to a half-mile radius area or so. We’re gathering a strike team of sorcerers that should be ready tonight, and we will move to apprehend her as soon as possible.” 

“You’ll need all the help you can get,” Glimmer said. “We’re coming. End of argument.” 

Micah looked like he wanted to argue, but saw the set of Glimmer’s jaw and thought better of it. 

“We’ll appreciate the assistance,” he said instead. 

They spent a few more minutes going over the plan itself, but Adora struggled to concentrate on the details. She was too busy straining to eavesdrop on Angella in the next room. Finally the door opened and Angella stepped back through. Her eyes told Adora everything she needed to know. 

A wave of cold crashed over Adora, thick and suffocating. 

“It would appear that a group of SIS agents ‘apprehended’ Catra last night and brought her in for questioning,” Angella said, her nose wrinkling in distaste at the euphemism. “She is still in custody at their headquarters in Bright Moon.” 

Adora was pulling her jacket back on before a single conscious thought made it through her mind. Angella was forced to use her wings to beat Adora to the door. 

“Adora, wait,” she implored. “You cannot simply go barging into the SIS headquarters.”

“Why not?!” Adora demanded, her voice harsh with anger. “They kidnapped my…they kidnapped Catra. They’ll get what’s coming to them.” 

“I know the individual in charge of this branch,” Angella said. “I can get her out without any excess force.”

Adora clenched her jaw hard enough to crack teeth. “Fine. But I’m coming with you.” 

“Are you sure?” Glimmer asked from across the room. 

“You guys can handle Shadow Weaver,” Adora said. “I’m not abandoning her.” 

She stalked out of the house without another word. Angella gave chase, and didn’t even complain when she had to squeeze into the passenger seat of Adora’s Volkswagen. Other than Angella’s directions, the drive was silent save the sound of the engine. 

Adora parked in front of a blocky, nondescript building in that odd place where the city proper first began to melt into suburban sprawl. She moved to get out, but Angella’s gentle hand on her shoulder stopped her. 

“Adora, breathe for me,” she said. Adora glared at her, then noticed that her own skin was glowing a sullen gold. She took a deep breath, then another. The glow slowly faded. 

“Let’s do this,” Adora said, and managed to sound almost normal. 

Angella nodded. “Let me take the lead, if you wouldn’t mind. I know Dou- I mean, Dusko. I can resolve this without further conflict.” 

Adora’s “uh-huh” was understandably dubious, but she stepped in line behind Angella as they strode up to the front door of the building. The receptionist took one look at Angella and waved them through, his face pale. Apparently this wasn’t Angella’s first visit here. Just before the elevator doors closed, Adora caught a glimpse of the man making a panicked call on his desk phone. That didn’t exactly fill her with confidence about their chances for success, but there wasn’t a lot she could do about it now. The elevator wheezed a bit on its way up, but nothing exploded. 

The doors creaked open to reveal an open office plan with drab gray cubicles occupied by a smattering of people. It was after work hours, but that didn’t seem to mean a great deal to the hard-working, innocent-demon-incarcerating agents of the government. Angella forged a path across the chamber, heading for a closed door at the far end. A few agents turned suspicious gazes on them, but apparently the receptionist’s approval was sufficient to keep them accosted. That, or none of the agents wanted to start some shit with two women who were clearly ready to take names. 

Angella shoved the private office door open with more force than Adora had ever seen from the mild-mannered angel. 

“Excuse me-” the man inside began, but Angella cut him off with a savage swipe of her hand. 

“We had an understanding, Dusko. You keep me in the loop regarding any supernatural beings or rogue magic users your agency investigates, and I stay out of your business. All of your business.” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the man, Dusko, said with a sniff. He was short and spindly, with a truly foul mustache and watery eyes that already Adora felt blinked too often. He licked his lips with a strangely long tongue. 

Adora rolled her eyes and stepped up to his desk. She slammed her hand down on the wood hard enough to splinter it. “You kidnapped someone last night. Where is she?” 

Adora half-expected Angella to try to rein her in. 

“Answer the question,” Angella said instead in a tone cold enough to snap-freeze an ocean. 

“Ugh, fine,” Dusko said. “Yeah, we arrested some cat demon yesterday. She was part of a bunch of necromancy, summonings, nasty shit. Honestly darling, it was such an open and shut case I didn’t want to bother you with it.” 

Adora growled, and the desk suffered further trauma. “Where. Is. She.” 

Something finally seemed to sink in, and Dusko blinked nervously. Except his eyelids worked sideways. Adora recoiled, and her quiet glow redoubled in strength. 

“Well, hell,” Dusko muttered. “Another one. You’re not an angel, though. I think the whole building would have shaken with trumpets if two heavenly beings graced us with their presence. What’s your deal, Blondie?” 

“Not your concern,” Angella said. Adora was still trying to figure out what the hell was going on when Dusko disappeared. In his place sat a lithe, green-skinned humanoid with a long bleached ponytail and a devious look in their eyes. 

“A shapeshifter?” Adora demanded. “And you’re, what, the head of the SIS?” 

“This branch, at least,” not-Dusko said. “The name’s Double Trouble. I would say it’s a pleasure, but I’m pretty sure you two are here to rob me of a big payday.” 

Adora narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean?” 

“Uh, isn’t it obvious? Some scary lady gave us a tip about a lesser demon, and a chunk of change to keep it quiet. I’m in it for the cash, Angie. You knew that.” 

“Don’t call me that,” Angella said. “And yes, I did know that. I also know that the SIS wouldn’t take too kindly to learning that one of their branch leaders is a mercenary shapeshifter corrupting justice for their personal gain.” 

Double Trouble rolled their eyes. “You’re no fun. Fine, whatever. You can go get your kitten back. She put up quite the fight. Honestly, this whole thing was almost worth it just to see how that stuck-up prick Octavia looks short an eye.” 

That was a pretty dark thing to say about an employee, but Adora was getting the sense that Double Trouble maybe wasn’t an example of a quality manager. 

“You will release Catra,” Angella said. “She has done nothing wrong.” 

“If you’ve hurt her-” Adora began, but Double Trouble cut her off with a theatrical groan. 

“I really don’t need this right now,” they said. “Yeah yeah, you’ll spread my organs across the ceiling or whatever. I’ve heard it all, darling. When you’ve been in show business as long as I have, you grow a thick skin.” Adora opened her mouth to repeat her, well, not question, but the shapeshifter preempted her. “Your kitten is fine. She’s in one of our holding cells. Food, water, the whole works.” 

That sounded more like the bare minimum than ‘the works’, and Adora didn’t bother sparing the desk any further. It was going to have to be replaced anyway. 

“Wow, you really are something, aren’t you?” Double Trouble crowed as they stared at Adora with glittering yellow-green eyes. “You and your little demon must be quite the pair.” 

The door opened before Adora could commit more property damage. Double Trouble reassumed their disguise in an instant. 

“You called, sir?” 

A short young woman with blue hair and a lot of anger issues glared at all three of them. 

“Agent Frosta, take these two down to holding and release, what’s her name, the cat demon-” 

“Catra,” Frosta ground out. 

“Yeah, that one, into their custody.” 

“I trust any charges will be dropped?” Angella said. 

“Yes, fine,” Double Trouble said. “I don’t need you going all lawyer-mode on me again. Once was enough.” 

“I am, in fact, a lawyer,” Angella said mildly. “Due process is rather important, don’t you think?” 

Double Trouble rolled their watery eyes. “Sure.” 

Frosta watched the exchange with enough contempt to melt linoleum. “You done?” 

Adora didn’t give Double Trouble a chance to waste more time. She stalked past Frosta and back out into the headquarters proper, Angella close behind. 

“How do we get to holding?” Adora did her best to ask politely. 

“I was about to show you,” Frosta ground out. “Follow me.” 

Frosta led them back to the elevators, and used her badge to key in one of the lowest levels of the building. Of course the holding cells were in the basement. They’d stuck Catra in a literal fucking dungeon. No one spoke during the long ride, which gave Adora time to glance back and forth between the two people flanking her. The height difference almost made her laugh, but the doors shuddered open and she got back on task. 

She felt the weight of the earth above her muting her magic, and it took a moment for her to realize there was more at work here than natural metaphysics. It was a good thing Angella had stopped her from trying to blast this place down. There was enough magical suppression here to flatten a minor god. Frosta ducked into an alcove to retrieve Catra’s jacket, which clinked lightly to betray the presence of her stolen essence. Angella looked drawn, the shine fading from her eyes and hidden wings, but she persevered as Frosta led them down the corridor towards the cell block. 

“This one,” Frosta said when she stopped in front of an unmarked featureless door. She unlocked it with an actual metal key and pulled it open. “Hellspawn, your lawyer is here.” 

“Don’t call her that,” Adora snapped as she pushed her way past Frosta to get inside. 

Catra was there, hunched on the bed with her tail hugging her knees to her chest. Her eyes widened and her ears snapped forward when she saw Adora, and she crossed the distance in an instant. The metal cuffs clinked against Adora’s back as Catra latched onto her, burying her face in Adora’s shoulder. Adora held her tight and pressed a kiss to her messy hair. 

“You came back,” Catra whispered, and the disbelief, the awe in her voice melted Adora’s heart and made her want to burn the world down in equal parts. 

“Of course I did,” she replied, her voice barely a murmur. “We look out for each other. It was my turn to save your ass anyway.” 

A wet, broken chuckle was Catra’s only reply. 

“Alright, lovebirds,” Frosta growled. “I have actual work to get back to. Since the boss is just letting you go, you’re free to leave.” 

Catra extricated herself from Adora’s arms a little reluctantly and shoved her cuffed wrists at Frosta’s face. Frosta glared at her but unlocked them both in turn, and Adora had to suppress another spurt of fury at the torn skin where the cuffs had left their mark. Frosta chucked Catra’s jacket at her, which she shrugged on with matching glare. 

“Let’s go,” Adora said. “If we’re fast enough, we can probably still meet up with Micah and the others to take down Shadow Weaver.” 

The concrete floor suddenly shook. Dust trickled down from the ceiling, and the lights flickered once, twice, and burned out. 

“What the fuck did you people do?” Frosta demanded into the darkness. 

“Absolutely nothing,” Catra snapped. “Adora-” 

The world shook again, and this time they heard the sound of concrete being violently smashed in. Debris tumbled from the ceiling at the far end of the cell block, but Adora couldn’t make out more than that in the dark.

“Oh fuck,” Catra said. That was all the warning Adora got before Catra hauled her back into the cell. Frosta’s diminutive form cannonballed in after them a moment later. 

“What the fuck is that?” 

“That,” Catra said between breaths. “Is a kerberos. Think of the biggest, nastiest hellhound you can find, then give it two extra heads. Also, all three heads can breathe fire.” 

“Why is it here?” Frosta demanded. “The cell block is warded! How did it get in?” 

“Did you miss the whole ‘smash the ceiling’ part?” Catra said. “It got summoned somewhere else and dug its way in.” 

“How do we kill it?” Adora asked. “And where’s Angella?” 

Angella’s raised voice cut through their chatter. 

“In the name of heaven, I command thee to stop!” 

“Oh, fuck,” Catra muttered. “That’s not gonna-” 

All Adora really felt was a sense of violent motion outside the cell door, followed by Angella’s cry of pain. 

“-work,” Catra finished. “Shadow Weaver summoned it. She’s already broken pretty much every single rule that Hell and Heaven agree on. She’s not gonna blink at turning off a few failsafes on one fucking kerberos.” 

Adora stopped fumbling around for her phone and settled on a simpler solution for light. She channeled power and began to glow. Frosta spluttered, but neither Adora nor Catra had the time to explain. Golden light filled the cell, and Catra and Adora shared one glance before springing into action. 

“Legs,” Catra said as they paired up in the corridor. “Lotta mass in motion. Hit the legs and we might be able to drop it.” 

“Got it,” Adora replied. She advanced, and saw that the kerberos had its back to them. It was too busy alternating heads in an attempt to gnaw through Angella’s desperate shield. A shield that was faltering, Adora saw. The suppression down here must have been hitting Angella even harder than it was hitting Adora. As she watched, a webwork of cracks split through the gleaming white shield. 

“Now or never,” she said to Catra, and they attacked as one. 

The corridor was too cramped for anything fancy. Good thing ‘fancy’ wasn’t really Adora’s style. She drew more power, doing battle with the pall over the cell block. It did its best to deny her, to stifle her, and it partially succeeded. But there was an easy solution to that. Adora just drew more power. 

The burning energy settled somewhere beneath her chest, urging her to move, to act, to fight. The sensation spread through her limbs, and the last thing she heard before surging into motion was Frosta’s awed voice. 

“Woah.” 

There was no adequate metaphor for the force with which Adora hit the kerberos. A wrecking ball was too imprecise, a spear too mundane. A halo of incendiary gold flared to life around her, and she hurtled through the air just as Angella’s shield finally failed. Adora struck the kerberos center-mass, right in the rippling muscles of its back. She channeled all of her righteous anger, her rage at the thousand injustices that Catra had suffered at the hands of this beast’s master into her outstretched fist. The world went white when burning skin met summoned flesh. 

The next sensations Adora registered were clawed hands supporting her back. Oh, and pain. Like, a lot of it. Every pore was aflame, but she gasped out a breath anyway. 

“Adora!” Catra cried. “Are you okay? The fuck was that?”

Adora took another rattling breath and felt the pain recede, ever-so-slightly. “Did- did it work?”

Catra chuckled in disbelief. “You fuckin’ vaporized it.” Her expression twisted. “And then you passed out. Don’t… don’t do that again.” 

“Yeah,” Adora agreed, her voice still shaky. With Catra’s help she wobbled to her feet. “Angella?” 

It was only then that the pair realized something was wrong. Angella was propped up against the wall of the corridor, Frosta kneeling uncertainly beside her. The angel looked… not here. Parts of her body were going translucent in short bursts, and from her expression it was clear that the only thing holding her to this reality was sheer force of will. The kerberos couldn’t have done that. Like everything else in this dungeon, its magic had been thoroughly suppressed, otherwise it probably would have been breathing fire everywhere. This was Adora’s fault. Her power had done this, not the kerberos’s teeth. 

She stumbled over to Angella, guilt wrenching at her heart. “God, I’m so sorry. I didn’t- I didn’t think-”

“Adora,” Angella breathed. “It’s alright. Truly.” 

It wasn’t alright. Adora had let her power loose, and it had hurt one of the people closest to her. Someone who’d shown her nothing but kindness when she’d desperately needed it. It was wrong.  

“I can fix this,” Adora promised desperately. “I can give you some of my power, or, or-” 

“Adora.” Adora fell silent. “I will be alright. I will return. I have too much tethering me to this plane to be gone for long.” 

Adora shoved tears out of her eyes. “You sure?”

Angella smiled. “I am. Keep these people safe. I will see you again soon.”

Her hand slipped from Adora’s grip, and she faded away. Adora let out a choking sob, but felt warmth on her shoulder. She turned, expecting to find fear on Catra’s face, because Adora could do the exact same thing to her just as easily. Instead, she found sympathy edged with real pain. 

“She’ll be fine,” Catra said. “She has some of the strongest tethers I can think of. She’ll be able to make the jump again.”

And you? Adora nearly asked, because just being around her power was a risk for Catra. The pain in Catra’s eyes told Adora that she’d heard the question anyway, and hadn’t found a good answer. 

“Okay, what the actual fuck is going on?” Frosta had finally cracked, it seemed. “What- what the fuck?”

On cue, the ceiling shook again.

“Elevator,” Adora barked. “Now!” 

The trio dashed down the corridor. Catra punched the call button frantically as the walls began to shed shards of concrete. Adora coughed on the dust more than once during her sprint, and the three of them had to stand there, powerless, as the entire level started to crumble. 

“Why is this fucking elevator so slow?!” Catra demanded of no one in particular. 

“We’re a government agency that’s not the military,” Frosta shot back. “Do you really think we have funding?”

The doors screeched open and they piled in, tripping over each other in their haste to escape. It was a good thing Catra had a tail, because it reached up and mashed buttons randomly long before anybody could have solved the pile of limbs they’d fallen into. The doors lazily drifted closed, and the elevator began to creak its way upwards. 

Their collective sigh of relief was aborted by Frosta leaping to her feet with a wild look in her eyes. 

“Somebody explain right fucking now!” she exclaimed. 

“The greater demon you accused me of summoning is trying to close off Etheria from the other planes,” Catra said. “She summoned a kerberos to kill us before we stop her. Which, by the way, you kidnapping me really didn’t help with. We need to get out of here to stop her.” 

“And- did your lawyer just die?” 

“She’ll be fine,” Catra said with way more confidence than Adora felt. “Probably a lot fucking safer than anyone else in the building. We need to get people out, like, now. Shadow Weaver hasn’t even heard of the word ‘collateral damage’, and if she did she’d probably just laugh. That’s your job,” she said, pointing to Frosta. “Adora and I will handle anything else that she summoned.” 

“Got it,” Frosta said with a decisive nod. The elevator dinged, and opened to a scene of total panic. It looked like someone had set off a bomb inside a printer. Papers were drifting placidly through the air like oversized snowflakes, cubicles and desk chairs were scattered across the space, and the air smelled of fear and smoke. 

A screaming ball of fur and fury tore across the floor towards them, all claws and fangs and glittering red light. Melog sprang away from the hellhound they were embroiled in battle with and swatted it with one huge paw. The beast split in half and exploded into sparks with an audible pop.

Melog saw Catra and bounded over, the red bleeding out of their mane in favor of intense blue. They nuzzled up against her leg, purring hard enough to set the dust on the floor vibrating. Catra dropped to one knee to hug them so hard Adora thought the hellcat might pop. They just kept purring like an eighteen-wheeler stuck in first gear. 

“Of course the catgirl demon has a demon cat,” Frosta muttered. 

“Don’t you have coworkers to go save?” Catra drawled, face still buried in Melog’s fur. Frosta rolled her eyes, but stomped off to go do that and hopefully not get eaten. Adora wasn’t worried. The pint-sized woman exuded more anger than any five denizens of Hell combined. 

Catra straightened up once Frosta was gone. Melog’s voice filled Adora’s mind. 

“Shadow Weaver. Here.” 

Ice shot straight up Adora’s spine. “But Micah thought- fuck.” Whatever Micah and the other sorcerers had found had been a ruse, bait to draw them away from the real fight. Which was apparently here. 

“Why here?” Adora said aloud. “She- she baited the Guild somewhere else to get them out of the way, but of all the places in the city, why here?” 

Catra’s flickered down to the floor. “She set me up. She’s been planning this for weeks at least, months probably. She knew I would end up here eventually. She made it happen.” 

“But why here?” Adora pressed. “She found whatever artifact she was looking for. She doesn’t need either of us anymore. She could just go out into the middle of nowhere and do the spell and we’d be screwed.” 

“Does it matter?” Catra asked bluntly. “She’s here. We can stop her. No one else is around to do it.” 

Adora blinked. “Guess not. Where to?” 

“Roof,” Melog said. “Hurry.” 

They got back into the increasingly-questionable elevator, which Melog gave a very dubious look before stepping inside. The doors slid shut. Instead of ascending, a horrid grinding sound filled the metal box. Catra squished her ears to her head and glared upward. 

“I think it’s broken,” Adora said helpfully. “Hold on.” 

“What are you-” Catra cut herself off when Adora hopped up onto the dumb handrail lining the wall and lifted one of the ceiling tiles out of place. 

“We’re climbing,” Adora reported. “I think it’s only a floor or two.” 

Catra groaned. “Fucking elevators.” 

They clambered up on top of the elevator car, where Catra immediately began to shiver. 

“F-fucking winter.” 

“There’s the ladder,” Adora said, pointing to the maintenance ladder set into the side of the elevator shaft. “You good to climb?” 

“I’ll be fine, princess,” Catra said in her familiar drawl. Melog shifted down into a kitten small enough to fit in Catra’s jacket pocket, which was just way too fucking cute for the situation. Their triangular head peeked out of the black leather and Adora about died. She shook herself and started to climb. The rungs were frigid under her fingers, emphasized by Catra’s quiet hisses as she followed Adora up. At least she had her jacket back. 

They reached the top after a minute of quiet climbing, and Adora eyed the closed doors. 

“Maybe climb back down a bit,” she advised Catra. She wasn’t taking chances anymore, not after what she’d done to Angella. 

“Guess we aren’t looking for stealth,” Catra groused, but dutifully dropped down a couple of rungs. Adora concentrated, the power flowing easily compared to the basement, and blasted a six-foot wide hole through the doors. The SIS could bill her later. Or not, actually, because she wasn’t exactly rich. She gave the metal a few moments to cool, then stretched off of the ladder to duck through the ruined doors. Catra followed suit a moment later and set mini-Melog down on the floor. They grew back up to their full size, purple fur doing little to hide their flexing muscles. Catra fished one phial of essence out of her jacket and turned to Adora. 

“You ready for this?” 

“Nope,” Adora said, feeling a death-grin threaten to split her face. 

“Me neither,” Catra replied, but the words were at odds with the strength in her voice and the confidence in her eyes. Melog let out a rumbling growl at her side. 

Adora hauled open the door to the roof without another thought. The biting wind caught her by surprise, but she strode out into the gray December evening anyway. The rough gravel crunched under her boots. The sun was all but set, casting the looming clouds in rising darkness. Catra stepped up beside her, the wind ruffling her hair and ears alike. 

“Adora?” 

“Yeah?” 

“I just want you to know… in case anything goes wrong. You’re my tether.” 

Adora’s heart lurched. “Nothing will go wrong.” 

Catra turned a forlorn gaze on her. “Just in case,” she repeated. “You’re my tether.” 

Adora swallowed thickly. “Okay. I’ll remember.” 

Catra nodded, seemingly satisfied. “Alright. Let’s fuck shit up.” 

Chapter Text

Finding Shadow Weaver on the barren rooftop didn’t take long. They turned the corner around the protected stairwell and spotted her unnaturally-tall figure at the other end of the expanse. She wasn’t moving, just watching them through her mask. It was probably supposed to be unnerving, but the only reaction Adora felt was anger. Catra bristled beside her, but didn’t waver. The three of them moved in lockstep as they closed the distance, before stopping a mere dozen feet from the demonic sorceress. 

“I see you freed your pet,” Shadow Weaver said. At first Adora thought she was talking to Catra about Melog, but those flat white eyes were leveled on Adora. She expected more anger when she realized what the demon was saying, but instead she just tilted her head. 

“Really? That’s the best you’ve got? It’s over, Shadow Weaver. You’ll never pull the spell off. We’ll stop you.” 

“Oh, child,” Shadow Weaver crooned. “Why do you think I’m here?” 

“I really don’t care,” Catra said. “Because it doesn’t matter. You weren’t fast enough.” 

That was apparently enough talking for Catra. She launched herself forward, claws glinting in the pale dark. Melog surged after her, and the fight began. Shadow Weaver raised her arms in unison, and Adora felt pressure mount against the inside of her forehead for an instant. She recognized the sensation and pulled as much power as she could into herself right before the circle closed and cut all four combatants off from any external sources of power. 

That didn’t stop Catra. She whirled like a twenty-bladed dervish, dancing between strikes of oily power that were strangely uninhibited by Shadow Weaver’s circle. Gravel flew through the air as Catra skidded across the roof, kicking up more with every superhuman leap. Melog moved in perfect sync, but the pair’s unrelenting attack forced Adora to hold back. She didn’t dare risk catching one of them with her power, and she didn’t have the energy available to go for low-percentage shots. Whatever she did, it had to count. 

A particularly vicious burst of energy from Shadow Weaver forced both feline demons back, and Adora struck. She let loose a concentrated beam of golden light that struck Shadow Weaver square in the chest. The sorceress stumbled back, and Catra capitalized. She leapt forward with a ragged cry, claws raised high for a killing blow. 

Shadow Weaver moved inhumanly fast. One bony hand darted into her robe and came out with a sword. Catra twisted midair in a move that would put Olympic gymnasts to shame to avoid the savage ambush, but all of Adora’s focus immediately locked onto the thick blue blade, etched with faintly glowing geometric runes all along the surface. It filled her vision, permeated the ringing in her ears, and rooted her to the spot. 

Shadow Weaver hurled more murderous power inside the circle that should have been denying her any further energy, and it clicked. The sword was the key. Shadow Weaver was using it as a power source, giving her a crushing advantage in this equivalent of a fistfight in a phone booth. But if this was the artifact she’d been seeking, why hadn’t she done the plane-breaking spell already? More than that, if the artifact was that powerful, she could have wiped the entire building off the map with barely a thought. Instead, she was being pushed to her limits just keeping Catra and Melog at bay. 

And why did that sword feel so familiar?  

Adora felt it when Catra exhausted the last of her magic. She’d been smart about it, using it to augment her strength and speed rather than burning it with useless combat spells, but now she was dry. Melog was flagging as well, clearly affected by the circle. 

“Catra!” Adora shouted. “The sword! Take the sword from her!” 

Catra nodded sharply and dove back into the fray. This time Adora joined her, because she couldn’t just watch any more. She wasn’t exactly deadly in close combat, and the third near miss from that disturbingly-familiar sword was an excellent reminder of that fact. It was a good thing she worked out. 

Lack of expertise aside, the three of them slowly forced Shadow Weaver back, closer and closer to the edge of the roof. Six stories down was a long fall. Shadow Weaver snarled, and the sword blade dimmed. That was all the warning they got before a miniature nova of dark magic exploded out from the sorceress, hurling Adora and Melog back. But not Catra. The darkness lifted Catra up in a painfully familiar scene, but this time Catra was ready for it. She slashed through the crushing magic with her claws and hit the gravel in a combat stance. 

Shadow Weaver was still faster. Her skeletal fingers dug into the back of Catra’s neck and hauled her up, the blade of the sword meeting her throat. The world went still. 

“That’s better,” Shadow Weaver said smugly. 

“If you hurt her, I will scatter your soul to the winds,” Adora said, the words bubbling up unbidden from places unknown. “The charred remnants of your being will never know peace. Chased to the ends of the cosmos, always on the barest edge of rest but never finding it. And if you do somehow find existence again, I will still be hunting you. We will. And you will wish you had made a different choice today.” 

“An eloquent threat,” Shadow Weaver replied. “One that belongs to another place and time, one might guess?” Her eyes twisted in satisfaction. “I have a simpler one for you. Submit yourself to me, submit She-Ra to me, or she dies and spends eternity in agony. Because of you.” 

“Don’t!” Catra snarled, desperate fear and anger bleeding into her voice. “You know what she’ll do! She doesn’t have the power without you.” 

“It’s true,” Shadow Weaver said, unbothered. “I had hoped this trinket would provide the raw energy I needed for my purposes, but it failed me. That’s why I needed to separate you from the meddlers.” 

Adora met Catra’s eyes. In them, she found pain, fear, grief, and worst of all, calm calculation. Catra nodded imperceptibly, and Adora heard her voice. You’re my tether. 

“I’m sorry,” Adora said, her voice catching in her throat. “I’m so sorry.” 

Catra squeezed her eyes shut. Adora took a shaking breath, and gathered every scrap of power left to her. She looked Shadow Weaver straight in the eye. And golden light split the sky. 

When the world settled, Adora found herself standing over Shadow Weaver’s crumpled form. Catra was nowhere in sight. The sword lay beside her, and Adora bent down to wrap her hands around the hilt. It fit in her palm like it was meant to be there. Power coursed up her arm, through her body. From the heart, she spoke. 

“For the Honor of Grayskull!” 

Shadow Weaver blinked groggily, and found herself staring up at a figure bedecked in shining golden armor bearing an azure blade. A blade leveled at her throat. 

“Shadow Weaver,” She-Ra said. “You sought to destroy the very fabric of this plane. Etheria will not stand this transgression.” 

Even in the face of the power of a god, Shadow Weaver sneered. “Banish me, then. I will return even stronger. You cannot deny me the power I deserve.” 

She-Ra furrowed her eyebrows. “Power can be many things. It should be given, honored, and relinquished. But never deserved.” 

Shadow Weaver scoffed, but her disrespect was cut short when She-Ra knelt down in front of her. 

“It’s all you have ever sought, isn’t it? Power, and nothing else,” She-Ra said. Shadow Weaver didn’t bother denying it. “Then it is time for you to have none.” 

Shadow Weaver tried to flee, but she was trapped between the edge of the roof behind her and the ancient power in front of her. There was nothing she could do when She-Ra ripped her mask from her face and cast it over the side of the building to shatter on the distant concrete. She-Ra showed no revulsion or fear at the scarred mass of flesh that was Shadow Weaver’s face, even when she planted her sword in the gravel to lay her hands on the sides of the greater demon’s head. 

Power that was as old as the world itself did battle with the twisted darkness inside Shadow Weaver’s soul, a stain that had nothing to do with her demonic nature. The war lasted an eternity and a heartbeat, but the outcome was inevitable. It was She-Ra’s purpose, after all. 

She-Ra released her grip on Shadow Weaver, whose eyes danced around wildly for an instant before she let out an agonized scream. 

“Your power is gone,” She-Ra said. “And nothing you do will ever return it to you. I leave you to the mercy of those you wronged.” 

The ones left, that is. The thought struck Adora like a red-hot lance, and She-Ra flickered out. She barely had the presence of mind to grab the sword as she staggered away, towards the stairs leading off of the roof. Melog followed her, lost and confused. Adora hauled the door closed and locked it. She would tell the SIS about Shadow Weaver so they could take her into custody, but later. Her knees gave out, and she sank down against the cold metal, the sword lying forgotten beside her. 

Melog watched the closed door, and Adora’s heart broke for the hundredth time when she realized that they were waiting for her. Waiting for Catra.

“I’m sorry,” Adora whispered. “She’s- she’s not coming.” 

For a moment, Adora wasn’t sure if they had understood her. Blue eyes met blue, and Melog shrank. The anguished yowl they released into the world gave voice to the grief both people were drowning under even as it shook the screws in the door handle. Adora surged forward and pulled Melog close, her tears soaking their fur. 

“God, I’m so sorry,” she said as she wept. She said it over and over, to Melog, to Angella, to Catra. To herself. But most of all to Catra. Catra, who she’d failed. The world was still standing, and it didn’t mean a damned thing in the face of what Adora had lost to do it. 

Bow and Glimmer found her there hours later, which explained where Melog had eventually disappeared to after... After the fight. The hellcat remained small, fragile. Just like Adora. That wasn’t quite right. ‘Fragile’ implied that it was easy to break something. Adora was already broken. Her friends wrapped her in warmth and comforting words, and coaxed her out of the structurally-unsound building into the winter night. They passed SIS agents loading Shadow Weaver into a van, paramedics treating bite wounds, and Frosta directing search teams with terrifying fervor as they cleared the building of the other survivors. The pair sandwiched Adora into the backseat of the Moon family car, Micah casting a worried glance back at her from the driver’s seat. She hardly noticed the car starting, and the drive passed in a blur. She’d barely processed the fact that they were moving when Bow and Glimmer pretty much carried her into the Moon mansion, stopping only to lose their shoes on the way to the guest room. They helped lay Adora down on the bed, where Melog hopped up to nuzzle her face.

“I lost her,” Adora said. “I lost them both.” 

Glimmer looked momentarily stricken, but she recovered quickly. “My mom will be back. She's said she would before if anything happened, and I have to believe her. But no matter what happens, she wouldn’t want you to blame yourself.” 

Adora didn’t have the energy to argue. She just rolled over and crushed Melog to her chest. The hellcat bore the contact with perfect stoicism, going so far as to rub their head against the bottom of Adora’s chin with a comforting purr. 

“I think I need to be alone,” Adora whispered. “Please.” 

The hesitation from both Bow and Glimmer told Adora that neither of them were enthusiastic about that idea, but she didn’t care. She was exhausted, the kind of bone-deep, soul-deep fatigue she knew she would never shake. Melog purred in time with her heartbeat, and the awful hope present in the sound threatened fresh tears. Their person was dead, or at least gone. From what Adora had gleaned, Catra and Melog had been inseparable for their entire lives. Adora had met Catra not even two months ago. And Melog was comforting her. Guilt devoured itself in her stomach until the blessed blankness of sleep took her. 

She awoke to the sound of purring, and for a twisted moment she thought that yesterday had been a bad dream. But it was only Melog, vibrating loud enough for a dozen lions. They looked a little bigger than last night. Adora just felt smaller. But she hauled herself out of bed anyway and tugged on her clothes. She might as well make herself useful. 

“Absolutely not,” Glimmer said, accosting Adora before she could sneak out the front door to go, well, anywhere. It was Saturday, so Adora couldn't exactly go to work. But she needed to be somewhere else. Somewhere that didn’t remind her of Catra. “Micah made breakfast for everyone, and we’re not leaving you alone today.” 

The gleam in Glimmer’s eye, combined with her real cheer, gave Adora pause. A single candle of hope fluttered to life above her sternum, and she allowed herself to be led back into the kitchen. 

“Hello, Adora.”

Angella sat at the kitchen table, in all her angelic, domestic glory. She was halfway through cutting up a piece of bacon with a fork and knife, and the radiant smile she gave Adora sent sunrays cascading through the dreary December morning. 

“You did it,” Adora breathed. “I didn’t think-” 

“There are no greater tethers than those you love,” Angella replied, her eyes falling on Glimmer and Micah in turn. Her expression fell a moment later. “I heard about Catra. She may yet return.” Adora went pale, and had to lean against the doorframe to stay upright. “She is strong, Adora. She might just need a little help.” 

“How?” Adora demanded, her voice strong for the first time in what felt like decades. “What- what do I have to do?” 

“You have to hold onto your hope,” Angella replied. “You have to believe that she found enough love in this world to return to it. I saw her soul. I believe that she did. Believe for her. In her. I know you can, Adora. You have so much love to give. Don’t let the fear of loss take that away from you.” 

Bow crossed the room to hand her a plate of waffles, sneaking in a hug when she took the food automatically. Her mind was all grinding gears and guilt, and a spark, just a spark, of hope. Guilt that she’d given up, that she might have already consigned Catra to oblivion. But she felt hope too, and as she took a bite of the food Micah had made to welcome his wife home, she felt that spark burst into sputtering flame. 

“I won’t,” Adora said with the power of an oath. She somehow managed a smile, small as it was. “I’m glad you…” 

“So am I,” Angella replied. “So am I.” 

Glimmer and Bow planted Adora on the big fluffy couch in the mansion’s TV room for the day. They kept the snacks and bad TV coming all day, and while the distraction didn’t completely work, Adora was grateful anyway. It was easier to coax her burning hope to life if she didn’t think too hard about the other possibility, and drowning the day in mundanity helped more than Adora ever would have thought. The sun slipped under the horizon again, and Adora’s thoughts turned back to Catra. Bow noticed, of course. 

“Is there anything else we can do?” he asked gently as Adora began to fold in on herself. 

Adora shrugged. “You already did,” she said. “I think… I think I want to sleep at my place tonight. Familiarity, you know?” 

Bow nodded. “If you’re sure. Do you want us to grab some sleeping bags and stay with you?” 

Adora shook her head. “I’m alright.” 

“Okay,” Bow said without judgment. “We’ll give you a ride. We’ll have to pick up your car sometime before it gets towed.” 

Melog decided they hadn’t been receiving nearly enough attention and mrowed loudly. They pointed their nose at the front door, strangely eager to leave. Adora hauled herself off of the couch, muscles and skin and bones all aching with the aftereffects of everything she’d done the day before. The sword was safely stowed in the guest room, and she retrieved it before following Bow and Glimmer outside. It was the first week of December, and the skeletal gray branches of the trees lining the boulevard felt ghoulishly out of place. 

“We really need some snow,” Glimmer said. Adora could only nod. 

All four of them piled into Glimmer’s car. Melog decided that the upholstery was beneath them, instead curling up on Adora’s lap for the short drive. Streetlights cast pools of liquid light on the street that passed in metronome time, almost mesmerizing. It was the kind of quiet beauty that Adora suspected Catra enjoyed, even if she would never admit it. The peace of the drive passed quickly, and soon Glimmer was slapping the car into park in front of Adora’s apartment building. 

“You sure you’re fine alone?” Bow asked one more time. 

“I won’t be,” Adora said, glancing down at the hellcat by her side. Melog had been glued to her side ever since bringing Bow and Glimmer back to the SIS headquarters. Adora hadn’t even been allowed to pee in peace. The constant companionship was a salve on her burns in a way she couldn’t understand, much less explain to her friends. 

“Ah,” Bow said. “We’ll see you tomorrow then. We love you, Adora. If you need anything, just let us know.” 

“Literally anything,” Glimmer agreed. 

Adora’s breath hitched. “Love you too.” She headed into her building before they saw the sudden tears leaking from her eyes. Melog raised a questioning mrow, but she just shook her head at them. Some things didn’t make sense in verbal form. 

She unlocked her apartment and hung up her jacket, traitor eyes noting the empty hook where Catra had hung hers only a handful of times. She pulled off her boots and sat down heavily on her bed, her huge, empty, cold bed that no amount of blankets or pillows could fill. She stood back up almost immediately and busied herself brushing her teeth and getting ready for bed, if only to delay the inevitable. She almost pulled on pajamas, but there was no point now, and she always ran hot. Catra had enjoyed that. 

Adora hit the light switches all the way back to bed and laid down. Melog wiggled under the blanket next to her, happy to leech off of her heat, and the presence helped slow Adora’s racing mind, even if it was no substitute for what she’d lost. No one else could fill the Catra-shaped hole in Adora’s life, and she wouldn’t want them to anyway. Catra deserved more than that. 

As her eyes fell shut, Adora brought all of their memories to the front of her mind. The awkward first meeting, the date, the morning after, every silly little hour they’d spent together even in the midst of so much chaos and fear. Catching pixies, eating pizza, listening to music as they drove, complaining about the weather, every meaningless moment that meant more now than Adora could ever put into words. She held them all in her mind, a beacon of hope and happiness and- 

And love. She could admit that now, in the privacy of her mind. Catra was the missing puzzle piece, the last brushstroke of Adora that took her from a common portrait into a work of art. 

Now Adora just had to hope that Catra felt the same way. 

Death didn’t hurt, exactly. It didn’t feel like much of anything. As Catra’s soul tumbled down through the space between the world and the stars, she found it strangely peaceful. The peace of emptiness. Once, Catra would have embraced that feeling. Back when she’d been full of nothing but rage, pain, and confusion. Confusion at why the universe had dealt her the cards it had. She hadn’t known what she’d done to deserve so much pain, and she still didn’t. She just didn’t need to know anymore, because it didn’t matter. Those cards didn’t define her anymore, and as she fell, she found the emptiness to be more terrifying than an eternity of pain. 

She clawed at nothing, tearing long gashes in the void around her. Memories spilled in, sounds and smells and images of her life, moving too fast for anyone who hadn’t lived them to decipher. Catra kept fighting, ripping those gashes larger and larger even as some of her worst memories poured through. They hurt, because of course they did, but she needed them anyway. They were a part of her, every scar, every mistake, just as much as the good times were. 

And she found those too. Evenings wasted laying on Lonnie’s couch, eating good food with good company. Crazy experiments in Entrapta’s lab, watching her robots clean up the aftermath and listening to the mad scientist babble notes into her recorder. Melog’s steady presence through it all, offering silent, often surly, support, but support nonetheless. And Adora. 

Catra’s claws froze at the first hint of Adora, because they were the first good memories that still hurt. They held so much promise, so much possibility, and Catra didn’t know. She didn’t know if she was strong enough to make those possibilities a reality, and the thought of letting them slip away gouged at Catra’s ethereal heart. 

She kept going. She owed it to Adora not to hide from this. Not to let go without giving it her best shot. She clawed at the void over and over, letting every memory drown her in sensation and emotion alike. Catra bore it all, and as the flow petered out, she sensed something. Something new, something bright, something real. And, like a moth to a distant bonfire, she rose. It was quite simply inevitable. 

Adora awoke to purring again, and fur tickling her nose. The memories the sound spurred didn’t hurt quite so much this time. She wasn’t ready to face the day just yet though, so she just hugged Melog tighter. Wow, they’d really grown since last night. The vibrating weight draped across her ankles registered a moment later. 

Her eyes snapped open, but her brain still refused to process the sight in front of her. Dark, tousled hair with two fuzzy ears peeking out, one squished up against the pillow, the other relaxed in sleep. The apparition snuggled up against Adora’s body and let out a contented sigh between her purrs. 

Adora’s voice broke. “Catra?” 

The apparition oozed around in Adora’s arms to face her, luminous mismatched eyes bare inches from Adora’s.

“Hey Adora,” Catra mumbled, her voice thick with sleep. She blinked slowly once, then shot awake. “Adora?” 

The force, the honest surprise and something that could only be sudden joy in Catra’s voice broke through Adora’s shock. 

“You came back,” Adora whispered, her awe matching Catra’s only two days before. 

“Always, princess,” Catra rumbled. Her eyes danced down to Adora’s lips for an unmistakable instant, and she inched forward, a glowing question evident. Adora stopped wasting time. She smoothly crossed the distance, giving Catra all the time in the world to pull back. But she didn’t, and their lips joined in a kiss no less powerful for being gentle, uncertain, and disbelieving. It was everything Adora had dared to hope for, even when the hope was at its most dangerous. Here, getting to hold Catra again, meant that it had all been worth it. Catra was here, and that was the only thing that mattered, in any world. 

Outside the tiny apartment, silent snowflakes lazily drifted through the air, at long last bringing beauty to the stark gray city. Neither of them noticed, of course. How could they, when they had each other?

Chapter Text

They spent the morning in quiet bliss, carefully discovering one another as they basked in the emotion neither of them yet had the courage to name. That didn’t matter, because they both knew. They found it in every gentle touch, every moment lost in the other’s eyes, every single breath. Absorbed in their own world of relief and joy, neither one was expecting the tentative knock on the door. 

“Adora?” 

It was Glimmer, sounding more apprehensive, more fearful than Adora could ever remember. Catra was fast asleep beside her, purring while she clung to Adora. Adora tried to reach for her phone to text Glimmer that she was fine, that everything was fine. But the nightstand was on the other side of the bed, and no power in the universe could have forced Adora to disturb Catra at that moment. 

“I’m gonna let myself in, okay?” Glimmer announced, and the thought of Glimmer respecting a boundary nearly sent Adora into a fit of giggles that definitely would have woken Catra. Through valiant effort she suppressed the laughter and preemptively put a finger to her lips as the door creaked open. Pink hair peeked in first, followed by Glimmer’s nervous eyes. Her gaze fell upon the bed. 

Glimmer’s eyes became saucer-sized, and her mouth fell open hard enough it should have made a popping sound. She inhaled, probably about to screech something that Adora could hardly even blame her for, but then processed Adora’s gesture for silence. 

Adora mouthed ‘later’, which Glimmer replied with an eyeroll and ‘you fucking better’. Glimmer eased back out of the apartment and locked it behind her with hardly a sound. Catra snorfled and snuggled deeper into Adora’s arms, and she fit like she belonged there. Then again, she did.

Whatever Catra had done to return to Etheria had clearly exhausted her, because she slept for most of the day. It wasn’t until evening rolled around that she stretched luxuriously and hopped out of bed. 

“Hungry,” she informed Adora before padding into the bathroom. Melog echoed her stretch at the bottom of the bed and headed for the kitchen. Adora was in fact capable of learning from her mistakes, and darted past the hellcat before they could ransack her kitchen again. She distracted them with a plate of sausage before quickly whipping up a pair of paninis. She had snuck out to make breakfast for herself around noon before creeping back into bed with Catra, so she was only very hungry rather than desperate. 

Adora yelped when Catra rested her chin on Adora’s shoulder. Catra giggled and wrapped her arms around Adora’s waist. 

“Those smell delicious,” she said. “Mine?” 

“Yours,” Adora agreed, and she wasn’t just talking about the sandwich. 

“Good,” Catra purred, making it clear she understood exactly what Adora was saying. She took the offered plate and sat down cautiously at the kitchen table. She ran a finger down the grain of the wood for a moment before she shook herself. 

“Everything good?” Adora asked as she joined her. 

“Fine,” Catra said. “Just… getting used to having a body again.” She swallowed, sudden fear in her eyes. “How long?”

“Today is Sunday,” Adora replied. “How long did you think you were gone?”

Catra looked away. Tears crept into the corners of her eyes. “Longer,” was all she said. She took a bite of the panini and closed her eyes in an expression of pure rapture. When she opened them, they were radiant. “Thank you, Adora. For pulling me back.” 

Adora struggled to speak around the lump in her throat. “Thank you for coming back.” 

They wrapped up the makeshift meal soon after, neither one willing to be more than a few feet from the other. Honestly, Adora was pretty sure that the only time some part of Catra wasn’t brushing up against her skin was when Catra took a shower. 

“We should probably go to the Moon mansion,” Adora said reluctantly. “I think people were pretty worried about me, and you. Also Glimmer showed up here this morning and she’ll probably come back with a bomb if we don’t report in soon.” 

Catra snorted. “God forbid.” She unhooked her leather jacket from the hook by the door, and Adora didn’t even question its existence. It was the third or fourth most unbelievable thing she’d seen in the past few days, anyway. Catra glanced over her shoulder and held out one hand as she tugged her jacket on. “You coming?” 

Her soft smile, the tip of one fang peeking out of her lips, ears relaxed, poured enough joy to fill an ocean into Adora’s heart. 

Adora probably should have expected something like this from Glimmer. She was just glad that Glimmer had been thoughtful enough to keep the noise-generating parts of her surprise party to a minimum. Still, Catra was clearly a little overwhelmed when she and Adora walked into the Moon mansion living room and found Micah, Bow, Glimmer, and Angella all waiting for them. Even more surprising was the other four people lounging in extra armchairs that must have been brought in just for the occasion. Adora recognized Entrapta, Kyle, and Rogelio, which meant that the fourth member of the crew must be the nigh-mythical Lonnie. 

Just how Glimmer had pulled all of this off in barely eight hours was a mystery for the ages. She’d met Kyle once, and somehow that had turned into every single Etherian friend Catra seemed to have showing up at a mansion on barely five hours notice. Forget the sorcery. This was Glimmer’s real magical talent. 

“The fuck?” was Catra’s strangled response as the front door clicked shut behind her. “Lonnie?” 

“Catra,” Lonnie replied, wry amusement seemingly embedded in her features. “Welcome back.” 

Catra just stared at the crowd of grinning goons. Well, most of them were grinning. Entrapta was tapping away on a laptop and Rogelio appeared to be napping, but everyone else was smiling like fools. 

Adora was only just starting to get nervous when Catra shook her head and stalked up to the coffee table. “You’re all idiots, just for the record. I was gone for a day.” 

Adora held her tongue. If Catra wanted to play off getting blasted to the shadow realm by indiscriminate She-Ra magic as ‘gone for a day’ like she’d missed her flight or something, Adora wasn’t going to say anything to the contrary. 

Everyone was kinda staring, which Adora knew Catra didn’t enjoy. Adora steered the stunned feline to the conspicuously-open space on the couch and sat her down, one arm around her shoulder. Catra sank into Adora’s side with a quiet purr, and Adora made a wavy gesture at the rest of the room with her free hand. The message was clear: stop being weird and staring. 

Everyone seemed to pick that up, and the room bubbled into a half-dozen light conversations all at once. Catra visibly relaxed, and her tail coiled around Adora’s wrist. 

“Come on, I know you want some of that pizza.”

“Pizza?! Where?”

Catra rolled her eyes. “Kitchen, obviously. That nose of yours must be defective.” 

Adora huffed. “Sorry I don’t have super-senses like you.” 

“Overrated,” Catra said as they got up and ambled through the first floor of the mansion to get to the food. “You’re fine the way you are.”

“‘Fine’, wow. It kinda sounds like you like me,” Adora teased. “How embarrassing.”

“Pffff, no. I do not like you. You’re maybe tolerable. Don’t push it.”

Adora just smiled to herself. Hard not to. For the first time in what felt like months, everything was okay. No one was kidnapped or being hunted, the world wasn’t about to end, and Catra was here. So she smiled and basked in the moment for once, with no regard for the future. That could wait until tomorrow. 

Adora woke up the next day to a text from her manager. She read it quickly, then again. Her heart leapt into overdrive, cold sweat broke out across her skin, and she nearly drowned under a wave of nausea. She laid there, frozen, a sleeping Catra half-draped across her chest. Her eyes were locked on her phone screen, where a few short sentences threatened to shatter her life. 

It had only been a few missed days. Her friends had all insisted it would be fine, and she’d believed them. They should have been right. But they weren’t, and Adora was now unemployed with no plan, no money, and a whole heap of panic. 

Catra twitched and lifted her head, blinking sleep out of her luminous eyes. 

“Adora?” When Adora didn’t reply, Catra’s brow creased. “I can hear your heart racing. What’s wrong?”

Adora’s throat was too tight to speak, but Catra followed her gaze and gently lifted the phone out of her hand. Catra’s eyes scanned the screen, then narrowed. Adora felt the claws of Catra’s other hand flex against her back. A low growl vibrated deep in Catra’s chest, and for the briefest moment Adora thought Catra was angry at her. 

“Fucking Light Hope,” Catra snarled, no less intense for its low volume. 

“What?” Adora said, voice shaky. 

“This is her punishing you for disobeying her,” Catra said. “She’s just like Shadow Weaver.” Catra seemed to catch herself, and cooled it long enough to pull Adora’s gaze to her. “Hey, you’re gonna be fine. It’s just a job. If they’re gonna fire you over text they didn’t deserve you anyway.” 

Adora finally managed to suck down a full breath. “I don’t- I don’t know what to do.” 

Catra burrowed into Adora’s chest, somehow understanding that the contact would help ground her. “Can’t say I’m an expert on finding a job,” she murmured with just enough irony to make Adora smile. “But you’ve got Bow and Glimmer. You’ve got Angella, Micah… me.” The strength in her voice surprised Adora, and finally she moved her arms to embrace Catra, holding her tight. “You’ll be okay. You faced down a greater demon three days ago. Finding a job can’t be harder than that.” 

“You’d be surprised,” Adora said with a soft chuckle. 

Catra pressed a kiss to her cheek and she melted, her head sagging back into the pillow. She heard Catra set the phone on the nightstand so she could use her other arm to pull herself even closer. 

“One positive here,” she mumbled into Adora’s collarbone. “Now you don’t have to go into work today.” 

Adora managed to laugh. “Don’t you?”

“Naw,” Catra replied. “Not until later.” She paused. “Business has been pretty good recently, even ignoring the Shadow Weaver stuff.” 

“That’s good,” Adora said, mostly as a way to distract herself. 

Catra jumped to another topic, maybe sensing that need. “You were pretty handy with the pixies.” 

“That was honestly kinda fun,” Adora agreed, one hand ghosting up to scratch behind one of Catra’s sinfully-soft ears. 

Catra grumbled but pushed her head into the contact. “Seems like you figured out She-Ra. Lotta magical tricks and shit you keep pulling out.” 

Adora glanced over at the sword leaning against the wall behind the front door. “Yeah, I guess.” Catra growled, and this time Adora was pretty sure it was directed at her. “Sorry?” 

Catra rolled her eyes. “God, you really are oblivious.” She inhaled, and the next words came out slow. “I’ve been thinking about expanding my business.” 

Adora smiled. “That’s great!” Genuine happiness started to replace the pounding anxiety that had taken root in her stomach. “But uh, what does that mean? Like, a new building? The shop is a little uh, creepy.” 

“I figure the vibe fits,” Catra said with a smirk. “And no, that- wow.” She freed one hand to run through her hair before poking the tip of Adora’s nose with one claw. “Adora.” 

Adora rubbed her nose. “What?”

“Do you want to help me with weird shit around Bright Moon until you find another job?” 

Adora stared at her, speechless. Her mouth fell open, and it took her long enough to think of a reply that Catra looked away, her ears falling. 

“Or not if that’s weird.” She shifted like she was about to get out of bed.

“Yes!” Adora squeaked. Catra froze. “I mean, yeah, that sounds really great. If you’re sure, of course. I don’t want to impose or anything. Or-”

Catra quieted her with a kiss. “Of course it’s fine, dummy. I wouldn’t have offered if it wasn’t.” She snuggled back in. 

“Thank you,” Adora said, a little more composed. “And… sorry for freaking out. I know it’s not a big deal-” 

“Hey,” Catra interrupted. “It is a big deal. Your ex-mentor light spirit just got you fired from the first real job you ever had.” 

“Yeah, and you died a few days ago.”

“And? That doesn’t cancel out this. You’re allowed to feel bad about bad shit, even if someone else has it worse.” 

Adora swallowed, her throat suddenly tight again. “I know that.” 

“Uh-huh.”

She needed a distraction again. “So uh, what do I need to do? You know, for the job. Is there a timesheet or a uniform or…”

Catra cackled. “You’re such an idiot.” 

Adora peered over Catra’s shoulder at the inside of the shop later that day. “So like, you don’t actually sell anything, right? I don’t have to do retail?”

“Fuck no. That part’s Kyle’s job. Also we sell like three things a week. And he wouldn’t know the difference between a ghoul and an alghoul. No, Kyle stays behind the counter.”

Adora also didn’t know the difference between a ghoul and an alghoul, so she kept her mouth shut. It was odd to be back here, in all honesty. She’d popped in that first day only because she’d heard the shop might have a handy ingredient. Now she was walking back in as an employee, sort of, with a beautiful woman at her side. With Catra at her side. Well, in front of her at the moment. 

Anyway, Adora was floating on an oddly heady mixture of joy, disbelief, nerves, and excitement. She could pretend those emotions were linked to the whiplash of the changes in her uh, employment situation, but that lie was thoroughly squashed every time her gaze fell upon Catra’s relaxed ears and gently twitching tail. Adora knew perfectly well what the true source of her feelings was. And she wouldn’t have it any other way. 

“Huh,” Catra said as she checked the computer behind the counter. “Speaking of ghouls, you up for a little midnight jaunt tonight?” 

“Where to?” Adora replied, matching Catra’s light tone. 

“Cemetery on 4th and Paine,” Catra replied. “Should be an interesting first job for you. See how She-Ra matches up against something with even more claws than me.” 

“Looking forward to it already!”

Catra laughed. “You’re such a dork, Adora.” She turned towards the back of the shop. “Kyle! Get out here.”

Adora wasn’t surprised when Rogelio peeked his head out of the back after Kyle sheepishly took his place behind the counter. She was surprised to hear Lonnie, still out of sight, cursing Catra with truly staggering creativity. Catra just folded her arms over her chest and waited it out. 

“-the fuck are you doing here this early anyway?” Lonnie finally settled on. “It’s not even noon.”

“This one-” Catra hooked a thumb at Adora “-starts vibrating if she hasn’t completed a task by eleven. Also she works for me now.” 

Lonnie revealed herself and snorted. “I bet she does.” 

Adora blushed and gave her an awkward smile. She couldn’t exactly deny it. If Catra asked her to walk a tightrope over a pit of cobras, she would probably just ask how long.  

“That’s great!” Kyle exclaimed. “Catra really likes you, and so we all do too.” 

Catra groaned. “Really, Kyle?” 

He went bright pink, but the grin never left his face. Rogelio and Lonnie laughed long and hard. 

“You guys are the worst,” Catra muttered. 

“Hey, when do we get to go back to that mansion?” Kyle asked brightly. “That place was cool. ” Rogelio hissed something about politeness that made Kyle’s pink shade deepen to red. “Sorry!”

“I don’t know,” Adora said with a smile, hoping to alleviate some of his embarrassment. “But it doesn’t take much to convince Glimmer to throw a party, and any friend of Catra’s is a friend of mine.” 

“Sap,” Catra grumbled, but the way her tail brushed Adora’s hip revealed the truth. 

“Huh,” was all Lonnie said. The thoughtfulness was a little alarming. “Catra, you coming over tonight for dinner?” 

Catra glanced back at Adora. “That cool with you?”

“Go ahead,” Adora offered. “I can meet you there or at your place later.” 

Catra rolled her eyes. “No, dummy. Do you want to come?”

Adora blinked and looked at Lonnie. “Uhhh…”

“I don’t care,” Lonnie said. 

“You might,” Catra said. “She eats enough for three people.”

“Don’t forget Melog,” Adora said. 

“Been a while since you brought them around,” Lonnie said. 

Catra squinted at Lonnie. “I don’t really bring them anywhere. I can’t even make them get out of bed if they don’t want to.”

“I mean, if I were your cat I wouldn’t listen to you either,” Lonnie replied. 

“I get no respect,” Catra muttered. “Fine, yes, I’ll ask if they want to come. We can all be one big happy family.”

Kyle made very Bow-esque heart eyes at that, even with the sarcasm. Rogelio looked quietly touched, and for once Lonnie didn’t make fun. 

“Great,” she said. “We woulda missed you.”

As usual, Catra clearly had no idea what to do with all the sincerity. 

“I think Catra was gonna show me around the shop,” Adora said. Catra flashed her a grateful smile for the smooth exit from the conversation. 

“Assuming you three didn’t make a mess,” Catra drawled. 

“You never noticed before,” was Lonnie’s only response. 

Hours later, bellies comfortably full of homemade cooking, hearts sated by lazy conversation, the pair ambled down the snow-covered street, nightfall making an early appearance in time with the season. Adora had parked far away, but neither minded the extra walk. They simply basked in the presence of one another amidst the drooping branches heavy with gleaming snow and the soft pools of light cast by intermittent streetlamps. They strode through the silence of the aftermath of the first snowfall and hardly noticed the world at all, close to one another as they were. Each held within them a feeling they weren’t yet ready to speak aloud, but that didn’t bother them. They both knew it would happen one day. 

It was quite simply inevitable.