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"I'll be back before anyone knows I'm gone." — Those were the last words Adora have said to her and it was yesterday. She was supposed to be back long time ago, but there was no sign of her. More to this, everyone knew that she's gone. Catra was the only one who knew where she went but there was no way that she's gonna tell this to Shadow Weaver. Adora wanted her to cover for her so that's what she's going to do. Even if she's worried. Really worried.
At first she wanted to track her from a safe distance, just to be sure that there's nothing dangerous out there. Maybe she should just go after her, without asking, or go with her anyway. But of course she had to stay and cover for her and now Adora can be anywhere and in danger or hurt or even dead and Catra can't do anything about it. Not until Shadow Weaver says something.
Everyone was asking her if she knows where Adora could go and the answer was the same — "I have no idea." It was a lie of course. Adora went to Whispering Woods on her own, without any weapon or probably even a skiff. Catra could only imagine how many weird things was hiding in there. She tried not to panic and act normal, like she doesn't care. But deep inside she wanted to just go and search for her on her own.
Adora wasn't weak, she was strong and smart in fight but she was out there alone. And Catra was getting more and more scared. After many years in the Horde she learned to hide her emotions from the others, because according to everyone it made her weak and vulnerable. Even if somethimes she would disagree with this, she wasn't the one to decide.
It took Shadow Weaver way too long for Catra's liking to finally locate Adora and when she did, the feline tried not to ask if she's okay and not hurt. Instead she acted like it doesn't matter but when it was on her shoulders to get Adora back to the Horde, she had to bite her tounge to not say something stupid out loud.
They were supposed to attack Thaymor and Catra couldn't care less about the mission when her only goal was to find Adora safe and sound. This was all she could think about while getting ready. What if it will be too late when they get there? God knows, what are they doing to a Horde soldier back there. Maybe they're torturing her or killing slowly because she doesn't want to talk. Because of course Adora wouldn't want to talk.
She should be happy right now, Shadow Weaver send her to a real mission, outside of Fright Zone with other soldies, her first true mission. But she couldn't feel happy when Adora was in possible danger. It was hard not to show her feelings about it, pretend like she doesn't care. The truth was that all Catra could think about was Adora and all the possibilities.
Somethimes she acted cold, somethimes she was pushing her away but she always cared about Adora. She couldn't show it, but she cared. This girl was basically everything to her, her only true best friend. If anything happened to her back in Whispering Woods she was ready to kill everyone who was responsible for it, no matter how many people it could be. She would drag down whole armies for Adora.
The closer they got, the more scared Catra became. She was ready to see a lot of things but if anything really happened to Adora and if she will have to see her lifeless body — it would probably lead to her own death. Inside of the tank that she was in, alone, she could let herself bit down on her lower lip, looking around in searching of any sign of Adora. She had to be somewhere here. Shadow Weaver told her that she's here. She had to be there.
Once they arrived to the town, the attack started right away. Tanks and skiffs shooting left and right but not her. She was just driving straight into the middle, searching for Adora in panic. People were running away and she didn't care if anyone of them was hurt, all she wanted was her best friend back.
Finally she saw this stupid puffy ponytail running straight into her tank and she stepped on the break as hard as she could. Adora was alive. She didn't have to think twice and opened the roof of the machine, getting out of it right away to jump into Adora.
"Adora, are you okay?!" She screamed, landing on the ground and starting to examine her body with her eyes almost immediately, looking for any injuries.
"Catra? What are you doing here? What is this?" Adora answered but half of the words just flew past her. She just couldn't pretend any longer, wrapping her hands around the blonde, hugging her as hard as she was able to. Adora was visibly confused but hugged her back. "I'm okay." She said finally.
"I was so scared, you have no idea. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have listen to you and go with you. Did they do something to you? Did anyone hurt you? I'll kill anyone who kidnapped you, I promise. I'll take you home and no one will hurt you ever again, I promise." She was talking so fast, hugging Adora even harder with her every word. Catra even let a few tears run down her cheeks.
But then Adora pulled back, getting out of her arms and Catra was confused as hell. The blonde looked at her seriously and she knew that something was wrong.
"I can't go back to the Horde." She said looking away at the soldiers attacking the civilian town. "Not after all those things I've seen. This is wrong, Catra. We're not the good guys here. Look around, it's a normal town, why are we attacking it?"
Catra was lost, but she couldn't look away from Adora, not after so many hours of worrying about her.
"Shadow Weaver said that this is the place where they're holding you hostage. We're here to save you." After those words, the blonde finally looked back at her, and Catra could see way too many emotions in her eyes. Too many different things that she couldn't name yet.
"Horde is lying. I wasn't even held hostage... okay maybe just for a while but they didn't do anything wrong, no one hurt me. Shadow Weaver manipulated us all the time. Listen, I saw what the Horde is doing to towns like this. There's no military bases, it's all one big lie and manipulation, we can't go back there." Now Adora was the one that was talking really fast and Catra really needed a minute to understand things.
She always knew that Shadow Weaver is a bad person, she's been manipulating them since they were kinds, messing with their heads. Sure, some things seemed weird for being 'good guys' but that's what they've been telling them since forever. But this all wasn't looking good.
The feline girl looked around. They were supposed to just get Adora and come back, but there was fire everywhere. People running around in terror, children crying. Adora was right. This is not what good guys do. Deep inside she always knew that the Horde is bad but now she finally got it on a plate. And with that look on Adora's face there was no reason to deny it.
"If I'll come back without you, Shadow Weaver's gonna kill me for real this time." Catra tried to laugh about it but the truth was that she was scared once again. Adora couldn't really leave, right? She wouldn't leave her alone, she promised that she'll never do it.
"So stay with me, Catra." The blonde girl said, grabbing Catra's hand in her own. Their eyes meet and the whole battlefield dissapeared. "You don't have to go back there. We don't have to go back there. It's not too late to make things right, we can fight it. But I can't do this alone, so please, stay with me."
And Catra really wanted to just simply agree but nothing about it was simple. Shadow Weaver already moved the whole Horde to search for Adora and she will find her eventually, she already did. They could run, but never hide.
"Shadow Weaver will find us, you know that she will. You're the force captain, you're somehow important to her and if we'll run away, she will find us. Maybe not today or tomorrow but she won't give up." Catra said, thousands of voices in her head. Milion versions of future, most of them bad. "And when she will..."
"The Rebelion will help us, they won't let her hurt us, I won't let her hurt you ever again." Adora took a step closer, her other hand also reaching out to hold Catra's. "Besides, it doesn't matter what they do to us. You look out for me and I look out for you. Nothing really bad can happen as long as we have each other, remember? I know it sounds crazy, but I've seen enough during those few hours and I can't go back. I also can't let you come back there alone, so stay with me. We can finally be free. We can be happy. Together."
Catra looked down on their hands locked together. Her heart was beating way to fast but it was okay. Everything was okay because Adora was safe. Finally she smiled lightly and squeezed their hands a little harder. After a minute of silent, she found Adora's eyes once again and laughed softly.
"Of course I'll stay with you, dummy. If that's what you want to do, I'm going with you. There's no way, I'm letting you do anything alone after yesterday, you have no idea how scared I was." She tried to sound neutral, but when the blinde quickly disconnected their hands and hugged her so thight, Catra might've lost breath, she failed.
Wide smile appeared on her face, silent purr growing slowly in her chest, while Adora literally lifted her up happily.
"I was so scared that you'll say no. I promise, Shadow Weaver won't do a thing to us. I found something in the Woods that will help us with this. I met someone and they will help us too, we'll make this work, I promise." She cried out, holding Catra close to herself.
"How could I say no to you? I'm your best friend, idiot. You can't get rid of me so easily." The catgirl laughed and Adora finally put her down, briging their foreheads together instead.
"Wanna see what I found out there?" Adora smiled at her and Catra just nodded, letting the taller girl drag her through the entire battlefield just to find a girl with some sparkly hair and a guy with a bow.
She had no idea, what tomorrow will look like, but it didn't matter. Adora was safe and she was with her, ready to protect her best friend with her own life. And when Adora said this stupid phrase 'for the honor of Grayskull', Catra knew that they will be fine now. Maybe the Rebelion won't be that bad, but even if they're going to sleep alone in the middle of Whispering Woods, everything will be fine. Because they'll be together.
All the guilt about letting Adora go alone in the night finally dissapeared. She was safe, she was okay, she even had her stupid sword now. She had no idea how it worked, but she had it and it was cool. Fuck Shadow Weaver, they'll be okay.
Adora found her from afar and smiled lightly to her.
That's when Catra always wakes up crying.