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“Hey Adora!” Adora’s blond ponytail brushed past her shoulder as she turned her head towards the door where she heard Catra calling from. She stood up from her chair where she was sitting, reading, and placed her book down carefully to avoid losing her page.
“What is it Catra?” she called out to her… friend? She wasn’t sure how to refer to Catra now that they’d said “I love you.” They’d stolen their fair share of gentle kisses and definitely gotten comfortable living together, but they hadn’t officially talked labels just yet. She started towards the door curious to see what her darker haired companion had found.
Adora entered the kitchen to see Catra standing over an opened cardboard box, strips of tape and cardboard strewn haphazardly across the table. “You know we do have scissors somewhere around here.”
Catra shrugged, throwing a wink in Adora’s direction. “Who needs those when you have these?” She wiggled her fingers in Adora’s face showing off her dark claws. Adora merely rolled her eyes in response.
“What’s in the box?”
“See for yourself. Entrapta sent over some things from her lab. I guess she’s cleaning up the place and wanted to see if you wanted any of this stuff.” Catra continued digging throw the contents of the package. She pulled out a robotic looking mouse and shrieked in surprise when it flashed a bright purple light upon being moved. “Honestly looks like a bunch of junk to me, but you never know what she’s up to.”
Upon further inspection, Adora noticed on the side of the box, written in a messy scrawl, were the words “She-ra stuff.” She also noticed that the package seemed to be addressed to her, not Catra. She let out a small sigh. “Catra, why did you open my package?”
Now it was Catra’s turn to roll her eyes. “Come on, Adora. We live together! Your stuff is my stuff, your packages are my packages, whatever.” She paused, “plus it’s not like any of this is important. We might as well just toss it.”
Before Catra had the chance to take the box back, Adora reached her hand out. “Wait, Catra! We don’t even know what’s in there. Even if it is all junk, don’t you think we should at least go through and make sure there’s nothing dangerous? After all, Entrapta tends to be a bit… chaotic with her experimentations and if there’s anything hazardous we want to make sure it gets disposed of properly.”
Catra backed off, pushing the box across the table towards her roommate. “Alright princess, do what you have to do.”
Adora smiled. “You know, if you think about it - this is our first mission since the war with Horde Prime ended.”
“First - what? What are you talking about?”
Adora’s smile widened. “We need to get prepared!” Adora reached up in a dramatic show and stated in a loud, clear tone, “for the honor of Grayskull!”
Catra rolled her eyes in an exaggerated fashion but Adora didn’t miss the smirk that crept onto her friend’s face. Catra stifled a laugh. “You are ridiculous.
Adora frowned. “No, I’m She-Ra!” sending the two into a laughing fit. Catra turned and left the room, shaking her head slightly at how ridiculous Adora was acting, but secretly flooded with a warm feeling. Adora was right. The war with Horde Prime was over, magic was restored to Etheria, all of the territories and princesses seemed to be on good terms, and she and Adora were finally together again. She sat down on her favorite chair in the house, tossing an open book aside - “what a nerd” - and closed her eyes to get some rest. Nothing could ruin her mood.
Catra had just managed to doze off, curled up on her comfy chair, sunlight casting a warm glow over her back, when she suddenly jumped up. She thought she’d heard a strange noise coming from the kitchen. Immediately, Catra was on high alert. If someone had come in and attacked Adora, she didn’t know if she’d be able to control herself around them.
“Adora?” She called out hesitantly before approaching the slightly ajar door leading to the pair’s kitchen. Right as she was about to reach out to swing the door open, it just about smacked her in the face opening from the inside. She jumped backwards, landing on the floor and saw Adora walking towards her, still in She-Ra form. “Hey, what are you -” Catra trailed off as she lifted her eyes towards her friend’s face, noticing her shining red eyes. “Shit.” Catra leaped into action, rolling to the side to avoid Adora’s sword swinging down at her previous location, and managed to get on her feet, but She-Ra was right behind her. Despite Catra’s speed, she struggled to get away. “Why do you have to be so tall?” It really wasn’t fair.
Catra knew she would never win a fight against She-Ra, especially in her current state, in such a tight space. Their home together wasn’t necessarily small, but the rooms were cozy and homely rather than spacious and grand. Catra needed to be able to play sneaky and have an escape route planned, knowing that she’d never win a fight like this through brute strength.
As she ran and jumped, she heard the front door slam open behind her and terror flooded through her. She had only seen She-Ra like this once before, and she hadn’t calmed down until her sword was taken away and she hadn’t seemed to recognize any of her friends until that point either. She couldn’t talk her way out of this no matter how badly she wanted to. Catra knew she had to fight.
Her catlike instincts helped her dodge most of the attacks She-Ra threw at her, but she struggled to strategize and take in her surroundings while also trying to avoid the giant sword thrusting towards her seemingly every five seconds, and she had no idea how to go about taking her down - especially since she couldn’t bear to hurt Adora. Not after… Catra’s head filled with thoughts of their lips connecting and the sweet, irresistible scent that seemed to naturally waft from the blond’s skin. In her moment of distraction, Catra let down her guard and She-Ra tackled her to the ground, raising her sword into the air. Catra looked around in a panic, trying to see if there was anything on the ground around her that she could use to fight her off and grabbed hold of a decently long stick that had fallen from a nearby tree. Just in time, she swung it in front of her chest, blocking the sword. Catra was using all of her strength to push against the larger fighter and knew that neither she nor the stick would be strong enough to get She-Ra off of her. Despite knowing that Adora couldn’t hear her, not infected like she was now, Catra also knew that she had to try. She was lying flat on her back under She-Ra and was frankly out of other options.
“Adora, please. Adora I know you’re in there, I know you don’t want to hurt me. Please, just put down the sword.” Catra tried to keep her tone steady as to not set off She-Ra to push harder or attack again, but inside the girl was terrified of what might happen.
“Adora?” A high pitched voice called out from down the path. “Catra?”
Catra recognized the voice of Glimmer, one of the Ethirean princess and one of Adora’s closest friends. “A bit of help over here Sparkles!” Catra called out, hoping that Glimmer could teleport over and help her fend off She-Ra with her magic. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could hold out.
In a flash of pink light, Glimmer appeared next to them. “Catra, what’s -”
The moment Glimmer started speaking, She-Ra let some of the strength she was using to push against Catra go as she turned towards the newcomer. Catra took the opportunity to slip away and scurried up a nearby tree to catch her breath. Glimmer let out a squeal as She-Ra faced her, sword in hand. Glimmer teleported around, easily dodging She-Ra’s attacks, but the warrior didn’t let up. “Catra - what - happened - why - is - Adora - infected?” Her words came out between flashes as she continued to teleport around the yard.
“I don’t know, just help me get the sword!” Catra shouted back. Glimmer nodded as her face filled with a determined glow.
“I can keep her distracted following me around teleporting if you can find an opportunity to tackle her. Then we can use both try to pull the sword away from her together.”
Catra nodded, and then realized that Glimmer was preoccupied and not looking in her direction while she had been speaking. “Right, that works.” Catra narrowed her eyes, watching the Glimmer flicker in and out with She-Ra turning wildly to try to face her. She waited for her opportunity to strike and then -
Using all of the strength she could muster, Catra pounced down from the tree straight onto She-Ra’s chest and knocked her to the ground. Glimmer popped in right by She-Ra’s sword and grabbed onto it, pulling with all her strength. Adora’s face tightened as she struggled to keep the sword in her hand, seeming to also be using all of her strength. Catra leaned over, placing one hand on the other side of Adora’s neck and using her body weight to keep her down. She shifted her weight and used her other hand to pry Adora’s fingers off of the sword and hoped that the two of them would be strong enough to disarm her.
As Adora’s final finger was peeled from the hilt of the sword, Glimmer tumbled backwards bringing the large blade with her. Immediately upon being disconnected from the sword, the red light faded out of Adora’s eyes, returning them to their usual blue-grey and the form of She-Ra dissipated. Adora parted her lips as if to say something before promptly falling unconscious. Catra turned around and saw an empty-handed Glimmer sitting upright in the grass. “What did you do with the sword?”
Glimmer looked around in surprise, as if she hadn’t realized she wasn’t holding it. “It’s gone.” Her face morphed from confusion to realization. “I guess because the she only has the sword as She-Ra now and we distracted her by taking it, it’s gone.”
Catra glanced back at the sleeping Adora and realized that she was still sitting on her, legs straddled over her waist. She jumped up and Glimmer let out a small laugh before turning serious again.
“Catra, seriously though. What happened? What did you do?”
Catra whipped around, a hiss forming in her throat. “What do I do? You are never going to trust me, are you Sparkles? Come on, I mean - you think I wanted this to happen?”
Glimmer’s eyes softened, and Catra felt a sudden hand against her back as she teleported over to her newfound friend. “Catra, I’m sorry. You know that’s not what I meant.”
Catra relaxed, feeling embarrassed at how quick she was to anger. “I know,” she muttered softly. “It’s just that - you and Adora are so close and have spent so much time together and sometimes I still get jealous that you… I don’t know, replaced me, or something.” She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts and hide the heat rising to her cheeks. “Whatever, it’s stupid. I’m just new to this whole friendship thing, and I know how you all must think of me after everything I did.”
Glimmer smiled oddly. “Catra.” She paused for emphasis. “You know Adora is like, in love with you right? I don’t think anyone could possibly replace you in her mind.” Catra buried her face in her hands, as if trying to hide from the conversation they were currently involved in, but Glimmer didn’t stop there. “And Catra?” Catra opened her fingers slightly, to reveal her bright yellow eye looking in Glimmer’s direction. “Of course I trust you.”
At hearing this, Catra ripped her hands away and interrupted Glimmer. “What do you mean, of course? I kidnapped you, I hurt you, I hurt your friends, I fought against you time after time. You don’t have to lie to make me feel better, Sparkles, I’ll be just fine without your pity.” Bitterness crept into her voice, but she wasn’t mad at Glimmer. Not really. She was mad at herself for doing all of those horrible things, embarrassed of who she’d been, and regretting every second of her time spent with Hordak, Shadow Weaver, and beyond.
But Glimmer wasn’t backing down. “Yes, Catra. You did those things. And I forgive you.”
Catra started at the pink haired princess in shock. “You can’t forgive me, Sparkles. I didn’t even apologize.” And I don’t deserve it, either, she thought to herself.
Wordlessly, Glimmer stepped towards Catra and pulled her into a hug. She thought about pulling away - after all, Catra wasn’t much of a hugger - but she had to admit. It was kind of comforting. They stayed like that for a few seconds before Glimmer released her. “I’m surprised you actually let me do that.” Glimmer joked, but Catra’s expression showed more vulnerability. “Catra.” Glimmer paused again. “You risked your life to save me back on Prime’s ship. If you hadn’t…” She trailed off, shuddering at the thought of what could have happened if Catra hadn’t let her out of her cell and contacted Adora and Bow to find her in space. “I know you have a good heart, even if I couldn’t see it until then.”
“Oh, come on. It wasn’t - ugh. Thank you, Glimmer.” Her words came out quietly, but Glimmer gave a genuine smile. Glimmer could tell she tried to pass it off as if it was nothing, but they both knew what Catra had gone through after she had been rescued, leaving her there alone with Horde Prime.
“You’re welcome, Catra.”
“You guysss are being such cute friends righhh now. I love you both.”
Catra and Glimmer glanced at Adora, who who still lying on the ground but was now awake. “We gotta get her back inside,” Catra stated.
“On it.”
Glimmer grabbed Catra’s hand and then Adora’s, and teleported them into the living room.
“Catraaa! Glimmerrr! Are we having a party?” Catra glared at her. This was going to be a long day.
After teleporting back inside, Catra and Glimmer had tried contacting Entrapta, but they hadn’t been able to reach her. “We don’t need Entrapta, we just have to destroy the crystal. It must be in the package she sent.” Why Entrapta would have sent a crystal that could corrupt Adora’s powers to her, was a question for another time. The two had checked the box, emptying out it’s contents and honestly making a mess in the process, but to no avail. There was no crystal.
They had tried asking Adora - “Hey Adora, where did you put the crystal that you found earlier?” - but Adora had gone on and on about how “Glimmer, your name isn’t Crystal, it’s Glimmer! But they both sound suuuper sparklyyyy.” She was useless in the search.
“Ugh!” Catra sounded exasperated. “Okay,” she conceded. “Maybe we do need Entrapta.”
Their plan was for Glimmer to go out and find Entrapta, while Catra stayed back to babysit Adora. Catra had groaned initially at the thought of having to spend the rest of the day with Adora in this state, but it made more sense for Glimmer to go out since she could teleport. And, secretly, she couldn’t help but think about how adorable her friend was with no inhibitions. Adorable, but exhausting. She just had to make it long enough for Glimmer to get back without losing Adora, who kept trying to escape, or dying of cuteness overload at her blond friend’s behavior.
The two had shared a brief planning session, contemplating where Entrapta might be. “She just sent this package to us because she’s cleaning out her lab. That thing is a maze. She must still be there cleaning.”
“Or, she finished cleaning the lab and throwing away a bunch of stuff and now she has no reason to be there anymore.” Glimmer’s pink hair was wrapped tight around her finger as she wrapped and unwrapped it nervously.
“Okay. So here’s what we do. You go find Entrapta - start at the lab and see if you can find her there. Maybe grab Bow and see if he can bring some tracker device that could help you find her. If she’s not there, then… I don’t know, just think of somewhere else she would be and go there.”
“That’s a horrible plan.” Glimmer looked thoughtful. “I’ll do it.”
“Good luck, Sparkles.”
“Ugh, you called me Glimmer earlier! I thought we were past this.”
“Don’t push it, Sparkles.”
“Catraaaa,” Adora called out in a singsongy tone. A small smile crept onto Catra’s face.
“Yes, Adora?”
Adora giggled, an adorable giggle, that turned into a bit of a snort at the end. “Did I ever tell you how much I like you?”
Catra felt a blush rise to her cheeks. “I think you may have said something like that before.”
Silence filled the air, as Adora processed Catra’s words.
“Catraaaa,” Adora called out again.
“Yes, Adora?” She couldn’t help but smile.
Another giggle. “Do you like me tooooo?”
Catra rolled her eyes and laughed slightly, walking over to where Adora was resting on the couch and sitting down next to her. “Yes, Adora. I like you too.”
“That’s nice.” Another laugh. “Your hair is so messy.”
Catra huffed. “That’s only because I had to fight you, Adora. It looked better this morning, I swear.”
Adora frowned, her mouth turning downwards in an overexaggerated fashion. “Catraaaa, why would you fight meeee? I’m SHE-RA.” She emphasized the name “She-Ra” as if to highlight this fact in case Catra had forgotten. Before she gave the other girl time to respond, she continued. “That’s kinda mean, Catraaaa.” Her frown turned to a pout, shoving her lip outwards and turning her chin to the side to turn away from her friend.
Catra shoved aside her feelings at being called mean by Adora, knowing that as much as Adora was out of it, having no idea what had happened before the sword was taken from her, that there was truth to her words. Catra, at times, had been known to be a bit, well, mean and she hated that Adora would still think of her that way even in a time like this. Instead of getting upset or defensive, she just sighed, turning Adora’s face back towards her and gently pushing the hair out of her face with a gentle thumb. “Sorry, princess.” Her voice was soft as she studied the blond’s facial features. Her face was relaxed, far more so that Catra had ever seen it up close and her eyes were barely open as her grey-blue eyes met her own bright blue and yellow ones. Catra could hear the soft airflow of Adora’s breath, peaceful and even, and wondered if she were close to falling asleep.
“Catraaaa?” She sounded, if possible, even more out of it than before.
“Yes, Adora?”
“I think I really do love you, you know?” Her words sounded slightly less slurred, but she started to trail off, ending so quietly that Catra could hardly make them out, even sitting right next to the other girl’s head.
Catra felt a purr rise in her throat. How could she be so fucking cute right now? “I love you too, dummy,” she purred softly, her words falling upon deaf ears. Adora had fallen asleep. Catra pressed a gentle kiss against Adora’s forehead and grabbed her a blanket, tucking her in on their couch.
The remainder of time Catra spent with Adora alternated between Adora being the cutest, and most ridiculous, girl on the planet or Etheria, and being the biggest menace Catra had ever known. When awake, Adora wandered around the house, picking up random objects and commenting on them, before dropping them on the floor and going to look at something else. She would seem to have all the energy of a hyperactive puppy and then switch off practically falling to the floor every time. Catra was doing her best to pick up after her, following her around the house and trying to put things away and diving to catch Adora so she would fall into her arms rather than onto the ground. She couldn’t bear to see Adora get hurt.
She wasn’t sure what was taking Glimmer so long - “can’t she just teleport to Entrapta’s location, and then teleport them back here? This should have taken all of 5 minutes” - but the sparkly princess had not yet returned, even as the sun was beginning to set over the land. Then again, Catra still wasn’t totally sure how Glimmer’s power actually worked. Maybe it wasn’t that simple if she didn’t know where Entrapta actually was. Either way, she hoped they’d be back soon. She was starting to get tired, but somehow didn’t believe that Adora would be quite on her usual sleep schedule at this time.
Just as Catra sat down on the chair to relax, Adora took off in one swift motion running full speed towards the front door. “Adora!” Catra called after her, but to no avail.
Groaning internally, Catra leaped from her chair and out the door after her. Catra was, at least, faster than Adora on her feet, but the taller girl had a head start on her and Catra had to sprint to gain ground on her. She tried calling after her a few times, and once Adora did turn her head to exclaim “Woohoo, we’re running!” Attempts at communication were clearly still useless.
When Catra finally did catch up, she tackled Adora to the ground, once again sitting on her chest, really hoping she wouldn’t try to fight back. Adora stared up at her, a stupid smile on her face. “You’re sooo fast Catraaaa.”
Catra fought to catch her breath. “Yes - Adora - I - am,” she managed, agreeing. “Now, let’s head back inside.”
Adora laughed. “Okaaayyy Catra, lead the way.”
Adora did follow Catra for part of the way - or at least, she walked on her own while Catra held her hand and dragged her along behind her - before collapsing into the grass. Catra looked wearily at Adora’s limp body and approached, squatting down and throwing Adora over her shoulder to the best of her ability.
She woke up briefly once, singing out “Catraaaa” once again.
“Yes, Adora?”
Silence.
“Did you fall asleep again?”
Laughter. “Nooo, Catraa.”
“Do you need something?”
More laughter. “I just like saying your name.” A giggle escaped her lips again. “Catra, Cat-ra, Cat-RA, Cat-” she fell silent again and Catra felt her snoring directly into her ear.
Now the two were back inside again and Adora had woken back up. Luckily for Catra, she seemed to be calmer now, sitting on the floor pretending to draw with her finger on the carpet. Her ponytail had fallen from the top of her head down to the base of her neck, chunks of blond hair framing her face and strands sticking out all over the rest of her head. Catra knelt down behind Adora and pulled her hair tie out, causing the remainder of the hair to fall over her shoulders. She gently ran her fingers through the tangled pieces and began braiding her hair into two braids, the front pieces being too short to reach into a single thicker braid. Adora giggled again, letting her friend know that the hair on her neck was tickling her, but didn’t protest. She did, however, make it difficult for Catra to finish the job, leaning her entire body weight against Catra’s chest using her as the back part of a chair. When Catra had finished, she used the hair tie that had been in Adora’s ponytail to tie both braids together. She didn’t trust Adora in this state to leave her to grab a second hair tie, and she was worried Adora would simply flop over to the floor if she tried to move anyway. Catra cradled her gently and Adora turned her head to bury her face in Catra’s arms, eliciting a purr from Catra, before falling asleep in that position. Against her better judgement, Catra felt her eyelids closing in exhaustion and rested her chin over the side of Adora’s head allowing herself to drift off into a light sleep as well. At least the close contact would ensure that if Adora moved, she’d wake up too.
“Adora? Catra?”
“Are they dead? Tell me they’re not dead!”
Catra cracked her eyes open, waking up upon hearing the voices of her friends. She rolled her eyes at the princess’s question. “Why would we be dead?”
“I don’t know! It was just so quiet in here, and you were both sitting on the floor all slumped over!”
All of a sudden Catra became acutely aware of the closeness of her and Adora and felt awkward having Glimmer and Bow staring at them. She gently removed Adora’s head from her chest and laid her on the floor, blushing. “Where’s Entrapta? I thought you were bringing her back here to destroy the crystal.”
Glimmer gave her a puzzled look. “I did. She’s-” Glimmer turned around to gesture towards their tech genius friend and noticed she wasn’t there. “I guess she went to find the crystal.”
As if on cue, Entrapta called from the kitchen. “Found it!”
Catra and Glimmer glanced at each other, and entered the kitchen to confirm for themselves that it was properly destroyed and disposed of. “Entrapta. Why did you send Adora a crystal that corrupts her?”
“Oh! Was that in the box that I sent you? I forgot I had another one of these things! I guess I must have thrown it into my ‘She-Ra’ box because it relates to She-Ra. And then I sent the box to Adora, because she’s She-Ra. That makes sense to me!” Entrapta seemed to completely miss why this was an issue, but Catra could follow her logic. The crystal did have to do with She-Ra. She sighed.
“Well, get rid of it and put Adora back to normal. Dumb princess decided to transform into She-Ra form to go through a box of junk and got herself infected.”
“I was going to ask about that - with She-Ra’s original First Ones’ sword destroyed, I didn’t know she could still get infected. Does that mean… When She-Ra transforms and gets her new sword, she’s creating authentic First Ones tech out of thin air! I always theorized that it must just be a replica, or an extension of herself - ooh, but she is a First One, isn’t she? Maybe it is an extension of herself. I can’t even begin to imagine the implications of this on physics, or even magic -”
“Entrapta!” Catra really needed the purple haired princess to stop rambling. “The crystal?”
“Right, yes, the crystal.” Entrapta picked up the shining red gemstone and simply snapped it in half. “Everything should be all back to normal now!”
“Great. And Entrapta?”
“Mhm?”
“No more of those disks please. Okay?”
“Deal.”
“Catra?”
A soft voice called from the living room of their house. Bow and Catra turned toward the door and entered the living room to find Adora sitting upright on the couch, her face scrunched in confusion and body hunched over slightly with her elbows propping her up against her knees. Glimmer had gone to bring Entrapta back to Beast Island, which is apparently where she’d been exploring since cleaning out her lab back home. According to Entrapta, since the war with Horde Prime ended and She-Ra and the princesses had restored and repaired the magic of the land, the creatures of Beast Island had become peaceful and given Entrapta much to learn about how they functioned.
“Bow? What are you doing here?” Adora barely finished her question as Catra practically knocked her to the floor, embracing her in a huge hug.
“Adora!” Catra let out a purr. “You’re back to normal!”
“Back to… what are you talking about? What happened?” Her eyebrows tightened as she strained to remember the events from the day. “Did I get sick again?” Adora looked suddenly panicked. “I didn’t know I could get sick anymore. I thought Scorpia destroyed the crystal that did this when we were in the Northern Reach forever ago! Catra, is there something new that can do this? We have to find it and destroy it!” Adora sounded determined, but she had an exhausted glaze over her eyes.
“Calm down, Adora. Entrapta found another one of those crystals, but she destroyed it. Everything’s fine now, Glimmer’s taking her back home.” Catra rubbed her hand on Adora’s back soothingly.
Adora lifted her hand to the back of her neck, surprised she didn’t feel her hair moving when Catra had touched her. “Catra, did you… did you braid my hair?”
Catra regretted fixing her hair after the ponytail started slipping. This was so embarrassing, especially in front of Bow. “Don’t make a big deal out of it; your ponytail was slipping out and I didn’t want you strangling yourself with your hair.”
“Aw, that is so cute!” Bow emphasized the last word, his voice squeaking slightly.
“I am not CUTE!” Catra shot back.
“I don’t know, Catra. You are pretty cute.” Adora said to her friend, throwing a quick wink at Bow.
“Not you too,” Catra looked defeated.
“Wait, did you say Glimmer was here too? And Entrapta?”
Catra nodded in response.
“How long was I… how long was I sick for?”
Catra let out a small laugh. “It’s been a long day, Adora.”
“And you stayed with me the whole time? What, just like, watching me?”
“Someone had to do it.”
“Ha - I knew you liked me.”
“Oh, please, Adora. I do not like you.” She softened, the humorous tone exiting her voice. “I love you, you big dummy.”