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Adora has gotten used to defeating the Horde. It felt weird attacking the symbol (and the people) she has attributed to her home for her entire life, but it was easy to push that aside when she saw them actively destroying innocent towns and villages. No matter what, she would fight the Horde for as long as she needed to in order to keep the people of Etheria safe.
That was what Adora was doing right now — fighting the Horde to keep the people of Etheria safe.
The Horde had organised a mass attack on multiple villages at once, and Angella, while reluctant to send her daughter and her daughter’s friends out fighting, wasn’t here anymore. That means her daughter and her daughter’s friends were out fighting.
That’s where they were right now, Adora, Bow, Glimmer, and Frosta (who had insisted on coming along), fighting against Catra’s force of Horde soldiers.
The battle was strenuous, and you could tell the Horde had been training for this. Usually it was easy to catch them off guard, but they seemed to be adapting to the Princesses’ fighting styles.
Adora, who had since transformed into She-Ra (but would still refer to herself as ‘Adora), knew this was going to be a tough fight as she had already exerted so much energy and Catra hadn’t even shown up yet. A part of her wondered that maybe this wasn’t Catra’s force and it was just a distraction — but she knew that wasn’t the case. She could see Lonnie and Rogelio fighting against Frosta a good few metres away, and if they were here, so was Catra.
Adora had just finished knocking a Horde soldier away and to the ground when another started coming at her from the left. She swung her sword around in a warning-arc before making contact with the Horde soldier’s shield.
Her sword glanced off the metal as the soldier twisted, so she resorted to using the flat of her blade to bring down against the soldier’s helmet, rendering them unconscious. She felt bad whenever she had to do that, but the other option would be allowing that to happen to herself.
She was only granted a few moments of breath before another attacker came onto her — this time in the form of claws digging into her back.
She knew it was coming, but still shivered when she heard it.
“Hey, Adora.” Catra purred into her ear.
There was something off about her voice, but Adora didn’t linger on it, instead she whirled around sharply, sending Catra flying off of her back and onto the ground. Catra recovered almost instantly, bouncing back up onto her feet with a smirk on her face. It looked different.
“I see you’ve missed me.” Catra began running towards her and Adora lifted her sword in front of her to block the incoming attack. Catra dashed to the side and landed a punch to Adora’s side.
It didn’t do anything but make her angry.
Adora snarled and pushed forward, driving Catra back with the threat of her sword (never the actual blade of it). Catra stumbled back. Her foot shifted. Adora didn’t realise it was a feint until Catra was already on her shoulders’, claws digging in so she could propel herself up and over Adora’s head.
Adora turned around to watch her run back to the Horde ship.
It confused her that she was retreating until she took in the state of the village around her. Despite the fact that half of the village was destroyed, the Horde soldiers still around seemed to be struggling with the princesses, which was a major shift from how they were operating before.
They all seemed to be retreating now, the unconscious soldiers being carried back to the ship by their squadmates.
Adora was ready to just stand back and watch them leave, done with the fighting for the day. Frosta had other ideas.
Catra was on the edge of the Horde ship, barking orders from the railings. She was balancing on a low rung, which would’ve been precarious if not for her feline agility. That must’ve been why Frosta thought it was safe enough to crash a block of ice into her (unable to contain the urge to fight, even though they were retreating).
Adora viewed it in slow motion as the ice crashed into Catra’s unsuspecting side, knocking her off balance and off the side of the ship.
She fell down about 20 feet, landing in a heap of fur.
None of the retreating Horde soldiers noticed their captain fall by the front of the ship, already having moved past where her body now is and into the ship.
Adora wouldn’t have worried, Catra’s always been tough. Adora shouldn’t have worried for her enemy, but right now she wasn’t moving.
Everyone with the Princesses were almost 100 metres away from the Horde. Adora shouldn’t have done anything. But Catra still wasn’t moving. And the Horde ship had just started to.
Adora wasn’t aware of her legs moving until she was already halfway to Catra’s motionless (from this distance) body. She wasn’t aware of the shouts from her friends until she was already kneeling next to Catra’s body.
Adora (not She-Ra, for she had transformed back without realising), shook Catra with a hand on her shoulder.
Catra stirred, mumbling incoherently.
Adora rolled Catra’s body so she was lying on her back instead of her side, where she had previously been lying.
“Catra, are you okay?” Adora whispered.
Catra groaned. “Think— I think my leg’s broken.”
Adora’s eyes widened. “Oh, gods— here, let me help you—”
Catra batted Adora’s helping hand away.
“I’m fine, princess.” She grunted out, sitting up.
Adora scoffed. “Don’t be difficult right now.”
Catra squared her jaw.
Catra looked serious. Her eyes were deep set, and she looked tired. More tired than usual. She looked older. That’s when Adora realised—
“You cut off your kitten fur?”
Catra blanched, hand instinctively reaching up to where the tufts of fur under her ears used to be. She stammered, “I grew out of it.”
Adora loved her kitten fur. She used to play with it all the time back in the Horde, usually when she was stressed or restless. Catra loved when she did that, Adora thought. She was thrown back into the present when she noticed Catra trying to stand up, but hissing whenever her knee straightened.
The Horde ship was slow, it had only moved about 50 metres away when it stopped, noticing the missing Horde captain. The doors didn’t open just yet.
“I don’t think your leg is broken, I think your knee is just dislocated. I can put it back in place if you let me.” Adora urged, conscious of the fact that a team of Horde soldiers would soon be exiting the ship.
Catra huffed at her, staring in a (what she thought was) menacing manner. Eventually:
“Fine.”
Adora held her arm up to Catra’s mouth. “Bite down.”
Catra glared at her like she was crazy.
Adora elaborated; “Unless you want to bite your tongue off.”
Catra nodded, hesitant, and bit down lightly on Adora’s sleeve. She twitched as Adora placed one hand on the side of her knee.
“Brace yourself, okay?” Adora whispered. “When I push, you straighten your leg, okay?”
Catra nodded.
“Five, four, three, two—”
Adora pushed Catra’s knee into place as Catra bit down hard on Adora’s arm, her fangs sinking in sharply. Almost immediately she retracted herself from Adora’s arm—
“Shit, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bite you that hard.” Catra panicked, grabbing Adora’s arm to inspect. Blood had begun to pool out of two small puncture marks.
“It’s okay.” Adora hissed, “I asked you to.”
Adora inspected Catra’s knee, she was right. She had hoped that the shock of the unexpected pain would make Catra’s leg jerk straight as a reflex, and it had.
The Horde ship’s doors opened with a shk-thunk.
Adora placed a slightly-bleeding arm underneath Catra’s knees, and the other around her shoulders. She lifted her with an effort that was slightly impressive and slightly embarrassing (to/for Catra).
“Are you taking me back to the Horde, or kidnapping me?” Catra asked. She wrapped her arms around Adora’s neck, despite the fact they were still enemies right now. Adora ignored it for Catra’s sake.
“What would you want me to do?”
Catra went silent for longer than Adora expected.
“Catra?”
Catra blinked. “The— the Horde. Obviously.”
“Doesn’t seem obvious.”
Adora looked up and noticed a few Horde soldiers standing about 20 metres away from her. They were shocked-still, probably due to the sight of their Captain curled up in Adora’s arms.
Catra shuffled in her arms.
Adora turned her back to the Horde soldiers.
“If you don’t want to go back with the Horde, tell me.”
“Wha— Of course I want to go back to the Horde! And even if I didn’t, I wouldn’t go with you. You hate me.”
Adora furrowed her brow. “Hate you? I could never hate you.”
“Don’t lie.” Catra scoffed. “I know what I’ve done to you. I’d hate me if I was in your position.”
“I know you don’t want to hear this, but you’re still my best friend, Catra. I mean it when I say I could never hate you.” Adora moved her hand from Catra’s shoulder to the side of her face, cupping her jaw.
Catra flinched, but didn’t move away. “Just… take me back.”
Adora sighed (internally) and spun on her heel. She said nothing when Catra tucked her head into Adora’s neck. She caught up to and walked past the Horde soldiers.
“She dislocated her knee.” She said as an explanation (and in lieu of an explanation as to why that meant she had to carry her in her arms).
The Horde soldiers faulted in their movements but eventually kicked back into gear and began walking back to the ship. Adora (and Catra) made it there first, and waited a couple seconds for the soldiers to come and open the door for them.
The door opened up with a shk-thunk. Adora walked up the ramp and set Catra down where the ground flattened out.
There was still something about Catra that looked off to Adora. She knew what it was, even if Catra denied it. She didn’t want to be here. The Horde was killing her.
“Would you turn into She-Ra for a second?” Catra mumbled.
Adora blinked, confused, but complied.
When she was in her She-Ra form, Catra just stared at her.
“Okay, you can change back.” Catra said after a few seconds.
Adora complied. “What was that for?”
Catra shrugged. “Just making sure you still follow my orders.”
Translation: Your arm was still bleeding. She-Ra healed it.
“Now get out, or we’re taking you back to the Fright Zone.” Catra snarled.
A dozen Horde soldiers stood to attention, aiming their electric spears at Adora. Adora took the glaringly obvious hint and backed out of the Horde ship.
Catra’s eyes pierced hers the entire time.
I’ll save you one day, Catra. I’ll get you out of there. I promise.
—
“What on earth was that for, Adora?” Glimmer screeched upon Adora’s return. “We defeated them! Why’d you go back?”
“Catra was hurt, and no one was helping her.” Adora defended, despite knowing that none of the Princesses would understand.
“You know she’s our enemy right—?”
“Yes, of course I do!”
“—so why are you always acting like you’re in love with her?”
Glimmer’s words landed like a slap across her face.
Adora stepped back. Instinctively.
“I’m sor—”
“Don’t talk to me like you know her. Or how we used to be.” Adora ground out, hands fisted at her side.
Glimmer blinked. “I— I didn’t mean anything by it— what do you mean ‘how you used to be’?”
Adora blanched. Did she say that? She didn’t mean to say that. “I didn’t mean that. C’mon, let’s just go now.”
“Wait, wait, wait— you and Catra? Used to—?” Glimmer pestered.
Adora squared her jaw. “Drop it. Let’s go.”
Adora stormed away and just hoped the others were following her.
Adora didn’t know why she had just gotten so angry so quickly. Maybe it’s because that’s the closest she’s been to Catra, in a civil manner, for years now, and it was just taken away from her. Maybe it’s because Adora saw something in Catra, something restless and unsatisfied, and she knew she had to save her. It was probably a mix of the two.
Bow caught up to her. “You know, it’s okay if you… still have feelings for her. Just so long as they don’t get in the way of the mission.”
“I don’t have feelings for her.” Adora said, wiping away an angry tear that had managed to slip out. “Not the kind you’re thinking of at least.”
—
Bow didn’t say anything about feelings the day that Adora saved Catra. She’s glad he didn’t, but she could see it in his face (and Glimmer’s) that they knew.