Chapter Text
Thursday, August 16th
His hand shook as he grabbed his phone. There were a lot of messages and a couple of missed calls. All from her. They were supposed to game tonight.
She was probably a little mad he flaked. Had he really flaked? There was no way he could have ever predicted talking to the girl from the hallway. That the girl would have known.
He had to call her. He had to. They were gonna game online tonight. He'd promised. He'd never broken a promise to her. Not once. Not ever. Not until tonight. It was important to her. An MMO. Him? Who would have ever thought it? Fighting games, sure. Shooters, of course. But she'd pouted at him. Asked him. Wanted him to play Masters of the Universe with her.
It was her game. Based on her favorite show. She'd always loved those heroic, romantic stories. She'd always dreamed of being the warrior princess, slaying demons and dragons. He'd always loved her fantasy worlds. Her secret dreams. He'd always loved that she shared them with him.
He'd always been quietly aware there was one secret he'd never shared with her.
He'd never hoped for and dreamed of anything. Not like her. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. He just knew he had his family and he had her. He had his friends. He didn't have his purpose. He didn't know what he was supposed to dream of or hope for.
As she always had, she'd invited him into her world and he'd caved, just like he always did. He was going to play an MMO. He was even going to subscribe to it for her.
He'd talked a big game, too. About how good he was at games, but he knew she would kick his ass at it. She always did. She was amazing like that. Amazing enough to understand him backing out tonight? Amazing enough he could talk to her when he didn't know what words were and he didn't know what he was feeling. Or not feeling.
He had to tell her now, didn't he? He'd wanted to, so many times. But he'd kept the secret so long that it felt trapped in his chest. Saying she was real, saying she was really gone, admitting it in words...
Even telling Teela was too much. Too many emotions he couldn't name. Too many desperate hopes. Too much guilt for being the one who got to stay. So much loss for a girl he'd never met - grief for a girl who had supposed to have been the person at his side from day one.
He staggered over to his bed, away from his computer. Away from the conversation with Catra - the magicat with the mismatched eyes. The girl he'd knocked over in the hallway. The girl he'd seen around but never spoken to.
The first time they'd talked, she'd known the secret he'd never uttered aloud to anyone.
He sat on his unmade bed, the phone in his hand. His Mom had tried, but he'd never managed to remember to make his bed. He didn't see the point, but it meant something to his Mom. He really should try harder at it.
It rang three times before she picked up.
"Hey you! There you are! Let me guess? You got distracted and have to finish that paper I told you to just write at lunch?"
Adam swallowed. His throat was dry, his mouth was dry, his nerves were jangling like he'd jabbed his finger in a live socket. His head was swimming and he could still hear Catra's voice telling him she was in the hospital. She was alive. She had been found. Maybe.
He could still feel Catra saying 'tomorrow.'
"Yeah. No. Umm...I'm not - I'm not - "
His voice choked. His words vanished as a sob he hadn't known was waiting pushed up and came out in a sound he hadn't known he could make anymore. He sniffed, wiping his eyes.
"Adam! Adam, babe, talk to me! Are you okay? Adam!"
Teela's worry - near panic - grounded him just enough. He got his voice back, hoarse and raspy and threatening another sob he didn't want to resist. His heart was pounding in his chest.
"My sister. I...I - I have a sister..."
Teela let out a long slow breath, more confused than ever. "Adam...you're not making any sense. I'm gonna call your Mom, okay? Just - breathe for me?"
Adam laughed, and somehow the absurdity of her calling his mother right then was too much. "No! You can't. She can't talk about it. None of us can talk about it! That's the problem! I...I can't - "
"Adam. What are you talking about? You don't have a sister. You're an annoying only child with a good heart and ego the size of a continent."
Adam sank down on the floor, leaning against his bed. He stared at his messy desk, his half-completed homework, his computer screen glowing at him as if it were watching him. The game had finished downloading. It was ready to install.
He blinked. It was watching him - or at least trying to; Teela had turned on video chat. He lurched, fumbled, but turned on his camera and grabbed his headset. He couldn't talk about it, but he had to talk to someone.
He couldn't keep her a secret anymore. His Dad wouldn't believe him. Would send him back to therapy, make him miss school. His mother would just - shatter if he told her about the conversation with Catra.
He couldn't get their hopes up. His own hopes were bad enough. If Catra was wrong, if he was wrong, if he was chasing a ghost, he couldn't live with himself. Not if he told them. He could survive it if it was just his mistake. But he couldn't do this alone. He couldn't do this without help.
He saw his own face on his screen. His hair was a wild mess and his eyes were red. Tears rolled down his cheeks, but he didn't care.
Still kneeling in front of his computer, he started frantically clicking through files. He had it. He knew he did. He didn't need words - he just needed...
Click.
There. The file. His obsession in middle school. Everything he'd found. Everything his parents had. Everything he'd tried to figure out on his own. The file that had sent him to therapy. The file that had kept him home, scouring the internet for any sign of her, pretending to be sick so he didn't have to go to school. Didn't have to stop looking for algebra or practice or -
He clicked and dragged, practically throwing the file at her as he turned on his mic.
It had everything. Their birth certificates. The pictures of them right after the delivery. The pictures of them in the crib together, in matching pajamas. The police report. Everything anyone knew about cold case #AG.0119 - the apparent kidnapping of Adora Greyskull from Mystacor Medical.
Notes from his therapist. Notes from his teachers from when he would talk to himself, thinking he was talking to her. Notes from himself - crazy, insane, wild theories his eleven-year-old self came up with trying to settle his own mind and heart about how he could miss someone he'd never met so badly.
"There." He was breathing hard, but he was looking at Teela's face now. Her eyes were narrow, worried. Her lips were in a tight, thin line, and her hair was loose, falling down over her shoulders. (Even when he was half-mad with hope, she was beautiful. And she was there for him.)
She was reading. She was reading the file.
"Adam..." Her breath caught too and he looked back up to see her eyes wide, glistening with tears like his were. "You never said...I never knew..."
He shook his head. "I couldn't...I can't..." He was leaning forward, gripping the edge of his desk with white-knuckled hands. "The girl I told you about. The magicat girl. The one I knocked down? She messaged me."
His breath was coming in gulps of air, but he had to power through this. He had to say the words.
"She recognized me! Because of her. Because of - " the name caught in his throat, but he said it anyway. "Because of Adora. Because she knows Adora."
Teela blinked. Gasped. "This Catra found her?"
Adam nodded, stumbling backwards again. He fell back against his bed and decided to stay there. The emotions of what Catra had told him were catching up with him. He closed his eyes and breathed. His old therapist, the one who had really seemed to understand that his emotions, his grief, his loss, his missing a twin sister he'd never consciously met were real. Valid.
He counted to himself. Forced himself to breathe.
He had to be strong this time. Strong enough to do this. Strong enough to find out before anyone told his parents. Before anyone did anything that could create hope that could be destroyed. He could survive. He'd put himself through this scenario - or one like it - in his head a thousand times over the years.
He knew what to do.
He knew what he had to do.
"Yeah. Maybe. I don't know." He rubbed his eyes with his palms. "It's crazy, I know. Thinking she's right, that - that Adora has been found."
it was still hard to say her name. But he would. Tonight he would. Tomorrow he would. He was going to find out. He was going to - for the first time in his life - be able to do something about finding his sister. He was in control of what he did. He was able to act.
It was the promise he'd made to himself a couple of years ago. When he'd forced himself to stop looking. That he stopped because it was hurting him, but that it was just a pause, not the end. And that if he ever heard a single thing that meant she might be found, he would do whatever he had to do.
This time, he had to lie. At least, by omission. He had to not tell his parents. He had to not tell his friends. He had to vanish for an afternoon or an evening and he had to go see for himself.
His mind spun with the plans. He was going to do it. He was going to tell his parents he was hanging out with a new friend tomorrow afternoon. He was going to ask Teela to cover for him. He was going to leave school in a stranger's car and he was going to go to the hospital.
Hospitals were terrifying. People vanished there, never to be seen again. That was the first thing he learned about hospitals. The second thing he learned about hospitals were that people died there.
He couldn't watch medical dramas. Or movies about doctors. He'd never really learned to trust doctors. Nurses. He'd learned a lot of first aid on his own, learning to take care of himself as much as he could. He was considered a bit of health nut by people who knew him, but he was also the one people knew they could talk to about anything to with their health.
If he didn't know, he knew how to find out.
"It's not crazy, dummy." She was smiling at him. Her eyes were wide, but she was smiling at him. "Not even a little. I...I can't imagine how you've been carrying this for so long. I can't imagine what it's been like carrying this for so long."
Adam laughed, but it sounded hollow to him. It always did when he was talking about this. "Why tell anyone? There's nothing anyone can do to make it better. There's nothing anyone can say to help. It would just be something else they'd have to worry about with me, you know?"
Teela reached a hand out, brushing the camera with her fingertips. It was her thing, when she wanted to flick his nose or touch his cheek. It was cute.
Just talking to her was helping. He could feel himself - leveling off.
"Adam Gretyskull. I love you. But you are such an idiot sometimes. For someone so smart..." she shook her head. "I won't speak for anyone else, but damn it! I care! And I worry anyway. At least I would have known what to worry about! Nope. Don't make that face. Don't you dare. You do not have to apologize for this. I'm not mad. I'm not hurt. I'm just making sure you know I care and always will. Now. Tell me more. And tell me what kind of shenanigans you have planned so I know what to tell anyone who asks."
Adam laughed softly. "I love you, too. So much. Thank you. So...the plan and what I know are the same thing. She was apparently living next door to Catra, but they never met until recently. It's a whole thing and I can tell you more once I know more. But it wasn't good. This woman who I think took her...she hurt Adora."
Damn it! Why was he choked up again? Why couldn't he get a control of himself?
Teela scoffed at him, rolling her eyes. "Don't you dare try to pull a tough guy routine with me. I know you too well. You're allowed to break down, dummy. This is big!"
Adam shrugged, then let himself sob again, softly. He looked up at Teela and shrugged again. "She's hurt, Tee. I...somehow, I'm sure this is her. She's in Mystacor Medical. That's - that's where we lost her."
"Oh, baby. You're going to go see her, right?" Teela was pulling out a notebook and making notes. He didn't know about what, but it was something they had in common. Writing things down grounded them. Keeping track of things. It was a habit he'd gotten into when he'd started trying to research Adora's case.
All the tips people online had given him. There were all kinds of groups online where people were searching for missing people. He'd been taking notes on how to investigate. How to find people - for years now.
For Teela, it was her OCD. She'd grown up knowing she was adopted. That her parents were gone. She'd grown up knowing the world was full of scary things. Scary people. Full of chaos and accidents. She'd learned to cope by controlling herself. Her own space. Her own thoughts. She would never be able to remember her parents, but Teela was obsessive about making sure she never forgot anything she wanted to remember.
"Yeah. Yeah, I am. Tomorrow after school." It was hard. Part of him wanted to grab his gear, jump out his window and find a way to get to Mystacor Medical right then, but that was stupid. There was no way he'd be allowed in to see her. Even if he'd known everything, even if he somehow managed it...without Catra, he didn't have a clear connection to things.
Catra had found her. He had to trust Catra to reunite them. Catra cared about Adora. Catra had saved Adora. And that? That meant he would trust her to the ends of the world right then.
"I'm going with Catra. We're going to meet up at lunch and finalize things, but...yeah. I'm going to see her tomorrow. I have no idea how I'm going to sleep tonight, but what else is new?"
Teela rolled her eyes. "Take a pill, dummy. That's what they're for. You need to be rested. For now, proper prior planning, right? It's what we do!"
Adam laughed. It was what they did. They were both the planners. The organizers. The ones who had the information. Neither of them liked being unprepared. Whether it was a test or a field trip or going out on a date.
They prepared.
Adam forced himself to his feet and grabbed his backpack. He pulled out things he wouldn't need. His practice gear, for one. He'd be skipping. But the rest?
Chargers. His tablet was already charging. Unlike a lot of his classmates, laptops hadn't ever worked for him. He had his desktop. A full-on gaming rig like Teela's. They'd built them just a couple of months ago with her adopted father, Duncan. He was good at tech and he'd been more than happy to teach them how to build a computer.
But for day-to-day use at school, his tablet was his best tool.
Notebooks. A fresh one that he set out on his desk. He didn't know if he'd need it. They weren't as big as Teela's favored spirals, but a pocket notebook. It looked pretty classy. His good pens. He didn't use the colored sets that Teela did, but he had a couple of nicer ones his grandfather had gotten for him at the start of high school. The dark brown ink in one. Dark red ink in another. (One day, he would learn why that color was called 'Cassius Black' but it was a great color.)
His bottle of iron supplements. In case he forgot his pill minder in the morning (again.) His ADHD meds. His anxiety pills. He would have meds if he decided to stay over at the hospital. Deodorant. A spare shirt and overshirt. Socks. His big water bottle - which fit into the side pocket of his backpack just fine.
He had his first aid kit his Mom had custom-built for him and the small tool kit Duncan had given him for his birthday last January. (Birthdays. They had the same birthday. They could celebrate this next one together!)
"That's the boy I know and love. You've got this. Will you be ready to stay over, if you need to?"
He was taking action. Doing something. That...that mattered. It helped. He was grounded. He knelt down and pulled a box out from under his bed. He hadn't pulled that box out in two years, but he would never forget where it was.
"Yeah. I'll be ready. Mom's going to kill me. Dad's going to glare at me for weeks. But I have to do this. I'm going to tell them I'm hanging with a new friend after school. I - I might need you to cover for me?"
Teela laughed. "Of course I'm covering for you. Never doubt that. And you are hanging out with a new friend after school. Catra is new, obviously becoming a friend, and we can just leave out the part about you trying to find out if your long-lost sister has been found."
Adam opened the box. Pulled out the composition notebooks he'd filled with thoughts and theories and plans back when he'd been searching for her.
"Thank you. I can't tell them. I can't tell Mom. She...she can't even talk about it. Or think about it. She still bursts into tears around our birthdays. She...she feels like she failed Adora. Like she shouldn't have ever let us out of her sight."
It had only been in the last year or two that his mother had finally listened to his father about giving him more freedom. About letting him go places and do things without his mother knowing every detail. She still insisted he share his location with her via phone, but he was going to turn that off tomorrow. He almost never did.
But tomorrow, he had to. She might not even check. She might not. But she might. He was allowed to turn it off for a very few reasons - and one of those reasons was if the people he was with were uncomfortable with that level of monitoring. He'd had to, back when Orko's family was being such a pain in the ass about trying to get him to move back to Trolla. (Why they would want him to move back to war-torn country where his uncle was part of a despotic government still confused him. But what did he know?)
"Adam. Babe. You've got this. She's going to want answers, too. And she's going to need her brother."
Adam put the old composition books in his backpack. He opened his desk drawer and pulled out the pocket notebook he hadn't even told his therapist about. Right before high school, he'd re-copied everything he knew and his more likely and reasonable theories into it. Part of his promise to himself.
That went in, too.
"Yeah. I hope. I hope she wants us. Me. What if she thinks we abandoned her? That we didn't care she was missing or..."
He looked in the direction of the empty room across the hall from his. It wasn't a guest room - it was Adora's room. A twin to his room, just inverted. It had always been her room.
"Then you tell her the truth. You let her see how deeply you feel about her...and eventually, she's going to be glad to have a brother. To have you and your parents - her parents in her life."
And...the letter. That went into his bag, too. He didn't know if she'd be ready for it. If he'd be ready for her to read it, but he wouldn't want to be without it.
He zipped up his backpack.
If he was lucky, if Catra was right...he would be able to tell her everything himself. Face to face.
Friday, August 17th - AM
Teela had been right. Taking one of his sleeping pills had been the right thing to do. He was awake and alert.
He took his meds. He packed snacks in his bag. Not unusual - he usually wanted something right after practice. His lie would start there - that he was at basketball practice. If he was gone longer and he wasn't sure or wasn't able to tell them yet, then texting them about hanging out with Catra would be the next step.
He loaded his medical history on his tablet. He loaded the file from his computer to his tablet. He'd never let himself save it there before. The temptation would have been too much, but today? Today he needed it.
There was an actual purpose for it for once. And that tied his stomach in knots and made him want to bounce on his toes.
He showered and shaved. Brushed his hair. Got dressed for school. Ate breakfast. He was quiet, but that wasn't unusual in the mornings. He wasn't a morning person. He was out the door on time and got to the bus on time.
He walked into the cafeteria an hour before school started and Teela was waiting for him. She rushed up and hugged him tight.
He wrapped his arms around her and sank into the hug. He breathed in the scent of her shampoo.
"Hey you."
She leaned back. "Hey yourself. How are you?"
He laughed. "Shaky. Scared. Exciting. Worried. Hopeful. And about a dozen other things."
He didn't tell her, but he didn't need to. That he was pretty much writing off the entire day. There was no way he was going to be able to focus on anything but after school. Thankfully, he was good at faking it. His grades were good and his teachers wouldn't be too worried or really notice him being a bit spacy on Friday.
The day was a blur. A slow-motion blur. But he did what he always did. He laid out his tablet, notebook, and pen for class. He turned in his homework. He wrote notes to himself. He wrote about running into Catra. He wrote about talking to her online. He wrote about their plan.
He wrote down everything he could remember about Mystacor Medical. He tried to deal with the fact he was at least as scared of going into a hospital as he was about meeting Adora. Potentially meeting Adora.
He tried. He really did. He tried to moderate his hope. He tried to keep himself grounded in the idea that he and Catra could be wrong. He hadn't seen a picture of her. He didn't know for sure. But it was too late. Far too late.
English was easy. Smooth. Group work. Mrs. Moon wasn't a strict teacher, but she was tough. She had high standards for everyone, and higher standards for him. She was one of the teachers who worried about his lack of direction in life, but she said he was a good writer, so pushed him.
Sometimes, he liked it. Other times, he wished she'd never noticed him. Today was one of the former days, because he was in the research group with people he didn't know. Other kids she wanted to push. Unlike Adam, these kids were closer to the 'outcast' end of the social spectrum. But they were also nice and he didn't have to worry too much about them.
Mrs. Moon - like most teachers - would probably never put him and Teela in the same group. It sucked, but he got it. They made a great team, but if they were in a group, not so much. They tended to work with each other and not everyone.
Partnered assignments, they didn't really try to separate them, though. Adam knew he was clingy sometimes, so he was grateful for that. Teela preferred working with him because he didn't cramp her style or her desire to do every assignment perfectly.
Dominic was the quiet one. Studious, in an odd sort of way. He never seemed to do any work, but he always had his work done. He dressed a bit more formally than most, but not like his best friend. Kiera never wore anything that made sense. Today, she was in jeans, a man's blazer, and a tank top. A bright red tank top.
The other girl in their group was someone he knew a little. Andra had Teela had been friends and friendly rivals for years, but he was surprised to see her in this group. She'd never been academically minded. She told anyone who asked that she was going to be an Olympic fencer. Or be a park ranger. Or an exotic animal vet. (Which was apparently also Dominic's goal?)
Smart teachers never put Andra and Teela in the same group. They both tended to want to be leaders and clashed.
Andra grinned as she dropped into the seat across from him. "Howdy, pretty boy. Fancy seeing you here." She shrugged. "I guess you're supposed to be almost as smart as you are pretty, so group work with you won't be too bad. Don't be the weak link, eh?"
Adam forced a smile. Shrugged. "I'll do my part. I always do."
Great. Expectations. Today of all day, those were a bad plan. Maybe next time he was having a huge life crisis he should send an email blast or something that no one should expect much from him for like, thirty-six hours or something.
"Quiet down." Mrs. Moon gestured and every fell quiet. She had a habit of creating surprise short essays and adding work when people didn't want to listen. She smiled and raised her chin, her pink and purple hair falling around her shoulders.
"This year is going to be research paper after research paper. With a few papers on famous works of literature, modern media, and plenty of short essays. As I said when school started this year, all of you should know your grammar and spelling by now. This year, you're going to learn how to use those words and those grammatical skills to say something - and we will start with position papers and, of course, because I know how much you all love them, presentations! Today, you and your group will decide on a topic you all want to say something about. Outline your points and figure out your research. Assignment details are on the class drive. Ask if you have questions. Message me or raise your hand. Either works for me."
Discussion was lively about what they should have something to say about. Sexism. Racism. Specism. Homophobia. Transphobia.
All topics Adam could get behind. He didn't contribute much. He had his English notebook out. He'd written down the ideas. He'd also written down the idea he wanted to say something about, but it was very close to home right then.
Very close.
Too close.
He would let them decide. But he also knew Andra and Kiera knew everyone. Andra, because she had never found a reason not to stick her nose in everyone else's business and Kiera, because half the school wanted to date her and the other half hated her guts.
No one hated Dominic. He was too self-effacing.
"Species." Adam said softly. "We have a few different folk in our school alone. I know at least one magicat. How do they get treated differently and why? How should we treat them, and why? What about their cultures, their traditions. Their behavioral quirks. That sort of thing."
Andra tapped her stylus on her oversized phone. "Yeah, I'm down. I don't know any magicats, but I bet you're talking about Catra, aren't you? She dealt with some stupid shit as a kid, if I remember. I don't know her, but I remember elementary and middle school enough to know she got shit. From teachers and students."
Adam nodded. And smiled to himself. He wanted to know more about her. He wasn't good at being subtle...but this time, he was trying.
Dominic sighed. "She did. And the other few magicats in our schools did, too. They're bad at sitting still. They're tactile, whatever that means. They're carnivores, like lizard folk. Claws, which are probably a pain."
Well, if anyone understood needing to eat enough red meat, it would be him. Iron deficiency was a pain.
Adam settled back and let them talk. Invariably, as Kiera and Andra started telling stories, Adam learned what he wanted to learn. Catra had been bullied. She had been picked on. And she hadn't handled it with grace all the time. (Not that he would have.)
He'd have to make sure everyone knew to leave her alone. She was one of his people now. And she was friends with Bow. Bow was good people.
Friday, August 17th - Lunchtime
Finding Catra and her friends was easy. He just had to find the courtyard with the tables under the tree. Catra had brought her own lunch, as usual. Adam had his own lunch, too. He was careful about what he ate.
He wanted to keep as healthy as possible to avoid having to deal with doctors. Or worse - hospitals.
And he did not trust school food. It was probably perfectly fine, but...
The late summer heat felt good after the ultra-cold AC inside, and he liked the smell of the plants in the courtyard. There was apparently a botany class or something. Maybe a club? They tended the courtyard, and it was never not pretty.
Catra looked over and saw him. She waved him over, her ears up and her tail flicking. He should probably look up something on magicats to know what that meant. If anything. He got the odd feeling he and Catra were going to be seeing a lot of each other.
He wanted them to. Because if she was Adora's friend and Adora was his sister...
He sat down. Bow grinned at him, but didn't say anything. The pink-haired girl next to him didn't glower or glare, but she did give him a once over and frowned a bit.
"Fine." She elbowed Bow. "You might possibly be right. Don't let it go to your head."
"Told you, Sparkles." Catra flicked a leaf at the pink-haired girl. "Pay up!"
Bow laughed. "She got you, Glimmer. You know the forfeit."
"Ugh. I am never letting either of you be right again." Glimmer reached into her bag and handed over a baggie of something to Catra. "Snickerdoodles. From my Dad's batch last night."
Catra grinned toothily, laughing. "Yes! I love winning! Anyway," she opened the bag and pulled out several cookies. One of which she set in front of Adam. "This is Adam. That's Glimmer. I'm taking him to meet her after school."
At a hospital.
Adam swallowed hard. Opened his water and took a drink. "I brought my medical records. And...her file. I don't know if we'll need it, but...I brought it. It's on my tablet. You said she thought she had celiac and lupus, but no one in our family has that. I'm- iron deficient. I have meds for it. I figured the doctors would..."
"Yeah." Catra nodded. "It's not those. But there are things off about her medically." Catra chewed on her bottom lip for a minute, her tail thrashing. She was obviously worried.
Adam was glad she was worried. Adora had someone who cared. But he hated that there was reason to worry.
"Eat." Bow pointed at Adam's lunch cooler. "Then you and Catra can go print what you need in the library. Dad will let you. And then you both can go back to fretting. There's nothing else you can do right now."
Catra huffed, but didn't argue. "My tia's picking me up right after school. You'll need to meet me at the south drive and be ready to go. She's a Sherriff, so...cop car. She doesn't know about you yet. Only these two know. Keeping it all lowkey in case we're wrong and so Adora doesn't...have too many people involved. She's not...she's not good with people yet."
Adam nodded. That was true, wasn't it? Adora hadn't met many people, based on what Catra had said last night. And -
His sister. His sister had been abused. Kidnapped. Trapped. It made his throat close up.
Lunch wasn't bad. They talked about school. Adam warned her about the group project in English. Glimmer sighed about her mother's love of group work and Bow just laughed. He nudged her in the side.
She huffed. "Just wait until someone chooses transphobia. Then it's your turn, too."
Bow shrugged. "Then they will be subjected to my most excellent opinions on the subject. At great length. In detail. And yes, that is a threat."
Adam couldn't help but grin at that. But he realized - one of the things about his friends. All of them weren't the norm. He had ADHD and anxiety and a full on lifelong medical issue. Catra was a different species. Orko was a refugee, an immigrant, and a dwarf.
No matter what people chose to 'say something' about, they would likely end up talking about one of his friends. Maybe that was something he should say something about.
Bow had been right. His Dad let them print out what they needed. Catra had a file folder already, and she had labeled it with a sharpie in quick, fast, bold handwriting. They tucked the papers into the folder and Catra slipped it into her backpack.
They were as ready as they could be.
He and Bow walked to Home Ec together. Bow waited until everyone was out of earshot. "You okay?"
Adam laughed. "Oh. No. I'm not even in the neighborhood of okay right now. Did you know that you know something about me almost no one other than my parents and my therapist knows? I don't talk about this. About her. About what happened."
Bow nodded. "I want to say I get it. But I don't. I know I don't. None of us do."
Adam shrugged as they walked into the room. He looked around, but no one was close to their station.
"How...how do I tell people I miss someone I've never met? How do I tell people that sometimes, I turn around to tell her something and she's not there. And it takes me a minute to remember she never has been and might never be?"
He perched on his stool and buried his face in his hands. "I've had therapy for it. I'm on meds. My birthday is almost always a solemn, quiet event at home - and I've never wanted it to be different, because once I knew...hells, it was my fourth birthday when they told me, when I didn't understand why my birthday made my Mom cry."
He looked up, wiping at tears. "It's the one time of the year Mom talks about it. And she falls apart every time, then she feels worse because we're not celebrating me! But they're there for me all the time. Mom celebrates everything I do! Sometimes, she just walks up and hugs me and holds on and tells me how glad she is to have me. She's allowed one day to remember and grieve, damn it!"
He set his backpack down. "I've spent my whole life being afraid. Afraid of hospitals. Afraid of doctors and nurses. Afraid of strangers. I know the kind of crazy shit that can happen out there. Adora. Orko's family. Teela's parents. I don't leave the house unless I'm prepared for anything. I look over my shoulder all the time. I go out somewhere and I'm looking at every blonde girl in the crowd, hoping I see here. I know I'll know her when I see her. I know it. I've always known it. How could I not?"
And today he was going to go to a hospital in a stranger's car. Because he had to. Because he had to find her. He had to meet her.
He had to know.
He pulled out his notebook and opened it to their recipe. His voice was a whisper. "Until Catra, I never thought it could be someone else who saw her first. Who knew she needed help first. But she did and now I might get to meet my twin sister."
Bow put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure, too. I've seen her face in the window. I've never met her, but I know you. This is real, bud. This is happening. And tonight, you'll know where she is."
Friday, August 17th - PM
The nurse guided him into a small lab area. He sat at the chair, bracing his arm on the fold-down table. He'd had plenty of blood tests in his life and he knew what was coming. He hated it. He hated having to do it.
It wasn't the pain. It was the fear. The distrust. The nurse was typing a bunch of things into the computer, but Adam pulled out his ID and insurance card. He had no idea if his insurance was going to get charged for the test or if the government was, because it was part of Adora's case.
He kept his leg from bouncing. He was minutes away from meeting her. Seconds away. Both Catra's aunt and the social worker believed them.
It was real.
"I'll be back in a minute. We're going to do this with a blood test, so we can blood type the two of you and check DNA. Anything I need to know about your blood, kid? I know teenagers, so if I don't have any surprises..."
Adam sighed. The nurse was nice enough, but she was a nurse. A medical professional. He didn't trust them. Pharmacists were okay, but that was bias because of his mom.
"I'm iron deficient. I take meds for it. On stimulant meds for ADHD. Anxiety meds." He repeated his name and birthday.
Saying his birthday caused a pang in his chest. It was her birthday, too. The nurse bustled away and came back with a bracelet for him. "Put it on, please. Chances are we're going to have to run tests on you if she's your twin. "
Adam looked at the bracelet. A hospital bracelet. From the hospital where he'd lost her. From where she'd been taken.
He put it on. This was bigger than his fear. This was so she could come home. So she could have a life. So they could be in her life. The nurse scanned it.
He held out his arm and she put the tourniquet on.
A minute later, she had taken blood. She also swabbed his mouth and was shocked when he was able to just email her his medical files - they included all of the tests they'd run on him as a kid, back when he'd been sick.
(He never wanted to see that look of fear on his mother's face again. She'd been thinking about Adora. They'd all been thinking about Adora.)
Friday, August 17th - PM
When Adora flinched at the sound of his Mom's ringtone, he flinched too. Why hadn't he thought to put it on vibrate?
He'd remember that. For next time.
He stepped out into the hallway and answered. "...hi Mom."
There was just the sound of her breathing on the other end of the call. He could feel her gathering herself.
"Adam..."
He sank to the floor and pulled his knees up to his chest. "It's her, Mom. It's real. It's real. They found her. Catra found her. A girl in my school. They found her. She's here! I met her. I..."
He was crying too, but he didn't care. They'd found her! Catra was right. She had really long hair. She looked like him. She sounded like he thought she would sound.
But she'd been hurt. She
"How...what? Why didn't you say...."
His mother couldn't finish her sentences, but Adam could. He didn't know how or why, but he knew what to say. He knew how to say it. Maybe it was because he had imagined it so many times. Maybe it was because he'd done what he needed to do and made sure if was real.
Made sure she was real.
"Because I didn't know if it was real. Or if we were just a bunch of teenagers chasing something because we wanted it to be real. But I knew it had to be, because I didn't know any of them. Catra or Glimmer. I kinda know Bow. But none of them knew. I haven't told anyone."
He was ashamed of that. He was comforted by that. It was his secret, something he could hold and know. Adora being missing had shaped him in so many ways, but sharing her, sharing that loss with other people wasn't something he'd ever been ready for.
I didn't tell you to protect you. His Mom would kill him. She would be so mad that he was protecting her.
Her breathing steadied. A little.
"You...I should be so mad at you. Doing this without telling us Doing this without anyone knowing where you were going, what you were doing."
"Teela knew. And Catra's aunt is a sheriff. Glimmer Moon, daughter of Mrs. Moon knew. Bow Hart knew."
Mom huffed out a breath at him. "You really weren't sure, were you? You were genuinely afraid of this not being real."
Adam shook his head. "No. No, I...I was sure, when Catra told me. I was scared of being wrong, but I didn't think we were. I had to be sure, though."
He'd had to lie by omission already. He wouldn't do it again. Except - to keep his mother from knowing he had protected her. That was his choice. And his to keep.
"...you know what? I can't be mad. I can't. I...thank you. Thank you for never giving up. Thank you for listening when people came to you. Thank you for going. And thank you for all of the parts you aren't telling me. I love you. And I'm proud of you. Your Dad is on his way to pick me up. We'll be there soon."
Adam nodded again, and felt the weight of it fall on him. The weight of what he'd done. The fact he'd kept his promise to himself. The promise he'd made in the dark and silent space in his room, after weeks of therapy, when he'd realized he was destroying himself to find her.
When he'd realized he had to be more than he'd let himself be if they ever found her. That he needed to be the kind of person who could go on without her. The kind of person who could live - even if he never knew what he was supposed to do.
He'd needed to be a son for his parents. He'd needed to be a person for himself. And he'd needed to have a life that would honor and respect who he should have been if he'd been raised with Adora.
He didn't know what that would look like, and he was glad for that. Because now he had his sister back and his life could be reshaped again.
"I love you, Mom. And even if you're eventually mad, that's okay. I can take it, because we got her back."
A deep sigh.
"I love you too, Adam. And you've had to 'take' a lot over the years that wasn't fair to you. And you never never complained. Don't think I don't know what you and your father whisper about. Or about what you told him. Or why you needed therapy. Don't think I don't know who my son is. Or that I'm not proud of you. That's why I can't be mad at you. Because you did the right thing. Maybe not the way I would have wanted you to, but the right thing. If I have helped raise a son who will do the right thing to help others, to protect others, to trust others who offer help...then I ...I can know I'm ...I can know my son is a good man. We'll be there soon, okay? And we're going to do the rest of this together."
His mom cut off the call. Adam stood back up and wiped his eyes. He didn't want to waste any time he could get with Adora. And he didn't want her to ever be afraid she would be abandoned. She never had been and she never would be.
And now, the girl from the hallway, Catra Dr'iluth, was one of the people Adam Greyskull would never abandon or leave behind or leave out.