Future in the Stars | Catradora

21 - Old Portal

Adora's POV

Catra and I each took one of Angella's arms and pulled her out of the light she was suspended in. Once she was released, she returned back to her regular state, but she was still unconscious. I gave her a gentle push towards Catra, and she floated into her arms.

What are you doing? Catra asked. Or, at least, that's what I thought she said. I couldn't hear her; I could only read her lips.

I'm getting us out of here, I mouthed, using hand gestures to get the point across.

I drew a circle below me with my sword. Once a platform appeared, I sprung off it and held the sword out in front of me. Once the blade made contact with the sphere surrounding us, I focused all my energy on making it disappear. I twisted the sword, and a crack ran through the glass-like substance. The entire thing shattered, leaving Catra, Angella and I free to escape.

I turned around and offered my hand to Catra, but before she could take it, the spinning within the vortex suddenly changed directions. Instead of sucking everything towards the center, it started expelling everything out of it. If sound existed in space, I would have screamed as the vortex sent the three of us spiraling out of its system.

Catra was still holding onto Angella, and she reached out to me. I managed to grab her wrist, and I pulled her close to me so we wouldn't be separated.

Hold on, I mouthed.

She nodded, terrified. I'm not going anywhere.

Scorpia's POV (I promise this has relevance to the story)

I was sitting on a bench in Perfuma's garden, watching as the kind-hearted girl added flower after flower to the display on the ground. I sighed happily as I took in the beauty, feeling grateful for everything I had in my life.

I gasped as a crown of flowers suddenly appeared on my head. Perfuma laughed, then walked over and took my pincer in her hand. I stood up, and she led me to a different part of the garden.

"Close your eyes," she said.

"Uh... okay."

Once I wasn't looking, Perfuma continued dragging me along the path. I was curious to know where she was taking me, but even more curious as to why I needed to have my eyes shut. Normally I'd be talking aloud, asking questions and making guesses, but whenever I was around Perfuma, I wasn't very chatty. With her, I felt like I didn't need to say anything in order to be heard.

"Surprise!" Perfuma said suddenly. "Oh, you can open your eyes now."

I did as she said and laid my gaze upon what was in front of me. My heart fluttered as I took in the beauty of what Perfuma had created; flowers, vines, and other types of plants I couldn't recognize covered the bark of the biggest tree I had ever seen. The different colours and shapes created a mural of when the princesses saved Etheria from Horde Prime.

"Look, this one's you!" Perfuma exclaimed excitedly, pointing to a shape made of red flowers, with a few tiny white leaves on the top. Jagged branches surrounded the figure, kind of like lightning.

"Gosh, it's beautiful," I said, completely in awe. "You made this?"

"Mm-hmm! I wanted you to be the first to see it."

"Really? Why me?"

"Because you mean a lot to me, Scorpia. You inspired me to make this, and you continue to inspire me every day."

I blushed as I got lost in Perfuma's sparkling eyes. We continued to stare at each other before I got embarrassed and turned away.

"I, uh... thank you. Um. Maybe I should--maybe I should go. I'm not so great at this whole friendship thing."

"Nonsense! You're one of the most kind-hearted people I know," Perfuma assured me, which made my face heat up even more. "Are you okay? You're sweating."

"Y-yeah, just... uh... I feel like I want to be a really good friend to you. Just like I wanted to be a good friend to Catra."

Perfuma looked surprised. "Like Catra?"

"Yeah," I said, rubbing the back of my neck. "I wanted to be her friend more than anything in the world. I don't even know why, though. She never really seemed to like me."

"Scorpia... it sounds like you had a crush on her."

"What's a crush?"

"You know, when you like someone as more than a friend."

"What's more than a friend?"

Before she had time to answer, the ground started to shake. Perfuma gasped, stumbled into me, and I wrapped my arms around her protectively.

"What's happening?" she asked, fear in her tone.

Pink light started to shoot out of the ground in random places around us. The scene was pretty familiar, and I tried to think of a reason why. I hugged Perfuma tighter as the light stared creeping closer, and then a memory passed through my mind.

"The portal," I muttered. "But no... that's not possible..."

Entrapta's POV

After knocking Bow out of the pilot's chair, I took the wheel and started driving away from the vortex. I flew Darla far enough that we weren't being affected by the pull, then I turned the ship around so we could see exactly what was going on. I put Darla in reverse so that we wouldn't be dragged forward.

"We have to go back for them!" Glimmer demanded.

"If we get any closer, Darla will get sucked in and we'll all be stuck," I said. "Then there'll be no chance of rescuing Adora and Catra."

"Are they gonna be okay?" y/n asked.

"There's a very low chance of survival, considering that Catra will eventually run out of oxygen and Adora can't stay transformed forever," I said.

Everyone went silent.

"Oh, did you want me to lie? Right, um, they'll be fine."

Glimmer started to cry. "I knew this was a bad idea! I should have never let us go on this mission."

"It's not your fault, Glimmer," Bow said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "We all agreed to this. And we're going to get our friends back."

"How can you be so sure?"

"We're the Best Friends Squad! We never leave anyone behind. We'll rescue Adora, Catra, and your mom."

I got distracted from their conversation as a little red light appeared on the control panel.

"Hmm, that's odd," I muttered.

Suddenly, there was a shift in balance, and Darla went shooting backwards.

"What's happening?" Bow asked, his voice cracking.

"Unclear!" I called, struggling to regain control of the ship. It took me about thirty seconds before I had a hold over it again.

"What was that?" y/n asked, standing back up.

I glanced over to the screen at my right. "It appears that the vortex's mass rotation has switched directions."

"Can you dumb that sentence down, please?" Roe asked.

"Instead of pulling us in, the vortex is pushing us away."

"Oh. That makes more sense."

"So, what's causing it?" y/n asked.

"Who cares!" Glimmer interrupted. "What does this mean for Adora and Catra?"

I checked the radar. "There are two and a half life-forms heading our way."

"That must be them!" Bow said. "But who's the 'half?'"

Glimmer's eyes lit up. "Mom?"

"No time for dramatic pauses!" y/n exclaimed, running for the boarding dock. "We have people to save!"