The Only Way || She-Ra

Chapter 8: Even If We Could

Breathing became ragged. Catra was having a hard time reading, vision blurring.

I miss your smile. I miss the gleam in your eye when you would beat me in a race during training. I miss laughing with you when we would play a prank on one of the other cadets in the barracks. I even miss you snoring in the bunk above me.

Catra sank to her knees, tears falling freely now. Her mind was a thousand places. Memories that she'd never get to relive were just as bad as the memories Catra would never get to make again.

Those are the things I remember when I think about you. I'm going to try to remember the good things about you, instead of the bad ones. Because those break my heart.

Catra let go of the paper, her hands instead making their way to her face to silence her sobs. This couldn't be real. These couldn't be the last words Catra would ever get from her.

The paper fluttered to the base of the gravestone, waiting patiently for her. Catra glanced at it, only to see her own reflection looking back at her from the polished stone. The word "Adora" shone over her heart.

Unsteadily, Catra took the note again. Her eyes were trained on the paper, but it took her a moment to remember how to register the words.

I'm sorry things ended up like this. I really am. But even if we could go back in time, I wouldn't do things any other way.
Love, Adora

There was nothing else. It ended, just like that. Catra's thumb brushed those last words. Love, Adora.

Catra stood up. Her pants were now caked with mud. The tears were still falling, but she was regaining her breath. Her heart wasn't feeling like it would burst anymore.

"So," Catra asked hoarsely, "This is real then?"

The abyss didn't answer back.

"You know, I dedicated everything to beating you, and now you're...it's not fair," Catra sniffed weakly. "It wasn't suppose to end like this. We were always suppose to figure things out, eventually."

Brokenly, Catra whispered, "I should've gone with you. I should've but I was angry and I...why didn't I go with you?" The frustration built up pressure in her chest and Catra just needed to scream again. "Why did we have to be the ones with the fucked up childhoods? Why couldn't we live our lives?"

Catra was holding onto herself but she wished she was holding someone else.

"Why did we waste so much time?"

Catra's frowned at her own words. It was a ridiculous thought, something that had merely fluttered through her mind haphazardly, but suddenly she couldn't get it out of her head.

Catra skimmed through the letter again. She read aloud, "But even if we could go back in time...I wouldn't do things any other way."

Of course, Catra thought. Maybe she was insane. Maybe she was desperate. Or, maybe, she was right.

Clutching the letter, Catra stared at the gravestone, not in sadness anymore but hope.

"Adora, you genius," Catra laughed through her tears. "You brilliant stupid genius." Leaning down, she placed a hand on the stone. "I'm going to make this right."