a/n:
ASGADJSHGAK ITS HERE. im done i finished this chapter im so sorry it took so long its literally been months im a horrible person anyways- pls pls enjoy!! This chapter is extremey unedited so apologies if there's a ton of mistakes here and there, I'm gonna try to go through the whole entire fic and fix some stuff at some point. There will be one more part after this one but itll just be a lil epilogue. Thx so much for reading, like seriously. Here we go-
Glimmer
"Alright, everyone!" Commander Glimmer, as dubbed again by her mother, shouted at the gathered Princess Alliance.
It was early, so early that it was still dark outside, but everybody seemed alert and ready to win this war once and for all. There were around fifty volunteer fighters standing in the group with all the Princesses and Catra up front.
"This is our time!" Glimmer said. "We will win back Etheria!" A collection of cheers emitted from the crowd, from everyone except Catra. She had her arms crossed in front of her, staring off into space with a frown on her face. She was obviously still worried about Adora, they all were, but Scorpia had assured them that Adora was safe and everything was according to plan. Catra hadn't seemed to believe her, insisting that they would only know when they actually get there. She had been the most impatient during the week Adora had been gone and rushed everyone to get ready earlier that morning. This was understandable, though.
It wasn't a secret anymore that Catra loved Adora. She obviously wasn't yelling it from the rooftops, but the way she acted the last week and even before, along with the confirmation from the girl herself to Glimmer and Bow the week prior, it wasn't hard to put two and two together. Catra still shot back at anyone who mentioned it but, of course, never denied. Not anymore. Glimmer had a feeling that this would be an advantage in battle because it seemed that Catra would do anything to keep Adora safe.
And also for revenge.
Revenge wasn't exactly the Rebellion's style but that didn't stop Catra from being increasingly adamant about getting payback for everything the Horde had done to her and to anyone she was ever close to, albeit that probably wasn't many.
Glimmer had kept a close eye on Catra ever since Adora had first brought her out of that ruin. She was an incredibly powerful and capable fighter (she was raised in the Horde, what do you expect?) even without her connections to Adora. This was one of the reasons why she was chosen to accompany Glimmer to the heart of the fight, taking on the Horde's leaders themselves.
Once Glimmer and Catra had teleported right to Hordak's sanctum, where Adora would be waiting for them, Adora would turn into She-Ra and the three would begin to fight Hordak and Shadow Weaver head-on until backup arrived. Said backup was a large portion of the small army they had put together after breaking through any lines of defense the Horde would've had time to set up, and after, being directed to the three's location by Scorpia. There was no chance the two leaders would be able to take them all, and with all of the Horde's army busy with the rest of the Rebellion's.
This plan was foolproof. It had to work. It had to.
.
Adora
Adora didn't wake up in her bed.
At first she had to remind herself yet again that she wasn't in Bright Moon and tried to identify the strange feeling as a bed in the Fright Zone but what she was laying on was harder than even those.
Something was wrong.
Without opening her eyes, she took in her surroundings the only way she could. Based on the hardness and coldness of the platform under her, she was on an inclined metal table, and from a subtle attempt to move her arm, she found that she had been restrained.
That's not good.
From the even-more-musty-and-metallic-and-machinery-smelling-than-the-rest-of-the-Horde scent filling her nostrils, she could only guess she was in Hordak's sanctum. And he was probably there right now. Even though she had no idea what time it was, she was sure she wasn't alone in there. She wasn't sure he ever left that place. She wasn't even sure if he slept at all.
Her suspicions were confirmed when she heard metal doors slide open and felt the all too familiar cold and dark sensation that Shadow Weaver carried around with her entered the room.
"Lord Hordak, the Fright Zone is prepared for attack." She said in her usual chilling voice.
Has the attack started already? Adora thought, still effectively pretending to be unconscious.
"Good." Hordak said. "Have the rebels arrived?"
Huh?
"Not yet, my Lord. Intel reports that they should be arriving shortly."
Intel? Had their cover been blown? Obviously, since she had woken up locked to a table. There goes the element of surprise. Adora started to worry. The element of surprise was the core aspect of their plan of attack. What were they going to do now?
All of a sudden, a shock of electricity jolted through her and Adora's eyes shot open. She could see the sizzling outline of red around her signifying the use of dark magic. Her whole body was tensed up painfully and she saw Shadow Weaver staring directly at her. She had been hit with her magic.
"I know you are awake, Force Captain. Did you think you could fool me?" She said threateningly and floated right up to where Adora was held in place. The closer she got, the more painful the spell got. Adora was powerless at this moment. She didn't know what to do. She didn't say anything, just tried a hard glare at Shadow Weaver.
After a couple more seconds of the staring contest between them, Shadow Weaver released her magic and turned back to Hordak, who hadn't said a word or moved at all since Adora had opened her eyes. Adora's body relaxed as much as it could in the restraints she was in once she was free of the magic and took a few deep breaths.
"What shall I do with this one, my Lord?" Shadow Weaver asked menacingly, throwing a weak gesture in Adora's direction.
"Kill her, before the rebels arrive. She has been nothing but a nuisance to us. She is of no use to us anymore." Hordak said plainly in his deep voice. He didn't even look once at Adora the entire time she had been there.
"Yes, my Lord." My pleasure, Adora heard hidden in the tone and the smile in Shadow Weaver's voice. The slits in her mask narrowed and she began to gather up a large amount of dark energy and electricity in her hands. Adora prepared for the worst.
"I think the fuck not!" A familiar voice shouted from somewhere, a voice she hadn't heard in over a week.
Catra swung into the room out of nowhere and planted a hard kick to the side of Shadow Weaver's head, sending the sorceress flying halfway across the sanctum.
Glimmer appeared at Adora's side a second later and teleported her out of the restraints holding her down.
"Dunno if you can tell (/s), but they knew we were coming." Glimmer yelled breathlessly and handed the Sword of Protection to Adora. "Doesn't stop us though!" She smiled and nodded.
That was her cue.
"For the Honor of Grayskull!"
The magic she hadn't felt in a while flowed through her and then the familiar feeling of growth and power and strength finished her transformation.
It was great to be back, but there was no time for revelling in glory because as soon as she got sight of the already started battle, a beam (though she wasn't sure if she could even call it a beam since it was so dark) of shadow was shooting right at her face. She ducked under it and sent her own beam of light in the direction Shadow Weaver's attack came from.
She wasn't able to see if she'd hit her target as she heard a deadly battle cry from behind her. She spun around and saw Lonnie in the air, ready to attack with an electricity-crackling staff. Adora's sword was up to block the hit in an instant, she hadn't even thought about it.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Catra and Glimmer working together to take Shadow Weaver down. Hordak was nowhere to be seen.
After Lonnie was thrown backwards, she caught a glance of the door on the far wall sliding open. In the doorway stood Scorpia.
And there's backup, Adora thought. No way we can lose.
Then a realization hit her. Something was wrong. Very wrong. Scorpia was in the doorway.
But she was in the doorway alone.
Before Adora could even question it, the princess jumped straight at her, sharp pincers bearing. Adora blocked the attack again but Scorpia didn't stop.
"Scorpia! What are you doing?!" Adora shouted.
"What am I doing? What are you doing?" She responded with a grunt and pushed Adora away, the clang of claws against sword ringing in the room. She dared a glance over at Catra and Glimmer, who seemed to be fending for themselves quite well. Go figure.
The hairs on the back of She-Ra's neck stood up and she turned fast and blocked another hit from Lonnie. Two against one? Like that was fair. Well, technically she was She-Ra and the abilities and strength that came with that was pretty much that of multiple people, so maybe it was fair? Anyways, no time to think about fairness, this is war. Gosh, author, time and a place.
Dodge. Block. Hit.
"Scorpia, wha-" Adora handspringed out of the way and felt eyes on her from behind. Chancing a turn of her head she found Shadow Weaver staring right at her, eyes narrowed. She swore she would see her smiling if not for the mask.
And then it hit her. Well, two things hit her. One was Lonnie's electric staff which knocked her to the floor momentarily.
The other was what must have happened with Scorpia. It was the same thing that had happened to Adora.
Her memory was wiped.
Adora pushed up the blade of her sword with both hands to prevent being pincered in half by Scorpia.
Adora yelled in effort and shoved the princess off of her.
"Come on, Scorpia! You have to remember!" She pleaded as another attack came through.
All three opponents were back on their feet instantaneously. Scorpia took a preparing step back when they were all startled by an explosive sound and scream coming from somewhere else in the room.
Adora peeled her eyes off her attackers for a second and saw Glimmer being thrown across the sanctum. She gasped and swiped her sword in front of her, releasing a powerful wave of energy that knocked Scorpia and Lonnie several feet backwards and ran over to a recently hit-the-ground Glimmer.
"Glimmer! Are you oka-"
"Adora!" Glimmer shouted, her eyes wide and looking at something behind Adora's head. She reached both arms out and the moment Adora looked around to see Scorpia and Lonnie right on top of her, about to attack, they all vanished into a flash of weak sparkles.
"Glimmer?!" She'd teleported them and herself away somewhere. Adora scanned the entire room only to see Catra, struggling against a somehow glowing red Shadow Weaver. Glimmer must have gone outside somewhere.
Before she could even stand up, an explosion sounded right above her head. In a flash, her sword transformed into a golden shield and she protected herself from the array of rocks and metal that came from the broken ceiling.
Dust settled and she stood up, trying to locate where that blast had come from.
Standing in the shadows was Lord Hordak himself, his right arm raised and pointing straight at her. A glow of red began emitting from something on his arm's armor and she quickly realized he was aiming a weapon at her. Some sort of powerful gun blaster.
She leaped out of the way of the shot just as it fired and it hit the spot on a machine behind her, right where her head had been moments earlier. Adora jumped away from the now sizzling machine as it too blew up.
The Horde's leader now had joined the battle. He took a step forward and lifted his weapon again. Adora could see his face now. He was angry angry.
The red light swirled around the tip of the gun and She-Ra stood her ground until it fired and she dodged. Adora groaned and looked around the room again. Glimmer still was nowhere to be found. Adora hoped she was okay.
Catra on the other hand, was right next to her, perched down close to the floor. She was breathing heavily, almost like a growl. With her out of harm's way for the moment, Adora heaved her sword so that the tip was pointing towards Hordak and summoned a greater amount of energy than normal in a blast of destructive blue light, squeezing her eyes shut. She grunted and swung the sword across the room midshot to target Shadow Weaver as well.
When she opened her eyes, Shadow Weaver had fallen to the floor, but Hordak had only been thrown off balance. Meanwhile the sanctum's wall had completely been blown off, exposing them all to the open air outside. It would've been nice to have the fresh air if they were anywhere but the Fright Zone, where the atmosphere was less than ideal and you'd be breathing more dust and musk than actual air.
The extra expense of magic was slightly more demanding than Adora had anticipated. She dropped to one knee for a moment and shook her head before standing up again.
And then it hit her. Again. This time, it wasn't a thought, or a realization. It was something a lot worse than that. You know that thing that she'd been dodging for the last 30 seconds? Yeah, she had totally forgotten about it in her daze, and the red blast hit her straight on, flinging her against a metal wall. She hit her head, hard.
In all this chaos, her sword had fallen from her grip and clattered to the floor several feet away from where she inevitably landed. She felt herself... flicker; her power pulsed out, and she was dead exhausted.
"Adora!" Catra yelled from somewhere. Adora was still trying to clear her blurred vision, shaking her head. Her normally radiating hair had lost its glow and was hanging languid over her shoulders.
She didn't have much time to recover. When she looked up, seeing semi-clearly now, Catra was frozen in place, petrified by Shadow Weaver's lightning spell. Adora gasped.
"Catra!" She yelled. Probably not the best idea as Shadow Weaver turned her head in the direction of her voice and before she could even fully stand up, she was locked in the very same containment spell.
She'd never been caught in this before; it was a punishment reserved only for Catra back in the day (fuck Shadow Weaver amirite) so she didn't expect the jolt of pain that came with it. Her whole body was tingling and shaking, and it almost felt as if she were being electrocuted.
She immediately felt horrible that Catra had to endure this almost daily when the two of them would've been messing around together in the Fright Zone as kids. She couldn't believe that she'd ever considered this woman a good person and a valued teacher.
She cried out when she felt a heavy pressure pushing down on her, on top of the voltage feeling. She managed to lift her head a little bit and saw Shadow Weaver staring her down, all focus turned on her. Adora felt as if she were being crushed, but there was nothing on top of her. It was all the sorceress's magic squeezing in on her.
Just then, in another corner, Adora saw a flash of light and Glimmer appeared, falling on her hands and knees. It didn't seem like Shadow Weaver had noticed.
It made no difference. As soon as the princess tried to stand up, and summon even the smallest bit of light, Glimmer collapsed entirely, having completely exhausted her magic.
Behind Shadow Weaver, Catra was still in the same situation Adora was in, minus the whole crushing weight part. But since Shadow Weaver has her main focus on keeping She-Ra at bay, Catra was able to get herself moving. Adora watched as she managed to escape the prison spell, even if only for a moment, and launched herself at Shadow Weaver, claws unsheathed.
Before she could do any damage, though, the same glowing red blast from Hordak's weapon that Adora had been hit by impacted her and sent her flying. She was dangerously close to the ledge to the outside created when She-Ra destroyed the wall. And she appeared to be unconscious.
Adora screamed and continued struggling to get out of Shadow Weaver's hold, but with Catra down for the count, the sorceress's power was even more focused on her and she could hardly move at all, let alone ease the horrible, strangling weight being pressed on top of her. It felt like her ribs were about to shatter, and her knees were digging too hard into the floor.
But she wouldn't give up yet.
All this time, she had managed to keep herself from totally collapsing, staying on her hands and knees, using her arms and shoulder strength to remain somewhat upright and not lying flat on the floor. Her entire body strained from the effort but she still kept her gaze upward. This didn't do wonders for her neck, which felt like it was about to snap, but she needed to see what was happening around her.
And it's a good thing she did.
Next thing she knew, Hordak was walking over to an unconscious Catra on the ground. Glimmer was still passed out on the floor on the other side of the room, near where She-Ra's sword lay abandoned.
Catra was still breathing, Adora could see that from where she was, and her back was facing her. When the former Force Captain began moving, ever so slightly, evidence that she was now awake, Adora could see that too.
But before Catra could even comprehend what had happened to her, Hordak nudged her weak body with his foot, sending her straight over the ledge.
"No!" Adora yelled. With a newfound strength, she pushed herself further upright, making a sound she didn't even know she could make, a roar, almost, and picked herself off the ground. Her outburst released an explosive amount of magic energy that toppled Shadow Weaver's spell entirely. When she could discern the world around her again, she peeked over at where Catra had been knocked over the edge and saw two sets of clawed fingers gripping the broken wall and floor, greatly to Adora's relief.
Relief wasn't long lasting. After She-Ra's power eruption disoriented the two enemies she was still facing on, Hordak growled and took another step towards the ledge, and stomped hard right on one of Catra's hands.
Adora heard her cry out and the moment Hordak lifted his foot, one of her hands was missing from the edge of the wall.
What happened next was all a blur. Vaguely, Adora could tell that Glimmer had resurrected from her unconsciousness and shoved Adora's sword in her direction, the weapon skittering across the floor until Adora grabbed it. She didn't even think, it was if her body moved on its own, and the next thing she knew was Shadow Weaver collapsed on the floor, bits of her mask and the red gemstone imbedded in it were strewn around her. She was powerless.
Less than a second later, she was at the ledge, where Catra and Hordak were. It felt like everything was going in slow motion. She-Ra jumped high in the air, and with all of her remaining strength, rammed the flat blade of her sword against Hordak's armor and weapon, shattering it. With no means of fighting back anymore, Hordak fell over too, now weak without his protective equipment holding him in place and supplying him with extra power. He was down, for real.
It was over.
The Horde had been defeated.
Etheria was finally at peace.
As Adora, still as She-Ra reached down to lift Catra up from her spot hanging over a cliff, she saw the rest of their small army looking in high spirits, with many Horde soldiers fleeing from the scene. They would be here soon.
Adora brought Catra off the end of the wall with ease and helped her to a safe spot back in the room where it had all started.
Adora sighed heavily, a smile creeping at her lips as she returned to her normal size and state. Tears sprung to her eyes as she collapsed onto Catra, squeezing her as tight as she could. Catra hugged her back with the same intensity.
Neither said a word for at least a minute until they finally pulled apart. Adora was breathing heavily, dangerously close to passing out from sheer exhaustion.
She looked Catra dead in the eyes and smiled, placing both hands on either of Catra's cheeks. She needed to tell her how she felt, about everything that happened before she was sent on this mission. Now or never, I guess.
"Catra... I..." Her head spun and she blinked, and before she could get anything else out, everything went black.
.
Catra
Adora nearly took Catra down with her as she fell limply forward into her arms.
"Adora?!" Catra exclaimed, bringing her carefully down to the floor with the little strength she had left. "Adora!"
She was still breathing, which was a good sign, but her breaths were fairly shallow.
It was then that the rest of the princesses and Bow appeared in the opening doorway behind them. The rest except for Scorpia, of course...
"Glimmer!" Bow shouted the moment he saw his best friend lying nearly unconscious on the floor and ran over to her.
Catra looked over and saw Glimmer roll over and weakly said something to Bow, smiling. Bow smiled in return and said something back, Catra couldn't hear either of them because they were speaking so softly. Glimmer moved her gaze over to her and Adora with a worried look. Bow turned and mimicked her exact expression before standing up and jogging over to the two of them.
He knelt down beside Catra who had Adora's head lying in her lap.
"What happened?" He asked.
Catra looked down at the sleeping girl in her lap. "She overdid it," she said and looked back up to Bow, "a lot."
"But... we won." Bow said sympathetically and smiled at her. It was only then that Catra noticed what was going on in the rest of the sanctum. Princesses were exchanging hugs and smiles and exhausted cheers. A few were busy detaining the defeated Horde leaders. Catra began to zone out a bit, staring in the direction of the jaded celebration.
"She'll be okay." Catra spoke passively. "We all will."
"You better believe it!" Bow said, snapping her out of her daze. He put a hand on Catra's shoulder and smiled before walking back over to Glimmer who was sitting up now. Bow pulled out a device and pressed a few buttons and soon, a face appeared on the screen. They must have been contacting the Queen to alert her and the kingdom of their victory.
Catra sighed and brought her eyes back down to Adora. Her hair had fallen loose at some point and it spilled over Catra's lap. She absentmindedly played with it while staring down at the girl, deep in thought. She wasn't sure what she was even thinking about. All she knew was that Adora was alright. She looked so peaceful sleeping like that, not any hint that would indicate she was in any pain.
That's good.
Before long, the Queen herself showed up at the wreckage, having flown straight there after the call. She went around helping everyone who had physical injuries, including Adora and Glimmer, but those two were mostly magicked out and there wasn't much she could really do about that.
Healing only does so much, though. Everyone was still totally exhausted, and they were all just ready to go home.
Home. Catra wasn't sure when she had started thinking of Bright Moon as her home. It still hadn't been that long since she was thrown out of the Fright Zone that first time.
She let herself relax and shifted her focus to the movement of Adora's chest as she breathed. She matched her breaths with Adora's and her sense of time diminished. She was practically asleep while awake. She detached herself from reality for an unknown period of time, allowing herself to rest until a number of transport vehicles and methods arrived to take everyone to Bright Moon, because there was no way in hell they were walking all the way there.
*Time Skip that was not nearly as long as I procrastinated to write this chapter =)))*
Adora was still sleeping, she hadn't woken up since the final battle. But Catra wasn't worried; she was sure she would wake up, better than ever.
It was the day after, a lot of the fighters had gotten their rest, and festivities had started to celebrate the Horde's elimination. Everything was taking place here in Bright Moon, and Catra was confident it would last for a long time. It wasn't every day that you overthrow a malevolent destructive regime that had been at war for gods know how long.
Catra wasn't a party person. She didn't even know what a party even was until recently. She would much rather stay in her room with Adora. And she'd never give up the chance to take more naps.
She'd been on and off sleeping curled up at Adora's side, checking on how she was doing every now and then when she would wake up. Her dreams were vague and she hardly remembered any of them, allowing a proper restful sleep. Catra never slept well when she dreamed.
She had mostly recovered from being hit head on with a blaster and then knocked over the edge of a cliff while also trying to shake the feeling of Shadow Weaver's magic at the same time. Now she just wanted to sleep for the sole reason of sleeping and not having to deal with anything around her.
So here she was, sleeping peacefully, a nice and calm sensation rolling over her. She wasn't completely asleep yet, it hadn't been that long since she had woken up last and it was warm and comforting and she felt a purr rumbling in her chest without even realizing it. She snuggled into the warm pressure on her head and breathed deeply as it moved her hair around in a pleasant way. What was this? She hadn't felt anything like it the entire time she had been relaxing here. Could it be the daylight? No, it felt more like...
Catra jumped up and alert in an instant and saw Adora's hand raised above where Catra's head had just been.
"ADORA!" She shouted and stared at the awake and generally back to normal blonde in front of her. She couldn't help but admire the way her let down hair framed her face and the way her bright blue eyes crinkled when she smiled. Catra didn't know how long it had been since she'd seen Adora without her stupid ponytail and her stupid hair poof.
She ventured herself deep into those oceans of azure that were her eyes, which were gazing back into hers. She was astounded by her beauty as if she'd never seen her before in her life. There was something different now that they didn't have to worry about an army ready to attack them at any time, no matter which side of the war she was on.
Catra wasn't sure how long she had been captivated by Adora's eyes. Eventually she found the time and the place and blinked a couple of times.
"Adora-"
"Catra-"
The two tried to speak at the same time. Catra shook her head and gestured for Adora to continue.
Adora sighed. "Catra... I... I-"
"ADORA!" shouted a voice preceded by a shimmering flash. Glimmer and Bow had appeared in the room and practically leaped on top of Adora in her bed and gave her a crushing hug.
"Woah, hey!" Adora said and laughed as Bow and Glimmer jumped back.
"How are you feeling?" Glimmer asked way too loudly.
"Yeah, are you okay? I'm so glad you're awake!" Bow added.
Adora nodded. "Yeah, I'm... great!" She said. "A little sore I guess, but healing can only do so much, right? How are you doing?" She asked Glimmer. "Last I saw you were collapsed on the ground. Did you teleport both Scorpia and Lonnie out of there?"
Catra's tail flicked at the sound of Scorpia's name. She'd already figured that she'd had her memory erased, and that's why she was fighting them and totally sabotaged the plan, and she also figured she was the one who warned Shadow Weaver that they were coming. She pressed her lips together as she thought about Shadow Weaver again.
The old witch was locked away somewhere in Bright Moon - Catra wasn't sure where because from what she'd seen, Bright Moon did not have a prison - along with Hordak. She hoped she'd never have to see them again.
Glimmer had just finished talking about how she had ended up somewhere in the Fright Zone with the two assailants and had no idea where. It must've been pretty far away since Scorpia and Lonnie hadn't come back to Hordak's sanctum for the fight. Glimmer had teleported away from them, getting lost in the Fright Zone until she finally was back in the battlefield.
The initial teleport of two people had already taken a lot out of her, and the ones following were unfocused and blind; she was very lucky to get back in there at all.
"And then I resurrected and threw you your sword!" Glimmer exclaimed. Adora chuckled. "Then I just needed a recharge back here and I'm all better!... The same doesn't apply to you, you can't really recharge. Are you sure you're okay?" She asked the bedridden girl.
"Yeah, yeah, I just needed rest is all. We all did, I'm sure." Adora replied and smiled. She looked genuine and Catra believed that she was alright.
Glimmer jumped up and down. "Oh oh! I- How did you defeat Shadow Weaver and Hordak like that all in one go? That was awesome!"
Good question, Sparkles. Catra wasn't sure what had even happened at all. Last she knew was hanging by one hand off a cliff. What's with she and Adora and cliffs? She'd heard a loud crashing and suddenly She-Ra was standing over her, stretching a hand down to pull her up.
She hadn't asked anyone about it because she spent the last 24 hours here with Adora and honestly didn't care much about anything else. She hadn't even thought to ask at all.
Adora pondered this for a moment, like she didn't even know the answer herself.
"I... I'm not sure." She said. "I guess... I guess, I saw Catra in danger and..." She turned her gaze toward Catra who felt her face start to heat up.
"Pshh, wow, you like me?" Catra joked, trying but failing to be cool about it.
"Yeah," Adora said, "I do."
Her soft gaze bore into her soul. Once again, Catra found herself lost and speechless, her face probably as red as her shirt. Another unknown amount of time passed by, and Catra could see Bow and Glimmer give each other a knowing look out of the corner of her eye.
"Okay! See you at the party, bye guys!!" Glimmer shouted suddenly, shocking Adora and Catra out of their trance, before disappearing into thin air with Bow.
Both girls were silent for a moment until Adora started laughing. Catra smiled and looked down at her lap and twiddled her fingers. She looked back up when Adora put a hand on top of hers.
"So I heard there's a party?" She said, her face inches away from Catra's. The feline froze for a couple of seconds. She blinked.
"Yeah, wanna go?" She replied and Adora leaned back again.
"Yeah."
Gods, when did this get so awkward?
Catra cleared her throat and stood up from the bed. "It's been going on for a long time. Everyone's celebrating your victory."
Adora sat up straighter and shuffled herself on top of the covers and playfully punched Catra's arm. "Hey, our victory." She said and smiled. Catra rolled her eyes.
"Whatever helps you sleep at night, princess. That was all you, just admit it."
"No," Adora said smugly, "if you didn't show up, I would've been dead so, there, you helped. Also, you like, fought Shadow Weaver off for a long time."
Catra pursed her lips and sighed.
"Ugh, whatever." She crossed her arms and shifted most of her weight onto her right leg. "Now are you gonna get up or not?" She reached out to help Adora stand, not that she needed it, Catra just wanted to hold her hand. No use in hiding that. Not anymore. She didn't know what the heck was up with Adora and how she felt, but Catra knew one thing for sure. She was extremely in love with Adora.
But she didn't tell her that. She wouldn't have understood anyway. Instead, she lifted the hand that was holding Adora's and prompted her to twirl around under her arm like a ballroom dancer.
Adora giggled and sighed. "Isn't it nice to be free?"
"Free?"
"Yeah, of the Horde, of the war, everything. I just woke up like ten minutes ago and it all seems so different already. It's like the air is cleared, the atmosphere is just... different, better. Don't you feel it?"
Catra bit the inside of her cheek. "Yeah, I guess... Listen, I never got to apologize for the way I was acting before you left-"
"It's alright." Adora put both her arms over Catra's shoulders and clasped them behind her neck. "It's in the past. Look where we are now."
She smiled and Catra's heart skipped a beat. She couldn't see her own face but she was sure it was pulled embarrassingly soft. Her eyes slid down to rest on Adora's lips without realizing and she quickly turned them away. She swore she could see Adora blushing in her peripheral vision.
"Uh, well," Adora cleared her throat and removed her arms from atop Catra's shoulders; she missed the warmth almost immediately; "Um, party, right?" She asked. Catra blinked a couple of times.
"Uh, yeah, yeah, we should... get ready."
Adora turned around and walked over to the other side of her bed. "So, whaddya wanna wear?"
"I dunno." Catra replied and shrugged. "What do you want me to wear?"
"Oh, I don't want to choose for you. That's your decision."
"Adora, I will wear whatever you tell me to wear and I will love it. C'mon, you know I'm not good at decision making."
Adora pursed her lips. "Uh, alright... Y'know what, I think I have just the thing." She rummaged around in a wardrobe against the wall. "Glimmer gave this to me a while ago, but it was a little too small. Plus, it's not like I wear dresses often." She turned around to reveal a maroon skin-tight dress with sleeves that would go to about halfway down her forearms. Catra had never worn a dress in her life, but she was willing to try. For Adora.
"Uh, sure." She said.
"Wait, really?" Catra nodded. "O-okay, I really didn't think you'd agree to that. Ahem, I think you will look absolutely gorgeous in this dress."
Catra blushed a light pink and went to take the dress from Adora's hands. "...You think?"
"Yep," Adora smiled, "do you wanna try it on?" She gestured to the bathroom door.
"...Sure." Catra said. Geez, why is this so awkward? "Uh, what are you gonna wear?"
"I think I've got something. I'll change out here while you do. See you in a bit!" She said and chuckled. Catra raised her eyebrows but turned and headed towards the restroom to change into the dress she'd been given.
The author decided it was extremely unnecessary to describe the sequence of Catra changing clothes. She'd opted to wear black leggings underneath the dress, only because she hadn't not worn pants for the last nineteen years of her life. Once she was done, she waited a few minutes until Adora confirmed that she had finished changing too. It would've been quite the awkward encounter if Catra had walked out while Adora wasn't done yet.
Catra opened the door and did a double take as to what Adora had chosen to wear. She'd never seen her wear anything near like this before. She wore a very bright and very white full tuxedo with the front buttons of the blazer undone to reveal a cropped black top. She had left her hair down, something Catra still wasn't quite used to, but clipped her bangs up to the top of her head.
She nearly choked on her own spit. "Uh, wow, Adora, you look- great..." Catra said and cleared her throat, still frozen in the doorway she had been attempting to leave from.
Adora gasped giddily. "So do you! Oh my gosh I've never seen you in a dress before. Do you... like it?"
She hadn't even bothered to check her own appearance until now. Catra looked down at her view of the dress she was wearing, then turned again and looked in a mirror that stood by the wall. The dress wasn't anything big or special, good, that's not how Catra had wanted to look. It accented her curves and seemed to fit perfectly, not too tight or anything. She could freely move around in it for the most part, too. She hoped Adora didn't mind the hole she'd ripped in it to let her tail through.
And she... looked nice. "Yeah," she said, "I think I really do." She looked back up at her face. Her hair was a mess, she hadn't really done anything to it since they'd gotten back, so it was a little bit of a disaster. "Um, y'know," she began, "I might... put my hair up... What do you think?" Catra asked and turned toward Adora who had a grin plastered on her face.
"I think, you should do whatever you want with your hair." She said and Catra put a hand up to the tragedy that was her hair, thinking for a minute.
"You got a hair tie? I might need, like, sixty..." (/hyp)
*Time Skip, again*
The party ballroom type setup wasn't all too different from the Princess Ball she'd gone to with...
There were fancy lights and music and food and people dancing and having a good time. Catra hoped she could too, since the last time she was at one of these things she kind of almost destroyed an entire kingdom.
The only difference was, there were a lot more people. It was only to be expected because princesses and civilians alike were joining, unlike the princess invite only back in the Kingdom of Snows. All the lands in Bright Moon were being used, so not everyone was crammed into one room, thankfully.
Catra trailed right beside Adora as they entered into the main ballroom, where they were hoping to find their friends, and just as they imagined, Glimmer, Bow, Perfuma, and Entrapta were standing and talking by a buffet table. Well, three of them were talking, Entrapta was closely examining a piece of tiny food, using her hair as a seat and muttering something into a recorder.
"Adora, Catra, hey!" Bow said upon seeing them.
"What's up?" Catra greeted and Adora smiled and waved. When they reached the table their friends were standing at, Adora immediately grabbed some of the food and scarfed it into her mouth. Oh, I guess she hasn't eaten in like two days, whoops.
Catra chuckled and turned her head to examine the large room again. All colored lights were shining all over from the tall ceiling and streamers hung on the walls. It wasn't particularly extravagant, probably since they set this up in a pretty short period of time after the news was spread. The music was just background noise and indecipherable voices bounced around the walls, someone yelling out an occasional cheer or something.
They'd won. They deserve it.
"Catra!" Glimmer shouted, pulling Catra out of her thoughts. She turned her head back forward and found Glimmer jumping up and down like a little kid. "Aaah! I love your dress!!" She yelled with way too much enthusiasm.
"You would, wouldn't you. Adora said you gave it to her." Catra snickered.
"Well, yeah, but it looks totally perfect on you!" She exclaimed. Catra blushed. She still was not used to receiving compliments from other people.
"Uh, thanks, I guess." She said, avoiding eye contact and rubbing the back of her neck, which was actually exposed for once since her mass of hair was tied up into almost a high ponytail.
Glimmer squealed again and jumped over back to whatever conversation she'd been having with Bow. Catra felt an arm link around hers and turned to see Adora smiling at her.
As if on cue, the lights dimmed slightly and the music changed. Everyone started barreling onto the large open space of the dance floor, Adora and Catra following suit. It was no question for either of them who was going to dance with who.
It was a slower song, similar to the one Catra had shared a dance with Adora to back at Princess Prom. There wasn't really any choreography or anything this time though, they just kind of did whatever felt natural and followed each other's steps like they were their own. At some point the two ended up facing each other with Adora's hands gently gripping Catra's. And then they just kind of stayed that way, swaying and side-stepping, not breaking eye contact a single time.
Adora sighed and looked down at their hands. "Catra, I really need to tell you something." She said and ran her thumb across Catra's fingers.
"What is it?" Catra asked as calmly as she could, but she could feel anxiety bubbling in her stomach already. Adora sighed again and looked to the side, pursing her lips. She didn't say anything for a while, appearing to be thinking about what she should say. Catra wasn't sure what would happen next.
"This is- wow, this is gonna sound really stupid... Oh... no, I- what? Ugh, how do I explain this?" She leaned her head back, still holding onto Catra's hands.
"Um, are you okay?" Catra asked.
Adora groaned. "Yes, yeah. I'm just- I'm just gonna start from the beginning.
Okay, so, after we... uh, before I left for the Fright Zone, I went to go see Light Hope, y'know, the hologram lady. Entrapta said she did something to her programming or whatever and that I needed to see her again at some point. I was afraid she messed something up but... I guess it was a good thing? Light Hope told me that she had been programmed to uh, to keep She-Ra from forming attractions, and that there was also some super weapon in the middle of the planet that apparently I was supposed to set off if Light Hope hadn't been restored to her previous settings, so, yeah, it definitely was a good thing..."
Catra wasn't completely sure where this was going but she listened intently.
"And then, and then, she said that she'd- or they'd messed with my brain or something? And I had no idea what she meant by that and then she told me that basically the comprehension of... of love, was stolen from me..."
Catra's heartbeat quickened but she remained silent, allowing Adora to continue.
"And- and she said she could give it back..." Adora swallowed and Catra just stared at her. "And- and then, she did, as soon as I left, but they wouldn't let me see you before going on my mission." Adora sounded like she was about to cry. She took a deep breath.
"So basically... what I'm trying to say is... I... love you." Her voice broke. "And I'm pretty sure that's what you were trying to tell me before, but I was too stupid to understand-"
"Adora. Shut up." Catra stated sternly, and then smiled. "But... yeah, that's what I meant..."
They stared into each other's eyes for several moments before Adora said something again.
"Catra... Can I..."
Catra knew exactly what she meant, or at least she hoped she did. She nodded and started leaning forward.
Fireworks. She didn't even know what those were but that's what she felt as soon as their lips met. Harmony, synchrony, everything felt perfect, it was like Catra's world had shifted back onto its axis after veering off for such a long time. Is this what Adora had meant by free?
They were each other's compliment, like this is how it was supposed to be.
They weren't at a party anymore, Catra had ascended to someplace different. No one else was around them, the music had faded away and had been replaced with the sound of a waterfall rushing in her ears. Nothing could compare.
It didn't last forever, much to Catra's dismay, but she realized that she, too, would need to breathe at some point. Not much time had passed when Adora pulled her lips away from Catra's, their foreheads leaning against each other. She couldn't keep that dumb smile off her face, and found that Adora was having the same problem. Catra fell forward and buried her head in Adora's shoulder, clinging onto her like she was the only thing keeping her alive.
And Adora had done the same, her face resting in Catra's hair against her right ear.
And they stayed like that for a long time. Catra wished everything could just stay like that, she wanted this to last forever.
And she could tell Adora felt the same way.
a/n:
There we have it boys, thats the end. Jesus christ this has been a trip. So basically I've been a terrible author and procrastinated on every single chapter in this fic since the very beginning but a whole 2 years later I'm finally finished with it. My god. This is the very first fanfic that I've finished in my entire life and I'm forever grateful for the folks who kept screaming at me to update because that's the only reason I actually finished this. Omg. So I actually had planned to make this chapter longer but then i was at 7500 words and was like - okay I'm just gonna put the rest in an epilogue, so look out for that. I promise I'll have it posted before the end of 2020. I'd like to sincerely apologize to Scorpia because um well y'know, but that's been the plan since I started this two years ago and I really didn't want to or know how to change it so uh scorpia i love you skfshbdhf thank you thank you thank you for reading, this got way more reads than I ever thought it would so like shdfbkfhksjf. Seriously sorry im such a horrendous updater im making no promises that it won't happen again, but i will be trying to focus on my other she ra fic when im done with the epliogue for this one so I can actually get that done. So throughout this ive discovered that im actually not very good at writing romance, like, im just bad, but well i tried. I write plot over anything else so if I ever write something else it'll probably be more plot centered like this one ended up being but uh yeah ,,,,,,,, that's all folks
~A