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The sound of a door opening told Adora that Catra had, at last, entered the holding cell. No heightened senses or otherwise aided her knowledge of who it was – she knew.
“Catra,” She looked immediately towards the entryway and brought forth the command of She-Ra to her voice. “You can’t do this -”
Adora paused and blinked up at the person who'd stepped in past the shadows.
“Well, hello to you too,” Catra smirked and raised the Sword over her slim shoulders. While Catra turned to glance and nod at the guard to leave, Adora took the opportunity to look her up and down.
Catra seemed different. Her tail waved casually back and forth. Her shoulders fell loose, and … and that new jacket of hers really did look dashing under the cavern light. For a moment, Adora almost wished she'd said "Hey, Adora".
When the door clicked shut behind the guard, Catra turned to direct that smirk to her and Adora averted her eyes quickly. Ugh, For Etheria’s sake … this would be more difficult than she'd thought.
“So, what can’t I do now?” Catra playfully taunted, and caution gripped Adora when the feline ambled closer. She suddenly remembered that Catra would be prepared to do anything Adora told her not to do.
“Aww … cat got your tongue?” Catra teased at the silence and knelt, forcing Adora to turn her head away with a growl. Catra wouldn't give her much breathing room, of course.
Hold on.
“Wait did you just say –“ She turned to face Catra, her attention now on earlier words, and came at point-blank range to Catra’s smirk. A very self-satisfied, infuriating, god-damned knowing smirk.
“Or maybe it didn’t,” Catra planted her chin on her palm, and let the Sword's tip sink into the sandy ground so that she could hold its hilt out annoyingly close within Adora’s reach. “Now, what were you saying I couldn’t do?”
Adora leaned back, looking away for just another moment to think clearly.
“Hello? Command base to Adora.” Catra snapped her fingers and tried to move her face into Adora’s field of view, which the blonde duly avoided by looking the other way. “Ugh, fine. Have it your way." Catra shrugged. "I’m missing the party.”
“Wait,” Adora looked up at her as she rose back to her feet. Catra glanced down, raising an eyebrow, and Adora’s mouth worked before her mind caught up. “Y-your jacket’s distracting.”
Catra gaped for a full second. Adora swallowed and looked away, heat entering her cheeks. First Ones, she’d chosen to go with that? It wasn't ... untrue, it was just that she’d prefer not to be tied up while having this conversation. Catra would have a field day and she would be forced to sit here and listen to it. Well, at least that would keep Catra here for a little longer.
As entirely expected, Catra laughed, so hard that she had to use Adora's Sword as a sturdy pole.
“You're – You're distracted by my jacket?” She burst between giggles, and Adora raised her eyebrows at the sound. “This is priceless!”
You should take it off. The thought drifted into Adora's mind unbidden and unrequested, and she shoved it far away at once. That was something she once would have said to Catra with a cocky tilt of the brow when they were younger, when Catra would tease her back, and she’d be able to playfully push her aside. These days it was too … forward. There was an undercurrent of tension whenever Catra showed up and she didn't want to test it - like a band, it was sure to snap the remaining hope she held and leave her with the short half.
Oh, and they were enemies.
When the feline showed no signs of stopping her laughter, Adora decided to defend herself with a grumble. "What? It's nice."
"It's 'nice' she says," Catra wiped a tear. "This is too good!"
Adora edged a cautious look her. To her surprise, despite Catra’s chuckling, there were no signs of her wanting to advantage of the moment any further. She was just enjoying it.
"Something's different about you." Adora tilted her head.
Catra stopped chuckling and her eyes snapped open. "What do you mean, something's different about me?" She demanded and pulled herself upright. Her tail waved back and forth uneasily. "Like what?"
"I don't know, you just seem ... More relaxed, I guess."
"More relaxed, wha - I was relaxed before." Catra folded her arms with a scoff and left the Sword standing hilt-up on into the sandy floor. At her expression, a crooked smile broke onto Adora’s face. She suddenly wished she could rub Catra's head, get more of that grumpy face.
When the silence stretched, Catra slowly peeked a glance at her. Then she growled and dropped her arms to clench fists.
"Ugh, will you stop doing that!" Hair frazzling, she stomped over to jab a finger at Adora, which unfortunately only served to quirk up the blonde’s smile. "How relaxed I am doesn't matter. You're my prisoner. We'll see how relaxed you are after I really start interrogating you."
"Ohhh so, this isn't - this isn't an interrogation." Now Adora smirked. "You just really wanted to see me."
"I - urgh," Catra took a deep breath and rubbed her forehead. When she spoke next, her voice was clipped. "Why are you here Adora?"
That tone of voice brought Adora back sharply to ground. She hadn't even realized her defences had lowered during their oddly familiar banter. She sighed.
"Fine, I'll tell you," Adora conceded reluctantly. "But first ... What did you hear when you ambushed me?" Adora tried to gauge Catra's reaction but the feline just narrowed her eyes.
"Lots of things. Tell it to me again."
Good answer, Adora’s eyes flicked around the room in a second of thought. She decided to follow through on what her gut was telling her the moment she had seen Catra enter the cavern.
"I came here looking for answers about what happened to the She-Ra before me." She started, bringing her eyes back to Catra's. "She left a message on that ship we were on."
"Which was?" Catra’s feet tapped.
"It said that a portal opened to this world would destroy everything on Etheria. There was a portal to Etheria before. Mara, the She-Ra before me, closed it."
"Wait," Catra held up a hand, looking amused. "That hologram told you that a portal would destroy Etheria? How?"
"Hordak's part of something bigger," Adora explained, nervous with the last detail. "The Horde isn't his army. The Horde is out there beyond this planet, waiting to conquer Etheria - all of Etheria. Everything will change."
Catra raised her eyebrows and gave a short, incredulous laugh. "Uh, I'm part of the Horde. Why would I not want more Horde to come here? Duh."
Adora hesitated. She could see where Catra was coming from, but dammit she was missing the point. The Horde would take over what was left of Etheria, Rebellion and Etherian-Horde alike. She’d felt the fear and knowledge of this buried within the messages that Mara had left, as though she was tuned to a personalized radio signal.
Her eyes drifted down onto Catra's new jacket as she considered how to persuade her. She noted how it stretched over Catra's shoulders, how that collar tufted under her hair - she really did fit nicely into it.
"Adora, try not to get too distracted with the jacket," Catra smirked and her voice fell into a velvet that Adora felt was carefully crafted solely to make her heart race, no matter how hard she glowered. Annoying Catra and her goddamn -
"Why are you wearing that jacket?" Adora asked suddenly.
"Wow, wow," Catra laughed, held up a hand. "Now I think you're just trying to get me to take it off. Unfortunately for you, Adora, I don't really do those kinds of shows."
... shows ...?
"I-I mean," Adora stammered, trying to ignore how heat suffused her cheeks, how Catra was giggling again. "Ugh, Catra, it’s not - look, everyone here is still wearing jackets with Huntara’s old symbol. You took over her gang, didn't you?"
Catra tilted her head. "Uh, of course I did? It's been a day." Adora tried to not eye-roll. Yeah, Catra would do this in a day, it didn't surprise her. The part of her that still stubbornly saw Catra as a friend was actually proud. It seemed to Adora an almost natural fit for Catra to be a gang leader within the Crimson Waste.
And ah, she’d found her angle. "Are you really part of the Horde if you're here in the Crimson Waste?"
Surprisingly, this only made Catra look away and cross her arms. Her tail curled. "I never left."
The unspoken part of that sentence remained easy to call up - Adora had left - but there was something else going on that Adora didn't know about. "Why are you here, then?" She asked, curious.
At this, Catra turned her back on her, and Adora's eyes slid down the shoulders of the jacket to the symbol etched there. Aha, so she was sporting it too.
"That's none of your business," Catra muttered. "And besides, you didn't say the only important part here. That this sword is the key to Etheria." She roved a hand carelessly along the Sword’s hilt from where it was still standing stuck in the sand and Adora's face fell. So Catra had heard that part of the message from Mara. Figured.
"What do you get out of having Etheria fall to the larger Horde? The message told me they're going to come here and destroy everything."
Catra whirled around, her face twisted in sudden anger, and Adora flinched. "What do I get? I get to win. No one will underestimate me again."
What she said made Adora recall their time together at the Beacon. She remembered being accused of treating Catra as a side-kick, of being in her way, and it had hurt. She knew Catra, she knew how much the other girl wanted to prove herself against the army of people who thought her worthless. The last thing Adora had wanted was to stop Catra from her dreams. If only she could see ...
"Catra -" Her voice caught. "Why does that have to be with the Horde? You just took over the Crimson Waste. No one here underestimates you."
"Why does everyone talk about that," Catra muttered, placing a hand on her elbow and looking away. There was a hint of doubt in her face again, and Adora latched onto it like it was her only lifeline.
"Because it's true," Adora said. "I - " she sighed, heat already entering her cheeks. "You really do look good in that jacket. You should keep it."
"Wow," Catra said flatly. "I can't believe you're still thinking about my jacket."
"Shut up," Adora grumbled. Ugh, if she got out of here, she was going to hide from Catra for a good year.
"Ah, you know, I should just tie you up more often, you're so entertaining like this," Catra knelt and forced her chin up with the hilt of her blade. Adora set her eyes hard, trying to exude as much dignity she could.
"Oh relax," Catra chuckled, and let the hilt drop. She considered her for a thoughtful second, and Adora maintained the gaze. "Huh. You really mean it."
"About how you look in the jacket? Or about you taking over this place?" Adora raised an eyebrow. For some reason that got a hint of red in amongst Catra's freckles, and her own heart pounded a little. She hadn't expected that at all. Sudden confidence drove Adora brazenly ahead. "Both are, you know, true. You should ask all the other girls."
"G-geez, enough flirting Adora," Catra scoffed and avoided her gaze, but it was too late. Her face was rosy.
Adora laughed, and openly smirked in victory. "What, scared that it worked?"
"Urgh, just shut up will you!!" Catra sprung to her feet, but her hair was frazzled again and Adora was beyond proud that she'd managed to get this reaction out of her. Catra huffed and paced a circle. "I need to think," She muttered, stopping with her back once more to Adora.
Adora relented and sat back in satisfaction, heart still soaring from their exchange.
"If I give you this sword, you're just going to run back to your Rebel friends, aren't you?" Catra's words were devoid of emotion.
"I have to go back," Adora smirk faded to a sad smile. "We learned that Hordak's trying to build a portal, Catra. Even if the Horde can't do it without my Sword, they still need to be stopped for everything else they're doing to Etheria."
"Hmm," Catra turned the blade over, and Adora gulped.
"You never wanted to go back to the Horde?" Catra tail flicked. "No doubts ... nothing?"
"I ..." Adora wished she could see her face, understand the sudden turn in subject. "Only to get you."
Catra lowered the blade, didn't turn to face her. "That's all? You really didn't want to go back to being a Force Captain like you'd always wanted? You never ... wanted to rule the Horde with me?" The tips of her ears twitched downwards and Adora’s brows softened at the sight. Catra had never realized the many tells she could give with her ears, her tail. But Adora had had years to take note of the tiny motions, had of course memorized what they meant.
"I only wanted to be a Force Captain to help make Etheria better ... be a hero," Adora spoke gently. "The Horde's not good for Etheria. And ruling ... I - I don't know. I used to want that for us." Did Catra miss those days? Because Adora did, all the time. But their childhood dreams of taking over the Horde weren't what she'd missed about them. "I really just missed you."
Catra’s shoulders hunched at Adora’s soft tone. "Shadow Weaver?"
With a sigh, Adora accepted that deflection. "Shadow Weaver abused the both of us. I don’t miss her.”
"But," Catra finally turned to face her, frowning. "She loved you! You were her perfect little - "
"Shadow Weaver said I was worthless unless I obeyed her, and that I needed to be a Force Captain to make her proud!" Adora frowned at Catra's words. "All she wants is to use me for her own gain. She never loved me." And the other reason she was flared up was that even now, Shadow Weaver was in Bright Moon not for Adora or to do the right thing, but to enact revenge against Hordak. Whatever.
Catra's eyes lost their focus. She stared through Adora as though she were looking at far distant, empty, horizons.
"Catra?" Adora asked quietly, and Catra refocused. She strode forward and dragged the Sword behind her until she was in front of Adora. She lifted it, Adora recoiled -
She sheathed the Sword into the sandy cavern floor. Then she leaped around the block that held Adora's bands.
Adora looked quickly to that side, and then to the other when she saw Catra had rounded it. The feline landed on her feet and gave her a look before taking a single step back, away from the Sword.
After a second, the bindings, and Adora, fell face flat on the floor. She gasped and pushed herself to her knees, stunned that she'd been freed. Slowly, she arose and locked eyes with Catra. Her old friend stood with her arms crossed, gave a slight nod of the head to the Sword between them.
So she walked forward to grasp her Sword. A sense of rightness brushed against her as she lifted it free from the cavern floor. A breath of relief followed, and she strapped the blade onto her back.
She opened her eyes to take in Catra, and it felt good to be at standing height again.
"Take the exit the guard took, and turn right." Catra gestured.
"R-right," Adora nodded. She took a step backwards, knowing that she should run before Catra changed her mind, but ... she took it forwards again, closed the distance quickly, and wrapped her arms around Catra. It felt so good to just hold her again, tears almost pricked at her eyes.
"This is not because I like you," Catra muttered, but didn't pull away.
"I'm preeeeetty sure this because you like me," Adora tightened her grip until she heard Catra grumbling, and then stayed like that for another few seconds just to annoy the other girl. When she pulled back, she grinned.
Catra's cheeks were dusted rosy once more and her eyes quickly shifted away. "Ugh, stop it before I regret this."
Adora nearly put her in a playful headlock right then and there. Instead, her gaze lowered, and she popped Catra's collar, smoothed the jacket over her shoulders, down her arms.
"Are you gonna keep touching my jacket, or leave?" Catra asked, but a reluctant smile poked at the corner of her lips.
"Right!" Adora immediately stepped back, ears reddening. First Ones. "Uh, I'll just - I'll just go ... now." She jabbed a thumb over her shoulder and quickly turned to head to the exit. So that plan to avoid Catra for a year was in motion for sure.
"Hey, Adora," Catra called. Adora turned back, curious, but not in time to avoid a jacket hurtling at her face. She yelped and somehow managed to catch it sliding into her arms. She stared up again at Catra, who stood arms crossed and smirking.
"Eh, you can have it," Catra shrugged in answer.
"I - " Adora stammered. "But you -"
"Relax, I'll just steal a new one. Besides," Catra waved a hand and stalked off. "Any lizard guy's jacket is way better than the one you're still wearing."