Chapter Text
It was a stupid idea. Cursed at the offset, really. But there was just the slightest chance it might work and Catra had to take it. She has an escape route planned and a failsafe if anything should go too terribly wrong.
Which it already fucking has, she realizes after she collapses in the courtyard of Bright Moon. Not the Bright Moon she’s come to know, but an older one. Not old enough, though. She hasn’t traveled far back enough. Shit.
“This is bad,” She grumbles, dusting herself off and moving to her feet. “Melog!”
Instantly, the two of them are turned invisible to the naked eye. There is just enough time for them to jump backwards, pressing against the outside wall of the palace as members of the Rebellion stroll past.
And yep -there’s ‘Flutterina’ cheering enthusiastically over their win at Elberon. Catra definitely didn’t go far back enough. And now she isn’t sure how to go further. The rules of time travel are fast and loose, apparently, and Catra wasn’t even sure if her half-scraps of a plan could even be a real possibility.
She should probably just use the blue gem in her bag to get back to her own time. Try again later, maybe. Once she understands how the magic works a bit better. But...she’s already come this far. All she needs to do is figure out how to go further into the past.
Besides, if she goes back to her own time now, it will be empty handed. And she will have only caused Adora more senseless worry.
Catra winces, replaying the events of the previous night in her mind. She shouldn’t have just run off like that, she knows that much, but everything was just...too much. Too much good, anyway.
Truthfully, it’s all she has ever truly wanted, but now she isn’t quite sure if she deserves it, this future that Adora has envisioned for them. She might be able to be worth it if she can just right her wrongs and get her shit together.
But getting her shit together is proving to be more difficult than originally planned. The one person who can help her technically isn’t even here in Bright Moon just yet. And she can’t go to them for help and risk compromising the timeline.
There is one person who might be able to help. Someone who has had their fair share of difficulties adhering to space and time: Madame Razz. The issue is that only Adora and Swift Wind know where to find her in the Whispering Woods. And if the Swift Wind from her time barely tolerated her now, even after well over two years of penance, there’s no way this Swift Wind is going to help her.
She watches the horse in question slam their hooves into a table in the courtyard in a violent demonstration of how they fended off Horde soldiers.
“Yeah. He’s useless.” She deadpans.
Who can we ask, then? Melog wonders. Catra glances down at them as they flick their eyes to a certain someone, standing in the middle of the group, looking tired and battle worn.
“Absolutely not,” she hisses.
This Adora must be avoided at all costs. Despite what her future self may claim, Adora from this time hates her. For good reason, too.
Catra grimaces as the words, in all of their final damnation, echo in her mind. “You made your choice. Now live with it!”
And yeah, that choice was sort of the problem. Catra can’t really live with it, she’s come to find.
Catra from this time is the problem. Most, if not all of her self-hatred comes from this point in her life. There is nothing redeemable about this version of herself.
Anyway. This Adora can never find out Catra is here. Adora has, rightfully, given up on her by now. She’s busy trying to keep the Alliance together, fending off the Horde and keep her friendship with Glimmer from oxidizing.
Again-all problems that she has caused.
“No,” Catra shakes her head, “We can’t bother Adora with this.”
This is her mess to fix.
Are you afraid? Melog asks.
“No,” she denies, before remembering how futile it is. “I mean. I can’t mess anything up. This Adora can’t know that I defected from the Horde or that I...or well, anything about us, really. Or it might change the choices she makes and then the future won’t play out the way it’s supposed to.”
She knew the risks of this mission and she didn’t come empty handed. One of the gems in her bag can serve as a mind-erasing agent if absolutely necessary. But Catra would really rather avoid further likening herself to the monster that was Shadow Weaver.
If it really comes down to it, she’ll use the stone. She can’t afford to mess up her present life more than she already has.
“Besides, she might not even believe me. And it’s not like I can fault her for that.” It’s a cheap excuse, Catra is well-aware.
This is a rather elaborate apology, Melog points out. Would it not have been enough to speak the truth to your Adora?”
“No. Adora doesn’t need apologies or bullshit explanations,” Catra shakes her head. Although it couldn’t hurt to apologize, she won’t allow herself to return home until this mission is a success. “She needs more than that. They all do.”
Melog makes a noise of disagreement, I think they just need you.
“Okay well then I need to be someone who deserves them,” Catra snaps.
Catra tears her eyes away from Adora as the latter heads inside the castle. During the war, Catra never noticed how tired Adora looked. How sad. It makes Catra’s heart pang a bit. Realistically, she knows that not all of Adora’s sadness is not directly her own fault but...enough of it is.
Damn that portal and all of her self-destructive tendencies.
Melog seems to give up on the argument. We need someone to help us.
That much is true. She looks around as everyone files inside, except for one member that lingers behind. Stories relayed and offhand comments made in passing connect together and she knows there is someone in the Rebellion who is feeling a little lost on the outskirts right now. A little helpless, too.
Someone a bit more reasonable than she originally gave them credit for.
With a wicked grin, Catra zeroes in on them and knows exactly what she has to do. Maybe this won’t be too difficult, after all.
Bow has always proven himself to be a pretty easy target.
One Week Prior
“What are you doing here?” Catra can barely hide the snarl in her voice.
She knows it isn’t a fair question. They have as much right to be here as she does, and this is hardly their first run-in on Bright Moon grounds, but still.
She’s already in a bad mood. She woke up late and has been stuck wandering around the stupid gardens here because all of her friends have just gone off somewhere. Melog has become fascinated by Swift Wind and is probably spending their morning observing him do something stupid.
“Why, I’m just here to watch and learn,” Double Trouble responds with an airy tone. “I never could quite master the art of grieving. Or--you know, remorse over the loss of genuine human attachment.”
Her eyes narrow into slits, “What is that supposed to mean?”
“Oh,” They blink at her, studying her carefully like they’re trying to puzzle her out, “You don’t know, do you? Truly, I thought this day would be commemorated on all Bright Moon calendars. And surely, with the Queen as your political advisee, I didn’t suspect you would miss it.”
“Miss what ?” Catra’s patience for them is wearing thin, and it’s not like she had much of it to begin with.
Not all of the blame falls on DT, though. Catra knows that much. It isn’t their fault that all of her memories of them are rooted in the lowest point of her life. And it isn’t their fault that she can’t stand the sight of them because all she sees are the worst parts of herself reflected right back. The parts she wishes she could just parse out and rid herself of.
“The two-year anniversary of Queen Angella’s death,” They explain as if it’s common knowledge. And, actually, it feels like it should be common knowledge. How did Catra not know that was today? She feels the air catch in her lungs as their words register in her mind. “Or, you know not- death. Something about her being stuck in between dimensions, or whatever.”
Catra’s eyes widen. The Portal. She can feel her heart pound in her chest, beating painfully against her ribs as the memories come pouring to the surface. There is a phantom burning sensation up her arm and it takes everything in her not to look down at herself to ensure that she is still here. Whole. Not cracked and voided, with pieces of herself breaking away as the world shatters around her.
“Oh my, you look like you’ve seen a ghost,” They croon with a faux-sympathetic smile, “Relax, kitten. It’s not like you dug the Queen’s grave yourself.”
But that is exactly what she did. Her jaw snaps shut and her hands curl into fists. She can’t tell if DT is saying that just to twist the knife, or they honestly don’t know.
“And we certainly wouldn’t want to look into the fact that your little friends chose to keep this from you, would we?” They look over Catra’s shoulder and give a slight nod. Catra whips her body around at break-neck speed to find Adora, Bow and Glimmer approaching from the general direction of where Angella’s memorial lies.
There is a somber air about them. Adora and Bow both have an arm over Glimmer’s shoulder as they approach.
Fuck. She knows DT must be right. The three of them have been acting secretive lately. Adora has been more cagey than usual. And she isn’t sure what feels worse, the irrefutable truth that she’s caused her friends this pain, or that they’ve clearly tried to keep it from her.
DT continues to talk, but Catra doesn’t hear a word of whatever they have to say. She stalks away from them, consumed by the ugly truth that gnaws at her gut for the rest of the day.
She may criticize Adora for being a terrible actor, but she has always struggled to mask her emotions. All it really takes is just thirty seconds alone with her girlfriend before the inevitable question comes to the surface,
“Catra? Is something wrong?”
Adora is looking at her with worry, blue eyes gleaming with concern as a frown pulls at the bottom of her lips. It’s just them in their room, but Catra doesn’t need Melog here to know what they would say. What they would encourage her to do.
“Adora,” She takes a deep breath, trying not to sound too angry or accusatory, “Are you...are you hiding something from me?”
When questioned, Adora’s eyes widen in a way that would be almost comical if Catra didn’t feel like such shit right now. She starts to get red in the face, sputtering out a response, “I-you? Me-hiding you-something? And-”
Resigned, Catra puts up a hand in a silent request for Adora to stop flailing. She reminds herself that Adora is probably just trying to protect her and, even if it isn’t warranted, it is not mean-spirited.
“You can’t lie Adora, so don’t even try,” Catra sighs, her words seem to only make Adora more panicked. “I know...okay? I know about today. About...Queen Angella.”
Weirdly, the tension seems to fade from Adora’s body. She stops sputtering, and her face grows still and serious, “Oh. Catra…” Something in her voice even sounds relieved, which Catra doesn’t quite understand.
“I just don’t know why you guys tried to hide it from me,” She frowns, arms crossed and suddenly interested in looking just about anywhere that isn’t Adora’s face.
“We weren’t trying to hide it from you!” Adora is quick to say, placing her hands on Catra’s arms, “I swear.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me?” Catra asks.
“Oh. Uh, well. It wasn’t on purpose. It’s just that...you never really knew her,” Adora explains. Catra fights the part of herself that wants to snap and call Adora a liar--but she knows her words are true, and she isn’t mad at Adora. She’s mad at herself. “We didn’t think you’d want to go. I mean, all Bow and I did was sort of just, stand there. Glimmer and Micah told us stories about her and we just sort of listened for a bit.”
“Is that really why?” Catra asks, “Or is it because it’s my fault she’s not here?”
Adora reels backwards at the question, “What? Of course not. No one thinks that.”
Catra’s face wobbles. Of course they don’t think it’s her fault. They’re too fucking good and haven’t caught on to the fact that she just...isn’t. Maybe she’s better now, but back then? The girl who threw the lever? There is nothing good or redeemable about her.
Even if they don’t hate that Catra, she most certainly does. A reflection of Shadow Weaver, she was the real monster all along--
“Hey,” Adora’s hands frame her face now, “I’m serious, Catra. No one blames you for what happened. I know...there was a time, where I was angry about everything that happened but we both made mistakes. There was a lot going on…”
Excuses, excuses, excuses. It’s all they are.
But Adora continues trying to reassure her. So selflessly. So determined to make Catra feel better, that she just has to go along with it. Smile and nod and let her girlfriend feel like she’s helping.
But at the end of the day, it’s really all just bullshit.
Bow stirs eventually with a heavy groan, eyes blinking open slowly. Once he gets a visual on who the hell has tied him up, his eyes widen comically large and he cries behind the gag in his mouth.
They’re in the Whispering Woods and dragging Bow here was no picnic for her and Melog, even under the guise of invisibility.
“Morning sleeping beauty,” She smirks as he tries to move against his makeshift restraints. She leans down in front of him as he continues yelling at her. “I just want to talk. I’ll remove the gag, but you can’t yell or scream or I’ll have to put it back. Got it?”
Bow nods slowly, eyes still wide with alarm. She pushes the gag down, only for him to immediately yell, “Help! Help!-”
“Ugh,” Catra rolls her eyes, throwing a hand over his mouth. “That’s on me. I shouldn’t have trusted you.”
Bow, who she has greatly underestimated, takes it a step further and licks her palm. She screeches and yanks her hand back, since when did Arrow Boy fight dirty ? Before he can open his mouth to yell again, she shoves the gag back in his mouth.
“Okay! I get it, you don’t trust me. You hate me. Blah blah blah,” Catra rolls her eyes, “Melog, a little help?”
Melog appears then, tail swaying happily at the sight of Bow. Even if it isn’t the Bow they know.
Bow, however, looks very freaked out by their presence and tries to inch backwards as they approach.
“Relax. They’re not going to hurt you, dumbass,” Catra sighs impatiently. They lick the side of Bow’s face before nuzzling it in a sign of affection. She bites back a snicker at how surprised Bow is-perhaps a bit disgusted at a foreign creature licking his face.
Present-Bow loves Melog. That’s no secret. She’s definitely going to have to use some of the mind-eraser on Bow before leaving, but that’s manageable.
“This is Melog,” She says, “And you know who I am, clearly. But I’m not...I’m not the Catra who trapped you guys in the electrical field today.”
She mumbles the last part. He looks at her, skeptical. But then he really looks at her. The short hair, barely long enough to pull into a small ponytail. The absence of a Force Captain Badge. Then he looks down to Melog, who is now sitting dutifully at her side.
“Come on. You think if I had a magical space cat on my side, I’d be hiding it from you guys?” She snorts, “Melog can do illusions. And make us invisible.” At her pointed stare, Melog glows a bright, blue hue before disappearing.
“Mmf?” Bow looks at them in disbelief as they reappear.
“I’m from a different timeline. An alternate universe, actually.” A bold-faced lie. She is very much from this timeline. But maybe if she can convince him that she isn’t, he’ll treat her like an anomaly and their current timeline won’t need as much fixing once she leaves.
“And I need your help to get back.” Another lie. She isn’t going back. She just needs him to help her get to Razz.
“Now, let’s try this again. If I take off the gag, are you going to scream?” She huffs, impatient. “Seriously. I can do this all day. It’s up to you how difficult you want this to be.”
When he shakes his head ‘no’, she removes the gag and cautiously moves backward. She keeps her eye trained on him, still crouching down near the ground and ready to put it back in place.
With the gag removed, it’s off to the races. He fires question after question off with rapid speed.
“How am I supposed to know you’re telling the truth? If this...Melog can do illusions, how do I know you’re not the Catra who threw me off of a cliff? And if you’re really not from this universe, what are you doing here?”
She is the Catra who threw him off a cliff. But letting him know that isn’t going to do her any favors.
She takes a deep breath, “You know I’m telling the truth because-do I look like your Catra? And the fact that Melog is here with me is proof enough. If the Catra you know had that kind of power in her corner, wouldn’t it be kind of game over for you guys?” She crosses her arms, looking a bit smug.
He fixes her with a flat, unimpressed look. Right. Now is not the time for bragging. Especially when Catra knows very well how this ends. How she loses to the Rebellion and how she gains more in that loss than in any victory she could possibly claim.
Catra coughs, “Um. Yeah. Anyway. I’m not supposed to be here.” That much is the truth at least. “I was trying to...whatever. Doesn’t matter. Point is, I ended up here by accident, and I need you to help me.”
“Why me?” He asks, eyeing her apprehensively.
“Because I’m not exactly crawling with friends in this universe, am I?” Catra poses with an arched brow, “And you might not know me, but I know you, Arrow Boy. I know about your stupid sense of nobility and your duty to helping people.”
“Yeah,” he scoffs, “I’m dedicated to helping the people of Etheria , not the people who have tried to destroy it.”
Ouch. She winces at his words, which is all the confirmation he seems to need, “And judging by that reaction... you clearly tried to destroy Etheria in your timeline too. Why should I help you?”
“Isn’t one Catra bad enough?” She challenges. She tried the amicable route. If he wants to play dirty, fine. She can play dirty. “You help me get out of here and then I'll be out of your hair. You don’t really want two of me hanging around, do you?”
Bow looks between her and Melog. “Why? You said it yourself, with Melog here you’d ‘win the war’.” He can’t move his hands to make air quotes, but she can hear them in his voice. “So why don’t you go to the Fright Zone and, I don’t know-help yourself win the war?”
Helping herself isn’t really Catra’s strong suit. Running in the complete opposite direction of anything even remotely resembling help is. Or used to be. At least at this time, it was.
He looks nervous-as if his suggestion will actually prompt Catra to go do exactly that.
She just snorts at him. “Because...I don’t want this.” She gestures vaguely to the direction of the Fright Zone. “At least not in my universe.”
How badly she wants to tell him the truth. That this isn’t what their Catra wants either. Not truly.
Even now, all she wants is to run to Adora. To tell her everything and prevent Prime from happening. But she can’t. She can’t mess up this timeline. That was made very clear.
She’s already almost destroyed the universe once. She isn’t willing to tempt fate again.
“Why not?” He questions. Somehow that’s the most annoying question he’s asked yet. Mainly because she can’t answer why. “I mean-what changed? How could things be so different where you’re from?”
“They just are!” She snaps, “Look, I dont have the answer to all of life's questions for you. If you’re not going to help me, and nothing I can say will change your mind, then fine. Just say it and I’ll let you go. I don’t have time to waste.”
He looks alarmed at her response. Something about it he was clearly not expecting, she just isn’t sure what. “You’re...serious about this, aren’t you?”
“I can’t tell you everything,” Catra confesses. “You know. Interdimensional space-time travel code and all that. But...I only left my universe because I wanted to fix things. So I’m doing this, whether or not I have your help.”
“What are you trying to fix?” He asks, but she shakes her head.
“Can’t say.”
“You’re not giving me much to work with here,” He sighs, “Like, seriously. Do you know how vague this all is? All you’ve done in this universe is attack and hurt my friends. And now you’re here, claiming to be from another universe. But you won’t tell me how things are different or what you came back here to do. How do you expect me to just trust you?”
“Because we’re friends!” She exclaims, earning a warning growl from Melog to keep her voice down. “Where I’m from. We’re sort of…” She mumbles the last part, knowing he can’t hear her.
“I’m sorry, what was that?”
“We’re best friends, alright?” She hisses.
He is appalled by her statement. Silence hangs heavy in the air for a moment too long.
“Yeah. That actually might be the craziest thing you’ve said so far.” He stares at her, unblinking. And damn, that hurts. She kind of forgot how much they hated her. She knows she’s completely earned their animosity, but still- it didn’t bother her back then. She barely knew Bow’s name.
But now that they are friends? Having to go back in time and confront the hurt she’s caused sucks.
It’s too much, actually. There’s no way her friends don’t hate her now if they hated her so much at this point in her life. Is everyone...just lying to her?
“Wait—Catra? Are you-are those tears?” Bow asks, astonished.
And no, they’re not. Not at all. “Screw you. Come on Melog, let’s go.”
Melog jumps over Bow’s legs to stand by her side. She left his trackerpad on him for this reason. Someone will figure out he’s missing and pick up on the signal to locate him. Then he’ll probably tell whoever it is about this weird interaction, they’ll think it over for maybe a day before something inevitably weirder happens.
“Wait!” He calls out. “If...I agree to help you, what is it you need me to do?”
Catra exhales. This is easy enough. Or it should be, for him at least.
“Has Adora ever told you about Madam Razz?” She asks, turning to face him. He looks surprised at the way she mentions Adora. With only ease, no trace of malice whatsoever.
“Uh she may have mentioned her once or twice, nothing too detailed though.”
“Has she ever taken you to meet Razz?” Adora has taken Catra to her a few times to spend the day. Help her bake. Listen to her ramblings. Pretend not to be a little unnerved.
“No, she hasn’t.”
It’s a bit of a relief in the same way it is every time Catra realizes Adora reserves certain things for just the two of them. But now it is a bit inconvenient-all of this would be easier if Bow could just take Catra there himself.
“Right. Thought so. She’s…” Catra is not quite sure how to describe Razz, “she’s someone who is consistent. Across space and time. She helped Mara, the She-Ra before Adora and she was trying to help me. Only problem is I don’t know how to find her. I need you to figure out how to get to her from Adora. Draw me a map, or whatever.”
Bow nods along. “And then what?”
“That’s it.”
“That's it?” He scoffs, “You just need me to help you figure out how to get to an old woman’s house? From Adora?”
Catra reminds herself to be patient, “That about sums it up, yes.”
She bites back a smirk at her words, remembering the feeling of using them against Bow for the first time.
“Feels like there’s gotta be a catch here,” he arches one brow.
“Given the fucked up shit I’ve done here, that makes sense,” she admits, much to his surprise. “But I’m not that person anymore, and I’m not exactly her biggest fan either.”
“If that’s true, then why don’t you just ask Adora yourself?” Bow wonders.
Melog meows proudly, He’s right.
“Quiet you,” she commands without any real heat. They walk over to her and nudge her legs, she takes the hint and bends down to pet them with a soft smile. She feels a bit sad, actually. It feels like the emotion has struck her out of nowhere, but Melog must’ve seen it coming before she did.
Bow is studying her intently, waiting for a response.
“I have no right to ask Adora for help,” she speaks low and controlled. Past or present Adora--she’s certainly fucked that up too. “She has her hands full right now. In this timeline...I mean, I think in this timeline she always... hoped I would turn around. Stop fighting for the Horde. Trying to destroy Etheria. You know? And I used that against her all the time. But now, after the portal, she gets it. And that’s...good. Smart. Overdue, even. So I can’t just go waltzing into her life from a different place and time completely and give her false hope. I- no. She needs to view me as the enemy to protect you guys and I can’t screw that up.”
Catra didn’t realize she’d gotten so carried away. Melog headbutts her affectionately, prompting her to look up to Bow. He’s looking back at her with a strange look on his face. One she can’t quite place.
“What?” She snaps.
“You care,” he breathes, both amazed and confused. “About her. And us even.”
“Yeah, well. I said we were friends, didn’t I?” She spits back, certain she’ll have to use the failsafe on him before she leaves.
“Showing is different than telling,” he informs her.
“Whatever,” Catra huffs. “Are you going to help me, or not?”
“Only because you’re not asking for help to do something life-alteringly dangerous and you definitely are not the Catra we know,” he leads before saying, “I’ll help you.”
“Deal,” She flashes him a smile that is all teeth before reaching down and undoing the restraints.
The Night Before
“What you’re proposing is dangerous. No one has ever successfully traveled back in time before--”
“Yeah, yeah whatever. No sorcerer has cracked the time travel code, I get it,” Catra waves him off, “But no other sorcerer is the ruler of Mystacor and has his wife trapped in another dimension.”
Micah frowns at her, but there is a crack in his stare that tells her all she needs to know.
“I know you have something that can work,” Catra prays the desperation in her voice isn’t as obvious as she fears, “And I know you’re too afraid to use it for yourself because you don’t want to leave your daughter without a father again. So let me, instead.”
If he’s alarmed by her dramatic entrance into his study-slamming the doors open and chest heaving with exertion as if she was trying to outrun the devil himself, she wouldn’t blame him. In the last two years, they have maybe exchanged all of five sentences to each other and never one-on-one. He had tried to speak with her once or twice, but she always knew where the conversation would end: in either rightfully-placed blame or unearned forgiveness. Neither of which she was willing to confront until this very moment.
“Catra, it’s too dangerous. If I wouldn’t risk it myself, there is no way I’m allowing you to do the same.” Micah’s voice is unreasonably stern.
It pisses her off.
“Why do you care?” She snarls at him, “If anything, you should be the one shoving me back in time yourself. It’s my mess to fix and I’m finally taking responsibility for my actions, just like everyone’s been waiting for me to do.”
“I care because what’s done is done,” He tells her calmly, “You can’t change the past. It would be foolish to try. You’ll risk ruining what you have now. All you can do is-”
“Cut the crap,” Catra slams her palms on the table in front of him. It’s easier to do this if she’s angry with herself. There is no room to wallow in self-pity. “We both know I don’t deserve what I have now. I shouldn’t be here--”
“Catra,” His expression turns to one of worry. “Did something...happen tonight?”
“What? Does everyone just know?” Catra seethes. It’s a ridiculous question. Of course everyone knows. Adora can’t keep a secret, and Catra knows she must’ve enlisted the help of all of her friends just to plan the stupid date, anyway. They were all probably on standby, waiting to receive some form of good news that ultimately never came.
Micah coughs awkwardly, confirming her suspicions. “I mean, we just assumed...Adora--and you, you would be happy.”
“You think I’m that selfish?” She snaps. She’s been steadfastly ignoring Melog for this conversation and their wide-eyed stare as they observe the conversation. “You think I can just what, run off into the sunset without a care in the world? You think I don’t care about the things I’ve done? The people I’ve hurt?”
“No-”
“You think that shit doesn’t give me nightmares? That I don’t close my eyes and see the fucking world fall apart beneath me, and know that I got her stuck there?” Catra continues to rant. “I’m not an idiot. Okay? I know I don’t deserve to be...I don’t deserve any of this shit.”
“I think what you need to do is speak with Adora about this,” He decides, turning around as if he’ll summon her just by calling her name.
“Your wife is gone. Because of me!” She’s yelling now, and it’s not like Micah exactly needs reminding of this, but she figures this may be the only way to get through to him. “She should be here. And maybe, if I can bring her back...then maybe I’ll deserve to be here too.”
Micah has a look in his eyes that is far too close to pity, and Catra just can’t fucking stand it. He opens his mouth to say something, but she intervenes again.
“So, either you tell me whatever the hell it is you’ve come up with and we actually have a shot at making this work, or I take your shit and figure it out on my own,” She digs her claws into the table for emphasis.
“Nothing I can say will change your mind, will it?” Micah asks, resignation deep in his tone.
“Do you think we’d be here right now if I was the kind of person who openly took advice?” Her response is scathing and self-deprecating. But god, how many times did Adora beg her not to open the Portal in the first place? Even Scorpia offered her a way out more than once. Not to mention how she could’ve avoided this entire outcome if she had listened to Adora once they were in the Portal.
“If you’re going to do this, you might as well do it safely. ” Micah sighs before turning around to look at Melog, “I trust you will be accompanying her?”
They respond with an affirmative rowl.
He explains the gems to her. With a prick of blood: pink quartz will bring her back in time. Sapphire will bring her home. Seraphinite can serve as a memory wipe. Hopefully she won’t even need it at all. She debates leaving it behind, but Micah insists-promising that it is only there for the absolute worst-case scenario.
Sort of like a failsafe.