Work Text:
Screaming. Breathlessness. Darkness.
-
Adora rubbed her eyes and looked around the room before gazing towards the window where Catra stood. Catra didn’t turn around to face Adora despite hearing the squeaking of their bed as Adora sat up, her stare was locked on the night sky.
“Catra, are you okay?” Adora didn’t need to be fully awake to notice something was wrong. It wasn’t unusual for Catra to wake up in the middle of the night, it had only been just over 2 weeks since the defeat of Horde Prime so she was still on edge, but she had great hearing and would always acknowledge Adora waking up by at least looking over at her.
She hesitated for a moment, “I’m fine, you can go back to sleep”. Ouch, she winced; it came out a bit colder than she intended.
Silence filled the air for what felt like an eternity, and yet was probably less than a minute in reality, “Promise?”
She turned around to face her girlfriend, staring into her worried eyes, “I…”
A feeling of guilt suddenly settled in her stomach, “Adora, it’s okay, I’m okay, see? You need to get some rest.”
"So do you," Adora replied as she moved over in the bed and gently tapped the space next to her, a signal to get Catra to come and lie next to her once more. A sweet smile barely made its way onto Catra’s face, she couldn’t help but smile towards Adora, she was like a ray of sunshine. Her ray of sunshine. She couldn’t help but feel that she didn’t deserve her, but even after everything they had been through, there she was.
Catra made her way over to the bed and lay down, hugging her legs to her chest. Adora took the blanket and gently covered Catra with it, she then got comfortable right next to Catra and hung her arm over her body to hold her hand. And like that, they drifted off to sleep.
—
A shriek, Catra’s ears were bleeding. Suddenly she was back in the portal, the world around her glitching and breaking away from existence.
“ADORA!” She yelled as she shook the blanket, but to her utter shock she wasn’t there. She frantically looked around the room, searching for any sign of her.
She quickly stood up and turned around, "You did this,"
"Adora, Adora what's going on?" Catra pleaded with an urgency in her voice, "We need to go!"
She grabbed Adora's hand and went to run to the door, but Adora didn't move, she just stood there with a stern expression on her face.
"What is wrong with you!?" Squeaked Catra, full of panic.
"You should be here, not her," a voice echoed from behind them which made Catra spin around with tears in her eyes.
"Glimmer!? What do you mean?" But Catra knew exactly what she was on about, "Nevermind, Sparkles come and teleport Adora out of here because she's clearly not moving!"
Catra spoke with her voice cracking slightly, getting more aggravated at the situation but also trying to stop the tears from pouring out. This couldn't be happening.
Tears were blocking her vision now, but she still realised something wasn't right with how Adora and Glimmer looked, it was like they were glitching, like they were holograms.
"Little Sister, you didn't really think you were going to have your happily ever after, did you?" That voice. So cold and careless, mocking Catra in its tone.
The room began to fill with green as Catra desperately searched for a way out, the doors and windows were gone, her friends were gone and she was all alone. Again.
Her lips parted and a whisper of "Don't go," barely made its way out. A plead almost despite no one being left in the room.
The green was coming up fast as a waterfall streamed down Catra's face, and then
AGH.
Her heart was beating so fast and her breathing was heavy, Catra quickly sat up in her bed and glanced around the room.
Phew.
Adora was right next to her where she had fallen to sleep, looking anything but graceful. She looked content though, happy…
Catra didn't want to bother her with her problems, she just needed some fresh air, that was all. She would go, get her thoughts together and be back before the sun even began to rise. It was her fault she was even in this situation to begin with, despite Adora's constant attempts to assure her that what happened during the war was never her fault and never will be, Catra couldn't help but feel guilt for everything that happened during the past 3 years.
—
“Catra!”
“Catra, are you out here?”
“Ca-”
A soft brown tail suddenly became visible to Adora, falling down from a nearby tree. It beckoned to her, secretly wanting to be found. A smile of relief landed on Adora’s face as she walked over to the tree to make her way up before quietly landing next to Catra on a thick branch.
Almost immediately Adora’s head was resting on Catra’s shoulder as they both looked out to the night sky. All was quiet for a moment as they both sat there, neither knowing if they should say something.
“I thought you left,” It was quiet, but Catra could hear the pain in Adora’s voice as she said that. Did she actually think she would leave her? Catra had thought she would be the only one worrying about being left, but maybe that wasn’t the case.
“No! I would never!” She reassured her, feeling slightly horrified that she might think that “I just…”
“I’m glad you didn’t,” Adora cut in, a strong sincerity in her voice, "If something is wrong, you can tell me you know"
"I know," Catra replied sounding similar to an ashamed little kid, "I just didn't want to bother you with my problems, I've put you through so much already so I just thought-"
A look of confusion made its way onto Adora's face as she suddenly sat up and turned her head to face Catra's.
"What? Catra, you could never bother me. Ever." She was staring deep into her eyes, making sure she knew that she would always be there for her, no matter what.
A small smile forced its way onto Catra’s face but couldn’t compose itself there for long, a stream of tears ran down her face as she clung to Adora who was squeezing her tightly in an embrace.
“Hey, hey, it’s okay!”
“You always say that, but it's not okay! …I’m the reason it’s not okay!” Catra choked out through her tears, “I don’t deserve to be here right now, after all I did”
Adora bit her lip trying to hold back tears, “We all did things we regret during the war, but the fact that you’re here now and you want to make it better is proof that you deserve to be here!”
“I am so, so sorry” Catra was latching onto Adora as if to stop her from running away.
“I know, I’m also sorry!” Adora replied as she stroked Catra’s hair to calm her, something she would always do in the Horde when she would have a hard day, or have nightmares, or just needed someone there for her, “We’ll work through all of this together”
“You promise?”
“I promise”
Catra’s breathing began to get more under control as she slowly loosened her grip on Adora to sit back upright on her own, “Adora, thank you… For everything you do for me… I love you”
Adora smiled teasingly, “Awhhh you looove me!”
“Shut up!” Catra’s face went bright red and her voice went high pitched.
“I love you too, more than you will ever know and I always will!” They both smiled like huge dorks looking into eachothers eyes, after all these years they finally made it. They deserved it.
—
“Do you want to go back inside now?” Adora asked softly and patiently, happy to do whatever Catra would choose.
Catra contemplated for a second, “Can we stay here for a little longer?”
Adora smiled as she moved closer to Catra to give her a soft kiss on the lips, blush seeped across both of their faces as they each let out a small giggle, “Of course we can”.
Neither of them moved from there, they sat in silence watching the stars in the night sky in the comfort of each other's arms.
Loving. Peaceful. Together.