Chapter Text
Catra almost considers not coming to headquarters. She's losing her patience with the Alliance—it's been a week and yet there aren't any changes and they've come no closer to rescuing Adora. She only shows up on the offhand chance this would be actually useful and because she doesn't have any better options herself.
"What's this about Shimmer?" She asks stiffly as she walks into the conference room. It's a silly question really—everything and everyone has been focused on rescuing Adora.
Catra is half an hour early, and Shimmer is the only one in the room. Catra is almost surprised that she’s already here but if there’s anyone who’s been working as hard as Catra to try and locate Adora, it’s been Shimmer. She looks like she hasn't slept in an age; Catra can sympathize with that.
Shimmer sighs, her hand running through her purple hair. "We need to source more leads. The last few didn't pan out." She informs Catra miserably.
She wishes she could say she's surprised, but it seems like everything in the last few weeks has just been one catastrophe after the next. "Of course, they didn't." She mutters under her breath.
Shimmer's wide eyes suddenly latch onto her. "We will get her back." She promises.
It rings hollow. Catra is so tired. "You don't know that." She reminds the shorter woman.
She clenches her jaw. "I do. I have faith." Shimmer crosses her arms and glares down at the table, almost as if she can threaten a better strategy out of it.
"I sure could use some of that." Catra takes a seat in Adora’s chair. It makes her feel closer to her.
Shimmer’s eyes become all sympathy. "Hang in there Catra. You know Adora isn't a quitter."
She sighs heavily. "Yeah." She's tired, beyond that really. It's a never-ending cycle of panic and wondering rage then exhaustion, helplessness, fatigue. Melog comes to her side, sensing the darker turn of her thoughts. They rarely step a few feet away from her since this whole ordeal started.
Catra, you need to be levelheaded if you want to help Adora.
She's not used to hearing the deep voice projected in her head yet, but it's definitely become a welcome comfort when everything is so fucking terrible. Besides, Melog is right.
"Okay, let's figure out what we can do then." She says as she pets Melog's Bright blue mane. After a few moments, they give Catra distance again, pattering around the conference room.
Shimmer nods solemnly. "Everyone should be here in a few. Are you taking care of yourself?"
"That's rich. I could ask you the same sparkles." She shoots back.
"Yeah, but Adora isn't my girlfriend. I'm worried about you." She states plainly.
She bites her lip, thinking about how much she wants to disclose to the other hero. "I'll be better when we get her back home." She finally settles on.
It's the only thought that helps her hold onto any sense of self. The only thing that keeps her from spiraling because it's her fault Adora was captured. She'd walked right into Prime's trap, and it's cost her everything.
The moment she thinks it though, Melog appears as if by magic—or whatever propels the alien cat—and butts her hip with his head. She absentmindedly pets them, endlessly grateful she found them when she did. Petting Melog grounds her and helps keep her from spiraling. Sometimes it doesn't help and she ends up with an alien cat as a weighted blanket, holding her down and purring as she pants and tries to pull herself together. But here and now, it's enough to just feel her friend next to her and the soft soothing thoughts they project into her head.
Shimmer eyes Melog then her eyes dart back to Catra. “Okay, Catra. I’m here if you need anything.”
She gives Shimmer a small smile. “Thanks for everything. Really. I know I haven’t been the easiest person to be around—”
Shimmer waves her off. “I don’t want to hear it. We are all strung out and if Seahawk sets something on fire, I will kill him right now. I can’t blame you for being snippy under the circumstances.”
Catra manages a small chuckle at that. “Yeah, I’d probably help you. Might cheer me up actually.”
They share a conspiratorial look and for a moment, things almost feel normal.
The Alliance meeting wasn’t a total bust—Entrapta managed to make restraints that could probably contain Adora if they manage to find her and need to keep her from hurting someone. Catra cringes at the thought of having to do that. They’d planned a few more moves and now it’s the worst part—the waiting.
She’s steeping in the stress of it all with Adora’s sister today. Mara looks like a burrito laying on Catra’s couch while she lays on the floor. She wants the cool tile and Mara wants to be bundled—it works out. "I need her back, Mara. I can't do this without her." Catra finally says after a good twenty minutes of silence.
"I know. We’ll get her back." Mara sounds so calm and sure, but the bags under her eyes tell a different story.
Catra feels a twinge of guilt at unloading on Mara. "I'm sorry, I know she's your sister." It feels like the other person who really gets it is her. Since Adora’s been taken, she’s practically moved onto their couch, coming to every Alliance meeting and helping trace every possible lead. The other Alliance members don’t even raise an eyebrow anymore when she shows up.
Mara turns on the couch so she’s looking down at Catra on the floor. "You don't have to be sorry. There's room for both of us to worry about Adora. I know how much you love her." Her voice carries a soft pity that might have her lash out if it was someone else.
Instead, Catra asks the question she’s been avoiding for weeks now. "How bad was it for you? When they did this to you?" She’s tried to avoid thinking of what they are doing to Adora and how it might feel for her, but it’s impossible. The possibilities haunt her more than anything else could.
Mara grimaces, her cheek buried in the couch. "You think talking about it will help?"
"I want to know. Maybe it'll give us a clue." She knows she's grasping at straws and potentially just setting herself up to hurt worse. But if there's something Mara knows that could help, Catra is willing to risk it.
She takes a deep sigh and sits up, wrapping the blanket around her. Catra sits up on the floor too but doesn’t move up on the furniture. "It's difficult to say fully because I don't have all my memories yet. Maybe I'll never have them. Part of me wishes I didn't remember anything honestly." Mara admits softly, a haunted look creeping into her eyes. "It's like being locked inside your own mind. You can see it.” She starts haltingly. "Sometimes the hold would weaken some and I'd get some control back. But it was difficult."
Hope flares in Catra’s chest and she leans forward, propping her hands up on the couch cushion closest to her. "What would make you get control back? Can you think of anything?" She asks desperately.
Mara bites her lip. "Sometimes when Light Hope talked about Adora. I'd snap at her. Part of me wanted to protect her even then." She looks absolutely miserable, eyes downcast to the floor.
The guilt for even asking comes back in full force. "Oh, Mara."
"It's not fun.” A total understatement if Catra’s ever heard one. Mara gives her a smile. “But we'll get her back. I know the Alliance won't leave one of their own behind like that."
"We damn sure won’t." If there’s one thing that Catra knows it’s that. She might have felt stuck but she knows the Alliance won't stray. She won’t let them.
For a few moments, they’re both quiet, sitting again with the impossible and terrible reality that Adora is just—gone. Before she can get too far in her spiral, Mara speaks up.
"What's your favorite memory of her? Something I don't know." She asks out of the blue.
Catra thinks it over. There are so many great memories attached to Adora, both before and after they started dating—it’s hard to pick just one. She finally picks one that has to be up there. "You know how Adora is about movie night." She actually smiles at the way Mara rolls her eyes, giving her a nod. "Well, when we were friends, she was the same. At first, I wanted nothing to do with it."
Catra can vividly recall that first night she came over to a movie night and Adora went all out with popcorn, snacks, and an itemized list with the pros and cons of which movie they should watch. She'd almost turn right back around and walked off.
"But I remember her telling me that movies are a window into life—and what it's like to be normal." Adora had been sheepish when she'd admitted that much. "It resonated with me so much. I didn't realize at the time it's because both of us had childhoods that were so different from everyone else's." She sighs as she thinks about all the things both of them had to endure before they found each other. "It was the first time I realized that she was someone I could trust with the things that made me weird. That I could be honest with her—at least to a point."
She remembers sitting across from the blonde she didn't really know, her heart speeding up when she realized how seen she felt by her words. Adora had looked at her with a nervous smile like she knew how vulnerable she'd made herself but was hoping Catra wouldn't hurt her with it. They'd watched two movies that night.
"I think a lot about when we would run around the compound before we were cadets." Mara's voice takes on a wistful tone. "We didn't know that our lives were different, and we still had our parents. There was a long time we got to be just kids, as weird as that might seem."
She’s glad that Adora got to have some love in her life when she was young, even if Catra didn’t have the luxury. "That sounds nice."
They sit in silence, just looking at each other, their faces mirrors of fear and pain as they think about Adora.
Catra actually falls asleep on the floor, and she’s embarrassed to admit it’s not the first time it’s happened. Her phone starts ringing and she fumbles for it, bleary-eyed.
“Hello?” She mumbles into the phone.
Shimmer sounds like she’s running a marathon. "It's Adora. We found her. She’s in downtown and it’s—it’s bad Catra. Do you have Mara and Melog?”
Catra’s heart jumps in her throat and she springs into action, getting off the ground and shaking Mara’s knees—she’d fallen asleep on the couch. Melog was already up, mane a vibrant red as they continue to try to wake Mara.
“I do, we’ll be there.” Mara is up and looking worriedly at Catra. She gestures toward the television. Mara turns it on and it’s like something out of a nightmare—the news is live footage of downtown Bright Moon. Adora is front and center, holding a car up with one hand and throwing it at a building as if it’s nothing.
“Okay good. Let’s be as fast as we can.” Shimmer sounds far away, Catra only has eyes for her girlfriend on the screen. Horror fills her as she looks at Mara and then at Melog.
"We don't have a plan or any way to get her back!" Panic claws at Catra’s throat. She thought they’d be the ones on the offensive when they finally managed to find Adora—they should have been preparing for this.
"We have the super strength restraints, and we have each other, Catra. It has to be enough." The absolute grit in Shimmer's voice settles Catra a little.
Shimmer's right—they’ve been in a tighter spot before and made it through. It just feels different went Adora is the one who is on the line.
"Let’s go then." She doesn't care what it takes or what she has to do, she'll rescue Adora.
She’s glad that Mara and Melog were at the apartment because, between the three of them, they managed to get ready in record time. They’ve coordinated with the rest of the team and there seems to be a semblance of a plan, but they're mostly winging it. It’s not just Adora out here—there are a fuck ton of clones and she’s willing to bet that Horde Prime and Light Hope are around here somewhere.
She’s a little worse for wear, but Catra has trained her whole life—it’s almost easy to set aside her thoughts now that it’s time to go. She’s in the team that’s going to work on finding Adora and getting her out of there—she knows she’d be useless anywhere else, mind only on her.
Adora isn’t hard to find. Her heart shouldn't skip a beat when she sees Adora in the flesh, but it does anyway. Her girlfriend looks terrifying but beautiful as she plows her sword into the ground and uses it to rip the concrete, leaving behind what looks like the remnants of an earthquake. Catra didn't even know she could do that.
She hates Prime's fucking clones—they aren't difficult to subdue but there are so many of them, and it keeps her from getting to where she needs to be. She can feel Melog pouncing on clones around her, watching her back as she closes in on Adora.
Scorpia isn’t far behind, and she speeds up, getting to Adora first. She can barely land a hit before Adora is lifting her off her feet and launching her across the street as if she's a rag doll. Scorpia is fine, shaking it off before approaching again, more cautiously this time. Adora is zeroed in on Scorpia—she’s waving her sword in the air and walking straight to the taller woman.
“Adora! Stop!” Catra yells out from afar. Adora’s sword twitches for a moment and her head turns, eyes focusing in on her.
Without warning, Adora yells loudly, running toward her at a surprising speed. It’s like everything she does is even stronger than usual. Catra has the presence of mind to dodge out of the way. Dropping low to the ground so that she can recover and swing out behind Adora.
She doesn’t even speak, her eyes blood red as she swings her sword at Catra. She has her claws but that isn’t great in the face of a long-range weapon. She doesn’t have time to pull out her whip though, so it’s a matter of dodging and punching, hoping she doesn’t hurt Adora too badly.
“I thought you loved me, Catra.” It’s Adora’s voice but it sounds all wrong—it’s cold and mean, a taunt that cuts at Catra. “Why are you fighting me? You can just give in.”
Catra moves faster. She catches sight of Scorpia getting absolutely barreled by clones twenty feet back—Catra’s going to be on her own for a while. Her tech claws catch the edge of Adora’s sword and it sparks. She has to use all her strength, but Adora is immovable. The only reason Catra has lasted as long as she has is that she’d been fighting beside Adora for so long—she knows all of her moves almost before she makes them.
Her misstep is that she looks down for a moment, trying to get a sense of how much space she has to dodge around Adora. The blonde takes advantage, shoving Catra back with her sword until she’s pressed against the wall of a building. Catra’s feet can’t touch the ground and she can barely breathe, the edge of Adora’s sword pressing sharply against her.
She takes a shuddering breath, trying to stay calm and not nick herself. Adora is breathing deeply, staring her down with those inhuman eyes. "Adora, it's me. Cat. Look at me." She begs.
"I am looking at you, Catra." It was a blank stare above her head. Ignoring Adora's sword at her throat, Catra slowly moves her hand to Adora's chin and gently pulls it down. To her surprise, Adora allows it and Catra keeps her hand there. She sees something in her gaze she hasn't seen since Prime took over.
"No. Look at me. Remember me?" She gently runs her fingers across Adora’s cheek, a last-ditch effort to find her Adora; the one lying dormant, constrained by the magic that's poisoned her.
"Cat." She murmurs before her teeth grind shut. She doesn't look quite right but she sounds more like the Adora she knows.
"That's right Dor. I'm yours. Your girlfriend." She wills Adora to fight against this, to somehow be strong enough to break through.
Adora’s grip on the sword tightens and Catra hisses as it digs into her skin. Adora’s whole body trembles as she pulls the sword back, so it isn't touching her flesh anymore.
"You're my girlfriend." She says it absentmindedly, but her body still shakes as if fighting against her own arm to keep the sword still. Catra reaches up and wipes the sweat off Adora’s brow, her face twitching into a grimace.
"Yes, ‘Dor. I love you so much." The words break out of her. She isn't sure what else to say, not sure if Adora won't slice through her if the sword takes more control from her.
"And I love you," Adora says slowly. Her eyes start glowing an eerie purple. Suddenly, she throws the sword to the ground and it clatters. "Restrain me I can't control myself for very long." Her eyes are a familiar blue as she spits the words through clenched teeth, her fingers literally digging into the concrete.
Catra kisses her, not giving a damn if it's the last thing she does. They barely part when she realizes that Arrow manages to get the restraints around Adora, tying her hands in front of her. He must have been watching from a higher vantage point and came to help.
Adora's shoulders are still tense, but her eyes are drinking in Catra, not moving anywhere else. "Please Catra. Help." She all but whimpers.
Catra’s heart breaks in her chest all over again. "We have to break your sword, Adora."
Before Adora can respond, the glow in her eyes comes back with a vengeance and she's gone. She's thrashing against the restraints now. Even restraints designed to contain Adora aren't going to do much—Catra knows just how strong the woman she loves is.
"Mara!" Catra calls out, hoping against hope that she reaches them in time.
Mara isn't far and when she hears Catra's panicked yell she sprints toward her. "What is it? Is she back?" She shoots out quickly, her eyes on Adora.
Catra knows she’s not strong enough to shatter it, but she thinks Mara might be. "No. You need to break it! Free her." She all but begs.
Catra quickly hands the sword over to Mara as Adora howls when she catches sight of it. She sounds inhuman, pure rage reverberating through her as she stares at her sword.
Mara doesn't wait, heaving the sword over her head and throwing it onto the ground, the artifact smashing clean in two. The moment it does, Adora's shaking stops and she takes a shuddering breath, legs buckling under her.
Catra reaches out holding onto her, going down with Adora, falling to her knees. Adora is passed out now, her body feels frail in Catra's arm which is a horrifying experience all in itself. But it’s done—she’s not under control of the sword.
"Release her." She orders curtly waiting for Arrow to comply.
He looks pained. "I can't release the restraints until we know she's safe. We need to wait for Entrapta to evaluate her." He informs her.
Catra shakes her head, her arms wrapped tight around Adora. "Are you kidding me, Arrow Boy?"
"I'm sorry, Catra." He really looks it too.
Catra shakes her head, the adrenaline running through her too high for her to fight him on this right now. "Then go help everyone finish this out so we can go."
Although Adora’s relatively safe and in her arms, there is still fighting all around them. If she has to go and help, she will but she doesn't want to leave Adora’s side if she can't help it.
Arrow nods. "Keep her safe and we will get her home." He sprints head-first into danger.
Mara is on the other side of Adora, looking down at her with tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry." She whispers, wiping one of the tears.
Catra almost asks for what, but she bites her lip, letting the sisters have a moment. When Mara looks back up at her, there is resolve in her dark eyes. "Take care of her."
"With my life." It's laughable to think that Catra will let anyone near Adora now, let alone hurt her.
Mara draws her sword—something Entrapta equipped her with— as she stands. "We will finish this today." She swears, eyes flashing before she goes back into the fray.
For a good fifteen minutes, Catra is watching the battle, making sure that she and Adora are safely away from most of the fighting now. She hears Adora grunt under her breath and her eyes latch onto her. The relief is almost painful with how forceful it is when she sees Adora's blue eyes look up groggily at her.
"Catra?" She asks almost sleepily.
Catra touches her face, happy that she's here. Fuck, Adora’s here. She tries her best to not cry. "Yes, baby. You're alright."
Adora goes to raise her arm but is stopped by her restraints. Her brow furrows in confusion. "I want to touch you." She says, almost petulant if her voice wasn't layered with exhaustion.
Catra can't help but laugh. "You'll touch me as much as we want when we go home okay?" She’s can’t wait to sleep with Adora in her bed to replace the terrible memory of the nightmare that these last few weeks have been.
"Home?" She says it like it's unfamiliar to her.
Catra nods against her. "Yeah, Adora. I'm taking you home." She promises.
"S'nice." She mumbles, her eyes fluttering shut. "Love you."
With that, her head bobs to the side, sleep overtaking her. Even though she was only awake for a few seconds, something slots to place in Catra's chest. Adora seemed fine and she told Catra that she loves her. She'll take Adora home, and this nightmare will be all over.
She's vigilant but she doesn't realize the fighting has stopped altogether until she feels a bump on her shoulder. She absentmindedly pets Melog's head, although no one can see them but her right now.
Young one, it's time to go.
Along with the deep vibrating voice she's come to associate with Melog, she feels a familiar calming effect gliding over her skin and then permeating deeper. She remembers being small and thinking Melog's presence made her feel better, but she didn't think it was so literal. And of course, they'd been sending this energy her way this whole disastrous week.
“Good.” Catra feels like she can finally breathe again. She doesn’t ask in what state things are in that moment—nothing could matter except carrying the blonde in her arms away from this.
They end up in the Alliance safehouse that Mara lived in for a time. Catra can hardly keep her eyes off Adora. Her She-ra outfit has seen better days, part of it torn and exposing her skin. Catra has taken off Adora's mask, running her hands softly through Adora's hair. Adora loves when she does this—when she's awake anyway.
Her breaths are deep and Catra keeps accidentally counting them—it’s the most reassuring sign that Adora is here and alive. An Alliance doctor came in and checked Adora over, assuring Catra that Adora's fine but Catra won't actually be calm until she can see she's unharmed and awake.
"Hey." Catra turns and watched Mara walk in, leaning against the door frame as she eyes her sister. "How's she doing?"
"She's sleeping but she seems mostly okay." Catra knows better than most that physical injury likely has nothing on whatever mental abuse Adora likely experienced at the hand of Prime and Light Hope.
Mara sighs a haggard look on her face hinting at a similar thought. "Do you think she'll forgive me?" She says softly, eyes still on Adora.
Catra furrows her brow and puts a comforting arm on Mara’s shoulder. "For what?"
"Destroying her sword."
"Mara, come on." She chastises.
She shakes her head, her eyes on Adora sleeping soundly on the bed. "I know, I know. It's silly. And I don't care that my sword is gone but she loved that thing, I think. It meant something different to her than to me." She sounds pained like she really thinks Adora won't forgive her for saving her life.
“Mara. I promise it’ll be okay. Besides, it's better for her to be angry and alive than for her to be under their control or—worse.” She squeezes the hand that she has on Mara, making the slender brunette look up at her. “At any rate, I’m grateful.”
She gives Catra a small smile. “I know. I’ll shake it off—it’ll be easier once she’s up I think.”
“Yeah.” Catra nods.
They sit with Adora for a little more until Mara gets up again. “It’s an odd thing—you two came to visit me here, and now Adora’s here.” She looks around at the room she stayed in. “I kind of never want to have a need for this safehouse again.”
Catra snorts. “Fucking ditto.” They share a look and a short laugh before Mara is on her way.
Catra pushes the blonde hair out of Adora’s face. She really does look peaceful, although occasionally her brow will furrow like she’s having a bad dream. She texts updates to Scorpia and Shimmer who have been on her ass making sure that she eats and also checking in about Adora.
"Catra?" She glances up from her phone and Adora looks at her steadily for the first time since her sword broke.
There's a knot in her throat that she tries to swallow around. "I'm right here, Adora."
The lights are too bright, and she feels almost hung over, her head pounding and her stomach nauseous. She can't remember the last time she ate or had water or really, remember too much of anything. She lets her eyes linger on Catra, the one thing Adora knows she could never forget.
Her girlfriend looks terrible, eyes puffy with dark circles. She looks thinner than normal, and her hand is clenching Adora's like she thinks it'll slip through her grasp. Adora wants to squeeze her back but she's not sure she has the energy.
Adora knows they have a home and it’s definitely not this place. “Where are we?”
“We’re in the Alliance safehouse. Entrapta had to make sure everything was alright.” Catra’s tone is cautious like she’s afraid of Adora breaking. Which is silly, Adora is just confused. Maybe hungry.
“Why wouldn’t everything be alright?” She thinks about moving up to sit but she can’t. It feels like all of her strength is zapped out of her body. She’s never felt anything like it.
“You—you were taken by Prime. Remember?” Catra’s hand is soothing on Adora’s but it does nothing to stop the gasp that she lets out when she gets a burst of memories. She remembers fighting her family, her friends. The love of her life.
Tears well up in her eyes as the gravity of the situation settles in her gut like a rock. "I hurt all those people. I did this, Catra!" Had she killed someone? She definitely brought down buildings she’d spent years defending before. Her eyes refocus on Catra, who looks so endlessly patient tending to her when she— "I hurt you."
Catra makes a dismissive sound and leans closer. "'Dor, look at me." Adora uses all her strength to reach up and cup Catra’s cheek. She turns Catra’s face one way as she looks at the bruises shaped like fingers around her jaw. She then looks down at the nick on her neck. "That's not what I meant." Her girlfriend complains idly.
She looks into her girlfriend’s eyes only finding understanding there. “Catra, I could have killed you.” She vaguely remembers holding Catra tightly, too much. She’s always so careful with Catra, making sure she’s okay. She feels so much shame at the thought that she’d fought her, and swung her sword at her with the intent to hurt her.
“But you didn’t.” Catra comforts. Adora sighs and shakes her head, even though it makes her stomach roll with nausea. She turns Adora’s head so that their eyes meet. "Do you hold it against Mara? What she did while she was controlled by Light Hope?"
"No." Adora grudgingly admits.
"Do you hold the terrible things I did for Shadow against me?" Catra raises an eyebrow. She already knows the answer to that one.
"No." Catra had been an abused child—of course nothing she did was on her.
"Then?" Catra presses before placing a soft kiss on Adora’s forehead.
Adora's jaw clenches. "It's not the same."
"Adora, it is the same. And you did what no one else could. You somehow stopped yourself."
She remembers those flashes clearest—Catra in her Wildcat gear, pleading with Adora to not hurt her, to remember her instead. "I couldn't do that to you. The fact that I even got close—it's the most shameful thing I've ever done. I'd rather burn down Bright Moon twice over than lay another finger on you." It's a selfish thought, but a true one.
"Don't say that golden girl. I love having your hands on me." The joke falls flat between them. "Seriously," Catra says softly, her hands coming up to rest on Adora's cheek. "The way I've felt loved and treasured under your fingers is more than any kind of pain you've brought me."
"I'm scared Catra. I did all of those awful things, and I couldn't—I had to do them." It's slowly sinking in, the horror of exactly how much damage she's caused and how helpless she was for all of it. She feels so violated like her body isn't hers any longer.
"We caught Light Hope," Catra says slowly. "But Prime is still out there." Her face turns hard and vicious. "And they'll pay for what they did to you."
"But what about what I did to everyone?" She’s no better than the villains that they constantly try to stop. She took arms against her own and destroyed the city she loves. It’s like her life mission turned to ash in her hands.
"You're going to have to forgive yourself," Catra says softly, one hand coming up to touch her hair, it’s a soft comforting touch that Adora absolutely doesn’t deserve.
"I don't know that I can." She admits. She’s only been awake for maybe half an hour, but the guilt is crushing. She’s not sure that she can do anything except choke under it.
"You will.” Her voice is made of steel. “I'll be here every step of the way." Having Catra there does make Adora feel better. "We should take some time off," Catra adds, almost as an afterthought.
Adora immediately protests. "No. I want to help with rebuilding." It’s the least she can do. She’s responsible after all, whether Catra wants to admit it or not.
Catra sighs, she scooches herself into the bed and wraps Adora in her arms. She immediately feels better, her head nuzzled in Catra’s chest. "Okay let's focus on helping rebuild Bright Moon then. Tell Shimmer we will head up that effort for the Alliance?"
She nods against Catra’s collarbone. That sounds like a good idea. "I love you," Adora whispers. She needs Catra to know that, even if everything she’s done recently bellies that. "I'm so sorry." The sentence ends with a whimper. She doesn’t know if she’ll live long enough to show Catra how sorry she really is.
Catra holds her tighter, placing soft kisses in her hair. "I love you too. More than you can imagine, Adora." Her voice takes on a hard edge. "And there's nothing to forgive."
"Do you think Bright Moon will forgive me?" The city welcomed Adora, loved her. And now she’s betrayed them, whether it was of her own volition or not.
"We'll see, ‘Dor. I think they'd be stupid not to. You've been protecting this city for years." She points out as she runs a hand down her back. "But for now, we need to work on getting you better. Okay?"
She can barely nod her head, the sudden burst of energy she had waned with the warmth of Catra in her bed. Adora closes her eyes, but she can feel Catra's hands, warm and soft on her side. Melog lays next to her on the other side, and she feels drowsy again.
There are so many questions as to where Adora can go from here, but right now she takes comfort in the fact that she seems to not have lost Catra in the whole ordeal. She lets herself fall asleep, hoping that the things she’s done don’t haunt her dreams.