#and be ashamed that they sucked so bad that they're own child had to step up | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

catrasredemption-moved · 4 years

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Can see this being fuel for hurt/comfort and angst: Catra and Adora finally give Finn "the talk". i.e. the talk where Catra and Adora explain their history from before and during the war. Could start with a preface that explains why they're having this talk with Finn, possibly way earlier than they wanted to. Maybe something like Finn overhearing talk of the war from someone in Brightmoon or, even worse, overhearing things about Catra from people who still resent her.

((Finn’s probably like... twelve, so assume this is the universe where they adopt him))

They didn’t go to Salineas much.

Finn didn’t know why - it was awesome there. The beach was great (as far as they and Adora were concerned, at least - Catra hissed at the water), the food was great (all three agreed on that), and Mermista was one of the best princesses (which was apparently a controversial statement. Finn had to assure Aunt Glimmer that she didn’t count because she was the best queen, and Adora was different because she was only a princess sometimes and she was the best princess mom).

But Catra always got weird when they went to Salineas. She kept her head down and eyes on the ground, held Adora’s hand a little tighter, and only seemed to relax when they were in the safety of the palace or the little private cabin they sometimes stayed in on the beach (it was technically Mermista’s cabin but she didn’t use it and, it gave Catra and Adora one less excuse for why they couldn’t take a vacation because they always had somewhere to go). Despite loving the food in the kingdom, Catra almost always made up a reason for why she couldn’t go to the restaurants with them, usually something work related.

Finn had been confused for a long time about why Aunt Glimmer would let Catra work on vacation - sure, she was the queen’s adviser, but did the queen really need her to help Mermista with things when she was supposed to be relaxing? - until the last visit, when they had gone back to the throne room alone to get their forgotten jacket and overheard a whispered conversation definitely for their ears.

“Stop using me as an excuse to get out of going to eat with them. Finn’s gonna start hating me for making their mother work on vacation.”

“Please, you’re their favorite. I just... don’t want to go out there, okay?”

“It’s been ten years, Catra. You can’t hide from everyone who might hate you forever.”

“I’m not hiding, I just don’t want Finn to get caught up in things. It’d be different if it was only me and Adora, but Finn’s a kid. They don’t need that.”

“You mean they don’t need to know about the Horde.”

A long moment of silence had followed. “Yeah,” Catra finally muttered, sounding ashamed. Mermista sighed.

“You gotta tell them eventually.”

“I know.”

Finn had returned to Adora without their jacket, frowning slightly. “You okay?” Adora asked when she saw the look on their face.

“Yeah. I think I left my jacket at the cabin.”

Thankfully, Adora had a terrible memory when it came to things like that and didn’t question Finn.

They knew about the Horde, of course. Everyone knew about the Horde, and about how She-Ra had saved the entire planet. That wasn’t quite the whole story, but Catra had very firmly told everyone involved to leave her part out of it. Adora could have the fame and glory.

But Finn knew everything. Or they thought they did. What was Catra hiding?

All of that had led to where Finn was now, sitting in front of a large mural of She-Ra and Catra, holding the sword together. It was probably the only physical proof that Catra had anything to do with how the war ended.

“Finn?”

They jumped, looking up. “Hi Aunt Glimmer.”

Glimmer settled in beside them, tilting her head. “What’s up? You look upset.”

“I’m not, I just...” They looked back at the mural. “Mom doesn’t really talk about the war.”

Silence followed. Glimmer’s next words were obviously very carefully spoken. “The war was hard on both your mothers.”

“I know, but Mom just... tries to keep her name out of everything.” Finn waved a hand at the mural. “I’m surprised she even let this exist.”

“Oh trust me, it took a lot of fighting for her to give in,” Glimmer said dryly. “I’m not gonna lie, Finny, Catra’s part in the war was... complicated.”

“But she and Mama saved the universe, right?”

“They did, and it was amazing. But a lot happened before that.”

“You’re not gonna tell me, are you?”

Glimmer shook her head, smiling sadly. “It’s not my place. Catra has a hard time talking about the past, and I know it’s frustrating, but you know the parts of the story that are important. She saved me at the cost of her own life, and she helped Adora stop the Horde Prime. She’s just as much of a hero as Adora is, no matter what she thinks.”

And that was good enough for Finn, for awhile. They loved their mothers, and they knew both of them were good people. Besides, the past was the past. It could stay there.

At least until their next visit to Salineas, nearly six months after that conversation with Glimmer.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Finn heard Adora whispering to Catra as they bounced ahead of their parents, eager to get to the restaurant. Catra had finally agreed to get food with them, though somewhat reluctantly. She was currently clinging to Adora’s hand, their arms pressed together as they followed their child at a more sedate pace.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m tired of disappointing Finn.”

“You could never disappoint Finn.”

The restaurant was busy, which wasn’t surprising - it was the best place in Salineas. They were seated by the smiling host and given menus, and Finn immediately started searching for what they wanted to try this time. Another table next to them was filled soon after by an older couple who kept shooting glances at the family.

Finn wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, but their ears were sensitive. “Can’t believe the princess lets her just walk around the kingdom.”

Catra’s ears twitched. She focused harder on the menu, brow furrowed as if reading some complicated document. Adora, unfortunately, lacked the same hearing as the rest of her family. “The salmon was pretty good, right Finny?”

“Yeah! I think that’s my favorite.”

“I didn’t know you could pick a favorite food,” Catra teased, relaxing. Finn stuck their tongue out at her. The waiter came to take their orders, and Finn was distracted for a moment with talking about going sailing with Sea Hawk the next day, until the couple began talking again.

“I didn’t know they served Horde scum here.”

“She should be rotting in dungeon after what she did.”

“Pardoning a warlord... I knew the queen was young, I didn’t think she was also an idiot, though.”

Finn finally looked at them, completely bewildered; Catra stood at the same time, taking a step toward the table. “If you have something to say, you can say it to my face,” she informed them. “Instead of whispering like a couple of cowards in front of my wife and child.”

The couple was silent now, of course, staring at her in horror. Catra clenched her fists for a moment before sighing and turning back to their table. “I’m going back to the cabin,” she muttered, grabbing her jacket. “Get my food to go.”

“Catra-” Adora started to protest, but Catra had already disappeared. Finn glared at the couple.

“You shouldn’t say mean things about people. It just makes you look like jerks.”

Adora half smiled, reaching over the table to ruffle Finn’s hair. One hostess came over to move the couple to another table while another one apologized profusely to Adora and Finn.

“It’s... fine. Can we get our food to go?”

“It’s not fine!” Finn protested. “They were being assholes to Mom!”

“Finn, language,” Adora scolded them lightly. They had, unfortunately, picked up on Catra’s habit of swearing when stressed about something.

“And they were saying stupid stuff!”

Adora hesitated at that, looking around, then back at Finn. “What... did they say?”

“Something like they couldn’t believe Mermista was letting her walk around and how Aunt Glimmer pardoned a warlord.” Finn’s expression crumpled in confusion. “Why did Mom think they were talking about her?”

Adora sighed. “Let’s... get our food and go back to the cabin. We can talk there.”

Catra was lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling, Melog sprawled over her chest. Finn wasn’t even sure the alien cat had actually come to Salineas with them, but he had an uncanny habit of knowing when Catra was upset and when he was needed.

He mewled when Finn and Adora walked in, making room for Finn to join him. “Are you okay?”

“You mean other than being crushed?” Catra smiled weakly, ruffling Finn’s hair. Adora sat at the end of the bed, hand on her wife’s knee. Their gazes met; Catra nodded once and shooed Melog and Finn off of her so she could sit up.

“Can you start?” she asked quietly.

“Of course.”

Melog shrunk a little so he could cuddle against Finn. “Mom and I didn’t always live in Bright Moon,” Adora began slowly. “We were raised in the Fright Zone when it was still under the Horde’s control.”

Finn blinked a few times, stunned. “Really?”

Adora nodded. “We were raised to be Horde soldiers and taught the Rebellion was evil, and that it was our job to stop them.”

“That’s dumb,” Finn said bluntly. “Who would believe that?”

Catra coughed, trying to cover a laugh, while Adora blushed. “It’s different when you grow up hearing that kind of thing."

“So what made you leave?”

“Well... I found the Sword of Protection.” Catra stiffened slightly. “And Aunt Glimmer and Uncle Bow brought me to Bright Moon to help the Rebellion.”

“So you found out what you were doing was wrong and changed. That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

Adora’s eyes flicked to Catra, who sighed heavily. “I didn’t go with Mama when she left the Horde.” Finn turned to look at her, eyes wide. “We fought on different sides of the war for a long time.”

“That... doesn’t make any sense.”

“It was complicated,” Adora said. “Mom was... very angry and caught up in a very bad situation. Her judgment sucked.”

“I made a lot of bad choices,” Catra picked up. “And I did a lot of bad things.” Melog nudged Finn’s arm and tuck himself beneath it so they were loosely hugging him. “Eventually I took over the Horde, and started doing worse things.” Her eyes were fixed on her shaking hands. “One of the last things I did was I lead a raid on Salineas that pretty destroyed the entire city.”

Oh. Finn swallowed, trying to figure out how they were supposed to feel about that. Catra’s behavior suddenly made a lot more sense. “You pretty much know the rest of the story from there,” Adora said after a minute. “Horde Prime kidnapped Mom and Aunt Glimmer and Mom risked her own life getting Aunt Glimmer back to me and Uncle Bow. And then we went back and saved her anyway.”

“But... you still helped save Etheria.”

“Not everyone is as forgiving as your mom and aunt and uncle,” Catra said quietly. “I spent a lot of time trying to fix my mistakes, and it was enough for the Princess Alliance to forgive me, but there are still people who think I should be locked up. And there probably always will be.”

“Is that why you don’t like Salineas?”

Catra chuckled humorlessly. “I think Salineas is great. I rebuilt half the city myself.”

“She’s not kidding about that,” Adora added.

“Salineas doesn’t always like me, though. And they’re not obligated to forgive me under any circumstances. that’s something I’ve learned to live with. It’s not worth getting mad about people whispering behind my back about me, because I can’t control them. Even if I do think they could be a little more tactful about it sometimes.”

Finn was frowning deeply by now, looking between their mothers, then at Melog, whose head was in their lap. “Those people were still being jerks,” they declared fiercely. Adora ruffled their hair, gently scratching their ears.

“I know we just told you a lot. Are you okay?”

Were they? Finn wasn’t completely sure. Finding out one of their mothers was sort of a war criminal was a lot.

She’s just as much of a hero as Adora is, no matter what she thinks.

Aunt Glimmer’s words echoed in their head, and after a moment they nodded. “Yeah. I’m okay.” They wiggled away from Melog and threw their arms around Catra, hugging her tight. Catra was surprised for a moment before she wrapped Finn up, almost clinging to the child. “I still love you,” they assured her quietly. Catra did her best to hide her tears, wiping her eyes over their shoulder.

“I love you too, Finny.”

#rootsoforigin #Sam Answers #catradora #catradora fic #finn #WELL THAT GOT LONG #I keep saying that #It keeps being true tho #askbox fic

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