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calciphoney · 8 months

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If I Could Turn Back Time

by calciphoney

Book 1 of Save the Princess, Save the World

[Ao3]

[Beginning] [Previous chapter]

Chapter 4: Should I Stay or Should I Go

Trigger warnings: Swearing/Language

Adora fell asleep at some point. Catra hadn’t really been paying attention when it happened — she had, uh, nodded off for a few moments. The fire was still burning, though. The perfume of the sweet wood lulling her into compliance.

It wasn’t often that she got to smell wood burning. She always found it so pleasant. It made her want to curl up in Adora’s lap and purr.

That wouldn’t bode well if Bow and Glimmer were going to appear at a moment’s notice. Actually, she never got the chance to ask Adora how she had actually met the pair. She knew it was from when she’d come back to the woods for an explanation, but she really wasn’t sure —

“… let me lead the way, okay?”

Catra’s heart skittered to a stop at the familiar voice breaking through the muffling of the greenery around their little camp. When it started up again, it thudded in her ears. Her fur stood up on the back of her neck.

“The light came from the edge of the forest.”

“Yes, you saw the light. It’s this way.”

She…

She wasn’t ready to see them, was she?

“The trackerpad says otherwise.”

“It’s this way —”

Glimmer stumbled to a stop at the edge of the clearing. When her eyes landed on Catra and Adora, they grew wide. Her mouth formed a little ‘o’. And then she was pointing to them.

“Horde soldiers!”

Well, shit.

“Hm?” Adora said, rubbing her eyes as she sat up and looked around. “What…?”

“I see her!” Bow said, gaping at them as well.

Glimmer gave a cry, Bow joined in, and they charged.

Adora quickly got to her feet, readying her fists. Catra leapt to her side, ready to keep the three of them from hurting one another — although she doubted Adora would actually hurt either of them.

Not that Catra would either. But Adora? Hurting other people without a good cause was never her thing. Catra couldn’t recall any memory — outside the war — when Adora would purposefully hurt anyone else. Which was completely evident as she took on Glimmer with only her fists.

That left Catra and Bow to go head to head.

“What are you doing in the Whispering Woods?” Bow said, throwing a punch. She managed to block it, but the blow made her arms sting and tingle where it hit.

“We’re looking for a little adventure,” she said. “Pretty sure you two are too. Why else would you be wandering around out here without a bodyguard for the princess?”

She saw Bow’s muscles tense at that.

“How do you know I’m not a bodyguard?”

“You? You’re barely out of your nappies.”

He swung at her again. She easily dodged it.

“You’re not much older than me.”

He move to kick, but she managed to jab his side. It was a little more sharp than she intended — though that it would bruise in a few hours — but it did the trick.

It gave her enough time to see Glimmer and Adora pulling one another’s hair, both of them grunting and trying to slap the other’s hand away. Why was it that the pair of them, no matter what they were doing, always managed to be the most ridiculous people in the room? Well, forest.

“They’re so dumb,” she said, mostly to herself.

“Glimmer’s a lot smarter than you’ll ever give her credit for,” Bow said, stomping on her toes.

She let out a yelp and leapt back. Her eyes welled up with tears. She clambered up a tree and curled into herself to examine her toes.

How did he know?

Bow moved to help Glimmer untangle herself from Adora. They’d finally managed to let go of one another and were mostly focused on trying to make one another trip and fall.

Together, Bow and Glimmer managed to get Adora onto her stomach and tie her wrists together.

“Aren’t you going to help your friend?” Glimmer said, hands on her hips when she saw Catra up in the tree. “Or are you Horde soldiers all the same? Cowards who only protect themselves?”

“Catra!” Adora cried, kicking Bow from her prone spot on the ground. “Get out of here. Go back to the Fight Zone. Tell… tell everyone I’m sorry.”

Catra curled further into the tree. What should she do?

She’d thought, originally, just meet with Bow and Glimmer and things would work themselves out. But what if… what if she returned to the Fright Zone and protected Adora as she joined the Rebellion? She would succeed there — whether she was She-Ra or not. That felt like it was something in Adora’s destiny.

But was that the reason she was sent back for?

No. She was sent back to protect Adora.

She would stick with her until the end, if she had to.

After a beat, she leapt deftly to the ground. She paused at the bottom of the tree and slowly stood, holding her wrists out.

“If I go with you,” she said licking her lips. “If I go with you, you have to promise not to hurt her.”

Bow and Glimmer looked between themselves. A silent conversation passed between their flickering gazing — intense and knowing and everything she probably would have wordlessly said to Adora had it been them.

“Alright, Horde soldier,” Glimmer said, her eyes focusing on Bow one final time before flicking back over to Catra. “We accept your surrender.”

“Catra!” Adora said, sitting up. Bow placed a firm hand on her shoulder to keep her from getting up any further. “Get out of here!”

Catra gulped and refused to look at Adora. She lifted her chin and held out her wrists further for Glimmer.

The glittering princess watched her with glaring eyes and thin pressed lips.

“You better not be up to anything,” Glimmer said quietly.

“I won’t do anything unless you hurt her.”

“Do you promise?”

“I swear on my life.”

And, before Catra had even realized what Glimmer had done, there were purple stars dancing across her vision as everything went dark.

Well, shit.

From the darkness, as form appeared. It glitched into existence, adding an eerie blue and purple glow to the newfound world Catra found herself in.

* * *

“Hello, Catra,” the form said. “I am Light Hope. I’ve been waiting for you.”

“You sure about that?” Catra said, looking her up and down. “Were you waiting for me or for someone else?”

The form of Light Hope tilted their head.

“I do not understand.”

“Was it me you chose or someone else? I was just conveniently there.”

Light Hope frowned and studied her for a moment.

“You may not be who I was waiting for,” Light Hope said, “but you will be an admirable warrior. Tell me, will you fight for the honor of Grayskull?”

“If it keeps Adora safe, I will.”

Light Hope opened their mouth to say something else, however their connection was interrupted.

Catra was taken to… she wasn’t sure what it was, but the place radiated warmth and familiarity. It was pink and yellow and blue — like a sunrise on a pleasant summer morning.

“Hello, Catra,” a voice said.

“Uh, hi.”

A laugh sung through her bones and her ears.

“I brought you back to the beginning and that is all you have to say?”

#spop #shera and the princesses of power #spop fanfiction #spop fanfic #adora #catra shera #glimmer #bow #stpstw #fanfic #fanfiction

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calciphoney · 2 years

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If I Could Turn Back Time

by calciphoney

Book 1 of Save the Princess, Save the World

[Ao3]

[Beginning] [Previous chapter]

Chapter 3: Changes

Trigger warnings: Swearing/Language

It didn’t take Adora long to swipe the keys to the skiff.

If Catra wanted — really wanted — to stop her, she would have. She very easily could have. She could have made Adora put the keys back, and they could have done something else. Like prank Lonnie, Rogelio, and Kyle. They hadn’t done that in a while. Well, Catra hadn’t. Adora mostly tried to stop her.

But she wanted out of the Fright Zone.

Something was niggling at the back of her mind. A crackling surge of electricity and the urge to run. The Fright Zone was filled with very few good memories. More nightmares haunted those halls than good ones. It was understandable that she wold want to leave. It was something else that was calling her.

And Adora was rather convincing. Actually she just flashed the keys and smirked and Catra knew she was going with her. She always would.

So, together they flew across the desert, kicking up a trail of dust and dirt and stone. There was no sense of direction other than the Whispering Woods, which may or may not have been Catra’s suggestion.

She may have really wanted to get the Sword of Protection to Adora. It would lead them out of… everything. She just had to save Adora. She couldn’t lose her to the Heart. Not again.

“You’re… letting me steer?” Adora said, eyebrows raising when she didn’t see Catra reach for the controls. Her eyes would flick over to Catra every now and again, although she was mostly focusing on driving them safely across the mostly flat land.

“What, you want me to take over?” Catra said, blinking at her. “Me? Who drove us off a cliff that one time in training?”

“You’ve gotten a lot better since then!”

“So, you want me to steer?” Catra placed her hands on the controls.

“Not really. I’m just surprised you aren’t fighting me for it.” Adora chanced a longer glance at her.

“Maybe I want you to chauffeur me around the world? You ever think about that?”

Adora snorted.

“You? Give up control?”

“Only to you.”

The skiff stuttered and had both of them not been holding on to the controls, one of them would have fallen. Adora looked over to Catra again, her eyes wide.

“You’re my best friend,” Catra said, meeting her gaze. “I hope you know that.”

Slowly, Adora nodded and turned her attention back to steering. They were silent until they reached the edge of the Whispering Woods.

It was still a formidable place. The dark wood of the trees and leaves blocking out almost all of the sunlight. Trees that periodically moved around. Monsters lurking about in the plentiful shadows. Princesses and their armies ready to defend themselves from the Horde.

“Oh, we’re definitely going in,” Catra said, when she saw the barest movement from Adora to take them away.

“What? Why!”

“Come on, you’ve heard the stories. Besides, I know you want to.”

Adora yelped as Catra took over. And she sent them careening in, crashing into the undergrowth and eventually getting them tangled in vines. The skiff sputtered to a stop and wouldn’t go any further.

“Great,” Adora huffed, carefully jumping down to the ground. “How are we going to get out of that? Ugh! You always do this.”

“Sorry,” Catra said, her ears flattening themselves against her head. She saw Adora’s anger falter for just a moment. “Maybe we can find something to help us get out? These woods are old. There’s gotta be something in here.”

Catra gave a sniff and looked around. She highly doubted she could find the spot where Adora found the Sword before, but it was worth a shot. Besides, she couldn’t remember how far Adora had traveled from the place she fell to where Catra had found her unconscious.

“Find something,” Adora said flatly, gaping at Catra as if she’d suddenly lost her ears and tail. “Find what exactly? We’re in the middle of the Whispering Woods! The most deadly place on Etheria for a Horde soldier. Can’t imagine what this place will do to two cadets — who are still in training!”

“You never know.” Catra shrugged, continuing her search.

Adora stayed with the skiff for a moment before going after Catra. Her boots clomped heavily on the soft earth beneath them.

“Do you even know where you’re going?” Adora said. “Or what you’re even looking for?”

“I have a vague idea.”

Adora huffed, crossing her arms and waiting for Catra to move in a direction. Well, Catra thought she did. When she looked back, Adora was gone.

“Shit,” Catra said under her breath, looking around. She blessed whatever deities were looking over them, because Adora left soft footprints off in one direction.

Tracking Adora was easy, but she was going the wrong direction. At least, that was what every instinct was telling her. That and the niggling in her brain was drawing her in another direction.

“Adora, where are you?” Catra said to the forest around her. Adora did not come through the trees. She was being consumed by them.

Catra’s throat started to contract and her breathing came out in staggered gasps.

No, she had to calm down. Panicking wasn’t going to help right now. She needed to just focus on finding Adora and then finding the Sword of Protection. That would put this whole things to an end for the night.

That would be… fine.

But the question of where Adora had gone was still floating around.

Catra sniffed the ground. Adora’s scent was definitely there. She would pick it up anywhere. Where it was leading, however, was something Catra hadn’t been expecting.

In the middle of a grove, was the Sword of Protection jutting up from a stone, vines were climbing up and trying to consume it — hide it from anyone who would use it for malicious means.

“Well,” Catra said, eyeing the Sword up and down, “if you’re here, then where’s Adora?”

She scanned the edges of the grove. There was no sign of Adora anywhere, but her scent was all around. So where…

“No way.”

Catra sniffed the Sword. Yep, it was definitely coming from the Sword.

“Are you kidding me? You. You know Adora’s scent?”

Catra scoffed and crossed her arms in front of her chest. The Sword back — forward? — when… everything happened smelled like Adora. So, how would the Sword in this time know Adora? Let alone her scent. Unless the Sword was some sort of sentient, time-traveling being. But that was impossible, right?

“If you’re really Adora’s Sword that came back in time with me,” Catra said the the, well, sword in the stone, “then I can get you out of here and nothing will happen.”

That was quite possibly the dumbest thing she could have done. The moment her hand closed around the grip, a bright light sprung out of nowhere and consumed her. She would have cursed her luck, but she could barely get a syllable out before the Sword showed her images.

A planet. No, two planets. A bright light. The rune stones? The sword. The warrior, She-Ra. Light Hope.

Light Hope was talking but she couldn’t hear her words. There was a baby crying. No. Two babies.

“Catra.”

“Catra?” Adora’s disembodied voice broke through and there was a warm hand on her shoulder gently shaking her. “Catra? Please wake up. I can’t go back to the Fright Zone without you.”

Catra cracked her eyes open. Adora was leaning over her. Her blonde hair draping over her shoulder and pale blue-gray eyes wide. Her lips were parted and her forehead wrinkled.

“I’m okay,” Catra said, slowly sitting up.

“You sure? You don’t… You aren’t hurt? Did you hit your head?”

“My ego’s more bruised than anything else. How about you? You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Then we’re all good.” Catra got to her feet, her knees weak beneath her. “Come on, let’s get back to the skiff. I’ll… I’ll use my claw to get it out.”

“I don’t think we should. Maybe we should… maybe we should camp out here. Until you’re all good to go.”

“Shadow Weaver would kill us.”

“Shadow Weaver will understand when I explain it to her.”

“That you snuck off with me on a skiff to go on an adventure? Which is explicitly against her rules and meant to keep us safe from the Rebellion?”

“Shut up. I’ll say I was the one that fell off. She won’t punish you for taking care of me then.”

Catra bit her tongue. Shadow Weaver would definitely punish her either way. For one, falling off the skiff or letting Adora fall off the skill, and for two, staying out of the Fright Zone without any other guards or alerting anyone to where they were going.

Although, it wold make meeting with Bow and Glimmer easier…

“We don’t have anything to camp out with,” Catra said, scowling as she looked around. It was going to take some time, since they had gone back to the Fright Zone and Adora had come out alone.

“That’s what they taught us in basic training. Not that you would know, because you were never there.”

“Yeah, well… you taught me everything anyway. Said I’d need to know it.”

“And I was right.”

“You might need to show me again. I don’t think I remember anything.”

Adora rolled her eyes and got to work finding dry brush and a stone.

“Do you even remember how to start a fire?” Adora said, setting everything up and leaning over the brush as she drew out her knife.

“Well, yeah. That was day one, right? I mean, I remember being there for that, but…”

“All the other lessons were useless. That’s what you said.”

Catra watched as she struck her knife with the stone near the brush. It didn’t take much because of course Adora would be able to stoke a fire as easily as she did everything else. There was something about that that warmed Catra’s heart. Adora was always the perfectionist. That was one of her many faults and one of the many reasons Catra loved her for.

The brush started to smoke and soon there was a fire. Catra sat as close to Adora as she dared — which was on the other side. She couldn’t bring herself to be any closer. She was afraid of what she would do if she were to get any closer.

This Adora didn’t know everything that had occurred between them. This Adora hadn’t gone through the emotional and mental journey. This Adora wasn’t aware of Shadow Weaver’s manipulation and lying to them.

And Catra… didn’t want to bring that up to her. It wouldn’t be right. For the time being, that is.

Right now, she needed to focus on how she messed up. Adora isn’t the She-Ra. That was a big… yeah. She had no idea how to fix that. She wondered what they would do. What she had changed by touching the sword before Adora could.

#spop #shera and the princesses of power #spop fanfic #spop fanfiction #adora #catra shera #glimmer #bow #stpstw #fanfic #fanfiction

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calciphoney · 2 years

Text

If I Could Turn Back Time

by calciphoney

Book 1 of Save the Princess, Save the World

[Ao3]

[Previous chapter]

Chapter 2: Respect

Trigger warning: None [please alert me if I missed anything]

The swishing of a toothbrush and toothpaste over teeth was something that was entirely normal and felt so… strange to Catra. There Adora was — getting dressed like normal, tying her hair up like normal, going at the punching bag like normal, brushing her teeth like normal. Pretending that she was fighting princesses like normal.

It felt so… foreign wasn’t quite the correct word. Unreal was closer. Strange? Bizarre? Off-putting? All of those all at once plus… it felt like home. Some kind of home that was so long ago and forgotten it had collected dust and had rusted in place.

Catra’s heart contracted, and she had to look away. She curled up further in on herself on the bench in the communal bathroom. The wood pressing painfully into her side.

“Hey,” Adora said, wiping the sweat off her brow with a stained towel, “are you okay?”

“Hm?” Catra turned to look back at her, blinking slowly.

Adora reached out a hand, feeling with the delicate skin of the back of her wrist.

“You feel normal.”

“Just… just tired.”

“Sorry. I know I kick in my sleep.”

Catra felt the corners of her lips twitch.

“Nah, I’m used to that. Just… bad dreams, you know?”

Before Adora could question anything more, the overhead intercom crackled to life.

“All squadrons, report to the training area immediately for evaluation.” Catra knew the voice, but she couldn’t place the speaker. Commander something-or-other. She’d once shoved Catra into the wall as she walked past, completely ignoring Adora who had been right in her path. She’d been bruised for the better part of a month.

Catra clenched her fists.

“Come on,” Adora said, taking her hand — it was warm against hers. “We have training today!”

They walked like that down the corridors, dodging in between and around other cadets and commanders and whomever else was roaming the halls. There were so many people in the Horde. How had she forgotten how many of them there were?

To say Catra was disappointed when Adora let go to gear up would be an understatement. And she couldn’t help herself.

“Here,” she said, taking the protective goggles and straightening them on Adora’s face. She could feel a heat rise into her cheeks and ears at the dopey smile Adora gave her. She almost shoved Adora’s face into one of the lockers. Almost.

“Thanks,” Adora said, helping Catra with her own equipment. A frown slowly crept over her face the longer she focused in on Catra’s face. “Are you sure that you’re okay? You’ve been acting weird all morning.”

The better part of Catra wanted to tell her everything — whether it was a dream or some sort of strange reality she had lived, or if this one was a new sort of strange life she’d been given. But her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth and refused to budge. It was probably for the best. Who would react kindly to ‘Hey, I think you died in my arms but not really’?

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Catra said. “Like I said, bad dreams.”

There was a snort from behind her. With a turn of her head, Catra saw it was Lonnie.

“If it was bad dreams,” Lonnie said, “you should probably talk to Shadow Weaver about them.”

Her tone was mocking, but honestly? Catra couldn’t blame her. Both she and Adora were technically her wards. They ranked just a little higher than the others all because Shadow Weaver had to take care of them. It wasn’t Catra’s fault that Shadow Weaver preferred Adora over her.

Besides, the others didn’t know how Shadow Weaver… treated her.

“Nah,” Catra said, giving Lonnie a wry grin, “I don’t want to bother her with something that dumb. I’ll just tell it to everyone else when we’re trying to go to sleep tonight. Creepy stories about princesses, remember those?”

Lonnie rolled her eyes and looked away, picking up a conversation with Rogelio. Kyle attempted several times to butt in, although he was struggling with his gear and speaking like a normal person.

Catra waited until Adora was done helping her and she had gone to stand in her place before she moved to go over and help Kyle.

“What?” he said, looking sharply up at her.

“You need to take the training a bit more seriously,” she said to him, grabbing the strap for his chest piece and adjusting it. “You never know if they’ll send us out to fight. It could be tomorrow or the day after that.”

He jerked out of her grip and went back to getting himself ready.

Catra sighed and rolled her eyes. Oh well. Can’t help everyone, she supposed.

As Catra took her spot next to Adora and Lonnie, she could practically feel the beaming smile Adora was giving her.

“What?” she hissed.

“Nothing,” Adora said. “I just think it’s nice to see you trying to help out the others. If you keep that up, maybe they’ll make you a captain.”

Catra bit her tongue. She already knew what was going to happen next. Although, to be fair, the last time she had spent the morning waiting and watching from the fake trees as her cohorts fought the robots and hologram princesses.

“Listen, Adora.”

“Yeah?”

“Can we talk later?”

“Same place as usual?”

Commander Cobalt strode in, looking… just as unamused as ever.

“At attention, cadets,” he said, pressing a button on his holopad — making a screen come to life in front of them to layout the training mission. “You simulation is about to begin. Here’s your scenario. You’ll be passing through the treacherous Whispering Woods to read the heard of the rebel insurgency: Bright Moon.”

Catra’s ear flicked at Kyle’s whimper. She bit the inside of her cheek. She had forgotten how far Kyle had come since the whole She-Ra thing.

The mention of Bright Moon drudged up old memories of her attacking the Crystal Palace with the Horde, and of her friends — frenemies at this point despite the fact that they didn’t know it? — that lived there. She wondered what they were doing without Adora.

“Your mission is to defeat the Queen of the Princesses and liberate Bright Moon in Lord Hordak’s name.” He paused in his instructions to check who was lined up. “Catra, good to see you finally made it on time.”

“Pleasure to be here, sir,” she said through grit teeth. He looked her up and down. She was geared to perfection. Adora had made sure of that.

“Mm-hmmm. The Whispering Woods is full of princesses. Vicious and violent instigators. They will take you out if given the chance. Don’t give it to them. Good luck, recruits.”

The door crept open as he walked away, revealing the training arena. The spacious room was lit by green lights that hurt her eyes and reminded her of… No, not the time for that now. Instead, she focused on the giant metal pillars tilting at odd angles as they protruded up from the ground. She could already hear the projector-bots skittering around. It wouldn’t be too difficult to find the mockeries of what we’re supposed to be princesses.

Catra followed the others in, Adora leading the way — like always. Only she and Rogelio were at the ready. Then again, Rogelio was always ready for anything.

Including bumping her shoulder and giving her a sneer as he walked past. Great, he was in one of those moods.

Adora turned on her goggles, as did the rest of them. The air was filled for a brief moment of warbling chirps as the goggles came to life and focused on any marks of movement.

Catra heard the projector-bots coming before Adora could even warn them. By the time the “watch out” left Adora’s mouth, Catra had already moved herself out of the way.

The others scrambled around her, trying to find their place and footing between the blasts of lasers. It took them all a moment to regroup — and Adora throwing a grenade at one of the bots — but they all started to make their way to their intended target.

Until Kyle got hit by a blast again.

She… had completely forgotten about that. Whoops.

“Kyle,” Catra said, rolling him onto his back, “are you okay?”

He groaned at the movement and slowly cracked open his eyes. The chest piece of his armor lit up with a bright, red ‘X’. Out in less than three minutes. Wasn’t even his fastest record.

“Dang it,” Kyle said. He wouldn’t be able to move very much until the end of their training session.

“Seriously, Kyle?” Adora said, her voice harsh.

“Brah-vo,” Lonnie said.

“Come on, guys,” Catra said, her ears picking up the whirring of the projector-bots starting to regroup overhead. She glanced up. Sure enough, there they were.

“We need to keep moving. Like, now.”

The rest of them followed her gaze.

“Seriously, Kyle!” Adora groaned.

They barely had time to active their shields before the blasts came, but Catra was already urging the others forwards while Adora led the way into the clearing.

“Adora,” Catra called, “watch where you step up ahead.”

Adora easily maneuvered around the sinking tiles as they buzzed and lit up. But she missed the projector-bot coming up from one of the holes.

“Adora!” Lonnie called, pointing to the bot.

The massive thing extended it legs and the purple shape of the fake princess took form, sending out blasts of lasers directed towards them.

Catra didn’t see the charge at the bot, choosing instead to focus on getting everyone to the spot, but she heard Adora leap off the ground as she activated her staff and grunt as she landed to battle off the guns mounted on the bot. The clang and clatter made Catra lower her ears, she tried not to focus on that and instead got the others around the bot to the target.

Adora scrambled away as the bot started to sink — and she landed on the tile again.

Catra was about to call out, when the tile buzzed and Adora sink down. Catra heard her catch herself with her staff.

Rolling her eyes, Catra strode over to the hole and crouched down. Well, this wasn’t the first time that happened.

“Hey, Adora,” she said, offering her hand. “You look stupid hanging there, you know that?”

Adora barked out a laugh and reached up, letting Catra haul her back to her feet. She… was much heavier than Catra expected. Huh. She needed to work on being able to do that much easier.

“Feeling better?” Adora said.

“Eh, exercise helped a little.”

The overhead speaker crackled to life and said, “Training exercise complete. Please exit the training arena.”

Catra followed the others out, her shoulder just brushing Adora’s upper arm. They all got out of their equipment, hanging it for the next group to come in and use, and waited to hear what Commander Cobalt had to tell them.

“You helped out today,” Adora said, getting her standard red jacket on. “More than usual.”

“Yeah, well,” Catra said, shrugging and leaning against their lockers, “we’re senior cadets.”

“And you’re acting weird again. Like a weird kind of serious.”

“Not too serious to make fun of your dumb faces. Did you see yourself out there? You were all ‘Argh! Nooooo!’”

Adora snorted but tried kept her tone serious.

“I was not.”

“You were too. I should know. I was watching you from behind.”

“Usually I’m the one watching your tail.”

“Adora.” The silky voice made Catra stand as straight as every hair on her body and a chill trickle down her spine. Her pulse thudded loudly in her ears. She had to force herself to slow and even out her breathing.

“Shadow Weaver,” Adora said, saluting the woman as she emerged from the shadows.

“You have done well. You have completed your training course in record time.”

“Uh, well, that wasn’t just me, you know,” Adora said, wrapping an arm around Catra’s shoulders. Catra tried to ignore the warmth of the familiar hand delicately brushing her upper arm. “Catra did too.”

“Ah, yes. A surprising amount of help. Today, out of the many days of training.” Shadow Weaver looked Catra up and down. “How someone as unmotivated as you completed the course in that time, I’ll never know.”

Catra curled her shoulders in, leaning against Adora just slightly. Adora gently squeezed her shoulder, rubbing the back of her arm with her thumb. It didn’t stop Catra’s hands from trembling, though.

“Always serving up those pep talks, huh, Shadow Weaver?” Catra said, refusing to meet Shadow Weaver’s eyes. Something told her, if she did, Shadow Weaver would know everything.

“Silence,” Shadow Weaver hissed. Catra chanced a look at her and winced when she did. Shadow Weaver was glaring at her, like she did when she… when she… “You will not be flippant with me, cadet.”

The shadows grew around them. A claw-like shadow reached out to brush Catra’s cheek.

Catra bit her tongue. She would not apologize. Not this time.

“Shadow Weaver,” Adora said, dropping her arm around Catra’s shoulders to stand in front of her. “Um, can we go for a walk?”

This perked Shadow Weaver right on up.

“Yes,” she said. “I needed to talk to you anyway.”

“We’ll do our talk later,” Adora said to Catra, tapping the back of her wrist with her pointer. Then, with her back to Shadow Weaver, she mouthed, ‘The usual spot.’

“Adora,” Shadow Weaver said, a slight edge to her voice.

Catra drew her lips into a fine line and nodded. She watched as Adora jogged out the door and waited a few minutes before taking off to their spot.

It really wasn’t anything special. Just a balcony that overlooked the Fright Zone from the training center. They had claimed it s few years ago, when things started to become a little too much for either of them.

Well, for Catra, really. Between the treatment of the other recruits and soldiers, and Shadow Weaver’s… punishments, she needed a spot away from them all. And Adora was the one to indulge in finding it for them — although she didn’t know what Shadow Weaver did to Catra when she wasn’t around.

The memory of the pain was easy to summon to the forefront of her mind with just a simple thought. Ten years of it, and it was so ingrained in the very fiber of her being that every muscle recoiled at the first breath in after the thought past through her mind.

It wasn’t what Catra wanted to think about at the moment. No, she wanted to think about the… dream? Strange, alternate reality? Whatever it was, then.

Most importantly, how did she get here?

That voice. What had they said? ‘Back to the beginning’? What did they mean by —

Oh.

When Adora first found the sword.

That… that was today, wasn’t it? Yeah, it was.

Okay, she knew when she was. But how did she get here?

Something to do with that voice? It had to be. There was no other explanation for all of —

“Sorry I took so long.”

Catra nearly jumped out of her skin at the hand on her shoulder. She swiped her sharp claws at Adora, who easily dodged them.

“Don’t do that,” Catra said, cradling her hands to her chest. “I could have hurt you.”

“I’ll try to remember that next time,” Adora said, slowly straightening. “You sure you’re doing better? You still seem a little off.”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” A glint off something pinned to Adora’s jacket caught her eye. She tapped the badge with a claw. “What’s this?”

“I, uh… promotion.”

“Promotion!” Catra bit back the wince at the false glee in her voice. Her cheeks hurt almost as much as her words did to her ears. Adora would want this — want her to be happy for her. No matter what. “No way! You know what this means, right? We’re going to see the world and conquer it!”

“Um…” Adora crossed her arms in front of her chest, ducking her head and looking away.

“What?”

“Shadow Weaver says you’re not coming.”

It was a lie, although it wasn’t hard to fake how much those words still stung and neither Adora or Shadow Weaver knew. Of course Shadow Weaver didn’t want her to go. Up until today she’d shown little to no motivation to be a commanding officer. She wasn’t a people pleaser, like Adora. Although, Adora had been made into that by Shadow Weaver herself.

Catra was really only still around thanks to Adora.

She knew about that. She’d been made well aware of it, in fact, many times by Shadow Weaver. Shadow Weaver had told her as much every time she so much as breathed in the wrong direction.

“What’s her problem with me?” Catra said, unable to hold the bitter words back. She could feel the heat of tears prickle just on the corners of her eyes.

“Well, um… You were kind of disrespectful.”

“Why should I respect her,” Catra snarled. “She’s just bitter that she has no real power that doesn’t come from Hordak, and everyone knows it.”

She let out a sharp breath and leapt away, finding a higher spot away from Adora. She would come and find her when she was ready, and with the keys to a brand new skiff that she’d swiped from Commander Cobalt — not that either of them would ever admit it to him later.

Yes, it wouldn’t take long at all.

#spop #shera and the princesses of power #spop fanfic #spop fanfiction #adora #catra #shadow weaver #stpstw #fanfic #fanfiction #plz check ao3 for all triggers for this story #and plz let me know if i miss anything

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calciphoney · 2 years

Text

If I Could Turn Back Time

by calciphoney

Book 1 of Save the Princess, Save the World

[Ao3]

Chapter 1: I Just Died in Your Arms Tonight

Trigger warning: Death

Etheria was dying, and she was going to lose Adora.

That realization had hit her earlier. But — back then — she had hoped… She really had hoped… But now?

She ignored the sinking feeling in her stomach, the wave of nausea that come over her, the shortness of breath that was threatening to choke her at the mere thought.

A lot had happened in the two hours since this had all started. She and Bow and Glimmer had gotten separated — and she had no idea if they were still alive. She had almost died herself if it hadn’t been for Shadow Weaver. Shadow Weaver had… she really had… died. Etheria was being infected, poisoned, whatever.

And she was going to lose her home, her world, her best friend, her everything.

She was going to lose Adora.

Catra’s eyes were hot and her cheeks were wet and she didn’t care.

Adora was so self-sacrificing. Shadow Weaver had forced her to be that way. And right now it was the most selfish and selfless thing about Adora and it was killing her.

So, Catra did the only thing she could think of: She shielded Adora from the debris crumbling around them.

The green glow of the Heart above them cast in sickly shades — which made everything worse. It matched the treasonous veins glowing beneath Adora’s skin.

“Adora,” she said to the pair of closed eyes. “Adora, stay awake!”

The blue-gray eyes that she knew better than the back of her own hand cracked open to look up at her. No, beyond her. To the Heart.

Catra felt a stabbing twinge in her heart and blinked back the hot feeling that was bubbling up around her eyes. She was not going to cry. Not now.

She couldn’t let…

She didn’t want this to be…

“I’m sorry,” Adora said, the words barely more than the flap of a butterfly’s wings in a storm. Her eyes fluttered closed.

Still, Catra heard her speak. She brought her hand up to cup Adora’s cheek. Her skin was dry under Catra’s palm. And unusually cool.

Even Adora’s hand, which she had brought up to brush Catra’s, was cool.

Her eyes opened again, focusing directly on the Heart beyond Catra’s shoulder, and her hand fell limply to the side.

No. No no no no no no no no no.

Adora, no.

“Adora!” Catra’s vision blurred and her cheeks suddenly felt chilled in the breeze the magic around them was kicking up. She pulled Adora close to her, pressing her to her chest and holding her. “Adora.”

She held her waiting for… something. And — there! A lub-dub of a heart beat. It was slow, much too slow, but it was there and Catra felt her own heart quick at the feel of Adora’s heart against her sternum.

“Adora,” Catra said, pulling away just slightly so she could see her face. Her voice was raw in her throat. Each word stinging and cutting and biting as they came out. “Please! You have to wake up. You can’t give up. You have never given up on anything in your life. Not even me. So don’t you dare start now.”

Catra could have sworn she saw a flicker of movement on Adora’s face — a muscle twinge or something — but there was nothing when she scanned the familiar features.

“It’s too late.” Catra felt her heart skip a beat when the words were mumbled out by Adora. She was still alive. “I’ve failed.”

The heart beat was slow. It was so, so slow.

“No,” Catra said, repositioning Adora’s placement on her lap. “No. I’ve got you. I’m not letting up.”

She licked her lips.

“Don’t you get it? I love you. I always have. So, please, just this once. Stay!”

Adora did not stay.

. . .

“Well,” said a voice near her ear — ears? —, “this won’t do. No, not at all. I think we shall start again. Yes. Back to the beginning. A fresh start.”

Catra tried to open her mouth to ask what was going on, what they meant, but no sound could escape her lips. She couldn’t even open her eyes. Or maybe they were open?

No, it was too bright. Too dark?

Everything hurt but it didn’t.

Where was she?

“Catra, you have to save her this time, do you hear me? You have to save Adora. She has a bigger mission off Etheria. Do not fail me again.”

. . .

When Catra could open her eyes it was because someone kicked her, sharply in the side. Her tail gave a twitch, as did her ears.

Lifting her head, she turned to glare at the culprit. Her teeth were barred towards the person, a hiss boiling behind her teeth.

And her heart stopped.

How… how did she… how did she get back to the Fright Zone? Was this another one of the simulations?

She hoped not. She really, really, really hoped not because Adora was right there. curled up at the head of bed. A gentle snore escaping the sleeping form. Her blond hair splayed over the flat pillow, right under the carved mural of the two of them. The blanket draped over her shoulder.

Catra sat up and looked down at Adora.

She was alive. She was right there.

They were in the Fright Zone, back in their bunk. The dim lighting, the carved out image on the wall, the stench of sweat and dirty socks, the rough blanket that was so worn in some places there were holes.

Catra blinked and looked away. She wondered…

As quietly as she could, she padded across the room to the toilets and checked her reflection in the mirror.

A sight that twisted in her stomach greeted her. Her old headpiece and long hair framed a slightly more rounded face and tired eyes. Her old self. Her self from three years ago. Her Horde self.

She quickly turned away and clenched her hands, nails digging into her palms. She hadn’t realized that she’d returned to bed until she felt the gentle brush of a hand on her arm. She jumped, heart thudding wildly in her chest.

“Catra?” Adora said, blinking her sleep crusted eyes. “Everything okay?”

Catra felt her mouth get dry. She could only nod.

“You sure?”

“Yeah,” Catra said, “I’m sure. You… you should get some more sleep.”

“Okay.”

Catra stayed by her side until it was time to get up and start the day.

#spop #shera and the princesses of power #spop fanfic #spop fanfiction #adora #catra #stpstw #fanfic #fanfiction #plz check ao3 for all triggers for this story

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