Where Do We Go From Here?

Kitatanya

Chapter 41

A/N: Thank you for your support! You're awesome.

NOTE: (repeated at the end with more information for those that want to wait to read.)

I have an announcement! I am breaking the chain, loves. From hereon in, each chapter will begin with a note to say which POV it is from and the POV shall be subject to switch from Adora or Catra at any point within the contents. When it does, it will be announced with a page break stating which head we are in after that point. More info at the end.

0o0o0 -ADORA- 0o0o0

Adora thought she'd never come down from the giddy place inside her head right now. She was drooping against Catra, laughing just as hard as her mate was as the music around them came to a slow and playful halt. She knew they weren't the only ones in this state of celebratory exhaustion and could hear the breathless sounds of laughter from their lingering friends and the other soldiers slowly dispersing for the food others had been preparing nearby. She knew it was already later than they'd planned to be out, knew it was foolish and irresponsible to have stayed, but as Catra pulled away from her, eyes glowing in the light of the dying fire and sparkling in a dazzling array of so many wonderful emotions all at once, she didn't care. All she cared about was seeing that look on Catra's face for as long as she possibly could.

It had been a game of chance on her part, to ask Catra to dance here, in public around so many people. She knew that her mate was lowering walls, trying to embrace this life with her, but she'd seen that discomfort in her eyes and the line of tension in her mate when faced with the people of Barkos. Something dark had been brewing inside her mate and she knew it down to her soul, but whatever it had been, Catra had pushed it aside. For her.

It made her feel so very loved that Catra felt safe enough and secure enough with her to step outside of the lines that had once held her apart from the world around them. And seeing this look on her face after that dark emotion from earlier, after this huge step on her part? Adora was blown utterly away.

She wanted so badly to tug on their bond, wanted so badly to know what thoughts were swirling behind all of that emotion, to feel all of Catra within her. It was an almost unbearable urge, but they'd promised. They'd promised not to and she didn't want to break that promise. Not yet.

It wasn't a dismaying thought. It was thrilling. She hadn't seen it before, hadn't thought it before, because time apart had always been something they despaired in a way before today. But now she saw a truth between them and she was dazed by it. It was a wonderful thought to know that when they did come together again after this time apart, even if it was only a day, it would be like learning this bond between them all over again just like it had the other times they'd distanced themselves, no matter the reason and the circumstances that had tainted it.

Seeing Catra here before her, loving her openly with everything she was and happy like this, and yet having no idea what was truly going on inside her head? Knowing those wonderfully mysterious thoughts, no matter what they were, were only a touch away inside them, but resisting the urge to give in on purpose out of love and a promise? It was the most wonderful kind of torture she could imagine and it only made her want her mate even more.

She'd been fighting away the urge to really kiss her all day long, but seeing Catra's glowing eyes darken, feeling the sudden flush of Catra's body against her that had nothing to do with the exertion of dancing around the now-dying fire. She was already lost before Catra's arms were slipping around her neck. She was leaning in, eyes fluttering shut to savor what was about to happen, and as their lips glided together the world around them ceased to exist.

For as much as she was feeling, as much as that gentle gliding motion of Catra's lips against hers rocked her all the way to her core, that slow kiss was almost as delicate and sweet as their first few kisses had been, before they really began to explore the passion between them. It was a beautiful contrast to how very much she wanted to get lost and it was exactly what she hadn't even known she'd wanted until this very moment. There was hunger there, eternal and powerful, and a need for Catra that out shadowed every other need in her heart, but this kiss felt somehow like a promise. A promise that no matter how deep they got, how much their lives changed around them and they changed with it, that this was all they'd ever need.

Slowly, as they parted, Adora opened her eyes. Her body was singing, tingling, almost more than it ever had before, as she saw those echoed thoughts in those gorgeous heterochromatic eyes. Whatever else might be hidden inside her mate, whatever thoughts lay beneath the surface of those eyes, their promise was like a beacon tugging every part of her heart and soul. Catra was her future. Catra was her forever. Catra was all she ever wanted.

But just like they'd promised, she only smiled, letting all it show, instead of leaning in and capturing those soft lips now tugging into that lazy smile that was quickly becoming her favorite thing in the world to see. "Let's go talk to our friends." Her breath was more than a little ragged and Catra's smile shifted a little towards a smirk in response that had her all but giggling.

Catra could act smug all she wanted. She knew for a fact her mate was just as affected as she was and let it show with a smirk of her own. The almost pained look in her mate's eyes had her soaring all over again and she laughed at the playful glare Catra leveled at her a fraction later. With a dismissive flick of her ear, her mate turned away from her to face their friends who'd been having a quiet conversation nearby, but as she turned Adora felt the brush of Catra's tail curling over the outside of her thigh in a brief touch of affection.

Adora's smirk shifted into a grin as she stepped up beside her, before looking their friends. "Do you guys have a few minutes to talk before we go?" She asked lightly.

Lonnie blinked open her eyes and drew away from Rogelio and Kyle as they parted with a smile. "Sure"

"Good." Catra responded almost instantly. "Because there's something we need to talk to tall, dark, and scaly about." She snapped, feigning anger.

Adora had to bite the inside of her cheek to stifle a laugh at the words and the instantly shocked look on Rogelio's face. She hadn't known what Catra was planning, but it was so perfectly Catra's brand of affection it had her all but giggling. It took far more effort than she'd have liked to admit to try her best to scowl and play along with her mate.

He straightened fully and spoke a few rumbling words, obviously confused. Lonnie and Kyle were frowning too and she glanced at Rogelio before looking back to them. "What do you mean?"

Adora crossed her arms as Catra let out a low growl and leveled a glare at Rogelio. "What she means is-" Adora spoke, trying her best not to respond to the barely restrained laughter in the timbre of that low growling from her mate. "- how dare you be an amazing person and risk your life for Ramel!"

Rogelio, Lonnie, Kyle were all stunned for the briefest of moments. It was Lonnie who recovered first and she let out a low laugh, reaching over to shove at Rogelio's muscled arm. The look in her eyes was a mix Adora couldn't quite interpret, but she got the sense that Lonnie was still torn about that heroic gesture on his part in a very big way. The gesture snapped him from his surprise and he sent her a smoldering glance that heated her own cheeks in sympathetic pleasure, almost as much as it heated Lonnie's for a very different reason. Rogelio could portray a lot in a single glance and it was still a very new thing for her to notice and his obvious attraction to Lonnie and Kyle pleased her to no end. It was as magnetically pleasing to witness as feeling her own attraction to her mate, just like watching the interaction of all of their friends interact and be together in this mess of love and friendships that had brought them all together. It made her happy to see them happy and to see them so loved like she was.

Catra snickered beside her and reached out to link their fingers together, drawing her gaze. Catra's eyes were bright with happiness and laughter and the grin on her face was as big as her own. Her mate loved this as much as she did and she loved seeing it.

Rogelio's rumbling voice snapped her from her thoughts before she could make a fool of herself acting on them. She looked up to see him standing tall, chest out, and gesturing in a manner that let her know what he was saying was important to him. She couldn't understand his words, but she could feel his passion nonetheless in the way he spoke and moved and the sparkling glint in his eyes. Rogelio obviously knew what he'd done was the right thing to do, no matter how foolish, and she got the sense that he would do it again in a heartbeat if the need arose. Seeing him like that, filled her with a sense of pride for him, and she was glad, very glad, that he and Lonnie and Kyle were a part of their lives again. It hadn't been something she'd really had time to consider before their reunion and Catra had thought of them much more than she had herself. But she had missed them, all of them and seeing them happy, living this new life with all they had in moments like this, never ceased to send her heart soaring.

Catra was moving into her then and as her mate buried her face into her shoulder, arms rigid at her sides, all of that happy emotion fled in a rush. Catra was trembling, body tense, and she knew all at once that she was fighting tears. She was alarmed and dropped their linked hands to pull her closer immediately, when she felt a flicker of thought through the bond.

Don't react. There was so much agony in those two pleading words it tore her all the way to her soul, but whatever the source had been, Catra hid it from her.

She couldn't deny that plea, but it took every ounce of her strength to do no more that squeeze her shoulders in comfort as she returned her gaze to Rogelio, Lonnie, and Kyle. The latter two were clinging to one another slightly behind him, gazing at Catra with sad, pained eyes, before leveling her a meaningful look of mirrored plea. She didn't know what had happened between Lonnie, Kyle, and her mate, but whatever it had been, they wanted to hide it for now. It unsettled her, filled her with even more worry, but she did her best to hide it as she met Rogelio's gaze once more. He was still speaking, but he was more tentative now, glancing curiously at Catra as he did so. Adora made another mighty effort push away her concern as best she could to send him the most convincingly reassuring smile that she could manage.

Seemingly appeased, he nodded subtly and drew up his speech with a rumbling tone that was nearly a growl. As he finished speaking, Lonnie and Kyle were drawing up on either side of him, and they tangled their arms about his waist with loving smiles. That passionate expression he'd worn while speaking, dissolved into a tender and loving one as he dropped his arms to their shoulders, smiling softy at each of them in turn. She knew he saw the tenseness of those smiles as much as she did, but he didn't show any reaction besides a sudden tightness in that expression. Something was wrong and now, he knew it as well as she did.

As much as she'd wanted to spend time with them, she felt a sudden and urgent need to leave. She needed to know what had put Catra in so much pain. She needed to comfort her mate and hold her close and it was almost unbearable to hesitate now.

But still, Catra had asked her not to react and every subtle hint from their friends was saying the same thing, so she had to play along with this farce, no matter how much a part of her hated it. And there was still something very important she had to say. They couldn't leave things like this. They'd be gone for days to Mystacor, how many, she had no idea. Anything could happen in the span of a few days, within moments even, and if they lost this chance, they'd both regret it for the rest of their days and she knew it with a poignant clarity.

"We're glad you did, Rogelio." Her voice cracked and she had to clear her throat before she continued. "We love Ramel and we were beyond thankful to know you cared enough for him to risk yourself for him. But we love you too. All of you." It was the first time either of them had said the words to them and she knew her mate wanted to say them as much as she did, no matter how much she was hurting right now.

Catra's arm was about her waist in an instant, squeezing her tightly, only confirming the thought. She was glad when her mate found the strength to push aside whatever agonizing thought had taken her over, because the look Lonnie, Rogelio, and Kyle were sending their way almost brought tears to her eyes it was so full of happiness and she wanted Catra to see it for herself. Needed her too.

Adora continued, unable to keep the waver of those tears from her voice as she did so. "So please remember that and be careful. We don't want to lose any of you any more than we want to lose each other."

She had no idea which of them moved first or if had been Lonnie, Rogelio, or Kyle to reach for them instead, but she found herself in the middle of a real hug with them for the very first time and it felt too right to care. She'd exchanged handshakes and half hugs with them before, mostly in gest or in playful celebration for a successful training session, but physical affection wasn't something people generally exchanged in the Horde Army outside of that. It brought to light how much she really had changed over the years and how she took things like hugs for granted. And it made her again see in a new light the change in her mate beside her and the wonderful ways their friends had grown too.

It was profoundly bittersweet in this moment, feeling Catra fighting away tears against her side. The fierceness of the way Lonnie was her mate between them and the strength of Kyle's arm around herself and the way Rogelio tightened his long arms about the four of them as much as he could, spoke worlds to her. The thought of all that hidden pain, whatever it had been, was all but washed away entirely in that embrace and it left her all but drained in the most wonderful of ways.

She had all but forgotten Melog had been hanging back and watching them from a distance. She knew they'd done it out of love, letting them have this time with each other their friends, but she was so, very glad that this was the moment they'd chosen to step in. Even more than herself, Melog's presence always steadied Catra and she felt her mate finally relax a little more fully as Melog wound, purring thunderously, around the five of them to hold them close and safe and steady. She had no idea if it had the same effect on Lonnie and Rogelio and Kyle that it did them- and like it did for Ramel and more than a few of their other friends because they knew and loved Melog in their own unique ways- but she appreciated it from the bottom of her heart all the same.

As they all parted slowly from that embrace, she kept her arm around her mate and was glad when Catra only leaned into her more fully as she reached out to stroke Melog's head. Adora reached for them too, brushing a gentle touch over their cheek, wishing for a moment to tug on their soul-bond so Melog could feel how much she loved them and how much she appreciated their gesture. She knew she couldn't right now any more than she could actually speak it, but she tried to show it all in the smile she sent them then. Melog gazed from Catra to her and blinked a long and slow blink at her in a way they hadn't done in a very long time and the sparkle in their eyes and that uniquely Melog smile let her know they understood.

Dazed, full of love and happiness, she looked back up to their friends. They were still embracing too and looked just as dazed as she was by different degrees. Then, Kyle blushed and looked askance at Lonnie and Rogelio for something. She was gently surprised by the sudden shift and could only watch as they seemed to have an unspoken conversation.

Lonnie's sudden and dazzling smile at him and the way Rogelio squeezed him tighter with a rumbling almost-purr, pulled a loving laugh from him, before he glanced back towards she and her mate. "Do you guys want to know why we decided to stay with Queen Glimmer's forces instead of staying with Huntara to protect the Fright Zone?"

Adora's surprise swelled to new definition as she realized neither she or Catra had ever wondered about that before. She looked to her mate just as Catra was looking to her and saw that same surprise echoing in her still pained eyes. All three of their friends let out sounds of amusement, drawing their gazes back to them. "Please." She prompted softy after a moment.

Lonnie flashed Kyle a furtive grin that made him blush a little more brightly before he spoke. "Because of you two." He stated, the strength of his conviction belying the simplicity of the words. Adora was blown away, barely able to comprehend his words as he kept speaking. "We saw you together there with the other princesses when we watched the speech with everyone in the Wastes and we were glad to know that you were safe. We wanted to stay and defend our home, but when the armies split, we decided we wanted to follow her because she was where you were and we wanted to see you again, because we didn't know where you were or why you weren't fighting. We were worried. Because we love you too and we wanted to be near our friends." He leveled a rather sad and loving smile at Catra to mirror the ones that she noticed Rogelio and Lonnie were already sending her way, and she knew in an instant that her mate was the main focus of that decision.

It didn't hurt or make her feel jealous that it was more Catra's presence that had made them want to be closer. No. Instead, it filled her with tears all over again because she knew with every fiber how much those words would mean to her mate and how much she needed to hear them. She looked down, needing to see the expression on Catra's face and felt her heart breaking at the sight. Catra was gazing at their friends with such an acutely wondering and tender expression that was almost, but not quite hiding all of that agony she'd felt from her before and the tears she'd sensed her mate fighting before were glistening in her eyes now in wavering wash threatening to overflow.

To her utter astonishment, Catra let out a watery laugh and leveled a teasing glare at them through all of that emotion and her tears. "No fair!" She all but sobbed the playfully accusatory words. "I didn't count on you guys being just as mushy as the princesses! How can I possibly compete with that?!"

Rogelio's rumbling laughter filled the air like thunder only a second before Lonnie was laughing in amazed wonder too. Adora didn't laugh and only faintly heard Kyle sob in the same moment she did as she turned and wrapped both arms around her mate. Only in the back of her mind did she register more arms circling around them, holding she and Catra tightly. All she truly registered was her mate's trembling body, the tiny pricks of her mate's claws through her shirt, and the sudden knowledge her presence was the only thing keeping Catra from breaking completely in this awing, bittersweet moment in the face of that pain she wished she could take away from her.

o-o-o CATRA o-o-o

Catra felt her head spinning in a swirling storm of emotion stronger than she'd felt alone in what felt like a long time as they all slowly parted from that lingering embrace. She had never expected this from Lonnie and Rogelio and Kyle. Never expected them to really love her after everything and hearing Kyle's words on top of what she'd only just realized was an agonizing truth between the three of them, was tearing her all the way to her soul.

When Rogelio had begun to speak to them after that playful confrontation she'd instigated, she'd been more than a little moved by the passion in his tone and body language at first. But something, some instinct she had no name for, had drawn her eyes from him, to Lonnie and Kyle at his side. The looks on their faces then had torn her right to her very soul and shattered a part of her heart then and there.

There was so much agony in their expressions as they gazed up at their third, agony made all the more poignant by the love she'd seen somehow still shining through it. They loved Rogelio, fully and openly and had shown it more than once in their presence, just like he had. But seeing that agony had shown her a truth that had sliced through her like a blade, twisting and deep and painful.

For all that they loved him and communicated with him in that unspoken way, and for all that Lonnie often spoke on his behalf in a deeper understanding of the meaning of his words than any of them, they could not truly understand him, neither of them, any more than she or Adora could. They had never once gotten to have a true conversation with the man they both loved. They had never gotten to hear those precious words that she got to hear from Adora so many times and ways during a single day.

And Rogelio… she was almost more torn for him than she was for them, even if he hadn't noticed it in that moment. Not once in the course of their lives, had Rogelio gotten to have a true conversation with anyone that she'd ever seen, but even that wasn't as painful as the next realization she'd had. She could only imagine how he must truly feel in quiet moments between the three of them. He could and did show how much he loved Lonnie and Kyle, just as openly and completely as she and Adora could with a glance, but he could never speak the words to them or tell them his true thoughts.

He could never look at Lonnie and tell her her smile was gorgeous like she could tell Adora. He could never look at Kyle and tell him how adorable he was like she could tell her mate. He couldn't say anything to them and be truly understood and they, for all that they could and probably did tell him things like that themselves, could never truly hear those words she knew he wanted to say, because she had seen just how passionate a man he was for herself more than once.

It was agony to know it and feel so utterly helpless in the wake of their pain. But she had to keep hiding it for now, even if a part of her hated it. Lonnie and Kyle had asked her to as clearly as if they'd spoken it and even before hearing those words, she knew she couldn't deny them that plea. They were in so much more pain than she was and she knew it. Knew they didn't want to make a scene in a public place and to keep this pain a secret.

But it still hurt. Hurt so very much to hitch her smile into place and pretend. And she knew that for all that the five of them were pretending, all of them knew something was wrong and it only made it more painful, because Rogelio and her mate didn't know the reason right now, though she was certain it had been something that had already come up between the three of them before. She was going to tell her mate the very next instant she was alone, because she needed Adora to know this and feel it like she did, even if she hated that it was going to agonize her mate as much as it did herself. But for now, she had to swallow it and for some reason hiding it felt so very wrong, even as she knew she had to.

She wanted to leave now and one glance at Adora showed a deep desperation her mate was trying to hide and she knew she wanted to go to. Kyle looked even more drained now than he had a few moments ago and she saw tears glistening in his eyes still as he clung to Rogelio. In a sudden blur of motion, Rogelio drew him up in his arms, surprising Kyle utterly. Rogelio only smiled at his stunned and blushing expression and arranged him so that he could hold him with one arm and reach out to draw Lonnie against his other side.

She was smiling now, tired hazel eyes flashing with hint of sadness and so much love as she leaned into Rogelio. One of her hands came up to lightly punch Kyle's legs over Rogelio's chest. He turned his stunned face to her and blinked, before flashing her such a sweet and adoring smile through his lingering tears it almost made Catra blush herself, even though the pain still lancing in her heart.

She leaned into Adora, just wanted to be closer to her for a moment and Adora's arm was trembling across her shoulders as she squeezed her tightly. "We're going to go and let you rest." Adora tried to sound happy and light, but her tone wavered.

Kyle let out a heavy sigh. "See you guys tomorrow?" He asked softly, looking to them.

She felt Adora shaking her head at the same moment she did. "We'll be gone for a few days after this, but when we get back? Definitely." Adora answered.

Lonnie nodded with a tired smile and was the first to turn away, tugging Rogelio along with her. "See you later then." She called softly.

"Later." Adora called after them.

Catra had no time to anything but sag a little against her mate, before she felt a pulse of Melog's magic that let her know they were shifting. A fraction later, they were crouching in front of them with a meaningfully level look. 'Come.'

Catra was equal parts guilty for the storm of emotion barely there beneath that carefully neutral expression and grateful that they had offered to carry them. As much as a part of her still hated to admit weakness, right now she was shaken and thoroughly, and she was just glad that Melog was here, always here, to help her be steady. Adora was already tugging her to their side and the fierce set of her jaw and the desperate flashing in her eyes helped Catra to try to ground herself as she climbed atop Melog. So did the feel of Adora's shaking arms about her, holding her tightly back against her as Melog rose.

They took off through the city in a blur of motion and she leaned forward over their shoulders to hang on. Adora was folding over her and from the way Adora was trembling she knew it was only partly because of Melog's speed. Catra suddenly felt like those arms around her and her own arms around Melog beneath her were all that was keeping her from falling into a great abyss.

In the back of her mind, she knew when Melog stopped at the doors of their building and only half registered the fact that Adora let go of her enough to lean sideways for the handles of the huge double doors. She didn't know if they'd closed them behind them, only barely registered the blurs of a few concerned face as they sped though the halls and Adora's called words of reassurance that they were just tired and needed to sleep.

The next thing she knew, she was in Adora's arms and her mate was carrying her to their bed. She felt Melog's magic swelling and knew they were safe as Adora all but threw them both down atop it. She was clinging to Adora, pressing their foreheads together even as she was reaching for their soul-bond. For a moment, there was nothing but a crackling and agonizing storm of concern and devotion and soul-deep pain as their thoughts crashed together like two opposing waves of the sea. It was a chaotic mess that was the complete anthesis of the wonder of their first true time coming together, even as some of those wonderful moments they'd had apart added a tiny mote of it beneath this darker tide taking them over.

The agony of those realizations of the truth between Lonnie and Rogelio and Kyle doubled and trebled as the one saw them and felt them as fully the other. It was so very painful to realize how much their friends had been robbed of that simple pleasure of conversation, while they could do this and literally lose themselves in everything each other was with a tug of the bond between them. They'd already realized between them how selfish they were to lose themselves when other around them could not, but realizing this only made it even more acute. And it was tearing them apart to think like they were right now.

They had already known that they were beyond the luckiest creatures in the cosmos to have this awing and wondering cord to connect them to one another; to their mate, their love, their everything. They could not do anything but love it and love every part of this life with one another, no matter how painful these realizations about the lives of the ones around them or how very blind they made them feel in moments like this. They knew with all of them that this shining soul-bond between them was good and right and it was as meant to be as their love for one another and these blazing white-hot flames of promise searing through them.

But no matter how much they loved it, no matter how right it was, seeing what they saw now let them know that this promise they'd made to remain apart was what they needed. The fact that their soul-bond had blinded them both before to the many realizations like they'd made today and the huge lack of attention to their friends and their lives and problems outside themselves, wasn't a good thing no matter how good it felt.

And their time apart at Dryl and today had been fun, hadn't it regardless of this pain? They could see these things now where they hadn't before. And as much as it hurt, now they knew and they could face it, together.

They knew there would be times, just like tonight, when they would need this bond between them. It was everything between them after all. It was the ultimate product of the strength of their love and the magic that connected them. It was as meant to be as anything else in their lives.

But it wasn't a loss to keep to this promise they'd made. It was only going to make things better in a way like it already had. They'd be stronger, see things more clearly, and be able to truly step forward and do what both of them already wanted. And maybe, just maybe, they'd be able to do more than what they had been. More than that, maybe they'd be able to truly help their friends and not just by being She-Ra. It was a good thought to have that made them feel steady once more.

Finally whole and finally calm, they basked for a tiny instance in this wonder and love between them, before reaching for that shining cord and tugging apart. They couldn't stand the thought of being fully apart, no matter how selfish it was. The place of true conversation between them was where they both knew they needed to be, connected but separate. Two, but only a thought away. It felt safe, good, and complete and it was what they wanted, what they needed. Love filled them, swelling like a gentler tide to hold them both safe before they finally let go to fulfill that blazing promise.

Catra settled in her head with only one thought and blinked open her eyes to look at her mate. The tears they'd both shed were still glistening on her cheeks and Catra moved without thought to kiss them away, tightening her arms around Adora's neck to hold her close. "I love you, Adora." She murmured into the soft skin of her cheek. "All of you." These words had been shared in those thought between them, but now, more than ever she wanted to say them aloud to her, because they had both lost sight of how wonderful a true conversation could be and she never wanted to forget how special it was to be able to speak to her mate ever again. "I want to be near you. I want to love you until my very last breath. And as wonderful as it will always be to feel everything you are, I just need you, Adora, no matter what. Forever."

Adora let out the tiniest sob and Catra felt soft hands cradling her face, guiding her into a deep, slow kiss full of tears and love. When Adora pulled away, all she could do was lie there and stare into her glistening eyes and the universe of promise and devotion swirling there. "I love you, Catra. By Etheria, I do." The words were ragged with the tears Adora was holding back. "And I'm always going to want you more than anything else, no matter what it means. You're my heart, Catra. My everything. I'd never have been able to face this without you. I can't imagine where my life would be without you in it and I don't even want to. You're my forever, no matter where it takes us and I love you."

Catra had been frozen under the wondering weight of those words, but as that near shout left Adora's lips, she was surging into her for another kiss even as Adora was pulling her closer. It was a mess, that kiss, a mess of tears and joy and love and wonder, but it was a perfect mess nonetheless. She never wanted it to end.

0o0o0o0o0o0

And there we go! Thank you for reading! And now, to announce a huge change!

So, if you didn't read the previous note, you've seen in this chapter my new way forward with this story. The chain I have been clinging to between Adora and Catra's POVs is no longer there. I have done this for several reasons.

One of which, and the most important of them, is because of the fact that I see now that trying to keep to the chain has made things drag in places or sped things along in a less than smooth way by forcing me to think in a different direction and, honestly, it has been slowing me down far more than I realized. I have written so many scenes from a specific point of view in my planning and I simply don't have the strength to keep converting them. Some of the events just work better for Adora or for Catra and I really do wish that I'd realized this sooner. The muses want what they want and guide my flow and trying to fit it into my human OCD urges just isn't working anymore, because my timeline has been sorely shaken with all of these delays and I want to get the most out of every one of these chapters and I want you all to get the most out of them too.

Now, this isn't to say that I'm going to be switching POVs at the drop of a hat or after a few short paragraphs or any such nonsense. That would make things more of a mess than they already are. But there is a flow, a pattern, that I have been fighting and I simply don't wish to fight it anymore.

Doing things like the way I am now, is going to free my scattered mind enough to let me kick up our pace and really get things moving in a way much better and faster and smoother than before. I want this story to be better, for myself and for all of you, and I feel that this creative shift is the best way of making it happen. Hopefully, it does not impact you in a less pleasant way, but if it does, I can only say that it cannot be helped. This is our new direction and I am so relieved and freed upon realizing it, because it is going to make continuing all the more fun for me, and hopefully for you too.

We are going to push forward. We are going to reach our destination. We are going to finish this journey, one way or another, and I simply cannot wait. I hope that you enjoyed and I hope to have you along as we press on towards the future!

Until next time, loves! Stay safe and read on! Ja!