"I think this is about as far as we can take you…"
"It's far enough."
Glimmer's car slowly pulled into a tiny town near the border of South Dakota. They had just crossed state lines and reached their final goal before Alaska, and all around the four of them was fields, crops and farm animals on sprawling hills.
The town was almost pulled straight out of a Western movie, with wooden buildings and sandy roads. Glimmer parked outside a nearby saloon as Catra stepped out of the backseat, going towards the boot of the car to retrieve their packs.
The trip had taken a little less than half the day, but the entire time, Adora never stopped speaking to her two friends. It was nice to catch-up after so long, especially since Glimmer and Bow had gone to so many new places in their lives.
It was a reminder of the life Adora left behind. And the life waiting for her once she returned home.
If she returned home.
"You two are going to be okay out here, right?" Bow asked as Catra tossed Adora's pack to her partner, slinging hers over her shoulder.
"We've been in the more desolate places. Worse comes to worse, we'll hike it to whatever town is nearby this one," Catra shrugged. "Where are you two headed, anyway?"
"We promised our parents we'd be back home by the end of the week, so that's why we can't take you to Alaska," Glimmer explained. "As much as we'd love to."
"Ah, I think this is better actually," Adora beamed as she walked around the front of the car towards her friends. "This is meant to be an adventure. Finding our own way to things. As much as we really, really appreciate the ride, I don't think being driven by our best friends all the way from Colorado to Alaska would be as fulfilling as finding our own way there, you know?"
"Spoken like a true traveller," Bow scoffed as Glimmer leaned up to hug Adora closely. They knew this was another goodbye, but this time, it didn't feel as gut-wrenching. Glimmer could see that Adora was almost a different person. If she had been able to survive all this way, she'd be able to survive the rest of the journey towards Alaska.
"I love you," Glimmer said to Adora as they hugged. "You'll keep writing to us, right? Don't think you can get lazy and stop now."
"I promise, I promise," Adora chuckled as she split from the hug. "I love you too, Glimmer."
Catra watched as Bow went to hug Adora next. It was a confusing state for her to see all of the love these three shared. On the one hand, it was nice to see Adora so happy. It was clear she missed her friends, so being able to see them would be a massive boost for her.
But on the other hand, Catra couldn't help but be reminded of the lack of positive company waiting for her at home.
"I'll get pictures for you two once we're in Alaska, alright?" Adora smiled as she separated from Bow. Despite the goodbyes, Adora never felt like she was on the verge of tears. If anything, she was simply more excited to move forward with this journey, and show her friends her accomplishments at the end of it all.
"Just promise us you'll come back with all your limbs attached," Bow replied, and Adora gave a firm nod. He turned to Catra. "You make sure she sticks to that promise."
"I'll do my best," Catra smirked.
Bow turned back to Adora, and they took one last moment to simply take in each other's company. Their presence and their love. Adora took a breath, and smiled. "Well… I'll see you two soon."
And so, Adora stepped forward.
Catra walked alongside her as they walked deeper into town. Bow and Glimmer watched them walk away, and they knew that Adora would be in good hands for the rest of this trip. Glimmer remembered when she first left Adora with Catra, and the anxiety that was exploding in her system.
Now, she only felt joy for her friend.
Adora looked around the mostly desolate town, not noticing any homes or motels, or anywhere to hire some transportation or take a bus. "Seems like we're off to a rocky start when it comes to South Dakota," Adora said, sighing as she looked from empty building to empty building.
"When Chris was here, he would work the grain elevators with a guy called Wayne. He made a few friends with the job, and got a bit of cash," Catra explained as the two of them walked down the sandy road. "He was a hard worker. But he had trouble staying in one place for too long. Still, he wrote to Wayne as often as he could, even after he left. I think he made a real friend there."
"Guy really seemed to connect with people, and yet he was always alone," Adora commented. "I guess that's where you and I are different from him. I could never imagine taking this journey without you now."
Catra looked to Adora as she spoke, but almost immediately, those words made her look away to hide her red face. Adora had a way of unintentionally making her blush, which she wasn't quite sure if she hated yet.
But as Catra looked away, she soon gazed upon a pinboard on one of the buildings. It seemed to be a whole bunch of posters, including some casual job offers. Catra wandered over to the pinboard, and Adora followed behind her.
"We don't need any extra money, do we?" Adora asked as Catra scanned the list of jobs to take.
"We don't…" Catra mumbled, before glancing at one job that made her eyes light up. "But I'm going to tell you a secret," Catra said as she turned to face her partner, "I have always wanted to help out on a farm. Just for one day."
"R… Really?" Adora asked with a scoff, having never imagined Catra in that line of work.
"I know it sounds dumb! Trust me, there's no way I'd want it to be a permanent thing," Catra shook her head. "But… Just for one day, I think rounding up some cattle and walking amongst the large grassy fields of hay would be a delight. Farms have always looked beautiful to me. And I think this place is filled with them. You can see in the distance."
"So why are you telling me this?" Adora asked. Catra smirked as she turned to the pinboard, and pointed to one of the flyers.
"Because I think I'm about to make one of my dreams come true."
Adora looked to the flyer Catra pointed to and read the large text. "Help wanted… A strong hand or two to assist a dairy farm with rounding up a new herd of cows," Adora read out. "And it seems like that's listed for… today."
Adora looked down to her travel partner, and saw that Catra had a wide grin on her face as she crossed her arms. "Looks like whatever deity is controlling my luck was particularly happy today. So…" Catra looked up to Adora. "Think you can be up for one more day of hard work?"
The blistering heat and intense sweat down Adora's red face was unmatched by the joy she felt upon hearing Catra's laughter.
Adora watched as Catra jogged behind a small herd of confused cows, being helped by a few other farmhands. They had managed to herd the cows from paddock to another across a large, hay-filled field. Even better, it all had to be done uphill as the intense sun beamed down on them.
But for Adora, she didn't mind too much. She was impressed with how easily she was able to keep ahead of the cows, and she thought back to when she first left for this journey and could barely walk for half a day.
Indeed, Adora felt like she had become much stronger and much fitter. And for that, she was proud of herself.
She could see that Catra had acquired a straw hat from one of the other farmhands, and she couldn't help but find her travel partner oddly cute in it. Adora wore denim shorts and a sleeveless red shirt herself, trying to combat the heat.
The herd of cows had been chased uphill by a few dogs and farmhands, Catra included, and it was Adora's job to make sure they didn't run too far and instead turned towards a large gate into a paddock. Adora worked with only one other person, the head of the farm, so her job was a lot tamer.
But both travellers received good pay by the end of it all, so she didn't mind.
"I don't think I've ever seen you or that friend of yours 'round town," Adora's temporary boss, the head of the farm, spoke to her. He had taken off his hat to wipe the sweat of his forehead as he smiled down at Adora. "Where you from?"
Adora wondered if she should tell the truth. After all, she barely knew these people and it's not like it was any of their business. But then again, it also didn't seem like they had malicious intent. "Well… I don't think we're 'from' anywhere anymore. We're just a bunch of leather tramps going from place to place," Adora said.
The man chuckled as he put his hat back on. "I haven't heard that phrase since I was a young boy. Well, if it led to you two helping us out, hell, I think I'm alright with it," he replied. "Your friend seems like she's having the time of her life."
Adora looked over to see Catra talked amongst the farmhands with a wide smile on her face as the cows rapidly approached Adora. "You think she might stay for some more permanent work?" The man asked Adora, to which she shook her head.
"I don't think that's her style," Adora replied as she widened her stance. She soon made eye contact with a few cows, and just like that, the herd almost moved on its own to the right, and towards the large, open gate. Without even taking a step, Adora was intimidating enough to move a few cows.
It was a good confidence booster.
"Not her style, huh?" The man asked Adora as the gates were closed behind the herd of cows. Adora looked to see Catra panting, taking off her hat and wiping her sweat away with her forearm. She chuckled slightly as she looked over to Adora.
"She'd never work at a place like this for more than a few weeks," Adora responded, walking over to Catra and leaving the man behind. She could hear Catra's heavy pants as she approached her. "You feeling okay?"
"Fucking exhausted… But fucking fantastic," Catra laughed in response. The cows went to eating the grass and hay in their paddock after the gates were closed, and Catra received a cold water bottle from one of the other farmhands.
Adora watched as Catra chugged the water bottle, the liquid running down her chin as she practically downed half the bottle in a few gulps. She let out a loud pant as she took the bottle away from her lips, feeling a little more refreshed after having jogged uphill for the last half hour.
Adora saw one of the cows approach the fence of the paddock as it ate at the nearby grass, and she tapped her elbow against Catra's upper arm. "You ever wanted to pet a cow?" Adora asked, nodding to the nearby animal.
Catra looked at the cow and grinned, immediately walking over without a response. Adora followed behind as Catra squatted down before the animal, reaching through the holes in the fence and gently placing her hand on the cow's head.
To her surprise, the cow did not run away or jump, but it instead simply ignored her, continuing to eat as Catra petted her. "That's so cool…" Catra gasped as she ran her hands along the cow's rough coat, feeling a weird sensation almost like Velcro.
"Y'know, sometimes we name these cows when we're particularly fond of them," one of the farmhands spoke as they approached Adora and Catra. "Seems like this one's a calm one. Think you got a name for it?"
Adora looked to Catra as she petted the cow, closing her eyes and pondering for a few seconds. After a while, she opened her eyes and looked up to the farmhand. "I say we call it… CatrAdora," Catra suggested.
Adora scoffed. "Are you serious?"
"Dead serious," Catra smirked. "I want to leave some sort of mark on this world, so… Why not name a cow after me and the person I care about most in my life?" Catra shrugged. She looked up to the farmhand. "Tell the boss this one's gonna be named after the two best workers he had."
"You got it," the farmhand chuckled. They soon crossed their arms. "I was actually here to talk about something else. You two girls feel alright coming to the bar tonight? It's a Friday after all, and we usually have a thing of getting a bit rowdy after a few beers in town."
"Uh…" Adora looked to Catra. "What do you think?" She asked, unsure of how to feel about such an offer. Catra looked to CatrAdora for a few seconds, taking her hand away as she stood back up.
"As long as we stick together, I think it'll be fun," Catra replied to her travel partner. Adora nodded, inclined with agree with Catra's reasoning. And so, the two of them turned to the farmhand. "Sounds great. You can count us in."
Even after all this, Adora was always impressed by Catra's skills with a guitar.
Adora sat alone at a circular table as Catra sat with a small band on stage, staring at the sheet music ahead of her as she played alongside a multitude of other instruments in a fast-paced song. Catra had the eyes of intense focus, and Adora found them oddly cute.
She had lost track of time at this point, but she knew it was at least nearing midnight. Adora had not drunken anything herself, but it was fun to be around so many lively people. Going out and celebrating the end of a work week on a Friday night was something Adora always wanted to do, but at the same time, it felt weird.
Adora had become used to the noise at this point, with all the cheering, conversations and music going on. She mostly kept to herself in the corner, watching the sweat run down Catra's forehead as she finished the song with a few quick notes.
Catra looked to her bandmates and laughed a bit, before placing the acoustic guitar down in its case and standing up, finally done after around twenty-five minutes. Adora couldn't help but feel a little relieved at having her travel partner back to keep her company.
"How was that?" Adora asked.
"Fun as fuck," Catra chuckled as she sat at the table with Adora. "It was hard to keep up though. They go a lightning pace with some of those songs. Reading sheet and playing it at the same time is a lot tougher than it looks."
"You looked like a natural," Adora smiled as Catra panted, pushing through the exhaustion. "Did you pick up our pay?"
"Yeah, I got it earlier. We can be out of here by tomorrow," Catra replied. "There's a town a few miles north of here that's a lot bigger than this place. If we walk along the highway for a bit, we should come across it. Hopefully the map is up to date."
"And it's a straight shot through Canada, right?" Adora asked.
"Pretty much. Alaska is waiting for us," Catra grinned as she placed her straw hat on the table. She looked around the bar at the multitude of people and smiled. "This is nice. Just… being around people with so much energy."
"I guess we both got tired of Vegas, huh?" Adora replied. "Everyone there was either drunk, hungover or tired."
"Except for Perfuma and Scorpia," Catra mentioned. "We've got to send them pics too, once we're done with all this."
As Adora and Catra spoke, they suddenly heard a loud, screeching whistle echo across the entire bar. Adora flinched at the piercing noise, and turned to see the head of the farm standing up on his chair, drink in his hand.
"Sorry to interrupt!" The man spoke. "Just got word that we got another noise complaint!" He said, and across the bar, groans of annoyance echoed out. Adora couldn't help but chuckle. "Now, now, folks, that don't mean you're getting kicked out! Just means a couple of officers might come along and tell us to shut up. You don't got to worry…"
"Wait, what?" Catra suddenly spoke up. Almost instantly, every single pair of eyes in that bar locked in Catra's direction. "Like… the police are coming?"
"Yeah, but it don't matter! Besides, they might send officer Paul over, and I reckon he's your type if you're looking for a man to swing with tonight!" The man spoke, and immediately, he received hollering and cheers from across the bar. Adora looked to Catra, and saw her hands shake slightly as her whole posture tensed up.
"Catra?" Adora whispered, leaning close to her partner as she shook with rage.
"We've got to get the fuck out of here," Catra suddenly whispered. "Where are our packs?"
"Under the table," Adora replied, grabbing her own. Catra leaned down, but the head of the farm noticed her grabbing her gear.
"Hey, hold on, where do you think you're going?" The man laughed. "Look, there's nothing to stress about! You treat the cops fine, and I reckon they'll treat you alright," he spoke, dragging out the 'alright' in a suggestive tone.
Catra immediately stood up, but before she could leave, the doors of the bar slowly swung open to reveal two men in police uniforms enter. Catra's eyes widened, and she quickly sat back down, shrinking to avoid attention as the cops entered.
Adora felt her heart start to race as she saw Catra's intense reaction of both rage and fear. The head of the farm nodded to one of the cops as he entered. The two officers kept their hands at their hip as they looked around.
"I reckon y'all know why we're here," one of the cops spoke. Catra was frantically looking for a way out, but it seemed the only feasible exits were the front door, and the fire escape in the back. "We ain't here to arrest anyone. Just gots to keep it down, the lot of you."
There were a few words of agreement from the people in the bar, and Catra hoped that would be it. She hoped, with those words, the two cops would leave.
But it was never that simple.
One of the cops spotted Adora and Catra in the corner. He slowly wandered over to the two of them, his steps big and his posture bigger. "I never seen you two 'round here before," the officer spoke, his partner lagging behind him.
"We were just leaving," Adora replied, going to stand up. But soon enough, the cop raised a hand.
"Not so fast," he replied. His eyes looked over to Catra. Adora's travel partner was simply looking at the table before her, not even daring to look up. "You look a little too young to be here, y'know. You got a license with you?"
Catra's body shook slightly, and she let out a shuddered breath. "I'm not drinking anything, am I?" Catra asked.
"That wasn't the question. Have you got your license with you?" The cop asked. Adora's heart slowly began to turn ice cold as the cop put a hand on the table, leaning down towards Catra. "I asked you a question, ma'am."
"And I gave you a response. If you're trying to pin me for underage drinking, I haven't had a drop of alcohol all night," Catra replied with venom in her voice. "You came here for a noise complaint. You got what you wanted. Now leave me alone."
"Ma'am, I'm going to need your license now, or you'll be detained," the cop said. Catra's eyes widened, and she suddenly looked up at the officer.
"What?" Catra shook her head. "What the fuck have I done wrong?"
"I asked you for your license, and so far, you've refused to show me anything. That, and you're carrying a rather large pack with you. What've you got in there?" The cop asked, nodding to the large pack in Catra's hand.
Adora noticed that neither cop had even turned to look at her.
"Clothes and food!" Catra responded. "What, do you think I'm carrying something dangerous?! I helped these people out on their farm today!"
"That don't matter right now. For all I know, you could be carrying a weapon, or you could be some sort of gangster," the cop said. Catra could barely find the words to respond to any of that, but before she could have a chance to back herself up, Adora suddenly shouted.
"Why are you going for your gun?!" Adora cried, pointing to the other cop, his hand rested on his holstered pistol.
"That doesn't concern you!" The cop said, putting a hand up to keep Adora back.
"Yes, it fucking concerns me! You're going to shoot my friend for no reason!" Adora screamed. As both cops suddenly turned to face Adora, Catra quickly took the opportunity to leap out of her chair and make a dash for the fire exit.
"RUN!" Catra screamed to Adora as she bolted through the fire exit. Both cops turned to Catra and pulled out their pistols, sending chills down Adora's spine. But as both cops were distracted, Adora took the opportunity to do the same, making a dash in the opposite direction towards the front door.
"Both of you! Stop!" The cop screamed as Adora sprinted as fast as she could out of the bar and towards some nearby corn fields. Adora spotted another figure approach the corn fields, and saw that it was Catra.
And then, a gunshot.
And then, Catra let out a yelp.
"CATRA!" Adora screamed, not being able to see through the maze of crops. Her heart was pounding faster than it ever has, and she ran towards the direction where Catra's yelp came from.
"I'm fine! It just scared the shit out of me! Keep running!" Catra screamed, and finally, Adora was able to see Catra through the large amount of crops. They ran away from the bar, making sure to keep close as their legs pumped as fast as they could.
Adora felt crop after crop brush pass her skin, but she kept running for as long as she could before her legs felt like dead weight. Soon enough, Catra slowed down once she was sure they had gotten far enough.
Catra bent down, putting her hands on her knees as she panted. "They tried to kill me… They fucking tried to kill me…" Catra panted, shaking her head.
"They just targeted you… Fuck…" Adora put her hands on the back of her head, trying to fight off her stitch as Catra fell back, sitting on the dirt ground as she stared up at the starlit sky.
"We're never coming back here again," Catra said.
"Deal," Adora replied, going to sit next to Catra. She struggled to find any words to express the sheer horror she felt about the whole situation. Whatever she could say to express how fucked up everything was, she had a feeling Catra already knew.
"I just…" Catra brought her knees up to her chest, sighing. "I can't fucking believe it… They were going to kill me. I… Dammit…"
"Is there… Anything I can do to help?" Adora asked, feeling almost useless in this situation. Catra looked at the ground before her.
"Can I lean my head on your shoulder for a bit?" Catra asked, and Adora nodded. Slowly, Adora felt a weight at her side as Catra's hair brushed up against her neck. There was little she could say, but there was a lot that she was feeling.
Adora felt Catra's hand placed atop her own. It didn't take long for Adora to interlock her fingers with Catra's, holding her hand tightly. She was bad with words, but Adora tried to comfort Catra in whatever physical way she could.
Among everything else, Catra also felt guilt at having Adora get mixed up in all of this. But even after all this, Catra had Adora's company. Even after all this, she was still here.
She wondered if Adora would still be around by the end of it all.