"Hey, Adora."

The sly, raspy voice came from somewhere behind Adora, causing the girl to turn around, a grin already stretched across her face.

She swiveled and came face to face with Catra. A sight that she could never get enough of even if she tried.

The girl was wearing baggy black cargo shorts and an old white t-shirt that was frayed around the collar. A necklace with a shining silver chain and some kind of sharp claw at the end dangled from her neck. Her hair was shorter than ever as she had recently cut it again and the messy tufts and curls reached down to just below her ears. She had a baseball cap on over her hair to block out the sun and it cast a shadow onto her face. Her lips were curled into a wry smile and she had both hands on her hips, staring right back at Adora as she turned.

"You made it," Adora exhaled, enthused and a little surprised to see the girl.

"Of course I made it! What kind of girlfriend would I be if I didn't?" Catra asked, spreading her arms and walking towards Adora.

Adora met her and the two hugged tightly.

"Ew, you're all sweaty," Catra said with a throaty chuckle as she drew back from the embrace.

"Well I've been warming up!" Adora explained. "I thought you liked sweaty hugs."

Catra rolled her eyes. "You know I like any hug if it's from you."

Adora smiled and extended her arm. She used her other arm to brace that one and pulled the arm back to her chest, stretching the muscles.

Catra watched her stretch and smiled contentedly. Adora was all dressed up in her track uniform. Etheria High was printed on the front in big block letters. Her golden blonde hair was tied up behind her head in a tight ponytail and that small floof of hair above her forehead was on display. The hot sun shone down onto her and Catra could see the beads of sweat glistening on her skin.

"You're beautiful," Catra remarked casually. She enjoyed the reaction it had on Adora when she said it out of nowhere like that.

Adora smiled, flustered by the sudden compliment, and continued her stretching. "Thanks, babe. I'm glad you're here. I was getting kinda nervous."

A few of Adora's classmates walked past her and clapped her on the back as she said this. They were wearing track uniforms too and Adora waved to them as they carried past her, off of the field of grass and out onto the surface of the huge track that encircled the Etheria High football field.

"Don't be nervous," Catra said calmly. "You know you're better than all these other chumps."

"I don't know," Adora said, stretching her arms up over her head and looking over at where the opposing school was warming up. "A lot of these people have been doing track for years. And I just started in January."

"Yeah but you're a natural," Catra insisted, sliding up behind Adora and massaging her shoulders as she stretched.

Adora eased into her touch and relished the feeling of Catra's rough hands on her tensed muscles. "I wish I had your confidence."

"Me too!" Catra exclaimed. "It would save me a lot of time always having to hype you up. But you'll do great. You always do great. Plus you'll have your whole squad cheering you on."

Adora smiled and looked up to the bleachers that loomed tall over the track and field. She could make out a few figures in a familiar spot among the crowd that she knew were Glimmer and Angella.

"Yeah you guys always embarrass me with your cheering," Adora complained.

"I told you I can't help it," Catra said with a laugh. "Oh and Scorpia said she has to help her mom with something and can't make it, but she can still do dinner after."

"Yeah she texted me," Adora said. "I told her we'd meet her there. You think Bow's gonna make it tonight?"

Catra shrugged. "Who knows. But Glimmer is gonna flip if he cancels again."

Adora snorted. "Yeah that's for sure."

A whistle sounded from over in the field and Adora looked over her shoulder to see her teammates slowly making their way over to a central point.

"Well that's my cue," Adora said, taking a deep and shaky breath inwards.

"Hey," Catra said, putting a hand on each of Adora's shoulders and holding her at arm's length. "You're gonna do great. Coach Huntara says you're a track star, remember?"

Adora looked at Catra's face and couldn't help but feel a little encouraged. "I'll do my best."

"I know you will," Catra said proudly. She leaned forward and pecked Adora on the lips. "Good luck."

Adora grinned widely, her teeth flashing in the sun. "I'll see you after."

"After you win, you mean," Catra said excitedly as she let go of Adora and began to head back to the bleachers. Adora shook her head in disbelief as she watched Catra go.

Catra had been the one who had initially suggested she join track in the first place. She thought it was a shame that Adora was so fit and didn't use it for anything.

Adora had never actually done any kind of competitive sport before track. Mostly because she had been restricted from doing so when she lived in her old home. But the thought had definitely crossed her mind before.

And so, with Catra's encouragement, Adora had signed up for track right when she got back from winter break. She had been a little nervous at first. It was an entirely new environment for her and was much more socially involved than anything else she had ever done.

But after the first few weeks, Adora had really begun to enjoy it. More than enjoy it, she loved it. The afternoon runs around the school. Practicing her throwing until coach had to force her to stop. It all felt right to Adora, despite her initial reservations.

"C'mon, Adora, we're about to start," called out one of her teammates as they walked past her.

Adora nodded and shot one last glance at Catra walking away before she headed off to the field.


"Would you like some trail mix, Catra?" Angella asked the girl who was sitting in the bleachers next to her and Glimmer.

"Depends. Are there raisins in it?" Catra asked, scooting closer.

"No raisins."

"Well then I'll definitely have some. Thanks," Catra said graciously as she reached over and grabbed a handful of the trail mix.

Angella smiled. "It's funny, Glimmer hates raisins too."

"They're disgusting little things," Glimmer responded from the other side of Angella.

"Right?" Catra said with a chuckle. "Like, why would you go and ruin a perfectly good grape?"

Glimmer groaned. "And when you think you're eating a chocolate chip cookie and then they're raisins?"

Catra made a retching sound.

Angella laughed and took a handful of trail mix. "You girls are so dramatic. Are you doing your friend night again tonight?"

"Yup," Glimmer said excitedly.

"We're gonna try and do it every Saturday now," Catra said. "After Adora's meets."

"Well that sounds fun," Angella said happily. She was glad to see the two girls getting along again. When they were together like this, sometimes Angella forgot that they had ever split up in the first place and it just felt like when they were kids again.

She also approved of Catra. She was maybe a little rough around the edges, but she was a sweetheart and her and Adora got along perfectly. She was always polite and even helped Angella with the dishes when she came over for dinner.

"And we'll be back before midnight this time," Glimmer assured her mother.

"Yeah you'd better be," Angella replied. "Or at the least you two should try to sneak in better than you did last weekend."

"Adora was the one who bumped into the chair!" Glimmer pointed out. "We totally would've gotten away with it if she hadn't."

"Pshh. You underestimate my motherly senses. I heard you open the front door," Angella said with an amused smile.

Catra chuckled and Glimmer shot her a glare. "Hey, I don't wanna hear anything from you! We wouldn't have even been past curfew if you hadn't made us all watch those dumb videos."

"Hey don't peg this one on me, Sparkles. You were the one who laughed so hard at that one with the dog that you literally cried."

Angella couldn't help but chuckle when she heard this and Glimmer feigned annoyance as she crossed her arms.

"Oh hey, it looks like Adora's up for shot put!" Angella said, pointing out at the field. They could indeed make out Adora stepping up to a diamond shaped patch with small white distance markers stretching across it.

"Oh this one's my favorite," Catra said excitedly.

"Whoo! Go Adora!" Glimmer yelled through cupped hands.

They watched as Adora jerked her head up towards them and rolled her eyes, smiling helplessly.

Catra clapped loudly as Adora put her head down and made her way up to the plate that marked her throwing point.

She knelt down and got some grip chalk on her hands. Then she grabbed an iron ball off of the ground and balanced it against her hand.

She situated herself firmly, facing the marked out field and pressing the ball to her neck. She placed her legs in a readied stance.

Then in a sudden movement, she whipped out and spun around once, then twice, building her momentum before extending her arm outwards and propelling the heavy metal ball through the air.

Adora's grunt of exertion could be heard from the bleachers and the ball flew a good distance before slamming into the ground.

A few of Adora's teammates clapped her on the back and congratulated her as Glimmer, Catra, and Angella clapped loudly.

"Whooooo! Nice throw!" Catra yelled. "Great form!"

"Was that a good distance?" Glimmer asked Catra as she clapped. "I don't know much about the metal ball throw."

Catra snickered. "Well it isn't called the metal ball throw, and to be honest...I have no idea if it's good or not. I just wait until she throws the thing and then I cheer and pretend I know what she did."

"Oh good," Glimmer said with a sigh of relief. "I'm glad we're on the same page."

Angella rolled her eyes at the girls and smiled contentedly. Just like old times.


After the meet, Catra drove Adora and Glimmer over to Lucille's, a diner that they had taken a liking to recently. It was small and old-fashioned, with shiny checkered floors and a big jukebox in the corner of the restaurant.

When they entered, the portly older woman working behind the counter waved to them and walked over.

"Happy to see you girls again," she said with a smile. "How'd the meet go?"

Adora smiled. "Pretty good."

"Pretty good!?" Catra howled in disbelief. "I think the word you're looking for is incredible. She got first place in shot put and javelin!"

Adora shrugged bashfully. "It wasn't a big deal."

"Well it sure sounds like a big deal to me," the woman said with a grin. "I'll tell you what. Because of your success and the fact that you're my favorite regulars, I'm gonna get you all some fries on the house."

"Aw thanks, Lucille," Glimmer said thankfully.

"Sure thing," she replied happily. "I have your usual booth all cleaned and ready for you." She turned and went off towards the kitchens.

The trio went and sat down in their claimed spot. Catra squeezed in next to Adora and nestled up to her. Adora smiled and wrapped an arm around Catra.

Catra grinned like a giddy child, happy with their closeness, and snuggled in closer.

"Oh don't mind me," Glimmer said sarcastically. "I'll just be over here. Minding my own business while you two canoodle or whatever."

"Oh shush," Adora told Glimmer, pulling Catra even closer in defiance. "But speaking of canoodling, can Mermista make it tonight?"

"No she's closing up at the aquarium," Glimmer said with a sigh. "So I'm doomed to be third wheel all night."

"Well Scorpia will be here soon," Catra said, pulling out her phone and checking her messages.

Glimmer perked up at this. "That'll be nice. I mean, if you combine two third wheels you get a whole new set of wheels!"

Adora snorted and then looked at her own phone. She frowned. "Has anyone else heard from Bow?"

Glimmer growled audibly at the question and shook her head.

"He sent me a gif of a screaming cat a few hours ago, but that's about it," Catra explained.

"Well he didn't text me back when I asked if he and Dani were meeting us for dinner," Adora said, rechecking her messages just to make sure.

"Yeah probably cuz he's gonna bail on us again and he doesn't have the guts to tell us," Glimmer said, propping her head up with her hand and playing with the packets of sugar on the table.

Nobody said anything about this and there was a quiet moment before they were interrupted by Lucille, who set down three orders of hot fries at their table.

"Now do you three want your usual?" She asked, whipping out a notepad.

All three of the girls nodded and Lucille smiled and put the notepad back in her pocket.

"Then I'll get that right out to you. Are your other buddies coming in?"

"Scorpia is," Catra answered.

"Oh good, I like her. What a sweetie. I'll get her some fries too."

She walked back off to the kitchen and the girls all thanked her as she left before returning to their conversation.

"But, I've been thinking," Catra said slowly, as she grabbed a bottle of ketchup and began to absolutely drown her fries in a thick layer of ketchup. "I know we don't see him as much anymore, but he seems happy, right? I mean, him and Dani are just making up for lost time or whatever."

"Is he happy though?" Glimmer questioned. "It's just...none of this feels like him, y'know? Bow has always put us first."

"Well maybe he's tired of putting everyone else first and just wants to worry about himself for once," Catra proposed.

Glimmer frowned. "What do you think, Adora?"

Adora looked up from her fries that she was devouring ravenously. She wiped some ketchup from the corner of her mouth and cleared her throat. "Look, we're all three dating someone right now. So it makes sense that we'd see less of each other, right? I'm sure after a while things will go back to normal more or less."

"But it's been months!" Glimmer complained. "And what's so great about Dani?"

"Well they seem really good together," Adora said through a mouthful of fries.

"Do they? I thought maybe at first, but...I don't know...I don't know if I like him much anymore," Glimmer said in a hushed tone, looking around her shoulder as if checking for eavesdroppers.

"How can you not like him if you don't even know him that well?" Catra pointed out.

"It's just a vibe, man," Glimmer said, waving a fry at Catra. "I just don't think he's right for Bow."

Catra and Adora exchanged a look and Glimmer sat up a little in her seat.

"What was that look about?" She demanded.

"It's just…" Adora started. "You might be kinda, sorta...just a teensy bit...overprotective."

"I think I'm a very normal amount of protective!" Glimmer proclaimed. "I just want him to be happy!"

"And he is happy," Catra said calmly. "Even if Dani isn't a great match for him, that's Bow's decision. He's a big boy now."

Glimmer let out a prolonged groan. "I just don't feel right about it. Any of it. But if it makes you feel better, I won't confront him about it or anything."

"Yeah he's just living his best little dopey Bow life," Catra said with a smile. "We gotta let him do his own thing."

Glimmer looked down at her food and nodded.

Then the sound of a bell rang out and the girls looked over to the entrance to see Scorpia coming through the front door. She immediately looked to where they usually sat and saw the girls at the table.

She smiled unabashedly and hurried over to her friends. "Hey guys!"

The girls all greeted her and Glimmer scooted over, allowing Scorpia to slide in next to her. As Scorpia sat down, she gave Glimmer a big hug.

Glimmer giggled and leaned into the hug. Scorpia always gave the best hugs.

Then Scorpia let Glimmer go and put her fist across the table, pointing it at Catra. Catra grinned and bumped the girl's fist with her own. Then Scorpia moved her fist over to Adora who bumped it as well.

"Boy, it's good to see you guys," she said joyfully. "It's been, what? A whole day and a half?"

"It's good to see you too, Scorpia," Adora said with a chuckle. Scorpia always managed to brighten the mood.

"How'd your meet go? Sorry I couldn't make it. My mom and I were running some errands."

"Oh you're fine," Adora said dismissively. "And it went pretty g…" Adora was cut off by Catra hitting her in the shoulder lightly. Adora looked at the girl and immediately knew why. She sighed. "Okay, I guess it was incredible or whatever."

"First place in shot put and javelin," Catra interjected proudly. It sounded like she was a proud parent showing off her kid. "Probably her best meet yet. So good."

Adora smiled and shook her head.

"Well congrats!" Scorpia said loudly.

"Thanks," Adora responded bashfully, still not used to the praise. "But anyways, how are you, Scorpia? Have you finished that hat you were knitting?"

"Oh," Scorpia said before laughing. "Yeah I got it all tangled and screwed up so I had to start over. But I'll get there!"

Lucille walked over to the table and set another serving of fries in front of Scorpia.

Scorpia looked up at her and smiled. "Hey, Lucille! What's this?"

"Just a gift cuz I like you all," Lucille said warmly.

"Aw, you're the best," Scorpia said approvingly.

Lucille smiled. "Y'all want something to drink?"

The girls nodded. Catra ordered a Pepsi, Adora asked for water, Glimmer requested pink lemonade, and Scorpia ordered her usual chocolate milk and asked for her usual food order.

Lucille walked off again and Scorpia turned back to the group. "So, how's everyone? You're all looking very nice tonight."

Catra snorted at the compliment and rested her back up against the booth behind her, leaning into Adora's side. "We're pretty good. We were talking about our favorite little ball of joy, Bow."

"Oh yeah?" Scorpia said excitedly. "Is he coming?"

"Probably not," Glimmer answered.

"Oh," Scorpia said disappointedly. "I was gonna ask him for help with knitting my hat. And it'd just be good to see him."

"Ain't that the truth," Glimmer said in a huff.

"But," Adora said. "I'm sure wherever he is, he's having fun."

Scorpia nodded. "Oh yeah, I'm sure he's fine."

The girls chatted for a bit about school and everything. It was always good to have time to just talk on the weekends.

They had first come to this restaurant after Adora's first track meet. It had actually been Bow's idea and they had all enjoyed getting together as a big group and eating and hanging out. Now, even when it was a weekend that Adora didn't have a meet during, they still met up and hung out at Lucille's.

After a while, Lucille brought out their drinks and their food. The girls dug in and enjoyed the old 80's music playing over the jukebox.

As the night wore on, the girls fell into their normal routine of talking about stupid random stuff and showing each other memes. This had become their ritual practice on Saturday nights and they had grown to love it.

"Sooooooo," Glimmer said playfully as she toyed with her straw. "Scorpia."

Scorpia perked up and looked over attentively.

"I heard from a certain reliable source at school whom I shall not disclose that Heather Jones was talking about how good you were at football and how cute you looked in your uniform." Glimmer bit her lip and grinned expectantly at Scorpia.

Scorpia turned a shade of red and shrunk down into the booth.

"Oh wow," Scorpia squeaked out.

Catra and Adora watched amusedly as Glimmer elbowed Scorpia lightly. "Just an 'oh wow?' Dude, Heather is like a smokin' babe! Isn't she?"

She geared the question towards Adora and Catra who both nodded immediately.

"Yeah she's pretty high tier smokin'," Adora agreed. "But she's not anywhere close to this one here."

Adora patted Catra on the head and Catra giggled in response and gave Adora a quick peck on the cheek.

"Oh boy, back at the canoodling," Glimmer said with a roll of her eyes, turning back to Scorpia. "But you heard it here! High tier smokin'! And she's totally into you!"

Scorpia shrunk even further down into the booth. "I don't know about that," she responded hesitantly. "Maybe she just appreciates the sport of football and really likes how I play."

"Or she likes how you look when you play," Glimmer countered slyly.

"I...ugh...I don't…er..." Scorpia stumbled over her words as she tried to formulate her feelings into English.

"We don't have to talk about it if you'd rather not," Catra suggested, looking to give her friend an out if she needed it.

"No," Scorpia said. "It's just embarrassing is all. And I'm...not interested."

Glimmer's eyes widened. "For real? Have you talked to her before? Like sure she's pretty, but she's also really smart and always super nice. Seems like a great person!"

"Yeah, she has always been real cool," Scorpia admitted, the red just starting to fade from her cheeks. "Maybe we could be friends, but I don't want any more than that."

"Huh," Glimmer said, scratching her head. "I feel like I expected a different reaction."

"Well it's not that she isn't my type or anything," Scorpia explained. "I just...I dunno. I'm not really interested in her right now."

"In her?" Glimmer pushed curiously. "Does that mean you are interested in someone else?"

"No, no," Scorpia said with a wave of her hand. "I think I just need some time to focus on me, y'know?"

"That's good," Adora agreed, sipping at a milkshake. "You can't love someone else if you don't love yourself."

Catra frowned a little to herself as Adora said this, but recovered quickly. Luckily, nobody seemed to notice.

"That does sound wise and true," Glimmer agreed. "Well then I'm happy for you. To be honest, I'm really glad you don't have a girlfriend to steal you away from me all the time! More time for all of us."

"That's how I like it," Scorpia said with a grin.

"I'll toast to that," Catra nodded as she lifted up her milkshake.

The girls clinked their milkshakes together and then went back to their usual antics.


Later that night, Catra was sitting in her room and watching her fish. Boba had only gotten bigger and was basically just a blob with eyes at this point. And Beefers was about the same. She watched as they drifted around the tank and smiled as their little black eyes seemed to look at her.

"Hey guys," Catra whispered to the fish. "I know, I know, I missed your scheduled feeding time. But if you forgive me for that I'll let you have the fancy flakes tonight, okay?"

The fish didn't respond.

Catra smiled and grabbed the container of high end fish flakes, sprinkling a few dashes into the tank.

She watched as Boba and Beefers darted around and sucked up the flakes as they slowly floated down to the bottom of the tank. Catra sighed. "Eat up, buddies."

She stood up in her room and stretched, scratching at herself. As she did, she saw a slight movement in the corner of her eye. Confused, Catra turned and immediately saw a reflection of herself in her body-length mirror. Catra scowled and narrowed her eyes.

She had taken it off of her closet door forever ago and faced it against the wall so that she couldn't see her reflection, but now it was back up on her closet and she hadn't even noticed.

"Dang it, dad," Catra muttered under her breath. He must have put it back up this evening when he did one of his random house cleanings.

Regardless of how it got back up, Catra wanted it back down. She didn't want to have to deal with any of her usual dilemmas tonight. She was still feeling good from the diner and didn't want to wreck it.

So she walked over to the mirror and wrenched it off of the closet door. Then she turned it around and set it down in the corner of the room facing the wall. Then for food measure, she threw a handful of her clothes over the top of it so that she wouldn't have to look at it anymore.

Catra took a step back and looked at the mound of clothing draped over the back of the mirror. She nodded in approval, making a mental note to tell her father not to clean her room anymore.

Then, Catra went and laid down in her bed and tried to distract herself from the usual thoughts that were creeping into her head. She put on her headphones and played her music loudly, hoping to drown out her own thoughts. It worked for a while, but she could still feel an uneasiness if she focused on it.

Catra groaned and turned off the music. She rolled over onto her side and watched her fish. They were still scanning the bottom of the tank for flakes they had missed.

"Oh to be a fish," Catra said softly to herself. "Not a care in the world. You just float. You just float all day long."

The fish continued to float around in the soft blue glow of their tank. Catra laid still and watched them until eventually falling asleep.


Somewhere else on that quiet night in Etheria, Bow and Dani were sitting outside Bow's house on the front porch. They were looking up at the moon and enjoying the early spring weather.

Bow looked at his phone for what felt like the thousandth time that night. It was late. He wondered if the gang was still at Lucille's. Lucille always let them stay until closing.

Bow's troubled thoughts were interrupted by Dani's arm wrapping around his own. "Hey, babe. What's up?"

Bow frowned. "It's nothing."

Dani nodded and then Bow spoke up again.

"Okay it is something. The same thing it was last time you asked," Bow said sheepishly.

Dani sighed and scooted closer to Bow. "Babe. It's just one night."

"I know," Bow said. "But I missed the last weekend too. And I think the one before that too."

Dani gripped Bow's hand and squeezed it. "You don't need to be with your friends every weekend. You see them all the time at school anyway."

"That's...true," Bow admitted. He looked at his phone screen again.

Dani reached out and took the phone and placed it down at Bow's side. "Hey. Don't worry about them. Just focus on us. You wanna be here, right?"

"Yeah, of course," Bow answered quickly.

"Good," Dani said as he looked into Bow's eyes. "Then just be here with me and not off somewhere else in your head. Okay?"

Bow nodded and stared back at Dani. The moonlight was gleaming off of his skin and it made him look like he was glowing.

Dani slowly pulled Bow in and their lips came together. Bow felt a rush as they kissed and when they pulled back, Bow had all but forgotten about his earlier worries.

"Come here," Dani said softly.

Bow scooted over closer and leaned back against Dani, who held him tightly. They sat together and held each other like that for a long time.


Across town, Adora and her foster family were just finishing up with a movie. One of the Transformers movies because Glimmer had an unhealthy obsession with bad action films.

As the credits rolled, Glimmer sat up on the couch. "I've decided that if I was a Transformer, I'd turn into a limo. Nobody suspects a limo."

"That's so obvious," Adora countered. "You'd stand out for sure."

"Oh yeah well what would you be?"

Adora thought about it for a moment. "Maybe a golf cart?"

Angella and Glimmer laughed at this and Adora defended herself, a smile on her face. "If I'm a golf cart then nobody will see me as a threat! And then I morph out and punch 'em or something!"

"So a limo and a golf cart," Angella said with a contented sigh. "You'll both blend in for sure."

"Well then what's yours, mom, if you're such a Transformers expert?" Glimmer asked, nudging Angella.

"A tank," Angella answered immediately. "I don't need to hide, I'll just blow things up."

Adora and Glimmer snickered and Angella yawned.

"Girls, I can't be up anymore. I'm exhausted."

"You go to bed," Glimmer said demandingly. "We'll turn everything off and go upstairs." Adora nodded in agreement and Angella smiled tiredly at both of them.

"Thanks, you two. I'm lucky to have you both." Angella got up and stretched and then bent over and gave Glimmer a kiss on the head. "Goodnight, love you."

"Love you too," Glimmer said back, smiling up through pink tufts of hair that obscured her face slightly.

Then Angella bent down and gave Adora a kiss on the head. "Goodnight, Adora. Love you."

"L...love you too," Adora responded thoughtfully.

Then Angella went to bed.

Later that night, in the comfort of her own bed, Adora couldn't stop thinking about saying goodnight to her foster mother.

For a long time, neither Angella nor Adora had said 'I love you'. Not because they didn't care for each other, but because it just hadn't been natural.

Adora had never told anybody that she loved them. At least not in a familial sense. Not the few foster parents she had stayed with in the past or any of the staff at the group home.

And now Angella was saying it to her. And Adora was saying it back. It was like what real families did.

"Real families."

The thought burned itself into Adora's mind and she felt hot tears in her eyes. She wiped the tears away and tried to think about something else, but both the tears and the thoughts kept flowing.

She felt a tightness in her chest. A familiar pain that had been plaguing her for a while now. She tried to take deep breaths and calm down but found herself fighting her nerves for hours.

By the time she was finally calm enough to sleep, the sun was beginning to rise outside her window.


Early that morning, just as Adora was falling asleep, somebody else a couple of hours away from Etheria was just waking up.

The young girl wiped the tiredness from her eyes and sat up in bed. She could see the orange glow of the morning sunrise burning its way through the curtains.

The girl brushed stray hairs out of her face and slowly turned around in her bed. The mattress creaked under her as she did and she heard her roommate rustle around on the other side of the small room, disturbed by the noise.

The girl got up on her knees and looked up to the calendar that was hanging above her bed. It was still pretty dark in the room, but she could make out the neat squares and the string of red X's that crossed through most of the days.

She fumbled around her bedside table and grabbed a red marker. She uncapped it with a quiet pop and brought it up to the calendar, marking a big red X on today's date.

She pulled back from the calendar and felt excitement rush through her.

There were only a few days left. Only a few days left until she could get out of this place.

She wasn't sure what to expect, but it had to be better than here. And her new foster parent seemed to be pretty cool.

If anything, she was just excited for a change of pace. And a change of scenery. And also to hopefully run into a certain somebody who she hoped to reconnect with.

The girl looked over at the sleeping form of her roommate and then back to the calendar.

Just a few more days.

She looked to the date that she had scribbled onto the calendar weeks ago. Only a few empty squares away there was a message written in that same red ink.

"Moving to Etheria!"

Time skip! Gotta love it! Only, like, a month and a half or so but still! Here we are in the future and it's definitely got its ups and downs. There are beautiful relationships and happiness and change, but there is also still a lot of internal and external struggle.

This season or whatever it's called is going to maybe be a lot more heavy than the last one. Mostly because I'm dealing with some heavier hitting themes in this one that I wanted to put in the first season, but didn't because I didn't want to distract from the Catradora courtship.

But while it will be a little more heavy, there will definitely still be happiness and love and just a lot of fun along the way!

But I dropped a lot of future tidbits in here that will evolve and shape this little arc, so I hope you liked the little preview! I've LOVED all the comments from people who are glad to see the story continuing and thank you for reading! Until next time!