Being an aunt was pretty great. One day it's just like, poof, free baby that looks like the people you love and you don't even have to do anything but show up for the snuggles and give them back for the hard parts. Adora snuzzled her nose into the little picture of Swift Wind stitched on Ari's romper again, just to hear that wonderful tiny giggle. She was over an hour into trying to get Ari to sleep and the little cutie didn't look even remotely tired, but it was hard to be mad about it when she was so darn adorable.
Sometimes she wished she'd known Finn when they were this size. At least she did until she had to do a diaper change or couldn't figure out how to get Ari to stop crying. Then she was perfectly happy to hand the little princess back to Glimmer and Bow and go back to her own self-sufficient big kid.
Finn was contentedly playing on the floor with a pile of gears, and wires from Bow. A stack of new magic blocks from Castaspella lay untouched a few feet away. They were fine with the magic they were familiar with, like She-Ra or Glimmer's powers, but they were still pretty wary of everything else. It was one of the big reasons they'd moved out of the castle proper into their own little place at the edge of Bright Moon's grounds. They still had some trouble with outbursts and nightmares, but the nightmares seemed fewer and they were definitely less on edge overall. Though today they were agitated, the presence of the baby throwing off their routine.
"OK, my little snuggle buddy, you're supposed to be napping." Adora stood up from the couch and started rocking slowly side to side, humming the only song that came to mind. It was one she'd learned from Sea Hawk and was absolutely not baby appropriate, but if she hummed the tune slowly enough, it made a decent lullaby. Almost instantly, the little princess' face scrunched and stretched into a yawn, her eyelids lowering.
Sometimes it hit her all in a rush that they'd saved the world for Finn and Ari too. The enormity of that was a little overwhelming. That because they'd defeated Prime, there was still a universe for all these kids who weren't even born yet to keep going and loving and figuring out what they really wanted. After spending so long expecting to never make it this far, there was something kind of cool about knowing their legacy would carry on long after they were all gone. That nobody else needed to be the last of their kind.
Ari seemed to have finally drifted off. Adora rocked her way over to the small bassinet. She'd almost set the baby down when the door slammed open, startling Ari's eyes back open with a full body jolt.
Adora turned automatically to see Catra, standing in the doorway, looking frantic. Ears straight back, tail fluffed out, eyes wild. "Babe? What's wrong?"
"I can't find it! I've looked everywhere!"
"Hold on. Do you mean Finn? Because they're right here." She gestured at Finn, who was watching their other mom with concern.
"No, not Finn. Melog." Catra ran her claws through her barely contained mane. "Gods, this is all my fault."
"OK, slow down." Adora shushed Ari, who had started to fuss. It was amazing how, apart from the sparkly pink curls, she looked so much like Bow unless she got mad. Then she looked exactly like Glimmer. "Melog can take care of itself. It's gone off on its own plenty of times before."
Adora didn't love using the pronoun "it" for a creature that was, without question, a member of their family, but that's what it preferred and she wasn't about to argue with a centuries old alien being of pure magic.
Catra paced, agitated. "No! This is different, OK? It's not anywhere! I even tracked down your stupid horse because they're buddy buddy but he hadn't seen Melog either!"
Wow… if Catra had willingly had a conversation with Swift Wind, on PURPOSE, she really must be worried. "Well, that still doesn't mean anything's wrong."
"It's all because… You know how last night, we were talking about Finn and how..." Catra lowered her voice with a quick glance back at Finn, who had gone back to their gears and didn't seem to be listening. "How if we hadn't found them when we did, they'd have been, you know…"
"All alone," Adora finished softly because Catra was getting a choked up. "I know."
"Anyway, so I got a little…"
"Emotional?" Adora smirked at her because her wife had been a sobbing, sentimental disaster last night and that happened rarely enough that she was absolutely going to give her at least a little crap about it.
"Whatever." Catra gave her a dirty look and Adora bit her lip so she wouldn't laugh. She pretended to be very involved in shushing Ari. "Anyway, after you fell asleep, I couldn't stop thinking about Melog. It was alone on that planet for so many years with nobody. I've felt it, it's memories. All that loneliness, and I just started thinking… what's going to happen to it? As far as we know, it's going to live forever and once we're all… when we're gone, it'll be alone all over again. The last of its kind."
Well, that was depressing. Adora hadn't particularly given much thought to Melog's mortality, though Glimmer had been having an existential crisis for years about the possibility that she might outlive the rest of them. But then Glimmer had announced out of the blue one day that she'd solved her immortality crisis with a tone that implied they were all better off not asking follow-up questions, and that had seemed as settled as anything around here ever got. But with how closely linked Catra and Melog were, she could understand how this would make her wife hurt for her familiar.
"So you think you, what? You… made it sad or something?" Melog didn't seem like the type to go hide just to have a sulk but Adora supposed anything was possible.
"I don't know. Maybe! But it was gone all morning and its thoughts… there's all this static." Catra stopped her frantic pacing and faced Adora, her eyes full of worry. "Something's up. I know it is."
"I believe you." Adora was already forming a plan in her head. "We'll find Melog. Let me just—"
"Wait!" Catra's eyes widened, her ears flicking straight upwards. Without another word, she darted out of the room on all fours.
Adora sighed. Guess Ari wasn't napping today. Bedtime would be a cranky baby mess, but that wasn't her problem since she'd be back with her parents by then. Another aunt perk.
"Hey, Finn?" They were watching the door where Catra had just left, apparently just as confused as she was. "Can you help me track Mommy? But not too fast, because Mommadora's got the baby, okay?"
"Okay!" They grinned and sniffed at the air. A moment later, Finn was galloping down the hallway, Adora and Ari in close pursuit. Adora couldn't help feel a swell of pride. Her kid was an ACE at hide and seek.
They found Catra in less than a minute in the "guest room" which was mostly a disaster of boxes and stuff they still hadn't unpacked from the move from the castle. Catra crouched in a corner, her hand to her mouth, tears streaming down her face.
"Found you, Mommy!" Finn shouted, skipping over to her, but they stopped short when they realized she was crying. "What's wrong? Are you sad?"
"Finn, let's—" Adora cursed herself for bringing the kids. If something was wrong…
But Catra smiled and shook her head. "No. It's fine. Come here. Come look."
At Finn's excited "Whoa!" Adora navigated her way around the boxes until she could see what they were looking at. There, nestled in a box Micah had insisted they take of far, far more cushions than any person could ever need in their lifetime, was Melog, looking tired but incredibly pleased with itself. And next to it was something that looked almost exactly like the little glowing balls of glittery light Glimmer used to make as a princess, apart from the fact that it was yellow and absolutely alive.
"Is it… safe?" Adora asked. Melog nodded, tail swishing.
Ari had immediately started making grabby hands at the little ball, so Adora set her down next to it. The baby shouted "Dah!" at the little ball like she was giving it an official royal command to come over here and be played with but it ignored her and wiggled in the opposite direction. As it came close to Finn, they jumped backwards, wary. The little ball made a noise like an angry squeak and then turned red, its almost fuzzy appearance changing to something a lot more spiky. Finn probably would have bolted outright if Catra hadn't reached over and put a hand on their shoulder.
"It's OK. It's like Melog. You know Melog would never hurt you, right?" Catra reached out a hand tentatively and gave the red ball a little pat. "It's alright. This is Finn. They're my baby."
The spikes slowly retracted and the thing—was it really a baby Melog?—faded back to that soft looking yellow. It wiggled tentatively towards Finn, as if sniffing them, and then seemed to panic, darting immediately back to Melog's side. Melog nudged the thing with its nose and it rolled over, revealing six tiny feet wriggling in the air. Finn laughed at the sight and the ball immediately flipped over and tried to mimic the sound. Then, with a pop, it changed into a tiny yellow kitten with a green ruff and tail.
"Uh, did it just…" Adora began as Finn went wide eyed and regarded the kitten like they two were having a silent conversation.
"Yeah, I think it did." Catra had sat down cross-legged on the floor next to Finn, watching their child with a quiet intensity. Adora wished she had a tracker pad or something to take a picture because Melog was watching the new little kitten with almost the exact same look.
Ari, meanwhile, had strained her chubby little arms towards the kitten until she toppled over entirely. She started wailing with a miniature queenly scowl that said she would absolutely throw them all in the dungeon as soon as she figured out how to sit up on her own. Adora got down on the floor herself and righted Ari, trying to distract her by bouncing her on her knee, but the baby was inconsolable, reaching for the kitten now cuddled into Finn's arms. Melog rose to its feet gingerly and came over, nuzzling the side of Ari's head, which at least seemed to confuse her enough that she stopped crying. Then Melog gave the baby a thorough sniffing, shook its blue ruff and grunted, its brows knit in concentration.
With a pop, another tiny fuzz ball appeared in front of Melog, this one a shimmering silver. Melog collapsed back down on the cushions, looking even more exhausted than before, and a bit smaller.
Adora and Catra exchanged a look. "Uh, Catra, is it going to keep doing that?"
"Gods, I hope not. Melog, you don't have to—"
"Dah!" Ari shouted to the new creature. The new creature wiggled closer tentatively.
"Um, hi, little… baby Melog thing." Adora felt ridiculous, but this was what Catra had done with the other one, so apparently it was what the thing expected. "This is my niece, Ari. Well, Princess Arrows of Bright Moon, I guess, if you want to get—Whoa!"
With a poof, the little fuzz ball turned into a silver mirror of Ari down to the random tufts of curls on her head and her one tiny tooth. It was… actually incredibly freaky looking, especially with those blank reflective eyes. It did not surprise Adora at all when Ari's face immediately scrunched up and she cried, burying her face in Adora's shirt.
"Oh," Adora said to the thing apologetically. "I don't think she likes that."
The thing tilted its head, a very feline gesture, which only made the tiny silver child look creepier. Then it shook itself again and turned into a fat baby pony, its rose gold wings no bigger than the marks on Glimmer's back, it's horn no larger than Adora's thumb.
"Oo, that's a good idea. Like on her romper! She loves Swift Wind. Don't you, Ari? Look, pony!" Adora pointed and Ari cautiously peaked out and then pointed, her eyes sparkling with delight.
"DAH!"
"Yeah, that's pretty much all she says. According to Bow they all mean different things, but they all sound the same to— uh, oh." She watched as Ari's eyes widened and the pony wobbled closer, letting the baby close her tiny hand around its horn. Adora didn't know a lot about how… any of this worked but she was pretty sure Melog baby #2 had just imprinted on her friend's baby.
That was… that was probably not good, right?
Heyyy, Glimmer and Bow. No, Ari was fine. Though we didn't get her to take her vitamin. Or finish her oatmeal. And she never took a nap, so she's pretty overtired. Oh, and we also may have accidentally let your daughter form a mental bond with an alien being made of pure magic! Sorry!
Melog had fallen asleep, a contented smile on its face, its tail twitching with its dreams. Adora stood and gestured for Catra to come over. "Catra, is this… is this going to be a problem?"
"Of course not! Look at Finn! This should be great for them! Remember how I used to be? The link will help them with their anger, their anxiety." They both watched Finn giggle as the green and yellow kitten climbed across their shoulders and onto their head. They already seemed way more relaxed than they would normally be with their routine this disrupted.
"Yeah. You're right. That does sound good." Adora considered the two kittens. "But Melog's not going to, like, make a bunch more, is it?"
"No, dummy. Melog saw us with Finn and thought it looked like fun. I think it mostly did it so I wouldn't worry about it being alone once we're gone." Catra grinned and linked her arm with Adora's, leaning her head on her shoulder. "Besides, it takes a lot out of it. It seems happy enough with what it's got."
"Yeah." Adora turned and kissed the top of Catra's head, pretty happy with what she had too. "But Ari…"
"Oh, yeah. Sparkles is going to be furious." Catra laughed as if the idea were something delightful she was looking forward to. She patted Adora on the arm. "Good luck with that. Remind me to be out when she finds out."
"Thanks, babe." Adora shook her head as Catra laughed outright. She leaned over and kissed her. "Really appreciate the support."
"Cool!" Finn was flickering in and out, the kitten on their head concentrating so hard they look like they might burst something. Catra dove over to grab the kitten off their head before they both disappeared entirely.
"Whoa, hey, you two, we gotta set some rules about invisibility and illusions… Melog, wake up and give me a crash course on what these little yous can and can't do real quick, will you?"
Adora laughed as Catra tried to wake Melog, the green and yellow kitten frantically struggling to get out of her grasp and back to Finn. She realized suddenly that Ari had been suspiciously quiet and turned to find the baby fast asleep, her new best pony buddy curled around her protectively. Well, at least she got her nap after all.
Maybe Glimmer wouldn't be mad after all. Friends were always a good thing to have more of. And now, nobody ever had to be all alone.