Part 3

The group made good time as they passed through the valleys and hills, moving from place to place on their way to what had been the Fright Zone. Catra rode on Melog's back for most of the way. They took frequent breaks from town to town so as not to exhaust him and so that they could also rest. Catra also walked as much as she could, but resigned herself to riding on Melog again as soon as her neck hurt or her limbs felt heavy.

Adora kept an eye on her too. It would have been annoying for her had she not been so grateful for it. The closeness of the group was what she needed and doubly so for it being on their own terms and not in the claustrophobic corridors of the palace. Bright Moon was a lovely place and it galled Catra to think she'd willingly been a part of the army wanting to destroy it. But she also hated it. Too many people in too small a place. And as they passed through Elberon, she came to truly realise how much she needed the space. It wasn't that she wanted to be away from Adora; after all, the realisation only came to her when they were curled up with her on the bed of a barely-standing house left heavily damaged in the wake of the conflict. It was one of the only structures left.

At the time, she was curled in close to Adora. She rested her head on Adora's chest, listening to her heartbeat as the blonde girl stroked her hair and rubbed her back just between her shoulder blades the way she loved while she purred shamelessly. Usually she would have been doing more, savagely kissing Adora like they were back in the days where there was no promise of a tomorrow. But at that moment, her mind was racing. She batted the thoughts away as quickly as they came to her. They were a fantasy, nothing more. Adora would never go for it. Her friends were at the palace. They were the ones who showed her what a proper life was like. She and Adora had been raised by the Horde and hadn't known any different until Bow and Glimmer showed up, but the effect it had been shown to have on Adora had hurt Catra. The two of them had been together for years. They'd grown up loving each other. They'd started out as being merely inseparable but then it had grown into so much more. She hadn't been able to believe it when Adora had left her. Now she fully understood. Her new friends had taken better care of her than the Horde alone could ever do and nothing Catra could do would compensate for that. Now that Adora had made such a stable life for herself at the palace, she'd never leave it. Would she?

"Catra? Are you alright?" There was a note of concern in Adora's voice and Catra sat up a bit, ignoring the pain in her neck that lanced down her spine as a she did so.

"I'm good. Why?" The reply was rushed. She knew it would never fool Adora and mentally slapped herself.

"I've been carrying on for the last five minutes and you've stopped purring. What's on your mind?" Damn. She had her figured out. Now it was pointless trying to lie.

"I just... I was wondering why we have to live in the palace." Catra shrugged. Another jolt of pain stabbed through her back again, and again she ignored it. "All those people there... I just think we should be looking at rebuilding their homes rather than sitting down and doing nothing."

"Catra, what do you think we spend all our time planning?" Adora asked, sitting up to look at her. "At the moment, it's alternating between bringing magic back to the galaxy and rebuilding Ethiria. You should know! You've been sitting in the war room with us! So what is it that's really on your mind?" Catra let out a resigned sigh and rolled slightly so she was lying next to Adora.

"You really want to know?"

"Spill." Adora nodded determinedly.

"I hate it at the palace." Catra felt like she'd failed as soon as the words were past her lips. But once it was out there, she had to keep going. "I just- I walk through those halls each day and I want to punch something. Or someone. It's just this wall of noise I have no way to sort through. There's just so much of it I can't track it all. Don't get me wrong, I can deal with the people of Ethiria. I can put up with any townsfolk at any time. But not when they all live under the same roof!" Adora let out a sigh and flopped back down onto the bed. Catra could only guess what she was thinking about.

"I think you have a point." Catra couldn't hide her surprise. "We have most of Ethiria living at Bright Moon. That's just too much. Mermista left with as many of her people as could walk to rebuild Salineas, but that's not really done much in the way of our overpopulation issue. But what does that have to do with us? Where would we go? What do you want to do about it?"

"Wait..." Catra's mind reeled as she tried to process what Adora was saying. "You're saying you would actually be okay with leaving Bright Moon and going somewhere else? I've been hating myself over this because I know how happy you are there!"

"Catra, I could never be happy there if you weren't." Adora told her, pulling her closer. "It doesn't matter if I'm having the time of my life. Knowing you're unhappy would kill me inside." Catra let out a relieved sigh. It was almost as much weight off her chest as when she'd told Adora she loved her for the first time.

"Okay, so what would you say to living here?" she suggested. "I know it's in ruins now and while that gaping hole in the roof is romantic now it might cause serious trouble in the winter. I was thinking we could take the people who live here, come back, fix the town back up and then live here. It's a much smaller community, lots of open air and less walls everywhere I look. If I want to step out of this house, I could do it any time I wanted and not be tripping over literally all of Ethiria to do it. And it's not like we'll never see your friends again. You can ride Swiftwind to get to Bright Moon and Sparkles can teleport out here whenever she wants." Adora nodded and Catra could see she was trying to picture it in her head.

"Okay, I feel like this is something that can't be immediate, literally because of the amount of planning involved. I'll have to talk to Bow and Glimmer about it." Catra nodded, unable to hide her face falling slightly. She knew Adora noticed because she landed a kiss on the top of her head and rested her hands in the small of her back. "Look, the war only ended literal days ago, Catra. Hell, I won't even think of it as over until we get that piece of chip out of you. I'll only be satisfied once every trace of Horde Prime is well and truly gone. People need time to recover and they need something to inspire them. The people of Elberon will heal, just as everyone else will. They'll come back and continue their lives, eventually finding a new normal. But we can't rush that."

"I know." Catra nodded, moving up to nuzzle into Adora's neck and making her laugh from how ticklish she was. "Wherever we go and whatever we do, I'm happy if you're there. The problem isn't me being happy, it's about me not being able to relax at Bright Moon. Every time I'm there, I just keep thinking about all I've done. I get flashbacks of all I put everyone through. Especially you. You didn't deserve that."

"I left you, remember?" Adora rolled her eyes as she shifted over. Catra was left staring into a sea of cerulean as she met her girlfriend's gaze. "I totally get you being angry. There was no warning in it. If it makes you feel any better, I was pretty shaken up about it too. My whole life had totally turned upside-down in an instant. If anything, I envied you." Catra was caught off guard. Before she knew it, she was choking on her breath and had erupted into a savage coughing fit. She sat up quickly, causing another jolt of pain down her spine, while Adora slapped her on the back until she stopped coughing and spluttering.

"You envied me?" Catra fixed her stare on Adora. "You had all that amazing food, amazing care taken of you despite the fact you were a Horde soldier, comfort like we'd never even known at the Horde in the first place..."

"Did I though?" Adora countered. "For me, it wasn't comfortable. I had this really plush bed that I ended up killing because I couldn't get comfortable on it, I didn't know anyone, I had to adjust to proper food after so many years on ration bars just as you are now and I had to earn everyone's trust. You may have hated Shadow Weaver but at least you were somewhere familiar. I was so out of my depth that I felt like I was drowning for the longest time." Catra could only stare in stunned silence. She'd been so angry at Adora for leaving that she hadn't even considered how hard a life of her own had been for her to accept, especially since Adora was the one guiding her through it now. It never even crossed her mind that she might have suffered exactly the same the first time around. She went to say something, but was interrupted by her hand flying to her mouth as she erupted into another coughing fit. This time it was different. It hurt like she'd never felt before. Adora had obviously noticed the change in tempo because she gently pulled Catra over to her and rested a hand on her forehead.

"I'm... I'm fine!" Catra lied desperately.

"You're burning up is what you are!" Adora snapped. Catra felt her hands move around to push her her hair out of the way. Over the last few days it had started to grow quite quickly and she was debating cutting it back again to keep it short and weightless. That thought was insignificant now as she heard Adora's worried gasp. "Your neck looks infected! How long have you been feeling rough?" Catra could only marvel at how well Adora knew her in that moment.

"It's been about a day." Her own voice sounded weaker and she hated it. "I'm okay. Just a little hot is all."

"That's it?" She felt Adora's eyes burning laser holes into her. "Nothing else?"

"My back hurts a bit." Catra sighed in defeat. As soon as she spoke, Adora was out of bed. She knew it was pointless trying to convince her to stay and rest. She doubted she had the energy, anyway. It was suddenly registering with her how ill she truly felt. She tried to crawl forward to sit on the edge of the bed, but didn't have the strength to do even that. She lifted her hand back up only to notice tiny red specks on the white sheets. Turning her hand over revealed the same thing in her palm. Adora's gasp showed she'd noticed too.

"Melog!" Adora called. The remnants of the door were instantly knocked aside as the alien in question burst in. Catra could feel his gaze on her and his alien dialect somehow registering in her brain to ask if she was okay.

"It's nothing." She knew she wasn't fooling anyone. "Adora just freaked out because the sheets have something on them."

"That's your blood, you idiot!" Adora snapped in a way that was totally out of character for her. Catra managed to lift her head long enough to see tears streaming down her face. "That metal fragment is probably breaking down and it's poisoning you!"

"And how did you establish that?" Catra asked as Adora picked her up and carried her over, setting her gently on Melog's back. He was going to have earned a complete rest when this was all over. Catra planned to spoil him rotten.

"Horde Prime used a clone and robot army." Adora explained. "Why would he need to keep the other species around? He used them as infiltrators, nothing more. If the chips degraded and poisoned their victims, he wouldn't have to bother keeping them around. Either way, it's made of a metal we know nothing about. We need to get you to the Fright Zone, now! I'll wake up Glimmer and Bow." With that, she was gone. Catra was left alone with Melog, wishing she could get back on the bed and curl up. It wasn't to be. Melog padded out into the cool night air as she saw Bow, Glimmer and Adora running over. They all fell into pace with Melog as they set off again and kept heading on their way. Close as they were, it made Catra's heart hurt that they were pushing on despite how tired they obviously were. Even with the edge of the Fright Zone not being too far away, they were still a six-hour quick march away and Glimmer couldn't teleport all of them. They were clearly planning to go for broke on this for someone who'd tried to kill them on multiple occasions. She erupted into another coughing fit as Adora reached down and rested a hand on the back of her head.

"Just hang in there, Catra. Please." It was the last thing she heard before slipping into unconsciousness.