There was silence for the first few minutes of the drive. Adora truly couldn't believe the situation she had found herself in. Sitting in a car, mere inches from Catra, on the way to search for her missing father.
Was she in a movie or something?
Sick of the silence and wanting to get out of her head, Adora said the only thing she could think of. "Is this your car?"
"Nope, stole it from Shadow Weaver," said Catra, calm as anything. She was sitting wide-legged, jiggling her left leg, right arm perched on top of the steering wheel. Adora had no idea that Catra had her driver's license, but she looked right at home behind the wheel. Coming from the city, Adora assumed people with jobs were the only ones with licenses. What did a high schooler need a car for when parking was so expensive? Much easier having a bus pass or metro card.
"How much trouble are you going to be in?" asked Adora, suppressing a shiver at the thought of Shadow Weaver's wrath.
"A shit-ton," shrugged Catra. "Oh well."
"So she might transfer you to another school for ditching this competition?"
"Yeah, but that's okay," said Catra. "I'll be eighteen next year and I can ditch her house and maybe school too."
"Oh…" said Adora. It pained her to think about GWMA without Catra, but she simultaneously realized how absurd that was; this person had been the bane of her existence since the minute she'd stepped on campus. Although they'd gotten closer as the year had gone on, for some ridiculous reason Adora still had that soft spot for the cadet captain even after all they'd put each other through. Yet, here was the cadet captain driving her to a trailhead called "Devil's Backbone." She was doing this for Adora despite the fact that her mother would skin her alive.
Adora looked over at Catra, who seemed lost in thought.
"I'm sorry that I stepped in with Shadow Weaver during spring break." The words tumbled out of Adora's mouth before she could stop them. "It was not my place to get involved. Bow and Glimmer always chastise me for doing stuff like that."
"No," said Catra, shifting awkwardly in her seat. "I should- thank you. It was- nice of you to do that."
"I can see how painful it was to admit that," said Adora, almost laughing.
"I'm working on the anger stuff," said Catra, grimacing and shifting once again in her seat. "I'm trying to not be such an asshole, like I said."
"Very admirable," Adora said. She felt a smile coming on but tried to suppress it.
There was another moment of silence, then the most pressing question bubbled to the surface. "Where have you been the past few weeks?" Adora was embarrassed to hear that there was a hint of hurt in her voice.
Catra breathed in slowly, as if mulling through the question.
"I decided that-" she began. Then she stopped. Adora waited as she tried again.
"I've been alone," she said finally, sighing. "I felt like I was about to go off the deep-end. I needed to take myself out of all the situations that would make me blow up. After I-" She paused, swallowing hard. "After I- hit you over break, I decided- that you weren't safe around me. And really no one was. So I took myself out of the equation."
"Catra- it was wrong of you to lash out like that and I was mad at you, sure, and a little betrayed, but you didn't need to exile yourself."
"Look, I realize that I have a lot to apologize for," said Catra. "The main reason I went into exile was because I didn't know where to start or what to say. I needed some time to work it out."
"This is a good start," said Adora, and got to watch a smile flash across Catra's face before she shook her head and it disappeared again. The sight gave Adora that old stomach lurch.
"I'm sorry I hit you," said Catra, suddenly deadly serious. "I know you were just trying to help. When Shadow Weaver is around I can get pretty… uptight. It's not an excuse, just an explanation. I shouldn't have lashed out, like you said, and I'm sorry."
Catra glanced sideways at Adora. "Can we maybe start over with the friendship thing?"
"Sure," Adora said without any hesitation. This time, Catra actually allowed herself to smile fully at Adora, making her stomach do backflips.
"You aren't the only one who has things to apologize for, though," said Adora hurriedly. "I was behaving pretty badly towards you all year too."
"I'm sure that was my fault," said Catra. "I targeted you from day one and never let up on you."
"I was the newbie," said Adora, shrugging. "And the new Commandant's stepdaughter. I was an easy target."
"That's not why," said Catra. Darkness was clouding her face.
"Oh?" said Adora.
"It's because…" she sighed heavily. "Because I- I hate myself."
Before Adora could puzzle out what she meant or even respond, Catra pulled the SUV into the trailhead's dirt lot and parked abruptly in the first spot she found. Adora swore that was the fastest fifteen minutes she had ever sat through.
Catra turned off the ignition and right before getting out of the car said, "thank you for inviting me to dinner with your family. You continue to be someone I don't deserve." Then she opened the door and exited the vehicle.
It took Adora a couple of seconds to remember that this was an urgent mission they had embarked upon. She threw open the car door and jumped out, slamming the door shut behind her. She heard the car lock itself as she trudged up to where the map of the trail stood erect on two large wooden posts. Catra met her there, all traces of their previous conversation gone.
"Where do you think he is?" Catra asked, all-business.
"I don't know, never been on this trail." She noted that it was an 'easy' trail, and a drop of embarrassment plopped into her stomach. What if Adora had assumed wrong? What if Micah was not in mortal danger somewhere on this trail? What if they had ditched the competition and brought on Shadow Weaver's inevitable wrath for no reason?
There was no time to think too much about it. Without further ado, they set off side-by-side down the main trail.
They walked in silence for a time, the only sounds were the crunching of gravel beneath their feet and panting from the elevation. The trail wound through pine trees but it wasn't very steep. Adora kept her eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary. What did people do in movies? Find a piece of ripped clothing on a tree branch. God forbid they found blood or something of the like. She wished she could have brought one of those police dogs to sniff Micah out.
Ten minutes passed and Catra stopped, panting and pulling at her starched uniform collar. The incline had gradually increased until it was moderately difficult to keep going.
"How long is this thing?" Catra asked.
Adora hadn't made note of that when they were looking at the trailhead's sign. Embarrassment once again overcame her; what if she'd made a mistake? What if she was overreacting? They hadn't brought any water or first aid supplies. What if Adora was leading them to injuries of their own?
She looked down at her phone but she didn't have service. She took a deep breath to steady herself, trying her best to swallow any fear.
"I think it levels out at the top there," said Adora, gesturing up the trail. "We'll take a look around and if we don't see anything we can get back to the competition."
Catra didn't say anything. At least if she was thinking that this was futile, she bit her tongue. Adora was grateful in any case.
They made their way up to the point that Adora had mentioned. She was right; the trail did even out, allowing a view of the valley below. Adora led the way, picking her way across the path, which she noticed was layered in more loose gravel than before. Now the incline was headed downward and Adora slid a few times. Her shiny black shoes were not made for hiking and offered no traction.
This made Adora perk up. Micah wasn't known for being graceful. He'd once fallen on the ice in the driveway and only stopped after sliding halfway across the street. What if he'd lost his footing and plunged into the valley below?
Adora edged near the edge of the trail, trying to peer down without losing her own footing.
"Hey, what are you doing?" snapped Catra, reaching out an arm. Fear sharpened her voice. "Be careful."
Without a word, Adora stretched her arm behind herself and took Catra's hand, using her as a lifeline. Adora's foot slid a little as she neared the ledge and Catra's hand tightened on hers reflexively.
"This is not my favorite," said Catra, voice higher than normal.
"I just have to check," said Adora, inching ever onward. She tipped forward slightly, trying to see below, but she felt off-balance and took a few steps back. Then, with disregard to Entrapta's work on her pristine uniform, she flopped down on her butt, letting her legs hang off the edge of the path. She kept her hand in Catra's, the only reassuring thing about this whole situation.
In this new position, she could lean forward enough to scan the cliffside and brush beneath her and- there!
"I see something!" said Adora, gasping. She used Catra's hand to get to her feet, then proceeded to pull the cadet captain further down the trail.
"What?" said Catra, trying to keep up. "Slow down, you're gonna make us fall."
When Adora thought she was just above the human-shaped thing she had swore she'd seen, she sat on the ledge once more and leaned forward.
"Dad?" Adora shouted, almost positive that's what she was seeing below her.
The man with long black hair looked up and, lo and behold - it was Michah.
"Dad!"
A smile spread across his face. "Baby girl."
"No fucking way," said Catra.
"Are you okay?" Adora shouted.
"Just sprained my ankle when I fell," Micah called back. Now Adora noticed that he had both hands wrapped around his left ankle.
"I'm coming down!" Adora said, already sliding farther down.
"How?" hissed Catra, grabbing Adora's upper arm with her free hand. "We don't have ropes."
"Shouldn't be too hard of a scramble back up," called Micah. "I just couldn't do it with my ankle. I would have called a ranger but I didn't have service either. No other hiker has come down this way."
"We should be able to carry him back up if we both go down."
Catra looked Adora up and down for a moment and Adora thought for sure that the cadet captain was about to draw the line and call Adora crazy.
But Catra did no such thing. Instead, she nodded and said, "whatever you say, maggot." It was the first time that the word felt less like an insult and more like a term of endearment. What even was today?
About ten feet down from where they were, Adora saw a ledge below the path that would be easy to slide down onto. She did just that, Catra following closely behind. Scrambling over the boulders, they picked their way very carefully over to Micah, who had gotten unsteadily to his feet in preparation for his rescue.
Within minutes, perhaps out of sheer determination, Adora reached Micah and immediately wrapped him into a hug.
"Hi, baby girl," he breathed into her hair.
"Hi dad," Adora said, now realizing that tears were in her eyes… And that Catra was standing nearby. How embarrassing.
"Aren't you supposed to be at your competition?" Micah asked, wobbling a bit on his one good foot. Adora reached out to steady him.
"I couldn't concentrate when you weren't there. I knew something had happened to you."
"It's that Spidey-Sense of yours," said Micah, squeezing her even tighter.
"Sorry to break this up," said Catra's voice from behind Adora. "But we should probably start on our way up."
Adora reluctantly pulled herself out of Micah's strong, reassuring embrace.
"Dad, this is Catra Stone."
"Always nice to meet a loyal companion of my daughter's," said Micah, bowing as much as he could while balancing on one foot.
Catra simply nodded, tight-lipped.
"Okay, let's do this," said Adora, motioning Catra over. They each took one of Micah's arms across their shoulders, letting him lean on them for support. Behind Micah's back, Adora's hand grazed Catra's neck and her heart felt like it would burst. Again, this day was just so, so strange.
The ascension was slow-going. In this arrangement, they were large and lumbering. There were several times they had to turn sideways to make it onto the next boulder. It was of paramount importance that each step they all took together was stable.
But make it up the side of the cliff they did. Once they reached the top, they lowered Micah to the ground so Catra and Adora could take a breather.
"Wow, baby girl," said Micah, gazing up at Adora and taking in her competition uniform for the first time. "You look very official."
"You like?" said Adora, spinning in place. She caught Catra smiling at this before looking away self consciously.
"Are we ready?" Catra said, clearing her throat.
"Dad?"
"Ready as ever."
They got back into position and began the trek back to the trailhead. The section with the loose gravel was the most precarious but once they had cleared that, they were home free.
By the time they reached the car and had settled Micah into the backseat, Adora had sweated so much from the rescue's exertion that she'd soaked through her uniform. On top of that, when she looked down at her front she saw there were many spots of dirt on her jacket and slacks. She knew there must be a large smudge on the seat of her pants as well. Even if her and Catra made it back for their unarmed duel they would not look presentable. Catra's uniform was just as worse-for-wear.
Adora stopped Catra before she could hop into the driver's seat. Hand on the cadet captain's shoulder, Adora said softly, "Thank you."
In lieu of a reply, Catra shrugged and made a sound halfway between a laugh and a grunt. Adora smiled, knowing this was leagues above what Catra's instinctual reply would have been previously.
The drive to the nearest Urgent Care was quick and quiet. Something unspoken was swelling between her and Catra and it made Adora nervous. Now that she knew her father was safe and not seriously injured, her mind was free to adventure to other modes of thought and she was not emotionally ready to process any of it, especially not today.
Adora offered to stay behind at the Urgent Care with Micah but he insisted that she accompany Catra back to the competition. Especially after hearing about their unarmed duel, he was adamant that they not miss any more of the day on his behalf.
"What are smart phones for anyway, if not for HD-video?" he said, winking. "Have Octavia take a good one for me - we can watch together later!"
And so, after the medical assistant at the facility assured Adora for the fifth time that Micah would be taken care of, she and Catra climbed back up into the fancy SUV to speed back to the competition.