A/N

We back at it again with the fan fic.

Catra opens her bleary eyes and notices the weird room she's still trapped in. She lifts her head and smooths her hand over the side of her face. It was smooshed against the fluff of the cushioned bed she had slept on. It felt like her fur was standing up on end. She unfurls her tail from around her body and it flattens out to her side.

The extremity hits something. Probably a pillow, she thinks. There's like 50 on this bed alone. It's probably why her back is killing her. Going from the stiff cots in the Horde to the floor of the woods was an easier transition than this is.

Then, Catra hears grunting from what she thought was a pillow and she shoots up out of the bed landing on all fours with her hackles raised. She hisses in the direction of the sound to immediately deter any threats, but the lump of a body that was laying next to her is still out cold.

She approaches slowly and reaches out her hand to move the blankets that had covered her intruder. Blonde hair comes into view. Catra's heart sinks to her stomach as she leaps up onto the bed. She pulls the blanket back more to reveal Adora curled up in what looks like pain. The feline reaches out to the body facing away from her once again. She grabs for the other woman's shoulder. "Adora…" she barely whispers out while trying to rotate the blonde's torso towards her.

When Adora's body is turned, Catra can see some marks along her jaw and neck.

Catra's eyes go wide. "Are those… burns?"

Adora's eyes are still pinched shut almost like she's in pain and Catra's heart sinks further. She reaches to touch the non-injured side of her face.

"Don't." A voice comes from across the room and there's a shadow lingering there.

Catra's eyes grow angry, and she moves to stand, unsheathing her claws to protect the woman lying on the bed. "Who the fuck are you?" It's almost like this person is at the edges of her mind. They're just out of sight that Catra can't make out who they are.

The person moves towards Catra slowly shifting into a clearer picture and the one standing in front of Catra is Adora. A much taller and stronger version of her. The feline goes to smell the air and only smells the blonde. There's just more assurance and confidence coming from this other Adora. Then, a realization hits her. "Are you the one who attacked Plumeria?"

This person smells the air and it's almost as though they've taken in an intoxicating aroma. They're jaw slots open and eyes close. The Adora impersonator moves closer to Catra slowly, but purposefully. Her legs are thick like tree trunks climbing high to a nice rear. The person stops in front of Catra.

The felines heart is racing in the presence of this being. Adora's scent is thick in the air and something else. It's something much stronger and more potent. It makes Catra want to close her eyes and clench her legs together.

The other person looks shyly down into Catra's eyes as she lifts her large hand to Catra's cheek and lightly brushes it with the tips of her fingers.

"Adora?" Catra says a little breathless.

The woman before her closes her eyes and bites her lip. "I've missed you so much," she whispers. It almost looks like she can't contain her emotion but is trying her best to be delicate with the situation – especially because Catra's claws are still out.

The feline looks on confused, but she raises her hand to grip at the forearm near her head. The clawed hand grips firmly and begins to ascend up Adora's arm. Sharp claws lightly trailing along a firm tricep. "How is this possible?" she sounds mystified and looks down to the other Adora on the bed.

The woman smiles and brings her other hand out slowly, still not wanting to startle Catra. She moves that hand to Catra's lower back pulling the feline forward until their centers are touching, stomach to stomach.

Catra feels flushed as their bodies connect and she looks up into bright blue, half lidded eyes. There's something about this moment that just feels so charged. Like she can sense this Adora wants her and nothing else. But confusion still clouds Catra's mind as the fog from earlier still remains, then it clicks. "This is a dream. You're in my dream."

"I am," Adora smiles softly. "I've missed you. It's really distracting how good you smell." She softly presses down on Catra's lower back and the two feel closer somehow than they were before. Adora grunts in what Catra can only assume is… pleasure.

Catra's eyes close at the sound. She feels as though her world is tilting on its' axis and the only thing keeping her steady is the tight muscle she's holding onto. Then, Adora's voice brings her out of her stupor.

"We don't have a lot of time." This new version of Adora is so confident and sure. It brings a sense of ease to Catra's already tense body.

The feline shakes her head some to clear the cloudiness. "Wh – what do you mean?"

Adora moves her hand from the other woman's cheek and lightly brushes her hair away from her forehead. She looks into Catra's eyes longingly before she catches another waft of the woman's scent. It causes her to tighten her grip a little as she moves her hand from Catra's back to her hip. She squeezes the flesh there due to her need building inside of her.

Catra feels the intensity of the gesture and clings to Adora as well. She brings her arms up to wrap around the blonde's shoulders, flexing her claws into tight muscle. She leans up onto her toes and, without hesitation, Catra begins marking Adora. They had always done it when she was younger. When she knew nothing about her instincts; although, Shadow Weaver had beaten it out of her for the most part. Saying she was "disturbed" and "shouldn't be touching others in such a manner." It's always been so challenging to ignore them around Adora in the past, but she learned the hard way and forced herself to disregard them.

This time though, is proving to be nearly impossible.

Adora accepts each sweep of Catra's head, her cheek leaving her own scent behind on Adora's shoulders and neck. It further pushes the larger woman to grip more at Catra's backside. Squeezing and kneading the plump flesh and then, reaching under the backs of Catra's thighs. She gently lifts Catra who instinctively wraps her legs around the woman.

The feline lets out a lewd sound from her throat, leaving hot heat in its' trail on Adora's skin. Catra feels flushed and heady as her body seems to be moving on its' own accord. She pulls her head back from Adora and investigates blue orbs. She can feel Adora's breath hitting her in the face. She digs the heels of her feet into the blonde's back and grinds her center on Adora. The other woman's reaction is a deep and guttural moan. If it were any other person, Catra would find it appalling. But having it come from Adora is just decadent. She clenches her jaw and a moan escapes through her gritted teeth. She's never felt their connection so powerful.

The scent fanning off Adora's skin is making Catra's mouth water.

The blonde makes a pained sound and slowly sets Catra down. Upon her descent, Catra's center lightly glides over a delicious bulge protruding from between Adora's hips. The two are panting from how fast their hearts are beating and all Catra can manage to think about is the gift that changed their lives forever mere inches from her. Her fingers twitch and a rush of arousal hits her core. Catra remembers what it was like to touch it for Adora – the look of pure bliss. She wants to give that again. The feline reaches her hand to delicately graze over the fabric covering her prize.

Adora retracts her body reluctantly and looks Catra in the eyes. Catra sees pain in them. "You need to go," she says sternly. "It's not safe. She's in my head and she'll find you. I've been keeping her at bay, but you know how powerful she is." Adora's eyes are sad. She had Catra for a whole two minutes and it's just not long enough.

"W-what? Why? Who are you talking about?" The anger is rolling in ten-fold after each question. The idea of another woman with Adora at a time like this is fueling a fire the sparked from their very intensely hot moment. She can't think clearly except to keep anyone away from her Adora.

The blonde moves closer. Her eyes becoming softer as she reaches out to ground her mate again. Her hands rest on the feline's hips and she looks directly into Catra's eyes. "I was knocked out and Shadow Weaver is using magic to heal me."

Catra flinches at the mention of Shadow Weaver. If she's involved, it must be bad.

But, as if Adora can read her mind, "it's not that bad. I've just been unconscious, and I think she's trying to figure out what's going on with me and my shifting. It feels like she wants the magic for herself." Her eyes become downcast and her jaw clenches.

Catra knows all too well of the depths Weaver would go to, to get her hands on something, or someone, powerful. "So, it is magic that's causing you to shift?" Catra asks.

"Yes, but that's why you can't be here any longer." She looks down sadly at Catra as though this is one of the most difficult things they've ever had to do. "She can't know you're here or connected to me at all. Who knows what she'd do?" Adora takes Catra's hands delicately. All the blonde can think about is protecting Catra.

The feline looks nervous and shocked at the same time. She's also feeling about five other emotions at the same time as well, but she can't even begin to think about those, now. "But, but I just found you. I need to talk to you. They know you know me and are looking for me. How – "

"We don't have time!" Adora's voice increases in volume. Then, she slumps to the floor on her knees clasping her head on opposite sides with her hands. It's like there's a deafening noise trying to rip through her ears. She screams an awful sound as she yells to the heavens. Her eyes are glowing brightly, and the sound is breaking the walls of the room. Catra looks down and around at the falling stone. She dodges what she can until something nearly lands on top of her head.

Adora looks in her direction and reaches to protect her.

She shoots up right from the cold metal table she's been laying on. Her head is pounding as she wakes to the bright florescent lighting. She reaches to touch her head as if it will reduce the pain, but it only increases when she happens to touch too close to the curve in her mandible. She hisses in pain and pulls back her hand. There's a something covering her face.

She turns to look around at the sterile room she's in and notices a small mirror on the far side of the room. She rotates her feet off the side of the table and moves to stand slowly. She doesn't want to push herself if there's been too much damage.

She's able to get to her feet without incident and slowly walks to the mirror. It's dingey and dirty, but she can see the large area of her face and neck covered in leaves and purple goo. The mess has a dark glow to it that specifically reminds her of a familiar dark magic.

"I wouldn't touch that if I were you." As if materializing out of nowhere, Shadow Weaver enters her periphery, her words dripping with an indiscernible eeriness.

She nearly has a heart attack from the surprising jolt. She must be off her game if Weaver was able to get the best of her.

"Adora," she coos, "you need to take it easy. It's not every day you get blown up by rebels while trying to rescue your friend." The old woman stands to move closer. "That needs to stay on until you're healed. It could get infected."

Adora realizes where she is and remembers what happened. It's as though all her memories are flooding back to her. She was blasted away by someone in Plumeria. She caught someone who knew where Catra was, and she… she just let them get away. She didn't even get a bit of information out of her it all just… She clenches her jaw even though it causes a sever amount of pain and she slams her fist onto the countertop.

"Now, now. Don't want to break any bones while we're at it. Come, dear. Tell me what happened." Weaver's voice is sickeningly sweet, but there's something in it that makes Adora want to tell her everything.

"We were ambushed by rebellion soldiers. One of them was a princess with these sparkle powers." Adora makes an annoyed face, then continues. "I could smell Catra on her, like they had been near her recently. I was so sure of it. I was about to interrogate her when I was knocked unconscious."

"Ah, yes. Well, one of the soldiers had explosives and that's what caused your little… mishap. Your injury there," she points to Adora's face "is a massive burn that nearly blocked off your airway. Were it not for my quick thinking, you may not have survived."

Adora's eyes go wide as she looks to the floor. "Shadow Weaver, I don't… I don't know what to say." She looks back up again to Weaver as a flood of emotion makes her throat clench, "thank you. I swear I was just a little caught off guard, but next time –"

"Next time? What do you mean 'next time?' There will be no 'next time.'" She catches the downcast face Adora pulls, and it makes her lips twitch upwards.

"But! I'll do better this next time! I won't fail. I guarantee it." Adora's eyes are determined and fiery. She must do this. She needs to get Catra back. Her alpha stirs at the thought and she begins to pant through her anger.

Her eyes glow when Shadow Weaver looks back over her shoulder. "Oh, I don't know, Adora." She hums in thought, "It seems to be too dangerous for you –"

"Arghh! It's not! I can do it. I have to. I'll take out anyone in my way." Her nostrils flair as she heaves breaths through her nose. The thought of letting Catra rot in the hands of princesses fuels an unquenchable fire.

Shadow Weaver smiles a wicked grin under her mask and continues. "Well, if you're so determined… maybe I could have a word with Hordak about reattempting."

"Yes! Thank you, Shadow Weaver. You won't regret it!" Adora's smile reaches all the way up to her eyes.

"Oh, I'm sure I won't." Weaver turns to leave feeling far more smug than necessary. "Oh, and as for the bandage. I'd give it a few more hours and then take it off slowly. If you pull too quickly, it could take off a layer of your skin." As if she wasn't already pleased with herself, the look of horror ghosting Adora's face was the cherry on top.

"No." His gravely response is direct and to the point.

"But Lord Hordak, you must see the potential of this situation. We have an alpha with unknown magic. We can use it to benefit our cause and it seems that finding this soldier is a big trigger in releasing the magic. I believe if we play our cards right, we can use this to our advantage." Shadow Weaver tries her best to appease the man on the throne. His short temper and lack of long game planning tends to infuriate her, but she also knows how to placate him.

He looks down on her unimpressed. "We can't waste the resources to send more troops to find one soldier." He grows irritated with her incompetence regardless of a source of powerful magic. It can't compare with his technology.

"I understand my liege, but that's why we play it in our favor. She seems to believe the princesses are holding her captive. We could use her as a weapon. Weren't you just saying how advantageous it would be to take Salineas's Seagate? We could capture the water and restrict their routes." Her hands are clasped together as if she were pleading with him. A man in charge is easy to manipulate so long as you make him think he has all the power.

He contemplates this perspective yet seems reluctant. "Fine. Use minimal resources possible. I don't want our troops wasting time on your pet projects, especially if they continue to prove to be unfruitful." At that, he turns and waves her out with his hand.

Adora walks her way to the chow hall. She feels like she hasn't eaten in weeks. How long was I out for, she questions.

Before she gets to open the doors to satisfy her hunger, someone startles her.

"Hey, Adora" Demetria says nonchalantly like Adora hadn't been unconscious or blown up with this stuff on her face.

"Oh, hey, Demetria." Adora is not excited to see her. This tension, or competitiveness, is just radiating off her and Adora doesn't have the energy to deal with this.

"How's your face? I heard a little about what happened." Demetria's tone isn't of concern, but curiosity.

"Well, it hurts like a bitch, but I'll be alright. Shadow Weaver gave me something that's supposed to help the healing process." She lightly runs her hand over the now much dryer bandage and realizes it may be just about time to get them off. Especially, if she wants to keep her skin. Her eyes widen at that train of thought.

"Yeah, an explosion will do that to ya." She gets into Adora's personal space as though she was about to touch her wound before the blonde pulls out of reach. "So, do ya think you'll still be able to train? Or go on any other missions?"

"Yeah," the blonde looks on with irritation. "I'm going to make sure of it." Adora reaches out for the door to the chow hall and shoves it without any other thought. She heads inside to get into line.

"Oh, Adora!" Scorpia screams nearly from the other side of the room.

Adora grumbles into her one hand while the other holds onto her tray.

The scorpioni woman makes it to her and lifts Adora up. The blonde's face is of utter shock and embarrassment. "Oh man. I'm so glad you're still in one piece! I found you all crumpled up on the ground and I was just so worried." She pulls Adora in for a tight hug.

Adora, for her part, tried the best she could to escape the larger woman's clutches, but she loses this battle of strength and forgoes trying to get out of her hold. She sighs loudly and says, "hey, Scorpia. I'm so sorry you were so worried. I didn't even see the thing coming." She awkwardly puts her hand to her head.

Scorpia sets her down, "oh I know! I saw the whole thing. You were so focused on that princess and trying to… to-to… what were you doing exactly?" She looks at Adora concerned. Others begin to look on and notice the scene happening in front of them.

"Oh!" Adora exclaims looking around at everyone staring, nervously. "Nothing like, like that… I-I mean she was in heat of course, but that's not –"

"Wait, she was?" Scorpia looks at her bewildered. "I did not pick that up. Huh! You sure got a good sniffer on you." She slaps her giant claw on the woman's back and Adora nearly coughs up a lung. "So that's why you tackled her," she says with a frown. "Man, I would've thought you had that under control."

"What? No! It's not that." Adora finally gets her ration bars and slop, and her mouth salivates at the prospect of body being satiated. They walk over to an empty table.

"Hold on, Adora. You're telling me that's not why you jumped her? I thought you sniffed it out and were… like, y'ano?" Her eyes shift awkwardly side to side.

Adora's mouth drops open, "why would you think that? I-I don't want her…" She groans to get rid of her fluster. "I smelled Catra on her. You know that soldier that went missing? My friend? Well, I could smell her on that princess, and I just lost it. I jumped her and I was about to question her when I got hit. I smelled her heat after I got close to her." She looks down a little embarrassed for some reason.

Scorpia makes an 'O' with her mouth in realization. "Man, we were that close? Ugh! Well, you know what they say: 'try, try, try again,'" she chuckles nervously. "But seriously we aren't going to try again, right? I mean you got seriously hurt."

"Pshhhh. I'm fine, Scopria." Adora doesn't even believe what she's saying. "Look, Shadow Weaver is giving me another chance. She's talking to Hordak right now and I'm pretty positive about the whole thing." She looks down at her plate of food worriedly, and then she looks back to Scorpia. "I have to get her back Scorpia. She's really important to me. I…" she pauses, "I need her back. She's… too important not to."

The other woman looks on with slight pity. She can tell this means a lot to Adora and she wants to support her friend all the way. She moves her hand to rest on the blonde's shoulder. "Alright, bring it in." She pulls Adora tightly to her chest, squishing her. "We got this. We just need to stick together next time. Maybe we could plan it better over some games, or hot cocoa." She smiles brightly.

"Uh, sure Scorpia." Adora uses her arm that isn't being held captive and lightly pats the woman's strong shoulder. She then shoves herself out of the crushing grip. "We definitely need to plan something. I'll let you know more of Weaver's plans as soon as I do."

As Adora finally makes her way back to her room, she closes the door and moves in front of the mirror. She looks at the large covering on her jaw and neck and decides it's now or never. She pulls at one of the edges and the leaves surprisingly peal away easily. The first one lays in the sink, and it reveals delicate light discolored pink skin. She removes the other large leaves and rinses away whatever goo was left over.

She made sure to be gentle when handling the sensitive new layers of skin. She looks on at herself, at this reminder of her failure. It burns still with the burden of her lack of awareness. I was so close to finding her, she admits to herself.

Images of Catra in a bright room with a waterfall flash in her mind. The feline's hair was disheveled and Adora was touching her cheek and looking into large, worried eyes.

Adora snaps out of it and starts breathing heavily at the intrusion. It seems almost unbelievable. She doesn't remember dreaming recently, but that felt like a memory.

She scratches her head and pulls out her hair tie. The loose locks fall around her shoulders, and she attempts to rub the confusion from her temples.

All she can think about is that princess's face. It was angry and glittery, full of devastating magic. She probably tortured Catra with it, she thinks. It burns a fire in her stomach. I was so close! –

"Dammit!" She screams and slams her fist down onto the steel counter. It had barely dented, but there was enough give from the metal to not break Adora's hand. She grits her teeth at the physical pain and tries to ignore the emotional hurricane that's wreaking havoc on the inside of her.

She lifts her shaky hands to rest over her eyes as the darkness brings a certain peace. She feels comfortable enough to cry these angry tears. Tears that represent what she despises most. That she let Catra down, and she was useless as soon as that blast took her out.

She's back to square one.

Her hands turn to fists, and she vows not to let it happen again. She will get Catra back and this next mission will be a success, as if her own life depends on it.

In some ways it does.