Adora hadn't been sure what she had expected when she walked into the bakery that day at the mall. She had the day off and had just wanted to come and pick her friends up, and she had assumed everything would be normal. Glimmer would be at the counter, Bow would be helping to bring pastries out or cleaning the tables, Shadow Weaver would be looming in the corner glaring at everyone.

What Adora hadn't expected was for the bakery to be empty and for Angella to be yelling angrily while on the phone.

"Do you have any idea how worried we were?" she demanded, her wings growing ruffled with her clear frustration as she paced the back kitchen, coming in and out of view from the open door. "Do you?"

Ooooh boy. What had Adora just walked in on?

Carefully, she walked to the counter where Glimmer was slouched over on, face down on the cool marble surface, groaning quietly in a tone that just screamed 'Kill Me'.

"Heeeey Glimmer," Adora said, leaning against the other side of the counter, looking down at her friend. No sign of Bow, and Shadow Weaver was putting up new signs on the window. Other than her, it was just Glimmer and her very angry mom. "What's going on?" Why is your mom angry? I've never seen her this angry.

Glimmer raised her head just enough so that Adora could see her eyes and the heavy bags under them. "We found my dad."

"Oh! That's good, right?" That should be good. It was good. He'd been missing for a little over two weeks now, and they found him. "Why don't you seem happy?"

Groaning, Glimmer propped herself up on her elbows. "I'm happy that he's home and he's safe, don't get me wrong," she said carefully, looking over her shoulder to her still yelling and still pacing mother. "As you can see with my mom, we're just…really annoyed with him right now."

"Eh?"

Glimmer looked back to Adora, frowning, looking like she was carrying ten years' worth of exhaustion and stress on her face. "My dad was at Beast Island this whole time."

To that, Adora reeled back as if she had been smack in the face. "Beast Island? He went to Beast Island?" she asked, unable to believe Gimmer.

Beast Island was… well, obviously it was an island, that went without saying. It was a small island off the coast of the city. Thick forest, lots of wild life. People tended to stay away from it because it had a very large population of bears and generally wasn't exactly safe. Adora could still remember all the stories adults told when she was little about how bad kids got sent to Beast Island when they misbehaved.

"Yes. Beast Island," Glimmer confirmed, forcing the words out through gritted teeth. "Apparently he was on a meditative, soul-searching camping trip this whole time. The says he thought he told us about it, but clearly, he did not. Mom's probably going to make him sleep on the couch for a few days."

Adora rubbed her neck awkwardly. "Well, I'm glad that he's home and safe, but… wow…"

"I did say that he would be found before too long, did I not?" Shadow Weaver cut in, seemingly gliding across the floor as she approached the two. Her words had been directed at Adora, a hint of smugness to them.

Glimmer groaned, collapsing against the counter once again. "My family is dumb," she decided. "My dad is unbelievable."

"I'm sure it's not that bad. Give it a day or two and things will calm down," Adora tried, placing a comforting hand on Glimmers shoulder.

"You could have at least taken a phone! We had the police scouring every inch of the city for you! We thought you'd gotten kidnapped!" Angella yelled, her voice rising in pitch. There was the faint sound of something metal being knocked over, likely a pot by her wings.

Adora flinched at the commotion and looked back down at Glimmer "How about we head out, get out of here before Angella starts throwing things, take your mind off of all of this? We can go grab Catra and hang out—she was telling me last night about this new store that opened up, the three of us can go and check it out."

At the mention of Catra, Adora could just hear Shadow Weaver rolling her eyes.

"Heh, that's not a bad idea," Glimmer agreed, raising her head up again to crack a small grin. "And if the store turns out to be a bust, I'm sure I can get some enjoyment out of riling her up."

"That's the spirit!" Adora smiled, watching as Glimmer finally stood up straight and started walking. She liked seeing Glimmer like this—smiling and moving—more than when she was throwing herself across surfaces because she was stressed and angry.

Shadow Weaver moved to the side in that weird gliding, is she even touching the ground, kind of way. "I still do not see why either of you would ever wish to spend time with Catra of all people," she said, a bite to her words as she mentioned the magicat.

"Uh," Adora raised a brow, "Because she's our friend?"

Even to this day, Adora could not understand why Shadow Weaver hated Catra so much. At least Catra had a reason to hate Shadow Weaver after how she was treated, but Shadow Weaver seemed to have had it out for Catra since they first started working at the Coffee Horde. Maybe the woman just didn't like cat-people. Which wasn't exactly good, either.

Either way, it had become so common for Shadow Weaver to have some kind of remark or snark when Catra was the topic that neither Adora nor Glimmer really paid it any mind anymore.

"She's really not that bad if you get to know her," Glimmer added with a slight shrug of her shoulders, "and that's coming from someone who hated her for the longest time. She's fun and cool." And an absolute doofus. But, who in their friend group wasn't?

Shadow Weaver scoffed. "Misguided ideas. But I don't think anyone who's full name includes 'Applesauce Meowmeow' can be considered cool."

None of the three women even had a chance to say anything before a door was thrown open and Bow ran in, jumping over a table to get to them, his eyes wide, full of hearts and sparkles as he stood in front of Shadow Weaver. "Her full name is what?"

"What the fuck?" Adora whispered, having almost been knocked aside by him. "Where did you come from?" Had they just summoned him by bringing up Catra's name?

She was ignored.

And Shadow Weaver seemed to think this might have been a good opportunity to perhaps ruin Catra's image or reputation because she didn't hesitate. She chuckled in that 'I'm going to enjoy this' tone, brought her arms behind her back, and looked down at Bow. "Her name is Catra Applesauce Meowmeow."

As if the heart eyes couldn't get any more intense, Bow brought his hands to his face and gave a tiny squeal. "That is so cute! Is it true, is it really true, Adora?"

Adora, for her part, brought one hand to her forehead, then dragged it down to pinch the bridge of her nose. She knew where this was going, and it wasn't going to end pretty. "Catra will kill you if you ever say it out loud."

That was enough confirmation because Bow gasped, "Her last name is so cute, how can that even be?" Even Glimmer was laughing, hand to her mouth and tears in the corner of her eyes. "She always seemed so tough and scary, but her last name is Meowmeow and it's too adorable, it's just too adorable!"

"You do not get to bring Castaspella into this!"

"And her middle name! It's Applesauce? That's just—oooh!"

"I can't believe all this time she was teasing us for our names, giving me crap for being Bright, and then hers is Applesauce Meowmeow. That's just—ahaha!"

"Don't you hang up, we are not done talking about this!"

"How mad do you think she'd be if I asked her about it? I want to tell her how cute her name is!"

"Adora, how did you know this and not tell us?"

"Micah!"

Adora took a deep breath, tuning out all the words around her. People were stopping outside the store to stare and see what the commotion was. Some kids even pointed and started talking to their parents, diverting more attention. Catra, she was sorry, but looks like the entire mall was going to learn her secret before long.

All the while, Shadow Weaver just leaned back in a chair and somehow looked incredibly smug even with the mask hiding her face.