The gang gather the rest of the ingredients, forced to on double time. Castaspella begins to make the antidote.

Dryl - 5 pink berries.
Bright Moon - 3 balls of siphoned energy from the runestone
Crimson Waste - Ice plant twig
Salineas - 1 ball of siphoned energy from the runestone
Kingdom of Snows - 1 ball of siphoned energy from the runestone
Plumeria - 1 ball of siphoned energy from the runestone
Mystacor - Green crystal from the hot springs
Whispering Woods - Tree bark
Krytis - True magic
Alwyn - Horn of guardian
Northern Reach - Guardian Spike
Crystal Castle - Crystal
Sword of Protection - 5 balls of siphoned energy from the runestone.

Magic lady had returned briefly to claim the other ingredients that had been gathered thus far. She was making the antidote back on Mystacor, where she could have help and assistance from other spellcasters. Apparently, the spell needed to cure Adora was strong enough to usurp enough energy to kill at least three people.

Catra crossed out another two items.
Mystacor - Green crystal from the hot springs & Krytis - True magic.

All that remained now was the twig from the Crimson Waste, the horn from Alwyn, the spike from the Northern Reach and the crystal from the castle. Sure, the energy from Adora's sword was still needed, but Catra had deliberately ignored it. She'd been up until four a.m. that morning trying to work out what exactly that meant... and how they could do it.

Because Adora, being heroic as per usual, broke the damn thing. The only sword she had now was the one she summoned. Otherwise, Sparkles could've done it... at least according to the book. Sure, the other princesses would need to help, but it could've been done. With Adora unconscious, there was no sword. The First Ones weren't counting on She-Ra breaking the sword.

Catra sighed angrily. It didn't help that Scorpia wasn't answering her messages, which left her with no other choice but to venture out to the waste herself... again.

She grabbed another bit of paper and wrote down what was needed, and who would get it.
Alwyn - Horn of Guardian - Arrows, Northern Reach - Guardian Spike - Sparkles, Crystal Castle - Crystal - Me, Crimson Waste - Ice plant twig - Me.

Catra rubbed her eyes harshly. She glanced to her left, sighing loudly. Adora lay peacefully, unmoving, as she had done for the last two days. They only had another day on the antidote. It apparently took twelve hours to make, so that realistically left them with less than half a day. Doable, but hard. Catra glanced around, an idea forming. She grabbed the wooden comb by Adora's bed and moved closer. She tutted. Magic lady hadn't even taken Adora's hair out of the stupid ponytail she insisted on wearing.

Catra undid her hair, ever so carefully lifting her head. She twisted Adora to her side, smiling softly when she snored. Adora had always been a side sleeper, ever since she was a baby. On her back, Adora would snore, wriggle, move, have nightmares, whatever. On her side? She was calm and quiet. Catra began to move the brush down from her scalp to the ends of her hair. Surprisingly, Adora's hair only came halfway between her elbows and shoulders. Maybe she'd kept on top of keeping it cut?

Catra shook her head. She separated the hair into three separate chunks. She brought the left over the middle, then right over the left, then the middle over the right and so forth until she had a smooth, but loose, braid. She lowered it gently to the bed, ghosting her hand above Adora's head.

God, she so desperately wanted to stroke her bangs away, whispering sweet nothings to wake her up... like she used to before all of this shit kicked off.

A few hours later, after Catra had taken a quick nap to replenish her energy, she handed the paper to Sparkles and Arrows. "Why you? I thought Scorpia was supposed to bring the ice twig?" Arrows asked. Catra shrugged roughly. "I dunno. She's not answering me. I'm assuming she's not," She resisted the urge to squeeze her arms and fold away. Sparkles noticed. "Well... she's trying to rebuild her kingdom. It's gonna take some time," She smiled. Catra looked away. "Adora doesn't have time," She snapped. Sparkles sighed softly. "I know... which is why I'll do the Northern Reach and Crimson Waste," She said. "Now I've got the full connection to the Moonstone, I can easily teleport there and back,"

Arrows nodded. "I'll do Alwyn, and then the crystal castle," Catra frowned. "But I'm doing the castle," She said. Arrows nodded. "I know. But the castle can be temperamental at the best of times. If we get more than we need, so what? The better chances at Adora recovering, I say," He smiled. Catra stood. "Let's go then. We have less than nine hours. We have to get this done and to magic lady as soon as possible," She said, shrugging on her bag. Adora, on their last endeavour in which Catra broke her wrist, had insisted on her taking a small bag with her, full of emergency first aid supplies. Catra noticed when Adora didn't bring one.

"We don't come back until we have everything. We reconvene here at five, with, the ingredients," She said. Sparkles nodded and disappeared into a cloud of pink dust. Arrows sighed softly. "She'll be ok... we'll get her back," Catra didn't answer him immediately. She walked to the door instead, pausing. "You know what we used to say in the Horde?" She asked over her shoulder. Arrows shook his head. "You shouldn't say things you can't commit to,"

Five pm rolled around too quickly, for Catra's liking. She'd managed to break into the castle, what with Light Hope being gone now, and steal enough crystals of varying shapes, sizes and colours. Arrows was the first one back, therefore the first one on Adora watch. Magic lady had come back briefly to gather the rest of the ingredients. "Glimmer will meet me at Mystacor to brew the antidote," She'd said. "There is nothing else you can do for her," She stared deep into Catra's eyes. Of course, Catra countered her stare cooly. "I would get some sleep while you can. There isn't anything, anybody can do for her. Not right now,"

Catra told Arrows to rest first, that she'd take the first watch. Arrows was hesitant until she hissed at him. And so, several hours after her shift was finished, Catra remained by Adora's bedside, watching her breathe slowly. She rebraided her hair as well. "You'd love this evening," She commented. "You used to love sneaking up to the roof back in the Fright Zone to watch the sunset and the moon rise," Catra smiled at the fond memory. "Even when you le-" She faltered. "After everything changed..." She amended. "I used to go up there every night still. Probably pissed Shadow Weaver off to no extent," Catra looped the hair tie around the bottom of the braid.

She hesitantly reached out to a stray hair. "I need you to get better again... so we can do that... but," She sighed. "As us... the new us,"

Catra watched her closely, begging for some kind of acknowledgement.
Adora remained asleep.