Chapter Text
“Hey, wait for me!”
“Catch me if you can, slowpoke!”
Footsteps raced through the halls, around the bend, then under the staircase just before entering the dormitory. Adora paused, leaning over her knees to catch her breath, frowning. “It’s not fair! You always *huff * run faster than me!”
Catra grinned, walking back to her friend triumphantly. “That’s exactly why it’s fair! And fun.” she proclaimed, leaning over her own knees to mimic her tired stance.
Adora scrunched her face, then got up, already pulling herself into another sprint. “Race you down the hall again! Bet you I’ll win this time.”
Catra stood in brief shock before scowling, chasing after her. “Hey, that’s cheating! Who’s being unfair now?!”
The girls continued their race through the foster facility, giggling and laughing as they pushed through groups of other kids in their own conversations. It had always been like this with the two of them, stuck in their own little world, much to everyone else’s displeasure; though they'd decided it never bothered either of them much.
Catra whipped around the next bend, eager to win again, before suddenly feeling a shove into a dark cloak. The laughing stopped as the two looked up to meet a seething expression, Adora slowing down just behind her, full of fear.
Of all the words Adora could’ve then thought of to describe their caretaker, benevolent had never been one of them. She recalled this now as she watched Shadow Weaver crouch down to meet Catra’s reluctant eyes, gently brushing a strand of her hair behind her ear before yanking it forward.
“Insolence, child…you best learn the difference between that and respect and watch where you’re going… ” she said in a warning tone, her words drawing out like knives that could cut through both of them in an instant.
Shadow Weaver turned to look at Adora, causing her to tense up. She never really knew why her caretaker treated her the way she had compared to Catra. They had practically grown up together, yet all the threats and empty violence received by her companion never seemed to once cross her own line of fortune. However, that didn’t mean she was completely immune to the sorceress’s ill treatment.
“Adora…” she began, walking closer to tuck her hair behind her ear, just as she had Catra’s, same gentle nature, same preciseness that made her eerie, “...remember the rules of this house…no running in the halls. And please, for your own sake, do not disappoint me… ”
Adora said nothing, and she walked off, slowly, yet confidently, into another room. She held her breath for five seconds before she released it, guaranteeing she was truly gone and not lurking around someplace. She turned to face Catra, who now no longer looked her in the eye. Adora started to worry.
“Catra..? Are you okay?” she asked, trying to mask the concern in her voice as she reached out to touch her arm, feeling her head raise instantly. Catra yanked it away, shaking. Adora could’ve almost sworn she was crying, although surely she must’ve doubted herself; she’d never witnessed anything like that after events like this happened.
Catra’s expression turned angry, staring Death herself into Adora before gripping both sides of her head, screaming out. Adora stirred, about to grab her before suddenly, Catra stopped, taking a deep sigh before speaking coldly under her breath: “We’re running away tonight.”
Adora paused, looking at her completely bewildered. “What?!”
Her friend paused, staring at the ground before glancing back at her once more. Her look of hatred was replaced by one of raw determination as she grasped Adora’s hands, clasping them in her own.
“Let’s run away from here, Adora.”
The hallway grew cold again, no longer filled with the heat of their laughter nor the warmth of the skin that now met her own. Her breath grew cold, too, though the spiders in her stomach remained, feeling more itchy and tiresome than ever before. She hesitated, glancing at their wrists.
“Run away…?” she repeated, as if trying to grasp the gravity of the situation she was now presented with. Her heart sank, out of anxiety or thrill, only time would know.
Catra looked at her a bit longer, her face twisting into something resembling disgust before warping itself into that of concern.
“...Yeah, run away,” she said solemnly, less bold than before as she drew her hand back into her chest, crossing her arms. “...I just thought it would be better out there, y’know, for the two of us, together.”
She quickly turned back to the ground, her cheeks tinting a hint of red before she scoffed, grimacing. “It was a stupid idea, never mind. Just forget I ever said anything.”
It took more than a brief moment before Adora could realize she’d reached out, grabbing Catra’s hands as she pulled them back into her own. “No.”
Catra stirred, her ears perking up. “No?”
“It’s not stupid.” Adora resolved, her own look of determination forming as she squeezed her hands even tighter, practically willing them to stay. “Let’s do it, Catra. Let’s run away.”
Catra glanced at their hands, then back up at her with a look of pure admiration, her heterochromic eyes reflecting like stars against the cool air of the space surrounding them, like they were the only two in existence again. Adora stared back at her curiously for a few moments before releasing her hands, smiling at the girl who stood before her just as she had a million times before. Only it was different now, she knew that. She was sure Catra knew it too, in this familiar, unspoken silence of theirs. She always had.
Things would be different for a very long time.
It hadn’t taken long for Catra and Adora to gather what little belongings they had from the orphanage, even with the rain. In fact, they’d determined Shadow Weaver would barely notice anything missing in the first place, with the hundred or so orphans under her ward. All they truly had to their name were Catra’s sketchbook and Adora’s old story books of chivalry, neither of which would be of any importance to them in the future. Still, they thought it worthwhile to take something of their never-home with them to their new life.
It wasn’t until they’d made it outside that they’d realized just how different things would be. The thought had echoed through either's mind like a pulse as they packed, haunting them as silent whispers. Only slivers of words barely conceived into thought crept into Adora's lungs, clearing the path from her neck to her brain before settling in her throat, solemn.
“...We can’t stay together, Catra.” Adora began, her voice barely above a whisper as she croaked under the weight of her own words, standing under the moonlit drizzles that parted her hair from its usual combed poof style. If only that were the most undoing thing about the night as it lasted on.
Catra froze, unmoving as she clenched her fists, screaming at the world as she dropped her things onto the wet cobblestone road. She said nothing at first until her own voice began to crack. “I know.”
The two of them stood in the silence of the storm again, and suddenly, the chills of the hallway hadn’t seemed nearly as horrid.
Regardless, both of them knew Adora was right. The truth persisted louder in the back of their minds as they’d crawled out the window just as it had once they’d crept past Shadow Weaver’s quarters, even as it had when they’d first decided it. They’d have a higher chance of moving to a better life if they could be separated from each other. As children, they couldn’t survive on their own, and as a pair, they may be less likely to find assistance or shelter from anyone willing to take care of them. They had no choice; it was for the best- separation.
But Adora wasn’t ready to admit that, not yet. Not if it meant losing the one thing in this world that truly meant something to her, let alone Catra. It could’ve been anything but Catra. She felt her breath catch in her throat again as she rose herself to speak once more. “...Maybe we don’t have to split up. Someone could take us in, even if it’s the two of us. There’s a castle not far from here, maybe someone there could help, give us a job at least, or something. There’s another way, there has to be another way if–”
“There isn’t, Adora.” Catra responded flatly, as if she couldn’t stomach the words herself. “You were right, as much as I hate that you were. There’s a reason we were left behind in that awful dump for so long in the first place. We have to split up.”
More increasingly dreaded silence passed, consuming the oxygen in either of their lungs preventing them from even trying to form a passive thought about their decision. They stood for what felt like an eternity before Catra sighed, gripping her things again as she started to walk away, her path betrayed by her hesitance in motion.
“Wait!” Adora screamed out, the word being ripped from her throat before she could stop it, desperately reaching out for her. Catra stopped, listening as she continued. “...let’s make a promise, then.”
“A promise?” Catra paused, intrigued.
Adora took another deep breath, still shaken by her nerves and the spiders that now consumed her brain. “...yes. A promise, that no matter what happens,” another rattling sigh, “we’ll find each other. Once we’ve gotten a better life, once we’re in better positions, a promise that we’ll come together again, no matter what.”
Catra silently gasped, her mouth lowering agape before a hint of something more, something unfamiliar graced her eyes, though not unwelcome. It was something hopeful.
She took a moment to process, tears forming in the corner of her eye before she collided into Adora, squeezing her tighter than she ever had as if she, too, was afraid they’d both disappear the second they’d accepted anything.
“I promise.” she uttered in a muffled tone, burying her face into Adora’s shoulder before death-gripping her even further.
“...promise you’ll find me?” Catra whispered, her voice strained again as a reluctant tear trickled down her cheek, stinging the both of them.
Adora resumed her determined expression from the hallway, returning Catra’s embrace with just as much fervor. “I promise.”
It had only lasted a few minutes, but for them, the two could’ve spent a lifetime like that, simply clasping each other into the night, just shy of the unknown. Only it ended far before that lifetime could come, Catra already pulling away from Adora as she steadied herself, preparing to resume her path.
“...so this is it, huh? I guess this is goodbye for now,” she lapsed, catching the lump in her throat, “ Adora.”
It was at this moment Adora could feel her heart both stop and start at the same time. She sniffled to herself, tears now running freely down her own face just as it had Catra’s. So this was it. They were really doing it, she thought.
They were going to escape, finally free of the sorceress’s wrath, of living in fear. But how were they going to survive without each other?
How was that fear any different than the one they faced now, how could it have even been comparable? Had it been comparable? Was it really worth the cost…?
…still, Adora seized her composure, afraid to let it go even more than she was to let go of Catra. Her breath still trembled, shaking as she replied.
“...Goodbye, Catra.”
She turned around and didn’t look back, not until she could see her friend’s silhouette in the distance, far away from the orphanage.
Things would be better this way, she’d convinced herself, they'd make it out okay.
One day, they'd find each other again, they'd have to, she repeated in her head as she turned the opposite direction towards the castle.
They'd find each other again.
They promised.