Chapter Text
Nothing on the planet seemed to know it was supposed to be finished. Distant structures were just visible through the haze, still standing long after their builders had vanished, their angles too precise to belong to the landscape. Gray dust lifted in soft swirls around Adora’s boots as the wind moved over the surface, carrying a faint metallic taste through the thin air.
Catra stood a few steps ahead, her posture loose but alert, her pulled-up hair even more wild than usual as it grazed over the collar of her suit. She stared into the distance and her ears angled forward. “See that?”
Adora followed her gaze. On the horizon a tilting spire of dark alloy jutted from the gray surface like a snapped bone, unmistakably a remnant of Horde Prime. There were also the remains of structures built from carved crystal shards, their facets catching the diffused light in pale, fractured rainbows.
“First Ones,” Adora said, already moving closer.
“Great.” Catra fell into step beside her. “Ancient First Ones tech. Historically one of our safest hobbies.”
Adora grinned. “Still better than the place Entrapta picked with the acid rain.”
The ruins grew larger as they approached. Grit skittered across crystal surfaces and loosened fragments clicked softly. Adora dropped into a crouch beside a half-buried pillar, stood again almost immediately when something farther ahead caught her eye, then braced one hand against a broken ledge and swung herself across a narrow gap.
“Just looking,” she called back.
“Somehow, just looking always ends with you on top of the ruins.”
Adora turned, walking backward now. “Yet you always come with me.”
“Yeah. Weird.” Catra’s mouth had curved at one corner.
Adora smiled and turned forward again just before Catra said, “Left.”
Adora shifted left without looking. A fractured slab dropped away beneath the dust where her next step would have landed.
“I saw that.”
“Sure you did.”
They’d crossed enough dead worlds together that she knew when Catra would shift and Catra knew where Adora would reach. The terrain narrowed between two tilted sections of crystal. Adora crossed first, then extended a hand behind her without thinking. Catra caught it just as automatically.
Adora stopped and ran a finger along the faded symbols. “These channels probably carried energy through the whole structure.”
Catra leaned over her shoulder. “Probably?”
Adora crouched and swept a careful hand across the surface, brushing dust from the markings with an amount of archaeological seriousness she had no actual qualifications to justify. “I know what I’m talking about.”
“You once told me a First Ones door was definitely a map.”
“It was shaped like a map.”
“It opened.”
“Eventually.” Adora glanced back at her.
Catra wasn’t looking at the markings at all, just at her. She shifted closer as Adora bent toward the channels again. Her tail brushed once across the back of Adora’s leg before curling away. Adora tucked a flyaway piece of Catra’s hair behind her ear.
The symbols were degraded enough that Adora could only make out fragments. She studied them carefully. A soft blur passed through her peripheral vision. She instinctively caught the water pouch Catra had tossed her way.
“Drink.”
“I wasn’t…” She stopped. Now that Catra had mentioned it, her mouth was dry and the metallic taste of the air had settled unpleasantly on her tongue. “Okay, maybe a little.”
“Mm-hmm.”
Adora took a long drink and handed the pouch back. “How do you always do that?”
“Do what?”
“Know I’m thirsty before I do.”
Catra shrugged and hooked the pouch back onto her belt. “You get distracted.”
“I do not.”
“You’ve been staring at the same wall for five minutes.”
“It’s an interesting wall.”
“Sure it is.”
There was enough amusement in Catra’s voice that Adora looked over again. Her eyes were warm despite the exaggerated boredom on her face. Adora bumped her shoulder deliberately. Catra bumped her back harder.
“Hey.”
“What?”
Adora smiled and turned toward the next section of wall. That was when she noticed the seam. At first she thought it was another break in the crystal. Then the angle caught the light differently. It was too dark, too flat, a strip of metal cutting through the pale First Ones structure where nothing like it should have been.
Adora stepped closer. Once she saw it, the grafting became impossible to miss. Thick black cables had been fused into the next piece of First Ones crystal. Prime hadn’t simply built over the ruins. His machinery had been worked into them. “We haven't seen this before.”
Catra’s hand settled briefly against the middle of her back as she leaned past Adora to look. “Not like this.”
Adora followed one of the cables across the wall and down toward the center of the ruins. There, half-sunk into the ground, was something she understood. A circular platform, broad and crystalline, its shape immediately reminding her of an oversized First Ones data crystal. Dust coated most of its surface, but beneath it, the material still held a faint sheen. Thin geometric channels divided the disc, converging around a cluster of worn symbols at its center. One side had been crudely reinforced with a stark metal structure and thick cables.
Adora spotted the faded markings and her interest sharpened. “I think I can read some of that.”
“Of course you do.”
Adora was already crossing the uneven ground. She stepped onto the edge of the platform and crouched for a better look.
Catra followed at a more leisurely pace, climbing up beside her. Her hand came to rest on Adora’s shoulder as they looked down at the markings together.
As Adora moved into the center, the symbol beneath her foot lit up. Light spread out through the channels to the edges of the circular platform. The metal structure grafted along one side powered up, ancient machinery grinding to life after centuries of dormancy.
“Adora.”
“I didn't do anything.”
A beam of pale light emerged from the structure. It passed over them. Nothing happened to Catra.
Every vein in Adora’s body lit up with an erratic flickering pale green, branching through her arms and legs, visible even through the material of her suit and tracing pale lines beneath her face.
The floor suddenly tilted and her vision tunneled. A wave of hollow dizziness swept through her head. Adora reached out blindly and caught herself against Catra.
A broken sound escaped before she could stop it. It was too much all at once, a sensation of wrongness and overload. Static tingling prickled through every limb.
Her heart didn't just speed up. It panicked. It slammed against her ribs hard enough that she could feel every beat.
Catra wound an arm firmly around her waist, supporting her.
The pale light vanished as abruptly as it had appeared.
“I’m okay,” Adora said automatically.
“Do not start with that.”
“I think it was just a scan.”
“You made a sound.”
“It didn’t hurt exactly.” Adora swallowed, waiting for the ground to settle beneath her. “Just like everything in me got pulled the wrong direction.”
“Okay, no, we’re leaving.” Catra was already shifting her weight to support more of Adora’s. “Right now.”
Catra’s eyes were fierce, her hands moving to help her stand. She kept one arm wrapped firmly around her waist as they stepped off the platform, as if Catra could shield her from the ruins themselves. The gray dust swirled around them, the haze pressing close. Beyond the ruins, Prime’s tilting spire still leaned against the sky.
For the first few steps, Adora was grateful for Catra’s arm around her. The ground still seemed to shift half a second after she did, and every movement sent another hard beat of her pulse through her chest. She kept her eyes on the path ahead, breathing slowly until the gray horizon stopped sliding at the edges.
Catra adjusted automatically whenever her weight tipped too far into her. “You good?”
“Getting there.” It was true. By the time they cleared the worst of the broken crystal, the hollow feeling in Adora’s head had started to recede. Her heartbeat was still faster than it should have been, but no longer battering against her ribs. The strange sensation of being pulled apart from the inside was gone. She straightened a little and Catra’s grip tightened. “I can walk.”
“You are walking.”
“I mean without you holding me up.”
“Interesting theory.”
Adora shot her a look, which would have been more effective if she hadn’t immediately had to watch where she put her feet.
A few minutes later, she realized she was leaning on Catra less. The distant spire stayed where it belonged. Her pulse had settled into something merely noticeable.
By the time the ship came into view through the haze, embarrassment had started to replace her fear. She had practically folded into Catra over a scan. A very weird scan, admittedly, but still. Adora eased herself away. Catra let her go, though not without watching closely.
Adora walked the rest of the way under her own power. She climbed the ramp without dizziness. That helped.
Inside, the outer hatch sealed behind them and the planet disappeared. Warm air moved across her face as the ship's familiar vibration came up through her boots, low and steady. The standard sequence of control pulses ran through the walls as the airlock cycled.
Adora tugged at the seal of her suit. She pulled one arm free and reached for the data pad clipped beside the storage rack. “I’m starting the log.”
“I can see that.”
Catra stripped off her own gloves and dropped them onto the bench. Adora was already tapping through the mission template. “Site coordinates, atmospheric conditions, technology classification.”
“Medical check.”
Adora finally looked up. “I feel almost normal.”
“That word is doing a lot of work.” Catra stared at her.
Adora sighed. “Can I at least get out of this first?”
“You can do both.”
Adora surrendered the data pad long enough to peel the rest of the suit off and hang it in the rack. Without the heavier material around her, she felt oddly light, a little tired, maybe. The violent dizziness was gone. She picked the data pad back up.
Catra intercepted her before she made it off the bridge. “No.”
Adora blinked. “No what?”
“No pretending we're already on the next thing.”
“I’m finishing the log.”
“Great. You've got plenty of time.” Catra turned toward the central console. “Darla, medical check on Adora.”
Adora groaned.
The ship chirped pleasantly. Then the display populated. Inflammation, temperature and pulse were all green just edging toward amber.
Catra did not look convinced. “They’re elevated.”
“Barely. If something was actually wrong, Darla would flash an alert.”
Catra narrowed her eyes at the display as if she could intimidate the numbers into explaining themselves.
Adora nudged her shoulder. “Hey.”
Catra looked over.
“I’m okay.” This time the words felt less automatic. Her head was clear. Her pulse had settled. The floor was staying exactly where it belonged.
Catra exhaled through her nose. “That means you drink, eat and we check again later.”
Adora opened her mouth to argue, thought better of it, and reclaimed the data pad. “Can I finish my log?”
Catra stepped aside with exaggerated generosity. “Go wild.”
Adora dropped into the pilot chair and reopened the mission report. Soon, a bowl of rehydrated rations appeared at her elbow. It was Catra’s usual flavor, not hers, which meant Catra had grabbed the first two packets within reach while pretending she hadn’t been hovering.
Catra leaned against the chair with her shoulder pressed lightly to Adora’s as they ate.
Adora scrolled back through the report.
“Unknown hybrid interface activated on contact,” Catra read over her shoulder. “That’s one way to say it.”
“What would you put?”
“Adora stepped on something and immediately almost fell over.”
Adora laughed. “Very scientific.”
“Accurate.”
“I did not almost fall over.”
Catra turned her head slowly. “You were hanging off me.”
“I recovered.”
“It was weird.” Catra’s voice dropped. “You don’t make weird sounds.”
Adora nudged her shoulder. “I’m allowed one weird noise when ancient technology lights up my entire circulatory system.”
Catra didn’t laugh.
Adora looked over. Catra was still staring at the report. She bumped Catra’s shoulder again, gentler this time. “Hey. Darla said I’m fine.”
“Darla said you’re off your baseline.”
“That is basically ship language for fine.”
Catra’s ears tipped back.
Adora smiled. “You worried?”
“I’m deciding how annoying I’m going to be about this.”
“That sounds like worrying with extra steps.”
That got the smallest twitch at the corner of Catra’s mouth. Catra took both empty bowls. “Finish the log.” She flicked the tip of her tail against her shoulder on the way out.
Adora grinned and finished typing. The ship had settled fully into cruise. The reverberation of the engines ran through the deck beneath her. Soft pulses moved across the controls as Darla adjusted course, familiar enough that she barely registered them anymore.
She pushed herself out of the chair. As she straightened, the edge of her vision blurred just slightly. It cleared with two blinks. She headed toward the storage alcove in the rear corner of the bridge.
Her boots were kicked beneath their usual bench. Above them, a shelf held the accumulated debris of too many missions, including the tiny plant Perfuma had insisted on. After its third fall during turbulence, Catra had tied the pot down with cargo cord.
Her staff leaned in its usual place against the wall. She picked it up and extended it with a flick. The weight settled into her hands exactly as it always did.
Adora stepped into the open stretch of floor and moved through the first sequence automatically. Thrust. Strike. Pivot. The staff cut through the air with a familiar whir.
She dipped low into the next turn. When she came back up, a quick hollow swoop passed through her head. Her fingers trembled when she reset her grip. She planted her feet until it cleared. Probably adrenaline wearing off. She’d felt that plenty of times after other high-stakes missions.
The door behind her opened with a soft whoosh and Catra padded through. Her eyes flicked toward the staff. Adora stowed it and headed toward the main console.
She pulled up their route. “We’ll be at the supply station by tomorrow morning, just like we planned.” The route spread across the display in a web of thin lines, old stops still marked around it, places they had surveyed or resupplied.
Catra pointed to the shorter route. “We go through here.”
“That burns more fuel.”
“It saves two hours.”
“I’m not burning through the reserve just to save two hours.”
Catra’s ears flattened slightly, the left more than the right, the tell that she was worried about something and pretending not to be. “It’s more scenic.”
“Scenic? You once called a nebula aggressively purple and refused to look out the viewport for three hours.”
Catra let out an abrupt laugh. Adora joined in, and whatever edge had started to creep into the argument disappeared before it had anywhere to go.
“Fine,” Catra said. “Your boring responsible route.”
They finished setting the route and retreated to the blanket-draped bench to read. Catra stretched out first and dropped both feet into Adora’s lap. Adora rested one hand on Catra’s ankle without looking up from her book on map-making techniques.
For a while, the ship was quiet except for the turn of pages and the low vibration of the engines. When Adora stood to get another book, the room shifted and she caught herself on the console. It passed almost immediately. A gravity glitch, probably.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, just a ship adjustment.”
She pushed away from the console and crossed the rest of the cabin without trouble. When she sat back down, Catra tucked her feet beneath herself instead of putting them back in her lap.
They read until Adora yawned wide enough to make her eyes water.
Catra lowered her book. “Bed.”
“It’s not that late.”
“You nearly dislocated your jaw with that yawn.”
Adora slid off the bench, standing carefully, and they headed off the bridge. The original bunkroom had become storage long ago. The room that had once been the brig had turned into theirs instead. One shelf had started as hers and slowly become shared because Catra kept putting things there. She dropped her hair tie beside Catra’s and readied to sleep.
They curled together in the bed with the ship rumbling softly around them. All the emptiness outside the ship was made bearable by warmth and breath and fur and skin and each other. Catra wrapped around her because that's what she always did. “You’re still a little warm.”
“Darla wasn’t worried.”
Catra made a quiet sound that suggested she had opinions about that answer.
Adora smiled into her pillow. Within minutes, she was asleep. She slept hard.
Adora normally woke first, but Catra was already up when she surfaced. She blamed the long survey. Her joints were a little stiff when she got out of bed. The room gave one small sway as she straightened, gone before she’d finished rolling her shoulders. “Morning.”
“Morning.” Catra’s eyes flicked straight to her. “Darla, medical check on Adora.”
“I literally just opened my eyes.”
“And now you’re literally going to stand there for two seconds.”
She sighed. The display showed the same slight elevation. “See? No worse.”
Catra folded her arms. “No better either.”
“It hasn’t even been a day.”
“Exactly.”
They stared at each other.
“Is that supposed to prove your point or mine?”
“I haven’t decided yet.”
Adora laughed and bumped her hip against Catra’s on the way toward the washroom.
Adora pulled back her hair and washed her face. She reached for a dropped hand towel. When she stood back up, everything spun a bit. For a second, the lights seemed to bleed together into a single blinding streak. She gripped the sink as it steadied again. That was odd, but she probably just needed to drink more water.
