Always Forever (Catradora)

Chapter Seventeen

Footsteps pattered against the tile-flooring: a gentle reminder that even through the vacant void of night... creatures resided and thrived within the buildings that stood there. A hand raised, placed to the wall in a self-comforting manner... breath uneven and filled to the last bit with excitement. Maybe even with a bit of fear.

"Careful, careful," the child mumbled to themselves. The sound of their own voice tumbled from the depths of their mouth and spiraled out into an empty meaning. Nothing... no one could hear it but them. No one needed to but them.

The way out of the building was simple enough... no one expected a child to know how to unlock a door... to understand the concept of something being locked.

Adi's hand rested upon the handle as their other clicked the lock open. Then, they creaked the door open, allowing the noise to echo and bounce off the corridors of the building. The wind crept past them and drifted through their waves of dark, luscious locks. Long and in the way. Momentarily, they closed their eyes and took a deep breath in.

"Careful, careful," they repeated, allowing their green-hued eyes to flutter open.  Adi hesitated... then, they disappeared into the night.

Adora

A narrowed expression swept itself across Adora's face. Without any reasoning... without any thought, she launched herself at Glimmer and latched her hand onto the other's shirt. With gritted teeth, she pulled Glimmer close to her own face. "What do you mean, what happened?" Her tone was low and dangerous, it took everything to keep it from cracking.

Glimmer's expression struggled for a moment, as if deciding whether or not it was truly a good idea to tell the other what had happened. She gave a short blink before teleporting out of Adora's grip. Then, she let out a frustrated sigh. "We were just going into town and all, Y'know? T-there was this person and they..." Glimmer trailed off absently as an annoyed expression split across Adora's face.

"They what?? We clearly don't have time for this!" She exclaimed, throwing her arms in the air as Glimmer winced.

"It's kind of hard to explain but... the person grabbed onto her and opened this..." Glimmer seemed to be struggling to explain what she saw. Her face went to a deadpan. "I think they opened a portal and they brought Catra through it... I have no idea where she is..." Glimmer sounded like the most miserable creature on the planet as she gazed down.

The words... they almost didn't seem to register with Adora. Her eyes had gone blank and her breaths had shallowed. Her hands, shaking slightly as she gritted her teeth. "No... no there has to be a way!" She spat, a sudden fire igniting in her gaze as she whipped around on the two. "Entrapta... Xeva! They have to know something, right?? Xeva knows everything and Entrapta is a supposed genius! Yes, that's it!" Adora beamed, as if proud that her brain could come up with such a great plan.

That's when Glimmer looked a bit uncomfortable. "Adora..." she hesitated as Adora gave a tilted head in the other's direction.

"Xeva was the one who took her..."

Catra

Catra's eyes shot open, her body lurching itself out of the bed she currently resided in and her claws latching themselves to the nearest object. Which happened to be the bedsheets.

Her eyes slitted as she gazed around, trying to make sense of the events that had just transpired. She'd been... in her room with Shadow Weaver... no... it'd been someone else entirely... calm... she took a deep breath in and ran a hand through her messy hair.