Yearning, Learning - [Catradora Drabbles] [Returns 09/29/23]

24 - Acceptance

While Adora and Mermista discuss the situation, Catra stays inside the hotel room, gaze cast at the water as she contemplates the past. The reasonable side of her tells her there's a logical explanation behind it; on the other hand, the more anxious side of her fears karma might be behind this. She starts to think back on all the things she could've done differently, and wonders if the past is beginning to bite back at her now. Breathing in, she tries to find a more balanced mindset and chooses to distract herself by joining her wife and her friend out in the hallway.

"So you think it might be coincidental, then?" she hears Adora say, voice becoming clearer once she opens the door and leaves the room.

"I'd say both could be possible," Mermista replies, crossing her arms. Her face scrunches up and her eyebrows furrow. A sigh leaves her mouth and she tries to hide a frown. "The janitor said the room wasn't like this the last time it was her turn to clean it, so…" She trails off and looks up; her gaze follows a school of fish making their way to the top, searching for the light shining above them. It's an oddity to see the sun shining bright and the water still fresh and clear on this side of the hotel, though it makes more sense when Catra follows the woman's eyes and sees her frown at the cloud of pollution slowly making its way here. "We shouldn't really brush off either of those possibilities. Coincidence or sabotage, we need to act fast if we don't want this to keep on spreading."

Catra’s chest shudders as she huffs. She tries not to let her mind get carried away into the future, yet it's near impossible to do. There's already plenty of scenarios running wild in her mind, going this way and that when she decides to make up different solutions for each one of them. She doesn't want to worry Adora further, and much less on their anniversary, so she stays quiet and continues to watch by the sidelines while her wife and her friend work with the situation.

"Is there anything I could do to speed the process up a bit more?" she asks, worry fueling her courage to speak up. "O- Or…" Her hands clench and her throat turns dry. "Or any way I could prevent anything big from happening?" Catra's legs shake and she flinches when she feels a few cold tears rush down her face. "I-"

"Of course you can," Mermista says, intervening while Adora approaches her side. 

She places a hand against Catra's cheek and smiles at her, made saddened by the teary look in her eyes. "But try not to worry so much about it, alright? We still need to find leads before we go anywhere else with this." Adora rubs her thumb against her cheek and soothes her back into calm; a few tears leave her eyes when she blinks, making Catra step in by wiping one away with a kiss. "Seeing you cry makes me wanna cry, too."

Catra chuckles and brings her closer. "Is that why you cried at least ten times at our wedding?" she asks, grinning.

"Only three times, mind you," Adora replies, nudging her waist. "The other seven times were because of how cute everything was." She then fakes anger as she adds. "And you cried at least three times yourself, so don't you dare try to wiggle yourself out of this one!"

"I won't," Catra says, letting her tears run free the moment Adora hugs her, tight enough to squeeze all the worry and fear out of her body.

"Good."

• • •

I took a few sick days, plus I'm in the process of moving out, so this was meant to be last Friday's update. As a result, expect an extra update on Sunday to make up for it!