Forever Fallen (Catra x OC She-Ra Fanfic)

6. Fireflies

"How are you settling in?" Came a voice from the doorway and Harley turned to find Scorpia, a circular bot rolling around behind her in the corridor like a labrador.

Harley smiled, patting dust off of her new uniform, "Pretty good! My head wound's starting to heal up and I've got somewhere to sleep that isn't the ground now!"

Harley had been given a uniform from Catra, courtesy of Hordak. It was the only time she had seen Catra in the last two days that Harley had been working with The Horde and every time she tried to talk, Catra had just walked off and said that she had work to do, which she probably did but it still upset Harley. She wanted to show Catra that she was trustworthy and that she could rely on her if she needed to.

The girl studied her reflection in the stubby mirror above her wash basin. She looked different now, now that she had a purpose. There was a certain colour and vibrancy to her skin that she wasn't used to and a gleam in her eye that she hadn't seen for years, not since she left school. She had been occupying her time a lot more with her work and with Hordak-- well, not necessarily with Hordak, he supplied her with what he wanted and then sent her away to get it done on her own. The first night they had worked together, but ever since, Hordak had shielded himself away from the rest of the world in his sanctum and only contacted Harley from a tablet. Though, she had heard that Catra was the only one allowed inside.

Her new uniform wasn't exactly unlike all the other Horde uniforms she'd seen but it certainly was unique to her. Her shirt was a battleship grey colour with a small, shining red Horde symbol above her right breast and a black collar, but her trousers were the ordinary dark green-black slacks worn by most other soldiers.

"Hey, have you seen Catra?" Harley asked, turning around to meet Scorpia's eyes and the force captain hummed, her brows kneading together with worry.

"Not since yesterday. She uh... She's been really stressed lately," Scorpia informed Harley, stepping to the side to reveal her puppy-like robot that stared up at Harley from its. one violet eye and that's when the girl noticed the gnarly scratch along the face of the bot, "Emily woke her up from a nightmare yesterday. Wildcat's been struggling with those a lot ever since she-- I mean, she's been struggling with them for a while."

Harley nodded, noting the hesitation in Scorpia's words but didn't press any further.

"So you and Catra are heading out to the forward base later, you excited?" Scorpia beamed and Harley shrugged.

"I guess. I'm excited as I can be for work but..." Harley trailed off, her thoughts drifting to Catra.

She may not have been particularly excited about typing up a bunch of code and implementing it, but she sure as hell was excited about spending time with Catra.

There were heavy footsteps behind her-- thunk, thunk-- and Harley spun around, her eyes following the bot as it hid behind the girl's bed.

"Uh... Scorpia, is... Emily alright, she--?" Harley started but was cut off by a voice from the doorway.

"Princess", and Harley whirled around, smiling broadly at Catra who watched the girls wearily and vacantly from the doorway.

'Speak of the devil and she shall appear', Harley thought.

"Catra! Hey, how are you? Did you need help loading that new shipment--?" Scorpia spoke up, trying to get Catra's attention.

"Yes, Scorpia, go deal with the new shipment, I need to talk with the princess," Catra hissed, sending a withering glare in Scorpia's direction.

Scorpia chuckled and saluted Catra, patting her on the back as Catra's shoulders reared up and her ears flattened to the sides of her head before she marched out, Emily sneaking around the room behind her.