Come Hope From the Past

7. A Lead

Adora had struggled to untangle herself from Catra and was helped up by both the brunette and Melog. Catra kept trying to attribute the deep red blush to adrenaline and the collision, but everyone knew it had been because of something else. Everyone but Adora, that was, for the latter had her eyes clouded by pain and exhaustion. Carefully, Catra managed to take Adora into her arms and carried her back to the shuttle. It should not have been possible, Catra was positive she had not had enough strength to carry Adora. And yet here she was. Adora's hot breath on her neck working as the fuel propelling the steam-powered pistons that moved her body.

Once Adora was safely deposited onto her makeshift bed, Catra did not leave her side. Glimmer and Bow just watched Catra's vigil from afar, unsure as to what to say and how to act. But everyone just hoped for two things: the first was that Adora would soon recover, the second, was that they would somehow find a way to sort at least half of their problems once the sun came up. While Melog kept a silent guard by the door, Glimmer and Bow drifted off to what seemed to drift to an uneasy sleep.

Once Catra made sure they had done so, and with Adora passed out, she let herself have this one moment of peace and quiet. The day had been a long one, and too emotionally charged for her to deal with it. Sometimes Catra was amazed at how her feelings made her physically tired. She of all people thought she deserved a rested body at least given the state of her mind. But on the other hand, perhaps this existential exhaustion was her way of paying for everything she had done until she started properly fixing her mistakes... But today had been too long, and she needed some sort of comfort that things would turn out fine in the end.

Catra didn't notice herself stroking Adora's arm at first. She must've been doing it involuntarily, and at the realisation, she froze in place. To this, Adora, sound asleep for once, reacted by carefully taking Catra's hand and enveloping it in her own broken ones. At that, Catra felt herself blush and could not stop the purr that came once she allowed herself to relax. After that, it didn't take long for Catra to fall asleep.

The next morning, Catra woke up to hushed whispers. Suddenly hyper-aware of the warmth beneath her, Catra bolted upright and away from Adora, whose thighs had served as Catra's pillows for the night. Catra heard Bow try to muffle a chuckle, it only served for her tail to flicker more aggressively from side to side. Adora had woken as well, as Catra turned to briefly face her, she could not help herself but think endearingly of the blonde.

Bow cleared his throat and suppressed yet another laugh when he looked at Catra. He opted to avoid looking at the brunette. "So, uh... I was thinking..."

Catra wondered why they were acting up like they were. Soon, this mental query was answered by Glimmer's giggle, followed by "I'm sorry, Catra, but you've got to try to tame that hair of yours, it's sticking up." Catra proceeded to quickly try to flatten her mane and tried to avert both their eyes.

"Well, uh, I meant to tell you that I have been working since early in the morning and I have good news," said Bow as if trying to disperse the awkwardness in the air. "Well, first I was going to suggest we move the shuttle." When he caught a glance at Catra's expression, he quickly added. "Or at least hide it. I'm surprised the Earthlings haven't found it already. It's not safe to have it out in the open like this."

"Okay... Sure?" said Catra, not really seeing the point of hiding it now. They had been in the scorched meadow for three weeks now and they had only been visited by bugs and the rare small animal. There was no sign of intelligent life, so really, it seemed like a waste of time and energy. Still, it seemed like the pair of them had already come to a decision and they would not be open to suggestions.

"Okay, great!" proclaimed with a smile. "Now, to the good news. I've found small traces of magic on this planet. At first, we thought it was just you guys, but after calibrating my tracker pad to She-Ra's and Melog's magic, I found infinitely small amounts of magic. This morning I've finally found a way to make the pad track it. I also used echolocation to have a rough estimate of what the terrain is like, but I have the feeling that it's not very... accurate..."