On your own. No more pt 2 (catradora)

The Trail home

Bright moon:
(Currently a meeting of the princess alliance, or most of it, was being held.)

Idol chattering could be heard coming from the Bright moon planning room as the princess alliance gathered around the Glowing table. A figure standing from her seat as she cleared her throat. Everyone's chattering silenced as they gave the princess of seagate their full undivided attention.
"It's been almost 10 days since The queen of Bright moon and others of the Best friends squad, has left in search of the Horde prime Ship commandeered by Catra. A horde soldier who is believed to be Dangerous.. That signal they were after had gone out three months prior. The signal on their ship has now gone out and the princess alliance is growing concerned for our fellow princesses and appointed leader" the Guards left in charge and the entire princess alliance members all nod as they gather around the large table, listening to Mermista who was deemed next in charge since Queen Glimmers disappearance. "I move that each of us send out three groups from each Kingdom to search for the lost queen, Adora and tech master Bow. The best friend squat brought us together. Now. It's our turn to bring. Them. HOME! They must be found at all costs. No matter what it takes" Mermista now stood upon the table striking quite the heroic pose, Her foot propped up on Seahawks crying face as he clapped adoringly for his beloveds speech and determination. The other princesses nod in agreement talking amongst eachother deciding how they would send out their search party's. "We need to cover land, sea and air. The oceans and polar caps will be covered by my kingdom and that of Princess Frosta" The young princess grinned excitedly smashing her fist into her palm. "First to find them alive wins!!" The small princess challenged. Entrapta suddenly popped up from underneath the electronic table wrapped in wires and accidentally startling a certain winged Companion sending him jumping into the arms of Huntara. "I'll take the skies!! I've been working on some new drones that can scan over hundreds of miles" Entrapta smiles eager to try out her newest versions of Emily drone. "And I'll go with you. Adora and I have a special connection. I'll be able to Sense her with our, magic bond~" swift wind chimes in with a sing song tune also striking a pose with his wings out heroically. "Huntara, Perfuma and Scorpia.. you take the deserts" Mermista pointed to the three princesses. "Oh this will be great. Going on an adventure. Doing some girl bonding. Finding our friends who might be in mortal danger." Scorpia smiled clapping her claws together as Perfuma gave a nervous smile, pretending to be excited as well "Yes. We shall enjoy many dangers. And cacti. So. Many. Cacti" the feminine princess said, Flinching as a heavy hand handed on her shoulder. "Great. Another bonding trip. How nice" Huntara smirked Upon remembering their last trip into the desert. "Ok princesses. Let's go find The missing queen and our friends!" Mermista pumps her fist in the air, joined by the fists and cheers of the other princesses and a set of large wings.

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Meanwhile: Back in the Blackout Zone (2 weeks later)

For the past week and a half, Adora and Catra had been making trips through the Glowing forest to the other side where the hover ship had crashed, gathering any spare parts and wires that Bow and glimmer could use to Build a makeshift ship or signal device. For now they piled the parts onto a wooden cart that they had made out of  a fallen tree and twisted branches. "We've just about cleared this hunk of junk of all its stupid wires. There's hardly anything left" The feline complained as she wiped sweat from her forehead and tossed a piece of metal into the cart. "Good. This will be the last trip then. Unless Bow wants us to disassemble the entire craft. Hopefully he can just use the scraps of metal from the prime ship.." Adora stood up also wiping her brow giving her grumpy friend a smile. "Let's head back. I'm done picking metal. My hands are beat" Catra said as she walked towards the wagon and took hold of her side of the T shaped handle. Adora nods joining Catra on the other side of the T shaped handle and began to push the heavy cart. After an hour of pushing Adora stopped now huffing as she held onto the handle. "Let's take a break.. I'm so hot I'm gonna pass out. I need a drink. You think you could drag me over to the river and just put my head close to the water" she asked in a jokingly exhausted voice. Catra huffed and rolled her eyes "not a chance. You're so heavy. That'll just be extra work. How about you just lay down and roll to the river it's only afew feet away" Catra said as she walked to the wagon and grabbed the wooden wedge and shoved it under the wheels so that the wagon couldn't roll away as it had done before sending a bunch of wires into the water. Needless to say they had learned their lesson to never just leave the cart unattended after listening to Bow complain about the time it would take to strip and dry the wires. "Honestly thats not a bad idea" the blonde said but instead decided to follow Catra as she began walking towards the river leaving the wagon on the faint yet visible trail they had created on their countless trips back and forth. As they reached the river bank, both girls knelt down and splashed water on their faces before cupping their hands and sipping from their palms. Catra however let out a slight hiss as she submerged her hands into the water, catching Adoras attention as she was mid sip. Dropping her hand full of water, Adora crawled closer to the feline who glanced up at her and tried to hide her hands by lowering them. "Catra.. the metal cut you didn't it" the blonde asked as she gently reached out to The feline, gently taking her hands. "I'm fine. It's nothing" Catra insisted but Adora wasn't buying it as she examined Catras hand. "It's ok. It got me too. See" Adora held up her hand beside Catra showing similar cuts across their palms and fingers. Catra let out a breathy laugh as she looked down at their hands. "Your friends better be able to use this junk. Otherwise this was all a waste of time" Catra says. Pulling her hand away to wash it under the water again. "The water feels better. You should wash those before they get infected" Adora raised a brow at Catras sudden concern for Adoras wellbeing but she did just as Catra had suggested and sighed suddenly noticing how much cooler the water felt in her hands. "When we get back we can rest and patch these properly. For now we can just use my cloak" Catra said as she took off her cloak and tore it into four pieces handing two pieces over to Adora. "Oh. Uh let me tie those for you then you can do me. I-I mean. Wrap my hands. I'll wrap yours first then you know..You, me. Just. Here" Adora says feeling suddenly flustered as she took the strips of cloth and soaked them in the river before taking catras hand and wrapping them around her palms. She couldn't look Catra in the eyes knowing that she had slipped up. And just as she had feared, Catra had heard her and was staring at the blonde with a smug grin and a slight blush of her own. "Thanks.. but it's not cuz you like me, right?" The feline smirks as she watched Adora finish wrapping her hands before doing the same process for her. "..." Adora couldn't find her words. She feared that if she opened her mouth to speak again that it would all flow out incoherently like word vomit. Spilling her guts of all the things she wished to say to her old childhood friend. When Catra finished wrapping her hand, Adora took notice to how neatly her wrappings were done. Did Catra take her time because she too feared hurting Adora or startling her by causing her accidental pain? "Catra. I do like you.." Adora spoke up as they sat their with their feet in the water allowing them to soak for afew more minutes before they would have to walk back out of the forest and walk another half hour in the hot sun. Catra seemed to stiffen slightly as she glanced to Adora. "As friends. Duh. Haha. Right.." Catra bit her lip feeling Adoras hand slide over hers. "Yeah. As friends. But also. More I guess. I just don't know what to call it but I know that you have a special place in my life" Adora smiles feeling a light heat on her face. Catra also felt a heat on her face as she listened to Adoras words. "L-lets.. wait here a bit longer. They won't be expecting us back for a while anyway. That cart is only half full" Catra says moving a little closer. Her tail gently wrapping around Adoras hips. yawning softly, the feline leans her head to the side resting it against Adoras shoulder. "That's fine with me.." Adora smiles softly as she gently leans her head against Catras.

An hour had passed, the sound of water rushing near by and the sound of distant crickets filled the felines large ears as well as the rhythmic beating of a heart accompanied with soft breathing and light snoring. As her eyes opened Catra noticed that her feet were no longer on the water but rather somehow she hand been moved back away from the river. Carefully and slowly The feline sat up and glanced behind her finding Adora still asleep and leaning against a large tree. The trunk of the tree glowing around the blonde as she laid against it. Upon feeling the weight moving from her side Adora began to stir and wake, rubbing her eyes before looking at Catra. "Hey Catra.. how'd you sleep?" The blonde asks through a yawn. "Fine. Uh how'd we get up against the tree?" Catra asks as she looks around. "You fell asleep so I moved us away from the river. It would've been bad if we rolled in" the blonde explains with a laugh. "Oh. Thanks... h-how'd you sleep?" Catra decided to ask as she stood and helped Adora to stand. "Good. I had a dream about this place where everything was food" the blonde said drooling at the faint memory of her delicious dream. "Stop that. You're making me hungry" Catra laughed. "Let's head back. The suns going down" With that said, the two girls readied the wagon and took their places at the handles. Pulling the wagon out of the forest. Before long the had reached their destination. "Uuughhh. Finally. We're back!!" Adora called out to Bow and Glimmer who were just ahead standing beside a weird assortment of metal and wood. They had no idea what Bow was constructing but they had to put their trust in him. "Hey! Good I only need afew more parts. You find anything good?" Bow asks as he hurried over to them and examined the contents of the wagon. "We picked the hover ship of all its wires, bolds and any parts we could fit onto the wagon without making it too heavy. Hopefully you can use what we found" Adora explains. Bow picks up a bunch of wires and beams excitedly. "This is perfect. You guys are the best!!" Bow says as he hugs each of them. "I figured you'd be hungry so I made dinner a bit early." Glimmer approached holding a basket full of cooked fish and even a few strange potatoes and carrots she had found. "You Are. An. Angel" Catra says as she began taking pieces of food and scarfing them down. Glimmer began to blush and poked catras head. "Slow down you'll make yourself sick" the young queen warned. "You're the best Glimmer. Thank you. But how's that. Thing coming along. Did he tell you what he was making?" Adora asked as she glanced behind herself to the man working on his contraption. "Nope. Won't say. But he swears he knows what he's doing. So. We can only hope and trust in our friend. And hope that he hasn't gone insane" Glimmer said as she offered Adora some food which she happily took and began to eat.

"Finally! It's done!" Bow smiled as he popped up from his contraption. Glimmer and Adora stood up facing Bow with eager hopeful eyes. "Really?! That's great!! But. Umm what is it?" Glimmer asks as she tilts her head to the side. "Well it's a new kind of transportation. Just add water and pedal!" Bow explains still smiling brightly. Almost blindingly. "Bow. Buddy. No electronics work in the black out zone..." Glimmer said. Adora stood there still trying to figure out why exactly they had spent the last two weeks finding parts, so that Bow could build abstract art. "It'll all make sense soon. But. It's getting late. First thing in the morning we'll fire it up!" the young inventor smiled. Glimmer and Adora exchanged glances before sighing and began heading into the ship where Catra had already been hiding curled up in her makeshift bed. Adora finding the feline nuzzled up with her signature red jacket. A light blush dusting her cheeks as she smiled and crawled in bed beside her. "Hey Adora." Catra mumbles as she felt the blonde lay beside her. "Hey.." the blonde greats as she laid facing the feline. Reaching up to gently pet Catras soft messy hair. "Did Bow finish that. Whatever?" Catra asks. A soft purr beginning to sound at Adoras touch. "Yeah sorta. We'll find out for sure tomorrow." Adora explains. For now they would rest. Something they all needed having spent the past two weeks tracking back and forth over the miles that separated the crash sights.