"Role Playing"

A/N: I've had this idea bouncing around in my head ever since I learned the antagonists in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power are called the Horde and the protagonists include a group called the (Princess) Alliance. I don't normally write AU stories, but this idea was just too good to pass up.

The primary conflict in the MMORPG World of Warcraft is between two opposing sides: the Alliance and the Horde. Players select characters on one side or another, and are generally unable to interact with characters on the opposing side during normal gameplay. Other than that, no prior knowledge of the game is necessary in order to enjoy this work.

Here we go!

"Wait for it…wait for it…and…damn it!"

Catra rolled her eyes as she heard the 'instruments' Adora was using to jimmy open the closet door snap in half and fall to the floor. The blonde girl had been attempting to pry open the door for the better part of ten minutes, and she groaned once she realized her efforts had all been in vain. With one final sigh of defeat, Adora collapsed against the door and slid to the ground, finding herself facing Catra on the other side.

"I told you that wasn't going to work," Catra said sternly, glaring at her (former) friend through the relative darkness of the closet. She was sitting upright with her knees pulled up and her arms folded on top of them, supporting her head. "You're just wasting your time."

"It was worth a shot, Catra," Adora fired back, returning Catra's glare in full-force. Her back was to the closet door and her legs were stretched out in front of her, leaving practically no room between Catra and herself. "Besides, I don't hear you coming up with any bright ideas on how to get out of here."

Catra rolled her eyes again. "They have to let us out eventually, Adora. Just sit here and wait for them to come back."

"They said they aren't going to let us out until we've 'made up,' Adora reminded her.

"Then I guess we're stuck in here forever," Catra countered.

"Looks like."

The two had been trapped in the closet together for almost half an hour now, and it was becoming increasingly clear that their friends were being honest when they said they wouldn't be back to let them out until the two had overcome their differences and finally stopped fighting.

Catra, for her part, was doing her best to take the situation in stride and ignore the other girl trapped in the closet with her. Unfortunately, Adora made this difficult, considering she had trouble sitting still at the best of times, much less when locked in a closet with her (former) best friend, the one she had been crushing on since before she even knew what a crush was.

"Can you please stop jittering?" Catra asked, nodding towards Adora's foot as it tapped back and forth against the closet wall almost manically fast.

"Sorry," Adora mumbled, consciously putting effort into stopping her foot.

"You okay?"

"Other than being trapped in a closet, you mean?"

"Obviously."

"I'm fine," Adora answered, turning away as she said so. Even in the dark, Catra could see the girl's cheeks begin to turn red out of embarrassment. "It's just…I'm supposed to do a raid with my guild in an hour and I don't want to miss it."

"God forbid the 'Princess Alliance' go on a raid without their knight in shining armor," Catra countered, almost spitting out the name of Adora's new guild as she did so. "Whatever will they do without the mighty 'She-Ra' to lead their way to victory?"

Adora frowned. "Is that what this is about? You're still upset about Warcraft?"

"I didn't say that," Catra responded far too quickly.

"Catra, you said it wasn't a big deal if I started playing an Alliance character."

"It's not!"

"Then why are you so angry about it?"

"I'm not!" Catra replied far too loudly, causing Adora to raise an eyebrow questioningly. "Ugh! Just…shut up, okay? I don't want to talk about it."

"It was nothing personal!" Adora went on regardless, causing Catra to groan loudly. "Glimmer and Bow just needed help. Their guild was falling apart and they needed someone who knew what they were doing. I created She-Ra to help them out."

"Yeah, and left me behind to go on dungeon runs alone without you," said Catra.

"Catra, that's not fair," Adora responded with a pointed stare. "You don't need me. You're every bit as good as I am. Everyone knows that."

Catra couldn't argue that; everyone really did know that. It was common knowledge throughout Etheria High School that Adora and Catra were the local pros in World of Warcraft, having played together since they first met in elementary school and found they shared a common interest in high fantasy and RPGs.

For ten years, they had gone on quests together as members of the Horde, just the two of them, Adora as a warrior and Catra as a hunter. They had bested every dungeon they had ever entered, completed every known raid in record time, and had even led several successful PVP invasions against Stormwind and other major Alliance capitals. Adora and Catra were unbeatable, unstoppable, and inseparable.

That is, until a month ago, when Adora created a paladin for the Alliance called She-Ra and joined Glimmer and Bow's ridiculously named guild.

"It's not like I deleted my character and shut down my account," Adora reminded her, sitting up a little straighter and trying to explain herself. "I just started a new character. It's not like I even left the Horde or anything."

"I don't care about the Horde!" Catra corrected her, rolling her eyes yet again. "You left me, Adora. That's why I'm mad at you."

"Catra, you know you always have Scorpia and Entrapta if you need help," Adora tried countering. "You know they love going on quests with you. And they're both really good!"

"That's not the point!" Catra argued, finally turning back around so she could glare at Adora properly. "It doesn't matter how good they are, they aren't you. I only liked playing the game because I got to do it with my best friend. But now you're so busy with your little Alliance friends that I never get to see you anymore! When was the last time you even logged in as CapAdora85?"

Adora paused. "It's…been a while."

"Exactly," Catra said with a dark finality, crossing her arms and looking away once again. "You ever think maybe I missed you?"

Even in the darkness of the closet, and with her relatively poor eyesight when compared to that of her friend, Adora could easily make out the sight of tears gleaming at the edges of Catra's eyes. While she knew Catra had been upset about their lack of time together recently, it was becoming abundantly clear she had underestimated exactly how upset she was and how much their time together had truly meant to Catra.

"I miss you, too, you know," she finally said, softly.

"You have a real funny of showing it, She-Ra," Catra responded, once again practically spitting out the name of Adora's paladin.

"You know we can still play together, right?" Adora asked after another moment of thought. "Whenever you want. I'd really like to play with you again."

"What about your precious Princess Alliance?" Catra snapped back. She couldn't help herself; she was angry, damn it, and she wanted Adora to feel just as bad as she did.

"I'll just tell them I'm busy," Adora answered instead, either ignoring Catra's angry tone or else missing it entirely. "They'll understand. Besides…they're a lot better now. They don't need me anymore. Not like you do."

Catra bristled, as though offended. "I never said I needed you."

"I know," Adora said with a small smile. "But…maybe I need you."

And with that, she scooted closer and took Catra's hand in hers. She sat there and stared at Catra for a moment before finally feeling the other girl squeeze her hand, as though acknowledging her presence.

"You realize everything you just did was super gay, right?" Catra stated, unable to keep the beginnings of a smirk from forming along the edges of her lips.

Adora smiled. "Well, we are in a closet."

Catra couldn't help it; she laughed, which made Adora laugh, which only made Catra laugh harder. The tension that had hung in the air between the two of them faded away in an instant, the sound of their laughter seemingly wiping it from existence, as though it had never been there to begin with.

They sat back together when their laughter came to an end, the two of them finally sitting next to one another, with Adora resting her head comfortable on Catra's shoulder. A moment later, Catra rested her head atop Adora's, a small smile on her face.

"So…friends again?" Adora asked, looking up at Catra without moving her head out from under hers.

"Yeah," Catra replied, squeezing Adora's hand again in reassurance. "Friends again."

Adora giggled. "Now we just need to get out of this damn closet."

"I dunno, it's growing on me," Catra said jokingly, stretching out in such a way that every one of her limbs found some way to infringe on Adora's personal space. "It's a nice closet. Comfy. Dark. Room for activities. I could get used to this."

"Stop it!" Adora laughed, pushing Catra's hands and feet out of her face. "Seriously, there's no telling how long it will be before they come back for us."

"If they come back for us," Catra corrected her.

"If they come back for us," Adora agreed. "What do you want to do until then?"

It was a good question, and one neither of them had a ready answer for. Despite Catra's comments, the closet really wasn't that large, and the fact that the lights were off meant they could already barely see one another. As such, they sat there thinking for quite some time before an idea finally occurred to Catra, one she believed to be just devious enough to work.

"You know, Adora, we are gamers," she said slowly, smirking as she looked over at Adora in the darkness. "We could always…role play."

"Oh my god," Adora replied with a giggle, blushing lightly but still deeply enough that Catra could see it even in the darkness of the closet. "Like we used to do with our characters? We haven't done that since freshman year, Catra. It was so…childish."

"Maybe," Catra agreed, still smirking, "but you have to admit…it was pretty fun. Remember that time our characters almost got married?"

"Don't remind me," Adora said, smiling and rolling her eyes out of embarrassment. "I did that whole dungeon all on my own just to get you a special ring and it turned out hunters couldn't even wear it!"

"It was still really sweet," Catra told her, only making Adora laugh again. "Come to think of it…MagiCatra and CapAdora85 never really did get their happy ending, did they?"

"Because we stopped role playing," Adora reminded her. "We got caught up in our raids and invasions. You were always so much better at it than I was, anyway."

"Only because you always logged out before it could get really fun," Catra insisted slyly, gently reaching over and running one of her fingers down Adora's arm. "We could always, you know…fix that. Pick up where we left off."

Adora shivered in response to both Catra's touch and her words. Catra seemed very close to her all of a sudden, closer than Adora could remember, and her heterochromatic eyes gleamed in the darkness like those of a cat's, revealing her trademark smirk and the playful look upon her face.

"Catra…?" Adora asked softly, practically whispering as she felt her cheeks suddenly begin to burn a deep, dark red. "What are you doing?"

"Role playing," Catra answered simply, still smirking as she gently pushed Adora away from the wall and then eased her onto her back, causing the blonde girl's breath to hitch in her throat. "Why? Did you want me to stop, CapAdora85?"

Adora bit her lip. "I didn't say that…"

"Then what would you like me to do?" Catra asked, now leaning over Adora and looking down upon her like a cat cornering a canary.

"C-Catra…"

"That's MagiCatra to you," Catra corrected her, smirking and leaning in ever closer. "I'll ask again. What do you want me to do?"

A thousand thoughts flew through Adora's mind all at once as she looked up at the young woman above her, the friend who was more than a friend, her fellow gamer and comrade, her partner in crime. She could feel Catra's warm breath on her skin, see her heterochromatic eyes gleaming in the dark, practically reach up and touch her lips they were already so close…

"Kiss me," she finally said.

"What was that, CapAdora85?" Catra asked cruelly, her voice little more than a whisper. "Couldn't quite catch that."

"Kiss me, Catra!" Adora gasped. "Please!"

"Don't you mean MagiCatra – "

"Oh, just shut up and kiss me, you nerd!"

It actually ended up being Adora who kissed Catra first, grabbing the girl by her face and then bringing her lips crashing down onto her own, moaning gently in pleasure as she finally lost herself in her first kiss with her best friend. Catra responded readily, of course, considering she had been planning on kissing Adora the entire time regardless, and it wasn't long before she was practically lying on top of her friend, pinning the blonde girl to the ground and preventing any possible chance of escape.

Fortunately for them both, Adora felt no urge to escape, or to do anything else but continue kissing Catra with everything she had in her. Every time they pulled away from one another, it was due to lack of breath, and thus wasn't long before their lips met once again shortly thereafter, with Adora squirming in pleasure beneath Catra.

"Think you might end up missing your raid after all," Catra whispered into Adora's ear after pulling back from their latest kiss, causing the blonde girl to shiver beneath her.

"Don't care," Adora gasped back, running her hands through Catra's unruly locks and pulling her back in for another soul-searing kiss. "This is way more fun."

Unfortunately for both Catra and Adora, that was when their friends decided to check in on them to make sure they hadn't killed each other. As such, both of them looked up with wide eyes and startled expressions as the closet door swung open to reveal their friends standing in the doorway and looking down at them with varying degrees of amusement.

"Well, I would say our plan was a success," Glimmer said with a smirk.

"Yeah, they're definitely not fighting anymore," Bow agreed, a goofy smile spreading across his face.

Scorpia laughed. "Geez, you guys! We told you two to make up, not make out!"

For a moment, neither Catra nor Adora knew what to do. Instead, they simply looked up at their friends, back at each other, and then back at their friends. Finally, her mind made up, Adora wriggled her way out from under Catra, grabbed the closet door, and slammed it closed right in her friends' faces.

"Come back in an hour!"

A/N: Let me know what you think in the comments and reviews!