"You!" Glimmer stopped short, mouth still hanging open from where she'd been calling Adora's name. Her face morphed from an expression of deep worry to a mask of hard anger in a split second. She was staring across an empty span of desert dirt at a figure she was not happy to see again.

"You!" that figure shot back in the same tone of indignant outrage, falling into a belligerent stance across from her.

"What are you doing here?" Glimmer snarled, summoning orbs of sparkling pink light to her fists in preparation for a fight. Her eyes remained locked on her unexpected opponent.

Scorpia narrowed her eyes, and the gesture seemed wrong on her face. "Looking for Catra!" she disclosed, always straightforward. She clicked her claws together threateningly. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for Adora," retorted Glimmer.

Glimmer did not expect the genuine laugh that floated from Scorpia's throat, nor the way she suddenly let her guard down and straightened loosely, wiping a tear of mirth from her eye. "How do you lose an eight-foot-tall glowing princess with a sword?" she snorted.

Glimmer bristled. "She's not—in princess form right now! Probably," she said defensively, hating the way her voice climbed half an octave higher in agitation. "Not after she—" She bit off that thought. "Never mind. Anyway, how do you lose a loud, furry, obnoxious—"

"Guys?" Bow's voice edged into the conversation meekly. Both girls ignored him, busy as they were with trying to glare each other into ashes.

"Hey, watch it!" Scorpia warned, angry again. "That's my wildcat you're talking about."

"That's the point!"

Scorpia pointed menacingly with one big red claw. "You better take that back right now before I pick you up and chuck you into that—"

"Guys!" Bow repeated, louder this time, so that his voice cracked on the word.

"What!" Glimmer and Scorpia demanded in unison, whirling on Bow in dangerous impatience.

"Look!" he cried, extending one arm to indicate the other side of the bowl-shaped canyon where they stood, where a dark shape was approaching previously unnoticed. Scorpia whipped around and Glimmer jerked her head up to peer past her intently.

Glimmer recognized the slouched, slinking gait of the approaching figure first, and her face grew even darker. "Catra," she grated out between clenched teeth.

"Catra!" Scorpia echoed brightly, in stark contrast to Glimmer's resentful tone.

"I have a bad feeling about this," murmured Bow low enough that only Glimmer could hear. He eyed the catgirl's unruly form as she crossed the hard-packed dirt toward her compatriot and her enemies.

Glimmer caught his meaning the way she always did; like they had a mental link. "Wherever Catra is…" she said with a suspicious edge to her words.

"…Adora's probably close by," Bow confirmed. He nodded warily toward the approaching Catra. "Let's go."

Glimmer looked even less happy about it than he did, but she sighed through her nose and nodded curtly anyway. They started forward at the same time, heading off Catra's advance before she was able to reach the sanctuary of Scorpia's side. When they stepped into her path, weapons raised, her face morphed instantly into a scowl.

"What do you want, Bright Goons?" she spat as viciously as her namesake.

Glimmer clenched her fists in the midst of her two readied pink orbs. "Where's Adora?" she demanded just as harshly.

Catra sneered, and her black claws flashed as they extended from her fingertips. "How should I know?"

"That's a lot of blood for no wound," put in Bow in as fearsome a tone as he could manage, gesturing at Catra's tattered shirt. "I'd say it almost looks like it was magically healed." He pretended to tap his chin in thought and looked pointedly across at Glimmer. "Know anyone who can do something like that?"

"Hmm, oh yeah—She-Ra," Glimmer snarled. She raised her fists higher, preparing for violence. "We know you saw her. So where is she?"

"What's going on here, Wildcat? Is Adora around?" Scorpia asked with her usual sweet concern, glancing unsurely between Catra and the others.

Catra ignored her. She maintained hard eye contact with Glimmer and the air between them fairly smoked from the heat of their hatred. "Why don't you all go wander the island looking for her? I'm sure that'll go swimmingly," she taunted, curling her lip up over one fang in a wicked smirk.

"Why, you—" Glimmer raged, losing her tenuous hold on her cool and lunging forward, glowing fists swinging for the catgirl's face.

"Glimmer!" Bow shouted after her in horror. He reached out a hand to stop her, too late.

Scorpia moved faster than anyone would have thought capable, jumping in front of her former superior with her face pulled into a ferocious scowl. "Don't touch her!" she growled and caught Glimmer's assault on both her chitin-covered forearms. She blinked away the sparkles that scattered from the impact as Glimmer dropped back, breathing heavily from the drain of her anger.

The princess of Bright Moon wasn't deterred that easily. She let out a frustrated yell and sent another pink orb exploding into Scorpia's face, then teleported past her while she was momentarily blinded. Her path to Catra now unobstructed, Glimmer rushed forward, bringing her fist back for a furious uppercut blow as Catra bared her teeth and ducked away and—

A bolt of blue-white light suddenly crashed into the ground between them and exploded, throwing both girls back. Catra skidded on the dirt but kept her balance, and Bow rushed to steady Glimmer as they all looked in the direction of the blast.

As the dust cleared, a figure became distinguishable through the haze, coming toward them. If the blue glow of the sword at its side didn't give away the figure's identity, the voice surely would have when it came echoing across the canyon:

"Stop!"

Bow and Glimmer gasped in shock and great relief. "Adora!" Glimmer shrieked, and freed herself from Bow to run across the remaining distance to Adora, Catra and Scorpia forgotten. Bow followed her at a slightly more reasonable pace and they collided with Adora one after the other in an enthusiastic group hug.

"Bow! Glimmer!" Adora laughed breathlessly, uncaring that her ribs protested in their crushing grip, "I'm so glad you're okay!" She wrapped her own arms around them tightly. Then she looked around and over their shoulders expectantly and her brow furrowed before she asked, "Where's Swift Wind?"

Bow raised his head from her shoulder to say, "He's hurt. But we crash-landed somewhere pretty defensible and he's hiding somewhere safe." His brown eyes held a tinge of worry but they were steady, assured. Adora gave him a curt nod of understanding. Swift Wind was her next most pressing concern, then.

Glimmer still had her face buried in Adora's jacket, which she'd redonned. When she spoke, her voice was shaky. "Adora, we thought you—that you were—well, we were scared that—"

Adora shook her head and moved her hand to Glimmer's shoulder comfortingly, dismissing that thought. "It's okay, Glimmer. I'm okay."

"But what about—" Glimmer raised her head to look over her shoulder and fixed Catra with a withering stare by way of indication.

Catra was standing there with her hands limp at her sides, watching the reunion with an empty look in her jewel eyes. She refused to meet Adora's gaze or even return Glimmer's glare, which was concerning in and of itself. "Come on, Scorpia," she said after a moment, and the bitterness in her voice was sharp as a blade. "Let's just go."

"But wildcat, we have nowhere to go," Scorpia reminded her, which made Catra's expression darken immediately and the catgirl turned away.

"Yes, you do," Adora broke in with sudden conviction, straightening to break gently away from her friends' embrace. When Catra turned back to her in disgust, Adora set her jaw and paced purposefully toward her enemy, extending a hand across the seemingly unfathomable distance between them. Glimmer and Bow watched from behind her with looks of solemn understanding. "Come with me," she said.

Catra snarled. "For the last time—"

"Catra." Adora's voice dropped into the air with the weight of a stone. In the brief pause that followed, she crossed the divide to Catra, and her outstretched hand reached for the feline's.

Catra bristled and jerked away. "Get—"

"Stop," Adora said calmly, firmly. Though she was not She-Ra, she spoke with as much power and authority as her godly counterpart. All traces of her distress and insecurity and helplessness from before were gone. Even the burden of her aches and bruises seemed to be gone; she stood taller. Her eyes were deep as oceans as she held Catra's nervous gaze.

"Wh—?"

Adora lifted one shoulder in a brief shrug. "What's the point anymore, Catra? You don't work for Hordak. You're free of Shadow Weaver. You've gotten your revenge on me. What more do you want?"

The catgirl's expression was on the verge of fear, and her chest rose and fell visibly. "I…I don't know," she admitted. She tried to step back, but Adora pressed her, unraveling Catra's retreat and more.

"If you walk away from here today, where will you go?"

The feline's face twisted into its usual mask of hatred, but it was forced. Her eyes were still flickering between Adora's two, unsure. "As far away from you as possible," she hissed.

"Catra." Adora was the eye of the storm. She could feel the weight of her profound calm, as if she were drawing this otherworldly serenity straight from She-Ra, but something told her that she wasn't. This was all hers. This was her. She had made a decision within herself; one that lent her the immediate peace of knowing she was right. She had promised herself never to hurt Catra again. It had freed her; buoyed her up from the despair she was so used to feeling when faced with her childhood friend. Now, instead, she felt full. Sure. She felt like she finally knew what she was supposed to do.

Catra was afraid of that look in her eye. It was so foreign to her, she could see it as nothing but a threat. "I don't know, okay?" she exclaimed. "Is that what you want me to say? Fine! I'll say it. I don't know!" She threw out her wiry arms and indicated the wasteland around them. "I have nowhere to go. I have nothing left."

"You have me!" Scorpia piped up from several steps behind.

Catra's lips tightened in irritation. "Except her."

"You're wrong," said Adora evenly. Standing there a step away, looking into the mess of confusion and pain and suspicion and desperation on Catra's face, she wanted nothing but to share this newfound peace with her companion. She wanted to ease those lines of conflict between her brows and at the corners of her mouth and mend the damage done to her catgirl's heart. She wanted to comfort her like they used to for each other, not too long ago.

She moved forward, slowly, so Catra wouldn't spook. She reached out her hands and carefully caught Catra's in them. She watched as the other girl closed her eyes briefly, grimacing like she was fighting off some pain, though she didn't pull away. She didn't pull away even as Adora slid one hand up her arm and brought it instead to the side of her face. "Nothing really bad can happen as long as we have each other," the blonde whispered so only Catra could hear, brushing her knuckles along the curve of her cheek.

"Adora, don't," Catra said in a broken voice, eyes squeezed tightly shut, even as she leaned into the caress.

Adora had to. She owed Catra that much. She leaned in and touched her brow to Catra's, heard the girl let out a shuddering sigh, felt the breeze on her lips. She could feel the tension singing through the catgirl's body and she wanted nothing more than to coax it away.

"I promise," she breathed.

The weak noise that left Catra's throat was somewhere between a sigh and a whine. "Adora, you can't," she argued, and Adora could hear her trembling as much as she could feel it. It was simply too much for her to accept—not after all the pain and tribulation they'd been through.

Adora tried to convince her anyway. "I do," she murmured. "I promise you." Catra's tail began whipping against her leg at intervals, an unconscious sign of her distress, and it was the last straw for Adora. "Come here," she said, and even she couldn't tell if it was a command or a plea. Whatever it was, it made Catra melt into her arms and in an instant they were embracing, molding together like two halves of the whole that they were, the distance between them shattered. Adora could feel the dampness of the first of Catra's tears against the torn shoulder of her jacket.

Scorpia, Bow, and Glimmer were left to watch with wide eyes and open mouths. Somehow they had drifted nearer each other throughout the exchange, and now stood almost as allies instead of enemies beside each other.

"Wow…" breathed Scorpia, eyes shining, claws folded beneath her chin as she regarded her friend and Adora. "A real bond," she observed, as if confirming it to herself.

Glimmer was less starstruck than the scorpion girl. She leaned toward Bow surreptitiously, brows lowered in incredulity. "Is she serious?" she whispered to him sharply. "Mom would freak if we got back to Bright Moon with a Horde soldier, asking if we could keep her."

Bow slid her a sideways glance. "You realize that's exactly what we did with Adora, right?" he asked slowly.

"Adora didn't almost burn Bright Moon to the ground," Glimmer hissed back.

Bow shrugged as if he didn't fully agree with that statement. "Everyone has good in them, Glimmer," he said sagely, and for a moment the princess was reminded very much of Bow's father George. "Some of them just need help bringing it out."

Glimmer snorted, unconvinced. "I'm pretty sure Catra is the one exception to that rule," she retorted.

"Look," said Bow, motioning toward Catra and Adora in place of an argument, willing Glimmer to listen to their words.

The girls were still standing flush together, heads bowed against one another, lost in their own world. It remained to be seen whether that was a good thing or not, but at least Catra's claws were sheathed.

"Please hear me, Catra," Adora was saying, so softly they almost couldn't make out the words. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for every way I hurt you. That was never what I wanted. I was just trying to do the right thing and…and I let you down instead." She was brushing her thumbs along Catra's cheekbones now, comforting. "But now…we have a second chance. We can start over."

Catra pulled away just enough to shake her head, her eyes downcast in a show of vulnerability Glimmer had never seen before. "Bright Moon will never forgive me for what I did," she said huskily. Did she sound…regretful?

"Then we'll go somewhere else," Adora persisted.

Catra gave a little sigh of frustration, as if to say it's not that easy. "What about your little Rebellion?" she asked with barely a hint of her usual contempt.

Adora was silent for a few beats. When she spoke, she did so slowly, thoughtfully. "It's She-Ra's job to keep the whole planet in balance," she mused, as if she were getting an idea. "Maybe…maybe it's time she actually saw what the rest of the planet was like."

Catra raised an eyebrow, but didn't look as if she completely despised the notion. "Like a road trip?" she questioned incredulously.

"Yeah," responded Adora eagerly, picking up momentum as she continued, "and while we're gone, Bow and Glimmer could be working on talking to Queen Angella about pardoning you." She pulled back to look Catra in the face with bright blue irises, and Glimmer had to admit that she was glad to see her friend happy for once.

"And Scorpia?" asked Catra, a little more reluctantly. "She said, uh…" Her eyes flashed to Glimmer briefly and she lowered her voice. "She said that the other princesses never accepted her. That she was an outcast."

A look of familiar determination came over Adora's face, and she grasped Catra's hands in resolution. "Not anymore. Not if She-Ra has anything to say about it," she promised firmly.

This time Catra was the one to stand in silence for a span. Her blue and yellow eyes were traveling between Adora's two searchingly, a furrow between her brow like she couldn't quite believe what she was hearing. To be honest, Glimmer really couldn't either. What would it mean for Bright Moon if She-Ra were to spend extended periods of time away? Was it worth risking the Rebellion for Adora to mend this relationship with Catra? For once Glimmer felt like she and Catra were thinking along the same lines.

And they both knew that for Adora, the answer was yes.

"You're serious about this?" Catra asked, still intent on Adora's face.

Adora tugged on Catra's hands, pulling them together once more. "More than anything," she answered lowly. Their faces were close and their eyes were locked and Glimmer could practically feel the tension all the way from where she stood. She wondered uncomfortably whether she should keep watching.

Catra's throat jumped as she swallowed dry. "You…you really want me to—to be with you?" she ventured, barely above a whisper.

"More than anything," Adora repeated in the same tone. Her eyes had gone heavy-lidded and Glimmer could see the flush rising to both their cheeks but couldn't quite tear her gaze away from all this juicy drama. She watched as Adora leaned in slightly and the two brushed noses, and a visible shudder ran down Catra's spine and sent her tail lashing.

"Adora—" The feline gulped again, hands going tight around Adora's anxiously, eyes sliding away for a spit second. No, you idiot! Glimmer thought violently, don't back out now! You're right about to get to the good part! Glimmer had not sat around for the past six months watching Adora pine over her old whatever-Catra-was just for Catra to chicken out!

"Catra," Adora cut her off gently, apparently of the same mind as Glimmer, because the heavy look in her eyes did not change and she leaned in again, this time closer, and—

Yes! Glimmer mentally cheered before her rational side could catch up and remind her that she probably shouldn't be shipping her best friend and her worst enemy together. But just look at them!

Adora's lips were finally pressing against Catra's and at first the catgirl went stiff in surprise (honestly, why was she surprised? scoffed Glimmer), but soon enough her mane laid flat again and she leaned into the blonde and returned the kiss like a tidal wave coming to shore: hard and devastating and wild and—

Oh. Oh, my, thought Glimmer, feeling her own heart begin to beat a little too hard. This was something she definitely should not be watching.

Adora's fingers pressed into the small of Catra's back, drawing her in closer. Catra reached up and effectively ruined Adora's ponytail with her claws in a matter of seconds, but Adora seemed not to mind because now she was leaning down, moaning softly as her lips parted against Catra's, and—

"So!"

Glimmer jumped as a voice right beside her suddenly broke her focus, and she looked hastily away from the couple, blushing with guilt. She caught Bow's knowing look and stuck her tongue out at him.

Scorpia didn't notice; she was too busy talking. "I was thinking," she said, "if we're gonna be traveling together, which, I mean, seems pretty likely considering the little, ah—moment going on over there—" She waggled her eyebrows at Catra and Adora. "—I think we should start things off on the right foot. Well, re-start, I guess, because we kinda had a rough first go-round…" She waved one claw in a vague circle, grimacing, before getting back on track: "What I'm trying to say is, sorry for stinging you and kidnapping you both and blowing up that ice princess's castle and punching you in the face and attacking Bright Moon and stealing Entrapta and tormenting Adora and throwing the planet into chaos and all." When she finished, she smiled brightly.

Glimmer was somewhat less enthusiastic. A little pained, in fact. She cast around for a fitting response and couldn't find any. "Um, that's…"

"Perfectly fine! We forgive you," Bow chimed in over her, oblivious to the sour look Glimmer shot him. His smile matched Scorpia's as he sidled up to the Horde officer and clapped her on the shoulder, deliberately avoiding the spikes and all.

"Wow, that's a relief!" Scorpia chirped as she literally sighed in relief. "I really thought you'd, you know, be pretty mad about all that, but I'm so glad you guys are the forgiving types!" Once she got rolling, she was not to be stopped. "I am too. Otherwise I don't think I'd be able to stand Catra in the slightest! But she's the best, honestly. Just a bit of extreme angst and the tendency to cling to undying hatred as her form of emotional management. Nothing a little road trip can't fix. But that's beside the point! You guys seem like really great friends. Do you think we could do some sort of bonding activities to, you know, break the ice?" She clicked her claws together in barely contained excitement.

Glimmer eyed her as if judging if she was really serious. "I'm pretty sure the ice is very much broken already," she said once she'd determined that, yes, Scorpia really did want to do bonding activities.

"That's great news!" Scorpia said, and Glimmer began to fear that the scorpion woman might try to hug her. "I'm going to call you guys the Honorary Super Pal Duo. Because, well, I can't exactly make you official Super Pals without getting the thumbs-up from Entrapta, too, and well…" Scorpia scratched the back of her head with one claw.

"Super Pal Duo?" echoed Bow, shooting Glimmer a comically concerned glance that she knew was completely serious. "But we're already in the Best Friend Squad!"

"Oh, no…" Glimmer groaned, knowing exactly what was coming and covering her face with her hands as if to ward it off.

It was no use. Scorpia gasped and turned to Bow with utter admiration in her big dark eyes. "That's so creative! Wait, wait, get this—what if we combined our groups and became the Super Pal Squad?" she practically squealed.

Bow gasped even harder. "Or the Best Pal Trio!" Glimmer could see the literal sparkles in his eyes as his mind ran away with this exciting new line of reasoning—his enthusiasm, for once, matched by another.

"Or the Super Friend…"

"Or the…"

Scorpia's voice, and then Bow's too, faded into the back of Glimmer's mind as she slid a look between him and Scorpia and sighed again, but not in despair this time. This time, it was fond and a little bittersweet. Listening to them now, she figured it might do Bow some good to spend time with somebody like Scorpia. They could do nothing but build upon each other's positivity until they were both bursting at the seams with it, and that sounded to Glimmer like something all of them may need.

Unbeknownst to her, Catra and Adora had finally resurfaced from each other and were watching the two also, thinking the exact same thing.

"Looks like they're getting along nicely," said Catra with her usual sarcastic edge, though she leaned her head affectionately against Adora's shoulder at the same time.

Adora hummed her agreement. "I always knew Bow and Scorpia were meant for each other," she said with a chuckle. Then she fell silent and seemed to register Catra against her, and what exactly that meant. One of her hands came up to rest against Catra's back in tender concern. "Are you…okay with this?" she asked tentatively. She didn't indicate anything in particular, but Catra heard the true question behind her words: Are you okay with us?

"Do I have a choice?" she asked dryly without lifting her head.

She felt Adora's shoulder stiffen beneath her. "What?" the blonde asked a bit shrilly, caught off guard. She made to move back from Catra, to give her space. "Well, if you don't want to, we could always think of something different. Or, or if you just need time to—"

Catra tightened her fingers in Adora's jacket, keeping her in place. "Adora. I'm joking." She smirked into the other girl's shoulder.

"Oh," Adora murmured, and Catra felt the tension gradually ease out of her.

They stood like that for a moment, breathing together, hearts beating together for once rather than against each other. Adora's hand was still on her back and the warmth of it trickled through Catra's body and lulled her into a rare sense peace. The feline leaned into the welcome touch with a sigh, feeling her long-held walls begin to weaken and sway. This was better than fighting. This was better than arguing. This was better than lying.

Catra wondered how she had ever convinced herself that she hated Adora.

"Hey," she felt compelled to say abruptly, catching Adora's attention.

"Yeah?" the blonde asked softly. Catra could feel the hum of her voice in her chest.

Catra knew what she wanted to say. It was the same thing she'd wanted to say all along; ever since she and Adora were pulled apart, every time they met as enemies on the field of battle. She knew the words, but now that she had a chance to say them, they stuck in her throat. It had just been so long since she spoke to Adora. Since she opened up to anyone. Since she could open up to anyone.

She wouldn't let this chance pass her by. Not after everything they'd been through. So she cleared her throat and spoke, and though her voice came out raspy if felt as if it were the rightest thing in the world. "When I said I didn't miss you…" she began, leaning back so that she could look into Adora's eyes—those steady, loving eyes. "That…that was a lie."

She could see Adora's reaction play across her face, clear as day. Confusion and then surprise and then understanding flitted over her features one after the next. Then, to Catra's great annoyance, a smirk lifted her lips and Adora teased, "Well, duh. Who wouldn't miss all this?" She gave herself a once-over and then smugly regarded Catra.

Catra groaned loudly and the first thing to come to mind was you always have to ruin it! but she shoved that thought away with all the force in her and replaced it instead with, but you always fix it in the end. Smiling up at Adora, she punched the blonde on the arm and joked, "Never mind. I still hate you."

Adora tilted her head and lowered her eyelids, that smirk still present. "Pretty sure that's a lie too," she said smoothly, so close her breath warmed Catra's lips.

"Mm," breathed Catra, letting herself be affected by Adora, because she could. She was free to now. She was free of everything. Her own life was in her hands, for the first time in forever. And she thought that spending it with Adora again, now that they had suffered and learned and grown together, didn't sound so bad. So she leaned against her worst enemy turned best friend and rested her palms on her hips and matched that stupid, sly grin with one of their own. "Don't push it."

Adora laughed and leaned in to kiss her again and Catra thought in utter contentment:

So this is what being whole feels like.