Title: ghost of you

Characters/Pairings: Scorptra, Catradora

A/N: For the She-ra Halloween exchange, for Kae. You mentioned that you love hurt/comfort of people falling down and getting saved by others. Hope you like this!

Summary: Scorpia didn't have to meet Adora—her traces were everywhere in the Horde.

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i.

"We're going to be force captains together!" Scorpia clicked her claws excitedly. It had been scary, at first, coming in from one of the Horde's outposts after her promotion. A new place, new people, honestly it was more than just a little unnerving when they all stared at her and her tail. But now she had a friend. She glanced at the woman slowly walking next to her. A best friend, maybe, if she played her cards right. "This is so great! Gosh, wait till I tell everyone at home."

"Right. About that. You—what's your name again?" Catra's tail twitched as she tried to remember. Rounding a corner in the headquarters' halls, she hesitantly guessed. "Scorpion?"

Another really cute thing about Catra. Scorpia could spend days just watching her tail and ears move; it was absolutely adorable how they gave away her emotions. "Scorpia," she corrected cheerfully, patting Catra on the back. "But that's okay, everyone makes that mistake."

"Oof." Rubbing her shoulder, Catra scrutinized Scorpia's claws. "Those are pretty strong. You good at fighting?"

Was that a compliment? Scorpia puffed her chest with pride. "Oh definitely." She jabbed the air in front of her quickly, giving her imaginary opponent the ol' one two. "I can't really use guns, but my fists of fury are great." Curling her tail above her, she grinned. "I'm also good at opening jars and scratching hard to reach itches."

"That's…something." Speechless, Catra rounded a corner and pushed open door on her right. "This is the changeroom."

"We're training today?" Scorpia bounced in after Catra. Lines of blue lockers lined the walls and this room was so much bigger than the one she was used to. And if the locker room was this impressive, just how cool was the training room?

"Yeah." Catra's ears flattened as she stood in front of a locker, her hand curled around the lock. "I was going to skip but…I guess I might as well see how useful you are."

"Oh, this'll be great," Scorpia answered happily. Oh, she was having the best luck—the locker next to Catra's didn't have a lock. Opening the empty cubby confirmed what she already knew; the locker was free. "We can be locker buddies!"

"Wha—" Catra cut herself off, staring at the locker. Her lips twisted, an expression Scorpia couldn't read, and Catra peeked inside. "It's empty."

"Yeah." No clothes, no pictures, no nothing. Well, not for long—now that she'd claimed it, Scorpia was going to remodel. When Catra didn't say anything else, still staring at the locker, Scorpia cocked her head. "Something wrong, Catra? Is someone using this?"

"No." Catra turned away. "No one is."

ii.

"Hey, Catra!" Scorpia waved a claw as she entered the war room. Immediately, she regretted the decision; the crate of apples in her arms started to tilt off balance. Quickly, she curled her claw underneath it again. "Whew, that was close." She wiped her forehead with her tail. "Almost bruised the bunch."

"Bruised what…" Catra trailed off, looking up from her maps and at Scorpia's arms. Her eyebrow raised. "This isn't the kitchen."

"Of course it isn't." Scorpia snorted; that much was obvious. "It's the war room."

"Yes, the war room." Staring pointedly at the apples, Catra crossed her arms. "And those are?"

"Oh, right, this." Chuckling sheepishly, Scorpia walked next to Catra. "This is loot." When Catra only gave her a blank look, Scorpia added, "From the village."

Realization dawned on her and Catra lightly brushed the apples with her claws. "You captured it?"

"Yessir." Scorpia's tail rubbed her neck bashfully. "Took the whole town and all the roads, so Bright Moon should have trouble getting supplies."

"Huh." Swiping an apple, Catra rolled it in her hands. She peeked up at Scorpia, then back at the apple, before taking a bite. "Good job."

Scorpia resisted the urge to drop the crate and hug her.

iii.

"Oohh, it's kinda chilly out here." Shivering, Scorpia pulled her jacket tighter around her. At least, she tried to—her claws were really useless at times like these. It was all she could do to move the fabric without tearing it.

"Yeah." Sitting on a railing, Catra turned away from the view of their metal city and back to Scorpia. Nonchalantly, she asked, "Why're you here?"

As though her tail and ears hadn't stood up the second Scorpia stepped onto the balcony. It was adorable how she tried to hid that aspect of herself. Leaning on the railing, Scorpia glanced at her mysterious friend. For once, they were at the same height, and she could make out the flecks of gold in her left eye, the bald patch on the tip of her ear. "Saw you out here, boss. What about you?"

Catra turned back to the city. She lowered her eyes, her tail wrapping around the railing. "Nothing."

"It's pretty chilly for nothing." Scorpia leaned in closer, bumping shoulders with Catra. When she didn't pull away, Scorpia smiled wider.

"I guess it is." Still in a contemplative mood, Catra didn't move. She scanned the buildings, her lips softly parting to take a breath. "I'll rule this. All of it."

Scorpia had a feeling that Catra wasn't talking to her, didn't even realize she was there. Pushing down her unease, she nodded. "Definitely. And I'll help out—I can get all the paperwork ready."

"Paperwork?" Catra's ears twitched, and she shot her a curious look. "What do you mean?"

"Well, we're going to have to change street names and buildings and a lot of organization stuff." Scorpia rolled her shoulders back, straightening her spine slightly. "I'm good at that now. Well, except for actually tapping the data pad, but Entrapta said she'd make a bigger one for me."

"Seriously?" Catra snorted, her shoulders shaking with laughter. "That's so stupid." Wiping her right eye, she bumped shoulders back. "Sure, alright. You can get that ready."

iv.

"Well." Entraptra rubbed her chin with her hair, staring at her busted robots. Emily Mark 3, if Scorpia remembered correctly. Without even a moment's disappointment, she pulled out her data pad and started tapping away. "I guess it's back to the drawing board."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out," Scorpia cheered, patting Entrapta's back encouragingly. Honestly, fighting had gotten so much easier since Catra had convinced the princess to switch sides. Maybe they could do that with the other ones. Then they could teleport and grow plants and use all sorts of cool powers to defeat Bright Moon quickly.

"I will. The only question is when." Somehow, despite her confidence, Entrapta never sounded smug or condescending. Sliding her goggles back on, she picked up a wrench. "I think I've almost used all the spare parts to make the Mark 5."

"Mark 5? What about the Mark 4?" Scorpia asked, staring at her friend bemused. Did she just skip a version number?

"Oh, that one's already out." Turning back to her work station, Entrapta shrugged. "I'm sure they're breaking it right now."

Ah, realism. Weakly, Scorpia shook her head. "Maybe they aren't? Right Catra?" Turning to her right, she blinked in surprise at the empty space. "Where'd she go?"

"Oh, she left a long time ago." Entrapta's hair gestured at the door. "She didn't look happy."

"Of course she didn't." Scorpia hurried out into the hall, scanning tor an elusive tail. There were lizards and awkward boys and a whole lot of nothing. Well, that was fine. There weren't too many places Catra would go.

The training room was also empty, as was the locker room. Just in case, Scorpia peeked inside her locker, but Catra wasn't squished in there. The canteen was full of soldiers eating dinner, Taco Tuesday was the most popular day. And Scorpia was almost salivating for one, but Catra wasn't there either. As she turned toward the dorms, she bumped into someone. "Oops, sorry!"

"Hey, watch it." Leonie rubbed her forehead, frowning.

"Oh! Leonie! I'm so glad to see you." Scorpia leaned closer. "Have you seen Catra? I've been looking everywhere. She's not in the kitchen or the training room or even the lab."

"No idea." Leonie shrugged, shoving her hands in her pockets. "She's probably off grid somewhere—Adora was the only who could find her." Stepping around Scorpia, she added, "Just leave her be, she'll be back eventually."

v.

Catra never kept personal, sentimental items. Not with her, not in her room, nowhere. Even her locker, which was devoid of everything except for a change of clothes. Which is why, when Scorpia saw a crumpled photograph under Catra's pillow, she knew it had to be important.

Hesitantly, she picked it up with her claw, careful not to tear it. A part of her knew she shouldn't do this, that this would hurt and she should just put it back. She slowly unfolded it. A smaller Catra, her chubby cheeks pulled into a grin. Her arms around a blonde little girl.

Adora.

She didn't have to ask to know who it was. Scorpia had seen her ghost too many times now to know that she would never stop being haunted by her.

vi.

"Hey, Entrapta." Scorpia stepped into the lab, slowly making her way to Entrapta's operating table. Spread across it were scraps of metal, pieces of a failed experiment or perhaps ingredients for a new one.

"Scorpia!" Pulling her goggles off her face, Entrapta's hair quickly walked her toward Scorpia. She had a wide grin, the kind when she was on the verge of discovering something new. "Wanna test Emily Mark 8?"

"You're already on 8? I thought we gave up on that." Scorpia peeked at the original Emily, who sat still in a corner. Did it feel connected to these other robots?

"No, Catra gave up on it. I still think there's potential. Even if it's just for me." Pulling out a datapad, Entrapta pulled up the schematics. "You see—"

Sensing several hours worth of discussion, Scorpia quickly shook her head. "No, no I believe you. I just have a favour to ask."

"A favour?" Entrapta looked up from the data pad.

"Yeah." Rubbing the back of her head, Scorpia gave a sheepish smile. "Could you take a photo later? Of me and Catra."

"That's all?" Entrapta shrugged. "That's easy. Ask me something harder next time."

Harder, huh. Scorpia bit her lip. "Could you also…get me a map of here?" When Entrapta looked at her in askance, she added in a rush, "Of every nook and cranny and hiding spot. A really good map."

"Well, that's a little harder. Took me five days to get that done." Entrapta started to scroll through her datapad for the relevant info. "What do you need it for?"

"Just want to be prepared." If Adora's ghost was going to be everywhere, she'd just have to shake her off.