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“Don’t you get it? I love you! I always have!” Catra screamed through the storm of Horde Prime’s virus. Reaching as far as she could, and Adora was just beyond her grasp until she finished. “So please, just this once… Stay!”
They clasped hands surrounded by poison and cosmic fire and despair.
They were back in the core.
Adora’s eyes cracked open just in time to see a flash of light break away from the massive crystal at the centre of the core, directly towards Catra. Her arm moved instinctively. She conjured the Sword of Protection into its shield form between Catra and the bolt. The Catra who loved her.
Catra, who Adora had always assumed was just being nice when she saved Adora the grey ration bars.
Catra, who Adora had thought couldn’t possibly like her, with how Adora had looked at her after the portal incident.
Catra, who was just being a friendly tease when she sat on Adora’s lap onboard Mara’s ship.
Adora let the shield fall. She opened her eyes, tears coming to them faster than they had before. Faster than every night she had cried herself to sleep because Catra wasn’t with her.
“You love me?” Adora said in shock. Catra laughed. That tired, beautiful laugh. Adora could feel it in her bones.
“You’re such an idiot.” Catra said. Adora couldn’t help but smile.
“I love you too.” Adora said, too weak to move much. Catra’s mouth opened in surprise. Had she not known either? Her thoughts were cut off as Catra lifted her head, softly and tenderly, for their lips to meet.
-000-
“Glimmer! Through here!” Bow called. He was pointing down a hallway, partly collapsed first one’s architecture blocking the way. Barely visible through it was motes of pearlescent light.
“This would be so much easier if we could still follow the green veins!” Glimmer said, then quickly added. “Not that I’m disappointed that Adora saved the planet from Horde Prime’s virus.”
She took a solid stance and thrust forward with her sceptre. The wreckage solidified into a wall and a door spiralled open in its surface. They rushed through into a large chamber.
The smoking remains of some sort of gigantic worm twitched across one wall.
“Oh gosh what is that smell?” Bow said, looking queasy.
“Shadowweaver was here, I recognise the smell of her magic.” Glimmer grimaced. The concoction of rotten eggs and damp was unmistakable.
“Hey, it’s her mask.” Bow said, leaning down to pick something up. He paused and stepped back. That thing isn’t going to like, possess me or anything if I touch it, is it?”
“I wouldn’t put it past her.” Glimmer said and used the end of her staff to knock the untouched ceramic aside. It slid over to beside the worm carcass. “We’ll get my dad down here when he recovers to have a look at what’s left of her.”
“Good riddance.” Bow said in agreement. He turned his attention to the door on the far side of the room. “The controls are completely fried; I can’t open it this way.”
“We’ve gotta get to the core someway.” Glimmer said. She could just use her magic again, but she suspected that her… that Bow had something in mind.
“How about this?” Bow said, withdrawing an arrow from his quiver. The head of the arrow was not a normal bodkin point, but a large ring perpendicular to the shaft as if it was a bullseye.
He strung it and carefully let it fly towards the centre of the door. It struck in between the two doors and stuck there like a bookmark between pages. Then, like a bubble expanding, the circular ring around the arrowhead grew bigger. It reached a sizable diameter, stopped, and sizzled. The circle of door fell out onto the floor, having been melted through by Bow’s trick arrow.
“Nice, it worked.” Bow said proudly. He walked over and picked up the circle, which promptly broke into two halves. The arrow beneath them was remarkably intact. He retrieved it. “And my reinforcements worked like a charm.”
Glimmer clambered through the hole after him and into a long corridor. The glow at the end of the hallway was like a rainbow, unobscured by any doors. A bundle lay in the adjoining room.
“There they are!” Glimmer shouted and grabbed Bow’s hand. They ran together towards the innermost core of Etheria.
As they grew closer, Glimmer became uncomfortably aware that the lumpy shape was not large enough to be both Adora and Catra. Her heart plunged. Had one of them not made it?
“Adora? Catra?” Glimmer shouted to the bundle. It stirred. The long white cape over it sloughed off.
It wasn’t Catra. It also wasn’t Adora.
“Whoa who the heck are you?” Glimmer said, drawing her staff.
-000-
They were having such a nice nap. It was so warm here. So nice for sleeping. The blanket on top of them was heavy, but comfortingly so. Not like sleeping in the Horde barracks. The floor was hard, just the way they liked it. Not like sleeping in Brightmoon.
But they had never slept in Brightmoon, had they? No, of course they had. They could remember it plain as day. After they had stayed in the Horde they had slept in Brightmoon…?
There was a noise. It sounded like a voice. Why was it interrupting their nap? Especially when they were so sleepy.
They shifted, pulling the blanket tighter around them. It was familiar somehow. They muzzled their face up against it, trying to figure out where they knew it from. Had it been from some sort of cloak? They had worn one. But they had never worn a cloak, it interfered with acrobatics.
Someone yelled something again, but this time it was much closer and much louder and much more recognisable. The someone had yelled their names. Names?
“Whoa who the heck are you?” Glimmer was that someone.
“Give me a break Sparkles.” They said, turning around amidst the flood of cloak. “Don’t you recognise me? It’s…”
But they didn’t know who they were. Part of them was expecting them to say they were Adora, but the same part also didn’t want to say anything but Catra.
Were they Adora? Or were they Catra? Why were they confused? They couldn’t be both, could they?
“It’s me…” They tried again, hoping the real answer would spit from their mouth on instinct. They pressed a hand to their head, annoyed now. “Why can’t I even say my own name, am I really that much of a dummy?”
Then they pulled their hand away from their face. It had yellow-gold fur and ended in sharp, claw-like nails.
That was the hand of a Magicat. But not the hand of the Magicat that they were used to seeing at the end of their arm. But they weren’t used to seeing any Magicat’s hand at the end of their arm, were they? They weren’t a Magicat, after all. No, they were a Human.
There was something wrong. Contradictions about themselves bounced around inside their head. Were they a Human or a Magicat? Had they stayed with the Horde or gone to Brightmoon? Were they Catra or were they Adora?
“Glimmer…” They looked up at their friend, who was still looking at them slightly suspiciously. “Help me.”
“Okay, no way are you Adora.” Bow said. “She never asks for help.”
“I’m not so sure she’s Catra either…” Glimmer said, lowering her staff. “She never did either.”
“I… I think I’m both.” They said, looking up at the pair of them.
-000-
“Oh my cogs.” Entrapta said as she entered the room. Her voice wavered with excitement.
“Hey Entrapta.” They said, waving from beneath their blanket.
“You do seem to remember me.” Entrapta said, withdrawing a pen and notepad from her overalls. “Memories of both prior organisms seem to be intact.”
“Yes, we told you that, Entrapta.” Bow said, looking exasperated. The princess of gadgetry turned to face him.
“And I am formally noting it for my report, this is the first recorded instance of instantaneous cross-species fusion I’ve heard of.” Entrapta said. She shrugged and turned back to them. “Besides, what sort of scientist would I be if I didn’t fact check results?”
They, Glimmer and Bow, had kept the existence of them a secret. According to Bow all that anyone knew was that Adora and Catra were alive and in recovery from the battle against Horde Prime. They were sort of alive, but also entirely not. The ‘they’ there being Catra and Adora.
It couldn’t stay like this forever, which is why they had let Entrapta in on the secret. Hopefully she could figure out why this had happened.
“Fascinating.” Entrapta said, and they realised that she had pulled out some sort of handheld scope and was looking into their right ear, holding the triangular tip in her hand. They suddenly became incredibly uncomfortable and shivered violently, shaking their head and dislodging Entrapta’s scope.
“Ah, sorry Entrapta.” They said, genuinely sorry.
“Not at all, I was testing your Cralgar’s Reflex.” Entrapta said, putting the scope away. When no one showed any recognition, she clarified. “The Magicat Ear spasmic reflex? Discovered 50 years ago by Anton Cralgar, and thousands of years before that by Magicats?”
“Oh, that.” They said. They had felt that before when things got too close to their ear holes. Immediately cutting that line of thought off before it contradicted itself.
“Open please.” Entrapta said, and she squeezed the sides of their mouth. They opened up, and Entrapta placed a small wooden paddle against their tongue. “Say ‘Ahhh’.”
“Argh.” They managed to say. Entrapta withdrew the stick and looked at it. They didn’t see anything different about it.
“No amylase detected.” Entrapta said. A lock of her hair came up and rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “One more test.”
“Wait, just the one?” They asked.
“For this result, yes.” Entrapta said, she withdrew from some unknown region a bottle with a nozzle and a trigger.
Their eyes bugled wide and they leapt to avoid the inevitable stream. It impacted harmlessly on the bed behind them.
“What the heck did you do that for?” They yelled down from where they were hanging off the curtains.
“Testing a hypothesis.” Entrapta said smugly, putting the bottle back where it came from. She looked away, perhaps ashamed. “I apologise for the spray bottle.”
They began crawling slowly down the curtains and let themselves fall the last metre to the floor.
“I can confirm that you are 100% Magicat.” Entrapta said.
The two responses “Yeah duh” and “Wait what?” waged war in their mind.
“Which is most puzzling.” Entrapta said.
“Wait what?” That one won as both parts of them went over to puzzlement.
“Why are they all Magicat?” Bow said. “If they’re a fusion of Adora and Catra, then shouldn’t they be both Human and Magicat?”
“Exactly. It doesn’t seem like one of the components is more prevalent mentally, so why physically?” Entrapta said.
That got them scratching their chin too.
“But how did this happen?” They asked the room at large. “How did me and me- I mean, Catra and Adora end up fused like this?”
“What’s the last thing you can remember before you woke up?” Entrapta asked. She scribbled something in her notebook.
They threw their mind back to what happened before they were having an excellent nap and been awakened by Glimmer’s shouting.
“I was in the core
“I was in the core. Horde Prime’s virus was infecting it.” They said, straining their memory. “I had been scratched by that centipede monster, so Adora was covered in green veins.”
“A poison that could affect She-ra?” Entrapta’s eyes widened with surprise. “Despite her being immune to most other poisons?”
“Wait how did you know She-ra is immune to poison?” Bow asked.
“Sorry, can’t hear you, focused on the fusion.” Entrapta said, rather loudly and purposefully.
“I- Adora had collapsed, and she somehow linked with the core.” They said. The memory, only Adora’s, was strange to them. It was like a dream. “I, meaning Catra, grabbed her to try and wake her up and It’s kind of like Catra entered into that link as well.”
“Catra linked with the core as well?” Glimmer asked, she had an eyebrow raised sceptically.
“Sort of? Adora saw me in the core, but from Catra’s point of view she was just seeing me on the floor.” They said and groaned slightly. “I might not be explaining it great; these memories are so confusing.”
“Hardly, not only is this a fantastic qualitative account, but your various slip-ups in grammar are some excellent quantitative data.” Entrapta said, eyes lit up.
“Happy to help?” They said, slightly puzzled. Refocussing on their story, they continued. “Adora wasn’t doing great, I thought for sure that I was… oh.”
“What did you think?” Bow asked, eyes wide with concern. Then he added in a soft voice. “Also, who was thinking that?”
“Catra thought that Adora was ready to give up.” They said. They bit their lip awkwardly. “She was ready to give up.”
Glimmer audibly gasped, despite her attempts to stifle it.
“Then I said I loved her, and that gave me the will to fight on.” They said, they couldn’t help but smile. “I said it back and we kissed. The core seemed to calm down, so I think the virus had been purged. Then there was the smell of salt and… maple syrup?”
“Whoa whoa whoa, go back a second.” Glimmer said. She seemed to be completely taken aback. “Catra told Adora that she loved her, and that gave Adora the will to live?”
“Glimmer, I am surprised at you!” Entrapta said, hair on her hips. “I didn’t expect you to be homophobic.”
“Homophonic?” Glimmer replied. “I have no idea what that means but it feels insulting. I’m just confused why that was so much encouragement! Unless that was your first time telling each other that you loved each other?”
“I thought for sure that they had done that after they broke the duo record on course 13 in Horde training.” Bow said.
Everyone looked at Bow when he said that.
“I can’t believe I told you about the course 13 record.” They said. “But no, neither of us had told the other we loved them. Heck, neither of us knew the other felt anything like that.”
“Ha ha.” Glimmer laughed. She looked at them and stopped laughing. “Wait, you’re serious?”
“Yeah.” They laughed sheepishly. “It seems silly now. Looking back, I can see how wrong I was.”
“That… makes too much sense.” Bow said. “Adora always seemed really tense in the moment when she was fighting Catra, but if Catra hadn’t shown up, then afterwards she was really anxious.”
“Ooh.” Entrapta said, drawing out the ‘o’ sound as if she had come to a realisation. “That’s what Catra meant when she said ‘Adora doesn’t want me, not like I want her’.”
They blushed bright red.
“You heard that?” They said. Then they realised something. “Wait, how did you hear me say that to Melog when we were out in the forest?”
“I had to take Emily for a walk.” Entrapta said, as if it was obvious. “She gets antsy when she’s cooped up all day.”
“Where is Melog anyway?” They asked.
“Scorpia is taking care of them.” Glimmer said. “Although how she reacted when I asked if she would you would think I’d given her your firstborn.”
“Don’t be surprised if they come back covered in bows.” Bow said, jokingly.
“They’ll handle her easy.” They said. Melog could easily escape the Fright Zone princess if they wanted. They noticed Entrapta looking at them, slightly squinting. “What are you thinking, Entrapta?”
“Given your account of the situation, my main hypothesis so far is that this fusion is a result of both Catra and Adora experiencing a simultaneous moment of intimacy, in combination with She-ra and the psychic link shared by them and the core.” Entrapta said.
“They had true love’s kiss?” Bow said, laughing slightly.
“While physical closeness may have played a factor, I think this was much more likely a result of emotional closeness.” Entrapta said, paying no attention to Bow’s amusement.
“I think it’s probably easier to say true love’s kiss.” Glimmer said.
“It may be easier, but it’s wrong.” Entrapta said. She shrugged sardonically, seemingly annoyed. “If you’re going to misrepresent it like that why not emit the other circumstantial details as well and make everyone feel like their love isn’t true enough to fuse.”
“Oh, I’m sorry Entrapta.” Glimmer said, holding her hands up.
“We didn’t realise you felt so strongly about it.” Bow said apologetically. Entrapta sighed.
“I have a lot of friends who are in relationships that never fused; like you two.” Entrapta said sincerely. “Calling Catra and Adora’s fusion the result of ‘true love’s kiss’ just feels like I’m saying that your relationship isn’t good enough.”
“Damn, that really does sound bad when you put it like that.” Bow said, he scratched his arm with embarrassment.
They were about to joke that they would say that their fusion was the result of true love’s kiss anyway, but they decided not to.
“Besides, true love’s kiss has much different effects.” Entrapta said, while taking a note. She looked up from it and smiled. “Kidding.”
They laughed out loud at that and they only laughed louder at the look on Glimmer and Bow’s faces.
“Moving on to other things.” Bow said. He turned towards them. “You mentioned in the core difficulty with saying which name was yours between Catra and Adora, right?”
“Yeah, each time I went to say one it just felt wrong.” They said. They frowned slightly. “It was so strange. When I went to say Catra, I felt wrong, and same with Adora.”
“Possibly because of the relatively even nature of the fusion.” Entrapta said. “It doesn’t feel true to yourself to identify as either of those names, because neither of them are you.”
“Sort of?” They said. “I remember being both of them, but it’s like I’m not now, if that makes sense?”
“Then, if I could make a suggestion, you should choose a new name for yourself.” Glimmer said. “Something that isn’t Catra or Adora, but it’s you.”
“Hmm.” They said. They started listing off names that they could make by mashing together Catra and Adora “Cadra? Adotra? Adtra? Catradora?”
“Something completely different to Adora and Catra.” Glimmer suggested further.
They wracked their brain. Trying as hard as they could to come up with something.
“Okay, hang on.” Bow said. “You’re not gonna get anywhere just thinking about names like this. I’m going to get a list of baby names and some writing utensils.”
“Then we can make a list!” Entrapta said, excitedly bobbing on her hair tendrils. “Then we can slowly edit and fine-tune it until there’s only one name.”
“Cool, I’ll get some snacks from the kitchens.” Glimmer said. “Hopefully the victory feast won’t mind going ahead without us.”
“Oh! I just realised, I should go and get Scorpia!” Entrapta said. “We’ll need the combined power of the Super Pal Trio and the Best Friends Squad to come up with this.”
“Good idea, I definitely want Scorpia to be here.” They said. After months on the run, scraping together stark few days to have friends where they could it was nice to not have the pressure of the Horde, or the Rebellion, or Horde Prime on them. “Also, I just decided to name myself Finn.”
Shocked faces looked at them.
“What? I like it!” Finn said.
“No, we don’t think it’s bad…” Glimmer said.
“It’s just that it’s… well.” Bow added.
“It’s a very uncommon name.” Entrapta said. “Not like… Gadgetra or Cogsmith.”
“Gadgetra and Cogsmith?” Bow asked.
“They are the two most common names in Dryl, with a prevalence of 6.27 and 5.9 percent respectively.” Entrapta supplied. “What sort of common names are there in Brightmoon?”
“Names like Lunara and Juliet.” Glimmer said.
“Eh, Juliet isn’t that common. The only Juliet I know is the guard captain.” Bow said. He turned back to Finn. “Are you sure about Finn? I’m not trying to convince you out of it, but some people might tease you.”
“Oh please, I’m the combined form of the two people who just saved the planet, who is gonna tease me about it?” Finn smirked.
They were quite right.
-000-
“Oh my gosh, you’re nearly as muscular as me now, kitty cat.” Scorpia said.
“Ha, this is me after months in space without proper meals or gym equipment.” Finn said. They pulled the scorpion princess into a hug. True, Horde Prime never starved Catra, but she had lost most of the bulk she had put on while running the horde on Etheria. Even Adora wasn’t in her prime physically, having just spent every day since the artificial Sword of Protection’s destruction on the run eating rations. “I’ll be twice your size once the doctors have cleared me!”
“Glimmer said your name is Finn now, right?” Scorpia said.
Finn looked up at her through the hug and nodded.
“For now, at least, who knows if that’ll change.” Finn said. “Why do you ask?”
“The most unbelievable thing about this is that you’re a hugger too.” Scorpia said, laughing softly. Finn liked that laugh. Maybe not the same way Catra had, but it was comforting all the same.
“I suppose so.” Finn said. They squeezed tighter. “You wouldn’t have guessed it from Catra and Adora.”
“Finn?” Scorpia asked.
“Yes, Scorpia?” They asked innocently, straining.
“Are you trying to lift me?” She said.
“No.” Finn said, giving up on trying to lift the larger woman.
“Good, you don’t wanna strain yourself by lifting without stretching.” Scorpia said, and Finn felt her claw pat her head.
Finn stepped back.
“Where did Glimmer, Bow, and Entrapta go after they went and got you?” Finn asked. They leaned slightly to the side, miming looking for the trio in the small gap between Scorpia and the door.
“Entrapta is taking measurements in the core.” Scorpia said. “She’s got some sort of Prime clone helping her, but she insists he’s fine.”
“Nah, he’s chill.” Finn said. That’d be Wrong Hordak. A terrible through struck them. “Just taking measurements, right? No attaching interfaces or anything?”
“She promised not to.” Scorpia confirmed. “Or at least she promised to ask before she did.”
“That may be the best we’ll get from her.” Finn said, amused. “Glimmer and Bow?”
“They’re gathering people up to make some sort of announcement.” Scorpia said. She pointed a claw at them. “Probably about you, from what I figure.”
“How many people?” Finn asked. They weren’t sure if they wanted everyone to know just yet.
“Just the council of princesses, Glimmer’s dad, Swiftwind, and a few others.” Scorpia said.
Finn’s ear flicked. They felt a familiar invisible something brush up against their leg.
“Hey Scorpia, where’s Melog?” Finn asked. The question made Scorpia cringe. “Glimmer said you were looking after them, right?”
“Okay so, you know how Melog can turn invisible?” Scorpia said.
“I am very aware that Melog can turn invisible.” Finn said.
“They turned invisible, and I cannot find them.” Scorpia said. She seemed anxious. “I’m sorry, I looked everywhere but… invisible.”
“Hey.” Finn said, putting their hand on Scorpia’s upper arm. “Melog’s a smart cat who can get by on their own. Also, they are sniffing my ankles right now.”
Like a light turning on, Melog appeared at their feet.
“Hey Melog.” Finn said. They waved down at the cat-like creature.
“Oh no how long have they been following me?” Scorpia was suddenly even more nervous.
A feeling appeared in Finn’s mind, like the ones that they had sent to Catra. Melog had seen something compromising, a moment of tenderness between Scorpia and a lover. While Finn couldn’t tell who it had been from the feeling, they had ideas.
“Looked everywhere for Melog, hey?” Finn said, smirking. “Including inside Perfuma’s mouth?”
Scorpia blushed nearly as red as her chitinous armour plates. Finn laughed.
-000-
“Bow and I arrived at the core.” Glimmer said. “Now before we continue it’s very important that you do not panic.”
“Why on Etheria would you say that? That just makes us think ahead of time that there’s something to panic about!” Mermista said snarkily.
“The thing you need to know is that the situation is under control.” Bow said.
“Correct.” Glimmer said. “When we arrived in the core, we did not find Adora or Catra.”
“Oh no!” Perfuma cried out. “We need to start investigating where they could have gone immediately!”
She was followed by a chorus of agreeance.
“People, people! Please let us finish!” Bow called to the table. He repeated it a few times before he managed to quiet the princesses.
“We may not have found Catra or Adora there, but we did find someone else.” Glimmer said.
This was obviously the signal for Finn to step through the doors of the hall and introduce themselves to the assembled princesses.
But Finn wasn’t behind the doors of the hall.
They were lounging invisible in the seat that was usually reserved for Adora. This chair was coincidentally at the opposite side of the table from the hall doors.
“I said we found someone else!” Glimmer said, looking very pointedly at the doors. So forceful was her intent that others began to look at them too. They were expecting someone to come through them.
Finn scratched Melog on the head and they let the invisibility drop.
“Hey, I’m Finn.” They said, getting everyone’s attention. “I’m a fusion of Catra and Adora with all their memories and personality.”
-000-
Over the next few days, they settled in to a steady rhythm. They would wake up in Adora’s old bed in Brightmoon and stretch against the walls. They ate breakfast that had flavour with some combination of Bow, Glimmer, Entrapta, or Scorpia. Then they went out with the other volunteers to help with the cleanup from Horde Prime’s (and the Etherian Horde’s before that) war machine. Just after midday the volunteer catering corps would bring around some sort of meat sandwich for them to have lunch on the go. Near sundown they headed back to Brightmoon before having dinner with their friends. Collapsing exhausted in their bed afterwards.
Nearly afterwards, before collapsing they needed to clean themselves.
Although Finn could remember both seeing (as Adora) and doing (as Catra) tongue bathing, It had taken a bit of time to get used to tongue-bathing. They supposed this may be because they had such different fur to Catra. While Catra’s had been uneven, coarse, and dull; theirs was soft and shiny.
“Well, that’s probably because of the malnutrition.” Entrapta had said when they mentioned it one day at breakfast (tiny quiches). Finn asked them what they meant by that. “I analysed the Horde’s ration bars while I was working on the portal. They contained only approximately 25% of the recommended intake of Flavonoids.”
Neither Adora or Catra had known what a Flavonoid was, and Finn hadn’t learnt since, but it answered their question well enough.
-000-
Adora had always been a light sleeper, Catra even more so; therefore it came as a bit of a surprise when Finn started sleeping through the night without waking up at the creeks and footsteps in Brightmoon. They quite comfortably slept until first wakeup call (in the form of a small brass quartet playing smooth Jazz on one of the high towers), and sometimes even to the second (the same brass quartet transitioning to Ska).
They were making good progress on the rebuilding, after Brightmoon they had moved onto Salineus. While it was unlikely that the gate would ever be active again, they rebuilt the arch.
Finn oversaw the rebuilding of that particular landmark. It was only right, they felt. They remembered seeing to its destruction as Catra, both during the assault and by distracting the Princesses with the help of Double Trouble.
Where had they got to, anyway? Finn had heard from Perfuma that they had imitated a prince during the invasion. While Adora hadn’t particularly liked the shapeshifter, and by the end Catra had hated them; Finn’s thoughts on them were tinged with nostalgia.
Finn rolled their eyes at the memory of the last time Catra had seen them. Back at the fall of the Fright Zone, when they had imitated Adora. They had touched Catra’s cheek and said that “You really are obsessed, aren’t you, kitten?”
At the time it had just been another twist of the knife. Just another reminder that Catra was in love with her greatest enemy. But now, with clearer mind, and no building collapsing around them, Finn wondered if DT had known more than they’d let on. Double Trouble had spent about two months in deep cover as Flutterina alongside Adora.
Adora hadn’t been able to tell that Flutterina was a spy, but the fairy had definitely been a bit too interested in Adora’s fights with Catra. At the time Adora had been embarrassed, then after Double Trouble’s reveal she had assumed that Catra had put them up to it. But Catra hadn’t asked them to do anything of the sort. Yeah, she had paid them handsomely for information on the rebellion, and asked on the side about Adora whenever they made their reports, but nothing as direct as the questions that DT had asked Adora.
The arch of Selineus was quite the undertaking. While Spinnarella could lift the pieces of sandstone with her cyclonic powers, she couldn’t exactly guide them in place with as much dexterity as human hands could. Or in this case, magicat hands. Finn was luckily still an excellent climber. They gripped the archway with their legs and grabbed each piece out of the air as Spinnarella levitate them up. The arch had been puzzled out on the ground, so there wasn’t too much figuring out where things went in the air. They glued each piece in place with a foul-smelling green paste in a bucket hanging from Finn’s climbing harness. Mermista had insisted on the use of the climbing harness to comply with the SWHS, Salineus Workplace Health and Safety regulations. The green paste was apparently made from a special type of ground up seaweed, and it dried clear and lost most of the smell.
It was a great day when they got the keystones back in place and could remove the wooden scaffolding. They celebrated with a beach barbecue. The arch had by far taken the longest time to rebuild compared to the other homes and infrastructure of Salineus. Consequently most of the workforce had moved out to the Fight Zone to assist with their repairs and the dismantling of the various weapon factories. At the final celebrations was only Finn, Spinnarella and Nettossa, Mermista and Sea Hawk, as well as a few other Selinean civilians.
Finn sat down on a log beside the fire with a flatbread full of barbecued pork. The sand was so soft, and pleasantly warm. They picked some off the pile with their nails and ate it. It was really good.
The flatbread was still warm from the griddle plate. They held it with the tips of their fingers and rolled it, enclosing the meat. While magicats were obligate carnivores, a little bit of bread was fine to have. They took a small bite.
Finn immediately yanked their mouth away from the wrap and growled softly. An outline of their teeth was left on the flatbread. The meat was still really hot.
“Agh, crud.” Finn said, annoyed. They blew on the meat instinctively.
“Careful, it’ll scorch you.” A woman said, sitting down beside them. She was a Slinean, and dressed like a manual laborer, and had a dangly earring of a spiral shell on her right ear. “Coral. You’re Finn, right?”
“Yep, that’s me.” Finn said. They hadn’t been working with her on the arch, she must have been fixing some other part of the city. “Are you a carpenter?”
“Since I was six.” Coral said. She took a swig from her bottle and sighed. “Never thought I’d get so much work at once; the rebuilding has kept me busy.”
“I’m sorry?” Finn said hesitantly. Was she complaining?
“No need for you to apologize, wasn’t you who wrecked this place.” Coral said. She shrugged. “Heck, you’re She-ra, without you there’d probably be nothing left to repair.”
Finn raised an eyebrow.
“You do know I’m not She-ra anymore, right? Or just Adora.” Finn said.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Coral said, apologetically. “I hadn’t heard.”
“Yeah, haven’t transformed since the final battle with Horde Prime.” Finn said. They were technically being truthful. They really hadn’t transformed. They hadn’t actually tried. There’d been no need. “Now I’m just Finn, helping with the rebuild.”
“When I heard your name was Finn I was a bit surprised you chose a Selinean name.” Coral said. She smiled cheekily. “Considering a move here? We might see more of each other.”
“Aha, no.” Finn said sheepishly. They honestly hadn’t realised it was a Selinean name when they had picked it. “Just here for the reconstruction. I just liked the sound of it.”
“It’s a nice name.” Coral said. Finn went to try for a bite of their barbecue pork. “I had a crush on a Finn in school.”
Finn would have choked if they had gotten to the wrap. They retreated from the barbecue like they had been shocked. Why in Etheria had she said that? Was she flirting? Just pointing out a coincidence? But surely, she had to have known other Finns if it was a common Selinean name?
“That’s nice.” They said, trying to stay neutral.
“You’re pretty beefy for a Magicat, do you lift?” Coral asked.
-000-
“Oh my gosh.” Bow said, facepalming. “Finn, she was totally flirting with you!”
“I kinda figured that, Bow.” Finn rolled their eyes.
“Did she say something rude?” Glimmer asked, gently. “Like, with how you kinda destroyed Selineas when you were Catra?”
“No not at all.” Finn said, they shrugged and poked at their plate of breakfast sausages. “I just didn’t really like the idea of flirting with someone who isn’t Ca-Ado- wait.”
“Fascinating.” Entrapta said, taking a note with her hair.
“I don’t think it’s that strange to feel uncomfortable with that if you’re in a relationship.” Bow said. “Although… Are you in a relationship at the moment, Finn?”
That was a good point. Finn thought on that for a second. They did use to be Adora and Catra, and that whole ‘moment of emotional intimacy’ leading to fusion would seem to imply a relationship. But they’re not Catra and Adora now, are they? They’re Finn. Just the one person, right?
“I guess not?” Finn said.
“I don’t wanna pressure you or anything, but maybe you should talk to someone?” Scorpia said, tenderly holding a slice of toast with her claws. “Perfuma knows a bunch of good counsellors, and not just the relaxation stuff.”
“Maybe I should? It might be helpful to just have someone to talk at for a bit.” Finn said. “Just to help figure out who I am.”
“I’ll make you a list.” Scorpia said. “There’s a bunch of them camped out in the Frightzone at the moment, helping people unlearn Horde mentality.”
“That’ll be convenient, not having to journey back and forth while helping with the rebuilding.” Finn said, pointing their fork at Scorpia. A thought occurred to them. “Do they still have ration bar production going, I wouldn’t mind a grey one for a rainy day.”
“Nah, not anymore.” Scorpia said. “Catra always seemed to like the brown ones, I guess tastes change.”
“Oh, haha, no Catra loved the grey ones too.” Finn said. As much as they appreciated the food outside the Horde, and the better food that Catra had gotten after Shadowweaver’s fall from grace, they felt some nostalgia at the thought of the clay-like bars. “But Adora liked them, so she gave them to her. After Adora left it was… not really something she wanted to think about, so she kept eating the brown ones.”
“Sorry, how did Adora not know Catra liked her?” Bow said jokingly.
“Ugh, I know.” Finn said. “Catra always said she didn’t like the grey but in retrospect it was so obvious.”
“If necessary, I can develop a replacement ration bar.” Said Entrapta, not looking up from her note-taking pad. “With the Magicat-required nutrients included.”
“I’d appreciate that Entrapta.” Finn said. They smiled.
-000-
It was so strange to see the Frightzone without smog.
Where previously the lights had faded into the haze they now shone brightly. Or at least they shone brightly where they were still on. Most of them had been turned off by scouts before Finn had arrived there. Night even seemed dark without the diffused luminescence.
Day was actually bright without the smog. They could see further than they ever could before from their old lookout. It was much easier to climb up there than they remembered as Adora.
Finn sipped from their canteen and sighed. It was good to be back here. Even if most of the Frightzone was tainted with bad memories, this place wasn’t. This was all Catra and Adora. Just them being together, hanging out and laughing.
They had always wanted to kiss each other. Catra always afraid that Shadowweaver would punish her from distracting Adora from training, and Adora always worried that Catra would be scared off.
Finn raised their canteen to them. They got just one kiss. Just once. But probably never again, if this fused state was permanent.
They took another sip. The water was cool and clear. Not like the Frightzone’s supply. Water here had tasted weird. Too pure. Too refined.
Maybe that wasn’t a bad thing, but the water from the Brightmoon source definitely tasted better. Maybe Finn being the continuation of Catra and Adora wasn’t either?
They stretched as they stood up, no time to dawdle. They had work to do. At least after they had secured some precious cargo.
Finn returned to their tent shortly after, a small panel of Frightzone steel clutched in their hands.
It was a family portrait, of sorts.
-000-