TITAN-RA AND THE PRINCESSES OF PORTALS (She-Ra in the Owl House Lesbian Angst Experience!)

AUTHOR'S NOTE: So, you may have noticed, there was a long break between this chapter and the prior one! Basically? My e-mail and discord got hacked by some dipshit and I'm still in the process of getting all that stuff sorted. I'm going to try and get back onto schedule with this here story, so, never you fear! Now, on with the story!

…oh, also, everyone is eighteen! Just to be clear. This is a crossover fanfic where some characters are canonically nineteen and twenty, and some are sixteen or fifteen, so, I split the difference and made them all eighteen.

…also, this is where those of you reading this on AO3 learn I am also an erotica author. Sorry and/or you're welcome!

NOW! On with the story!


I can never, ever, ever let anyone learn this.

Catra's icy thought rushed through her brain faster than she could process it – a momentary flicker of paranoia making her glance over her shoulder, nervously. Fortunately, for once in her life as the Golden Guard, her underlings were following her instructions...even if it was somewhat unexpected in the case of Scorpia and Entrapta. Those two were doing their job, leaving her unobserved…

Leaving her secret…

Safe.

"And then when Prince Glitterding burst through the painting with a sword!" Catra whispered. "And Hectae drops the 'forsooth, he doth lived!' line?"

"It was so cool!" Amity Blight squealed, her purple eyes glittering as the two girls walked together past the lockers of Hexside. "Did you catch the lead up to it, it's so subtle."

"Lead up?" Catra asked, her brows twitching up.

"Yeah, when Prince Glitterding's 'body'," Amity said, twitching her free fingers, her other arm looped around the book-stack she was holding to her chest. "Falls onto the dust, the description says that it leaves no mark. Because-"

"Because it's an illusion, duh!" Catra gasped. "I read that book thirty times, I just got that!"

Amity giggled. "I caught that, first pass, I called it, I called it."

"Wow," Catra whispered.

"You know, I've never met anyone whose even heard of the Azura books, Elisabeth," Amity said, smiling shyly.

Catra blushed and brushed some of her brown hair behind one of her ears – adjusting her fake glasses with the same gesture. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Amity's cheeks were beginning to practically glow pink. Catra ducked her head forward, hiding her ruthless grin. Got her, she thought. Then her ears twitched. She could hear smug voices and laughter coming up behind her. She turned a bit and peered over her shoulder – and saw that a triclops that might as well have 'queen of school' printed on her forehead. Save, well. She had an eye there.

"Amity, what are you doing hanging with this dork?" The triclops said, sneering. Catra flicked through her memory and slotted name to face: Boscha. That was who Amity had called her. Catra had seen notes on her in one of the dozens of reports and files that she had snoozed through in her role as the Golden Guard, and not a single one of them sprang to her mind now. She supposed she'd have to wing it.

Amity pursed her lips. "Elizabeth here is a new student. I'm just showing her around, Boscha," she said.

"Y-Yeah," Catra said, shrinking slightly and shifting behind Amity, peeking over her shoulder. It felt strangely familiar to do that. She gulped and tightened her grip on her schoolbooks as Boscha sneered and shook her head.

"Just leave her to the losers like Bow or Glimmer," Boscha said. "She's a cat-demon, you know what they're like."

The other girls surrounding Boscha giggled.

Catra felt her claws snick into the book. Cardboard and paper curled under razor sharp edges as her knuckles suddenly whitened. She felt short of breath. Sick, even. She gulped. What is happening to me? She thought, her breath coming short and quick. Boscha stepped closer, and Catra heard her voice echoing from a distance.

"They're all…"

Black and white. The memory was in black and white. The painful sparking. The stern voice. Now, Miss Weaver, we're just trying to help you. She closed her eyes.

"...just basically one step away from being wild witches, everyone says it," Boscha's voice – not following the expected pattern, snapped Catra back to the present. Her skin prickled with sweat and she wheezed softly, remaining behind Amity and ducking her head forward. She breathed in and held it, trying to keep herself from collapsing.

They're not like that here, she thought. They're not like that here. They're not like that here.

She breathed out, feeling her claws relax from the book, while Amity said, her voice icy cold. "Like Eberwolf? A coven head? Hm. Interesting supposition, do you want to maybe stop talking out of your backside and let me finish hanging out with Elizabeth here?"

The rest of the girls oohed, softly, while Amity blinked – a faint shocked expression flickering over her face, as if she hadn't expected herself to say that. Catra's mind worked quick. She put her hand on Amity's shoulder, carefully making sure her claws were firmly retracted. "H-Hey, it's okay, we can just go," she whispered, trying to put just the right level of aww please protect me patheticness in her voice. Amity frowned and squared her shoulders, while Boscha shook her head, her scowl growing fiercer.

"Amity, I think you forget whose on top around here," Boscha said. "Who here is the captain of the grudgby team? Who is it who doesn't get to play at all anymore? Oh, right!" She said. "I can push around anyone I want."

"There's more to life than grudgby," Amity said, frowning.

"No there isn't," Boscha said, then grinned. A wicked idea clearly flickered through her eyes as she smirked wider. "See you two at P.E."

She stalked off, her girls following after her, giggling and whispering to one another. Catra's ears twitched as she hastily hid her school book so that Adora didn't see her markings on it. Amity shook her head a bit, then turned to face her. "Sorry about that. Boscha thinks the whole world revolves around her."

Catra smiled, shyly. "A bit like, uh, Hectae's evil twin, huh?"

"Totally," Amity said, smiling. "Besides, P.E this week's just cardio, it's not like she can do anything to us in Cardio."

Catra nodded – though she was already fairly sure she knew wha-

Adora. You called Amity...Adora...in your head.

She blinked at the thought.

"Are you okay?" Amity asked.

"Y-Yeah. Fine. Sorry. Just." Catra flushed. "Bullies are...are kinda scary."

"Don't worry," Amity said, smiling slightly. "I'm not about to let the first member of, uh, uh...the...the...Azura Book Club, get, uh, bullied! Out! OF school! The club that exists, right now! I decided!" She blushed, harder. "Lets get to class!"

"For P.E today, I've decided we're going to...shake things up!" The P.E teacher, a big burly looking demon with a cheerful demeanor and a grudgby ball between his meaty palms. "How about some amateur grudgby, everyone?"

Called it. Catra thought, while Amity glowered at Boscha, who stuck her tongue out at her. Then Catra spotted someone in the far end of the crowd of students.

A shock of blond hair.

Pointed ears.

Adora. She frowned, hard, while Boscha stuck her hand into the air. "I volunteer to lead one of the teams!" she said, immediately.

"Very good," the P.E teacher said. "Who wants to captain the other team?"

"I guess I'll do it," Amity said, squaring her shoulders and stepping forward. She bit her lip, while the P.E teacher had her flip a coin and catching it from the air. She slapped her palm down and both her and Boscha leaned over.

"Snails," the teacher said, nodding. "You pick first, Boscha."
Boscha grinned, then pointed out one of her fellow grudgby bests. Amity bit her lip, then pointed at Adora. "Uh, you, new girl."

"M-Me? I...uh, sure! I've, uh, played...sport! Before!" Adora said, looking like she was stepping out into traffic. She glanced at her...her two...Catra's eyes narrowed. That was Bow Porter, and that glittery hair had to be Glimmer Park. Glimmer Park had a lot written about her in the documents – none of it conclusive. If it had been conclusive, then her entire family would be in the Conformatorium right now. And seeing them standing around Adora...seeing the way Adora glanced at them, the way Bow gave her a thumbs up.

So, she's picked friends, already, huh? Catra thought. Her eyes flashed and she tightened her grip behind her back. Well, I have a new friend too. And-

"Elizabeth?"

She jerked her head around, noticing that Boscha had picked another – and Amity was pointing at her.

Catra brushed her hand through her hair, trying to look demure and innocent. She walked forward, while Adora scowled. "Hey, Elizabeth," she said, stressing the name, hard. "Have you ever played, uh, grudgles before?"

"N-No," Catra said, meekly. "B-But I have w-watched a lot."

Amity, glancing between the two of them, frowned and whispered. "Do you two know each other?"

"N-No, we're just new students, and...did I do something t-to make you mad?" Catra asked.

Adora blinked. "I- no! I...just...uh…" She stammered, looking guilty – which made Amity look at her suspiciously, frowning intently.

The P.E teacher coughed. "Blight. Pick your next player."

The picks went off – with Bow and Glimmer being drafted to Amity's side while the rest of the class ended up on Boscha's. The two teams were given the field and Amity gestured everyone in, whispering softly. "All right, what's your spell specializations?" she asked, firmly.

"Portals," Glimmer said, nodding.

"Good, we can use your for logistics and flanking," Amity said. "Elizabeth?"

"I-I can cast a lot of anything, but, um, I have to d-do it a special way," Catra said, gulping.

"What kind of special way, Cat-" Adora caught herself. "Elizabeth."

Amity's expression grew even more icy. Inside, Catra wanted to purr. Instead, she tried to look as icy, blank faced, and struggling to control her emotions as she could. "W-Well, if you have to know, I'm n-not a...I'm a magicless demon. I have to cast using special glyphs and runes. I-It takes a bit of extra effort, but I s-swear it's good."

"Uh-huh," Adora said, her voice suspicious.

"Stop badgering our transfer student, Adora," Amity said.

"I'm not badgering!" Adora said, sounding surprised. "J-Just...there…" She looked torn between wanting to say three things at once – and Amity ran right over her, pointing at Bow.

"Illusions, right?"

"And archery!" Bow said.

"How can archery be any use in a grudgby match?" Amity whispered.

Bow grinned at her. "You'd be surprised!"

"All right. Glimmer, you move Elizabeth out of danger. Bow and I will spoil any attacks with abominations and archery. Adora...you seem like a tough girl. Can you get the ball through the hoop as many times as possible?BAmity asked.

"Can do," Adora said, nodding. Amity frowned at her, then nodded. "All right. Break!"

The team shuffled back, then got into positions. Catra drew some runeing paper and a stylus from her belt. She had to play this very carefully. The ball was knocked into the air by a blast of fire, Adora yelping and jerking backwards in shock. As the ball arced through the air, two players from Boscha's team rushed left, already casting spell circles. Plants exploded from the ground, thorns trying to wrap around Glimmer and Amity and yank them out of the way. Glimmer vanished with a spray of sparkles as Bow's bow snapped into existence with a poof of illusory magic. He knocked and fired an arrow – and to Catra's shock, the ball was knocked off course, then landed before her.

"How!?" She squeaked, her glasses almost falling off.

Bow, grinning, rushed past her and then waved his hand – and six Catras and twelve balls, each of them running in different directions, appeared at once.

"The illusion was that I wasn't armed!" he said, cheerfully.

"Park! Did you bring a bow and trick arrows to school again!?" The P.E teacher shouted from the sidelines. Catra shook her head and saw plant vines whipping out, cracking into the air again and again with a series of loud snaps. Each snap caused one of her illusions – even the one that was balancing a ball on her head and bouncing up and down happily – to puff into smoke. She started to run forward, then slammed her glyph onto the ground. Ice hissed into existance as she hopped onto it, skidding around two of the players – only for Boscha to start hurling fireballs at her.

Then Adora sprang up and punched Boscha in the jaw.

Boscha staggered and rubbed at her mouth. "Ow!" She exclaimed, while a whistle blew fiercely, the P.E teacher bellowing.

"Foul! Unlawful physical contact!" he shouted, then pointed his finger at Adora. "I don't know how you do things in the Pits, but here, we don't mix martial and arcane classes! Five point penalty for Amity's team.

"B-But...she...throwing fireballs!" Adora said, sounding like she was a kitten who had been bapped on the nose. Boscha glared at her as the team started to reset. Bow and Glimmer were looking concerned, whispering to one another, but Amity's expression was pure ice. Catra walked in close – her head ducked forward...and whispered, so softly that she was pretty sure only Adora could hear her.

"Hey Adora," she purred. "Having fun yet?"

"I'm going to expose you," Adora hissed.

Catra flinched away from her, then ran back to the team – and left Adora blinking and looking even more lost.

The rest of the game didn't provide any further chances to humiliate Adora or make her look like a bully. Boscha, true to her word, was a goddess on the court. In a different circumstance, Catra would have already been trying to work out how to get her into the Emperor's Coven. But even she wasn't exactly able to plan ahead when it took every bit of her concentration to avoid being both flattened and revealed. She had to dodge, but only just barely, each time. She had to help the team win – but not so much so that people would notice her skill. And she had to fumble and use only simple glyphs, or else people might wonder.

In the end, she felt more worn out than she would have, had she been actually trying to kill someone.

Boscha's team still won thirty to two.

"You were saying, about grudgby not being everything?" Boscha said, sneering at Amity as Amity's team stood, splattered in mud and muck, with Glimmer nursing a burned arm, and Bow wincing as he stood on his jarred ankle. "Hmm?"

"School's rules, you lost at grudgby, you gotta own up," the P.E teacher said, cheerfully.

"Fine. Sorry," Amity said, woodenly.

"There we go," Boscha said, her voice dripping with smugness, while the teacher shook his head, then waved his hand.

"Go on, hit the showers, kids," he said, casually.

They started to amble off, Bow wincing with every step. "Well," he said, grinning. "That was pretty fun. Uh, you did a great job for a first timer, Elizabeth."

"T-Thanks," Catra said. Then Bow's eyes widened. She flicked her gaze, following the line of his sight – and saw that her shirt had ridden up along one of her sleeves, revealing the faint edge of the Emperor's Coven symbol she had inscribed in her arm. She yanked her sleeve down subtly, but it was too late. Bow was looking over from her to Adora, and then back to her again. But by then, they had reached the showers and Catra scratched her claw gently along her finger. She didn't need to draw blood – just leave a little white mark. The mini-invisibility glyph flashed unnoticed under her hand and when she removed it, the symbol was gone. She sighed, as Amity walked into the girl's shower.

"See you, uh, later!" Adora said. "Just...gonna go into a...a...public showers. With girls. And C- Elizabeth." Her face was turning red. Bow headed off to the boy's showers, while Glimmer walked in ahead of Adora – and gave Catra a chance to smirk at her.

"What's the matter, Adora?" she crooned softly. "I remember in camp, you said you weren't gay." She turned to face her. Her voice was soft. "Know what they did to me?"

"I-I…" Adora gulped, then flinched as Catra glared at her.

"They don't Taze twelve year olds because they like girls in this world," Catra hissed, her eyes narrowing.

"Did you think I wanted that to happen to you!?" Adora whispered back, putting her hand on her chest. "Kat...Kat I...I wanted to protect you."

"And yet, somehow, you never did," Catra said, her voice colder than icewater. She didn't quite look into Adora's eyes. She looked, instead, at her throat – at the sleek connection between shoulder and head. The visceral sense memory of hazy fantasies flashed into her mind. Despite never having doing it, she could remember the feeling of pressing her lips to that throat. She snapped her glare up. "And now that I don't need you, you finally show up." She snorted. "How pathetic are you, Adora?"

Adora didn't have an answer. She just watched as Catra turned and walked into the showers.

The warmth of the air hit her face like a comforting caress and she glanced around at the stalls. She shivered from her head to her toes as she saw Amity Blight's pale body in one, her back to her, her hair already slicked down. The Boiling Isles' relaxed attitude towards homosexuality was only matched by their utter lack of puritanism around sex – and never before had Catra so appreciated it. She licked her lips slowly and the urge to slip up and offer Amity a back-rub was...was…

Can Elizabeth Meow Meow Applesauce get away with that? She thought.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Adora walking into the room, her face wooden. Adora was barely seeing anything, or else she'd have probably had her head explode. Or, maybe…

Maybe the camp worked on her. Maybe I was just a phase. The bitterness of the thought was shockingly strong, like licking some spoiled smilk. Catra shucked her P.E shirt up and over her head, then took the stall to the left of Amity – and as she turned on the warm faucet, she glanced over her shoulder. Adora was sliding her P.E shirt up and over her head, revealing...oh wow. Catra's eyes widened as she saw that in the years between their last meeting and now, Adora had become...ripped. Her body was tightly muscled like a Greek statue, her breasts firm and high and tipped with rosy nipples that, now that she had matured, were quite possibly the most succulent thing that Catra had ever seen. Her mouth practically watered as she watched Adora skim her shorts down, revealing she was as bare as a witchling down there – she must shave religiously. The only hitch on Catra's oggling was the thick, faded surgical scar on her chest, from the heart condition that had nearly put her in the ground back when they had been...little tiny kids. The scar had faded, but it was gnarly even years and years later.

Course.

Scars were also kinda hot.

Adora walked into a stall far away – and then Catra's attention was jerked around.

"Um, are you okay?" Amity asked, her voice soft. She was just barely able to peek over the stall, her bright eyes full of concern.

"Y-Yeah. I think Adora just...d-doesn't like cat demons. Or maybe s-she doesn't like me." Catra said, then blushed...and looked around, as if she was blind. Her glasses had been set on her clothing as she found her shower, so, she had a perfect chance. "Um...w-where's the soap?" She chuckled. "I'm so blind without my glasses."

Amity chuckled. "Here." She said, then walked around the stall. The closeness of her body was electrifying – far more intense than any of Catra's flings while in the Emperor's Coven. Maybe it just gots hotter when you lie to a chick, Catra thought to herself as Amity placed a bar of soap into her hands, then gasped softly. "W-Wow! Uh...claws!"

"Y-Yeah, I have em," Catra said, her fingers flexing slightly, the claws biting into the soap. Amity's entire face had gone red.

"W-what about these two?" Amity asked, pointing at her pointer and index finger, which Catra kept enchanted with a complicated little glyph she etched into them every morning so that they'd become dull, blunt and short when she was near a naked girl.

"...uh…" Catra said, and managed through a herculean effort of will to seem as if she was embarrassed at Amity from noticing, her cheeks blushing more and more, as Amity froze, then let out a nervous little laugh.

"H-Hah! Wow! Uh! Claws!" She stammered. "I-I should go!"

Catra considered, in that moment, how she was essentially running a triple bluff, with the goal to keep Adora under her thumb and Titan-Ra from being immediately captured and recruited by the Emperor Belos, while also getting some much needed revenge on Adora for everything she had done to her. That depended her entirely on keeping her identity as the unassuming Meow Meow Applesauce on lock and unshakable – she had already let a tiny crack show by forgetting her coven marking. So, doing anything but meekly letting Amity from sliding from the stall would be the height of short sighted stupidity. It wasn't like she thought entirely with her crotch, after all.

"...wait," Catra whispered.

Amity froze, her eyes widening.

Stupid! Catra thought. You can still salvage this.

"...d-d...do...you...need someone to wash your back?" Catra whispered, trying to sound shy and uncertain, her cheeks flushing.

"...haha...uh...s-sure!" Amity said, her cheeks burning. She stood there, her hands clasped before her belly. Catra tried to not make the fact she could take in every detail of Amity's body not extremely obvious – but Titan she was cute. She was more slender than Adora – not that that mattered, considering how much tougher and stronger witchlings were than the average human. Her green hair was showing just a bit of brown root, and her ear-tips dripped with mositure as she stood with her back straight, her knees trembling, her nipples puffy and hard. The urge to push her up against the wall and just start smothering her in kisses...was repressed. Somehow. Catra managed it. She instead giggled.

"Y-You have to, um...turn around first."

"Right!" Amity squeaked. She turned around. Then, nervously, she said. "I-If that Adora ever...tries to bully you again, just get me. I'll set her straight."

"Uh-huh," Catra whispered as she started to rub the soapy bar that she had been given along Amity's shoulders. Warm water and thick suds of glistening soap bubbled and then slid along her back, streaking their way along the elegant curve of her spine and stopping right above her tight, tight little butt. Catra started to rub the soap down and then back up again, ssliding it along one shoulder, than another shoulder. Her free hand rubbed up and down Amity's arm, feeling her shiver of excitement. Catra leaned in, whispering.

"My hero," she giggled, softly. "L-Like, uh, Azura in the Theifcity of Quilla."

"H-Heh, yeah, uh, yeah!" Amity said. "T-Though, uh, Azura never had a homoerotic shower with the roguess Lan."

She paused.

"I mean homonormal!" She stammered. "Homonormal shower!"

Catra paused. "W-What's homoerotic?" she asked, sweetly.

"Nothing!" Amity slapped her hands over her face. And Catra grinned wickedly behind her as she rubbed her soap down and started to caress along Amity's buttocks, feeling the other girl tense up. She stepped close, pressing her own naked body to Amity's back, so she could reach around and start soaping up her belly. Warm water sluiced along their bodies and she shivered as her hard nipples started to grind gently against Amity's shoulderblades.

"I-I've never had a homonormal shower with anyone," Catra whispered in her pointed ear, her lips nearly touching that sensitive, sensitive tip. Amity flushed and gasped.

"T-This is against, um, a bunch of school rules," she whispered. "Public displays of affection. Wasting soap! Uh, uh, uh, uh…"

"R-Right, sorry!" Catra said, drawing back, and away. Amity looked back over her shoulder, her flush so bright that Catra was shocked that she wasn't melting through the floor in shame. "Sorry."

Amity looked at her, her cheeks burning.

Then she squeaked out. "Seeyoulaterthanksforthebackrub!"

Then she was gone – the wet slap of her feet and the whip noise of her catching a towel on the way out the only sign of her leaving. Catra grinned, smugly, leaning against the shower wall as she let warm water slide down her hair.

Gotcah, she thought.


"Hey, Amity, sorry I sounded super racist, but actually, that cat-demon is named Catra, and she's secretly the head of the evil Emperor's Coven!" Adora said, nodding. "No, wait, that won't work, most people think the Emperor's coven are heroic?"

"Not everyone," Glimmer said, her voice firm.

The three of them were trudging away from Hexside high, their backpacks stuffed with historical textbooks that they had managed to get from the library for future study. In truth, Adora had almost forgotten about it in the haze of everything else that had happened. There had been the grudgby game, and Catra, and that beautiful girl Amity, and then all the times she had just...she had...she put her hands over her face, groaning softly.

"Wait, what?" She asked, dropping her hands away from her face, turning back to Bow and Glimmer. Bow grinned and snapped his fingers – an illusory poof snapping around his body, revealing that his Hexside uniform had been modified: He had cut an entire chunk of the midsection off, revealing his tummy for the whole world to see. Glimmer, ignoring what seemed to be a totally normal, expected thing in her life, nodded and looked grave.

"My mother, Angela Park, and her husband, Micha, have been huge protestors against Belos' overreach for ages," she said, firmly. "They've been arrested, like, sixty times and only got off thanks to some of the best lawyers on the Boiling Isles. But I think...I know that they're doing more than that. I just can't get them to let me frigging join!"

"Huh," Adora said. "Maybe I should ask Eda, if she knows."

"She is the Isles most famous criminal," Bow said, nodding as he did so. "But, uh...if we do this, we absolutely have to keep it away from my Dads. They're not...loyalists or anything, they hate Belos as much as anyone. They just don't want me to get involved." He sighed. "They're kinda dead set on me learning to follow in the family tradition."

"What's that?" Adora asked.

"Archaeology," Bow said. "And it's not like it isn't interesting. I've done a whole bunch of research – did you know the Human Realm has been dropping their trash into our world, and vice versa, for years? That's why the human realm has legends about griffons, dragons, demons, giraffes-"

"We have those," Adora said, frowning.

"Eugh!" Glimmer said, shuddering. "Why!?"

Adora looked nonplussed – but then she gasped, pointing.

"Amity! And...Catra." She scowled.

The two girls were actually standing in the main clearing of Bonesburrough, before the statue fountain of a masked, ominous figure that Adora was fairly sure was Emperor Belos. They were standing a good distance apart, both of them looking flustered, as if they were shyly circling around something. Adora's immediate impulse was to advance, get between them, maybe reveal Catra...but she stopped herself. She breathed in, sharply, and then glanced at Bow, whispering.

"Do you have any binoculars or something?" she asked.

"Sure," he said, making a circle with his fingers and, with a poof, a pair of binoculars appeared in his hand. Adora took them and put them to her eyes, straining her ears, frowning intently. She saw Catra's lips moving – and she swore she was saying something about apologizing...for what? For lying? Was she coming clean?

"So, not to interrupt your spying on your ex-girlfriend thing," Glimmer said.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Adora squeaked, yanking the binoculars away – at the same moment Catra snapped her head up. She wasn't looking at Adora, though. She was looking off to the middle distance. Then she spun away from Amity, putting her finger to her ear, as if she was...touching a bluetooth headset. Adora's instincts jangled and she looked around, wildly.

There.

Scorpia was hiding in an alleyway, speaking into a small crowphone that she was holding, her face white as a sheet.

"What the-" Adora whispered.

That was when the horrible monster came flying from the sky and smashed into the fountain with a screeching roar and crumbling of stone and brickwork. Water gushed into the air as everyone in the courtyard screamed and dove for cover, Catra grabbing and throwing Amity behind her, stumbling backwards in shock. Adora's eyes widened as she took in the monster – it was made of fur and muscle, with an elongated aligator's snout, thick fur blooming beneath the neck and shrouding the body. Its claws were easily the length of small swords, and it had a huge, barbed tail which whipped around behind it. It roared a furious bellow into the air, a thick greenish mist started to waft from it's mouth.

"What is that!?" Adora hissed.

"It's a apeacore!" Bow exclaimed. "But they never go this far into civilization!"

Adora glanced around.

No one was looking at her.

She had to do something.

She reached back to her backpack, finding the hilt of her sword.

"For the honor of Grayskull!"

The darkness has come again – that comforting dark. The warm dark. It enfolds her like a blanket, wrapping around and around her shoulders, drawing tight and clenching.

And through it, she can hear a distant scream of fury and rage, wordless…

Impotent in the face of her power.

Then…

Skin bubbles, then shifts, turning ebony black. Bone bursts from the back of knuckles and fingers, ending in pale white claws. Curling horns bloom from the brow and sweep backwards as golden blond turns to dark purple, flaring and growing outwards into a wild mane, curling and rippling in the wind. Toes become long and sharp and chitinous, while clothing reshapes itself last – a jacket lengthens, becoming a dark black curiass of hardened black steel, a fluttering cape of crimson blood red sweeps outwards. The sword flashes and a haze of glittering runes flare to life, wheeling and twirling like a celestial orery for some alien sun.

The eyes open last – brilliant orange and black, glowing with a deep inner fire.

Then, at last…

It is done.


And Titan-Ra swung her sword down and to the side. The apeacore stood looming above Amity and Catra, who was scrambling, desperately, for her runeing paper. Titan-Ra reached down, and with a single hand, pulled a chunk of statue off the ground and flung it. It smashed into the side of the apeacore's head, swinging it hard to the side and sending the beast stumbling backwards into the spray of water from the fountain. Titan-Ra sprang forward, leaping over the two prone girls, and landed before them, her cape fluttering as she stood between them and the beast.

The beast started to shake itself, trying to stand.

In that moment, Titan-Ra looked back over her shoulder.

"Are you two okay?" she asked.

Amity lay on her back, looking up and up and up at Titan-Ra, her jaw dropped open...and the look on her face was somewhere between worship, awe, and shocked lust. She stammered. "W...Wh...Wh-"

"Get out of here!" Titan-Ra said. "This-"

The tail of the apeacore snapped out, the spines slamming into her belly and sending Titan-Ra flipping through the air and straight towards a building's wall. She snapped her arms up and runes flared around her arms and palms, flickering and flashing, snapping together with an instinctive knowledge. A purple bubble of light popped around her and she hit the wall and rebounded as if she was in a bounce castle, rolling and coming to her feet, the bubble snapping off as she got her feet under her. She shook her head – then saw that Amity and Catra were still in danger.

Catra lifted her hand, about to slap down a rune. But before she did, Titan-Ra swept her hand and sculpted a blooming flower that burst from the ground, enfolding the two and then retracting into the earth, moments before the apeacore smashed both of its meaty palms down onto where the girls had been. The flower bloomed behind Titan-Ra, revealing Catra and Amity. If anything, Amity looked even more star-struck. The look that Titan-Ra missed on Catra's face, missed in that chaotic moment, was murderously jealous.

"Get out of here!" She said, again, then charged the beast.

The apeacore breathed a wall of green fog that hissed and bubbled as it rushed towards Titan-Ra. But Titan-Ra was getting the handle of her magic – she simply needed to think what she needed, and the magic formed itself into patterns. It was like magic itself was flowing through her body. It was almost addictive, a surge of pure golden energy, heating her from her belly to her heart.

She slammed her bone-clawed hand into the ground and a wall of ice exploded up between her and the onrushing acid fog. Then she whirled and pointed and a fireball burst from her fingertip, blowing through the wall and turning it into a haze of mist, which caught the acid fog and bore it to the ground. Through the cleared air, she advanced, the apeacore snarling and then leaping forward. He slashed with his claws – a blow that would have taken the head off any mortal or witchling that stood in its way. Titan-Ra ducked under the blow, then came up. She slashed with her blade, and the cut was shallow, most of the edge turned by the thick furs.

Armored, she thought, as the apeacore roared and aimed its mouth at her. She grabbed onto its snout with one hand, holding it fast, and acid tried to bubble around its lips as she brough the pommel of her sword up...and smashed it right down onto the center of the beast's head. Its eyes widened, then went crossed, then closed as it wobbled, then crashed to the ground. Titan-Ra stood above the beast, panting softly as her cape fluttered, her long purple hair catching the light of the noonday sun. She looked around, and saw that Bonesburrough citizens were gaping at her.

"It's Titan-Raw!" The round, mostly nose creature that she had seen a few days before exclaimed, pointing at her. "She defweated that sawvage bweast!"

"Yeah! Titan-Ra!"

"She's much better than the Golden Guard," one demon woman said, nodding firmly as she spoke loudly to her neighbor demon lady. "Whose never even fought one monster for us."

"She will be our new idol!" Another Bonesburrough citizen exclaimed, thrusting his fist into the air.

"Can we get an autograph, Titan-Ra!?"

"Do you work for the Emperor!?"

"U-Uh!" Titan-Ra said, holding up her palms. "Those are all, uh...big...look over there!" she pointed off at a random direction, then turned and rushed into an alleyway. A second later, Adora emerged, hastily cramming her sword into her backpack.

"Where did she go!?" One of the demons said, then grabbed Adora's shoulder. "You there, girl! You just emerged from the same alleyway – did you see where Titan-Ra went?"

"Y-Yeah, uh, that way," Adora siad, pointing down the alleyway

"After her! We shall get thowse autograffs!" The nose-girl said, thrusting her arms into the air.

As a mob, the entire group ran off down the alleyway.

Adora saw that her friends were waiting for her. Amity and Catra were gone, and so was Scorpia. She frowned, while Glimmer ran to her side, practically vibrating. "That was amazing!" She squeaked. "That was so cool! You know what this means, right? We show you to my parents, and they'll not have any excuse to keep me out of the rebellion! ...well, us! Us out of the rebellion!"

Adora blinked. "Right. Uh. I've never managed to turn into Titan-Ra unless people were directly at risk, though."

"Then we figure that out first!" Glimmer said, taking Adora's arm.

"Do either of you wonder why an apeacore attacked Bonesburrough?" Bow whispered.

"It's a monster, monsters do monster stuff sometimes," Glimmer said, flicking her hand.

And together, they walked past the unconscious beast, even as several Demon Hunters started to arrive, clearly having been called to deal with the issue. As they surrounded it, not a one of them noticed the glyph that glowed a pale gold, drawn in the intricate style that only a true master of runecrafting could manage. The rune persisted for a few moments more – but then dissolved into ash.

Leaving not a single shred of evidence.

Adora's jaw dropped as she stood before Glimmer Park's house.

"This is where you live?" she asked, spinning around to look at Glimmer so fast that she nearly toppled over and crashed into the ground. She caught herself, but her arms were still somewhat tangled up with herself, while Glimmer gave a little smile and a shrug of her hands.

"I-It's not so fancy!" she said, while the glittering, gold studded doors swung open and heavily armored men in House Park livery emerged, capes fluttering, to stand to either side of the daughter of Angela and Micha Park. One bowed low, murmuring.

"Your backpack, m'lady?"

"You're a m'lady?" Adora asked, then looked at Bow, who gave her a cheerful thumbs up.

"Yeah," he said. "Glimmer's parents are some of the richest and most powerful nobles in the whole Belosian Empire."

"And they-" Adora caught herself, while Glimmer shot her a glower. Then the three of them were ushered inside, where a huge fountain was set in the heart of a fancy ballroom. Everything was done in pale white, light pinks, and pastels. The rainbow hue shining off some of the gemstones was particularly striking, and Adora found it hard to pick what she was goggling at first. She swung her head left, right, up and down, while the door behind them closed.

"Ah, Glimmer!" A cheerful, feminine voice called down from the stairs – and emerging from the second story of the mansion came Angela. At least, Adora presumed she was Angela: Who else would have huge, gossamer wings of glimmering light spreading around a tall, delicate figure that was…not exactly what Adora had expected, considering Glimmer's short and compact build. She smiled, warmly, then looked over at Adora. "And who is this?"

"This is Adora Gray!" Glimmer said, throwing her arm around Adora, drawing her in close.

"And why, pray tell, is she a human being?" Angela asked, arching one elegant eyebrow.

"Uhhhh-" Adora said.

"She's from the human realm!" Glimmer said.

"How did she know?" Adora whispered. "I have…" She put her hands to her ears, expecting to feel the illusions that Eda had placed there. Instead, she felt her normal, actual round ear tips. She blinked a few times – and made a mental note that going Titan-Ra messed up spells that had been cast on her. Angela sighed.

"You have picked a somewhat poor time to visit our realms, Adora the Human," Angela said, her hand going to Adora's shoulder, squeezing ever so gently. "The Empire is not as welcoming to strangers as one would want."

"Which is whyyyy, Mom, I wanted to tell you about a super cool thing Adora can doooo!" Glimmer said, brightly.

Angela pursed her lips, then twirled one of her fingers – drawing a momentary flicker of purple energy, which flashed to life and then, with a lurch, transported Bow, Glimmer, Adora and Angela into a small office full of paperwork and scrolls and books, with a large desk and a chair specially crafted to contain large, glimmering wings. Angela crossed her arms over her chest, her pursed lips turning into a severe frown.

"Glimmer," she said. "Once again, you are far too young to be involved in my…" She hesitated.

"Rebellion?" Glimmer said, bouncing, her tiny back-wings fluttering with excitement.

"Come on, Mrs. Park," Bow said, his voice conciliatory. "We can help! Especially with Adora, you're totally going to want her on your side." He paused to give Adora a big wink and a thumbs up.

Oh God, he thinks he's helping, Adora thought, faintly panicky.

Angela sighed, slowly. "Glimmer, you have once more proven why your father and I agree that this is not the place for you – rebellions against Empires are meant to be secret. You do not tell them to your school friends, no matter how human they are." She glowered at Adora. "I'm sure you are a wonderfully nice young woman, but-"

"She's the adoptive daughter of Edalynn the Owl Lady," Glimmer said. "And she can do this! Do the thing, Adora."

"Uh-"

"Eda."

Angela did not say Eda in the tone of voice that Adora was hoping for. Adora would have approved of 'Eda!' in the same way one might say 'apple pie' or 'free pizza' – but no, Angela had definitely said 'Eda.' in the same way that one might say 'tax collector' or 'anthrax.' And, worse, she had said it with a hard period. It was like getting a text message from your best friend that was just "hey." – easily the most nightmarish thing one could imagine.

Adora gulped, then reached behind herself, swinging her backpack around.

"T-This is not an assassination attempt!" she said, very loudly, drawing her sword. Angela's frown did not relent. Adora held her sword up. Breathed in. "By the Honor of Grayskull!"

Silence.

A ringing, resounding silence.

Glimmer and Bow both stood to either side of Adora, looking at her.

Adora gave a nervous little smile.

"S-So, uh, it, uh, it takes a little-"




***




"-bit." Aodra said as the door slammed directly in her face.

A moment later, Glimmer appeared next to her in a spray of pink and purple sparkles. "Titan, my mom is just so unpleasable!" she exclaimed. "Just because it failed…five or…six times…" She glanced away from Adora, who blushed and rubbed her shoulder.

The front door of the Park mansion opened and Bow walked out backwards, waving.

"Bye Mrs. Park! Uh, see you tomorrow!"

The door shut and he turned back to Adora, giving her a smiling wince. "Thaaaaaat could have gone better."

"Well, uh," Adora said. "I guess that's that-"

"No, it's not that," Glimmer said, her voice fierce. "There's still one person we can talk to about this."

She grabbed onto Adora and Bow's arm and dragged them away from the manor and towards the forests around Bonesburrough. She didn't seem to notice that, overhead, clouds were beginning to gather. A faint, distant rumbling could be heard – the sign that, in the Boiling Isles, meant one thing and one thing only.

A risk of rain.

Which meant, in the Boiling Isles, a risk of serious pain.




***




"You know what this means?" Eda asked, rubbing her chin, her eyes slightly as she did so. Glimmer opened her mouth, surely about to say something, but Eda cut her off. "There's only one responsible thing that I can do here – you have incredible power, which is going to throw you straight into danger, if you flaunt it Adora." She stepped over, sliding a bony arm around Adora's shoulder. "You have to go out there and immediately start busting up heads. You need to rob banks, you need to menace the town. We need to really put the fear of the Titan in those cone-headed jerks!"

"I won't become a super-villain!" Adora exclaimed in shock, while Glimmer blinked, clearly nonplussed.

"Well, she is the Owl Lady, what did you expect, Glimmer?" Bow whispered as Adora shook her head and stepped away from Eda.

"I want to help people, not rob banks!" Adora said.

Eda frowned, then held up her hand, unfurling finger after finger as she ticked off points one after the other. "Firstly, those banks are all run by Belos and his Empire. People have to pay more snails than they make, just so he can pay for armor and weapons for his Conformatorium guards and the rest of the army. Secondly, any crimes you do are going to be crimes written down by Belos, the biggest jerk on the Boiling Isles. And thirdly, the way you've described it…it sounds like your power only responds when people are in trouble and need the first, clawed hand of justice to come punching directly into the face of evil!"

"You know most adults don't want their children running directly at bad guys," Glimmer muttered, her voice dripping with jealousy.

Eda smirked. "True. I am the best." She nodded, then smacked Adora's back. "I think this is the time to test this. Go out there and start kicking butt, kiddo. The more dangerous, the better."

"Bu-" Adora stammered as she was pushed towards the door, which closed with a thump behind her, leaving her outside.

Glimmer frowned. Bow leaned over to peer out the window, then turned to Eda.

"We should go after her," he said, nodding firmly as he did so, while Eda sighed, stretching her arms over her head, her fingers interlocked to make her knuckles pop and crackle alarmingly.

"No, this is the kind of thing girls have to figure out on their own, kiddo," Eda said. "…also, where is the rest of your shirt?"

Bow looked miffed.

"Uh, what's that?" Glimmer asked, pointing at Eda. Eda followed the angle of her finger and saw the window.

"Huh, looks like a pain storm," she said. "This is good, it'll force Adora to change or die." She nodded, sagely.

"No, that," Glimmer pointed again.

Eda blinked and then held up a hand covered with bristling feathers, fur, and glistening claws.

"Ah, that," Eda said, frowning. "I don't suppose either of you have seen any, uh, glowing, uh, golden bottles around here?"

Bow and Glimmer both shook their heads.

"Rats," Eda muttered.




***




Adora walked towards Bonesburrough, her hands tightening before her chest as she gripped her sword. She felt like she had slightly lost the current of her life – and was just riding along a river that was heading towards somewhere dark and dangerous. She frowned and barely noticed the distant rumbling noise – nor the sight of everyone running towards doors and windows being shut. Her head was instead entirely focused on the same circular pattern of thoughts.

Catra.

Amity.

Her mom.

Amity.

Catra.

Her mom.

The mirror vision.

Catra.

"Amity!"

"One second!"

Adora jerked her head up and yelped as she dove behind some cover before Amity noticed her. She peeked out as she saw that Amity was hurrying after a pair of green haired youths – twins, from their look – and then blinked as Amity yelped, tripping over a rock in the road. Her books went scattering and Amity scrabbled wildly for everything she had dropped. She frowned and waved a finger subtly – and a puddle of purple ooze came flowing up and out of a small bottle at her hip, forming an umbrella over her head.

Wow, neat umbrella, but it's barely dri-

Adora's thought was cut off as a single droplet of rain hit one of the cloth awnings that stretched over the market stalls and streets of Bonesburrough. It didn't so much slow down as hiss ominously, shooting through the thick cloth to spatter onto the ground right before her nose, bubbling into the mud like ferocious acid.

What!? Adora's brain exploded with sudden panicky fear as Amity's umbrella hissed and sputtered – the purple goo absorbing shot after shot of rain as more and more dropped from the sky. A stinging blast of agony hit Adora's calf and she realized she was decidedly in trouble.

"Forthehonorofgrayskull!" She hissed as fast as she could, yanking her sword out.

The transformation was faster this time. Darkness swept around her, tightened, bloomed. She stood – and she was, once more, Titan-Ra. She looked around, nervously, and then blinked as she felt the touch of rainwater on her shoulders. A shimmering, golden-white light seemed to pervade her body, surrounding her like a halo. Each droplet of rain hit her and simply…ran down her body. Her clothing absorbed it as if it was nothing but pure water, and the only thing that made her feel as if she wasn't on Earth was how warm and pleasant it was.

Titan-Ra held a clawed hand up, her mouth opening in shock as she spread her fingers, claw-tips glinting brightly.

"Whoa," she whispered.

Then her ears twitched – pointed and sensitive, they heard the glup noise of abomination goo starting to give way. She saw that Amity had gotten almost all of her books up and was starting to stand…but she apparently had more trust in her magic than she should have. A huge chunk of the goo simply sloughed aside…and Titan-Ra was there, standing above Amity, her arm and her little fluttering cape spreading wide to cover Amity's head and shoulders. Amity, her mouth opened in shock and alarm, froze as she stood and looked up into Titan-Ra's gold on black eyes.

For a moment, the two stood there, rain beginning to sleet down, cascading along Titan-Ra's muscular arms and back, beading and dripping from the broad brim of her hat. She felt her horns tingle with the touch of the rainwater, as every droplet hissed and sizzled.

Amity stood there in total silence – and the only noise that she made was the thundering of her heart as her entire face went completely, beat red.

"…a-are you okay?" Titan-Ra whispered.

"Ohmytitan," Amity whimpered.

"H-Heh, no, just Titan-Ra. Your. Uh." Titan-Ra had a faint inkling that maybe now was not the time to add friendly or neighborhood to that. Instead, she coughed. "Come on."

Titan-Ra realized that she could simply sheath her sword over her back, freeing her other arm to wrap Amity in close against her cloak and pick her entire body up. She felt as light and slender as a twig, and pressed to Titan-Ra's gambeson with a warmth that was shocking and electrifying. Hunched to make sure that not a droplet of rain got near her, Titan-Ra ducked into an alleyway and under a stone awning. There, she set Amity down, her back facing the wall. Titan-Ra planted her arms to either side of Amity, so that her cloak and her shoulders would keep even the hint of rain away from her.

Only then did she realize that she was, essentially, hemming Amity in with her muscular arms and her cloak. Within the shadows and the darkness, Amity leaned against the wall, clutching her book to her chest, her jaw hanging open as she looked up at Titan-Ra.

"A-Are you okay?"

"Uh-huh," Amity whispered.

Titan-Ra gulped.

"What weather, am I right?" Titan-Ra asked.

"W-Why did you save me?" Amity whispered.

"I'm not about to let a pre…a…a girl get melted!" Titan-Ra stammered.

"I meant earlier, too," Amity gulped. "I mean. Are you going to protect us all from monsters?" She smiled, slightly. "Seems kind of…small fry for the avatar of the Titan. The Emperor says the Titan helps people who help themselves."

"What kind of person would I be if I just let a monster squash you?" Titan-Ra asked, offended. "And, well, people used to say that about…I mean. A lot of people say that the Titan helps those who help themselves, and I always noticed that they're the kind of people who…who…"

"Who don't need much help?" Amity asked, biting her lip.

"Yeah," Titan-Ra said, looking into her eyes. She had not realized how bright gold Amity's eyes were. How beautifully they reflected the faint, eldritch glow of whatever protective field that surrounded her. She wanted to say something, but what seemed impossible to decide on.

Amity bit her lip, harder. She was looking up into Titan-Ra's eyes even more intently now. Softly, she whispered. "Are…you…you always like this?"

"Like what? I mean, uh, it's complicated," Titan-Ra said, catching how obvious the question was before she sounded completely stupid.

Amity sighed, softly. "I know what that's like. D-Does…does it hurt?"

"The rain?" Titan-Ra asked. "No. But even if it did, I'd still keep you safe."

Amity's knees trembled and she let out a tin squeak.

Titan-Ra reached down with one of her hands. Her claw-tip scraped along the wall for a moment, to brush off any rain…then gently, she caressed Amity's bright red cheek, feeling the softness of her skin. Amity shivered and didn't move. Didn't even breathe. Titan-Ra leaned forward, and a thought crossed her head. It's easier to be brave like this.

Amity's lips tasted warm and sweet. Her tongue darted against Titan-Ra's, and her head tilted as she reached up and around, fingers sinking into Titan-Ra's purple hair. Titan-Ra flinched, aware that her back was soaked by the rain…then relaxed as Amity showed no sign, no sign at all, of pain. She pushed against her and kissed her with a feral eagerness that was as shocking as it was addictive. Titan-Ra grabbed onto Amity's hips, lifting her up, then pressing into the kiss as well, their tongues playing together.

This movement bumped her hat against the wall, and with a lurch, Titan-Ra realized it was slipping back, off her head. The thin awning provided almost no protection…and suddenly, dribbles of deadly rainwater was pouring down onto Amity's hair. The stinging taste of it burned against Titan-Ra's lips, but rather than a scream of pain, she heard only a shocked gasping noise. Titan-Ra blinked, looking down at the girl she had failed to protect…and saw that while Amity was soaked, the same protective shroud that was keeping her safe was keeping Amity from boiling away in the rain.

Amity looked as if she was about to faint. She slid her hands along her hair, her feet dangling off the ground as Titan-Ra kept her up and against the wall. Her eyes half closed and she tilted her head back, letting the water soak her throat, her neck, her shirt – it clung to her body like a second skin as she whispered. "What…is this?"

"It's rain," Titan-Ra crooned, her eyes shining and bright.

"I-I never knew it could feel so good," Amity laughed. "T-They say this is what rain feels like in the Human Realm."

"Yeah," Titan-Ra said, then eeped as Amity threw her arms around her neck, her shoulders. She drew herself up and kissed Titan-Ra with an even more eager press of mouth to mouth. They stumbled away from the wall, letting the rain pour down them both as Titan-Ra's hands swept down to Amity's ass, holding her up and against her body. They kissed and kissed and kissed.

When Amity drew away, gasping and laughing, she sounded giddy. "W-What's your real name?" She asked, laughing. "Y-You said it was complicated, but-"

A sudden twee twee twee noise rang out.

Titan-Ra jerked her head up.

Two Conformatorium guards were standing at the head of the alleyway, their bodies protected by shrouds of shimmering magic as the deadly rain hit and splattered atop them. "You there!" one shouted. "Public indecency! Endangering a student! Impersonating a folk hero!"

"She's not impersonating anything!" Amity snarled, her eyes flashing as Titan-Ra set her down, her cheeks flushed.

"She's not in any danger, either!" Titan-Ra said.

"Well, she is now!" one of the guards said.

"Uh, Mark, we're supposed to be guards," the other guard said. "We're supposed to be, like, you're not in danger."

"Shut up, Steve!"

And that?

That was when Catra showed up to make everything much worse.




***




Catra hated paroling in the rain. The fact she was draped in a cloak that Entrapta had told her was almost certainty positively most likely entirely completely, save for any flaws or errors, immune from all Boiling Isles weather events ranging from painbows to hurrigales to knife-winds did very little to sooth her jangling nerves.

How did a apeacore get in through our defenses?

How? The Emperor had been standing, looking out the window at the gathering storms. How else would we seek to draw Titan-Ra from her hiding? Did you have a chance to...speak to her, after I handed you such a valuable opportunity?

Catra had ducked her head down. Her voice had been soft. No, sire.

No.

The single ringing word still burned in her ears. She gripped her staff with her knees and her knuckles with equal intensity, her teeth grinding. She had to keep Titan-Ra out of the Emperor's hands. She had to keep Adora away from the court. Every time she thought about her being among the Emperor's Coven, she could see the steps: Raw magic at a human's fingertips, without needing runes or paper?

Bye bye Catra. You were a so so Golden Guard. You know, as long as you lasted.

Catra shook her head. She had to find a better excuse to keep Titan-Ra away from the court.

Which was when she spotted the flash of light.

She swung her staff around and peered down through the murky, hissing rain and saw that the flash had been Adora transforming. The burly shape of her alternate form darted forward through the rain, then swept up around...the shock of green hair made it all too obvious. Catra's hands clenched even harder and her eyes widened as she saw Adora usher Amity Blight out of the rain and into security. The two of them were close together, whispering to one another.

Amity's mine, a snarling voice hissed at the back of her mind.

Which...was stupid.

Amity was no more hers than any other tool was hers. She could be thrown away at any time. Catra wasn't the kind of girl who got attached to people when she was undercover. Titan's blood, Amity didn't even know her real name. And yet, the anger and heat in her chest was so intense that she didn't even notice she had yanked her crow phone from her vest. Ducking over so the robes around her kept the phone safe, she hissed into it.

"I have something to report…"

She watched as the guards tromped from their posts. As she watched, broodingly, she realized...that this was actually a genius plan. She could see Adora fighting against other witches, and she could further prove that Titan-Ra would never join the Emperor's coven. All without making it seem like her fault. She smirked behind her mask.

The two guards started posturing. Adora said something back, flicking her arm out. Amity added something. The situation still hadn't escalated to a fight. Well, then, she'd have to do it herself. She angled the staff down, darting towards the alleyway...and landed with a splatter of mud and, hissing, boiling rain. She twirled her staff around and held it at her flank, while the guards yelped and sprang backwards. Adora didn't even flinch. She narrowed her eyes.

"Hey-" Catra started.

"You!"

The voice didn't startle her as much as the venom in it. She blinked and looked past Adora to Amity Blight, who was still hiding under the protective arm and cape that Adora was holding above her. She pointed, ignoring the droplets of rain that glinted on her finger. How is that not burning her? Catra thought.

"You, uh, know her?" Adora asked.

"Everyone knows the Golden Guard," Amity said, frowning.

"What can I say, I'm pretty famous, do you want an auto-" Catra started.

"No, you bootlicking jerk!" Amity shouted, then kicked a bit at the mud, sending it splashing at Catra's feet. Catra skip-hopped backwards, once more hating the fact she had to patrol in boots. The mud was thick with acid rain, so there was no chance she could have her feet out, as she preferred.

"You...don't like the Golden Guard?" Adora asked, sounding completely brain-dead shocked.

"Of course I don't," Amity said, her voice haughty. "She's a trumped up Belosian stooge who my Mom keeps fawning over. Well, I have my own opinions – and I know what I feel about someone who uses their talents the way the Golden Guard does."

"You don't like the Golden Guard," Adora said, sounding like a dawning realization was hitting her.

Catra glared from behind her mask. "Oh ha ha, very funny, Titan-Ra," she said, her voice as venomous as Amity's. "Course, Blight here doesn't know anything about you."

"She's Titan-Ra! She's the avatar of the titan! And it looks like she wants to kick your butt, which...heh, I mean, it says a lot about the Belosian Empire, doesn't it?" Amity asked, smirking smugly.

"Hmm, true. Assuming she's the real Titan-Ra. Which I'm going to prove. I don't think the Avatar of the Titan is going to go down like a chump," Catra said, cracking her knuckles – and then blinked as the cloud cover started to break, the rain droplets hissing and sizzling. The last one fell and she chuckled behind her mask. "Nice timing."

She snatched her robes off and threw it at Adora's face. Her titan-infused body was apparently immune to Boiling Isles weather, but Catra didn't let that slow her down. As Adora stumbled, Catra rushed forward and slid underneath the burly warrior – slapping down a plant growth rune on the ground. A vine as thick around as a redwood tree sprang to life and slammed into Adora's belly, sending her flying up and up into the air, then coming down a few blocks away with a resounding crash. Catra leaped up onto the wall, then kicked off-

And flipped in the air, her foot hitting a patch that felt more like ice than rough stone walls. She yelped, flailed her arms, then crashed back into the mud. She blinked through her mask up at the wall – and saw a thick patch of abomination goo there. Amity smirked, looking down at her.

"Oops," she said.

Catra snarled and repressed the intense urge to kiss that smug look off that smug witchling's smug face. She kipped to her feet, then snapped her fingers. "Guards, earn what little we freaking pay you and arrest her," she said.

"Uh, she's a Blight, ma'am!" one said.

"Titan damn it, Steve, follow my frigging-" Catra saw the glinting shape rushing towards her from the sky. She sprang backwards as Adora landed, fist first, onto the ground where she had stood. The impact rocked the ground and sent Catra flying backwards. She slapped a safe fall spell onto her chest and skidded to a stop at the end of the alleyway as Adora...no...as Titan-Ra stood in the crater she had created, steam and smoke hissing off her. The angry flash of light in her eyes was…

Decidedly…

Not Adora.

Catra frowned.

"Amity, get out of here," Titan-Ra said, quietly.

"No, I-"

Titan-Ra waved her hand. Glittering runes flared and a purple portal opened up underneath Amity, who yelped as she dropped into it.

"What's your plan, Titan-Ra?" Catra asked.

"I'm going to tie you up and drag you back to the human realm and talk some goddamn sense into you, that's what I'm going to do," Titan-Ra said, and there was Adora, once more clearly audible in her voice. Catra smirked behind her mask – and noticed both guards were cowering behind a trash can.

Fine.

She worked better alone anyway.

Adora came at her exactly like Adora always came at everything: Like a bull in a china shop. Catra ducked left, then right, then left again, smirking. It felt like they were kids again – playing around, roughhousing. The memories were grainy and grayish, but she knew every little step, every little move. She skidded backwards, her boots kicking up mud as she spoke, softly enough to only be heard by Adora.

"So, you and Blight were kissing, huh?" She asked, stepping to the left, then the right, then the left again – evading each of Adora's clumsy blows, going in a nearly totally perfect circle around her, her heels skimming along muck and mire with every movement. "What will your Mom think?"

"Leave her out of this," Adora said, then grabbed at her chest. Catra flipped backwards, landing on the plinth of the statue of Belos in the center of town. She smirked, then jerked her chin.

Adora looked down.

And saw that she was now standing on a mostly finished ice rune.

Catra leaped up and landed beside the rune. She finished it with a single swipe of her foot, lifted her arm to bring it down – and blinked as Adora's hand flashed out, clawed fingers wrapping around Catra's gloved wrist and hauling her up and off the ground. Catra wriggled around, brought her feet up, and slammed them into Adora's chest. The impact staggered the bigger woman, but the grip around her wrist was like a vice. Catra slammed her left hand's fingers into the join of thumb and fingers. The impact caused Adora to hiss, her fingers open. Catra fell, landed beside the rune, but their shifting feet had already mucked it up.

She snatched up some mud, flung it, then scrambled to her feet and drew her artificial staff in the same motion.

"Stand still!"

Adora thrust out her hand and green runes flickered around her fingers. Vines exploded from each of them. Catra ducked one, snarled as a second and third wrapped around her right arm, then brought her staff down in a cutting motion, whistling fiercely as she did so. She preferred rune magic, but through her staff, she could tap into every one of the Coven schools.

That included bardic magic.

The compressed sound-blade sliced through the air, severing the vines down to the base of Adora's wrist, causing her to stumble backwards.

Catra panted, softly, then twirled her staff. "I won't do what you say anymore!" she said. "You were always the boss back home, but here? I'm in charge!" She swung the staff down, whistling a high note. Another sound-blade slashed against Adora, but she crossed her arms, her clawed fingers interlocking to create a shield of magic and flesh alike. She skidded backwards, then skidded backwards again and again as Catra whistled note after note.

By now, citizens of Bonesburrough were coming out, gaping in shock at the display of magic in their community.

Catra lifted her staff up, about to bring down a concussive hammer of noise which might have knocked Adora flat on her backside, Titan-Ra or no. Then she remembered…

Right.

She couldn't beat her, not now.

But maybe she could…

The image flashed through her mind, and the temptation was overwhelming. Knock Adora out. Take her away. Make her grovel. Make her see Catra was right and she was wrong. Then...then...the image was hazy and electrifying. Catra smirked, then swung her staff down, singing out a single, high piercing note.

And Adora shouted back.

"Stop."

A coruscating rainbow explosion bloomed from around her head and her mouth, ringing outwards. The bardic magic that Catra had conjured flurried apart into a harmless spray of sparks and Catra was left blinking in shock.

I didn't know she could do that, she thought.

Adora, also, looked as if she hadn't known she could do that.

Then Adora did what might be the smartest thing she could possibly have done.

She waved her hand, opened a portal, and jumped into it. Catra sprang forward, then snarled. "Titan damn it," she hissed, then glowered up at the gathered citizens. She spread her hands, angrily.

"What!?" she asked.

They, hastily, found something else to occupy themselves with.




***




Catra was rehearsing how she was going to report this to Belos in a way that still left her seeming like she was competent when she heard a voice calling out behind her.

"Elisabeth?"

Catra, who had shucked her uniform and tucked it away as she walked home, to let her think without people knowing she was the Golden Guard and, then, possibly asking her to report in faster than she wanted too, jerked her head up. She scrambled, grabbed her glasses and jammed them onto her face, turning around before Amity Blight came up to her.

"I thought it was you!" Amity said. "H-Hey! Uh, fancy, uh, meeting you out here, in the mugging district of Bonesburrough! Wow!"

"I live near here!" Catra said, which was almost not even entirely completely a lie, the Palace was only a few blocks away, past the factories and slums. "Uh, what are you doing here?" she asked.

"I got…" Amity paused and then her entire face went red. Catra repressed her immediate smirking realization. Of course. She had been protaled by Adora, and Adora was a moron who didn't know how or where to put anyone, she had dumped her randomly in Bonesburrough. "...I was going for a walk!" Amity changed at the last second. "How about you? Right, you live here." She paused. "Want to go somewhere less, uh, stabby?"

Catra blushed and ducked her head forward, her hand rubbing along her shoulder. She whispered, softly. "It's...not so bad, is it?" she asked.

"No, it's great!" Amity said, immediately, sounding stricken.

Catra, her lips hidden by her wild mane of hair, let herself grin. She grinned wide.

"But, uh, you like books! I work at the library!" Amity said. "Want to go, uh, there?"

Catra nodded, shyly, lifting her head. "I would like that. A lot. But, um, let me just call my f-foster parents…" She said, softly, sure that every last little detail she was letting slip was hooking Amity farther. She stepped away to an alleyway, taking out her crow phone and then holding her hand over it, to make it harder for Amity to hear. She whispered into it. "Scorpia."

"Yeah, wildcat? Uh, do you need help? I hear Titan-Ra was active around there."

"Tell the Emperor that I'm in deep under cover on trying to recruit her," Catra said, without a twinge of guilt.

Amity Blight had a crush on Titan-Ra.

Titan-Ra was a big dumb gay idiot.

Ergo.

Getting Amity wrapped around her finger meant she could pull Adora into her grasp and show her what a big dumb gay idiot she was. It was almost too perfect.

"Got it!" Scorpia said. "Entrapta is also asking how the coa-"

"Are you melted? Even a little?" Entrapta called over the phone, her voice muffled as she was clearly learning in close to try and get her words in edgewise. "How melted are you on a level of one to ninety-"

Catra jammed her crow phone back into her pocket, then turned back to Amity, who was standing a very polite distance away from her. Catra gave her a little shy smile, then said.

"Lead on!"

Amity and her started walking, together, heading for the library. Then, tentatively, Amity took Catra's hand in hers. Her fingers intertwined with Catra's fingers, tingling against her skin – feeling so soft and smooth and warm. Catra's heart raced a mile a minute and she looked aside, her cheeks flushing as she twitched her ears up, her smile growing wider and wider despite herself. She put her hand on her cheek, feeling the heat of it, and thought.

Yes. My plan is going great.

She squeezed Amity's hand back.

This is all part of my plan.

They took the corner.

And the street was empty.

Then, snarling, a shadow rose from the ground. The dark on dark shape of it twisted into a scowling frown and two eyes, empty black eyes that were made of nothing but that flowing darkness. The voice that hissed from nowhere, ringing out and inaudible to anyone and everyone standing there.

No. No! No! No!

The shadow darted down and the alleyway was still once more.




TO BE CONTINUED

The rain continued to beat down against the glass of the library, while Catra and Amity sat together across a table in the kid's section. Amity had gravitated towards this place – explaining that, with the painstorm, no one would be there – but Catra honestly found it kind of adorable. The place was all soft and pastel and pink. It reminded her of...stupid people. She liked stupid people – they were so easy to manipulate. Amity…

Amity was…

Okay, Amity was wrapped around her finger.

But that's different! Catra thought, defensively. I'm trying with her.

"So, uh, did you see Titan-Ra and the big fight with the Golden Guard?" Amity asked, smiling as she twirled her finger on the table, and some of her abomination goo formed into a small cup. She had liberally applied herself to the staff room in the library and gotten one of their clawfee makers out. Catra was so, so, so glad that her transformation into a cat demon had given her the ability to digest Boiling Isles food. She had read once that humans could basically only eat, like, four things in the Boiling Isles and one of them was griffon eggs. And that stuff was expensive.

Then what Amity asked penetrated her head and she jerked her eyes up from those delicate, pink, kissable fingers and started blushing. "W-What? Uh, no!" she said, reaching up and adjusting her glasses. Amity smiled at her, a bit sheepishly, as she opened the clawfee maker and started to pinch the claws off before they crawled out of the edges.

"Well, it was really amazing!" Amity said, her eyes shining brightly. "It was more amazing than watching, like, a real life Azura fight. Well. I mean. Witch fight. Since Azura is, uh, a witch." She giggled. "But, like, she didn't even seem to use magic circles. It was less like she was using magic and more like she was magic!" she said, pouring the clawfee into her summoned cup. "Uh, do you want some?"

Catra, who had clasped her hands before herself on the table, realized that she had nearly jammed every single claw into her own hands. The only thing keeping her safe was the thinnest of thin margins – she managed to draw her claws back into her fingers and stammered. "Y-Yes! Uh, let me get a cup of coffee, super fast."

"Coffee?" Amity asked, her brow furrowing – but Catra was on her feet and zipping to the bathroom before she even noticed. She slammed the door shut behind her, then glared at herself in the mirror, taking her glasses off. She panted softly, trying to control her anger. Even here. Even right now. Even when she had everything, Adora still had to take things. Her fingers scraped along the porcelain of the sink with a hideous screeching noise and she saw her own face in the mirror – all angles and scowls and shadows.

"I'm...not going to lose," Catra whispered.

You sure about that?

The mirror didn't actually speak. It was just her own thoughts. Catra turned away from it, her shoulders tensed and tight.

She doesn't love you.

Catra snarled softly.

She loves me.

Catra spun around. Something dark and huge stood in the mirror. It reached out with a shadowy hand, grasping at her face, her shirt. Catra scrabbled backwards, but the fingers of the clawed hand hooked on her collar and yanked her over the sink, the faucet jamming into her belly. The mirror-face mashed against hers and a breath like cold death poured against her face.

She's mine!

Catra slammed her fist forward as hard as she could and heard a crunch. The mirror split apart and the hand grabbing onto her collar shattered with the same lines and breaks, then faded away. Catra skidded and grabbed onto the sink with her hands, her knuckles stinging fiercely from the cracking impact. She panted, softly, her glasses teetering on the edge of the sink, threatening to plunge to the floor, while her legs dangled under her. She managed to get one foot under her, then another. When she stood, she was looking into a shattered reflection.

"...Adora?" she whispered. "Was…"

It had been big and dark. Titan-Ra was big and dark. But…

Could Adora be that hateful?

"Yeah," Catra whispered. She looked down at her hand and saw that she had a slice along her knuckle, revealing pale white bone and- and she didn't need to look at that. She hastily grabbed some towels from the dispenser and crammed them over her knuckles, covering the skin. She bit her lip, hard, and...and didn't quite remember what she had done to get back to Amity's table. She was blushing and looking aside – and Amity gasped as she saw her walk up.

"Elizabeth!?" she asked. "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah, uh, I-I just...th...there was a wet floor, and-"

"Oh my Titan, your hand!" Amity said, taking her hands in hers, guiding Catra to sit at the table on her side. Their thighs pressed together, the armless seats making it easy to sit very close, as Amity drew the towels away, revealing brilliant crimson stains that poured from Catra's gashed knuckles. She winced, looking away, while Amity clicked her tongue softly.

"Did the frigging assistant janitor forget to put up a wet floor warning again?" She asked. "How did you do this-"

"I kinda...flailed and hit a mirror, I'm so sorry!" Catra said, in her best Elizabeth voice. Her best, it seemed, was more than good enough. Amity leaned low and started to twirl her finger over her knuckles, frowning as she drew a tiny shimmer of purple magic. The light flared and the blood slowed, stopped, then reversed. The cut sealed itself shut with a faint snip, and Catra blinked several times.

"You...know healing magic?" she asked.

"Only a tiny bit," Amity said. She sighed. "My...Mom makes me help show off Dad's new abomination inventions. There's a lot of being tossed around – we witchlings are tough, but, it still helps to know how to do a little mending."

Catra blinked, her eyes widening. "Your...mom makes you fight abominations?" she asked.

"N-No, just abomination troopers!" Amity said, not meeting her eyes. She was still holding Catra's hands, her fingers tracing the line between finger and knuckle, slowly moving down towards the tip of her finger, as if she had never seen a girl's hand before. "T-They're like abominations, but, you know. They have armor and guns."

"T-That's worse, though," Catra said. "You do get how that's worse, right?"

Amity grinned, shyly. She lifted her gaze and the two looked into one another's eyes as Catra realized how very close they were sitting. Amity sat there. Then her entire face started to go very. Very. Very red. She sat up, then stammered. "W-W-Wow! Uh...trash!" She pointed at the bloody scraps of cloth that Catra had pressed to her knuckles. "I'm gonna go deal with those!" She stood and hurried off. Catra breathed out a short, sharp breath.

Then-

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

Catra jerked her head up.

The window looking in on the brightly lit kid's section was now loomed in. The loomee was a thick mound of rubberized robes and cloaks which had a large, thick chitinous claw that Catra recognized after a bit as both the source of the ticking noise...and the identifier of who was doing such a good job of loomesse.

Catra hurried over to the window, hissing. "Scorpia! What are you doing here?"

"Checking in on you!" Scorpia whispered. "You said you were gonna recruit Titan-Ra. Is that Titan-Ra's secret form?"

Oh Titan, the last thing we need, another mistaken identity, Catra thought. "It's complicated!" she whispered. "Get outta here!"

"Got it, going into stealth mode, wildcat!" Scorpia said, winking at her and clicking her claws in her next best attempt at finger guns. Impressive, considering she had no fingers with which to gun. Catra flailed wildly, trying to indicate she should no, leave, actually, go home, right now, when suddenly a bloom of purple hair and smiling features came into view as Scorpia ducked down. Entrapta waved at her.

"I'm here too! Observing you!" she said, then Scorpia dragged her down with a yelp. Then Catra heard a voice, firm, fierce, commanding – and completely unlike what she expected.

"Elizabeth! We have to get out of here, now."

Catra spun around, her eyes widening as she saw Amity hurrying over, her face grim.

"W-What's wrong?" Catra asked, forcing her voice to not sound too confident as she reached up, adjusting her glasses.

"I-I found the assistant janitor," Amity said, grabbing onto Catra's wrist, tugging her in close. "He's passed out – he has bite marks on him!" Her voice was soft and scared. "I think something drank him. Like...like…a demon or…" She gulped, then whispered. "Something worse."

Catra nodded, blushing. "W-We can use magic to keep ourselves safe from the painstorm outside."

"Yeah," Amity said. "Good thing the-"

The lights went dead.

"-power is...still…" Amity was silent for a moment. The two of them exchanged a nervous look.

Amity started with Catra towards the door. Catra, her perceptions attuned to everything around her, flicked her ears up. She felt sick to her stomach, her hand rubbing along the back of her neck. Her other was gripping Amity's hand, fingers interlaced, clinging together so tightly that she wasn't sure how they'd ever let go of one another. But as they advanced towards the door, there was a sudden rumble of thunder and lightning and the illumination stabbed through the window, casting the jagged shadows of the window frame along the ground. There was the sprawled, insensate body of the janitor, laying near the public bathroom door. And there was, looming in the entry way, a huge, dangerous looking form. Amity skidded to a stop and Catra, reacting immediately, yanked her back around the stacks.

"Oh Titan!" Amity whispered, while Catra juggled her options. She could go out and fight it – but would Elizabeth Meow Meow Applesauce do that? She-

"Come on!"

Amity's voice jerked Catra from her calculations and her thoughts, and her arm pulled her from cover. She bit down to keep from crying out and swung her head around to see Amity yank a book – and then a hidden doorway slid open in the wall shelves with a grinding creak and crunch, revealing a small nook that Amity immediately crammed herself and Catra into. The door slammed shut a moment later and the two of them stood perfectly still, the only noise being the faint sound of rain beating on the roof.

Catra and Amity stood beside one another, clinging to one another. Catra's glasses had been knocked so askew that if she actually needed them, she might have been in trouble. But she slowly looked around the secret room, and saw there was a small bedroll, some magic lights, and several dozen books. Azura books, yes. But also journals. She blinked and reached up to tug her glasses into place, while Amity put her ear to the door.

"I can hear it moving on," she whispered, then sat down on the smallish bedroll. "This has been an insane day."

Catra sat next to her. She grinned, shyly. "Yeah."

"D-Do you think it was whatever attacked the janitor?" Amity asked.

"Maybe…" Catra frowned. Or it's Scorpia, helping some more. She slid her hand atop Amity's hand. Amity's entire face went red and she looked away. She tilted her toes up and started to bump them against the floor, her knees joggling in nervous tension. Catra's fingers cupped her hand and she leaned against her. Her voice was soft. "W-Well, at least now we have an excuse for why we didn't rush straight home." She grinned, shyly.

"Y-Yeah! Uh! Heh! Wow. Two monster attacks in one day." Amity whispered, her cheeks bright red. "Whattertheods!"

Catra slid one of her fingers between Amity's knuckles. Her clawtip teased her skin, just so slightly enough to leave the thinnest, softest of white lines. A full body shudder went from Amity's toes to her the tips of her pointed ears and Catra could practically smell how hot she was. She leaned in and whispered, softly.

"I...c-can...y-you hold me? Amity, I'm. Scared." She whispered, her voice having just enough want, enough need, that Amity would need to either flee from the room bodily or-

Or slide an arm around Catra's shoulders. Draw her in close. Catra nuzzled against her pale neck. Then she kissed her gently, her hand sliding around to cup Amity's side, pulling her in close. Amity whimpered, then gave up even trying. Their mouths crashed together as if they were both on the highway and riding blindfolded – their noses bumped, their hands flailed, and Catra felt her fake glasses getting knocked so far askew that they nearly jabbed into one of her ear holes. Amity, to her surprise, actually pushed her onto her back and Catra allowed herself to fall there. She panted as Amity drew her mouth back.

She laughed, giddily. "W-Wow!" She said, panting. "Libraries."

"Y-Yeah," Catra said. Her tongue darted along her lips, then she grabbed onto the front of Amity's Hexside uniform and dragged her down. She spread her legs and then locked her ankles behind Amity's buttocks, drawing the other girl into a tight, almost desperate embrace. Their mouths pressed together, and tongue darted against tongue. Catra slid one hand down, one hand up. She tousled Amity's green going on brown hair, while Amity tilted her head hard to the side, moaning into Catra's mouth.

Catra couldn't wait a single second longer. She broke the kiss, panting, whispering. "Amity, I need you."

"U-Uh, you have me?" Amity asked, dazedly.

"Naked, I need you naked," Catra clarified.

"I-I...oh! Uh! I...I'm…" Amity looked aside, blushing, hard. "I'm a...virgin."

"...I really really really need you naked," Catra whispered, unable to even to pretend to be Elizabeth Meow Meow Applesuace in that moment. Her left hand dipped down and cupped Amity's ass through her skirts and Amity gulped, then shivered and then nodded, eagerly. She leaned back onto her hips, her hands going to her top. She undid button after button, then shrugged her shoulders, revealing her pale white bra, stark against her mostly red skin. Her blush, it seemed, went all the way down. She hesitated, then reached back, undoing a snap with a soft click. Then her bra fell forward and...Catra had seen her naked in the shower before.

But it was different here.

Amity's blush remained as she grinned down at her.

"H-how do I look all blurry?"

"Beautiful," Catra whispered. Which was a lie. She wasn't blurry at all. Catra had called a lot of girls beautiful – most of them in the Emperor's Coven, mostly when she had started to grow up and stretch her legs. She had been shy and unsure at first, but with each conquest, she had gotten more confident. So why did her knees feel like they had turned to liquid? Why did Amity Blight, of all people, make her feel almost sick and nervous. It was like she was scared silly and drawn towards her like a moth to a flame, both at once.

Titan… Catra thought. That mysterious monster must have me more spooked than I thought.

"Elizabeth…" Amity whispered, softly. "You look at me like...y-you, uh, want to eat me." Her grin was shy and she giggled a little bit. "See, it's, uh. A. Uh." She trailed off, her courage failing her. She blushed and ducked her head forward. Catra sat up, pushing herself until she was bumping nose to Amity's nose.

"Amity," she whispered, instead of the sly little witticism she had been trying to throw together in the breath between laying back and sitting up. She freighted that name with so much...more than she had expected. But it worked better than you look good enough to eat, Miss Blight. Amity leaned into her, breasts to breasts, mouth to mouth. Catra grabbed onto her ass, then started to tug at her skirts. Amity lifted one knee up off the bedroll, shifting to her side, and Catra skimmed her panties down, down. Amity had to lift her other knee, then fell forward against her, giggling and whispering.

"T-Thanks for just not tearing it off," she breathed.

"I'm not feral," Catra muttered as she tried to not mewl as Amity's warm breath teased along her ear. "I know how expensive these panties can be." She grinned as she got the last bit free, and Amity's panties dangled from her fingertip. She licked her lips, slowly, while Amity giggled giddily, then leaned in and went back to kissing Catra right on the mouth. Now, it was her hands who were busy. Catra squirmed as she rolled her shoulders to help, and when her top joined Amity's, Amity's hands went right to her tits.

As expected.

Amity drew back, her eyes wide. "You don't wear a bra?" she asked.

"Amity, look at my tits," Catra said, her grin lopsided. "Do I look like I need a bra?"

Amity blinked, then blushed and then leaned forward. She hesitated...then leaned in and took one of Catra's dark brown nipples between her lips. She sucked gently, then leaned in, moaning as she kissed from breast to breast, sucking on Catra's other nipple. Catra groaned and rolled her head back, her eyes half closing.

Then a very strange thing happened.

Rrrrrhhhrrrr!

The noise came, at first, from nowhere. Catra jerked her head up, looking around, wildly, then realized the noise was coming from herself. Amity didn't even seemed shocked. She drew her mouth back, leaving Catra's nipples glistening and moist. This added to their sensitivity, the tingling brush of the room's air against her wet skin making Catra bit her lip to keep from moaning aloud. Amity was smiling up at her, her eyes just...pure delight. She chuckled, then leaned in, pressing her cheek to the spot between Catra's smallish breasts.

"You're purring," she whispered.

Catra blushed. Hard. A sudden sense of shame and confusion filled her, as if she had found herself dressed in a wild witch's garb, or...or...honestly, she couldn't think of anything even similar. Maybe if she had been attracted to a man, that might have been almost as upsetting and unsettling. She had never purred. Never, ever, ever. Not even when she had become the Golden Guard. But now, in this tiny room, with a monster sniffing around outside, while pretending to be an entirely different person, with this witchling she had known for...less than a week, she was purring?

She had fucked prettier witches than Amity! And more experienced ones!

Why was she purring?

She blushed, and bit back the first immediate inane response: I'm sorry.

Sorry for what?

Amity didn't even wait for an answer. Instead, she began to kiss her way along Catra's belly, nuzzling her muscles gently. She licked and flicked her tongue down and down and down and Catra realized that the virgin was making all the moves here. A part of her was so offended at the impropriety of it that she nearly broke character again – but then Amity buried her face between her brown thighs and tugged her panties aside with her fingers. Catra lifted her hips, and tried to stop the loud rumbling purr that escaped her. But she couldn't. Her claws sunk into the bedsheets under her as Amity guided her panties up past her knees, to her ankles, over her toes...and then she pressed her face against the pale white panties she had grabbed, breathing in. Catra, who was midway through lowering her legs back down, blinked at her.

Amity hastily tossed the panties aside, stammering. "I-I didn't do that!" she said, blushing.

Catra blinked at her again.

Then she burst out laughing. "Amity, you dork!" she said, shaking her head – and Amity blushed so hard she nearly burst into flames...but despite her flush, she started to laugh as well. She shook her head, then leaned in. She kissed the inside of Catra's knee.

"Elizabeth," she whispered.

Catra felt that strange sick feeling in her belly again. It was like she felt...bad for some reason, even though a gorgeous witchling was about to eat her out. It was crazy. She forced the sensation down, even as Amity finished returning to Catra's sex, having gently kissed her way down her thigh, to her belly again, then down, past the thin bar of Catra's pubic hair. Her tongue darted up, then down, then up again, licking her slowly, experimentally. She didn't immediately find the centers of Catra's pleasure – but Catra hadn't expected her too.

What she hadn't expected, either...was…how...good it would feel. She half closed her eyes, then sighed as Amity leaned in and applied even more tongue. She started to lap at her pussy with slow, steady, eager licks, sliding up from the bottom to the tip, finding Catra's clit more by accident than anything else. Catra reached around with her right hand, her left tightening on the sheet, and subtly moved Amity's head – and Amity's dainty, eager lips found her clit and sucked. Catra whined through her teeth, rolling her head back.

"Oh...oh Titan!" She gasped, rolling her hips subtly in time with Amity's eager nuzzling, licking, even nipping. Her purr grew louder and more intense as she felt pleasure building, then building more as Amity licked and licked and licked. Then, as if driven by a divine, Titan blessed instinct, Amity reached around with her own hand and pushed one of her fingers deep into Catra's sex. She crooked it and began to rub and Catra was lost. She moaned and bucked her hips fiercely against Amity as her pleasure overflowed, spilling onto Amity's tongue. Amity moaned sweetly and drank her down, burying her face against Catra's sex.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Catra gasped out. "Amity! Oh Titan, yes! Yes!"

"Mmm!"

***

The muffled noises were quite clear, if you put your ear to the wall. Scorpia nodded, then clicked her claw at Entrapta, who was holding a notepad.

"Catra's getting laid!" Scorpia said, then, proudly. "I knew she could do it, if she tried." She sniffed. "My little wildcat is growing up."

"I think she's older than you," Entrapta said, cheerfully, her hair bobbing her up and down as she hummed and took notes. "Can you tell whose performing cunnilingus on who?"

"Uh, it sounds like Blight is," Scorpia said, pressing her ear to the wall again. "Yeah. Yeah. That's a witchling eating demon pussy if I've ever heard it."

"Faaaaaaascinating!"

***

Catra was willing to be a patient hunter.

That patience went out the window when a girl was naked.

She had Amity on her back, and their legs scissored together, before Amity had even finished wiping her mouth off. Amity gasped in shock as Catra pressed her sex against Amity's sex – their folds locking together with lewd, wet noises that filled the room. Slick. Eager. They drove Catra to grind her hips in steady, pushing motions – her tail writhing as she pinned Amity's wrists above her head. She panted softly, looking down into Blight's bright golden eyes, while Amity gasped and moaned in time with every motion. Their clits almost bumped together as Amity started to rock her hips back.

"Elizabeth! Oh! Elizabeth! Yes! Yes! Ah! I...I...didn't know girls could even do this!" Amity gasped out. "Fuck. I thought it was all just...licking!"

"There's lots of options," Catra whispered, her own eyes lidded and hungry as she looked into Amity's eyes. "We can get straps later."

"I know about this!" Amity flushed, her hips bumping back. She slid her hand up, cupping Catra's smallish breast, her finger finding her nipple, tugging it gently, gently. Catra rolled her head back, groaning eagerly as she started to feel her second orgasm rush closer and closer. Amity's back arched as she cried out in pleasure, then bit down onto her wrist, to keep herself from crying out even louder. Catra shifted, so that she was balanced on one hand, her other hand free to rub Amity's clit. She worked her with every bit of skill she had learned...and was rewarded by Amity losing the fight.

"Oh Elizabeeeeeeeeeth!" Amity screamed, her back arching as she spurted a warm splash of juices against Catra, some of it getting almost to her tits as Amity's whole body quivered with bliss, then went limp. Catra ground against her one last time and felt her own peak hitting her again – trembling and gasping as she moaned.

"Adora, yes...ah...fuck…" She gasped, bucking her hips slowly, then drawing back...and letting herself flop down beside Amity. Amity, her breath coming in short, shuddering gasps, lay beside Catra, her arms lifted above her head, her eyes dazed.

"H-Huh?" she asked.

"I said...wow…" Catra whispered. She flopped one of her limp arms over Amity's belly, then dragged herself up, so she could get her lips right near Amity's ear. She whispered. "That was amazing, Amity."

"I thought…" Amity blinked, then shook her head – dismissing whatever she had thought. Catra felt her own purring coming back. The deep, reverberating thrum started to buzz through Amity and Amity turned into what was basically a puddle of happy girl, leaning into Catra and snuggling against her. "Mmm…"

Then she jolted upright, almost slamming her head into the low hanging roof of the hiding room.

"Oh my Titan!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide with fear.

"Hmm, what?" Catra asked, lazily.

"My mom is going to kill me!" She put her hands to her face. "I-I...she says I have to date only appropriate canditates. I...are you rich?"

"No," Catra said. She noticed, in a sudden jolt, that her Emperor's Coven sigil was visible on her wrist. She cocked her arm behind her neck, hiding it hurriedly as she suddenly realized just how close she had been to being discovered. Good thing I'm so dang distracting, she thought, while Amity put her hands from her cheeks to her head.

"Uh…" Amity thought for a beat. "F-From a famous family?"

Catra blushed and said. "My name is Elizabeth Meow Meow Applesauce, Amity."

"Right…" Amity laid back, groaning.

"Y-Your mom doesn't have to know we're dating," Catra whispered. "We can be like secret lovers, like in Book Nine!"

Amity blushed. "But that's a book. This is real life. I...I don't think I'm ever going to be brave enough to...to do any of that. I'm...honestly shocked I was brave enough to do this. Like, I thought I was never going to lose my virginity." She trailed off for a bit more, her cheeks burning as she looked aside, her voice growing softer. "It's...like I already knew what to do, though."

"That is why being with a girl is better," Catra said, smugly.

"Yeah," Amity whispered. She closed her eyes. "I don't know. I...I'm confused…"

Catra was silent. She felt the strangest feeling. It was…

This was insane.

But it was an urge to...to blurt out what her real name was. Who she was. She could make Amity love the Golden Guard, right? But no, she had made it very, very clear what she thought. And what kind of stupid spy would just reveal this. And it wasn't like Amity was special or anything. She didn't care about her. Amity was just a girl. Sure, she was brave. But she was also easily mislead, so she was stupid. And she was from some rich upper crust family, and she had a mom who sucked. So what. She liked Azura books. But...that was just...it wasn't like Catra actually liked those books anymore. Why was she even still thinking about Amity Blight, she had just...just…

This was just sex. This was just a way to get to Titan-Ra, to get Titan-Ra to…

Catra blushed and scowled at the ceiling.

Amity laid against her, eyes closing, burying her face into Catra's wild mane of hair. "I...I think I like you a lot, Elizabeth." She whispered.

Catra felt like she had never been lower. She looked away, her cheeks burning.

"I like you a lot too, Amity," she whispered. But she wasn't purring anymore.

If Amity noticed, she didn't remark it. Instead, she just hugged her closer and Catra lay there.

Fighting monsters.

***

The painstorm had broken as Adora walked towards the Owl House. She sighed slightly, her arms stretching behind her back...as she saw that the front door of the house had been broken. Hooty, his eyes covered with almost cartoonish Xs, lay with his head resting against the front stoop. Adora froze...and then yanked her sword from her back.

"By the Honor of Grayskull!"

Darkness wreathed her body and flames swept from her feet to her toes. When they were gone, Titan-Ra stood in her place, her clawed toes digging into the ground. She rushed towards the door, grabbed it gently – not wanting to harm Hootie any more if he had been hurt, and stepped inside. She swept her bright, golden eyes slowly around – and saw that it looked like the whole place had been turned into a battlefield. A smoldering impact mark over the fireplace looked almost like Glimmer's magic...and there were half a dozen of Bow's arrows, sticking out of the wall and shimmering faintly. The stairs had been crunched and marked by claws, while the banister looked shattered in several spots.

Titan-Ra started up the stairs, sword in her hand, looking left, then right, then peeking around the corner. She heard a low rumbling noise coming from the end of the hall...coming from Eda's room. A shadow, cast by a discarded lamp, cast a crazy light against the wall...and the shadow within was looming. Huge. Terrifying looking. Titan-Ra walked forward with a slow breath, shocked at how calm she felt.

She came to the door...and peeked.

And saw.

The center of Eda's room was dominated by a massive beast of tufted feather and furs. Muscles broad and thick as entire individuals cascaded along the creature's back, while wings cupped the flanks, giving it a faintly ovoid shape. It was snarling and clawing around, and the claws looked big enough to slash a witch completely in half. Titan-Ra pursed her lips...and noticed that the far end of the room had three cocoon like shapes that were each of a different size. One was tall and thin, one was short and stout, and one of them was very tiny.

Bow. Glimmer. King! Titan-Ra thought. God, I hope they're okay.

She stepped into the room. "Hey, demon!" she snapped. "I don't know how you got-"

The demon turned.

And Eda's face, distorted by blackened eyes and snarling, demonic features, looked back at her.

"Oh," Titan-Ra said.

The Eda-Beast roared at her, screeching so loudly that the noise sent Titan-Ra stumbling backwards out of the room. The Eda-Beast rushed forward, claw swiping hard enough to shatter the doorframe and Titan-Ra grabbed onto her wrist, shoving her own sword behind her back with the other. "I don't want to hurt you, Eda!" she said, wrenching the claw up and away from her face. "Calm down!"

The Eda-Beast roared at her again, and slammed into her with the other claw. The two went tumbling away from the room, hit the wall, smashed it inwards slightly, and then both started to tumble down the stairs. Titan-Ra was focused entirely on keeping her arms between her and the slashing claws of the beast. She felt an agony of indecision – she wanted too...no, she had to help Eda. But how!? She grunted with each blow, her arms locked together. Claws against her bracers was actually going better than she expected, but-

Unity.

The whispered word popped into her mind.

Had Titan-Ra not been under such stress, she might have asked...where?

And moreover...how?

But she was.

And in such times, you simply had to do what you could.

"Back off!"

She shouted the words out and a rainbow explosion – just like the last time she had shouted in this form – bloomed away from her in a rippling, overlapping pattern. The Eda-Beast was flung backwards and crashed into the sofa, sending it skidding and fetching up against the wall. The Eda-Beast was knocked, woozily, onto her side and was only slowly able to get to her feet. Titan-Ra felt the power crackling inside of her. Raw magic. Buzzing through her fingertips.

Unity?

She stepped forward, then thrust out her palm, and grabbed onto the Eda-Beast's head. She felt a surge of connection – and then fell forward, tumbling...and tumbling…

Then she landed. She landed with a grunt on a vast, grayish beach. The water was black, and the distant cliffs were a dark, somber gray. The sand was nearly pale white, and it was marked by a doubled set of footsteps. She lifted her gaze and saw a brilliant spec of red. A red dress. Eda. She started to run along the beach, and in shockingly short time, she came up behind the screeching, howling owl-creature that had fused with Eda. Its beak was split in a jagged black line and it screamed as it chased after Eda, who was panting and sobbing with exhaustion.

"Leave! Me! Alone!" She choked out over her shoulder.

"Eda!" Titan-Ra called out.

And Eda made a mistake.

She stopped. She turned and blinked.

"Adora!?" she asked. "How did-"

The beast leaped directly onto Eda, screeching, bearing her to the ground. Titan-Ra cried out, then stepped towards her, but before she could, the horrible beast...shrank. It became smaller, more easily held in one's arms. Its mouth opened and it lapped, eagerly, at Eda's face with a rough, textured tongue. She blinked as owl-slime dripped from her cheeks, while Titan-Ra finished jogging forward, then knelt down beside her.

"It…" Titan-Ra said. "It likes you?"

"Huh," Eda said. "I...didn't know it liked me." She looked at the owl-beast, who screeched, but...happily now?

"Where are we?" Titan-Ra asked.

Eda scowled. "You're in my head. Rude, you know." She smirked. "But this time, I'll forgive you. Ugh. Please tell me that this little stinker wasn't running around in my body…" She said, lifting up the owl-beast, who wriggled their tiny paws happily.

"Um. Maybe a teeny tiny bit." Titan-Ra said, holding up her clawed fingers, keeping the tips from just barely touching.

Eda gave her a sour look, then snapped her fingers.

Titan-Ra stumbled away from Eda – and felt her powers vanish with a pop as she reverted to Adora, the danger having passed. She grinned, slightly, as she turned back to face Eda.

"Whoa."

"...whoa…" Adora whispered.

Eda stood. Except she wasn't Eda as Adora normally saw her. Her red dress had become jagged, thrown over a body that was an even more smooth combination of owl and woman – she still had her arms, her hands, and her fingers were tipped with sharpened, reddish claws, and her hair had become an even more unruly, a wild mane of white hair framing her more angular features, her ears having grown even more longer and more pronounced. Her legs now ended in splayed claws, and her ankles were narrow and scaled, black scales. She looked down at her hands, spreading her fingers, while Adora saw that she had two broad, gray feathered wings as well.

"Whoa!" Eda said, again, her voice having a strange, alien timber to it. She blinked, and Adora saw that her eyes were black on gold, her irises bright and shining. "Whoa!" Eda looked around at her back.

"W-What happened?" Adora asked.

"It's like...the owl beast wanted to just...be a part of me. Not take me over. All I had to do was let it!" Eda said, chuckling. "Nice!" She craned her head around, peering at her back again. "Do I rock this look or do I rock this look?"

"Y-You're...really…" Adora paused. "Really hot!"

"Thanks, babe, you too!" Eda said, grinning. "You know, I'm not against some May-December stuff."

Adora nodded.

Then she blinked. "Wait, what?"

TO BE CONTINUED

Adora and Eda worked together to slowly peel open the middle of the three owl pellets in her trashed room. Within was a glistening, sticky, shuddering Glimmer Park. She stepped out of the owl pellet, breathed slowly in, touched the tips of her fingers together in a gesture of calming focus, focused, and then vanished in a glittering spray of sparkles. She appeared a few feet to her left, but arrived without her Hexside uniform. This gave Adora a remarkable view of her cushy, curvaceous body – her tits might have been the same size as Adora's, but since Glimmer was a foot or so shorter and stocky to boot, she looked quite a bit more endowed. She also appeared without a thin skein of slime and bits of owl pellet, which hung in the rough, Rubenesque form of Glimmer before splattering to the floor.

Thus naked and clean, she brushed her hands through her hair and said. "I am going to be in the shower!"

Then she stalked from the room.

Adora and Eda kept gaping after her for a few seconds, both of their jaws hanging open.

"...uh…" Adora said.

"So, is she dating anyone?" Eda asked.

"Yes," a muffled voice came from the tallest owel pellet.

"Eda!" Adora exclaimed. "She's- I...we're...both...all going to school!"

"Yeah, senior year!" Eda said. "I was totally hooking up with older witches and demons in my senior year." She chuckled. "Ah, good times."

"Eda!" Adora spluttered.

"Can you please get me out of this?" The muffled voice came again and the two women worked with a will to yank it open. Bow Porter stepped from the container, groaning and rubbhing his hands along his face. "Ugh."

"I'm so sorry about this, Bow," Adora said.

"Why are you apologizing, you didn't eat him," Eda said. At Bow's look, she blinked at him, then jerked her thumb over her shoulder. "The condoms are above the sink in the bathroom."

"Eda!" Adora exclaimed.

"What!?" Eda asked. "My job is to be the responsible one here."

"Thanks," Bow said, wincing as he wiped some slime from his eyes. "But I brought my own, actually." He patted his belt, where his various trick arrows were normally stored. "Right next to my quiver, never leave home with out them. Heh, Glimmer gets frisky after a fight." He waggled his eyebrows dramatically.

"Bow!" Adora's entire face was nearly as red as her jacket.

"It's not like you don't have any in the human realm," Bow said, cheerfully. Then he paused. "Wait, don't you!? Adora, you have to-"

"Wehavecondomspleaseshutup!" Adora wheezed, putting her hands over her face.

"Fhew," Bow said. "I was worried I'd have to explain h-"

Adora bodily grabbed his arm, dragged him to the door leading to the shower, flung the door open – and caught a hazy, enticing form of Glimmer through the closed screen of the shower, then flung Bow inside. He stumbled, flailed, yelped – and then she slammed the door shut, her back pressed against it as she panted heavily.

"Nice," Eda said, while Adora realized what she had done, was caught in a paroxysm of indecision. She reached for the air, dropped her arms, then sagged against the shower and skimmed down it, sitting on her butt. She felt as if she had never before been quite so tired in her life – everything that had happened having crashed into her at the same time. Eda, walking over with the freed King in her arms, smiled down at her.

"Wanna talk about it?" she asked, while King whined and wriggled.

"Ugh! Ugh! So slimey!"

Adora sighed. "Can I have something to drink first?" she asked.

"Well. You're not twenty one, but...counter point, screw the rules!" Eda said. "Lets get some apple blood!"

***

Adora thumped into the chair across from Eda, who had reverted to her human...er...witch form before opening the pellets. That was the first thing on Adora's mind. "What was that?" she asked.

"Okay, kid," Eda said. "The whole thing with me and my curse is kind of a long story. I was cursed when I was about your age – maybe a little older." She said, waggling her hand a bit to indicate how she wasn't sure. "I'm not sure by who or why – but it messed up my powers, and it made me have to leave polite society. I was able to control it with the elixer – but, uh, heh, we were out." She frowned a little bit, looking distant.

Adora looked down at the cup that Eda had set before her. The warm red blood inside did smell faintly of apples. She gulped, then sipped it. It tasted of apples, but it had a stinging brightness that made her sit right up and squeak.

"Yeah, appleblood will do that to ya," Eda said, then sighed. "So. Uh. How was your superheroing?"

"I fought my best friend to a standstill while trying to make her see reason and she instead tried to kill me repeatedly," Adora said, resting her head on her arm as she slouched before the table. "Also, I, uh...uh...m-met...Amity...Blight. And, uh...uh...oh, in my Titan-Ra form, I am immune to painstorms. T-That's neat! Also, I can go into your brain!?"

"Firstly, firstly, lets talk about the important thing," Eda said, her ears perking up. "You met Amity, huh?" She waggled her fingers. "Now, did this meeting take place on first, second, or third base?"

"What?" Adora asked, sitting up.

"First base, you go up to the knuckle!" Eda said, waggling her finger. "Second base, you're using each-other bits as alchemical reagents. Third base? Well, that's a bit much for someone your age, even if you're eighteen." She nodded, sagely.

"What!?" Adora spluttered. "No! We just...made out. A little. A lottle." She looked aside, then bit her lip. "Is it messed up that I'm...I...I feel like I'm...betraying Catra?" She blushed, hard. "Not, like, cheating on her. But, like, how can I justify doing anything with a girl when, when, when I have to help Catra. She's working as the Golden Guard for the Belosian Empire, I have to help her out and get her to-"

"Adora, honey," Eda said, reaching across the table. She squeezed her hand. "Your best friend is working for the bad guys. It sucks." She nodded. "But you can't just fix her. You have to hope she'll fix herself – and be there for her, when she turns things around. Until then, you do what you can." She smiled, wryly. "And you definitely can't give up on other girls, even if you can't stop thinking about how cute she is in her uniform."

"She's not cute in her uniform!" Adora said, hurriedly. "She's cute out of it! I mean, not cute! I...I don't have a crush on Catra."

"Mmhmmmmm!" Eda said, nodding and taking a long, deep drink from her appleblood.

Adora knocked back her own gulp. She blushed as she felt the hot burn in her belly.

"Okay!" she said. "Admittedly. The cat thing? It's...ya know, it's working for me. I love catgirls. And cats. I like how their ears go, kinda, bloop bloop." She lifted her fingers, miming the twitches of a cat's ears. "Like, heh, that's why I think I'm so into witch ears, you're like cats. You have...kitty twitchy ears." She blinked, then looked down at her glass. She still had, like, at least seventy, eighty percent of the appleblood still in it. "I...am...you…" She pointed a finger accusingly at Eda. "You are drunking me get!"

"Sure am!" Eda said, cheerfully. "In appleus veritas!"

"That'z not even Latin!" Adora said, her head flopping onto the table as she laid down next to her cup, sprawling. "Kitties are cute." She giggled, softly. "You know, heh, uh, on Earth, when girls kiss, they also...they pet kitties. Pussies. Pussies is another word for-"

"Mmm, yes, that's true here too," Eda said, chuckling.

"You! Have to tell me truth things now!" Adora said, pointing again at her mentor slash weird hot adoptive grandmother slash roommate slash landlord.

"Okay!" Eda said.

"Howz...that…" Adora closed her eyes, then flailed an arm.

"Gonna need a few more words," Eda said, gently reaching over and stealing Adora's glass. She started to drink from it.

"How do you do the sexy harpy thing!" Adora exploded, springing up and cupping her chin with her palms, looking at Eda like a lovesick puppy. "And are you...do you give...wing hugs?" she whispered, her eyes shining. "I'd love a wing hug."

Eda opened her mouth, then closed it. "That's the weirdest thing," she said, hesitantly. "My whole life, the owl beast and I have been at war. But then, today, when I changed, it was like everything was different. It was like since the last time I changed, the owl beast has completely flipped around. It wasn't trying to take me over. It was just trying to be a part of me. And once I let it, once you stopped from running away, it was like I've done this a thousand times before." She looked down at her hand, frowning.

"Wowwww," Adora whispered. Then she beamed. "I'm gonna kiss the owl beast on its head cause it's a good girl."

Eda grinned. "Now, it's my turn for a truth question: Does Amity know you're Titan-Ra?"

"Nah," Adora said.

"So, she's into Titan-Ra, but has no time for Adora Gray?" Eda asked.

"Nah!" Adora said, shaking her head. She was still beaming. "She's suuuuuper into Titan-Ra and, uh, she…" Her smile faltered, then collapsed. "She doesn't like me cause I'm dumb."

"You're not dumb, Adora," Eda said, gently. Then she perked up. "Wait, so, she's into your secret ID, but not into your real ID?"

"Mmhmm!" Adora nodded.

"You know what this means, right?" Eda asked.

"Mhnnno?" Adora asked.

"Shenanigans!"

Adora blinked at her. "Shen...Shenann...nishe...sh-"

"So, what you do, is you arrange to be where Amity needs to be rescued, then you swoop her off her feet, and you kiss her. Heck, do more than kiss her, get to first base." Eda said, nodding.

Adora blinked at her slowly. Then she smiled. "That sounds nice…" She said, cheerfully. "I get to be a hero and I get to have fun nice things too. That's nice." She half closed her eyes. "Mom said I don't deserve nice things unless I do nice things for people, so...mm...m'gonna do nice things." She sighed, softly. "Mmm does Amity taste like green skittles or purple?" She closed her eyes and started to snore quietly.

Eda shook her head slowly. "Every single thing I hear about that woman makes me want to go and beat the crud out of her."

King hopped up onto the kitchen table. "Eda, you got your teenage adoptive daughter drunk. After flirting at her!"

Eda waggled her finger. "Ah, ah, ah, King. It's only creepy if you're a man. Or a demon. When women do it, it's sexy."

"That's not even close to true!" King said, throwing his arms wide.

"Besides, I wasn't going to molest her or anything, she's drunk!" Eda said, her voice offended. "What kind of a criminal do you take me for."

"Uh-huh." King's eyelids were perfect horizontal lines, right at the midpoint of his eyes.

Eda scowled.

Hooty slithered up into view. "Eda always respects consent, hoot hoot!" he said.

"Okay, that just makes me sound like I should be on a list," Eda muttered.

"You are!" King shouted, angrily.

"A bad list."

***

In Adora's dream, she was floating behind herself and watching herself walk to school. Adora, in the dream, was not wearing her nice red jacket. Instead, she was wearing something severe and black and cold, like something her Mom would try and get her to wear. The funniest thing, though, was that Adora in the dream was...almost crying. She trembled as she walked, her eyes half closed, and she whispered under her breath.

"It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's better than the cell, it's better than the cell, it's better...th-...then...then…"

She started to tremble, then she put her hand over her own face. Adora watched as her control collapsed and she started to cry. Not just cry, but sob. The weird thing – well, the awful thing – was that the crying was...wrong. Adora had cried before. She had even seen herself in the mirror. She didn't make that kind of face as she cried. The dream Adora staggered against a dumpster, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed and whimpered and sniffled.

"Oh honey!"

The voice was soft and warm and gentle and made the other Adora yelp and jerk upright, stumbling back and away – nearly into the street. She timed it badly: A car was trundling by at about twenty five miles per an hour, and was just about to crack right into the dream Adora's arm – but the owner of the voice sprang forward, grabbed her and yanked her back. Adora and the figure stumbled, fell onto the grass of the house across the street. The house that Catra had lived in.

Adora, her face red and puffy, gasped and sniffed – blinking...while Adora, the real Adora, looked over to see who had yanked her dream self out of the way of the car. She was a matronly woman – pretty, middle aged, and dressed in nurse's scrubs. Her skin was dusky brown, and her hair was raven dark. She looked at Adora with a gentle smile, her hand going to her shoulder. "Sorry for startling you," she said. "I just...I saw you crying and I was, uh, wondering if everything was all right?"

She had a lovely accent. Adora wondered where it was from.

"I-It's okay," the other Adora said. The dream said. She stood up, brushing grass from her pants. "I-I have to...to go. To get to school."

"Do you want to talk about it?" the woman asked, still sitting.

"I…" the dream Adora stammered. "I…" She tugged at her sleeve – yanking it down.

But not before Adora, the real Adora, and the woman sitting on the grass saw the bruise.

"I'm okay, I have to go!"

She hurried off.

And Adora saw that the woman in the nurse's scrub had a fire in her eyes as she stood, her jaw tightening as she reached down, adjusting her nametag. Adora leaned in – even as she felt the horrible claws of wakefulness pulling at her.

C. Noceda.

She jerked upright, panting slightly.

"...what a...weird dream," she said, then blinked, noticing that King was still perched atop her head, having shifted with her movement so smoothly that he was still snoring atop her like a cuddly little crown. She reached up, took King off her head, then smiled at him.

"Such a cutie," she whispered.

She set King down, checked the time – and saw that it was early enough that she was pretty sure she could use the bathroom. She noticed that her head was hurting a bit, but...not as much as she might have feared, considering the vague blurr of last night. She walked towards the bathroom – then opened the door and found herself looking in at Glimmer. Glimmer was wearing her nightgown and had it pushed all the way up and above her cushy rump. Bow, meanwhile, was in the bathroom as well. Of course, he was not simply brushing his teeth or even flossing. No.

He was kneeling on the tiles and burying his tongue deep inside of Glimmer's sex. The soft, slick noise of him licking up and down and up and down her pussy was quite loud in the nearly silent bathroom, as Glimmer was biting down onto the back of her knuckles to keep from moaning aloud, even as her hips jounced in time with Bow's eager ministrations. Her wings – small as they were – fluttered against her back as Adora stood there, froze and gaping at the pair of them.

"Sorry!" Adora exclaimed.

Glimmer jerked her hand from her mouth and gasped. "Adora!" She moaned – her voice shocked and tinged with pleasure as she quivered. Bow jerked back at just the right moment too, to show quite clearly what happened when Glimmer came and came hard. Specifically, her juices splashed against his face, leaving his dark brown skin glistening and sprinkled with shimmering, glowing pink sparkles. Adora caught only a glimpse of this as she backpedaled so fast her feet were a blur.

This was when she hit King with her ankle.

"Weh!" The sleepy demon cried out as Adora felt both her feet leave the ground. She had half a second to think: Ah, well, at least I am falling on the carpet before her spine hit the edge of the stairs. She skidded down, crunched the top of her head onto the wooden stair, curled backwards, tried to get her arms before her, and then started to slinky down the stairs with a series of cartilaginous cracks, crunches, and snaps. Then, she sprawled on the ground – while Bow, Glimmer, King, and a hurriedly dressed Eda ran to the head of the stairs, gaping down at her in horror.

"Well, at least she's okay," Glimmer said, tugging her nightgown down.

"She's human! They're fragile!" Bow said.

"Oh shoot she's human!" Glimmer said, horrified, as she grabbed all of them and teleported down to the bottom of the stairs. Adora groaned...rolled onto her belly, put her arms under her, and stood up, rubbing her spine gently.

"Ow," she said.

All of them gaped at her.

Adora blinked at them. "What?" She asked, then looked up the stairs. She blinked again, then started to pat her body down gently, brushing her hands along her flanks, rubbing her arms, patting her cheeks. Every single part of her, save for the part that had smacked directly into the stairs – the small of her back, the top of her head, the base of her spine, and her elbow – was fine. And those parts were just bruised.

"Huh," Adora said.

"...Adora…" Eda said. "Didn't you say you used to break bones all the time in the human realm? Because you had, uh, a vitamin deficiency?"

"Y-Yeah," Adora said. "M-Maybe it's Titan-Ra?" She sounded nervous.

"I think I know who to take her too," Glimmer said, nodding. "Cause you should be so dead as a human."

Adora flushed. "Who?" she asked.

"A healer. The best healer I know," Glimmer said, putting her hands on her hips.

"She's in the detention track!" Bow added.

Adora looked unconvinced.

***


"Well, well, well, someone is happy today."

Catra, who had been in the midst of adjusting the staff Belos had made for her, jerked her head up and spun around, coming to attention and snapping off a sharp little salute. "Ma'am!" she said, while Lilith Clawthorne walked into the laboratory that Catra had been forced to share with Entrapta, who was humming cheerfully as she tinkered with her staff. The faint smell of ozone and the spray of sparks coming from the device were both making Catra a little concerned.

"Ma'am?" Catra asked, trying to sound even and steady.

"You were purring," Lilith said, smiling dryly at her.

Catra thought back over the past few minuets. She didn't remember purring. She had just been letting her mind wander...to her schemes and plans. She coughed, then adjusted the collar on her uniform. "Sorry, ma'am."

"There's nothing to apologize for, Catra," Lilith said, shaking her head. "I'm glad to see you're doing well. Now, we have a new shipment of weapons for the armory from BI – I want you to ensure they're loaded." She frowned. "The last time we let Scorpia do it, half of them ended up snipped into tiny pieces."

"Scorpia…" Catra scowled. What did BI stand for again? She thought – but before she could ask, Lilith threw her another soft ball.

"Also, if you could find Scorpia, that would be nice. I don't like it when someone that large goes silent and missing for so long. It makes me nervous." Lilith frowned and shook her head. Catra nodded, then salted again. She frowned, taking up her staff and holding it. She could use both runes and the staff to cast any kind of magic she wanted...so why did she feel so unsettled. Her? Purring? Again? She hadn't even gotten laid. She turned to Entrapta, frowning.

"Was I really purring?" she asked.

"Hmm?" Entrapta asked. "No, but I can check the recordings on my logs and see if you were purring, the corroborate them with the times you were distractedly thinking about other things. Oh! And if we use the security scrying devices, we can also see if they correlate to you smiling!"

Catra scowled at her. "I was not smiling!"

Entrapta shrugged. "I don't really pay attention to if you're smiling or not – unless I'm taking notes on your social interactions." She gasped. "Wait, I should be starting to do that, though, if there's some changes in your behavior since your date with Amity!"

"It wasn't a date!" Catra shouted, her hand tightening on the staff so hard that it almost broke in half.

"It wasn't?" Entrapta asked. "Fascinating. How many social interactions involve meeting at a place you both like, talking about things you both enjoy, then end with making love in a closet?"

Catra blushed. Hard. "I'm just using her. It's like your wrench. Do you love your wrenches!?"

"Of course!" Entrapta brightened visibly and swung her mask back to reveal her huge smile. "This one's a 10 incher, this one's 5 centimeters – they're really good for getting into tight spaces, oh, and this one has a lug-nut tightener, and this one can be ratcheted, and this one's adjustable!" She said, using her hands and her hair to tug out wrench after wrench. "I've been thinking of naming them!"

"N-Naming them?" Catra asked.

"Yes, one, two, three, four, five!" Entrapta said.

"...I'm going to find Scorpia," Catra said, taking a slow breath.

"All right," Entrapta said. "But what should I list your not-a-date with Amity Blight under in my logs, if it wasn't a date?"

"An espionage mission," Catra said, without thinking.

"Got it!" Entrapta said.

Catra turned and walked out of the laboratory while slapping a rune on her staff and poofing it away to a pocket dimension until she needed it – and then she heard a familiar set of footprints. She stepped back into the doorway and held her breath as around the corner came Darius. The tall, powerfully built witch had dark brown-black skin and a neat set of slightly slick purple hair and beard – formed from the same abomination goo that Entrapta's hair was formed from. Save that unlike her, his control and mastery over the material was powerful enough to make him the head of the Abomination Coven. He was dressed in his finest purple, black and gold get up, with a cape swept dramatically over one arm and his boots clicking ominously loudly as he advanced down the corridor, glaring forward.

His other hand was holding the chair that Catra had shredded.

Catra remained perfectly still as he walked past.

Then she saw him stop.

Then slam his heel into the ground. A shimmering purple puddle opened up under her and she yelped, leaping up and grabbing onto the frame of the door to keep herself from being yanked down – but a big hand of purple grabbed onto her waist and yanked. Her claws shredded the frame as she was pulled down – and was dropped straight out of the ceiling and landed on her feet and hands right before Darius, who glowered down at him.

"Explain," he said, coolly, holding his chair up and aiming the ruined back at her. "And use complete sentences, if you'd be so kind."

Catra cocked her head. "Ebberwolf ebberwolfed Ebberwolfiley."

Darius frowned at her. "Ebberwolf," he said. "And why, pray tell, did he say the chair stinks of you."

"He has it in for me," Catra said, shrugging arrogantly. "Always had, ever since I showed him up in the tracking game."

Darius leaned in, his voice soft. "Listen, Catra. You are playing a very dangerous game here…"

"Oh noooo, what are you going to do? Goo at me?" Catra asked, grinning as she leaned in.

Darius glared at her, his skin rippling as a line of purple slipped from his hair down his scalp, along his cheek, into his neck and under his clothing. His voice grew softer still. "I happen to have served with several Golden Guards. And you're the first one I've ever met who I think genuinely deserves Belos." Then he stood, and walked past her, shoving the chair into her chest. "Have it fixed, Golden Guard."

Catra stumbled, grabbing onto the chair. She frowned.

"There were other Golden Guards?" she asked, softly. She shook her head, then started off to find Scorpia.

In the end, she found her in the library, holding a book very gingerly between her claws – and when Catra entered, Scorpia snapped it shut and managed to pierce the book through with both her tips. She sighed, then tossed it into the trash – where it landed next to five other books that had been impaled. But turning to face Catra, she started speaking before Catra could even say anything. "Catra! I've finished investigating the library attack."

"The…" Catra blinked, then frowned. "Oh?"

"So, the janitor only a tiny amount of blood," Scorpia said. "Way less than, say, a vampire, or a fampire, or a revenant, or a ghoul, ghost, gremlin, goblin, spooky, haunt, ghost-"

"You said ghost already," Catra said, her ears flicking back.

"Just covering all the bases. There's both onryō and guǐ and some others!" Scorpia nodded. "But I covered every base, and I checked down the weird possibilities, like demons or pranksters." She reached into her pockets and pulled out a manilla folder, waving it around between her claws. Catra took it before it was sliced in half and started to flip through. For a woman without hands or manipulators of any kind, Scorpia had done a remarkable job running down all the leads. She frowned as she flipped the envelope shut.

"So who attacked the guy?" she asked.

"The only thing we detected on him with...this!" Scorpia said, taking out a vial. It had a teeny tiny bit of hair in it, the color impossible to tell without a bright light and a microscope. She held it out to Catra, who took it, frowning.

"So, Entrapta can run it through a lab and say what monster it was?" Catra asked, curiously.

"Sure can!" Scorpia said.

Catra nodded. "Good...work, Scorpia," she said, the words sounding like she was suddenly speaking French. She shook her head a bit. "You were really running this down all day?"

"Anything to keep my wildcat safe!" Scorpia said, her voice dramatic, focused. "And to keep her girlfriend safe too."

"I don't have a girlfriend!" Catra said, flushing. "Amity's just an asset."

"She's an asset to us all," Scorpia said, cheerfully. "Like a million bucks – I mean, I've seen how she lights up your entire face when you think about her."

"I'm scowling," Catra said, forcing herself to scowl.

"And purring, just thinkin' about her!" Scorpia's eyes grew soft. "Ah, it's young love. Oh! I'm so proud of you for finally breaking your cold shell and finding someone-"

"I'm older than you!" Catra flung up her hands. Scorpia tapped her claw, gently, against Catra's chest, smiling at her.

"Maybe in years, but not in what matters." She flung her arms around Catra, snatching her up and giving her a back-snapping hug. Catra yoweld, writhing and kicking her legs. She scrabbled, desperately, to escape, and managed to go boneless in the way that cats could, slipping out from Scorpia's arms, landing and rolling away. She came to her feet, gasping and rubbing her back.

"No hugging!" She said. "I have to deal with the BI weapon's drop."

"Have fun dealing with Blight Industries!"

Catra froze.

Right.

That was what BI stood for.

***

The heavy stomping sound of brass feet and the steady sloshing of abomination goo sliding back and forth within tresses and pneumatic pumps filled the air as Odalia and Aladar Blight walked their goods into the Belosian armory. Catra, her hand holding the mask of the Golden Guard, peeked around the corner...and saw that Amity was, of course, among them. Crap. Catra slid her mask on, then stepped out to the bustling courtyard. She bowed low and politely to Odalia.

"Miss Blight," she said, and felt the urge to follow that up with I fucked your daughter last night. She pushed it out of her head with sheer effort, while Odalia gave her a cold, cold smile. The green haired witch had aged extremely gracefully, her hair remaining mostly green save for a pale white streak in it. She was dressed in a sleek business suit and the only sign she wasn't simply a manager was the oracular focus around her throat. That one gemstone made Odalia a dangerous, dangerous woman – Catra knew oracular magic was one of the most difficult to master, and the hardest to apply practically.

Rumors – and some sensitive intelligence files she had read – said that Odalia had managed to attune her foci to connect to others, essentially allowing her to send messages to others who wore them without risking interception. If that was the case, she was violating several of Belos' laws.

But...well…

Aladar made such good weapons that Catra was pretty sure she could get away with it.

"Ah, the Golden Guard, Catra, right?" Odalia asked.

"That's me," Catra said, glad that her mask changed her voice somewhat. Also, she wasn't affecting Elizabeth Meow Meow Applesauce's diffident tones.

"Well, we're here with five hundred Abomaton soldiers, mark IIIs, complete with our lovely daughter, Amity Blight, to ensure that they're loaded, stored, and prepared properly." Odalia said, smiling. "We're teaching her the family buisness."

Amity looked as if she had never been more disinterested in anything in her life. She looked at Catra as if she were a bug.

"I can provide additional spe-" Aladar started.

"No, honey, I think it is time we let Amity take over," Odalia said, and Catra felt an immediate ping of raw sympathy. She leaned in, kissing her daughter on her cheek, then touched her gemstone – which flickered for half a moment, then went dim. Amity winced, ever so slightly...and Catra clenched her hands tight against her palm, feeling her claws pricking at the tips of her fingers. She felt the sudden urge to rip the entirety of Odalia's actual face off. She forced the raw, burning anger down her throat, while Amity walked back. Her voice grew dry and bored as she gestured to the abomotons. Or Abomatons? However it was said, she didn't really care right now.

Amity walked past Catra, her hand gesturing dryly to the abominations. "These are Abomaton soldiers – the mark III variation. This means they've been augmented with orichalicum plate armor and moonsilver circuitry to enhance their mobility. Motonic flow has been stabilized, allowing them to maintain cohesion in the face of seventy six percent more damage. Furthermore, they have several integrated weapons for defensive and offensive actions." She sounded like she was reading from script. Catra chuckled.

"They're not exactly lighting your world on fire, huh?" she asked. "You know, we could always talk about something more interesting." Catra grinned behind her mask, ready to turn on the charm.

"If you're trying to flirt with me, Golden Guard, I would hasten to remind you that I'm a representative of Blight Industries and, thus, on the clock," Amity said – her tone just as cold and dry as before. But now she was using it as a shield. Or, worse, a weapon. Catra blinked behind her mask. She had been rebuffed that hard before – but never by a girl Amity's age.

"What, you got a boyfriend or something?" Catra asked, more to fill space than to actually expect an answer.

"Yes," Amity said. Then, the word slipping out before she could stop it, she said: "And-"

And cut herself off.

Catra scowled behind her mask. "And what?" She asked.

"And I think we should focus on getting these abominations loaded and prepared for patrols and other tasks-"

Catra stepped forward and put her arm between Amity and the door leading deeper into the armory, her palm planted on the wall, her head cocked. "And what?" she asked.

"...and my girlfriend...is ten times the witch you'd ever hope to be, Catra," Amity said, her voice soft. "And she can't even cast magic without glyphs. I would rather we be professional." She grabbed onto Catra's wrist, levering it up and out of her way. "And get this out of the way."

Catra watched her walk into the armory. "...right," she said, her voice soft.

The loading and preparation of the abominations went by in a blur. Catra went through everything, took Lilith's good job, went to her room, and found that the entire day had slipped through her fingers without even noticing. She took her mask off, and held it. Echoing in her head, Amity's words kept repeating themselves, again and again and again. Ten times the witch you are. Ten times the witch you are. Ten. Times.

Looking at it, logically, Catra was pretty sure she had never been more proud of herself. She had Amity so completely convinced by her fake identity that she was willing to defend her in the face of her overbearing mother's opinion and the actual, literal face of the Belosian Empire. She had to have known that all it would take would be Catra going to Belos and whispering one bad word in his ear, and her family, her future, would have been sunk. And instead, she had defended Elizabeth Meow Meow Applesauce. She had defended her.

Catra threw her mask into the wall with a shriek. It hit, cracked, rebounded, then landed on the floor. It exploded, then – not literally, but into a kaleidoscope of glittering refractions. It bounced between water drops.

Between tears.

She knelt and started to smash her palms into the mask, scrabbling at it, screaming in raw, pure fury. The mask came to pieces as she smashed it again and again against the ground, then started to claw at the stone. The rage came from nowhere – and it felt almost as bad, almost as deep black-sick as the rage she sometimes felt at Adora. She ducked her head forward, her shoulders shaking...and felt camp coming back to her. The memories of the electricity. Of the voices telling her to be normal. It was all in black and white – and the only color there was Adora's blond hair, her red jacket, her stupid red jacket, her expression, turning away when they dragged Catra away from her.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Catra sobbed at the floor, her claws aching against the groves. "Fuck."

Tears streamed down her chin, puddling.

"Fuck!"

She bowed her head more, her shoulders shaking.

She cried until there was no noise in her throat, save for the scratches. And then, slowly, she thumped to her side. She curled up on the floor, her eyes closing. Be calm. Be still. She started to trace the images of the glyphs, drawing them as she lay there, looking down at the puddle of her tears. A bit of light shone across it as she panted softly. Snot dribbled from her nose. She felt like a complete mess – her body wrung completely dry. Completely empty.

She traced the light rune in her head, again. And again. And again.

Then, in the puddle of tears, she saw a palm and a dark face looking from it. The face was not her own. She couldn't see more than a flash of soft eyes, and dark skin, and a concerned expression. Catra sat up.

But when she looked into the puddle of tears, the face was gone. Instead, slipping from her pocket and tinging loudly against the floor was the sample Scorpia had given her. Catra took it. She frowned at the puddle.

That's the second time, she thought.

Something is going on. She knew it. Deep in her chest.

She looked down at the sample case.

And I'm going to find out what it-

And that was when Titan-Ra blew up the abominations in storage.


TO BE CONTINUED