WHAT: Kara and Catra have a talk after Lena gets thralled and come up with a plan WHERE: Darla WHEN: 2031 WARNINGS: Future Vallo Warnings Apply STATUS: Complete
“Okay – just remember that after you all use this, I’m out, got it?” Catra set another bottle down, yellow paint sloshing in it. It was a whole set she’d made by hand after a very meticulous hunt for the required ingredients. Plants, mostly. Fingerpaints used to be one the cheapest things to get years ago, and she always had an abundance of it stocked up. It was always a messy affair but fun, and one of the things she got Finn hooked on growing up was playing with art.
Paint supplies weren’t in mass production. All the brushes and sponges and little tools had been saved, and Catra was always making sure they were properly cleaned for future use. Paints, though - she had to make those herself. The quality wasn’t always great. Sometimes it took a few months.
But she tried. She always did. She was just in a constant cycle of trying, and trying, and there were moments where it felt like it was leading her nowhere.
Today, though, she had dug out some old coloring books that still had untouched pages. She ripped those out. Found some canvases that were a little broken but were blank, so she brought those out too. A few stencils had been found as well, and it was a mish-mosh of just supplies, except –
The way their eyes lit up at all the stuff she’d brought out – Finn was already calling dibs on a canvas, Theo was curiously studying the stencils (of planets and stars, they’d been once used for Finn’s nursery), Lori let out a breath of awe at the colors, Dare snatched up a coloring book page because it had Buzz Lightyear. It was a reminder that trying was always going to be worth it. “And don’t forget to share,” she told them. Primarily Finn and Dare; they were ready to support their friends, and had all been talked through it as gently as they could.
Theo and Lori had lost one of their moms. Not to death, no, but maybe getting stuck under Interitus’ thrall was worse than death. It meant that Lena was still out there, technically alive, but unhinged with magic – and ready to kill anyone who came across her path.
Including her own family if it came down to it.
Another loss for the books. Another person added to Interitus’ army. Another blow to whatever hope kept lingering. It wasn’t much.
Kara had always had more of it than most.
Catra gave them all kisses. There were some mixed responses; a sigh, a little giggle (Lori got tickled by her tail, too), some small smiles. They were all old enough to entertain themselves and watch out for each other, which meant she could take that plated bread with jelly and actual bacon – thanks, Leon and Revy – up to Kara’s room.
Kara and Lena’s room.
“You need to eat something,” Catra said, pushing the door open a little. “We’ve still got bacon left and I know you can’t say no to that. I’m not letting you.”
It wasn’t unusual for Kara to fall into the ‘it could happen to everyone but me’ fallacy. She was used to being above people in a certain way – which sounded horrible, but it was just part of her luck, being Kryptonian under a yellow sun. Her powers had been dampened a bit even before Interitus had taken over, and they were dampened more still with everything that had happened, but she still managed to stay charged up. Most powered types didn’t have that luxury.
Lena didn’t have that luxury.
They had evaded Interitus and the worst of his forces for a long time. That was its own kind of luck, easily achieved thanks to Lena’s dedication to Team Nerd. They weren’t out in the day-to-day combat, the risk was low. Even on the days she was miffed at Lena for missing out on such valuable time with their family, she was glad for that, at least. Lena was always safe.
Until she wasn’t. Until a situation cropped up where she had to fight, scrounge up the last vestiges of her magic, and it had all gone wrong. Now her wife was gone-but-not-gone. She was still there, still her beautiful Lena, but her mind, her heart, her soul – they were all gone. Now she was just a mindless automaton existing purely to kill on Interitus’ behalf.
It had been two days. Lori and Theo didn’t know – Kara couldn’t bring herself to tell them, and she’d asked Catra and Adora not to say anything either. It was easier to let the kids go on as they always had, to tell them Mommy was just busy with work, as she always was. It was a loss they didn’t have to face, not yet. She needed a few more days to let the implications settle before she could break the news and reassure them confidently.
“I love you,” she sighed with a small smile in Catra’s direction. She hadn’t intentionally ignored food, but she’d been distracted, in a bit of a state. She pushed herself up in bed, drawing a hand through her hair to smooth it out, and waved Catra closer. “Hand over the bacon, ma’am.”
“Love you too,” Catra softened, pushing the door open wider (they didn’t just automatically slide open anymore, sigh) to squeeze in. Fuck, this was – hard. Her own stomach was in knots. She didn’t get how Kara was able to keep herself together, but she imagined it was for the sake of the little ones.
After making her way over, she dropped down at the edge of the bed and passed over the plate. “For you,” she said quietly. “The kids are good – they’re doing art stuff. I put Finn in charge and Clawdeen’s hanging around to make sure they don’t get into anything stupid.”
She didn’t want Kara to worry much about Theo and Lori right now. They were safe and taken care of right now, and it gave her space to just… process.
Kara nodded as she accepted the plate, snapping a slice of bacon in half and popping one piece into her mouth. She never truly worried about the kids when they were here. Darla was one of the most secure places to be; the Outpost was good for occasional overnight stays, but Theo and Lori considered the ship home at this point. They had their best friends here, and they were in good hands, between Catra and Adora, and Teela and Adam.
“I don’t want to tell them,” she admitted after a few quiet moments of chewing. She took in a slow breath and turned to look at Catra. She didn’t want to heap more emotional burden on her sister’s shoulders. She wanted to keep her composure, and she’d done her best, for the sake of her family. But trying not to break was a struggle, one she could only contain for so long.
Rao, she missed Alex so much. She had never needed her more than she did now, with the world falling apart around her and no way she could stop it.
“I know what I’m going to say sounds a bit fucked,” was what Catra began with, sucking in a deep breath to brace herself for the words about to tumble out of her mouth, “but they’re used to her being gone for weeks at a time, right? You’ve got some time.”
She knew that was a sore spot. She knew that it had been her and Lena’s biggest struggle throughout all of this – the balance between work and home. But what Lena had wasn’t traditional work, and it always involved things that improved and saved lives.
It was a tough spot to be in, and their family had suffered for it.
Catra pulled herself up into the bed more, positioning herself next to Kara. “Theo might catch on, though. If you wait too long.”
The worst part, to Kara’s mind, was that it didn’t sound fucked. She had considered it. She had thought those thoughts. Lena was gone so often on a regular basis that, if she wanted, she could get away with keeping the truth from their kids for a while longer. Not forever, she wouldn’t want that, but a few weeks more. Lori was still little, barely four, and she might not fully understand either way, but Catra was right: Theo was smart. He would notice eventually. He would ask.
Could she really live with herself if she kept a secret from him that long?
“I could get away with it,” she agreed, “but I can’t do that, not for that long. I’ll give them another day or two, then I’ll talk to them. I’m sure Theo already knows something’s up.” She wasn’t typically the type of person to hide out in her room for extended periods of time, even if it was only a few hours. She liked to be up and active with the kids, involved with everything they were doing when she wasn’t at the Outpost working. Their son knew that.
“For the record I’m not advocating to wait too long,” Catra said softly, leaning back into the headboard. “Just that… you have time, if you need an extra day beyond the next two.”
That conversation was going to be hell. Diego had to do something like that too, with what happened with Lila – who was still out there, puppetted, murderous. Too many friends of theirs were taken in a way that might be worse than death, and Lena was in their ranks now.
Your mom’s alive, technically. But she’ll try to kill us all if she sees us, and she might never come home.
“Have you guys ever…” A fang bit into her bottom lip, thinking. “Talked? About what you’d want done if you were ever under his thrall?”
Kara gave Catra an appreciative half-smile. She knew what she was saying was true, but it wasn’t the most comforting thought. She may have time if she chose to take it, sure. It didn’t change what had happened. It didn’t change that, right now, her wife was out there among the many Interitus had thralled in the past two years. Maybe she had killed someone already. Maybe she had taken up residence on the Fright Zone, where it seemed most Thralls made their homes these days.
No matter what, she had to deal with it. And she’d like to have that done before she talked to Theo – he would understand a little better, Lori was barely five.
“We’ve talked about it,” she confirmed. She could tell Catra felt a bit awkward asking, but it was a fair question. “It’s hard not to have that conversation these days, isn’t it?” She sighed, finishing the last of the small plate of bacon and leaning forward to set it aside on the nightstand.
She remembered the conversation vividly – the tears, the struggle to stay composed, the way she had pulled Lena close to her and promised it would never ever come to pass. She wouldn’t let it. She would keep her safe.
She’d failed.
“She said…to do what I can live with,” Kara said quietly. She couldn’t kill her – she knew some people had come to that decision, when a person they loved was turned and just too dangerous to be handled any other way. Leon had even been forced to put Melog down after all that had happened with them, and it wasn’t a day any of them remembered fondly.
“I want to contain her, I think,” she continued. “She wouldn’t want to hurt someone, and I don’t want someone to be forced into a bad position either.”
Do what you can live with. Catra clicked her tongue, thinking it over. She’d thought a bit about it, too – if Adora was thralled, like she’d once been before. How killing her would be almost impossible with She-Ra unleashed, how she would also hate to hurt people. It was hard not to think about after what ended up happening to Melog. With what they did to Kosmo, to Keith, to her.
Containing, though–
“Wish I would have thought about that,” she hummed, the space between her brows wrinkling as she contemplated the logistics next. “You’d need to find a place that could hold her. Somewhere solid and remote that doesn’t have easy access, like–wait a second.” Waaaait. Wait wait.
She sprung off the bed, barefeet pit-pattering on the ground, and she stuck her head out into the hallway. “HEY! ‘DORA! You still got access to the Crystal Castle, right??” Her wife was around here–somewhere, most likely, and all she needed was a yes or no.
It took a few moments, despite her wife’s high volume, for Adora to respond. She had been cleaning her boots in hers and Catra’s room – those old red and white ones, relics from their days on Etheria at this point – but emerged when they were shiny clean and back on her feet, trudging down the hall and greeting her wife with a quick kiss in Kara’s (and Lena’s) doorway.
“Yes, shouty,” she teased, tugging gently on a lock of Catra’s hair. “Why, what’re you guys thinking?”
It didn’t take long for Kara to connect the dots, and with wide eyes, she looked at her surrogate little sister. “You want to lock her up in the Crystal Castle?” It was a good idea – brilliant, really – but whether or not it was possible was up in the air. Lena’s magic had grown over the years, and though it had been sucked out of her when they were fighting Interitus, being taken as a Thrall would unleash it all again.
“Me?” Adora asked. An offended hand went to her chest but a playful grin broke out quickly. Clean boots had put her in a good mood.
Oh, so the princess had jokes today. “No, you menace,” Catra snorted, rolling her eyes and giving Adora a quick smack on the ass. “We’re talking about – Lena,” she continued, less amused because this was, uh, a dire situation. Arms crossed over her chest, she leaned against the wall as her tail did a restless, nervous kind of twitching. “About locking her up somewhere.”
It was the beginning of a plan. She sucked in a deep breath, and thought about it more.
“A lot of factors to consider, though. One, you’d have to bait her and hope you get just her, not another thrall. Two, depending where you are, you’d have to lure her. Then you have to get her in there. There’s prisons and traps there that might be able to hold her. And then if everything lines up well – you lock it from the outside. This isn’t a solo job, so you’ll need backup.”
“Maybe she’s in the Fright Zone already,” Adora suggested. The place had turned into some kind of luxury living for Thralls in the past couple years. If it had been awful to visit before Interitus’ takeover, it was even more so now. Getting there was, thankfully, almost impossible these days.
“Maybe she is,” Kara agreed, tucking her hair behind her ear. She rose to her feet, too, arms crossed over her chest as she paced the floor. “But Catra’s right, it’s going to require more than one of us to get our hands on her. I could try to fly in and grab her, but that’s not as simple as it used to be.” She looked up at Adora. “You’re okay with this?”
Adora nodded without hesitation. “We love Lena, too, Kara. If you think this is best, I’ll help. The Crystal Castle’s just there. She can’t hack her way out of it with tech down, and it’s crazy reinforced. She’ll be safe once we get her there.”
Catra’s tail hit the wall with an audible thump.
It wasn’t on purpose. It was purely instinct, and fuck those instincts. The moment Adora said the words I’ll help, she selfishly wanted to put a halt to this. It was all fun and plotting when her wife wasn’t the one putting her neck out there, and of course why wouldn’t she. Adora was strong even without She-Ra. She could probably muster up enough magic to attract a few thralls if she dug in deep into what was left.
“As long as you hero-types play it smart,” she recovered, trying not to let a sign of those thoughts surface. Catra knew to play it cool. They couldn’t not help Kara. This would ensure Lena didn’t hurt anyone, and that no one would kill her out of necessity until they waited this out. If there was anything to wait out anymore, anyway. “No unnecessary risks. The moment something feels like too much, retreat.”
Catra herself wouldn’t be too far. Maybe she could wait at the Crystal Castle and spring a trap on their signal – something.
“No unnecessary risks, Captain,” Adora replied obediently. She had long since bowed to the wisdom of Catra’s superior strategizing skills. The Rebellion had really broken her of the skill; she had started learning to charge in and work on instinct, and she’d stuck with that. But she could admit, Catra’s way was usually smarter and cleaner. “Just let me know where you need me. I’m going to go sit with the kids.”
As Adora disappeared down the hall, Kara turned to Catra. Eight years in Vallo, most of which had been spent in close quarters with Catra, meant she was fairly good at reading her. It wasn’t to the level of Catra-and-Adora or even Kara-and-Lena, but she knew her sister was having some second thoughts now that her wife was involved. She couldn’t even blame her; she’d be the same if the table was turned, worried more for Lena than anything else.
“Are you sure about this?” There was no judgment in her voice, eyes soft with worry. “I can handle this on my own, Catra. I know you don’t want to put Adora at risk. I understand, you know that.”
Catra bit back a sigh. She liked to think she had her subtle moments, that she had these quirks that could slip under the radar, but – that was what happened when you had friends and family around for years. They paid attention. They knew.
“You’d do the same for us,” was her answer, straightening up from the wall so she could go over, close the distance, and give this sister of hers a strong hug. “You know I’m tagging along like a shadow – as back up, or an extra eye in case something tries to sneak up on you.”
She couldn’t just… let Adora go without her. Catra had guilt about that. About leaving Finn behind, sometimes, with Teela and Adam so the two of them could team up and face a danger together – because what if something happened, and Finn lost both of them that way? She knew some parents swapped. One would stay home while the other fought to make sure the kids would still have at least one parent should tragedy strike.
It was a shit arrangement made out of necessity. It was heartbreaking.
“We’re going to have to polish this plan up a little better,” she added, squishing Kara’s face between her hands with a wary smile, “but I’m good with it. You’re not doing this alone. We’ve got your back. That’s a promise I’m never breaking to Alex.”
Kara didn’t hesitate to hug back, squeezing Catra back tightly with modulated strength and nodding against the side of her head. She would. She would do anything Catra and Adora asked of her; they were her family here, after all these years, and that bond had only deepend with all the bad they’d gone through during Interitus’s takeover and reign.
That didn’t mean she didn’t understand completely if they didn’t. This was not a time where they could promise survival after a mission of this level. Lena was no Wanda – she was strong and talented, but she didn’t radiate power the way Wanda did – but she wasn’t going to come easily. No Thrall did, not once they were infected by Interitus and warped into this awful version of who they’d once been.
If she was honest, she wasn’t too keen on the idea of both of them joining her, purely out of love for her little nibling. She didn’t want to lead both of Finn’s moms off into danger with the very real risk that they wouldn’t come back. But she knew them, too. She knew they were both in this with her, and she loved them fiercely for that.
She smiled a little in Catra’s grip, lifting her hands to cover them as her eyes started to water. “Rao, I miss her so much,” she admitted, the words quiet but easy. It had been almost a decade since she’d last seen her big sister, and she missed her every day. Being without her for so long and now Lena? That was the furthest thing from easy.
Catra’s nose did this scrunch. It was a way of fighting off the threat of her own tears. She was good – really. “Her big brains would be nice to have around here too,” she told her, voice staying firm and unwavering as she smoothed some hair behind Kara’s ear. “One step at a time, though? Focus on the kids first. Adora and I can figure out the Crystal Castle and how we can… work this out a little better while you do that.”
If they were doing this, they had to be thorough. No chances of fuck-ups. That prison would have to be impossible for Lena to break out of, and they had to make sure no one could get in through brute force.
“Let’s sit you down,” Catra urged, pushing her towards the bed. “I’ll sit next to you for a bit if you want. Might even let you pet my ears, they’re very soft.”
And therapeutic.
Kara took a breath and nodded, gathering herself again. She did miss Alex, had always missed Alex, but now wasn’t the time to let those emotions mix. Catra was right – one step at a time. What had happened with Lena was still fresh, and she needed to focus on setting that right and making sure the kids were okay more than missing her sister.
She allowed herself to be pushed back to sit down without complaint. “Yes, please. Sit with me,” she said, settling back against the headboard and gesturing for Catra to join her. As soon as she did, she wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pressed her face into her nose, breathing her in.
Lena may be gone, but she still had family here. She still had people who would fight with her. Right now, that was all she needed.