First Times For Everything (ch7)

EARLY RELEASE FOR MY $20+ PATRONS!

Still in the second timeskip part!

Disclaimer: I do not own She-Ra.

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												Chapter 7. The Great Escape

Over the months, Adora and Catra continue their training as cadets.

Not only are there various training regimes, scouting missions, and combat routines to go through daily under observation of their commanders, but also written exams they need to study for and pass.

Catra has always been better with the physical rather than the mental, so Adora always opts to help her study for the exams. By some miracle, Catra has managed to pass everything, even if just barely, while Adora's grades are top of her class.

But even though Catra may struggle a little with the written work, she excels higher than most with the sparring and combat simulations.

Sometimes they would fight against bots, sometimes other cadets of their level, and sometimes even senior cadets. Adora and Catra were some of the few to best seniors in their matches, which thoroughly impressed their commander and classmates.

As always, Adora kept a close eye on Catra in whatever the Horde had her do.

And for the most part, Catra had broken out of her shell in all regards except facing Shadow-Weaver. But given the circumstances, that was quite understandable.

What Adora noticed most, however, was Catra's frequent complaints about boredom. She was always groaning about "this simulation again?" or "can't I fight someone who would put up more of a fight?" or "can't we make this a little more challenging?"

And although Adora never said these things aloud herself, she thought them too a good many times.

Those cadets who still had a lot to learn for their level were made to repeat courses they still had trouble with.

But those like Adora and Catra who excelled had already grown tired of it all.

They wanted more. They wanted to keep going. They wanted to go beyond the Fright Zone.

The desire for something more had begun to kindle itself inside their souls a while ago, but only in recent weeks had it truly begun to unfold. It made them anxious to stay here, fearful of what they could be missing beyond the crooked walls of the base camp.

They were hardly ever allowed to go outside for training. The few times they were granted such permission was only for scouting and tracking purposes, where they would be assigned a specific bot to either track or avoid for a certain amount of time, then their results would be recorded. But every time they were allowed out, they were always being observed one way or another, so they could never go far.

Recent days have had both girls more stir-crazy than ever, with the same old simulations and sparring exercises being offered in their training routines.

At the very least, Adora still went through everything without saying anything rude to the commanders. But Catra was another story.

"Oh, come on! Haven't we done this one, like, a million times?"

Though no one else would ever dare speak up like she did, they all had to admit they felt the same way. But their commanding officer merely shrugs and is flippant with his response.

"Then let's make it a million and one, Cadet."

"Uuugghh..." Fueled by her boredom, Catra turns to face the bot she'd been given to fight. She easily dodges the predictable blasts from its firearms, sidesteps and jumps back from its stabbing spider-like legs, and slips underneath it with ease to pull the correct wire to disable it. The bot twitches before collapsing and growing still. Catra stands next to it with her tail lashing and snorts.

"Ch. Too easy." She stalks back to the sidelines so the next person can have their turn. Adora makes room for her.

"Hey, good job."

"Yeah, yeah. I could do this crap with my eyes closed."

"I know it's getting kinda redundant, but we shouldn't complain. It just means we're ahead of the game for our level. Once we get to junior and senior cadet level, the training will be a lot harder and a lot more suited to our skills."

Catra just grunts.

"Whatever. I just wanna get out of here. It's so dumb to think that the mouse we found a few months ago gets to go farther into the world than we do." She crosses her arm, slumps against the wall, and says nothing more.

They watch other cadets of their level in the same simulation. Most of them struggle against the bot, and only a few manage to disable it, though none as quickly as Catra or Adora had.

By the time training is finished for the day, Catra is yawning. Adora ruffles her hair.

"C'mon. Let's go get some supper."

Like clockwork, they eat, bathe, and get ready for bed. It's a bit of a warmer evening, so Catra stays at the foot of the mattress. She grooms herself for a few minutes, alternating between half-heartedly pulling a comb through her mess of hair or licking the fur of her tail a few times.

Adora can tell she's brooding though. As she brushes through her own hair, an idea begins creeping its way into her head...

Lights out is called, and the room goes dark, save for a bit of moonlight and the lanterns at the doorways. Adora puts up her ruse and follows their nightly routine as per usual.

"Night, Catra."

"Yeah. Night."

Adora lies herself down with no intentions of sleeping just yet. She feels Catra curling up by her ankles, huffing under her breath.

Adora waits for about ten minutes, until the room is filled with snoring and sleeping cadets. With a grin, she nudges her partner with her foot.

"Psst. Catra."

Catra groans and curls in on herself more tightly.

"Adora, if you have to go to the bathroom, just go."

"No, dummy! C'mere!"

"Seriously? It's too hot for me to sleep up there with you."

"No! Guh, Catra just come over here!"

She hears her heave a sigh as Catra pushes herself up and shakes her head, half-lidded eyes glinting in annoyance. She crawls up to Adora with a faint snarl in her tone.

"Adora, what the heck-"

"Would you be quiet and let me finish?" Adora playfully wraps an arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer so only Catra's keen ears will hear. "Whaddaya say we go for a little midnight walk?"

Catra's ears perk up a little bit.

"What, like patrolling the hallways? Why?"

This wouldn't be the first time they'd snuck out at night just to play in the darkness when only the guards were awake. They'd do it out of boredom and to hone their stealth skills in not getting caught.

But Adora has other ideas in mind tonight. She shakes her head.

"Nope. Not just the hallways tonight." She smiles and looks directly into her partner's eyes. "Let's go outside."

Catra's eyes fly open as wide as they can go, her ears shoot up, and her tail starts to tremble with anticipation.

"What?! You mean-"

"Shh!" Adora quickly covers her mouth. "Don't wake up the whole camp!"

Catra wriggles free, too excited to wait, but does lower her voice a bit.

"But you're serious though, right? You mean like sneak out? Outside? In the middle of the night? Like they've always prohibited and told us not to do? Like I've always said I wanted to do, but you always told me no and made me stay inside and would monitor me to make sure I didn't sneak out on my own? Now you wanna go outside?"

Adora chuckles sheepishly.

"Well... I mean, before I didn't want you to go out by yourself-"

"But now that you wanna go, it's okay for me to, right?"

"Aw, don't say it like that!"

"But that's how it is, isn't it?"

Adora turns away and pouts.

"Sorry... Guess it's just taken me this long to realize you're right, Catra. We aren't really learning anything new in our training right now. It's just the same old stuff, and we've got a while before we can test to move up in the ranks..."

She sighs and looks back into Catra's eyes. "I don't wanna waste time. I wanna see what's out there beyond the Fright Zone just like you do. And if they aren't going to let us when we're ready for it, then we're just gonna have to do it ourselves." She eases back and offers her hand in the darkness. "Are you with me, partner?"

Catra is too excited to be miffed any longer. With a smirk that reveals her full adult fangs, she grabs Adora's hand.

"Let's do it."

Adora quickly gets on her shoes and pulls her red jacket over her shoulders. She crawls underneath her bed to open a certain box. She puts something into her pocket, then hurries to follow Catra.

It's easy to sneak away when there are two of them, and especially since it's them.

First they distract the guard stationed outside the dormitory. Catra scrapes her claws lightly against the wall to make him turn around, at which point Adora slips past him. Catra sticks to the shadows and waits until he turns again, staying behind his back the entire time so he never suspects a thing.

They take off down the hallways on quick, light feet and make for the nearest exit. In a way, sneaking out is the ultimate test for any cadet. They have to be quick, quiet, and clever if they want to succeed.

Before they turn any corner, Catra stops them and sniffs the air to determine if there are any scents of people on the other side. Whenever they're clear they hurry onward, but whenever there's someone there, the two girls devise a plan without words. Someone causes a distraction while the other sneaks by, then that person makes a distraction for the other.

They work together so perfectly that they get past every single one of the tired sentries, until at last they've reached the exit. One last guard stands on duty there, and she's the one with the keys to open or close the concrete lifting doors.

Catra goes first, pressing herself close to the wall and moving with painstaking slowness. She waits until the shadows of the lanterns flicker, and moves with them so no motion is detected. Once she's in position, she gives Adora her cue by swishing her tail.

Adora uses an old hiding spot of hers, a loose part of the wall that comes undone. She squeezes herself behind it and then reaches into her pocket. She pulls out one of the baby teeth she and Catra had collected over the years. It's tiny, but just big enough to make a sound.

Adora tosses it down the hallway as far as she can, then presses herself back behind the wall. The tooth hits the floor with a clinking sound, and the guard snaps her head around instantly.

"Who's there?"

She begins strutting off in the opposite direction. As she passes, Catra reaches out from the shadows and uses one claw to hook the ring of keys right off her belt.

When the guard has gone far enough, both Catra and Adora hurry out from their hiding spots toward the doorway. Adora points to which key will fit the lock, and Catra immediately puts it in place. There's a clicking sound and the massive exit begins to open from the ground up. They only open it a few feet.

Adora slips out first, then Catra removes the keys and lies them on the floor, so when the guard returns she'll just assume she'd dropped them. The door begins to shut again without the key in place, but Catra is lithe enough to crawl beneath it just before it hits the ground again. Adora helps her up, then pulls her into a tight hug.

"We did it!"

Catra lets out a purr.

"Yeah!"

They celebrate together for a minute, hearts still racing from the thrill of it all.

Catra looks up first.

"Whoa..."

Adora can hear the wonder in her voice. She eases back and turns around to look as well.

They've never seen the Fright Zone at night before, aside from glimpses out of the few windows. But this is the first time they've ever been in it for real.

The usual thick fog that clogs the Fright Zone has thinned out into a grey mist now that most of the machines have been shut down for the day. Distant buildings and structures glow with faint green or purple lights, which serve to make the twisted shadows appear darker.

But their greatest source of light comes from above.

Both girls gaze up in silent awe to the bright white moon overhead. It's curved like a lopsided smile, as if happy to see them outside for the first time like this.

They stand in stunned silence for a moment and simply admire its beauty, until Adora feels inclined to speak.

"Wow. I've never seen it in person before. I didn't know it was so big or so bright..." She gazes up at it in unblinking wonder, completely dazzled. Only feeling Catra leave her side snaps Adora out of her trance. "Catra?"

"Come on," she says. "Let's see how far we can go." She offers out her hand. Adora accepts, and together they take off into the night.

They chase each other and laugh and play, sometimes forgetting they shouldn't even be out here right now.

It's all just so exciting.

They keep their senses alert as best they can, but for the most part they're focused on exploration.

The Fright Zone is mostly buildings and structures, but there are patches of grasses and trees dotting the areas as well. After scampering after each other for a while, the two girls come to rest in one such patch.

The grass is tough and tall, high enough to conceal them when they sit down. A few gnarled trees cover them as well. But the moon is still visible far above them, glowing softly behind a swathe of clouds.

The two girls gradually settle down and huddle up against one another to admire the view and the feeling of freedom.

"I wonder how far the Whispering Woods are?" Catra says. "I wanna go there."

"Well, I think this much is good for tonight," Adora replies, hoping to pacify her friend's insatiable need for adventure. Catra grumbles a little, but says nothing more. They lean against one another for a while and just look up at the sky.

"I always thought the night sky was supposed to be black," Adora murmurs. "But it looks more purple or dark blue to me."

"Yeah..." Catra presses a little closer. "Hey, Adora? Do you know what happened to the stars?"

"Oh yeah... stars..." Adora sighs a little sadly. "Well, of course I never saw them for myself. They disappeared a long time ago, before either of us were born. A lot of the grown-ups at the Horde say it was those rotten Rebellion princesses. They stole the stars right out of the sky and are hiding them away for themselves!"

Catra growls and lashes her tail.

"Princesses," she spits. "I'll make 'em put the stars back."

"Me, too."

But even without any stars, the night is still plenty beautiful. The moon is silver and bright, highlighting the clouds that roll by on the breeze. The wind makes the trees and grasses whisper all around the young cadets.

It's so... peaceful. Probably the most peaceful either of them have ever known the Fright Zone to be. It's no surprise they begin to doze off...

Adora isn't sure how long they've been out here, but when she next wakes it's because of something cold hitting her nose. She blinks open her bleary eyes and gasps to find that thick clouds have covered up the moon. More rain begins to fall, shaking the leaves and grass around them.

"Catra!" Adora shakes her awake. "Catra, get up! We gotta go back!"

"Huh? Back where?" Catra jolts up when she remembers where they are. "Oh, crap!"

"Come on!" Adora takes her hand and helps her up as the rain begins to fall faster. Catra yelps the second she starts getting wet.

"Kyaa! What the heck?!" She jumps closer to Adora and clings to her, tail fluffed and ears drooping. "Why is it raining?! It was clear before!"

Catra is already shivering beside her, clinging to her arm for warmth and balance. Adora gently pries her friend off so she can slip her arms out of her jacket. She drapes it over Catra's head and covers her as much as she can with it, then takes her hand.

"Come on. We've gotta go back before it gets worse."

They take off running back the way they'd come as the rain starts pelting down on top of them. Catra struggles to make sense of any smells with all the water, catching a few faint whiffs to steer them back in the right direction toward camp.

The keep hold of each other's hands tightly so they won't be separated in the storm. Catra keeps close and tries to share a bit of Adora's jacket with her too, even though they're both already soaked to the bone.

Catra ends up guiding the way back with her better vision and sense of direction. When Adora stumbles behind her, Catra quickly lunges back to steady her.

"Thanks," Adora pants. Catra just nods, then they continue on.

By the time the camp is in site, both girls are drenched, and their feet and legs are streaked with mud. They hurry to the same big heavy doors they'd snuck out from and start shouting.

"Let us in!"

"Please!"

Several other guards stationed outside nearby hear the commotion and come running. When they demand to know where the girls had been, Catra and Adora fib their way out of it, saying they'd been on a scouting mission and had gotten lost and only just found their way back now. With all the fuss, none of the guards seem to notice the girls are in sleepwear clothes instead of training attire.

They usher them inside, where Catra quickly covers them both with Adora's jacket. The cling to one another, shivering pitifully, hoping to dissuade any thoughts of punishment. The female guard they'd duped earlier addresses them now.

"Does your commanding officer know you were still missing?"

"Y-Yes, ma'am," Adora answers. "We knew the consequences if we didn't get back in time. We'll report back to him right away."

"Then run along."

"Right!"

Without wasting another second, the girls tear off down the darkened corridors. They don't stop running until they've reached the dorm rooms, and from there they have to sneak back to bed without alerting those guards.

Catra's enhanced night vision guides them back, where they drop the soaked jacket to the floor. They force themselves to change out of their messy wet clothes and into something dry, but even then their hair and skin is still damp.

Eventually, Adora crawls into her bed and lifts up the covers invitingly. Catra doesn't even consider going to the foot of the mattress. She crawls in beside Adora and snuggles up to her right away. Adora hugs her tightly and tucks them both in as best she can.

They shiver quietly for a moment, until the natural warmth of their bodies begins to spread.

"Are you okay?" Adora murmurs.

"Yeah... you?"

"Yeah."

They both sigh.

"Y'know," Adora mumbles. "If it hadn't rained, that would've been the best night ever."

"You kiddin'?" Catra smirks. "Even with the rain it was still the best night ever! We gotta do that more often!"

"M-Maybe..."

Adora has to wonder just how badly she'd messed up with this tonight. Now that Catra had gotten a taste of what the outside world and a dash of freedom is like, she'll probably never stop trying to taste it again by any means. Adora knows she's going to have to keep an even closer eye on her in the future to ensure she doesn't get into any major trouble.

But she doesn't regret tonight's little adventure. Not one bit. The moon had been so beautiful, the sky so vast, the wind so fresh. Even getting stuck in the rain had had its own odd charm.

And now, to wrap it all up, they're both safe and warm back in bed together.

Adora can feel Catra purring with all her body, louder than ever before. If every night could end up like this, regardless of what happened during the day, Adora would never have any complaints about anything ever again. She strokes her hands through Catra's damp hair and kisses her forehead.

"Night, Catra."

In response, Catra huddles up closer into her chest. She wraps her tail around Adora's back and lets out a long purr.

"Night, Adora."

The hissing of the rain outside lulls them to sleep in minutes, and their dreams are filled with open forests and stars.

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A/N: These two definitely would pull stunts like this as kids and you can't convince me otherwise! This was their first 'sneak-out' adventure!