Work Text:
.
.
They grew up together. It isn’t abnormal for cadets to form their teams at a young age. It was practically standard. Even as toddlers, their teachers herded them in groups that they thought would benefit themselves. Benefit the Horde as they grew older, balanced each other, became worthy of the frontlines.
Lonnie would like to know who thought her team was a good idea.
She meets Catra first which means she meets Adora nearly immediately as her second. She can’t recall ever not seeing the two joined at the hip. Catra was rambunctious with enough energy to power half the fright zone if her brain was hooked up to it in some form. Somehow, Adora kept up with her. Challenged her and wrestled with her and laughed with her. They easily made themselves the delinquents of their group, as Catra would break a light and Adora would scream she broke her foot to distract the teachers long enough for Catra to break another light.
Lonnie wanted to avoid them.
Catra didn’t let her. All it took was a clumsy fall as the cat barreled into her and they were at each other’s throats while Adora laughed herself silly in the background. Suddenly, to her distress, it wasn’t Catra and Adora anymore. It was Catra, Adora, and Lonnie and that. That was something she didn’t know was a good thing or not.
Oh, she tried her best. There was never a day where she didn’t try to start a fight with Catra or yell Adora away. Despite her best efforts they kept coming back. Catra liked to rib her and Adora liked to talk, and ugh did Adora talk. It wasn’t any better when both harassed her, because Catra was always hanging off her in some way. An arm around her shoulder, a hug that pressed personal space, and sometimes even childishly clinging to her legs. Coupled that with Adora talking her ear off and she was losing her last few braincells.
She was at her wits end, until Catra skinned her knee one day. The mischievous grin shuttered and fell just as quickly as tears did. Adora froze at the blood and did some fish faces, stuck between decisions. Lonnie wasn’t sure what to do herself. Catra had never cried and while they always got scrapped up, it was never this badly.
“It’s okay, Catra!” Adora sprang into action, grinning a smile with missing teeth. “We can get you a blue band aid this time! A big one, bigger than mine!”
“Bigger than yours?” Catra sniffled.
Adora nods, “Yeah! Let’s go find a teacher, they know where all the good ones are.”
“But what if I get yelled at?”
Lonnie’s mouth works before her brain, “Tell them I pushed you.”
They both look at her with wide eyes. She struggles to understand what she’s doing. But Catra’s watery eyes and Adora’s face splitting with hope pushes her faster than her brain can keep up, “I can take timeout today. It’s okay.”
“Thank you, Lonnie!” Adora smiles all glitter and sunshine. Catra’s smile is different, shy and muted and just a tad bashful.
“Thank you, Lonnie.” She echoes.
It feels like there’s a cog wheel doing faster and faster loops in her chest. She barely manages to say, “You’re welcome.”
She takes the fall a few times. Sometimes willingly, sometimes just by being associated with the two hellions. It’s different. Catra treats her in a friendlier manner, includes her and calls out to her during physical activities. Adora runs up to catch up with her in the halls- “You forgot your book Lonnie!”- and sits next to her at lunch. It’s nice, even if they get into fights and wrestle and make her life stressful. She thinks this might be what friends are. If only she didn’t end up in timeout every day.
That’s how she met Kyle. He practically lived in the timeout corner.
She doesn’t imagine it’s his own fault. He was the scapegoat everyone, even Catra, used whenever something went wrong. Due to his clumsiness, any broken lamp or busted door could easily be blamed on him. He went there so often he brought his books along, huddled as far from the others as he could. It was a little pathetic.
She ignored him. He was a loser anyway.
“Um.” He pokes his head out to look at her. “Um, uh-“
She snaps, “What?”
“Your hair.” He squeaks and hides behind his book. “It’s pretty! I’m sorry! I’ll be quiet! I’m sorry!”
She doesn’t know what to say to that. There’s a biting retort on her tongue, but she doesn’t want to be the bad guy. She swallows it down and crosses her arms, flustered and uncomfortable. Kyle was a loser but he was a nice loser.
“Thanks.” She mumbled.
He smiles, a gap between his two front teeth making itself known. Timeout isn’t so boring anymore as the blonde quietly explains his books, the wild stories behind them. She’d scoff and remark how dumb it is and he’d sheepishly agree.
“It’s just nice. These big stories.” He hugs his book as if its precious. “I want to be a hero one day too.”
She doesn’t laugh. Loser Kyle becoming a hero should be laughed at, but she doesn’t. She listens and only gets on his case when he’s clumsy, when he makes dumb decisions. Being in timeout all the time doesn’t look so good, not when the teachers eye him sharply. She pushes him to find other places to read. Though reluctant, he does so.
He lasted twenty minutes before someone ripped his book out of his hands and threw it out the window.
She’s glad she’s there. It’s the first time she’s made enemies. The first time she executed a perfect right uppercut too. There’s a lot of scrambling and shouting, but the result is the same. Timeout corner is almost a blessing as both her and Kyle cradle their wounded pride. Except he won’t stop giving her this big, dopy grin and it sort of makes her mad because it makes her stomach funny.
“Thank you, Lonnie.” He says. He hands her one of his books and, screw teachers, timeout corner is now their corner.
Kyle ends up being slotted into their group. It’s different. Catra is an almost-bully who snarks him and he flails and squeaks. Adora stares at him helplessly and looks at Lonnie like really? Him? and it starts to drive her up the wall. It’s hard to herd the two, adding Kyle is like making a homemade bomb. But as all things go, she hardly must step in for something to change.
It’s Catra, breathing heavily in between snarls as she fends off a circle of bullies. Kyle is on the ground, eye blooming dark purples of hurt. Lonnie sighs, exasperated, but she’s already cracking her knuckles too and it’s the best fight she’s ever been in in her life. There’s bruises and scratches and missing teeth, but they win and they’re laughing too hard over their own ridiculousness to really be mad about it.
“Catra,” Kyle is wheezing, “you, oh man, they shaved your eyebrow.”
Catra’s laugh is high pitched, like a witches cackle, “Dude, have you seen your eyes? You look like you’re dying!”
Lonnie scoffs at them, because it doesn’t even need to be mentioned how swelled her nose is and they all start laughing all over again. It’s how Adora finds them, huffing fondly as she bestows them each with yellow band aids.
“Yellow because you’re all pee brained.” She declares.
It settles into normalcy. Kyle gifts them with starry eyed looks, standing tall to anyone who doubted their prowess and biting back with way too many words about how fast Lonnie was, how cunning Catra was, and how smart Adora was. He’s singled out the worst, the guy who hangs out with the girls, but he looks at them with adoration, with too much carelessness and she thinks, it’s okay. They make it work.
Rogelio fits himself in as he does the rest of his life. Silent and a watchful shadow.
The four of them have had loose friendships with other kids, but not enough to have them become permanent members of this train wreck. It’s almost a full year after Kyle settles into his skin before a large green shadow if following him around. It’s hard to ignore. Really, really hard to ignore and she points to him suspiciously.
Kyle sheepishly shrugs, “I have no idea who he is.”
He can’t speak either, based on the grunting and hisses and other guttural language that flies over the four’s heads. There’s a Hi! My name is Rogelio! badge clipped to his shirt that’s old and beat up. He’s intimidating, a little scary, and completely boring. She almost writes him off, letting him be Kyle’s dumb tag along.
It doesn’t rain in the fright zone, shouldn’t anyway. When it does, it’s scary and dark. Lockdown is put in place and they all must go to the shelter where it’s even darker. She’s separated from Kyle and Catra, but it’s hard to miss tall Adora and that’s who she’s stuck with. And Rogelio, who just. Sits there. Nibbling on a sucker.
“Wait.” Adora is looking at him in awe. “You, what is that? Is that candy? How did you find candy?”
He grunts. Reaches into his pocket. Offers her one.
Adora’s eyes sparkle and she almost suffers a spectacular fall, if Lonnie wasn’t letting her lean on her dramatically. She rolls her eyes, but the candy looked tasty. Sugary and sweet. Adora takes hers and spills out a hundred thank you’s. Rogelio grunts again. Silence.
Lonnie clears her throat. Awkward. Tries for nonchalant, “Got any more of those?”
He looks at her dryly. It’s such a surprising change of emotion that she laughs. She’s elated to find that he does, indeed, have more. They spend the lockdown huddled together, enjoying forbidden sweets and have a one-sided conversation with their new favorite lizard.
He drops from boring to a funny dose of comradery. Wherever he looms in the background, Lonnie always searches for his expression. Catra would be scaling the wall and yowling insults at the teacher and her gaze would snap to Rogelio. It’d be too funny to see the chaos around him and he’d just. Shake his head. The action looked like a disappointed parent. It’d have her and Adora in hysterics.
He fits in nicely. It takes her awhile, because there’s always a catch. She wakes up one night in their new shared dorm and he’s wide awake, fiddling with his claws. The glow of his eyes is scary. His looming shadow is scary too. She almost rolls over and pretends to sleep again. But it’s late at night and she feels like she’s only now noticing the bags under his eyes.
“Can’t sleep?” She whispers, if a little reluctantly.
He mumbles. His tail curls and uncurls in agitation and his eyes sweep over the room, looking for something, but falter and go back to his claws. He can’t sleep, she realizes, because he’s afraid something – or someone – will come into the room.
She gets out of bed. It’s not easy, because Catra has chosen her feet as her spot for the night and, ugh, Adora is better at wrangling the cat then she is. It takes longer then she likes to slip soundlessly away from her bunk and lock the door. The tiny click relieves a mountain of stress away from Rogelio. She doesn’t understand him, she doesn’t she think she ever will. She reasons everyone’s afraid of something.
He mumbles again and she pretends it doesn’t sound like thank you. It doesn’t stop the feathers dancing in her head.
They become cadets and the change is sudden. There’s a new pressure on their shoulders, a heavy weight settling in their chests as they’re measured for their uniforms. They get a new dorm, new lockers, and a whole new curriculum. Almost all learning is cut in favor of physical activities. She wants to groan about it, knows Catra is probably having the time of her life, but that’s not it. Because everything is backwards, and she forgets Adora’s shadow is sometimes Shadoweaver.
The stress starts to pile up. Rogelio doesn’t sleep even with the door locked, eyes watching her solemnly. Kyle gulps down coffee like a starving man and Catra enters a whole new phase of rebellion. She’s quiet and seething, her tail lashing with unspoken barbed insults. Her words aren’t honest anymore and cut deeper then they intend to sometimes. Adora undergoes the worst change. Her shadow whispers in her ear and Lonnie watches her back straighten, her eyes narrow, watches as the blonde takes more steps then the rest of them.
It rankles her a little. Jealousy isn’t pretty and it doesn’t look good on Catra either. Lonnie feels better, at least, that she’s not so obvious about it.
Because some nights Adora is late back to the dorm, eyes heavy and entire posture slumped with exhaustion. Her ponytail is out, blonde hair fanning her face and casting darker shadows over her eyes. It’s the first signs of self-doubt. There’s a crushing sense of reality in the taller girl that hasn’t settled in the team, the team still filled with ambition, hopes, and dreams. Adora looks at her in the dim light and mumbles.
“What?” Lonnie asks.
“She wants me to be force captain. One day.”
She squashes the jealousy. She’s not Catra. “Yeah? Congratulations.”
Adora winces. She looks troubled for only a moment before a feeble smile crawls up her face. She doesn’t say thank you as she crawls into bed. It’s the only thing warning Lonnie that she’d done more harm then good. The next day, Lonnie gives her one of her hair ties.
“Just in case.” She says.
This time, Adora says thank you.
Training becomes routine, not enough to enjoy it fully of course. Catra is around but her presence leaves ghosts in her wake. Lonnie doesn’t hear her leave or hear her enter the room and wariness has her looking over her shoulder more often then not. There are haunting mismatched eyes that tremble in the dark and watch as Adora is whisked away to more important training.
Kyle looks over the training deck to Catra’s current sulk and calls out, “Catra! We’re gonna get lunch! Wanna get some?”
“Why would I get lunch with you losers?” She calls back.
Kyle falters, “Well. If you wanna. Not, uh, forcing you to, or anything.”
There’s a loud groan from across the room and Catra’s drops from the scaffolds, “Are you gonna whine about it, Kyle?”
“Maybe.” He squeaks.
Lonnie rolls her eyes, “C’mon Catra or the other teams are gonna steal the good bits.”
It’s enough incentive to drag the cat along, even if it does start several arguments. They’re Normal arguments and not Shadoweaver arguments. It’s better. She thinks its better, but she knows Catra. She’s the only one in the world who could hold a grudge as if it was life support.
It’s 3 AM when she feels a weight on her legs. On bad days, Lonnie isn’t afraid to kick Catra away. But Adora’s shadow is a vile thing and it’s been months since she’s even nudged Catra with her foot. It’s quiet for a minute before a soft rumble fills the air and Lonnie wants to roll her eyes. It’s dark, so she let’s the dumb grin on her face follow her to sleep.
The weeks carry on and Kyle gets away with stealing. Which. Okay. Even Catra stares with wide eyes as the cafeteria gifts Kyle his single sugar packet and then he gets back in line, boldly blending into the cadets to steal another, and another. He makes his way back to them with a too satisfied grin.
“Dude.” Catra starts. “Can you keep doing that? All lunch?”
Lonnie almost kicks her leg. Stealing food to very likely start a food fight wasn’t on her agenda, not with Rogelio looking like death next to them.
Kyle sniffs like he’s a high-class lady. “I only need three.”
Adora laughs, “What? That’s still a lot.”
“No it’s not. Adora.” He starts tutting like a true idiot. “If I don’t get exactly three, I’m going to be tired. Or very wired. It’s an art form to blend the perfect brew. Want some?”
“Pass.”
Catra wheezes at Kyle’s dejection. It’s just another normal thing to add to the pile, until one lunchtime Kyle is sprawled miserably onto the bench like a man dying from asphyxiation.
“Coffee broke.” Catra says around a yawn, disinterested and making a tower with her ration bars. It looks more interesting then Kyle, except Kyle isn’t making exaggerated noises. He just looks downcast, eyes closed, and mouth twisted into a frown. She almost thinks he’s asleep until his head bobs sharply and he jerks awake, eyes round and his shoulders slumping.
It really isn’t too much trouble get Catra to cause a distraction. Throw some bars at the rival teams and a true fight begins, their cat doing whoops and cries of laughter as she scales the wall and ceiling and causes chaos. Rogelio spares her a sleep deprived frown. Lonnie shrugs and goes into the back to steal from the teachers lounge. Their coffee maker works and it’s what matters when she hands a cup to Kyle, the blonde clinging to her arm and thanking her through tears.
The days blend. A year and another make cadet life okay for them and eases jealousy. Catra doesn’t sulk so often, her arm around Adora’s shoulder and a challenging grin on her face. Kyle still fumbles in training, but he isn’t too mad about giving up little things for his team anymore. It’s Rogelio, who’s eyes are dark and back is slumped like a deflated balloon, that breaks the normal.
It’s terrifying and a bit hysterical to be fighting bots and their lizard drops into a dead faint, snoring onto the floor with his claws still sunk soundly into the metal. Catra is laughing so hard she falls to the floor, then through the floor trap, but her laughter still follows to show how little she cares about that. Adora casts Rogelio an exasperated look which costs her, sending the blonde flying into Kyle who only manages a strangled scream before they’re both being crushed under the queen bot.
Lonnie valiantly lasts four seconds before the timer beeps angrily at them.
Shadoweaver gifts them all with a dry look, “Take the rest of the day off.”
They do. Catra scatters to the wind with earnest woops and Adora runs after her. Kyle hovers beside Lonnie, eyeing the half-awake Rogelio and makes a few nervous gestures.
“I’m gonna.” He flails. “Uh, bathroom. Yeah.”
Lonnie looks dryly at his retreating back. She glances at Rogelio, but the lizard has long since mastered the art of standing while sleeping and. Yeah. This wouldn’t work.
It’s tough going and takes her a few nights of sneaking around. The training hall has other scheduled teams after theirs and nighttime is lock up time, so getting in is impossible. But scraps make their way to her and metals bits are twisted and fashioned into a tiny, humanoid thing. She hands it to Rogelio the next morning. His smile is scary, but his eyes crinkle warmly. She sheepishly rubs her arm and finds the lost sleep worth it, even if the toy was so bad looking Kyle nicknamed it Effigy.
Their lizard sleeps soundly that night and that’s all that matters.
The future carves itself out for them and it paints a pretty picture. Adora as future captain, their team heading to the frontlines, the Horde winning and pride and more things that should have mattered but didn’t. Because Adora is a princess and Catra is unhinged and it all falls to pieces at their feet in a glorious way, where realities shatter and magic warps the world.
She doesn’t think Kyle can be brave, but he opens the door to an acid storm. She doesn’t think Rogelio can be talkative, but he chatters nonstop about what plans they should make and what direction they should go. Catra – Commander Catra - sullenly shadows their group at times, eyes wild and movement jumpy. Lonnie knows that look. Knows it as well as Adora’s shadow. She resents the cat, but she never really stops trying. She holds her hand out every time, exasperated and fond all at once.
It takes a while for Catra to take it, far passed days in the Horde and far passed Horde Prime dotting the sky with ships. Kyle doesn’t stutter, oh he still fumbles like an idiot, but his grin is brighter then ever. Rogelio keeps pace with Perfuma only because the serenity the two give off can only be matched by the moon and the sun. Lonnie figures that’s for the best, because the only other princesses that liked Rogelio were Frosta and she’d rather not have a screaming child around them all the time.
It fits itself back together, just as all change does. She doesn’t have to do anything. She’s never had to, not since Catra scrapped her knee when they were kids. She wonders what her younger self would say to her and she snorts and rolls her eyes and ignores those feelings.
Like all change, it becomes normal again, in the subtle of ways. It’s in the way Scorpia vibrates happily, her claws carefully snipping each hedge as Perfuma instructs her. It’s Rogelio and Bow and background chatter that falls like a noiseless hum. It’s Bright Moon, a pillar of warmth and happiness. It’s her sitting on the edge of the castle, the runestone humming five feet behind her as she watches the Queen and Catra walk amiably through the gardens.
She can hear them arguing, jumbled words overridden by Glimmer’s snorting laugh and Catra’s wheezing giggles. Somewhere in the garden is Emily because there’s suspicious beeping and whirring. Lonnie watches this all and the sunset too, a thousand shimmering stars above her greeting her softly.
“There you are.”
Adora sits next to her. Her hair falls like a curtain, blonde locks free and wild. It doesn’t hide the girls grin, the spark in her eyes, or the stardust on her cheeks.
“Spying? What else did they teach in the Fright Zone while I was gone?”
Lonnie scoffs, “Nothing good, that’s for sure. I think I only learned how to stomach garbage food.”
They share a chuckle. Adora swings her legs and hums and watches the sun. Lonnie stares at her, stares at the princesses down below, then at the sun and thinks, they really like shining brighter then even the sun, huh.
“It’s crazy.” Adora tilts her head up towards the stars as if she was trying to see them all. “Do you think a thousand years from now they’ll remember us too? Like they did Mara?”
Lonnie doesn’t want to ruin the moment by asking who the heck Mara was, so she shrugs, “Nah, I don’t think so. This was one boring story.”
Adora sputters a disbelieving laugh, “Boring?”
“Yeah.” She smirks. “I think they’ll much rather remember Adora, princess of power, as someone who snores.”
“Buzz off.”
“Hey, this is my spot!”
“Magic runestone! Princess privilege.” She even had the nerve to stick her tongue out. But she was right, and Lonnie didn’t want to admit it so she just rolled her eyes, steering her gaze back to the fading sun. A comfortable silence falls between them, the pleasant sound of chatter down below feeling like a warm blanket.
She glances at Adora and tsks. Adora blinks at her, half offended and half curious. Lonnie reaches behind her head, undoes her hair tie, and holds it out. The blonde is bemused. Lonnie tries not to let her skin prickle at her hair tickling her shoulders.
“I don’t know how many times I’ve gotta tell you to keep your hair out of your face.” Lonnie scolds.
“Okay, mom.”
Lonnie has half a mind to hit her, but she doesn’t know if princesses are immune to fall damage. She keeps it to herself, if only to shove the hair tie at her.
“It’s a wonder She-Ra doesn’t have hair whipping her face.”
“Princess privilege.” Adora echoes as she carefully takes the hair tie. She examines it, her face softening and warming up and doing the funny little smile and she can already hear her talking about band aids in her head.
Instead Adora says, “Thank you Lonnie.”
She doesn’t tie her hair, snapping the band around her wrist and looking pleased as they both sit there, hair down by their shoulders and grinning like sunsets.
This, Lonnie reflects, is the best normal they’ve ever had.
.
.