3Glimmer looked out of one of Darla's windows into the expanse of space and the stars glimmered back at her from their places amidst the velvet purple sprawl of the galaxy beyond.
If one good thing had come from her mistake with the Heart of Etheria, Glimmer thought to herself, it was that Etheria would have stars for the first time in a thousand years.
The Queen sighed. They were still a couple of days out from their home. She wouldn't be able to see the stars from Brightmoon until then.
Her thoughts drifted from the subject of home and back to the stellar lights that surrounded them. To the worlds that circled them. To the people living on those worlds.
To the evil that Horde Prime visited on those worlds.
Glimmer was so lost in thought that she didn't hear the door open behind her. She kept staring out into the universe until a quiet sound, somewhere between a cough and a whine, caught her attention.
She turned to look at the source of the noise. Catra stood behind her, still in her pajamas. The former Force Captain's ears were drawn back and down. Her tail was limp and low, one arm was across her chest, her hand gripping the opposite arm while it hung loosely at her side, and she was hunched in on herself. Her mismatched eyes were looking at the floor and away from Glimmer.
"Oh," Glimmer said quietly. "It's you. Hi Catra."
"Hi," Catra replied. Only a month ago Glimmer would have been astounded to hear the Horde officer's voice sounding so subdued. There was none of her usual venom, or her usual confidence, or even her usual energy.
Of course, only a month ago Glimmer would have been more surprised that Catra hadn't immediately attacked her while her back was turned. And Glimmer would have been even more astounded that she hadn't attacked Catra as soon as she had spotted her.
"Do- do you mind if I use this window?" Catra asked, still not meeting the Queen's eyes.
"Sure," Glimmer shrugged, moving to one edge of the window. Catra made her way over to the other and looked out. Glimmer returned to her own star gazing, trying not to think about the newcomer. Catra for her part stood stock still and didn't make the slightest sound.
They stood like that for several minutes, Glimmer doing her best to ignore Catra while Catra did her best to make herself easy to ignore. But it couldn't last forever.
Surprisingly it was Catra who broke the silence with a whisper.
"Why?"
"Why what?" Glimmer turned to look at the other woman. Catra was still hunched, tail between her legs, her hands gripping the opposite arms like she was trying to hug herself. Her eyes were locked on the floor by Glimmer's feet instead of meeting the Queen's eyes.
"I can get Adora deciding to save me," Catra said, her voice scratchy. "She's too stupid to give up. And I could get it if Adora had ditched you guys somewhere and tried to save me by herself. But I don't get why you guys would help her."
"We would never let her go alone," Glimmer said sharply, crossing her arms, her eyes narrowing. Catra flinched at that response.
"Yeah, I know that," Catra said in a soft, hushed tone. "But I thought you guys would try and stop her. Not help her."
"Oh," Glimmer's gaze softened as she got what Catra was really asking. Her arms fell back to her sides and she turned back to the window and the stars beyond.
"You know, I didn't even think about it at the time," Glimmer told the other woman, a hint of amusement filtering into her voice, as she leaned onto the window ledge and rested her chin in her palm. "I don't think I even let Adora finish asking before I told her I'd help her."
"But why?" Catra asked and there was a desperate, plaintive, pleading quality to her voice.
"I don't know," Glimmer shrugged. "Maybe there's lots of reasons. Funny as it sounds, you were the only thing on that ship that made me feel better."
"That's- that's stupid," Catra said, and Glimmer couldn't help but smile at that sign of the old Catra.
"I know," Glimmer said grinning at Catra. "Maybe I'm more like Adora than I thought?"
"That would explain a lot," Catra muttered. "But that can't really be it. There's got to be more…."
"Well, there was also that one time you did me a teensy tiny favor and teleported me away from Horde Prime's ship, straight into the arms of my friends," Glimmer said, moving away from the window ledge, throwing up her hands and rolling her eyes. "Oh, and you also stayed behind to face certain death or worse. That may have played a small part in my decision to rescue you."
"I didn't exactly do it for you," Catra said, looking down and out the window.
"Just like you didn't stay and keep me company because I asked you to either," Glimmer took a step closer to Catra. "You did a heap of bad things before." Glimmer looked down, clutching at the fabric of her shirt just over her heart. "Some of them really hurt me in particular. I lost people because of you." But then Glimmer looked up again, one hand half reaching out to the other woman. "But you basically tried to die for me and that means a lot!"
Catra took a half step away from the Queen.
"And not only for me, but you did it for Adora, too!" Glimmer took another full step towards the cat woman, her voice growing louder, more passionate. "And even Bow, though I know you weren't thinking about him when you did it!"
Catra didn't look up but she didn't step back either.
"That doesn't mean it was worth risking it all to save me," Catra replied, her own volume increasing. Her eyes closed in a wince and Glimmer could see tears in the corners. "Up until then, all I did was hurt people. Adora, Entrapta, Scorpia, you, your friends, even Hordak! There wasn't anyone I met that I didn't hurt!"
"Yeah, you were awful," Glimmer agreed. "But you want to know something? I was pretty bad recently too! I didn't trust my friends! I was awful to them! I drove them away! And I nearly blew up the world!"
"That's not the same!" Catra shouted back.
"I know it's not!" Glimmer took another step into Catra's personal space. Despite being the shorter of the two, Glimmer seemed to tower over the former Force Captain. "But it doesn't need to be! My friends still came for me despite my mistakes!"
"It's because you're not- you're not-" Catra gripped the sides of her head, fingers digging into her scalp.
"And you know what, neither are you!" Glimmer gently grabbed the other woman's wrists, tugging them down. Catra froze at Glimmer's touch and her eyes went wide as she met the other woman's own for the first time since she had come into the room.
"Yes," Glimmer went on, "it was impossible to see for a very long time! And if you hadn't saved me, I probably never would have seen it! But do you know who has always seen it? Do you know who always believed that there was something good in you, even after she gave up on you?" Do you know who never quit wanting to be your friend even if she quit trying?"
"Adora," Catra said in a whisper.
"Yes, Adora," Glimmer smiled. "And you know what? I'm making it a point to trust Adora more. So, if she thinks that you're worth dashing into the heart of an evil alien empire to save, then I'll believe it too!"
"Well, then you're just as stupid as she is," Catra sniffed, looking away from Glimmer, but there was a small smile on her face.
"Yeah, well, I'd guess we have to be stupid to want to be your friend," Glimmer said without rancor.
"Yeah," Catra said, closing her eyes as tears started to leak from them. But she was smiling at the same time. "Well, I guess I'm just lucky that you're all so dumb."
"Yeah," Glimmer said, letting go of Catra's wrists and smiling back at her.
Catra wiped her smiling face in the crook of her arm, sniffed once more, and then turned to look out the window. Glimmer joined her, not touching the other woman, but standing close enough so that Catra would know that she was there.
The two of them stared out of Darla's window, drinking in the sight of the universe that Etheria had been absent from for so long, looking at the good thing that had been hidden in darkness for so long.
AN: Recently finished She-Ra and then this idea got into my head. I'd like to thank AgentBees for beta reading this. :AN