Crimson Blood

Chapter 38

Third Person POV:

"We were too late-" Adora said as she looked at what remained of Etheria. In a flash, a swarm of robots came over beams of green aimed at them.

"What are you doing you, idiots? Hide!" Netossa's voice came out from behind a rock as she grabbed Adora's arm and pulled her behind it. Catra, Entrapta, Glimmer, and Bow followed her in. 

"Um... what's she doing here?" Netossa asked, narrowing her eyes in distrust at Catra as she got ready to reel up a net out of her hands. 

"It's okay! She's with us!" Adora insisted as Netossa slowly lowered her hands.

"All right, but I still don't trust her!" Netossa said, still keeping her glare on Catra. 

"That's fine, we can work with that, right Catra?" Adora looked at Catra, waiting for her response. Catra gave her a sheepish smile, her ears red with embarrassment. 

"I'll bring you over to the hideout so you know what's going on," Netossa explained as they made their way over to a cave hidden in the Whispering Woods. Catra and Glimmer looked at each other, exchanging sheepish glances. 

Before anyone could say anything, they felt themselves get encased in vines.

"Show us your necks!" Perfuma stepped out of the cave.

After the long process of convincing everyone that they were not in fact clones or chipped, they were finally let inside the cave. 

"So... everyone else is chipped?"

"Yeah," Netossa responded, clutching herself tighter, "Spinny..."

Before she could think, Adora surged forward and wrapped her arms around Netossa, "We'll get her back, we'll get them all back," she reassured her. 

"Hey um, sorry to break the bonding moment or whatever but where's Scorpia?" Catra asked, looking around the room to make sure she hadn't missed anything. She could see Perfuma glaring at her.

"What?"

"Scorpia's chipped, she got chipped to save us," Frosta explained. 

-Timeskip to later at night-

Catra was rolled up in her sleeping bag, obviously uncomfortable as she looked down at her nails. 

"Hey, you okay?" Adora whispered in question as Catra forced a weak smile on her. 

"Yeah, I'm fine," she whispered in response, turning her head away from Adora. Adora took a closer look at her in the dark cave, using the sword to cast a reflection onto Catra's face. She gasped as she looked at Catra's face, matted with tears, her choppy hair sticky with tears and sweat on her forehead. 

"I'm sorry," Catra choked a sob. 

"N-no we've all forgiven you Catra, it's fine! You've shown that you really are a good person," Adora insisted. 

"But that isn't enough Adora! I saw that look Perfuma gave me, it was the same look you would give Shadow Weaver when she insulted me, and did you see Netossa? She still doesn't trust me Adora, and Frosta looks like she wants to ice punch me every time she's within a 10 foot radius of me." Catra explained. 

"Don't be so stubborn Catra. Of course they're going to be mad at you! You've hurt them, you've hurt everyone but what matters is that you're trying. You're trying to be a better person and I've seen that every time you switch around your words when you feel like you're being mean. Even though we've only been here for about 10 hours, I've seen you trying to be nice to people! Sure not everyone will forgive you right away, it'll take time, but I'm sure that everyone'll get accustomed and grow to love you... just like I do," Adora told her, "As a friend of course! We'll all love you and accept you as our amazing snarky friend cause that's what we are!"