Chapter Text
ADORA
When we arrived to stop the Horde this time, it looked like an easy battle. It was only Catra, Scorpia, and Kyle and Kyle accidentally took himself out before I even transformed. I, of course, rushed Catra leaving Scorpia to Bow and Glimmer. It was the best way to do it, I know how Catra fights and it might take two people to take Scorpia because of her stinger. So far, it's been an easy battle despite the deep claw marks all over my back, stomach, arms, and my right thigh. I can handle claw marks, they only sting. I'm always prepared for that kind of pain, I'm used to it, but nothing could prepare me for the mind-numbing pain she was about to put on me. She had climbed up a tree and I was trying to cut it down to get to her, but she suddenly jumped down on my right arm. I dropped my weird and transformed back before the crack even registered in my brain.
GLIMMER
I teleport all around Scorpia, easily confusing the big idiot as Bow gets ready to take his shot when Adora suddenly screams out in pure agony, Bow's arrow sinking into the dirt by Scorpia's foot, sending the net trapping the dirt instead of its intending target. Scorpia takes advantage of the distraction to scratch my face with her claw, but I hardly notice.
"Adora!" We both cry out in worry, Bow quickly switching to a taser arrow instead as I teleport over to Adora. I see her in the fetal position on the ground, trying to protect her face with one hand as Catra hits her stomach and back, forcefully pulling Adora's legs away to get to her. I scream out in rage as I teleport above Catra, landing on her back with all of my weight. Unfortunately, I didn't think it through and Adora screams from pain when we land on her. Grabbing Catra's tail, I teleport ten feet in the air above Scorpia and abandon her to land on her already fallen companion before going back to Adora.
"Is she ok?" Bow calls out as he runs to us, already having caught Catra and an unconscious Scorpia in a net. I open my mouth to answer when Adora grabs my arm.
"It hurts! It hurts so bad! Please!" She sobs and I place a comforting hand on her hair, fighting back my own tears.
"We're going to get you back to Bright Moon, you'll be ok! Bow! Do you have anything for pain?" Since we are usually helping evacuate as well as fight, Bow sometimes carries medicine for the evacuees, but this wasn't an evacuation based mission, so I wasn't sure he had any. Luckily, he scoops some out of a brown pouch he keeps with his arrows.
"It'll make you feel better, " he tells Adora as he crouches down next to her. "Open your mouth please." She does as she's told and I sit with her as we wait for it to kick in. Bow gently tries to roll Adora over to look at her right side, but she screams out again, so he gently lays her back down, forcing another scream out of her.
"Stop!" I yell, not wanting to see her in more pain. "Don't move her until she passes out!" She's tough to not have passed out from the pain, but I'm hoping she's not too strong to ignore the medication's side effect, drowsiness. I can't help but sigh from relief when she closes her eyes a few minutes later and she doesn't make a sound when Bow picks her up.
ADORA
"I can't believe it, " Lonnie says as we spar. "Training is almost over and Catra still isn't here! I know she's never on time, but she's usually here by now to avoid punishment!"
"I'll go find her!" I insist, moving to step away from my teammate to find my bunkmate, but she wasn't expecting me to let my guard down, so her staff came down full force on my right arm. Whatever happened immediately after it hit, I simply couldn't remember, so I must have passed out. All I know is that I woke up to a pissed off Shadow Weaver.
"It hurts, " I cry, holding my arm close to me as she looks down on her, her anger not seeming to register through my foggy vision. "Please help!" I squeak, but she only punches me. I gasp as the air gets knocked out of my lungs and hold my belly as I fall to the floor. "Why?" I squeal.
"You should never let your guard down in battle, you insolent child! How are you ever going to be a Force Caption if you can't pay attention in battle!?" Suddenly Catra is thrown into the room and into Shadow Weaver's grasp. "And you! How could you let this happen to Adora?" She demands, lifting Catra off the ground. It's a little kid against a woman with magical powers, this isn't a fair fight! I try to get up to step in, but I can't move. It's getting hard to see. Why is it going black?
"But it wasn't me! I wasn't even there!" Catra insists. Next thing I know, Catra is being held in a cell with no food for three days and I had it for one day. What did we do again? We broke a rule, right? No, I broke a rule. I showed weakness. What did Catra do? She wasn't injured until Shadow Weaver got her, but now she has a cast on her left arm. Was she being punished for that? Anything more than a small cut or bruise did lead to punishment, but she wasn't injured before. What was her original offense? She didn't have one.
Why am I remembering this now? Did Shadow Weaver make me forget or did I block it myself? Why does my arm hurt? Am I being punished? I feel a cold hand on my head and I quickly try to hide my weakness, my injury, by rolling onto my stomach with my arm under me.
"I can keep fighting! There's no need to punish me! I'll still fight!" I scream. It's Shadow Weaver, right? She always finds out when I'm injured! I didn't dare look, not with the tears running down my face. "Don't punish us again!" I beg. I know that had been a memory, but I can't remember where I am. I can't remember what happened. Had it been a memory or is that what I'm dealing with now? "You can't punish her just because I'm weak!"
"Adora! No one is getting punished! It's ok, you're in Bright Moon!" Bright Moon? That's right, I deflected. I wasn't anywhere near Shadow Weaver or Catra. Catra can't get published because I'm weak anymore because I'm not with the Horde. Wait, who's voice was that? I feel a gentle hand on my shoulders as someone helps me sit up.
"Queen Angella!" I squeak out in surprise when I saw who was helping me. "What are you doing here?" In the Horde, higher-ups only came to the injured to punish them. They would sometimes insist you wouldn't get punished if you were injured in battle, but they always got it three times worse for being weak in front of the enemy. I guess I was on the edge of the bed because I fell off when I tried to get away, covering my face as I shake from fear. There had been soldiers beaten or starved to death for injuries like this on the battlefield. It's why I would never break a Horde soldier's bones in battle, it's a death sentence when they git back home. Sometimes another soldier might show them mercy and kill them before returning. I know Force Captains get soared the death sentence, but they get punished too.
"Are you ok?" The Queen asks, but she kept her distance. "There's no need to be afraid, you're safe now. Please calm down before you tear your stitches. Would you feel more comfortable if I got Glimmer or Bow in here to care for you?"
"No!" You never show your weakness to anyone! If your teammates saw a cast on your arm, they would whack it to remind you of your failure. I never remembered any of this, I thought Catra was always messing with me when she mentioned it, but I remember now. Any time I went crying to Shadow Weaver about an injury, we both got punished. Catra always got two-thirds of my punishment, a punishment she didn't deserve. "Injuries and illness are a weakness and I am not weak! I don't need anyone to care for me!"
The Queen lowers to her knees in front of me, getting down to my height since I never got up, with a weird look on her face. "Adora, illness and injuries aren't a weakness. You're not weak because you got hurt. If that's how the Horde raised you, you need to understand that that is not how Bright Moon treats their injured. You will never get in trouble for being hurt or sick."
"What about Glimmer and Bow?" I squeak, silently glad about the space between Angella and me as I drag my knees to my chest. She can't hurt me from there. "Will they get punished because I got hurt?"
"No one will get punished." I'm not very convinced, so I ask if she can get Bow and Glimmer. When they walk in, my heart sinks to stomach when I see a small white bandage on Glimmer's cheek. She said they wouldn't be punished!
GLIMMER
When we walk in, we find Adora on the floor next to her bed, her back against the wall and her knees to her chest. Since mom said she was scared, we resisted the urge to run over and hug her, but she starts hyperventilating anyway, sobs choking out of her throat as she struggles to breathe.
"Go get mom!" I order no one in particular to do and hope that either the guards outside or Bow goes running to get her. I walk over slowly to try to keep Adora from freaking out more and crouch down in front of her, careful to not trap her. "Hey, it's ok, " I say quietly, resisting any urge to touch her shoulder or pull her into a hug. It would be bad to overstep a boundary right now and she had no idea what might set her friend off.
"Y-you, " Adora chokes out.
"Take a deep breath, it'll be ok. Mom will be here soon, she can-" I start, but Adora starts screaming 'no', her chest heaving as she tries to scream through the sobs, her face turning red.
"You don't want my mom in here?" I ask and she shakes her head to confirm that. "Ok, I'll keep her out. It's ok, just breathe." She lunges forward and clings onto me, so I put a comforting hand on the back of her head. Luckily, the guards heard our conversation and stop mom from coming in. It still takes over an hour for her to calm down, but she eventually falls asleep in my arms and I let the tears I had been holding back fall. I don't understand why she's so scared. I wished I knew so I could help her. Mom had warned us that she was scared when she woke up and that it was probably from something that happened to her during her time with the Horde. It must have been something Catra knew about. She probably did this on purpose to scare Adora. I thought they used to be friends, but how could a friend, even an ex-friend, treat someone they used to be so close with like that? How could she purposefully send Adora into a panic attack? I would be so mad if I wasn't so worried about the blonde curled up on my lap.
"I'll keep you safe, " I promise, wiping her fallen bangs out of her face. "I won't let her near you again."
Bonus one shot (for some fluff to offset the angst):
It can be hard for Adora to fall asleep some nights. It wasn't nightmares like Glimmer thought it was, it was homesickness. She missed having Catra curled up at her feet. She missed hearing her squadmates snores. She missed the cramped quarters, the close company. She missed the closeness everyone had because they were forced to have it, sure, but they had it. Thats why she found herself slipping into Glimmer's room some nights and curling up next to her. She usually curled up at her feet, but tonight she had curled up near her friend's face. She found comfort in combing the pink hair with her fingers. She found comfort in her watching her friend's chest rise and fall with every breath. She enjoyed feeling her friend's breath on her face and she hoped Glimmer didn't accidentally hit her when she woke up so close to her. She knew Catra probably would have if she had ever woken to Adora's face in hers, she knew because she had tried it and still had a tiny scar on her left cheek from it. It was impossible to see unless you were looking for the four tiny lines, but they were there. She hoped Glimmer was different than Catra but would understand if she woke up to a punch to her nose or a scratch on her cheek. Despite being pretty sure that would be her wake up call, she fell asleep not even an inch from Glimmer's face. Imagine her surprise when she woke up to a gentle hand in her hand and a light kiss on her cheek.