Chapter Text
The distant sound of rainfall slowly pulled the girl out of unconsciousness, the volume of it gradually rising as the minutes dragged on. Her body felt heavy yet floaty, like a deadweight sinking to the bottom of the ocean. The tiredness she felt was so overwhelming she couldn’t even bring herself to move, much less open her eyes.
“...tra? Catra, can you hear me? What happened?!”
“Mmh...” A faint groan escaped her mouth-- a noise that was almost silent, one that was definitely drowned out by the rain-- as she struggled to peek through her lashes, desperate to find the source of the voice calling out to her.
“Say something!”
Somehow managing to loll her head to the side, she grimaced at the sensation of the scratchy, wet concrete scraping against the side of her face. She could just barely crack open her eyes enough to see the blinding glow of her phone lying a few feet away from her, the dirtied and shattered screen displaying an ongoing call with Adora’s name in big, bold letters. The clarity lasted all but a second before everything started to tilt and spin, spiraling at a sickening intensity.
“Catra, please!” She sounded so scared and panicked, helplessly so. Catra has never heard Adora sound like that before.
“A-Adora...” She choked out, but it sounded small and pathetic to even her own ears. She reached a shaky hand out in a futile attempt to grab the phone, wincing at the feeling of something tearing in her side.
“Are you okay?! Where are you?!”
“I don’t...” A wave of nausea crashed over her, forcing her body to jerk forward, rattling her to the core with gasps and coughs while the contents of her stomach spilled onto the ground. Her breathing was shallow and labored, verging on hyperventilation as she furiously tried to blink away her swirling, swimming vision. “...know...”
“Keep talking to me, okay? Can you drop a pin on your location? I’ll come to you.”
Her sore, aching body trembled as she rolled herself over and away from the puke, pressing her forehead into the cold, sticky ground. It was becoming a major struggle to hold her eyes open any longer. She was pretty sure she had to be bleeding from a few places. “I’m gonna pass out...”
“Catra, don’t! You have to stay awa--”
But she couldn’t help it. Everything was already fading to black, the noise of the world around her gradually becoming more and more garbled and far away until it went completely mute. Catra felt one last uneasy, shuddering breath slip from her lips before she succumbed to the exhaustion.
Blood.
It completely surrounded Catra’s body where she lay sprawled out and unconscious half on the edge of the wet, dirty road. It stained everything. It was all over the ground, her face, her hair, her clothes... The unforgiving downpour did little to wash any of it away, kind of just etched it that much deeper into the seams and mud, spreading out in thick tendrils like tree roots. The way the moonlight glinted off the dark red substance almost made it look pretty-- if the reality of it wasn’t so terrifying and world-shattering.
Blue eyes tore away from the brunette long enough to see her motorcycle totally wrecked and hanging off the railing on the opposite side of the road, dangling over the deep incline of the mountain, threatening to fall off into the oblivion of overgrown nature. If Catra had gone tumbling in the same direction as her bike...
Adora felt sick. She felt like there was a painful, hollow pit inside of her chest, like her heart had been ripped out of her body and was being drained of every last drop of blood, forced to endure every last suffering beat on the concrete in front of her. But it kind of was, wasn’t it? Just in the shape of Catra.
She could hardly function enough to remember to breathe. All she wanted to do was drop to her knees and hold Catra in her arms, to wake her up and hear a confirmation that yes, she’s okay, she’s alive, that all of this just looks a lot worse than it actually is. But Adora wasn’t going to receive any of those comforts because she was frozen stiff, because this is as bad as it looks.
Her stupor was broken by a paramedic urging her out of the way so they could load Catra onto the stretcher.
“I need to go with her,” Adora said breathlessly, suddenly aware that she was trembling. She shook her head as if that’d snap her out of the fear, shivering as her gaze tried to keep up with the movements of strangers lifting Catra’s limp form onto the stretcher and raising it before rushing her towards the ramp of the ambulance. “I need to go with her.” She said a little more insistently, taking a shaky step forward.
Her mind was a whirlwind of anxiety, drowning out the sound of everything around her and replacing it with a nauseous, dizzying ringing that wouldn’t let up. Her attention had a pinpoint focus on Catra and Catra alone. Nothing else mattered.
The waiting room was filled with a tense silence, occupied only by a restless Adora, face tearstained and pale as she tried not to let her thoughts wander too far off into the what ifs of all the things that could go more wrong.
Upon arrival, Catra was promptly whisked away for an emergency surgery to attempt to stabilize her condition, as her vitals were spiking and crashing the entire way there. That was nearly three hours ago, and there hasn't been a single update since. For all Adora knew, Catra could be lying dead on an operating table somewhere in the building and the doctors just forgot to ever notify her about it.
She sniffled and forced the thought away, roughly rubbing her tired eyes with her knuckles. She looked down to the shattered phone in her hand-- Catra’s phone, that was handed off to her by one of the paramedics in the ambulance-- and tried once again to call her friend’s mother.
Adora tapped her fingers impatiently against the armrest as the phone rang...
And rang...
And rang.
And then went to voicemail. Again.
At this point, she’s lost count of how many messages she’s left both from her own phone and Catra’s. She should have figured the woman wouldn’t pick up. Why would she pretend to start caring about Catra now? There’s no way she’s just somehow sleeping through all of the calls and texts. She’s blatantly ignoring them.
Adora sighed and ended the call, not even bothering this time to repeat what she’s already said dozens of times in a fruitless hope of getting the woman to actually be a mother to Catra. Instead, she reached for her own phone out of her back pocket and dialed a different number.
The answer was almost instant.
“Hello?”
“Hey,” Adora’s voice felt stuck in her throat, coming out unusually quiet and thick with emotion. She was too exhausted to feel embarrassed about it. “I’m sorry to bother you, I know it’s really late right now--”
“You could never be a bother, Adora. What’s wrong?” The kind words and gentle tone of Angella’s voice only served to renew the hot tears in Adora’s eyes.
She released a slow, shuddering exhale before she replied. “Catra... Catra was in an accident, she’s been in s-surgery for, um, a few hours now... I’ve b-been waiting by myself the whole time... Could you please come down here and sit with me?”
“Of course, darling. Anything you need. Have you eaten at all since you’ve been there?”
Adora shook her head, mentally slapping herself when she realized she’s on the phone, Angella can’t see that, you have to use your words. “No, I... I don’t have much of an appetite. I’ll text you the directions to the hospital and what floor we’re on, okay?”
“Okay, honey, I’ll be there as soon as I can. Do you want me to stay on the phone with you until I get there?”
“No, that’s okay. Thank you. Be careful, please.” She hung up before she lost her courage, trying her best to hold it together because she was not about to immediately fall apart on her adoptive mom over the phone.
She took a deep breath in and steadily let it out, repeating that for a few moments as she nervously bounced her leg, sight flicking towards the hall the nurses had disappeared down with Catra and then to the clock on the wall.
Catra will be fine. She has to be. She’s gotten into an accident with her motorcycle before, and all that happened that time was some nasty scrapes and bruises, a dislocated shoulder, and a concussion-- which sucked, but it wasn’t like she was on death’s door. There hadn’t been nearly as much blood on the ground back then, if any at all. She hadn’t even needed to go to the hospital back then-- Scorpia and Bow worked together to set her arm back for her and gave her some ibuprofen and she was good.
But this time was different.
This time, Catra hadn’t simply hit an unexpected bump in the ground while recklessly speeding around a haphazard obstacle course built by Entrapta and got flung off her bike. No, that’s how simple and harmless it was last time. This time, she was riding down the curve of a mountain road in the middle of the night during a bad storm because she was on her way to Adora, when a drunk driver decided to stop paying attention to what was in front of them with a heavy foot on the gas pedal, turning around the corner and crashing into Catra head on.
Of course that person is perfectly okay, of course that person got to walk away with just a few bruises. Totalled their car, completely fucked up Catra’s bike, but that person is otherwise completely fine.
Thankfully, the police let Adora know they arrested that person after a doctor cleared them of injury. Now she just hopes nobody bails them out because she can’t promise she won’t kill them if she were to pass by them on a street or in a store someday.
Another sigh huffed out as she leaned forward, resting her elbows atop her knees as her head fell into her hands. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to stop the tears for what felt like the millionth time.
To distract herself, she ran through names in her mind, wondering if there was anyone else she should inform about the situation.
She had texted Scorpia and Entrapta-- who were both currently hours away in Plumeria visiting Perfuma. Not even ten seconds after Adora had hit send did Scorpia call her, absolutely hysterical. Even Entrapta had sounded taken aback as she tried to calmly articulate the concerns Scorpia was struggling to get out in a coherent manner. They’re on their way, but it will be a long while before they show up.
After them, she had texted Glimmer and Bow-- who she had internally debated even saying anything to since they’re not really all that close with Catra, but she felt like it was important to let them know too anyways. Neither of them had responded though, but Adora figured it was because they’re asleep. She didn’t want to disturb them, so she just left it with the single text.
She wanted to text Lonnie, but she knew Catra would probably throw a holy fit about it. They’ve never been on the best terms with each other, but Lonnie does care about Catra. But it’s not Adora’s place to push that boundary, so she didn’t.
She texted Mermista, who also hasn’t given a response. Again, Adora figured she must be asleep, so she didn’t press it. She had no doubt in her mind Mermista would be here first thing in the morning. She’d pretend she doesn’t care, but everyone knew she was particularly fond and protective of Catra. Even if that made Adora a little jealous to think about.
All that was left was Catra’s mother.
Anger flared in Adora’s chest and she pushed herself up onto her feet, pacing up and down the rows of seats.
Briefly-- so painfully briefly-- Catra had woken up in the ambulance. She was a delirious, sobbing mess, unable to respond to either Adora or the medics’ questions or provocations as she cried, begging for her mom. Adora hadn’t seen Catra that unrestrained and inconsolable since they were little kids, not too long before her innocence was decimated by the cruelty Ms. Weaver called reality.
Adora’s heart was breaking for her dear friend. All she wanted was her mom, but the woman had vehemently refused to play that role even once in Catra’s whole life. Now, here’s Adora, counting down the minutes until her own mother will come to soothe her. She knew it wasn’t her fault, but she felt like a piece of shit for it.
Still, she hoped Angella would arrive soon.