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It was somewhere around 3 in the night; a girl was tossing around in her bed, letting out shallow and ragged breaths. "No, no no no.." she whispered, still tossing and turning. "Catra!!"
Adora woke up in the dark, sweating and disoriented. She checked her clock to find it was precisely 3:32 am. It was just a nightmare. She got up and went to the bathroom to wash the sweat off her face and then went back to sleep.
Morning arrived too early in the form of a beeping alarm clock, and the racket caused by her housemates getting ready for work, something she should do as well. It had been exactly 1 year since her childhood friend Catra sacrificed herself and got taken by vampires. For Adora this was a traumatic experience that still causes her nightmares frequently. This, in turn always left her feeling exhausted and made an already long workday feel even more insufferable than usual, but she needed the money.
"Adora mind emptying the dishwasher before you leave?" Glimmer asked with a sparkly voice.
"I got it covered!" Adora replied with a fake cheerful tone.
"Okay that's wonderful, bye!" Was the last thing she heard before she heard the front door shut. Adora took this as a sign to get up and started getting ready for her day. She went to the kitchen to eat first, emptying the dishwasher after and then cleaning herself up for what would be a very rough day.
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Adora doesn't have the coolest job, far from it, in fact. She works as a taxi driver, it's not something she enjoys doing, but the hours are flexible and the pay is okay. Her days tend to blur by most of the time, it's just pick up and drop off, repeating on and on. Until it's 7pm and she is dropping off her last client for the day, a creepy-looking man with 4 green eyes. She was eager to drive as far away from him as possible and hopefully never have to see him again. As she was putting her home address in the GPS since she wasn't familiar with this part of the area, when suddenly a bloody trail leading into the alleyway caught her eye. She started breathing faster, reminding her of the horrible scream, the empty funeral casket. A part of her body wanted her to freeze up and stay where she was, but another forced her out of her car, leading her into a dark alley filled with nasty puddles. The blood trail got denser and wetter as she tracked down the source, finding a small, curled-up figure lying in it. For a few moments she stood still, unable to move.
Then the figure groaned, snapping Adora out of her paralyzed state and rushing forward.
"Hey! Can you hear me!?" She yells as she gently shakes the person. When that doesn't get a response, she turns them over, seeing a gaping wound and a pale face, fur matted with blood and 2 ears, a magicat. She pulls her phone out to call an ambulance before a hand grabs her, and she hears the word "don't" coming from the figure staring at her with red eyes, a vampire, a very familiar-looking one.
"Catra.. is that you?" Adora asks with a shaky voice. But there was no response, she was already out of it again. With no choice left, she picked up her friend who should've been dead to her car. The blood would be a pain to clean up, but that was an issue for future Adora. "You're gonna be okay, Catra, you're safe now."
When she woke up, the first thing she registered was the immense amount of pain she was in, she didn't know where she was or what had happened. All she knew was that she was miraculously alive, although she wasn't sure if that's what she wanted to be right now. Second, she noticed how she was lying on what seemed like a soft mattress in a room, that had Catra worried. Where was she, and was she truly safe? She was still extremely weak and drained though, and she passed out before any of her questions could get answered.
Now Adora had a major problem, she brought home her friend, who is now a severely injured and potentially bloodthirsty vampire. Bow and Glimmer could be home any minute, and she didn't know what she was supposed to say when they did. Although they are very kind and supportive, saying "hey guys, I brought home my childhood friend who was supposed to be dead but is actually a vampire" didn't seem like an option. She decided the best thing she could do now was wait for Catra to wake up and keep her mouth shut until then.
Less than 30 minutes later, just as she expected, her friends barged into the house. "Hey Adora, we brought takeout with us. How was your day?" Glimmer asks.
"Fine, you know nothing interesting like usual, everything was veryyy normal," Adora said with an awkward-looking smile. Both Adora and Glimmer gave her a slightly suspicious look, but chose not to address it and instead made the table ready, so they could all eat. Adora got off the table as soon as she could so she could check up on her patient. She made up an excuse to not spend time with the others so she could watch over Catra for the night. A few hours later she managed to fall asleep in the sleeping bag she laid out.
When Catra woke up again, her head felt much clearer. She noticed the sound of someone snoring and tried to get out of the unfamiliar bed, but she fell down with a loud 'thud' like a newborn calf trying to stand for the first time. It was dark outside, she must have been out for a day.
"Catra?" A familiar voice spoke. She wanted to get away, but she could barely stand right now, let alone run. When the person in front of her got up and turned on the light, she hissed, before fully realizing who was standing in front of her. It was Adora. "Adora, what are you doing here? Is this your house?" Catra asked in a defensive manner. Adora instead turned the question around, asking: "Catra, what do you remember?" She refused to answer.
"I found you hurt in an alleyway and brought you back home, Catra, I need answers. Who hurt you? Why did you never come to find me if you were alive? I could've protected you." Adora whispered with tears in her eyes. Catra let her ears droop at the sound of her childhood best friend's tears; she couldn't bring herself to reply. Adora decided to step forward and gently bring Catra into her arms, hugging her with all her might. "I missed you."
"I missed you too."