I'm Not Losing You

Chapter 4: Tell me a story

                                                                                          Adora

I awoke in a bright white room with nothing in it but a very odd woman. She wore a plum purple gown that swung loosely around her feet and had a crossed neckline with a silver sort of neck armor connecting the front and back.  A sharp metal crown adorned her black hair, which was piled high atop her head. Her knees were crossed, and she wore a sly grin on her face that made my stomach turn.

My head spun and I felt like heaving, but as I leaned back on the cold wall behind me, everything came back to me at once. I snapped open my eyes and rushed towards the woman, only to be wrenched back by some sort of chain connected to my wrists. "Catra!" I screamed, not even caring about my shackles. "Is she okay? What's going on? Where is she?" My heart hammered in my chest and my breath caught in my through as I recalled the last time I saw her, her bloody body, limp and still strapped into her seat.

"Poor girl," the woman said, without losing her sickening grin. "You've had quite a day, haven't you?" She noticed my eyes travel down to the cold metal contraption encircling my wrists. "Oh, that," she said, "will keep you from transforming. You won't be able to do any magic as long as you're stuck in it."

My eyebrows knitted in confusion, my mental fog from being unconscious still not gone. "What? Who are you? Where am I?"

"You certainly are going to get annoyed quickly, won't you?" the woman quipped with a roll of her eyes. "So many questions. To begin with, my name is Astra, and you are on Zorra, the planet where us remaining First Ones reside."

My mouth fell open in shock as a million queries bounced inside my head. "Close your mouth, girl. You look like a gaping idiot," she snapped, standing up from the chair and walking over to a door on the other side of the room.

"Wait!" I cried, desperate to find out any more information about what had happened before she left. "I have to get back to Catra! Why am I here? Why are you keeping me?"

Astra looked over her shoulder at me, shackled and desperately begging for answers. "You, Adora," she announced, "are the Key to everything." Then she turned her head, and exited the room, leaving me alone in the stark white room with nothing in it but an empty chair I couldn't even reach. It was only after Astra left that I realized I had never told her my name.

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I mulled over Astra's words again and again, but no matter how many times I replayed what had happened, I couldn't make sense of anything she said. Why was I chained up on a planet of my own people? And out of all the worlds I could have landed on, why did I happen to crash into the only one with First Ones? But her final words to me were the most chilling. What did she mean I was "The Key?" The remark twisted my stomach with a horrible feeling of dread. But underneath all my newfound confusion was a burning feeling that I had to get out. I had to find Catra. I yanked at my chains but they were bolted firmly into the floor.

Tears threatened to escape my eyes as the helplessness of my situation dawned on me. I reached out my hand and tried to conjure my sword, hoping in vain that her threats about my shackles were empty, but I grasped nothing but air. I pulled my knees close to myself as the image of Catra's limp body bashed and bloodied in the pod repeated itself again and again in my head. I had no idea if she was still unconscious, if she would ever be okay, or even if she was...gone. The walls of my immaculately white cage seemed to close in on me and I tried to reassure myself, that somehow everything could be okay again, but the thought was so impossible I almost laughed...Almost. My breaths came in quicker and quicker gasps and my lungs felt like they were shrinking. Stop, I told myself. If I panic, my possibility of escaping this place goes down. I have to stay calm. I tried to bury my rising terror by pressing my back against the cool wall behind me and letting the waves of fear slowly ripple away.

Step one, take note of surroundings. First, I noted the scab on my arm and reasoned that I must have been shot with a tranquilizer when I was captured. I looked all around the room as I attempted to steady my breaths. My eyes wandered to the door across the room, but my chains enabled me to walk less than halfway across the floor. The chair Astra had been sitting on was out of reach as well, so I settled back onto the hard floor. To my left was a toilet and to my right was a slot in the wall I assumed I'd be receiving food and water from. I sighed, realizing Astra, or whoever was above her, probably wasn't planning on letting me out of here for a long time. I sat in the room for what seemed like days but what was actually probably only a couple of hours until the door opened again. My head snapped up, as I prepared for another unnerving meeting with Astra, so my eyes widened when I saw who stepped into the room.

A little girl, no older than seven or eight skipped in and kicked the door shut behind her. She had brown skin a little darker than Astras, and large almond-brown eyes that appeared to never forget a single detail. She had waist-length ebony hair braided simply into two plaits that swung behind her back and she wore a pale sapphire-blue dress with a high waistline and long draping sleeves. Across her forehead was a simple headdress with a string of jewels that hung down her face. She skipped over to the chair while staring at me in my disheveled state and scrambling up on the seat. "Hi!" She said, her voice bold and clear.

"Hi..." I said, unsure of who this strange girl was, or if this was some sort of trick. "I'm Adora. I'm...a First One."

The girl laughed and swung her legs, kicking the chair as if she couldn't sit still for the life of her. "Duh. We're all First Ones. I'm Nova. I'm eight. And I can do whatever I want!" She leaned towards me and waited for me to respond.

"Oh! That's cool," I said, unsure of what I should say.

"Tell me a story!" Nova said, already seeming bored with our minute-long conversation. "Prisoners always tell the best stories."

"Okay, sure," I smiled. I didn't know how, but I was sure I could gain more information if I kept Nova entertained. "What kind of stories do you like?"

Nova's eyes widened in excitement. "Well, my mom used to tell me lots of stories about pirates," she said, mimicking a hook with her hand and shutting one eye as if to act out an eyepatch.

"Okay! I love pirates too," I exclaimed, sure to put the energy into my voice to keep her attention. I recalled my adventures with Seahawk, relaying them with a touch of added drama. I pantomimed as much of the story as I could with my hands chained up, as I spoke of great monsters of the deep, huge flaming ships, and tales of singing pirates. Nova ate up every word, her eyes wide and focused, leaning forward as if she could lean into my tales.

"Wow," Nova gasped when I recalled all I could of my ocean adventures with the pirate. "That was awesome!" Something on Nova's wrist suddenly beeped, the noise echoing around the empty room. Nova nearly fell off the chair and ran to the door. "Sorry! I gotta go now! Auntie's gonna make me do laws." When she reached the door, she turned her head back, and ran towards the chair again, shoving it closer to me. "You can have the chair now. I'll see you tomorrow. Tell me more stories! I hope the other prisoner's stories are as good as yours, whenever she arrives. Bye!" At that she ran out of the room, the door slamming clumsily behind her.

The other prisoner. Could it be her? I felt my heart skip a beat. If it was Catra, then she was alive! But it would also mean we'd both be captured. I didn't know what to hope for so I focused on the interaction I just had with Nova. I knew I had to try to find out more information from her the next time I saw her.

The long day pressed down on me, and I felt my head droop as the two conversations echoed in my head while I drifted off to sleep. The Key. The other prisoner. The Key. The other prisoner. The Key. The Key to everything.