Forever Fallen (Catra x OC She-Ra Fanfic)

34. Begging

Harley groaned in pain, rolling on her side as she stretched her back. She had been in and out of sleep for the past five hours and even though Catra's calming presence was beside her the whole time, she was still inundated with nightmares and memories and propositions.

"Shh, it's OK." Catra assured her, pressing her lips to Harley's sweating forehead and running her hand up and down her back.

"Why'd you say those things?" Harley asked, eyes fluttered shut and shivering.

"Huh?" Catra wondered, pulling away to look at Harley's glimmering eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Just before. To Adora. About the fail safe... And Shadow Weaver."

Catra sighed dejectedly, eyes downcast and gaze flicking to the pillow beneath her head. "I got angry. I shouldn't have said those things."

Harley nodded feebly, her head too heavy to move. Since being ushered to sleep by Catra and Adora she'd gotten tremendously weaker, her shoulders becoming more cumbersome than before and her bones creaking and aching without even moving.

"I told Adora, by the way." Catra spoke up again and for a moment, Harley wasn't sure what she was referring to but then it clicked in her head. "When you were asleep earlier."

"And?" Harley wondered, curious eyes lifting to Catra's sharp, beautiful features.

"She was upset... But I don't think she wanted to show it. She was upset that Shadow Weaver had done those things to her and lied to her... But I think she stopped caring after that."

"...I'm so sorry, Catra... I-- I'll be here." She assured her, lifting one hand forwards for no longer a moment before it fell heavily back onto the mattress, the tips of her fingers skating over Catra's bare, toned stomach.

"It's all right. So long as you don't leave, I'll be happy." She smiled widely and Harley nodded in agreement.

"Now you better not threaten to leave again, hey?" She laughed, the sounds grating harshly against her throat and she coughed weakly again. Catra frowned.

"Yeah, I won't. I promise."

"I'll get the Firestone working." Harley assured her and Catra's frown deepened.

"No. You tried using it before but that clearly didn't work and I don't want you getting even more injured. We'll figure something else out. The Princesses are leaving for Mystacor later, you and I can just rest. We'll play a game or we can talk -- I like talking to you -- or we could just sit in silence, I don't mind. Just don't hurt yourself, OK?" Catra's hand found Harley's elbow and the girl nodded. "You've told me about Hannah and Lou before... How did you guys meet?"

"In school." Harley declared abruptly but earned a glare from Catra and she chuckled lightly, sickly, "I'd known Hannah for a while but Lou wasn't really... I guess, favoured back in school. She'd always be causing some kind of ruckus or cracking jokes -- mostly to Hannah -- and no one really liked her. It wasn't until we were all assigned to a group project back in Year 8 that we really started to get to know her. No one understood why we all hung out together. I was the quiet kid with straight A's who wasn't actually straight, Hannah was a people person who was was head of the student council for every year level and Lou was a lazy, loud-mouthed 'delinquent' who never wore correct school uniform. But when we met Lou, it wasn't just Hannah and I anymore. We had so many new, cool friends... I'm sad I stopped seeing them towards the end of it..."

"Who were they?" Catra pressed her, curiosity twitching her ears.

"Uh... We had a friend called Sam and another called Pierre, he was a French exchange and they were the only sporty ones in our group. We also had Rose, who was a" Harley smirked and she continued her next words in a thick, southern American drawl. "country bumpkin -- not really, she lived in fucking East Gippsland until she was like six, but anywhere without a 7 Eleven counts as the countryside in Melbourne -- but she was cool."