She-Ra fics (2018)

Idiot, traitor or just plain stupid? P4/12

Doing patrol one night, the last person Glimmer expected to see was a certain magicat hiding amongst the shadows of the castle.

~~~

Adora and Catra talk civilly for the first time in several months. It goes as well as you expected.

~~~

Neither spoke for what felt like a lifetime. Catra didn't break eye contact, fearing if she blinked, Adora would snap out of her daze and run her through with the sword. Obviously, Catra would give as good as she got, but her broken ribs provided a slight... hindrance to her usual speed and agility.

Adora's eyes narrowed from where she stood, relying a bit too heavily on the wooden table. She stared for a few seconds, almost as if she was unsure of what she was seeing. Catra debated talking or moving or... doing anything, but she ignored it. If there was anything she'd learned as a kid, it was when Adora was sick or hurt, her patience was that much thinner. She was far less likely to pull her punches with other things on her mind.

One particular instance came to mind.

Catra was fourteen, Adora fifteen. They'd been run ragged nonstop for over two weeks, barely getting six hours of sleep a night. It was a test, of course. To see who could last the longest without passing out from lack of anything. Kyle, of course, had been the first to go... at least in their squadron. A lot of the younger cadets dropped first; those under ten really. It wasn't a surprise, but it still bothered Catra.

Next had been Lonnie. Though that wasn't technically her fault. The idea was any of those who had fallen out of the test turned into the enemy, into Princesses. Because of that, the "Princesses" knew weaknesses that ordinary Princesses wouldn't. So when Octavia (because Force Captains didn't partake for longer than a week due to other duties) knew to target Lonnie's weak ankle, she took the chance.

Outside of the test, it was highly unlikely that the Rebellion knew about it.
But, nothing is fair in the Horde. A lesson hard learned.

Because Lonnie and Kyle were gone, the next to fall was Rogelio. Lonnie and Kyle were the only ones to understand and translate him, so when he'd roared for help, nobody came to his aide.

Catra and Adora took it in shifts to sleep and watch; because cats were more nocturnal than humans, Catra would take the night shift, while Adora took the day shifts. On the Monday, they'd been woken from a mutual rest with a screeching alarm bell after only three hours of sleep. On the Tuesday, Adora slipped. Her ankle cracked loudly, swiftly followed by a red face as she bit back the pain. On the Thursday, Catra took note of just how swollen Adora's ankle was. Coupled with the purple markings and thickness of bruising, she'd concluded a sprain, or the more likely option, broken.

On the Friday, Adora lost her temper with an older Force Captain. Catra ended up pulling her away, somewhat scared. Adora, with one right hook and roundhouse kick, put the Captain on his ass, unconscious.

Catra desperately tried not to stroke the fire of Adora's simmering temper since then. Not enough for her to stop pulling her punches.

So, she stayed still.

Adora finally sighed, shoulders falling. She rubbed her eyes, hissing. Whether in pain, annoyance, anger or what, Catra couldn't tell. She glanced at the blue bottle Sparkles gave her. "Must've had too many," She mumbled. Catra darted behind the curtain, taking the moment by the throat. Adora obviously realised the lack of one cat, judging by the heavy sigh. "I'm in too much pain for this,"

The bathroom door shut, and Catra slid down the wall.

~

Catra waited until after Adora had napped before she made her appearance. Usually, the blonde was much more reasonable after she'd slept or eaten something. And, despite loving the cat and mouse thing they always had going on, Catra didn't have enough in her to fight an angry, in pain, sleep-deprived She-Ra with broken ribs.