Codependency

Part 6 // I want you to hurt.

Adora's head pounded as Catra's words slithered around her brain over and over. In the time it took for Catra to retrieve the food bars and come back, Adora had thought of the words "Bow" and "Sparkles" about umpteen times. She didn't know why, but she needed to figure out what that meant. Those people had to be the key to understanding what was going on.

Catra was unreadable as she entered the room and tossed a grey bar to Adora. Only her twitching tail gave away her sadistic excitement. Adora chewed unhappily on the food that should have been familiar to her, and now made her stomach churn.

From the edge of the cot, Adora anxiously sat and stared at the wall just beyond Catra's feet.

"You're right not to look right at me." Catra's voice said cruelly. "You're beneath me, not only are you not a force captain, you're a prisone-"

"Is this what you choose to do on your day off?" Adora's throat tightened in anger. She set the half eaten bar on a stand. "Does it make you feel better to torture someone while they have no idea what's going on?"

Catra's eyes narrowed to slits. Adora blinked, worried she'd set Catra off again. The girl just barked out a sudden laugh and shoved Adora playfully.

"Oh my God, Adora. You are so pitiful."

Adora felt her ears burn in indignation. "E-excuse me?" She snapped, righting herself from the push.

Catra crossed her arms and grinned down at Adora with all her teeth.

"Poor you. No friends. No one to be nice to you." Catra mocked, her voice dripping with venom. "You can't take that, and you ever thought you were better than me?"

"I NEVER thought I was better than you!" Adora cried out, her face falling in anger and sadness. "All I ever wanted-"

Catra interrupted her with a hiss.

"Yeah, yeah. That's not why you left me, I'm sure. You didn't leave me because I couldn't give you enough. You didn't leave me because those princesses had shiner, sparklier, magical things that I didn't have." Her voice was bitter. Her fangs formed into a grimace.

"Catra, do you even realize that I have no idea what you're talking about? I don't remember ever leaving!" Adora pleaded. She wondered if Catra would just throw all reason out the window.

Catra smiled suddenly. "That's my doing." She said, ignoring Adora's pleas to understand. "But it wasn't just the princesses I wanted you to forget. I knew you'd remember them eventually." The cat took a pace towards Adora, who leaned back instinctively.

"It was She-Ra I wanted you to forget." Catra looked delighted to finally be revealing her plan... which only left Adora with more questions.

"Who the... who?" Adora blinked slowly.

Catra leaned closer to Adora, who couldn't lean back any further unless she wanted to be laying down.

"Your stupid fucking princess alter ego." Catra spat. "You played dress up with a sword; you got in my way. But now that you don't remember how to be She-Ra, I can overpower you."

Adora flinched at the word "overpower".

"That's really messed up..." Adora tried. "I still don't get why you and I would be fighting."

Catra poked Adora on the forehead, closing the gap between them. Adora could feel Catra's breath on her face as she spoke.

"Me neither. I'll never understand why YOU did this to us."

Adora felt her throat tighten again. Some kind of confusing guilt gnawed at her insides as she stared up at her friend.

"Catra..." she tried, "I just don't know what you want from me. You know you're being-"