Codependency

Part 15 // Go home, goober!

(Did anyone else watch hojack borseman)

Adora sat miserably on Glimmer's bed. It hovered many feet off the ground, letting Adora have a unique view of the massive room. The large space made her feel nervous, made her ache for a more cozy room. A one bed, one bathroom room.
The way that her friends kept making secret faces at one another was beginning to infuriate Adora. It was like they didn't know what to do for her in her violent, jumpy state. Adora knew, though. She knew she had to at least try to convince Catra one last time to join her in Brightmoon. If that failed, maybe she would just go back to the Horde. She felt that desperate, anyway.

Come home.
Catra's murmur buzzed in her mind.
You don't know what to do without me.

"Stop it." Adora thumped her fist against her leg to jolt herself into the present.

"Adora?" Glimmer, who was walking into the room with a tray full of pastry snacks, stared questioningly at her friend. "Did you say something?"

"She's been muttering nonstop." Bow said concernedly, as he had been sitting on the floor well below Adora, listening to her confused mumbling. "It's always about..."

Another secret look.
Adora stared between her two friends venomously as Glimmer set the tray on a side table.
Glimmer put a hand on Bow's arm and vanished, only to appear in a woosh of dazzling light at Adora's side. The three friends huddled on the plush bed, staring between one another with concerned gazes.

"I'm fine." Adora told them finally.

"You're having, like, daymares about Catra..." Bow pointed out anxiously, making a small gesture with his hand.

"You won't sleep, you won't eat, and you're..." Glimmer sounded like she had to force herself to calm down, as she didn't want Adora to feel like she was being scolded.

"Violent?" Adora snapped, but immediately regretted her tone. "I'm sorry."

Stop looking at eachother, I can see you! Adora glowered at her friends as they exchanged worried glances.
Catra would just tell me what she wanted me to do. I would do it, or I'd get disciplined. Thats's orderly. That's structure.

The tiptoeing around her feelings like she needed to be therapized was driving Adora absolutely ballistic. The Rebellion had little to no organization. They took too many days off to goof around. Any day, Catra might come storming into Brightmoon to definitely murder all of her friends. Adora had to find a way to shake her friends off long enough to find Catra, or get a message through to her. The best option seemed shaky, but Adora thought she should at least try it.

"I'm going to the temple to train with Lighthope." Adora told her friends briskly.

Glimmer looked uncertain.
"Are you sure that's a good idea? Would you like one of us to-"

"No! I mean- Lighthope doesn't permit outsiders to attend training. Except Swiftwind... sometimes." Her memory flashed to a time she and Catra had been trapped in a crumbling, maze-like temple with Lighthope's security protocol tormenting them every step of their attempted escape.

"But if you go alone," Bow tried gently, "Just... there might be Horde soldiers in the Woods right now, seeing how much territory we've lost to them this month."

Adora crossed her arms.
"I'll take the sword, okay? I'll transform into She-ra if I run into any trouble. She-ra can blow away tanks with just air."
It was a bold-faced lie; Adora had no intentions of using She-ra again.

Bow and Glimmer seemed to hesitate for a long moment before visibly relaxing. It was clear that they wouldn't stop Adora if she promised to start using She-ra again. They missed She-ra, and they had already tried to convince Adora not to be afraid of being her. Each time, Adora would brush them off, saying she wouldn't do it. She didn't say the reason, though. Adora did not tell them that Catra would hate her, therefore she couldn't do it.