Honestly...

Spontaneity

"Catra, are you okay?"

"Let's see; I'm dangling from my ex friend, and the lights are out, and she's making you do who-knows-what in the black garnet room." Catra sighed. "You're totally going to ruin Entrapta's things."

"How dare you make me wreck Entrapta's things! She works hard on that, you know. The least you could do after abandoning her is not letting our friendship get in the way-"

Adora had used her sword to slice open the room to the black garnet chamber, She walked through, beelining to the garnet. It was pitch black, but Catra bumped up against the gem, feeling its energy flowing outwards.

Adora finally stopped, and faced towarda the garnet, which presumedly left Catra near a wall. She reached out, but only grazed air.

"Stop here," Adora said. "I want you to conenct to the black garnet?"

"What?" Scorpia exclaimed. "I-I can't. I'm not a real princess-"

"You are important," Adora said. "You have a destiny, too. And the only way we're both getting what we want is if you do that. So-agh!"

Catra scratched Adora's back, and Adora recoiled, which allowed Catra to drop, and begin to run. But Adora was a giant sword lady after all, and she reached for her, but Catra kicked her arms, and ran. It was dark, so she hid behind the garnet.

"Catra! Catra what's happening?" Scorpia shouted. "Follow my voice!"

Catra knew that's where Adora would be, and she found herself sinking into a corner. Suddenly she felt very clausterphobic, her chest pounding. She'd never seen Adora like this, and it reminded her too much of the days she was trapped in Shadow Weaver's room, unable to escape till she did what she said.

She forced herself to breathe. This was Adora. She wasn't actually going to hurt them, right?

She thought of Scorpia's arm, and shook her head. She made her way towards the door, damn Adora being there, because it was her only way out. She didn't have a weapon, but she had her claws, and she had Scorpia. That had to be enough.

Breathe, Catra, breathe. This was only a scenario.

"There you are." She felt a sword graze her hair, but Catra quickly ducked, and kicked her legs out. She met Adora's, she thought, but she didn't fall. Of course. There was a shift. probably to reach down for her, but Catra bit...something.

"Ow!"

"Go!" Catra yelled. "Scorpia, go! I got this. I've got her."

"Are you sure?" Adora asked, her voice dangerously close. "Because if she leaves, then you lose your leverage..."

Catra was pulled back. She stifled a scream, because she felt pincers. For once, she let Scorpia scoop her up, and was about to leave when a cluster of glitter emerged. Catra put a hand on Scorpia's chest, but Scorpia didn't seem to notice; her body was towards Sparkles, who used a ball of her magic to light up the room.

Catra tensed at Adora's purple eyes.

"Adora, what was that! You just left us like that. I needed you!" She sighed. "I know you want your sword, but-woah, that garnet is reflecting off your eyes weird."

Adora looked at her, and the purpleness dimmed. "Help me subdue Catra."

"No problem." Glimmer shot her ball of magic at them, and Scorpia barely dodged. When she did, she grunted, and clutched her arm. A hand went to Glimmer's mouth. "What did you do?"

"We live in a warzone," Adora said. "I did what was necessary."

"We've never done this before," she said. "We've never almost killed people! I admit I wanted to get Catra back, but I never wanted to..."

Catra and Scorpia were inching towards the door, and that's when Adora grabbed her sword, and flung it at the wall. Scorpia responded by running, Catra in hand. They could hear her running after them, but they didn't stop. They couldn't.

...

Glimmer had no idea what was going on, especially in the dark, but whatever was wrong, she had to stop it. She focused her energy, and teleported on top of Adora. Adora squirmed. "Get off!"

"No, I want to know what's wrong!"

"I-don't..." Adora stagged, and then fell. Glimmer braced herself for impact, and when she hit the floor, she waited for Adora to move, but she didn't. She lit up the room, to find Scorpia standing over them, Adora detransformed. Quickly, Glimmer grabbed the sword, cradling it. It didn't...look corrupted, but then...what was going on?

"You stunned her," Glimmer said numbly.

"She was going to kill us."

"You're hurt," Glimmer said. "You need to apply pressure onto the wound-"

"We're got this," Catra said, but she looked over at her friend like she was seeing it for the first time. She sighed, and broke off a piece of her leggings. "Apply pressure to it," she said, and she handed it to Scorpia. "What's wrong with her?"

"Nothing!" Glimmer glanced at Adora sleeping soundly. "I don't know. She never..."

"She did," Catra said. They stood in silence for a moment, and Glimmer admitted it was a little weird not to be fighting her right now. "She wanted to end me."

"I can't believe that," Glimmer said. "She's told me about you, about your feelings. I don't think she's capable of really..." she bit her lip, hating herself to revealing such important information to a Hoard officer.

"Get her out of here," was Catra's reply, turning away. "I don't want to see her."

"Somethings wrong," Glimmer said, rolling Adora over so she'd breathe face up. "I-I think she's corrupted. If I talk to Light Hope-"

"We didn't do it this time," Catra said. "So your logic is flawed, Sparkles. Who else would corrupt her?"

"Light Hope will know."

Catra looked back and forth between Scorpia and Glimmer. Hee hands floated to her neck, where she'd been cut. It wasn't deep, so Glimmer doubted she'd need surgery, but...

Something about this didn't seem like an accident.

"Okay," she said, after a pause. "I'll go with you."

"Why?"

"Wildcat, no," Scorpia tried to get up but grunted. Adrenaline must've been wearing off. "I can't protect you."

"Go to the infirmary?" Catra said. "You'd need to anyway. And you," she turned to Glimmer. "I can tell she'll come running back here to finish whatever she started. So, let me save you the trouble and just come with you."

"She's after me, not you," Scorpia said. "She wants me to activate the black garnet."

"What..." Glimmer shook her head. "Why would she want to give the Hoard more power? We have to go, now." She turned to leave. "You coming, or..."

"I am," Catra said, and she turned to Scorpia. "Go to the infirmary. That's an order."

Scorpias mouth set into a firm line, but she nodded, and Catra called for reinforcements to come help her go. As for them, well, they couldn't be seen together not fighting. So they slipped out the back with the others, and did their best not to think about the friend they left behind.