Life Beyond The Horde

I'm Coming Home

Adora woke up with a gasp... at least, she tried to gasp. The noise that emitted from her throat sounded more like a strangled wheeze more than anything, and it felt the same way too. She didn't even bother trying to call out for help, already knowing that the feat would be useless and far too painful, just breathing hurt like hell.

She struggled to pull herself up, her arms wrapped protectively around her chest as she crawled over to a fallen stump for support, biting back yelps of pain with each move she made.

Everything hurt, and it took a few moments of harsh, ragged breathing for Adora to recompose herself just enough to take in her surroundings. It was obvious that she was in the Whispering Woods, vaguely remembering running in there to save her own skin, but the reason was a bit fuzzy, much like most of her thoughts at the moment. All she knew was that she was hurt, with cuts and bruises littered across her body with no real knowledge of why.

The last thing she remembered doing was walking on the outskirts of the village, planning to go visit Swift Wind... but something stopped her... something hurt her. Adora couldn't exactly remember there being a fight, but by the state she was in, it was pretty clear she'd lost. To who exactly remained a mystery, something that she wasn't exactly focused on finding out. The blond was more concerned about getting out of the woods and finding help.

She had no clue what time it was or how long she was unconscious (or why) so her plans to accompany Glimmer to the bakery again were out of the question. It was already late, the sun slowly slipping behind the trees and a cold chill settling in the air around her, so Adora could only assume that her friends had already realized her absences and begun searching for her...

If they even knew where she was...

It wasn't like a lot of people ran into the Whispering Woods for safety... the Whispering Woods was the exact opposite of safe, monsters and shadows lurking around every corner, ready to attack injured and unsuspecting trespassers. Besides, she couldn't protect herself, pretty sure that she'd dropped her sword upon her escape from the village as the weapon was nowhere to be found around her.

Of course, Adora knew the logical thing to do was stay where she was and hope that someone would find her and get her back to Bright Moon, knowing full and well that Glimmer and Bow would have a search party out for her by now. But logic wasn't really an option now, all the blonde really wanted to do was go home... get help, find her sword and try to remember why she was so injured with no memory of what happened.

She needed to know what happened.

She hated not knowing what happened to her.

"I need to go home," Adora muttered weakly, struggling and whimpering as she forced herself up to her feet, failing to hold back cries of pain as she clutched her side again, tears slowly running down her cheeks. The pain refused to subside, so all she could do was power through and hope she could get herself out of the woods alive. "I need to go home," she muttered again.

Adora wasn't even sure how far she'd gotten before her knees finally buckled and she fell to the brush and bramble of the forest, gasping and curling up in pain. Clearly, her injuries were a bit more severe that she'd originally thought and she knew that she was going to need help... and soon. Slowly, Adora broke down in tears, once again lying on the cold hard floor of the Whispering Woods.

"Glimmer..." she called out, her voice far too soft for anyone to really hear.

*But nobody came...

"Bow?".

*But nobody came...

Adora couldn't hold back a small sob anymore.

"I- I need help...".