Hero (english version)

Chapter 10

Stunned. Perhaps that's the word that best defines me right now. The pain in my right shoulder intensifies as I resist de tight leather straps that keep me still. The dark garnet chamber is presented to me differently from this perspective. For me it was always a place I shouldn't go in. That's all.

Today, I find it a perfect torture chamber.

I never thought Shadow Weaver would be able to get this far. I was always her favourite, and Catra was always mine. I thought that, after all these years, she would respect that. I obeyed her, and she let Catra stay. I'll never understand why she hated her so deeply. How is it possible not to like her? How is it possible... that she's gone? The Island of the Beasts... I close my eyes. She won't survive. Maybe she's already...

I try to untie myself again, despite knowing my chances of achieving it are close to 0%. However, I do, but not with the intention of freeing myself. I just feel the pain in my injured shoulder over and over again. Maybe that will distract me from the emotional pain.

"Are you really trying to resist?" She laughs.

I stop. No tears run down my cheek. No voice is heard in my head. Not the slightest heroic feeling haunts my mind. All that's left is pain.

She stands before me. "Relax."

I don't look up. What for? I wouldn't see anything intimidating in her. My gaze is empty. Inert. I just want to... quit.

"Say goodbye to the Adora you are today," she advises me.

"Until never," is what I think. I've never liked the Adora that I've been. None of my versions. I drop my head back, on the cold metal structure to which the straps hold me together. And I close my eyes. My hair falls down my back. "I want to disappear."

"Very well," she continues. "Don't say anything, Adora."

I open my eyes to watch her close her fist, just raising her index and heart fingers, with the help of which she draws a rune in the air. Her fingers dance until she creates the perfect spell. I don't know what she's up to. And I don't care. Therefore, when a ring of light is created as red as garnet, I feel no fear. I really don't feel anything. I put my head back, closing my eyes again. I give up my strength, my struggle, and my soul. I abandon myself, until my tears begin to flow as I wear a heartrending smile. "I know what we are," I tell myself, as if she could hear me. Her face takes over my mind. Her eyes were always the most beautiful I have ever seen. The way she shows her fans when she smiles. The way her ears droop in sadness and stretch in surprise. Her laugh.

I smile. I've never thought it possible to shed so many tears of pain while making such a big smile. "I know what I feel," I insist.

And when I open my eyes, when that ring of light pierces me completely, I think I see her. I don't know if she's real or not. Two soldiers hold her, at the end of the room, behind the sorceress. She is crying. I'm not able to hear her words, but I think I read a desperate "No!" leave her lips. She pulls with all her might, as she tries to get away and runs towards me. She's trying to save me. She is a heroine. I gave up, and now she's struggling to rescue this ruined spirit-wounded being.

"Whether you succeed or not, you will always be my heroine," is what I'm dying to say. I'm dying to tell you so many things... However, it all happens in a second. I think I only observe her for a tiny moment, while my thoughts fly to the question she asked me, what feels like ages ago.

"What are we, Adora?"

I smile. Now I know. That's why, when my absent gaze meets hers, my lips are uttering this response to her distant words.

"I'm in love with you."