Hardships

The Words Left Unsaid

Adora's POV:

Its been a couple of weeks since Glimmer has interrogated Catra and we still havent gotten information on the Horde's plans. Nor have I heard about Catra nor her conditon. If Glimmer really kept her word or did she hurt her. Glimmer mustve kept her word. She isn't cruel. She's nice. I know she kept her word. What am I talking about.

But I need to see for myself. So here I am climbing into Catra's room through the window. I pulled myself up the window sill before throwing my leg over it before I lost my balance and tumbled inside of the room, hitting the floor with a loud thud. "Gah! Ow!", I whimper rubbing my head. I hear familiar raspy chuckling and whirl around only to see Catra, her tail wagging and she looked exhausted.

"Catra? Why are you awake?", I ask walking over to her stopping in front of her, scared to get into her personal space. Catra chuckles and says, "Cant sleep, you know the weight of all the souls of the innocents that I killed keeping me awake at night". My brows furrow and I sigh looking at my ex-bestfriend before getting a good look at her face. She had bags under her eyes, that were worse than mine. Her hair was spiked up and messy. She looked like the literal definition of death. "Jesus, what the hell happened to you Catra? Was it Glimmer? Or her guards?".

Catra chuckles dryly and says flatly, "Nah, your Sparkly queen has been treating me well. So have the guards. You know, with all of you being noble and all that". I sigh and come closer to her, gasping when I realized that she didnt have her headdress. "Did they take your Headdress?! Oh jeez how are you pulling it together?", I ask jokingly trying to ease up the tension. Catra scoffs and says under her breath, "Im barely keeping it together princess". My eyes soften and I put a hand on her back and saying, "Whats up? You dont seem the same".

Catra sighs and says gravelly , "I havent been the same for a while Adora. Not since you left. Or you know when I became a monster". I sigh and rub her back saying, "You're not a monster". Catra raises a brow and looks at me, not believing a word I said. I pout and say softly, "Ok maybe a tiny itty bitty monster. But! BUT I know that you're a good person". Catra shrugs off my hand off her back and says harshly, "You dont know me Adora. You dont know the things I do or did. Who I am as a person. I changed. You changed. Thats how life is".

I sigh hearing the aggression in her words as she said them and said, "Maybe, but you arent this super bad villain. You helped me once. You helped me get away from Shadow Weaver. Right?". Catra groans and says frustratedly , "I did, but I committed crimes worthy of the death penalty. I shouldnt be held prisoner here Adora, I-I should be in the ground. I hurt you. I hurt all of Etheria. I hurt the people who cared or who I thought cared about me. Scorpia. Entrapta. You". I watched as her ears flattened against her head and thats when I realized something. My eyes widened at the realization, "You wanted to die. Didnt you?". Catra's ears only flattened more against her head and her tail wrapped around her feet as she turned away from me.

I grab her by the chin and make her face me, tears brimming my eyes and I yell frustratedly, "no! NO! Why would you want that? You cant just give up when shit goes AWOL Catra!". Catra growls and says lowly, "AWOL?! Everything. EVERYTHING I HAVE EVER DONE WAS FOR NOTHING. I mean fuck. I took the blame for so much of your shit. Took the fucking punishments too. And when I try to even get my shit together I always lose. I get betrayed. Used. Abandoned. DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT FUCKING DOES TO A PERSON?! I've spent months on months trying to fucking tear you and your friends down and you wanna save me when I almost get what I deserved? ITS NOT FAIR ADORA! The one thing that I couldnt fail at possibly, I do. So whats the fucking point?!". Catra was shaking, her chest heaving at this point and her eyes didnt show any type of emotion as she looked up at me and asked softly, "Whats the point Adora?".

I grab her by the shoulders and say, "Listen to me. Im sorry. I-I never wanted to hurt you". Tears started to brim my eyes and she wanted to say something but I cut her off, "Just listen. Dont say anything. I had to leave Catra. I couldn't just stay and watch as the Horde murdered innocent people. I didnt have a choice. I wanted you to come with me. So we could do good. I never wanted to turn you into this. All of this self-hatred and pity, I never wanted you to go through it all. But choosing death isnt at all worth it. Think of all the people that care about you. Think about me. I dont know what I would do if I lost you Catra". Catra scoffs and says, "But you already did, didnt you? Im not the same Catra that you knew before Adora. And all of this, you talking about caring about me. This pity. I dont fucking need it. Now GET OUT!". My eyes widened when she smacked my hands off her shoulders.

"Catra, I-". Catra growls and barks, "what?! Are you fucking stupid? GO! LEAVE LIKE YOU ALWAYS DO!", tears fell from my eyes as I saw the anger and pain in her different colored eyes. I heard footsteps and the door opening and gasped. "Adora! I told you not to talk to her!", Glimmer yells as she grabs my hand and drags me out. I turn around and see a smirk on Catra's face, before she hissed and waved, "Bye bye Adora~". I was escorted back to my room by Glimmer and sat down for an hour long lecture. Well not really, but it felt like it.

"Are you okay Adora?", Bow asks as he places a hand on my shoulder. I shake my head and say, "She really hates me. Like really really hates me. And I mean I dont blame her, I left her when she needed me most". My eyes widened and I looked at my hands and gasped, "I-I left her". Glimmer sighs and says, "She doesnt hate you Adora, shes just hurt. Plus shes in solitary so she might be going a bit insane with the thoughts in her head". I sigh and look up at my friends with teary eyes and ask, "H-How do you know?". Glimmer scoffs and says, "Shes in denial of her true self. All the shit she's been through has made her hide behind this facade. And dont get me wrong, I dont like her nor do I trust her. But I know down deep inside of her, like deep DEEEPPPP inside of her". I clear my throat and Bow sighs before Glimmer chuckles nervously before saying, "Shes a good person. She just needs her redemption right? So Im going to send her on a mission to help the people of Thaymor reconstruct their town after the portal fiasco. You and Bow will be sent to watch her".

My eyes widen and I groan, "Wait why do Bow and I gave to watch her?". Bow nods in approval and says, "Yeah Glimmer, why do we have to watch her and not you?". Glimmer sighs and lays down on her bed and says, "I have several meetings with the councilmen and woman in Mystacor regarding our fellow prisoner that lasts all week. So I cant. Plus, you'll all have some time to catch up and you know... have some quality time". I watch as Glimmer sends Bow a wink and his mouth opens in an 'O' shape and he nods and says, "Yeah, ok I have no problem. It'll be fun, right Adora?". I raise a brow and say, "Yeah, fun". Before laying down on my own bed along with Glimmer and Bow copies my actions.

We all cuddle up and soon Glimmer and Bow are asleep. I sigh and close my eyes, Catra's words circling in my mind. 'Leave like you always do' 'I should be in the ground' 'Im a monster'. I sigh and clench my eyes closed, failing to keep the tears from falling. And soon I was crying myself to sleep. You're not a monster Catra. You could never be a monster. You're my bestfriend. And I-I care for you. Im sorry.

To be continued...