Codependency

Part 3 // Not a nightmare

      Adora felt like she should wake up. Waking up felt like the right thing to do, and the sharp poking at her arm seemed to agree, but... Everything hurts, Her brain managed groggily. Maybe if she sunk back into a deeper sleep, the pain would ease away. She flicked her aching shoulder at whatever was poking it before letting peace flood over her again.

A second later, the poking was back. It was more urgent, and accompanied by a murmur. Irritated, Adora forced herself awake enough to groan and swat at the annoying thing, and felt the tips of her fingers smack against skin and fuzz. She wondered, in the back of her mind, why everything hurt so much. Had it something to do with whoever was trying to wake her up?

"Adora..."
She tried to think back to the last thing she'd remembered before falling asleep. She'd had a dream, or maybe it was real?
"She may need more time. She got hurt pretty bad..."
Something about a battle, or the Whispering woods. Smoke, traps, fighting?
"She needs to get up now! I have to see if she'll recover."
That's right, she was on a mission. She was camped out in the Whispering Woods, looking for something important.
"You've waited this long to have her, it wouldn't hurt to give her just a bit more time..."
Something that would bring her a step closer to saving Etheria. Her friends had been with her, but... Did they ever find what they'd been searching for? She didn't remember anything past...
"Enough. She's got to get up, right now!"
Rough claws poked at her her sore arm as hands wrapped around her shoulder, shaking her vigorously. Adora was up in an instant, alert to the new threat. Glowing heterochromatic eyes stared back at her. Adora shrieked and started to throw Catra off, but Catra held her fast, pinning her arms to her sides.
"Woah, Adora! Calm down!" Catra ordered over Adora's panicked struggle. "It's only me!"
Adora stuffed down the instinct to lash out, and took deep, gasping breaths.
Once Adora was no longer fighting, Catra loosened her grip and let go, but one of her hands hovered tentatively over Adora's shoulder.
"How are you feeling?" Catra asked cautiously, her eyes wide and searching.
Adora took several moments to take in her surroundings. Dim, smelling metallic and musty, thick wires protruding from the walls and ceiling, all of the familiar sits of the Fright Zone.
"Where am I?" Adora asked, her voice rising in panic. "Catra, where am I? Why am I here?"
Catra's ears twitched. "You're... in the fright zone." She answered, looking concerned.
A tall, red figure stepped up beside Catra to the edge of the bed. Adora recognized her as Force Captain Scorpia.
"The Fright Zone," Adora echoed, her mind straining to remember anything. What had she been doing before? The woods were such a blurry memory. They might have just been a dream. "Where was I before? Why do I hurt everywhere?" Adora looked down and found to her horror that she was absolutely covered in bandages. The sharp scent of medicine made her nose wrinkle.
Catra pulled her hand away from Adora hesitantly. "What do you remember?" She asked evasively.
Adora squinted at nothing as the gears in her head churned. "I might have been dreaming, but... I think I was in the Whispering Woods."
Catra and Scorpia looked at each other and away again so quickly that Adora thought she might have imagined their exchange.
"But I think it was a dream. Actually, the last thing I remember..." Thaymor, fighting, loss, Catra had gotten so angry...
"We lost Thaymor, and you and I got into a fight... I think. That might have been a dream too."
Catra visibly relaxed and sat back on the bed, looking up at Scorpia again. Scorpia just shrugged and looked away.
"Can you just tell me what happened?" She glanced around her bandages again. "Did... you do this to me?" Adora asked hesitantly, not meeting Catra's gaze.
Catra twitched the tip of her tail. "Yeah. I'm sorry, Adora. I lost control and I..." Adora watched her look down at her claws, looking sad, but not quite remorseful with her words. Adora leaned back against the wall. This hadn't been the first time Catra had lashed out and hurt her before. It happened more often as they were kids, but Adora knew Catra had never really grown out of her temper.
"That's okay, Catra." Adora muttered. She wondered if it was just her spinning head, or if she was right about how weird those two were acting. "I'm fine, the Horde prepared me for worse."