Always Forever (Catradora)

Chapter Thirteen

Adora

"She's the sole survivor of Thaymore."

Those words. They bounced around Adora's mind, ricocheting off the sides of her skull and shattering into a quiet emptiness. Thaymore? She couldn't have heard that right... she'd misheard her... yeah.. that was all—she glanced to Catra for reassurance, her body freezing entirely as she met the terror that was present in them.

The sole survivor.

Emotions clawed at and gauged out her guts, splattering them onto the floor as to give everyone a reason to stare at her. They were. In silence. Why was it silent? A nauseating swaying found its way into her system as Adora stared at the floor blankly. She had been there. She had been in charge of that mission. It was her fault Hailey had gone through all of this.

Catra placed a hand tentatively on Adora's shoulder, wrenching her unwillingly back into reality. Adora met Glimmer's gaze, which was cold and unforgiving, almost as if she knew; then, she caught a glimpse of Bow's eyes—gentle and empathetic, trying to encourage... Xeva stared quietly at her. She couldn't decipher what he was thinking. Adora bit her lip as she closed her eyes, allowing the screams and cries of that night echo through her brain once more.

Whatever she did, she could not get herself to even glance at Hailey.

Catra

Silence had found its way in between the people who stood there. Adora kept her gaze lowered as she gritted her teeth. A pang of pity flashed through Catra's heart as she desperately wished to comfort Adora. She wasn't entirely sure she would have appreciated that though.

Hailey, who had gotten bored of the whole thing, skipped off to the other children: naive.

The five of them soaked in the quiet for a few moments, before Glimmer cleared her throat. "So, you'll be staying here for awhile, which means you'll have to help with chores and such, as well as looking after the children— switching off entertaining them," Glimmer spoke, her voice clear and calm, breaking the ice rather cleanly. Catra crossed her arms and bit her lip. Usually, she would've complained about the children. Though, this was definitely not the right time for that.

It was silent once more, before Adora sucked in a breath of air and gave a sad-excuse for a smile. "Alright, we'll do anything we can to help—in fact, I'll take first shift on watching the children!" She chimed, trying to keep herself cheerful. Catra stared at her quietly, her expression softening immensely.

Oh, Adora...

Adora marched confidently toward the children and gave them a bright grin as Catra felt her ears flatten slightly. "Maybe I should go too—ahh!" She yelped as Glimmer latched onto her and teleported the four of them to another room. Once Catra had gotten ahold of her senses, she turned to Glimmer and hissed. "The hell was that all about, Glitter?" She spat as Glimmer sighed and placed a hand on her hip.

Bow set a hand tentatively in her shoulder, as if to calm her down a bit. Glimmer reached up to hold onto his hand as she let out a slight breath. "She needs to do this alone, kitty," Glimmer explained, her eyes narrowing. "She needs to understand what she's done."

Catra's eyes narrowed.

"What, you don't think she already does?"

Adora

Adora stopped in front of the group of children, who were playing with what seemed to be toys. A twinge of guilt gnawed at her as Hailey brightened up and hopped over to her, holding her doll up to show it off.