Adora still felt guilty.
About the things the Horde did. The things she never even realized was happening.
About leaving Catra.
About breaking their promise.
About… everything.
But it was the right thing to do. Leaving the Horde. And leaving behind all that she knew.
But she couldn’t sleep at night without the familiar weight at her feet. Or the soft breathing and purring that would come from the weight. The sound that had always helped her fall asleep.
And because of that, Adora hadn’t slept in about four days.
Glimmer and Bow were worried.
Angella said she would stop sending her out to battles if she didn’t get any sleep.
So she tried.
And failed.
She tried putting a few pillows at her feet to make up for the weight.
It didn’t work.
So when she finally passed out from exhaustion after five days, if only for a few hours, she felt good enough to go out to battle again.
Angella tried to stop her but she insisted she was fine. So she eventually, reluctantly, allowed her to go.
And standing on the battlefield, staring at Catra, Adora had never felt heartbreak worse than this in her life.
There she was, Catra, standing not even fifty feet away from her, looking so sad, heartbroken, mad, revengeful. She also looked like she hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in a while either.
And Adora, She-Ra, standing there, sword in her hand, terrified, ready, nervous, sad, and heartbroken all in one.
She couldn’t do this.
And yet when Catra came running at her ready to pounce, she knew what to do.
As she blocked scratch after scratch after scratch, the only thing she could focus on was how Catra had so many tears wanting to come out of her eyes. But she wouldn’t let them.
“Catra.” Adora, well, She-Ra, said firmly as she blocked yet another hit.
Catra pounced again, this time getting She-Ra’s arm.
She-Ra got a hold of Catra’s wrists and held them there. Making sure she couldn’t get out of the hold.
“Catra. What are you doing?” She asked, voice cracking as tears threatened to spill.
“You left me,” Catra whispered, the tears finally coming. “You left me for two people you barely knew.” She repeated louder. She looked up at her, tears spilling down her face, with an angry expression.
“You broke our promise.”
Adora’s grip on Catra loosened at those words. A single tear rolling down her cheek as she put her hands over her mouth.
“‘Nothing really bad can happen as long as we have each other.’” She chuckled sadly, “Yeah, right.”
“Catra, I-”
She hadn’t meant for this to happen. She knew that she had broken the promise but coming from Catra’s mouth, it hurt even more. All she wanted was Catra. She wanted to hug her tight and kiss away her tears.
But they were enemies now. And Adora has a destiny to fulfill.
A sob shook through her body.
Enemies.
Why couldn’t she just choose her own destiny? Why couldn’t she be with Catra, happy and in love? Why did they have to be enemies?
But… Even if they were enemies, did that really mean that they couldn’t still keep the promise? That they couldn’t still look out for each other?
That they couldn’t keep loving each other?
Catra was getting ready to claw her again when Glimmer teleported right next to them and teleported her and Adora back to safety.
She really had meant the promise. She really did want to protect her.
“I’ll keep you safe. I promise.” She whispered to the air, barely loud enough for her to even hear herself, before she was teleported away.