Adora takes a shaky breath in as her glazed eyes trail along the clawed hand hovering over her face. She's covered in scars, bleeding scratches that dripped down to the shallow water beneath her frame. Her white clothes covered more in blood and dirt than anything else. Her sword had been tossed to the side in the fight against the very person she had once called her best friend. They had been so focused on the fight that neither of them had noticed how far away from the battleground they had actually moved. And now here was Adora without any way to find help, if only to soothe the ache that she had.
She wished that it hadn't had to fight the one person she could say she had loved wholeheartedly. Adora was more tired than anything. Her whole body ached, but her heart ached even more than anything else. She didn't want to keep fighting, not when she had to keep fighting against Catra. Her vision was swimming more than she thought it would, leaving her to only see a blurry silhouette of brown and red as the feline humanoid approached her once more.
"Any last words?" Catra purred, her claws standing at their deadliest point and her hand pulled back prepared to slice downward. Adora parted her lips, only for a wet cough to escape them. She whimpered painfully, the action causing the broken and bruised ribs to ache, reminding her that she had been slammed against hard surfaces more than once. "I-I'm... So-sorry..." The blonde panted out weakly, her body glowing for a moment before fading to reveal the smaller, broken frame previously hidden by the once warrior princess.
Her eyes barely stayed open as she tried to keep her gaze on Catra. She wanted to apologize to her so badly. She didn't want this to end without telling her how sorry she felt for leaving her, for making her feel as though she was second best, for never seeing the pain and suffering that she had been going through. Adora parted her lips once more, quiet words spilling from her lips just as it slowly became harder to breath for her. "I... Never wanted... To make you... Feel... As though you... Were in my sh-shadow..." She groaned in pain, speaking causing everything to ache.
Catra looked upon the blonde pitifully, her clawed hand dropping down to her side as she listened to the other speak. It was obvious to her that Adora wouldn't be moving from that spot anytime soon, if her injuries were anything to go by, injuries that she had inflicted without mercy. She knelt down besides the other, groaning softly as her own injuries were aggravated. "You look pathetic, princess..." She told the other and before she could think about it, her hand moves to caress the other's bruised cheek.
Adora smiled weakly, a single laugh escaping her followed by a pained whimper. "I imagine..." She responds softly, her eyes sliding close as she allows her head to fall against the warm palm. "H-hey... Catra..." She starts softly, barely having the strength to speak as she felt the pressure on her chest growing heavier. It seemed that both of her lungs had been punctured by her broken ribcage. "You... Kn-know you m-mean the... The world... To me, right?" She gasped out softly, a pained cough leaving her again and rattling her entire body.
Catra scoffed, rolling her eyes at the other's words. "Sure, I do. If I really meant that much to you, you wouldn't have left me." She replied snarkly, a deep set frown on her face as she looked down at the other, the one she had once considered her best friend. The blonde used her strength to open her eyes slightly, meeting that calculating gaze with her own pained and fading one. "I wish... I had... Time to make it... Up to you..." She murmured so softly that if it hadn't been for her acute sense of hearing, Catra wouldn't have caught it. "To show... Show you how much... You mean to me... I left the... The horde, but my h-heart... Was always... With you..." She adds as her eyes slide close again, her breathing becoming weaker and even more shallow as time passed.
Adora gasped for breath, her skin slowly becoming paler by the minute. "Ca-Catra... Just... On-one last ti-time... Please... Hold me..." She manages to push out as it became near impossible to breath for the blonde, blood spurting out of her mouth in a single cough. The feline's eyes widened, finally realizing how seriously the other had been injured. She had thought that it couldn't have been that bad, considering she had been She-ra the entire fight. Catra had thought that the worse she had inflicted upon the other were some nasty scratches and bruised ribs. She knew how painful a bruised rib can be, especially after a battle and had figured the pain was what was making Adora fall unconscious. But she hadn't that it had gone this far.
Catra looked down at her once best friend, her gaze now full of regret as the other struggle for air. There was nothing she could do to help. She had no idea where she would be able to take her, carrying her back towards the battleground but both of them at risk. And even more so, she knew that Adora wouldn't make the run in her state. Her blue and yellow eyes looked down at the blonde once more, watching her gasp for air that she was unable to get. Catra slowly leaned down to pull her into her arms, holding her close. Without realizing tears had gather in her eyes, slowly sliding down her freckled cheeks.
"A-Adora... I didn't... I..." Catra didn't know what to say as she looked down at her suffering friend. The other had no way of knowing if Catra would see her, but her lips moved slightly as she mouthed the words 'thank you' to the feline. A sob falls from Catra's lips, her heart feeling as if a knife had been stabbed into it and twisted painfully. Seconds after she mouthed those words, Adora fell limp as the air and blood pressure on her lungs and heart became too much, leaving her unable to breath. Her skin having turned a tint of blue from lack of oxygen as she laid in Catra's arms.
She had caused this. She had caused the person she cared about most to die. Catra looked down at the still body in her arms, her gaze empty as she felt broken. She hadn't meant for it to go this far. She had wanted to show Adora how much she didn't need her, how well she was doing without her, how much strong she was than her. When she had let Adora fall back at the First One's temple, she had regretted later, dread filling her for days until she had seen that Adora had returned in the Battle of Bright Moon. She had been so relieved to see she had been alive. But now because of her own stubbornness and need to power over Adora, over She-ra, she had ended the one life she had swore would never fall at her own hand. She killed Adora and now... She would have to live with her blood on her hands.