Adora sighed as she stumbled back into her room, sore from being battered around in the fight her, Bow and Glimmer just came from. It had only been a few weeks since The Battle of Brightmoon, and the Horde already decided to launch another attack on a nearby village. Thankfully the alliance was able to defend the village with hardly any problem, but still, it took a lot out of Adora, especially since she was still recovering from her last confrontation with Catra.

Now that was something she hated thinking about, how Catra had so mercilessly attacked her, the girl she grew up alongside was ready to kill her without a second thought. It hurt, of course, almost as much as the deep gashes Catra had left on her back, that still stung and bled when she overexerted herself.

Surprisingly, she was able to hide her injury from Glimmer and Bow, her time in the Horde giving her the ability to effectively hide any and all forms of weakness. But the still healing wounds were barely starting to scab over and become scars, meaning that every time Adora moved to much or a certain way, she risked re-injuring herself. And more often than not, at the end of the day, she'd find the inside of her shirts stained dark red with dried blood.

"Damn it," Adora cursed to herself, wincing as she threw herself on her bed.

It was getting harder and harder to hide the pain, let alone the blood-stained clothes, but Adora wasn't the type to outright ask for help, and besides, if she were to go to her friends, they'd probably be less than happy that she'd hidden a somewhat severe injury from them, endangering only herself with the lie.

"Ugh, why do I have to be so stubborn?" she muttered, pressing the palms of her hands against her forehead as she sighed.

Adora had a few hours to herself before she needed to meet up with Glimmer again, both of them planning to go explore the outer reaches of the kingdom, Glimmer dead set on showing her all the wonders of Brightmoon. She could last until then, and besides, any time she spent with Glimmer was far too enjoyable to even think about pain.

But for now, Adora was left with very few options of what to do with her time. One, she could just wait for Glimmer to finish whatever it was she was doing at the moment, or, and this was her least favorite option, Adora could redress the wounds on her back. The bandages needed to be switched out anyway, but she usually did that once she was sure everyone in the castle was asleep and she was alone.

It was a difficult task, especially to do alone, but she managed fairly well on her own, even if she did do a shoddy job.

The Horde hadn't bothered giving her basic medical training, she never needed it really. If you got hurt during boot camp or training, you were expected to suck it up and deal, the marks of a strong resilient soldier, and if you were to get hurt badly, beyond a scraped knee or twisted ankle, you were kicked from the program, and as far as Adora knew… you were shunned by the residents of the Fright Zone.

She shook her head, not wanting to think about the horrors of the Horde anymore than she needed to. So Adora sighed and sat back up, deciding that she'd rather get it over with now than later. "Alright… let's just do this now so I can think of something else," she muttered again, slowly pulling herself up. Adora honestly wasn't sure how she managed to collect all the medical supplies she had, especially since the guards were still highly suspicious of her, but with a decent supply of gauze and some sort of healing herb mix she got from Perfuma, she was sure that she had enough items to get herself through the injury.

It didn't take too long for Adora to undo the gauze she's wrapped around her back, making sure the scratches themselves weren't getting infected or anything. But thank the gods they weren't, and the flesh surrounding the gashes were no longer an angry red, but a more relaxed, normal looking pink.

"See… you're going to be okay," Adora muttered to herself, wincing when she traced a finger alongside the healing skin, not really knowing why tears were beginning to form in her eyes, "You have to be,".

So maybe she was lying when she said that the scratches hurt more that Catra's actions, but Adora didn't want them to.

Catra made her choice, and Adora made hers.

Light Hope had made it clear… she needed to let go of Catra, she needed to let go of the one thing that was preventing her from moving on from her life in the Horde.

And it hurt.

So badly she wanted for Catra to join her with the rebellion, but no. Her friend's loyalties lied elsewhere, and there was nothing Adora could do about it… just continue to drive the girl who had once been her best friend away.

Adora very rarely cried during her life in the Horde, she hardly allowed herself to feel actual emotions, so the onslaught of feelings she was experiencing was overwhelming, to say the least. So, unsure of what to do or how to handle her emotions, Adora just let them run their course, hoping that she'd relax by the time she needed to meet up with Glimmer.

"I'll be okay," Adora continued through a soft sob of tears, "It's okay".

But she knew it wasn't.

By the time Glimmer knocked on the door to her room, Adora had recovered from her emotional breakdown, but it had already taken it's toll, making her feel almost numb and tired.

"You okay?".

She nodded and sighed slightly, putting on a fake smile, "Yeah… just a little tired from the fight,".

It wasn't exactly a lie… but it wasn't the truth either.

"We can stay in the castle if you're not feeling up to going out," Glimmer offered, walking up to her friend only to have her step away slightly.

"I'll be fine… maybe some fresh air will help," Adora said, silently cursing at herself for being so distant and cold to the people who were just trying to help her and be nice, "Uh, and you said you'd show me what a bakery is, so can we maybe go do that?".

"Oh! Right, do you wanna go now or-".

"We can go now if that's okay," she continued, trying not to seem so rushed and anxious, "Just let me get my jacket,".

"Adora, are you sure you're okay? You seem a little… antsy, ".

"I'm fine,".

Another lie.

"If you say so," Glimmer said, seeming suspicious, but not enough to continue prying, "Come on, let's go show you the pastries, you'll love them".

Adora nodded, following Glimmer as they left the room and walked through the long halls of the castle. The guards watched her closely as always, demanding to know where 'The Horde Soldier' as they not so kindly called her, was taking the princess.

"We're just going out for a bit," Glimmer reassured, already annoyed at the guard's lack of respect and trust for Adora, "No need to worry,"

"We'll send someone to escort you around," one of the guards said, "I don't want to take any risks,".

"Risks?!" Glimmer exclaims, "What risks?!".

Adora remained quiet, already knowing where this conversation was headed and looked down in something close to shame.

"Princess, we know you consider this girl your 'friend' but she is still from the Horde, and there's no telling if this is all an act and she's planning to take us out from the inside. You can't trust her,".

That stung a little more than Adora liked to admit and she couldn't help but let out a small whimper. Brightmoon could trust her… she did help protect the Moon Stone from the Horde attacks and she's done nothing to make anyone not trust her except… exist she guessed.

Glimmer noticed the look on Adora's face, of course, felt the need to protect her friend.

"You do know my mother is the Queen right? And if you continue to harass my friends I might just have a word with her about your jobs,".

"Glimmer," Adora whispered, seriously not wanting her friend to abuse her power just to protect her, "It's okay, really,".

"No, it's not. I'm not going to let people bully you like this," she said, trying to offer up a warm smile but the look of utter discomfort that filled Adora's eyes told her to back off. Glimmer turned back to the guards and practically growls at them. "Just leave us alone," she hissed before grabbing Adora by the shoulders and teleporting out of the castle.

They both appeared out in front of the castle a few moments later, out of sights from any of the guards. "I don't know what their problem is," she said with a tired sigh, "But I doubt they'll be bothering us again. Now come on, let's get out of here before-... Adora? Are you okay?".

At first, Adora wasn't sure what Glimmer was asking about, the fact that she was hobbled over in pain from being grabbed by the back so suddenly, or the fact that a few tears had shed from her eyes.

"I'm okay…".

"Are you sure?" Glimmer said, softly, placing a gentle hand on her arm, "You don't look okay,".

"I- I am,".

Adora hated it when her voice shook like that… it made her feel weak. And she hated lying to her friends, especially Glimmer, it always left her feeling sick to her stomach, but for now, she just needed to deal with it.

"Can we just… go to the bakery, please. I- I don't want to talk about it,".

Glimmer sighed and nodded, "Yeah, of course. Just… promise you'll tell me if something is wrong?".

Adora couldn't even bring herself to give a verbal answer she just looked over at Glimmer and gave a small nod, recollecting herself before beginning to walk off towards the small village surrounding the castle.

Glimmer just walked beside her silently as they made their way through the kingdom, occasionally catching odd looks from people as they passed which Adora desperately tried to ignore. It wasn't their fault for staring… for some reason, The Princess of Brightmoon was hanging around a Horde soldier, former or not, who's army killed her father years earlier.

Adora didn't even know if Glimmer was aware that her mother had told her of King Micah's demise, she wasn't sure if she even wanted Glimmer to know what she knew.

She didn't even want to think about the 'almost' threat Angella had made her first night in the castle, the Queen's words still rang in her head at times and sent a sharp shiver down her spine.

"Do not disappoint her"

That was the last thing Adora wanted to do… disappoint her friends, or anyone really. Having grown up in a place where any form of failure was cause for punishment, she always drove herself to do her best. But now, with the added responsibility of She-Ra and the Rebellion on her shoulders, Adora was afraid that her best was no longer good enough.

Either everyone saw her as a threat, or as a joke….

But in reality, all Adora really was was just a small, scared kid, overwhelmed with emotions and the world around her, plagued by pain and nightmares of her former self and life.

The pain in her heart was proof of leaving her old life behind, and the scars on her back were proof of the life she chose to live.

It was times like these that Adora wished she could tune out her thoughts, annoyed at how persistent and intrusive they were all the time.

She shook her head and grumbled as she focused on the ground in front of her, barely noticing Glimmer teleporting in front of her until she ran into her.

"Are you even listening?".

Adora blinked and took a step back, "What?".

"I was talking to you and you were just… completely out of it," she said, sounding more concerned than annoyed, "Are you sure you're okay?".

Every instinct in Adora's body was telling her to just say no, she wasn't sure if she was okay… and if she were being honest, she wasn't really sure what would be considered 'okay' anymore.

But she nodded instead.

"Yeah… just distracted,".

The look on Glimmer's face told her that she didn't believe her.

At all.

"Oh, and you've been 'distracted' for the past 6 days? Adora, I'm not stupid, I know you're hiding something. You might be a highly trained combat officer, but you're a pretty bad liar".

Immediately, Adora dropped her gaze to the ground… again.

"I never said you were stupid," she muttered, almost defensively, "And I'm not hiding anything… I'm just tired,".

"Then you need to rest,".

She could tell that Glimmer was beginning to get annoyed with her stubbornness, but… like always, Adora wasn't one to back down so easily.

"I don't want to,".

There was a moment of silence that fell between them, the only thing to be heard was the villagers moving and talking around them.

She hated this… she hated arguing with the one person who seemed to give her life in the rebellion any true meaning.

"You're having nightmares again… aren't you?" Glimmer asked, her voice low.

Adora didn't respond, keeping her jaw squared.

She just needed to be strong, Glimmer would drop the matter and everything would be okay.

"Why didn't you say anything? I told you-you could come to me and Bow for help, we're your friends! That's what we're here for, Adora,"

"I… I know,".

"If you knew then why didn't you come to us".

Adora paused for a moment and blinked.

"I don't know…".

"So you know, but you don't know?!" Glimmer groaned, dragging a hand across her face, "Why are you being so stubborn!".

"I don't know okay!" Adora yelled back, finding herself losing her grip on her calm persona.

Everything hurt. The gashes on her back hurt, her head hurt, her chest hurt, everything was just wrong.

"I don't know what's wrong with me, I just… I don't know what to do anymore, Glimmer".

Glimmer's expression changes again, worry and concern filling her features, but before either girl could say anything more, a passing guard walked up to their conversation.

"Is there a problem here, Princess?" The guard asked, immediately placing her drawn sword between them and slowly moving Adora away from Glimmer, "Is she bothering you?".

"No, nothing's wrong! Uhg, can you guys ever let me have a normal conversation with my friend?" Glimmer snapped.

"You were both yelling, that doesn't seem like a very normal conversation to me,".

"Well sometimes friends yell at each other," she continues, looking to Adora who had gone stiff with the sword pointed at her, "so put that thing away and stop harassing my friends".

The guard doesn't cooperate at first, giving Adora a harsh look that she merely crumbles under before sheathing her sword and walking off, "Just doing my job, ma'am".

"Sure you are," Glimmer muttered, before turning back to Adora, "I really don't know what's gotten into them today, I just-... Adora?".

But Adora could barely even hear Glimmer, she felt frozen in place, unable to move, think... or breathe. She could see her friend standing in front of her, calling her name and shaking her by the arms in an attempt to get her attention, but Adora couldn't do anything about it. She was stuck, and without even realizing it, Glimmer teleported them again, this time into the surrounding woods around the castle.

"Adora… Adora! What happened, what's wrong?! Talk to me!".

Adora wasn't sure if she could talk even if she wanted to, she just looked down at Glimmer, desperate and afraid, tears once again filling her eyes.

She shook her head and choked out a sob.

This was probably the first time Glimmer had ever seen her cry, probably the first person ever to see her cry, but Adora could care less… all she wanted was for everything to stop.

"Adora…" Glimmer whispered, barely having time to catch her as she sunk to the ground, overwhelmed with tears and sobs, "Please… tell me what's wrong. I want to help,".

"I don't know what's wrong," Adora admitted, gladly collapsing into her friend's embrace.

"Then why are you crying?".

She just shrugged again, gripping onto Glimmer as tightly as she could without hurting the other girl. But Glimmer didn't seem to mind, and she allowed Adora to hug her, refraining from doing so herself in fear of making her feel restrained.

"I don't know… but I want it to stop…"

"Hey… shh, it's okay, I'm right here, Adora. You're okay," Glimmer cooed, doing her best to get her friend to relax and explain the situation, "It'll pass, Adora… just take a deep breathe okay? Can you do that?".

Adora tried, but catching her breath was a little bit hard to do when you're heaving out heavy sobs every other second.

"Easy, easy… here, focus on me for a second, okay?".

Glimmer took old of Adora's hand, placing it over her heart.

"Can you feel that? I want you to focus on my heartbeat, alright? It'll help you calm down,".

Adora nodded and took a sharp breath, leaning her forehead against Glimmer's as she tried her best to steady her breathing.

"You're doing a great job, Adora. You're going to be okay, I'm right here with you,".

She sniffled slightly and muttered a small 'thank you'.

Glimmer's heartbeat was strong, a little bit faster than it should be normally, but it was there, and she could feel it… it was grounding, and calming all at the same time.

Adora took a deep breath.

"There we go… see? You're doing fine, everything is fine,".

She wasn't really sure if that was true per se, but Adora really wanted everything to be okay.

When she was with Glimmer, everything was okay.

Everything about Glimmer made her feel better.

She made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

So she focused on that too.

And whatever that feeling was… Adora didn't want it to stop.

It took a while, but Adora eventually relaxed enough for her sobs to turn into nothing more than tiny hiccups and sniffles.

"Are you okay now?" Glimmer asked, giving her hand a squeeze.

She nodded, still not sure if she had the strength to speak yet.

Glimmer sighed a little, running her fingers through her sparkly hair.

"Can I ask you what happened? Did what the guards say get to you that much?".

Adora just shrugged and silently picked at the grass underneath her.

"Because if that's the case, I'll gladly make sure they're fired for harassing you. You aren't a threat to anyone here in Bright Moon, you understand that… don't you?".

"I… I know," she said, "But I don't blame them for being suspicious,".

"Then you're crazy. Adora… nothing you've done since you defected has made anyone suspicious of you. The symbol on your old shirt was what people were afraid of, not you," Glimmer said.

"But..".

"No. No buts. You aren't the Horde Adora, you never were… you didn't know what your army was doing was bad, and no one is blaming you for that,".

"You did… when we first met," Adora whispered quietly, regretting the words the moment the left her lips.

"I know… and I hate myself for jumping to conclusions like that. I won't make any excuses for myself, I was a jerk to you when we first met, and call me a hypocrite but I saw that symbol on your back and was angry and afraid of you. But… you were different, you never once wanted to hurt us, ever. No Horde soldier I'd ever seen or met had the compassion you do. And when you helped fight Catra and the Horde off… I knew Bow and I could trust you,".

Adora smiled, forcing it halfway at the mention of Catra, but she knew Glimmer was being genuine with her words.

"Thank you for trusting me, Glimmer, I don't know what I'd do without you".

"Neither do I,".

Adora was unsure why her heart started pounding wildly in her chest suddenly when Glimmer smiled at her, she'd calmed down a lot by then, but that warm fuzzy feeling returned, now with a sense of nervousness.

"Do you wanna go back home or stay out here for a while?" Glimmer asked, "It's actually nice out here in the forest,".

"You mean when we weren't being chased by giant bug monsters or caught in a weird mega-storm?".

She giggles and nods, "Plus… it's just us today,".

Adora hummed a little and continued to pick at the grass.

"Where did you say Bow went?".

"Home… he may be part of the rebellion, but he still has his dads to help out. Plus we could all use a bit of a break after today's battle,".

"Y- yeah… I know what you mean,".

"You alright?".

"I-..." Adora began, pausing for a moment before sighing, "No… not really,".

Glimmer clearly tried not to look too surprised, but nonetheless, her voice filled with concern yet again.

"Can I ask why?".

She closed her eyes for a second, trying to think of the easiest way to tell her best friend that she'd been lying to her about being seriously hurt. Maybe, she thought, she should just start from the beginning.

Adora took another breath.

"C- Catra,".

"I can't even imagine how hard it must be seeing her like that… having to fight her. I'm… I'm really sorry you have to go through that, Adora".

She shook her head a little.

"She… hurt me, Glimmer,".

"I know," the other girl said, scooting slightly closer and pressing her cheek against Adora's shoulder, "She was your best friend, and now...".

"N- no… Glimmer. She hurt me, I'm hurt,".

Glimmer pulled away suddenly, "What? Are you telling me you're injured, like… right now as we speak?".

Adora nodded slowly.

"... Yes?".

It was clear that Glimmer wanted to get upset again, but she kept her cool, mostly for Adora's sake.

"When where you planning on telling me, or Bow… or anyone?!".

"I… I wasn't. Not until I healed," she admitted.

Glimmer just sighed again… sounding… disappointed.

"Where?".

"Huh?".

"Where did she hurt you? If it's not too serious, I won't drag you to a healer or anything,".

"Oh, um… s- she uh, she gashed up my back pretty good, but I'm okay. It's already starting to heal already?".

"How… it's barely been a few hours, and last you told me, you still haven't been able to activate your healing powers".

"I… I wasn't hurt today, Glimmer," Adora muttered.

The other girl just stared at her and Adora felt herself shrinking back.

"When…".

"I… I shouldn't have said anything, I-".

"I'm not upset… not entirely," Glimmer admitted, "Just tell me when she did this to you,".

She took a deep breath and tried not to let tears fill her eyes again.

"Bright Moon".

"Bright Moon? … as in?".

Adora just nodded.

"Yeah,".

"That was almost a month ago, Adora,".

"I know… I've sorta been trying to patch myself up so I wouldn't worry anyone,".

"I strongly believe that I'm twice as worried about you now that I probably would have if you'd've told me right away,".

"I'm sorry,".

"You don't have to apologize, Adora," Glimmer reassured, "I just, *sigh* How… how bad is it?".

"It's not infected or anything if that's what you're asking," Adora replied with a sigh, "But It hurts a lot sometimes… and… bleeds if I overdo it,".

"Oh, Adora…".

"I- it's okay, I got some healing herb stuff from Perfuma, she said it should help,".

"Wait… so you told Perfuma you were hurt and not us?".

"No! No… I… I told her I needed it in case anyone of you got hurt… so I'd be able to help them since I don't have any healing powers yet,".

Glimmer just stared at her for a second and cracked a small smile.

"Is this because I got a paper cut that one day?".

"Yes- No! I- I mean-".

She chuckled and smiled, "I'm just teasing you,".

"Oh.. heh, yeah…".

Another moment of silence passed before Glimmer reached over and placed a hand on Adora's knee. "I need you to tell me, and no lying or.. Half-truths, but… do you need help? Like… do you want me to take you to a healer?".

Adora hesitated to answer at first, not really sure what she should respond with.

"You've never been to a healer… have you?".

She shook her head, "No… I've never really gotten seriously injured, just simple stuff like a sprained wrist and ankle, not… not a gashed up back,".

"Not even when you had the flu?".

"Like I said… in the Horde, you have to keep a low profile when you're weak. Besides, even if I was sick Shadow Weaver would make us train harder, strengthen our immune systems or something...".

"I'm sorry…".

"It's okay… just a lot to think about,".

"Do you want a hug?" Glimmer offered with another small smile.

"That would be really nice actually," Adora said, gently letting herself be folded into her friends caring embrace once again.

Neither of them said anything, which seemed to be a common thing between both girls, but Adora enjoyed it… and wondered if Glimmer felt the same way.

Maybe this was what love felt like.