She was never one to admit she was the one who needed assistance. Asking for help was a sign of weakness. Relying on her stoic persona, and ultimately intimidation, Kuvira always had to be on the front of appearances. If she, the self-proclaimed Great Uniter, could be relied on for completing her own tasks, her followers would soon do the same. One must not expect another to complete what one is not willing to do herself. That was Kuvira's mantra for life.
Kuvira was also one who never fell under the weather. She either had an uncommonly strong immunity, or her strong mentality ignored the off-putting
symptoms. Time was of the essence. A loss of time was a loss for the Earth Empire. Surely a little cold could not be enough to take the Great Uniter down. Not now. Not when her people are relying on her. Not when the rest of the world had their eyes on her. Vulnerability, whether it was in front of her inner circle or otherwise, could not be a factor for Kuvira's image. Vulnerability bred weakness. Intimidation bred success.
However this illness was different than any other common cold. It hit her without any prior symptoms. She was sitting on her bullet train in an important meeting with her generals and Bataar. Functioning without proper amounts of sleep the past few nights, the last thing Kuvira wanted to do was sit in on a meeting she already knew the topic of discussion. Typically, the generals would propose their next moves for the Earth Empire, but Kuvira was the one who determined the actual pawn movements.
Her focus was fading in and out of the conversation. Her attention was at its peak, for the discussion was about the liberation of Republic City. She was nearly blindsided by the pain in her temples; it was almost as if a vice surrounded her head and it clamped as tightly as possible. Kuvira usually sat stoically during any important meeting, with her back inches away from the vertical support of the chair. Shoulders relaxed, and head held confidently high. But at this particular meeting, she almost appeared to be bored as she rested her elbow on the table with a head delicately supporting her headache. She tried to close her eyes for a few short seconds at the right time without anyone noticing. She was searching for some form of internal comfort. Anything at all.
Time seemed to happen at half-speed. A general's words were slowed down, yet she could hear every pronounced annunciation. A coppery smell filled the air as Kuvira's vision started to turn white. Her fingertips slowly began to go numb. Whatever was happening inside Kuvira's head was winning, and Kuvira never lost a fight. She fought against the apparent emergency. She found clenching her teeth, her usual mechanism to ignore pain, only amplified her illness's effect.
The white, starry vision then turned black in an instant. The general's words started swirling within themselves, and each syllable blended into the next. Time did not exist. Images did not exist. Only a numb and ambiguous world surrounded her. Kuvira opened her eyes to see Bataar standing, hovering above her, and he had that oh no, what do I do expression that was all too familiar. Her vision slowly transitioned from complete blackness to a focused picture. She was still on the train. The room the meeting had occurred in was unchanged. All of the generals were present. The only alteration was her. She found her head on the floor and her knees on the edge of her chair. Feet slightly elevated into the air. Her tightly-kempt hair was slightly frayed; the polished look she always possessed was slightly disheveled. The hair framing her face was damp with sweat. Her cheeks felt cold, yet her forehead dripped in sweat. An overall numb and confused feeling overcame Kuvira as she slowly regained knowledge of where and who she was.
"Kuvira, are you all right?" Bataar asked with concern, although he already knew the answer. He had almost a thousand questions to ask, but he had to pick from a select few to ask in front of the others.
She almost did not have a response. Firstly she was embarrassed that this had happened in front of her inner circle. But more importantly she did not have an answer as to why it happened. Two generals came to her and extended their hands for her aid. "I'm fine," she half-barked as she swung the bend of her knees off the chair. "Yes. I am all right." As she rose to her feet, she flicked the front of her uniform, ironing out any imperfections. Kuvira inhaled deeply to recollect herself, and then she turned to Bataar and the generals.
They all shared the same wide-eyed expression. The silence was so thin it could have easily been cut with a knife. "Forgive me for suggesting, but perhaps we should continue this on another day? We will not arrive into Republic City for at least a week," one of the generals suggested to Bataar quietly. Kuvira could not identify which spoke, and at that point she was not concerned with it.
Bataar glanced at the Great Uniter, his fiancé, with deep concern. He felt his eyebrows raise the more he looked at her. He knew she focused on Earth Empire necessities before her own. If he were to allow the progress be delayed only slightly, his decision would most definitely be overruled.
"It has been a long day for us all. It is late. We will continue with this in the morning," Bataar made the ultimate decision. His eyes shifted from the generals to Kuvira. Their eyes met. She still looked blurred, and her complexion was far paler than what was typical. She remained silent, but gave her fiancé a small half-smile. This was a familiar smile for him to see. Approval.
A/N: I plan on expanding on this. There IS a reason why Kuvira fainted!