Kyle and the Princesses of Power

Chapter Two: Raid

Kyle's head was ringing.

He had treated the cut on his head with butterfly stitches, having long being accustomed to sorting out his injuries.

It was the next day and the pain had gone down but not completely. He, once again, was covered in bruises and struggling to find the motivation to eat his lunch or eat anything at all. Lonnie and the others were leaving him alone but that was almost worse andhe made the decision to not go down at all. It made Kyle over think all the possibilities that could happen. A violent beating, a princess invasion, letting himself fall from the highest point of the Fright Zone where he could finally be free of everything... His usual everyday thoughts.

The bandages were now off his wrist and alone in the barracks he stared at the marks crisscrossing his thin wrists. Some were faint, year old scars from when this was a rarity. Others were scabbed over. All in all there were countless marks marring his pale flesh to the point there was barely any untouched skin remaining. No one knew. No one could know. It would just be another thing to mock him for, another thing they could use to try to tear him apart for. The last thing he needed was to give them yet more ammunition to use. When he heard footsteps approaching he quickly pulled his sleeve down, ignoring the slight sting of the fabric rubbing against the marks.

He sat up straight when he saw it was Catra. She demanded absolute respect and if you didn't give it...
"Kyle, get ready to leave in twenty minutes," she barked at him. "We are going to have another attack on Thaymor." The scary look came across her face and the intense gleam when she was going to do so something violent filled her eyes. "I don't care if we burn the whole place to the ground or if it ends up under our control. I want it gone." Kyle swallowed the lump in his throat. He had used to believe their attacks were to stop the violent instigator princesses but so many places they had attacked hadn't even fought back. Not to mention Thaymor rang a bell.

"Thaymor?" he repeated, dully. Maybe he would get lucky and a stray tank would blast him. Quick and effective.
"A heavily fortified rebel fortress," Catra sneered. That was... oh great. An attack that wouldn't even benefit the Horde. This was probably another part of her continuous obsession and need to control everyone and everything.
"What good will it do?" he questioned quietly then bit his tongue so hard that he could taste the metallic taste of blood. He needed to sleep more; he had slipped up too many times with his brain not stopping the thoughts he had just staying there.

Catra growled, grabbing Kyle by the collar and shoving him back. He bit back a yelp of pain as her claws dug into his arms. It wasn't enough to draw blood but it would definitely leave deep scratches.
"You want to be careful with comments like that, Kyle," she said in an incredibly mocking tone, an almost gentleness in it. It was that same eerie one Shadow Weaver used to use when talking to Adora but it was much more evidently clear. Her claw ran down his cheek and then as her expression hardened she pressed harder, scratching his cheek bone. "We don't want you betraying us again. One toe out of line, one action that makes me think you'll betray us, you'll be right back in that cell. Is that clear?"
"Yes, Second in Command Catra," he said, breaking eye contact with her. He saw her smirk, probably smug to have another victory over someone even if it was someone as pathetic as him.

As much as he hated the missions, especially the incredibly morally ambiguous ones, it was nice to be outside of the Fright Zone. The moment the sky went from the darkened red and the ground from barren nothingness to blue skies and grass was always wonderful bit. The air lost the musty, metallic feel and had an almost sweetness. Around his fifth time out of the Fright Zone he realised the smell was flowers. He liked flowers. The others realised and several of them crushed or burnt them just to spite him. Still, he knew that all the cadets at least liked the blue skies. They talked about it when they thought he wasn't listening...