Bad End of the World

I Will Try To Fix You

Adora let out an incredulous laugh. "Does it matter? I should have been stronger," she said, scowling down at the sword. "I should have fought it off. The things I did..."

"That wasn't you."

"Wasn't it?" Adora asked, choking out a sob and covering her mouth with her hand, "She's terrified of me now. She even tried to kill me."

"She... wait, seriously? Is that why you were hurt?"

Adora nodded, and brushed away fresh tears. "I can't blame her. I'm an idiot, I don't know what else I expected."

Kyle furrowed his brows. "Wow. I mean, I knew she'd been on a downward spiral lately, but-"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, things obviously got worse after you left," Kyle said, slumping his shoulders. "Catra didn't take it well. She doesn't talk to us anymore, or anyone else for that matter. And she's been even worse these past two weeks, since... you know."

"Right," Adora said, grimacing when a flicker of red blurred through her mind, and an all-too familiar scream echoed in her memories.

Kyle stood up, and patted a hand against her shoulder. "It'll be okay. Just give her time."

Adora brushed away her tears, and chuckled quietly. "You always were the nice one."

"Well, someone's got to be," Kyle said, grinning. He leaned against the wall, and his smile slowly faded away. "We actually really missed you, Adora. Even Lonnie! We were all bummed out when you just switched sides."

Adora squeezed her eyes closed, fighting back more tears. "This is all my fault, isn't it? If I had never left in the first place, then I... then we... "

"I never said we blamed you," Kyle said, holding his hands out. "It is kind of horrible here. The things they make us do now... getting out was the right call. You know that, right?"

"I'm not sure about anything anymore," Adora muttered.

"Hey, you came back for her," Kyle said, crouching down to catch Adora's attention. "That counts for something. She knows it too."

Adora peered down at her reflection in the blade, and sighed. "I lost count of how many times Shadow Weaver hurt her, you know," she said, feeling herself grow angry as she spoke. "Sometimes it felt like the more I tried to stop it happening, the more I pissed Catra off, somehow. And now here I am again, trying to save her, again."

"She always was a bit stubborn."

Adora snorted out a wet, teary laugh. "Hah, understatement."

"But underneath it all, I think she still loves you."

"Wait..." Adora said, furrowing her brows and staring at Kyle. "Why would you say that? She never said... I-I mean, we never..."

"I think everyone apart from you two knew," Kyle said, raising a finger and thumb to his chin. "We used to take bets on who would tell the other first, but I guess we all lost."

"Actually," Adora said, feeling her cheeks heat up. "I... hah. Wow. I actually told her that I love her. Yeah, I did that."

"Huh? Seriously?" Kyle said, raising his eyebrows. "Oh man, I lost! When did that happen?"

"As soon as I got here. But she didn't believe a word of it," Adora said, chuckling quietly despite the thick lump forming in her throat. "I wonder if she ever felt the same."

"Of course she did."

"Well, even if she didn't, or doesn't, or won't... I'm still going to try to help her."