Codependency

Part 3 // Not a nightmare

"Well, I'm glad you're okay now, but we need to get you up and walking. The sooner you've recovered, the sooner we can all be out on the field again." Catra said Matter-of-factly, standing up and clasping her hands together. "We're getting closer to winning this war every day. We can't afford to waste any time."
"Now?" Adora and Scorpia exclaimed in shocked unison.
Catra flicked her glare back and forth between the two of them. Scorpia held up her claws in a gesture at Adora.
"She just got back yesterday, she needs rest, Catra..." The tall woman said tentatively.
"Yeah, I..." Adora trailed off as Catra transferred her glare towards her.
"She needs to do whatever I tell her. Moving around in bed all day won't make the Horde any stronger." Catra said unsympathetically. She leaned down and took Adora's stinging arm, trying to haul her up out of bed.
"Ow! Catra! Seriously hold on a second!" Adora bellowed, flapping her free arm to keep her balance as she tried to stand on unsteady legs.
She fell forward almost as soon as she was up, and Catra caught her with both arms outstretched. Adora felt her face press into the warm crook between Catra's neck and shoulder. She tried to pull away, but Catra's grip must have been too strong for Adora's weakened state.
"Shut up, Scorpia." Catra snapped.
"She didmmf sfay anyfmmng..?" Adora tried, through a face full of fuzz, to defend the quiet Force Captain as Catra awkwardly shuffled them both out of the Medicine Bay.
Catra didn't reply as they made their way back to the barracks. They walked past the normal cadet quarters and headed down a different hall nearby. Wasn't this the hall where Force Captains and higher-ups had their own Sleep Quarters? Catra bustled Adora into one of the rooms halfway down the hall and helped her up onto the bed. It had an unfinished canopy above it, and the room itself was small but cozy. Adora felt relieved to be sitting down again. Walking was not in her body's favor right now.
"Wow, is this my room?" Adora wondered aloud.
Catra scowled at her. "No, it's mine. You're not a Force Captain anymore."
Adora's eyes went wide. "What!?" She reached up to feel for the Force Captain pin on her jacket, but it was gone. She found a shiny pin on Catra's uniform. "I was demoted? W-why?"
Catra kicked her door shut. "You lost Thaymor." She shrugged. "Like you said." She smiled faintly, touching the rim of her badge. "But Hordak was so impressed with how I punished you for it... He made me Force Captain right away." She said breezily, like she hadn't just dropped a bombshell of bad news on Adora's head.
"Hold on, that's not fair! We lost because you threw out my orders!" Adora tried to recall more details of the blurry memory. Hadn't Catra said some really weird stuff to her?
Catra frowned and left her fingers hovering over her badge.
"Oh, well..." Catra paused, letting her hand come to rest on the bed frame. "If you hadn't been such a terrible Captain who can't keep her own troop in line, you wouldn't have this problem." She stated cruelly.
Adora felt her heart drop to her stomach as she met Catra's cold gaze. Her friend was acting so weird and mean. Catra was always playfully bullying or teasing, but this was just downright awful.
"Don't talk to me like that." Adora said, frowning hard at the cold, indifferent Force Captain.
Catra's tail fur bristled up. "I'll talk to you any way I like." She snapped, pointing to her badge again. "I'm your commander now."
Adora felt a sharp pang of worry in her chest.
"What's gotten into you? We're friends! Why are you being so mean?"
Catra narrowed her eyes and leaned down towards Adora. "You're my cadet, I'm your captain. I give orders, not take them. All you need to do is follow them. That's all the relationship we need to have."
Adora's heart felt as thought it were throbbing in her throat, constricting the air passage.
"W-why are you being so horrible? After you did this to me!" Adora held out her bandaged arms and pointed to her wounded legs. "If you're going to be awful to me just because you've been promoted, then whatever. Get out of my way and I'll find the Cadet Quarters."
Catra's lips twitched up into a sneer.
"And who's going to help you walk there? Because I won't."
"Maybe Lonnie will. At least she knows how to treat her friends." Adora spat, trying shakily to get to her feet.
Catra's smirk changed to a look of worry and disgust. She grabbed the collar of Adora's shirt and shoved her back onto the bed.
"I forbid you to speak to Lonnie." She snarled.
"Kyle, Rogelio, Scorpia, any of them." Adora flinched away from Catra's bared, sharp teeth.
"Don't question me. I'm your CAPTAIN!"
Catra let go of Adora's shirt and she fell back, gasping for air; she hadn't noticed she'd even been holding her breath.
"You're acting insane!" Adora said finally, sitting up again. "You can't do that!"
Catra displayed her jagged-tipped claws uncomfortably close to Adora's eyes.
"I can do whatever I want, you have to do what I tell you, and there is nothing you can do about it!" She hissed.
Adora just sat there, not daring to break eye contact with her unhinged friend. Catra finally pulled her claws back and forced a smile. "Have we settled that matter?"
Adora finally looked away, staring down at her shirt to avoid Catra's eyes.
"Yes." She mumbled at last.
"Yes, what?" Catra pressed.
"Yes... Force Captain?" Adora tried.
Catra let out a satisfied purr and made her way over to a little storage chest at the end of the bed. She took off her helmet and placed it inside before pulling out some nighttime garb. Adora didn't look up as Catra changed out of her uniform, and after all was done Catra hopped up onto the bed Beside Adora.
"You must still be so tired," Catra cooed, tracing her fingers through Adora's hair, which made her feel awful for a reason she couldn't grasp. "Rest up. This war won't wait for you to scar over." Catra said, with a sleepy tone that made Adora wonder if this was the same girl who had been screaming at her moments before.
At last Catra pulled her hands out of Adora's hair and curled up beside her. Adora lay facing away from her, trying to relax, but sleep was far off.