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Catra groaned.
Everything hurt.
She cracked her eyes open and looked around. She was surrounded on all sides by trees, their height towering over her as she tipped her head back to look up them. Her gaze drifted around, taking note of the haze that seemed to hang over the entire landscape, and a thought suddenly occurred to her.
She had no clue where she was.
Catra lurched up onto her feet and leaned against the nearest tree. Despite barely moving, she found herself panting for breath. And although she had felt chilled in those few moments when she woke up, now she was beginning to feel incredibly hot, like fire was surging through her veins.
She ignored all that though as she clutched her head, trying to rub her headache away, and attempted to remember how she got here.
She had been in the Fright Zone, right? She had to have been because it wasn’t like she’d ever been anywhere else. Right? Ugh, why was it so hard to think?!
It hit her all at once.
She was sick.
Catra didn’t get sick often, but when she did, it always hit her with the force of a laser canon as if to make up for all the times she wasn’t sick. She hated it, but it would explain the invisible heat scorching her, the pain in her head, the prickling in her stomach, and the trembling in her limbs.
However, that made everything even more confusing.
Catra closed her eyes, hoping it would help her concentrate.
Why would she be in the middle of the woods (oh, stars, were these the freaking
Whispering Woods??
) if she was sick?
Normally, she would just let Adora know she was sick and then slink off to recover in one of her hidey holes where Shadow Weaver couldn’t find her and make things worse.
Adora!
Her eyes snapped open.
She remembered that she had gone to do just that, let Adora know that she wasn’t well, but she hadn’t been able to find her. Things had gotten to the point where she couldn’t hide it or shake it off, so she’d tried to let her know, but Adora was gone.
Where was she?
Catra’s breath became even more labored as she frantically thought back. Unbidden, she clutched at her arms and wrapped her tail around herself.
A sword.
Adora hadn’t been in the Fright Zone because of a sword. She’d had to go find it or something and she asked Catra to cover for her, but she wasn’t back…
Something must have happened.
And if Shadow Weaver found out…
That was enough to prod Catra into moving. She stumbled about, peering through the trees and the fever haze, desperately looking for Adora. Every so often, she had to stop and lean against a tree, practically coughing a lung out, but she didn’t dare stop. Her mind was centered on two thoughts that made her push the sickness away.
Adora was gone.
She had to find her.
Catra tripped over a root and fell down with a thump. For a moment, all she could do was lie there and groan. She just wanted to lay there forever as a pile of mush. She didn’t want to get up.
Before she even realized it, she was curling up, purrs escaping her.
A nap.
She’d take a nap and then she’d find Adora.
After all, if Adora wasn’t back by now, however long that had been, then that meant that she was in trouble and needed Catra.
She fell into an uneasy sleep.
“Catra!”
The sound of her name startled her awake. She bolted upright and immediately slumped over.
How did she feel even worse than earlier?
She opened her eyes into mere slits. The sunlight breaking through the trees had changed its angle, but she couldn’t remember what it had been before to guess how much time had passed.
“Catra!”
Someone called her name again, and Catra struggled to get to her feet again. The voice wasn’t all that familiar, but it had to be Adora, right? Who else would bother looking for her?
However, the person who emerged from the trees wasn’t Adora. Catra didn’t recognize the lady with the scorpion claws at all.
The lady brightened at the sight of her, surging forward. “Catra, we’ve been looking everywhere for you!”
Catra scrambled back as much as she could. Whoever this was, she couldn’t let them get her. She had to find Adora first before she could go back.
A rustling sound behind her made her halt and whirl around.
Another person had come from the woods, a metal red-eyed mask over their face and they seemed to be moving by using their long purple hair to hang from the branches and push themselves up from the ground.
“There you are!” The mask flipped up to reveal a feminine face. Her smile dampened down into a frown. “Oh, dear. It appears that you’ve gotten worse.” Her hair brought her closer, even as Catra did her best to back away. “By my previous data on sickness, I would guess that your fever is spiking. It probably makes it hard to think rationally.”
“She’s worse!” The scorpion lady gasped in horror, making Catra’s eyes jerk back to her. Catra had forgotten she was there. “We need to get her home right away!” She reached out for Catra.
Catra tried to get away, she really did, but her body betrayed her by sending her into a coughing fit that made her chest ache and her throat burn. By the time she came back to herself, she was already held within those claws and the two girls’ voices were washing over her.
“- how’d she get so far - “
“- signs of dehydration - not helping her fever - “
“- unaware. She needs - “
“- surprised if she even remembers - “
“Adora.” Catra croaked, trying to wiggle free. “Adora - “ She still needed to find her. How could she just leave her behind?
Someone was shushing her gently. “It’ll be okay.”
“But Ador- “ There was a small pinprick of pain in her arm, and then Catra felt herself relaxing as sleep carried her away again.
And all thoughts of Adora were gone.
Three days later, Catra would wake up, sickness gone and fully aware, and have no memories of why or how she’d gotten lost in the woods looking for someone who was long gone.