Doing patrol one night, the last person Glimmer expected to see was a certain magicat hiding amongst the shadows of the castle.

"Didn't scratch that homicidal itch, Horde scum?" She quipped, leaning against her staff. Catra scoffed. "Don't you trust your own guards to protect you, Princess?" She bit back. Glimmer shrugged. "I was bored. Why are you here?" She narrowed her eyes as Catra shuddered softly. "None of your business," She snapped, beginning to scale the wall. Glimmer watched with raised eyebrows, realising where the cat was headed.

"Haven't you done enough to Adora?"

~~~

Glimmer finds an injured Catra trying to sneak into Brightmoon.

~~~

It'd been three days since the battle of Brightmoon. Sadly, a few lives were lost and countless others were injured. Glimmer was one of them. Her 1v1 with the scorpion soldier (Scorpia, she thinks) rendered her with a sprained ankle. Not the worst injury in the infirmary by a long shot. Many had broken bones, concussions, open wounds, you name it. The lack of injuries from being on the immediate front lines with Bow and Adora surprised her. Bow hadn't reported anything worse than aches and pains, whereas Adora had been lending her healing abilities to whoever she could get her hands on.

Glimmer could see the toll it was taking on her friend; despite her trying to hide it. Each Princess, or those with powers that stemmed from themselves, had a braking point. Glimmer's was a limited number of teleports, around fifteen short ones, six medium and maybe two long ones at a push. Her sparkle blasts took energy, but not a lot. She could do a battle and still walk away at the end if she only used the sparkle blasts.

Mermista's didn't have a "stop" button, lucky her. So long as she was in the water, she was fine. Perfuma was strong, really strong. She could keep going and going. The only time she'd seen the plant princess falter was after a good twenty minutes of consistent usage. Same for Frosta; though hers was similar to Mermista.

She-Ra was by far the strongest of the bunch. Glimmer was very much jealous of She-Ra's strength. She could fight, and fight, and fight, and fight without so much as breaking a sweat. The only time Glimmer had seen She-Ra struggle was when she was unfairly surrounded by six soldiers and their electric whips or when she was fighting the infection back in Dryl.

But now? Glimmer wasn't entirely sure how much longer She-Ra could keep going until she passed out. She'd healed several small injuries and a handful of non-surgical wounds. With each tap of her sword, the glow around her form grew weaker and weaker, flicking with each surge of power.

Sometime after the sun had set, the inevitable happened. Glimmer was shrugging on her shawl for evening patrol when there was a loud clatter of objects crashing. She spun staff at the ready. "I need some help over here!" A medic called. "Bow!" She gasped, running over. She slid to her knees. "What happened?" The archer asked, coming to her aide slightly calmer. "She began to heal Juliet-" A guard began. "No, I meant with Adora," Bow interrupted. The guard exhaled sharply. "She passed out," She mumbled upon Glimmer's harsh glare.

"Help me get her to a bed," She instructed. Bow grabbed Adora's left arm while Glimmer moved to her right. "Wait, don't move her," The archer snapped. Glimmer paused. Bow lifted Adora's shirt, not bothering to ask. Glimmer's hand flew to her mouth. "Oh my god," She whispered. Bow sighed softly. "Why didn't she say anything?" Glimmer asked softly, ghosting her hand over the ten angry slashes in her friend's back. She asked the guard to get a medic. "I don't know," Bow answered after silence. Glimmer refused to look at the stained shirt. "How didn't we notice anything? She was bleeding and we just asked her to keep helping everyone else!"

Glimmer was pulled into a warm shoulder. "I don't know. Her cape did a pretty good job of keeping her back hidden, Glimmer... we couldn't help what we didn't know," Bow whispered. Glimmer glanced back. "Bow, they're still bleeding," The archer pulled out a napkin. He reached over to Adora's back and began to dab away any blood trails. "Where's the medic!?" Glimmer shouted, anger surging deep in her veins. Her hands grew tingly with power, two sparkle blasts building. "I'm here, I'm here, Princess," A medic dropped to his knees by Adora, humming in thought.

"She'll need surgery to close them. Come, I will need your help to move her,"

~

That was three days ago. Sixty-eight hours, fifty-six minutes and nine seconds, to be exact. And in that time, Adora had only woken once. Glimmer, in her emotional overload, gave it to the injured girl with both barrels. Adora sat there and took it, not even trying to defend herself. Somehow that made everything so much worse. Fourteen stitches. The doctor said. Fourteen on each eleven-inch scratch. Over a hundred in total.

It made Glimmer sick.

No matter how much somebody upset her, she'd never cause that much damage to another person, another human. Not even Entrapta.

So how could Catra do this to her best friend, and just... walk away?

Never mind the infection that'd probably come from them. Fingernails aren't exactly clean, never mind those in the Horde. Adora had mentioned in passing how hygiene was so much different there. For example, they got one quick shower a day, lasting no more than three minutes, and one long shower every four days. Of course, they couldn't last over six. Eight for the girls with long hair.

Adora rocked a small fever for those long three days, eventually having to be strapped down onto her stomach to avoid irritating the wounds.

Glimmer had moved herself onto patrol, unable to watch her friend suffer anymore.

Glimmer wanted to patrol the hallways outside the infirmary. She couldn't bear to watch Adora breathe through the pain, insisting she was fine when she clearly wasn't... but neither could she just walk away and leave her alone. She knew Adora's real fear, masked by disappointing people, was being alone. No doubt thanks to that witch Shadow Weaver. A favourite punishment of hers, so Adora said, was to separate her and Catra into solitary confinement cells until one passed out from lack of water or food.

Another was to infiltrate their minds while forcing the other to watch. The one watching would then be forced to nurse the other back to health, all the while Shadow Weaver went on about how "it was your fault they had to undergo the punishment, you understand? They'd be better off without you"

It wasn't until Mystacor that Glimmer understood the real fear Adora had about being alone. She'd comforted the warrior several times after a harrowing nightmare.

So she paced.
And paced.
And paced.

She pulled a double shift, unable unwilling to see Adora suffer.

She made her sixth way around the castle walls beneath Adora's bedroom. Part of her hoped to see the light illuminating the window, to show that Adora was okay... but no such light lit anything.

Glimmer stood still and silently, watching the birds fly around, twittering softly. There was a sudden dart in her peripheral. She spun, igniting her staff in a bright purple light. "Who's there?" She snapped. The shift stopped, freezing. Glimmer squinted, moving closer. "Last chance!" She warned. The staff glowed brighter. "I'll fire," She warned.

The staff whined, ready to shoot, when- "Jesus,"

Glimmer, in her shock, neglected the purple blast. "Catra?" She called. The magicat shifted, revealing herself. Glimmer snorted. "Didn't scratch that homicidal itch, Horde scum?" She quipped, leaning against her staff. Catra scoffed. "Don't you trust your own guards to protect you, Princess?" She bit back. Glimmer shrugged. "I was bored. Why are you here?" She narrowed her eyes as Catra shuddered softly. "None of your business," She snapped, beginning to scale the wall. Glimmer watched with raised eyebrows, realising where the cat was headed.

"Haven't you done enough to Adora?"