"No. No!" Glimmer recoiled from the wrench at her feet. "I will not kill Bow! I would never ever do anything to hurt him!"

"Oh, but, Glimmer, you already have." It was Bow's voice again, mocking sweetness. He was advancing and while his arrows were still in one hand, his bow in the other, there was nothing friendly about his expression. "Things between us have been broken for a long time. Are we even best friends anymore?"

"Bow, please… Stop it. You've got snap out of it." She knew it wasn't really him right now, but it was impossible not to look into that face she had known for most of her life and not still see her best friend. She held her ground even though her instincts told tell her to run.

Those terrible green eyes narrowed. If she hadn't fought alongside him in hundreds of battles, she wouldn't have seen it coming, but she saw his muscles tense half a second before he moved. He swung his bow, and she ducked. She felt the whoosh as the metal limb narrowly missed her head. She reacted automatically, kicking at his middle while he was still off balance. He grunted as her boot connected with his bare midriff and he stumbled backwards.

She grabbed the bow, trying to yank it from his hands, but he recovered quickly. He twisted, slamming the horsehead tip into the underside of her chin. Everything was stars as she fell backwards, something jabbing into her back as she hit the ground. She was operating on battle instincts now, not thinking, only reacting. She had no idea which direction was up, only that she needed to keep moving. Pain slammed into her side and she swung her fist as she flipped over, connecting hard with something.

The pain in her side was nothing compared to the screaming agony of the wound in her arm, bleeding now more than ever. Her limbs were heavy as she fumbled for whatever was behind her. She needed something, anything to defend herself. She closed her hands around the thing and dragged herself to her feet, holding her newfound weapon in front of her and seeing it for the first time.

It was the freaking wrench. She dropped it in horror and watched it clatter to the floor in double vision. Prime had tricked her, and she'd almost… But, no, she would not fight Bow! She grasped her head, trying to control the woozy feeling of spinning.

"Pick it up." Prime's voice again. There was a trickle of blood sliding down the edge of Bow's mouth—Oh gods, had she done that?—but he didn't even reach a hand up to wipe it off. Like Prime couldn't care less what happened to this body.

"I am not playing your game." She was breathing heavily, swallowing down great gulps of air to keep herself conscious. Adrenaline had fought back some of that sleepy feeling, but she was still on the edge of blacking out. "Kill me if you want. I will die before I hurt him."

Prime twisted Bow's face into a terrible sneer. He notched an arrow and aimed right for her. She gasped. Prime was going to do it. He was going to call her bluff, make Bow kill her.

"So you refuse Prime's merciful offer and prolong this miserable creature's pain. Very well." He took another step closer, and she stepped backward, her heart pounding. "As for you, you will die when I no longer have need of you. Until then, your majesty, you will suffer."

She didn't even have time to move before the arrow sunk into her thigh. She fell backwards, searing torture ripping through her skin. The feathered shaft stuck out of her leg as a blossom of blood spread across the pants of her spacesuit. She struggled to get up, but everything was scorching pain and she only collapsed back down again. Prime tutted condescendingly, tapping the last arrow against the side of the bow.

"As falls its Queen, so falls Etheria. Your precious connections have been your undoing. The foolish feelings that brought you back for your enemy when you could have escaped. Your own senseless sacrifice that led you right back into my grasp. And now, this useless boy, who walked willingly to his end because he was blinded by love. You Etherians let your emotions make you weak."

Blinded by… what did he say? Glimmer was drowning in pain, her head swimming, battling the current to stay conscious. Prime's words fell slowly through the fog. Then all at once meaning clicked together and there was a terrible moment of focus, her heart jolting out of rhythm.

"Bow… loves me?" Blood rushed in her ears like she was drowning in her own body. "Bow? Is that true?"

She looked up at his familiar face, still twisted by Prime's malice. His eyes were narrow and cold and his face twisted into Prime's terrible smirk, but real tears slid down his cheeks.

Oh, gods.

It was true.

Oh, Bow, why didn't you tell me? She'd wanted this for so long, but not like this…

"Bow, I—I should have said it before but I was so scared of messing everything up and there was never a good time… and then you left and Prime… and, when I saw you again, you were so mad I thought… I thought I'd ruined everything but I have always, well, as long as I can remember anyway, been—"

His bow clattered to the floor. For an ecstatic moment she thought he'd broken Prime's control, but his eyes were still the same terrible green as he raised the arrow still clutched in his hand. He flipped it around and held the point up to his own forearm.

"No!" Glimmer screamed as he dug the sharp tip into his own skin and sliced it down his arm, blood blossoming against his dark skin. He gasped with pain and for a second Glimmer thought she saw his real eyes flicker through before they turned green and cold again.

"Please! Don't hurt him!" Glimmer shouted. She strained to get back up, but her leg was stabbing fire and she buckled under the pain. She fell forward, snapping the arrow, forcing the tip farther into her thigh. She stifled a scream and bit her lip until it bled. "Prime… I'll come with you. I'll surrender myself. You can chip me, you can do whatever you want with me, just leave him alone!"

"No." Prime's voice came out choked as Bow wobbled, a thick dark stream pouring from his arm now. "This is what you get for defying me. The one memory I will leave you as I push out all the others. Something to remind you of what Prime is capable of when you are mine in mind as well as body."

Bow raised the arrow to his other arm. She forced herself to her feet, swaying dangerously. Everything swam from pain and loss of blood, but she had to get to him. She lurched unsteadily, losing the battle to stay conscious, but she couldn't just stand here and watch Bow bleed to death in front of her without at least trying to do something.

She was still too far away. She whimpered as Bow sliced down his other arm. He stumbled and fell to his knees, gasping. He braced himself against the floor on his hands, his life spilling out of him and pooling on the floor below. It was way too much blood and if she couldn't stop it soon…

She tried to move too fast and pitched forward, hitting the floor. The world was spinning, dizzy and confused, but Bow was the only thing still in focus. He jerked himself unnaturally upright, sitting back on his legs.

Can't stop now. She crawled towards him, agonizingly slow, fighting her own body as it tried to shut down. She was close enough now that she could see herself reflected in those dead green eyes and hear his swallow breath coming in frantic gulps. He didn't look right, his skin sickly and faded. Bow's arm twitched as he lifted the arrow point, still slick with his blood, up to his temple. She pulled herself up on her knees and lunged for it, using what was left of her strength to stop his hand.

Prime kept forcing his arm upwards and her knuckles were white as she fought it, her hand wrapped over his. She grasped him tighter, pulling with both hands now, feeling his arm still creeping upwards even as she was pushing it down with every bit of her dwindling strength. She didn't have enough left in her. She wouldn't be able to stop him. She wasn't even sure how she was doing this after everything else; she was so weak.

"Bow, I'm so sorry. I…" She wasn't sure anymore if her vision was blurry from blood loss or tears. "I love you. I love you."

Without warning, his arm stopped fighting against her and it fell to his side, the arrow slipping from his slack grasp. The green flickered, and she saw a flash of his real eyes, pained and desperate and sad. If she could just keep him here for a moment longer…

Of course. Prime was wrong. Love wasn't weakness at all. It was strength, the reason they were even still going right now when there was every reason to surrender.

Her arm was leaden as she lifted it around his neck, pulling herself up towards him. For the first time in this whole hellish ordeal, everything was perfectly clear as she pressed her lips against his. It was an awkward and kind of rough kiss, but it still sent a thrill through the haze of pain and fog. She couldn't stop to think about how his lips felt against hers or how warm and familiar he tasted. She focused only on her hand as it left his neck and reached into his quiver.

Soft feather… goo. Long ones were net… Not that one, extra feather meant… There!

In the long moment it took for her to yank the arrow free from the mess of destroyed arrows in his quiver, she realized there was a hand on her waist, a gentle touch. She opened her eyes to see Bow, the real one, looking back at her full of love and trust. Oh, Bow. She was really sorry about this, but she didn't see what else to do.

She flipped the arrow sideways and slammed the impact chamber directly against the back of his neck as hard as she could. She felt it activate, sparks burning her hand. Please work! If this little thing could short out a whole Horde bot, surely it could handle one tiny little chip.

Bow made a pained hiss, his back arcing, and then his eyes rolled back and he slumped against her, pulling them both to the ground. Oh, gods, had she killed him anyway? She tried desperately to pull him back up, but she had nothing left. Her body toppled over and there was nothing but muffled sound and what seemed like the glow of a faint blue light.

Everything felt tingly and light, but she could have sworn she felt his hand close around hers as she succumbed to unconsciousness at last.