Let Adora sleep! How could he make that any clearer? Bow was pacing outside her tent, trying to work off the feeling like his bones were going to vibrate out of his body from pure stress. Apparently he was the only one who cared that their friend was running herself ragged, doing too much and not sleeping and if anyone, he meant anyone, tried to bother her right now, he was going to absolutely lose it!

Shoot. He fumbled with his tracker pad, catching it before it hit the ground and had to replace the screen again. It seemed like even his fingers were too tired to keep a good grip these days. He was supposed to be going over the data for their launch, but the numbers were running together and his head was too heavy to think. They were ready to go, could be on their way to go get Glimmer right now, but they still didn't know where they were going. Ever since Entrapta had declared the ship ready last night he hadn't been able to think, just knowing they could be on their way to get her but weren't was making him—

"Hey." He jumped, but it was only Swift Wind. Gosh, how deep in his own head did he have to be to not notice a thousand pounds of rainbow winged horse? "Sorry! Just came to say I can stand guard if you want. I understand how much Adora needs the sleep. Sacred bond and all that." Swift Wind was looking at him kind of funny, or maybe it was just that he felt like he was seeing everything through dirty glasses these days. "Because, no offense, but you look like horse apples. And not the good kind! When was the last time you got some sleep?"

Not the horse, too! Bow waved the idea away. "I've slept."

He'd passed out for nearly an hour while double checking the new nav interface. An hour wasted when he could have been doing more to get them ready! He hadn't actually slept in his tent since they'd set it up in this enchanted glade Razz had showed Adora, but that didn't matter. He'd rest once they had Glimmer back.

"Yeah, well, the princesses all left. Something about Entrapta getting coordinates? And Micah and Castaspella were headed back to Bright Moon to get some magic stuff, so you wouldn't be missing anything if—"

"Bright Moon? Did they leave yet?"

"Uh, no, I think they were just giving some final instructions to the General before... Hey! Where are you going?"

Bow was already sprinting for Micah's tent. "Take care of Adora, OK? I'll be right back." Swift Wind replied, but Bow didn't bother to look back. That horse could be a goof sometimes, but he never messed around when it came to Adora. And he had to get to Micah and Castaspella before they left.

He grabbed his bow and arrows and burst into Micah's tent more dramatically than he'd intended. Everyone turned to him. Sea Hawk was there too, which was a surprise. "I'm going with you. To Bright Moon."

"Oh, that's very kind of you, Bow, but we'll be fine." Casta smiled at him. Somehow Glimmer's aunt was the only one of them who didn't look frayed around the edges. "It's only a quick trip to get a few essential items we hope will help give our sorcerers a little more punch and we're bringing Sea Hawk as an extra pair of eyes, just in case. Why don't you get some rest?"

Why did everyone keep telling him to rest? "There are things I need from Bright Moon. Stuff from my room… For making arrows, fixing my tracker pad, things I'm going to need on the ship."

"Perhaps you could give me a list and I could get those items for you?" Sea Hawk offered, but Bow shook his head. To his surprise, Micah approached and put a hand on his shoulder, pulling him a away from the others.

"Bow, you've been going non-stop with the ship, the plans, the rescue missions... Why don't you sit this one out?" Bow opened his mouth to protest, but Micah cut him off. His voice was parental, soft. "You're worried about her. I understand. But you're not helping her by burning yourself out. Believe me, no one wants Glimmer back more than I do."

You have NO idea how much I want her back! Bow shrugged Micah's hand off. Which wasn't fair because Glimmer's dad had been nothing but nice to him, but right now his concern just felt condescending. "I'm fine! And I'm coming."

Micah shook his head but didn't protest. General Juliet raised her eyebrows and Sea Hawk appeared fascinated by his laser sword. Castaspella made a small sound like she was dying to say something, but he turned his back on her too, pretending to count his arrows. Finally, with a long exhale, Micah gave some orders to the General, and they made their way out of the camp and out into the darkness of the Whispering Woods.

It was easier than usual, especially with Micah and Castaspella cloaking them with spells, but that just made him more nervous. Anything that benefited them these days usually meant something worse was coming next. Glimmer's father and aunt walked ahead, deep in conversation about the protections in place at Mystacor and how long they'd hold, while Sea Hawk was keeping up a steady patter of inane babble Bow was completely tuning out. His legs felt like lead and he stumbled several times, nearly asleep on his feet. But there was this dogged feeling that he had to do this, couldn't trust it to anyone else.

Bright Moon. Home. It was in worse shape than they'd left it. Broken bits of furniture littered the beach. In one of the few building still fully standing, a torn carpet hung out a broken window. Scorch marks scarred the walls that were still standing and the bridge to the moonstone was gone entirely, bits of stone washed away with the tide. The only thing that kept the place from feeling entirely dead was the moonstone itself, still shining as bright as ever, keeping a patient vigil over the destruction. Waiting patiently for lost queens that might never return.

No. No, he'd bring her back. He had to.

"We can't stay here long. It's not safe. In and out, that's it. No noise if you can help it." Micah's voice was rough as they reached one of the back entrances, and his eyes shone with emotion. Sometimes it was easy to forget that once this had been his home, too. Bow stepped inside gingerly, his boots crunching on the shards of broken crystal that littered the floor. Through the collapsed section of roof, a spybot flew by and they flattened themselves against the wall until it passed. Bow readied an arrow to take it out, but Micah held up a hand. "We already disabled too many on the way here. Any more and it'll attract just as much suspicious as being spotted. Sea Hawk, you're with Bow. Give him some extra coverage while he gets what he needs."

Great. Another babysitter. Bow almost objected, but he thought of his own words to Adora about how you couldn't do everything alone and nodded. Micah and Castaspella headed up the stairs first and went left towards the library. Bow waved Sea Hawk forward, and they went the opposite direction. The hallways were littered with debris, the artifacts almost all toppled and smashed. They'd been in here, ransacked it. The thought made him sick.

There was no light. They'd turned off the magic that kept Bright Moon illuminated when the Horde first attacked to make themselves less of a target and it was eerie to see this place that was normally so full of sparkling brilliance, so dark. The damage combined with the shadows over everything made the place feel like it had been abandoned for years instead of just weeks.

Bow hesitated at the door of his room, not sure he was ready for whatever lay beyond, but they didn't have much time. He pushed it forward and exhaled when he saw it didn't look too bad. The waterfall was off kilter, a small trickle of water dribbling down the side of the wall blossoming into some kind of green fungus. There was debris blown in from the windows, a crystal had fallen and pierced a cushion, and the curtain that normally hung around his bed was gone entirely, but compared to how the rest of the castle looked, it was surprisingly intact.

He made his way to the little alcove with his work table where he'd laid out all his tools and parts for tinkering and arrow making in meticulously organized compartments and rows and just swept his arm across the entire thing, letting everything fall into his bag. Not all of them made it in and he scrambled for them, but Sea Hawk was there.

"I can get these," Sea Hawk said, a hand on his shoulder. "What else do you need?"

"As much of this as you can fit." Bow pulled open the cabinet where he kept larger parts, arrow shafts and feathers, jars of green goo and bits of net ready to be assembled. This was all he had left and then, well, he'd just have to figure out how to make more in space. He'd already started retrieving arrows after he shot them, reloading the spent trick ones which he'd hardly bothered to do before, but at least in the woods there was always wood. "And everything left in the bottom drawer."

His clothes. The things he needed to make his arrows, keep his bow and tracker pad working. All this stuff was essential, and he hadn't wanted anyone else to touch it. But now, standing there, he realized none of it was why he'd felt this urgency to come here tonight. Outside the window, the moonstone watched, casting a pale blue light over everything.

"Hey, Sea Hawk? Do you think you can handle this yourself? There's... something else I need to do."

"Of course, my good man. But remember, we have little time."

"I know. And thanks."

Bow sprinted out of his room and made his way down the hallway. He froze at the edge of one of the large windows as a spybot paused outside and scanned the interior, its tracer beam just missing the toe of his boot. That was too close. But he had to do this.

Even with everything dark and strange, he still knew the way by heart. He hesitated at Glimmer's bedroom door. It was the same part of the castle as his, which meant it probably wasn't completely destroyed, but… he shook it off. There wasn't time for this.

The big window was shattered, the window seat, and floor littered with bits of glass. Some of it was from the bottles of make-up and perfume on her dresser, most of which were now only colored shards. The supports on her bed had snapped and it lay in a small crater on the floor. The steps had fallen too when they shut off the magic and they lay haphazardly around the bed like dented mourners.

He tried not to look, just went directly for her closet and started rummaging for her bag, the one with the little moons on it they always used for overnights at Mystacor.

What would she need? It was going to be a long trip back to Etheria on Mara's ship once he rescued her. He grabbed her favorite pajamas, the soft ones with the little ribbon straps and shorts, then her blue nightgown and the fuzzy purple ones with the bunnies on the pants. Would she be cold on the ship? He grabbed her sweatshirt, the terrible ratty one she refused to throw out because it was so soft. He shoved them into the bag, his hands shaking.

Everything smelled like her. That was the hardest part. Not just the flowery laundry soap they used at Bright Moon but her, that smell he could never have described but was so immediately identifiable as Glimmer in his mind.

He tried to shake it off. He just needed to finish this, get out of here, go get her and then... he could have feelings. There was no time for that now.

Pants, shirts, socks... What else? Oh... right. He pulled open her underwear drawer and froze. Because as much as Glimmer seemed to love to leave her clothes randomly tossed all over her floor for him to pick up, the one thing she never seemed to leave out was her underwear. It felt like an unspoken line. But she was going to need some in space!

It wasn't like with everything else where he knew exactly what she loved to wear, what she was comfortable in. He didn't know how many pairs of panties she'd need, whether these frilly ones were more comfortable than these plainer ones. He could touch them, try to figure out which ones might feel the softest, but that felt way too intimate and he flushed just thinking about it. And somehow the bras were worse. Would the spell she used to block her lunar still work in space, or would she need some of those liner pads? He finally just scooped the entire contents of the drawers into the bag for her to sort out later.

He didn't even let himself consider they might not find her. That they might not bring her back. That she'd never get to wear anything he was packing ever again. That he'd already lost her and this entire mission was for nothing.

But there was plenty he did let himself consider. It was why he just kept going, didn't want to stop, because when he stopped, all he could think about was what Prime could be doing to her, all the ways he could be hurting her, and how it was all his fault. For not getting there in time, for leaving her in the first place, for not being there when she was—

He wasn't sure exactly when he'd started crying, but he couldn't stop it now. Tears were streaming down his face and he didn't even bother to wipe them away as he grabbed everything else he thought she'd need. Toothbrush... hairbrush... where was her sleep mask? The one that smelled like lavender she'd started using when she had trouble sleeping after the portal? It wasn't in her pajama drawer or on her vanity.

He climbed tentatively onto her bed, which rocked slightly under his weight but seemed steady enough, and rummaged through her sheets. There it was, under her blanket. He pocketed it and then ran his hand against the smooth material of her sheets. It smelled even more like her here. He wanted to lie against her pillow and breathe in the scent of her and pretend she was right there next to him. Something fluttered out of the corner of his eye as he shifted the sheets. An envelope. He reached for it and his blood froze when he realized what it was.

His note. One of the ones he'd left her when he and Adora had snuck out to go to Beast Island and rescue Entrapta. She usually teleported right onto her bed at the end of a long day and he'd left it on her pillow so she'd be sure to see it. But here it was, still sealed, which meant...

Oh, no. He jumped off the bed and headed for the window seat, glass crunching under his boots. His heart fell as he saw another note there, leaning against the middle of the cushion, exactly as he'd left it that night what felt like a whole other lifetime ago. But there was still one more, the one on the door. Surely she'd... but, no. That one was still there too, taped to the door exactly where he'd left it.

He stared at the three letters in his hand.

She'd never read them. She'd realized he'd gone and gone to activate the heart and was taken and the last real conversation they'd had that wasn't shouted across the Fright Zone, the last thing he'd ever get to say to her for all he knew, was when he'd yelled at her and ripped his hand out of hers. He didn't so much kneel as collapse on the floor, his legs no longer able to hold him. She was alone and scared up there and they were doing who knows what to her and that THAT was the last thing he'd said to her. It was worse than her just being gone. So much worse.

There was a sound and he remembered at once where he was and that he was supposed to be careful. He reached reflexively for his bow, but stopped when he saw it was Micah.

"Bow?" The king furrowed his brow like he wasn't happy to see him here. Or maybe it was just because he was kneeling on the floor next to his daughter's underwear drawer, sobbing his eyes out. It occurred to him suddenly that maybe he should have left this for Micah to do. Glimmer was his daughter, after all. But he grabbed the bag and pulled it towards his chest fiercely.

No. It needed to be him. No one knew her better.

He should explain. About packing a bag for her. About the letters. About how he'd been planning to get the stuff from his room like he'd said, but then he'd felt this sudden need to be here and do this for her. But he didn't want to.

"We should go." Micah's eyes narrowed as Bow zipped the bag and tucked the letters inside. He couldn't read his look, but it didn't look very happy. Well, Bow wasn't very happy right now either! He wiped the last of his tears away with the palm of his hand and looked at Micah, daring him to say anything. "Are you done with... whatever you needed to do?"

"Yes." Bow wanted to stay. Wanted to touch everything in this room and remember and pretend, but instead he pushed past Micah without waiting for him to step aside, clipping the other man's shoulder on the way out. Glimmer's father made a sound as if he was going to say something, but Bow just kept walking down the ruined hallway until he reached their rendezvous point. Sea Hawk handed him the bag of stuff he'd packed from his room, the stuff that was so important he'd insisted on coming out here in the first place, and he nodded and took it without even checking what was in it.

The walk to camp was quiet, everyone in their own thoughts.

When they got back, Bow went immediately to check on Adora, who was still asleep, thank goodness. Swift Wind had nodded off to, but that seemed alright since he was laying across the doorway of her tent and you couldn't get in to bother Adora without climbing over his massive form. The princesses weren't around, apparently still out on their mission, which was fine with him because the last thing he wanted to do right now was talk to anyone.

Bow sat down next to the fire and added a log, stoking it until it was bright again. He jabbed at the embers as Casta tutted about the state of Bright Moon to Juliet and Sea Hawk tried to spin their errand into some grand tale of adventure until all three disappeared either to relieve the others on watch or to sleep.

Bow had stowed the bags in the spaceship, but he'd taken the letters. He held them now, turning them over and over in his hands, watching the shine of the gold flecked ink catch the firelight. He knew exactly what they all said, even without looking.

This one, the one he'd written first, was all anger. Months of simmering fury at her he still had in there somewhere, buried so deep under everything else he couldn't deal with right now. He crumpled it and tossed it into the fire, watching the edges burn angry and orange until they consumed the whole thing and turned it black with ash.

The second one he'd written had been longer. He'd tried to reason with her, tried to make her understand, but what was the point? He tossed that one in after the first and watched all his careful phrasing and gentle arguments, the same fine line he'd been towing all year with her, go up in smoke.

Only one left. It was the one he'd left on her pillow, the one he thought she'd be most likely to see first. The shortest one because Adora had been trying to get him to leave, and he'd sealed it with this unsettled feeling he'd left something important unsaid but not sure what. He unsealed it now, looking at his own rushed handwriting on her purple stationary.

Glimmer,

We've gone to get Entrapta.

I'm sorry.

I love you.

Please don't be mad at me.

I love you so much.

We'll talk when I get back, OK?

-Bow

He stared at the words for a long time until they blurred and didn't look like words anymore. Then he watched the fire and wondered which of the embers were phrases she never read. He was just considering tossing the last note into the fire too when a shadow darkened the paper and he spun to see Micah looming over him.

"Uh, hey, your majesty." Bow quickly shoved the note into his pocket. He waited for the correction, the usual "call me Micah" but it never came. "Was there… was there something you wanted?"

"You never answered my questions the other day. Never answered any of them. And now I'm wondering… why is that?" Micah's tone was cold and Bow turned away, unable to meet his eyes. He watched the fire for a moment until it flared so large he had to jump backward or be singed, a rune glowing in the center for a moment before it faded, and the fire went back to normal. Ember and ash rained down around them and Micah lowered his spell hand. "Answer me."

"Your majesty, I don't…" Something was beeping, but Bow couldn't concentrate on it over the racing of his own heart. He'd spent so long thinking of Micah as Glimmer's goofy, socially awkward dad, he'd somehow forgotten he was a terrifying and possibly a little crazy master sorcerer. "W-what do you want to know?"

A charred piece of purple stationary floated between them before landing on the ground with the others. Micah watched it and then turned his piercing glare on Bow. "What exactly is the nature of your relationship with my daughter?"

We're friends. That's it. What else would we be? We've been at war our entire lives! What time would there have been to be anything else, even if she wasn't a princess and I wasn't just some guy? But it's not like that, it's never been like that, it's never going to be like that even if… He was losing his train of thought and he needed to answer but the words felt loaded and confusing and got caught in his throat. All the while something was beeping, marking the tense silence between them like… like some kind of…

His tracker pad!

He lunged for it so quickly that Micah stepped backward, Bow's hands shaking as he accepted the call.

"Fucking finally!" It was Mermista, looking like she'd been in a fight.

"We've got the coordinates!" Entrapta shrieked excitedly off camera. "We know where Glimmer is!"

"Yeah, but also? Super fucking bad news: Prime's sending reinforcements." Mermista actually looked scared, which shook him up more than anything. The background blurred like the princesses were actively fleeing from something while calling. "Get Adora on the line and then get your ass to the ship. You don't leave immediately? You are shit out of luck."

"One sec, I'll get her up." Bow started for Adora's tent, but Micah held out an arm. Bow flinched, but the other man was all business again.

"What is it?"

"They found Glimmer. I have to go. I have to go get her."

"Adora?"

"Yeah, her too." Micah gave him a funny look, and Bow hesitated. "I'm sorry, your majesty, but… I've got to bring Glimmer home. There is nothing more important to me."

Something passed over Micah's face and then he deflated, his look oddly wistful. He stepped aside and gestured Bow forward. "I believe you. So go. Bring her home."