"Entrapta? Everything alright in here?" Bow asked, the ship lurching dangerously under his feet. He was grateful for the weight of his space boots on the deck because he was feeling unsteady, and not just because he'd been floating in space a few minutes ago.
"Well, not exactly." Entrapta was standing still at the center console but seemed to be everywhere at once, her hair working at least a dozen controls at the same time. "Boosting the thrusters like that may have had… unintended consequences. But never fear, I have the solution!"
She gestured to his tracker pad where she'd already sent him the diagnostic. That stunt she'd pulled to make them go into hyper-speed had drained the fuel crystals down to almost nothing. He sighed, changing their heading and punching in the coordinates for the planet where Darla said they could get more. Of course, they had to take an unplanned detour or risk being stranded in space. Gods forbid any of this was ever easy!
"Do I want to know exactly what you did to make us go that fast?"
Entrapta let out a single laugh. "Probably not! But it worked, didn't it? We got Glimmer back!" Entrapta raised a section of hair for a high five that he returned mechanically. "Go team!"
"Go team." He stared through the numbers on the screen for a moment, his fingers clenching the edges of his tracker pad.
Entrapta was talking to the others over the comm system and he stayed out of view of the camera, watching. Glimmer said nothing, just looked from Adora beside her to Entrapta on the screen, a confused expression on her face. When it seemed like Entrapta would never get to the point, he jumped in to give them the short version, mostly because having Glimmer there, looming large on the screen in front of him, was making him agitated and he needed to concentrate.
Bow chewed at his nail, checking the nav readout so he wouldn't be tempted to look at the comm screen. According to the map, they should be at the planet any minute now. That was the good news. The bad news was that the fuel crystals were running on fumes and this wouldn't be so much a smooth landing as a controlled crash.
The ship pitched dangerously again and Entrapta finally ended the call. "Ha! Now, for some real fun!"
Bow didn't have the energy to comment on that. He flung himself down into the Captain's chair as the ship shuddered, hoping Entrapta had some trick up her overalls for dealing with the failing thrusters and that he wouldn't have to steer them manually. In theory, he knew how, but he was hoping to never have to use that knowledge because the prospect terrified him. He drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair, trying to think of literally anything but the person they'd all just risked their lives to save.
Fortunately, the universe was happy to provide a distraction. They'd hit the promised debris field, the sky before them filling with chunks of stone. Nothing so big that the hull wouldn't hold, but it was sure going to be a real bumpy ride down.
Glimmer. Probably standing just outside the room. He froze, listening, never taking his eyes off the ragged hunks of approaching debris. Her voice was barely audible over the rush of the ship's engines. He couldn't hear what she said, but Adora's reply was clear enough.
"Yeah, there's a couple. We mostly use one in the back of the bunk room. That's the second door on the left."
Glimmer again, her voice even smaller, the words impossible to make out.
"Of course!" Adora replied, her tone bewildered. "Why wouldn't you be allowed to use the bathroom?"
The first rock hit, slamming hard into the front of the ship, and Bow flinched like he'd been the one hit.
"Come on, girl. Don't give up on me now!" Entrapta was giving the console an encouraging rub with her hair, her fingers flying over the controls. The ship banked hard to the left, avoiding a large cluster, but the fuel meter beeped angrily.
"Entrapta, if we run out of fuel before we reach that planet—"
"I know! I know!"
Bow startled as something smacked into his bicep. He turned to see the annoyed face of Adora looming over him.
"What the fuck is your problem?" Her voice was low and he glanced behind her automatically for Glimmer, but she must be in the bathroom.
"I don't know what you're talking about." He tried to concentrate on the screen, but his thoughts were a hot buzz and all he could do was dig his fingers into the handle of the captain's chair.
"You damn well do! That's GLIMMER, Bow! Your favorite fucking person on the entire planet? The one we went through all this shit to get back?" The ship rocked again with another collision and Bow's hands tensed on the arms of the chair, but Adora didn't stop. "Now I'm not the friendship expert here but I'm thinking that maybe now that we finally have our best friend back safe and alive after she was kidnapped and held prisoner and thrown into the godsdamn vacuum of space, the right way to greet her isn't to shove her away and then give her the silent treatment."
"After all the crap I had to… An entire year of you two at each other's throats and you're going to lecture ME about this?" The irritation he'd been feeling since the airlock boiled over, turning into full out anger. Something else hit the ship, a dull clang reverberating against the metal hull, and he fought to keep his voice low. "It's her fault we're even out here in the first place! Prime, the invasion, the whole situation back home. Everything is in jeopardy because of what she did!"
"Don't give me that! Glimmer made a bad choice. Light Hope tricked her. That's all old news! Catra's done a billion times worse and if she—" Adora crossed her arm, shaking her head. "I knew this would happen. You've been so obsessed with getting her back, you haven't actually dealt with anything, not this and especially not the BIG thing with you two."
Before Adora could explain what exactly the "BIG thing" was supposed to be, the ship banked, then rocked in sharp succession.
"Whoopsie!" Entrapta called cheerfully. "Pretty sure we just blew the port thruster. Oh, hi, Glimmer!"
"Hey, Entrapta."
Bow whipped around to see Glimmer standing awkwardly in the doorway to the bridge. Her eyes went to him immediately, giving him a small smile, but he turned away, pulling up the fuel gage just for something else to look at. He stared at it for a full minute before he could even remember what he was looking at.
"Bow?" The tiny voice again. It was really pissing him off. Since when was anything Glimmer did meek and small?
"What?" He snapped. She flinched back, the hand she must have been reaching out to touch him hanging suspended in the air a moment before she wrapped it around herself.
"Sorry. You're busy. We can talk later."
He didn't look at her. He didn't need to. That false tone, the tremor in her voice. She was pretending to be fine and all the while trying not to cry. He shouldn't have been that sharp with her. He should apologize. Reach out for her. Wrap her in his arms and never let them be separated again. But he turned back to the screen, his jaw set.
He just couldn't look at her. This had been the problem back in the airlock, why he'd had to get out before he said something he regretted. There she was, safe at last, his very best friend in the world and what started as pure joy and relief at having her back curdled into something else.
Because, great, so they got her back. It wasn't like this was over! They were still stuck in this beat old spaceship. Prime was still wrecking Etheria and destroying everything they loved. Having Glimmer back didn't actually fix anything!
All this time worrying about her, imagining all the ways she might be hurt or suffering, and here she was whole and healthy and looking exactly like she had all year when she'd taken him for granted, ignoring him and ordering him around like he was just her subject and not her best friend, the ONLY person who'd stood by her this entire time, when even Adora was sick of her crap. And just like that, the dam of resentment and frustration that had been building since the portal burst, flooding his system until he had to get away from her or… or he'd…
For a moment he almost glimpsed the big thing Adora had mentioned, a shadow far below the surface, but he pushed it back down with everything else until it was all the same roiling ugly of emotions in his gut.
"Entering planetary atmosphere. Expect limited visibility due to atmospheric conditions." Darla's voice was maddening calm compared to the storm inside him.
"Whew! Just in time, too! Oh, you're such a good girl!" Entrapta was laying against the console, giving it a hug. On the fuel gage, the meters were all in the red. They were officially out of power. If Entrapta was wrong, if the crystals they needed weren't on this planet, they'd be completely stranded. That'd be her fault, too. He glanced at Glimmer involuntarily but turned away quickly when he saw her watching him with those wide eyes.
"Great," Bow said, as the viewing window went gray, as they entered this nameless planet's dense atmosphere. "Now all we need to do is land without dying."
He barely got the last word out before the ground rose to meet them, jostling them all for a very bumpy landing.
"But it was fascinating, wasn't it? Technology and magic run wild. The data I could have collected if I had just a little more time!"
"What? No, Entrapta—" Adora shook her head and Glimmer had to smile at how this conversation had turned into a seesaw between them. "Glimmer, there was nothing fascinating about Beast Island! It was a horrible place of razor sharp everything and nightmares!"
Entrapta waved her off. "Oh, come on, it wasn't that bad!"
"Not that— We almost died! Like forty times!"
Glimmer laughed outright at Adora's exasperation and stacked the empty dishes from their dinner into a little pile while the two of them continued their wildly contrasting descriptions of Beast Island. She suspected reality was closer to the deadly island Adora described and less like the amazing scientific retreat Entrapta was trying to sell it as, but the sheer normalcy of watching the two of them bicker about it was healing things inside her she hadn't even realized were broken.
This was so much easier than before, the hours they'd spent trying to plan how they were going to rescue Catra. Everyone was grilling her for details of Prime's ship, his operations, the clones. She'd answered as best as she could because she wanted to rescue Catra, owed the girl that much after she'd saved her life, but there was so much she couldn't bring herself to talk about, the wounds too raw. They'd eventually settled on a plan and tense plans of attack gave way to a simple meal and casual conversation.
The adventure of getting the crystals, almost dying in that cavern, it had loosened things between them. Everything wasn't how it used to be, but at least it felt like Adora wasn't holding her at arm's length like she had when she'd first gotten on the ship. If anything, they were back to somewhere a little better than they'd been since her mom disappeared. It made it feel like maybe she hadn't broken everything beyond repair.
Bow was still ignoring them. At least, she thought he was. The transparent screens he was so intently focused on made it hard to tell. Several times she could have sworn he was looking at her, but it may have just been some ship diagnostic.
When they'd gotten back onto the ship after getting the crystals, she'd apologized. Told him he had a right to be mad as long as he wanted. And he did! He really really did after everything she'd done. But the way he'd taken her hands after she'd apologized, given her the first smile she'd gotten from him since she'd gotten aboard, she'd kind of hoped that maybe things would be better. But there was still this wall between them, bricks of tension and resentment she couldn't even imagine how she could break through.
It was ironic, really. She'd spent hours and hours on Prime's ship imagining how she'd apologize to the others. But the Bow in her head, he'd insist there was no need for apologizes, take her up in his arms and hold her tight while she cried and told him everything. Instead, they sat on opposite sides of a cold room, the distance somehow farther than when they were on opposite sides of the galaxy.
Entrapta was a surprise. Glimmer had spent exactly zero time thinking about what she'd say to the tech princess, not knowing she was even alive, let alone that she'd be on the ship. Yet here they were, having the most companionable conversation they'd ever had.
Entrapta had waved off her clumsy apology for not coming with the others to rescue her from Beast Island, which was how they'd gotten on this topic. Then it had been dueling tales of nightmare beasts and astonishing data. Her father had come up half a dozen times already, but she'd just let the others talk. She'd ripped herself apart on the Velvet Glove with questions of whether the Micah Prime had showed her on the screen was an illusion conjured to taunt her or real and she'd damned him by smashing Prime's treasure. It should have been a comfort to have this confirmation that he was both real and alive. Except it just added to the unsettled feeling in her gut, adding a million tiny guilts and big questions that she wasn't sure she was ready to face yet.
At least not with Entrapta and Adora.
She glanced back at Bow again and could have sworn his eyes flicked away, like he'd been watching her too. Gods, she hated this. She was trying to give him space, she really was, but not being able to go over and touch and talk to him after so long was torture. She missed her best friend like an ache. When she'd lost her parents, they were gone, leaving her with nothing. Having him right there but off limits was a whole new kind of pain.
What if he never forgave her? What if he never talked to her again? What if this meant they weren't even best friends anymore? When she'd said that earlier, about them maybe never really be friends like they were again, she'd never realized how right she might be. She blinked furiously, determined not to cry. The last thing she wanted was from pity from a room full of people she'd wronged.
"I don't care what you say, Adora. As soon as Prime is gone, I AM going back! After all, I promised my bot!" Entrapta polished off the last of her dinner, the tiniest berries she could find out of all the fresh food Perfuma had packed for them, and added her dirty dish to the stack.
"Entraptaaaa." Adora groaned, burying her face in her hands. "Why does someone so smart do so many incredibly dumb things?"
"So what if it's a wee bit deadly? That just makes it exciting! All that pure information." Entrapta cackled, clapping her hands together in delight. "Hordak would understand."
Entrapta seemed to assume she'd said something wrong. She froze and slammed her mask down. Glimmer and Adora exchanged a look. The other princess rose to her feet, mumbling about core reactors and reaching her hair towards the nearest vent.
"Wait! You two were friends, right? You and Hordak?" Glimmer said quickly, trying to stop the other princess from disappearing. Scorpia had mentioned it when she joined the rebellion, but there had been a lot going on and more pressing things to be worried about. Entrapta paused, but now that she had her attention, Glimmer wasn't entirely sure what to say. "Did you… want to talk about that?"
"Not really. We were lab partners. Then he was angry about the portal and…" Entrapta rubbed the tips of her gloves against each other. Her voice sounded hollow through the mask. "The others… they explained. What the Horde was doing to Etheria, to your kingdoms. How they felt I joined the Horde to fight against them, tried to kill them. It's not that I didn't know about the war, about what Catra was using my bots to do to all of you, but I… I liked being around people excited about my work, who seemed to understand me better. And I enjoyed working with Hordak. So I focused on that and not on how much it was hurting the rest of you. And I'm sorry."
Whoa. An apology from Entrapta? That was unexpected. Adora was blinking at the princess in surprise, even Bow had stopped fiddling around with the screens for a moment and was watching as Entrapta stared down at the floor of the ship, though he looked away as soon as he saw Glimmer watching him. Entrapta shook her head in the awkward silence and started to go.
"Well, hey, you're with us now! And you helped save me! So as far as I'm concerned, we're all good!" Glimmer was talking too quickly, this weird fake high pitched tone like she was putting on a performance, but she didn't want Entrapta to be upset, not when no one's hands were entirely clean here, least of all hers, and they all had way bigger problems. "And Hordak, he was transported up to the ship with Catra and I! So he's alive!"
A second after she said it, she realized with horror that perhaps bringing up Hordak's current condition was not the best idea. She'd been completely traumatized by what had happened to him and she didn't even like the guy. But she owed it to Entrapta to tell her, didn't she, especially if she cared for the man? It seemed like the least she could do.
"He's with Prime?" Entrapta lifted her head, her mask still down. Glimmer nodded. "Good. That's what he wanted."
Entrapta sniffed and Glimmer opened her mouth and closed it again, not sure how much else she should say. Darla saved her, beeping and announcing that refueling had reached 100%.
Adora gave her a light punch in the shoulder. "Nice work grabbing those crystals. If you hadn't snagged them when you did, we'd be shit out of luck right now."
"Oh, well…" Glimmer straightened the stack of dirty dishes, not wanting Adora to see how close she was to crying. After so long feeling worthless and guilty, it was so nice to feel like she'd done something good. "I'm just glad I could help! Did I get enough to get us back home?"
"Should be!" Entrapta was mucking about with the control panel.
"Well, great!" She was doing it again, that same false cheerful voice, but she was too aware of Bow across the room, not taking part in the conversation. "So we'll just hope over to Prime's ship, get Catra, then go home and fight. We take back our planet, we send Prime packing and we fix this!"
Not her best rousing speech ever, but it felt good to say it. It was too optimistic considering how stacked the odds were against them, but she needed a little positivity right now to counteract the growing terror she was feeling at having to face Prime again in less than a day. Adora gave her a half grin and Entrapta pulled her mask back up to nod at her, which felt like something.
"'Go home.'" From behind them, Bow made a sound halfway between a snort and a growl. "There's not even a home to go back to."
"Bow." Adora's voice was a warning. "Not now."
"She's going to find out eventually, Adora!" Bow looked at her fully for the first time in hours, but there was no warmth in it. "Bright Moon is gone"
"Wh…" It was like being in space again, her blood frozen, the air gone. She looked from Adora to Entrapta but both looked everywhere but at her. "Gone?"
"Damn it, Bow! It's not GONE gone." Adora was still a terrible liar. "It was a little on fire when we left. Well, a lot on fire. And a few buildings collapsed. But some of it is probably still there! We don't even know for sure. No one's really been back there since we abandoned it."
"You abandoned Bright Moon?" Glimmer managed, though it felt like her chest was collapsing into itself. She remembered suddenly images Prime had shown her of buildings so badly damaged she hadn't understood what she'd been looking at, that she now realized must have been Bright Moon. Must have been her home. "You just abandoned it?"
"You weren't there, Glimmer!" Adora said quickly, taking her hand. "They had us completely outnumbered, and they were coming in from above, so King Micah decided…"
Adora kept talking, but she couldn't concentrate on what she was saying. Bright Moon. Her home. The last thing she had of her mother. If it was already gone, then what hope was there? Was there anything left to save? Was there a single part of her old life there was still time to save?
Bow rose and scooped up the pile of dirty plates in front of her so quickly she flinched. Adora glared at him, trying to get him to say something reassuring, but he disappeared towards the galley without so much as glancing her way, leaving a cloud of unease in his wake. It was like being back on that planet; the floor crumbling out from under her, but this time there was no one there to catch her at the bottom.