What were they doing out there? Bow considered going out to check, but he was too irritated at Glimmer to deal with her right now. Some best friend! Almost dying right in front of him and then betraying him to his mom at the first chance! The two most important women in his life, who prior to today had never agreed on anything, were suddenly ganging up on him!

At least he'd held off glitching until they'd left the room. It was a sign that at least the universe wasn't completely against him. Though it seemed to be getting worse. As much as he didn't want to admit it, it hurt a LOT and the fact that he couldn't access his powers at all terrified him. It was like they were there but trapped behind an electric fence and he glitched every time he so much as tried to reach for them. Betrayed as he was feeling at Glimmer right now, but he had a bad feeling she was right and this wasn't going to just go away on its own.

It had been better when they'd been in here with him, though. Alone with nothing it like his brain was glitching, a million thoughts attacking him at once. Anger was easier than than this hopeless fear that had been growing ever since they left the Fright Zone. The sinking dread that the events of the last few hours had ruined absolutely everything, and it was all his fault. He bounced his leg restlessly and tried to distract himself with a pile of paperwork from his mom's desk, but he barely understood half of it. He tossed it aside, grateful that would never be his problem.

The study door clicked and his mother returned alone, tucking her wings to the side and perching herself on the edge of the desk. It was a lot harder to avoid eye contact when she was directly in front of his chair, but he gave it his best try. He was dying to ask where Glimmer was and if she was still mad at him and whether they'd been talking about him and if so what had Glimmer said, NOT because he cared, because he was still annoyed at her, only because of the principle of the thing. But there was something about the smug almost smile on his mother's face that said she expected that question and he didn't want to give her the satisfaction. He crossed his arms over his tattered shirt and tried to muster what little dignity he had left.

"You really thought you could just hide that you were sick? That your powers were malfunctioning?" His mother was giving him that look, the one that made him feel about five years old. "How long were you planning on lying to me about it?"

"Not… forever." Just for the foreseeable future. It's not like he enjoyed lying to his mother, but he would if he thought the truth would hurt her. "I didn't want you to worry."

"Then I have done a poor job as a mother if you think you need to protect me and not the other way around. Is this why we never talk anymore?" She waited, but he didn't know what to say to that. "I'm your mother, Bow. I know this what you do. You are always the first to tell your friends to talk to out but then you bottle everything up inside because you don't want to be a bother. Your friend Adora is much the same. The burdens of the world are not yours to shoulder alone, you know."

"We lost Entrapta. The Alliance is over. Glimmer almost… and it's all because they were trying to rescue me." He gripped the arm of the chair, trying to keep himself from crying again and wishing, not for the first time, that he was more powerful. Powerful enough that he could protect everyone he loved, and no one had to get hurt ever again. "I never even would have gotten out of there if it wasn't for Glimmer. I'm supposed to be the one who protects her!"

"Hmm. Why do I suspect the commander believes it's the other way around?"

He snorted. "Yeah, well, she's wrong!"

His mother laughed outright, and he looked at her for the first time. "Ah, there's the sullen teenager I was promised. It's always nice to get the occasional glimpse of him so I don't get the idea you're too perfect." She reached over and touched his face the way she'd done when he was a child. "I have been so worried about you. Come here."

Bow considered sulking and ignoring her outstretched arms, but it was impossible. He was feeling empty and scared and no matter how old he was or how frustrated she made him sometimes; she was still his mom. Also, he really loved hugs. She wrapped her arms and wings around him, and he sighed into her shoulder.

"I love you, mom."

"I love you, too." She kissed him on the cheek and held him at arm's length. "And I won't hear you blaming yourself for what happened. If I hadn't let the first alliance fall apart, none of this would be happening. I should have kept fighting. You should, too."

All the weight of the last few hours settled back on his shoulders at once. "But the others all quit. The rebellion's done."

"Not a chance. My son is something of a friendship expert and I believe he would tell you that being friends is not easy. It takes work to be there for other people. Sometimes everything you've got. But you don't give up on each other because that's what friends do." Huh. That did kind of sound like something he'd say. Where there'd been a bottomless pit of despair a moment ago, there was now something a bit like hope. His mother gave his arm a little squeeze and stepped towards the window. "And don't be mad at Glimmer."

"What? Mommmm!"

"That's an order. The commander may have a lack of filter and foresight but she has your best interests at heart." Really? She's going to pull the queen card about THIS? His mom and Glimmer fought constantly and now suddenly, they'd formed a treaty just to badger him? He crossed his arms over his chest again and she glanced his way, her expression wistful. "It's a good thing, you know! You make a good team. Few people will tell a king or queen, even a future one, that they are being foolish and yet sometimes we need to hear it the most. Your father was always willing to do that for me. If only I'd been more willing to listen."

She traced her finger along the windowsill, and Bow froze, afraid to say anything and shift the moment. She almost never spoke about his father. Everything he knew about the late King Micah was from Aunt Casta who for the low price of wearing whatever article of clothing she'd knitted you this week and letting her show off Mystacor, would tell you almost anything.

"In its prime, the kingdom of Scorpius was truly a spectacle. Then the Horde took it over, twisting its grand buildings into a place of war. Some time after Hordak began his reign there, we got word that there was a holdout. A small batch of Scorpioni resistance fighters centered around the young princess and her mothers, embedded deep in what was now Horde territory and making their last stand. They appealed to Bright Moon for aide."

"And we gave it, right?" Bow asked automatically. He'd never heard this story before, not even in his lessons on Etherian history, and couldn't imagine what it had to do with his father.

The queen didn't give any sign she'd heard him, just kept her eyes fixed somewhere on the horizon. "Your father wanted to set off at once. Run head first into the heart of Hordak's empire, risk everything on the word of a note. So many of Scorpioni were working with the Horde at that point. Even before that, they'd been prickly and suspicious, the magic of The Black Garnet unpredictable and dangerous. It looked for all the world like a trap." She exhaled, pulling her wings tighter into her sides. "But Micah insisted. You were still so small and he was thinking like a father, of the royal family and their princess. He was ready to blast his way into the Fright Zone with no thought to the danger on even the chance he could save them."

Sounds like Glimmer, Bow thought, but didn't dare break the spell of wherever this story was going. He could feel a glitch coming, but he held it back, keeping his breathing even.

"We fought about it, Micah and I. Said it was the right thing to do, that he could handle himself. He asked me to trust him. And I wanted to… but I am a coward." The queen swallowed, a tear sliding down her face. "I was afraid of what would happen to him if he went to the Fright Zone so I ordered another battle. One closer to home, at the edges of Plumeria, where there was only a small outpost of Horde soldiers. An invented crisis that I thought would keep him safe and out of harm's way." She clenched her fist at her side, her jaw set. "Instead, the Scorpioni resistance fell, we lost their princess to the Horde, and your father perished in that battle. The battle I'd insisted on because I was trying to keep him safe. I got him killed. And I have never forgiven myself."

Her words hung in the air between them. After several long moments, Bow offered his mother a tissue, but she waved him off, as if the tears soaking her face were a penance. His own eyes were oddly dry, his mind too busy processing this new detail in the story of a man he barely remembered. Brave, powerful King Micah. His shadow still looming over everything he did, even though the man had been gone for most of his life.

"It's because I'm like you," he said at last. "That's why you told me that story, isn't it?"

"No." She turned to face him, her eyes shining and kind. "You are more like me than you father in some ways, I suppose. But while you are cautious, you are not afraid." She wiped her eyes with a finger and stepped away from the window at last. "I told you this because I need you to understand that even with all the power in the world you cannot protect everyone, no matter how much you care for them. And that I have been doing this, ruling Bright Moon, for a very long time and it was far far better when I was not doing it alone. When I had someone I could trust by my side."

It seemed like his mother had more to say, but he'd been holding it off too long and the glitch overtook him, pain stabbing throughout his entire body. His mother came to him, but he waved her off, not sure what exactly it would do if she touched him and not wanting to hurt her. Just as it finally passed, and he was catching his breath, a small burst of blue flame erupted over the queen's desk and a note fluttered out.

His mother snatched the paper out of the air. "Ah, the healers from Mystacor are here. Not a moment too soon. Come. Let's get you fixed up."