Author's Note We are skipping ahead to Moment of Truth, which is a big skip, but then we're going to stay mostly sequential from then on (from Glimbow's POV anyway). Because I'm just skipping around and not going to write every scene, I'm just going to tell you this upfront instead of working it in subtly: the timeline of Catra and Scorpia's falling out is different in this AU. Specifically, Scorpia does not see Catra zap Entrapta or know that she sent her to Beast Island. She is told the same lie as Hordak about Entrapta's betrayal and accepts it with some doubts. I mention this now because she's present in scenes she shouldn't be in this and that is why. As I mentioned in the last note, I'm skipping Reunion (for now, tho I might write it as a one-shot later). All you need to know is that a) Glimmer was lying to her dads just as Bow was in canon but now they know everything b) she confessed to them herself (ie not because Adora's actions forced her to) and c) Bow was really hurt that she kept the truth from him and that's caused a bit of distance between them. Sorry for the time skip, but it'll be the last one for a while and I if I rewrite the whole show I'll be at this for decades.
This was a bad idea. An extraordinarily terrible idea. But Adora was in danger and he didn't know what else to do. Bow lifted his hand, magic thrumming against his palm, and brought towards the magic barrier that surrounded the Shadow Weaver. He pulled back his hand to give it some force but stopped at the not so gentle touch digging into his shoulder.
"Bow? A word?" It was the first thing Glimmer had said this entire time, unless you counted her muttering that "this was a terrible fucking idea" under her breath just before he'd teleported them into the spare room. Her expression was neutral but it was still plenty readable to him, fury and fear warring behind the mask. She tugged on his arm. He hesitated before powering down and letting her dragged him to a far corner of the room. With a careful glance to Shadow Weaver still lounging in her chair as if she didn't have a care in the world, Glimmer lowered her voice to a whisper. "Are you out of your fucking mind?"
Not this again. He'd already fought with his mother today, he didn't want to do this with her too. "Glimmer, we don't have time for this. Adora's in trouble, Hordak has the sword and Entrapta, everything he needs to open the portal—"
"And you're seriously going to trust Shadow Weaver?" Her voice raised in pitch but she kept it low, even as her eyes shone. "Did you forget how she tortured you? How she almost killed me?"
No. Of course he hadn't. He couldn't meet her eyes. He'd never forget that moment as long as he lived. Even though it had been months, his heart raced at the memory his hands clenching at his sides. He had the sudden urge to pull Glimmer into a hug, bury his face in her hair, make certain she was solid and real but there was still all this distance between them. Distance she'd started putting there after everything that happened with Prom and they he'd made worse with everything that happened with her dads. But his own feelings of betrayal that she'd lied to him about her family suddenly felt small and unimportant in the memory of how he'd almost lost her.
"What do you want me to do, Glimmer? You heard my mom."
He hated it when he lost his cool and yelled at his mother, the fact that Glimmer and the entire rest of the rebellion had been listening in made it a million times worse. But he couldn't remember ever feeling so utterly frustrated with his mother and her constant inaction before. Maybe, if he'd been calmer, he'd have been able to talk the queen into it but Adora was in danger because of a reckless mission to the Crimson Waste he'd insisted on. He was too sick with worry and guilt to play games, soothing his mother's worries until he'd convinced her it was her idea like he usually did. Instead he'd exploded and that angry fire was still vibrating through is body, keeping him from thinking clearly.
"Yeah, I heard it. And I know all that stuff she said got under your skin and you're mad and trying to prove some point." Glimmer exhaled, shifting her quiver on her back. "But Shadow Weaver? You realize you're giving her exactly what you almost... what she wants? You can't trust her. Once she uses you to connect to the moonstone, what's to stop her from taking everything? From draining you dry and…" She sucked in a breath, blinking rapidly. Bow glanced involuntarily at Shadow Weaver. For all he knew, she was licking her lips under that mask just thinking of getting her hands on his power. The thought made him sick. "But you're right. We're on our own and Adora needs us."
Us. Even as tense as everything had been between them, he'd stormed off after his fight with his mother and she'd followed as a matter of course. She'd followed him in here too, even though she had every reason to be terrified of Shadow Weaver and thought his plan was stupid. As horrible as everything was right now, the thought bolstered him. Things between them couldn't be that broken between them if she was still on his side.
"I don't trust Shadow Weaver." He held out a hand and she regarded it for a minute and took it. "But I trust you. I trust you to have my back."
Glimmer shook her head and he was afraid for a minute she was going to refuse but instead she gave his hand a squeeze and reached for her bow. She unfolded it, nocking an arrow, and he knew she wouldn't hesitate to do whatever it took to keep him safe.
There was probably something something kind of comical about the fact that she was currently caught in her own damn goo arrow but as she listened to Bow's grunt of pain Glimmer was having a real difficult time finding any of this shit amusing. Fucking Catra. Throwing her own damn arrow back at her. She'd managed to lift her head enough to see that Shadow Weaver had wrapped Catra in shadows and from the strangled sounds the other girl was making, she was crushing her the same way she'd done to her.
Good. Kill the bitch. Would save them all a whole lot of trouble.
Except if Shadow Weaver killed Catra with Bow's magic, he'd feel guilty about it for the rest of his life. That got her to move, struggling against her own trap.
Catra and Shadow Weaver were shouting at each other but it was impossible to make out what they were saying over the blare of the Horde's alarm system, the slow hiss of the dark magic and the rushing of blood in her own ears. But she immediately recognized the pain in Bow's voice as he cried out.
"Hey! Stop it! You're taking too much!" That was fucking it! She'd put an arrow in the back of that shadow bitch's head this time for sure. She yanked her arm free, adrenaline coursing through her. But she'd barely gotten her upper half free when a familiar voice echoed down the corridor.
"Hey, Wildcat? Have you seen Entrapta? I've looked everywhere and I can't— Wildcat!"
Glimmer barely had time to free her leg and roll before Scorpia barreled into the hallway, crashing into Shadow Weaver like red scaled tank. The two crashed to the ground in the spot where she'd just been, getting tangled in what was left of the goo.
Glimmer scrambled to her feet, flinging goo off her hands so she could grip her bow and desperately trying to get her bearings. Shadow Weaver was still gripping Bow and had dragged him down with her, focusing his power on the new threat. Glimmer stomped her boot down on the old sorceress's wrist and she let go with a yowl, and Bow yanked his hand back.
She grabbed him, dragging him his feet, looking him over and desperately glad that he was still breathing. "Are you OK?"
"I-I think so, yeah." Bow looked pale and half a second from toppling over but he gave her a weak smile. "See? I knew you had my back."
Dumbass. She was too relieved he was alive to do more than shake her head. "Come on. We need to get out of here. Shadow Weaver said the sanctum was just around the next corner."
She looped his arm over her shoulders and started towards the doorway but he hesitated, watching the commotion on the other side of the hallway. Catra was crumpled on the floor, gasping for her breath, while Scorpia grappled with Shadow Weaver shouting about protecting her wildcat. Glimmer watched as Bow's eyes went between the three of them and for a moment she thought he was going to insist they stay help but he set his jaw.
"OK, let's go."
"This way!"
Bow could barely hear Glimmer over the battle behind them, bots fizzing and firing on each other, each one skewered with one of her shock arrows. If she hadn't been here, he'd have been done for, not just because he could barely stand upright without her shoulder to lean on. He was completely out of magic, not even a single sparkle left to contribute to the fight, and Glimmer wouldn't hear of going back for Shadow Weaver. He hated feeling helpless like this but his limbs were lead, like Shadow Weaver had borrowed too much from the moonstone and his body was the one that had to pay the debt.
But at least they were here. There was no mistaking Hordak's sanctum. It thrummed with electricity, twisted half formed creatures floating in giant chambers like a horror show. And, in the center, the sword, surrounded by machinery.
"Adora!" Glimmer shouted and he followed her gaze to their friend, gagged and bound to a column. She turned towards them desperately and tried to shout something around her gag but it was impossible to make it out. "Hold on! We're coming to free you!"
Glimmer lurched them towards Adora but she could only move so fast shouldering his weight. He tried to pull his arm off her shoulder but she wouldn't let go of it. "Leave me. I'm just slowing you down."
Adora's eyes widened and she screamed something around her gag. There was a terrible sound like metal tearing and Bow spun in time to see Hordak roar and lift an entire support column he'd torn off the floor, his metal armor giving him some kind of super strength. Then he threw it and Bow used the last of his strength to fling himself over Glimmer, sending the two of them crashing to the ground.
It wasn't enough. Pain, worse than he could ever imagine, as the column slammed into the ground, crushing his legs underneath. Everything felt muffled and foggy, and he battled unconsciousness, because the last thing he needed was to pass out right now.
"Bow?" Glimmer was just a voice desperate underneath him as the roof started to collapse and the air around them filled with dust and rubble. He protected her from it as best as he could, terrified by the way his legs were in so much pain yet it he couldn't move them at all but there was nothing he could do except shield him and Glimmer and hope nothing else big hit them.
Amid the sounds of destruction was shouting: Adora and then what sounded like Shadow Weaver, Catra and Scorpia. The air crackled with electricity, making the hair on his arms stand on end. When the air cleared for a moment he saw why. The sword hovered, surrounded by lightning, in the center of a mechanical gate.
Was that… The portal!
"Catra! Please! Don't!" Adora screamed desperately above the crackle of electricity, the whoosh of power coming from the gate.
No no, they hadn't come all this way, gotten this close, for them to activate it anyway! He had to stop it! Bow tried to rise but his legs wouldn't obey, his body still trying to shut down from the pain. He hadn't betrayed his mother, hadn't let Shadow Weaver use him, just for it to end like this!
"Bow, what's happening?" Glimmer tightened her grip on his arm, her body tense underneath him and he wrapped his arms around her.
"Glimmer, I—"
"No!" Adora shouted and then all Bow could do was pull Glimmer close to him as Catra pulled the lever and reality unraveled around them.