Octavia regarded the quirky woman typing away on the computer. She had spent an entire hour explaining, or trying to explain to her, why this specific First Ones tech was so important to them. She had stopped listening to her after the first two minutes and looked out of the window, until someone screamed, "Rebels!" and they were in the middle of battle.

An arrow missed her head by an inch and exploded behind her in a smoke bomb. Before they knew it they were covered by vines. "We retreat!" Octavia shouted.

There was another scream behind her, "We can't leave the First Ones tech behind!"

Octavia glared at the princess, "We're going!"

The princess started to frown, "If we lose the tech Hordak will not be thrilled."

The force captain realized that the princess was right. Even if they'd make it back to the fright zone securing the tech has been the first priority. Octavia groaned, "Soldiers! Secure the tech. Keep the rebels at bay!"

Octavia and several soldiers had made it out of the now overgrown digging site. Then she noticed something was missing, there was no babbling about Hordak, or projects or tech. She turned towards a soldier and asked "Where's the princess?".

"This feels wrong. Entrapta's still a princess. It feels weird to capture her like that." Bow admitted and looked at Entrapta wrapped up in a tightly wound foam mat.

She picked at the material with her hair, "Fascinating. I hope i can keep this.".

"You," Glimmer pointed at her, "are coming with us and then we're going to have a serious conversation."

The archer behind Glimmer sighed, and they made their way back to Bright Moon,.

As they came back to Bright Moon they put Entrapta in the most secure cell. There were several keys needed to open it, and a special lock-design had been developed to ensure that escaping was impossible. They had questioned Entrapta for a while now, with a thick wooden door and bars between them. Entrapta was by no means dangerous, but she had the impressive skill to abscond out of any situation if you looked away for even a second. They knew that by now. For a while they considered to shackle her but Bow was against it. There was no point to put her in shackles she could easily get out of.

"Entrapta," Bow asked her, desperately, "why don't you want to stay with us?". Even with her own avowal, it was still difficult to understand how his idol could have fallen so low as to mess with those dangerous forces. Wasn't she seeing the damage she was doing to this world? Was this all worth it? Only to put some numbers on a sheet of paper? Bow still believed that deep down, Entrapta could see the faults in her thinking.

Glimmer sighed, "Give it up Bow. She's not going to change her mind.". The princess who had leaned against the wall and heard all of it stepped away from the door. Glimmer had resigned from getting Entrapta back the moment she admitted to be working with the Horde willingly. Nearly causing the fall of Bright Moon was just the cherry on top. When they left her behind, when she went missing in action, they thought she died. Yes, she was still alive, but she wasn't who Glimmer thought she would be. Not anymore. This Entrapta was not a member of the Rebellion anymore and not an ally.

The archer tried to appeal to Entrapta one last time, "We're your friends, Entrapta, we'll always be your friends. We just want you to look at this differently. Your work with the Black Garnet put us all into danger, can't you understand that?"

Entrapta crossed her arms, and her prehensile hair formed arms which spread out their fingers, which seemed to mimic a shrugging motion, "In the name of science some sacrifices have to be made. Draining the power of the black garnet was a successful experiment that provided me with a lot of usable data.".

"Etrapta-"

Glimmer turned back towards Bow, raising her voice "Leave her Bow! She clearly doesn't care and she's not telling us anything we don't already know."

They took their seats at the table in the conference room. Glimmer looked at the mural. Maybe if her father was still alive he could have figured something out. But he wasn't there. Angella stepped in she could sense the mood inside the room. The queen could read her daughter like an open book, "I assume you had no luck getting anything out of her, Glimmer?".

The girl groaned and turned towards her mother, looking slightly annoyed, "She doesn't even seem to care about the damage she's done. I wonder why we even bothered to get her into the Rebellion". As Glimmer realized what she'd said she put her hand on her mouth. That wasn't supposed to come out as loud as it did. Her mother put on an aghast expression.

Bow stood up, and but his lower lip "Entrapta's the smartest person I know! With her help the rebellion could have already won this war ages ago!".

"If Entrapta is so smart then why doesn't she help us Bow? You think they brainwashed her? That they did to her what Shadow Weaver tried to do to Adora? She seemed pretty fine to me, with all her memories intact!". Bow looked away from Glimmer, aware that Glimmer was right in a way. But a part of him had trouble truly letting go of her.

Angella looked from her daughter to her best friend. "Bow, Glimmer, I think it is time I have a talk with Entrapta. Please go and get her.".

"Don't you want to go to her cell?".

Angella hesitated for a moment, "No Glimmer, I think it's better when I talk to her in here."

They accepted the queens wish. As they went down they realized that the door was already ajar and Entrapta was gone. Apparently she took the exchange of guards, which left her a small time window, to break out.

The ran as fast as they could back to the conference room, obviously exhaust from running. "Mom! Entrapta is-" she threw open the door to the hall and Entrapta was already sitting there, across the queen.

The queen sighed, and stood up from her seat. "Glimmer please," she motioned towards Entrapta "I am having a private conversation.".

Bow and Glimmer showed obvious confusion and stared at the engineer. "But ho-", Glimmer was interrupted by her mother again: "Glimmer, please go to your room. I call you if anything important happens.".

Dumbfounded they closed the door behind them and turned towards Glimmers room.

The queen sat down on her seat opposite Entrapta, facing her. "Forgive me for the rough treatment at the start. Glimmer and Bow were just overwhelmed by the recent developments. To find out that a princess was willingly helping out the Horde, a princess they believed to have died, must have been a lot for them to process."

Entrapta regarded the throne room and leaned back in the chair she was sitting on. She didn't quite know what to say and needed to sort her thoughts. This place was a little overwhelming and she noted that in some way this place was a lot alike but yet unlike Hordaks throne room in the fright zone. At least both of the leaders seemed to like high ceilings. After a few more seconds of inspecting the room, she leaned forwards putting her googles over her eyes and cupping her chin with one of her hair hands.
"After realizing that over 40 hours had passed I was" Entrapta stopped for a second to search for the right word, "sad. Catra told me they left me behind, that they forgot about me. They were never going to come back for me. I only just realize that that angry cat-person was probably trying to manipulate me. But even if I was manipulated at the start, I don't mind it. Queen Angella, it hurt to be left behind but after thinking about it, after realizing the potential that lies in the Horde, their technology and their resources, I realized that the Horde was a far better place for me.".

The queen sat a little more upright than before, and tried to not show any emotion towards the princess. That the princess had decided to shield her eyes from her already told her a lot. Entrapta had already build up a wall right in front of her through this little action. The inventor was on her guard and it was her duty to get her out from behind it. In order to do so she had to use her words carefully. "What can the Horde offer you that we can't?", the queen began and looked intently at Entrapta.

"The Horde has plenty of resources, human and material, raw metals, technological achievements you could only dream of!", she spread out her arms and leaned away from the table. "To have stayed in the Rebellion and lacking all of those things, the tools, the feedstock, the knowledge- and you would have never let me link up my tech to the rune stone in Bright Moon."

Angella refused to fall for this provocation. "Yet, before you joined the Horde we were well on out way to win this war with your help. I understand you felt left behind, but you can always turn back to us and see the error in your ways.", she offered.

Entrapta turned her hands into fists, "There is no error in my ways. I have my priorities and furthering my research is one of them. If I can gather more information by manipulating magic and merging it with technology, it is worth it, even when the costs are exponential."

"If you destroy the planet in your quest for wisdom your research will not help anyone.", Angella argued, she tried very hard to keep her anger in check.

Entrapta looked at her gloved hands, "Tell me Queen Angella, if you knew I could have destroyed the Horde at the cost of your runestone would you have let me use it?"

She looked down at the empty throne besides her, "No, that cost would have been too great. I am not ready to make such great sacrifices for a simple military victory."

For s second Entrapta let those words sit with her, "This is why I can't be with the rebellion. The Rebellion tells me I can't do this and I can't do that. 'The cost would be too great', or 'it wouldn't be ethical'. In the Horde I am respected. Hordak values me more than you."

The queen perked up at that name, she tried to not let it show but she might have finally gotten a lead here. "Princess Entrapta, I am shocked that you think my unwillingness to play with forces far out of your understanding makes me value you any less. There are things in this world you don't understand. Some of those things can endanger not only your life but that of thousands, or even millions. If Hordak lets you experiment with such difficult forces it shows you are expendable. What if it costs your life?".

"Hordak said the same. He said that there are things that my mind couldn't possibly understand. And he explained it to me, because he believes I am his equal. Hordak respects me, Queen Angella. When I tell him something he listens to me. If I ask him for something he gives it to me. There are no limits to what I can do when I am with him-" she hastily corrected herself, "the Horde, I mean when I am with the Horde.". She held her hands up and touched her lips embarrassed of what had slipped out of her.

Angella leaned forwards, face unchanged, clearly interested in what else she had to say. "Is Hordak your" she was looking for the right word "friend, Entrapta?".

The other side of the dialogue broke off for a few seconds as if she was thinking very hard about that question, "We're lab partners.", Entrapta grew quiet again. "We help with each others projects, and we talk to each other.". Her googles came off and for a second Angella was sure she saw confusion in that woman's face. That was a moment of clarity for Angella but she had to be completely sure.

"Do you miss him?", Angella turned towards the empty seat besides her. Empty. Maybe that was more of a question for herself than the captured princess.

Entrapta gave a small nasal laugh. "If I miss him? That's-" she stopped herself and became quieter, "if I miss someone who can understand what I am saying, who isn't annoyed at me, who has the same interests as me?"

"Bow could also fill that role. He's smart and very handy. He started experimenting with some First Ones tech himself." Angella offered and regarded her as the expression in Entraptas face changed. There were no gears turning, it was obvious that Entrapta was going to turn down this offer.

The engineer sighed "Bow can't understand me in the same way that Hordak does.I respect Bow. But he just isn't anywhere on the same level as Hordak."

"Hordak must be very smart."

Entrapta looked up from her gloves, a smile on her face and her eyes glowed up. "He is. we work on some many projects together and it is great to bounce ideas off of each other. I love to hear him talk about-" she stopped for a second to realized that Hordak being an alien wasn't common knowledge, "the past, all the things he did and saw and sometimes I even stop working. I never did that before with anyone.". Entrapta forced herself to be silent again afraid she said too much.

The queen rose and looked at the mural of her and Micah, before turning towards Entrapta again. "Do you get this warm feeling here," she put a hand on her chest, "when you're with him. When you think about him".

Entrapta was taken aback, she hesitated for a moment to process that question. She didn't really think about feelings that much. Neither her own nor those of others. Her eyes fell on that empty throne. "You think I have the same feelings for him as you still have for Micah even though-"

"He's gone- I think you are aware what happened to him. I hope Hordak talks about him sometimes, in a ,hopefully, respectful tone.", the air inside the room grew heavy. It dragged their conversation down to a somber tone.

They were both silent for a long while. Entrapta refused to speak up. In all honesty he had no high regard of the monarchy or people who didn't understand his motives. For Hordak the fall of the princesses was just a matter of time and the rebellion a slight annoyance. The queen took a deep breath, "We are not going anywhere with you. I understand now that even if were to keep you here you'd just break out at some point. You're too smart to keep and none of my cells could hold you. I contact the Horde and have my guards escort you to the border of my lands so they can pick you up.".

Entrapta suddenly recalled something that Hordak once told her, "King Micah was a formidable foe, it's a shame what happened back then. I remember Hordak saying that at least once. Hordak wasn't there when he fell. But he recognized how important he must have been for you and the Alliance. He theorized that the Alliance fell apart the day Micah died. There was a surge of Horde activity after that day and they gained more ground that day. A strengthening of Horde morale just because a single person fell. Now I don't have a detailed plan or timeline of the downfall of the original Alliance but I see those murals and I wonder if he is right."

The queen turned around and took a deep breath, "Guards! Escort Entrapta out and make sure she gets back to the Horde." the door opened and two guards stepped inside. "Entrapta, this sounds harsh but I have no desire to see you again. When the Princess Alliance wins and the Horde is beaten I am sure you will understand my feelings a lot more and you will comprehend my actions.".

The door closed and she pressed her hand against the mural, overcome by her own feelings.

An hour later Glimmer stormed into the room.

"Mom! You let Entrapta go? Why? She could have given us useful information!"

Angella's glance fell on her daughter, "Glimmer, there is no cell that could hold her in my kingdom. there is nothing keeping her here. What would you think could make her spill out all her secrets?" she shook her head, "I think there are some things you can't understand yet."

"Mom," Glimmer stepped closer seeing her reddened eyes, "did you cry?".

Scorpia hugged the small engineer to her chest, "I am so glad you're okay! Hordak has been terrifying to deal with without you. Nobody wants to go anywhere near him since you've been gone. You should have seen Octavias face after she had to tell him they captured you-". The scorpion woman held her breath for a second, "Well, you're awfully quite."

Entrapta averted her gaze, "I've just been thinking a lot."

"More than you usually do?", Scorpia made a surprised face, "We should get you to Hordak ASAP before he decides to choke out Grizzlor next. I can't believe he's acting like that. You were only gone for a few hours!".

Entrapta wondered if he also had those strange feelings in his chest.