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jess-the-vampire · 4 years

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Sky And The Forces Of The Multiverse, Chapter 37

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-Angel was in slightly better spirits the following day, in fact he and sky both were, the two of them surprisingly hanging out together and talking. Angel was smiling more then usual, and so was sky for that matter. Though with the mess that happened no one could really blame them either, seems both of them being targeted seemed to have brought them closer then it did before.

With Sky spending time with Angel and Nora being busy with her mom surprisingly it left judas to focus on other matters, more specifically, his own younger brother.

Landon had been giving judas more of the silent angsty treatment ever since he got caught sneaking out of bed to check Queen Butterfly's office, though with their parents being alerted landon was in a world of trouble. The only bright spot of this being landon took the full blame for the situation, considering no one else had anything to do with this.

Even Celeste was ignoring the boy, giving him the silent treatment in her own frustration.

Landon's closest ally here, considering Bernard was on earth and could mostly on text landon throughout this.

Sky had promised to get in contact with Melanie as soon as she could and now that the scare was over it was back to business. And For the demon prince, that meant confronting his younger brother and dealing with this situation once and for all. His gradnfather was dealing with Fae, Sky was talking to Angel and was going to chat with mel, Sunny and Galexia were off going through the library with Katrina who'd been nice enough to lay off on judas as long as he didn't go anywhere beyond the two kingdoms.

Yep, back as usual.

Judas headed inside his room real quick, closing the door behind him, before he was going to talk to his brother he needed one more little thing. There was no point in delaying it, he needed to talk to his brother about what happened and what he did. Especially since landon didn't really mention it himself before, and whatever it was might be important.

Though he felt someone's presence in his room and he quickly turned on the lights, in a fighting post before he noticed the small girl sitting on his bed.

"Celeste?".

"Hello Judas".

The girl was kicking her feet on the side of the bed, "We need to talk about your brother...". She looked frustrated, frustrated at landon, frustrated she had to talk to Judas about this, frustrated she cared about this so much. Judas calmed himself down, with Celeste living here with them, he couldn't be surprised she popped into his room to see him, though he would've preferred a call or text beforehand.

"Yeah...I figured that's why you'd be here...we haven't exactly had the closest relationship here all things considered..."., the girl huffed but she had to agree, though granted she didn't have a close relationship much with anyone at all.

"Well considering luna ditched this place to live in the woods and sky's chummy with the spider guy...guess you needed another princess to talk to...and since sunny and lexi are out...you're stuck with me...but anyway...", She huffed, breathing through her nose, "Honestly normally i wouldn't go to you to deal with this stupid stuff but Landon doesn't listen to me...dealing with him is like-".

"Dealing with another you?", Judas continued with a hint of amusement.

"Don't push it...look we worked together on trying to start out own group because we thought you and sky weren't focusing on the task at hand and we got sick of it, then we ended up being worse then you because the three of us, luna me and landon...we're all buzzkills and we don't get along...I mean mainly it was blondie's fault but still...so then me and landon worked together...yada yada...he just wanted to be seen as a hero above you...".

"Yeah...I guess I had a feeling about that...".

"Look...I can't believe i'm saying this...but I care about landon...and helping him before well...I wanted to do it so I could go home and whatever...but He only cares about it to beat you and prove himself and he doesn't seem to care nearly as much about me and how I feel...your brother's a weirdo but i'm sick of him thinking he needs to do all this nonsense to be considered...someone...".

Judas looked astonished, clearly not used to celeste talking to him or anyone like this for that matter.

"I knew you both were close...I didn't know you both were...well... THIS close...but...I am really glad to see someone really cares about my brother this much...", Judas walked over to the girl, ruffling his hair, "I'm...me and landon don't get along on the best of days...but with everything going on I had to put the stuff aside with him, I knew he was doing stuff but I didn't know to what extreme or...really exactly why...".

"Well that's obvious...your family seems to basically ignore him...".

Ouch.

"Hey, I don't mean any harm by it...so much has just gone on and i'm set to be king...and...".

Celeste sent him a glare.

"Ok, It doesn't excuse my parents...but the situation is more complicated...and he knows that...", he took a seat next to her, "I know landon's not useless and he's talented in his own way...we tease each other but...I don't think of him as useless..". Though as the words left his lips he thought about it more, he really couldn't speak for how landon felt, even if he didn't feel like he did anything wrong intentionally.

"Even if I told him face to face...you know he wouldn't listen to me though...he'd tell me I was too perfect or something and go back to how it was before. I can't really...fix the situation, mom and dad can't just ignore me to focus all on him, celeste I get it...I just...what can I be expected to do about it? Landon doesn't even want to look at me sometimes...".

"Ugh...I'm not really entirely blaming you...I just want landon to stop caring about this stuff...".

"You know you can't-".

"I Know i can't make him...", she responded quickly, "But I don't know what I can do...I...I feel like he's going to hurt himself trying to be better then you..". She sounded actually worried, her fists clenching, "He's so frustrating, He craved attention and love from people but when we show we care he doesn't listen to anyone and it's just...UGH!".

Then she stopped, sighing.

"Yeah...guess he is kinda like me...".

"We can both talk to him...together...I would've taken sky but she's busy with angel today so...I'd be happy to have your company if you'd like to join me. We'll...see what we can do at least...". He seemed confident on the outside even if he wasn't much so on the inside, whatever landon felt, it was deep, and a simple talking to probably wouldn't just fix it.

But at least it might do something.

Judas helped his somewhat sister up and escorted her through the halls,Celeste grumbling under her breath, "You...did pretty well for yourself...yesterday...with the trial and the whole scene...". Celeste seemed to rarely hand out compliments, so Judas was happy to take it, "Hey it's ok...I was just protecting my friends...I was honestly surprised to see you get along with angel last night...talk to him and stuff...".

She went silent.

"I know opening up to other's is not something you tend to do often...but I think it was sweet. Just like how you healed my injury when sunny hurt me on accident that time.". She kicked at the floor, "I've seen people hurt before...I uh...I dunno...I can't help it...". She still seemed embarrassed to talk about it, even about her revealing why she knew so much about healing in the first place.

But Judas seemed to understand, not prodding any further, "Well...I'm glad you care so much...and I think it's great your so talented with healing injuries like that...it's actually hard to do so it's impressive to see you do so well at them with ease. You should be proud.". He almost thought he saw a smile on her face as they continued further down the hallway.

"I can tell you're scared about her...".

Judas felt his chest clench.

"Ever since Angel told you she had the book, you've been slowly been getting more bothered by it...more scared what anyone could do with the notes nora had on you. Y'know it's not going to do any good to ignore it...i mean I think people would get it if you're worried about some creep taking over your body and making you do things you don't want to do...", she spat at the floor, "You maybe wasted time when you could've helped but...no one wants you to go through that...".

"I know...I know...I think before with all the work on my back it was easier to ignore how nervous it all made me...but with sky taking the charge...well...I thought about it more...and what if i'm not as brave as I thought I was?", though as the words left his lips, he shook his head, "Maybe I am being too hard on myself...It's not about what others think...it's about what I think of myself...".

"And what do you think?".

"I think i'm not sure what'll happen if...anything happens...but I know no one will hold it against me...anyone that matters at least.", he took a deep breath, "I don't think I'm ever going to properly get over it...I've been haunted by this kinda stuff since I was a kid...sky knows it...she knows how much It scared me as a kid...and how terrified I was of myself for years...it's just...not easy for me to not be scared...even no matter how hard I try...".

His eyes looked over Celeste, eyeing her expression.

"I'm sure you've been scared a lot too...and felt you had to ignore it...".

Celeste again, said nothing, but it was as good as any yes.

The rest of the walk was quiet as they approached one of their family living rooms, where landon was currently grounded for the time being till it was meal time. Judas looking to his companion as the guards let them pass, at the very least landon might be able to help out or apologize or do something if they could get past his thick skin finally.

But that was a major if.

Regardless, there landon was, lying around with his violin nearby, bored out of his mind on the couch, sitting up at the sight of his sibling and half sibling. He seemed almost excited at first but his face dropped quick, because he knew exactly why they were here. He'd already been scolded by his parents earlier that day, forced to stay here till further notice as punishment.

Though at least it meant he didn't have to see anyone.

Until now.

He turned his head away, grumbling, Celeste grabbing a nearby pillow and throwing it at him, "You could've gotten HURT! Something could've happened to you out there and we'd have no idea! Being exposed to magic too much is dangerous! And lucifer, no matter what i say to you you don't seem to listen to a single word of it, do you? ". Celeste got mad quick, judas unsure what to do though first he took Celeste's arm before she could throw anything else at the demon boy.

"HEY! WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU!?", Landon hissed, "Jeez...you guys make it sound like I was the one robbing everyone, I just went to peek at the findings, you would've done it too if you had been given the chance considering how much you guys sneak around behind our parent's backs...the secret meetings? All the times you evaded katrina? Don't go acting like you're such a upstanding demon prince...".

That seemed to shut the two of them up, Landon standing up and grumbling.

"You guys might have never gotten a chance to see what I saw without me...I helped...even if It was because...I wanted the upper hand...", he mumbled that last part, "Look...can't I have this one? Just this once? I want to be the successful brother...just once...I'm so tired of my brothers being so imfamous for doing this and that and everyone just...GOD!".

Flames seemed to erupt from his fingertips as she stomped the ground.

Then he simmered.

"I'm so sick of...everyone thinking i'm useless...I have to hide out in a stupid coffee shop club thing to even feel some sense of...importance...".

He sniffled, "Just let me have this...ok?".

"Landon...".

"Don't landon me...even if it's not your fault...even if...even if i'm a failure...I just...I WANT this...I'm so sick of feeling second rate...or even third rate...I don't need to prove anything to you...I want to prove it...to me...", he turned away from his siblings, "I'm good at music...but...that's it..i'm not magically remarkable...i'm not good with emotions or feelings...I want to feel like I matter judas...".

"Landon..you do matter, you matter to everyone...me, celeste, our parents, mason...Bernard...", Judas placed a hand on his brother's back, trying to soothe him, "Landon...even if...you don't feel important...or loved...I want you to know we all love and care about you...I...don't know what would happen to me if...something happened to you...you're my brother landon...".

"You can't make me feel differently...".

"Maybe not...but...I still want to tell you regardless...", celeste tapped her fingers together, seeing the brothers come face to face. "Landon...I'm not doing this because I want more attention...or to be better then anyone...I want to do this because...I want to help celeste and sunny and galeixa and...luna...they have people to get back to...people who love them as much as I love you...frankly...I always wished I could be you...".

"What?", Landon almost sounded...surprised.

"Everyone looks at me like a freak most of the time...it'd just be nice...to not have that kinda attention...to not have so much pressure on me...to have the freedom to do whatever I wanted without so much on my shoulders...but...I don't have that choice...so...for now...i'm going to do the best I can...by helping out my friends...and keeping them safe...landon you don't have that pressure...you can be whatever you want...do whatever you want...not to impress anyone...but to make yourself happy.".

"You wanted to be me?".

Judas nodded, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Landon...I...can't change how you feel...I can't change what happened...but you have the chance me and mason don't have...the chance to make your own life how you want it, no pressure from anyone stopping you...landon you can do so much...and I know you have so much to give...maybe you need time to see it...but you have so much potential..".

"You're just saying that to make me feel better...", Landon shoved his brother's hand off of him, "I'm useless...if not useless i'm forgettable". Though as he turned around someone grabbed his shirt from the back and tugged, and considering how well landon knew the two people behind him he could easily tell which one it was. Celeste made him turn around and face her, her arms crossed and her eyes away from his.

"Dude if you were forgettable, do you think i'd be spending so much of my time trying to help you? You're not useless, you held part of the investigation yourself, that's not useless...you're not useless landon...you should stop being so down on yourself...those idiots insulting you don't deserve your time and attention. You keep doubting yourself...you don't need to catch some weirdo to be cool.".

"You're right...you can't change how I feel...but without this...what do I have?".

The two looked to each other before back at landon.

"Well, you have a lot of time to think about it...you don't need to know right now...but you'll get there someday...", landon seemed to have finally calmed down a little bit, pacing around the room. "I'm sorry...I can't help it...every time I think i'm going too far i think about the...my situation...I think about what I could be and what It is now and I can't help it.".

"I know...".

"I...I'm not trying to sound selfish...I just...I don't want to...deal with this any longer...".

He paused, getting onto his knees on the floor, "I'm...sorry for being a butt I guess...you got separated from your family and I guess I've made the situation about myself..when it's kinda...terrible.". He actually did kinda sound like he actually felt sorry, in fact he looked tired more then anything. Like keeping all this buried inside him ate away at him.

And it probably did.

"It's alright landon...we'll take it a day at a time...is that ok?", judas kept his distance from his brother but seemed to constantly be checking to see if his brother was alright or not.

and with a small nod, that was enough.

"What I saw...what they found...", he started, "W-when the explosion happened...it seems the uh...person under the mask did get hurt...well I mean...I think so...they didn't seem to find them but...their mask...their mask broke...they collected it.". He looked up at his companions and judas processed the information before looking to celeste, "I'm guessing since they don't know who it is still..they got no dna off the thing?".

"Maybe...".

There was a silence between them, only stopped when just let out a large sigh.

"I'll...ask out parents about it later...maybe have sky come with...we'll look into it...but if they lost their mask...then their face must have been exposed...unless...they had another mask...they're magic after all they can change clothes with it.". The blast was bound to do damage but if it broke their mask then what did that mean for their face? Queen Butterfly had been in the presence of those blasts before and they had varying effects.

Sometimes destroying your entire body, sometimes leaving you unharmed if you were good at self healing to any degree, sometimes it just depended. Magic was unpredictable after all, and in ways that only made it worse for the people who had to use it. Though whoever was out there, if the blast was enough to break their mask, it as bound to hurt a little.

"Thank you landon...for letting us know...".

As conflicted as landon's emotions were, he did actually seem rather happy to have helped regardless.

This was going to take some work if they were ever going to sort things out together with landon, what he was dealing with was deep and wouldn't be solved with a simple conversation. Judas watched the sad face of his brother and felt his heart sink some more, making a mental note to himself to spend some more time with his brother in the near future if he could.

"I...hope mom and dad weren't too hard on you...", landon's ears flickered, "They weren't...they knew I meant no real harm...they're just...upset I snuck into her office during an emergency for seemingly my own selfish needs...mom was just kinda disappointed in me but they didn't do anything too bad...just grounded me...I didn't tell them I decided to join in your little gang...because they'd assume you learned nothing...they think I did it myself...".

"Well...I guess that's a relief...but...are you sure you're ok with that?".

"Well, you had nothing to do with me doing this...so...yeah", the scene still felt a little tense and awkward but landon wasn't mad anymore and judas and celeste got out what they wanted to say. Landon went to take a seat back on the couch, keeping to himself, "Look I just need to be alone for a bit...ok? And i'm sure you both have better things to do out there then stay here...".

They exchanged looks, knowing landon wasn't entirely wrong, though neither seemed to want to leave him alone like this.

"We can hold off for a bit...I think sky's going to be busy for quite a while anyway...", and then proceeded to take a seat next to his brother who looked pleasantly surprised, celeste joined him, curling up on the couch. Landon, who had told them to leave, didn't protest, in fact instead of arguing against it, had a smile creeping among his face. Looking over to his violin nearby.

"You guys...want to hear my new song?".

"So this Melaine girl?".

"My earth pen pal...she's into theories and pop culture on earth and aliens and all kinds of stuff...I thought maybe since she's been helping put theories and pieces of evidence together...she'd be perfect to consult and get more from...", Sky pulled out her compact to text her friend, angel sitting on her bed, clearly a little awkward being alone with her in her room.

"How'd you meet?".

"Went to earth to meet my grandparents, plus my moms love earth to death...they like to go to do fun stuff and get off mewni once in awhile. You might like earth, it's weird but kinda neat. Anyway mel saw me and saw us do magic and was ENTHRALLED ever since, especially finding out i'm basically an alien almost since she's obsessed with extraterrestrials."

"Extra...what?".

"Aliens...it's an earth thing...".

"Ah...", he still didn't seem to have any idea what she was talking about but maybe it was better not to ask further. It would take sky all day if she had to explain exactly what aliens where, and why earth was obsessed with things that probably weren't nearly as weird on mewni. On earth lizard people were a conspiracy, on mewni they were people sky saw get groceries every day.

"Hopefully she can help us out, having an earth pal who knows like..earth things and makes connections better then me sometimes is really handy...though uh...be careful. Mel's cool but she's also a little...well she doesn't know mewni too well so she makes a lot of assumptions based on earth stuff, it's not her fault, just don't be surprised if she..well...is incorrect about stuff.".

Angel now looked even more puzzled then he was before.

"Just follow my lead...", she smiled when melaine texted her back, the human eager for another video call.

"Human compacts work on our own?".

"Yeah? Who knew?", she laughed in utter embarrassment, at least she wasn't the only one who hadn't known that.

"SKYY!"

"MEL!".

"I'm so glad you called, I missed ya! Is the fact you're asking for my help mean your parents finally ungrounded ya?", Sky made a face, glancing over to angel, "Yes and no kinda...but...nevermind that...mel I'm going to update you on everything we know, I want you to help us as best we can...put the pieces together...you're kinda made for this honestly.".

Melaine's eyes lit up, a sparkle in her dark eyes that could light up galaxies.

"YESSSS".

She immediately started grabbing papers off the shelves, making a huge mess around the room, Angel took a seat closer to sky to get a peek as to what was going on on Melanie's end. His four eyes blinking in curiosty at the excited human piling stuff everywhere messily. He'd seen her at the sleepover but other then that, this was his first time REALLY meeting her.

Sky could only hope melaine didn't make it painfully awkward considering how much she used to complain about the boy to mel.

Mel was luckily occupied setting up before jumping into frame with a notepad and pen, papers trapped in her wild curly hair.

"So where do we begin!?"

Then her eyes looked to angel's and she almost squeed, "Is that spiderboy?! Sky, i didn't know you were bringing spiderboy!". Sky suddenly felt a bit of secondhand embarrassment as angel looked at her quizzically, "It's just a nickname she has for you...uh...mel?". Her attention went back to her earth friend, who was already sketching angel out for her board.

"Yep?".

"His name is angelus...or like..angel for short? I think he'd prefer that. Please?".

She signaled with her face to mel this was one of the times she really needed her to listen, and Melaine...thankfully, listened.

"Alright, Angel spider, got it...".

Well it was better then nothing, they had work to do.

Sky and Angel started listing off a few new details that had been caught up, the human girl writing them down with the speed of a race car and pining them up on her board, covered with articles, notes, pictures and more. Melaine was used to this, after all she made plenty for the mothman and for the mole people sightings before, this was like tying her shoe for her.

Even angel seemed impressed, he didn't know all that much about humans outside of the ones that visited mewni and jude and sky's own moms, much less about human culture and what humans did with most of their time. Though granted, considering angel was rather sheltered, there was a doubt angel would even know people made theories and stuff like this at all to such an extreme.

"You...found a person who spends her time organizing facts and coming up with solutions?".

"Kinda...sorta...yeah.".

Maybe she outta leave out the other stuff melaine does like go out hunting for lizard people and reading up on horrorscopes, angel seemed confused enough without her explaining the rest of melaine's active lifestyle. Melaine seemed especially excited at the mind parasites, much to angel's discomfort, though at the very least she didn't focus so much on his mom and more on who could access them.

"Any enemies?", she asked Angel, who shrugged.

"Honestly...we haven't made enemies for a long time...our kingdom just kinda...sunk into the shadows, avoiding conflict as to not make anything any worse for ourselves. We fought back when the spiderbites took over but other then that, and well..solaria...", he went silent for a moment, "We never had much of direct conflicts with monsters...especially not recently...".

"And i doubt the spiderbites would poison your mom, they have no reason to, they seem to talk with each other fine...", Sky piped in, "No one has any real reason to attack you or your mom...". Then sky tapped angel on the shoulder, "Is there anyone who'd have anything to gain by hurting your mom? Or i dunno...maybe they were trying to get someone else and ended ep with your mom?".

Angel looked visibly uncomfortable, and sky quickly reached out to him.

"Sorry...maybe i should...uh...".

"No...it's fine, I know there's no easier way to ask me stuff like that without mentioning her...", he tugged at his light pink hair, huffing, "I don't know sky...even If i were to blame the one under the mask...I don't know who is under the mask, rendering it all back to same question...I...personally want to think it was all an accident If i can help it.".

"Well, it could be...if one got out and ended up on your dinner table because someone didn't know it wasn't good to eat...then yeah.".

He seemed a little more reassured from that statement, something about someone coming after him seemed to only increase his worry and anxiety. He already had one masked foe who was pissed with him, what if he had another? Melaine was writing stuff down and sky was wondering what she could possibly write if there were no enemies to really speak of.

Though as she placed more on her board sky could tell they were drawings of the spiderbites, the masked foe, solaria, and everyone angel mentioned basically.

Guess even if they weren't at fault melaine felt they were important enough to at least mention.

"Skyler?".

Sky turned to her companion on the bed, who coughing into his fist, ears folding.

"Yeah?".

"A lot has happened...recently and I...I know it's hard to properly forgive me...and maybe to a degree you also feel bad because of...everything that happened before. But I um...wanted to suggest, we...um...uh...", Angel's social skills were pretty on par with a mushroom at this point, he'd clearly still had a long way away till he could properly talk to others without stumbling a little.

Though Sky was more then used to it at this point, and despite his stumbling she seemed to tense at his wording.

"Are you asking me on a date?", Sky looked at him, shocked, though he was quick to devolve the situation and try to explain himself better.

"What?! No no no no no no no NO No, I mean...", he looked embarrassed,red and ears pressed against his face, "I was hoping we could properly make amends...I want to make amends...I still feel guilty...I want to make it up...if you'll let me?". Sky seemed oddly charmed as awkward and embarrassing as that was, smiling and trying to keep her cool, "Yeah, that sounds...nice...honestly...I want to maybe try and make some kinda amends as well...if possible.".

He smiled back, the embarrassment flushing away from his face, angel smiling these days was a treat honestly.

Thankfully mel was distracted enough not to notice the scene, heck knows what she would say, she had a loud personality and was quick to make assumptions sometimes and that was something sky already needed to work on with her before she got herself in trouble for it.

She finished setting up and turned back to the royals, "Alright then, so there's my set up, i'm going to start working on this right away, text me any info you get on any of this, i'll keep adding and text you any revelations I can come up with...". She immediately started using markers on the board, typing together the pieces she knew connected together before pulling a book out of her messy bookshelf and holding to to show them.

"Maybe considering the proof of the multiverse, maybe you should study up on the stuff? I've been going through these books ever since you told me about it, maybe you can use it to help make some cool magic...". Sky glanced to her gemstone before going back to melaine, "Well...uh...maybe yeah? Thanks mel...uh...maybe you could send me some picks of the most relevant chapters?'.

She sent sky a thumbs up, "Gotcha! Oh, and if you see me any mothmen, send me pics as well! I made a bet with some classmates!". The mention of a mothman seemed to make angel puzzled though he didn't dwell on it too much as sky motioned to him that she'd try to explain it all later. Melaine on the other hand was eagerly waiting for her kinda sorta butterfly monster friend's reaction.

Sky sent her a thumbs up back as the screen turned black, returning the two royals back to themselves in sky's dirty room.

"She'll keep me updated...she tends to be good at that...".

"You...have a lot more friends then I realized...", he mumbled, "Uh...that's not to be rude or anything, I had just never seen you with anyone other then judas...you...seem to have friends all over.". But she was quick to stop him before he went on, "Nah...not really...I mean even if I ignored that mewni thought i was inferior or evil or something...i'm not good at...making friends...i'm not as friendly or easy to get along with as judas...or maybe at least...i wasn't when I was younger...".

"Perhaps we had more in common then we thought...", he added, "We always acted as if we could never understand each other and we were so different...but...maybe we were wrong."

And when she thought about it a little more, he was right.

That almost made her smile a little more considering how funny that was, though the thought of it quickly transferred to thinking about the bad aspects of their lives and she became silent. Angel was almost worried he said something offensive to some degree but sky shook her head and coughed into her hand, before asking the question she wanted to for some time.

"You still talking to eclipsa?".

Her question caught him by surprise, coughing into his hand, "Not since yesterday...after the trial...I um...I think she wants to speak to me after what happened last night regarding my mom but you've been with me ever since and she um...know you're not a fan of her right now, you're probably more angry with her then you are with me about what happened...why is that?".

"Hmm?".

"Sky...I...went behind your back, I was working for the enemy, even if i barely did much that harmed you while doing so...I still went behind your back...eclipsa went behind your back as well...but you seem more fine with me...then her.", she huffed as she laid back on the bed, "It's not the same, you both were doing it to protect me...but you didn't reveal this big team to my mom and get everyone in trouble...something we tried to avoid.".

"I always figured with you coming after me on your mom's orders...you well...were used to working under her...".

"I never liked working under my mom's shining shadow...I didn't want her fingers all over it, i didn't know what she'd do and i didn't know if she'd use this as another way to well...make me feel like...like i'm not good enough. That's one thing we can't relate to, my mom is a hero of mewni, i can't top that...and mewni knows it, i'm not as gifted as her...or as powerful.".

"You're powerful to me, even if you claim you aren't", he said back, and by his tone, he truly believed that.

"You haven't seen powerful unless you've seen mom, i don't compare.", sky was quick to tell him, god was she just good at beating up on herself? She tore herself down everytime someone gave her a compliment it felt.

"Well...you helped her help my mother...didn't you?", angel pointed out, "If she needed the help of another butterfly then clearly she wasn't powerful enough alone to handle the task.".

"Well I...yeah, i did but...well...I mean i was the one who got you to help...well tiny you...Angel your being too nice about it, mom did most of the work, i stumbled my way into that situation and she was the one who knew how to help at all...i'm not nearly as powerful if everyone else does the work and i accidentally stumble in and help somehow...".

"Well...I don't think there's anything to be ashamed of...you still did it, didn't you? Without you my mom...well...", he wasn't wrong, even her mom said herself she needed sky's help to even finish the process. Without her there nothing might've been fixed at all, angel didn't seem to care that she stumbled into it or didn't have the plan ready as long as she helped and cared.

But then again, angel didn't exactly care about sky's level of skill personally either, he thought she was powerful no matter what.

"I guess I still have some issues to work out...concerning my mom, i've been rethinking my feelings on her and maybe I was too judgmental...just assuming everything was easy for her...she...almost failed..without me to help. Though she's still...she's still so much more powerful and experienced...I've never been that way"., her voice was full of sadness and loss, in fact it seemed she no longer felt angry at her mom, but more sad then anything.

Though Angel was quick to attack that, huffing in that pompous way that he used to when they used to tease and mock the other.

"Well I for one don't see any reason you need to be as powerful as her to be great, you're clearly just fine without that power. This entire situation proves you have the ability to do so much, even if you're not the strongest at magic.", she smirked, "Well yeah, I guess the same goes for you, you spent your time training to use your powers? You're not perfect at it yet...but you're smart without it...sometimes...".

"Thank you...I think.".

"We should go...no point in staying here any more...let's find sunny", Sky hoped off the bed, "We'll...talk about what we wanna do together later...but for now the best thing we can do is keep focus on the task at hand and worry about it later." Angel got up and off the bed too, though his legs nearly knock down mannequin sky was using for one of her hat designs, catching it just in time.

"S-sorry...".

Sky quickly readjusting the thing as angel observed the sunhat, cute but still creepy with it's greens and eyes.

"This is for nora...isn't it?".

"It's not finished...but yeah, I promised her one awhile back but I got sidelined...but it's nearly complete.", angel looked at it with curiosity as sky looked between him and the hat, then away from both of them, thoughts rolling in her head as she changed the subject. "Y'know...nora reached out to you...she talked to you to help, how did she...your families didn't like each other for so long...how'd...", it was hard to get the right words out.

Though angel knew what she meant.

"Nora...and me...we...we didn't share the same hatred as our ancestors...we never really talked, nora was well...scared of me and I never put my focus on her...I feel like I put so much blame on you when nora's family took our land...but something about nora I can't really hate. Nora was just as alone as I was...she wasn't hateful or bitter...she was nothing but sorry and sympathetic...".

"and I was antagonistic if not ignoring you entirely...", sky finished.

"I didn't mind nora's help...I think...she's different from her family...but...I think we all seem to be in one way or another...".

"Maybe that's for the best...like you said.".

"Yeah, I hope so.".

Sunny's first instinct when seeing the two enter the room was to run up and hug them both, angel still not used to all the affection of these new friends but complying regardless. Sunny's smile was nice to see after that mess, she tended to always seem pretty cheery and happy and right now it was needed more then anything to helps them feel a little better.

"Good to see you! Let's get started.".

She quickly dragged them away from the door and further inside the library, katrina glancing up and waving as she went back to texting on her compact. The library was closed right now, outside of them being allowed in to look for whatever they needed. Giving them more freedom to look around, mostly for info on mind parasite and how to handle them.

Or masked creeps.

She and Galexia seemed to have gone through several books together, making sure lexi didn't draw on any of them in the process. Sunny probably had every page memorized by this point knowing her, her amount of research was impressive. Showing off her notes she'd been taking, "The Spiderbites and your mom is taking care of the same info but I thought best we got a good grasp on it as well...and yeah, I think our-your mom is up to something here...the symptoms match perfectly to previous victims of the bugs...weak memory, inability to control body, near parallelization...".

"I'm not sure if we should consider that a serious relief or not frankly", sky laughed, sunny shoving her nearest open book at her, "A relief! It makes it easier to fix if we're careful! The reason most people are too late is because it's so good at being a regular illness that they never think to cure it as if it were an parasite infesting their body! But it still needs care and if we're not careful can really hurt her...".

Angel jolted for a sec, suddenly nervous.

"But it's alright, we're working with professionals...once the bug is out she can heal properly...if she's not too damaged.", angel shuddered again, he almost wanted to leave the room but sky kept him still, trying to reassure him. "She'll make it through...what do we do to get it out?", sunny nodded to the page, "There are a few things that work, like evil repression charms...if luna were still here...we could've used her's but for now...we outta ask eclipsa.".

"Eclipsa?".

"She was the one to give luna her's right? I believe you told me that thing is practically a repellent that takes out dangerous and dark magic. That's perfect for weakening the bug inside of her.".

Angel and Sky exchanged looks.

"Is...that the only thing we can do?".

Sunny looked between them before remembering sky's current feelings towards eclipsa, "Well, no, of course not, we can do other charms to draw it out, and other spells, it was just an option...magical charms like that are a safe way of scaring the little buggers...it doesn't fully remove them but it does start to weaken them. But we can try another spell...though maybe we shouldn't conjure it...healing spells are more celeste's thing...and i'm never tried a cruse repenting spells before and...maybe we should wait for mom.".

"Ok...fine.".

"Hm?".

"I'll...ask eclipsa for one...".

She was very reluctant, but if it meant helping angel's mom, well...she'd be stupid to say no. Angel, knowing how mad she was, seemed super appreciative. He became a little less tense, his legs folding back behind them as to not accidentally hit anyone in his anxiety. Sunny looked equally happy, "Thank you! The sooner the better, it'll give it more time to take effect before we can do some of the other steps.".

"What are the other steps exactly? Nothing...crazy I hope?".

"Well, that depends on what the spiderbites and well...what your mom wants to do, the charm is just to slowly weaken it, removing it and convincing it to leave might still be hard, it is a magical being after all. But we have enough professionals we might be just fine, Arana's been fighting this long to keep it from destroying her from the inside after all...we're not giving up without a fight.".

"Is uh...lexi doing alright?", sky pointed to the brunette scribbling nearby, who looked up and waved at the three. Sunny laughing and turning back to the companions with cheer, "Well, I thought since lexi really wanted to help i'd play to her strengths, she's not the best at communication sometimes or with people, but she is great at speaking her mind through drawings and art in general...".

"What do you mean?".

"I mean I assigned lexi the role of our planner, with her dream knowledge and her abilities she can help plan ahead for what we should prepare for. Not to mention she's fantastic at design, she can visually interpret anything. And before you say anything, this isn't because i'm paranoid or obsessed with her...abilities, i think the best thing to do, is have HER be the one to deal with her own powers...if she finds something worth mentioning, she'll tell us.".

"You...think she can handle it?", sky said, worried and a little skeptic on if lexi would for sure know when to tell them anything significant. Looking at her drawings it was never really easy to be sure what they should be worried about or not, and it seemed like most of the time they were purely doodles and nothing that seemed logical enough to happen.

"Sky, ever since she's gotten here i've been the one talking to her the most, I know she can handle it, she's smart and great in her own way.", the girl was confident, she almost seemed like a proud mom as she looked over lexi. Sky knew they hung out a lot but she never really though heavily about it, at least about what they talked about or how they felt about each other. Sky had not talked to lexi much, and neither had anyone else that much either, so it was hard for her personally to say for sure this was something lexi could do.

But she did trust Sunny.

So she had to trust Lexi could do it.

"Alright then.".

"OH!", the small girl quickly ran over and collected her compact, excited, "Celeste texted me early today! She NEVER texts me, she wanted to let us know she was hanging with judas today to talk to his brother...er...landon. But I was just so happy cause celeste doesn't really talk to anyone other then landon so it was just...nice...having her speak to me.".

"How long will um...Judas be gone?", angel asked curiously, though sunny could only shrug, her focus had been elsewhere most of the day and judas could take as much time as he needed frankly.

"You'd have to ask him, i could text him right now if you want me to?".

"That's ok!", Sky interrupted, "He should get all the time he needs to deal with his brother...we'll talk to him when he's ready, anything else you want to share before we head out?". She was not looking forward to seeing eclipsa and was partially stalling for time, but she outta not leave until sunny provided her with any and all information she might need.

"Well...".

She tapped her toes, her third eye on them and her others eyes elsewhere. Whatever it was, she wasn't sure if she should say something or not, though considering the lack of time, better she came out with it now then ask later. "Sky...you're good with costumes and clothing right? I've been meaning to ask if maybe...you could...make me some costumes...?", she sounded as if this were embarrassing to ask, and sky's puzzled face was reason enough to explain sunny's worriedness.

"Why do you need costumes?", sky said, snapping back into reality, "Is this something to do with any of your plays or something? Cause this ain't really the time to be putting on plays or musicals right now when we got all this other stuff going on...". But Sunny shook her head, "No no...it's more like...with everything going on it's a lot harder to listen in on conversations and get details from the people, and I was thinking...with costumes we could sneak out and listen in on gossip or any news outside the castle walls...".

"You mean, you want me to make disguises?".

"Well yeah...you're so good with it...and it might help us out to walk around undetected...it'd be perfect! Everyone knows us, and some people are still well...against us...so maybe we could make disguises and see if we can get more from other sources on the matter of the bug and Her.".

"Well actually that sounds like a good idea...why didn't you bring it up earlier?", Sunny rubbed her arm, "Well, asking you to do that is asking you to do a lot of work and I wasn't sure you would want to spend so much time on something like that when we could put our focus elsewhere, with Katrina going on about being spies...well, with disguises...we could work with her...".

Sky eyed katrina, who had been listening in, "Well problem is...I don't think you're allowed to have us spy on anyone correct?". The frog woman nodded, "Nope, i am not allowed to let you out of the castle sunshine, but, i'll be fair, if you want to dress up around here? I have no reason to stop you, just don't go sneaking out of the walls, we're not taking that risk no matter how tough you guys might be...and i'm in trouble enough as is".

Sunny pouted, she'd probably been hoping to convince the spy to help them but seems the lady was quick to shut that part down, well...that's what it looked like. Sunny almost was about to leave when angel stopped her, his brow furrowing before he took a risk with his next words, "Um...forgive me...I uh...that was a well told lie but I uh...I think we'd appreciate more truth out of you...considering how much I had lied and you wanted me to be honest...".

He actually didn't know if she were lying, but it just kinda came out, and yet-

Sunny suddenly became embarrassed, her facade dropping, "Fine...it was a half lie...I do want some costumes for a play outside of the disguises...I know a place landon showed me and I thought it'd be a good place to perform...but it's not out of selfish reasons...I thought...maybe...we could set a trap there and you could make us costumes to help better disguise us to catch them there...and I've been writing a play for you guys in my spare time".

"Why weren't you honest about that from the beginning?".

"I though you guys would think It was a waste of time If i asked you for costumes for a silly play of mine...it's easier to ask for costumes to go around in public then to ask for costumes for a play I want to perform in...I mean you even said it was a waste of time before i told you.".

"Sunny no, that's a great idea, for a trap I mean".

"Ahem!", Katrina said from against the wall, "No scheming to go anywhere outside the walls. it's cute how much of spies your are but any traps laid about should be addressed with your parents sky".

"Aren't you supposed to be following judas?", katrina shrugged, "I am but after last night it seems king and queen lucitor decided maybe I outta give the boy a little more space...can't blame him, he looked really upset last night, i think the whole situation really hit a nerve with him. He's a tough kid but he's struggling with trusting himself and feeling comfortable and safe with himself...seeing the woman hurt probably made him think about it being one of his family members.".

Angel suddenly felt a ting of guilt, "I told him about Her having the book with notes on his condition in it...I told him i was worried about it and...he had tried to tell me he'd be ok...perhaps I...shouldn't have said anything...I was just worried and thought he should know...". His ears folded and his face turned pinker then usual, his mistakes seemed unending.

"It's not your fault kid, no one can speak for how judas feels then...judas, the kid can ignore how people feel and use this zappers all he wants, but honestly to me...I think what he needs to focus on...is his own mental health. Purple needs more help, and honestly better you tell him he might be in danger then say nothing at all and let something bad happen he can't prepare for...even if It hurts him...".

The prince nodded, "If you're sure.".

"Kid, you can hurt people, but not everything could be easily fixed by you doing nothing either. The stuff that kid is dealing with is more then just you, the best thing you can do now...all of you, is be there for him as his friend and reassure him and protect him. He'd do the same for all of you and the best you can do is the same for him while he's struggling.".

"We will...promise.".

"Good, now you ll better get back to...whatever your doing...and stay safe...call me if you need me. Right now i'm watching these two but If I need to help i will, if the guards don't alert me...". The two nodded and before they left Katrina nodded to Angel, "And sorry if I was too aggressive last night, I know that entire situation was emotional for you...but your safety and hers should be a priority and I couldn't jeopardize it".

"It's fine...", he didn't seem too forgiving by tone, but he couldn't hold a big grudge either considering the outcome of it either. He moved forward, following sky closely as the door closed behind them, leaving sunny, katrina, and galexia in the library. Sunny smiled at them leaving, "They're so cute working together...I knew they could do it!", going back to opening her book on medical magical practices.

"They're strange friends alright...", the older monster nodded, leaning against the wall nearby.

"But...I welcome them completely, honestly the more the merrier".

Sky definitely didn't want to meet eclipsa.

Not now, not anytime soon.

Of course when she blabbed on about how upset she was with her that's the day she HAD to meet her in person.

Of course, just her luck.

She didn't know if angel tagging along made it more awkward or less awkward frankly.

Though angel seemed to be right by her side on this no matter what so that was a little reassuring, at least he wasn't acting like she couldn't be upset on the matter, considering he technically went behind her back as well he didn't really have much of an excuse himself. He adjusted judas's old clothes he'd been wearing, nervous as they entered the garden.

"I could go...if you...don't want to." sky stopped in her tracks, huffing.

"I know you could..and you would...but I should do It, i'm supposed to be taking charge here...I shouldn't...make you do anything that I should be doing. I promised to help right? I'm just gonna have to suck up my anger and deal with it. I won't even have to look at her for very long...", then she paused, "I...I do miss our lessons together though...".

"This does seem almost like going to one somehow...doesn't it?".

Sky's annoyance was apparent, "Yeah...it does...".

But then she turned around to look at him, her face becoming a smile, "Maybe when all this is over...we could pick those back up again? If that's cool with you? Maybe with a different teacher? We...have a lot to work on if we're going to be in charge at some point...like a lot of work. Helping your family and people, trying to fix our terrible security, y'know...trying not to ruin people's lives?".

"I accept your offer...Queen Sky.", he was being playful, bowing, and sky actually seemed to find it a little amusing.

"Alright, now i'm just stalling...let's get it over with...".

She headed up to the tower door, knocking, angel close behind her as she became more anxious by the second. She found herself tapping her foot, waiting before she heard the door unlock, her blue eyes looking towards the door. Though as the door opened it wasn't eclipsa at the door, but Globgor, who looked excited and relieved to see the kids there.

"Back so soon?", he teased, "I jest...yesterday was quite a day wasn't it? You kids alright?". He was mainly looking at angel and the boy could only give him a weak nod as his answer, and that seemed enough for globgor who didn't push it further. "So what are you doing here? Lessons are cancelled and Eclipsa knows you're mad with her and...you need something don't you?".

Sky's face told all, looking away and shuffling, "Maybe...is there something wrong with that?".

The monster ushered the two in, "Of course not, you know we're willing to help. It's good to see you two again.". Globgor followed behind as she headed inside eclipsa's tower, though eclipsa herself wasn't there, globgor himself only sat down in front of them as they took their usual seats as if this were another one of eclipsa's lessons all over again.

"Eclipsa's out, she'll be back soon...she asked for me to hang out here to check in with the queens, we're going to head back to our place soon after...but for now you can talk to me if that makes you more comfortable. What's on your mind?", the royals exchanged looks between them as sky let it out of the bag, "We need eclipsa to make us a charm to ward off bad magic...".

"Oh...that sounds a lot worse then I was expecting, what are you getting into exactly?", the princess was quick to nod to her companion, "It's for his mom, it's all to help her...I'm only here to help him and his mom. So yeah, if eclipsa can make us a charm to use for her, i'd appreciate it, i'm not exactly knowledgeable on that and i know for a fact it's not in the book of spells...".

Globgor suddenly smiled in a way sky did not like, clasping his hands together, "Reminds me of eclipsa, she was so brave doing everything she did to be with me and make me happy. You're facing someone you're mad with to help someone you used to be enemies with, that's so adorable". Great, another one of those people, was this going to be regular thing from now on?

Just random people gaping at how sweet it was they no longer wanted to fight each other?

Was it too late to change her mind?

Even Angel looked embarrassed, coughing and trying to change the subject, "Yeah, ok...anyway...globgor...can eclipsa help us? I'm glad you're happy that we're friends now but i'm here to help my mom...I need to help her in anyway I can...if there's even a chance we can save her life...". Globgor understood, no doubt thinking back to the many monsters he lost back in the war, the friends and family.

"We'll help...promise, we'll have to wait till eclipsa gets back first.".

The monster king looked over to the unused teapot nearby, "I'm not good at it but...you want a drink?". Guess they were going to be here for awhile weren't they? Might as well in the meantime. Globgor attempted to make tea as sky took out her compact, looking for updates from any of her friends. Angel glancing over to take a look as well, "Any updates from judas...?".

"Not yet...but we'll hear from him soon i'm sure...".

Sky had to admit angel's attachment to judas and even nora was touching to her, it seems she and judas were no longer a pair of two anymore ever since this mess started.

"How do you know for certain that he's not in danger or anything? Not that I don't trust Prince Lucitor, but with everything happening...how are you sure he's safe?", the princess could only return his question with a nonchalant shrug, "I just know judas can take care of himself, despite the mess...he's...strong, even at his worst...and he's not alone either...".

"He isn't?".

"Landon is with him, landon's not the most powerful...but if judas was in trouble, landon wouldn't leave him...". she tucked her compact back into her pocket , "I wish we had a greater idea what they wanted...where they might strike next...without knowing their goal it makes it harder to figure out where to catch them...you sure they gave you no real idea of their plan?".

"I swear they didn't, they certainly didn't trust me enough to disclose that info to me...I wonder if to some degree they expected me to betray them and didn't think I was worth trusting with that information...all I know was the plans I was told about and that they were scary powerful with magic...enough to deliver on their promises to me to keep me in line...", he crossed his heart, "I'd spill if i could.".

"Magic is so limited to people in mewni...well...that kinda powerful magic...it has to be a butterfly, But i know it's not my moms, eclipsa, my grandmother doesn't have reason to do this...does anyone in my family have a big enough grudge to be targeting the other kingdoms like this? Though considering what they took...they seemed to want power I guess...", sky didn't know much about her extended family, but then again, how much did her extended family know about low mewman? Or the book?

Maybe it really was some kinda toffee follower...the butterfly secrets didn't exactly remain secret because of him or the people around him, maybe they should be investigating any living supporters of him.

Or maybe she was just losing her mind at this point and just desperate to make sense of all of this.

"Ugh...I wish i hadn't left the-".

Her eyes suddenly lit up, god had she really let that slip her mind already?

"The truth potion...it's here...I last saw it here", she aggressively whispered to her companion, if she could get that back, maybe she could find some use for it in their investigation, especially in terms of getting straight answers out of her family and other suspects.

Her eyes immediately scanned around the room, hoping to spot the blue potion somewhere in plain sight but finding nothing, instead globgor returned, presenting the pair teacups and immediately apologizing. "I'm not as good as eclipsa with this whole thing. so if it tastes bad...sorry about that...but boiling water and adding tea dirt feels like it's hard to mess up...".

They both took the teacups, even angel was looking around the room, his eyes darting around so much globogr seemed to be wondering if there was something wrong with him.

"Prince arachford?".

"Hmm?", suddenly all his eyes looked at globgor, taking a quick sip of his tea, he wasn't keeping a very good poker face right now.

"I wanted to appluade how you were in the trial yesterday, you really stuck it to those commissioners, it's fantastic seeing you tell them off like that. Normally before when a monster did so they took it as a sign of aggression and would've arrested them sooner, I'm impressed", globgor reached over to pat his fellow monster on the shoulder, "Not to mention they're in a world of trouble right now.".

"Well..I wasn't going to let sky get arrested for something that was my fault.", he mumbled, "It was my fault alone...and she could've been arrested alongside me.".

"Well I think you did great, I'm impressed.".

"Impressive because I fought back?".

"No, impressive because you were willing to take the fall to protect people you cared about, that's the sign of a true leader right there. I think your people will be happy to welcome you back once things settle...", oh right, his people were mad at him due to what happened, he'd been so distracted he seemed to entirely forget about that part of the situation.

He couldn't even return home because of what happened, his people were beyond mad he had done something that put them in possible danger, not to mention all of mewni. He did the whole thing in hopes of bringing them back to greatness, allowing them to use magic like they used to, but it seemed they hated it and the idea of it if it came under these circumstances.

He really screwed up.

Globgor seemed to notice he looked down but his voice grew softer, "Hey, you always had a great heart...what happened back then...honestly It's a guilt that's lingered with me as well...you can be mad at solaria...you can be mad at the butterfly family...you have every right to be. But it's great you've gone from wanting nothing but revenge...to wanting to work to fix things and form friendships...It's what we originally wanted as well...".

"Doesn't appear to always work...", he muttered under is breath, the hurt still present in his voice.

"No but...well...do you trust the ones you're working with to work beside you?", globgor eyed to Sky, was distracted looking around the room to pay much attention to the conversation. Angel of course couldn't say no, "I do trust them...even If I was too stubborn to even consider it before.". Globgor rustled his hair, snickering, "Well I happen to think the monsters will be in better hands going forward...so we can finally truly reach proper peace...hopefully.".

Globgor sighed, looking to sky now, who was still looking around rather strangely, and he set his full attention on her.

"So...what'cha looking for sky?".

Sky suddenly froze, clutching her teacup.

Yeah, no duh she'd get caught, her head was moving like a bird's right now, as unnatural as possible for a normal looking individual. She could've just asked globgor but there was no telling if THAT was a good idea or if it was another excuse for the lovers to betray them entirely and not let them have it at all. Though now that globor knew she was looking for something...well..oops.

But the monster wasn't stupid, smiling a toothy grin that almost seemed teasing.

"Oh right, when you came here to fine the young lad you ended up leaving a special potion around didn't you? You never came back to collect it since.", he took a seat once again in front of the pair, folding his arms. "Sorry kids...but you're a smidge late...King Lucitor...well actually...Dave...since he's no longer king. He requested some to question that young demon girl and since Eclipsa had it she let him borrow it, i'm sure he won't use it all though."

Oh right, Judas's grandfather had mentioned he wanted to further speak to Fae didn't he?

Sky suddenly pulled out her compact, and gave angel a knowing glance.

Cue team Judas.

Judas's compact buzzed, the boy waking up from a nap he'd been having and opening the device up, his brother and half sister sleeping next to him. Had he really fallen asleep? Guess it figured after how stressful things had been he'd be more tired then usual, though upon reading the message from the princess and seeing his brother alongside him, the thought of leaving their side did not resonate with him.

He did not want to leave landon, not right now.

There was still much to do with him and right now he seemed rather worried about his safety after that mess. At the very least he and Celeste both outta make sure he wasn't physically harmed due to magic or glass or anything. Because if there was, landon would be hiding it, just like he hid his tail from everyone, even from his parents at times when he was upset with them.

But what to do? If he had to stay with his brother for now, he needed another idea.

Granted, his grandfather would most likely give the potion back, but what if he didn't? In fact what if they couldn't remake the potion due to the strict hold on the garden for ingredients? But the real reason sky wanted judas to do something came to him quite quickly, fae was not a team player of any kind, but she knew about landon and celeste's escapades.

Knew they had been out when they shouldn't be and investigated on their own.

Not to mention the fact the girl was prime witness to the rescue mission to save nora, something that they were still choosing to keep mostly under wraps to keep sky from being further attacked and considering his grandfather was currently in the dark about who the girls were and about the truth about what was happening, having him find out his family wasn't telling him anything...was bad news.

Sky could be in trouble, and so could all of them.

If Fae spilled, they'd be in trouble.

He needed to make sure the two people next to him didn't end up in further trouble, not to mention the rest of them so they weren't further exposed. Not that he didn't trust his grandfather, but this sure wasn't the best way to bring that up to him.

But he couldn't just leave...could he?

But if he couldn't do it...

Judas quickly sent out another text, knowing the best person he could send for the job, without putting them at much of any risk. All he needed was to keep his grandpa from finding out anything he shouldn't, and hopefully, they could keep it together just a little bit longer.

He hoped.

"Mason...you got this.".

And nearby in his own room, mason's wings could be heard flapping in excitement.

#star vs the forces of evil #svstfoe #svtfoe #sky and the forces of the multiverse #janstar bby #tomco bby #tomstar bby #starco bby #ostar bby #globgor #fanfiction #fanfic

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jess-the-vampire · 5 years

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Sky And The Forces Of The Multiverse, Chapter 27

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The Next few days were weird. But not the kinda weird Sky had been expecting after going on a mission to possible save the lives of the princess, her family, and literally her own army. She wasn't surprised at the higher restrictions, the curfew, the increased security, though she was thankful the butterfly and lucitor family decided not to tail the kids with guards anymore, hoping their new system would work without them. No, none of this was surprising unfortunately considering what had happened. What was is the fact Nora and Angel were still here.

They had seemingly....temporally moved in until further notice when it came to their parents, angel refused to leave his mother in her state, and considering he had lessons here anyway his father didn't mind as long as they were both kept under management and taken cared for, and nora's parents, despite not entirely ok with letting their daughter out of their sight under these circumstances, seemed to feel a little bit safe under star's roof then their own after their own fiasco. Yeah, they knew her broke into butterfly castle once, but at least here they had magic shields and protection charms that might help ward off any potential evil, even if that meant keeping nora out of their eyes 24/7. Nora was rather happy about this change though, getting to see the garden more often then ever, not to mention getting to spend time with her new friends. It almost made up for losing her research and spending so long by herself during the crisis. Almost. Angel was much more of a mixed bag, even if sky was starting to feel at least a little better about him sticking around and even if star herself was starting to stop treating him as a nuisance herself. He either wouldn't leave his mother's bed side, or tag alongside sky and judas as much as loki used to. Loki had done it mostly because he was bored, wanted to spy, or literally had nothing better to do with his time since he lacked a ton of friends and was terrible at makings ones but angel did it cause he literally only seemed to find the least bit of comfort around judas and sky. He only left his mother for lessons or because the people in the hospital wing asked him to and his first instinct was to find sky and it was rather.....unusual. Angel was one of those guys who tried to seem respectable most of the time, trying to at least somewhat look good talking in a princely matter, but over time his usually seemingly prince attitude wavered and his angsty teen side seemed to pop out more. He probably spent so much time pressuring himself to "Fix" everything for his people and protest about adult issues and deal with his own parental issues he'd really never gotten a chance to be a teen. So sky now was stuck with moody teen angel, going through a lot of clear emotional issues. Not that it was surprising, she'd probably be freaking out as well. He wasn't the worst company to have around, loki was far more annoying because he got more heavily into her business and made more uncomfortable remarks. But it was hard to do a lot with a spider prince following you around awkwardly so much of the time. Judas however, seemed to kinda feel delighted they were getting along better, the situation oddly enough allowing them to hang out like they had promised, even if it wasn't under the circumstances in which they pitched. No doubt to sky, angel really did care about judas, asking about his arm more often then he probably needed to. He kept trying to be cool around him, though was having a harder time maintaining it. Angel was not very social and talked formally most of the time, so he was already an oddball to be hanging around a bunch of royal teens who wore chokers and snuck out of the castle to get cornshakes at night. Though he seemed to be trying to appease judas and sky as much as possible so he wasn't on their bad side anymore, though if he was doing a good job at that with his tripping over his words and constant cluelessness he had no idea. Judas was just happy he was even allowed to see his friends at all, thank god for his parents caring about that so much, he could see nora, angel was starting to open up better, and he and landon were on...better terms. Landon himself had been trying to pull him aside for conversation but it felt like whatever he wanted to talk about, he wanted to talk about in private, and the addition of nora and angel now made that even harder. Though he had a feeling landon was also distracted with his earth friend as well. At this point in time, sky and judas were walking alongside each other, the team off handling other things and leaving them some time to speak. "I wish i could've seen galexia and sunny's performance, it sounds....incredibly if what my parents said was anything to consider....artistic?", he smiled to himself, thinking back on sunny's love of acting. "Honestly i think it suits her....it sure seems to make her happy.". His companion could only shrug, "At least it came in handy...though you think she'll do another?". "I'd watch it.". "What was it about?". "About a princess wanting to make a name for herself and a prince wishing he was in the shadows more....i think she spends too much time with us...though i heard she and lexi played all the roles so i have to watch for that alone.", to be honest the thought of sunny wearing a mustache to pretend to be a prince and then immediately removing it to be a completely different character did seem rather hilarious. The two friends playfully bumping into each other with their shoulders. "You sure it was a good idea to tell luna.....everything?". "Well...". "Well what?". "There's one thing i'm iffy on telling her, ....galexia...."., he was rubbing the back of his head, "Sunny hasn't given us updates on anything worrisome in particular of course, but i'm still worried what would happen if we told her about lexi's uh....gift? I want us to fully be able to trust each other but she makes me anxious sometimes, i don't know how she'd react to lexi knowing the future.", he had a fair point, especially since luna seemed to not be honest about herself as well. "The one cheek mark glowing thing? Creepy...", he kinda had to agree, that was a rather uncomfortable thing to know she could do, it was certainly not a thing most queens could do which gave him the feeling when luna said they shared a lot in common, she was not saying it to get him on her side, she was actually serious. Though maybe instead of being too freaked out they should be more relieved they hadn't gotten killed thanks to her help. Though he still wasn't sure about telling her. Luna herself got even more praised for being a savoir and closer to her mom of this universe a little bit more then ever, honestly this entire situation makes it harder to keep themselves in the shadows , but on the plus side there were benefits to being friends with someone so close to the leader of the knights and was seen as a hero. Luna herself however, was mixed, on the other hand she could do more things without it being suspicious, on another hand....it was harder to get others to leave her alone. So much happened in one day and it now reshaped almost everything to the point in which everyone was more anxious. "Let's just hope luna doesn't do anything....more creepy...i'm still paranoid about her wiping nora's memory while she's here, i mean i don't want to think luna would do something like that but then again I can't claim to know luna well, she's very closed off. I know i said i don't think it's smart to focus too much on the other timelines, but-". "You want to at least try and get her to be open about herself instead of being a pushover? Yeah i get it...", she turned her head and shoved her hands inside her pockets, "She got so mad she freaked, I guess whoever that ash guy was, she's used to being mad at him...". At least that seemed to be the assumption since her rampage clearly came out of force of habit, sky had to give the guy props if he put up with luna for as long as he seemed to probably have. "Brother? Boyfriend? Her maybe crush?", judas began suggesting off the top of his head, "Well actually if they were dating, they sound a little dysfunctional...no offense..". His partner's guess was as good as his, "Well, at least we know she has someone back home waiting for her besides her moms, that's kinda interesting, she kinda made it always out like she wanted to get back just to be back and not because she had a lot of people back home she missed...she's not a people person...". "Oh? And we are?", that made him chuckle, "Maybe we're being too nosy, we kinda wanna be open and friendly and i guess luna just really isn't the type to open up like that unless she's comfortable, she's not all bad, even if she does have things to work out for herself...". Sky seemed to soften at that, the two walking in silence a little longer as sky glanced over to see judas rubbing at his arm, feeling the shock band he was wearing under his jacket anxiously. "Hey....you sure you're doing ok with your arm?", she mumbled, "Like, I know the whole situation really freaked you out...I hope you're not mad i didn't y'know....shock you? The thing kinda went on it's own rampage and-", but he interrupted her, trying to calm her down about his situation, "No no, it's ok, i'll be ok....it was kinda a stressful situation....and we were fine, we all made it out and it didn't end up hurting anyone....hopefully, so...you're good...". "What about your family-?". "You know i can't report this back to them without explaining what happened, and my dad still hasn't come up to speak to me about my arm. My Granddad especially might flip if he found out, he likes to keep finding new ways to help and this would put more stress on him, which puts more stress on my parents...and it's like a domino effect of more problems". His granddad was a sweet guy but he knew if he ever found out his arm did....that, there's a good chance judas might be forced to deal with worse then his grumpy brother and mysterious enemy. "Jude, you look stressed, like...REALLY stressed, maybe you should take a break? I mean, i can go talk to nora if you want and get updates on whatever and maybe you can talk to your brothers or angel or something...", he did have to talk to landon about whatever it was he needed to speak about, and maybe he needed to take some time to recover. It felt like he really hadn't, despite it only having happened a few days ago, there had been so much chaos it was hard to fully take a break. Maybe he just needed a day to chill, let someone else take the reigns and handle the current situation. He must've looked nervous still because he could feel sky trying to comfort him, "Dude, it'll be ok, go spend time with your bro or something, we can call you if something freaks...i mean, you're the one who deserves a proper break more then anyone...". He genuinely smiled from that, pulling sky into a hug and kissing the top of her head sweetly before ruffling her hair, "Thanks sky...". He then took a few leaps forward, looking back at her, "I'm gonna go find landon....and hey....maybe in the meanwhile....you should go speak to luna while you're at it....I know you're kinda mad at her cause of what happened, but for the record, I think what you did was pretty awesome...". He headed off, and sky sighed, it was awesome, she just wished her saving a princess wasn't added to the long list of attributes that were already taken by others. She wandered along the halls , heading to the knight training area on her own, though as she reached the hall she spotted a face she wasn't expecting, Katrina was lying against the walls. Her face brightened at the sight of sky and she was quickly pulled into a tight hug from the frog monster, "Blue bell! Tis good to see you again! How's life holding you up?". By the looks on sky's face, not very well, and katrina sighed as she playfully poked sky's hat. "You know i had to tell em about the possession thing, no way i could let that one slide....", though the princess got it, honestly if it mean less chances of her friends ending up the same way it was fine with her overall, and at least they could tell who was possessed by appearance. "It's not a big deal, i heard from mom loki's kinda being being chained to his mom kinda though? like i get not wanting him to go out again, but that's pretty cruel punishment, even for him..". "For now, just worry about yourself, lucky they hadn't forced you to do anything under their control yet...". Sky sure hoped so, but there was no denying she was paranoid about it. "What are you doing here anyway?". "Me? Oh well, i wanted to have a talk with Miss Jackie's new gifted student, name's luna? She's the girl who apparently helped rescue poor princess spiderbite and found everyone missing from some enchanted sleeping spell, I just want to know a little bit about what happened....or....you could tell me?". Right, she was a master spy after all, sky wasn't even gonna try to lie her way outta this one, crossing her arms, "Don't...tell anyone, you know-". "They'd be mad? No kidding blue girl, i lost track of seeing you three in the woods, but i know you had something to do with it...". "We just wanted to help...". Katrina was still smiling, "and you did good, but one of these days you're going to get caught by someone other then me, and it won't be pretty.". She looked around the hallway, making sure no one was listening before leaning close and whispering, "For the record though, if you're going to sneak around, you need to learn to be more like me and my dad. We are family of spies, mostly, then you might have easier time not getting caught by me.". "you literally made me a charm to wear on my HAT to find you...". "And how many other people would be smart enough to know to use it that way?" She had a point. "your uh...partner filling in for you today?". "Yep, what about your other half?", sky simply shrugged and leaned against the wall next to her, trying to make herself comfortable, "He needed a break so he's taking one, i hope, he's kinda a little overworked so....I'm gonna try and handle some other things...". There was a moment of silence still sky looked up to see the frog smiling at her, making her grumble, "You're a good friend princess butterfly, he's lucky to have friend like you watching his back...". "I dunno, i've been kinda dumb....we did have a fight and i kinda got mad at him and yeah...", katrina slapped her on the back, showing off her monster strength and laughing, "You aren't a bad friend for having a fight blue girl , fights happen, the best friends recover from them. Don't call yourself a bad friend because you both had a fight, you two clearly care about each other, you are like family to each other. You are like true best friends". Sky nodded, "Yeah, i guess so, I just hope he's ok...". "He is strong boy, he'll be ok....". "Yeah....he is." The door suddenly opened, and Jackie, Kelly, and Luna stepped out, prompting Katrina to stand up and pull Luna to the side before sky could even get a word in with her, though jackie and kelly seemed rather happy to take her place, immediately greeting sky with hugs and head pats, "Skyler, good to see you sweetheart, we haven't gotten to hang out much since i got back from my mission, though i bet you heard about the mess i got into recently?". Kelly snickered, "I can't believe you fell asleep, i was hoping when you came back you had spent so long fighting a dragon or something!". Jackie hit her armored shoulder and snorted, "Oh i wish! But hey, luna took care of it! That girl is a miracle....you found her, right sky? Gotta say, good job.....i've never had a better recruit in my entire life...she's incredibly gifted, a true strategist, she was made for this job....she'll be a perfect replacement for me whence i eventually retire...". Wait....wait?! "Whu?', was all she could managed as jackie snorted. "Don't worry, she won't do that right away, but you know me, i eventually wanna settle down for a bit, take a rest from getting new scars. If she keeps it up at this rate she could very much take over, she's got all the skills needed and she's improving fast.". Well, maybe that wouldn't be a bad thing if luna was stuck in this timeline forever, but she clearly wasn't planning to live out the rest of her life being a knight and taking the place of her mom from another universe. "Uh well, have you uh...asked her yet? Maybe she'd prefer another position?", she needed to carefully divert this in another direction, "I mean, luna's REALLY into fighting but she's also like....into other things too and what if she wanted to give another job a shot like uh....maybe a teacher? Or a curator, she...likes the history of the queens". Jackie blinked at that, but mush to sky's surprise she seemed to be very interested in her claims, "Wow, she sounds incredibly knowledgeable and smart then! Maybe we could expand her position a bit to allow for teaching as well!". Facepalm "Anyways, i appreciate it sky, and it's wonderful to see you after so long properly, you're so grown up!". She patted her head and smiled softly, reflecting, "I remember when you and judas were so tiny i could carry you both everywhere together, and now he's taller then me, and you're too grown up for rides on my shoulders.". Oh yeah, they did used to do that back in the day didn't they? Feels like forever ago, especially since Jackie got more occupied as time went on. "Eh, he gets it from his dad's side of the family, it does become a pain with doors sometimes", they all laughed together and sky got back on track, "So yeah, uh, don't start pushing luna into anything right away...i mean, she's still young.". The adults seemed to consider that a fair point though kelly butted in, "Though honestly, it'd be a huge honor to work for the royal family, it's a missed opportunity if she does choose to say no to it, but you're right it's too soon, and we need to handle this masked thief issue first and foremost.". "Gotten anywhere close?". "We-", they looked at each other before going back to sky, their cheerful tone starting to vanish, "Aren't allowed to disclose that information with you actually, we're limited in what we're allowed to tell any of you kids for that matter, no offense to you....but your parents are worried you'll start getting yourself into situations they would rather you didn't if you were more aware of the situation at hand. They care for your safety more then anything.". Too late for that. "How are we gonna be safe if we don't know what's going on though? When judas becomes king is he not gonna be allowed to know about this stuff still? He's like my best friend, he's not gonna stand for that if you tell him he can't talk to me....", which was true, judas tended to hate seeing sky or anyone feel left out of unfairly treated, like were they gonna make him take an oath? Keep an eye on him so he would'nt spill? As king would he just not be involved in this matter entirely? They didn't seem to have a god answer for sky, patting her shoulder and trying to change the subject, "You better have a talk with your mother then....anyways, it's time for our lunch break, you both be safe alright?". The two headed off, arms around the other's shoulders and sky noticed during the session luna and katrina were gone, great, just what she needed. She had to go do something else till both of them came back then, she placed her hands in her pockets and started to move when. "SKY!" "AH GALEXIA I SWEAR!!". She pushed herself against the wall in her panic, the smiling as always older girl giggling excitably, "I'm glad i found you! I want your help on something cause sunny went all poof to do something else so I wanted to ask you for some help!". Sunny had been Galexia's go-to since she got here for any help she needed, so no one was nearly as familar with what lexi did most of the time that required her help, outside of asking judas to help her find more art supplies. For a moment sky considered saying no, but then again she had nothing to lose she supposed. "Oh fine....what's up?". "You're super creative! I want you to help me design a get well card for angel's mom! Sunny wanted to do it but i think she's busy so....", oh yeah, i guess that wouldn't be too surprising considering sunny would most likely want to do something nice for angel since she had grown an attachment to wanting him to be happy. She shrugged but nodded, she honestly had no reason to say no, galexia jumped up and down before grabbing onto her hands and running to another part of the castle. Slamming the door behind them sky saw the room around them was an art room, there were rooms for everything in this castle so i guess she shouldn't be surprised though she hadn't been here herself. There were a few mewmans hanging around but no one paid lexi much mind as she pulled out a giant piece of paper from the storage closet and placed it in front of sky, opening up her jacket and letting what almost felt like hundreds of markers fly out and onto the table as well. She sure hoped she didn't steal all of them. "Wow, you really are dedicated.....i guess while he's here with us we might as well....uh....how many people do you plan to have sign it?", galexia's eyes were practically sparking, "How many people do you know? Get EVERYONE! ", she was so joyful it was almost ridiculous as she shook sky's entire body, "We want to make her feel super duper better so the more the merrier, you know everyone around here right? You should be able to ask loads of people!". "Well-". Then she looked galeixa in the eyes and knew she couldn't say no. "I'll give it a shot...". "THANK YOU!", she was pulled into a big hug and sky kinda felt herself start to smile, galexia was a little odd but she certainly had a way of bringing a smile to everyone's face. The girl started on the cover, designing and picking out the colors she needed as sky worked with her. Sky tended to plan a little more with design, since her hat ideas didn't come outta nowhere, they usually took some pre-sketching. But galexia seemed to work on impulse, drawing whatever came to her head and not even stopping. and it looked amazing, the dark background, the forest, she captured the queen beautifully despite never seeing her so lively since she arrived. Sky's smile turned sour and her contribution of flowers and stars decreased slightly, "I wish this drawing was a prediction, not having any idea what'll happen with her is kinda scary...i mean, what if she really doesn't make it? I get mad with my mom a lot but i can't imagine having her die or something...". "Not everyone is lucky enough to have good parents, is angel loves her so much she must really be important to him..", galexia hummed, reminding sky of her condition back home, "Y'know, do you really want to go back, since your parents are kinda-? I mean, here you seem happy with hanging out with the rest of us and you get special attention because you're a guest and....well...i mean, wouldn't going back feel worse with your family situation?". "I like being here...but i also like my friends back home, and my eclipsa, and my lucitors....they all care about me and we have so many memories together, I don't want them to be sad forever without me....the older man with the giant spider legs doesn't want angel to be sad forever either, and that's why he wanted you two to be friends, angel would be more sad if he had no one left....". She made a good point and sky grumbled, "You'd go back to that dimension just to be with the people who really do care no matter what huh? That's pretty cool of you...". "You wouldn't leave here for judas would you?". She didn't have to think hard on that one, "Nah....you're right, i wouldn't. He wouldn't ditch me and i wouldn't ditch him, honestly there's no way i'd adjust to your crazy worlds anyway, i'm having a hard time just being comfortable in this one. Though, you seem really comfortable, ever since you got here you've seemed mostly fine....sunny openly talks about how much she misses home, luna is distant and never talks about how she feels, celeste throws attitude, but you.....you seem like you don't feel upset at all..". "I just like spending time with the rest of you! I'm always having fun and drawing and it's hard to be too sad when i have so many new friends here! When i get home I'm gonna talk about you LOTS!", she was so enthusiastic, and sky decided to change the subject, she didn't need to make the situation depressing when they were trying to do something fun together. She couldn't recall anytime she had hung out with galeixa since she arrived, at least not one on one. This was kind refreshing considering all the drama surrounding luna and celeste mostly. "So.....you and sunny kinda really get along...", the brunette nodded along, she seemed to almost pay attention more when she was occupied then when she wasn't. "Sunny is so nice and fun and she really likes my artwork, we really click! Luna and Celeste don't really talk to me so i like to hang out with her instead! Judas is nice too, and his younger brother....Sunny, me and him play dungeons and dragons all the time when we're bored down there.". "I didn't know you where into geeky stuff like that, that's kinda neat.". She beamed. They finally finished up the card, lexi of course sprinkling it with glitter before declaring it to be perfect, as lexi shoved it into sky's arms, "Let's go get signatures!". Sky was dragged out of the room almost as quickly as she had been dragged into it, galexia excitably approaching every staff member, citizen, and knight they walked past for them to sign. Carrying the card was a little annoying, not because it was heavy, but because sky couldn't see squat and carrying giant floppy paper everywhere risked poking a hole through it or it slipping easily. Lexi really should've gotten stronger paper but eh... Honestly she wasn't sure if the people who signed really wanted to or were either persuaded by how adorable the older girl was, or maybe her intense personality creeped them into it. Sky had no idea since she could barely see anything until eventually she decided maybe it was better to lean the paper against the wall for signatures instead of risking ruining the paper. Though they really couldn't just do a bunch of random people, they needed to find their friends as well. Well, judas was most likely in the underworld still, luna was...somewhere...maybe they were better off looking for celeste first? Or Nora. Maybe nora, celeste resided in the underworld after all. Galexia seemed to have come to the same conclusion and next thing sky knew, she was in the garden, by the rose bushes. Nora was sitting by herself, taking notes on a small school notebook and she looked the happiest they'd ever seen her despite the situation. Less painful schedules, more freedom to move around the castle thanks to the queen, and less badgering from her parents because her folks had the big problem of their terrified kingdom to worry about now. She looked up in glee at the sight of the duo and seemed bemused by sky's situation. "Sky! And....galexia I believe? Sorry, i haven't seen you much since the slumber party....", she got a good look at the card and beamed, "A card? That's very sweet of you...she's going to love it i'm sure..", she fought the need to hide in her hair and tried to look at the dark haired girls in the eyes, though she was cutting in and out rather fast. Galexia immediately handed her a marker and prompted her to sign as sky got a look at what she was writing. "I thought angel made you uncomfortable?". She signed quickly and pressed the notebook to her chest, embarrassed and red-faced, which almost looked odd with her greenish skin. "Oh? Uh....well, spending time in the hospital wing together helped me conquer my fear a little more and uh....well it's good he doesn't hate me or anything....". Sky gave her a look and raised an eyebrow, "Uh well....we've just been talking and....I wanna help...with his mom, please don't be mad i wanna help judas too I-". "What? No, i'm not mad, just surprised, I thought-". "I didn't want to help because i wasn't comfortable? Yeah....It's just....he's gonna lose his mom and even with everything with my parents, almost losing them....it really broke me...I don't think i can...handle....watching him lose her...", she went silent before sighing, "The only problem is, without my book the only way we can try and help are...well...getting my parents involved, and they are so hard to get to think out of their ways....they like monsters...but..they're worried for my safety and they know his kingdom hates ours and they know angel has a history of being a pest...". She mumbled under her breath, "I wasn't even sure about telling you since you and angel....fight...a lot.". Right, Judas had been the one who wanted to try and work things with angel, sky really hadn't until recently and nora had no reason to think they were under better terms. "Well, not anymore, we're actually...getting along? He started to stop being a pain and he kinda broke and....it's a little complicated but we're on sorta better terms. I'm about....25% less mad with him then i used to be....". This seemed to reassure the girl, "Angel doesn't speak much to me, but....he seemed happy when i said i could help...". "do you even know what to do?". "Not entirely...but..it's not magic based it seems so it might be feasible, we can't be sure we'll save her but if anyone can find a way to help, it's us....". Sky wasn't entirely sure about finding a cure for a disease that caused a monster to have a hard time noticing things around them, was mostly paralyzed, and had a hard time eating was really possible but then again she'd seen weirder so might as well be hopeful if possible. Galexia, who had been surprisingly quiet during the whole exchange was now mesmerized by nora's sketches, smiling widely and acting incredibly giddy which was half making nora happy and half making her anxious. "You're so GOOD!". "You think so?". "YESSSSS!". She beamed. "So where is angel anyway? He's not with you, judas...or me....is he with his mom still?". The slimey girl only could shrug, "I'm not sure, he might be....he doesn't seem to know what to do with himself when he's not with his mom...". That was true enough, sky just hoped he was in the bathroom of lounging around the kitchens, she really hoped he wasn't up to something. Or, i guess if she really thought about it, he could be with eclipsa, since those two had been oddly buddy buddy lately. As if on cue, galexia piped in. "We should see eclipsa! She'll sign!". Which was a pretty good idea since her tower was already in the garden, sky got ahold of the card and looked to nora with a sigh, "Good luck ok? I guess if you need help well.....you're surrounded by it now...". Nora nodded happily, "Of course, yeah! I...It's nice being here....even if it's temporary...you're lucky sky, you get to see all these beautiful flowers every day, to go wherever you want...". "Not that lucky....at least it's cool that you have a passion for medicine and it makes you stand out....my passion is mostly...i dunno, making hats?", but nora had to disagree, shaking her hair and playing with her hair, "You stand out to me, your super creative...you like to think outside of the box, judas likes to do things traditional, he's the one who handles things the most logical way, but you're the one to do the most unexpected things to help...". "I dunno...". "He wanted to simply contact me to hang out, you broke into my room to speak to me...". "That's....true.", sky had to admit, she hadn't really considered that very much, even when people told her this kinda stuff, she was the type to break into a girl's room to tell her she wanted to hang out like some sorta rebel. "You kick butt!", she squeaked before closing her mouth as if she said something awful, she blushed and held herself, "I like the hats too...". Sky nodded, keeping the card safe in her arms, "I'll finish your hat real soon ok? I'll see you around nora...". She smiled and sky felt lexi drag her along to approach eclipsa's guarded tower, and after galexia used her puppy dog eyes to convince both guards to sign the girls knocked and made their way up. Angel was nowhere in sight, but Eclipsa certainly was, this time with a little globgor on her shoulder. She froze at the sight of the girls but immediately went all smiles at the card and gave them a smug smile, "If you're looking for him he's on the roof, though i'm not sure this is the prime way to make him feel much better.". Sky grumbled, "Well, i mean, it was technically galexia and sunny's idea and i kinda helped, it was to do something nice...". "I'm sure she'll love it, the art is beautiful!". Galexia stepped forward, jumping up and down and almost immediately going into the detail on it and asking her to sign, globgor jumping off eclipsa's shoulder to make his way to sky and speak to her more quietly and update her on his finds, "The figure, there are rumors of her hanging around the Arachford kingdom, it could be a rather large monster but we are worried about the possibility that it is her....problem is, it could very well be a coincidence...in terms of the silk? No idea where they got the spell back, something like that could only have been kept in-". "The archives..", she finished. It's not like there were many other known places where people kept secret information like that at. Especially not stuff as important as that, she had even heard from her moms that they kept a lot of dangerous and horrible stuff down there that wasn't allowed to be seen by anyone except the most elite of individuals. Then again her moms also said having food that tells you how you'll die was a totally ok thing and not life ruining at all, so whatever. Globgor hadn't really gotten back to her since he told her he'd investigate so at least he was now updating her on the matter after awhile. "Exactly...queen solaria could've kept some there, but that place got destroyed some time ago". "But....it was destroyed...unless...that's why Her was there in the first place....", her heart dropped, "But we can't even be sure of that without more evidence.....but....if it's true....that would mean....". Globgor sighed, You should just keep an eye on that boy...just in case...there's something shady going on behind the scenes over there though whether he's involved directly or not...". He hoped off sky's shoulder as lexi and eclipsa finished speaking. Sky wasn't paying much attention, her focus now being if angel was actually truthful in wanting to stop his antics or if he suddenly learned how to lie really good to her. She didn't notice galexia wave her hands in front of her and the thing that snapped her out of it was a slap to the shoulder. She felt embarrassed but it didn't last long, as her attention was drawn to eclipsa's outfit, something she had been too distracted to notice, she was wearing a black and purple evening gown with long gloves and heels. and of course she had a large hat to match. Her stare caught eclipsa's attention as she prompted globgor to sign the card as well, "It's date night sweetie, we're heading out, you kids are more restricted around this time but we aren't....plus we have a little business outside of the castle anyway tonight...". When she mentioned "Business" sky sure hoped she meant actual important business and not.....ugh. Nope Nope, just let it be about her or meteora or something other then that, please. "oh....well uh...have fun i guess? Uh...you aren't gonna do anything...dangerous are you?", she shifted her eyes which got a laugh out of the couple, globgor becoming slightly bigger and eclipsa taking his arm, "We'll be fine darling, we can handle ourselves just fine...in the meantime...I suggest you make yourself at home, feel free to make some tea if you'd girls like..maybe bring one to the prince on the roof while you're at it. We'll be out for a few hours.", she patted sky on the head as the two started heading out, "See you girls later!". Galexia waved rather rapidly as the door closed behind the couple, leaving just them in the room together with her card as she sat on the couch, "You wanna hand the card over to angel?", she excitably giggled as she relaxed. Sky's face was kinda iffy, angel on this subject was a little unpredictable, he was just a little sensitive to the situation and maybe the card would be a little ignorant to give to him, but on another hand he might appreciate it and the support. "I dunno...maybe we should do him later or something...we still gotta do my moms and who knows when we might get a chance with judas and his brothers...". "OOO, i know! I'll go get sunny and celeste and his bros in the underworld to sign and when i get back, then we can get him to sign!" Sky wasn't even allowed much of a world in before galexia grabbed the card and ran out in a flash. Welp, guess it was decided for her then as she looked up at the roof, groaning before making a pot of tea on the stove soon filling a couple cups and using her batty cloudy to get to the rooftop, angel just sitting there and looking over the hills. He didn't even turn around, he could smell her after all and his pointed ears twitched. "Hello princess butterfly...". He sounded distant, but also somber. "You.....ok?". Maybe that was a bad question to be asking considering his situation, he didn't answer though, still looking out to the horizon as she made her way over. "Hey uh...be careful with this teacup, if you drop it from this height no guarantee i'll be able to save it on time....and uh....i dunno how eclipsa feels about me breaking her stuff...". He carefully took the cup from her and she felt herself start to sweat next to him, unsure of where his motivations truly lied right now. Maybe a month ago she's be like "Yeah, of course he's up to something". But now? She kinda sure hoped he wasn't and there was something here she was missing. Angel wasn't paying much attention to her though, and he still looked a little rough around the edges, he clearly had a hard time sleeping these last few nights and despite the offer to be given his own room he wanted to stay in the wing, which only made it harder to sleep. So his sleep loss was a direct result of his current emotional issues with his mother. Maybe that was why he seemed to look like a mess as well, his clothes more like he had slept in them and his hair more messy then usual. He also looked like he most likely cried and blew his nose into his outfit which prompted sky to scoot a little further away from him as she sipped her tea to herself. "I uh....heard you and nora have been speaking to each other....how did you...i mean, i mean i thought it'd be harder to get you two to really talk...". Angel didn't even turn to face her, mumbling, "We're not friends, she just...offered to help and i didn't turn it down.". Welp, i guess it would be a stretch to assume they were suddenly buddy buddy because nora wanted to help save his mom's life, but it was at least a step in the right direction. Angel and Nora really never talked before now, so this was better then before by far, though this at least made sky tap her fingers and ask a new odd question. "Are we friends?". That came out weirder then it needed to be, probably considering who she was asking it to. Even angel seemed a little taken aback and not sure what to say about it, giving it some thought before trying to come up with an answer, "Well....i suppose so...I think....I'm not sure...". Way to make the situation more painfully awkward then it already was angelus, fantastic. Still, he gave an answer, he didn't stick his nose up at the world and go all "I'm too busy to have friends.". "Well...i guess that's fair, we don't hang out like normal friends, but we still kinda hang out...and talk to each other sorta...", he mumbled and turned his head further, "You and prince lucitor hang out all the time, you are almost always together when you can be and like to speak to each other....". He wasn't wrong but she still tried to ration it out, "Yeah, he's my best friend, kinda grew up together, but i have other friends...even if we don't hang out like me and judas do...mel is in another dimension and we're pen pals, nora's kinda a friend too...". "What are you saying?". "I'm saying friends aren't always like me and judas....we can be friends without all the crazy hanging out and stuff, i mean...if you want i guess...unless you still think it's weird for us to be friends still", angel paused and actually turned to her, "I'm not even sure why you'd want to be friends with me after everything....you've been mad with me for a very long time, you and lucitor both. You feel like you don't even want me around all that much.". "What? No! We're not upset with you...I mean, well, what you did got on our nerves but judas always thought you had good intentions and uh....we can kinda put it behind us if we sorta work things out and make up for them.". The boy didn't entirely seem to be buying it though, his legs hanging off the roof as he avoided eye contact once again, "You make that sound so easy...as if everything is different now or you simply like me now despite everything you felt before....". "Well, i mean...it's not easy per say, it's not like mom sorta bring monsters into the community fixed all the horrible people who now attack me or judas for being different, i think it's just one of those things you have to work towards...i'm sorry if we haven't been trying enough with you....we just have a lot on our plate as well...". He grumbled, and turned his head away completely, "I don't know if we're friends skyler....and I don't know if we should be either....". She was quiet, the only sounds that could be heard were the sounds of nature and the sipping of tea, their hair starting to blow in the mild wind. Sky found herself lost in thought, wondering what to say if she should say anything right now, she wasn't amazing with advice or anything so no telling if it'd work. But the boy looked so...upset, and it was hard for her to stay in this miserable silence like this, she shuffled in her seat and tried to spit something out. 'Well, no one's really perfect, we all do kinda dumb things.....but forgiveness and figuring things out is kinda apart of it too...", she thought back to what katrina talked to her about, "I mean, judas and i fight but we still are friends and we forgive and figure it out together...I mean, yeah you screwed up but....that doesn't mean we couldn't be friends i guess....no pressure though, i know it's not something you're used to...but you still can if you want to....you don't gotta be alone...". He was thinking, and they stopped speaking for a minute as sky looked over the beautiful view of the forest and landscape, it was rather peaceful up here, no wonder he went up here. It looked like a good place to clear your mind and she took a deep breath before turning back to the prince, "Mind if i stay here a little while? I kinda need a break as well...". He was silent but he still nodded and the two sat on the roof together and looked over the horizon, lost in thought. - "Dad....look, for one night? Please.....I know you're stressed and grandma and grandpa are sorta flipping out but Bernard's my friend and i just want him to come over for one night. Judas gets to invite sky over all the time...and I know i'm kinda asking a lot from you...but...can it really hurt?", Landon awkwardly stumbled at his father's desk, geez hours of practicing in front of a mirror and this was the best he could do for something like this? He probably looked pathetic, trying to explain his reasoning as to why this place was safe enough to bring his friend over, but he'd be dumber for not trying to give it a shot at least. His mom was on his side mostly but he needed both parents to help approve and his dad could be a bigger challenge sometimes. Landon as per usual, wasn't typically a very good social person, bad with eye contact, bad with figuring out what to say most of the time, and stumbling and his words quieting down more often....this was too important to fail and he still seemed to be struggling. Though Tom didn't seem upset with his attempts, in fact he looked amused and a little impressed, "Oh trust me, you mother talked to me about this beforehand, she knows how much this means to you...rest assured we are looking into it but it's complicated, it's hard enough worrying for you and your brothers and all the citizens who live here....not to mention the girls who now are temporarily staying here, adding another kid on top of that might only make us more anxious about him getting hurt then we already were...". "Yeah but i mean-". "We get it, but it's hard thinking about pleasantries when so much else is going down...we're worried...". "I'll watch him myself....he'll be my responsibility..."., he argued, "I can totally keep an eye on him, he's my friend anyway, he'll stick with me. He's not the type to go wandering around the castle or anything...I promise, I'd just like to have him over for dinner one night...". Tom placed his feet up on the table and thought for a moment, leaving landon more frustrated then he already was. "Me and your mother still are going to have to talk about it i'm afraid....it's something we'll have to plan...and make sure we don't have any further problem...maybe we can convince heka to turn off portaling in out area somehow?". "Can you at least try to do it sooner? "Looking into it" doesn't feel like a total..."yes"", he rambled on, sounding more and more frustrated, "Look, I just don't feel like i can wait on this, bernard's moved like...7 times...SEVEN, what if he moves again and we....he stops wanting to hang out with me...? Because he has more present friends he likes better...?", his voice got sadder and his shoulders sagged at the thought, "I just want a chance..". Tom was about to say more when another knock was heard on the door, judas stepping in shorty after and only making landon more uncomfortable with this situation. Tom looked happy to see his older son, standing up and ushering him over, "Judas! Oh good....I've been wanting to see you...". He stopped, and ushered to his brother, "Well dad, I actually was looking for landon, I heard he was here so....am i interrupting something important? Cause i can wait if you both-". "No no, it's fine, we're about finished anyway....landon, we'll work on it, I promise....we'll let you know as soon as possible....". Landon huffed and stood up, "Fine, i guess i'll be on my way then, i'll see you later judas since you need to talk to dad nor or something..". Judas was about to say something but he left in a huff, tom's hand resting on the boy's shoulder, "It's ok, give him some space....you can talk to him later tonight when he's a little better...". 'What-". "He wanted to invite bernard over...". "Ohh.....lemme guess, it was complicated because of-?" "yeah..". There was silence for a moment before tom turned his attention back to the thing he'd been waiting all day to do. Judas could tell he was antsy, for a moment worried the news was something incredibly horrible until tom's face became softer and a little sadder as a result. The panic judas had reduced as the demon worked himself up to say what he wanted to saw, coughing and calming himself down to keep himself from panicking or backing out. "Judas...I finally am ready....to talk about what happened the night I created you...". The boy froze, his body tensing and a chill running down his spine, though as he looked at his father he softened, Tom looking as though he might cry here and there. "I'm sorry I kept you waiting for so long but I think we gotta talk about it, with everything going on right now and no telling what could happen it's best i probably fess up...shouldn't i?" Judas on instinct rubbed his arm and sighed, maybe he shouldn't have pushed his dad into this, did he even want to know? Of course he did, but would he regret it? "Dad...I-". "No.....I'm going to tell you...I thought about what you said and i'm going to do it.....I've been stalling it for too long at this point and I know you've been wanting answers or at least...me to tell you the whole story about your creation. Jude, I'm sorry i held off talking about it for so long, it's just....it's not an easy thing for me to really talk about...". Jude silenced himself, understanding, guess landon would have to wait till after they got this off their chests. He stepped forward. Then with a snap of his fingers, his bookshelves in the corner parted, an entrance behind them that judas hadn't seen before as his father ushered him to follow. Of course his father had a secret room from his office, why wouldn't he? It was a pretty dark tunnel though, Tom holding a flame in his hand as the bookshelf closed behind them, The underworld was well know to be rather creepy and dark but this was a whole level of unsettling as tom lead him down the corridor and some stairs. "Back when your mom wanted a baby, we....well we were originally going to adopt...we made plans and everything.....only to find out....the underworld wanted us to have a blood-related child to take over the throne....they wanted us...me specifically...to produce a biological heir first...", he sighed as they walked together, judas listening closely, he was well aware of at least knowing his parents were going to adopt first, but not much of the reasons why they didn't. "For people who wanted a biological heir their feelings sure seem mixed how i came out...". "Eh, the demons don't mind as much, i think they're anxious about you doing something so awful it ruins the whole kingdom, but they worried i would do the same thing so it's typical of them....the mewmans and everyone above us are much more anxious, i guess the underworld is more numb to it then they are.".. He patted judas on the back to comfort him, "I'm half mewman, the underworld was just as anxious about me on the throne between my anger issues and if me being part mewman would make me too soft....and i guess they were right in that mindset...i was softer then most other kings...". "Grandpa always said him being king was a pain but you and grandma made it all worth it...", tom smiled, "Yeah, he had it a little rough too, honestly he fought his way to make sure i was born in the first place...between the demons being anxious about it and the fact they didn't know if i'd exist at all....it wasn't easy for him...and your mom, they fought for the adopting thing but unfortunately that was one battle we couldn't win in, not even with your grandparents backing our choice up....". Then he gulped, closing his eyes and stopping in his tracks, "I....I know it's common for the royals to well....find someone else to have a child with if their partner becomes infertile, or are overall just unable to have children with, and yeah...sky managed to be born from butterfly magic but that spell was still a new revelation, tricky to process, and was entirely suited for her species....demons don't entirely work the same way...you make a mewman, you use mewman magic...you make a demon...you need to use demon magic...". "And this is where great grandma Judith came in right? You always said i was named after the woman who created the spell i ended up made from...", Tom had to commend him for remembering so much about his creation throughout the years, even if it were bits and pieces of it. "She was a bit of an eccentric, but she was also at a point of war with a bunch of invaders and as a result she would come up with new ways to help the kingdom improve for the sake of protection. She.....ended up helping..". "Well....yeah....I refused to be with anyone but your mother...some royals were comfortable with it, i just wasn't one of them...so i did some looking of my own...relicor helped though honestly he was a little grumpy i choose not to mate with someone else but....whatever. So i did a little digging and it turns out our great grandmother Judith had a buried spell down there....though....there was good reason they buried it down there apparently....since...it was used...for armies...", he kept walking with judas following close behind and the boy could tell his father was getting sadder. "She had created the spell to create soldiers, to help fight our battles and protect our land without risking the lives of our actual citizens....the spell however, was imperfect as all the demon soldiers knew was war and were too dangerous to keep around when they went rouge...though in retrospect, taking jobs away from our people and possibly leading to overpopulation with creatures who seemed to have no humanity was most likely a really bad idea...", he paused as he came to a door, "But...it was the only spell i had to work with in your creation...". "You couldn't create your own?". "I tried, but i'm not very good at creating my own spells as much as learning them...so i decided, maybe there was a chance i could take this mess of a spell and change it, modify it into maybe making well...a baby, into you.". Tom leaned his head against the door now, his hand running down it softly, "I planned it so well, i got help from the queen of mewni, from family members, from any magic professional i could and overall it was so much better then i could've expected...i could make a real child, create life from magic...". He was crying, turning to look at judas, "I wanted to surprise marco with you...you were so perfect when you came out, just the most beautiful thing i had ever seen in my life...". The man was smiling through his tears and he tried to wiped them away, smearing his usual fancy eyeliner as he tried to compose himself and get through the hardest part, "But i...I still managed to screw up a few details, it...it didn't matter much at first of course, i mean, different type of horn? That's fine, i have older family members with those, perhaps your looks and colors leaning too much one way or another? Who cares...you were amazing regardless of that to me...but....then I found out when i did the spell...something came along with it...". "The monster arm...". "Yeah...". There was silence. "I could've stopped it if i had tried harder, if i had worked out the kinks, or just gave it and had a child with someone else like they all wanted me too...I just....i really wanted to make marco happy and wanted to do this and...I ended up hurting you...And i can't take it back either...". He shook his head, "It was a nightmare worrying about you, you were one of the most important things i ever had and i was the one that had also ruined your future and make people afraid of you..". Judas was silent, still trying to process everything currently being explained and trying not to ball up into tears despite his eyes and emotions fighting him on that front. "I was so worried if i told you...you'd hate me...you'd....you'd never forgive me for the pain your went through....they lacked up your arm, they wanted to cut it off, my own parents keep trying to help only reminding me i failed...and...It just is something i haven't been able to shake off for years....", he sniffled, holding onto the door handle, "With your brothers i made sure there was no chance of it happening again but for awhile i was afraid to even do it again, your mother was the one who helped me through it....but...there was nothing we could do for you...". "Dad.." "Your brothers and you are so used to you looking up to us, for advice, for encouragement....you always know how much we kick butt and protect you and what were you going to say when you found out your father, the person who is determined to protect you....also gave you something that has terrified you your entire life...". He opened the door to show his private study, it looked much like a dungeon and was full of forbidden books scattered around. The place was practically like a witch's home, with cauldrons, and potion materials scattered around, his father was an everyday mad magical scientist apparently. "Wow...". "You were born...er....made here....". "You haven't been down here since mason was made...have you?". "No....I haven't....and hopefully that trip was the last time anyone was down here as well..."., The torches of the dark room suddenly all lit up, giving judas a better view of the place as he took a look around, the place was dusty alright, hadn't been touched in forever. Considering mason was 13, this place had enough time to collect more then enough dust and judas sneezed a couple times wandering around it, his father walking behind him slowly. Judas stopped in front of a particularly old cauldron and placed his hand on it, "You made me here....right? It feels familiar....". Tom nodded and leaned against a pillar nearby, watching the flames around him flicker and his ears twitching at small noises of rats scurrying around the mostly silent room. "Yeah....it was used....pretty old pot honestly....but i guess i'm a little soft for it since it helped me bring you boys into this world despite it's age...". Judas ran his hand across it, dust coating his hand as he looked over it, "Y'know, despite knowing that I was made...it can still be hard to process it....seeing this though...it does help....". The king understood, crossing his arms and trying to compose himself better as he dried his tears, "Y-you're taking this better then i thought you would....I....I was expecting the worst...". The boy turned around and looked at his father, brows furrowed, "What did you think would happen....?". "That you wouldn't forgive me for your curse...I know i haven't, even your mom who blamed themselves because they had no idea that maybe the curse was still lingering inside of them but i couldn't blame them for that, even star tried to take blame for giving that curse to marco in the first place and her being the reason it even existed but it's no one's fault but mine...that arm thing happened so long ago and i should've been the one to prevent it happening to you...", he had stopped crying though the sadness still lingered as he stepped away to look at his dusty old papers scrawled on some of his work desks, all the stuff he did in planning the spell. "I spent so long trying to get it to work, i created rats as prototypes and they worked out fine but i should've tested more...i got too eager to have kids and surprise marco and it's been haunting me for too long....look i just....i knew the arm situation hurt you so much and it lead to so many problems so i just....I got worried telling you it was my fault would.....make you and your brothers hate me...", he leaned against the dusty desk now, looking over his old scrawl and failed notes as judas came up next to him. "I...I'm not good with....hurting people, especially not people I care about...I-I knew i had to tell you someday....but....I wasn't sure when...". "I don't hate you...", judas started, only to be quickly interrupted. "But you are mad with me....you don't have to lie to protect my feelings, i know you are...i would be too in your shoes....you're a nice boy judas but i know you're not truly forgiving of my mistake, it's hard to forgive someone who gave you something like that....", he sighed and leaned on the desk next to his dad, "Grandpa thinks you and mom have given up trying to help me....I guess another reason you didn't want to do much else was-". "We didn't want to hurt you any further? Yeah...". "Do you think i can be cured?", it was probably a wasted question, and he wasn't sure his father would have a real answer for him, but it was better then nothing right now. "I don't know....we tried a lot of different ideas but to no avail...", his eyes closed as he listed off whatever he could, "We tried the spell, we've tried healing potions, we've even been crazy enough to take you to the magic dimension, hoping it'd cure you like it does for most corrupt magic...but i guess it being fused into your dna makes it a whole different case, it's not a separate entity to this stuff so it doesn't see it as something to cure like other cases...". Silence once again, though at this point it became expected during a serious conversation like this, trying to talk about it was hard enough as is, especially since it took them so long to go into it before now. The demons looked between each other, nothing but silence in a dusty old room as the pair were lost in thought. Tom seemed to be hate being here, the lingering emotions still fresh on him as he pressed his head against the desk in shame. But then he felt a hand on his shoulder, judas was starting to smile, it wasn't an entirely happy smile, but it was a smile nonetheless. "Thanks for taking me here and telling me...I really do appreciate you letting me know...". He took another look around the room and stood up fully, "Y'know....maybe we should clean this place up...get all your notes together, dust it, put it back in working condition....you've put it the dust for so long and I get why but...maybe the place just needs a change for the better, it's where me, landon and mason were made after all....and...I think we should well...stop trying to hide it and bury it forever? It's not all bad if it gave you us is it?". Tom snorted, "No....nothing can be that bad if it gave us you.....". Tom reached over and kissed his son's forehead, and pulled him into a hug, "I'm sorry beyond belief, and i don't think i'll truly get over it.....but...maybe you're right...it's like the times i kept repressing my anger and even marco hated when i did that, said it wasn't healthy for me....or my anger management...". He happily tussled's judas hair, making him laugh naturally and tom smile, "I'm glad we talked about this though....It's....almost like a relief...". He straightened himself and took a deep breath, "I'll send someone to...actually i'll take the research papers myself and lock them away somewhere safe....but i will get some people to help clean tomorrow and perhaps we can turn this space into well....maybe a place for me to actually work on spells again.....if I can get myself back into it...". Judas seemed to like that idea, "We can help if you'd like, maybe it could get our family to do something together for a bit...". Speaking of which. "I suppose we better head up...landon's been wanting to speak with me and-". Tom sighed, "Oh yeah, we better take care of that....", he sounded a little dismal to have to stop talking to his son but he couldn't keep him here forever, they'd have to talk about this more in detail, some other time it seemed. The two started heading back up, tom shutting the door behind him and following his son back up, "I'm just glad now we don't have anymore secrets between us, maybe we'll be able to move past this and maybe truly help find a cure..". "Yeah...", judas mumbled, shoulders sagging, his smile fading away as he felt guilt now well up inside of him. He knew why they couldn't tell their parents, but not his father had poured his heart out to him and he had to go back to doing stuff behind his back, not to mention the research he'd need for nora. He could feel his father patting his back on the way up, feeling a lot better and admiring his son as the relief of judas not being extremely mad at him softened, the boy hiding his fast behind his hood and closing his eyes. "No more secrets...".

#star vs the forces of evil #svtfoe #svstfoe #sky and the forces of the multiverse #eclipsa butterfly #globgor #janstar bby #tomco bby #jackie lynn thomas #spiderslime #tom the demon #tom lucitor #my art #fanfic #kelly

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jess-the-vampire · 5 years

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Sky And The Forces Of The Multiverse, Chapter 24

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He was still, practically holding his breath. The real question was, were they here because of him, or did they have no idea he was here at all? He wanted to go out and tackle them, figure out who they are, but one wrong mood and no doubt they would have the upper hand, he barely even knew what he was up against after all and he prayed his arm did nothing during this whole ordeal. "Her" must've come through a portal or something, they definitely didn't fly in and walking in never would've worked. Though what mattered was why they were in Nora's room of all places, if they were after more artifacts, nora's room was sure not the place to look. And yet, they were here. If they were in the wrong room they could easily leave but it was clear this had been the place they were always intending to to break inside. He stared intently at them, his nose twitching under the dusty bed as he forced himself not to make a sound or even move at all.

At one point he almost sneezed, lousy cobwebs, but the being didn't seem to be paying attention, focused on whatever task they were trying to accomplish as they moved towards nora's closet, then bookshelf, and wandered around the room. Judas could only see their feet mostly but there was no doubt this person was trying hard to conceal their identity, whoever they were, they didn't even speak, not even one grunt in frustration at their efforts going nowhere. Then Judas slapped his hand over his face just to avoid another possible sneeze. However, a slap was not exactly much quieter. They turned towards the bed and he almost swallowed his tongue being quiet, fearing for his life, what were they even doing up there? God he hoped the high commission would hurry up and catch them right now but who knows how long it might be, sometimes they were right on the mark, other times they were lazy. What if she found him and by the time they got here, it'd be too late? Oh god, his parents would freak, sky would freak, nora would blame herself. However, to his surprise, the person stopped at the foot of the bed, and he heard them do something from above. He didn't have enough time to really think about it though as he heard some noises, people running up the stairs and the masked being left as quickly as they entered so they didn't get discovered. Judas felt a sigh of relief knowing they didn't find him, but now they were gone to who knows where and he still knew very little about them. Judas still didn't move, he refused to as the noises got louder. If he got caught, he would be in SERIOUS trouble. And that didn't even mean just being accused of breaking in or being accused of being the masked thief, it would just not look good in general to either king or queen spiderbite if they found a boy under their daughter's bed in the evening. It was soon confirmed it was the guards who had been running up the stairs in a panic, as they burst through the door, no doubt doing a whole search of the castle, he could hear them talking, something about the royal family being in their safe zone and to alert both the lucitors and butterfly's that there had been another sighting. They were looking around the room, checking the closet and for a moment judas thought they would check under the bed, but lucked out as another guard ran inside to tell the others she had been spotted again. Judas watched the room clear out, the guards running around to another part of the castle and leaving judas alone to catch his breath and think about everything that happened. Judas finally got the chance to crawl out of the bed, brushing off cobwebs and looking around the room, nothing had been touched it seemed so...why was the masked being even here at all? There was no way they didn't come here for a reason right? He turned around and faced towards the bed, and that's when he stepped backwards, just realizing what had happened.He could hear more noises outside of nora's room. He needed to go, now, before he got caught. And with a snap of his fingers, he was gone, right into Sky's messy room. He didn't even consider she might be there, he just needed to get out of there and back to her as soon as possible, and lucky for him, sky was just closing the window behind her as he magicked his way in, jumping and panting as judas gave her a heart attack. But she calmed down quickly, noticing judas looked as freaked out as she did, and if judas looked this freaked out after doing something as normal as seeing nora, that only meant bad things could be happening. "Judas.....are you ok?". "I-I could be WAY better....uh...you?". "Judas...uh.....we found something......katrina and I.". "Well, something found me!". "Wha-". "And they took Nora's BOOK!". Sky froze, lips parted and processing the information judas just gave her, nora needed that book to work on her cures for judas, and now it was gone? She blinked at him and pulled at her hair, "Was it.....is it who we think it probably was?". He nodded, still panicked, "She didn't see me, I promise.....but....I had to get out of there as soon as possible and....any minute now your mom is about to be informed, all nora's hard work sky, all of it, and they just took it!". "Well guess what WE found? Loki.....loki's been controlled, that's why he never confronted angel or kept acting funny, he's being used for some reason!", Now it was judas's turn to look surprised and a little panicked. "Wait, you found loki.....where?", he put his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes, "You must've found katrina.....so.....where was loki?". Sky sighed, eyeing towards the door, expecting her mom to burst in any second to alert her. "He was in the woods, wearing dark clothing, his eyes were glowing all freaky like, apparently he's been doing it for awhile now and scaring people out of the woods, I went after him and then.....he stopped, he just looked at me and gave up and I don't know why....and loki has no idea he was even under control....", gears were running in the boy's head, "Mind control.......but......oh geez.....that's......that's concerning....so many...so many people we know....". "Could have been under mind control or could be in the future? Yeah....that kinda freaks me out as well.....you should've seen him judas, his eyes were glowing and he was barely emoting, it was so....unnatural.... and he could've stabbed me with his horn if he hadn't stopped.". Judas pulled his friend into a hug, fast, "Well lucky me you didn't get stabbed with a horn, thank god you're ok.....I was so worried when I saw her enter, I just knew it meant nothing but trouble...". Shy hugged him in return, head pushing into his chest, "You're so freaking tall......". He let out a weak laugh but the scares they both had seemed to ease a little bit, though it didn't last much longer when sky let got from him and pulled at her hair once again in panic, "I can't believe they robbed ANOTHER kingdom? What would they even want with nora's medical book? Actually, nevermind, here's a less stupid question, why did they even know that book was valuable?". "I'm not sure....nora is kinda a private person...". "Maybe they were planning to steal a different book and got this one instead?", they looked between each other when the door slammed open, Queen Janna was at the door. She was unfazed by judas being here and for once she looked anxious, "Sky, jude, you both better come with me.....the spiderbites have been well.....well actually they had a sighting and we better not split up, your parents are gonna FREAK, c'mon.....we're calling a family meeting..". They were dragged out by their arms not even a second later. "What about-". "Star's calling your parents already...they'll be here soon with everyone else...". "Everyone else?" And the door was shut behind them as they were carried off into a heavily guarded room. Judas looked into the faces of luna and galexia, one more happy to see him then the other, no doubt his parents would be on their way as star barged in with some mewni associates and on the phone with.....her mother? She must have already called him parents and seemed Moon got wind of the situation enough to talk about it with Star, even thought she was retired in another dimension. Geez. Though something about being locked in a room with the same people because of an attack was sounding familiar. All that was missing was basically the rest of his family, well, except relicor, relicor would be fine on his own. Deja Vu However, it was changing more as more as guards piled into the small living room, jackie included, making Luna tense and peak Judas's curiosity as finally got to see her for himself after so long. But the woman had no time for formalities, already heavily armed and with scissors at her disposal, forcing star to get off her compact to talk to her briefly, much to the boy's disappointment he couldn't hear what they were talking about under their breath as jackie and a few of her toughest guards went through a portal judas could only assume was to the spiderbite kingdom. Sky poked him, getting his attention as he noticed his parents had just arrived, along with his brothers, celeste and sunny. However, it became clear they were not the only ones Star had called, as much to his surprise other royals came in one by one, King Rich Pidegon, Queen Ponyhead, and so on and so forth, representatives of every kingdom making their way in, and that's when King Arachford made his way in. Considering there was only one from each kingdom it seemed the others were under guard at home, it was quite unnerving, Sky rarely ever saw all the kingdoms represented together in one place outside of parties. This had to be a big deal. Star finished talking to her mother, looking towards all the kids in the room and pulling them aside in the corner, "We need to have a talk and i'm afraid you'll have to sit this one out, the room right through that door over there is also being guarded heavily, I want all of you to stay there while all of us talk....ok? We're waiting to hear word on the safety of the spiderbites and we'll tell you the details after we all speak to each other.". Sky grumbled, "Seriously? What about me and judas? Why aren't we allowed to hear?". "You just aren't sky, c'mon just...join the others....", she was giving her a rather fake looking smile and sky never felt more treated like a child as star seemingly apologized for her daughter's behavior to the other guests with her eyes, judas pulling sky away and into the other room as star happily closed the door behind them to talk with the royals who showed up. Sky looked more then unhappy to have been forced out of what was clearly an important conversation she wanted to hear. "It'd be pointless to protest, you know she'd force us in here anyway...", Judas seemed mad, but, more accepting of this then sky was. "But-". "We'll listen in just fine..", Luna crossed her arms, glancing to Celeste and landon and making them divert their eyes from her rather strangely. However, Mason raised his hand as if in school, he was still so innocent, so unaware. "Wait, but that's rude! You can't spy on them!", luna glared at mason, and judas intervened, "Mason, we just want to know what they're talking about, I promise, it's for no other reason then that, we're all just scared and we want more information right now.". "Judas..". He tuned to see Landon, who wasn't really looking at him in the face, "Landon?". Landon looked more then embarrassed to be caving in, especially since he was mostly doing this because of his mom but here he was anyway, he could feel celeste glaring at him. He wasn't planning on just talking to judas about his dumb inferiority complex or anything, just to make things up with his brother and get things back to normal between them. At least so he didn't have to spend so much effort trying to ignore him, and his brother didn't have to keep giving him that puppy look he gave when he felt guilty. "You ok?", yeah, that was a dumb way to try and make things up with his older brother but judas only gaped at him for a few seconds before his lips parted in a smile, his brother finally talking to him after what felt like forever. "Yeah, of course, are you ok? Does the bow work well? I had it custom made....", landon grumbled, of course judas had the thing custom made, why wouldn't he? "Yeah, it works fine or whatever....", things still didn't seem entirely alright between them, but most of the tension had dropped and judas held up a second before hugging his brother. "You talked to mom....didn't you?". "What gave it away?" Judas let go of his brother, "If anyone were to convince you of anything, it would be mom.....they did help us through most of our other fights....". It was pretty hard to argue against that, landon sighing, "I'm still mad....ok?". Judas didn't fight him on that, nodding, "Honestly, i'd be more surprised if you weren't the least bit mad with me anymore, but I.....I can't be upset about it....I think...I think i'd be upset too, If i were in your shoes...considering sometimes I feel like...our parents were never perfect...". "Isn't this the part where you give me a speech on how nobody can be perfect?", he was making fun and still sounded grumpy but judas was still smiling, "Yeah, but you've heard that time and time again, I think you know it by heart...". The pink demon mumbled, "Let's just skip to the end, giving mason the seeds was wrong, but you were kinda also at fault, i was kinda stupid to yell at you since not everything is your fault but yada yada...can we have dinner go back to normal?". "If by normal you mean, our parents flirting and our grandparents arguing with them about what is best for me? Sure, normal....", they exchanged small chuckles, this conflict was not over, but....at least they were talking again. Landon mumbled under his breath, eyes unfocused, "Hey....uh....mom was wondering about letting bernard...come over? for dinner? And hanging out? And I uh....well i'd prefer if we didn't fight and he felt welcomed to the family...". "Oh, you want us to work things out so bernard would feel more comfortable huh?", he was giving him a smirk landon didn't like as he coughed into his hand, "Quiet.....look, i don't....normally bring people over so...i don't want my family to freak him out or anything...like i know so far he thinks it's cool but, look you've seen our family. So i just want us to....not embarrass me or make him feel uncomfortable...ok?". The older boy understood, nodding, "Hey it's fine, as long as our grandparents don't go overboard, i think he'll have fun...if he can't respect your culture and your lifestyle, then i'm sure there will be plenty of other guys who will understand how special you are...", he wanted to huff at judas calling him "Special", but he didn't. His brother looked over to Luna, who was already at the door alongside sky and then to sunny, who was actually talking to celeste of all people. Then his eyes wandered to mason as he took landon's arm, "Hey, how about....me and mason help you out? You always carry your violin....you mind if, we see or hear any of your songs? You don't have to but....luna is taking care of things fine and.....I think tonight i don't mind some time with my little brothers....". Landon seemed surprised, but also embarrassed as his family rarely asked about listening to his music and he rarely liked sharing it. He shifted his feet in front of him before making a small nod. "You don't have to though...you kinda make it sound like you're doing it cause you feel bad". "Yeah, maybe a little, but...I think right now with everything happening, I want to see what you've been working on and do something less stressful and fun. C'mon, tonight, let's just talk about you for a bit...I think mason would appreciate having us all talk together again.". His mind was still worried and he was hoping and praying nora was ok, but until further word, he needed to get his head back together and take a break. Though he instinctively could feel him touching his compact, wanting to call nora but knowing full well that wasn't possible. Landon thought for a moment, and actually accepted, bumping judas as his brother followed him from behind, "Just....don't laugh...ok?". Judas nodded and they moved ahead to see mason, who jumped up to hug both of them, judas patting his soft head and sighing, "I'm glad you're both ok....". They took a seat against the wall as time moved on and the three troubled brothers chilled together, something they hadn't felt they'd done in a very long time. Meanwhile Celeste was already at work, at least, in trying to talk to Sunny as best as possible. Sunny telling her anything wasn't the problem, rather, it was Celeste herself asking her. She wasn't exactly approachable or welcoming back home, she only seemed to have one friend in general overall and even then she was sure she didn't make them with her "Winning personality". Writing down stuff to say as practice was kinda helpful but she always felt her resting face was....particularly threatening and would get her nowhere in this matter. Sunny herself was watching Lexi draw, because of course she was, it always figured the two brightest people in the room would be the ones who got along more. Galexia was drawing three people this time, not that it was important to Celeste, they didn't look familiar though Sunny seemed to think otherwise. Smiling and whispering to the older girl as Celeste managed an awkward cough, at least it would count as some way of getting sunny to look at her so they could properly converse. Sunny blinked at Celeste and she felt embarrassed all of a sudden, trying to find anything to say in order to keep sunny's attention. "Uh...who are those people galexia's drawing?". Well, that was something. 7 more words then she'd normally get out of her system. Sunny however, smiled at her question, as if more then happy to talk about galexia's weird doodles, "Oh? She's just drawing all her friends back home....see that one with the hair in their face? That's alex, and these are their new siblings, Nichole and Lukas....lexi says their fun!". Celeste glanced over them, taking some notes and snorting, "New siblings? what is going on back home for you?". Galexia ignored her though, doodling more, so Sunny explained, "Alex's dad is marrying their parents, it's cute! Lexi misses them though......you miss your friends and family back home?". "Uh...yeah....sure...", she answered perhaps a little too rudely. Wow she was bad at this. "What are they like? I hope everyone's still nice back home? I don't know how much has changed in your world...", She was being rather sweet and Celeste had the feeling if she chose to say nothing Sunny would respectfully accept that. She shrugged though, despite that not really being a helpful answer, and sunny didn't ask further. "Well, i miss my friends at home too, i bet yours and your parents miss you so much too, maybe they'll throw you a nice party when you get back.". When she got back, Sunny seemed sure they would someday. "No, I really doubt that...", she said in the most dismal and dismissive voice she could, which caught sunny off guard, "Of course they would! You're their daughter, as soon as you get home they're gonna give you the BIGGEST hug in the multiverse and they'll never want to let you go. When I sometimes got lost in the castle when i was little that's what my own parents did, I know I would miss you if you suddenly dissapeared like that for so long...". "You? Miss me?", sunny nodded, "Of course i'd miss you, you're my sister, and luna, and sky, and lexi. You're all not like....my SISTER sister, but you're still like my family, i wouldn't want anything to happen to you like my little brother.". Celeste was about to retort but she had a feeling sunny actually meant what she was saying, "Well, life back in your home, it's not the same in my home....ok? It's not that simple that "Oh our mom ended up with someone else", other things...happen.". "Yeah of course they do....but...i'm sure they miss you Celeste, don't be so hard on yourself....", she was trying to give the older girl the brightest smile she'd seen but Celeste cut her off, she needed to get back on track, "Anyways...what's up with your powers? With the whole....crazy mewberty thing?". It was probably not the best time to bring this up out of the blue, and judging by sunny's look she seemed utterly confused why celeste would even bring it up right now at all. It wasn't relevant and well...a little pushy. And Celeste caught on fast, trying to recover. "Sorry they didn't uh....talk about it with me, judas and sky.....I mean i was sorta in the middle of that mess and I have questions...", that seemed to make Sunny feel more comfortable, shrugging, "I don't know actually....never have, I've always been that way. It used to be bad...y'know, sometimes when you're young you can't help your magic and it was like that for me....but i've gotten better and everyone says i'm just gifted back home...I guess this is one of those moments...". "You really don't know?". Darn "Nope, sometimes we don't know why we're the way we are but....we deal with it..., i'll....figure it out...eventually. ", she sighed to herself and crossed her legs together, huffing. "In the meantime, i'll make sure never to scare you like that again....hopefully, i seem to have kinda attacked a lot of people since i first got here...". She looked over to Celeste's disguised "Wand", her eyes lingering on it before looking up, "Hey, that....healing spell you did, for judas....could you....tell me how you did it?". "You want to know....about my spells?". "Yeah, you seem really good with healing spells and well...storm spells, like when you zapped that guy?! You made those spells yourself right? Is it cool if we exchange spells? I could tell you about some of mine and you could tell me yours?", she was being rather friendly still to someone so bitter and celeste was considering telling her more, but she felt the chains that usually strangled her tighten and she didn't answer, remaining silent to sunny. "it's ok...maybe later?", she was way too nice compared to someone like luna, the heck. "Fine..". They remained quiet as Sunny diverted her attention more to Galexia and her art, Celeste glancing over time and time again, so much for helping luna or gathering info, though then again, maybe she was happy sunny was most likely no criminal and luna had nothing on her. She sat in silence, lost in her own thoughts, the last place she'd like to be in most cases but with landon talking to his brothers and luna being the last person she wanted to speak to, she found herself in silence. Until she felt a tap on her shoulder, turning around to see sunny offer her a crayon and paper. "Would you like to draw with us?". Her eyes lingered on the crayons, and back to the smiling demon girl who was handing them over, she was being rather stingy but she eventually reluctantly grabbed both items. Sunny laughed and Celeste actually felt her lips form a small smile as the three started drawing together. She doubted her stuff was any good compared to what the others were doing, but it seemed the other didn't really care overall, the three talking among themselves. Meanwhile Luna was listening very...closely, Sky alongside her much to her dislike. It was actually fairly clear Star was smart enough to use magic to soundproof the doors, but if anyone knew how to counter it, it of course had to be luna, who was taking notes on everything she could hear as sky failed to hear anything behind the door. Luna shushing her so she could hear more properly, focused on finding out anything she could about the other kingdoms. With mason distracted, it was easier to sneak magic around him without him noticing. Why Sky was even bothering while luna was doing everything by herself she didn't really know, she was honestly wasting her time. But she also didn't want to feel "Useless" either considering her mom didn't consider her important enough to know what they were planning for mewni. She thought for a moment then remembered bernard, oh yeah, they did something like this before didn't they? If only her compact was as thin as those earth phones he was using. Dammit Still, there had to be something she could do. She pulled out her wand, and on instinct luna glanced up at it, and away from what she was doing, though whatever was on her mind she shook off to remain focused. "If you plan to blast open that door so help me sky butterfly, this is important...". Sky gave her a look , "Not that......I was thinking making something like....the all-seeing eye?". Luna looked at her gravely. "They might notice that one, this is more subtle, you're not screwing up this one sky...". "It would work..". "And it would be stupid...". "I think I could do it....". "Don't bother..." "I should be able to help-". Luna placed her hand forcibly on sky's pushing the wand away, "Don't help, don't get me wrong sky, i don't think you're....useless, but the last thing we need right now is to get caught. Let me do my job, this is the work i was trained to do...this isn't time for your creative thinking, now is time to shut up and focus. Don't forget, if you get caught doing anything suspicious you might lose that wand and be under high suspect, so do me a favor and stay quiet...". "C'mon, i can do it, you heard what she said about me-". "If you want to be useful, be useful in ways that don't risk jeopardizing others, play to your strengths and help that way. This is my turf right now and i'm not having you risk blowing our cover over your mommy issues, if you want to be helpful, i suggest thinking about our next step in tracking this guy down..."., she glared at sky one more time before getting back to work. Geez, she had issues. She marched off, but this wasn't going to stop her. If only she had angel here, he had a pretty good sense of hearing, didn't he? Great, now she was wishing angel was here to help in some fashion, but as she looked around the room, he wasn't the only monster she could ask for help. She signaled to Sunny, who finally got her attention and blinked at her, before apologizing to her sisters and walking over to Sky, she was hiding behind a sofa, trying to stay quiet so luna wasn't listening. "Sky? Is everything ok?". "I can't hear what's happening behind the door, that's what! I need a clever way of doing so and not being caught! Apparently the seeing eye is too much, i need advice and well, i know you're really great with all kinda of spells.". Sunny blinked at her, "Sky, you don't have to....i mean luna's taking care of it...". She was trying to clam sky down and stop her from doing anything irrational but Sky was clearly mad, mad and looking to get involved one way or another. "So? I want to help....i should do something...". "Is this about what mom said to you? Just now? Sky it's ok, you don't have to force yourself to help....", the blunette scoffed and puffed up her cheeks, looking away. "I'm not "Forcing myself", i'm just...I want to hear what's happening....maybe i could freeze time....yeah, like last time, oh but...then i can't really hear them talk can i?". Sunny pouted,"Sky, remember when judas talked to you about.....what galexia can do? You might take things too far and get us all in trouble.....". "But i can do this, i can-". "No one's saying you can't, they're saying it's not a good time...", sky grumbled, "Look, you wouldn't get it, back home your parents love you, you can do all kinda of things and your family doesn't see you as some sort of disappointment, she thinks i'm not important enough to know, or understand, like she's way better then me.....when she isn't..". Sunny reached out to Sky, patting her shoulder, "They didn't let judas in, isn't he next in line?". "Yeah...". "If they won't let him in, then i think it's just an adult matter, not because of you...". There was silence between them and Sky huffed, pulling at her hat, "She's just so......ugh, i just need to know what's happening.....". Sunny was trying to comfort her, even as she tried to think of multiple outcomes in her head, calling melaine? A spell? She could try using her scissors? But her ideas died fast, her huddling up into a ball. "Look i'm just....I know i should be doing more, but i keep pushing myself back and everything feels like it's against me right now." "Sky, it's not like anyone else here is doing better then you, look at everyone here! We're all trying our best to figure out what's happening but...we're all still kids, we're still trying to figure stuff out and we all do stupid things sometimes...w-we can't just go to a place and figure out the solution. We have magical powers but that doesn't mean we can do everything easily, you're not doing any worse then the rest of us." Sky was about to argue again when sunny shushed her. Since when was a 14 year old girl more mature then she was? "I think it's great you want to feel more involved, and do more, and prove yourself....but you know...you can't do everything on your own, we're here to help for a reason, you don't need to do everything yourself. Some things your good at, some things i'm good at, and some things judas is good at, like that....besides, there's no harm in not being able to do something. Maybe you need some time away from your mom, so you can stop worrying what she thinks of you anyway..". "She's the queen, and i'm the next queen, it's like......if she thinks i'm not good enough, what is mewni gonna think about me? They already compare me to her and every other queen as being incompetent, i only just now started getting better with spellcasting and even then my wand is still wonky......it's like, am i even getting better? Or am i gonna end up like dirhhennia? Should i go do something so i can get better? I just don't want to feel....useless...". "You're not useless, you're just better suited to handled different things then the rest of us, sky was thinking it over and as she did so she could hear luna finish scrawling, looking over to the rest of the group trapped in the room and sighing. "It seems this attack has frightened every kingdom worse then before, Queen Butterfly, she plans to magically enchant every kingdom, security will be even tighter and the hunt for the masked freak is gone up with the price...we might have the assassins league after them at this rate...". "They put a bounty on them?", judas stood up, "How much? How bad is it?". "It's more then enough.....they're desperate...someone like this could kill them in their sleep if they wanted to, they don't know what to do....no one seems to be able to find them....", she flipped through her notes, "No word from the spiderbites but it's presumed their safe still, whatever she was there for....it wasn't for any of them.". Judas felt a lump in his throat, knowing what she came for but not being able to say it without having to explain why he knew in the first place. Why did they want it so badly, nora's specifically? "D-Do they know why they were there?". "Not yet, but considering their track record....they came to steal something...". "But they never stole anything from butterfly castle", Sky chipped in, "There was nothing reported and they left as soon as they were spotted by us, so what about that?". There was silence among the group, all thinking and all keeping a close eye on mason. She had a point, either they were to assume a few things about that, either Her didn't find what she had been looking for and gave up, she did find it and Queen Butterfly and every other royal and superior never mentioned it, or she was here for something else. Then a thought came to Sky in that moment. "Judas.....angel was there, that day, wasn't he?". For a moment judas was wondering why sky was asking about angel, then it clicked and he nodded, "Yeah, yeah he was.....and he said he had no idea why he was there too, and i didn't entirely believe him at the time because it didn't make sense but...". Their eyes met and they knew exactly what the other was thinking of, there had been nothing on angel of course, so he clearly hadn't been used to take anything, but he had to have been there for a reason. As if they didn't need more reason to talk to him. Just then the door opened, Marco stepping out and clapping their hands together at the group of worried and wary teens, "Alright, meeting's finally over, we're sorry but this has become a stressful time for all of us, we're worried we'll have to cancel judas's coronation at this rate. Star's......star's going to take some drastic measures in order to solve this problem....she's even calling her mom for assistance and......god if she has to call her mom that's never good news...". "What's going to happen? To us?", judas's first question of the matter, of course he was worried what would happen to everyone, when the kingdoms were on high alert it had a toll on everyone, including them. At best they were just restricted, at worst they never allowed to do anything or see anyone. He was met with a sigh from his mother, who leaned against the door, "Well, we're not staying in the safe room this time, thankfully, but there's no telling what'll happen....". Before he could ask further Marco persisted, "The last thing we'd ever want to do is prevent you from living the happy and carefree lives we know you deserve, but we also want you safe and if we put you in danger we'd never forgive ourselves...we're at a loss judas....we aren't a fan of going either direction. Everyone on mewni is out looking for this guy and yet they keep slipping under our radar, they're like nothing we've ever seen! And we've caught some crazy characters....". "If they're outsmarting us this easily....they have to know our systems, what we would do......", judas mumbled, "Maybe instead of coming to them, we need to get them to come to us. Set a trap? We're getting nowhere just trying to find them, they know how to keep out of sight, so......maybe we need to force them out of hiding?". Marco blinked at him, with keen interest to his idea, "Judas, we have considered it , but we don't even know what exactly they want, they don't seem to want money and they have yet to attack any of us...". "Then maybe we need to figure out what they want, maybe we've been thinking about this all wrong, instead of trying to figure out who they are, maybe we just need to figure out what they're after...". Judas was treading on thin ice to almost telling his mom that they were after the masked guy, but luckily Marco seemed more focused on his idea then what it meant. "Well, until we actually know what they're after, that plan will have to be set aside.....everyone's going home, we're waiting on updates from the spiderbites, and we'll all be eating dinner in our rooms tonight. If any of you boys wish to sleep with me and your father, feel free to let us know...". Mason raised his hand, "I want to....". Marco smiled. - It was a very sleepless night. No one could rest, no one wanted to leave their rooms in fear of what could happen, sky didn't even mind as she sat in her bed, texting judas. They did this a lot over the years, ever since they got compacts they would text each other at night before going to bed till that habit died out, there was something nice about doing it again and talking so they could vent out their frustrations and worries. Though their paranoia was obvious, even sky had a nightlight on in the corner of her room so she could see better. the thought of the masked creep standing in the corner in the dark gave her chills. something was clear though, they needed to talk to Angel more then ever, there was something off and they needed to question him. Though now things were more complicated and how they would even go about asking the boy was a mystery itself. After how bad things were getting, would his parents even allow angel to take lessons with her anymore? Would Star even allow him to come to the castle anymore? It wasn't entirely like her to deny the wish of a sick spider queen but it was a good excuse to keep the troubled boy off the premises. Judas: You know, when angel first took classes with you, you told me you were worried he was up to something. Having him be under control? That doesn't entirely help. Sky: Look, i told him despite how better he was it didn't mean he was changed, it didn't mean he was forgiven from his mistakes...it didn't mean i believed he wasn't up to anything. But it's weirder if you think of him being mindcontrolled Judas: She could know everything Sky, angel or loki or anyone could tell her anything! Sky: Well, they don't know squat about nora's book! Or heck, your defense system, they don't exactly go inside our castles all that much. Judas: Touche Sky: It feels weird to feel THIS bad for angel y'know? Judas: You know me, i always felt bad for him, even if he goes overboard he makes some good points....and it's hard to fight against how he feels about solaria, and the mistreatment of monsters. He thinks he's doing the right thing and it's hard to argue that....when it's his species who were the victims.. Sky: Yeah i know, i know, it just.....his life kinda sucks tbh, it's like both our parents are embarrassed by us all the time, i mean he's kinda dumb in his methods and everything but it still sucks She could feel Judas smiling on the other side of the screen from that last text. Judas: Sky, you got upset whenever you hurt him too badly during fights, you even sent him home and wanted him to be safe...you care about him more then you like to mention. Sky: Don't mock me, i'm not a jerk, i don't want him to be hurt. Judas: Anyways we'll talk to him, i promise Well that was obvious enough, if they didn't talk to him any investigation they had going on would come to another screeching halt. She had to admire the boy's determination, even when he was frustrated and upset and out of mind he was always still determined to do what he wanted to do. She could tell however, despite his confidence he was still nervous, the encounter he had in nora's room seemed to have spooked him quite a bit. Reminded her of when he was younger and got scared a lot, if things were a little different she'd probably hug him. It was scary enough seeing Her the first time. It would be way scarier alone, in the dark, trying your best not to even so much as breathe in Her's presence. Nora had to be freaking out herself, she was going to be devastated when she found out about her book being stolen like that, especially since it was years of notes and research and was important to helping judas's condition. She spent so long not being able to do much but work on her research and treatments and it was gone with the wind, not to mention there was NO way Judas would be able to meet up with her after this whole incident had gone down. The spiderbites were paranoid about her safety as it, imagine how they'd be after their castle and daughter's room had been broken into. Sky: Hey? Judas: Yes? Sky: Luna, we still haven't talked to her about the Eclipsa stuff...or even the nora stuff, you think we should tell her? It was a few minutes before he answered. Judas: I really don't know what would happen if we did Sky: She's not being entirely honest with us either, is she? Judas: No, I don't think she is either....I mean, i'm sure some things are truthful but....I think she has some stuff she doesn't want to tell us about. I saw how she reacted to her mother, maybe we need to keep a close eye on our allies as much as our enemies Sky: Eclipsa wanted us to "Give her a break", you think that means anything? Judas: Knowing her, yes, but i'm not sure how to go about it Sky: I dunno, invite her out? Do something cool? I mean, i dunno what Eclipsa is trying to get us to do but... Judas: Uh, like a date? Sky: Dude, not like a date....just like....i dunno, maybe eclipsa thinks if we get her to stop thinking like a general, we might get a better understanding of her? No offense dude, but somehow i can't imagine her going on dates with anyone, you'd have to be crazy to even try. Judas: I was joking but... you have a point, about getting a better understanding of her. You know, she never has any....fun, the sleepover? She told me she never did stuff like it, she just studied and focused on being queen. Sky snorted, yeah that sounded like Luna, refusing to do much else besides focus on missions or work or being the best. Though it did sound like a boring childhood, even when sky got hurt or got into stupid or bad situations, there was a level or thrill to it, even if she wasn't looking to get into trouble. Spending time with the Lucitor Princes, dealing with her mom's dumb pranks, and just playing video games and making her hats was just something that felt...nice. Gave her sometime to not think about the pressures of being royalty, of being compared. Apparently Luna didn't have any of that, her mind was on her work, like a robot. She spent so much time focusing on being the best queen and knowing all the ins and outs she became still and dull and mean. Did she even have hobbies? Sky bit at her lips, what was Eclipsa even trying to get them to do? Like why would luna, of anyone, even want to "Take a break", the only breaks she took was lunch breaks and even those she spent trying to do research and checking the paper for any signs of Her. She was not going to just "Hang out", she needed a reason to spend time with the two of them, something that was worth her actual time. Sky sighed and considered it, was it even worth it? Especially since they didn't know why Eclipsa suggested it to them? The gears turned in her head turned and she knew judas was waiting for a response still, she was going to have to respond to him so they could figure things out and head to bed so they could meet up tomorrow. Grumbling, she sent her response. Sky: Tell her to meet in exchange for information we have..... Judas: Which information? Sky: The book or loki, take your pick, if she'll meet with us out for anything, you know it'll be for useful info. Judas: What exactly does Eclipsa think this will even do? Are we even sure we can...trust her on this? Sky: We don't have anything better right now and maybe we can pry something out of her? Judas: Wait, what are you hoping to pry out of her? Sky: She's not being honest with us, so maybe she knows something we don't. - "Sky, this is not a good time....", Star scrambled at her desk, piling paperwork and checking her compact constantly for messages. "Whatever it is you should ask your mother instead, mewni is in panic, jackie is out still, i have several meetings today to get to, and many more...whatever it is i'm sure you can talk to her.". Sky shook her head though, crossing her arms, "I uh...I don't think so look, it's about angel....". Star looked up at her for a moment before continuing. "Angel? Sweetie if he's causing problems again, you know what to do....don't get me involved with that boy, i have enough to deal with.", she opened a book and started scanning through in, in a rush, she was lucky she hadn't torn off a page by accident. "It's not that, it's more like, since everything is...how it is....we were thinking about....inviting him....over? Me and judas?", star broke her moment of concentration again to give star a look. "Wait, you're inviting that boy over? Sky, this isn't the time for slumber parties, if a kid gets in danger under my roof i'm more then toast, unless he's here for lessons i don't want that boy anywhere near this castle. He's a hassle enough as is to deal with..", sky crossed her arms, " are we still having lessons? I wasn't sure if we were....".Star shook her head, "Yes, lessons will continue as normal, though eclipsa will have to do a little magic herself to keep you both better protected.". "Look, it's....important....". "Can't be anymore important then what i'm dealing with right now Skyler, you're allowed to invite judas and his brothers here as you please but right now i'm not inviting any other kids inside besides the ones already taking residence here, not melaine, not loki, not even angel....". She scrambled to check her compact again, "Still no word from the spiderbites and jackie and i'm worried, jackie's our best guard and she took her best team with her...i hope she's ok...". "Mom-". "No butts, this is not the time for pleasantries and you know it! I don't want you getting involved in this skyler....yesterday we had another attack and we can't keep ignoring this, if our allies get hurt and we aren't protecting them then this entire kingdom might as well fall apart! It's not the time to talk about meeting up with boys or fooling around! You need to take this seriously, you're going to be queen someday and you need to be ready for it.". "I am taking this seriously! I mean, that's how i'm getting along with angel so y'know, no more fights?". "Sky, that's not what i mean...". Sky felt herself clutch her wand tighter. "Mom, look, i'm just trying to-". "Sky, this is not the time, you are not getting involved in this mess, you're not ready and i refuse to let you....", she was getting sterner and sky could sense her magic turning green again, she forced herself to calm down so she didn't make another scene, though her anger lingered. "Ugh, fine...I'll go talk to mom....whatever...", Star sighed and went back to work as the grumpy girl left her office, closing the door behind her, her mom was stressed, she got it. But she didn't have to be nasty about it. Then again it was foolish of her to think she'd get this so easily, she knew her mother better then that. Angel was not exactly in her mom's good graces And right now, there was no way she could make him. She wandered down the halls, hands in her pockets and her mind in though when she knocked into one of the last people she was interested in talking to right now. Luna, who had clearly been marching around and not paying much attention to where she'd been going, she brushed herself off after sky bumped into her and gave her a look," Oh, sky.....you're here, have you seen Celeste by any chance? I need to speak with her and i can't find her anywhere...". "Well, she can't exactly go far...unless she's well....", luna huffed, "Sneaking out? Hmm, i wouldn't even know where to look if she was, maybe when jackie returns i can ask to go out on watch, give me a good excuse as any to look around, now is not the time to go running off...everyone's paranoid as is.". She seemed stressed, more then usual, sky biting her lip and tempted to ask, "You...worried about your mother?". Her blonde companions sighed, "Queen Butterfly will be fine.....eventually, once she manages to calm everyone down...". "No, i meant Jackie", this peaked Luna's attention a little, "Well, in this reality she's become my chief, I have faith in her....". She was looking off to the side, "It's a rather surreal experience, Queen Butterfly seems to be similar enough but seeing my other mom like this....well it's different that's for sure. Never really thought i'd become my own mother's teacher's pet someday. Though i will say, it is nice in some ways from stuff i deal with back home...". "Really? Like what?" "You know i'm not going to answer that, we have a target and it's them you need info on, not me. You're a clever girl sky, but you need to pick your fights better when you actually start them.....sometimes, it's best to not get involved at all", did everything luna said have to sound like some kind of threat or was that just how she sounded?. "Besides, you know better, the more you know about all these other worlds, the more you'll compare them, and the more you compare them...well, it won't do you any good.". "I was just asking to know because you seemed upset about it, i don't need to know your life story...". "Then you don't need to know, this is my concern and when i return home, it won't matter anymore..." she crossed her arms, "You need to step back Sky, get back to doing the work you need to do and leave the rest of us to handle what we need to do. You do not need to be so concerned about what me or any of us are doing or are dealing with.". The princess snorted at her though, "Why not? Because you don't have any friends back home to care about?". Now luna seemed personally offended. "You don't seem to-". "No, YOU don't seem to get it, when people ask how you're doing, they're trying to be comforting, not invasive. Are you really that cold? That you think people asking to help are jerks or even being nice to someone is "Too much", people aren't just below you....or statues that obey every command, if you get we all have things going on why can't you be so understanding? You don't know how to have fun and you're not very friendly to anyone! How the heck are you related to someone like my mom!?". Oh, that one definitely hit a cord with Luna, her eye twitching, responding quickly without thinking for once. "Oh enough with your lecturing of me ashton, this is the kinda person i HAVE to be whether you understand that or not!". "Ashton?". Luna froze, "We're done for now sky, no more questions....i have things to take care of......and you should do the same.". She said nothing else as she walked away, slightly embarrassed at her outburst and composing herself as she headed out as fast as she could. Gears were turning in Sky's head and she'd probably chase after her and question her further if she didn't know any better then to mess with Luna too much, though her being mad with Sky was going to make talking to her difficult. Looks like that would be up to judas moreso. She might have gone too hard on her due to how mad she was with her mom and maybe was kinda mean back there, a lump of guilt in her throat as she saw where luna headed to. She made a mental note to maybe apologize to her later on for being a dumb angsty teen but right now they had other things to focus on. She just hoped Eclipsa wasn't leading them on. - Celeste was kinda thankful about Landon showing her his little private booth in his weird "Coffee house" hangout, it was nice and private and was sure better then waiting in her room to get scolded by Luna. Landon himself was on the couch, lying down , pulling off his boot to pull out some of his money. "Maybe while we're here we can eat something, or drink something....y'know...before my parents find me and lock me in my room as some kind of protection...". "They got any smoothies here?", she said grumpily, staring out the window onto the stage, and landon replied. "I think so....maybe i can get some donuts or something as well...", he looked through his money and watched as celeste gloomily continued to look out the window, "You doing ok? Like, you don't gotta beat yourself up over the sunny thing that much, she didn't have anything, you'll find something else probably...besides...i kinda don't want sunny under suspect anyway...". "How come? You've never shown to like her all that much...", celeste wasn't looking at him still but landon shrugged, "She reminds me of mason....a little, me and judas fight and junk sometimes and....mason was sorta the link between us you could say...i mean, jude is a pain sometimes...but...i don't like yelling at him in front of mason...". He closed his eyes, "He's our little brother...he's....happy and free and doing whatever he wants, he's smart for his age...". He went back to counting his money, glancing back to the girl, "He's just a kid and he can be a pain, but he's so...innocent, doesn't have all the baggage we do....and well...he likes sunny, considering the fact he doesn't have a lot of friends i kinda wouldn't like finding out his friend slash sister was evil or something...". Celeste seemed to get it, crossing her arms and leaning against the window more, now finally facing her half brother in a clear mood. "You care more then you let on huh?". "I'm not exactly the best at social skills, if that wasn't obvious already, talking to people can be...uncomfortable. Plus being me.....y'know...the prince everyone forgets? That kinda stuff makes you want to stop talking to people...", honestly his most stable relationship was still with his mother, the only person he felt like he could talk to about most of the things going on with his life, and he couldn't say that meant he was somehow "cured" of any of his problems. Bernard was a friend who made him feel important compared to his brothers, and he didn't seem to mind his awkwardness or any of the problems landon hated about himself. He actually felt like he wanted to speak to someone for once in his life outside of his own mother. Isolating himself from his family for so long to sit in his room and keep to himself made him unsocial and starved for more attention, and he knew it. He could now just...talk to someone, even if he was scared to screw it up somehow. Though just thinking about it made him remember Celeste seemed to lack in many friends as well, even here. "You seem to get along well with your mom.....like..really well....they....got you to calm down..", he almost expected a playful mock for it but it seemed more like an observation. "We're just close....they kinda are used to our fits and well.....I guess it provides me some relief.....". She didn't really say much else, keeping quiet and landon continued, "I hate hurting them and they hate hurting me...it's hard to be.....well...me....when they talk to me...". "I can tell...". "I'm mad, i still am....i guess i've just...calmed down a little more...and feel better...that they know..", even in his voice he sounded sad and not incredibly confident but at the very least he felt relief to a degree to have let it all out. Celeste's silence told him she was lost in thought about something, and despite his urges he kept his mouth shut. Speaking to someone outside of the room to order their food and drinks before returning and plopping himself down in a seat next to celeste. "You know....if you gotta talk....you could tell me, i won't....be a jerk about it....". "It's nothing i feel like talking about.....". He was quiet, looking out to the stage to see an act getting ready to perform, a demon band, who were excitably talking among themselves and laughing. "Judas and mason listened to my music.....they actually kinda liked it...". He went silent, resting his head on his arms and sighing, "Sunny wants to go on stage and perform....I wish i had her confidence....playing in front of crowds is different then playing among your friends and family who you feel is obliged to like it...". "Well, your stuff is good, you're passionate about it.....you have a hobby you love and want to do something with...so...you just kinda need to go forward or something and perform...", he sighed, eyes closing, "I want to but...it's hard to get over how much you think your art sucks...it's a creator thing....you just like....compare your stuff and worry and.....yeah...". He pressed his face into his seat, groaning, "Catching some criminal isn't the same thing as...walking on stage...". "Well no, it really isn't unless you plan on catching the guy at a live performance...". "I wrote a song....for bernard....", he admitted, sounding kinda guilty, like he stole a cookie from a cookie jar. "He doesn't know, i just....wrote a song based on...how he moves, how fun he is, and nice...". He smiled into the fabric a bit before looking up and exposing his red face, "look, i know it's stupid, especially since we finally just became real friends not even that long ago....and i don't wanna screw it up with....feelings or anything, I just...got inspired...". "Oh, we're talking about your crush again?", she snorted, but her face eased, "Look, we're gonna eat and then probably get sent back to the castle and get locked up inside it forever anyway. You might as well talk about it here, the castle might be full of bugs everywhere when we get back, wouldn't want anyone to record it...". She was kidding of course but then again, who really knew at this point, luna would probably bug it if she was tempted enough and had some bugs to use. "I dunno...". "Look, just tell me, why do you like him, like...go deep or something....". "It's hard to explain, i guess he just....makes me feel more confident in myself...cause he seems almost always seems so confident...", he was thinking about it a little longer then when he talked about it before, as if not really fully knowing himself and trying to figure it out. "He likes music too, i mean.....not in general like most people, he actually knows how to construct it...says his dad is a music teacher. He even thinks i'm funny, no one thinks i'm funny...". "Does he do anything weird..?". "What?" "Does he do anything weird ? like, let's be real if they do weird junk and you're still attracted to them that's a good sign if any..". "Well, he's trying to learn how to swallow objects and bring them back up....also he loves piercings, like, a lot, he wants a nose piercing soon.....he already may of gone overboard with the tongue piercing though..." , this seemed to make landon laugh, chuckling to himself. "I just want to be careful....that this all, won't scare him off...and me...going after that criminal...what if i got him hurt? He'd never want to hang out with me again after that....". "You're worrying too much maybe...you keep freaking out he doesn't like you, but you told me he literally saw your carriage pop out of the middle of the street, if he was really scared of your family he would've run at this point.". "Says the girl worrying about luna...", he retorted, "You're not one to talk about any of that Celeste....". But he was met with a punch to the shoulder, "I don't care what luna thinks, i don't really care that badly sunny didn't turn out to be evil or something, maybe bummed i wasted my time trying to get info that didn't exist, but....it's...more...something else....". Landon nodded, "I'm assuming your parents.....", her silence was enough of an answer for him. "Well, if we're breaking that contract already, you can talk about it...I won't tell my brothers or anything...", she turned away and grumbled. "It's not fair...". "What's not fair?". "It's not fair.....that your parents are so happy together, that they love you and talk to you and respect you and want to be better for you....they can't even keep their hands off of each other and you're close with your mom and ugh....", she pulled on her hair, the band finally started to play below them, almost in time with celeste's current burst of anger. "Like, look at them, your family just seems so.....happy and perfect and complete and....ugh it sucks..". "Wow...thanks...". "It only sucks because.....ugh....I just.....i hate talking about it....", she mumbled into her arm and landon heard their order arrive, heading over to pick it up and take it back to celeste, a strawberry smoothie handed over to her as he sipped on his wildberry one, grabbing a chocolate donut from the box. "I guess your relationship with your parents is kinda complicated? Welcome to the club......look, having these lovey parents isn't always great.....even judas agrees....sometimes we worry they focus more on each other then well...us..". "So? They're still together....and happy....". "I think I get what happened....i'm uh....sorry about your parents...". "You wouldn't get it.....", she grabbed a powdered donut, chewing on it rather aggressively, "Your family isn't perfect but it's so.....complete, you all like to do things together and you're loyal to your family and you seem to work things out and talk things out...my family didn't talk things out, one day it was happy and sweet and the next.....they didn't even talk to me about it, before it happened. It was like my opinion in it didn't even matter to them...". "Oh......that.....that sucks...", minutes passed by, the two eating and drinking in silence as the band continued to play. Landon's eyes trying to keep away from celeste to focus on anything else so he didn't make her feel any worse then she already did. Looking below he could spot a lot of familiar demons, some servants from the castle, even the guy celeste zapped last time they arrived here together. No one of note, he knew his parents didn't usually come here and they were much too busy now to go see a performance. He was almost scared to leave, who knew what would happen by the time they got home, would they have trackers now? Would their parents force them to live on earth? God he was already worried about what could happen to his family, would they even let bernard come over at this point? He really wanted to take his mind off this, sit alone and make music but he didn't want to leave celeste's side either considering how upset she still was. His eyes went back to focusing on the boring demon people, back to being his unsocial loser self as he tried to take his mind off his worries and pain. However, someone he did spot that got his attention was a small girl around mason's age sitting alone at a table off in the corner. He swore she seemed familiar but he couldn't pinpoint exactly why, she was reading a book and keeping to herself. Landon normally wouldn't pay someone like her any mind, but he couldn't help it with the scene that followed. First the girl's glass of water broke, glass on the floor and earning the attention of the waiter, who looked rather mad. Then the girl, sitting up, fell out of her chair and into the waiter, knocking him over. Before pulling herself up, and then falling backwards again to knock the entire table she had been sitting at over. As if things couldn't get worse, the band had stopped playing their current song, the entire crowd and them turning around to see the girl pick up her stuff and run out as fast as possible. Celeste had noticed her too, though adding to her bad luck, landon noticed the girl had dropped something on her way out. He really didn't want to leave his private booth. But he'd been there before, embarrassed and humiliated. He got up, celeste watching him leave before she could ask what he was doing, seeing him through the window as he picked up whatever was dropped before heading out of the building. Celeste waited a few minuted, debating whether she should follow him out, but he quickly returned, item still in hand. "She's gone, couldn't find her but.....we should find her....whoever she is..", Celeste raised an eyebrow, as if he was crazy, "Uh? Why? Is what she lost that important?". He held up the object, a piece of paper to be exact. On one side was a drawing of sky's wand, with all kinds of descriptions of it's parts and how it functioned, on the other side were notes written in some ancient language Landon sure couldn't speak or understand. He almost seemed happy she lost it, looking at celeste with more confidence. Celeste took one look at the symbols and understood, "That's.....low mewman....only the butterfly family knows how to write in low mewman....what....that's...". "It's not something an average demon should have....she must've gotten this from someone else, but why? It's clearly from someone in the butterfly family....or at least it belonged to the butterfly kingdom...but also, sky's wand, why....why would she have this?". "Well, unlucky for her....lucky for us....though also convenient....". "Maybe a little but......it should lead us somewhere right? I mean, that demon having her hands on something like this? Something has to be fishy...". Celeste snatched the paper from him, "Well, just keep an eye out, if we step into any traps because of this i'm gonna be mad.". She scanned over the back, huffing and going over it a few times, "Whoever wrote this stuff on the back kinda seems lame, it's scrawl about dumb secret things....". Landon took it back from her, looking at it again, "Hold on....wait.....you don't think this is from.....wait.....". Celeste raised an eyebrow then looked back over both sides of the paper. "The magic book of spells?". They exchanged looks. "This is from sky's chapter....isn't it? This is her handwriting.....". There was another moment of silent exchange. "Seems like we finally have a possible lead...to helping us out...we need to go find that girl". "But how would you even track her down?". He smiled. "Lucy...".

#star vs the forces of evil #svtfoe #svstfoe #sky and the forces of the multiverse #janstar bby #tomco bby #Starkie bby #starco bby #ostar bby #tomstar bby #eclipsa #star butterfly #marco #marco diaz #fanfiction #fanfic #my art

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jess-the-vampire · 5 years

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Sky And The Forces Of The Multiverse, Chapter 23

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"I could portal?", the demon girl looked down at her hands, as if memorized by them, " But, i'm not supposed to be able to do that without years of practice dipping down right? I mean, I've just never heard of our mewberty forms letting us.....portal before...it's never been recorded in our history at least...". Sunny of course, was still upset about her recent.....freakout, but what put her more on edge then anything was her abilities, being more overpowered then normal. She sighed, "I got my wand so young......because I was too powerful....I...needed to be able to control my power sooner then other princesses, so....it's just...a little scary to find out...what I can do...when i'm not in control of my own body.". She looked to the people in the room with her, that being for now, galexia, and judas. Judas coming here right after seeing his father, and waiting on the return of sky, and and keeping a close eye on galexia as she drew in the corner, this was lexi's room after all, anyone was welcome. "I know the feeling....it's kinda a personal fear of mine as well..".

"It's always been like this for me...you know? I kinda always felt like me being stuck at home so much, it wasn't just to keep me safe...it was to keep others safe...from me.", sunny's wings fluttered behind her, they were still new, so still soft and weak, it was going to take some getting used to for her. She was used to flying without wings that having wings felt like a bizarre experience, what were her parents going to say if and when she got back home? "I'm sure it's nothing you need to worry about, at least, not right now.....you're back in control of your body, and you seem to have gotten a good hold on yourself...", the smaller demon nodded, "I have.....but, sometimes it's a scare when you have that kinda power....especially when you want to control it.". Sunny always seemed so in control of her powers, almost better then luna was, so her talking about this, especially as dismal as she spoke on the topic, well, it was strange. Sunny was usually so sweet and cheery, and right now, she was far from it. "You gonna be ok?", it wasn't entirely like judas himself was in the best of moods after speaking to his father, but he sure didn't want sunny to feel awful considering all the stuff she must me going through, the stuff that usually seemed to hide behind her smiles. "I'll be ok...I think, i'm used to having strange things happen to me....I just need more time to process it...". He understood, he honestly would ask her further about her magic back home but it didn't seem remotely appropriate right now considering how sunny felt. "It's alright sunny....for the record though.....your butterfly form was incredible...". It seemed to make her feel a little better, smiling and twiddling her fingers together, "Thanks...I just hope i didn't scare you all TOO bad, i know mewberty can be a little....insane....not to mention how long it'll take to clean up my room of evidence...that stuff doesn't come out easily you know? How are you planning to even get rid of it? If one of the underworld servants walks in to clean it they are going to have to report it to well...your parents...". She took a seat next to her older half-brother, who tried to reassure her. "Eclipsa said she'd take care of it...i'm....still not entirely comfortable with her knowing about....you know, but, i do want to trust her. I just hope she doesn't go into any of our minds again, I don't particularly like people invading my privacy like that...", he looked over to lexi, who was still drawing to her heart's content, "Yesterday was such a crazy day my mind feels like it's turned into jelly, i can't entirely concentrate and today hasn't been much better with my dad.... I just hope sky's doing better then me...". "she's talking to angel?" "Yeah, kinda, well....inviting him to hang out....globgor is going to look into his family but we think well.....we might be better talking to angel ourselves to a degree, right now, we're better off as friends then enemies..", she crossed her arms, "Just, i hope you're not doing it just to get information out of him....he's still a person you know? I know i'd hate it if someone became my friend just to use me like that...I know he's kinda weird but, he's still a person...". She pouted, "Awhile back you got mad with me for trying to mess with Loki, for trying to trick him? I was only trying to help but I wasn't going about it the right way, I have friends back home who'd....well I guess they would've seen the situation more harmless then you did, but i get the feeling being tricked or lied to bothers you a lot...". He nodded, "I guess you could say that yeah....", and Sunny nodded, "I made you upset, and....I don't want you to make him upset....i've met monsters like him back home and....", She stopped speaking, but judas seemed to understand what she was getting at. Sunny had a real sympathy for monsters and people that need help didn't she? "I promise, this isn't just because we're suspicious...we do want to be on good terms with him, trust me.", he patted her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her, "With everything going on we need answers, and something is definitely up with angel and we need to look into it, but....I don't want to hurt the guy either....If nothing is really going on and he truly wanted to hang out with us...then.....this can't do any real harm in the end. And hopefully....things work out between us..". She seemed to understand, "Just be careful, he seems like he's going through enough.....I don't think he'd like feeling as though you didn't actually care about him.". Judas knew well enough, and after him being almost friendless aside from sky for most of his life, he wouldn't want to turn into the guy that made someone else feel uncared about either. He just hoped in the back of his mind angel wasn't withholding any dangerous secrets from him, that things could be peaceful between the three of them. There was definitely something strange with him, between him just magically appearing in the castle during the sleepover, to stealing jude's phone, to producing silk again when he shouldn't be able to? Maybe he was indeed overthinking it, it had crossed his mind that he was getting way too paranoid about everyone and everything these days, but he was getting desperate for answers. The biggest issues was mostly going to be getting them from Angel once they confronted him. He was always stern with the boy, but also friendly, despite how tall he was the last thing he ever wanted to do was come off like he was planning to hurt anyone. But if he wasn't careful he might get nothing from him, and only make their relationships with angel worse then they kinda were. He at the very least, could hope the respect they shared between being monster princes from mewni would at least allow the boy to be more comfortable if sky failed. For as long as he remembered the three had never been on the best of terms, even if he wished that were different if he had known he'd sometimes feel as disrespected or as isolated as angel did at times. If there is something on the loose out there, targeting kingdoms, they needed as many allies as they could, and if anyone in this large and insane magical world needed allies and friends at this time of need. It was the boy with extra legs and whose stubbornness matched the one of his best friend most times. No more fights, no more bitter rivalries, no more of angel causing issues. That was the dream, a nice dream at least. "I hope you three become good friends....you know, and nora, nora too.....", sunny sounded sad, her voice growing weak, "If and when we go back home, we're not going to see you anymore most likely....things will go...back to normal, and well....when i'm gone...", she looked over to him with sad eyes, "I hope you all well....are happy...at least, I want to think about you all being happy together, you, sky, angel, nora, mason...landon....all of you.". "I'm gonna miss you too sunny....it's well....it's nice to have a little sister...", sunny smirked, eyes glistening, "Well, it's kinda cool to have an older brother, i've always been so used to being the oldest I've never known what it was like to have a protective older brother looking out for me....I-I hope maybe...we can just...find a way...to talk again, when all of us go home....you know? Think about it, you could meet my friends and they could meet yours and.....it's a nice thought..". "Yeah, yeah it is....the future is always a little funky and even when your reassure yourself things will be easy it can still come back to you but....the though helps, that maybe...everything will work out.". "GUYS!", the door swung open, sky walking in, frantic and.....happy? Catching the attention of both part-demons who were momentarily scared but relaxed and eased as the princess looked the happiest she'd been in awhile. "I think......it actually worked...?". "You asked angel out?", Sunny asked, jokingly, eyebrow raised. "Uh, No......but I think, we're kinda....sorta.....friends? Maybe...well, I actually think he wants to hang out..", Judas stood up, half surprised and half in utter joy, "You actually got him to want to hang out with us? Wow I thought it would take longer but.....sky that's wonderful! What happened?". Sky shrugged, knowing full well the entire situation was kinda awkward to explain , "Well, we kinda fought together and he kinda freaked out and I actually...comforted him? And well we.....he actually.....admitted to well...not liking his actions, that they weren't helping and we.....hugged.". "You hugged?" "Don't make it weird! But yeah....he sorta...cried into my shoulder..". "He cried?! " "Yeah, he kinda went haywire for a sec and i guess it scared the heck outta him and he kinda needed to vent and talk to someone and I was just kinda there and ...look, it's not that important how it happened! I think we just....had a "Bonding moment" and well, he actually smiled, at me.....it's kinda strange when i actually talk about it." Sunny looked rather giddy, "He SMILED?! Awwwww!! That's really sweet! Did you get his number? You could-". "Sunny, angel doesn't have a compact, remember?", judas reminded the small girl, thinking back, "for several different reasons but considering he has to steal mine off me, yeah it's clear he never had one he could easily access, and to order food for some reason too....so that's kinda odd, but yeah, we'd have to go to him to hang out...though, his parents most likely would think we were there because he did something....and our parents still are on high protection of us...". "So how do you even plan on spending time with him? " "Simple", Sky said, not very happy with the solution but knowing full well where it was going, "I'm going to have to talk with my mother..". It didn't sound that bad without context but her mother wasn't very fond of Angel's antics and the only way they could avoid most issues was for angel to come to them And angel can't come to them, without Star herself intervening. Fantastic. - 'Hey celeste...", landon caught up with the girl, a little spring in his step and a compact being placed into his pocket and celeste could only assume what...or who was now putting him in better spirits. "Um....how did things uh...go....with sunny? I'm not talking to judas so....I kinda thought you'd tell me but you've kinda ignored me....", She simply grumbled, her mind feeling as if it were fighting with each other, should she say something or not? By the sounds of it Judas hadn't made it public to the whole group yet , was he even going to? Was everyone just planning on not telling luna anything? Including her? If the Nora stuff was any indication, they were definitely not telling them everything that was going on, sneaking out to see a girl? Seriously? Where were their priorities at if they were sneaking out to see someone else unless it has to do with their current task of finding their way home? It was like being stuck between a rock and a hard place, she was pissed at luna but she was also pretty pissed at judas and sky for keeping more secrets from her. Even if they may of been warranted from someone like luna. She was so lost in thought she only just now noticed landon snapping his fingers in front of her, keeping an eye on the guard following celeste nearby, "Look, we have to talk because if we don't so something and luna finds out, I kinda get the sense she'd wipe our memory or something and I'd....rather she didn't...you have to do some some questioning to figure out what's so...weird about sunny and I have to look at sky's wand and well, we kinda need to talk if we want to do our own investigating I guess..". "You still want to work with uh...luna? You seemed pretty mad with her...". "I don't like her, trust me, but....I've been doing some thinking and well.....I still want you to go home....So, i'll put up with it, but only if it means we figure out what's going on around here.....because If i catch that stupid guy who did this well, imagine that.", she could see a glint of joy in his eyes and suddenly she understood where this was headed, "No more hiding in that private box huh? You just plan on going out there and capturing the guy yourself?". "Oh you bet, i'm freaking sick of this, sick of no one knowing who i am, sick of my brother being more important, sick of people like that girl stomping all over me. I was about to back up, thinking i made a mistake in getting involved in this against my brother, but you know what? Maybe this is just what i need to show him and everyone else, you and me, we work together to figure this out, we'll get what luna needs but we capture the guy together...we both show the others we're not useless..". "You're serious? We team up and work on this together?". "I'll show them....I'll show them all...", he was definitely serious, his violin strapped to his back and his three eyes looking dead forward, "We both will, if luna and everyone else wants to tear us down...we'll shown them what we're made of...". His attitude was so....unlike landon, not to say landon never did anything, but that the boy rarely ever seemed happy or eager to get involved in anything when she'd seen him, she had a feeling luna's words got to him more then he let on. Was he really that mad? She'd seen him mad before but mad enough to push himself into situations he didn't normally like doing? She almost felt like she should talking him out of it, but social interaction wasn't her strong suit, maybe if she was lucky he'd back out of it himself, though right now she just decided to shake it off. She might be overthinking it, if the dude wanted to take charge and prove himself she couldn't really be the kinda person to ruin that for him. "Do you even have a plan?". "Sorta....". "Sorta??!!". "Look, Sunny kinda sorta lives with you, you can talk to her....she's an open book right? Just...ask about her and what's up with her.....why does luna even want to know about that anyway?", his partner shrugged, looking behind her at the guard who wasn't paying too close of an ear to their words, "I assume she just finds it kinda weird this 14 year old girl is more stupidly powerful then she is.....honestly are you surprised? It is freaking weird how good she is at magic...and she's younger then me.". Well, actually, landon had barely ever seen the girl do magic, so he technically had no reason to really know now that she thought about it, but whatever. She shook her head and moved on, "Anyways, I think luna's on edge, the longer she's been here the more and more on edge she's been getting, maybe she thinks....sunny did it?", his eyebrows were raised and his hands were placed in his pockets. "Sunny? But Sunny doesn't really seem to have much interest in like....I dunno, doing anything to hurt anyone? I mean, you've seen her, she eats dinner with our family and she's kinda....well....not really sinister...". "Well, she's also a pretty good actor I believe.....", Celeste mumbled, "I dunno, I think at one point she mentioned being in plays back home and you've seen how she talks to your dad and can get what she wants out of people, I mean....what if she's a better actor then we thought? She seems to have a way with people...". "Yeah, but she's also not tall enough to be under that outfit.....well, i guess unless she flew...but still, like....remember the portal thing? She can't be in two places at once, we were ALL there!", he had a good point, "I mean, unless.....but no, sunny doesn't know anyone else around here enough to have a accomplice, she's in a whole new dimension....and that doesn't explain sky's wand and all this other junk or why she'd do these things... and UUGGHHHH!". "Look, let's just work on talking to her and looking at the stupid wand...though, I dunno what she expects you to do with the wand...stare at it? I mean, if she holds it it would just turn into her wand so....", he grumbled and scratched his head, "I dunno, i've known sky for a long time, seen her use magic all the time, and I don't know enough about it to even know what i'm looking for! I mean, nothing seems wrong about it from the outside....I think...". "Take some pics or something, I dunno....I apparently have to learn to "Socialize" and talk to sunny....", she was clearly not too keen on having the task where she had to smile and make friends and she threw her arms up in the air, "Like, i HATE talking to most people, because most people are annoying and treat me like garbage and I have to try and get information nicely out of them? Like, Ugh.....luna sounds like my mom back home, trying to get me to make friends..". "Really?". "Don't your parents ever just....y'know....make you do these things? Try to help you make friends? Try and make you into what they want to make you into?", he shook his head almost immediatly, "Our parents never really pressured us into anything....being....anyone, judas was gonna be king but....our parents preferred we had y'know....freedom to make our friends and persue our hobbies...you know, i was shut inside my room a lot....my parents didn't try and force me into anything...". "Huh.....", she pondered over that for a moment, before turning her head away, "Well, I guess you're lucky then...". She went silent as she felt landon touch her shoulder gently, trying to comfort her," Look, I-I'm sure you can do it, don't give up...just.....be yourself or something, you can probably get what you need.". She didn't seem all that optimistic about his words but took them anyway, Well, I uh.....hey.....let's head to my room, I think there are some things from yesterday you outta know. He understood, following her. "Hey uh....is it weird to ask if....you know, why do you fall back on things you say you want to do? Like....You said awhile ago you wanted to use magic, use it to help...but don't use it..., and you hate talking about your home...but want everyone to spill their guts....it's kinda weird...". "Why do you care?". "I dunno, it's just...sometimes...It feels like you say things...looking for a fight....but don't actually mean them...". She went silent, before brushing him off, "C'mon, move it....and keep your voice down...". She really didn't want to talk about her problems right now, and just focus on getting this dumd mission done so luna didn't explode. Sunny was an interesting choice of a suspect, but her being in two places at once was an odd thing to explain for now. However, she was not the only monster/mewman that could be under suspect of being responsible behind this. Now, she knew there was another as gears turned in her mind. Meteora. - "You finally ready to go talk to her?", judas sighed, watching sky as she held out the pendent Katrina gave her, sky sighing to herself, knowing he was going to see nora alone today to tell her his progress, in which, there was none of course. Nothing to present to her besides the fact his father would be considering the whole thing, judas would be more then fine on his own of course, though he did seem sad his friend would be sneaking off somewhere else. "Guess I've been stalling long enough...huh?", she was partially laughing, but it was true, she had kinda been stalling for a long time from when katrina first told her she could contact her at any time using this...thing she supposed. Maybe something about going out there to find her made her anxious, maybe she was worried this was a set up for some bizarre elaborate trap, or maybe she was just scared she'd find her and talk to her and come back with nothing. She clutched her wand in her hands, anxious about it and using it before examining the pendent, "I'm not even sure how to use the thing honestly, it's not like this came with any instructions, or katrina told me much, just that this pendent is supposed to help me find her...somehow...". Upon close inspection the pendent was quite decorative, with a few green gems on it, but it wasn't particularly very helpful to point her the right way, because of course it wasn't. Ugh, Spies. Judas carefully took it out of her hands, looking it over closely, "Katrina.....you could at the very least write a note if you wanted to allow us to find where you go", he turned the pendent in his hands and bit at his lips, "I'm not sure sky, maybe you should try using your magic or something?". He was met with silence as he put his hands in his pockets, "You don't have to go, I mean, not tonight at least, you can come with me and nora and we'll talk and you can figure this out later...". "No it's cool, the arm thing is mostly your business anyway, I just....there's gotta be something here...katrina knows us....there has to be something about it to help....the chick is a freaking spy, if anyone knows wat's happening outside of these walls, she would", he smiled, giving her a small hug before standing back up, "Well, if that's the case, i know you'll figure it out, call me if you figure out anything...ok? We'll talk soon enough, I believe in you....ok?". She smiled and watched him teleport away, staring at the pendent and getting a little more frustrated over time. It was nice for them to be on good terms again, reliving actually, sky could be stubborn as all heck sometimes but judas was probably the one person who could get her to soften so easily. She missed having his support and things sorta seemed to be looking up a little more recently between them being back to normal and angel and her actually seemingly working things out at a decent pace. She wished he could stay and help but, honestly after their stupid fight the last thing she wanted to do was ask too much of him. Plus, this thing with Nora mattered a lot to him personally and no doubt she would be the worst friend ever if she tried to take that away from him. She probably should take advantage of this situation to handle more matters without judas, though she kinda was always under the impression in their duo he was better suited to figuring out puzzles and stuff like this. Even if people were encouraging her that she was pretty competent on her own with magic, she doubted they could argue for her knowledge considering how much studying annoyed her and that she was far from the most knowledgeable about mewni. But she stalled this enough and she had to figure this out, at least, if only because judas was counting on her and believed she would figure it out herself. "Ok.....what am i supposed to do here...how do I find you....ugh...think sky, think like a spy....". She rolled the pendent around and looked closer at the gems, one was a little bit bigger then the other when she took a better look at it, but that was probably for decorative purposes. The she turned the pendent around, looking at it's bare back and scratching at it, "Think think......like...ok.....well, Katrina knows I like to make hats....so maybe....it has something to do with that? But this is like...jewelry! That's.....that's not the same thing! Ugh....maybe I just....". She placed the pendent on her hat, the chain around one of the ears as she frustratingly sat it there, all out of ideas, grumbling, "Ugh....this is freaking stupid....". The pendent, as if it could hear here, hit her in the eye as she moved. "OWWW! Ugghhhhh, c'mon.....". Then she froze, the gem right in front of her eye as she held it closer to her eye. Everything was green. It was a freaking spyglass to hook onto her hats, my god. And then she held it out towards the window. "Are you kidding me..." - "You came! Bluebell!", Katrina wrapped her arms around sky, holding her tightly, "It was about time, I would've thought you'd be more eager to see my other outside work....". Sky huffed and puffed as she pulled up her pendent, the one katrina gave her, "Well, this thing didn't exactly come with instructions, I had to use this weird spyglass thing at my window, till i found some weird blinking thing in the distance, to find your location, and then i had to SNEAK outside of my room to find you...". She looked over the the green gemstone on top of the wall, the stones were clearly linked somehow to find katrina magically but sky still seemed mad about going through so much effort to make it where she should've been countless times before now if she hadn't been so lazy. "And it took you THAT long? it's been weeks!" "What? No! Things just kinda....got in the way", she felt embarrassed, she should've come sooner, and she promised everyone she would, and still didn't do it. Her procrastinating seemed to never fade did it? Katrina still seemed delighted to see her though, smiling from her hideout, atop the ruins of a giant wall, clearly broken from a past war no doubt. Did she really spend her days watching things from atop a ruined wall? What would she normally even find up here? "Ah, what kinda things?", she was smiling a toothy smile and the mewman groaned. "Trust me, nothing THAT special, but....I'm sure you've heard about the whole....."Masked thief" thing going around? The entire kingdom is kinda in a huff because of it, not to mention security is way tighter to avoid them sneaking back in...". Katrina seemed to get it almost immediately, her eyes diverting to the scene in front of her, "Oh, I know exactly what you mean Sky, I've been on watch for her ever since I heard...I think the monsters have been paranoid about her being a mewman out to get vengeance or something..". "A mewman out for vengeance?". "Yeah, against the royal families for allowing monsters rights and such? You know what some mewmans are like about monsters or half monsters these days.....you're not even a monster and you deal with some flack, i think there have always been rumors for awhile about....secret cults or assassins out to put things back to normal, most of it comes from paranoia of course, but spies like me have caught some crazies out there on the job sadly...you don't think Princess Spiderbite is kept at home or the Lucitor princes are restricted on where they go and what they do for no reason do you? There are dangerous people out there...". "And...you think this is one of them?". "Yes but....you should be careful....because i'm also hearing...you're under suspect from the commission..". "You...hear a lot of things through the grapevine huh?", she had almost forgotten the commission thought she was responsible for the destruction of the archives and tried to take her wand away, it had been awhile since being under suspect had even been brought up and judas made no mention of it when he went to meetings with his parents. Though then again, talking about his best friend like that in front of him would've been a stupid move for them anyway. "Word gets around bluebell......especially when the kingdoms become more heavily guarded and the royals don't leave without bodyguards....besides, you know me, spying is a part time job for me...things slip through the cracks eventually...for example, I assume Judas is out to meet that slime girl?". Sky's eyes widened, then she groaned, "Ugh, does EVERYONE know about that besides our parents? Cause we haven't even done it for very long!". "Oh no, just me....I can see a lot from this point, plus I'm probably keeping better eye on your then the guards anyways..."., she was partially laughing but did seem a little concerned, "Don't worry, I won't snitch, just be careful out there....there's been some weird stuff going on and I'd rather neither of you got hurt on my watch. I know you both can take care of yourselves but if I know you're sneaking out and something happens....that's on me.". "What...weird stuff have you been seeing exactly?". "It's hard to explain, though you know that ponyhead kid? He's been wandering around a lot during the night, I can spot him in the woods sometimes, other times....I spot other people out there, the high commission for one but I can't tell if it's part of their job or not, and some people out there are meant to be out there anyways...". Loki had been wandering around in the woods huh? Yeah, that didn't seem to suit the kid, though it peaked her interests drastically. "Loki's under heavy guard to keep him from running off, he hasn't been like....tagging me or judas for weeks since they locked him up...". "Really? Cause I'm sure it's him...". "Well, judas has said he's been acting strange, tired, more paranoid....dazed....". She hummed and went back to looking over the wall, pulling out binoculars, "That's not a good sign, do you know if he sleepwalks...er....floats? Perhaps he's lacking in rest as a result? Being out in the woods these days, not a good idea....I've tried to catch him, but he's too fast, even for me....and those woods....easy to get lost in. I've been sending reports to his parents you know, but either they aren't listening or whatever they're doing....isn't working..". "You know anything....else going on...that's odd?". "Well, a spy can't tell you everything blue girl...however....i'll tell you this, the high commission are still onto you, be careful, they're looking for more evidence to convict you and the only thing standing in their way of coming to you sooner is your mother..", guess regardless of her mixed feelings towards her mom, she was at least the one thing keeping her from being trialed by the high commission for possible crimes. "You have them on edge, take it from me though, i personally think someone's trying to frame you. That or...the commission is all too eager to remove you from the throne.....". "You think they would do that?". "I put nothing past them after what they pulled with Eclipsa years ago, they're no longer the credible all mighty magic users mewni once saw them. Pretty sure the reason they aren't fired is they don't have anyone to take their place.....but they are still have you under suspicion sky, just....don't trust them, I think they want to believe you're the one under that mask, that your friends are just covering up for you, the stunt that happened with the chandelier? It was only the beginning of trying to make you out worse then you are...". "I got mad during that.....my mom...". "Isn't understanding all the time, or perfect, I know....it's not entirely your fault she leaves you so....emotionally upset. Though, as someone who knew her, she struggled a lot as well, I mean "Fixing" magic? Dying and coming back to life? She went through a lot, and she was just around your age if not younger when she did....and then, she grew up, she kinda had to grow up fast going through all that....she never intended to be so....."Y'know"?". "I guess....". "That's life sometimes, things happen and there's not much you can do about it, your mom wants the best for you she's probably just not...."Good" at expressing that, it's ok though. You'll get through it, you're getting better at magic right?", she held out her wand, "Yeah, I am....i mean...my mom started training me and It did some good....but...I also failed a lot....but then eclipsa started helping and...of all people out here, ANGEL sorta made me realize a lot of the reason I screw up....is cause i lack like...confidence....or well...i'm emotionally messed up..". "Angel? Awww, that's sweet...". "Don't make it creepy.". "Oh don't worry, I just think sometimes you can learn just as much from your enemies, as your friends. And besides, angel is nice boy, sometimes a little stupid and inconsiderate, but a nice boy. I suppose your mother teaching you specifically would make things more complicated wouldn't it? Well, don't worry about it.....your friends will-". Then she went silent, touching sky's shoulder, "Shh, quiet....there the boy is....wandering around again?". Sky looked up and over the wall, squinting. "Uhh....I don't see loki anywhere, I mean...he's bright green....". "That's because he wears a black costume blue girl...., but if you look close enough you can make him out despite that....here", she handed sky her binoculars and sure enough, the outline of a pony could barely been seen as the prince rapidly moved through the woods, "Well, if he's putting on a costume, he's out for a reason....you think he's looking for something?". "Not sure, just know he's scared a lot of villagers passing by because he's so fast and hard to make out...."., the frog woman eyed sky, "I'm not supposed to leave my post tonight since my usual partner ain't here but.....you think we should catch him? I've tried tailing him but he's too fast, but maybe....", she looked to sky's wand and back to her, "You're not perfect I know, But....if you're improving as much as you say you are....see if you can catch that rouge prince before he gets back home, i'll cover for you if you get caught...". "Catch him? You mean go over there and rope him?". "Yep....ever lassoed a stray warnicorn? It's like that....except....it's flying...though, might wanna be careful considering he's royalty. If you can catch him we might be able to find out what he's doing, his parents never listen to me otherwise i'd go to their kingdom and ask myself but....yeah, you know them...". She grabbed the binoculars back as she examined the surroundings, "If you can catch that guy, we might get to properly confront him on this right here, right now...". "You sure we couldn't wait...?". "It'd make good practice....just be careful of the horn, and maybe magic possibly, but it might help you more to use magic in action.", she noted, and she was indeed right. Sky was thinking for a bit, well, if she did catch him she might be able to find out some info, but then again, loki usually lacked anything of interest, even angel at the very least, was fascinatingly annoying, loki was straight up a burden most of the time, and if he weren't being kept in his room he probably would've caught onto sky's little secret uncomfortably fast and blabbed it to the world. "Here.....you are now spy, spies wear this...", she handed sky a dark mask to hide her face, "Here....put this on, might help him have a harder time noticing you...I don't know what he's doing down there, but I think we'll both be better off knowing.". She needed only to look at the mask for a second before grabbing it and pulling it over her head, "Alright, I'll give it a shot, I don't promise i'll catch him though, I have no idea what he's even doing out there...". "Well whatever it is, we outta find out...". Sky creeped away from the way, sneaking over towards the edge of the woods, wand in hand and eyes looking out for sudden movements, she and judas had gotten into a few scrapes, never really to go after anyone of course, but she had recalled times where sneaking around and having your hair stick up on edge was incredibly common for their adventures, that was the thing about mewni at least, you never know what to expect and so much out there was deadly enough to kill you in an instant. Especially out there in the woods. Loki was lucky he hadn't been hurt yet out there, was he using magic against anything that could've killed him? He was pretty cowardly, too cowardly to really fight back that much, too cowardly to sneak into the dark woods at night where he could easily be kidnapped or hurt or worse out there. Maybe he really was sleepwalking or something? Though that probably just meant he should be slamming into every tree he came across, breaking his horn easily. She gripped her wand tighter as she peeked further into the woods, feeling a breeze as something flew past her fast. And then stopped in it's tracks, much to her surprise. "L-Loki?". He turned. He didn't seem normal at all, his eyes were glowing and she couldn't even see the prince's pupils, she barely had time to think when he darted for her and her wand, sky ducking and the prince missing her by a few inches. What? was he trying to impale her or something? He wasn't sleepwalking, that was for sure, he was under some kind of spell. And something about sky and her wand seemed to call to him, he darted again for her and sky put her wand out at him, aiming to hit him. Without hurting him of course, or judas would be PISSED. But then he stopped in his tracks, right in front of the wand, transfixed by it in fact. Sky was panting, shocked by the sight in front of her, was he responding to her being a magic user or something? Did it even really matter? She roped him no trouble with her licorice spell though, right around his mouth, pulling him along and back to katrina, who looked just as stunned as sky was as she got a close look at the spell cast prince. "You caught him...rather....easily....", Katrina reached out to touch the prince's face, he didn't react, whatever spell he was under made him kinda stiff other then the floating his species normally was capable of. "Does he...recognize me? Why would he stop?", Katrina didn't seem to know herself, "Right now, let's just get him home, "Or correction, I'll get him home, you probably shouldn't say anything....I need to report this one sky, he's clearly been tampered with magically. We won't be able to question him till he snaps out of it...and who knows how long that might...last..". Sky circled him, in fascination, "Does this mean...someone's been using him for something?". "It would explain his vanishing for awhile, seems he was an easy target to take control of..", she snapped her fingers in front of his glowing eyes and hummed to herself, taking rein of the "Rope" sky was using. "You better leave blue girl, not safe if masked person is taking control of others for their own benefit. Your safety is incredibly important and I can't risk you ending up like him....". Sky really couldn't argue with that if she tried, though he felt shivers go up and down her spine as she removed the mask she was wearing. "S-should I tell judas? About this?". "The sooner the better, if he's here it's highly likely the masked one isn't too far away...". "Alright, I'll-". Then before her eyes, Loki's eyes returned to normal, the prince fainting and falling only to be caught by katrina quickly, he came to shorty after, dazed and very much confused. He looked between the monster and half-mewman and blinked at them, "Uh....what? Sky, you're kidnapping me? Where you taking me? Tell me you're taking me away from my parents....". Sky gave him a look, and the pony went back to floating, his hair waving and gills working as normal. "Uh....w-why are you staring at me....is...what am i wearing?!...ugh...", he seemed drowsy, even if he wasn't in control of his body, his body still seemed to have all the same affects it normally would've if he had had them, he still seemed a little out of it and katrina looked back to sky as loki finally noticed he had been roped. "Don't worry your highness, I'll explain later, c'mon....we're heading out....", she looked over to sky and motioned to her spyglass, "I'll lead you back home, follow, but once we get back, don't come looking for me anytime soon....I'll come to you next time we need to talk...". "Wait, what's going on...I-I..", she shushed loki, "C'mon, we move.....". And she was out of sight quickly after, tugging the prince behind her as sky grabbed her things, summoning her bat-winged cloudy to catch up. - "Landon...sweetie?", Marco knocked on the boy's bedroom door, hearing a small "Yeah?" from the other side. Marco opened the door to find the boy.....reading a book on magic? And Celeste was with him in the corner, writing something. Marco didn't pay her much mind though, wanting to see their son specifically. Landon looked up at the sight of them and seemed a little embarrassed, he wasn't entirely over the fact he dissapointed Marco as badly as he did. "Hi mom......", he was flipping through the book, specifically on the pages about the butterfly wand, the recorded gemstones it had had in it's history and such, finding any info he could on his mission, his knowledge of sky's wand was limited, but maybe....if he knew more about it......he might have an easier time getting a hold of it and finding out what about it had suddenly gotten luna's attention. Maybe he could figure it out himself? Before she or anyone else could? Though his mom entering the room was a bit of a distraction as he put the book down, he just hoped it wasn't anything.....bad, he was getting a little too used to getting bad news for his liking and he especially hated hearing it come from his mother of all people. But his mother seemed rather happy, their first instinct being to ruffle their son's hair, being mindful of his sharp horns, "I'm glad you made another friend landon, you called bernard recently? I'd like to have him over at some point....so we can all get to know him...". "Mommmmmm~", he was giving her a childish grumble but his mom only seemed to laugh and find it adorable. "C'mon, I think it's a good idea, sky's been over for meals so many times in the past but you've never invited a friend over for dinner to meet the rest of us, I think it'd be nice for all of us to get to know him a bit better, well, as long as his parents were cool with it. I know the whole "being rulers of the underworld" thing, doesn't work with everyone...". "Well, I'll ask, I....I do want him to come over.....soon...", he couldn't see if but he had a feeling celeste was smirking and rolling her eyes from her seat, "You think he'll be cool with......all this? I mean, he saw a little of it and he says it'll be fine but....". The human covered his mouth, "Don't worry about what he thinks, if he can't accept your home and culture, then you can find better friends out there who do care about you and your culture...ok?". The queen removed their hand and landon sighed, "I-I guess....". "Anyways, I came here because I have a package for you....from your brother..", as if by magic, which it probably was, marco pulled out a box from behind them, a rather long box in fact. It didn't take long for Landon to get an idea about what it was, he just was mixed about taking it. His mother though, seemed entirely aware of this, their attitudes to each other at more recent dinners and such most likely gave it away rather quickly since landon was maybe a little too easy to read for his mom. "Open it.....please? I know you two are still mad at each other but.....at least see what he got you...". He sighed but complied, ripping open the package and the paper being used to cushion the object as he found....a new violin bow. Oh yeah, judas did promise him a new one awhile back didn't he? It was beautiful though, back and red with a small wooden skull carved on the top. He stared at it, at a loss for words when he noticed a note in the box as well, pulling it out and looking over it. Yep, it was clearly from his older brother, and he almost considered scrapping it for a moment. But his mom was there and....well....he'd kinda be the worst if he did that, wouldn't he? Sigh --------- Landon, I don't want us to keep fighting like this, but i know you don't want to speak with me so for me this was the best way I could talk to you. Listen, I don't mean to make you feel however you feel, whether it makes you feel inferior or unliked or....that our family prefers me. I never asked for this, to be cursed and have to deal with people either despising me, fearing me, or so sympathetic towards me that....it makes you and others feel insignificant. I feel like a burden sometimes, personally, especially to our family who have to spend so much time arguing about taking care of me or trying to help me that even asking for help feels like crossing a line to some degree. I don't like being the guy everyone is worried about or is pressured to be so many things or i'll blow up like a bomb. You're lucky landon, you're free to do what you want, no pressure, to go out there and make a name for yourself. Mewni has already decided both those things for me, and it's something I have to deal with whether i want it or not. I never meant to come off like i didn't care, you know how much i hate hurting my friends or family members, you're still my brother and I don't want us to keep fighting. We need to talk about this stuff more, in person, I'm not mad with you, and you don't me owe me anything but, just understand I never intended for things to go this kinda way in our relationships. Maybe i could've better, about everything...and maybe I sound kinda bad by trying to make any kind of excuses in this, I guess it just doesn't feel...fair to be blamed for something that's just....out of my control. But If you need a real apology, because i REALLY don't want to come off like i'm trying to guilt trip you...can we talk? In person? We should talk and sort this out, together. I hope you like the bow, It finally came in after awhile and I figured this was the best place i could leave a note since i promised you a bow. just....tell me when, ok? Judas. -------- Landon put the note back in the box quickly, a fast reaction and most likely a resort of his lingering anger. But his face softened a little and marco sighed, "Listen, you can't stay mad at your brother forever, you know how badly he hates hurting you or sky or anyone, he's not perfect but he does love you and mason. This.....this feels more like something you have with me and your father, not with him. And.....we're sorry if you ever felt like we treated you any different". Oh boy, this was NOT the conversation he expected to get today. No sire. He could hear celeste coughing awkwardly from her spot as his mom continued to speak, "Listen, things are rough lately, especially since all the kingdoms are paranoid and the high commission themselves are failing to help solve the problems despite our efforts, but right now, we need to work things out between us, not create a bigger divide. We love all of you and maybe we're not the world's greatest parents but you should speak up about this....if you feel.....like this.". "It just wasn't...". "Landon, we're your parents, you should be able....to talk to us...about these things, if you're afraid to speak to us then....we feel like we failed you three as parents. And you three are our whole world....", landon frowned, his ear twitching as he could hear celeste was no longer writing, in fact, she most likely was listening to the words of the human very closely in fact. Celeste of course, took no interest in in talking about her family back home, but he got the feeling whatever his mom was talking about....meant something to her. "Mom....it's...It's complicated...". "Well, when it came to my parents? For awhile we were kinda distant from each other....they barely talked to me and I barely talked to them and we were growing apart.....and when we realized it, we realized we needed to fix it and mend our bond again. Landon, talk to us....please...if you need to, and we'll do our best to fix whatever's been bothering you...at it's roots. We want to be better for you and your brothers if possible....", they sighed and took a seat on the bed, "You and your brother need to talk, work things between you, we need to sort this all out...". Landon grumbled and Marco gave him a look, making him quiet down and sigh, "Ok, sure....I guess...". This seemed to ease the human, putting their arm around landon in a sort of side hug, "He's your brother landon, you can't stay mad at him forever, look out for each other...alright?". Landon looked up at the human sadly, "And mason?", rewarded with another laugh and head rub from his mother. "Of course, he's your little brother after all, he needs you too as he grows up...". "Is he....ok?". "Well, lately he's been hanging around the stables more recently, since he's in trouble for his plants his garden time and what he takes care of has been more...restricted, we should've kept a closer eye on him and that was on us....however, the skeleton horses are fine as long as he's careful, but you know how much he loves animals. I think he just needed some time away from the garden for a little bit to get some fresh air somewhere else, he's still being kept an eye on though," they winked, "The stables are luckily indoors thankfully...considering the horses don't need to graze...". "I'm sorry mom..". "No, you're still a teenager, i remember being your age, being a moody teen who thought i knew better and had my life figured out....before i realized i was being a complete idiot. We both, me and Tom, we knew this kinda stuff was coming when we wanted to be parents...we just don't want to make the same mistakes our parents might've made and just be the best we can be. We just want you all to have a good future, and if we're letting you down.....that's rough for us...", but they smiled, laughing to themselves. "It'll be fine landon, you're a smart boy, let's all just try and do better in the future, ok?". Landon felt his head lean on his mother's shoulder, on instinct, and was he...crying? "It's alright.....just relax....let it all out...", They were looking over to celeste, hoping they weren't embarrassing their son by having this conversation, but it didn't seem to be a big concern of landon's. He wiped at his eyes, trying to calm down, "Ugh...mom can't you just let me be a bitter and mad teen?". Which seemed to make them both laugh as landon felt some of his usual makeup run down his face, great, now he'd have to wash up before it stained his clothes. Though his mom kissing at his face seemed to draw his attention elsewear as he swatted at them playfully, "Sorry, as your mom I refuse to let you stay bitter and mad at your brother for the rest of your life, it's a important rule for me as a parent.". Landon snorted at them, dear god he was still mad at judas but he knew well that his mom had this kinda affect on him, if anyone in this family could talk him into doing something, it would have to be marco. "M-MOM, Celeste is here!", he said, half amused, half annoyed. "That didn't bother you before, c'mon.....you're never too old to get kisses from your mom!", marco tugged them close to affectionate peck them more and landon was reduced to nothing but laughs before his mom finally, FINALLY let up, Landon red-faced and actually smiling. "I-I'll talk to judas...I guess....but...I'm still kinda mad at him....I can't really help it". Marco seemed to understand though, nodding along, "If you've felt that way for years, it's hard to blame you....but...please talk with each other...ok?". "Yeah mom....". Celeste went back to scrawling, trying to ignore the scene going on nearby, even though she was very much lost in thought at this point in time. Thoughts swarming of back home and she found the pen dropping from her hands once again despite her protests. Swatting away little tears before they could streak down her face. - "I'm sorry Nora...I know you were hoping for more from me today but it's gonna take longer to get what we need.". He sounded guilty as he paced around the princess's room, biting at his lips and crossing his arms, his ears twitching and listening for any signs of trouble during this meeting. He could spot nora taking small notes for her journal as she listened to him speak, but even though at times she seemed to be shyly avoiding eye contact with him, he could tell she looked worried about him, well, more worried then what he had been used to with her in the past. "Jude, i-it's fine, i didn't expect you to get it immediately anyway...your dad is nice, i'm sure he'll come around, he just needs....time...like he said. Let him have time and we can look more into this stuff in the meantime...", he nodded, she was kinda right, he was thinking about this way too much, worrying way too much. There were other matters to worry about as is and he should take advantage of the time he had here while it was still going. He felt he couldn't help it in a way though, even if he knew it was stupid. "Y-you're right, i guess i'm just stressed out...and confused and...a lot is on my mind these days..."., it was true, in the last few days he got hit with WAY too many things at once, way too many things he wanted to still talk about, mostly with sky. It was as if one problems was being topped off with another and he wasn't given enough time to recover from the last even though he wanted to desperately, he'd been trying to focus on everyone else today to distract him but it was a lot harder now, when Nora's prime focus was him. Being calm and trying to stay cool seemed to have escaped from him these days, he was trying so hard to be the most responsible and the biggest adult in the room and now all he felt like doing was letting everything out of his system, he supposed maybe he had been letting all these matters grow inside him for too long, he almost made himself the ringleader of this entire situation and having that topped off with so many other problems seemed to have formed some cracks he usually tried to seal. God, what would it be like when he was king and was dealing with even more on his plate at this rate? He almost wondered if some of those people out there were right, about him not being able to handle it, about being set off but he still scoffed at it, he was being insecure again and he almost wished he could crawl up in a ball or vent. He felt he was almost growing a headache and he tried to quickly calm down before nora panicked about him maybe coming down with something. He was a prince, he needed to pull himself together and handle this, he needed to clear his mind and calm down. "Oh.....would you like to...uh..?", she didn't seem to know how to say it, that or, she couldn't spit it out to the boy. But Judas seemed to know what she was trying to say regardless, "I want to talk about it....but...I don't think I can.....it's....well, a lot of it is private..". "Oh..", her voice must've sounded a little saddened judging by judas's quick reaction, turning towards her, a little stressed as he tried to ease the situation and explain himself. "It's nothing against you it's just.....I think I've put enough weight on your shoulders, I feel lately like....maybe i'm making you too uncomfortable by pushing you to do these things for me, even if you want to, and for now, I don't want to push any more on your back. I sorta just, wanted to help you get out of your shell, but it feels more like i'm doing this more for me because i feel guilty about mistakes i made in the past and, I don't want to do that anymore....I just want us to hang out...like friends....no huge issues, no pressure, we hang out and work together and...yeah...". "Judas...are you...sure you're ok?", she sounded nervous, moving hair from her face and looking at his rather closely, all judas's mumbling making her rather worried. "No one...was mean to you today....were they? Is it really just....what you were saying?". Judas waved it off though, "I'll be fine, there's just so much on my mind and I wish i could talk about it more but....I can't, you don't have to worry I'll hopefully cool off and get back on track...". He went quiet, he was rambling, probably making a fool out of himself out of stress when he was supposed to be relaxed and focused, he must look incredibly stupid right now in front of nora, who had no idea about all the messy details and problems he was going through. He was lost in thought about Meteora, wondering if maybe it was too much to ask Eclipsa if he and Sky could meet her in person, though at this point it was most likely she was off having a great life, maybe married, maybe wanted to be left alone. and what would he say anyway? There was nothing to say to a person he didn't really know, who he thought was dead and knew nothing of what happened. And his dad, geez everything about that was judas walking on dangerous territory, especially with how his dad was about the whole thing. He wasn't even sure about seeing him again, dinner would just be plain awkward, and it was already awkward enough with landon. And don't get him started on stuff with angel, it honestly wasn't his top priority but if eclipsa and globgor found it strange, him finding it strange couldn't be that weird, though he was happy sky seemed to have gotten along with the boy. There was just a lot to think about, and worry about. He hoped Sky was doing better and she was not sitting in her room, still fiddling with the charm Katrina gave her. He found himself leaning against a wall, keeping his mouth closed shut, nora taking some notes in her little journal, she didn't seem to want to push him any further right now, letting him take some time to clear his own find. He wondered if this was how luna felt most of the time, constantly worried and stressed, feeling like her world was collapsing and being incredibly anxious as she worked alongside her own mother who had taken a VERY big liking to her and he obvious skills. Maybe he gave her too much flack for being such a stick in the mud, considering how much stress she was under over her situation, even if she wasn't the best about it. She was most likely already planning her own solutions, probably behind their back if she had to to get some results. He wouldn't hold it past her in all fairness, considering the results they had been getting where less then ideal, though in all fairness so much more was at risk if they were caught as opposed to her. "Judas....?" "Yes?" "Y-you don't have to be so....nervous around me, y-you seem so....scared i'll get mad...or...something like that?", she was looking at him with her soft green eyes and judas suddenly felt embarrassed, "Well no, it's just...I feel like...I keep screwing up, trying to talk to you and I just...I don't wanna come off like....like a jerk, not to you. I'm just not....I'm not perfect.....at talking to people sometimes, and I just...with everything happening...I just don't want to hurt anyone again". She blinked at him softly, it was as if she wasn't used to him acting like this, so nervous and worried and as if he were falling apart. "You're not a jerk judas..I don't think you are at least...", she hid her face in her book a little more," You're nice and you just like helping people, y-you..... ". Then she stopped. "Nora?" "My parents....I can hear them coming...your spells are sending an alert....you have to remove the magic off the door and hide....or they'll suspect something!", and sure enough, the eyes off his skull chain lock were glowing, a perfect silent alert system for them in case their soundproofing didn't work. That had to mean the arrival of King and Queen spiderbite were only seconds away and boy judas was the last person they would want to find in nora's bedroom of all places. Judas was fast, darting under the bed and snapping his fingers, the enchantments leaving the door quickly after. Hearing two figures make their way in, he kept his mouth shut and hoped he hadn't made it apparent someone else was in the room, though much to his surprise, the conversation going on had little to nothing to do with him, or the fact they may of heard something. Instead, they both sounded worried, even a little panicked. That couldn't be a good sign. "Nora, you need to come with us....", the queen was walking towards the bed, and judas could imply she was most likely grabbing onto her daughter's arm, "What? Mom, is something bad happening?". The woman only frantically pulled her off the bed, "We saw her, out the window, we need to get you somewhere safe, we're on high alert! The guards are on alert and the commission will be here any second....c'mon". Nora wasn't even given much of a time to react when she was pulled out of her room, the door shutting behind her, leaving the boy in complete darkness under the girl's bed. Her? Wait... He was only given a few more minutes of panic before he heard footsteps. LOUD footsteps. And he held his breath as a cloak, or most likely, a black dress, dragged across the floor in front of him. Oh No.

#star vs the forces of evil #svtfoe #svstfoe #sky and the forces of the multiverse #Starkie bby #ostar bby #janstar bby #tomco bby #tomstar bby #starco bby #fanfiction #fanfic #my art #spiderslime #marco #marco diaz

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