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thdorkmagnet · 4 years

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Light of the Sun and Stars Chapter 36: Believe in Babs Part 2

Summary: His whole life Marco Diaz has been raised by monsters, living under the cruel rule of their leader, Toffee. But one day Marco escapes into Mewni where he meets a magical princess and Mewman like himself, who begins teaching him all about her world. Together they will learn about life, love, and the lights within each of them, as they change their world forever.

Chapter Synopsis: As the Monsters, Jackie, and Higgs get closer to discovering Babs’s true intentions, Star and Marco find themselves eating lunch with the dangerous assassin and catch a more personal glimpse into her life, leaving the teens questioning, who is Babs really? Friend or foe?

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Index

Disclaimer: Star vs and all its characters are owned by Daron Nefcy and Disney. All rights go to them.

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The restaurant Babs had in mind was a lot sketchier than Star and Marco had been expecting. In fact, Star wasn't sure it could be considered a restaurant at all, its small dining area giving the blond a severe case of claustrophobia the longer she was inside. The building was located at the corner of a fairly deserted part of town, no sign or banner letting anyone know that it was even there, in fact, Star had thought for a second that Babs was leading them to an empty building. That was until she had opened the door and a nauseous array of fumes had hit the two teens' senses, both fighting their gags as they pinched the bridges of their noses in disgust. Somehow, the small Mewman seemed unaffected by the toxic gases as she instead (willingly) took in a deep breath of air, saying wistfully, "Ahh, it's good to be back."

"Um, hey Babs?" Marco spoke up, still trying to fight back the wave of nausea that was threatening to overcome him. "Not to be rude, but you think maybe we could go somewhere different? Like, Fang Tangs or-" the boy began only to be interrupted by the cat lover.

"Ahh, those places are just a bunch of sell-outs," the girl complained, sounding almost hostile as she spoke of the other restaurants. "Who needs health codes and menus and all those fancy things..." she continued, breaking down into a coughing fit out of nowhere, and Star and Marco shared a worried look, which they suppressed as Babs turned back their way. "...when you can have all of this!"

She gestured to the open bar with a bright smile, while Star and Marco were less than impressed by the greasy, dirty restaurant in front of them, but decided it best not to voice these thoughts out loud. "Yep," the young woman said with an almost affectionate sigh. "If you want some real food, this is the place for it."

Marco gave Star a frightened look, whispering nervously to her, "I'm not sure I'm ready for 'real food'."

"I know, me neither," Star softly squeaked to her boyfriend.

But the two found they had no choice in the matter as they were soon sitting at a wobbly, broken-down table in the middle of the restaurant, a plate holding only a single taco each sitting in front of them. The two eyed their lunch nervously, worried the secret traitor might be trying to poison them, before looking up at Babs who had at least a dozen of them in front of her, stuffing them down her throat like there was no tomorrow. "Well, what are ya waiting for? Hurry and eat up, before the food gets cold," Babs commanded them around mouthfuls, causing her voice to be slightly muffled.

Star and Marco gulped, not sure if they had it in them to even try the taco, still feeling hesitant to eat anything that came from this run-down building. But, seeing no other alternative, Star slowly obeyed, picking her taco up off the plate, mumbling hesitantly, "Okay, I guess."

Marco followed his girlfriend's lead but flashed a quick pleading look over to the nearest window, where his father and Boo Fly were watching them. Finally, the two fought past their hesitancy, each taking a small bite of their tacos. There was a beat of silence as the two just chewed their food thoughtfully. That was until an intense burning unlike anything they had ever felt before hit their taste buds and both Star and Marco were soon spitting out their food out to try and rid themselves of the horrible sensation. "Ahh, my tongue!" Marco screamed in pain, grabbing his cup of water and gulping it down his now parched throat. Star meanwhile, was just coughing as she tried to fight through the unbearable blaze that her mouth had become, tears of pain welling up in her eyes as she tried to fan her face with her hands. Finally, she whipped her wand out, summoning a large ice cube which she didn't even hesitate to stuff into her mouth, letting out a relieved sigh as the coldness soothed her burning tongue. All the while, Babs just ate her tacos, giving them both a blank stare as she watched them suffer, only pausing to scoff under her breath and mutter, "Noobies."

Once Star no longer felt like her mouth was on fire, she turned to the girl with a glare and shouted, "What the heck, Babs!! Are you trying to kill us!"

"Oh relax, princess," the older Mewman scoffed. "It was just a few pain peppers, nothing to get so worked up over."

Marco quickly clutched onto the blond's arm, coughing out in a dry tone, "Star, I think I'm melting!"

Star gave her boyfriend a sympathetic look, handing him her own glass of water, before shooting Babs a scolding look, "Pain peppers? I thought those things were outlawed?"

"Well sure if you want to get technical about it," the small Mewman replied and Star felt her eye twitch against her will, fighting not to lose her calm as she just sucked in a relaxing breath.

"Okay, well I think me and Marco are done with lunch," she said as politely as her voice would allow at the moment, pushing her plate forward.

"Sweet, mind if I take it?" Babs asked, with no concern whatsoever for her companions' lack of appetite, eying the tacos greedily.

"Sure knock yourself out," Star said absentmindedly, her focus and attention on Marco, patting his back as he still seemed to be struggling to breathe regularly again. But the two teens' attention was drawn back to Babs as they watched the cat-lover quickly devour their food, swallowing it down no problem, before licking her lips as if enjoying her meal. She noticed them watching her and asked in slight annoyance, "What?"

"How are you able to eat that stuff? Isn't it too hot?" Marco asked in disbelief, sounding almost impressed.

"Maybe to your baby taste buds, but not to me," Babs replied simply, before taking another large bite of her food.

"But... how?" Star asked, completely dumbfounded by what she was seeing, her mouth hanging open.

Babs hesitated, stopping mid-bite as she seemed to think her answer over for awhile. Finally, her eyes met the two and she said in a suddenly serious tone, "You wanna know a secret?"

The two leaned forward on instinct, their brains spinning with questions as they wondered if the assassin was really about to expose herself or not. But finally, the girl spoke, saying in a soft tone, "It's my Trait."

The young couple hadn't been expecting that Star just staring forward in confusion, while Marco gasped in wonder, "Wow, it lets you eat spicy food?!"

"Yes, but there is a bit more to it than that," Babs added.

"How so?" Star asked, slowly raising an eyebrow.

The cat lover looked left and right, making sure no one was around, before cupping a hand over her mouth and whispering to them, "I'm not sure if you've noticed this or not, but I tend to get sick very easily," Babs admitted honestly.

Star sat there stunned for a second, before realizing she was being serious and loudly cleared her throat, trying to hide her unsurprised look and not act like it was too obvious... which it was. "Yeah, I might have picked up on that," she told her, hoping she didn't come across as sounding sarcastic.

The young Mewman nodded, looking impressed with the blond royal, which only confused Star further. After all, Marco had picked up on that fact and this was only his first time meeting her. "Well, there's actually a good reason why I do that. Basically, my Trait makes it so that my immune system is weak against things like viruses and stuff like that, buttt in exchange I'm immune to any form of toxins or poison whatsoever."

"Wait seriously?!" Marco exclaimed, slamming his hands down on the table, standing up in his chair and leaning precariously over the table.

"Yep, it's true, and as a bonus, I also can eat spicy foods or even frozen foods without a problem," she added, before holding up the only remaining taco. "Hence, this delicious baby right here!" She quickly stuffed the food into her mouth, swallowing it down after only a couple of bites.

Star gave Marco a gentle tug on his hood and he sat back down safely in his chair, as the two watched her finish off the last of her meal. The two tried to hide their disgust at the gross way she was devouring the greasy taco, before the hooded teen cleared his throat of the bile and said, "Y'know, you could help a lot of people with a gift like that."

Babs met his eye, giving him a baffled look. "Like how?" she asked skeptically.

The boy just shrugged. "I don't know, I've heard of the castle having taste testers to make sure food isn't poisoned, you could do something like that?" he suggested weakly.

The older Mewman just rolled her eyes, saying bitterly, "Yeah, not interested. Helping people isn't my thing. The only thing I care about is me and my cats."

"Well, you should try it sometime, it feels pretty nice to help others," Star informed her, smiling brightly at the young-looking Mewman.

Babs didn't say anything after that, only sending them a narrowed and searching stare that made the young couple uncomfortable the longer it lingered on their forms. An awkward silence filled the room as both Star and Marco struggled to keep from wiggling in their seats, suddenly wanting away from the possible traitor, a million questions circling in the blond's head. Had she upset her somehow? Had she pushed her too hard? Or worse, had she given away something about their true intentions? Did Babs know what they were up to?! Why else would she be staring at them like that?

Then to Star's surprise and disbelief, Babs actually smiled at her (really, genuinely smiled) before saying softly, "I'll keep that in mind." She looked down at her hands for a second before her eyes darted back up to the teens, clearly trying to decide on whether or not she should tell them something or not. But the answer turned out to be yes as she added, "Y'know, I've been trying to figure out why you helped me out back there and have been so nice to me, even after the way I blew you off when we first met. Not gonna lie, it really confused me. Most people I know don't treat me like that. But you and your boyfriend, well, I'm glad you're different. I guess what I'm trying to say is... I'm grateful to you both."

"S-Sure, no problem," the blond royal chocked out, not expecting such a genuine answer from the person they were spying on and her heart clenched some as she realized that her intentions weren't as noble as Babs seemed to think they were.

"What are friends for?" Marco added in his typical cheerfulness, but for some reason this caused Babs to visibly flinch.

She seemed to be studying them once again before she admitted softly, "Friends? Huh, haven't had one of those in a long time?"

And there it was, the opportunity Star had been waiting for. Babs had just presented the perfect segway to ask about any 'acquaintances' she might have and possibly gain some much-needed info on Rasticore. But for some reason, Star couldn't bring herself to do it, the look of pure sadness in Babs' eyes, causing the blond royal's throat to close up every time she tried to question her. Finally, Star just swallowed the lump, letting out a mental sigh of disappointment, before telling the older Mewman sweetly, "Well... you do now."

And then the two's eyes locked and a look of understanding passed between one another as a smile slowly spread on both Star and Bab's lips. For a second, there was a real connection between the two as both ladies realized they may have misjudged the other. Babs' initial thoughts toward the princess was that she was just another stuck up royal who only cared about getting what she wanted, but now saw the true heart of gold that lay beneath, while Star had pegged Babs as just a jerk and a traitor... but now saw that maybe there was more to her than that, maybe she was just misunderstood... like the Monsters had been.

Marco just watched as the two ladies re-sized the other up, not sure what to do and so decided to let his girlfriend handle whatever was going on and just awkwardly took another small sip of his water. Until he spotted the others in the window behind Babs waving to him, Jackie, Higgs, and the other Monsters among them, trying to gain his attention. The boy, seeing this, immediately did a spit take, spraying the empty rows of tables next to him and drawing the attention of everyone in the room, which consisted of just the three of them plus a very annoyed looking chef. Both Babs and Star raised their eyebrows at the hooded teen, but before either could ask what was wrong, Marco had shot up from his seat, shouting, "I need to talk to Star alone for a minute!"

"What, why?" Babs immediately asked, suspicion clear in her tone, once more.

Star opened her mouth to ask the same thing when she too spotted the others outside and her body froze up at once. The small Mewman seemed to notice this and began turning in her seat to see what was freaking them out so badly, asking, "And what are you looking at?" Time seemed to slow for the two teens, who felt their hearts simultaneously drop, a bizarre sensation since their bond made them feel their partner's reaction too, creating a weird echoing effect in the young couple's chests.

Luckily, Buff Frog and the others anticipated the movement, and ducked out of sight, meaning Babs was left staring at an empty street outside, a look of pure confusion written all over her face. "Nothing," Star said, once she had recovered from the initial scare. She inwardly cringed at how forced her voice sounded even to her own ears and she mentally slapped herself for the mess up but did her best to play it off naturally as she just rose up from her seat with a bright smile. "Um, but I think what Marco meant to say was he just remembered something important we needed to take care of real quick," Star said, much more calmly than before, while Marco just rapidly nodded next to her, not sure what to say. "Sorry, but if you'd please excuse us for just a minute."

The blond then tried to casually guide her boyfriend out the door in the least suspicious way possible, making sure to move at a slow pace and keeping a firm grip on Marco's arm so he would do the same while shooting an apologetic smile back over her shoulders at Babs the whole way. The moment the door closed shut, Star and Marco quickened their pace, running around the side of the building and quickly meeting up with the others, pausing as they took in the sight of the girls and Monsters awkwardly crouched beneath the window, except Spike Balls who had pressed himself flat against the wall to keep from being spotted by the assassin. But they got over their shock quickly as they both dropped down on their knees too, Star excitedly whispering, "Guys, you're back."

"Did everything go okay?" Marco asked, worriedly.

The group all shared a look, before Lobster Claws said hesitantly, "Uhh, yeah we had a run-in with that creepy cat, but it was nothing we couldn't handle."

Marco's gaze landed on Higgs, who was oddly staring at the ground and not meeting anyone's eye. "Well, I bet I owe you a debt of gratitude, Higgs. You probably took care of that house cat like it was nothing," the hooded teen said pleasantly, flashing her one of his signature smiles.

The young knight's response to this though, caught Marco off guard, as instead of bragging and playing herself up like usual, she just uncharacteristically shrugged, merely letting out a numb sounding, "I guess." Then she just went back to staring at her feet, her eyes filled with emotions Marco couldn't interpret which she quickly hid behind a stony mask, closing up on them altogether.

The boy looked helplessly over to Jackie, who was staring at the redhead sadly, and when their eyes met Marco could tell that she was as worried about Higgs as he was. But the skater didn't dwell on this, merely clearing her throat and said, "But, on the bright side, our mission was a total success." She then reached behind her and held out the stuffed cat for her two friends to see, and handing it over to the startled blond. "This has everything we ever wanted to know about Babs."

Marco cocked his head to the side and asked innocently, "Sooo, do we just ask it stuff and it'll tell us or-"

The others all shared a smile, before Star said, "Actually, Marco I think she means that Babs has been hiding her secrets inside here."

"Ohhhh," the hooded teen said in understanding and the group had to hold back their giggles over just how cute he was sometimes.

"So then this toy have proof of Babs working with Rasticore?" Buff Frog asked seriously.

"Sure does," Jackie replied, pulling the photo out of her pocket and handing it to the Monster leader. "Check it out, we found this inside."

The frog Monster studied the picture gravely, nodding thoughtfully to himself as his brain spun with this confirmation. He set the photo on the ground before pulling out his own scrap and lining it up with the new one, the image matching up perfectly with its counterpart. "Well, there'zzz your proof right there," Boo Fly said and the others muttered their agreements, all except Star and Marco who stared at the photo sadly, wishing that there was some way what they were seeing wasn't true. But there was no way to deny it, Babs was indeed every bit the traitor they had thought she was. And while an hour ago that would have felt like a huge victory, it now only left them feeling... bittersweet.

Babs sat impatiently at the table waiting for the two teens to return, her fingers drumming away on the tabletop, as she wondered why the two had turned into total weirdos there at the end. But these thoughts were cut short as there was a sudden loud meow from inside her pocket and the small Mewman quickly whipped out her phone, recognizing the noise as her text notification. She stared at the screen blankly for a few seconds as she read over the message before letting out a loud puff of air, blowing a few bangs out of her eyes, a grave expression crossing her face. "Great. He had to pick now of all times," the girl muttered under her breath.

Her eyes glanced over to the doorway, feeling torn on what to do. She needed to leave now, but that would mean ditching the two kids and disappearing on them out of nowhere. But at the same time, if she did wait around for them to get back, she would no doubt have to deal with many curious questions about why she had to take off out of the blue like that and she wasn't sure she felt like dealing with that right now. Plus, he did not like to be kept waiting. Meaning she really only had one choice...

Buff Frog finally picked up on the sad frowns on the kid's faces and asked them both worriedly, "Is everything alright? You two seem unhappy about something."

"Yeah, come on, guys, we're about to catch Rasticore, aren't you two excited?" Lobster Claws added, giving them a confused look.

"Yeah, that's... great," the blond said softly and the others only proceeded to give her strange looks.

"Uhh, we almost died getting you this evidence, the least you could do is be grateful about it," Higgs spoke up, her voice regaining a bit of its cynical sharpness.

"No, we're grateful, really," Marco defended, giving each of them a halfhearted smile, before his brown met Star's blue. "It's just that, well-"

"We were kinda hoping maybe we were wrong about Babs," Star admitted, seeing the others' faces mixing into a range of sympathy to downright disbelief. "Okay, okay, I know how it sounds," the girl continued, fully aware of just how naïve she sounded right now. "It's just, she didn't seem like she was all that bad. When we talked to her she seemed more lonely than anything else."

"Yeah and I mean maybe she made some mistakes but so did all of you and look where you are now," Marco added.

"I understand," Buff Frog said, putting a hand on his son's shoulder, his eyes jumping between the two. "You two have good hearts, trying to see good in people." His sympathetic smile turned into a somber frown. "But in this case, I fear Babs take advantage of that kindness and trick you into believing her lies."

Star and Marco let out dejected sighs, their heads lowering some in shame, as the blond royal depressingly stated, "Yeah, you're probably right." Her gaze hardened, pounding the ground once as she snapped bitterly, "Can't believe we actually almost fell for her lies like that."

"Hey, it's okay, Star," Jackie said, slowly reaching up and brushing some stray hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear. "It happens to the best of us. The important thing is you saw through it."

"Da, and now we that we know for sure her relations to assassin, all we must do is wait for her to lead us to Rasticore," Buff Frog added, clenching a raised fist with determination.

Potato Baby suddenly muttered something to his friend, tapping Lobster Claws on the shoulder to gain his attention, which caused both Marco and Lobster Claws to stare at him in shock, the hooded teen translating anxiously, "Um, guys, Potato wants to know if we're all talking, who's keeping an eye on Babs?"

There was a beat of silence, letting that question sink in before everyone simultaneously shouted, "Oh no!" and bolted to their feet to check on their target. Panic set in a second later as they spotted the empty chair that Babs was once in, as their eyes darted around looking for any signs of her in the restaurant. "What?! No, no, no she can't be gone!" Star exclaimed in alarm, unable to believe they had possibly just lost their target. The blond quickly ran for the entrance, the others hesitating only for an instant before chasing after her, the royal busting the door of the empty restaurant open in a hurry. She did a quick check of the building, but sure enough, Babs was gone, the only occupant remaining being the greasy, angry chef.

Star, not wanting to waste another second, raced over to the man, asking in a slightly winded tone, "Um, excuse me, did you see where the lady we were eating with went?" She tried not to sound too freaked but did a pretty poor job of hiding it, especially considering her companions all looked on the urge of either passing out or turning into a panicked mess.

The man gave her sour expression, saying gruffly, "Yeah, she went out the backdoor," the man said, pointing over to said door with the spatula in his hand. "Said something about an important meeting or something."

"So wait, you're saying she ditched us!" Star exclaimed, anger replacing worry as she felt her blood boil.

The man rolled his eyes, arguing, "Isn't that what you and your boyfriend did to her, not like ten minutes?"

"That's completely different," Star hissed turning her back on the man, her hands shaking at her side as she fought to keep her emotions under control.

"Did she at least say where she was going?" Marco tried.

"What do I look like, her babysitter?" the man snapped. "Now hurry up and pay for the meal you owe me and get out."

Star rolled her eyes, pulling a wad of cash out of her pocket and slamming it down on the table next to the man, muttering bitterly under her breath, "Thanks for nothing."

The group slowly shuffled out of the restaurant with depressed frowns, all of them quickly slumping around the dirty alleyway in defeat.

"Oh man, I can't believe we forgot to watch her!" Star groaned, slamming her head into the hard brick, ignoring the sting that followed. "Now we'll probably never find her!"

"How? How could we be so stupid?!" Lobster Claws shouted, shaking his claws dramatically up at the sky.

"We could try and zzearch for her," Boo Fly weakly suggested.

"Would do no good," Buff Frog said with an exhausted sigh. "She is assassin, she be sure to cover her tracks."

"You think she figured out what we were doing?" Marco asked guiltily, knowing if she did it was most likely because of his freakout before.

"Is possible, but most likely she left to meet up with partner," the amphibian replied rubbing at his tired eyes, the heavy bags making him look like he had just aged twenty years. How could he be so stupid? How could he have taken his eyes off of her? Now thanks to his ignorance, he had just ruined everything they had been trying to achieve in an instant. "And we stuck here, with no way to follow or any clue where she went. All that work, for absolutely nothing."

Jackie was just staring forward thoughtfully, trying to come up with some sort of plan. Until suddenly her eyes widened and her eyes slowly shifting over to the stuffed cat, saying softly, "Maybe not." The others watched her zip open the toy and begin pawing through the papers, searching for anything that could be of use. "There might be something in here that can tell us where she went."

The Monsters and Mewmans faces' lit up with hope and they quickly gathered around the skater watching as she searched through the small treasure trove of secrets with a focused frown. Finally, a smile returned to her face as she looked around at the others, saying excitedly, "I think I got something!"

She took out a small faded slip of paper, messy handwriting all over it and the girl squinted as she read, "' Meet me tomorrow at our regular spot, there are some things we need to discuss. -R'"

"Regular spot?" Marco said thoughtfully, tapping a finger to his chin.

"Doesn't it say where, though?" the frog asked.

"No, but I think our lizard left us a clue," Jackie said with a smirk, flipping the paper over to reveal the image on the back and the others all let out a collective gasp. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Star muttered nervously under her breath.

The paper turned to not be a paper at all but a pamphlet, the name of the place written on the front reading, 'Pet Cemetery.'

…

A thick layer of fog had fallen over the cemetery, creating an eery, uncanny feeling as the group of Mewmans, Monsters, and human entered through the jagged iron gate that marked the entrance inside. The pet cemetery was full of marked and unmarked gravestones of all shapes and sizes, each one made out of dark marble and stone, names like 'Fluffy' and 'Spot' written on them but the lighthearted names only increased the unease Marco was feeling as he tried not to imagine the once-living creatures that rested here. He had never been to a cemetery before and having been inside this one for all of about two seconds he decided that he never wanted to go to one ever again after this. The place just felt uncomfortable and he didn't know how or why someone would even want their precious pet to be here of all places, dead or not.

The air was suffocating and Marco could feel tingles running up his spine with every step, putting his body on edge. Every little noise from the treetops made him jump, the small gusts of wind creating an echo-y wine that caused him to shiver more than natural, every instinct in his head screaming at him to run away now. But he couldn't, so he instead clung to the safety of his girlfriend, walking directly behind her a hand clutching the back of her dress at all times so he wouldn't lose her. He entrusted her to lead them through the fog, as his own eyes constantly darted around nervously, searching for dangers of any kind.

The others seemed to be holding up a bit better than the hooded boy, Star keeping a grim stare ahead as she looked for any sign of Babs or Rasticore, Jackie and Higgs looking far more relaxed in their situation, albeit the latter still had a depressed look on her face and the former kept casting her worried looks in response, while Buff Frog just walked resolutely forward, a determined look in his eye. The rest of the Monsters, however, looked to be in the same scared condition Marco was, acting as scared as the boy felt, even if they were doing their best to hide this fact. Still, their jittery forms and on edge nature couldn't be ignored as they hovered close to their fearless boss, trying their best to keep from shuddering in fear. "Um, hey, Buff Frog. You sure this is a good idea?" Lobster Claws finally spoke up, nervously wringing his claws together in worry.

"Not really, but have no other choice," the amphibian answered honestly.

"Oh, okay, that's fine," the crustacean quickly replied, looking extremely disappointed and fretful. He paused for a minute, seemingly debating on whether or not he should speak up or not. "I-It's just, I know we have to be here and all but still... I have a bad feeling about this place."

"Relax, Lobster Claws, that's just the paralyzing fear talking," Higgs said in a not-at-all comforting tone. "Just ignore it, there's nothing to be afraid of."

"I don't know, I'm with Lobster Claws on this one," Marco admitted, shuddering as he moved a little bit closer to Star. "This place is creepy." The sound of an owl's hoot caused the boy to jump and bury his head into Star's back, the girl coming to a stop as she turned to him with a sympathetic look, before folding her arms around him in a protective embrace, running her fingers softly through his hair to comfort him.

"Wh-What if this place is haunted?" Spike Balls asked through chattering teeth.

"H-Haunted," Marco squeaked, his eyes widening to the size of saucers.

"It's not haunted," Jackie reassured them.

This didn't seem to ease the Monsters' minds any as they continued to grow more and more freaked out, Lobster Claws voicing his worrying thoughts out loud in an overly-dramatic voice, "B-B-But what if all these dead animals have turned into ghosts, angry for not being treated better by their owners and have now risen from the grave to exact revenge on any who enter!"

"That's enough," Buff Frog interrupted, keeping his voice firm but gentle, his eyes conveying to them that everything was alright. "Everyone just calm down."

"Yeah, c'mon guys there's no sense in getting ourselves all worked up," Star added. "We need to stay focused."

"But what about the ghosts?" Marco whispered to his girlfriend who shook her head, holding back the chuckle she felt rising in her throat. Even now she couldn't help but admire how adorable her boyfriend was.

"I promise there are no ghosts, Marco," Star told him, giving him a soothing smile until she saw him visibly relax. She then turned her attention to the others, a more serious expression on her face as she added, "What we do need to be worrying about, though, is finding Rasticore."

And then, as if on cue, there was a loud, sinister laugh, echoing through the foggy cemetery causing every single person to jump, their hearts simultaneously leaping into their throats. But they all recovered quickly from the scare, sharing looks before creeping slowly toward the sound, letting it lead them right to it while doing their best to stay quiet and unheard. Luckily this wasn't too hard to do as the laughter only continued to grow more and more noisy, making it sound more and more ominous with every inflection, a cruel, bitterness to it that just sent chills down your spine the longer you listened to it.

"I can't believe you actually did that!" Star and Marco shared a look as the voice began speaking, dripping with darkness and wicked amusement as if trying to cause others harm just through words alone. Now there was no denying who this was, the two Mewmans would never forget that voice or its owner, their encounters with Rasticore permanently engraved into their subconscious.

Finally, the group saw two shapes come into view from the thickness of the fog, one small and one very tall and Star and the other quickly ducked out of sight behind some gravestones as they took in the scene before them. Rasticore looked as menacing as ever, his hulking body currently hunched over as he laughed his head off, his metal arm slapping his knee in humor to whatever he found so amusing, while Babs sat on one of the gravestones next to him, shooting him a vile glare, pausing only to cough regularly. Star and Marco frowned at the sight of the redhead, the latter with sadness and the blond royal with anger.

Buff Frog's eyes narrowed as he was at last in the presence of the creature who dared to threaten his child, his grip on the gravestone tightening as he tried to hold himself back. But it wasn't easy, every parental instinct in his body wanting nothing more than tear this Monster limb from limb and beat him into the ground, his eyes momentarily seeing red as his gaze focused in on nothing but his target. "Rasticore," he growled low under his breath, his voice promising death as he uttered the name of his enemy. Still, he managed to keep himself still as he and the others just listened in to the conversation, needing to learn a bit more before charging in willy-nilly.

"It's not that funny," the Mewman woman snapped, clearly resentful of whatever the lizard was going on about, before letting out another violent cough.

"Of course it is," Rasticore said, his laughter ceasing in an instant, only the gruff harshness remaining. "The princess of Mewni becoming your friend and taking you out to lunch, how precious," he mocked and Star felt her blood boil. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, his tail flickering behind him, as he said thoughtfully, "But more importantly, we can use this to our advantage."

Babs sighed, clearly tired of dealing with the assassin. "What are you going on about?"

"Oh come on, Babs, you're smarter than that," the Monster said matter-of-factly. "Don't tell me you don't see how perfect this is for our plans?"

The Mewman said nothing, her jaw set in a firm line, this more telling than any answer she could have given as Rasticore smiled evilly in response. "Oh so you do see it, you just prefer to play dumb."

"No, I just have yet to actually agree to be a part of this plan of yours, remember?" Babs countered.

Rasticore rolled his eyes. "And why is that? Like I keep telling you, Babs, it's the easiest gig in the world and thanks to your new 'friendship' with the princess it'll be all the easier. All you gotta do is go out to eat with her and her precious little pet again and then slip in some yadda yadda berries while they aren't looking."

"And then what, the second the Diaz boy turns to stone I'll be the first suspect on their list," the Mewman argued and the others all did their best to stifle their gasps of shock. Marco turned to Star with a questioning gaze, silently asking her what exactly 'yadda yadda berries' were and the blond just gave him a look that said she'd explain later, before turning her attention back to the two assassins's a deep fear clenching her chest. She didn't like where this was going.

Rasticore scoffed, before saying confidently, "That won't matter, she won't be able to do a thing to us so long as we have the antidote. The princess will have no choice but to do whatever we say in order to save her little boyfriend from his terrible fate. Then we just get her to trade herself to us in exchange for saving the Diaz boy and we collect our reward."

Buff Frog and the other Monster were beyond furious at this point, all of them practically shaking with rage as they listened to the evil plan to harm their youngest and use him against the one he loved. Star looked sick with worry, her face growing pale with every word and Jackie and Higgs didn't seem to be holding up much better. Marco could only observe the whole thing slack-jawed, not sure how to react to any of this.

"Unbelievable, I can't believe these cowards are actually planning on poisoning Marco just to get to Star, how messed up can you get?" Higgs whispered in disbelief, the fury in her tone unmistakable.

"I know right," Marco said, sounding remarkably calm. In comparison to the others at least. "This is just like-"

"Let me guess one of your cheesy karate movies," the young knight interrupted with a roll of her eyes.

"No, I was gonna say like how Master Toffee used me to control the Monsters," Marco said simply and the redhead gave him a shocked, almost sheepish, expression which the hooded teen paid no mind to, his attention entirely on the two assassins. But he did pause to add, "But yeah, that too."

Babs the whole time, showed no emotion through the exchange, saying blandly, "Ah right, the reward. From your mysterious and unknown boss who you for some reason won't reveal their identity."

"They prefer to remain anonymous, for safety reasons," the lizard continued and from the intensity of his voice, Marco and the others got a sense that the tone had just shifted from one of friendly business negotiations to something much more dangerous. "Though I don't get what's with the sudden change of heart. You and I have worked together for years now, so you have no reason to doubt me. And it's not like you aren't already involved, don't forget your assistance is how I was able to get close to Star Butterfly in the first place, helping me sneak into the castle that night, drugging most of the guards so they were all unconscious and out of the way-"

"Well forgive me if I don't feel comfortable working with someone who refuses to properly introduce themselves or even let me in on their plans even after I've more than proven myself worthy to you both. In my experience that's the type of gamble I don't usually take," Babs argued, trying to look and act nonchalant but it was obvious what the woman's true feelings were.

"Well they aren't the one you are negotiating with, I am," Rasticore stated, standing just a little taller than before. "The boss put me in charge of capturing Princess Butterfly and I am the one who enlisted your help. Now, are you interested or not? I don't get it, a few days ago you would have jumped at this opportunity, so why did you suddenly decide to grow a conscious now of all times?" For a few silent seconds, the two just glared at each other, sizing each other up, and the hidden group all held their breath waiting to see who would break first.

"Unless..." Rasticore suddenly added, with a gasp of realization, asking accusingly, "Don't tell me you actually care about the princess and her friends?"

Star and Marco leaned a little bit closer their eyes wide as they waited for the assassin's answer, hope filling their insides again. Babs seemed caught off-guard by this question but she buried her feelings beneath a thin layer of indifference, saying with an annoyed scoff, "Of course not, I could care less about those two. I only went along with it so they wouldn't get suspicious."

The couple tried not to let their disappointment show, knowing it had been a long shot. Still, there was something about what Babs said that set off signals in Star's brain and she turned to Marco with a confused look, the boy doing the same. Why did it almost sound like Babs was lying?

"Well then what's the problem?!" Rasticore demanded, his harsh tone showing he was fast looking patience with his old partner.

"I told you before, I'm not agreeing to anything else unless I get some answers about your boss! I'm not going to be left in the dark, so either you tell me or I walk!" Babs snapped jumping off the gravestone, threatening the Monster to keep true to her word, and the group was almost paralyzed at this tiny Mewmans nerve to stand up to the towering Monster.

"Go ahead, I can just have you replaced," Rasticore countered, though Star and the others couldn't tell if he was bluffing or not. "You aren't the only assassin I know who would take the job, I just went to you because of old times sake but don't think I can't easily replace you."

"Ha, fat chance," Babs shot back, laughing once cruelly, and the lizard's gaze seemed to darken on her even more. "In order to pull this off you need a Mewman and I'm the only one even willing to consider taking orders from the likes of you!" The woman then began confidently walking away from the Monster, coughing into her arm as she did.

Rasticore was now shaking with anger as he quickly growled in a low, unnerving tone, "Fine then, if you won't agree to help me willingly, then I'll just have to make you."

Before Babs could even react, Rasticore's metal claw was raised, a blast of energy forming at his fingertips, aimed right for the startled Mewman. Babs' body instinctively falling backward, trying her best to dodge out of harm's way, but it was futile as she was incapable of moving quickly enough to avoid the deadly attack, watching wide-eyed as the burst of energy grew in strength, ready to be unleashed on her frail body.

Just before Rasticore could shoot her, though, something heavy slammed into the side of him, causing him to grunt in pain as he slid back on his steel-toed boots. His arms flailed wildly as he attempted to keep his balance, causing his energy beam to be shot off harmlessly into the sky, grazing a tree branch as it passed. The lizard hissed in fury and hurt as he tossed the large narwhal away from himself where it smashed harmlessly to the ground, directing his attention onto the blond girl standing before him, her smoking wand raised and her eyes set on him in an intense glare. "You," he growled, sounding more like a wild animal than the cunning assassin he was, his eyes promising death.

Star held her ground, keeping her wand trained on him, as she said sharply, "There's more where that came from, buddy, so I wouldn't move if I were you." The blond could feel the worried and shocked stares of her still-hidden friends trained on her but she ignored them, making sure to not take her eyes off of Rasticore, though she did tap her boot gently against her boyfriend's side, signaling him to move to avoid getting hurt. She was relieved to hear his shifting form at her feet as he put a bit of distance between him and her, though not much.

Finally overcoming his shock, the lizard's gaze jumped to Babs who was leaning back against the gravestone she had fallen into, staring over at the princess with an equally baffled expression as her old ally, possibly more so. Still, this didn't keep Rasticore from shouting accusingly, "I knew it, you're working with the princess, you have gone soft! This was all a trap, wasn't it?!"

"What, of course not, idiot!" the small Mewman snapped defensively. "It was your idea to meet up here! She must have followed me here."

"That's right," Star said confidently. "And I overheard everything, which means your plan is a failure! So why don't both of you just surrender and I won't have to beat you."

Rasticore just chuckled cruelly at that, drawing his chainsaw out from behind his back, flashing the girl a toothy grin that unnerved her to no end. "Oh no, princess, I would say this is far from over," he said darkly. "After all, my original plan may be a failure but look where we are." He started up his chainsaw, the revving of the weapon creating a deafening roar that only seemed to add to the uncomfortable tension of the graveyard. "You're all alone. Out in the middle of nowhere, with no one to protect you. In fact, I'd say this is turning out better than I could have ever imagined."

Star glared, then shouted, "Rainbow Fist Punch!" a sparkling rainbow managing to knock the assassin's weapon out of his hands, where it buried into the ground behind him, shutting off quickly without its owner's grip. The lizard looked paralyzed behind him, before turning back around to growl at the girl. "Yeah, well guess what. I have the wand this time, so I don't need the help kicking your butt," Star coldly replied.

Then, out of nowhere, the Monster charged her, giving her no warning as his massive form cleared the distance between him and his target, his metal fist raised to punch her, giving Star no time to counterattack. The blond vaguely heard Marco scream her name before she felt something shove her aside, watching as Higgs grabbed the Monster's swinging arm and used it to launch herself upward, kicking the Monster hard in the side of the head with a loud yell.

Rasticore howled in pain stumbling back as he clutched a hand to his aching head, glaring daggers at the new girl. "So it seems you lied, princess. You didn't come alone, after all."

"No she didn't, which means you're out of luck," Higgs replied cockily. Behind her, Star had landed in Marco and Jackie's grip, the three watching the scene wide-eyed.

Rasticore just sighed and rolled his eyes. "Great, another one of you smart-mouthed brats. Don't you have anything better to do than get in my way," he muttered in exasperation.

"Sorry, buddy," Higgs said smugly, dropping into a fighting stance. "But this is what I do."

Rasticore shot forward again with a vile yell and Higgs easily dodged around his oncoming punch, before lifting a leg and kneeing him hard in the chest, causing the Monster to stumble back, coughing and hacking for air. Higgs took the opportunity to swing at the Monster but he caught her fist and threw her harshly toward the nearest tree. But the girl managed to flip in the air and catch herself on the thick trunk, using that momentum to launch herself forward toward the unsuspecting Monster. Rasticore didn't even have time to react as she slammed into him, knocking him to the ground before doing a hand-stand off of him and landing gracefully on her feet.

The rest of the teens were left standing paralyzed and in awe as they watched their friend easily outmaneuver her opponent. Star quickly looked over to where the Monsters were, seeing that they remained crouched in the same positions they had been in when the fighting started, looking like they were just waiting for the right moment to intervene if they needed to at all. Higgs seemed to pretty much have this handled.

The redhead just stared smugly down at her opponent, hands on her hips, as she taunted, "Is that all you got? Cause I was kinda hoping for an actual challenge."

Rasticore said nothing, just lying motionless on the ground and the girl tilted her head, a suspicious eyebrow slowly raising, "Hey, come on, quit playing dead, I know I didn't hit you hard enough to-"

The girl's words were cut off as Rasticore's metal limb suddenly shot out and wrapped around her leg, the knight reeling back in shock, letting out a small squeak of surprise. But before she could question this she was hit by an excruciating wave of pain surging up her leg, the girl letting out a scream as her body became a vessel of white-hot agony. She tried to dislodge her foot with a clumsy kick but the electricity coursing through her veins made movement impossible as she just ended up crumpling to the floor as the world around her began fading to black.

"Higgs!" both Marco and Jackie screamed as one, while Star instinctively raised her wand and shot off a series of Crystal Heart Daggers, which forced Rasticore to let go of the girl having to raise his metal arm up to block the hit. The three were relieved as the bolts of energy left their friend's body a second later, Marco and Jackie rushing over to check on her, while Star faced down the Monster assassin.

"Well seems your friends aren't as helpful as they could be, princess," Rasticore taunted, gesturing over to the girl who was slowly beginning to come to, groaning in pain as Marco and Jackie helped her sit up, glaring at the lizard with glassy eyes.

"At least I have help!" Star hissed through clenched teeth. "Where're your allies? Doesn't seem like they care all that much about you." She gestured over to Babs who was just watching them all blankly, making no move to help out her old ally in any way.

The Monster chuckled cruelly to himself, before raising his metal limb again, which was slowly building up energy aimed right at Star. "I don't need any," he said darkly. Then, keeping his eyes trained on Star, he slowly moved his arm so it was now aiming right at Marco, Jackie, and Higgs who all gasped in fear. "They only get in the way."

"No!" Star screamed, her cheek marks flashing white for an instance, causing her wand to do the same but she was too panicked to notice it.

But just before the burst could be released, a claw grabbed onto the robotic arm, Rasticore only having time to shout, "What the-" before receiving a punch to the face from a very infuriated Buff Frog. The Monster assassin stumbled back, before staring shocked over at the beefy amphibian before him, whose whole body was shaking with rage, his protective instincts at an all-time high. "That's enough!" Buff Frog shouted.

Rasticore stood there slack-jawed for a second, his single eye taking in the form before him, before a sick smile spread across his face, "Well, well, as I live and breathe, if it isn't the leader of the Monsters himself. This just keeps getting better."

"And you are Rasticore, my son and Star have told me all about the crimes you have committed and how you have dirtied Monster name," Buff Frog hissed angrily.

Rasticore rolled his single eye. "Look all I care about is finishing my job and getting paid, your stupid politics don't interest me."

"That may be but I am still your leader and as your leader, I demand that you stand down now and face punishment for what you have done!" the frog commanded, his voice ringing with a level of superiority that Star didn't know the Monster had in him.

"Sorry, Buff Frog," Rasticore countered with a nonchalant shrug, snickering as he said the Monster's name. "But despite what you think, you aren't my boss and I don't take orders from you."

"Well then, guess we will have to do this hard way, then," the frog Monster replied, pounding a fist into his hand for emphasis.

Rasticore's grin faltered for a second, repeating quizzically, "We?"

"That's right, jerk!" a voice shouted behind him and the lizard Monster swerved to see three other Monsters had surrounded him. The lobster, who had spoken the first time, continued, saying in the most intimidating voice he had, "Nobody hurts Marco or his friends and gets away with it!"

Rasticore laughed again, turning back to Buff Frog with a twisted grin. "Aww, so that's what this is all about?" the Monster said in a mocking coo. "Is daddy upset that I hurt his precious baby? Well, y'know I didn't really have to since my target is Star Butterfly, but I couldn't help myself." Rasticore's voice dropped into a dark hiss as he locked eyes with Marco. "That brat of yours just wouldn't stop being a little nuisance." His gaze snapped over to Buff Frog as he added cruelly, "Honestly I blame bad parenting."

Buff Frog's vision went red as he threw himself at the Monster with a loud yell, catching both claws tightly in his own as he glared down the vile lizard. "This ends now, I won't let you hurt Marco or anyone else ever again!" the amphibian yelled into his opponent's face.

"We'll see about that," Rasticore yelled, pulling his metal claw free and holding it out to where he dropped his chainsaw, the tips of his hand glowing with purple energy. Suddenly the chainsaw lifted off the ground and flew right back into the Monster's hand, where he quickly tried to run the frog through. Buff Frog dodged back, narrowly avoiding the deadly blade as he glared daggers at his enemy. Rasticore turned to Star, who had a startled look on her face, and explained cruelly, "Just a new modification I made to my weapons, princess, after my last encounter with your boyfriend and the rest of your pathetic friends."

Star glared at him, before firing off the first spell that came to mind, shouting, "Mega Heartbeam Cannon!" and a giant heart was launched at the Monster, but Rasticore merely sliced it in half with his chainsaw, smiling superiorly at the girl. But the assassin soon had much more to deal with as the other Monsters were on him in a second, the lizard now forced to defend himself from all four of them as they tried to mercilessly take him down, while also being cautious of the deadly weapon in their opponent's claws, none of them wanting the experience of being impaled by that thing.

"Kids, we get Rasticore, you handle Babs!" Buff Frog shouted to the teens, pointing to where the small assassin was now trying to sneak away, and all of them but Higgs nodded, not seeing any point in arguing with the frog father. He and the rest of the Monsters were clearly the better match for him, the lizard Monster struggling to hold them all at bay. Star, Marco, and Jackie quickly raced over to where Babs was, Higgs following slowly behind them, her pace sluggish and tired, and Marco worried that the hit from before had been too much for her. But he knew better than to tell her to hang back, knowing she would take his concern the wrong way and might end up pushing herself harder than necessary to prove she wasn't weak.

Babs was too busy trying to tiptoe away to notice them, using the chaos to her advantage as she made her escape, hoping to lose them all in the fog but her plan was thwarted as soon as she heard Star scream, "Babs!" The Mewman stopped in her tracks, before slowly turning around to face the group, her and Star locking gaze as the blond shot her an angry frown.

"Guess there's no point in trying to convince you this isn't what it looks like," Babs said sourly, her tone almost sad, which caught Star off-guard. "So, how much of that did you here?"

"Everything," Star stated, her tone sharp.

"It's over Babs," Jackie said, with a finality in her tone. "We found all the evidence we need. We know you're an assassin and we know you've been working with Rasticore to try and take Star down." There was a beat of silence as Star and Babs locked eyes, the blond royal expecting the latter to try and deny it or defend herself but was surprised when Babs didn't even hesitate to admit, "Yeah, you got me."

Star didn't know how to respond to this at first, her body freezing up in shock, and for a second or two she thought she saw regret in the cat lover's eyes but she quickly shook this off. She wasn't falling for anymore of Babs' tricks. "Why?" Star asked, contempt leaking out of her voice as she spat the word at the small woman.

"Why? Why what? Help Rasticore?" Babs countered sarcastically. "Because it's my job, princess. This is what I do for a living."

"But you told Rasticore you weren't gonna help him with his newest plan, so doesn't that mean your on our side?" Marco asked and the blond felt her heartbreak at how much optimism she heard in her boyfriend's voice. She didn't want to see him get crushed when it inevitably turned out to be only a naïve hope, wishing there was some way she could shield him from the disappointment he was about to have to endure.

Babs slowly raised a disbelieving eyebrow at him before letting out a tired sigh, saying only, "No, it doesn't." Marco's face fell but Star just paused, positive she had heard a fraction of regret that time, almost like Babs was... sad.

Beside her, Higgs growled and shouted in annoyance, "Can we please wrap this up, already?! She's clearly our enemy, let's just take her down already!"

Hearing this, Babs very calmly reached into her pocket and pulled out a small vial of green liquid, holding it out for the group to see. "Wait, don't come any closer!"

The four teens body froze on the spot, staring at the green goo quizzically as Jackie asked, "What is that?"

"This is a highly toxic poison that is deadly to breathe in," Babs explained, her tone hard. "So unless you all want to die I suggest you stay back!"

"Your bluffing," Higgs scoffed. "If you drop it than you'd die too." The young knight, to prove her point, starting to take a step forward but was stopped by Star, who quickly held an arm up in front of her.

Higgs gave her future ruler a quizzical look and Star just replied, "No she won't, her Trait makes her immune to poisons."

"Look, can't we just talk this out," Marco suggested nervously, eyes never leaving the small vial. "You don't have to do this, Babs."

"Yes, I do," the small Mewman said gravely. "You've given me no choice. I'm not going in some crystal for the rest of my life."

Star meanwhile was just observing the small Mewman before her carefully, trying to get a read on the person behind the iron facade, see past the walls that Babs had built up around herself, unable to stop herself from saying softly, "So was what you said back at the restaurant a lie too?"

This seemed to only anger Babs as her grip tightened on the glass and she snapped out, "Well look who's talking, princess! After all, the only reason you hung out with me today was so you could find Rasticore, right? All of that friendly stuff was just an act, wasn't it?"

Star and Marco said nothing their faces flooding with guilt as they refused to meet her eye for a minute, Marco even uncomfortably rubbing at his neck. Babs gauged their reactions closely before scoffing and saying bitterly, "I knew it. This is exactly why I don't make friends, in the end, they always betray you." Her voice grew so soft at the end the teens almost didn't hear her and the young couple felt their insides twist in response. "From now on the only people I'm looking out for is myself and my cats, they're the only ones I can trust."

The group saw the Mewman's hand loosen some on the vile and the four let out gasps of fear, bodies twitching to race over and stop her, Marco quickly saying, "Okay, yeah at first we were just trying to keep you away while Jackie, Higgs, and the Monster broke into your house-"

"Wait, you what?!" Babs screamed in anger.

"Marco, maybe try and not anger the girl with deadly poison in her hands!" Higgs snapped at him.

"But we weren't lying when we said we wanted to be friends with you," the hooded teen finished. "We wanted to see the good in you, wanted to believe that maybe you weren't as bad as we thought you were, and when we found out that you were working with Rasticore we were really sad."

"Look, Babs, it's not too late to make the right choice, you can still do the right thing," Jackie spoke up, keeping her voice calm and level.

Babs face filled with indecision as she stared between the four teens, the hand holding the vial beginning to shake, as she seemed to be struggling to decide whether or not to believe them. "And do what, go to jail?" she snapped halfheartedly.

"Maybe not," Star said, risking a step forward, her a voice ringing with kindness as she locked eyes with Babs once more. "But only if you stand down right now and show us that you aren't our enemy. You don't have to be the bad guy, Babs."

"Please, just do the right thing," Marco added, also taking a step forward so he was now side by side with Star, his eyes pleading as he made a little begging motion toward her.

The girl's eyes darted between the two for a moment, before making up her mind and the four teens all held their breath as they waited to hear what she had to say. Her face finally flooded with decision as she locked gaze with Star's blue, slowly lowering the bottle to her side. "Okay fine. You win."

Star, Marco, Jackie, and Higgs all let out sighs of relief, the hooded teen wiping some sweat off his brow, thankful they had been able to talk the woman out of her almost deadly decision. The princess gave her a wide smile, saying softly, "Thank you, Babs."

Suddenly there was an enraged shout behind them as the familiar voice of Rasticore yelled, "Enough!" followed by three very familiar cries of pain. The group all whipped around to Lobster Claws, Potato Baby, and even Spike Balls laying on the ground, their singed and bruised bodies struggling to rise, as they all groaned in pain. Buff Frog, meanwhile, was still going strong, holding nothing back as he mercilessly threw himself at the Monster over and over again, his punches become more and more erratic with every swing. His body had several cuts and burn marks but the amphibian showed no sign of feeling these injuries as he just fought back with an unwavering persistence that almost frightened Marco.

The boy saw fury behind his dad's eyes and that terrified him, seeing his father turn from a loving, caring individual into an anger-filled beast that it rocked Marco right down to his core. But what scared him, even more, was that his dad also seemed to no longer be taking any care in avoiding the assassin's strikes, batting away the chainsaw like it was no big deal, before brutally punching the assassin and shrugging off any hit he himself received. Rasticore seemed to have picked up on Buff Frog's lack of self-preservation as he suddenly hissed out, "Well, I've gotta admit I was told you were more clever than this, Buff Frog. Do you really think you're going to win by just throwing yourself at me over and over again?" He swung his chainsaw at the Monster, the amphibian catching it between his claws, saying simply, "Yes."

Buff Frog then ripped the chainsaw from his opponent's grip before tossing it across the graveyard. He then punched the lizard as hard as he could, causing Rasticore to stumble backward, his own body growing weary from all the fighting and Marco saw fear in the lizard's eyes as Buff Frog began walking toward him with an unnerving glare, though he did his best to hide it behind his own glare and gritted teeth.

The lizard held out his metal claw, summoning his weapon back over to him, saying viciously to the Monster, "You know, I'm not sure if I should be flattered or not that you've taken such a vested interest in taking me down. Or are you only doing this for Marco?"

Buff Frog growled at that, shouting, "Do not say his name!"

Rasticore only shook his head, a sharp smile on his lips as he chuckled gruffly, giving the frog a knowing look. "Thought so."

The Monster leader threw himself at the Monster again, fist raised to knock the smug smile off the insufferable lizard's face, but unfortunately didn't see Rasticore had been charging energy at the tip of his metal claw behind his back. Then, faster than Buff Frog could even react the lizard held the limb up with a victorious grin, before shooting a powerful blast of energy at the air-born Monster. The energy connected with the frog Monster causing him to go flying away from Rasticore, crashing hard into one of the gravestones which shattered on contact with his bruised body.

"Buff Frog!" Marco screamed in panic, running over to check on his dad, the others right on his heels. "Dad, dad are you okay?" Marco asked, falling to his knees at his dad's side as he took in the many injuries scattered all over his adopted father's body.

Buff Frog was panting wildly, struggling to regain his breath as his face clenched up with pain, but he slowly pushed himself up to a sitting position as he glared over at the smirking assassin. "I fine, just need to finish this."

"But Dad, you're hurt," the hooded teen said, his voice cracking with worry.

"I know but must stop lizard," the frog said with a groan, standing on shaky feet, an arm clutched around his sore chest.

Rasticore, noticing his opponent up and standing again, got into a fighting stance, his toothy smile incapable of growing any wider as he took in Buff Frog's nearly defeated form. But his dark grin vanished as he was suddenly bombarded by spell after spell from Star's wand, the already tired Monster struggling to dodge her attacks, as she summoned narwhals, rainbows, warnicorns and all manner of things to fight. The lizard Monster took a moment to take note of his position, seeing the princess and her two friends, along with Babs now facing him down and he felt anger boil in his chest. "You little traitor, how dare you pick her side over mine!" he screamed over to his ex-partner.

"Oh yeah and what are you going to do about it?" the tiny Mewman snapped over to him, no remorse or fear in her tone as she gave him a death glare.

Rasticore was now shaking in mirth as he hissed out, "You will pay for betraying me!" He looked around at the Monsters who now surrounded him, shouting bitterly, "Every last one of you will get what you deserve!"

"Sorry Rasticore, but there isn't going to happen, this fight is over," Star told him, taking aim with her wand, pink magic gathering around it.

The lizard Monster stared the girl down with no fear or hesitation in his single eye, before saying mysteriously, "Don't be too sure, princess."

Then, out of nowhere, the gem in his eye lit up with a blinding gleam, causing everyone to look away and cover their burning eyes, several of the Monsters howling in pain from their sensitive night vision. The moment the light vanished, Star turned back in the direction Rasticore had been but the spots in her vision, not to mention the encompassing fog, prevented her from seeing a thing. But as she waited for her eyes to adjust, she suddenly saw a claw appear out of nowhere reaching out to grab her as Rasticore went to go take his prize. Star tried to lift her wand and hit him with a spell but before she could, he grabbed tightly onto her wrist twisting it in his iron grip causing her to shout out in pain and drop her wand. She was fighting to get free, as she heard the familiar sound of a portal being ripped open as well as the loud revving of Rasticore's chainsaw. Her heart pounded away in her chest as she looked over and saw the swirling portal right next to her, one she was being ruthlessly dragged into by the Monster assassin. "No!" Star screamed, kicking the Monster in an attempt to get him to let go, but it had no effect. She dug her heels into the ground refusing to be moved another inch as she cried out, "Stop it, leave me alone!"

"Star!" came Marco's frightened voice and she looked over to see him trying to stumble over to her blindly, his hands reaching out for her as he panickingly called her name. She felt a surge of magic in her body, her cheek marks lighting up white as she realized she couldn't let this Monster take her away. She couldn't, wouldn't leave Marco like this, she was going to stay with him and nothing was going to stop her.

"I. said. NO!" she shouted, her eyes turning white as well, as the burst of energy exploded outward, creating a powerful shockwave, that sent everyone crashing to the ground, including Rasticore and Star. The girl was panting as the flow of magic ended, leaving her exhausted, but she didn't have long to rest as the lizard Monster looked up at her with a death-filled glare. His claw shot out at her faster than she was expecting and Star quickly dove for her wand, hoping to reach it first but this plan was thwarted as Rasticore grabbed her once more, this time grabbing onto her thick, blond hair. "That trick isn't going to work again, princess. You're coming with me!" Star grunted in pain, struggling defiantly to escape the evil creature, before a voice yelled, "No, she's not!"

Star looked over to see Babs throw a small pouch in their direction, flinching as it flew past her and directly into Rasticore's face, a cloud of purple smoke soon consuming him. The assassin began coughing and hacking as he tried to clear his lungs, his bloodshot eyes locking with the young-looking Mewman as he demanded, "What did you do to me?"

Babs just shrugged. "Nothing you won't be able to walk off," she explained, before shooting him a smug smile, adding, "...probably."

Rasticore growled around fits of coughing and the blond took advantage of his distraction to pry her way out of his grip and pick up her wand. But as she turned back to face him, she saw that in that split second, Rasticore had made a break for the portal and Star felt failure grip her chest. But in a last-ditch effort to stop him, she shouted out, "Emerald Snake Chains!"

Star watched heartbroken as the spell hit air, the portal closing faster than her spell was able to reach and she let out a dejected sigh. "Oh man, he got away!" she groaned, slamming her free hand down on the ground in frustration. "I can't believe after all that, he just-" But her voice was cut off as she was surprised by a crushing hug from Marco, the boy practically slamming into her side as he wrapped his arms tightly around her frame, holding her in a death grip as his body shook with fear.

"M-Marco?" Star said softly, feeling her cheeks flush.

"I'm so glad you're okay! P-Please don't leave me!" the boy chocked out and she felt drops of tears land on her shoulder. The girl let out a long breath, before hugging the boy back, running her hands up and down his back like she knew he liked and told him in a soft, comforting coo, "I'm here. I'm not going anywhere, I'm right here."

She looked over at Babs who just watched them with a blank look on her face and the blond royal mouthed the words 'Thank you', which the Mewman woman just shrugged over.

After a moment, the boy's sobs died down under Star's gentle touch and she finally released him, staring deep into his shining brown orbs as she told him, "Sorry for scaring you like that, Marco."

The boy shook his head, wiping the tears out of his eyes as he said, "No, no, it's okay. I'm just glad you got away."

"Well couldn't leave the best boyfriend in all of Mewni, now could I?" she replied with a wink. Marco then surprised her by planting a loving kiss on her lips, causing the girl to squeak and blush before quickly giving in to the kiss and enjoying the feeling of joy it brought her. The two parted breathlessly, Marco staring at her with shimmering chocolate brown orbs that sent Star's head spinning, as he said in his typical innocent, curious tone, "What was that you did before, anyway? It felt like the same spell you used on Toffee."

Star gave him a thoughtful expression at that. She had been wondering the same thing since she wasn't entirely sure how she had done that herself. She hadn't had the wand, so it couldn't have been a spell, could it? Finally, she just shrugged, before admitting, "I'm not sure. But I don't think it was a spell exactly. It felt... different?"

"Like a good different or a bad different?" Marco asked.

"A little of both, I guess," Star replied.

"Well, whatever it was, I'm just glad I didn't lose you," the hooded teen replied, before giving her another tight hug.

"Wouldn't have happened in first place if not for me," Buff Frog suddenly spoke up and the two looked up to see him towering over them, a look of regret, grief, and sadness in his eyes. "I so sorry, kids, I knew not to bring you along but did anyway and because of me you almost got taken."

"No, we're sorry we pushed you to let us help, Buff Frog," Star apologized.

"Yeah, it was wrong, we're sorry," Marco added, making sure to sound as sincere as possible.

But Buff Frog just let out a loud puff of air, shaking his head as he told them, "No, no, you did right thing. Thanks to you kids, we got closer than ever to stopping him." His voice grew harder, his claw clenching into a fist as he added, "If I had just been stronger than Rasticore wouldn't have gotten chance to-"

The frog stopped as he felt a hand on his arm and he looked over to see his son giving him a sad look and the Monster felt his heart clench. "Dad, that wasn't your fault," Marco told him softly but his father just shook his head.

"No, Marco, is my fault," the amphibian argued, his voice cracking against his will as he spoke. "I promised parents and you that I would protect you at all costs but tonight you almost lost dearest thing in the world to you because of me. No matter what I do I can't seem to keep promise. First, I allow Toffee to help raise you, then I powerless to keep him from kidnapping you and almost killing you!" The amphibian let out an exasperated sigh, before continuing in a hushed tone, "I thought if I could catch Rasticore I could make up for mistakes of my past. But I failed you, my son. I am deeply, truly sorry," The frog's voice broke at that, a tear sliding down his eye as he refused to even meet his son's eye.

Marco, however, was thrown off by this confession, feeling his insides twist. He hadn't even known his dad had been carrying onto all this guilt for so long. How had he not seen it before? He looked over to the other Monsters, who all had tears in their eyes now too, but he could see from their startled faces that they too hadn't known this fact. So his dad had really kept this buried deep inside himself for so long? That must have been awful, carrying that weight all on his own, and he knew from personal experience how self-destructive that way of thinking could be, the familiar ache returning to his neck for a couple of seconds causing him to audibly gulp.

So Marco took in a deep breath, before saying in the most firm but comforting tone he could muster, "Look, Dad, I'm sorry you've been holding onto all that guilt for so long but I never felt like you failed me." Buff Frog's gaze immediately snapped to his son's, his glossy eyes pleading and full of hope and Marco took this as encouragement to continue. "Yeah sure, Toffee forced you to make a deal with him but that wasn't your fault, he didn't give you any choice. And you were the one who got me away from him in the first place, remember? And then you brought Star and the others to me after I got kidnapped and then risked your life multiple times to try and save me from him. You were always there for me when I needed you, dad? You're my hero."

Tears were now dripping from both father and son's eyes as Marco gave his dad a warm smile, keeping his gaze firmly locked on his dad's. "But you don't have to keep risking your life anymore, dad. I saw the way you fought tonight and it was kinda scary. I thought-" the boy paused for a moment before finally saying, "I thought I was going to lose you."

Buff Frog's eyes widened with fear as he said shakily, "No, no, I would never let that happen, Marco!"

"Then you gotta promise me not to throw yourself in danger like that anymore," Marco told him in a semi-scolding tone. "I know catching Rasticore is important, but not as important as having you here to raise me. I-I can't lose another parent." Marco's voice finally shattered, as tears streaming down his face anew and Buff Frog quickly pulled him into a soothing hug, patting his son softly on the back. "You are right, Marco. I promise, won't ever leave you like that. I be more careful next time." Marco buried his face into the warm, comforting embrace of his father, silently praying that he would never have to go without this feeling. He needed his dad just as much as he needed Star, he didn't know what he would do without his two lifelines there to guide and comfort him.

"Y'know," Lobster Claws suddenly spoke up, interrupting the moment, as Marco and Buff Frog turned to him and the other Monsters. "For the record, we told him the same thing after he nearly got himself killed stealing that picture of Babs from the Assassin's Guild but he wouldn't listen to us."

Spike Balls lightly smacked the crustacean atop the head, before saying scoldingly, "Really, now is not the time, man."

"What?!" Lobster Claws whined, defensively. "I just wanted Marco to know that we tried to protect his dad, is all. Even after he went all crazy obsessive mode over catching Rasticore."

Buff Frog shot them a warning look, before it melted into a smile, still holding his son close as he told them all, "Thank you all for concern, even if I too stubborn to listen."

"No problem, boss, that's what we're here for," the lobster Monster stated, a goofy grin on his face from being acknowledged by his boss, he and the rest of the Monsters saluting their leader proudly.

Buff Frog just chuckled, before looking down at his son again, who had an inquisitive look in his eyes that told the amphibian he was curious about something. "What is it, Marco?" Buff Frog asked.

"What did Lobster Claws mean? Did you guys really steal from the Assassin's Guild?" the boy questioned, his eyes a mixture of worry and awe.

"Da, we did," Buff Frog replied honestly.

"Should I consider that scary or cool?" Marco asked, looking genuinely torn.

Buff Frog just laughed, "Probably both."

"Would it be okay if you told me the story?"

The frog father's heart melted at the eagerness in his son's tone before he nodded and said, "Yes, I think I can do that."

While that was going on, Jackie and Higgs just sat off to the sidelines, the skater just watching her friends in silence from her seat on one of the many gravestones, Higgs sitting at her feet. Jackie didn't see any need to get involved, deciding it was best to let them resolve this one on their own. Besides... Jackie reasoned with herself, her gaze slowly switching to the depressed-looking Higgs below her. Looks like someone needs me more, right now.

The young knight hadn't spoken once since the fighting had ended, keeping her gaze on the floor as she leaned back against one of the gravestones, her eyes betraying her attempts to look nonchalant, as they flashed with a sadness that Jackie didn't quite recognize. She cleared her throat, hoping to gain her attention but Higgs just continued to ignore her, so she decided to try and strike up a conversation with her saying as cheerfully as she could, "So, Higgs, you were pretty incredible back there."

The knight just grumbled, slamming the back of her head into the gravestone. "Please don't do that."

"Do what?" Jackie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Beat around the bush," she said bitterly. "Just say what you're going to say, don't try and sugarcoat it for me. I hate when people do that."

Jackie was caught off guard by this, but decided to respect her wishes and asked, "Alright then, what's bothering you, Higgs?"

The girl finally met her eye, a look of surprise on her face, before she buried it under a layer of indifference, saying in a strained tone, "Nothing. Why would anything possibly be wrong?" There was a hint of sarcasm at the end that Jackie clearly picked up on and her radiant eyes narrowed in response, her bright green eyes trying to drag an answer out of the girl and Higgs looked away quickly, shifting in obvious discomfort.

"Come on, Higgs, I know that's not true," Jackie pressed, being sure to keep her voice level, knowing the redhead's tendency to lash out. "I can see it in your eyes that's something wrong."

"Okay fine, you were right okay?!" the girl snapped, still not meeting her friend's eye as she seemed to pull even tighter into herself. "You were right and I was wrong! Are you happy now?!"

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Jackie asked in confusion. She had no clue what her friend was talking about.

Higgs let out a deep sigh, covering her eyes with her clenched fists as she seemed to be fighting to hold her emotions at bay. "You know what I'm talking about?" she shouted, though it seemed forced like she was making herself act angry to hide how she truly felt. "You and the Monsters all told me that that cat was a real threat but I didn't listen to you and we almost lost our evidence because of it." She finally let her hands drop to her side, seeming to go completely limp as she added in a quiet tone, "Been the story of my life lately."

Jackie slowly slid down the gravestone, so she was now side by side with Higgs as she said, "It's okay Higgs. It was an honest mistake."

"Well, I'm not supposed to make mistakes!" Higgs shouted in Jackie's face but the skater didn't even flinch, keeping her radiant eyes trained blankly on the redhead's freckled face. "I'm a knight! I'm supposed to be better than that! But lately, all I've done is make mistakes! It was bad enough that I didn't believe Marco about the whole Cipher thing and let myself get captured by that dumb triangle and ended up hurting one of the only friends I ever had, but then I go and lose to some mangy cat and get knocked out by Rasticore!" She let out another groan, pounding a fist against the gravestone, "How pathetic am I?!"

"You aren't pathetic, Higgs. So you messed up a couple of times, that's okay," Jackie told her, putting a hand on the redhead's shoulder, which she quickly bat away as she immediately said, "Well my mom never would have made them!"

Higgs' face flooded with fear as she realized what she had just said and Jackie could only stare back at her with shock. The young knights face slowly fell as the emotions she had been holding back came flooding in, her eyes filled with grief and her face contorted with loss and self-loathing. Jackie didn't say a word, just giving her a sympathetic gaze as she patiently waited for her to continue. Finally, the skater's look grew to be too much for Higgs as she said in a pain-filled tone, "My mom was one of the greatest knights that ever lived. She was amazing and strong and didn't ever let anyone push her around. She never would have lost a fight like that or let herself get caught, she was too cool for mistakes like that. She was my hero. I wanted to be just like her... but look how that turned out."

Jackie gave the girl a long look before saying, "Y'know I wanted to be just like my parents too."

Higgs groaned, burying her face in her hands as she begged in a bitter voice, "Do we really have to do this right now? I don't want to have some sappy, emotional speech. This is exactly why I never talk about her, dad always gets so weird. And you guys are even worse, all you ever do is talk about your feelings, it's annoying!"

Jackie didn't let the girl's rude protest annoy her, knowing this was just how she coped with her loss and so immediately brushed the snarky comments aside as she said sincerely, "That isn't what I was going to do. I was going to tell you something my parents used to tell me that I think might help you out."

Higgs raised an eyebrow at the girl but didn't say anything, which Jackie took as encouragement to continue, fiddling with the seashell on her necklace as she said softly, "Okay well, as I was saying when I was little I wanted to learn how to ride a skateboard just like my parents. And one day I got fed up and frustrated when I kept making stupid little mistakes on my board and falling off. So that's when they pulled me aside and told me something that I've never forgotten and it's helped to get me through more than a couple hardships." She sucked in a deep breath, closing her eyes as she imagined her own mom and dad repeating the words back to her like they had so many years ago, "' Everybody falls off a skateboard at least once, the important thing is getting back on it'."

Higgs gave the girl a long look, before saying, "And what does that have to do with me, exactly?" The skater could tell she was choosing her words carefully so as to not upset her and Jackie chuckled to herself at the effort, it reminded her of Marco way back in the day and how cautious and guarded he was with his words, constantly afraid of saying something wrong. It was funny to think that the hooded teen might be rubbing off on the redhead without her even knowing it.

"It has everything to do with you," the skater chick chuckled out, but still seeing the look of disbelief on the young knight's face, she continued in a more serious tone, "Look everyone messes up. You're always gonna make mistakes, you can't change that. No matter how perfect you want to be you're always gonna have flaws, it's what makes us human... or Mewman in your case."

"Is this supposed to be making me feel better oorrr..." Higgs said crossly.

"But," Jackie continued, raising her voice some for emphasis. "That doesn't mean you have to give up. So what if you misjudged some things? Now you know better and next time it will be different. I mean if Marco were to tell you something was a threat now you'd believe him, right?"

"Yeah, I guess," Higgs said softly, still looking unsure, having trouble processing it all.

"Well there you go, you just learned one of the most important things about being human or Mewman, learning from your mistakes. Some people go their whole lives without learning that and you've already got it down. That's pretty impressive, Higgs!" Jackie gave her one of her cool, radiant smiles, her green eyes shimmering with confidence and reassurance.

Higgs sat up a little taller, looking proud once more as she bragged, "Well, what can I say, I guess I'm just naturally gifted."

Jackie gave her a friendly punch in the shoulder, telling her, "Yep, you sure are. You must get it from your mom." The skater gave her a wink at that and Higgs's whole face lit up with a mixture of both joy and sorrow as she stared ahead thoughtfully, recalling all the fond memories she had of her mom.

"Thanks," Higgs replied softly.

"I bet she'd be proud of the knight you've become, Higgs," Jackie said, leaning back against the gravestone her own mind swirling with fond but painful memories. "And something tells me you're only gonna keep getting better."

Higgs followed the skater's lead, putting her hands behind her head as rested her head on the hard stone. "Well y'know, gotta 'keep getting back on' or whatever it was you said."

Jackie laughed at the attempt, before telling the redhead, "Close enough."

Star stood back quietly from the others, listening with mild interest as Buff Frog recounted his long tale to his son, smiling at the sight of her boyfriend so completely engrossed in the story. Marco studied his dad's every movement with an unblinking gaze, his eyes wide and his cheek marks spinning in excitement, glowing brighter than normal as he hung on every word that came out of the frog's mouth, so hyper-focused on his dad that he seemed to have completely forgotten he still stood in the same scary graveyard that he had been ready to bolt from not half an hour ago. Star was glad to see Marco getting the attention he had needed from his dad, it was long overdue at this point and she decided it was best to give them their space and not interrupt this important father-son moment.

That was she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye and spotted Babs slowly walking away, about to completely disappear into the mist. Star frowned and walked over to her, saying once she was within earshot, "Planning on running away again?"

Babs stopped in place, clearly caught in the act as she slowly turned around to face the royal, who stared down at her with an accusing look, her hands on her hips. The small Mewman, though, kept her cool as she just shrugged and said, "Knew it was a long shot but had to at least try. Spending a couple of years in the Tower doesn't exactly interest me all that much. That is unless your speech back there wasn't total baloney like I figure it was."

Star didn't reply, instead only taking a moment to observe the tiny assassin closely, thinking back through all their past interactions hoping to get an accurate read on this strange individual, before she decided on her fate. She wasn't sure what to think of her at this point, to be honest, her head and heart both clashing with each other as they both tried reasoning with her in their own way. Star's brain was telling her not to trust her, that all of this was a trick, that she had been working with Rasticore to betray her and that her punishment was beyond well deserved. But then her heart disagreed. Yes, Babs had betrayed her in the past but tonight she had stuck her neck out for her when she didn't have to and whether that was for her own purposes or protection Star didn't know. Still, the fact that she was even willing to jump into the fray like that when running away would have been so much easier showed that there was some good to Babs, after all.

Babs waited patiently for the princess to come to a decision slowly sliding her hands into her pockets, before letting out a violent cough which caused Star to cringe and snap her out of her thoughts. She had almost forgotten about Babs' weakened immune system. "Well whatever you choose, I'd appreciate you deciding quickly," the small Mewman chocked out, still struggling to get in a good breath of air as her coughing fit continued. "Not too sure being in all this mist is too good an idea for my infection."

"You saved me back there, why?" Star asked, ignoring the statement, needing to have this one question answered first.

"Because I could," Babs replied, but Star could tell by her sudden hesitance that she seemed to be choosing her words carefully. "I mean, that Monster tried to kill me, why wouldn't I try and get back at him?"

"Well, then why wait until I was in trouble, weren't there plenty of other times before then you could have done that," Star pointed out and Babs went silent for a second, thinking over her answer before she shrugged and looked away.

"I guess, I figured I owed you one," the cat-lover muttered under her breath. "For buying me that collar and paying for lunch and everything, even if it was all pretend. I still appreciate the gesture." She locked eyes with Star before adding, "So now we're even."

"Yeah, I guess we are," Star replied with a small smile. There was a short awkward pause as Star seemed to be contemplating her next sentence and Babs took a few careful steps away, hoping to find the right moment to try and escape into the mist. But all thoughts of running away vanished in an instant as she heard the blond royal add, "So then since we are even, I was wondering if you were interested in doing a job for me."

Babs turned to her with a shocked stare, her mouth hanging open and her eyebrow raised in confusion, "Huh?"

"Well from the looks of it you're out of work at the moment, right? And I'm in need of some help tracking down Rasticore and his boss," Star explained her voice kind but full of authority. "See, I'd really prefer not having Marco's family out there risking their lives anymore and I'm sure Marco would appreciate that, too. But I can't just leave them unchecked to wait for the next attack. But if I can get someone who knows the Assassin's Guild, who can get on the inside and find out exactly what that Monster is up to, then we'd actually stand a chance at stopping him. And since you're the only member I know, I figure you'd be my best bet." Babs was surprised by the level of intelligent planning the princess had put into this, she could tell this wasn't just some half-baked scheme, the princess before her had thought long and hard about this.

"And what about Skullnick and the other knights?" Babs questioned skeptically. "You really think any of them are gonna be okay with this plan?"

Star shrugged, before saying mischievously, "Who says they have to know? This deal is just between us, think of it like a new mission, I'm the client and you're my new spy."

"And why would you want that? I'm an assassin, you can't trust me." Babs asked sheepishly, her cheeks flushing some.

Star burst out into laughter at that and the assassin gave her a confused look. Star took a moment to calm down, slowly stifling her giggles before saying, "Sorry, I just never realized how forgiving a bunch we are until now." She cleared her throat before continuing. "Look, I'm not gonna pretend like it's okay that you were working with Rasticore to some extent before to try and capture me, but I'm willing to give you a second chance and you proved to me tonight that you deserve one. So, I don't know if you still want to be my friend, but I'm hoping you'll at least agree to work for me. I could really use the help, Babs."

There was a short moment of silence as the two locked eyes with each other, a look of understanding passing between each other as the connection from before returned for a brief instant. And in that moment Babs could see the princess's unwavering determination and compassion and she felt her heartstrings pull toward the girl, compelled to say yes. What she had said before was true, she didn't trust people. She had known too many betrayals and harsh realities to believe that friends were anything more than an excuse to get something out of you. Which was why Babs wasn't sure if she was yet ready to call the overeager teen in front of her a friend, but maybe- just maybe- she didn't have to give up on Mewmans altogether. Maybe she was willing to give this princess her trust after the girl had so willingly given hers. Besides, she couldn't help but hear Marco's words from earlier, reflecting back at her, claiming that there was a way she could do some good with her powers and that thought was too tempting to pass up.

"Alright, princess let's say I do agree to this crazy scheme of yours," she began, making sure to not let her true feelings show just yet. Baby steps and all that. "I'm gonna need something else in return. After all, my services don't come cheap."

Star slowly raised an eyebrow at that, before slowly nodding her head and saying, "Alright, fair enough. What do you usually get paid for-"

"Oh no, princess, I have something much different in mind than money," Babs said with a mischievous smirk.

Star flinched at that, her eyes narrowing some as she asked in a restrained but warning tone, "And what exactly did you have in mind?"

"Wellll, you are the princess of Mewni, so I figured you could pull a few strings here and there, right?" Babs began in a hinting tone.

Star wasn't liking where this was going. She wasn't sure she was comfortable with someone using her position to get whatever they wanted. Especially since Babs should just be grateful she wasn't having her arrested for aiding in any way to her attempted kidnappings. "All right, Babs, just get to the point. What do you want?" The princess crossed her arms, sending the woman a scowl as she waited for her answer.

"A lifetime supply of cat food." Star froze, every function in her brain coming to a screeching halt as she tried to process the bizarre request. Wasn't expecting that, the blond royal thought to herself, studying the small Mewman before her for any signs of foul play or ulterior motives. But surprisingly Babs looked dead serious about this request and Star found herself asking, "Wait, seriously?"

The cat lover just rolled her eyes before explaining in slight exasperation, "Uhh, yeah. I got a lot of mouths to feed. Do you know how many bags I go through a day? Like a lot."

"Oh," was all Star could think to say, still in slight shock. But she recovered quickly, the bright grin returning to her face as she nodded and said, "Yeah, I can do that."

"Then you got yourself a deal," Babs said with a pleasant, almost friendly, smile.

"Yes!" Star squealed in victory, only to blush as she realized her exclamation was much louder than she had expected and that everyone in the graveyard had now stopped what they were doing and were giving her confused, skeptical looks. The blond quickly coughed into her hand to try and hide her embarrassment, muttering, "I mean..." She took in a sharp breath before offering Babs a hand to shake, saying in the most dignified and authoritative voice she had in her arsenal, "...it's a deal."

Babs eyed the hand for a second before telling her, "Yeah you don't want to do that, prin- Star. Unless you wanted to come down with the Mewni flu."

Star immediately pulled her hand away with a little shout. "Uh, yeah, I'm good," the girl commented sarcastically, before adding confidently, "Well then I guess the deal is official, you're officially working for me. Welcome to the team, Babs!"

"Thanks, good to be here," the Mewman said. There was a short pause as the two shared an acknowledging grin, a level of trust and companionship forming between the two as they exchanged simple nods.

Until finally, it was Star who broke the silence. "So how long do you think we'll have before Rasticore is back to full strength and ready to come after us again?" Star asked seriously.

Babs shrugged. "That was one of my stronger formulas so I don't expect us to be seeing him anytime soon."

"Aren't you worried his boss might find an antidote?" Star asked in concern.

Babs laughed at that, before saying confidently, "Not a chance. That concoction can only be cured by yours truly since I'm the one who created it, which means he'll just have no choice but to wait for it to wear off on its own."

"Which means we have the advantage again," Star said excitedly.

"Yep, we sure do and I don't intend on wasting it," Babs said nodding her head.

"Great! Let's do this!" Star exclaimed, raising a determined fist as a vibrant, determined energy surged up in her, feeling both the weight of her monumental task as well as the faith and confidence that they could indeed pull this off.

But the moment was suddenly shattered as Babs went into another coughing fit, this one sounding much worse than the others, and Star just froze up, giving her a concerned frown, not sure what to do to help her. Finally, the Mewman managed to wheeze out, "Okay, but seriously can we get out of this fog now? I think my throat is starting to close up."

…

Rasticore stumbled into the abandoned temple that was Miss Heinous's base, not even bothering to check and make sure he was alone before he collapsed onto his hand and knees, not caring about his weakened appearance as he focused more on being able to breathe again, still coughing and gasping for the air his strained lungs couldn't seem to regain thanks to his old partner. He wrapped his metal claw around his throat as he finally managed to take in a deep breath, followed by another and then another, as the effects of Babs's poison wore off. Or at the very least lessened. Still, as Rasticore tried to stand again, he found the task unbelievably difficult, his limbs suddenly feeling like lead and his head pounding so hard the lizard worried his skull might fracture. After a moment or two of trying, he gave up resorting to just letting out a roar of anger, his vision going red as he cursed the name of the traitorous Babs. "That worthless traitor!" he hissed out, finding just enough strength to raise his metal limb, slamming it into the ground over and over again, shattering the ground beneath his fist with every strike. "I'm going to destroy her for this! And then I'm going after the rest of them, the princess and her precious boyfriend, Buff Frog, that annoying little knight and the Impure! All of them, they're all going to-"

"Well isn't this a sorry sight," a voice said from above and the lizard assassin growled under his breath, as he heard the same scolding, judgmental tone of his boss, as well as the steady click of her high heels as she approached him. Great as if his day wasn't going bad enough. The last thing he needed right now was a lecture from Miss. Snooty Pants herself. He managed to crane his head over in her direction, able to make out her form with his half-lidded eye (dang whatever poison Babs had hit him with was strong), feeling his blood boil at the distasteful frown she was examining him with. "What exactly happened to you out there?"

"I was... poisoned," Rasticore hesitantly admitted, the words bile on his tongue as he once again cursed Babs very existence.

"Poisoned? How did you let something like this happen to you, Rasticore?" she tutted in condescension and the assassin would have wiped that smug look off her face if not for his current situation. But it seemed she wasn't done as she just folded her arms in front of herself and said in a voice just dripping with arrogance, "So care to explain why you have managed to fail so spectacularly once again. What is this, the third time in a row?" Man, did he hate her!

"I miscalculated, it won't happen again," he hissed out.

An eyebrow slowly raised in response, as the woman voiced her disapproval to her lackey, "Really? I recall you saying the same thing after your last failure and look at how things turned out. Here you are, at my feet, with no princess insight. I'm getting very tired of excusing your failures, Rasticore."

Rasticore's claws clenched into fists, digging into the ground in the process but said nothing more. It was pointless at the moment, Heinous seemed intent on lecturing him, as she began pacing around him, preparing to remind him once again of his shortcomings despite the face he had been successful in capturing every other princess they had gone after so far, but that didn't seem to be enough for her. He just hoped he could get out of this without her finding out how exactly he had failed this time.

"First you failed to take the girl during the ball when it was most convenient to strike," Heinous continued and Rasticore resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Then, after I strictly told you to wait for the appropriate time, you went after her again without my knowledge or permission."

"And that plan would have worked, if that brat had just done what he was told," the lizard Monster hissed out, still feeling a deep resentment toward the kid.

"But it didn't," Heinous argued, sharply turning to face him again, staring down at him with a superior look. "And now neither did this one and considering the state you are in, I can only assume it was because of that Mewman woman, wasn't it?"

Rasticore growled and looked away, this reaction confirming Heinous's thought was correct. This was exactly what the lizard had feared she would discover and he could almost feel her smugness as she said simply, "I see." Great, just great. This was not what he needed right now. "Didn't I warn you she was not to be trusted? When you proposed to me asking her for help in our little task I told you not to let her get involved, that she was much too soft. But you assured me we could trust her and I foolishly listened to you. Obviously, I shouldn't have."

Rasticore couldn't take this anymore, finally finding the strength to stand on wobbly feet as he got right into his boss's face, their faces only inches from touching, his eye a burning flame as he shouted out, "Oh yeah, well maybe instead of complaining, you should just do it yourself!"

Heinous's eyes narrowed dangerously and the Monster took a step back, nearly stumbling and falling to the floor as his body seemed to weigh a ton of bricks. "Do not speak to me that way, Rasticore!" she snapped, as she did her clover cheek marks began to glow a dark, sinister purple and the Monster all emotions drain from him, sucked up by the woman as his eye began to glow purple. "I am your leader, you follow my rules, not your own!" The air around them seemed to be charged with electricity, as a powerful magic flowed off of the woman before him. "You seem to be under the impression that you may do whatever you like, that this plan is somehow about you too, but it's not! This is my flawless vision, not yours! And if you pull off another stunt like that again, I will consider you my enemy! And you know what I do to those who stand in the way of my vision." The last sentence was practically a purr, her voice barely above a whisper, but the warning of death was loud and clear to Rasticore, who felt himself answering in numb compliance, "Yes, Miss Heinous, I understand," his body bowing despite the exhausting amount of energy it took to do so. "I will follow your orders alone."

"Good," the woman said, the surge of magic ceasing as soon as it had come, her cheek marks returning to their normal hue, causing Rasticore to flinch as he snapped out of whatever spell Heinous had had him under, shaking his head to try and clear it of the fog, looking around in dazed confusion, before stumbling as Heinous brushed past him with her head held high. "Then it seems it's time to rethink our next move."

Rasticore, feeling an incessant need to please his boss all of a sudden, quickly said, "Well if you give me a few days I'm sure I'll be back to full strength and ready to-"

"No," Heinous interrupted.

"What?" Rasticore instinctively replied, before quickly snapping his mouth shut, afraid of the consequences for speaking out against his mistress.

Heinous didn't seem to notice though as she simply said in an almost bored tone, "No, that poison will take time to get out of your system, which means we will need to plan our next move carefully."

"But Miss Heinous," Rasticore argued, knowing he was taking a big risk in doing so. "We can't just wait around, not while Babs is working with the princess. She's a crafty one and she knows me too well, what's to stop her from finding us?"

Heinous let out an annoyed sigh, before turning back around to face her subordinate, pursing her lips in disdain. "And this is exactly why I didn't include her in on our plans. Good help is so very hard to find, these days. Loyalty appears to be a dying art. However, I have no intention of waiting around for that to happen. I have other plans to set in motion." A twisted smile appeared on the woman's face, one that made Rasticore's skin crawl.

"Other plans? Like what exactly?"

"Well, I can't expect my lackey to perform his duties while sick, now can I?" Heinous said with false sweetness, that made Rasticore's heart burn with hatred before it flickered out in an instant. "Honestly it was foolish of me for entrusting you alone with such a monumental task. Which means I need to find other help in this matter, an army of loyal soldiers like you who will follow me to the death."

"And where exactly are we going to find that?" Rasticore questioned. "Weren't you the one who said 'loyalty is impossible to find'?"

Heinous just smiled softly to herself as she replied, "I assure you, Rasticore. This is different." She looked over her shoulder as she finally locked eyes with her lackey and the lizard Monster could see the unrelenting obsession and twisted resolve in her sharp gaze. "Feel free to rest up, I'm going to pay my old school a visit."

#star vs #Star vs AU #My Writing #Light of the Sun and Stars #Starco

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