Disclaimer: I don't own Star vs. the Forces of Evil!
Title: Ash Gray
Summary: Moon escorts Eclipsa back to her tower after breaking into the archives.
...
It occurs to Moon perhaps a little too late in the evening that she should probably get Eclipsa back to her tower. The ancient queen makes no real fuss about it; about anything pertaining to herself, really. Her main focus seems to be on her daughter- something Moon would be lying if she said she didn't respect and appreciate. Just a little. Not that much, really. It's still Eclipsa, after all.
The walk is silent and awkward, but it's not like Moon is supposed to be making small talk with the woman she's crafting a case against. Eclipsa hums a little tune under her breath and takes big, lopsided steps in her bunny slippers. It's impossible to tell if she's hiding her pain, or if the pain was a lie in the first place.
It's impossible to tell anything with Eclipsa.
When they reach her tower, Eclipsa opens the door with practiced ease. "I'd offer you a cup of tea, but I haven't any to offer."
"That's fine," Moon says, privately holding fears of poisoning. Even if Eclipsa was innocent (which she doubted), she was planning to try and get her imprisoned again. There's no need to test fate. "May I?"
The woman gestured for her to come in. "It's your castle, Queen Moon."
For the first time, she takes a closer look at the tower. She'd known, of course, that it was in disrepair. The little scuttling creatures and general decay didn't surprise her in the slightest. But it finally starts to sink in that someone lives in it. The bed, broken and lopsided, has tangled blankets and wrinkled sheets. Some of the furniture had been propped up with various things, from stones to other broken furniture bits. There was an odd warmth to it all, love and patience and something else entirely.
In a way, the tower is worse than the dungeons. At least they clean the dungeons from time to time.
Eclipsa sits down next to the window, a small smile on her features. Her shoulders melt a little before Moon's eyes. "Have you ever seen the gardens from here?"
"No," she admits. "This place has been off-limits since before I was born."
"Shame. It's a lovely view."
Moon has never found plants all that breathtaking, but sits down next to her anyway, if only to be polite. The height makes her feel a little bit dizzy, but it's nothing drastic, and the two queens stared out into the garden, lit only by torches. It was more dark and dreary than it was anything else. "Eclipsa?"
"Hmmm?"
"I'd just like to say..." Moon fiddled with the fabric on her dress, trying to find the right words. She could comfort anyone on Mewni, so long as it wasn't her. "That, should you be found innocent somehow- which, I should note, probably won't happen..."
Eclipsa's features didn't change. "Alright."
"If that should happen, I'd just like to apologize." It felt like she had to spit the words out. "For how I've treated you. And how badly you've been taken care of."
To her surprise, she waved it off with a dark purple hand. "Not at all. I'm considered a big threat, after all."
Moon narrows her eyes at her, slightly amazed. "How do you manage to be so unflappable?"
Eclipsa let out a tiny laugh- more of a trill, really- and shrugged. "I like to think of myself as a pretty good actor." Which didn't help the woman's concerns any, but she seemed lost in her own world. "They knew from the start I'd be trouble, so I learned. It's in my eyes, you know."
"Your eyes?" Moon prompted. "What do you mean?"
The queen turned to her fully, and just the slightest bit of surprise registered on her features. "Don't tell me you haven't noticed my eyes?"
"I've noticed they're gray."
"Exactly. Gray isn't a very normal color." Eclipsa reached up to rub at her cheek. "At least, they weren't in my time."
"They still aren't," Moon said, lips quirking. She didn't know whether to feel amused or not. "But neither is your hair. I just assumed you'd done it to yourself."
"Oh, the hair is definitely magic." She pushed the curled locks up a bit. "I think I was fifteen, give or take, when I did it? And I liked it too much to let it go. Have you noticed it changes from time to time- black or green? I did that too."
You seem to enjoy using magic for silly things, Moon thought, but didn't say. In a way, it reminded her terribly of her own daughter, and that scared her a little. She didn't want to picture Star sleeping in a broken tower and building guitars out of skeletons, awaiting a trial they all knew would promise her doom. "The garden is quite lovely, isn't it?"
Eclipsa turns back to it, willing to take the change of topic in stride. "It is."
Moon stands. Eclipsa doesn't. She quietly walks away, heading to the door, only to stop and kick the edge of her bed. "Perhaps I should see about getting this fixed, at the very least. Not letting you rest properly technically count as torture, though I don't believe it's quite that extreme."
"Oh, not at all. I quite enjoy it, really. I've learned a few interesting sleeping positions. Got the crick out of my back, too." Eclipsa came to join her. Moon tenses, but she doesn't even glance at the door. "Besides. It wouldn't do anyone any good for you to be accused of being partial to me."
"Being fair isn't being partial."
"You sound like Star," she commented, eyes fluttering closed. "You've raised a fine daughter, Queen Moon."
Moon prickled at that, turning to say something along the lines of "And how would you know? You've barely just met her!" but the stiffness is back, the lines and wrinkles under her eyes.
Eclipsa isn't that old. Not really. Trapped in time, like an insect in amber, but still younger than her. And she's been through a lot. And if she actually is innocent somehow, her story could be a great tragedy.
Even if she is guilty, it's still a great tragedy.
She settles on saying, "Perhaps."
Eclipsa met her eye, looking almost hesitant. Her gray eyes seem to stand out, now. Maybe it was the smeared mascara. Maybe it was the earlier production about them. "Do you... do you really think she's alive?"
Moon doesn't ask who she is. "I hope so," she says earnestly. She doesn't like the thought of any mother losing their child.
The ancient queen shifted her gaze to the oddly dipped bed, frowning. "Perhaps it's best not to hope," she says quietly. "Three hundred years isn't an easy feat to make up. It's a lot of work. A lot of regret."
"Maybe so. Would you rather it be otherwise?" Moon touches her shoulder, then remembers who she's talking to and withdraws. It really is too easy to see what she wants to see in her- a mother, a wild and reckless soul, take your pick. It unsettled her that she couldn't decipher which was Eclipsa and which wasn't. If any of it was real or if it was all in her head. Fact and fiction mixed with rumor. "You don't strike me as someone who prefers things to be simple and easy."
A single eye flickers to her. "You might have a point, Queen Moon. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see."
Author's Note: Idk, I just really liked watching Eclipsa and Moon interact in the new episode. =) Not entirely satisfied with the ending to this one, but otherwise I think it's good. Also I just wanted to fiddle a bit with some Eclipsa headcanons I have- namely that her eyes are all natural and considered weird on Mewni, but her hair being a different color in her tapestry is just her fiddling with it magically. Stuff like that.
-Mandaree1