Long lost
After the events of the Cipher War, Queen Moon had the cursed Book of Avalon removed from its island hideaway on Earth and stored securely in a vault in Butterfly Castle, and instructed the guards not to let anyone in to see it, not even her. Star was busy tending to Marco's therapy. Even though the physical scars from being Bill's 'plaything' had mostly faded, the trauma of being tortured day in, day out for a week left a lot of bad memories. Marco would still have nightmares about his ordeal, and it was suggested that Marco spend more time with someone he found soothing, and Star was the best choice for this. Moon was talking to her husband, River, about this very topic over lunch.
"River, dear, do you really think Marco will ever come to terms with his experience?" inquired Moon, concerned.
"I can't even imagine what he must've gone through, but I know he's got a good spirit and a better heart. Dare I say it, but he's quality king material" mused River. Moon chuckled at the last part.
"A human king? That would be something I actually want to see" joked Moon.
"He'd be better than Ludo, that's for sure" replied River. Moon then looked around the dining room, and noted the absence of two important guests.
"Where are Star and Marco, anyway?" quizzed Moon.
"They're in the gardens, having a picnic of their own. Leave them be, dear, please. They remind me of us when we were young" responded River. Moon took comfort in hearing this, pleased that Star found someone that made her happy.
In the castle gardens, Star and Marco were enjoying Star's first picnic. She was curious about this activity, as they never got around to it on Earth, what with school, fights with Ludo and his henchmen and magical adventures. But now that they had an excuse to slow down and smell the flowers, in this case, literally, Star was relishing every moment spent together with Marco.
"If there is one fundamental truth in the multiverse, it's that nachos make everything better" mused Marco, as he was munching down on one.
"These are even better than the ones you make on Earth, what's in these?" agreed Star.
"I experimented with some spices from the royal kitchens. Don't tell your folks" answered Marco.
"My lips are sealed" said Star, flirtatiously, and the two kissed. To Marco, it seemed like forever and a day since he got this type of time to spend with Star, and he found himself wishing it would never end. When they broke apart, Star and Marco lay on the blanket they had laid out on the grass, and fell asleep in each other's embrace.
In the crystal dimension, Rhombulus was patrolling his domain. Since Toffee's defeat, the crystals keeping the evils he had imprisoned were gaining their old strength back. He had feared that, while he was incapacitated during the Toffee incident, and again, on Earth battling Bill and his soldiers, that they had diminished. When he returned from that victory, he found all the crystals as strong as he left them. All, except one. When Rhombulus inspected Eclipsa's prison once he was revitalized , he found it cracking.
"Better check on the crazy lady" Rhombulus muttered to himself. He had missed Lekmet's company in the crystal dimension. He found himself wondering how Moon was able to revive the entire High Commission except for Lekmet. Still, he kept himself busy with his work to take his mind off it. Rhombulus reached Eclipsa's crystal, to find the cracks getting bigger, until the crystal burst open. Eclipsa was free.
"Oh, no you don't!" Rhombulus remarked, and re-crystalized her. What happened next was beyond belief. No sooner had she been re-imprisoned, that the crystal shattered again almost instantaneously. When this happened with Bill, he understood why, Bill's powers were too great to be contained. But Eclipsa was not an all-powerful dream demon, she was just a former queen with dark tendencies.
"I'm afraid that won't work a second time" remarked Eclipsa.
"How did you get out?!" Rhombulus demanded.
"Your queen and I have a contract, once her enemy is dead, I am free to walk Mewni once again" answered Eclipsa, and she showed the ribbon-like markings on her arm to confirm her statement. She made her way out of her former prison, and towards Butterfly Castle. Rhombulus did not fancy his chances against Eclipsa one-on-one.
"Better warn the queen" Rhombulus said, and he cut a scissor portal to the castle in a hurry. When he emerged at the castle throne room, Moon addressed his unexpected approach.
"Please forgive the intrusion, but we have a problem" stated Rhombulus.
"Don't tell me, Eclipsa's free" guessed Moon. Rhombulus nodded to confirm their greatest fears. Moon made off to warn Star, while River doubled the knights inside the castle and Rhombulus proceeded to assemble the rest of the High Commission to form a plan. If Eclipsa could not be re-imprisoned, then the threat she poses would have to be neutralized another way.
Back at the castle gardens, Star and Marco woke up from their impromptu nap, and gathered up their picnic supplies, ready to return to the castle, when suddenly, a figure neither party had seen before approached them.
"To be young and in love, I wish I could re-live those days" the figure mused as she approached. Star and Marco turned to see a gentle-looking woman standing before them. What was unusual is that she had cheek marks similar to Star and Moon, a trait Marco thought was exclusive to the Butterfly family. Star raised her wand at this intruder. Eclipsa took note of the wand.
"So, you're the new wand bearer? Rest assured, I have no interest in that thing. I only want to talk" assured Eclipsa. Star recognised her from the tapestries.
"You're Eclipsa, the queen of darkness who fled Mewni" stated Star.
"Queen of darkness, is that what my tapestry says now?" asked Eclipsa.
"Yeah, I may not love monsters as you do, but I know that not all of them are bad. One of my best friends is a monster. In fact, I'm the god-mother to his tadpoles" answered Star.
"Really? It's nice to know Mewni's got more progressive since I was last here. Tell me, what has your mother told you about me?" inquired Eclipsa.
"That you created a whole chapter of dark spells. I found the All-Seeing Eye spell really useful at times" replied Star. Marco was disturbed by this.
"Did you, by any chance, use that spell to spy on me?" quizzed Marco. Star saw no point in lying.
"I wanted to see how you were after I left to fight Toffee, you were so sad, and I missed you" confessed Star. Marco appreciated her honesty.
"Just promise me you won't spy on me again" Marco said, forgivingly. Star promised that she wouldn't.
"I even found a way to reach through the looking glass one time, to try and rescue Glossaryck" added Star.
"Speaking of Glossaryck, where is he, and the spell-book?" asked Eclipsa.
"The book is gone, along with your chapter. We got Glossaryck back, but he's not himself" answered Star.
"That's not surprising. He and the book are bound together. When one goes, it affects the other. He can be bound to another spell-book. I can do this, but we'll need a book to bind him to" explained Eclipsa. Just then, Moon came bursting into the gardens, backed up by some knights.
"Seize her!" Moon ordered, and the knights grabbed Eclipsa. Star was bemused by this.
"Moon, dear, it's good to see you again. How did that spell work out for you?" inquired Eclipsa.
"You stay away from my daughter!" Moon seethed. Marco could sense tensions were running high.
"The last thing I want is to be involved in family drama. Can I meet Star at the castle, please?" Marco added. Moon gestured that he could leave, and the knights let him pass.
"Mum, is this really necessary? We were just talking and catching up" Star asked in total shock.
"Star, this is the woman who abandoned her people so she could run off with a monster! You've seen her spells, and what they can do. She's evil!" Moon insisted.
"She's also the woman who can put Glossaryck back to normal. All she needs is a new spell-book" Star replied. Moon was horrified. She didn't tell Star about the Book of Avalon, for her own safety. But if Eclipsa knew it was being stored here, or worse, if she ever got a hold of it, Moon did not want to think about it.
"Throw her in the dungeon!" Moon ordered, and the knights took her away. Moon went with them, and Star followed. No-one spoke, and Moon told Star to wait in the dining room for her, and that they will discuss the matter when she arrived from the dungeons. Once Eclipsa was secure in her cell, Moon made to meet Star in the dining room.
"Are you alright, Star?" Moon asked, concerned.
"I'm fine, she approached us, not the other way around, before you ask that question" Star answered. Moon was slightly relieved to hear this, as she didn't want Star seeking out her dark ancestor.
"What, exactly, did you two talk about?" quizzed Moon.
"Just some stuff about my friendship with Buff Frog, her spells, and putting Glossaryck back to normal" Star recounted.
"Glossaryck can't be put back to normal without a new spell-book, and your notebook of spells is not compatible, it needs to be Mewni-made, and making a new one takes time" explained Moon.
"Even so, she is family. Whatever she did in the past, does it really warrant imprisonment and being shunned by the rest of us? I, personally, am curious about her" reasoned Star.
"That's only natural, but she is dangerous. She can make you do things you don't want to do. Please, stay away from her. For your own good" Moon pleaded.
"She didn't seem evil to me" Star countered.
"I thought the same thing when I first met her. That's how she gets into your head. I should never have made that deal with her, even if it did end the war" Moon reflected.
"You said yourself you didn't know what else to do. I probably would've done the same thing in your position" Star consoled.
"Let us hope you never end up in that position" Moon concluded, and they hugged it out.
Later that evening, Star and Marco were getting ready for bed, when Marco approached Star, eager to see if everything was OK.
"Star, I'm sorry I bailed. It's just I always consider family issues things that should be left in the family" Marco said, apologetically.
"It's fine, nothing I couldn't handle on my own. But I can't help but have questions about her" Star replied.
"What did your mum say about her?" Marco asked.
"Not much, only that she ran off with a monster, leaving Mewni without a queen for a time, and invented a lot of dark spells" answered Star.
"That would make her a bad ruler, but not necessarily a bad person. She seemed sweet enough to me" Marco responded.
"Do you have any black sheep in your family?" Star inquired, hoping to find some common ground.
"We don't talk about him, but my uncle had issues. Fell in with a bad crowd, lost his job and had more than a few run-ins with the law. Eventually, things got so bad the family had to disown him. This was all before I was born, but I still wonder about him, sometimes" Marco explained.
"You never thought to seek him out on your own?" Star pressed further.
"Once or twice, then I found out why he's in jail now. I won't say what he did, but it's pretty sick, and after that, I was content with pretending he didn't exist" Marco recalled. With this story, Star almost understood why Moon had such misgivings about Eclipsa, but it didn't help that Moon would not tell her what exactly Eclipsa did that earned her an eternity in a crystal prison.
The time came for Star and Marco to climb into their bed and let sleep take them. Star and Marco had been experimenting with sleeping in the same bed together since the Cipher Liberation Day party. Both found it more comforting than usual. So much so, in fact, that when Pony Head came to visit, she had been teasing them about when they were expecting Mewni's next princess. This, understandably, had Moon and River very concerned, but they allowed it to continue, for therapeutic reasons, to speed up Marco's recovery.
While Marco slept easily, Star lay awake. The questions she had about Eclipsa still rattled in her head. She decided that the best source of answers was Eclipsa herself. She climbed out of bed, and snuck into the castle dungeons. This was easy for Star, because in all the time she lived here, she could memorise the knights' patrols and avoid them blindfolded. Once she made it into the dungeon, she found Eclipsa's cell, and quietly got her attention.
"Star, what are you doing here?" quizzed Eclipsa, in a hushed tone.
"Sorry, but I still have so many questions about you and what exactly happened between you and the High Commission" Star explained, also hushed. Eclipsa saw this as a chance to capitalise on Star's curiosity.
"Let me out, and I'll tell you everything you want to know" Eclipsa bargained. Star then pickpocketed the keys from a nearby guard, sleeping at his post, and opened Eclipsa's cell, then undid her irons.
"Now that's done, I'd like to pick something up" Eclipsa added. Star was confused. She looked around, but found no evidence that anything was seized from Eclipsa when she was incarcerated. "I overheard some guards gossiping about a book that Moon has locked away in the vault. If I'm right, we can restore Glossaryck with it" she clarified. Star was shocked. All she wanted was answers about Eclipsa's past, and yet here she is, contemplating theft from her own house.
"I am not stealing anything for you!" Star retorted, and now she wished she brought her wand with her.
"It's just a book, what harm could it possibly do? Besides, you need to complete your magical training, and without Glossaryck, your chances are not good" assured Eclipsa, frankly.
"We're making another one" Star argued.
"That'll take too long, Star. Do you want Glossaryck back or not?" replied Eclipsa. Star thought about this. She did still hold some resentment over Glossaryck ditching her for Ludo, then Toffee. On the other hand, she did need training. Eventually, Star came to a decision.
"For Glossaryck, not for you" Star decided.
"Fair enough" Eclipsa said, and the two made their way to the vault. Eclipsa was able to distract the night watch away from the doors, and magically pick the lock. When Star and Eclipsa went inside the vault, all they found was the dusty, old tome Eclipsa had mentioned.
"My mum had this locked away? Thing looks like it could fall apart at any moment. You want to bind Glossaryck to this?" asked Star, bemused.
"The older the book, the faster he will recover. Now, let's get it out of here" Eclipsa instructed, and the two made off with the book. Star hid the book in hers and Marco's room amongst the others, and she climbed back into bed, thankful Marco did not notice her absence.
Author's note: It has been a while since my last story, I hope I didn't keep anyone waiting too long. For those of you who will say to me that Star would never steal from her family, I wanted to capitalise on a line from the promo, that Eclipsa can make people do things they don't want to do. Keep in mind this was written before Season 3 started in earnest, so please forgive me if I get anything about Eclipsa wrong, I just find her an intriguing character I really wanted to write for. This is a sequel story to the Excalibur Saga, so for those of you reading this before that story, check that one out first, so you understand some of what is written here. The usual disclaimers, I own nothing, Daron Nefcy owns SVTFOE, Alex Hirsch owns Gravity Falls, and Disney owns them all. Enjoy.
