The former princess stepped through the other side of the portal and looked around. She had taken a portal as far as the outskirts of the kingdom because her mother made Hekapoo include tracking devices on the damn things somehow. Halley had ended up near some market or something, which was good because she was almost sure Glossyrick was clearing out her pudding supply. She held the straps of her backpack and made her way through the crowd curiously. Even though she served as princess of Mewni for 16 years, she had never been this far from the castle. Halley hesitantly approached a stand that sold supplies. She was a little surprised as the man actually beckoned her to come closer. Then she remembered it was because she looked "normal."
"Don't be shy, miss! Come come! What can I interest you in today?"
"Well I was thinking I could use some supplies for... a camping trip. So some food maybe and uh—"
"Not to worry!" The exuberant man exclaimed. "I've got the best of the best supplies for you. See this here?" The old man pulled a lamp from inside his stand, "This lamp will last you months, years even without losing its brightness!"
"Wow, that seems pretty useful—"
"And don't forget about this perfect ready made supply of food for any type of camping excursion." He piled a large bag that most likely contained the food next to the lamp on the wooden counter. "Not to mention I happen to own a large selection of camping apparel perfect for a pretty lady such as yourself," Halley was too stunned to even notice him piling the unnecessary clothes on top of the stack. No stranger had ever called her pretty before. By the time Halley knew it, the pile was much larger. It seemed like a lot but she supposed the man knew what he was talking about.
She took out her backpack and shook out the contents to find her money. Firstly a bunch of empty pudding cups came falling out. She rolled her eyes but kept to sorting through her quite messy bag. Glossyrick came floating out and the man behind the counter stared in amazement.
"What are we doing now?" He asked.
"Trying to find some money."
Glossyrick looked at the man behind the counter, "Do you happen to have any pudding?"
"I uh...think so."
"Fantastic! Just give us all of those, thank you."
Halley finally found the pouch with all her money in it and poured it onto the counter showing how she obviously didn't know how to purchase things. All the gold coins made the man's eyes practically pop out of his head.
"Will this cover it?" Halley asked.
The man paused momentarily before "sadly" smiling, "I'm sorry but you're a little short..."
"Really?"
He glanced over at Glossyrick and tapped the gem on his forehead, "This little thing should cover it."
"Well I guess..." Halley looked over at her companion.
"No. No way. Not happening." The blue man crossed his arms over his chest.
"Well it was probably your stupid pudding that pushed the price!"
"Don't care." Glossyrick floated back into her backpack.
She looked at the man hopelessly, "This is all the money I have."
The man shrugged, "I suppose I can at least give you half of this for what you have."
Halley was about to settle until a hand came down and grabbed her shoulder. She yelped in surprise.
"You're not scamming anyone today, Sandy." Came the owner of the hand.
He slid all of Halley's crap back into her backpack, grabbed her coins and roughly led her away.
"What was that for!?" She asked as the boy released her.
The boy shoved her backpack into her arms, "Were you born yesterday?"
"Huh? No—"
"Well it sure seemed like it! What the hell were you going to even do with all that stuff?"
"Camping." She replied.
The boy rolled his eyes, "News flash, idiot, he was scamming you. That crap probably didn't cost nearly as much as you were about to pay."
She suddenly felt embarrassed. Halley hadn't left the kingdom for ten minutes before she almost lost all of her money.
"Hey Tucker, you got her!" Came another voice.
Halley looked over and saw a group of kids walking towards them. Instinctively she shrunk into herself.
"I wouldn't have done it had you guys not forced me. The squirt hasn't been away from home a day in her life. She doesn't know anything."
"Manners Tuck! I swear you've had no home training." A girl scolded him. A group of two more boys and the girl surrounded them. Halley had seen them standing around when she arrived. She felt even more embarrassed. They'd probably been watching her make a complete fool of herself.
"What? It's true." He crossed his arms over his chest.
"She's a pretty little thing isn't she?" The girl examined her. The girl was a little taller than her and her friends just a little taller than the girl. "I'm Lydia." She extended her hand. Halley took it hesitantly. She was in no way used to people positively (well somewhat positively in Tucker's case) interacting with her.
"Lyd, we gotta get going." One of the boys said looking at their watch.
"Fine fine. Well it was nice to meet you." Lydia smiled.
Halley smiled back, "You too."
"Good riddance." Tucker muttered.
Halley glared at him and turned on her heels. She walked for a while on a trodden down forest trail. The moon was rising so the forest was getting brighter. It seemed that the farther she got away from the castle, the more at peace she felt. Or maybe it was because she was treated like a normal person for once. Whatever the cause, she felt better.
Now for what she was going to do in the long run. Where was she going to live? The woods maybe? Perhaps she could get a job and buy a place, but she had to leave Mewni first. So long as she was here she could still be found. Rustling interrupted Halley's thoughts.
"Who's there?" She asked.
No one responded. Footsteps.
She wished at that moment that she had taken her wand with her after all. Halley thought of using her powers, but didn't want to risk her cover. She tensed up as someone stepped out of the shadows.
She let out a sigh of annoyance when she realized it was only Tucker.
"Why did you sneak up on me like that? What are you even doing here?"
"Calm down. Here," he held out his hand. "You forgot this." Tucker poured the coins into her hand.
"Oh. Thank you." She smiled politely.
"Honestly, did you rob the castle or something? That's a lot of money." He observed.
"No, it's all mine." It technically wasn't a lie...
"I didn't even want to give it back to you seeing as you would've probably spent it all on a pen or something." He stuffed his hands in his pockets.
"Well thanks for straining yourself." Halley walked off. To her surprise, Tucker's footsteps followed her. She didn't say anything for a while, figuring he would take the hint and leave. He kept to it. Halley abruptly stopped and turned around to face him.
"Why are you following me?"
He shrugged, "Why not?"
"So you insult me then follow me like some creepy stalker?"
"What ever you say."
"What's the matter with you!?" She burst out. Halley automatically calmed herself. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "I'm sorry. I'm not usually like that."
"Why are you apologizing, squirt?" He raised an eyebrow. "So what? You got a little mad."
She continued walking and he followed, "One, don't call me 'squirt' and two, I don't like to get too upset."
"Why?"
"It's none of your business."
"Whatever you say, squirt."
"I am not a child! Stop calling me 'squirt'!"
He scoffed, "You're like what, 12?"
"I'm 16!"
"A year younger than me, therefore you are dubbed 'squirt.'"
Halley just ignored him and picked up her pace.
"Hey squirt where are you going anyway?"
She refused to respond.
"I'll take that as a 'nowhere.' Whenever you want to stop walking in the woods by yourself, I heard there was a dragon-cycle migration a few days ago if you wanna go check it out."
Dragon-cycles?
Halley remembered General Marco's Dragon-cycle, Nachos, from when she was younger. She'd been too little to ride one, so Tucker's offer tempted her. Halley slowly turned, giving Tucker the okay to take the lead. It's not like she had to be anywhere.
He led them towards a bog with bright glowing green water. Sure enough there were a couple kids around their age there for the dragon-cycle migration. A few of them were in the air, screaming their heads off. Others seemed to have gotten the hang of them and were having a relatively easy time. There were a few
dragon-cycles milling about and Tucker made his way towards a larger one.
He snuck over to it then jumped on its back. It snorted in alarm and tried to shake Tucker off. He reached out a hand to her.
"Come on, squirt."
She held out her hand slowly. Now that she was up close to a wild dragon-cycle, she was having serious doubts. Tucker grabbed her hand and pulled her on quickly. The dragon-cycle flew up into the air faster than Halley could even process. She held on to Tucker's waist for dear life. The dragon cycle spun and swirled in the air and Halley was terrified. Suddenly the dragon-cycle steadied itself and they were cruising high in the sky.
"You can stop screaming now." Tucker turned his head to her. Despite his reassurance, Halley still clung onto him with her eyes shut.
"I don't like it. Get me down." Halley said shakily.
"You haven't even opened your eyes yet."
"I don't care. I can tell we're too high up."
"Come on, squirt. Just look."
"Just get me down!"
"Fine," She felt him shrug. "You have two options. Option one is that you can open your eyes and I'll take us down. Option two is that you can keep your eyes closed and I'll see how fast this dragon-cycle can go."
"How is that fair!?" With a shaky huff, she opened her eyes. Immediately she was amazed by how close the moon seemed from up high.
"See? Not so bad is it?"
She rolled her eyes. It was then she realized she was holding on to Tucker a little too tightly, and let go.
Tucker chuckled, "You might just fall off now."
"I'll manage, asshole." She crossed her arms over her chest.
Tucker took the dragon-cycle back down smoothly and hopped off. Halley swung her leg over to dismount but before she could, Tucker held out a hand to help her down.
Halley narrowed her eyes, "Why are you being so... nice all of a sudden?"
"Fine then." Tucker rolled his eyes and retracted his hand. "Look I know I can be... hard to deal with at times. Most of the time. But I come around eventually, and I suppose I should say I was just messing with you back there. I actually would've gotten us down if you were that scared. I can be kind of a jerk like that sometimes..."
"If this is your way of apologizing," she slid off of the beast, "then I accept it." Halley gave him a smile. He smirked back and Halley shook her head. Tucker was difficult yes but not horrible to be around.
Tucker started to walk and she followed at a leisurely pace.
"So now what?" She asked.
He didn't turn to address her, "What, your destination isn't so important now all of a sudden?"
"What? Oh— um, it is...I er..."
"It's okay I get it. You're obsessed with me now."
Halley blushed furiously, "I am not!"
"It was just a joke, squirt. Ever heard of one?"
All she did was glare at him.
"Do you take everything so seriously?"
No response.
"I would not want to hang out with you on a daily basis if you're like this all the time." He said matter of factly
"Like what?"
"A buzzkill."
She crossed her arms, "And what about you Mister-I-like-stalking-random-girls-I-meet? You must not have friends considering you've spent the last hour bothering me."
"Touché. In case you wanted to know, I do have friends. They get way too boring sometimes. You seemed at least a little interesting."
Halley couldn't understand where this conversation was heading, "Thanks?"
"It was a compliment, idiot."
"Ugh! You're so... so frustrating!"
He looked at her seriously, "I don't mean to be."
Halley was beyond confused. It was like being on a rollercoaster talking to him.
"I suppose you're right though," Halley gave in. "Where I came from, I only had one friend, but now that I've left...guess I have none." She looked down at her feet.
There was silence for a while and Halley would have been convinced that he left if it hadn't been for the sound of his footsteps next to hers. She looked up and found him looking at her intensely. Halley squirmed under his gaze.
"What are you looking at me like that for?"
"My mother used to say I had some psychic power. I don't mean to brag but I'm pretty good at reading people."
She looked at him, puzzled.
"I'm going to say that you're not an only child."
"Anyone could've guessed that." She said.
"Sure they could. So I'm going to say that...you're extremely nice most of the time, a little quiet, ignorant obviously because you don't get out much, and... you've got a past."
"A past?" She echoed.
"Something tragic that's happened to you. Not everyone has one."
Everything Tucker had guessed was right on the bat except that every day of her life was a tragedy. Now that she had left that behind her, she didn't want to bring it up.
Instead she asked, "Do you have a past?"
"Of course I do. My mother died when I was younger. Right in front of me too. She was really sick. Maybe I was... 9? Anyway my father took it pretty hard and he'd always leave. He'd be gone for as long as a month before he would come back, eat all the food, then leave again."
Halley looked at him, sadness almost overwhelming her, "Tucker, I'm so so sorry I asked..."
Tucker shrugged, "It is sad but it's just a part of life. I managed to make it just fine."
"I was beat up a lot when I was young." What the hell was she doing? She just told herself that she'd keep her "past" or whatever locked away. Tucker kind of just pulled it out of her. Somehow though, she didn't mind sharing. "It lasted for a long time and occasionally still happens."
"Why don't you fight back?!"
"I can't."
"Is it because you don't know how or..."
"No," Despite Tucker's nickname for her, she was probably at least five times stronger than him. "I just can't. It'd make things so much more worse for me."
"That's so stupid!" His tone had greatly shifted from that of a relatively nonchalant one to one that was growing exceedingly angry. "You just sit there and let people beat you up?! What about your parents why aren't they doing anything?"
"I'm not sure they know."
"What!? You've gone years without telling them!?"
"Yeah I guess...But hey, it's okay." She touched his arm lightly and he seemed to immediately calm down. "Really. I know how to deal with it. Just trust me."
He grunted.
The two walked along the bright green water. It surprisingly felt nice to confide in Tucker. She looked over at him. He stared straight ahead, perhaps lost in thought. Tucker was about 6 inches taller than her. He had curly black hair and pale skin and his eyes were a dark hazel color. He wasn't too bad looking in all honesty.
The two walked side-by-side along the shoreline. The bright green water came in small waves. Halley looked down at it almost touching her boots.
"Hey don't let that stuff touch you. It's acid."
"What!?" Halley immediately jumped. Halley hadn't been able to see very well at all since she was only using a good 67 percent of her eyesight. Tucker. The force caught Tucker by surprise and both fell down into the tall grass. And of course there just had to be mud. Lots of it.
She rubbed her head and sat up. Halley opened her eyes and realized she had fallen right on top of Tucker. Their eyes met.
"Are you okay?" He grabbed her forearm.
"I..." Halley was a little frazzled. She just fell down, into the mud no less, embarrassed herself and he was right there trying to help her. No boy besides her brothers had been that close to her. "Uh..." She was struggling to find any words.
Tucker's eyes suddenly shifted from hers. "What's this?" He took his thumb and rubbed the mud off of her cheek. The tingling in her cheeks only increased ten fold. It was then she realized what had caught Tucker's attention.
Her cheekmarks were glowing a bright pink, and Tucker's eyes widened. Halley slapped her hands over her cheeks. She got up quickly.
"I have to go."
"Wait." Tucker grabbed her arm and her cheeks only grew brighter.
What the hell was going on with them? She could normally control when they glowed.
Halley reached for her scissors to try and escape but they weren't where she attached them to her side. To her dismay, the sound of sizzling in the lake told her that her scissor were no more.
Tucker pulled her close and she started to tremble. It wouldn't be long until he realized the truth.
"How are your cheeks glowing?"
"It's a family thing," she mumbled. "Just let me go, please."
"Wait. Only the..." Halley watched miserably as realization struck him.
"You're a Butterfly!?"
"Yes." She almost whispered.
He almost instantly let go of her. Halley braced herself for him to hit her or push her or something.
"Don't tell me you're the princess."
She said nothing, confirming his suspicions.
"Holy crap," He stammered. "You do know I was kidding with all that stuff right? Calling you squirt and all. You don't need to execute me or anything, Your princessness...?"
"Execute you?" She looked at him.
"Yeah, isn't that what you do with people who upset you or something?"
"Um no..." Did he not know who she was? He wasn't reacting properly. "Look, I don't think you understand."
"You are Princess Halley aren't you?"
"I mean yeah...you've heard of me?"
"Of course I have, but I was told the princess was part demon or something."
"I am." There was no point in lying anymore.
"Funny, you don't look like it."
Halley sighed and pulled her hair down, revealing her horns. She swept her hair back and opened her third eye. She stood with her head down, waiting for the hateful words to come.
"Well that clears things up..." Tucker trailed. "You look different, that's for sure, but what's a princess doing out here?"
Halley looked at him as if he had three heads, "What's wrong with you?"
"Did I offend you, Princess?"
"No," she said frustratedly, "and stop being so proper all of a sudden. Why aren't you beating me up, or calling me names or just leaving me!?"
"Why would I do that?" He asked.
"Because I'm a monster!"
He raised an eyebrow, "So what?"
"So you're supposed to be running for the hills! Go! I know you want to! Just run away like everyone else!" She yelled angrily. It just wasn't fair. She could never have any hope.
"I'm not running away."
"What? Why wouldn't you? That's what everyone else does."
"I'm not everyone else. Obviously you haven't been around the right people."
"I guess..." She mumbled. Halley sat down on a rock, trying to sort through her thoughts and Tucker joined her.
"You never answered my question. What's a princess doing out here?"
"I resigned."
"Princesses can resign?"
"I don't know, but I did. I left the family wand, grabbed my stuff and left."
"So you mean ran away? That's a little childish don't you think?"
She glared at him, "If you were me, you'd resign too." Halley sighed, "You see I haven't had it easy. Obviously. I've been bullied since I was about 5. I've been beaten up more times than I can count in my lifetime and I'd kinda just accepted it. I learned to cope."
"Don't you have demon powers or something? Can't you just put everyone in their place?"
"It's not that easy. If I were to stand up for myself and let's say I do something as little as pushing someone. The numbers of my tormentors would only triple in size, you see. And the kingdom has been neutral about me being an heir but if I struck out I'd be deemed violent or excessively angry or some out of control monster. So I guess you could say, taking a little abuse is preventing a lot worse."
Tucker only looked down, a frown on his face.
"Anyway, a few weeks ago I became the one to succeed my mother instead of my brother, James. Ever since then, things have been so different. There's so much pressure on me. I don't know who to trust. My brother hates me..." She clenched her eyes shut. "I just couldn't take it anymore."
Tucker hesitated a moment before speaking, "Do you want to become Queen?"
"I don't know how I could..."
"But lets just say you were born without horns or a third eye. Would you?"
"I guess..."
"Why?"
"So I could make a difference, I guess. Like my mom. Being a monster makes you see things a little differently than a Mewman. Not only is the monster population underrepresented but the lower class in Mewni too. The majority of Mewni is aristocratic but the small population of people living in squalor are just over looked. I know my mother is doing great things by uniting Mewmans and monsters but we're still not perfect."
Halley realized she was sort of rambling. She shrugged a little bashfully when Tucker stared at her.
"You're a monster yet you care about all those people?"
"Yeah, I suppose..."
"You'd be an amazing queen, Halley." She looked up at the use of her name.
"What are you saying, I should go back?"
"I'm not saying you have to," He stood up and held out a hand to her, "but you should."
She took it and stood with a sigh, "I don't know Tucker..."
"Maybe you need a few days to yourself. Or maybe the throne isn't for you after all. Whatever you choose I support you."
Halley found herself laughing, "We met about an hour ago and now you're my confidante?"
"I told you I'd come around, squirt."
She rolled her eyes, but smiled nonetheless. "You make a compelling argument. I guess it was a little childish of me to just leave."
"I told you!" Came a voice from her backpack. Halley completely forgot about Glossyrick as he came floating from her backpack.
"What's this thing?" Tucker poked Glossyrick curiously.
"That 'thing' is probably one of the most powerful beings on the planet who could probably kill you with one look." Glossyrick said pointedly.
Halley shook her head, "This is Glossyrick. My advisor sort of. He means well, despite his sudden rudeness."
"Well princess whenever you're finished with your adventure date thing or whatever this is, I think we should go home. Don't you think?" He floated lazily back into her bag.
"Glossyrick!" Both she and Tucker blushed. Tucker rubbed the back of his neck a little nervously.
"Well I uh...think I should get going." Halley started. "Thanks for everything, Tucker. You've really helped me."
"No problem." He smiled at her warmly.
A gust of wind blew past, reminding Halley that she was coated in cold mud. She shivered.
"Hey wait," Tucker pulled off his jacket. "Take my jacket."
"No I couldn't."
"Halley."
She felt a faint tingle in her cheeks but ignored it when Tucker threw his jacket to her. Halley wrapped it around her. She reached for her scissors but realized that she'd dropped them in the lake.
"Shit..." She winced.
"What's wrong?"
"I just realized I have a long walk home." Halley saw the castle way off in the distance and inwardly groaned.
"Now what sort of subject would I be if I let the princess walk all the way to the castle by herself without an escort?"
He bowed and held out his arm. Halley rolled her eyes and led the way back. She didn't want to risk touching him again. If her cheeks started to glow again she wasn't sure how she could explain herself. Once she got back to the castle and her life as a princess, she wasn't sure if she'd ever see Tucker again. She probably wouldn't but she wanted to. How ridiculous was that?
Halley tuned into whatever nonsense Tucker was talking about. He could be an annoying dick and she'd only known him for a little more than an hour and she knew she was going to miss him more than anything.
