We're in the Endgame now.
Only two more chapters of the arc after this.
Sadly, classes start back up tomorrow so bi-weekly updates will probably be the norm from now on.
I really appreciate those of you reading the story, I know it's not fluffy at the moment, but things can't possibly get worse...
Darkness
As far back as I can remember, it's the only thing I've ever known. No name, no past, just endless darkness. My lord Ragnarok tells me that is all I need to know.
But something…something doesn't feel right.
Something is missing; it feels like an empty hole in my chest. There is something I want but…I can't quite remember what it was. No, want means too little, this is more than a want, it's something I need.
Lord Ragnarok has told me to focus only on perfecting my dark magic and freeing him from his prison, anything else is just a distraction. I am to push all other thoughts and worries from my mind…however…there is one I can't stop thinking about.
I was told in the beginning that there was another magic user, the one who holds the light half of the magic. My destiny was to fight this other magic wielder and destroy them, I was taught to hate that person with my entire being.
But then I met my counterpart, she was strange; she had to have known about me, that we were to fight to the death until one of us was destroyed. But she never fought back…she just sat there as I pelted her with my spells. She called me something…she and every one of her allies called me something, but every time I try to think what it was, it gets all fuzzy. My lord has told me they aim to trick me, they all say nothing but lies and to kill them before they kill me.
They all seek to confuse me with their lies; if securing the seals wasn't priority number one then all of them would be dead by now. The last time I was so close, so close to taking the life of one of those who allied with the light. But she interfered; the light user destroyed my favorite spell and stole the final seal.
I should have killed her right then and there…so…why didn't I? She was saying something…something that caused my head to throb and my chest to ache. It wasn't a spell, so how did it affect me that much? I am supposed to destroy that girl, I am supposed to hate her…but I don't. I don't feel any hate for the light user.
I can't understand it…but something is pulling me towards her. I keep trying to deny it, I tell myself it's just a trick, she is the enemy, I have to kill her. My chest feels heavy when she looks at me the way she does, there is something so familiar about her…like I know her from somewhere.
Was there anything before my lord? I feel like there might have been…the me I know now isn't who I should be…but then who am I?
I try to remember but-
….
There was nothing, Lord Ragnarok is right. Ignore the light user's words; I have to destroy her soon.
That is what he is telling me, whispering to my ear as I feel the darkness consuming me once more.
OXOXOXOX
It had been another long day of being Queen for Eclipsa, several hours had passed since she started her conference with other officials from around the globe, even after all these months people were still in shock to see monsters and mythical creatures running around the country. Dressed in her pink robes, the Queen made her way down to the kitchen after everyone else was tucked in bed "Fourteen hours listening to all that drabble, I have definitely earned a cookie or two…"
Reaching out for the door handle, Eclipsa could hear movement on the other side "That's peculiar?" she didn't think there would be anyone else snacking at 9:37. Poking her head through the door, she spied her adopted granddaughter sitting at a table with a late of strawberry danishes "Star?" the sound of her voice caught the princess off guard, causing her to cough up some crumbs "Eclipsa! Hey…" she trailed off awkwardly.
Eclipsa pulled up a chair and sat beside the young teen, grabbing a Danish of her own "Late night pastries aren't usually your thing." Eclipsa noted.
Star sighed "Yeah I'm just…stress eating a bit." She took another bite "We got a big mission tonight."
"Oh?" this surprised the Queen "Did you find where Marco is?"
"Yeah, Janna put a bug on Mina and we tracked their location." Star didn't sound too overjoyed at the good news. Going on to her second pastry, Eclipsa studied Star's face "There's something else, isn't there?"
Star nodded, using her magic to hover a danish before her "The magic, I figured out where it is." Star pointed to her chest "It's inside me and Marco. I got half and he's got half." She took another bite of the Danish.
Eclipsa averted her eyes from the blonde "Light and Dark magic huh? I suspected that was the case." She regretted not telling Star her theory sooner "It was no coincidence both of you could use only one part of magic each."
Star was silent, she stopped eating the Danish and just stared at the table "I'm going to take Marco back but, what then? We can't destroy the magic again; it didn't even work the first time."
"There really isn't a perfect solution." Eclipsa absentmindedly touched her cheeks "Magic has had its ups and downs, it's done as much bad as it has good." She knew from experience, if she hadn't created the darkest spell maybe Marco wouldn't have gotten controlled. Even then, without Ragnarok's essence in the spell there was no telling what would have happened to him instead.
"Eclipsa, what do you think I should do?" Star asked, her eyes uncertain and unsure. The Queen gazed into them and couldn't come up with a good answer "I'm not the one who should answer that. You and Marco have the magic, only you two can decide what its fate will be."
Slowly, a smile crept onto Star's face. She wrapped her arms around her grannie and gave her a hug, grabbing one last Danish as she walked back to her room.
OXOXOXOX
Opening her bedroom door, Star was greeted by her friends as they all did their own thing to destress before the mission. Kelly sharpened her sword, Tom had his earbuds in and was listening to Love Sentence songs, Pony posed in front of a mirror, and Janna was typing on her laptop.
"You all ready?" Star approached the others; the four dropped what they were doing and looked to their leader "Yeah, we're ready." Kelly hid her sword inside her hair as she walked up to Star. The Woolett's expression hardened and she gave her friend a gaze of concern "Are you ready Star? You'll probably have to fight Marco this time…"
Star hated it; she hated it with her whole being. If it was simple training or him trying to prove his skills she would spar with Marco. Fighting him for real was the hardest thing she would ever do, she had kept her distance, left her friends to battle him in her place. She hoped it would never come to this, but after their last encounter she knew it had to be her "I know. I can't keep running from this, I never should have in the first place. You guys saw how he reacted last time, it was proof enough that I can get through to him. If it means I can save him, I'll…I'll fight."
Pony sniffled, tears smudging the mascara on her eyes "Aww, you are like, so mature now! I am so proud of how far you've come, girl!" the bodiless horse threw herself onto Star's shoulder and started weeping, making everyone a bit uncomfortable "Yeah…ok…um Pony Head, can I have my shoulder back now?" Star awkwardly asked.
Pony obliged "Ok, but if you need a shoulder to cry on, I am right here B-fly!"
"You were the one crying on her shoulder." Tom pointed out.
"Pics or it didn't happen." Pony brushed his comment off.
Getting back to the task at hand, Star looked to Janna who had pulled up some pages on her laptop "Janna, you got any intel we should know?" the blue haired girl moved around so the whole group could see the laptop "Well here's what I know, Mina's bug is pinging off in the far north region of Earthni. It's pretty barren over there, no kingdoms or monster villages of any kind. However, looking at the coordinates from satellite images…" she brought up an image on the Glooble Earthni site "There is a really old castle standing right in the middle of nowhere."
Everyone leaned in closer to get a good look at the castle "What is that place?" Star couldn't recall anything like that back on Mewni. Tapping a few buttons, Janna brought up a scan of an old Mewman book "I cross referenced it with the royal archives and found a match; it used to be a house for a goat-man or something." Star instantly recognized who she was talking about "Lekmet?" "Eeyup, it was his house until like a thousand years ago. The page said he abandoned it when he moved in with crystal baby-man."
A lightbulb went off in Star's head "That must be where Lekmet hid his seal; they said they already found one when we found out about this."
"Looks like we know our target." Tom spoke "Anything else Janna?" "Not relevant enough, but the microphone picked up a great conversation between the crazy hulk and old fart." Janna grinned and hit a play button, opening an audio file that began to play Mina's voice "You're so old, you fart dust!" "You're so crazy, cuckoo birds avoid you!" Seth's voice could be heard farther away "Yeah, well you're so old you drive a dinosaur to work!" "I'm a reptile, how does that even work!?" "You tell me, you're the one with the dinosaur!"
Janna smiled "This goes on for two more hours."
As much as Star wanted to see how that conversation would unfold, she closed the laptop and gathered the group into a huddle "Guys, we are going to the belly of the beast. This is going to be very dangerous, are you sure you want to come?"
"Hey, I'm pretty dangerous too!" Tom gave a confident smirk.
"Count me in too; this is the kind of adventure I've missed for these past few months." Kelly nodded, matching Tom's expression.
"I've picked up a few tricks I wanna try out on these guys." Janna added in.
"B-Fly I have always got your back! Ain't no way I'm stopping now!" Pony chimed in.
Star looked at her friends proudly "I knew I could count on you guys. Together the five of us-"a red flash outside interrupted her "Sorry, five and a half of us, will bring Marco back and stop Ragnarok from destroying reality!" the huddle broke and Star took out Marco's scissors, cutting open a portal that lead close to the castle. One by one, everyone filed in, The Blood Moon however flashed in protest. Pony was the last to enter the portal, taking a moment to respond to the red space rock "You are a half until you contribute something to this team! All you do is glow!"
OXOXOXOX
Seth paced in circles around the room, nearly making a hole in the floor as he continuously retraced his steps. Mina sat in a chair close by, one hand holding her knee and the other pressed against her cheek "Stop moving in circles monster-butt! It's not gonna magically make things okie-dokie!" she rolled her eyes at the Septarian.
"You saw Ragnarok, he is absolutely furious at us for our failure!" Seth finally stopped and confronted the muscular woman "What if he drops our deal, the only reason we even agreed to work with each other is so Mewman's and Monsters could be separated forever!"
Mina brushed off his concerns as she got out of her seat "He won't do that, he needs us! We got him this far, so pay day is comin' soon!" Mina enthusiastically twirled up into the air, letting herself float around the room as Seth pondered her words "Still, we need something to get back on Ragnarok's good side..." the lizard grinned to himself, not finishing his thoughts out loud.
Unfortunately for him, Mina had seen his brief change of face "Hold up, you got an idea don't you?!" she pointed a finger into his chest.
"What! Nooooo….." Seth did his best not to sound suspicious, only making him more suspicious instead.
Grabbing the Septarian by the neck, Mina growled in his face "TELL ME OR MAMA'S HAVIN' LIZARD KEBAB FOR DINNER!" Mina's outburst left Seth genuinely stunned, gaping at the woman before him "…good lord! Fine, I'll tell you." Seth relented.
Mina let go of his neck and dropped him to the floor "Come on, spill!" she tapped her foot impatiently "Don't get your pigtails in a twist! My idea is simple; we ambush the Butterfly girl and make her give us the last seal." Seth explained.
"…That's it?" there had to more to it, the idea couldn't be that easy "Wow, for a second I thought a monster had actually come up with a good idea!"
Seth sneered "Oh? Does a Mewman have a better idea?"
Speechless at his question, it took Mina around a minute until she could think of a single good idea "I've done it! The most perfecto plan ever! We ambush the Butterfly girl and make her give us the last seal!"
"…..THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I SAID!"
"Ya have any proof, lizard? Remember, video or it didn't happen!"
"It did happen! I just said that!" Seth face palmed, unable to comprehend her twisted mind "How would we even do that without the boy's portals? We'd have to get there on our own and find them on our own! It's not like she's going to come walking through the front door!"
Not a second after the words left his mouth, the front door was kicked wide open with a very angry Star Butterfly on the other side "AMBUSH!" she screamed as she charged in, her friends following close behind.
Caught off guard, Mina and Seth didn't have a second to move before they both received a narwhal to the face, followed by a kick in the ribs each courtesy of Tom and Kelly. The two crashed against each other from the force of the attack "How did you find us?!" Seth questioned. Popping her head up from behind a chair, Janna gave a coy wave "Invading other people's privacy is kind of my thing."
Before they could get up, Mina and Seth felt a sword dangerously close to their necks. Kelly held it an inch away, ready to cut at the slightest movement, she kept her eyes on her targets as Star walked up from behind her "Mina, Seth, tell me where Marco is right now and you get to keep your heads." Star's eyes burned with an intense glare.
"Ha!" Mina laughed out loud "We have no idea where that boy is, but you however have fallen right into our trap!"
Tom raised an eyebrow "Getting ambushed and threatened at sword point is part of your plan?"
"Yes! Just like Seth had in his plan!" Mina nodded confidently, Seth did not share her confidence "No, Mina. This is not part of my plan." "It isn't?" Mina stopped "Well shoot!"
"Give up right now and we let you live! Your outnumbered two to five and a half!" Star demanded, her hands lit up with magic, Tom got his flames ready and Pony started up her horn drill, Outside the Blood Moon blinked intimidatingly.
Seeing only one way to free himself, Seth did the only thing he could…he rammed forward and cut off part of his head against the sword. Star and her friends all recoiled as half of Seth's face crumbled to the floor; all except Janna were completely grossed out "Oh sweet corn." "Yo that is straight messed up!" "Do it again!"
While everyone was freaking out, Seth began to regenerate what had been lost, as if he hadn't been hurt at all "I am a Septarian, remember? As long as a single piece of me survives I will keep coming back!" "Just like a bad rash!" surprisingly the comment did not come from any of the teenagers, but the muscular lady behind him "You are not helping!" he snapped back "As much as you tick me off Mina, these whippersnappers tick me off even more." Seth watched as Mina rose to her feet, the two stood ready to fight the teens in their way.
Making the first move, Tom shot forward at Seth in a flaming tackle, pushing him away from Mina as Star and Kelly launched into a combination attack on the soldier. With her skills unsuited for combat, Janna ran for cover near a window, glancing out of it to the glowing space rock outside "This would be a good time for some crazy spirit powers!" Janna called to the Blood Moon. It flashed back to her, with Pony close enough to translate "What! All your powers are defensive instead of offensive?! Plus, you can't intervene directly unless another spirit is involved, YOU ARE THE MOST UNHELPFUL MOON I KNOW!"
"Speaking of unhelpful…" Janna pointed Pony in the direction of the others, reminding Pony that unlike her human friend she was combat capable "Oh yeah! I gotta help them or whatever!" the floating head raced off and joined Tom in confronting Seth.
"Glitter Bomb Rainbow Blast!" Star shot an exploding beam of pure glitter at her former idol, Mina shielded herself with her arm but got that appendage burned in the process "You miserable little twerp!" Mina smashed her hands into the floor, sending seismic shockwaves that knocked Star onto her back "If I had known you'd cause me this much trouble, I would've never named you my mud sister!"
Quickly getting up, Star moved out of the way just barely in time before Mina could body slam her into the floor "You know Mina, I really looked up to you when I was little. My mom told me you were a brave and heroic soldier that had fought by the Butterfly Queens for generations." Star summoned a Rainbow Fist Punch, but instead of releasing it she let it grow over her entire body "It turns out, you were just another part of Mewni's whitewashed history!"
Star's rainbow armor was significantly smaller than when she used it against a Solarian months back, this time it only reached up to Mina's height, any bigger and the risk of causing structural damage was a given "What I want to know is why, Mina? Why after all these centuries are you still so against monsters that you'd help release a crazy powerful being to destroy everything?!"
"I…Well…is-isn't it obvious!?" Mina became flustered as she tried to think of an answer, going right back to fighting as she punched away at Star's aura. Her fists simply bounced off the rainbow, Star solemnly watched as Mina tried to break through her defense, to no avail "Mina…"
"It's all I got left!" Mina shouted "Everything I knew is gone! My Queen, My Mewni, Destroying Monsters is the only thing that ever gave me purpose! If my duty is the only thing I got left, then I'm glad I sold my soul to someone who will help me achieve it!"
Distracted by Star, Mina had forgotten about her other opponent. Placing her sword back into her hair, Kelly traded it for a simple staff made of stone-like material. From behind, she swung her staff and landed a direct blow to Mina's hip, causing the warrior to let out a cry of pain "Hey! It is very rude to interrupt our conversation!"
On Seth's side, Tom and Pony hacked away at their opponents limbs with fire and drill horn attacks. Predictably they made basically no progress whatsoever with his healing ability "Dang, this guy does not go down!" Pony commented.
Seth chuckled "I am the leader of the Septarian race; I've lead revolutions against several Mewman queens! After all of these years a flying Pony Head and a half-blood Lucitor Prince have no chance of killing me!" he barred his fangs at the duo, reaching down as he attempted to bite either of them.
"Biting? Really Seth, that's the best you can do?" Tom taunted "Don't you have anything besides healing? Even your friend Mina can fly and has super strength."
"SHE IS NOT MY FRIEND!" Seth roared, grabbing a chair and tossing it over his head, the furniture hit Pony and knocked her back to the wall "Pony Head!" Tom turned around to check on her; not noticing until it was too late that Seth was right behind him "Oh crud."
Tom had no time to react before a pair of teeth chomped down into his shoulder "AAH! You- you jerk this was my favorite leather jacket!" Tom gritted his teeth and held pack the pain. A flame to the face was enough to get Seth to let go "How dare you even suggest a Mewman would be my friend!"
"What is your deal? I get that monsters were antagonized by Mewmans for centuries, but everyone is at peace now, why are you so against all of this?!" Tom questioned the lizard, shooting fireballs from his fists as he spoke.
Seth swatted the fireballs away and sent a death glare at the prince "You wouldn't understand, the hardship us monsters have lived through, it only ever kept repeating. I was born into a society of war and suffering, I devoted everything to saving my people and destroying those that wronged us! Suddenly I get frozen for who knows how long, and I find not only my dimension merged with another, but that Monster's and Mewman's were finally coexisting! All of the were so eager to forgive those who have tormented us for almost forty generations, even my own species has lost interest in fighting and want to make peace! I have lost their respect, their loyalty; all I have left is my purpose!"
As the lizard approached him with a killing intent in his eyes, Tom could only shake his head with pity "Seth, you-""Second wind!" with a burst of speed, Pony Head zoomed right past Tom and pierced her horn right in the center of Seth's chest "Boom! Now how do you like that old geezer?!"
The choice of words may not have been the wisest "OLD GEEZER?!" Tom gave Pony a peeved off look "Ok, yeah that is my bad." She admitted
Watching both fights, it was easy to see that her friends were winning, but something didn't feel right to Janna "Hey Bloody?" she looked up to her skyward companion as it flashed in response "I just had a thought, Ragnarok knows we have the last seal, so why hasn't he just sent Marco to take it back from us? On top of that, those two aren't here when we bust in…" with a gasp and a blink, Janna and the Blood Moon come to the same conclusion "They were waiting for us!"
In the blink of an eye, the shadows scattered across the room converged into the center, pulling Star and her allies with it as the shadows rose up and formed into a cage "Uh, what just happened?" Kelly blinked in confusion.
"You walked right into my hands."
All heads turned to a darkened doorway as Marco stepped out of the shadows with Ragnarok's orb in tow, even Mina and Seth looked surprised to see them "Hey Ragnarok, we got the little troublemakers trapped right where we want em!" Mina put on her usual bravado.
Marco rolled his eyes "Please, you two were just the bait on our fishing line." He wheeled Ragnarok's orb over to the cage, the spirit was pleased with the nasty glares he received from his captives "So you're the teenagers that keep meddling with my plans, it is a pleasure to finally meet you face to face."
"So you're Ragnarok huh, thought you'd be taller." Star coldy greeted the enemy, staring at the sphere with an intense hatred "Let Marco go right now or else!"
The spirit looked amused "Or else what? You are in no position to make demands." His orb rolled past Star and her friends as Marco wheeled it to the center point of the room, right over where the first seal had been "Butterfly's are so predictable, they always try and ambush me when I move my plan into its final phase. Why bother going out and attacking you, when you could come to me and deliver the final seal right to my doorstep."
"Ha!" Star let out a triumphant laugh "Like we would ever be so stupid to do that! Pony Head took the last seal and hid it somewhere you'll never find it! Right, Pony?"
Pony Head was sweating very nervously.
"Pony…?" Tom repeated her name uneasily.
The group's confidence swiftly turned to panic "Lilacia Pony Head!" Star shook the floating horse head, begging her to give a reassuring answer "Alright…um…I may have…forgotten…that it was my job to hide the thing…"
"PONY HEAD YOU HAD ONE JOB!" Kelly screamed in Pony's face.
All at once did the team's expressions turn grim as the dire consequences sank in "Oh no." Star muttered in terror. With a yank, Marco pulled Pony Head to the edge of the bars, reaching inside her neck until he felt the object he was looking for "I believe this belongs to us." Marco pulled out the final seal, calmly walking away with it as the group attempted to escape the cage with various spells, flames and weapons "Nononononononono!" none of their efforts to break the cage were working.
While Marco had taken the final seal, Mina and Seth had set the other four around Ragnarok's orb, stepping back as Marco placed the final one in the circle. His Moon shaped cheek emblem's gleamed with a deep black aura as he muttered a spell under his breath. One by one, the seals lit up, each shining with color's matching those that made them. The five seals lifted the orb into the air, orbiting rapidly as they caused a strong gust of wind to fill the room. Dark Magic runes surrounded the orb, lighting it up as Marco finished the spell. In a flash, the orb exploded in a massive burst of power, leaving an eerie black portal in its wake.
Star and her friends gaped in horror as someone came out of the portal, a tall figure cloaked in a black robe, only his grey claws and horns peaked out from under the fabric. The figure took a deep breath and exhaled "Ah the mortal world. It has been far too long."
He pulled back his cloak and showed his true appearance to those in attendance. With skin colored a charcoal grey, the color became paler as it stretched further down his horns and claws, yet darkened to a pitch black below the waist. He had no legs; his lower half was like a long shadow coming from the ground, wisps of smoke trailed off on the ends. His figure was practically skeletal; in fact most of his bones had torn out of his skin and decorated his torso with a deep purple orb in the center of his chest. Other than his horns his face looked human or what had once been human but now was just a skull covered in skin. His eyes were a single glowing red color.
"Ragnarok…" Star gasped, beside her Pony Head was trying not to gag "OMG he is so ugly! It's basically a walking corpse!" "Hey, I know walking corpses that look way better than that guy!" Tom shot back offended.
Ragnarok turned to Marco who knelt before him "My lord." "You have done well my puppet." His gaze shifted to Mina and Seth "And then there is the two of you…"
Suddenly, Seth jumped back and pointed a finger in Mina's face "Now is when we double cross you Loveberry! Ragnarok and I have been planning to betray you and destroy all Mewman's the whole time! HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT!?" Mina stared in shock, but more than that she was confused "Woah, woah, nelly! Time out!" she made an 'X' shape with her arms "Me and Ragnarok were planning to double cross you the whole time and destroy all monsters! Not the other way around!"
"What?!" both of them whipped around to face the man they had been working for the past month "Ragnarok, is this true?!" Seth questioned "Tell me the lizard is full of hogwash!" Mina demanded. The spirit simply chuckled "You both should know by now that I never lie. A promise is a promise, I will kill all monsters for Mina, and kill all Mewman's for Seth. That way you both get what you want."
Mina and Seth were stunned speechless; the reality of what they had done had started to settle in "In fact, just to make sure I cover all of my bases, I think I will kill everyone on Earthni as a warmup. That way everyone is included." Ragnarok taunted, gliding closer to his minions. The two backed up against the cage, both really began to regret their life choices at the moment "You guys actually believed this guy?" Kelly double checked with the duo "This guy is destruction itself, why did you think the commission sealed him away in the first place?"
"I will be honest; I am not mentally stable enough to make proper life choices." Mina honestly admitted "But like heck I'm gonna let this bozo wipe out my people!"
Seth pounded his fists together "You are going to regret this Ragnarok!"
Mina and Seth rushed forward and launched their fists at Ragnarok together. He caught their punches in his claws and smirked "I think you two have served your purpose." Both of their fists changed into a pitch black color, the blackness growing as it spread throughout their entire bodies. Mina and Seth both felt nothing but panic as the blackened parts disintegrated into nothing, both froze with pure terror as their bodies were reduced to ash in mere moments. In the blink of an eye, the two were gone.
Star and her friends watched with horrified reactions, the scene before them left the group paralyzed with fear. Satisfied with his handiwork, Ragnarok turned to the boy at his side "As a reward for your loyalty, you will get to live, so you may witness as I destroy this horrid reality."
"Thank you Lord Ragnarok." Marco bowed.
"As for the rest of you…" he turned his attention to the trapped teenagers "It's not worth the effort to kill you. Instead-"the orb in the center of his body lit up with a blinding light, releasing around ten gargoyle like creatures like the one's Star had seen in Globgor's mural and the ceiling in St. Olga's "I will let you watch as your home is annihilated by my minions!" the beast's roared and stormed out of the room, breaking the window as they took to the sky.
"Now if any of you need me, I'll be destroying the multiverse" Ragnarok waved goodbye as he and Marco vanished in a puff of smoke. Star and her friends sat down in the cage, each thinking the same thing "We've lost…"