Star vs The Forces of Evil

The Ballad of Earth-Mewni

Disclaimer: Star vs The Forces of Evil was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of Star vs.

Episode 18: Demontilion

Episode Summary: While Star rests after her sleepwalking escapades, Janna and Tom are introduced to their respective partner's parents, and both are determined to make a good first impression...as well as get over some unfinished humps.

Original Release Date: May 22, 2020

Following Star's chaotic meltdown in the Tapestry Room, Marco & Moon brought her back up to her room & tucked her back into bed, all nice & cozy. They then returned to the castle kitchen & worked together to whip up a nice, large, hot meal for her. They set it at the side of her bed; while she devoured her meal rather quickly, Marco got onto the bed himself & gave her a quick foot rub. "You didn't have to do this for me..." Star said somberly, but with a faint smile on her face as she took the last bites.

"We know." Was all Marco said as he and Moon again smothered the struggling girl with affection. "We love you, Star."

"I love you guys too. So much..."

"You sleep now. You need to recover your strength after the insanity you went through."

Star was ready to object. "N-No, I can't." She tried to sit up, but her struggling heart had other plans, jolting her with a huge shock of pain forcing her back down. "I can feel it in my bones, if I fall asleep now, I'm not waking up until like tomorrow or even a couple of days..."

Marco's smile never wavered. He quietly tucked her under the blankets and gently kissed her soft lips. "Then we'll see you in a couple of days." That was that. And Star knew it. Then again, she knew that they meant well and always would. "And hey, when you do wake up, your mom and I are gonna take you to the mall. You can get whatever you want, no questions asked."

She sheepishly smiled. How could she ever be upset at the adorable, try-hard smile on his face. "Even if I just want to ride around in the cart like a little kid?"

Marco nodded proudly. "Absolutely."

"You know it's not good behavior training to reward a child for throwing a temper tantrum, right?"

He caressed her cheek several times, delivering another kiss in the midst of it. For Star, it wasn't the frequency of her depressive episodes that concerned everyone. It was the severity of them. More often than not, she was good. But when she was bad, she was really bad. "We're not rewarding you for a tantrum. We're supporting someone who's fighting depression. It's different."

"If you say so."

"I do. Think of it as all of us making up for lost time. Love you, baby girl." He leaned in & kissed her once more before tucking her in & fetching her her patented noise-cancelling headphones, sleep mask, & stuffed Marco doll. Absolutely nothing was going to disturb her.

"Wait..." She called out weakly just as they were about to head out. "Mom...would you...would you just apologize to the rest of the family for me?"

Moon & Marco exchanged looks of confusion & concern. "...Apologize for what, dear?"

Star shrugged, almost shedding another tear. "I don't know, just...something? Anything. Please? I...don't think I can face everyone right now..."

Again they exchanged looks, but rather than argue with her, they nodded in silence & played along. Star, in return, laid her head back down on the pillow & relaxed. She didn't even wait for them to leave before she closed her eyes & was out like a light. Moon went off in her own direction, leaving Marco to his own devices.

Well, since Star's out of commission for the day, I might as well find something to do. He pulled out his phone. I wonder if Janna is available to hang out. Uh oh, Marco must've been desperate. Actively seeking out Janna of all people? Sure, Janna was mostly harmless and he at least appreciated how "out there" she was, but still, she was rarely his first choice. Not like it mattered, anyway. Marco's attempts to call Janna were met with an immediate decline, followed by a text message from her.

'can't talk, we're meeting each other's parents.'

"...She's meeting Tom's parents? Already?" Marco said to himself. "That was quick."

Well...not exactly. Janna wasn't meeting Tom's parents. At least, not yet. No, first, Tom was going to meet Janna's parents. It was at Janna's suggestion, as she felt getting her folks acquainted with him first was an easier & less abrasive task than him getting her acquainted with his folks.

"...Ugh, why me..." Janna grumbled, lamenting the text she sent to Marco. "Look at this-" And she showed said text to Tom. "Now he's gonna think things are more serious than they are."

Tom instantly picked up on her nervous attitude. "Hey, don't worry about it. Today's gonna be awesome." He tried to reassure her. "I'm sure your folks are gonna be fine with me."

Janna sighed, putting her phone in her pocket and one-handed face-palming herself. "It's not my folks I'm worried about."

"...What? You mean mine?"

"Dude, your mom's a literal demon. Like, a hell demon. And she was absolutely smitten with Star. I am not her by a thousand miles."

"But you don't have to be. Just be you. I know they'll like the real you." Janna sighed. Oh how she didn't like that she agreed with him, but what he said made perfect sense to her. "Speaking of Star...is it true? Was she really sleepwalking?"

"Eeeeeyup." Janna responded. "And that's not even half of the story." She was going to say more, but the doorknob started to turn. "I'll explain later." It opened, revealing Janna's mother and father standing there with collected smiles on their faces.

"Oh, Janna!" Her mother said with great enthusiasm. "And you," She turned to Tom. "You must be Tom." Both she and her husband reached out to shake Tom's hand. "Wonderful to meet you. Please, come inside!" They led the two of them into the living room, sitting them down in the chairs and handing them each a cup of tea. "We've been so excited to meet you ever seen Janna told us about you."

Tom curiously looked over at the girl sitting next to him. "You've talked to them about me?"

"Just, you know, casual stuff. Nothing serious, nothing cheesy."

Tom wasn't buying it. "Yeah, right." He playfully nudged her arm; she responded with a sarcastic eye roll.

"So is it true?" Mr. Ordonia asked Tom. "Are you...an actual demon?"

Starting off with a big question, right off the bat. "W-Well, I'm...actually a hybrid, s-sir. Half demon, half-human-"

"Mewman." Said Janna quickly to correct him.

"Mewman! Right, Mewman."

"But you have all the powers of, like, the devil and everything?" Tom nodded nervously. Where was Mr. Ordonia coming up with these questions.

"I mean...technically yes, but I'm not that kind of devil. Like, I'm not going to reign terror and fire on everyone or whatever."

"Anymore, he means." Janna again interrupted him. Tom nearly leaped out of his seat.

"W-D-J-What do you mean "anymore?"

"Oh come on, Tom. You're not gonna tell them about your anger issues?" She said to him with a smug smirk. The half-demon looked like he was stammering. "Yeah, Star used to talk about you all the time. And not always in a flattering light."

"Y-Yeah, but that was a long time ago!"

"Of course, but man you should've been here when you guys were still broken up. You were not on good terms with her for a while."

"Star? Is that the young blonde-haired girl that visited earlier this summer?" Mrs. Ordonia asked. "The one that's now dating the Diaz kid?"

"Yep, they're one and the same." Janna turned right back to Tom.

"It's not like I didn't deserve it."

"Oh I'm not saying that, dude. I just think it's funny that she used to trash you, like, all the time, but now she, like, regrets breaking it off or something."

"First off, I broke it off with her. The second time, at least. Second of all, she doesn't regret us breaking up. At least she shouldn't..." Sure, under normal circumstances that would be true. But given that Star's mental state at the moment was quite erratic, it was understandable that Tom would doubt the validity of Star's claim that she was completely at peace with how things played out. "Look, I was a really different person back then."

"Different how?" Mrs. Ordonia asked him.

"He was an angry little tyke." Janna teased, playfully nudging Tom's arm. Janna and her parents were amused; Tom wasn't.

"You guys laugh, but you're not wrong. I was...I was pretty bad for a while. I was angry, short-tempered, ultra possessive of Star...gah, I don't even know what I was thinking half the time. Heck, even when I got back together with her, it was...not for the right reasons. At least at first. I just wanted to prove - I guess to her and to myself - that I could win her back. And she did help me realize that I needed to change for me."

"Yeah, but that's in the past now. You always gotta look & move forward. If you get hung up on your past actions, you can't ever move on." If only someone could stamp that onto Star's forehead.

"So now, why our daughter?" Mr. Ordonia asked. It was time for him to play somewhat-but-not-brutally-overprotective dad. "We love Janna with all our heart, but...she isn't exactly what we would call the "affectionate" type."

Expecting some sort of retaliatory reaction from Janna for that response, Tom was surprised to see Janna play it off in a rather calm fashion. "What? He's not wrong. I'm not all doom & gloom like those goths or emos or whatever. I'm just not affectionate in the ways of someone like Star. I'll a lot more laid back and I like taking things like this a little more slow, more easy-going. Much less pressure that way."

Tom gave off a half-smile. "Actually, I think that just answered his question."

She gave off two silent blinks. "Huh?"

"There's no pressure here. It's just...us being chill and calm. There was never a time like that with Star. Either I was getting in my own trying to be "best boyfriend" to her and not feeling comfortable about it at all, or she was too busy trying to settle the political chaos surrounding her kingdom and her people and barely had time for me, and I got frustrated over that. But there's none of that here."

"Ooh, you're probably going to regret saying that in the future. I'm gonna run for President one day." She gave off a smug wink his way. Tom tried to play it off as a joke, loudly laughing in an exaggerated manner. He even looked over to Janna's parents in the hopes they would join in. But they did not. "W-Wow, she's...she's serious?"

"When she was a little girl, she dressed up as both Bush & Bush Jr. for Halloween."

And here as yet another example of non-Earth people not understanding Earth culture or lingo. "...she dressed up as shrubs?"

"Oh my god, dude, READ. A FREAKING. BOOK!" Janna roared out of the blue before burying her head in her hands. "Sorry, sorry, I just...I don't have any patience for stupidity or ignorance."

"And yet you want to go into "politics?" What he lacked in knowledge Tom more than made up for in witty comebacks. Luckily for him Janna's parents were good sports & laughed along with him. Sure, Janna was embarrassed at the moment, but hey, at least her parents were warming up to him.

Another couple of hours passed full of witty banter & lighthearted conversation, as well as some more tea & finger foods. The meeting, for the most part, went well. Despite a couple of hiccups, both with Janna's parents being parents & slightly intruding on his private life and Tom fumbling the ball on occasion & making his anger issues a bit of an issue, the Ordonias left with a positive impression of him & made it known to him that, if he wanted to date Janna, he had their blessing. So it was a good start. They were halfway there. Now all they needed to do was get Tom's parents to like Janna.

After their meeting, Tom whipped up a portal & took Janna to his folks' lake house, where they were spending much of their Summer time. Just as Tom was about to knock on the door of the lake house, he noticed that Janna had fallen behind, nervously checking out the surroundings around her in an effort to distract herself. This was the meeting she was most afraid of. Her parents were easy. Tom's parents, though? There was a ton of baggage there that Janna felt like she had to overcome just to have a chance of making a good impression on them.

"Hey, it's okay." He said, hopeful that he'd calm her nerves. "My parents are harmless. My mother's such a teddy bear."

Janna hesitated; much as she had that cool, chill front she put on, she wanted to make a great first impression on them. "If you say so."

"Trust me on this one. I have a good feeling about it." He knocked on the door and waited patiently. The door slowly swung open, revealing Tom's parents, father Dave Lucitor and mother Wrathmeilor Lucitor. "Hello there, Tom!" Dave caught an eye of his guest. "And you must be Janna. Please, come in. We've heard wonderful things about you."

This was already a good sign. So the two of them were led into the living room where Tom's great-grandfather, Relicor, was also waiting for them, doing his own thing & barely paying attention as the four of them settled themselves around on the couches. This was going to be Relicor's routine for the duration of their stay.

"Nice place..." Janna said out loud, taking in the scenery before her. Even for just a summer home it was incredibly pleasant to look at.

"We spend a lot of time here," Dave said to them after going into the kitchen & returning with two glasses of lemonade for the teens. "Great view, and great lava."

"That's actual lava? Not, like, fake lava to scare any visitors or rowdy tourists?"

Dave and Wrathmeilor shared a laugh together. "Oh Janna, we don't get tourists down here. They can't handle the heat the way we can." And he finished off his response with a subtle wink towards his own son, who had to bury his face in his hand out of shame while Janna took pleasure in his discomfort. "So, Janna...this is, uh...this is quite the surprise, I must say." It was obvious that Dave was a little bit uneasy about the whole situation. Deep in his heart he was hoping it would work out between Tom and Star. Alas, it was not to be. "I'm sorry, I suppose I'm still a little disappointed it didn't work with Star."

"Don't worry about her, she's in good hands now." Janna said rather calmly.

"Right, right, of course. She's now going out with that Marco kid. Seems like a nice young lad. Have you-"

"I'll stop you now. No, the Diaz kid and I have never dated."

"I've never dated him either." Tom interjected, feeling the need to do so for some reason. Even Janna had to raise an eyebrow at him.

"Um...nobody was thinking you had." It was only after Janna said this that Tom realized he ran his mouth & covered it in embarrassment. But by then it was too late. "...Is there something you'd like to share with the class?"

"W-D-J-Oh shut up!" He shouted, looking away with a steaming red face.

"You're the one that opened the door." Janna & Dave were laughing at Tom's misfortune. But Wrathmeilor kept surprisingly quiet during this time. "Yeah...Star's in good hands with that dork."

Suddenly, Wrathmeilor decided it was her turn to chime in, as always with her signature, incomprehensible growling. "[So how did you and my baby boy meet?]"

"I just happened to show up on Mewni one day through a portal to that world of pure magic or whatever that lived underneath my favorite taco place. Demon Man here was completely beside himself because Star was too busy being political, so we kinda just hung out that day." Janna explained. The explanation itself was perfectly conveyed; what stunned Tom and Dave was that Janna understood her completely, without any hesitation. Usually, there was a steep learning curve in terms of comprehension. But not for Janna.

"...You understood her?!" Tom asked in total bewilderment.

"You don't know everything about me." Was her response to that.

"Clearly I don't! W-When did that happen?"

"You don't know everything about me. I went and read a book about it; it was right after the whole Severing Stone thing with Star & Marco. You remember that, right?"

"...Yeah, I remember. That was when Star & Marco broke the Blood Moon curse."

Tom's answer elicited a laugh from his father. "Blood Moon-oh, Tom, dear sweet Tom...the Blood Moon curse isn't real."

Uh oh. Talk about a bombshell. "It's...It's not?" Tom, Star, and Marco all independently came to that conclusion themselves given how the events of their relationship played out, but it was always mere speculation. Nothing even remotely concrete that the curse wasn't real until now. And apparently Dave himself was an expert on the subject matter.

"No! That whole spiel about two souls being bonded to each other for all of eternity? It's a crock. There's nothing special about the "Blood Moon," and there never was."

"So...what is it, then?"

"[It's an Eclipse.]" Wrathmeilor growled. "[Every 667 years one of Mewni's many moons - Sergelion - crosses paths with our normal moon, creating a red overfade, or what's commonly known as the Blood Moon.]"

"It's just an eclipse?!" Janna barked, now annoyed. She turned to Tom. "Did you know that?"

"What? No!" Tom yelled back, now turning to his parents. "Are you serious about that!?" Both Dave and Wrathmeilor nodded. "B-But the whole reason I even put so much trouble into the Blood Moon Ball in the first place was because I thought my soul bonding with Star's soul would get us back together, you know, romantically. And now you're saying it was all for nothing!? And you knew this the whole time!? Why didn't you say anything?"

His father took a deep breath. "Tom, son, I'm going to be level with you. When Star broke it off with you the first time, you didn't take it well."

"In other news, water is wet." Janna interjected, earning a scowl from Tom and a laugh from Wrathmeilor.

"When the Blood Moon Ball came up, your mother and I decided...that it was better for you to learn on your own the fruits of disappointment...obviously it didn't pan out exactly the way we thought it might've."

"That's an understatement."

"But look at it this way: at least you didn't lose out on anything, either."

"Okay, so I have a question." Janna raised her hands, now fully engrossed in this conversation. "If the Blood Moon didn't actually, like, do anything to Star and Marco, then...does that mean the Severing Stone didn't actually have any effect on them?"

"If the intention was to quote unquote "break the curse," then yes, that makes sense."

A moment of uncomfortable and confused silence passed before Janna spoke again. "No, no it doesn't. None of this makes a lick of sense! Then again, half the stuff that I've seen ever since Star crashed into our lives doesn't make a lick of sense, so this fits right in."

Wrathmeilor began to softly growl to herself. She was not in the mood for any bad-talking of Star, no matter what her feelings about her were. Yes, Tom's mother's feelings about Star were conflicted. She was still a bit sour over the time Star waffled on telling Tom that he and Marco had kissed in the photo booth. But she was still fond over the former magical princess, even more so after her meltdown during the Magic High Commission's attempted comeback/coup of Earthni. But still, her son's happiness came first, and in her eyes, happiness meant being with Star. She needed some convincing with Janna.

"So Janna...why Tom?" Dave asked Janna straight. "Why our son?"

Now we were at the somewhat serious questions. Janna stayed momentarily silent, internally constructing her answer. It was a pretty important answer too. You don't just start "dating" someone or even consider "dating" someone just for the heck of it. "To be honest, I'm just kind of a sucker for all things supernatural. Tom's got some really cool Demon powers that intrigue me, he's...pretty chill - when he's not try-hard crazy - and it was pretty fun that day out we spent together." She had on her face a very small but noticeable smile. "Look, I'm not the most affectionate person out there. You're not gonna see me wanting to cozy up and cuddle too often or even talking baby talk like how Star & Marco do all the time. But I'm not cold. There is a little depth to me. Just...be patient with me, let me open up at my pace, and...hopefully you like the real Janna."

It appeared that both Dave and Wrathmeilor were listening intently to Janna's spiel, and both found themselves mostly agreeing with what she had to say, though Warthmeilor was still visibly restrained. She wasn't outright dismissing Janna or even responding in a harsh or coarse manner, but it was clear that she was still not completely invested emotionally in this pairing, something which Janna easily picked up on. "Uh, h-how's about Janna and I go whip something up in the kitchen?" Tom spouted out quickly, grabbing Janna's hand and leading her into the kitchen for a private talk.

"Okay, I hate to say this, but..." Janna started once they were sure they were out of earshot. "I don't think your mom likes me."

Tom glanced over at his mother. She looked towards them in the kitchen and gave off a short wave with somewhat of a forced smile on her face. She didn't want to be the bad guy here. She didn't want to just dash their dreams of possibly having a relationship just because she still had a soft spot for Star. "She doesn't hate you," Tom reassured him. "Really, she likes you. I mean...she wants to like you."

"But she doesn't," She lamented, sighing and looking away from Wrathmeilor. The demon mother knew she wasn't making a good impression on Janna. "Because I'm not Star."

"But that's not your fault, and she knows that."

"...Does she, though? Because it doesn't feel like she does." She looked over at Wrathmeilor once again, who this time took it upon herself to look away. One could cut the tension in the room with a knife. Fitting, seeing as they were in a kitchen.

Meanwhile, back on Earthni, Star found herself completely unable to fall asleep despite having literally no distractions plus the benefit of her sleep mask & noise-cancelling headphones. The girl tossed and turned like it was nobody's business until eventually she decided to give up. She sat up in frustrated, throwing her headphones & mask off, revealing tired, sunken, bloodshot eyes. She badly needed to recover from her three nights of sleep-helping, but for the life of her, her body was not cooperating. "UGH!" She shouted in frustration. "What the heck is wrong with me!?" At her wit's end, she took out her new phone and started texting someone. "Maybe Janna can help. She's good with supernatural stuff, and it feels like I need a supernatural cure right about now..."

But Janna's response surprised her. 'Sorry, can't talk. Meeting the parents. Not going well.' Despite the incredibly vague nature of her response, Star immediately put the pieces of the puzzle together.

"Wooooow, that was fast." She said to herself. "Oh, I hope it goes well for her." Some thoughts began to race through her already exhausted brain. "If it's not going well, then that means they're at the lake house. Janna's parents would totally love Tom, but Tom's parents...ugh, I know his mom has a soft spot for be, but I hope she gives her a chance. Hmm..."

She leaped out of her bed and - after steadying herself from the room spinning - made her way to her closet, where she pulled out the dimension ray-gun device - the one made by Tom's father - and used it to open a portal, a portal leading straight to the lake house. It was an aerial portal, unfortunately - because at this point physics was just a suggestion and not a rule - which gave her a great view of everything that was going on...most of it negative, with Janna pacing around the kitchen contemplating simply leaving.

"Wait, you can't leave yet!" Tom pleaded, getting out in front of Janna to stop her from going. "My dad hasn't made us his special "first meeting dessert" yet. It's a patented spicy, peppery souffle. It'll mess up your intestines, but it'll light your taste buds up like fireworks!"

She looked over at Dave, who gave her an encouraging thumbs up. Then she looked over at Wrathmeilor, who tried to give an equally encouraging thumbs-up, but it was obvious she was trying to force it. "No, that's alright. It's probably better that I go-"

"[No, you can't go!]" Wrathmeilor shouted, standing up in a huff. "[Please don't leave!]"

"...do you really want me to stay?"

Wrathmeilor nodded, clasping her hands together with her nerves shot. "[Don't leave because of me.]"

Janna rubbed her eyes in frustration. "I'm sorry...I just get the impression you...don't like me that much. Look, I know you love Star. So do I..." She turned to Tom quickly. "Not like that." And then back to his mother. "She's awesome. But I'm not her. I don't have her infectious personality. I can't make friends as easily as she can. And I definitely am not a player the way she is. Seems like guys and girls just gravitate to her. I'm just...Janna."

"AND YOU'RE THE COOLEST JANNA I KNOW!"

Everyone in the room had to stop in their tracks for a brief moment. Where did that voice come from? Who said that? Well, they were about to get their answer. They all looked up towards the ceiling and saw none other than Star herself poking her weary head through the portal she had made on the other side. She sheepishly waved to everyone, all expressing different levels of shock at seeing her.

"[Star!?]" Wrathmeilor was the first to speak, a mixture of joy in seeing her and confusion in what was happening evident in her voice. Star took a leap out of the portal and landed hard on the ground, the ray gun landing right next to her and somehow not breaking on impact. Unfortunately, the device still wasn't perfected, which meant mishaps like this were inevitable. Luckily, she wasn't hurt, only dazed. Everyone rushed over to help Star up.

"You alright?!" Tom asked in a huff.

"Yeah yeah yeah totally totally I'm...I'm just dizzy that was...that was a fall." She was able to regain her senses quickly enough to face Dave & Wrathmeilor. "Hi Mr. and Mrs. Lucitor..."

"What brings you here?" Dave asked her point blank.

"Well, it's...a long story, and I really don't wanna get into it, but...I overheard you and Mrs. Lucitor talking." She turned shyly to Wrathmeilor, who continued to permeate a look of guilt on her face. "Hi. Sorry to...drop in like this..." She was going in and out of fatigue, eyes drooping, face going pale, the works. She was heavily feeling the effects of her sleepwalking adventures, and having not fully slept for the past few nights wasn't helping.

"Jeez, man, you look like hell..." Janna remarked, visibly concern palpable on her face.

"Noooooo no no no I'm fine I'm okay...sort of...not really, but I can't sleeeeep..." She said before trying to get herself awake again. "But that's not important. What's important is you guys," She said referring to Tom & Janna. "You guys are the stars here." She gave off a warm smile, almost as if she was silently giving Tom her blessing to give himself a chance with her. She then turned back to his mother. "Mrs. Lucitor...are you still disappointed that Tom and I didn't work out?"

At first Wrathmeilor feigned outrage at the accusation. How could she ask such a question. But the more she thought about it, the more she realized there was merit to it. Considering the way she's been their whole visit - emotionally distant & reserved - and unable to fully embrace Janna as Tom's new partner, she couldn't keep up any notion of a lie. "[Yes.]" She finally answered.

"She said yes." Janna interjected.

"Yeah I know, I heard her. B-wait..." Oh that's right: Star didn't know Janna could understand demon. "You understood her!?"

"We've kinda been through this already. You're late." Tom fired back in a rather monotone nature, forcing a genuine laugh out of Janna.

"But how, wh-you know what, it's not important." And back to Wrathmeilor. "I'm sorry about that. I really am. I know how much Tom tried to change to be a better person & prove himself to me."

"He did." Dave agreed. "His mother and I couldn't believe the hoops he tried to jump through just to make it work, but then you-" And not a second later, he covered his mouth. He was not about to drudge up old habits. But Star - despite her incredible exhaustion - was clear of mind & willing to tackle this head on.

"Yeah...this time I was the weak link."

"Star-" Tom tried to stop her, but a reassuring smile from Star quieted him down. She was not overly hysterical or emotionally fragile. Yes, she was self-loathing, but nowhere near the extremes she was experiencing all summer long.

"It was just everything. I wanted to be a better princess, so I had to devote a lot of time & energy to the political game, which meant I didn't get to spend as much time with Tom as he deserved or even I wanted to. Plus, my idiotic refusal to address my own feelings for Marco made things a lot worse. If I had just sat down and talked things out with both of them, maybe things would've turned out different. But, in a weird way, I'm glad things are the way they are. It's nothing against Tom at all. I'm just so much more comfortable around Marco. I can be the real me around him. There's no pressure, there's no expectations...well, at least none coming from him. Marco is my best friend. That's...just a role Tom could never fill, but it's not because he didn't try."

She walked over to Tom & Janna, extending a hug to the two of them. "But please, Mrs. Lucitor...don't take it out on Janna. Janna is amazing. She's loves all things macabre & demon-related, she's a lovable troublemaker, she has awesome fashion choices..."

"I think you're confusing me with someone else..." Janna lightly joked.

"I'm telling you, Tom is in much better hands with Janna than he ever was with me. Janna might not be super affectionate like how Marco and I are with each other..."

"TMI, girl."

"Oh come on, that could've meant anything." Tom argued, drawing Janna to stick her tongue out at him.

"But she brings out the best in him. And he'll bring out the best in her." Wrathmeilor had to stop herself from shedding a tear. It was inspiring to see her go to bat for her friends so strongly. Star may have internal regrets over how the end of her relationship with Tom played out, but she was dead set in her belief that them splitting was exactly what needed to happen for both of them to find the happiness they sought. "And don't let your recency bias skew your memory, Mrs. Lucitor..."

"How the heck does she know what that means!?" Janna whispered in a baffled tone.

"Or have you forgotten that you didn't like me all that much either when Tom and I were going out for the first time." Wrathmeilor growled a confused grunt. "Yeah, you weren't too keen on me. I don't remember exactly why, but it took you a while to warm up to me. But you finally did, and I'm so grateful for that." Tom's mother smiled again, letting out grunts of gratitude towards Star. "It's the same thing here, just with a different Janna. I'm not saying you have to embrace Janna with open arms, it's okay to be a little skeptical and to want to be reassured that your son is in the best hands possible. All I'm asking is that you give her a fair chance. The same chance you gave me."

Everything Star said made perfect sense to Tom's parents. Without even exchanging a word, they both looked at each other & shared with each other a private conversation. This freed up Star, Janna, & Tom to talk amongst themselves.

"Hey, kid...thanks for going to bat for me." Janna said to Star, clearly grateful for the gesture. "You didn't have to do that for us."

She shrugged & looked away briefly. "It wasn't just for you. It...it was for me, also." She turned to Janna and reached her arms out, meeting her halfway for a big hug. Janna returned the gesture despite her reserved affectionate ways. "You're going to love Tom I know I do..." When they parted, she went over to Tom & gave him a hug as well. "And you are going to love Janna. She's wonderful..."

Who knew that Janna would be so grateful for Star's gesture? She didn't have to go to bat for them against Tom's parents, especially since she knew just how much Wrathmeilor loved her. But she did. "Thanks, kid. That was..that was bold." Janna said rather nervously.

A visibly dizzy Star looked up at Tom, a smile on her face and exhausted, red eyes brimming with closure. "Baloo-balee, baloo-balow...I let you go, I let you go..."

Both Janna and Tom exchanged looks of confusion with each other, but before they could go any further, they took note of the consistent rising & falling of Star's chest, the fact that her body had gone mostly limp, and the fact that Tom's shirt was starting to get damp, and the answer was quite obvious: Star had fallen asleep on his shoulder. And she was not going to be waking up for a while. "Uh...Janna...could you go grab that ray gun thing and shoot a portal back to her room?"

It took a moment for Janna to come to her senses as well, realizing she was out cold. "Y-Yeah, on it." She acquiesced, retrieving the portal gun, then firing it. A portal leading right back to Star's room revealed itself. "We'll be right back," Tom told his parents, as he & Janna stepped through the portal, returning to Star's room, and gently tucked her back into bed, setting her up with her sleep mask, headphones, and Marco doll. "I guess she'll be out of commission for a while."

"Really, it's for the best. If you had been here when we finally stopped her sleepwalking, you'd understand." Janna responded, patting the demon's shoulder.

"I'd rather be in the dark about that."

Janna shrugged. "Your loss. Come on, let's go back." She didn't even take a full step towards the still-open portal before Tom intervened.

"Wait, you want to go back? Are you sure?"

She turned to face him, a slow smile crawling on her face. "Yeah. Look, even if your mom gives me a shot, maybe she still won't like me. But Star going to bat for me of all people? I'm sure that counts for something, doesn't it?"

Her logic was sound. "Alright, let's go for it." He too started for the portal only to stop right before entering. He turned to look back at the peacefully sleeping Star. "Um...give me a minute?" Janna nodded, and Tom returned to the bed. He took a moment to watch her peacefully slumber. There was no way she was coming out of this sleep for some time, but didn't matter to him. He gently kissed Star's forehead & caressed her hair. For the first time since their actual break up, it truly felt like their romantic relationship was over. But now, at least, it was on the best possible terms. "Baloo-balee, baloo-balow...I let you go, I let you go." And now his half of it was over. Triumphantly, he returned to the portal, where Janna was still standing with one foot through it. What was a triumph for him was just a bunch of confusion for Janna.

"What the heck does that even mean?" She asked him point blank.

"I have no idea, but if it's important to her, it's important to me!"

End of Episode 18!

Yeah another shorter installment but I am proud of this one. I really want to write some Janna/Tom stuff, but it's difficult to do. Janna isn't a character that strikes me as mushy-gushy like Star or Marco would be, but she's perfectly capable of being a great companion.

I wanna give a quick shout-out to KPRS4ever, a great friend in the Star vs community. This is coming out the day before or the day or the 1-year anniversary of her fanfic "When Two Worlds Collide," which served as a big inspiration for me embarking on this epic journey that started with "When Dimensions Cleave." She has a discord server dedicated to her fic, which is in the link located on her twitter profile. Seriously she's awesome.

Of course I also hope you'll stick around for my fic too, because it's nowhere near finished. If I've come this far, then I see myself as in it for the long haul.

In any case, don't forget to read & review! :)