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 22: Up River's Creek (Part 2)
Episode Summary: River's trial has arrived. What should've been a straightforward procedure over a misunderstanding has spiraled into a fight to stop a potential mewman coup before it even begins.
Original Release Date: July 2, 2020
A/N: Not sure why I feel compelled to say this but don't expect this chapter to be a perfect, completely accurate representation of a real-life trial. I feel like that would be a bit too boring for the readers. Expect a romanticized version of one, like what you'd see on "Law and Order."
The trial of River Butterfly vs Echo Creek was but a couple of days away. Tensions were elevated everywhere. Nobody knew exactly what to expect. Until things got underway, people could only speculate. Unfortunately, that was what Star Butterfly found herself doing despite being on the clock; today she was working at the Echo Creek pet shelter, and she, along with her co-worker/boss, Hilda, were in the middle of washing a Doberman.
"Almost done you rascal." Star said to the dog in a sing-song voice. If you asked her, her time spent at the orphanage playing with the babies was more fulfilling. But her time spent caring for & playing with the animals at the shelter was just as fun. "You sure like to get dirty, don't you?" When they finally finished, they dried off the dog, opened up all the cages, and allowed them all to go out into the play area to run around & be free. "Spending time with these beautiful animals always calms my nerves. Same with the babies at the orphanage."
"How're you holding up?" Hilda asked her. Star had to contemplate her answer for a moment.
"...not well. The trial is tomorrow. There's a lot at stake."
"Yup. Never a good time to see the hammer of justice come down on someone you know, moreso if it's not deserved." Poor, sweet Hilda. She was hopelessly out of touch with Star's true nature or her origin, but she was determined to be as supportive as possible anyway.
"Well we're not letting it end without a fight, that's for dang sure."
"That's the spirit! Fight the power! Dethrone the king! Legalize everything!" And now she was just rambling, which she figured out once she caught a glimpse of Star's tilted head & raised eyebrow. "...Am I rambling again?"
"Just a little." They shared a good laugh over the rambling. "So...do you have any advice?"
"Advice?"
"About the trial. You know...any tips or...or strategies that I...we should-"
Hilda patted her shoulder. "Okay, I'm gonna level with you: this country tries to sell all of us on the idea of "justice." You know, things like "the truth will set you free," "everyone has the same rights," "the justice system is infallible." But it's not that simple, and not all of that malarkey is true."
"What do you mean?"
"You dig deep enough into the archives of life, you'll find so many heartbreaking stories of people who were wrongfully convicted of crimes they weren't remotely involved in."
"That's awful."
"Damn right, and in some cases it takes literally decades for them to be rightfully vindicated in the eyes of the law. Hell, many of them never get vindicated."
Star gasped. Her world was getting rocked right now; she heard faint tales of the Earthly justice system from Marco, but hearing them now from Hilda as well was making it sink in rather harshly. "B-But accidents happen, don't they? I-It's not true that every single case of false prosecution is a result of corruption, greed, & power grabbing, is it?"
Hilda shrugged. "I can't say every case is like that, but...wouldn't you agree that even one is too many?"
Star couldn't help but nod along. It wasn't the same format or even the same stakes, but she knew all too well the dangers of a "rigged trial." Her mind immediately went to Eclipsa's trial, the day that her entire life was flipped upside-down. From the onset, everything was set up to work against Eclipsa. The Magic High Commission had all but made up their minds at the forefront, barely taking the proceedings seriously. Meanwhile, Star was hellbent on throwing it in their faces when the truth came out, and Moon was adamant she would get to the bottom of the potential conspiracy over Eclipsa's missing daughter. While the trial did properly showcase Eclipsa's...questionable behavior, it also properly brought to light the misdeeds the MHC had committed, misdeeds that drastically & permanently changed the course of the kingdom. These events wouldn't have happened if Star wasn't so determined to uncover the truth no matter what the cost.
"Look, you want my completely unfiltered, straight-to-the-point advice?" Hilda asked; Star nodded. "My dad went to law school, and he said something to me that's always stuck with me. 'Trials are not about what you know or what you believe. They're about what you can prove."
"...Is this one of those "distinctions without a difference" things?"
Hilda shook her head. "Open up just one law book and you'll wish you could remain ignorant."
"Oof."
"You said it, kid." It was near time for Star to clock out for the day, so the two of them rounded up the animals, let them say goodbye to Star, and put them back into their kennels. "Tell your family I said hi. And good luck."
"Thanks, Hilda." Star somberly closed the front door behind her and went on her way. She had lots of prepping to do with her friends & family.
The day finally arrived for River's trial. On a normal day, it would be way too early for anyone to even be up, but today was not an ordinary day. So much was at stake, a point that made itself more and more clear as the Butterfly & Diaz families watched from afar the dozens and dozens of people congregating into the Echo Creek East Courthouse. It was a mixture of monsters, mewmans, and Earth humans. Word had spread quickly; considering that the secret Butterfly shadow council was becoming less of a secret as time went along, it made sense that this case attracted so much attention.
"You ready?" Marco asked his nearly distraught girlfriend. She gave off a puppy-eyed look and shook her head.
"...No." She answered. "But we gotta do it anyway, don't we?"
"We've done everything we can. We've gotten all the evidence we can get. I...have a good feeling about this."
"I hope you're right. I really do..." Before Star could let the questions & doubts fill her mind, she looked up to see her therapist, Cassandra Cher, approaching them. "Miss Cher!" Star exclaimed, her spirits immediately risen.
"I'm here for moral support." She stated as Star gave her a quick hug.
"You know what's going on?"
"Oh yes, your family and friends have kept me in the loop the entire time. How are you holding up?"
Star shook her head slowly. "...I'm not. I barely slept last night."
"Remember your breathing, hon. And let your father's attorneys do their job." There was no use trying to dispute her point, so Star didn't bother. She could only accept Marco gently grabbing & squeezing her hand.
"Let's go inside. Our friends are already in. They're here for moral support."
"Aww...I have such good friends."
Ever so carefully, the group made their way into the courtroom. It was nearly dead silent; one could cut the tensions with a sword. The group made their way over to the row where Jackie, Janna, & Tom sat. They all quietly took their seats. Star & Marco sat especially close together, the boy gently squeezing Star's hand & kissing it, and the girl resting her weary head on his shoulder. There was no going back now.
The trial got underway. After intense & heated opening statements from both sides, it was time for the prosecution's side to call its witnesses. The first witness was one of the "officers" who was on the scene of River's arrests. From his immediate mannerisms on the witness stand, it seemed obvious that he was - for lack of a better term - one of the "weaker" members of that fraternity. He wasn't too skilled in keeping his cool and came off as incredibly nervous.
"Sir, can you describe the sequence of events on the night in question?" The prosecutor asked the witness. He took a deep breath.
"Well, uh, me and my squad got a call about a guy w-who was making noise and running around the woods, so, uh, w-we checked it out." Oh he was extremely nervous. "When we got there we...we saw the defendant doing a celebratory dance w-while he was holding a rifle."
"And how was the bear in question at that time?"
"The bear was dead, sir. G-Gunshot wound to the chest."
"What happened when your crew confronted him?"
"He, uh...he put up a fight, but we were able to subdue him & arrest him."
The prosecutor nodded. "Thank you." It was a brief questioning. In the eyes of the prosecution, they didn't need very long to make their case. As they would learn in time, that was a very egregious & sloppy position to take, as the defense was now poised to tear their case apart. River's attorney stood up & slowly walked towards the witness stand.
"Now, it's your testimony that you and your crew arrived on the scene and discovered Mr. Butterfly celebrating his supposed "kill," is that correct?" The attorney's bluntness took the witness by surprise.
"U-Uh, y-yeah, that's right. That's what happened."
The attorney nodded, playing along as he was setting up the big catch. "Your honor, at this time I'd like to turn everyone's attention to Defense's Exhibit A..." He had a laptop hooked up to a projector wheeled in, settled right in front of the judge's bench. He took off of his table a DVD; specifically, the DVD that showed the footage of the conspiracy in question. This development suddenly made the witness, as well as the other "cops" in question - who were sitting directly behind the prosecution's table - start to panic, prompting the prosecutor to stand up.
"Objection! What is this?"
"I told you, Defense's Exhibit A. It's all in your discovery packet."
"...Dis-what!?" It would also be revealed in time, but it turned out that the prosecutor was also in on the cover-up. How nobody caught any of this sooner was bewildering, but it was all going to unravel soon enough. The prosecutor flipped through his stacks of papers, discovering - no pun intended - that the DVD in question was in fact part of the lists of evidence the defense had turned over to the prosecution's side. One would think that someone tasked with handling a case of this public importance would be more on top of things like this. "Judge, t-this is obviously some kind of trick."
The judge was completely unimpressed. "It's on my list of discovery materials as well, Mr. Grimes." He said flatly. "If you didn't watch the material prior to today, that's your own fault."
"But where did they even get it from!? How do we know it's not doctored?"
"You can ask the source directly. This footage was obtained directly from Miss Amanda Jacobs, the girl in charge of our town's newly enhanced security system."
"She's not supposed to give that out willy nilly. Judge, they're supposed to get a search warrant o-or a subpoena o-"
"Only if she refuses." The judge held up a small paper. "I have an affidavit here signed by her that says she not only didn't refuse, she wasn't even threatened with a subpoena." He turned to River's attorney. "You may proceed."
River's attorney nodded, setting in the DVD & queuing up the laptop to the moment in question. "Ladies and gentlemen, what I'm about to play is security footage taken on that very night. It will show you exactly what transpired that night, which will directly contradict this witness's testimony here on the stand." He hit play, and the rest was history. The video showed exactly the opposite of what the witness described: River was hunting the bear - something that River has never denied - with his sword, not a gun as had been claimed. He stabbed the bear through the chest, causing it to collapse. River began celebrating rather vigriously...and then the bombshell. Just as they discovered the other day, the footage showed a group of "cops" - the witness being one of them - coming out and dragging the body away, with another group of cops bringing in a nearly identical body in its place, then River panicking & being ambushed by one of them, and then all six returning later on to sloppily tie up the crime scene.
The witness started to panic, realizing how quickly his testimony had already been discredited. "W-W-How do you know that hasn't been altered?!"
The attorney shook his head, returning to his desk and picking up more papers. "Affidavits from our experts, your honor. They testify to this tape's authenticity." The judge nodded.
"Oh yeah, w-well where's the so-called sword, then!? Huh!?"
"Hmm...that's a good question, actually. But seeing as I wasn't the one that handled that sword - as the video clearly showed - perhaps you could tell us what you and your group of officers did with the sword." Stone cold silence from the witness. So far it was looking up for River's team. But the attorney was far from done. "Sir, would you please tell the court your place of origin?"
The witness cocked his head and hesitated for a moment. "Um...M-Mewni? Is that right?"
"Very good, and are you familiar with the Mewman Law Enforcement Integration Act?"
All of a sudden, the witness's eyes shot open, as did the eyes of the "cops" in the gallery who had taken part in this. The prosecutor, however, did not share their shock & disdain, for some reason. "N-Never heard of it." He did, however, have disdain for that. A cop's job is to know the laws inside and out, especially recently passed legislation. Or at least that's what he believed.
River's attorney took out another sheet of paper. "The Mewman Law Enforcement Integration Act...I quote, "citizens of Mewman descent that migrated to Earthni after the Cleaving - that want to join law enforcement agencies - can formally apply to participate at the Echo Creek Police Academy or adjacent law enforcement academies after a 90-day grace period." The attorney looked up from the paper at the witness, who looked like a circuit in his brain had just fried. "Are you aware that the grace period for the act hasn't passed yet?" He did not get an answer from the witness. "Since the grace period has not passed...how did you assume the position of officer with the Echo Creek police force?"
The "cops" sitting behind the prosecutor began to annoyingly tap on his shoulder, urging him to raise an objection, and they grew visibly anxious when the prosecutor did nothing.
"Uh...I-I don't remember. I don't have a good memory, ya'know?"
The attorney was not buying it at all. Neither was the jury nor the judge. "I see. Just one other thing...what fabric is your uniform made out of?" Another dagger into their story was to be placed.
"Um...I-I'm pretty sure it's made out of...uh..."
"Because it's a well known fact that the uniforms of Echo Creek police officers are made specifically out of silk. Are yours?" The witness, at this point, had nothing else to offer. There was nothing he could say that wouldn't further crucify whatever credibility he had left. "I'm finished with the witness."
The majority of the trial went in a very similar fashion. The prosecution would call their witnesses - mostly the "cops" involved in the incident, attempting to put out a front that the incident was legitimate and that nothing was out of the ordinary, only to have their facade shattered with brilliant cross-examination from River's attorney. Eventually the prosecution's side ran out of witnesses and had no choice but to rest their case. Theoretically, River's attorney could have made a motion to dismiss the charges on the basis that the prosecution failed to provide sufficient evidence to support its case. But that was not going to happen. Instead, they decided to twist the knife a little bit more.
The defense's first witness: the Echo Creek police force's chief, a fact that sent the "cops" into another panic. "Chief Oblenson," The attorney began. "Is it true that you have a comprehensive list of every law enforcement officer that works for the police department?"
"That is correct. We have comprehensive rosters for every single individual department. It's the only way we can keep track of all the recruits coming in and the veterans going out."
"To your best estimate, how many officers would you say you currently employ?"
"Um...about 2,000, give or take."
"I see." The attorney returned to his table to retrieve yet another piece of paper, bringing it to the stand. "This sheet contains the names of the "officers" who were involved with my client's arrest." He handed the paper to the police chief. "Do you recognize any of the names on this sheet?"
The chief studied it for a short moment before shaking his head. "No, no I can't say that I do."
"I see. Well, those officers in question just happen to be sitting behind the prosecution's seat. Do you recognize any of their faces?"
The chief squinted his eyes; he studied carefully the faces of the "cops" sitting directly behind the prosecution. As it turned out, he did recognize one of them. "Y-Yes, I do." He pointed to one of them; specifically, it was the one that confronted the Butterflies the day that River was released from jail & given his court summons. "I was notified of your client's arrest and paid a visit to the station that day. I caught a glimpse of that gentleman-" He pointed into the gallery at said "cop." "-speaking to his family over the matter."
"Did he ever speak to you in any way about this case? In fact, did any of the officers involved speak to you about this case?"
"No."
"Is that normal?"
"It depends on the case. Our department labeled this a high-profile case due to the nature of your client's status and - for lack of a better term - celebrity. As such, I ordered a full briefing on the case, with the officers directly involved specifically invited to brief me."
"Did they show up?"
"No. None of them did."
"I see. What did you do after they failed to show for their scheduled briefing?"
"I attempted to retrieve them for a meeting in my office, but I could not find them anywhere in the department. Or any department, for that matter. Once I received a summons from your office, I knew something was wrong."
"Chief, would there be any excusable reason why officers in their position wouldn't attend a briefing? Never mind one that you directly called for?"
The witness shrugged. "I suppose there is. Typically a single officer can have multiple open cases they're working on at once, so they're always waiting for developments & one could potentially pull them out of another case. But I don't believe that was the case here. As I said, none of their names were anywhere to be found in the database and I had not seen any of their faces anywhere before this entire mess began."
River's attorney felt like that was an appropriate place for questioning to cease. "Thank you. No more questions."
It was the prosecutor's turn to cross-examine. The defense's questioning was very tight, however. Little wiggle room to be discredited. But he still had to make an effort. "Sir...to your knowledge, who is in charge of keeping track of rosters for each department in the police force?"
"Why...that would be me." The chief said firmly.
"How would you describe your ability to properly keep track of all the names coming & going in your police force?"
"I would say I'm quite skilled."
"So you've never made a mistake? Never an error in your ability to record-keep?"
"No, no, I won't go that far. At times we've had such an influx of new recruits that it would take me longer to put their names into the archives."
"So based on your testimony...is it possible that..." He pointed out the "cops" again. "Those gentlemen over there simply slipped through the cracks?"
The chief sat silently for a moment before answering again. "Is it possible? Certainly. But I don't consider it likely."
"And why is that?"
"Because I've seen what happens when new recruits "slip through the cracks." We had one instance - about 20 or so years ago - where the police force more than doubled its total number of recruits. It happened literally in the span of only a few days. Back then, our computers weren't powerful enough to handle spreadsheets big enough to hold all the names, so we had to use pen & paper. The force had a huge case it was working on - I believe it was the Echo Creek Academy shooting - it was such a disaster that we had literally hundreds of officers from different units working on it at the same time. Unfortunately, some of them were tragically killed in the line of fire. But in the process of trying to alert their families, it was discovered that over half of their names were never formally added to our poorly-designed database. We had no information on any of them - no home address, phone numbers, not even what unit they were assigned to - and it turned out to be a massive black eye on all of us. From that day forward I pledged to take charge of the rosters; once the computers were powerful enough, I handled all of the roster moves & information banks myself."
A very detailed & thorough explanation, one that the prosecutor couldn't feasibly break. One that he didn't seem interested in. So...he ceased. "Nothing further."
Which drew the extreme ire of the "cops" sitting right behind him. One of them stood up and grabbed the prosecutor's suit. "What's the big idea, punk!? You're not getting paid to wimp out!" He shouted just loud enough for the entire courtroom to hear. The judge banged his gavel.
"You're out of order! Sit down & zip it!" He howled. Reluctantly, he obeyed. The fact that their case was slowly being picked apart like it was a fragile doll wasn't helping, but it was obvious the tension in the courtroom was getting to them, something that even Star, Marco, and the others picked up on.
"They're starting to lose it." Marco whispered very softly to Star.
"Well, it's not like they had a sturdy foundation to begin with." Star whispered back, raising an eyebrow with the boy over her misfired analogy. Unfortunately that had to be quelled when Star winced in pain.
"Are you okay?"
"I need to excuse myself." She stood up and carefully made her way out of the courtroom, rushing to find a bathroom. The stress was overwhelming her in a way that she hadn't felt since the brief return of magic that saw the Magic High Commission show their true colors (i.e. When Dimensions Cleave). She quickly found an open stall and heaved into the toilet bowl, preparing herself to throw up. With each and every heave, the thoughts scattering through her mind only intensified. Why was this happening? If they wanted they easily could've had River on the already-established illegal hunting charge. But they just had to push their luck & go harder, setting up an unnecessary conspiracy knowing that the mere ordeal of the trial would wound Star, both physically & psychologically.
Why were these Mewmans so hellbent on sticking it to Star? Were they truly so resentful of everything that had happened that they felt swift retribution against her - by any means necessary - would satiate their rage? It wasn't every Mewman, either. Many within the new Earthni community were, if not outright enthralled, at least content with their situation. No fuel within them to seek revenge against Star for everything, for Eclipsa, for destroying the magic, nothing. But then there was this group of clowns, as well as a select few scattered throughout Echo Creek. These people - some a part of the new Solarian army, some not - seething with resentment towards Star. They never forgave her for surrendering the throne back to Eclipsa.
They never forgave her for putting in power someone who was both completely inept at the job and showing even the slightest bit of bias towards monsters, towards the creatures that they were conditioned to permanently despise no matter what the circumstances. These were her people. Her people. She may have only been "queen" officially for a few days, but her life was dedicated to these people. She would serve their best interests to the best of her abilities no matter what, even if their interests conflicted with what was truly best for the kingdom. But now, some of them were turning on her, and in some of the harshest ways she could've imagined.
But before she could sink any further into her black hole - and following at least two upchucks - she gathered herself & slowly opened her stall door, taking a good look around the room before taking her leave & returning to the courtroom.
It was now finally time for what was considered the main event of the trial: River was testifying. The defense felt good about how this would turn out; they'd already well established that the "investigation" of the initial crime was shady as all get out. In theory, River didn't even need to take the stand. Heck, his counsel urged him not to. He feared that by still copping to the original stabbing he would risk a guilty verdict anyway in spite of their efforts to dismantle the prosecution's fragile case. But if there was one thing about River that stood true, it was that he was a man of honor. He committed an act considered heinous in the eyes of Echo Creek laws, and he was going to own it. He had always had every intention of owning up to it & taking his lumps, but the conspiracy complicated plans.
"Mr. Butterfly, before The Cleaving, how often did you hunt for sport?" His attorney asked him on direct.
"Oh, quite often. I would say at least...once every week?"
"And do you hunt to kill?"
"No, absolutely not. I only hunt for the sport! For the thrill of the chase, not for blood."
"As this trial has demonstrated, your weapon of choice for hunting is a sword or blade. Is that true?"
"Yes, my combat skills with the blade are exemplary!"
"Before this incident, had you ever taken the life of an animal while hunting?"
"Heavens no!"
"How did you avoid that?"
"Oh that's easy. My wonderful wife Moonpie, erm, "charmed" all of my blades so that all of the sword thrusts I deliver only wound & incapacitate my...erm...victims. There's never any blood loss."
"I see." The attorney took a quick peek over at the jury, who seemed to believe River's spiel. "Mr. Butterfly, do you know what a hunting rifle is?"
"Only from the tales that my daughter's wonderful boyfriend has relayed to our family!"
Wonderful boyfriend. Well if that didn't put the biggest smile on Marco's face in the gallery.
"Have you ever used a hunting rifle in your life?"
"No, and quite frankly I have no desire to do so! I hunt for fun, never to kill, and there's too much risk with an untrained weapon-wielder."
This time the attorney looked over at the prosecution's table, as well as the "cops" directly behind him. The "cops" were becoming quite irritable, with the prosecutor trying to hide his frustration. "Mr. Butterfly...at no point during these proceedings have you denied your culpability in the crime you've been charged with today. You have only disputed the weapon of choice."
"That's correct, good sir!"
"Why is that? Why did you decide to take this approach for the trial?"
River stayed momentarily silent. Of all the times in his life, this was one where his word choice was most important. "Because I believe in honor, sir. I may be a former king, but I'm no better than any one else sitting before us in this room today. Not you, not your esteemed honor, not anyone else. I'm just a simple man attempting to make a honest name for himself. I committed a heinous act. I violated the laws of this new land. I must be held accountable for that infraction. What I will not allow, however, is for the facts to be twisted to fit an untrue narrative. I have not now nor have I ever wielding a...oh what is it again...a-a hunting rifle! I have never wielded a hunting rifle in my entire life nor do I have any intention of wielding one."
Without another thought, the defense attorney nodded his head and returned to his table. He had ceased his questioning for River. Now it was on the prosecution. It was his job to try and impeach River's testimony. Unfortunately for him, between the way their already-shoddy case had been picked apart so easily by the defense and the rock-solid testimony offered by each defense witness, it was becoming clear that the case was a lost cause. He was handed a case held together by duct-tape and a prayer by clowns that weren't even official police officers, Mewmans that also went the extra mile to try and make the crime look worse than it actually was, destroying any credibility that they may have had going in. Heck, River outright admitted on the stand to stabbing the bear with his sword and expressed a desire to be properly held accountable for it, and yet they still probably wouldn't get anywhere.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of awkward silence, the prosecutor stood up from his table and cleared his throat. "Your honor...we have no questions for this witness." To say this didn't sit well with the "cops" sitting directly behind the prosecution table would be the understatement of the year. Instead, let the fact that they all immediately rose from their seats and tackled the prosecutor do the talking. They would've likely done some more damage too had the courtroom not descended into chaos; Star, Marco, and the rest of the teens in their group dashed from their seats to the prosecutor's table to try and pry them off, as did a few actual police officers that were standing by in the courtroom.
"ORDER!" The judge roared, banging his gavel. "You're all out of order!" He bellowed to the "cops" who started the mess.
The adults could only watch in total befuddlement and shock. Moon struggled to find the right words to convey her emotional state. "Are Earth "trials" always this outlandish & hectic?"
"No, they're usually the exception." Angie responded in a whisper. "But I suppose it was silly to think this would be anything but a normal trial. Everyone's still trying to find some normalcy after...that happened."
"Especially given what we know now about how this case played out." Cassandra Cher interjected. "I suppose you know what they say: The Fools Grovel At Dusk." Without a thought, baby Meteora & Mariposa - both in Eclipsa's and Rafaels' arms respectively - looked up from their half slumber & exchanged looks at each other, then looked up at Cassandra. That was the cue. "Why don't I take the children outside for the time being? Who knows what could happen in here?"
To the adults, it was...an unusual request. But Cassandra had become someone they could all trust, both as a therapist and as an acquaintance. They had no reason to believe there would be any issue. So they quietly handed the children to her, and she proceeded to lead them out of the courtroom and into the ladies' room...in the meantime...
Back in the courtroom, things were finally settling down, but the seething fury still persisted.
"What is wrong with you, man!?" One of the phony "cops" yelled at the prosecutor. "You're just giving up like it's nothing!?"
"It's not my fault you people handed me a lousy case! You're not even real cops!"
"Oh you actually buy all that "well they're not even real cops so whatever they did is tainted," do you?"
The prosecutor looked like he was going to have a blood vessel burst out of his head. "H-Have you not been paying attention!? We saw you punks! Everyone saw you and the stunt you pulled!"
"What? He still did it!" It was almost like they were living on another planet. If that was the case, then the prosecutor grabbing one of them by the collar & shaking them seemed to wake them up.
"We would've had him on a silver platter if not for that stunt, you moron! He copped to the stabbing on the stand! If you bozos hadn't pulled your stunt & tried to make it look like a shooting, we might already have a conviction! What were you thinking!?"
"We were thinking crime doesn't pay, that's what!" One of the other "cops" shouted to him, seething with rage.
"You're not even real cops yet! The mewman race can't apply to even be police officers until the grace period is up!"
"You're really gonna let those punks get away with this because of a technicality!? If that happens, that's on you, you coward!"
They were gonna try all they wanted, but their petty insults & attitude were not going to deter the prosecutor from doing the next thing he did. He turned to the judge, "Judge I move for immediate dismissal." Which illicited a call of outrage from the "cops."
"Granted." The judge banged his gavel. "And as for you six-" He addressed the six mewmans whose actions directly caused this case to devolve into chaos. "I suggest you all lawyer up. Today."
"Us!? Lawyer up!?" Their faces were turning red with anger. But the deed was done. The case was dismissed. River was free. Unfortunately, any hope of that being the end of it went up in smoke as Star approached them, struggling to hold back her own anger.
"Why?" She asked them. "Why would you guys do this? Do you...do you really hate me that much?"
"Yeah, what is your problem!?" A voice from the gallery barked; it turned out to be another mewman, but this one was on Star's side.
"What's our problem?"
"This trial's been a complete sham from the start!" Another voice - another mewman on Star's side - roared from the gallery. "This was such a waste of time! Why did you try to frame King Butterfly!?"
"H-He's not actually..." Even if intentions were good, some of the mewmans on Star's side and their continued recognition of the Butterfly family as "royalty" and the "monarchy" annoyed her. "But yeah, she's right!" She turned back to the phony "cops." "My dad admitted to breaking the law! He admitted hunting with his sword wasn't right! Why'd you have to pull that switcharoo on us! W-What even happened to that other bear!? Who killed him?"
"Who cares!?" One of the phony "cops" shouted from the back.
"Um...we do?"
"Why?! It's just an Earth bear!"
They were determined as all get out to get under Star's skin. And it was working. Luckily for her she had her support network there to back her up if she faltered. One of them, Janna, stepped forward & took the lead. "So you're saying we shouldn't care that an Earth creature was possibly murdered strictly for the purpose of a cover-up? Are you saying we shouldn't care that you distinctively took a second life needlessly just to stick it to someone who accidentally - accidentally - took a first life?! What is it!? Go ahead, explain it to me like I'm five."
That same mewman stepped forward and started chuckling in a rather condescending manner. He put his hand on Janna's shoulder. "Sweetheart...it's called "necessary evil" See...the bear was our way of making the widdle girly-girl cry like a widdle baby! Who wants to see their pwecious daddy get locked up with all the big bad people that make us all mad and stuff! That'll teach her the widdle girl to ruin our lives!" Imagine the most condescending, mocking tone & voice that could come from this mewman's mouth, and it would still not be in the same zip code of what actually came out.
"I said explain it to me like I'm five, not like I'm slow."
"Pfft, same thing."
Star couldn't help but shake her head. Not even a comforting shoulder pat from her beloved could calm her. "You know what? People are you are just the saddest thing in existence. You went through all of this trouble - the trouble of framing my dad for a crime he didn't commit when the crime he did commit would've gotten you the same result just fine - just to stick it to me. All because of everything that happened. You know, your group isn't as big as you think it is."
"...our group?"
"The group that opposes everything I tried to do: turning the throne over to Eclipsa, trying to put your people and monsters on equal footing, trying to bring together the humans, mewmans, and monsters into a new cleaved world that we didn't even plan on making. Just look around and you'd be surprised at how small your team actually is. Sure, not everyone is one hundred percent on board with everything, but a lot of mewmans have been surprisingly accepting of the circumstances and the situation we're in, just like they were when Eclipsa took the throne." Star's speech was moving to many of the mewmans and the humans in the gallery, despite the fact that the humans had almost no idea what the heck she was talking about. For the ones who posed as phony "cops," though, no such luck. "But you know what the worst part of this is?"
"What?"
"...you decided to hurt me by going after people I love. You hijacked this entire debacle just to hurt someone else. If you want to come after me, then come after me. Leave my friends & loved ones alone."
"Well maybe someone should come after you! Maybe it's time someone knocked you off your pedestal, little girl!"
"What are you-pedestal? I'm not on any pedestal! Why would you think I want to be?"
"You tell me: why are we hearing about some kind of statue of you for that new playground or some crap!?"
Statue? What was this now? This was literally the first that Star was hearing of this. Could it be something that the mewman was just making up to stick it to her again? Possible, but Marco's sudden predisposition to step forward in an angry fashion didn't suggest as such. "She has nothing to do with that!" A statement that both confirmed the existence of said intention and absolved Star of any involvement.
Although the mewman wasn't buying it. "Oh really? And why should I believe you?"
Which only made Marco angrier, as he stepped forward again and growled at him, genuinely shaking him & the other five. "Because I said so." Star didn't need any more information than that to read between the lines.
"Well then...maybe someone should come after you instead, punk!"
One of the security guards of the courtroom stepped forward and approached the mewman. "Are you copping to harassment, sir?"
The mewman looked at him like he had five heads. "Who are you?"
"I'm an actual cop. I think you six better come with us."
"Hell with that!" Any efforts to handle this peacefully went right out the window when the six of them engaged in a tussle with the security guard. Eventually one of them managed to grab the guard's gun & in the blink of an eye he aimed it at Star. His hands were clearly trembling. In spite of his anger, he was not going to do it like this. But that didn't stop everyone from panicking. Star closed her eyes & put her hands out in the heat of the moment. Like her father, she too had never death with Earth weapons to this extent. She was bracing for the worst.
But before any trigger could be pulled, something completely out of the blue happened...
POP!
The gun popped. Like a balloon. And it exploded into confetti. Right in front of everyone. That was it. Everyone - except the Butterfly group and the teens - all started to race out of the courtroom in a panicked frenzy. Who could blame them? That wasn't something that was supposed to happen intentionally. But the question remained: how did it happen? The answer? A little bit of magic. Literally.
In the corner of the backroom, there was an invisible magical sphere that was holding three people - Cassandra, Mariposa, & Meteora, the latter two were in their Neverzone teenaged forms. When Cassandra drafted them from their families just moments earlier, she transported them to the Neverzone, where they retrieved the new magic wand; she then cloaked them in a magical sphere that served multiple purposes: to keep Mariposa & Meteora in their teenage forms so that the former could use the wand, and to keep themselves invisible to the public so that they could do their work. Cassandra suspected that there might be some foul play attempted by the mewmans as the trial unraveled, and she wanted there to be a backup plan to keep Star & her group out of harm's way should it come to that.
As a result, Mariposa used the magic wand to cause the gun to pop like a balloon. Mind you, it was completely accidental as well; Mariposa was incredibly new at all this. But it was enough to stave off the threat, which is all that mattered to them. "That was close." Mariposa whispered, her body shaking as she tightened her grip on her wand.
"Do you think anyone suspects anything?" Meteora asked Cassandra.
"You don't worry about that. If they do, I'll handle it." Cassandra assured them. With a snap of her fingers, they disappeared from their spot, only to reappear seconds later in their normal forms; Cassandra walked carefully into the courtroom with the two kids - back to babies - sleeping in her arms.
"Oh, there you are!" Angie exclaimed, taking her baby daughter from Cassandra as Eclipsa did the same for Meteora. "They are so precious."
"At least they were here for the...um...fireworks." Marco remarked, nervously scratching his ear.
"You can tell me all about it later. But I think it's time for us to go home."
Everyone agreed, and they all set off to leave the courtroom...almost doing so without River. "Dad! You coming!?" Star exclaimed to River, who was still awkwardly sitting in the witness stand for some reason.
"O-Oh, yes! Quite right!" Well that solved that problem. Up he went and joined the group.
Despite the fact that River copped to the original stabbing on the witness stand, the case was so botched beyond repair that they had no choice but to let him go. So he was able to return home with the others with no problems. Everyone else - Cassandra included - spent the rest of the evening at the Butterfly castle, just hanging out & enjoying themselves, trying to unwind after a highly stressful few days.
The teens were up in Star's room, trying to finish the game of Dungeons & Dragons that they had started a few days prior before the entire ordeal began. It was going well for the most part, though Marco found himself frazzled & unable to concentrate.
"some kind of statue of you for that new playground!"
"Maybe it's time someone knocked you off your pedestal, little girl!"
"Marco?"
The mere sound of Star's infectious, concerned tone snapped him out of his trance. "W-What happened?"
"You looked like you were spaced out. You okay?"
"O-Oh, I...yeah, I guess. Uh, actually would you excuse me for a second?" He uncomfortably stood up and took his leave, heading towards the nearest bathroom. Once again Star could read between the lines and suspected she knew exactly what was eating at the boy.
"Janna, would you take over as DM? I'll be right back." She stood up and quickly followed him, while Janna took her spot as Dungeon Master.
"Alright, punks! Janna's in the house." She announced rather proudly. "By the time I'm done, you're all gonna wish you still had Star here."
"Joke's on you, I already do." Tom answered back smugly & sarcastically, eliciting a loud laugh from Jackie and an annoyed glare from Janna.
As for Star, she managed to catch up to Marco just as he was about to enter the bathroom. "Marco, wait." She called out to him just as he stepped in the door. She had no choice but to join him inside & lock the door behind him. "What's the matter?"
He shook his head, trying to stave off her concerns & failing. "N-Nothing."
"Marco, you're not a very good liar."
She was right about that. And he couldn't dispute that. "Ugh, it's just...w-why do those stupid mewmans care whether or not someone wants to build a statue of someone that gave so much just to right some wrongs!"
"I think a better question is...why do you care that they care? It's not like you're the one that's doing that..." She looked up to see Marco's shaking disposition. It looked like he was struggling to hold it together. "...unless you are."
Marco's tendency to go overboard to spoil Star since the Cleaving was once again being put on blast. He swore to himself he would try to curtail it after one of Star's meltdowns (i.e. Episode 12: Intrusive Intervention) but it wasn't quite as easy as he thought it would be. And then her most recent meltdown (i.e. Episode 17: Sleepwalking SuperStar) made him change his tune entirely. Thus where they were today. He pulled out his phone and brought up a picture of what appeared to be blueprints for a large statue in Star's likeness. It showed Star standing with her hands clasped together in a respectful manner and a huge smile on her face. It was simple, but a closer look at the blueprints showed that Marco had every intention of making it a big statue, even though he knew how uncomfortable she was with gestures like this. It was a compulsion for him.
"How long have you been working on this?"
He sighed, not prepared to address this. "Since your sleepwalking incident. I don't know, after you had that meltdown...something inside of me just kinda snapped, a-and then I got to work on those blueprints. I wanted to see if I could get it done before that big playground build, but..." Sometimes Star would forget that Marco too was hurting. He hid it so well, way better than she ever could. But it was self-inflicted; she never asked him to do any of this for her. All she wanted to do was hug him & make the hurt go away, just like all he wanted to do was spoil her like a child & make her hurt go away. "It's no big de-"
"Marco..." She looked into his big, beautiful brown eyes. "You have the biggest heart."
He did. He was the residential softie. "Just feels like you can't catch a break. You're struggling with your own issues and yet left & right you've got this bullshit you have to deal with on top of everything else. And now you have some of your own people turning against you, a-and I just...I feel like I'm still trying to find a way to do right by you."
She gently kissed his soft lips, tears forming in both of their eyes. "Sweetheart...you're my hero. But just like I can't fix systematic discrimination & bigotry with grand gestures or big sweeping changes, you can't fix me by building me statues or spoiling me with gifts or food or so on. It has to be small, incremental steps that put us on the right path. A-And you can't take on my problems as your own."
"Wish someone could just stamp that into my brain so I'd remember that."
"Don't be too hard on yourself. To be honest, I wish everyone had your heart. I wish everyone had a desire to just be good to everyone, treat each other with respect, treat everyone like they're all equals. Things would be a lot easier for all of us, wouldn't it?"
"...It would at least help." They both nodded before sharing a tight hug with each other. They always had each other's backs, no matter what the circumstances. "But...what happens now? I mean, what if they...what if they do-"
"Come after me?" Star finished his thought for him. She grimaced in pain, her heart once again giving her trouble, but she took a deep breath & fortified her resolve. "If they do...I'll defend myself. I'll defend you and all of our family & friends. They're not going to hurt us. I won't let them."
"I know you can handle yourself. I'm...not worried about that. It's just everything else I'm worried about."
"I get it. But it's going to be okay. We're all here, we're all in this together...and that's never going to change." With a solemn breath, the two embraced yet again & kissed. It always melted their stress regardless of the situation. "Let's get back to the game. We don't wanna get back to Janna killing everyone, do we?"
"No, no we don't." They parted; Star took off for the door only for Marco to stop her. "Wait, one more thing." He walked over towards her. "...how did you do that?"
She cocked her head. "Huh?"
"You know...made that gun pop like a balloon! You gotta tell me your secret!" He laughed, hoping to make the situation less awkward. But her stunned silence only made it more awkward as his laughter slowly died down. "S-Star, you're creeping me out here..."
"...I didn't do that, I swear." Was the only answer she could muster from her shock. The look on her face gave it all away to him; she wasn't kidding.
Meanwhile, right outside the bathroom, Cassandra Cher stood, holding baby Meteora & Mariposa in her arms. The three of them all exchanged looks of concern with each other. The walls of lies were starting to move in towards them. They couldn't hide this forever...
End of Episode 22!
Well, one minute I was struggling to get this done, then the next I banged out half of the chapter in just a few hours. Funny how that works sometimes.
Hope you enjoyed this one. As I mentioned last time, this one originally started out with a completely different idea than what I ended up going with. And I never had the intention of writing this with a "all cops are garbage" message, which is why I went the route of River actually having committed a heinous act, and bitter mewmans simply hijacking it to inflict more pain because of their own hubris & anger towards Star. It's not supposed to be a commentary on real world events. At least not a heavy or intentional one.
That said, things are starting to really heat up for Star & her friends. Who knows what could happen now? And there's still that big playground build that has to happen. Stay tuned. It's going to get really fun here.
And as always, feedback & comments are greatly appreciated! :)