The Tale of Three

Chapter 45

The worst escape plan ever

If there was any emotion that could best describe Meteora's life in the past day or two, it was fear.

Fear of Ery being someone evil.

Fear of her parents not listening to her and disowning her for whatever reason.

Fear of Old Jenkins killing her, one that had shown itself multiple times.

And that third one was also the one she was feeling right now. Moving through the hospital, surrounded by a cavalcade of knights, so close to her that she could barely breathe. But they all knew it was necessary. She couldn't see any of Old Jenkin's soldiers while she was surrounded by this living metal shield, but she knew that they had to be around. Disguised as doctors or nurses...hiding in dark corners, waiting for the right chance to strike...or maybe just in full uniform, attempting to approach her but backing away once they realized just how many people were surrounding her at the current moment.

And to her left and right were her mother and father, doing their best to keep on the lookout. Globgor had grown to a substantial height of nine feet tall, his head almost bumping the hospital ceiling as he loomed over her, ready to protect Meteora from anything that might suddenly appear. Eclipsa simply stayed close to her daughter, prepared to do the same any way she could.

And Meteora herself was hunched over, keeping her head down, doing her best to move as fast as possible without letting a single part of her body be exposed. It was insanely nerve-racking...and also more insane that they had to do this in the first place, all because of a few wrong things she said. She knew that Old Jenkins was going to be difficult, but he hadn't expected anything like this.

But now, the only thing left to do was move forward. Move forward and hope they made it to that giant carriage her mother had called over in time.

Oh, that, and having to listen to The Voice, which as usual, had plenty of things to say.

"Meteora." It said, making her jump slightly, which in this case was extremely dangerous. "I can feel your heartbeat going off the rails. Try to stay calm. Only a few floors down to ground level, and then we'll be home free...for the Temple. Possibly."

"I don't need you to remind me," Meteora whispered. "My parents are doing plenty of that. But while you're here, I have to ask. If my parents planned to sneak me out of here, then why did they have me put on the top floor of this place?"

"For protection." The Voice said. "The top floor is the best floor. It had a roof where you can jump to a nearby building, and while yes, that is very risky, it is still better than risking a run-in with dozens of guards at the entrance. It would have been a worst-case scenario escape if needed. And the way, how are the painkillers they gave you working?"

"Okay," Meteora said. "They're allowing me to walk without throwing up from the pain, but there's still a little sting every time I take a step. But they're working for now. I only hope they last long enough…"

"They will. I saw the stuff they gave you. It's pretty strong." The Voice said. "Usually it also makes you so drowsy that you can't even move, although I suppose the magic running through your veins is helping with that."

"How convenient."

"Quite." The Voice agreed. "Now then, as I was saying, try to stay calm. I can hear the panic in your voice. You're trying your best to hide it, but it's there. And if something bad happens, you might freak out and things could...get even worse."

"If something bad happens, I'm sure I'm dead anyway," Meteora said. "Look at this place. I can just barely hear a random guard or nurse passing by every few seconds, and my mom told me that only a few are still in the hospital. So yeah, those are definitely guys part of the E.D.F., no doubt looking for any kind of opening that'll allow them to blow my brains out. And the more that passes by, the higher the risk becomes…"

"I highly doubt that any soldier walking by would attack you right now, even if they saw an opening." The Voice claimed. "If they managed to get even one successful shot in, the knights surrounding you would tear them apart, assuming your father doesn't get to them first. It would be suicide."

"I don't think they care much. I'm sure these guys have all been indoctrinated." Meteora said. "Made to think that the protection of Earth comes before all else, even their own lives."

"If that were true, then we'd already be dead." The Voice said. "Killed by a swarm of soldiers that just charged this group and did anything they can to get through to kill you. They're not mindless zombies, Meteora. They still have thoughts of their own. And one of those thoughts is the knowledge that being killed by the knights surrounding you would be especially painful."

"Really," Meteora said. "Well, let's see how long that lasts. As for later, do you think Old Jenkins will try to blow up the carriage?"

"No way in hell." The Voice replied. "Even for him, the amount of firepower it would take to punch through that thing's armor is way too much for a public area. And it will only be driving through mostly public areas. The civilian casualty rate would simply be too high. He won't risk it."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." The Voice said. "And after that, it's not like he's going to suddenly invade the Temple. Even if they hate you, the public would not go along with that. Especially the monsters in the town, obviously. That building has been around for hundreds of years, and has sustained a lot of damage. They will not want to see it damaged anymore, lest the whole thing could collapse. And Old Jenkins will not want to have to deal with an entire species being pissed ag him."

"If it's so damaged, then why don't my mom and dad repair it?" Meteora asked.

"Oh, they have. Many, many times." The Voice said. "It's just that it's in such poor condition that it still needs repairs every other day."

"Great little piece of trivia there…" Meteora mumbled. "Okay, Channing the topic for a second. I've been wondering about something for a while. Earlier, my parents revealed that baby me is extremely smart for her age, making up all sorts of crazy plans to kill Marco and stuff."

"Yeah. And?"

"Well...was I like that as a baby?"

"...Come to think of it, not really." The Voice replied. "You were smart for your age, but you weren't as smart as the Meteora in this timeline. She seems to be several years ahead of you, in terms of brain growth."

"So what changed?" Meteora asked. "Because she has to be the same. The only things that have changed have done so because of me. So why is she so much smarter than I was, even before I arrived?"

"...What are you insinuating?" The Voice asked.

"I have a theory," Meteora said. "Time-travel and magic in general is weird. You even told me once that you don't fully understand how it all works. And apparently, she only really started becoming this baby genius a few months ago. Not that long at all. So I'm wondering...did my skills of killing and setting up traps like she's been doing to try and murder Marco...someone get transferred to her through some weird time-magic-space bullshit that ended with her gaining some of my knowledge?"

"..."

"..."

"...I…" The Voice started. "I did not think of that. But it would be impossible. You didn't learn magic a few months ago. It was earlier than that. Even if some random event did occur that gave your knowledge of setting up traps to her, it would be-"

"Why?" Meteora asked. "It didn't give her any magical skills. If it did, my parents would have told me by now. She doesn't know magic, as far as I know. Just my trapping and killing skills."

"I know." The Voice said. "But you would still need some kind of connection to magic at the time that would allow you to gain that information. It wouldn't work if-"

"It would work through time travel. You said traveling to the future was-"

"Extremely difficult." The Voice interjected. "Trust me, if it somehow worked that way, you would know. The sheet burst of energy that would be unleashed from such an event would be felt from across the cosmos. Even beings with no connection to magic would feel it. It's simply impossible, Meteora. It couldn't have taken future skills from you and somehow given it to her, because...because...ugh. Oh, forget it."

"Forget it? What do you mean?" Meteora asked.

"I mean I'm not going to talk about this. I'm still dealing with too much at the moment to add this to my list of things to investigate as well." The Voice said. "Listen. It's an interesting theory. But right now, we have more important things to deal with."

"Of course." Meteora sighed. "It's always like that. Always something more important to talk about, and then we never seem to get to the important stuff. That's really annoying, you know that?"

"I don't like it any more than you do." The Voice stated. "But anyway, I think I may have a lead on how we can get out of this situation. With Old Jenkins, of course."

"Lay it on me." Meteora requested. "At this point, I'll take anything you have to offer."

"Good. Because I suggest that we convince your parents to try and contact the other Royals and let them all take control of the situation." The Voice said. "Make them make Old Jenkins back off. None of the other Royals like him, after all. Like those doctors, they'll be happy to help."

"Is that so?" Meteora asked. "I suppose you did say that we should hang back for a bit...let everyone else handle this and stuff. But are they really going to listen to him? What if they believe him over Eclipsa?"

"They won't." The Voice said. "There is no way in a million days that they will trust Old Jenkins over Eclipsa. She has done all she can to better Mewni. Meanwhile, all Old Jenkins has done for Mewni is cause it problems. He only cares about protecting the Earth, and I'm sure you can guess how they feel about that sort of attitude."

"No kidding," Meteora said. "But what are they supposed to do? And what are we supposed to tell our parents? Should we just...try to convince them that we're really from the future and here to help? Because if so, that's going to be a problem. I don't know that much about the Royals individually, and the things I do know are not that positive. It was all, again, taught to me by my version of Jenkins. And you're making it sound like they're all mortal enemies."

"That would not be that bad of an assumption." The Voice said. "But don't worry. I can tell you plenty. Almost anything you need to know."

"Do you know where they are in the future? Because I have a feeling, and I don't think they're going to like the answer of, "you're all dead. Sucks, doesn't it?". You know? It's like I learned just recently. If people get an answer they don't like, they're not going to believe it."

"Then we'll just have to make them believe. You have magic. You can do some crazy things. And while you may be unable to assess the full of your powers at the moment, you can still do enough to create a convincing show." The Voice explained, almost gleefully.

"Right...I guess I should just use the light spell again." Meteora said. "Better safe than sorry. Although I'll probably have to come up with a backup, just in case."

"I'll try to come up with something for you to use. It shouldn't be too difficult." The Voice claimed. "As for now, stay focused. I think we're almost to the exit. Not too far now…"

Meteora snapped back to attention and saw that the Voice was correct. Or hopefully correct, as she still couldn't see much. But she had felt herself going down numerous steps of stairs at this point, and she heard a lot more people moving around outside the knight barrier, so she knew they had to be getting close, as the Voice said. And it was confirmed yet again when Eclipsa leaned down and whispered in her ear.

"We're almost there, Meteora." She said. "Just a minute or so more, and then we'll be outside."

"How dangerous is that going to be?" Meteora asked. "We'll be out in the open, right? Even if only for a few seconds, won't that give any sniper or whatever enough time to take aim and shoot at me?"

"We did take that into consideration," Eclipsa said. "And we have a solution. Your father is just going to grow bigger so he can cover you entirely."

"And you think that will work?"

"Yes," Eclipsa said. "After that, we'll make our way to the carriage, and hopefully Jenkins will leave us alone by that point. At least, leave us alone for a while."

"For a while is probably wishful thinking..." Meteora mumbled, glancing out the window. "And that is really the only thing we have left at this point, isn't it?"

"I wouldn't say I fully agree with you...but I see where you're coming from," Eclipsa admitted. "Now get ready. We're only ten feet from the exit."

After this, her mother fell silent, and Meteora covered her head with her hands in case her father didn't grow giant fast enough. She knew that extra protection like that would be useless against a sniper rifle, or any kind of gun really, but at this point, she had to take what she could get. Her only wish was that she could have created a barrier spell to make all of this pointless, but predictably, the Voice has claimed that making such a thing was too dangerous, and thus it was an idea they were forced to scrap.

But a moment later, Meteora was met with the bright light of day...for approximately one second. Right afterward, her father grew twice as large and looked over her, drenching her in his shadow and covering nearly the entire group in it. Meteora inched closer to him as they continued walking, looking towards the sky to try and spot anything. But her father was all she saw, and that honestly didn't bother her in the slightest. And since Meteora didn't know how long this was going to take, she figured

"Mom." She said, causing Eclipsa to lean over again. "This carriage. Why haven't you used it before? I heard about all the stories of the past and stuff. All the battles fought. And this carriage sounds like it would have been really useful. Why are you only using it now? Because...I've never heard about it before now."

"Because we didn't actually know about it before a few weeks ago," Eclipsa said. "Long after the Merge. We discovered an extra network of tunnels beneath the Butterfly castle that had been sealed up since the days of my mother. There we found the carriage, as well as...many other things." She shuddered.

"Things like what?" Meteora asked.

"I don't want to describe them. Even thinking about them is making me ill." Eclipsa said. "But let's just say that I suppose she hated monsters...very, very much. At least until we met in the magic dimension and she seemed happy for me. I honestly don't know why she decided to change then, but I guess three hundred years of waiting around and doing nothing will make a few alterations to a person's personality."

"Uh, sure," Meteora said. "I'm just going to assume that it was a bunch of torture devices. Dead monster bodies. All that."

"You wouldn't be far off the mark," Eclipsa said. "But the point is we found the carriage in there. As well as several records of what it was and how other Kingdoms had their own built for them...although I think that they had all been locked away in the dark and left to collect dust when they realized just how much of a hassle it was to move them around. The one beneath the Butterfly Castle was the only one that had ever been in use multiple times, I think."

"Well, that's convenient," Meteora said. "So I guess you just pulled the whole thing out of there?"

"Not the whole thing. Not at first." Eclipsa said. "We had to take it apart piece by piece to get it through the opening that led into the chamber it had been placed in. It was clearly put there with the purpose of never being found, although more likely than not, that actually applied to the other things we found."

"I see," Meteora mumbled. "So, just how big is this thing?"

"Well...see for yourself," Eclipsa said, gesturing forward. Meteora looked, and her eyes widened as they fell upon…

...nothing. She was still completely surrounded after all, with almost zero openings. She could see the giant outline of something through the crowd, but other than that there wasn't much to look at.

"Uh, mom." She said. "I can't-"

"Yes, yes, realized it as soon as I said it," Eclipsa said. "But just give us a minute. We're going to have to make you go through the small door on the other side of the carriage, where it will be harder for anyone to attack you."

"Got it," Meteora said, and like clockwork the procession turned to the right, Meteora doing something a second later. They then turned to the left, then the right again, and then the right one more time as the knights parted slightly and a small doorway lay in front of Meteora. She looked from side to side, her mother and father nodding at her.

And then she slowly moved forward, trying to ignore the fact that there were probably dozens of snipers surrounding her trying to get a shot. And a dozen thoughts moved through her head as this was happening, all of the equally alike.

'I still can't believe this is happening.' She complained. 'Trapped in the past, I made a plan to try and save it from the end of the world, and this is what happens? I'm made public enemy number one to the point where I can't even go outside or heck, look out a window? My mom and dad are probably going to have to cover all those things up! And Old Jenkins himself...I wonder where the heck he is now. Is he with the rest of the posse, trying to find an opening, or is he just watching, sitting back, letting others do everything for him?'

As expected, Meteora received no answer, but she didn't care. She felt the soles of her shoes touching metal a second later, and she looked down to see that she was now inside the carriage. She had been so enamored in her own thoughts that she hadn't even noticed at first. She looked behind her and saw a king grab the door and shut it behind her, and instantly a sense of security came over her. And then, with careful deliberation, she turned back around and witnessed the rest of the place.

Well, her mother had been lying…

The inside of the carriage was enormous. Almost as big as the room her father's Crystal was in. There were steps of stairs to her left and right, leading up to more areas hidden by doors, giant walls covered with what looked like the residue of old paintings surrounding them. The ceiling was so tall that she had to focus her eyes slightly to see it, and if she looked around fully she noticed that everything had a vaguely circular shape.

"How...how does this thing even get around town?" She asked herself. "This is way too big to traverse ever the largest of roads-"

"Meteora!" A voice called out, and she glanced to her right to see her mother poking her head through one of the doors, waving at her. "Oh, thank goodness you're alright. When I didn't see you in here, I thought that maybe you had tried to go somewhere else or-"

"Uhh...how did you get in there?" Meteora interjected. "I didn't see you come in at any time."

"Oh, don't you remember?" Eclipsa asked. "We took the main entrance in the front of the carriage. Again, the one you just went through is a side one, used for a quick escape."

"And this whole room?"

"Just a space used to connect the two sides."

"Right," Meteora said, before deciding that there was no point in sticking around any longer. She turned and walked towards her mother who smiled and went back through the door. After a brief walk up the stairs, Meteora pushed it open and entered the "front" of the carriage, which was much different than what she expected. She expected to see a sort of cockpit-like room, with a giant window in front showing the town in front of them, with something akin to a steering wheel or mechanism or whatever used to control it.

But what she saw was a simple room with metal walls, a metal floor with a large fluffy rug, a couch or two places against the right, and a small fridge plugged into an outlet, which Meteora wasn't sure was possible, considering that the carriage wasn't electrically powered.

All in all, large, but simple. There was nothing there that wasn't needed, except for maybe the fridge. And to each side of the room were two more doors, also made of metal.

"What's wrong?" Her father asked, who was sitting on one of the couches. "You look surprised."

"I guess...I was just expecting something else." Meteora said, feeling the carpet in her feet and frowning. "I know this carriage was built for protection, but since it was also built for royalty, I thought it would be a little more luxurious."

"Well, that was my mother for you." Eclipsa chuckled. "Believe it or not, this room was actually empty when we found it. Just metal walls and a floor. We added the carpet, couch, fridge, and outlet ourselves later on. And before you asked, that fridge is being powered thanks to some solar panels installed on the roof of this thing. But as for what I was saying, my mother was not a creature of comfort. If a person was not strong enough to stay in this carriage whilst being attacked, then they shouldn't have been in it in the first place."

"I hope she isn't disappointed in us…" Meteora said. "And what about those two doors? I assume one of them is the entrance you guys took, but what's the other one for?"

"That's the bathroom," Eclipsa said, before wincing. "We've actually never used it. As I'm sure you can assume, everything in there is made entirely out of-"

"Metal. How quaint." Meteora said. "Then I'll be sure to steer clear of that thing. But if you guys are here, then where is the room where you drive this thing? Was it the other one I saw back there?"

"No, that was just an extra room, a replica of this one," Eclipsa explained. "There are two floors to this thing. The door that we came through also leads to the driver area, and it takes three people to fully maneuver this vehicle. They've had plenty of practice though, so don't worry about us crashing into something."

"Good," Meteora said. "But how exactly do we maneuver through the town? This thing is gigantic. Is there some back road for building-sized vehicles only?"

"Actually, yes, in a way," Eclipsa said. "We had a special road constructed that led out of the Monster Temple to the main town. And any traffic right now has been cleared from the streets, thanks to your little crash from earlier. Usually, we would only be able to take it extremely short distances, but thanks to what you did we can go as far as we want."

"That all seems...extremely convenient. Again." Meteora commented. "Dang. I wonder where this thing is in my timeline? Or...why you guys didn't use it to escape the town when everyone heard that nukes were about to blow it to hell…"

"What do you mean?" Globgor asked.

"When you first heard from Jenkins that hundreds of nuclear weapons had been launched around the world and that one was heading this way, you all decided to leave," Meteora explained. "But according to Jenkins, you all left in regular cars. So I'm wondering why you would take those instead of getting in the, I don't know, heavily armored and gigantic carriage made of metal that would have been perfect for withstanding an explosion like that? Suddenly, that story makes a lot less sense."

"Hmm…" Eclipsa hummed, sitting down on the couch. "Well…where were we when we heard that the town was about to be destroyed again?"

"The Diazes house," Meteora replied. "Everyone was there for a party or something, and then Jenkins made the announcement, and then we got the hell out of there."

"I think that explains it then," Eclipsa said. "The Monster Temple is a good drive away from the Diazes. I think our past...erm, future selves believed that we might not have been able to make it there in time, and even if we did, we would have been right in the middle of the explosion when it happened. The carriage is tough, but even it wouldn't be able to survive that."

"I...guess that makes sense. Also, the town was probably crowded. I'm sure sirens went off everywhere the second Jenkins got the news." Meteora said. "So it was probably too risky to go further in, because then you could get stuck in a swarm of traffic…"

"Precisely." Eclipsa agreed. "Although I have a question now. The E.D.F. base located in the town is not that far away from the Diazes house. A five-minute jog, without stopping at all, should get you there. I wonder why Jenkins simply didn't take us there. It has a bomb shelter, I'm sure. Packed with supplies and located hundreds of feet underground. Even if the bomb exploded literally on top of it, it'd be fine."

"...Great. Now you've given me something else to talk about. Maybe I can ask the...wait, no, that won't work either." Meteora mumbled.

"What won't work, sweetie?"

"I was going to ask the Voice if they knew anything about this or if they had listened in to a conversation about why the two options we mentioned weren't possible, but I just recalled that it wouldn't have seen any of it." Meteora shrugged. "Its vision on Earth was cut out for a few hours before and after the explosion. It doesn't know why and neither do I."

"Hey…" Globgor said. "You know what would be perfect right now? I think you could explain this whole Voice. You've told us time and time again that you'll explain it later, and now we have the perfect opportunity."

"That's a fair point," Meteora admitted. "I guess it wouldn't hurt, then. I have been holding it off for what's felt like forever."

"Yes, we've all been anticipating this moment," Eclipsa said. "I actually spent a while thinking about it after Jenkins took you to that base, and it felt like I was sitting there for weeks!" She chuckled. "But go on. I think it's time we meet this Voice of yours."

"I don't see that happening," Meteora said. "But okay. So, back in my time, a few weeks ago, I had a few weird dreams where I came in contact with this being. A level-three being that I've just been calling, "The Voice", simply because it's never given me a better one to work with."

"And also because my true name would be unpronounceable using your vocal cords." The Voice chimed in, and Meteora frowned.

"Well, you could have told me that…" She whispered to herself, before looking back at her parents. "Ever since our first encounter, it's been teaching me magic. Spells, my Butterfly form, lots of things that I thought had died out years before, thanks to Jenkin's stories. But it taught me them, and eventually, it worked. And eventually, I became a natural at it. Trust me, if I could use my magic to my full potential right now, then I could pull off some pretty amazing-"

"Language, again." Eclipsa scolded.

"What? But...I didn't even swear." Meteora pointed out.

"Yes." Eclipsa agreed. "But you were about to. Some pretty amazing...? I may have only been around for a short time, Meteora, but I think I've gotten to know you well enough to predict what you were going to say at the end of that sentence."

"...Can't argue with that," Meteora said, as she actually had a swear in mind for the end of that sentence. "Anyways, that's what it's been doing. And while it's teaching me magic, it kinda lives inside my head so it can talk to me whenever I need it. Which can be annoying at times, but it has it's benefits."

"..."

"..."

"...Is that it?" Eclipsa asked. "The whole story? That's what we've been anticipating all this time?"

"Sorry," Meteora said. "I would probably tell you more, but my first and most of my early encounters with this thing are kinda...lost. I can't remember any of it. What I just told you is all you really need to know."

"You can't remember?" Globgor asked. "What do you mean? How did that happen?"

"In my time, I got a skull fracture from being smashed into a rock," Meteora explained. "It also left me with some brain damage, I guess, so the memories of my early encounters with the Voice are gone. As I said, I can't recall a single detail. I can remember plenty of other conversations, but all I know of the first few is that they happened, and that's pretty much it."

"Really…" Globgor said. "So you're telling me that you can't remember any detail of those first few meetings between you and this "Voice"?"

"Not a thing," Meteora said. "It just tells me snippets and maybe I've had a dream or two that might have been it, but other than that it's just blank."

"And…" Globgor continued. "Are you missing any other memories? Or are the memories of the first few meetings with this thing the only ones missing?"

"Uh...the latter," Meteora said. "I'm not missing any other memories, thankfully."

"Really…" Globgor said, exchanging a look of suspicion with his wife, who was thinking the exact same thing. "Okay, Meteora. Are you one hundred percent sure that you can trust this being?"

"Yeah. Why?" Meteora asked. "It hasn't really given me any reason to not trust it. Mostly it's just tried to be helpful. Sure, it can be super annoying at times and there have been moments where I've gotten angry, but I don't distrust it. If it had something nefarious planned, I think it would have done it already."

"We'll decide that for ourselves," Eclipsa said. "But is there any way for us to talk to this being? You seem to have some kind of telepathic connection, so is there any way for you to share that connection with us?"

"Not possible. Not unless you fall asleep and enter the mind realm, which is where it resides." Meteora said. "But that takes a whole spell to do, and I don't think I have the energy to do that one. It was a spell I couldn't do for a long time because I wasn't strong enough, so there's no way I can do it now."

"Ah. That's a shame." Globgor said. "Well, thank you for finally telling us this information."

"No problem," Meteora said, before rubbing the back of her head. "Now...which one of those doors is the bathroom again?"

"That one," Eclipsa replied, pointing to the door on her left.

"Thank you!" Meteora said, and she quickly speed-walked over to it, before opening the door and carefully shutting it behind her. Globgor and Eclipsa waited a few seconds before leaning in towards each other, their voices now a low whisper.

"So we both think that this "Voice" is full of crap, yes?" Eclipsa asked. "And while I normally don't use that kind of language, I think it's appropriate here. There is no way that it is a coincidence that the only memories she is "missing" are of their first few meetings."

"Agreed," Globgor said. "But how do you think it's doing that? It's inside her head, so is it just blocking them out? And if it can do that, why hasn't it blocked out more? Its intentions clearly aren't what Meteora claimed they were, so...why hasn't it made a bigger move?"

"It may have already," Eclipsa said. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but do you think it's possible that that isn't Meteora? That it's simply this Voice, taking over her body and perfectly copying everything to make us think it's her? I know we were fully convinced earlier, but with this new information, I'm not so sure anymore."

"I get what you mean," Globgor said. "But I think that's a step too far for now. If we want to assume that much, we should at least try to gather evidence first."

"Evidence like what?"

"Well, I'm not sure," Globgor asked. "It's not like we know much about her besides the stuff that she told us, and the stuff we already knew is things that happened when she was a baby, so she can easily play the "I don't know. I can't remember. I was too young" card."

"Then I suppose we shall have to adopt a "Wait and see" strategy," Eclipsa said. "And while this is risky, it is all we have at the moment in that regard. But...assuming that it is our daughter, just naively trusting this being, how do we solve that?"

"I'm not sure," Globgor said. "I mean, this is all riding on the fact that this Voice is actually not what it seems. But if it is, and we've tried to get rid of it, what will Meteora think of us? What will it try to do to us? She trusts us for the time being, but anything going wrong could cause that trust to wane."

"I know," Eclipsa said. "But I think we have every right to assume it is. As you mentioned, she hit her head and the only memories missing are of those meetings? If that is a coincidence, then it is extremely unlikely at best. I just wish we knew why it's doing that."

"Well, I-"

"You know…" A voice to their left said, and they both looked to see Meteora standing next to the bathroom door, shaking her hands free of water. "I don't appreciate people talking about me when I'm right over here. Or at least that's what the Voice told me to tell you. And...he especially doesn't appreciate your attempts at getting rid of him."

"Oh dear," Eclipsa mumbled, before straightening herself. "Meteora, you have to understand. We just want what's best for you, and we don't think this Voice can be trusted."

"Would you trust a person when you just met them?" Meteora asked. "Would anyone trust a person they just met? Because that's what this feels like to me."

"That's not the same thing," Eclipsa said. "We actually have a reason to-"

"You mean the memory thing?" Meteora asked. "I heard everything, you know. Somehow, even through that metal door, I heard everything you guys were saying."

"How?" Globgor asked. "We were whispering like twenty feet away from it."

"I don't know how, but it happened," Meteora said. "And that's what's important. And again, he doesn't appreciate that. What were you guys even planning to do? You don't know any magic! You have no idea what you would be doing! What if you tried to get rid of him and really hurt me in the process? Screwed up my head or whatever?"

"We...we didn't think…"

"That's right. You didn't think." Meteora said, before sighing. "Okay. I'm sorry. Maybe I'm being a bit harsh here. But can you guys at least trust me on this one? The Voice has been in my head for more than a month and nothing bad has happened because of it. So...please. Before you start formulating plans to get rid of it, one of the only people on the planet that I trust, or heck, even know, can you just wait and see what it's given me first?"

"..."

"..."

"Please?"

"...Okay," Eclipsa said, finally cracking and not ready to have a full-blown argument over this. "We'll try, Meteora."

"Thank you," Meteora said, before looking up as she felt the carriage shift as it pulled into whatever giant parking space/garage/hole in the ground her parents placed the thing in. After a few seconds of rumbling like she was in a car driving over gravel, the carriage came to a halt. Her mother and father stretched their limbs out and started to move over towards the door, while Meteora simply watched them as they left. Eclipsa noticed almost immediately that she wasn't following them, however, and responded appropriately.

"Meteora?" She asked. "Aren't you coming?"

"Yeah, in a second," Meteora replied. "There's something I want to check out here. Just...go. I'll catch up."

Eclipsa looked like she was about to ask another question until Globgor gently grabbed her arm and shook his head no. Eclipsa, recalling the conversation from only a few seconds ago, decided that it would be best if they just left her to her own devices for a few minutes. They both hurried out of the room, and Meteora was left alone before she walked back over to the bathroom and swung the door open. Once inside, she walked over to the mirror and looked at it, her reflection staring back at her blankly. She did this for a few moments, fully expecting the copy of herself to move, or say something, or do anything that she didn't do. She would have done it earlier, but she felt like it was too risky with her parents right outside. They might hear her talking to herself, which could go a lot of ways. Many that she did not particularly enjoy.

"...Are you there?" She asked, shifting in place. "If you're there, just...give me a sign or something. You were there at Ery's hut. If you're here now...do something to make your presence known to me."

The mirror image of her didn't respond, as a mirror image usually does. She kept staring at it until her expression grew into one of frustration and she felt an urge to punch it.

"First you nearly choke me to death, leave me with a bunch of vague messages, and now you won't even talk to me when I want to?" She asked, not even sure if the being that attacked her was even listening. "Just...say something! Give me something better to work with here! You cleary didn't have a reason for killing me other than you were angry, so if you want to keep my alive, then just spit whatever secrets you have out!"

There was no response, and for a moment Meteora thought she had turned insane, before she noticed the choke marks on her neck again in the mirror. They weren't as bad anymore, but they were still noticeable, and for a moment she wondered why so few people had pointed them out.

"Fine. Thanks for nothing." She said. "Got killed by the cold, nearly killed again by you, nearly killed again a third time by Old Jenkins…" Meteora listed, momentarily looking down at her chest and the bullet wounds she received, which thankfully were still mostly unfelt by her thanks to the anesthesia. "So if I actually die again, then I'm blaming you just because I can."

Meteora then turned to leave, and was about to reach for the handle before she heard a voice from behind her. One that was shockingly familiar, and also one that she had been begging to hear for the last three minutes or so.

"At this point, if you die, the only person you can blame is yourself."

Meteora stopped dead after this, freezing like a deer caught in headlights. But a second later she realized what that voice had been and sprinted back over to the mirror, fully expecting to see that person again, looking characteristically grumpy or angry.

But instead, she just saw her own reflection, which reflected her surprised, hopeful face, the exact opposite of what she had wanted. It took her a moment to notice that she was just staring at herself again, and this time she drew her arm back and slammed it into the glass pane, shattering it into pieces. The mirror practically exploded on contact, and there wasn't a single shard larger than her finger that fell from it. She stood there, scowling, before she turned away again and exited the bathroom again.

"...Thanks for nothing. Again." She growled. "Say that one sentence...and then tap out. What did you think my reaction would be, you asshole?

"Umm…are you okay?" The Voice suddenly asked, reminding Meteora that it had seen everything that just transpired. "What was that all about?"

"Oh, I was just trying to contact the being or entity or whatever it was that contacted me through a mirror back at Ery's hut," Meteora said. "The same thing that gave me these choke marks, and the same thing that gave me plenty of vague messages. I guess you weren't there for that. Basically, this weird being visited me through a mirror, started getting mad and yelling at me, and eventually resorted to trying to choke the life out of me. I still don't exactly know why they did that, although it may have been that they were angry that I wasn't understanding all their dumb and cryptic messages."

"So that's where you got those choke marks…" The Voice realized. "But interesting. Another being visited you...and what kind of weird and cryptic messages did this thing give you that was so important to the fact where it tried to kill you for not getting it?"

"Just a bunch of warnings. Something about how someone is evil and plotting against me, and that I should watch out for it." Meteora explained. "It would have been helpful if they gave me a name to work with, but that was too hard for them, I guess."

"Hmmm…" The Voice hummed. "Did this being claim that this person was also close to you?"

"Yeah, actually, they did," Meteora replied, after a brief moment of recall. "Why?"

"Because I think I may know who they were trying to want you about." The Voice revealed. "I think the person that was evil and plotting against you, as they claimed, is Old Jenkins. From this timeline."

"What? Him?" Meteora asked. "But I'm not exactly close to or with him."

True, but you are with our version of Jenkins." The Voice said. "I think this being may have been warning you about Old Jenkins by trying to reference the Jenkins that we are used to. And the whole plotting thing? It may have known that Old Jenkins would plot against you and try to trick you and everything. He perfectly fits the description that this being gave to you, you must admit."

"I...guess that makes some sense," Meteora mumbled. "But why would a being from another dimension that can appear in mirrors for whatever reason want to warn me about that, and then try to kill me after the warnings? What the heck was up with that? I'm been thinking about this question for a while, and I would have asked earlier, but it kinda slipped my mind."

"Don't ask me." The Voice said. "You were the one there. Everything I know about this encounter I know from you. If you want me to help you with that, then you're going to have to give me a lot more information before I can come up with any definite conclusions."

"...Okay," Meteora said. "But for now I think I'm going to leave. I've spent too long in this carriage and my parents are probably getting suspicious."

"Agreed." The Voice said. "And considering how suspicious they already are of me, I don't think they're going to have the best assumptions if they knew that we just spent all that time talking to each other."

"Yeah...and sorry that they think you're evil," Meteora said. "I wished we didn't have to hear that."

"It's okay." The Voice said. "I'm fully used to it by now."

"Yeah…I can imagine," Meteora said. And with that, she left to go join her parents, fully suspecting that her worst experiences in this timeline were only just beginning.


"Why are there so many spikes here?"

"It's like I already told you. It's the Jaggy kingdom. They have a thing for spikes...or any pointy objects, really."

"Yeah...still seems like a tripping hazard. One that could, you know, end your life at any time."

"Well, maybe you can call their customer support line at 1-800-we-don't-care."

"...Was that actually a thing?"

"No, but I'm sure that if the Royals in this town ever mastered phones, then it would have been."

With a sigh, Mariposa turned her gaze back to the floor, making sure that there weren't any spikes in her path. She had almost stepped in a dozen since getting here, and what she said about tripping was true. If she lost her footing in the wrong place, then she'd be dead before her body even fully hit the ground.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves here. Let's rewind, shall we?

After Mariposa and Jenkins had their little conversation about Meteora and the Voice, they set off to check the various castles. They had already visited the Cloud Kingdom castle, the Johansen Castle, and the Pigeon castle.

The Cloud Kingdom was easy to find for the most part, as it had fallen out of the sky and taken a whole city block with it. Out of all the castles it had sustained the most damage, huge parts of it appearing to be nonexistent. Surprisingly though, everything inside that hadn't been burning away/crushed was still there, as if the hundreds of looters who had surely visited the town over the years had simply avoided this place. Mariposa suggested that they didn't want to risk going inside and having the whole thing collapsing on them, while Jenkins said (albeit jokingly) that they feared some of the Ponyheads might still be alive, and that dealing with them was a worse hell than the one going on outside.

But all in all, they found nothing at the Cloud Kingdom, apart from a few knives and a book or two, which Jenkins said was a "manga". As Mariposa hadn't seen a book in what felt like forever, she quickly took them and stuffed them in her bag, Jenkins shaking his head all the while. But Meteora wasn't in there, so they checked the rest of the place out and then swiftly left.

And after they left, they headed towards the Johansen castle. It was in very good shape despite how close it was to the main blast, due to how tough and thick the walls were. A tower or two and several parts of the things had fallen to the ground below, yes, but other than that it was in okay condition. Maybe even salvageable, if civilization ever became a thing again.

But once they got inside, a wave of disappointment hit them. The place was more picked clean than almost any other building out there. Unlike the Butterfly castle, which still had things that people would deem useless and leave behind, this castle had nothing. Even objects that had been bolted to the floor were gone, the only traces of their exigences being the metal hinges that once kept them in place. The only reason the whole castle wasn't gone was that the stones were too heavy to take, but other than that Mariposa was sure that if they were any lighter, then what was once the proud Johansen castle would now be nothing but an empty lot.

And again, Meteora was not there, so they grumbled to themselves and moved on, not even the slightest bit interested why this castle was so empty.

And then it was the Pigeon castle. Jenkins, for a reason Mariposa didn't understand, seemed rather uneasy when he first entered this building, looking around at the ceiling like something was about to dive-bomb him. Mariposa guessed it made sense, being the "Pigeon" castle and all (even though she had never seen one, only knew what they were), but she didn't get why he was so nervous. And she didn't want to find out, because that would probably only make him more nervous. So she simply sighed and searched along with him, coming up with no Meteora, again.

So now they were here. In the Jaggy castle, after a short climb up some spiky mountains that required them both to watch their footing more carefully than they ever had in their lives. There was more than one section that was completely impassable by foot due to how many spikes there were, so it required them to take some rather...unpleasant detours.

And once they got to the castle, it's not like things were any better.

"Well, I still don't get it." She said. "Seriously. Why would anyone want to live in this place? If I take one step in the wrong direction, or slip in a puddle or whatever, I'd be dead! How did these people not die out after a few days of staying in this place?"

"I believe it was with training," Jenkins said. "The children of the Jaggy Royal family are not raised at the castle until they are 8 years old. That gives their parents plenty of time to raise them and teach them how to walk in this place without dying. But even so, I have heard stories of the past, and yes, there are several occurrences of those children...slipping and dying. Always in a way that prevents an open-casket funeral."

"No surprise there. If I fell done right now, I'd look like I had just gotten out of an Iron Maiden…"

"True," Jenkins said, before pausing. "Hold on, where did you learn about Iron Maidens? I never told you about those things...or did I? It does feel like something I would teach you about…"

"It does. But no. I found the definition in that dictionary we found." Mariposa said. "There was even a picture. It looked pretty cool, besides the, you know, torture device part…"

"It wasn't so much a torture device as it was a killing one." Jenkins scoffed. "You get a set of twenty-ish spikes stabbed through your skull and chest, you're not going to live long, no matter how much your captor wants it to hurt…"

"Right. But enough about that." Mariposa said. "I honestly think we can safely assume that Meteora is not here. I'm better on my feet than she is when it comes to this kind of stuff, so I don't think she would want to stick around for very long."

"She could just fly over it all, remember?" Jenkins asked. "And while she's in that state, I'm not sure any of these are sharp enough to really hurt her anyway. They may look bad, but up close, most of these spikes are rather...dull."

"Oh yeah. Her Butterfly form." Mariposa mumbled, narrowly avoiding a spike in the ground that was as small and thin as a nail. "When we find her, are we gonna have her use that to finally know that stupid boulder? I mean, the whole reason we didn't move it at first was because she was out of energy or whatever. And I think it's been long enough for her to "recharge". So...are we going straight to the Underworld when she gets back, after she explains where the heck she's been?"

"What do you think?" Jenkins asked.

"Right. Have to take care of the Voice first." Mariposa said. "Have to take care of-"

"Actually...no," Jenkins said. "I don't think we should take care of that little problem first."

"What? Why?"

"Because we're out of our element and at a disadvantage," Jenkins explained. "I just realized something. We really don't have a plan for what we're going to do to get rid of the Voice. She's the only one that can use magic, probably won't believe us if we tell her it's evil, thanks to how much it's given her, and it lives in her head. We can't even touch it without hurting her, which is something I am not going to do. We...we're going to need an actual plan before we act."

"That's...a good point," Mariposa said. "And kinda terrifying. Because to be honest, I already thought you were cooking up dozens of plans in your head for how to take care of that thing. But now to find out that you don't have a single one ready, it's sort of scary. For even you to not know what to do."

"Happens to the best of us," Jenkins said. "And I have been thinking up a few, but the reasons I listed basically made them pointless. So I think we need to go to the Underworld first. They may have something that could help her. They have those big spell books in Dave's library. I'm sure there's something in there that will help us. Maybe like...a spell that will cast a being out of someone's mind. Or a spell that will reveal the true nature of things. We may not be able to use magic, but perhaps we can find someone else that can."

"That would be convenient. Although the hard part will still be convincing Meteora that the Voice has ill intent in the first place."

"Well, if that "true nature" spell is a thing, then I don't think that's gonna be a problem," Jenkins said. "Something tells me she hasn't seen what this thing truly looks like, and it is not going to be what she expected."

"Yeah. I'm imagining something cliche, like a giant tentacle monster made of pure darkness or something like that." Mariposa said.

"Second time today you've used a word I didn't know you knew the meaning of, and this time...I don't think I'm gonna ask how." Jenkins said. "Only going to assume that it was somehow Janna's fault, from when she was babysitting you."

"Sure, let's go with that." Mariposa chuckled. "But seriously, will showing its "true form" to her even change her mind?"

"I think it's more than that. She's known the voice for only a month or two. We've known her for almost her entire life." Jenkins said. "I think that when it comes right down to it, at the end of this all, when she's given the choice of either having to pick between us or it, she's going to pick us."

"Aw, that's sweet," Mariposa said, in an almost-but-not-quite sarcastic manner. "I just hope you're right about that. This thing is inside her head, after all. It may try to convince her or manipulate her to abandon us." She gulped and looked at a tapestry in the wall, depicting a group of knights tossing what seemed to be an enemy soldier into a hole filled with spikes. The soldiers all had the same crest on their armor, a ring of stones with a red dot in the middle. "Assuming it hasn't already."

"Then we'll find her, as I mentioned earlier," Jenkins said. "But as for now, I think that does it for the first floor."

"I still don't see what we can't just call out for her," Mariposa said. "I know you want us to search it all top and bottom, but wouldn't it be best if we started calling out her name instead of just quietly searching for her."

"True," Jenkins said. "But there is still the possibility that there are other survivors here, hiding in the castles. One that Archibald and we never found. If we do that, we'll be exposing ourselves, and we'll lose the element of surprise."

"It's extremely unlikely that anything even living is here," Mariposa said.

"But not…"

"Impossible, yes, I know," Mariposa said. "I'll make sure to keep an eye out, as always."

"Good," Jenkins said. "Now then. About the Underworld war. I think that when things come to it, you and I should try to hang back, or at least take a spot in a position that isn't on the front lines."

"I'd ask why, but I already see your reasoning. Those demons would tear us apart like a piece of paper." Mariposa winced. "At best, we'd wound one by ourselves, and in response, it would rip us to shreds. We only managed to get that one that one time by luck alone, and even then it took Meteora to finish it off."

"Correct," Jenkins said. "And it was only one. We'd be on an entire battlefield of the damn things. We wouldn't last more than a few seconds before someone would take our heads off with a giant hammer."

"Well, at least it'd probably be quick," Mariposa mumbled. "But I suppose that Meteora's Butterfly form is the key to what whole plan? Just sit back and let her rain hell from the sky?"

"Pretty much," Jenkins replied. "And it's not like they're going to be able to stop her. She'll be too quick, and even if anything does hit her, it probably won't do that much. She'll just walk it off. Or fly it off, in this case."

"What if they have another one of those tanks?" Mariposa asked, getting vivid memories of the battle at Lucitor Castle. "Do you think she can survive a direct hit from that?"

"...She'll just have to destroy it before it can fire," Jenkins said. "Although hopefully, we don't have to worry about any more of those. I'm sure the one she destroyed was their only one. If they had more, I believe they would have used it at the battle as well. Drosid seemed to bring his entire army there, I see no reason why he wouldn't bring the other tank, assuming he had one."

"True," Mariposa said. "And your plan if Dave is gone and we have no idea where anyone is in the Underworld?"

"We start walking. I still have a decent idea of where everything is down there." Jenkins said. "I visited all the various kingdoms a few times in the past, and I think I know which ones Dave would consider his "allies". So we go to them, and hope for the best. If they're there, great. If not, we keep trying."

"And if they're all dead, and the war is over?"

"...Then we find Drosid and kill him," Jenkins said. "And then we kill every single last son of a bitch that was on his side. No prisoners."

"Sounds good to me," Mariposa said. "Although I wish we could take part in that more. Again, as you mentioned, Meteora is going to do all the work. I felt how strong Drosid was when he choked me. And I can say with certainty that neither of us stands a chance against him, not even working together. I think even Meteora will have trouble, if she gets too close."

"Then we'll tell her to not do that. Problem solved." Jenkins said, before continuing to walk forward as they both moved into what was once the throne room. Mariposa reflexively stared up at the ceiling when they entered, admiring just how big everything was. As expected, spikes covered the room at almost every point, the small pathway leading to the thrones themselves being the only thing free of points.

And the thrones...looked a lot more like torture devices than something you'd want to sit on. Spikes on the armrests. Spike on the backrest. Even spikes on the damn seats. It was insane.

"How do you even sit on those things?" Mariposa asked, pointing them out.

"Very, very carefully," Jenkins replied. "Although I think they're for aesthetic purposes only. I don't think I ever saw the Jaggy Royals actually sit in them. Those spikes are made to be as sharp as razors. Mewmans can be tough, but they're not that tough."

"Hm." Mariposa hummed, before approaching them. "I'm going to say it again. I don't think she's here. If Meteora was going to hide in one of these castles, I don't think it'd be the one where everything is covered in spines. Even if she can just fly through it, those things are even hanging from the ceiling. Flying might actually be more dangerous than walking."

"Assuming you don't know what you're doing," Jenkins said. "But if you want to take a break, then we can. I do have a few water bottles and some rations with me. The real problem will just be finding a place comfortable enough to sit."

"Maybe we can find out where the bedrooms are," Mariposa said. "Although knowing this place, there's bound to be a bed of nails somewhere."

"You just described the entire castle as a whole," Jenkins said. "But no. I'm sure they slept somewhere else...I think. But regardless, let's keep moving. You may be correct about Meteora not being here, but we've really got nowhere else to go besides the other castles and places we can't reach. That truck is all out of fuel, and if we start walking somewhere she could come back in the meantime."

"I know," Mariposa said. "But sometimes I just think-"

BOOM

Both Mariposa and Jenkins nearly jumped out of their shoes at the sound of an explosion right outside the castle, Jenkins flinching like he had just been pricked by a thorn and Mariposa losing her footing. She actually began to fall backward, right towards another set of spikes, before Jenkins quickly reached out and grabbed her arm, yanking her towards him and narrowly avoiding losing another one of his children.

"What the hell was that?!" Mariposa exclaimed, who was trembling slightly as she realized just how close she had come to being impaled there.

"I don't know…" Jenkins said, a weary expression on his face. "But we're not going to find out by sitting here and doing nothing. Come on."

Jenkins then took off down the hall, and Mariposa was quick to follow him, both of them carefully watching their footsteps as they traverse their way back through the castle. Eventually, they came upon a window, and Jenkins adroitly stopped before walking over to it and peering out. Mariposa stood stoically as he checked the situation out, unable to follow him due to how many spikes were near where he was standing.

"What is it?" She asked. "What do you see?"

"..."

"Jenkins?"

"..."

"Jenk-"

"Well…" Jenkins said, turning around to face her, his expression now one or defeat. "It's not good."

"Not good how?"

"..."

"Just tell me!"

"...I think Drosid got a little tired of waiting for us to come to him…"

End chapter 45

A/N: And the civil war in the Underworld finally makes its way to the surface. Good news is, that boulder isn't a problem anymore! Bad news is, as I'm sure you've guessed, the thing that came through it isn't exactly on Jenkins and Mariposa's side. Or anyone's side, really, as you will soon see…

But I am sorry that this chapter took so long. I just went through a lot of procrastinating, and I promise that I'll try not to do that again in the future.

But as always, thank you for reading, and please PM me or leave a review if you have any questions or comments.