The Tale of Three
Chapter 48
Who speaks the truth?
"So this person is your daughter from the future...and Jenkins attacked her for what reason again?"
"Because he believes that she is dangerous and is not who she claims she is, which, as I've mentioned, is false."
"...Okay...but is she dangerous? You claimed that she has magic. The implications of that statement are incredible. Do you have any idea what this could mean if that information got out?"
"Not important at the moment."
"...I think it is."
With a heavy sigh, Eclipsa let her face drop as she struggled to come up with a proper reply to the Johansen King, the person she was currently on the phone with. At the moment, she was calling every Royal she knew to inform them of the situation and what had happened downtown with her daughter, before Jenkins could get to any of them and try to turn them to his side with a corrupted version of the story. So far, after an hour, she had only made it through two of them, and that was because it was Moon and River she had been talking to, the two people who would be most understanding of what was happening, and were the most likely to believe her.
And even they took quite a bit of convincing…
"Listen." She continued. "Magic is not your concern at the moment. Before you start saying things about how normal civilians or even the Royals can start using magic again, I am here to say that something like that is not possible."
"How are you so sure?"
"Because my daughter explained everything to me!"
"And how are you so sure you can trust her? All because of some weird premonition dream you claimed to have a while back warning you of her arrival?" The Johansen king shouted, sounding like he had an avalanche of questions ready to go.
"Yes! It all fits together!" Eclipsa said. "The dream told me she would arrive, and here she is. Just like it said! And she has not attacked us, or brought harm to us, or done anything that has made her overly suspicious to us!" (That one was a lie, but it couldn't be helped.) "She has told us things that only Meteora or my husband could know. She...she is her. If you saw her, next to my child, the one that is currently a baby, you would know. They bear a heavy resemblance…"
"...Right." The Johansen king said, his tone indicating that he was far from fully convinced. "Okay. Assuming all this is true, you want me to support you later on with the others?"
"Yes, and to not believe whatever Jenkins tells you," Eclipsa said. "You know how he is. Pretty sure I'm soon he's going to call you and try to give you a twisted version of the story. I want you to ignore that in favor of the one I gave you."
"I see." The Johansen king said, before suddenly huffing. "Well, speak of the devil. Another phone is ringing here. That's probably him right now…"
"Don't answer it, let it go to voicemail," Eclipsa ordered, before pausing. "...Please. For me."
"Are you sure? If I don't answer it, then he'll probably be coming to my door in an hour or so, asking why." The King said. "This is the phone he gave us all personally in case of emergencies. You remember the rules he gave us. If it starts ringing, you drop everything and answer it. And I don't want to have to come up with an explanation as to why I didn't answer mine."
"Just say that you were taking a bath and you didn't get to the phone in time. But make sure to wet your hair first, so that when he comes over there is actual validity to your claim." Eclipsa explained. "There. I came up with an explanation for you."
"A bath? At three in the afternoon?"
"Of course," Eclipsa said. "He's sure to chalk it up to more Mewman weirdness. There's nothing odd about that that he would see as being worthy of note."
"...Fine." The King said. "But you better be right about all this. It's already at voicemail...and he doesn't sound very happy."
"I can imagine," Eclipsa said. "What's he saying?"
"Pretty much the "corrupted" version of your story." The King replied. "About how there is a magical fugitive on the loose impersonating a person, and how you and your husband are sheltering them from the E.D.F., and that we shouldn't trust you." He sighed. "If you're going to call the other Royals, I'd suggest you do it now. He's making a pretty convincing argument. If you hadn't called and given me your side of the story beforehand, I probably wouldn't have even picked up the phone once I saw who was calling. He's...using everything that we'd have seen on the news against you."
"Typical," Eclipsa said. "Then I have to go and get to the others."
"Good luck…" The King. "But once you're done, call me back. I still have an avalanche of questions about this."
"Can't wait…" Eclipsa mumbled, before hanging up and quickly looking at the list of contacts she had next to her. As much as she wanted to take a short break after a call like that, the Johansen King was correct. If Jenkins was beginning to call the Royals, then it was only a game of how many they could each get to their side before they ran out of people to call. She glanced to her left where she saw Globgor, deep in conversation with the Ponyhead King, which she was sure was an even more bothersome person to talk to. But that was already three on their side, hopefully. Moon and River, the Johansens, and the Ponyheads.
But who to call next? She had to be careful about this choice. She knew that in the end, she wouldn't be able to get all the Royals before Jenkins called them first, but she could choose which to get if she was lucky.
The Waterfolk family? No, they didn't have much of an influence, and talking with them would take too long since they had trouble understanding English at times. Maybe later, but not now.
The Jaggy family? Perhaps. They didn't have as much influence as the rest of the Royals, like the folk, but they did have complete control over a certain part of the town's borders thanks to the Jaggy mountains. If Eclipsa and her family needed to make a quick escape from Echo Creek, the Jaggy Family would be useful to have on their side.
They were a good choice...
The Spiderbites? Well, Eclipsa probably didn't even have to call them. Besides Moon and River, the Spiderbites were the Royal family that she got along best with. And they hated Jenkins with a heated fervor, due to him invading their forest a while back and carrying out a forceful extermination of ninety-five percent of the giant spider species housed within. Granted, they had been posing a large threat to people lately, but still. The Spiderbites hated him for it. She would call them last.
The Pigeon Kingdom? Hmmm. Rich was certainly an odd character. For the most part, he tried to stay out of whatever nonsense the humanoid elites were dealing with. He just wanted to stay home and do...whatever it is pigeons do. But he was still a Royal, and still had a voice. And he was also someone that Eclipsa knew it would be unwise to get on the bad side of, if the numerous skeletons piled up in the ruin of his castle were anything to go by.
Those were all the main ones. Of course, there were others, the Royals families didn't consist just of a king and queen, but dozens of uncles, cousins, aunts, all sorts of people. However, after the Merge, most of their power vanished, and they all turned into regular old rich folk that nobody wanted anything to do with. Calling them was not needed, because Jenkins probably wouldn't bother with them either.
After a few seconds of pacing back and forth, knowing she had precious little time to make a decision, Eclipsa sighed and began dialing the number for the Jaggy castle. Somewhat decent influence within the Royals, an escape route if they needed it, the Jaggy's were a good choice. Then it would be the Kelp people, Rich, the Spiderbites, and anyone else she could think of. All in a day's work. Hopefully, she could get a few of them on her side…
She had been right to call the Jaggy family first.
The repetitiveness of all those phone calls spread over the period of over three hours shall not be described here nor anywhere else, as it would be nothing but repeated sentences and phrases, the same story told ten times over. But, overall, the emotions Eclipsa felt during it overpowered any boredom she felt.
And again, she was right to call the Jaggy Family first. The second they picked up, their other phone began ringing, the one Jenkins had given to them. It didn't take long for them to become suspicious as to why Eclipsa and Jenkins would be calling them at the exact same times, and they responded with an equally weary tone, obeying, for the moment, Eclipsa's plea to not answer Jenkins. However, Jenkins' phone went to voicemail soon after, and they managed to hear what he had to say about the whole situation before Eclipsa could explain her side of it.
But thankfully, despite Jenkins asking to not pick up any phone calls from Eclipsa and to hang up if they were with her right now (he thought way too far ahead), the Jaggy's willing to hear the monster Queen out. And hear her out they did. Eclipsa wasted no time and detail in going on about what had happened from her perspective, and in the end, after putting her on hold for a moment to review the news tapes of what had happened, they believed her and not Jenkins, and promised that if she or her "future daughter" needed a way out of town, then they would allow her to use their mountains to get away. Eclipsa thanked them numerous times and then hung up, knowing that Jenkins had probably gotten another person to his "side" in the meantime.
There was no time to waste.
And then came the repetitiveness. Over the course of a few hours, she managed to get Rich, the Spiderbites, and the Waterfolk people on her side. Everyone else, however, either wasn't at home or saw who was calling, got Jenkins' message first, and had refused to answer after believing him. But still, thanks to her husband, in whatever happened next they would have the support of seven of the Royal families. The Butterflies, the Johansens, the Spiderbites, the Ponyheads, the Jaggy's, the Waterfolk, and the Pigeons. There weren't actually that many she could think of that they missed...but Mewni was large and full of many kingdoms and families. She had even called the Avarius family, the only Royal monster family besides the one her husband belonged to, but they hadn't picked up either. Although Eclipsa felt it was more likely that they hadn't wanted to pick it up instead of Jenkins getting to them. The Avarius's were not the most...social of the Royal families.
And it's not like they would be much help anyway. Their "influence" would amount to no more than a few measly supporters, so Eclipsa wasn't worried when it came to them. For the others, however, she wondered about how it was all going to go down. No doubt a meeting would be called soon, with all of them packed in one place to discuss what they would do moving forward. And since the room was going to be split in two...well, anyone could see that no meeting was going to end well, no matter how you arranged-
RING
Eclipsa gasped and nearly jumped out of her shoes as a sudden ringing sound was heard, and she looked to her right and see that it was coming from none other than the phone that Jenkins had given her, the one currently hidden behind a pack of bread rolls. Globgor stared at it for a moment before glancing over at his wife, asking without words if she wanted him to pick it up. Eclipsa gulped and then shook her head, before moving over to the phone and putting it to her ear. The ringing stopped, and it was a full five seconds before she heard any voice coming from the opposite end.
"...Hello, Eclipsa." Jenkins' voice boomed, sounding much calmer than he should. "I was worried that you weren't going to pick up for a moment there. I would hate to leave another voicemail, considering how many I've had to leave over the past few hours...I wonder whose fault that is."
"That sounds very odd," Eclipsa said, knowing that Jenkins knew it was her, and Jenkins knew she knew he knew, she knew he knew she knew...and on and on and on. "But why are you calling?"
"Oh, I think you already know. Nice job getting that liability towards the entire Earth out of the hospital, by the way." He complimented. "Not one of my people could get a single clean shot. And with you two in the way, I wouldn't have dared make a move. And then bringing out that giant carriage from under the castle? Just perfect. Again, nice job on your part."
"Thank you," Eclipsa said casually. "Although I would appreciate it if you didn't call my daughter a liability."
"If you can prove that it is actually her, then maybe I'll consider it," Jenkins said. "But until then, I think I'm just going to stick with what I know. That it's been lying to you about how long she's been here, is likely a spy for an enemy force, and is just impersonating your daughter to gain your trust. Where even is it right now? Listening to this phone call?"
"She's asleep." Eclipsa replied, getting annoyed at Jenkins repeatedly calling Meteora "it". "And she only knew that because she can look at past memories. She wasn't spying on you, and she hadn't been here for longer than you think. In fact, if what she told me is true, then technically none of us have been here longer than she has…"
"What does that mean?"
"None of your business," Eclipsa said. "Just a discovery that I made recently. But it is irrelevant. You're wrong in your assumptions. If you were here, I think you would realize that. She...Meteora had told us everything we wanted to know almost without any complaints. Heck, she just taught me how to perform magic and waited a long time and gave me a very lengthy explanation on how to accomplish it! If she didn't have our best interest in mind, she would not have done that."
"You can do magic again?" Jenkins asked, the only thing he absorbed from the previous paragraph. "Really?"
"Well...I tried...but it didn't work out as best as I wanted it to. But Meteora said that it was normal, and that it takes time for a person to use magic in a world that should be rid of it." Eclipsa explained.
"Or it's just misleading you further," Jenkins said. "It easily cast numerous spells back at that base. Well, not numerous, but it definitely showed us what it was capable of doing. It even threatened to destroy the world with her power, can you imagine that?"
"She likely only did so because it was the only way you wouldn't shoot her in the head!" Eclipsa countered. "Let me guess, at that moment, you had a gun to her head, and she also said that if you killed her, her magic would still blow everything up?"
"...Yes."
"And there you go!" Eclipsa said. "Meteora can't blow up the world, you imbecile. She said this merely for the sake of self-preservation. A lie like that is what anyone would tell if they were put in such a situation."
"Oh...so it was a lie." Jenkins chuckled. "I had already confirmed that for myself, in a way, but thanks to you, I now know for sure." He sighed. "But again, you are thinking exactly what this thing impersonating Meteora wants you to think. It pretended to teach you magic to make you think that it would help you, and when it didn't work, as it never will, she came up with the explanation that "these things take time", and that it was only able to do it because of its half-Mewman, half-monster heritage. Am I correct?"
Eclipsa paused for a moment, blinking in surprise at how accurate that was. "I...yes, it was. She gave me that exact explanation about her hybrid nature. How did you…?"
"Because it's exactly what I would say if I was pretending to be your daughter and wanted to deceive my "mother"," Jenkins said. "And it's not like there are many other explanations it could come up with. Which I'm betting was stuff like only the most powerful former magic users can perform magic, you have to close your eyes and concentrate on the spell, and that it takes away such a great deal of stamina that you can only do it once a day. That is correct, is it not?"
"...Are you spying on us right now?" Eclipsa asked, looking around and making Globgor perk his head up in alarm. "Because everything you just said was right on the money. Have you planted bugs in the Temple? You promised that you-"
"I didn't plant anything in that Temple of yours, even if the thought has crossed my mind several times," Jenkins said. "And you're so paranoid that I'm sure you'd find them anyway. No. I'm just saying exactly what I would use as an excuse as to why you can't do magic but I can. It's what almost anyone would come up with. You've fallen right into this person's trap, and now they've got you exactly where they want you: right under their thumb, willing to believe any word they say."
"For good reason! Again, they have done nothing to suggest that they mean to harm us! You-"
"No, you are not listening to me." Jenkins snapped. "I've seen this formula a dozen times before. Some weird creature from another dimension manages to successfully take over another one, and the way they did it was disguising themselves as a friend or relative of the leader of that dimension. This leader will be so overcome with compassion and love and trust and all that nonsense for this fake person that they won't realize what's happening until it's too late. I've seen it happen before. I've found hundreds of records of things like it occurring. When magic was still around, and people could change their appearance with nothing but a handful of words, it was a common tactic in warfare."
"Not that common. I've never heard of anything like that before, not even from the MHC and after I became Queen." Eclipsa said. "But how do you explain the dream that both Globgor and I had about this? That told us she was coming?"
"That makes it even more suspicious!" Jenkins exclaimed. "Dreams are something that can be easily manipulated by magic. It likely infiltrated your mind beforehand while you were sleeping and told you about this to make you trust it more and to have the whole situation gain a more believable tone. Just a big trick."
"But…" Eclipsa said, still refusing to believe Jenkins's theories, as much sense as they were starting to make. "She...she's our daughter."
"It is not," Jenkins said. "What did it say about getting here? About why it's here? To stop Seth from breaking out of prison? To prevent the end of the world? Ludicrous. The prison Seth is in is impenetrable. Nothing short of a hydrogen bomb could even begin to break it's exterior. And what was that it said about him using all the bombs to destroy the world, after storming the main E.D.F. base? Well then, I'll just have my underlings at that base make it so that if there's even a hint of an intruder trying to break his way in, then the nuclear system will shut itself off permanently. There. There we go. Even if this crisis is one percent true, it's avoided. Now Seth will never be able to blow up the world using nuclear bombs. Done."
"...Why wasn't that a feature that was installed before?" Eclipsa asked. "If you had control of every nuclear weapon, I think you'd have a lot more precautions."
"I didn't think we'd ever need them," Jenkins said. "But again, there you go. It's over. I'm literally typing the email to my second in command at the base with my free hand as we speak. And…". A clicking sound was then heard on the other end, followed by an electronic one that sounded like a cross between a gust of wind and a car driving past. "... nukes are now forever safe. So...what will you do, Eclipsa? Now that this make-believe crisis has been averted?"
"I...that doesn't make a difference," Eclipsa said. "I'm not letting you march in here and execute her. She...I still do not believe that she is a spy from another dimension. She can't be a shapeshifter, she just can't-"
"For the final time, yes, it can," Jenkins said. "You're not thinking straight. A pattern I've seen before. A crisis that sounds so unlikely a first grader should have seen it to be false. Lie piled over lie piled over lie. Dream manipulation, false magic lessons meant to draw you in, and then this mention of a Voice. This "Voice"' is almost certainly it communicating with whatever superior it has back in her home dimension, disguised as a magic teacher." He took a deep breath and sounded like he was shaking his head. "Face it, Eclipsa. Everything I am saying makes sense. As hard as it may be to believe, you have been deceived."
"..."
"But I will not hold any of this against you," Jenkins said. "You will not be punished in any way for your actions. You were simply doing what you thought was right. It is understandable. So now we have two options. One, you can take a knife and slit that thing's throat while it is sleeping, or you can let some of the soldiers I have waiting nearby outside the castle if it is too hard for you to do, and they will finish the job. We'll handle the body, and make an announcement to the press and the public that you were under that thing's mind-control, and thus your actions of late were not your fault."
"..."
"Well?" Jenkins asked. "Option one or option two, Eclipsa? We don't have all day. There's no telling when that impersonator may wake up."
"...I don't think I can do either of those," Eclipsa said, sinking to the ground. "I...I can't. I can't let you kill her. Even if she is a fake, which I do not think she is, she still resembles my daughter too much. I...I can't."
"Ah. I see. Then let the soldiers in, and they will wake it and then force it into a position where it will have to change its form." Jenkins said. "Simple as that. You don't have to do anything else. We will take care of it."
"..."
Jenkins sighed. "I'm trying to work with you here as best I can, Eclipsa. You did a very good job of convincing the other Royals that your daughter was not an interdimensional spy, and now I have to go fix that problem all by myself. You have created one tremendous mess for me to clean up, and I am being extremely generous here by not simply infiltrating that Temple with a cloaking device and killing that creature with my bare hands!"
"...You're capable of creating cloaking devices?" Eclipsa asked. "Seriously?"
"I don't know. Something like that would require security clearance you would never get. But if you don't do what I say, then maybe you'll find out if I'm telling the truth." Jenkins said. "So pick an option. Please. I'm trying to work with you here and make this as painless for everyone as possible. I still respect you, Eclipsa. Make it so that you don't lose that respect...and that oh-so-special patience that comes with it."
"..."
"..."
"...Very well," Eclipsa said. "I will...dispose of her myself." She said, making her husband shoot her a stunned look. "I will then bring the body outside for you to see and examine. Then we can focus on moving all this past us."
"...Now that's the attitude I wanted to hear," Jenkins said, although he was clearly having trouble concealing his surprise at Eclipsa's sudden agreement to the first option. "It seems you're finally understanding what needs to be done. Very well then. I'll be there in about ten minutes and waiting for you outside the Temple. Take all the time you...actually, don't, because that thing might wake up. But don't take any longer than twenty minutes! See you then!" He said cheerfully, as if they had just made dinner plans together instead of plotting how they were going to kill someone who looked and sounded like Eclipsa's daughter. He hung up directly afterward, and Eclipsa put the phone back on the case. Afterward, she walked towards her knife rack and pulled one out, tapping the tip of it with her finger.
"Eclipsa…" Globgor said cautiously. "I...why are you-"
"Don't get any wrong ideas. I just did that to throw him off." Eclipsa said, before putting the knife back in the rack. "And I have an idea about how we can get out of here safely. We're just going to need Meteora's cooperation…"
"Oh thank Mewni," Globgor exclaimed. "For a second there, I thought he had actually managed to convince you to kill her and you had totally lost it. Even those dumb point she made about-"
"No. His points were perfect, and almost certainly would have convinced anybody else that Meteora is an enemy." Eclipsa disagreed. "I had to close my eyes multiple times and whisper to myself not to believe him. Even I was starting to get sucked into his lies at one point. That's how good they were." She huffed and sat back down in the chair. "Say what you want about the man, but he is a master manipulator. It was made even worse by the fact that he had several hours of what could be amounted to as rehearsals for that conversation with the other Royals…"
"That's true," Globgor said. "But what's your plan, exactly? Do we try to sneak Meteora out? You told Jenkins that you were going to kill her and bring her body, but what are we going to do when he finds out you lied?"
"Who said anything about lying?" She said, before pulling open the fridge and pulling out a jug of water. "Find the red food coloring for me, will you? And make sure it's dark red, not light."
"Uh...sure. But why...hold on." Globgor said, before staring at her in shock. "Are you going to try and make a bunch of fake blood? And then are you going to cover her with-"
"Yes, that's exactly what I'm going to do," Eclipsa said. "I have a plan, and it requires Meteora to use some magic. You see, there's a certain spell that I'm sure she knows. It's a spell that will instantly cause a person to fall asleep. She only needs to fire it off once, and that will be enough."
"Okay, you've already lost me," Globgor said. "Can you tell me what is going on first? In order?"
"...Very well," Eclipsa said again, before straightening herself up as per usual. "I plan to cover Meteora, or her neck at the very least, in this fake blood we're making so that when we take her outside to Jenkins, he believes that she's dead. Afterward, as he approaches her, which he definitely will to confirm that she is well and truly dead, she'll use that sleep spell on him at point-blank range. Then we'll have the knights tackle all his soldiers to the ground while we make an escape and go to the Jaggy Castle. We won't be leaving town, just seeking refuge for a while. And then we'll stay there until we find out a more...long-term plan."
"...That won't go well," Globgor said bluntly, sounding like he wanted to make a much harsher criticism. "Do you have any idea how many soldiers he's going to bring with him when he gets here? Those knights of ours will be lucky to take down a quarter of them, never mind all. After Meteora hits him with that spell, we won't make it five feet before she's pumped full of holes and we're down on the ground, a dozen tranquilizer darts in each of our necks."
"I'm sure that would kill us. Or me at the very least." Eclipsa said.
"But you get what I'm saying, right?" Globgor asked. "Even with their leader down, those soldiers have been through some of the craziest mental and physical tensing on the planet. Jenkins takes the absolute best from each military on the planet and starts them off by shoving them in the lowest rank possible. So a private entourage with him leading it...it's safe to say that every single person he brings with him could probably shoot the wings off a fly a mile away. And that might not even be an exaggeration, given the proper equipment."
"Maybe so. But you're wrong about one thing." Eclipsa said. "Jenkins won't be bringing that many soldiers with him. He only tends to overdo things if the situation requires it. And this is not a situation that requires it. He believes that he is coming to pick up a body. Nothing more. You really think he's going to have dozens of soldiers waiting for us instead of a few, which with his arrogance, is likely all he believes he needs to take us down in case things go south?"
"Ignoring the fact that that might be all he needs to take us down…" Globgor mumbled. "He doesn't fully trust us yet. He may only have a few soldiers within view, but I'm betting he's going to have a backup team hiding nearby. He may be arrogant, but he's also the kind of person who doesn't take chances."
"I'm aware of that…" Eclipsa said, before sighing. "But can you think of any other way to get out of this now? We can't hide her and say she beat us up and escaped. Jenkins knows every inch of this Temple, even the secret rooms. He'll pull in a hundred of the best people he knows to find her, and she won't be able to hide from them for more than a few minutes."
"Maybe she could cast an invisibility spell…?" Globgor suggested.
"He would still be able to detect her body heat." Eclipsa pointed out. "And even if it was a true cloaking spell, one that even hides the sound of your footsteps, he still had machines that could detect magic usage. She would be radiating it like a fire smoking. Something like that would never work."
"Oh right, the magic detectors. Forgot he had those…" Globgor mumbled, looking embarrassed. "But your plan is still incredibly risky. And how do you even know that Meteora is going to go along with it?"
"I'm going to go along with it." A voice from behind them said, and they both whipped around to see Meteora stand in the doorway, leaving against it with her arms crossed. "I...think it's a decent idea."
"What are you doing up?" Eclipsa asked in a concerned tone. "I told you to go to sleep."
"Hours ago."
"Still...and how are you standing like that without kneeling over in pain?" The queen queried, eyeing the bandages that were just barely visible below Meteora's shirt.
"Oh, it's still really hard." She said, before limping toward and sitting down at the table, taking a deep breath as she did so. "I would have asked those knights to help me, but they were giving me weird looks, so I didn't bother. Don't know why…"
"Meteora-" Eclipsa started, before Globgor interrupted, noting that while it was a concern for Meteora to be up and about while there were still several bullet wounds healing in her chest that she had only received a few hours ago...there were still more important things for them to discuss. Jenkins was on his way already. They had to come up with something now.
"No. Not right now." Globgor said. "So, Meteora, do you really agree with your mother's plan? Knowing full well the risk it'll pose to you? You'll be right in the open, after all. If Jenkins shoots you himself before getting close to confirm that you're dead, that'll be the end of it."
"Would he really shoot a dead body covered in blood currently being carried by another person?" Meteora asked, before pausing. "I mean, I should already know the answer to that, considering I was raised by the man, but still. Would he do that?"
"Absolutely." Globgor and Eclipsa said simultaneously. "Again, no chances are taken with him. And he's a good enough shot that he won't have to worry about hitting us. And we'd already be covered in "blood" by that point, so he had every right to assume that we won't care."
"Of course…" Meteora said, exasperated. "So our only option is to just hope that he doesn't shoot me again? That's all?"
"Yes, unless you think you can nail him from far away," Meteora said. "...Do you?"
"No," Meteora said. "Before you ask, I'm fully capable of hitting him with the sleep spell from up close, I did that to myself on accident once and I know I have the energy...or just enough energy, so we won't have to worry. I can summon the spell. You might just have to carry me afterward, because I'll probably collapse from the exhaustion. That one takes a little more than the Solus spell."
"We'll already be carrying you in that moment. Nothing to worry about." Eclipsa said. "But your father is correct. Meteora, do you truly agree to this? The risk to you is very high? If something goes wrong, and the odds are that it will, then there will be no second chances. Just a quick pull of the trigger from Jenkins or one of his soldiers, and you won't-"
"Even hear the sound of the gun," Meteora interjected. "Yeah. Jenkins taught me that saying. I guess he said it to you guys once and you liked the sound of it?"
"...Guilty as charged," Globgor admitted.
Meteora snorted. "He does have a lot of sayings like that...even if they're neither original nor his to begin with." She said. "But yes. I agree with it. It's a good plan, all things considered, and if it gets us even more out of harm then I'm all for it. This place is not safe…"
"At leads not from him," Eclipsa said, before pausing. "Ah, I know this is a bit of an odd question, but I didn't ask it earlier and I just wanted to know. The Temple...does it survive the nuclear explosion in the future? Is it still around?"
"It's still standing. Most of the castles are." Meteora said. "This place is definitely not what I'd call an "ideal location to hole up for the night". The outside is so charred that the surface is entirely black, and a good deal of the statues and giant carved faces are gone. The inside is a wreck, as anything that wasn't bolted to the ground was either stolen or destroyed. Repairing it would take years, at least. But with how the world is at the current moment...civilization will take centuries to rebuild properly, and by then the Temple would have likely collapsed without anyone making any kind of repairs."
"But...it's still there?" Eclipsa repeated.
"In a way, yeah. The basic structure is still there." Meteora replied. "Why?"
"I just wanted to know. This Temple is an ancient and sacred monster site, after all." Eclipsa explained. "For it to be wiped away in such an impromptu way...it would shatter me. But it is nice to know that it's still standing, even if the most glamorous parts are no more."
"Pretty much describing the whole town there," Meteora said. "As I mentioned, most of the Castles are standing, but as with the Temple, the insides have been trashed and looted beyond repair. And just like with the Monster Temple, since nobody is likely going to start repairing them anytime soon, they're going to collapse in on themselves eventually." She smirked. "If we don't destroy them first. My Jenkins had a plan to wipe out a group of enemies that are urgently taking exception to our existence, and it involves toppling the main tower of the Butterfly castle and crushing them with it. I think he realizes just as much as me that all those castles built hundreds of years ago are on their dying breaths…"
"Toppling over the main tower-my goodness," Eclipsa said, before looking back at the bottle of ketchup and water. "Hm. As much as I'd like to discuss this further, I'm afraid we don't have the time. We need to start preparing you for when Jenkins arrives. He may be here already…"
She then grabbed a cup and poured both the food coloring and the water into it, before mixing them together. Meteora watched her with fascination before calling her eye and shaking her head, looking at the mixture with disapproval.
"No, no, no, that's not how you do it." She said. "You need a lot more things to properly make fake blood than food coloring and water. Jenkins taught us that, so Old Jenkins is going to know that's fake the second he gets up close."
"Yes. The second he gets up close. Upon which you will fire the sleeping spell and immobilize him." Eclipsa said. "The blood doesn't need to be foolproof. It just needs to look realistic enough from a distance that he'll be fooled. He can realize that it's fake, but one second later, you'll have to hit him with the spell."
"...Hm. Okay," Meteora said, shrugging. "But a word of advice, you might wanna make more of that. What was it you said after all? Cut my throat with a knife? Yeah, you'll need a lot more."
"Why?"
"Because I know what it looks like when someone's throat is cut open," Meteora said, with the same casually morbid tone that her parents didn't think they would ever be used to. "And there's...a lot more blood than that."
"...Understood," Eclipsa said, not wanting to know if this was because she had watched someone else do it or if it was because she had done it herself. "In the meantime, Globgor, if you could tell the rest of the knights outside what's happening, that would be most appreciated. No time to waste anymore, I think we've already spent too much talking."
"Got it," Globgor said, before walking away towards the front door. After that Eclipsa pulled out every bit of red food coloring she could find as well as a large jug of water, before glancing over at Meteora. The hybrid nodded, and so the Queen began mixing them again, the water completely staining red in a matter of seconds.
"While we have the time…" She started. "You have told us a lot about the future. You have explained so many horrible, wonderful...well, mostly horrible things to us. But I want to ask you. Do you think that there is...anything we can do? Maybe when you go back, you can bring something with you. Something that-"
"I can't think of a single object that I can safely transport that would instantly solve any problems in the future," Meteora said. "Where I assume I'll arrive back in, the soil isn't good enough for planting, so a bag of seeds won't help. A gun wouldn't help for long, before our enemies are going to outnumber whatever amount of bullets you give me. And any other weapons or supplies...it's all only temporary. So unless it's like some super powerful mystical magic artifact, I don't think giving me anything will help." She sighed. "I'm sorry if that sounded a little harsh, but I'm just stating the facts."
"But are you sure?" Eclipsa asked. "I don't want to be rude, but I think I am correct in my assumption that there are still parts of...pre-apocalypse technology that you are not aware of or so do not understand how they work, correct?"
"...Correct," Meteora said. "Even something as simple as electricity is an extreme rarity these days. I've seen lightbulbs lit up, as well as stuff like flashlights and battery-powered toys and all that...but everything else I've never had the pleasure of experiencing. I've never sat down and watched a movie on television. I've never "texted" a person using a phone. I've never taken a hot shower until yesterday. I've…missed out on a few things."
"That's an understatement," Eclipsa said, before tapping her chin. "You know...I am positive that all the Royals have TVs. If we can safely manage to get to the Jaggy castle and hide out there, I could ask them to show you-"
"No thanks," Meteora said, waving her off. "I've been living fifteen years without that stuff, and if I'm going to start, I want it to be in a time that I don't have to leave eventually. Jenkins told me about how people got obsessed with TV shows and movies. I don't want to be one of those people until it's a safer, better world." She sighed. "Which is probably never going to happen…"
"I wouldn't say that." Eclipsa disagreed, as she finished her blood mixture. "Just look at humanity and their history. In less than a hundred years they went from inventing cars to landing on their moon, thousands and thousands of miles away! The rate at which some people evolve with technology is astounding! There's no reason to say that they can't do it again. Maybe your world will get to a more habitable state within a few decades. You never know."
Meteora paused and then laughed, a laugh that made Eclipsa want to back away from her simply due to how creepy it sounded. It wasn't a humorous laugh, and it was more of a "you have no idea what you're talking about" laugh, one that the Queen had heard from Jenkins many times before. Clearly, the future version had influenced a few unfortunate traits onto Meteora.
"Wow, that is just...not true at all." Meteora finally said, still chuckling to herself. "No reason...if only that were true. But not a single person I've met is as optimistic about the future of the world as you are, not even the future version of you! Most people have just given up hope entirely! They're just trying to survive any way they can, regardless of the consequences. There are settlements, but most were clearly not built with the idea of lasting. Anyone we come across that isn't hostile, it's usually because they're too weak or too smart to fight us. And about the whole technology thing…"
She leaned back against the wall, shaking her head. "The thing about humanity growing at such a rapid rate was because they had lots of people working on those things, some of the smartest in history. They had money, they had resources, and usually, they had plenty of time...but it's not like that in the future. Most of the smart people are probably either holed up in bunkers or dead, fallen to a world where brawn is not favored over brains. Any scrap of old tech we see is smashed to hell or just not working, probably from someone stomping on them out of anger because they don't function that well anymore. And as for time…these days we barely have enough time to breathe. So many people are trying to kill us and whatnot. And while I suppose that's not the same for everyone, most people are just trying to find enough supplies to survive daily. Seriously. We've come across people that look like if they went one day without food or water, they'd be dead. Every hour is a fight for survival out there. And what with all the food old expiring, and the soil not being that good for planting…" She shrugged. "...Foods more scarce than ever."
Meteora then paused and shook her head again. "Sorry, I think I was rambling on there for a moment. But the point is that the future is looking pretty bleak no matter how we do things. Even if we take care of Janna, and Drosid, and everyone else that currently wants our heads displayed on their living room wall, we'll just be going back to the same old grind after that. Surviving in a wasteland…"
"But that's not entirely true, is it?" Eclipsa asked. "You mentioned that I live a hundred miles away with other survivors. Aren't you going there after taking care of your enemies?"
"True...and I guess the soil there is decent, if what you said is true," Meteora admitted. "So you're right. I do have that to look forward to. But all the super long-term stuff, like reinventing old technology, I don't think I'll be alive to see it. We have to take this slowly and steadily. Don't want to risk something accidentally blowing up in our faces while we're trying to get it back online. Jenkins told us that that happened quite a lot…"
"Well, he's not entirely wrong," Eclipsa said, before looking down at the jug of water, now painted a crimson color. It was still much too watery to be seen as blood up close, but that still wasn't her plan. It would do just fine from a distance. She gulped and handed the jug over to Meteora, who stared at the thing like she was about to just dump it over her head.
"Here you go." She said. "I think you'd be more comfortable if you did that. Spread it around in yourself, but don't overdo it too much. Just...use whatever amount would come out of a person's neck. You mentioned that you knew…"
"Oh, I do," Meteora said, before taking the cup that Eclipsa had and pouring some of the mix into it. She walked over to the sink and started wiping/pouring it on her arms, soaking her clothes and making her shiver.
"I hope you're okay with this." She said. "I know from experience red materials are the hardest to wash out. Even if it's not actual blood, these clothes are going to make one hell of a stain."
"Don't worry. Those are just one I had ordered the knights to get out of my old wardrobe and bring to the hospital. No one's going to miss them, including me. But I hope you don't mind wearing my old clothes…"
"Ha! Did you see what I was wearing when I first arrived here?" Meteora chuckled. "Trust me. Everyone in the apocalypse stopped caring about fashion sense a long time ago. Frankly, as long as it covered you up, no one batted an eyelid."
"I suppose that'd make sense. But are you going to want those old clothes back? They've already been washed." Eclipsa said, before grimacing. "Multiple times…"
"Eh...I don't know. I don't feel special or anything with them. They're just another pair of clothes." Meteora said. "Although you say you washed them? Hmm...yeah, bring them with you, because when I hopefully get back to the future there'll be one question I have to answer if I'm still wearing the same set of clothes I had when I left."
"Then I'll go get them for you. Wait here." Eclipsa said, before walking out of the kitchen again. Meteora watched her go and then went back to spreading the water/food coloring mix on her skin, shivering at how it felt. Couldn't her mother have used water that hadn't been in the refrigerator for the past five hours? Then again, compared to the cold that had killed her just a few days ago, it was hardly anything to be annoyed at. She simply soaked it all over herself like a person with make-up until she looked like a full-blown murder victim, dripping the fake blood all over the floor. Unfortunately, it was at that moment that her father walked back in and froze at the sight of her, looking ready to scream until he saw the now empty jug and remember what they had been planning.
"Hey...Meteora." He said slowly, the nervousness still far from leaving his voice. "Everything outside is taken care of. The knights all know what to do now."
"Great. Then all we need to do is wait for Old Jenkins to show up." Meteora said. "I hope you have that carriage ready…"
"We don't have the giant one from earlier, but we do have a smaller one just parked out front," Globgor said. "And since it's always there anyway, it's not going to be suspicious. But where's Eclipsa? Jenkins could arrive any second, and I don't think he's going to be amused if we spend too long in here."
"She's getting my old clothes. And I'm betting a few other things as well." Meteora explained. "We might be staying in the Jaggy castle for a while, after all. It'd make sense for her to want to take some personal possessions."
"Hmm...well, hopefully, we don't stay there for too long," Globgor said. "Even if we're taking a huge risk doing this. When Jenkins wakes up and realizes what we did to him, he might tear this place apart brick by brick in retaliation. There's a chance he won't, but I wouldn't put it past him. The public outcry would be enormous...but he's handled things like that before. And, of course, he'll just try to convince everyone he was doing the right thing by making up some story about you."
"Can't wait," Meteora said sarcastically. "Maybe we could leave a nice note asking him not to do anything to the castle. Here's hoping he'll have pity on us…"
Globgor laughed, before his expression suddenly went dark. "I only wish it was that simple. But none of this could be considered a joke anymore. If we do this, no matter if we succeed or if we fail, we're likely going to be charged severely for it. We're not just talking about ignoring Jenkins. We're talking about tricking him, assaulting him, and then running. What we're about to do could be considered a form of declaration, and...that never ends well. Ever."
"..."
"But it has to happen." Globgor continued. "There's no real other way to do this. Eclipsa already told him you were dead, and aside from actually killing you right now, there are not many other options."
"..."
"Hey...uh...are you okay?" Globgor asked. "You're kinda quiet."
Meteora bit her lip and then stared at the ground. "Why are you guys doing this all for me?"
"I...what?" Globgor asked, clearly not expecting a question like this.
"Why are you guys doing this all for me?" Meteora repeated. "Risking your lives and reputation...basically ruining everything for yourselves just to protect me...why are you doing it? Why are you throwing away so much for me?"
"...Because you're our daughter," Globgor said. "And even if we've only technically known you for a few days, or if you've honestly caused nothing but trouble since you got here…" He chuckled. "...You're still Meteora Butterfly. You're still our flesh and blood. You're still...our child."
"I know. I know." Meteora said. "But even so! You don't have to risk this much for me! You're ruining your entire lives based on...one thing that you can't even be sure about. Have you ever thought about the possibility that Jenkins might be right? That I'm secretly some evil spy from another dimension and that I'm just using your for my own ends?"
"...Can I ask you a question, Meteora?"
"Well, sure, but-"
"Why are you so against the idea of us helping you?"
"Against it…?" Meteora echoed.
"Yeah. You were talking with your mother earlier about it, and you're talking about it now. Why are you so opposed to us doing this? I know you're worried about us, but we're worried about you, and that's reason enough for us to help you any way we can. Like...take the future for example. Wouldn't your Jenkins sacrifice himself in a heartbeat to protect you or Mariposa?"
"Of course he would."
"Then why can't we do the same thing?"
"Because...I don't think I was expecting you to be this okay with all of it." Meteora mumbled. "Especially you. Even though I heard all those stories from Jenkins about you guys, and met my mother in the mind realm, I was still worried about you not believing me and all that. And even though you clearly do believe me...I guess I was worried that at a certain point, you might decide that I wasn't worth the trouble anymore. That you didn't want to risk everything you had on a person that you just met." She sighed. "But I was proved wrong. And I'm still expecting to be right…"
Globgor nodded and then walked over to her, setting his head on her shoulder and ignoring the feeling of the cold water soaking him. "I get what you mean." He said. "We're new, you're new, everything's new and you're expecting people to act like they act in the apocalypse."
"I don't think…" Meteora started, before sighing. "Yeah. That's exactly it. Jenkins was a terrific parent for us, even if he did have odd ways of doing things, but lost everyone else we met...their kids were little more than tools for their use. Even the ones who were born before the apocalypse were pretty screwed up in the head by the time we met them, even if it had only been a few years since the end of the world."
"That's not surprising to me, actually," Globgor said. "I can recall experiments humans did in the past that's considered unethical by them today, where they put people in environments, particularly cruel ones, that they're not used to for extended periods of time to see how they act and react during and after it. It took no more than a week for people to change into something unrecognizable at times. And those were all experiments with volunteers that had end dates! That apocalypse doesn't have that. There are no volunteers, there are no end dates, it's just...everyone being thrust into a whole new help." He sighed. "What I'm trying to say, overall, is that I understand why you're feeling this way. Because everyone you've ever met became the people in those experiments. Just...someone they're not."
"Interesting." Meteora deadpanned. "You know, considering that I was raised in that whole new hell, I think I turned out pretty good. Sure, I have a few murderous tendencies and won't hesitate to kill anyone if the situation requires it, but I'm not some raging psychopath either! That role more fits Mariposa...or used to fit her anyway."
"What?"
"Nothing," Meteora said quickly. "But as you were saying...I guess you're right. I was so used to terrible parents showing up in the apocalypse that sometimes I fell under the assumption that good parents were rare, even in the time before the end of the world. And I suppose I was worried that you two would turn out to be one of those parents...even though I had already met my mother. Although I guess that was because I assumed that she might have changed in the fifteen years since she last saw me."
"Hmm." Meteora hummed, before looking towards the door. "Well...nevermind all that for now. We're putting this conversation on pause. Jenkins should be arriving any second, after all. I expect that he's already outside waiting for us…"
"In which case we better hurry up," Eclipsa said, appearing out of nowhere with a few clothes. "This is everything you had on you, along with some...accessories…" She mumbled, taking out a knife that Meteora recognized as the one she usually carried with her at all times. Eclipsa held it out to give it back to Meteora, who gingerly took it and shoved it back in her pocket.
"Thanks. Almost felt naked without it." She said, grinning before her parents gave her another concerned look, upon which she sighed. "I was joking. That was a joke. But thanks. At least if everything goes wrong, I might have one last chance to defend myself before I get hit with a million bullets…"
"If everything goes wrong, then we'll try to shield you as best we can," Globgor said. "There's no guarantee that Jenkins won't just open fire after he realizes that we've betrayed him again, but it's the best we can do."
"Terrific," Meteora said, before looking at her right hand, wondering if she could really pull this off. The Voice had said that she should be able to pull off this one spell with little difficulty, as long as she was concentrated enough. But what if it didn't work? Well, then she'd be shot, and Meteora had already accepted that. After freezing to death, being revived, getting shot in the chest multiple times (and the painkillers to those wounds would be really useful right now, she cursed herself for not listening), Meteora had kinda gotten to the point where she wasn't that worried about dying. It was something she would avoid at all costs, of course, but she didn't feel…afraid of it.
"What's wrong?" Eclipsa asked. "Wondering if you can pull this off?"
"That...and something else," Meteora mumbled. "But it's not important. For now, let's put this plan into action...and get out of here as fast as possible."
End chapter 48
A/N: Hey, sorry this chapter took so long, but I was distracted by another story that I was writing for a friend, which sorta burned me out for a week or two. But rest assured, the next chapter will arrive sooner, and for anyone who reads my other story Aflame as well as this one, that should be updated soon enough as well.
But thank you for reading and please PM me or leave a review if you have any questions or comments.
