Star vs The Forces of Evil
The Ballad of Earth-Mewni
Disclaimer: Star vs The Forces of Evil was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of Star vs.
Episode 37: Sins Past: An Earthni Halloween (Part 1)
Episode Summary: Earthni's first Halloween has arrived. Star & Marco plan to take the orphan kids out trick-or-treating, while Tom & Janna spend some quality time alone trying to revive an ancient Halloween ghost to haunt fellow trick-or-treaters.
Original Release Date: February 26, 2021
It was late afternoon on Earthni's first Halloween as a cleaved world. The excitement captivated the air. The Earth children were more than eager to get out there and bag as much sugary candy as they could get their tiny hands on. The mewman residents were eager to learn all about the lore of Halloween, from its ancient origins to the art of visiting houses abound to collect gobs of unhealthy treats to gorge on. The atmosphere was contagious. And the same could most definitely be said about our heroes. Halloween night marked a significant milestone for Star, and for multiple reasons. The first reason was, well, it was her first Halloween with Marco Diaz as her boyfriend/future husband. She had every intention of making it a memorable Halloween. But more importantly, it was the first major event that she was medically cleared for. Yes, gradually, Star had been recovering from her surgery, and while she wasn't physically where she wanted to be by this point, she had progressed enough where going out for trick-or-treating with friends was considered low-enough stress from her doctors. All she needed to do was have someone by her side to lean on...both figuratively and literally. Safe to say Star wasn't a fan of that arrangement.
"Come on, Star, it's just for your own safety." Marco tried to reassure her as the two of them, plus Jackie & Chloe waited outside the entrance to the orphanage. She was leaning up against him, arms wrapped around his waist and head resting on his shoulder, while Marco was holding both Meteora & Mariposa in his arms. The four were dressed in costumes for the holiday, with Star redressing as Ludo, her costume from the year before, & Marco dawning his Princess Turdina outfit, while Jackie was dressed up as an amazon warrior, while Chloe was dressed up in a Batgirl-esque costume.
"I know, but that doesn't mean I have to like it." She playfully moaned. Her focus on the impending arrival of the children dressed in their own adorable costumes kept her mind off her own misfortune. She and Marco looked over again at Jackie & Chloe & reveled in their outfits. "I looove your amazon costume, Jackie."
"Yeah you totally pull that look off." Marco inexplicably blurted out, causing him to embarrassingly cover his mouth with his free hand. This elicited laughter from the others.
"Thanks, guys." Jackie beamed with pride. "Chloe did a great job stitching this up for me."
Both Star & Marco had to do a double take with each other. "Wait, Chloe, you made that for her?"
"From scratch." Chloe said rather proudly. "Before I took up the skates, I was magnificent at sewing & costume design."
"And she's dang good at it, too!" Jackie happily endorsed.
"Well jeez, if I had known that sooner, I would've paid you to make me a costume this year."
"Really?" Marco teased. "I thought you loved dressing up as your former arch nemesis."
"Well, yeah, that's true. I do love this skull hat. But I don't know, if Chloe can pull off something like that-" Referring to Jackie's costume. "And make the wearer look that good, who knows what she could do for someone else."
Chloe & Jackie exchanged looks & blushed, both for different reasons. "Aww, Star...you know, next year you and I could totally be costume buddies!"
Just the mere mention of that was enough to make Star's face go red, as she tried unsuccessfully to hide her blush. "Oh, come on, hon. You and Jackie would go great in matching costumes." Marco teased, prompting her to lift her head up and glare at him playfully.
"Why must you encourage this?" Shrugs abound from Marco, but their conversation was quickly interrupted by the sound of the front door to the orphanage opening; out raced the group of children, all in varying costumes & carrying candy bags, towards the teens. More specifically, they raced towards Star, who didn't hesitate to open her arms up. Mariposa & Meteora also cheered as the children came barrelling out towards Star.
"Aww, hi babies!" She squealed as she found herself mauled by cuteness. "Look at you all in your adorable little costumes. Are you all ready to go trick-or-treating?" The kids responded in turn with loud cheering & waving of their arms. But upon giving it a second look, Star noticed something off about the group. "...wait a minute, where's Miles?" Indeed, the group was one child short: Miles wasn't there. Luckily, there was a good reason.
"He's coming!" Greta yelled from the doorway. "His costumes took a little longer to put together. He wanted it to be..."special."
"Special? How so?"
"You'll see..." Marco interjected with a rather sly smile.
"What's that supposed to mean, Mr. Diaz?" She looked sharply over at him briefly before turning back to the door. When she did, she was greeted with probably the best surprise she could ask for in this circumstance. Standing at the doorway was a happy, babbling Miles. He was wearing his costume for the evening. And what was his costume? He was wearing a narwhal-style dress, much like the one Star typically dons. He had a devil-horned headband on his head, the proper leggings & boots to boot, and above all else...his old rattle redesigned to resemble the magic wand Star had in her last days before turning it over to Eclipsa. And he didn't have a care in the world, he was just happy to be replicating his idol's wardrobe. Upon laying eyes on him for the first time, Star loudly gasped, frantically turning back to Marco. "Marco! He...He looks like-"
"I can explain. The other day I was showing him a book full of costumes for him to pick from, and one of the pictures we took on our getaway fell out of my pocket, and he saw it, and...well, he insisted. Thankfully for us Chloe volunteered to sew up a Star outfit for him. I owe her for it, but it's so worth it-"
"He looks just like me." Star said, tears practically gushing out of her eyes. "HE LOOKS JUST LIKE ME!" And that was the end of any hope of her not crying. She stuck her arms out, commanding a hug from the boy. Miles, for his part, saw Star's hug offer & dashed over to her as quickly as his little legs would take him. The other kids began cheering loudly as Miles bounded down the driveway and into Star's arms. "Oh, you are so cute, you little angel."
The little boy stuck his tongue out at Star and playfully kissed her, happily babbling in the midst of it.
"Okay kids, is everyone ready to go get some candy!?" Marco bellowed as triumphantly as he could. The kids all responded accordingly with loud cheers. He turned back to Greta. "We'll have them home by 9. Okay, everyone, let's get going!" Marco and Star started marching down the sidewalk, with Jackie, Chloe, & the kids all following closely behind. They were adament on making this a Halloween to remember.
Meanwhile, on the far side of Echo Creek, two of our other heroes - Tom & Janna - were holed up in - of all places - the Avarius castle, setting themselves up for their own Halloween fun. At the moment, the castle was empty because Ludo & his siblings were out on the town preparing to meet up with Star & Marco and their group for Halloween fun. "Let's see...candles? Check." They had a big night planned for themselves, and it was imperative that they had everything they needed for everything to go off without a hitch. "Book on ancient demons & dark magic? Check."
"Peace offering?" Tom held up a dead rat corpse. "Check."
"Macarenas?" Janna held up two maracenas in her hands, resulting in a raised eyebrow from the demon boy.
"Why do we need those again?"
"For when we recite the ancient chant? It's the only way Bogswell the Menacing Spectre can awaken from his eternal slumber. He is appeased by the lucious sounds of the almighty macarena."
"That reminds me..." Tom approached her, his eyes squarely on the book in her possession. "Where did you get this book anyway?"
"...You're literally Prince of the Underworld. Isn't it, like, your job or whatever to keep track of books or items like this?"
"I don't know about everything in the Underworld. I'm not perfect!"
"So you've never seen this book before?" She handed the book over to Tom for him to examine it. The possibility that he was completely in the dark about what they were doing tonight left her utterly dumbfounded. Tom flipped through the pages quickly.
"...No, I...I haven't. I've never even heard of "Bogswell the Menacing Spectre." Sounds like a fake name for a bad fanfiction or something."
"Don't get self-aware on us, dude. Look," Janna flipped through the pages and stopped at the page with the header "Bogswell, The Menacing Spectre." "Bogswell, The Menacing Spectre." She began reading the page. "This is the tale of the one called Bogswell. Once the proud owner of the once famous Flemming Castle..." She stopped herself when she noticed Tom raising his hand nervously. "Yes, Demon Man?"
"That's...that's this place, isn't it?"
"Yes, dude."
"Okay okay, just checking. G-Go on."
She rolled her eyes and continued with the passage. "But one day, his entire world was changed forever. The castle was stolen from him and his family. On Halloween night of all nights."
"You guys and your stupid governments, man."
"Everything he worked for...gone in an instant. He fought to the end to keep what was rightfully his, but to no avail. He died of a broken heart."
"Aww, that blows. Had everything stolen from him and he just couldn't take it-"
"No, they mean it literally. Massive heart attack & everything."
"...Oh. That's somehow even more depressing."
"Legend has it that every Halloween night, his spirit returns to this very building, roaming the walls & ceilings, salivating at any opportunity to exact revenge on those that stole what was rightfully his. He awaits to be indebited to those that ressurect his soul from the great beyond."
A long, awkward silence before Tom finally opened his mouth again. "...Does that mean we get all of his money?" Janna, visibly unamused by Tom's buffonery, closed the book and gently whacked him on the head with it. "Ow!" The wound to his ego was greater than the wound to his head. "What was that for?!"
"For being an idiot."
"...Okay."
"Now come on, grab your macarenas. We got work to do."
"Is this really necessary?" He asked, reluctantly picking up a pair for himself.
"Okay, don't use them. Then you don't get to complain when we summon him and he's a cranky ol' fart that didn't get his diaper changed."
"Why does that sound so threatening?"
So the two finished setting up their ritual congregation, setting up the candles in a circle with a foreign insignia in the middle. They opened the book again to the page proper & placed it on top of the insignia. "Okay...time for the chant..."
In both their hands they held papers that, supposedly, read the 'chant' they were supposed to recite in order to awaken the spirit. Unfortunately for them, reciting said chant proved itself to be a challenge. The chant itself was mostly incoherent gibberish. It was so atrociously apparent that it made Tom suspect that this was nothing more than a bad joke on Janna's part. "This doesn't even look like demon language."
"You're sure that it's not?"
"Positive. Why?"
"Well...then this is gonna be fun, isn't it?" Janna sighed. "I tried looking up any sort of translation for the chant and I found squat."
Another raised eyebrow from Tom, this time for an even dumber reason. "What do vegetables have to do with this?"
"You have no idea how much willpower I am using to refrain from punching you in the face right now."
On the outside, some time had passed. As had been the intention, Star & Marco met up with Ludo & his band of siblings - all dressed in outfits, highlighted by Ludo in his Bon Bon The Birthday Clown attire - outside of the convenience store where they had their first battle. The children, recognizing Ludo as the clown that often visited the orphanage & spent time with them or made balloon animals for them, didn't hesitate in their quest to shower him & his siblings with hugs. Everything was nearly ready for the ultimate trick-or-treating experience. But there was still just one person left for them to pick up & bring along.
The group - now led by Star, who knew the way by heart - made their way towards a house, which was only a few minutes away from the orphanage. As they got closer, Miles's face lit up more and more. He remembered this house. Could it be? Yes indeed, they were passing by the house of their old friend, Lilly, having offered to take her trick-or-treating with the rest of the orphan kids so her adoptive parents could get some chores done. As excitable & lovable as Lilly was, her affectionate ways towards them made it difficult to accomplish much house work. "We're almost there..." Star playfully teased, looking back and noticing all of the kids' faces beaming up, with Miles's smile standing out. "What's this? I remember this house. Do you guys remember this house?" Didn't even take half a second for the kids to start loudly cheering in place. As they approached, Star saw through the front window that Lilly - as well as her adoptive parents, the Wongs - were sitting there awaiting their arrival.
As soon as Lilly caught sight of Star, that was it. There was no containing her anymore. She squealed as loudly as she had ever squealed, jumped off her couch & dashed towards the front door, jittering up and down until her father opened it up with a laugh & allowed her to sprint right out towards Star. The kids cheered as loudly as they possibly could upon seeing their old friend, while Miles dropped his candy bag & ran towards her, opening his arms up for the biggest hug he could possibly give her.
"Aww, they missed each other." Star swooned as Jackie & Chloe recorded the event proper with their phones. And they weren't the only ones being emotionally tugged by this display of baby love.
"Ludo...are you crying?" Dennis noted his brother was tearing up without realizing it, but upon having Dennis's voice pierce his ears, he recovered quickly & attempted to play it off...rather poorly.
"I'm not crying!" He lied. "I'm just sweating through my eyes!"
With Miles & Lilly, it was like they were never apart. They picked up right where they left off having a conversation through gibberish that only they could understand. Lilly was complimenting Miles's costume while Miles was spouting how happy he was to see his best friend again. "Hey Lilly!" Star called, getting both kids' attention. Miles grabbed Lilly hands gently & brought her back to Star, which allowed the giddy girl to embrace her gal pal. "You ready to get some candy?" In her own way, she shrugged off the suggestion. She was merely happy to see all of her orphanage friends again, as she demonstrated by hugging each and every one of them - plus Mariposa & Meteora - while they cheered & whooped it up. She then finished it off by embracing Marco's leg, earning a hug from his as well. "We missed you too, sweetie." Star looked up and discovered her adoptive parents standing by the door, waving her off for the adventure. "Don't worry, we'll have her home by 8!"
"Make sure she has fun!" The father, Horishi, shouted towards her. "And take it slow with the candy, please."
"Will do!" Star gave them an approving thumbs up before turning back to the kids. "Okay kiddies, off we go! Onward to candy!" Followed by an inordinate amount of cheering & marching from the babies, with Miles & Lilly heading the group & holding hands.
The first house they decided to hit was one two homes down from the Wongs. Star & Marco led them up to the front door before stopping in their tracks. "Okay kids, do we remember what we say when they open the door?"
The kids did in fact retain said information, but actually repeating it was another matter. After all, the majority of them were no more than 2 1/2 years old, with Miles being the exception at 4. Bless their hearts, the kids tried, spewing out gibberish & nonsense words that tried to spell out "trick or treat," but it was to no avail. Nevertheless, the group saw it justified to applaud themselves for the effort, earning some laughs from the teens as well as Ludo's group.
"Aren't kids the best?" Jackie said with a wink and a nudge to Chloe. She playfully rolled her eyes.
"You know it's too soon for that, no?"
"Oh of course, don't gotta be a party pooper."
"Aww, what's the matter, Jackie?" Star said with a slightly smug grin. "You getting a case of the Moms?"
"Guess that's another thing you and the skater girl have in common." Marco playfully elbowed Star, eliciting a highly embarrassed response. Oh how Marco loved teasing Star about her crush on Jackie. Thankfully, the kids' laughter was enough to break the ice. Rejuvinated, she turned to the door and knocked on it thrice. After another moment passed, the door opened, and there stood an older gentleman with a bowl of candy in his hands. On cue, the kids all tried to spew out "trick or treat" but it did not quite come out that way. Not that it would've swayed the man either way. He was in awe at the group of kids in front of him.
"Why, aren't you the most adorable munchkins the world has even seen?" He said with a chuckle. He then proceeded to dilligently hand each of the kids exactly one piece each, which was more than enough to satiate their desires. They weren't particularly craving the candy, just the adventure of going out & seeing people. And while the gentleman believed his work was done when he gave Miles his piece of candy, the boy would quickly show that wasn't the case. He turned around unconsciously & realized that Ludo's group hadn't approach the man for their own piece of candy, and he was adament about rectifying that quickly. As the gentleman attempted to close the door, Miles stepped forward and put his foot in the way, yelling & screeching for his attention.
"I'm sorry, little tyke, but I only have enough for one piece per-" And Miles was quick to interrupted, conveying very handily that he was courting on behalf of Ludo & his siblings, who awkwardly waved hello to the man. "Oh goodness, how rude of me! Please, come!" The man held up his bowl, inviting Ludo's family to claim their candy. But they weren't entirely enticed by the offer.
"No no, please, we-we're fine!" Ludo lied. "W-We're just tagging along to-"
"Ludo..." And Star was in no mood to have them miss out on the fun. "Go get your candy."
"Oh alright! If you insist..." Gee that was hard. So Ludo & his many siblings each claimed their piece of candy, and then, finally, they were able to depart for the next house, waving goodbye as they left. Star picked up her little buddy Miles & gently kissed his forehead, eliciting a thunderous laugh from the boy.
"Good boy." She whispered in praise. He responded by giggling & waving his pretend wand around.
Several houses went by with this similar routine, and it was proving to be a truly wonderful experience for all involved. Soon enough they chose yet another house, approaching the front door & knocking firmly on it, waiting for an answer. The problem was this wasn't just any house. This was the house that belonged to one of the mewman couples Star confronted following her "sleep-helping" incident, the one belonging to the wife that stood up for Star & thanked her for cleaning the house, and the borderline-abusive husband that wasn't afraid to lash out at her & put her down whenever he got the chance. Fortunately for them, for the moment, it was the wife that answered, and seeing the children all attempt to say "trick or treat" to her before devolving into giggling & applause warmed her heart three times that day.
"Hello everyone!" She said jovially, herself holding a big bowl of candy. "Oh what lovely costumes!" She scanned the children & zeroed in exclusively on Miles, recognizing his outfit as one of Star's traditional outfits. "And look at you, you little pumpkin. Dressing up like our favorite person..." Obviously the woman was speaking broadly & not referring to herself & her husband, but with Star's character arc since surrending the throne to Eclipsa well documented, especially her depression & mental health battles, hearing those words from her made her heart skip a few beats.
"I'm everyone's favorite person?" Star said, trying her damndest to hold back tears.
"You're a lot of people's favorite person, sweetie." Marco responded with a gentle kiss. A touching moment, to say the least. Tragically, it was about to be ruined.
"Why is the door swung open like-" As if on cue, the despicable husband barged into the picture and took over. "Oh dear corn, you again!?" As soon as he laid his eyes on Star, his rage started rising. He was not in the mood for this. Then again, when was he ever? "The heck are you doing here, sweet cheeks?" The condescending tone & body language he exuded only served to anger Star & her contemporaries.
"It's Halloween, it's called "trick-or-treating," you might want to look it up!" Star angrily lashed out at him.
"Yeah, well nobody consulted me on this! I didn't get a say!"
"Do I have to make your ear bleed again?" The wife snarled at him in a loud whisper. If their relationship was toxic the last time they saw them, it was clear now that it was far beyond repair.
"What are these, costumes?" He wailed annoyingly surverying the group. "Pfft, just give them their candy, then make them leave."
"Would it kill you to be nice for once in your wasted life?"
"Would it kill her to stay away from us?" Even all this time later, he still had an unfulfilled grudge against Star, but the wife wasn't letting that stop her from handing out candy tonight. She gave each of the babies one piece each, but with Miles the last one to receive his piece, the husband finally decided to intervene. "Whoa ho ho hold on there, no. Nope, I am putting my foot down." He stepped in front of his wife, intervening before she could hand him some candy.
"Excuse me!?" And it earned him his wife's ire, as well as the ire of everyone else.
"Yeah, what's the big idea, punk!?" Marco screamed out, with the toddlers echoing the outrage.
"You expect me to put up with...with this atrocity!?" The man made a point to exaggeratedly point out how he was referring to Miles's costume.
"And what, exactly, is the problem?" Star nearly gritted her teeth. She was not in the mood from this.
"Are you blind? Stupid? Or both? He's wearing a DRESS!"
Stone cold silence for the longest time. None of the group knew how to respond to him at first. At last, the other boy in the group that was wearing a dress stepped up to the plate. "Um...excuse me, but...I'm also wearing a dress!" Marco pointed out to the man.
"Yeah, you're lucky I haven't upchucked all over the lawn, punk!"
OH yeah, the mask was definitely off now. And he was allowing his vitriol towards Star to fuel his outlashes. "Dude...just give the little guy his piece of candy and we'll be on our way." Jackie said in a rather deadpan tone. She, too, was not in the mood for any of this nonsense.
"What the young lady said, fool!" Even Ludo was getting in on the action, annoyed as all get out.
"This is a democracy! I got rights!"
"...It's Halloween candy." Poor Star could only bury her head in her hands, which meant that she missed out on the best part: the part where Lilly stuck up for Miles, grabbing his pretend wand and whacking the man in the leg with it...
"OOOOOWWWWWWW!" Which caused him to go down like the titanic. Safe to say, this little cause & reaction playout sent everyone on a bent of befuddlement.
"...Um..." Star turned to Marco. "What exactly did you make that "wand" out of?"
"It's just his old rattle." Marco responded.
"We opened ze bad boy up & I filled the center with rubber." Chloe chimed in, resulting in the jaws of Jackie, Star, & Marco nearly hitting the ground. "What? Was yours also not heavy?"
"N-No! It wasn't hea-rubber? Why? Why would you do that?" It was quickly dawning on them that the impact was likely not heavy, but rather that the man was largely exaggerating his pain to gerner sympathy, a rouse that they all saw through.
In the midst of this, Marco had to race over to stop Lilly from hitting him again, as she appeared to be winding up the rattle. "Lilly, no!" He picked her up and scurried her back with him to the others; this, combined with the man being down, allowed the wife enough time to hand Miles his piece of candy. The boy babbled a 'thank you,' blew a kiss, and retreated back to the others. They had hoped that would be the end of that. "Lilly, no. We do not use violence to get what we want. I know you're just trying to defend your friend, but we do not condone that." But lo and behold, in came Miles to rescue his friend from the lecture, babbling rather angrily at Marco, chastising him for yelling at his friend. Marco & Star could only pat their heads.
"Aww, look...he's defending his friend." Star remarked, giving them both sound hugs before looking up & realizing the man was beginning to stand up. "We better go!" And so they quickly took off without another word. As for the man himself, he angrily dusted himself off.
"Those brats...I'll teach them not to mess with me." He grunted.
"Now that's enough!" The wife yelled in the hopes of stopping him in his tracks. "Maybe if you hadn't gone & run your mouth-" But in a display of pure hubris & toxic masculinity, he shoved her aside without a word and started running after them...after having afforded them a several-minute head start.
As for the group, they just kept running. They made all sorts of twists & turns throughout the town to hopefully throw the man off their trail. And it worked...for the most part. But eventually their endless running took them to the outskirts of the Avarius castle. The group didn't have any intentions of visiting Ludo's castle tonight, so how they ended up there was left only to the winds. "You know...I forgot how big this castle is..." Star remarked as she caught her breath.
"What in blazes are we doing back here?" Ludo objected. It was evident he wasn't exactly thrilled to have returned home so soon. As it turned out, Janna had convinced Ludo & his family to get out of the castle for the evening. Otherwise, the family would have simply languished around the night disappointingly watching others have all the fun outside. Granted, Janna did not disclose the reason why she wanted the castle to herself & Tom for the night, but fortunately for her, discussions never got that far. "We're not supposed to be back for another two hours!"
Needless to say this sort of statement got Star & Marco's attention. "...What's that supposed to mean, Ludo?"
"Well, she said four hours of candy excavating would be optimal for maximum boredom reduction." Chimed in Dennis, channeling his inner Sheldon Cooper for some inexplicable reason.
"...Who said that?"
"More important, why would they say it like that?" Marco interrupted, with a look that implied his brain had shut off for a good second, prompting the others to laugh.
"Oh Marco, you are such a Marco." Jackie chuckled, which eliciting an awkward smile & laugh from the boy.
"Seriously, Ludo, who told you that?"
"I think she's one of your friends, um, Jenna is her name?"
"Janna. And why would she tell you this?"
"We were bored and we needed something to do and she egged us on until we deci..." In the midst of his explanation, a dire thought crossed his mind. It was a wrong thought, but a valid one under the circumstances. "Oh my god she's robbing us blind."
"No, no no no, she totally wouldn't do that. It's Janna we're talking about. Knowing her, she & Tom are probably trying to conjure up some ancient old spirit from the dead to exact revenge on people that have wronged them or something."
A brief but uncomfortable silenced passed, as Marco leaned into Star & whispered, "I'd be more comfortable if they were robbing Ludo blind."
A quick ponder, and Star arrived at the same conclusion. "Yeah, so would I. TO THE CASTLE!" She led a ferocious charge into the castle, all the teens screaming their heads off with the children laughing & pitter-pattering right behind. But upon entering the main lobby of the castle, they were stunned to not immediately discover Janna or her demon boyfriend. But in the distance they could certainly hear the two; it sounded like incomprehensible babbling & inordinate nonsense words, mixed with the occassional banging of a pot. So naturally, Star drew the perfectly wrong conclusion. "Maybe we should leave. They're obviously busy."
"But what happened to them robbing Ludo bl-" It didn't take long at all for Marco to put two and two together. "Star, they're not making love up there." And the fact that this was the conclusion Star came to sent Chloe & Jackie into a laughing frenzy. Of course Star would think this was what was happening.
"How do you know?"
"Because the day Janna ever takes that step with Tom is the day I have to give her my Dragoncycle."
"...Huh?"
"I-I made a bet with her, okay?"
"Why? did you drink some stupid juice when you made it?"
"Oh don't worry, I'm not talking about Nachos. She doesn't know which one I'd be giving her."
"...You have more than one?"
"What does any of this have to do with anything!?" A frustrated Ludo shouted to the heavens. The teens all agreed & got their head sback into the game, carefully following the sounds of the babbling & pot banging. Several minutes of flying through hallway after hallway finally led them to a door on the highest floor. The banging & screaming was at its loudest, and their vivid imaginations could only fathom what was awaiting them behind the door. With one swift kick, Star banged open the door. Lo and behold, Star was wrong about what they were doing. Instead of hashing out any potential sexual frustrations they might've been holding - which they weren't - Tom & Janna were instead dancing around a circle of candles, babbling some incomprehensible gibberish & banging on pots with wooden spoons, all in a misguided ritual attempt to resurrect an old being. And they were looking pretty dang silly while doing it.
"Janna?" The soft sound of Star's voice was all it took for both of them to stop whatever seizure they were having in the moment and turn to face them. "Tom?"
"Oh, thank goodness you were wrong." Marco blurted out loudly, which drew laughs from the other two costumed teens.
"What are you guys doing here?" Tom barked out flustered.
"We're hiding out from a mentally unstable mewman that decided to be a crotchity old man because one of our kids is wearing a dress." Star rapidly explained, with the child in question - Miles - stepping forward and applauding himself.
"Oh my gosh, he's dressed like you!" Janna pointed out, visibly admiring the outfit.
"Wait, you're being chased?"
"Yeah, and we...somehow ended up running in a circle and ended up back here."
"Dang it, Ludo, we still had two hours left!" Janna cried in a complainy tone.
"Oh, I'm sorry for totally planning to be chased by an ungrateful invalid that clearly needs relationship counseling with his wife!" Ludo sarcastically apologized.
"...What exactly did you need the castle for, anyway?" Star asked with a suspicious eyebrow raise.
"We're raising the dead!" Tom happily shouted out without thought.
"We're raising one dead." Janna clarified. "A spirit from beyond our years, the first owner of this luxurious castle."
"I should know by now not to question anything that you try to-"
"Time out!" Ludo yelled, he and Dennis stepping forward. "What was that you said? First owner?"
"...Yeah?" Janna looked over at Tom, the two exchanging shrugs with each other. Even Star couldn't figure out what was going on now.
"Why that's nonsense! This castle was built from the ground up by our father, that wretched, deadbeat loser! Or at least that's the story he tried his damndest to beat into our heads for our entire lives."
"That, my dude, is what we humans call "gaslighting." No, he didn't build this place at all. It was the owner before him, a guy named "Bogswell?"
"Who names their kid Bogswell? That's asking for them to get picked on in grade school or something." Jackie piped up.
"Excuse me, that's my surname, thank you very much."
"Oh, okay t-" Yep, as fast as she started talking, the color all but left Jackie's face, and the same happened to the other teens as well as Ludo & His family. The children were unaffected because they didn't have a clue what was going on. All they could tell was that the room was beginning to darken, a puff of smoke was beginning to form in the ritual circle. They all watched as it took a unique shape, a shape that could only be described as a being not of this world. Finally, the smoke began to dissipate, leaving behind the sillouette. But as the light returned to the room, the answers started revealing themselves. A transparent, floating, specter-like figure was left behind, hovering just above the ritual circle. It was that of a middle-aged man, slightly overweight, with an outfit consisting of a white t-shirt, blue overalls, and a straw hat. "Um...howdy, children and...sentient frogs."
"We're not frogs."
"Holy tortelini, we actually did it!?" Tom was beside himself. Who could blame him? "That stupid chant actually worked!?"
And the specter in kind responded by laughing its transparent head off. "You call that a chant? That was the most incomprehensible gibberish blubbering I've ever heard in my...er, afterlife. There wasn't a single solid word in that mush of noise you two kept making!"
"Well just imagine how we felt trying to find them." Star chimed in. "I thought those two were-"
"No, they were not, dear sweetums. Thank gum they weren't."
"Excuse me? For your information, I bet I would be highly pleasurable in that scenario!" Janna protested about as awkwardly as one could, prompting Marco to try and steer the conversation back on track.
"Soooooo why did you guys decide to dabble into paranormal activity tonight?" He asked the two, which prompted a snicker from the girl.
"We were bored. I wasn't in the mood for any of that trick-or-treating stuff, and demon man over there had nothing to do, so..."
"So you wanted to torment the good people of this town with whatever insanity this dude was gonna bring along with him?!"
"Oh is that right?" The specter was not impressed. "Well sorry, but that ain't me. I don't like to mess with the little people. Only the ones that spread disappointment & harm to others that can't fight back!"
"...Like our dad? The one that stole this castle from you?" Dennis quietly chimed in.
"This castle was in my family for a hundred and fifty years! And then out of the blue, that scumbag Avarius & that woman frog he was with and his army of monsters invaded us because they wanted to show what they were made of or some nonsense!"
"Woman...our Mom was with him too!?"
"I knew it!" Ludo shrieked, crossing his arms. "I knew that wench was no better than the one who claims to be our "father!" They sold us the lie that they built this castle from the ground up & drilled it into our heads for years! If we questioned anything they said or did to us, we were "ungrateful" for the bones they broke building this place! It was all a lie!"
"They just threw you out!?" Star exclaimed angrily. "D-Did you ever try to get it back?"
"I tried everything I could to get to The Queen, but Your Majesty was so tangled up in the war crap, and she wasn't talking to anyone anyway..." From the sound of his description, Star knew right away he was referring to her mother, Moon. It would be consistent with the behavior Moon showcased following the killing of her mother, Comet Butterfly, the queen before her. She isolated from everything except her work on the war and refused to allow herself time to grieve her loss. "So I lost my family home. And I tried everthing I could think of to get it back, but I couldn't..."
"And to this day our beloved father probably still believes he did nothing wrong." Ludo again hissed.
"So I've been stickin' around, hoping someone - anyone - out there would figure out how to help me cross back over to the mortal world so I can right the wrongs of those reprehensible people!"
"And did you really need use to recite all of those nonsense words while we stomped around like we had to go to the bathroom & banged on kitchen pots?" Janna skeptically asked, eliciting a hearty laugh from the specter.
"Nah, all you needed was the dang candles. But that made me laugh more than I ever laughed while I was alive, so thank you, dolls!"
While's Janna's face went red with embarrassment, Tom helped himself to some laughter at her expense. Laughter which ended quickly as he decided it was better to have himself in her good graces. "So...not like this hasn't been enlightening and all, but...are we gonna just shoot the breeze all night or what?"
"What do you mean? We don't got time for that!"
"What do ya mean?"
"What do I me-boy are you a few cards short of a full deck or what!?" The specter bellowed. "You don't just summon a specter that hasn't crossed over yet for no good reason. Once you summon one of us, we don't go away until we've properly crossed over to the other side! And we can't do that until we've resolved our unfinished business in the mortal world! Do you know nothing of specters or paranormal activity?"
"Uh...n-no, not really." Tom quickly turned to Janna. "And when were you gonna tell us any of this?"
"Okay, first off, he's the first ghost I've even successfully summoned, so this is all new territory for me, too. Second, how are we supposed to resolve his unfinished business? Not like we can just give this castle back to him away from Leonard's family!"
"For goodness sake, it's Ludo! We met in the cemetary last year!" Ludo barked rather annoyed.
"Besides, our Dad's still alive." Dennis interrupted, steeering the conversation back on course.
"He is?" Star questioned, looking back and forth between Ludo & the specter.
"Of course he's still alive! Him and our wretched mother. They're old & worthless, but they're alive!" Ludo was visibly seething at the thought of thinking about those two again.
"Our father keeps trying to make contact with us. Sending us letters, saying he's sorry for the way he treated us as kids..."
"Which are all just lies!" One could see Ludo's face start to turn red from rage. "He's just bitter that we all moved out from under his watch & retook the castle for ourselves. He thought he could control & manipulate & abuse us until the day he died! Well, imagine the look on his face when he realized he was wrong!" His rant ended with Ludo huffing & puffing, even sweating a bit. He had to be consoled by Dennis to stop from overloading, leaving behind an uncomfortable moment of silence & contemplation from everyone.
"So I have a question." Chloe spoke up, raising her hand. 'What would constitute as "resolving your unfinished business?"
"Yeah, you can't, like, get this place back for yourself or anything. You're...dead..." Jackie awkwardly pointed out. "So how does this work, exactly?"
And unfortunately for them, their questions caused the specter to have a temporary brain freeze. He didn't have a response for them. "Uh...I don't know. I never thought I'd get this far."
Star found herself deep into her thoughts, spending the majority of the time recounting her run-ins with Ludo, the brief interludes of backstory she had in her mind from his younger years. The more she thought about it, the more she realized she didn't actually know that much about Ludo aside from him wanting to steal the wand to become King of Mewni & get back at his parents for their despicable abuse. With all of that stored in the back of her mind, she came to the conclusion that, in a somewhat disconnected, disjointed way, the specter's backstory and Ludo's backstory intersected with each other, and the only way to bring closure to one of them was to bring closure to both of them.
Marco, for his part, couldn't help but notice Star's sudden silence. "Star?" His voice snapped her out of her trance. "I see the gears turning again. Whatcha got?"
"I don't know...it's just kind of weird to me..."
"What is?"
"How similar Ludo's story is to this guy..." She gestured to the specter, who only now realized he never gave his proper name.
"Judd. Judd Bogswell, madam."
"Oh I am so sorry for your troubles, dude." Janna said deadpanned. Apparently she considered the name to be some form of insult or something?
"For your information, young lady, I was named after my father. The Great Judd Bogswell Senior, Former Owner of that old Mewni Figurine shop you used to have in the middle of town."
A quick silent moment before Janna perked up again. "Yeah I stand by my statement, dude."
And before the conversation got even more sidetracked, Star cleared her throat. "Anyway...whether we like it or not, Mr. Bogswell's backstory and Ludo & his siblings' backstories all have one thing in common: they were all screwed up by their dad..."
"The Dishonorable Lord Brudo." Ludo hissed as Star turned back to Judd.
"You said he & the missus just stormed in here uninvited with an army of monsters & kicked you and your family out?"
"That's exactly right. I didn't even get a chance to pack or nothin'!"
"And then he did the same thing with the monsters!" Ludo barked even louder. "He didn't even let them stay with us! Buff Frog "
This revalation drew a little bit of a raised eyebrow from Star. "...But wait, weren't they living with you while you were trying to steal my wand?"
"Yes, after I had kicked out papa & the rest of my family..." Ludo stopped himself momentarily to turn to his sibling. "I'm so sorry about that, by the way." And then back to Star. "I invited those same monsters back to forge my own army to claim your wand. But I swear I never had any idea about any of this until tonight."
"Your dad seems like such a pleasant fellow." Marco spoke in a clearly sarcastic & annoyed tone.
"And didn't you kick Buff Frog out of the castle a second time anyway?" Star recalled the events of the Mewnipendence Day reenactment.
"That was Toffee's doing. He got into my head and I didn't assert my dominance to protect my soldier." Ludo growled in frustration as he temporarily turned his back to the lot. The shame of his past actions and past life were eating at his insides. "I know what I've done. I know the suffering I've spread. Solving this grievance between Mr. Bogswell and our parents won't fix or forgive any of my actions. But it's still the right thing to do, dadgummit!"
"But even if that would solve things...we haven't spoken to our parents in a long time." Dennis added. "We don't know what's happened to them, or even if they're alive for that matter."
"Oh trust me, they're alive. My father's entire reason for existance is to defy those around him, and Mother is just along for the ride."
"Also that doesn't really address the fact that...you know, we were just chased by a crazed mewman that probably still despises monsters & hates change and wants to get back at Star for...really such petty reasons." Marco finally got the conversation back to the elephant of the room. "I-Is it even safe for us to go back out there right now? What if that guy found this castle and he's downstairs looking for us?"
"I could go check." Tom volunteered, immediately turning on his flight abilities & racing out of the room. He was gone for a good 45 seconds, allowing Star & Judd a chance to get acquainted.
"So..." He said awkwardly. "You're the princess."
"I was a princess." Star answered, uncomfortably rubbing her arm. She did not want the adulation at the moment.
"Well...what's it been like since the worlds got smashed into one?"
"Oh, you know...anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, self-loathing, the works." And that was merely scratching the surface of the internal turmoil Star had gone through since The Cleaving. But that was all quickly tabled when Tom returned from his flight.
"Uh...guys...we have a problem..." He said slowly, prompting everyone - Judd included - to follow Tom back down. At the next-to-bottom floor, the group hid behind a solid piece of wall and peered around...only to find standing in the main lobby by the front door none other than the mewman who had insulted Miles's costume...
...and Lord Brudo. Oh what spawn of madness was in store for our heroes?
To be continued...
End of Episode 37!
So I originally didn't intend for this to be a two-parter. But as I was writing the idea sorta ballooned into its own thing and I ultimately decided splitting this up would be the best idea. Otherwise I'd probably not be updating this story until March or April, and I didn't want that either. I haven't missed a month since I started this epic journey back in July of 2019, and I want to keep that up for as long as possible.
With that said, hope that you all enjoyed this chapter! Stay safe, and please remember to read & review!