Astro narrowed his eyes as he looked down at Sirius. The boy was in a chair, looking casual as he sat with shackles around his wrists. After Astro had been taken to the infirmary, Sirius had been brought back to the cells, where he once again ended up escapring and sneaking around the castle. Once Astro had woken up and called for him however, he revealed himself almost immediately.

Sting, Sarasim, and Higgs stood around them, and on the table between them was a chest with the still beating of heart. The one whom he was told belonged to his father. "I have questions," Astro said sternly. "And I know you have answers. Ones to questions I probably haven't even thought of yet. This is a very dire situation, you know that right?"

Sirius nodded. "I'm aware…"

"So you know that I really don't have time for the usual nonsense you spew. I don't want riddles, or vague easily misinterpreted words. I want answers."

Sirius pushed his glasses up. "I'll answer what I can as clearly as I can."

The fact that he implied there was something he couldn't or wouldn't answer already ticked Astro off. "Which side are you on?" Astro asked bluntly. "You've been keeping secrets from me, the Queensguard, and the Royal family. So far you haven't done anything to actively but-"

"Since you're ruler, isn't it technically the Kingsguard now?"

"Sirius!"

"Right, sorry," the captain said holding his hands up. "But to answer your question… I suppose technically I'm on your side. But in this situation describing sides is rather messy. In the simplest terms, I want you specifically to win Asterossa."

Sting and Sarasim shared a glance. They didn't like that he said 'technically'. That was a sign that something was up. "Why me specifically?" Astro asked. Sirius always seemed to have some weird obsession with him. He brushed it off before, but lately he'd been growing more and more curious about it.

With everything going on now he felt like it was more important than ever he got to the bottom of it. It could very well mean the difference between winning and losing this battle. "Because that's what Rosetta wanted."

Sting slammed her hands on the table. "Don't talk about Rosetta like you knew her!"

"I did know her though…"

"She never once mentioned you to me! Doesn't seem like she mentioned you to anyone else either! I remember when you were recruited into the guard! All my spies reported that you were a mystery! Nobody knew who you were or where you came from!"

Sarasim and Higgs looked towards her. "Wait… do you have spies in the castle?" Higgs asked, narrowing her eyes at the insectoid.

"I have spies everywhere," Sting said casually.

Well, Hava wasn't going to like that…

"How exactly did you know Rosetta?" Astro asked, wanting to get back on topic.

"She was the one who reactivated me."

A look of confusion passed over all of their faces. "Reactivated? What are you talking about?" Astro asked, confused. "When did… what are you?" Sirius smiled, tilting his head to the side, like he had been waiting for this moment.

"Finally, the right question. Explaining what and how I was created in detail may be time consuming, but in the simplest terms, I am a puppet. Created by the Magical High Commission…"

Astro's eyes went wide. "Created by the… wait, how old are you?!"

"Older than most."

Hekapoo looked nervous as she waited in the Commission's meeting room along with Omni and Rhombulus. They had seen Sirius being escorted to Astro's quarters, so they knew he was going to question the boy. Sirius had never revealed much about his past, and they had been thankful for it. But given the current circumstances and how odd his movements were as of late, that might change.

"We should go crystallize him!" Rhombulus suddenly shouted.

Omni and Hekapoo both frowned at him. "Yeah, because us barging in and just crystalizing him wouldn't look suspicious at all. Can you imagine how Astro is going to react to that? We just have to hope he keeps his mouth shut," Hekapoo said.

"But what if he doesn't?" Omni said, clearly concerned. "That thing has collected far too many secrets over the years. If he were to tell what he knows to Asterossa, to anyone, we would be finished."

Sirius had been through their minds. He had seen some of their deeds firsthand. If he really did reveal everything he knew, all the things he had done, Asterossa would likely try and cut them down on the spot. Hekapoo sighed and rubbed her temple. "Damn you Rosetta…" she muttered.

When she had reactivated Sirius, she had made it very clear that they weren't to make a move against him. Not if they wanted their secrets to stay secret anyway. And when she had died, Sirius had made a few not too subtle threats himself. They had discussed taking him down more than a few times, but… it was risky.

If they failed, they got away from them or even just got to someone else first, all it would take was the wave of a hand, and every dark secret they ever hid away would be shed to light. Hekapoo liked to think she had changed for the better over the years. Made better choices, and become better overall.

But there were still certain things she didn't want revealed.

"If he talks, he talks, and we'll just have to answer for it," Hekapoo said, grabbing her arms nervously. "We've been living for a long time. We all knew something was bound to come back and bite us eventually."

"But this is-!"

"We can't afford to divide our forces anymore than we can now," Hekapoo said bluntly. "We need to deal with the Ten. Astro knows that. Whatever Sirius tells him, he'll put it aside until that's taken care of. Then we can deal with it later."

Neither Rhombulus or Omni seemed very satisfied with that, but they knew she was right. Even if they wanted to just go and stop Sirius, it would only confirm to the others that something was going on. They just had to hope for the best, and prepare for the worst.

"A certain Queen had an idea. Instead of having the royal line learn from a book, why not use a more simple means. Memory magic," Sirius explained as sat before Astro. The young king had told him to start explaining, obviously wanting to know the details about his connection with his mother and the Commission.

"Instead of having each heir waste time being taught step by step, they could simply pass down the information with a spell. Their experiences, past, techniques, knowledge, all given to the intended target with the wave of a wand," he continued. "But there was a problem. No regular person would be able to contain such a vast amount of information in the first place. And thus, I was created."

"A being built with limitless memory, able to read, retain, and distribute information from any and all sources on a whim. My original purpose was to serve the royal family, collecting the use of spells from the book and Queens so that they would be passed down to the Princesses when they were bestowed the wands."

Astro and the others were clearly intrigued by the story. They had never heard anything about this in the history books, but… it would have made the Commission's fear and weariness of him make sense. "So, what happened then?" Astro asked.

Sirius pushed his glasses up. "I became a threat." That answer didn't surprise Astro in the slightest. "When I was first created, I was simply a puppet who followed orders. I had a duty and purpose I carried out, and that was it. But as I continued to serve the royal family, I began to question certain things. Things that didn't match up. What I heard from the royals families and Commission didn't seem to sync with what I had recorded from the minds of those around me."

"Finally, to satisfy my curiosity, I began to read through the minds of the Magical High Commission. And it was then that I learned of the numerous atrocities committed by both the royal family, and even more so by the Magical High Commission. The lives of monsters they claimed in fear of them being a threat and the secrets they kept from the royal family. Naturally, I questioned them on this."

Astro narrowed his eyes. "And they deactivated you and locked you away so you wouldn't say anything." Sirius nodded, and Astro wasn't the least bit surprised. If it meant saving their hides, they would gladly throw away something they created. "And my mother was the one who reactivated you later?"

Sirius nodded once more. "She was. Despite the Commission's best efforts to erase all traces of my existence, Rosetta found hints and managed to track me down. Once she did, she reactivated me, I initially requested to be destroyed. With no real goal or purpose, I saw no reason to continue my existence. But she gave me a new purpose. Her ultimate goal is to unlock all the secrets of magic in mewni and beyond. And I would serve as a log, retaining all the information and knowledge she gathered over the years."

"So you're basically a walking talking notebook then?" Sarasim asked. Leave it to Rosetta to take one of the most unique and potentially dangerous beings in mewni and use them as an info log.

"I suppose so. I was grateful for my new purpose all the same. And I was happy to assist her in her goal, until the Commission began showing signs of aggression towards her," he said standing up. He started walking towards Astro. "Though she tried to be discreet, the Commission eventually did manage to confirm her knowledge and relationship of Typhon. And about your birth. So she began taking precautions."

"Like switching our hearts…" Astro muttered. If they had found him first and tried to kill him, it wouldn't have worked until they took out Typhon first. And they wouldn't have dared go near him.

Sirius nodded. "That was one of them. She also placed protective spells over you and her study, and had me alter certain memories of the Commission members. She programmed F5 to protect you once he was active, as well as installed a number of other failsafes. She's planned far more than any of you realize," he explained.

Everyone looked rather surprised. They knew Rosetta wasn't exactly the most… ethical person, but setting traps and altering memories, all without telling them? Just how many secrets had she been keeping. "What else did she do?" Astro asked.

Sirius raised a finger over his lips in a shushing motion. "Sorry, but I'm not allowed to say. She insisted I keep most of her secrets just that, secrets. But I can tell you that there's nothing she has hidden that will be counter productive to your goals."

"So you're refusing to answer the rest of our questions then?" Sarasim asked.

Sirius looked towards her confused. "I'm not necessarily refusing. I just don't imagine any answer I give you will be satisfactory."

Sarasim narrowed her eyes. "You're very annoying, and I don't like you."

"I'm pretty used to hearing that."

Sting looked towards Astro. "So what do we do?" she asked. She honestly was still trying to comprehend everything she just heard. She knew she hadn't known all of Rosetta's secrets. But... this was still a lot of let sink in at once.

Astro looked back towards Sirius, who didn't seem at all phased. He then sighed. "Let him go," he said, causing everyone to look surprised. "Sirius, go back and continue carrying out your duties as captain. If there's anything else you feel you need to tell me, do so immediately."

"What?!"

"You're kidding!"

Sirius gave him a salute. "Understood."

He got up and walked out, and Higgs turned towards him. "You can't be serious! We don't know if we can trust him yet! He just told us he was still keeping secrets!" she argued. Someone as old as him, who knew so many secrets, who could alter memories? It was far too dangerous to just let him have free reign.

Astro looked back towards her. "Look, you know how much I hate secrets. But we need him right now." He was one of the most powerful knights in their ranks, and they couldn't afford to have him sidelined. "And I can't explain it properly but… I trust him. And not just because of his connection to Rosetta. I just have this… this gut feeling."

"A gut feeling…?" Sting asked. He was more like his father than he realized. "Are we really sure we want to chance this though? If he tries anything-"

"He's had plenty of chances to stab us in the back before. And even if he does have some ulterior motive, not that I think he does, the Ten would be in the way of it. He's got no reason to side with them over us," Astro reasoned. "We don't have time to sit here and try to unravel every secret the Commission, Sirius, and my mother have kept. We need to start coming up with a plan to get this heart back to my father."

Sarasim looked hesitant. "Astro, should that really be the first priority?" she asked. He gave her a confused look, and she held her hand up. "I know you want him back. And I know he would make a strong alley. But if the Ten really do have his body, then I doubt we're going to be able to get to it very easily. I'm not saying we should plan for it, but perhaps we need to get together a plan to face them on the battlefield first. Then when the opportunity presents itself, we go after your father."

Astro looked like he wanted to argue with her, but then… he sighed. "You're right." From the moment he saw his father's heart, he had been hellbent on getting answers, and getting it back to him. But after the stung they pulled to get the souls back there was no way they'd be able to do something like that twice. They would be on guard, and be ready for them.

As much as he wanted, he remembered what his Grandmother once told him about a ruler listening to their advisors. Right now, he needed to listen to Sarasim's advice. He stood up and headed for the door. "Let's gather everyone together. We're going to set up some defenses and-"

Everyone stopped as they felt a familiar, ominous magic in the air. "Shit!" Higgs said, turning towards the window. Astro growled and then began making his way outside. There was a crowd of people gathered in the courtyard, looking up at the sky. Once again, Python's image was taking up the entire sky.

"Kingdoms of mewni… I offered you my terms. I offered you a peaceful way out. Gave you time. And with that time, you and my nephew decided to scheme and deceive us. I had given you three days, but now that I have your answer, you only have one. If by tomorrow my son isn't returned, the mewmans aren't gone, and the Commission haven't turned themselves in, mewni will flow with the blood of everyone who would stand against us. No more negotiations, no more chances."

"You will fall, not only by our hands, but those you have wronged in the past, and those who helped you wrong." He looked over his shoulder. "Branch, Kruger… do it…"

The demon and earth nymph both nodded. Kruger had been a steeled look on his face, while Branch was frowning. "They brought this on themselves," Branch muttered. He put his hand to the ground, and Kruger stuck his sword into the ground nearby. Their magic began to spike, and the ground began to rumble.

Not just around them either. All throughout mewni, everyone seemed to be able to feel the shaking. "What's going on?!" Lenora asked, confused.

They heard a loud noise, and then Astro turned off towards the distance. That sounded like it was coming from the Field of the Fallen!

Were the Ten here already?!

A/N: Sirius is just as mysterious and annoying as ever! But Astro seemed willing to gamble on him for now! And Uh-oh! What are the Ten up to?! Everyone is going to be in for a nasty surprise next chapter!