AN: This story went through many iterations, and what you're about to read is the start of the final one. Such a development means that the current story is very different from most of its previous incarnations, but what they still share is one, simple point in the premise. In order to avoid spoilers, I won't go in the specifics for now, but just be aware that while this story can technically be identified as an 'AU' and features AU versions of quite a few characters, it still features canon!Star as the protagonist. What I mean here will hopefully become clear as the story goes on.

Chronology-wise, the story is set between Season 3 and Season 4 of the show. Some warnings: This story will contain graphic depictions of violence, some suggestive themes and character death.

The Butterfly Bane

Chapter 1

Her Choice

The portal opened up in an instant, and a blonde girl came out of it.

Star Butterfly didn't know how to explain why she had come here in the first place. A lot had happened in so little time, and she felt like she still needed time to digest the most recent events. The people around her definitely still had to do so since she had declared that she wanted to step down as a queen of Mewni and let Eclipsa take her place… despite the fact that the alternative was never a viable option. She had told her to keep the wand, after all. Which was a harsh decision to begin with…

Most of her thoughts had gone rampant and wild since she did that, and her quest to find Moon had yet to yield any results. Without any plan to follow or any good leads, her search for a solution had finally led her in this dimension… though why she specifically came here, she wasn't sure of it herself. She wanted to do something here… but there was no way it would give her anything she didn't already know.

Sighing, Star decided to focus on the present and call the man he wanted to talk with for a bit. "Father Time?" she shouted in the distance.

There was no sign of the presence of the master of 'time-time' nearby, which was worrying. Star didn't know much about the Time Dimension, and since her first encounter with him, when she risked freezing the fabric of time itself for all eternity, Father Time had grown accustomed to travel a long distance away from the area where he used to reside, thanks to his new hamster wagon. If no trails had been left from the wheel vehicle she and Marco had set up for him, which was far from being a small machine, that meant that Father Time had not returned here for a while.

He could be anywhere, and this dimension wasn't a small one…

"Father Time! Come on, I just need to have a word with you! No weird requests, I promise!" Star tried again to summon the guy. She expected him to pop out of the mud somewhere, laughing to himself as he loitered around while basking in the wet terrain. Or to see him rushing into the scene, skidding towards her and ramming into her for the second time.

But he did not, and Star had only a feeble breeze blowing on her face as an answer.

"Gah!" she eventually groaned. "I'm losing my time here. No thanks to you, Father Time!"

She turned around and checked the portal. Marco had opened it himself for her, but she'd asked him to wait back in Mewni because she wanted to deal with it herself. Knowing him, he was probably still waiting for her on the other side. Sighing, she made a step towards the portal with the intention of going back to Mewni.

"Is there something here that is of any interest to you, Princess?"

Star froze where she was. Of all people…

She slowly turned around and showed her best, and most importantly honest, frown at the enormous being. In what seemed to be his home dimension, Omnitraxus Prime looked much mightier than his usual, floating-skull form. But Star was unfazed—in fact, the sight of the Magic High Commission member had only the effect of making her mad.

"Not something I'd want to talk with you anyway!" she blurted out, making no attempt at hiding her displeasure. Omnitraxus raised a cloud-made eyebrow, but he didn't rebut to her words.

"Uh… let's ignore the rough start. Now, Princess—"

"I am not a princess… not in the way you mean it! Eclipsa is queen now, therefore Meteora is the princess and rightful heir to the throne! You better pound that into that thick skull of yours Omnitraxus!"

"Right, right," Omnitraxus dismissed her correction quickly. "Well, as a member of the Magic High Commission—"

"That does not help your stance with me in the slightest. In fact, I don't know why I'm standing here listening to you. Bye, seeing you late, ve-eeery late, better yet—never!" she turned around.

"Pri—I mean, Star!" Omnitraxus had finally abandoned his neutral tone for a more serious, affronted one. "Look, we may have had our, uh, divergences, but as master of Space-Time it is still my duty to check on the ones who appear to have a problem with the current flow of the timeline, be that ours or any other. What is it that you wanted to ask Father Time about, Star?"

At first, Star ignored him, but as she got closer to the portal, she felt like the words Omnitraxus had said were having more and more of an effect on her. She remembered how he had helped her when her predicament with a math query had almost demolished the entire sub-universe. Besides, he had to have quite a good knowledge of time-stuff, just as much if not better than Father Time.

Yet, Omnitraxus was still part of the Magic High Commission, the group of people that she had discovered were at the bottom of many of the problems that had affected her family as a whole, and she had yet to see any sign of regret in him. Not trusting him or the others had basically become the one piece of truth she was one-hundred per cent sure of, in the web of lies that she found her family was trapped into.

A thought crossed her mind, making her remember about the main issue that was bothering her. Her mom…

She was still missing. And no one had any clue where she could be… her included.

Star stopped to walk right before she could take a step into the portal itself. She passed a hand over her face, groaning at the thought of what she was about to do.

Omnitraxus simply waited in silence as she slowly turned around to face him again, and the portal closed itself behind her, having depleted its power. Star knew she could technically open portals by herself, even if it was a demanding magic expense, so she wasn't worried… though she couldn't help but feel like it was a message of sorts. 'Well, I guess there's no going back now…'

"Don't you think I trust you now, Omnitraxus!" Star suddenly exclaimed, agitating a hand towards the magical being. "I still think you're a traitor, no less!"

"Yes, the same traitor who basically saved the kingdom from total chaos," he replied nonchalantly.

"Chaos? Why do you—you know, forget about it, I'm wasting my time arguing with you!"

"Agreed, Star."

Omnitraxus sat down in front of Star—despite his size, he didn't seem to weigh as much since the terrain didn't give any sign of breaking once he let his body rest on it. "Let's keep this conversation related to the current business, and then we'll part and go our own ways. You may speak, Star."

Star huffed, but mentally thanked Omni for being at least partially aware of the pointlessness of their argument, even if for the wrong reasons. Boy, at least the master of space-time wasn't Rhombulus. She sat down as well and hid her mouth behind her knees, her eyes fixed on the ground.

She spent a few seconds putting her thoughts in order, since part of her had wanted to go and pay a visit to Father Time also to have a good, casual conversation with someone who she could trust, at least partially. Omni definitely didn't meet the conditions, so she was left to her own thoughts before she could actually question him.

Omnitraxus gave a look to the surroundings, but before he could open his skull mouth to address her, Star finally started talking. "I need to know if there is a way to fix things. Things about… everything."

He was taken aback by the request. "You, uh… you will have to elaborate a bit more on that, Princ—er, Star," he managed to say as a reply, almost wary of what his words could cause as a reaction.

Star frowned and let out a groan. "I just… I… ugh! Omnitraxus, you are the master of space-time, right? You do know stuff about time and whatnot. You're the expert on the matter."

"Yes, I am. The help I can provide depends on whether or not this is space-time related, though."

"I don't know… but maybe you can answer. I want to fix everything that has happened. This, everything that went down since I came back from Earth… even before that, it happened just because of mistakes made by everyone. By me, by you, by everyone else!"

Omni didn't appreciate Star low-key accusing him of having made a mistake, but let her talk as she began to ramble.

"Meteora happened because of mistakes from everyone. What happened to Eclipsa resulted from even more mistakes, misconceptions and stubbornness! And then, when I tried to fix things… I ended up making more mistakes of my own! Maybe I can't fix the past, Omni, but you should have some kind of way to at least fix the present. Right?"

Omni didn't like where this was going. "Oh, no, princess, I don't think that is a good idea if I understand that correctly. Time is not to be messed with; the effects of time are something we constantly have to live with, but we must never do the other way around—affecting time ourselves. That could have dire, very dire consequences."

"But there must be a way to prevent any of this from happening. You, or Father Time, should know something about it. I should be able to fix it, I want to fix it, I wantto make things better for everyone! I can stop Toffee and stop him before he can take us aback and destroy the wand, I can make Ms. Heinous understand her past without turning her into a giant monster hellbent on annihilating me and my family, I can stop Eclipsa and mom from fighting each other over her! And if you won't help me with this, I'll see if anyone else can do the same!"

Omnitraxus was of course worried about the prospect of Star doing something she shouldn't do. Father Time wasn't really someone that agreed with his meticulous methods concerning the conservation of the time continuum, so the same request from Star might end up having very bad results. Glossaryck forbid if Star somehow managed to find the river of time and meet Reynaldo… that could result in a downright disaster.

He had to explain it to her, make her understand her point. "Listen, Star, I do understand your concern. Losing your mother can be a hard time to go through, and—"

"I didn't lose my mother! She's just missing, and I just have to find her!"

Omnitraxus wondered if this was really what Star was thinking… of if she was trying to delay the inevitable conclusion. That Moon was nowhere to be found. And that she was… gone.

Festivia had managed to accept that her parents were gone far faster… what was different this time? He would've liked to question Star directly, but he decided against it.

Instead, he replied, "Yes, she is, but I feel you're going to extreme lengths to find her, Star. Even if you don't trust me, at least hear me out, just this once… do I say the truth when I say you want to go back in time, Star? Is that, put it simply, your request? To fix your mistakes by erasing them from the time continuum?"

Star looked up at Omnitraxus, her eyes wet. She nodded, unable to lie to the Magic High Commission member. She just wasn't in the mood to do so.

"Good. And I'm sure that you should at least know the basics of why that would not be a good idea, right?"

"I know those as well, but how can I be sure you are completely right, Omni? You don't trust me, perhaps; then, let me go with someone you do trust. Marco's a great squire, for starters, even Tom can help me, he's the prince of Underworld not just in names. Heck, you want to get Hekapoo and Rhombulus involved and send them to keep me in check—do it! I don't care, I just want to go! I want to find my mother! I want all of this to end!"

"I'd rather not get Rhombulus involved, but that's not the point. There is inevitability in time, Star, and we can't do much as it progresses and Father Time keeps doing his job. But once it has progressed, what it leaves behind itself is a very delicate trail of events, matter and modifications on said matter. Only people who know what they're doing and have the magic skills needed to do it safely should be let into the past of their own universe… and even then, I'd have second thoughts about letting them through. The smallest of mistakes, the tiniest of modifications, could have unforeseen effects."

"But there must be another way, Omni! Listen, you once told me that there were multiple universes, right? Every one of them with a copy of me? You didn't seem too much preoccupied in telling me about all of this back then."

"That was first because, unless you tried to solve the math problem, your universe would've gone to shambles and devoured by the others, which I'd argue was an even bigger of a problem, and second, because that's different. Time is similar for all universes, but space-time can be rather different. Universes are essentially independent from each other, unlike timelines."

"Wait, so you mean that I could travel to other parallel universes without doing any damage?"

"Well, yes, that is indeed possible. I'd suggest not doing it anyway, though. Some universes could still be inevitably modified by a visit to the point of damaging them beyond a point of no return, while others could be dangerous for the travellers themselves. I prefer to keep access to them limited to a simple spectating presence, even for me who oversees over the entire thing, and I have no intention to try and change that."

Star didn't ask any more questions. She simply sat down in front of the giant humanoid form of Omnitraxus and put both hands on her face. She sniffed once.

"Star…" Omnitraxus took the initiative. "I know this is hard, and we have differing opinions on your last decision about the throne… and that's a euphemism; but this is not the right solution for your current issue. I am being fully honest here… go and keep looking for the Que—er, your mother. Perhaps she is still in Mewni, somewhere hidden from clean sight but still there. Once she is back by your side, we will both be better off. But leave these thoughts concerning time aside."

She didn't reply, though her sniffs stopped. She looked down at the terrain of the Time Dimension, refusing to look up to Omnitraxus. The Magic High Commission member decided that this was enough and slowly rotated his body with the intention of getting back to his job as a space-time controller.

Then, he heard something. Footsteps, fast approaching. And when he whirled around, he was just able to catch the glimpse of blonde hair before something violently dug their way into his tummy.

"Ow! Star!"

Star knew she didn't have much time, so she saved herself from showing disgust upon her entrance into Omnitraxus' guts, nor did she turn back to check if she was being followed.

Looking around, she saw there were no floating rocks moving in the time-plane, so she decided to make her own, opening both of her hands and charging up a spell.

When she was done, a pink cloud was hovering in front of her. "Oh, hi Star!"

"No time, Cloudy!" Star jumped on her flying companion. "Into Omnitraxus' stomach, now!"

Cloudy didn't question his master any further and zapped forward... just in time to avoid an enormous hand emerging out of thin air to try to catch him and Star.

"Princ—Star! Star Butterfly!" Omnitraxus' voice boomed. He was angry, apparently, but his voice also betrayed urgency and worry. Whether he was worried about her or what she was about to do, Star had no clue, but she couldn't care less about what he thought. She had heard enough and had already decided what she needed to do.

What she needed to try to do.

"Star, wait!" Omnitraxus was now fully visible, moving fast in pursuit of Cloudy. "You don't know what you are doing! This is not a true solution!"

Star didn't reply but got a handful of Cloudy's fluffy body in a fist and pulled on it, steering him in another direction, making Omnitraxus stumble as he tried to change direction as well. "Where are you…" she muttered, "I know you must be here… somewhere…"

"Star, please, listen to my words!" Omnitraxus pressed on. "There is nothing helpful to find in alternate universes. You don't know what you're doing—trying to make entrance into one can end up with something far, far different than what you expect! You can't fully control where, or even when you will enter that universe, nor are you fully sure what its inhabitants are going to be like! Star, stop this madness!"

Star didn't even think of giving a reply. She steered Cloudy once again, and finally, she saw them. Mirroring crystals… and there were hundreds of them.

She looked back to Omnitraxus, then thought fast about a way to gain time. "Cloudy, now you'll act like a fly. A very annoying fly!"

"At your orders, m'lady! Bzz-bzz!" Cloudy chirped. Star jumped on the nearest, horizontal-positioned mirror, and Cloudy dashed towards Omnitraxus, starting to buzz around his head.

"What in the?!" Omnitraxus started to flail his hands around his cranium in an attempt to shoo the cloud speel away. "Oh, for crying out loud! I hate bugs! Always buzzing in my skull"

"I'm a fly! I'm a fly! And I'm very annoying! Buzz buzz!" Cloudy sang, much to Omnitraxus' chagrin, as he flew through the earholes of the master of space-time.

"I didn't need to be reminded of how this skull originally came to be in the first place," Omnitraxus groaned. He prepared himself to try and shoo away the annoying cloud, not before giving a glance to Star herself.

"Star, heed my words! This is for your own good. You must stop now!"

Star, once again, did not listen to him. Her full attention was directed to the mirror she was standing on. There was a reflection of herself, who stared back at her… except that the reflection was a cat version of her.

When Star looked up to the various mirrors, she saw more of those reflections as well. She recognized some she had already seen when she had previously paid a visit to Omnitraxus, but a lot of them were new. However, this time, all of the reflections were looking at her, rather than just facing forward just like they did when Omnitraxus showed her the mirrors.

Star knew that this was normal, since they were technically reflections… but it still unnerved her somewhat.

In any case, this wasn't what she was looking for. Putting her hands forward, Star thought about what words she would need, then she went in.

"Mirrors! Doors to new universes… or whatever you like to be called, I don't know. Anyway, please… show me more than just me. Show me someone else, someone I care about… that I want to see. Show me Moon Butterfly!"

The mirrors surprisingly complied before Star could even fire a spell to make her point clearer. Instantly, the Alternate Stars disappeared… and their place, Alternate Moons appeared.

Star was entrapped by the view. It had been weeks since she last saw her mother… far too long, in her opinion. And now, there were dozens of them, looking at her neutrally… and some of them were even smiling heartily.

Perhaps, that was just an impression she felt due to the moment… or maybe it wasn't, and the expressions from the mirrored images were genuine. She didn't care. She didn't care that all of the Moons were identical to how her mother looked, even the one below her—in the crystal that originally showed a cat Star.

"Star, cease this instant!" Omnitraxus called out, but then Cloudy flew directly into his mouth. He started to cough as he tried to choke out the magical puff of vapour.

A tear escaped through one of Star's eyes. She scanned throughout the Alt-Moons, seeing all types of alternate visions of her mother—but all very similar to each other. She looked through them all, trying to find something that showed her she was choosing the right one. But finally, her eyes rested on a specific version on a mirror not too far away from her.

It was identical to how she remembered Moon. Head to toe, same clothes, same hairstyle, and same crown, like the others—but the look in her eyes, the hands intertwined. Moon stood in her reflection image, weakly smiling at Star.

This didn't just look like her mom. The reflection acted like her as well… she was sure of it.

"Mom…"

"Cough!" Cloud flew out of Omnitraxus' mouth with a 'weeee' before disappearing in a puff, having depleted its spell energy. "Princ—Star! You're putting yourself in danger!"

Finally, Star deigned herself to turn around. She saw that Omnitraxus was now flying at full speed, speeding towards her with his hands forward.

Star jumped towards the mirror with her mom and took hold of it with a hand, holding on it in order to not fall off. Omnitraxus forced himself to stop moving once he realized what Star was about to do.

After that, he hovered quietly and slowly, moving in her direction.

"Star…" Omnitraxus' words came out calmer, calculated. "There is nothing for you out there in that parallel universe that will help you find our mother. Those… they're not her. They're just alternate versions of her. And they all look like her, because you asked them to."

"I… I know, Omni…" Star said through gritted teeth. "B-but… but I don't know what to do. I don't know! I—I need advice, and not from a liar like you. I need real advice… I need something to help me in this, I need… anything. And if she can help me herself, even if it's just an alternate Moon…"

She cried out. "SO BE IT!"

Omnitraxus dashed forward, but he was far, too far from her. Star turned to the mirror and looked through it at the Moon who was the most similar to her mother. "I'm sorry, mom… but I need you."

Star touched the mirror with her free hand, and nothing happened. Undeterred, she closed her eyes and a bright light engulfed her. Once the flash was gone, her butterfly wings flapped as she extended the six arms typical of her Butterfly Form out.

"Star Butterfly!" Omnitraxus called out. Right now, he seemed to have abandoned the more sympathetic approach. "You're going to regret this, Star! You are not prepared for this!"

She was hovering right in front of her mom now. Omnitraxus shouted again, but she wasn't listening—she knew he'd reach her in moments, and she didn't have time to waste.

"Mom…" she whispered, a bit to herself, a bit to the reflected image. Moon's smile faltered for a moment when Star extended her six hands towards the mirror, and that made her hesitate.

Then, she frowned and released the portal opening spell, engulfing the mirror and turning it into a dimensional portal. Unlike other portals, this one was particularly small in size, but still big enough to let her in. It was fully white, and its bright light would've almost blinded her if it wasn't for her empowered magic form.

She felt something moving behind her, and she dashed forward before Omnitraxus could catch her. In the blink of an eye, she lost control of her mind and everything became white… and she was gone.

Star groaned. She was… lying down. And wet.

It took her some time to recover her senses, and even then, it was hard to do so considering her state. She was cold, no, she was freezing.

"Uugh…" she groaned again as she managed to sit up. She scanned her surroundings and realized why she was wet: snow. A white cover of snow covered the ground all around her, including the humanoid form that was printed right in front of her—her previous lying position.

'Did I just… pass out?' Star wondered. He tried to remember what she was doing. Omnitraxus… the time dimension. Mom.

The memories came back to her quickly once the thought of Moon crossed her mind. She stood up in alarm, looking around as if the Queen of Mewni (well, ex-queen) could appear any moment, but there was no living being save for the faraway sounds of birds chirping and some ominous-looking trees.

Star's mind was having a hard time trying to make up what had just happened. Was she in the new universe? Why did she pass out? She didn't even remember how the trip through the portal went—normally, such trips wouldn't even be considered as so since travelling through portals did not take any time to happen, but this had to not have been the case. She even was in her Butterfly Form when she crossed the portal!

Perhaps, Omnitraxus was right when he said she wasn't prepared… but she was there now, and alive. 'Take that, Omni! Serves you right!'

Her thoughts ran back to her mother. If she had indeed succeeded in travelling to the alternate universe, that meant that Moon was here, and well… The Moon of this dimension at least, but she didn't pay much attention to that.

She considered her options and decided that a direct approach was her best bet. Not just because it was more on par with her style—she hoped that even Alt-Moon knew basics about alternate universes and would understand her once she explained who she was and what predicament she was in.

Perhaps she would scold her as well—technically she deserved it… but she was willing to pay that price if it meant seeing her mother again. And asking for her advice.

She gave a glance to the trees around her, then it clicked. This was not just some random forest…she recognized the forms of those trees, oh so menacing to the foreigner's eye. This was the Forest of Certain Death… and it meant that not only she was still in Mewni, but she was also relatively close to the capital and Butterfly Castle as well!

Star, neglecting the fact she was basically drenched by now, ran away from the clearing. She had a hunch that she recognized this specific part of the forest, and if that was the case… she was very close!

It took her five minutes of running through the undergrowth before she reached another area devoid of trees. No, not just a clearing, an entire barren hillside. It was late in the night, but the moon was particularly luminescent that night, enough to let Star see in the distance.

At this point, her theories about her position were basically confirmed. She couldn't believe her luck—she was right on the side of the woods facing the castle! She just needed to get up to the top of the hillside to watch the capital in its full nightly glory!

She marched through the snow and, huffing and puffing, she finally managed to reach the top. Star panted but didn't even sit down to rest, eager to watch the castle in the same shape she remembered before Meteora destroyed it in her rampage.

Except…

The castle was still in ruins. No… not even that. Major parts of it were completely gone as well. Entire towers were missing, including the main dome; walls had disappeared and no more protected the inner chambers and hallways from the weather. The castle didn't just look like it had been raided—someone had tried to completely destroy it, and they had succeeded.

And what about the town below the castle?

Razed, demolished. Only a few buildings were still standing, and even then, they were barely recognizable. And the same could be said for the outer walls that used to protect the inhabitants one could only imagine used to live there.

That was the landscape that greeted Star, once she finally looked at what used to be her home.