It was early morning over Echo Creek. 16-year old Cleo Thomas was up late as usual; the clock on her bedside table told her it was half-past-two.
The slender black girl sat at her desk in nothing more than a red silk bathrobe, scribbling in her notebook. Her clothes, socks, shoes, and underwear lie scattered about her bedroom floor, and in her bed was the slumbering form of a white boy with tousled blonde hair. Not unusual for a girl her age... save perhaps the blood-red fairy-like wings protruding from this young man's bare back, which fluttered in his sleep.
Cleo smiled over her shoulder at her companion before returning to her sketchbook, which was something of a visual history of their nightly trysts. The Mewnian prince was a regular visitor to her humble abode in the suburbs of Echo Creek. He came to her wanting only one thing... and it was delectable.
Cleopatra "Cleo" Maurie Thomas was rightly named. It was a name she'd chosen for herself... she wasn't particularly fond of her birth name, to put it lightly. But that was a whole other story, and one she shared with no one, not even Hugo. As far as anyone knew, she was little more than a lowly street urchin who'd run away from an orphanage when she was 4 years old. The adoptive daughter of Jackie Lynn Thomas and her bride Chloe originally hailed from France, found by the young couple on the streets of Paris during their honeymoon 10 years ago. They'd caught the little brown girl trying to steal a croissant (left behind by another patron at the outdoor restaurant where they ate) and while the maître d' (upon catching her) had wanted to turn her over to the police, the two woman took pity on her and decided instead to bring her home with them.
And wouldn't you know it, Cleo's new mother just happened to be the ex-girlfriend of Mewni's new king, Marco Butterfly... with a handsome young prince that was Cleo's age.
His name was Hugo. Hugo Arcturus Butterfly. First heir to the Kingdom of Mewni. Also a bit of a bad boy... and not like the juvenile pretenders you might find milling about your common high school. No, no... so much more. Feared by his own people, and hated by much of Echo Creek. He was a killer, though not many knew this beyond Cleo herself... they called him "Hugo the Unfathomable". The Black Prince, Hugo One-Eye... named so for the fact that the left side of his face was marred by a gaping hole where his left eye had been, though he always kept it covered with a plain black eye patch, even as he slept.
Cursed by dark magic when he was just a little boy, his eye could not be regrown even by his own magical powers... and he loathed to wear a glass eye. Even before the accident with his mother's wand that had taken his eye, Hugo was regarded with fear and superstition. There were whispers that he was under the influence of evil spirits when he was a boy, but where such stories came from, no one knew. Recent events had only made these rumors worse, and while there was no proof of his deeds, the deaths of those who'd judged him and hurt him long ago only seemed to justify fear once unfounded.
Most girls would've given him a wide berth. But Cleo had known the prince since before these incidents, and while he came across as severe, she knew better than anyone the love in his heart, the tenderness of his touch, the passion of his soul. That passion he brought to her bed each night he followed her home... the dark aura surrounding him did not intimidate her. If anything, it was intoxicating.
Cleo could see that he would one day be a great king... and she the queen to rule beside him. It was her ambition from the day she met him; though it was not as Cleo was using him, oh no. She simply understood her place in the universe. Hugo was fierce and intemperate; Cleo was sure that he would one day go on to conquer all of Mewni... and for that, he would need a strong queen by his side.
Cleo was it. Only she could rein in his temper. Only she was fit to warm his bed. Only she could give him strong sons and daughters to carry his dynasty.
This was why Cleo was up so early. Her sketchbook was not only a visual documentation of her long affair with the burgeoning tyrant, but an illustrated history of days yet to come. These were more than idle fantasies, mind you, for Cleo had spoke to the great Janna, Queen to the Realm of Magic herself. Janna was an old friend of her mother's; she was once as human as Cleo, but around the time the realms of Earth and Mewni were cleaved apart, she'd become... something more. Less of a queen and more of a goddess, all-seeing and all-knowing, she'd given Cleo subtle hints from time to time pertaining to her future. Whatever she learned from her conversations with the queen, she would record in her sketchbook.
It was Cleo's obsession, to which Hugo was well aware of. A gold band- a promise ring- glinted in the moonlight on her ring finger; a gift from Hugo for her 14th birthday years ago. He knew what she wanted, and would do nearly anything to please her... as sure as she would do anything to please him.
That night, Cleo finished a sketch of what would be their royal portrait one day. Cleo had drawn herself by Hugo's side, the future king towering over her (he was a head taller than Cleo even today) as she cradled a bundle of blankets with a beautiful baby boy that she'd drawn in her image. Cleo was trying to think of what she might name this boy, her future son... she rather liked the name "Milo". Milo Hephaestus Butterfly... yes, that had a nice ring to it, befitting of a prince of Mewni.
Satisfied with her work, Cleo tucked her sketchbook away in her drawer and stood up. Her back and bottom ached from sitting in the wooden chair for the last hour. She longed for the warmth and comfort of her bed, to have her lover's arms wrapped around her once more.
Cleo undid the sash of her robe and shrugged, allowing the red silk to pull at her feet. Naked, she strode over to the bed and lie down beside her king, encircling him with her arms.
Hugo stirred, moaning in his sleep as Cleo pecked him on the lips.
"Lemme 'lone," he mumbled in his usual German accent (or High Mewnian as it was known in his home dimension) not opening his one good eye . "Tryna' sleep."
"Oh, but mon cher, I am... hungry..." Cleo growled in a sultry voice.
"Your muzzer has leftover tacos in the fridge, ya?" Hugo replied sarcastically, though kissing her back all the same.
"C'est not funny," Cleo insisted. "You know I don't like such jokes. I have needs."
"And I need to sleep, fräulein" Hugo insisted, squinting at her through his solitary blue eye. The red pentagrams on his cheeks flashed angrily, at which Cleo only giggled.
"You can sleep 'ven you're dead," Cleo shot back. Not easily deterred, she reached around behind his back and pulled hard on one of his mewberty wings, which struggled against her enclosed fist.
"Huh," Hugo grunted. "You're sure you don't mind bedding down with a guy with fairy wings?"
"I like 'zem," Cleo remarked. "'Zey add to your mystique."
Hugo chuckled, and after a few moments of teasing him he finally sat up, blanketing himself over her. Cleo put her arms around his neck and spread her legs wide under the covers, eager to take him into her once more.
"Just remember that I decide when we stop, ya?" Hugo told her sternly.
"As long as you don't get greedy on me, mon cheri," Cleo teased.
"You're calling me greedy?" Hugo rebuffed indignantly. "That's rich."
Cleo smiled up at him devilishly as Hugo bent down to capture her lips with his.
Author's Notes: I've had this idea for a Dark Starco AU for a while now, but I've been unsure as to the best way to introduce it's main characters... the story focuses on Hugo, the firstborn son of Star and Marco, and the conflict with his younger twin sisters Nova and Luna as they conspire to have him disappear and take the Royal Magic Wand for themselves; that which they believe is rightfully theirs. This is just a small snippet of Hugo's everyday life through the eyes of his girlfriend Cleo. I may write more one-shots like this through the eyes of Hugo himself, the twins Nova and Luna, and of course Star and Marco. We'll see.