It's the following morning after the assassination attempt on Queen Moon's life at the Faceless Masquerade, more commonly known as the "Pleasant Party". Lady Avarius gets up to hear the door ringing. Over and over the ringing persists.
Lady Avarius: I'm coming! Goodness! can't you wait?
Lady Avarius answers the door to see Star and Moon Butterfly standing before her. Many guards were standing behind them.
Lady Avarius: What's this?
Queen Moon: Lady Avarius, it is with my authority that I request a search of the premises for your son, Ludo.
Lady Avarius: What? What has my son done? He's been home since yesterday.
Queen Moon: Your son was spotted at the castle with my daughter's wand after the attempt on my life yesterday, and he was imprisoned. After a mere few hours, a massive explosion was heard and we arrived at the site of the commotion to find that your son's cell had been broken into and he escaped.
Lady Avarius: That's impossible. Ludo was here all night, I'm sure of it.
Queen Moon: We would like to request to see your son's living quarters.
Lady Avarius: Okay, but he should still be in bed. This is insane.
Queen Moon: I assure you, we will not hurt Ludo, but if he's involved with the Septarian that tried to take my life, that's a serious offense. This must be handled accordingly.
They arrive in Ludo's room, to find his window open, his bed empty, and the closet door open with a box on the floor.
Lady Avarius: Wait a minute? Why would my son be involved with that lizard?
Queen Moon: The royal wand was taken from me. You witnessed her disappear with it, then Ludo shows up at the castle with it. How did he get it? It certainly isn't possible that someone with that level of dexterity was taken by a boy like Ludo. She had to have given it to him willingly.
Star: Mom_ Sorry to interrupt, but it doesn't make sense.
Lady Avarius: What doesn't make sense?
Star: If that Septarian gave Ludo the wand, then why would he be at the castle? If he had my wand, Castle Butterfly should be the last place he'd want to be seen with it, right?
Queen Moon: But Star, he was found on the premises with your wand, likely in an attempt to take the castle once more.
Star: Then where are the rats? Why didn't he attack any of the guards? Why was he alone? It doesn't add up.
Queen Moon: You didn't say any of that last night.
Star: I was tired. All that commotion happened and I was barely even awake, but after I visited him in the cell, I started to really think about it and it doesn't make sense for him to be there. He was so scared mom, and his apology seemed so genuine.
Queen Moon: Star, it's very sweet of you to take into consideration Ludo's feelings. The fact is, he was caught red-handed with your wand, especially given his history, is very suspicious. We need to find out what happened.
Lady Avarius: What about the Septarian that tried to take your life? Do you think she's the one that broke Ludo out of prison?
Queen Moon: It's possible. Your son was involved with Toffee, so he very well may be in league with someone associated with him.
Star: But Ludo hated Toffee. Why would he trust one of his friends after the way Toffee just used and abandoned him?
Queen Moon: I don't know dear, but where ever she is, it's assuredly where Ludo may be.
Lady Avarius: You say assuredly, but can you truly be sure?
Queen Moon: No, not for certain. We must weigh all options. It's imperative that we find your son as well as my attempted assailant.
Lady Avarius: What about my husband?
Queen Moon: You think it's possible your son may be with him?
Lady Avarius: I think it's possible. Brudo was living with him for quite a while on that trash planet.
Queen Moon: Trash planet?
Star: That's where Ludo lived after I tossed him into the void.
Queen Moon: You tossed that young man into a void? What's wrong with you?
Star: I was mad and I threw him into a void. I didn't even think about it until long afterward. I'm sorry.
Lady Avarius: Wait, YOU'RE the reason MY son was living in a trash heap? How could you do that to my child!
Star: He'd tried to do a lot worse to me!
Queen Moon: Enough! We'll talk about that later.
Guard: Your highness. The castle has been fully searched. Ludo Avarius is nowhere to be found on the premises.
Queen Moon: You, take two other guards in the vicinity. I want patrols outside this castle at various entry points in case he comes back. We will find him. Lady Avarius. I am so sorry about this stressful situation, and I assure you, this will be properly investigated and all parties will be rightfully held accountable. We will be making our leave now. Come, Star.
She leaves the room but Star stays behind for a second.
Star: I really am sorry I threw Ludo into the void. It genuinely was an act of anger. For what it's worth, I don't think your son stole my wand. I think he was trying to return it, like he said. We're gonna find him, and we'll bring him back.
Lady Avarius: Thank you, Star.
They leave and the first thing Lady Avarius does is head to her room, where from her top drawer, underneath her pile of clothes she pulls out a pair of interdimensional scissors. She looks at them and a scowl forms on her face. She then opens a rift right in her room and steps through it onto trash planet.
Lady Avarius: Alright, where are you Brudo? You can't hide from me.
She goes into the familiar trash house to find that it had been largely emptied. Brudo wasn't there. She looked all over the trash world for him, touching things she wouldn't otherwise dare to just to find hide or feather of her son or husband.
Lady Avarius: Ludo!... Brudo! Are any of you there?! This is strange. Where did he go?
Lady Avarius takes thoroughly examines the confines of the trash house to see what she can find that could help her. She finds the trash parents in the closet and is quite disturbed, as well as Ludo's preciously inaccurate portrayal of them in a happy family photo. She sits on the ratty couch, staring up at it and starts to wonder if that was a depiction of the things she wants, or Ludo wants, or both, or neither.
She starts to lose hope for it. As she slouches in frustration into the nasty old couch, another wormhole opens from outside. Out steps a whistling Brudo Avarius, going to fetch check the house for any remaining things Ludo may have cared about, to bring it to the project he's working on. Brudo steps into the house and stops whistling. His eyes grow wide. He find that he cannot talk and is met with a sudden fear. Lady Avarius stares at him.
Brudo: Lady... I... you're here!
Lady Avarius: Yes, Brudo, I am. Where is Ludo?
Brudo: I don't know. I just came back from_
Lady Avarius: Where did you get those scissors, Brudo?
Brudo: Well, I uh... look, I need to show you something.
Lady Avarius: That something better be our son.
Brudo: I don't know what you're talking about, but follow me.
Lady Avarius: Why would I do that?
Brudo: Please, just trust me.
Brudo takes her hands in his, holding them, softly and warmly. She looks down at his hands, then up at him.
Lady Avarius: I still don't forgive you.
Brudo: You don't have to. All I ask is that you see what I have to show you.
She looks up at his eyes, shining in pure desperation.
Lady Avarius: Fine.
Brudo gets behind her and puts his hands over her eyes.
Lady Avarius: What's this?
Brudo: It's a surprise.
Lady Avarius: I'll close my own eyes, thank you very much.
Brudo looks down, defeated.
Brudo: Fine.
They step through the portal. Lady Avarius can feel a cool breeze and the warmth of the sun as they transition between dark trash world to Mewni.
Brudo: Okay, you can open them now.
Lady Avarius opens her eyes to see before her a great castle under construction, better looking and more polished than before.
Lady Avarius: What is this?
Brudo: When I got off of that trash world, and managed to escape back here. I did a lot of reflecting. Oh, come with me, there's more.
Lady Avarius: Sigh, where are we going now?
Brudo: Just trust me, you'll like it. I promise.
Brudo has a smile on his face. It's something she hasn't seen on him in many years. It is so alien to her, to see her husband actually smile at her. She can't put her talon on it, but it's like he really is different, and in more than one way. She notices just how much weight he lost. He doesn't reek of booze, or BO for once. She looks into his eyes, and where once there were empty yellow orbs, there is the soul of the man she married, the eyes of the man she originally loved. She doesn't forgive him, at least not yet, but she can feel it. She follows him, and they go down the familiar road through the woods to his father's house. Lady Avarius recognizes it, but it's much different than she remembers. Stepping in through the oak door, Lady Avarius is met with a beautiful interior, freshly painted, clean, and free of the dust and the cobwebs of the previous occupants of the house, the spiders.
Lady Avarius: It's your father's place. But why is it so clean?
Brudo: This is where I have living ever since I made my way off of trash planet.
Lady Avarius: You moved back in with your father? That's really pathetic, Brudo.
Brudo: Dad's gone. He died some time ago and I never knew.
Lady Avarius looks at his genuine sadness.
Lady Avarius: Sorry to hear that.
Brudo: Come on, I want to show you something.
Lady Avarius: The only thing I want you to show me is where our son is.
Brudo: I don't now, honest. Just let me show you something.
Lady Avarius: Sigh, fine, but this better be important.
Brudo: It is.
They go up to Brudo's father's room, which is also spotless.
Brudo: Hi mom.
Brudo lifts the painting once more to reveal the letter that his father had left, keeping it behind the painting where it originally was and showed it to Lady Avarius.
Brudo: Read this.
Lady Avarius proceeds to read through the letter and see firsthand Lord Pludo's deathbed lamentations as well as the inheritance money that was left to Brudo.
Lady Avarius: So that's where you got the money for your little project.
Brudo: That "project" is my gift to you, to all of you, my family. The things that have happened over the last year have really woken me up. I was a terrible father and an even worse husband. It took reading my father's will to make me realize that all I have done was perpetuate the vicious cycle of cruelty that stemmed from long down my family line. I was a miserable son, and you lifted me out of my misery and let me taste freedom. I took that freedom and I caged you instead.
I took you for granted. I wanted so much to have a proud family, to make my dad proud, that I allowed it to cast a shadow over you and the kids. I used you as symbols to reflect my own pride as a patriarch. I stopped seeing you as my family, and I flaunted you as representations of my proud bloodline. I can't believe how stupid and blind of a man I was, to have my shining glory right before me: my beautiful wife, my lovely, unique and individual kids. I had everything I could ever wish for, and I wasn't happy because it wasn't in accordance to my father's vision, or the vision of a prim and proper monster family.
He takes Lady Avarius by the hands again.
Brudo: Raising a family is a team effort, and I deprived you of your right to have happiness, and your right to be a mother, and to teach the kids love and empathy and all these things that are important for happiness. I had my happiness right in front of me and I squandered it because all I ever focused on were the imperfections. You, you're so beautiful and I can't believe how badly I hurt you. Worse, I spread my toxicity to my kids, turned Ludo, my precious, wonderful, special child into a power hungry war monger. I made all of you hate me, and rightfully so. And it's for that reason, I want you to have this money, this will.
It's yours, my Lady, all of it. I don't deserve your forgiveness. I don't deserve any of that stuff. All I care about from this day forward is your happiness. I want you to have this, and even if you never want to see me again, all I want is for you and the kids to be yourselves. I want you to be the strong and powerful woman the truly represents Avarius. I want to see Ludo be the best he can be, and Dennis, and Fudo and... all of them. All I want is to let you know that I love you, all of you, from the bottom of my defrosting, weakly beating heart. I promise to never, ever hurt you again.
Lady Avarius stops him right there. Her eyes fill with tears she'd been holding back for several months that she couldn't get out of her system ever since she spent them on Ludo. She places her hand on Brudo's face and draws him into a deep, long and passionate kiss. Brudo is taken aback. He hasn't kissed his wife very much since their wedding day. But it is genuine. Welled up emotions swell between the both of them and it is the most sincere thing they have felt in years. Their beaks unlock and she stares him in the eyes.
Lady Avarius: It hurt so much... to be that angry for so long. I just... I don't want to be angry anymore. It feels so bad and it makes me feel sick to my stomach to harbor such hurt feelings.
Brudo: It hurt me so much to come to the realization I caused you that much pain. I never want either of us to ever experience that again. Please, I love you. Give me a second chance... to be the dad I never tried to be, instead of the king I always thought I wanted to be.
He kisses her again and they looked into each others eyes and she start to laugh.
Brudo: What's so funny?
Lady Avarius: It's just, how stupid we are, that we're so broken desperate for love that now we're all melodramatic and schmaltzy.
Brudo: Hey, I'll take schmaltzy. It's better than any of that other crap.
She laid her head on his shoulder.
Lady Avarius: I can't believe I thought you took our son and was hiding him from me.
Brudo: I wouldn't worry about that boy. He's so much stronger and braver than either of us.
Lady Avarius: OH MY GOD! LUDO! I forgot! Brudo, he's involved with a crime.
Brudo: A crime? What are you talking about?
Lady Avarius: Queen Moon was attacked by a Septarian at a festival I had planned. The assailant was a female Septarian and she took the wand! Ludo was found at Castle Butterfly later that night and was thrown in jail, but then he broke out and is out there somewhere.
Brudo: And you thought he came to see me?
Lady Avarius: Yes! I thought maybe he panicked and he came to see you because he trusts you.
Brudo: Septarian, you mean like that Toffee?
Lady Avarius: Yes! Exactly like him.
Brudo: He colluded with that guy Toffee. If that assassin is in cahoots with Toffee, and has a hold of our son, then he could be in grave danger. We have to go.
Brudo pulls his wife by the hand outside and looks around. He runs around the corner of the castle out of sight.
Lady Avarius: Brudo, what are you doing?
He doesn't answer her, leaving her to shrug in frustration. She waits for nearly a half a minute. A loud engine could be heard in the distance. Brudo pulls around the corner at top speed, driving a familiar looking Cadillac with fuzzy dice on the mirror.
Brudo: Hop in.
Lady Avarius gets in and puts on her seat belt.
Brudo: Hang on tight.
Brudo squints his eyes in determination and floors it, slamming his foot on the acceleration as the car shoots off in erratic speed. Lady Avarius is shaken around by the jerking speed of the car driving over uneven ground directly down the road back to New Castle Avarius.
Lady Avarius: Ouch! Where in the world did you get your driver's license?!
Lady Avarius looks at Brudo in frustration, folding her arms as she bounces all around the car, Brudo looks forward with an expression of complete dumbfoundment and turns to Lady Avarius.
Brudo: What's a driver's license?
Lady Avarius gulps in horror as Brudo continues to tear rubber on the way to their destination. Under the fear for her life, as well as the turning of her lunch, she feels a glimmer of happiness that she hasn't felt in such a long time. She looks at Brudo and for the first time in over 20 years, finally sees the man she married, and not the miser that once took his place.