The sky is orange on a sunlit afternoon. Outside of the castle, Jade has to think about her life, and everything that has led up to these last moments. She is filled with uncertainty toward her future. After all that training, just to fail twice, Jade starts to feel like all of it was a big waste of time. Jade is just riddled with guilt over having not stuck to her word. She can't go back to Septarsis a failure again. In a gazebo, Jade spots a woman she'd never seen before, but who, for some reason, seems very familiar to her. The mystery woman sits on a bench inside the gazebo, curiously fondling the vines running throughout it. A vine grazes her hand with the thorns, to which she just stares at the blood on her black hand hand curiously. Jade cautiously approached her and she puts on her glove in haste.
Jade: Excuse me, do I know you?
Woman: No, I don't believe we've ever met. You are?
Jade: Jade. My name is Jade.
Woman: My name is Eclipsa.
Jade: Eclipsa? That's odd.
Eclipsa: What is?
Jade: That someone would name you after a long dead queen.
Eclipsa: Chuckles. Yes, I suppose that is rather odd, isn't it?
Jade: Um, it looks like you're bleeding.
Eclipsa: Why yes, I am. Isn't it wonderful?
Jade: !?
Eclipsa: Don't you realize what this means? It means I'm alive. It feels so good to be alive again.
Jade: Okay.
Eclipsa: Young lady, you seem troubled.
Jade: I think I made a big mistake.
Eclipsa: My my, well, whatever it is, perhaps I could help.
Jade: You wouldn't understand. It's a monster/Mewnan thing.
Eclipsa: Oh, well that is my specialty.
Jade: Really?
Eclipsa: I know that Septarians, as well as most monster-kind in general, are not quite fond of Mewni, to put it lightly. And Quite frankly, I understand why they hate us so.
Jade: They take people from you. All they do is take.
Eclipsa: I know. I too know their cruelty. I, myself, have felt it.
Jade: But you're not a monster.
Eclipsa: I may as well be, for the things I have done.
Jade: I don't understand.
Eclipsa: I just want you to know, not all of those queens are evil. Some of them have very ugly personalities, but those personalities are driven by fear. Fear can create some fairly ghastly creatures from people, and I do not believe that exclusive to monsters or Mewnans. War is an ugly thing, and it is something brought about by that ugly fear.
Jade: And it's all their fault.
Eclipsa: Many, yes. But others, newer queens... they try. I believe that Moon is trying, but she's... out of touch. It's so easy to be out of touch when you cannot view the world from the other perspective. I think it's important to relay to you that I had the opportunity of spectating the battle between Moon and yourself. It was an ugly thing... but with beautiful results, I believe.
Jade: That's a very strange way of putting it.
Eclipsa: It fills me with joy to know that the both of you possibly walked away better people from that battle.
Jade: How so?
Eclipsa: Because, I bore witness to that mutuality, to that understanding of each other that was born from that battle, like an elegant dance of blades. But what happened afterward was so much more beautiful. I also bore witness to that meeting in which the two of you were positively certain you were alone.
Jade: You sure see a lot of things.
Eclipsa: Yes.
Jade: Alright lady, if you're so wise and so knowing, why don't you give me some advice of where to go next?
Eclipsa: well, perhaps that boy over there can help you.
Jade: What boy? Eclipsa?
She looks back over towards the bench where she sat to find that Eclipsa is gone.
Jade: What a weirdo.
In the distance. she spots Star and Marco, still at the same bench, laughing and smiling. They get up and hug, and Star leaves. He waves at her until she could no longer be seen. He then takes his inter-dimensional scissors out of his pocket, opens a portal and walks through. Jade notices the portal does not close right away.
She uses this opportunity to follow Marco. Jade steps through the portal to find herself in the suburban environment of Echo Creek, California. Jade had never even left Mewni before, and the landscape before her is entirely alien to her. She notices Marco hurrying back to close the portal and runs to hide behind the side of his house. He closes the portal, rubbing the sweat off his head before venturing back inside his house.
Marco: Man, Hekapoo would kill me.
Jade breathes a sigh of relief as Marco goes inside his house. Before her is a window, peering into the neighbor's house. She stands tiptoed to peer into the window and notices a little girl sitting bored at a table, trying to do her homework. She clearly doesn't want to do it. She's maybe 6 years old, and first grade. Before her is simple math homework. The mother walks into the room. Jade lowers her head as to not be seen. The mother sits at the table, smiling at her daughter, pointing and gesturing and inaudibly talking. The daughter is responding, continuing to look uninterested.
The father comes in the room, observing the situation, before going to a jar and getting 3 cookies and bringing them to the table, demonstrating visually the concept of addition. Jade smiles at them before lowering herself from the window. She thinks for a moment, about the possibility of a normal life, away from it all, away from Mewni, and Septarsis, where she could start over. She pictures herself the little girl, with her mother Emerald, and her father Toffee. She yearned for that life of the mundane. She thinks about the possibility of being a mother herself, to have a young child to care for and it makes her happy.
It is a forbidden life she desires, one that she would never consider partaking in if she had to live in Septarsis. She told herself a long time ago that she would never bring a child into a world ruled by wicked queens. Jade despises the perpetual threat of looming war, the constant of having her father gone, and her mother's emotional distance from her. Jade knows why her mother is so distant, because she doesn't wish to become attached to Jade for fear of losing her too.
Inside the house, Marco goes to the fridge. There is a note. Marco pulls the handwritten letter off of the fridge and begins to read it aloud.
Marco: "Dear Marco, your mother and I went to La Casa de Los Mil Tacos Grandes. We took Mariposa with us and we're doing some shopping afterward. Won't be home for a bit. Feel free to make yourself dinner. PS. Don't touch my Famished Father TV dinners in the freezer! Love, Dad". Well, looks like it's nachos for me. Man... I really need to stop talking to myself.
Marco then grabs a bowl fills it with chili and cheese, and a bag of nachos, and microwaves the bowl before lazing the couch, blaring into the TV, watching whatever drivel his parents left the channel on. Jade sneaks inside. She'd never been in an earth human's house before. It's so relatively plain compared to what she's used to, small but simple. There are no ornaments of war, just nick nacks, picture frames with pictures of happy people, a normal family. She observes a family photo of Marco with his parents, their wide smile, their rare shot of Mariposa looking at the camera, and of Star, clinging to Marco's arm to the point of nearly severing it.
She sneaks upstairs, peers into his room, and notices how completely safe and secure his room feels. She throws herself on his bed, staring up at the ceiling and looking around the room before she hears him coming up the stairs. She runs to hide in the closet as Marco comes up to take a nap. She sits in the closet, as quietly as she can as Marco sits on the bed. He lays on the bed and she just stares at him curiously as he eyes the ceiling. But then, things turn for the worst. She could feel it coming. The dust of Marco's closet went up her nose.
Jade: Achoo!
Marco flies off the bed in a rigid karate stance.
Marco: Who's there? I'm warning ya, I know karate. I will mess you up, you afternoon burglar! Wait... Who burgles in the afternoon? Is burgles a real word? Why am I talking to myself again?!
Jade: Sigh. It's just me.
She opens the closet door.
Marco: What the heck? What are you doing in my house? Get out!
Jade: Relax. I'm not here to hurt you. I just want to talk.
Marco: What makes you think I want to talk to an attempted murderer?
Jade: Look, I'm just confused, okay. I don't know what to do or where to go.
Marco: Anywhere but here would be a better option. Why did you follow me? That's super creepy.
Jade: You forgot to close the portal.
Marco: Yeah... I know.
Jade: I can't go back.
Marco: Why not?
Jade: Because I failed in my mission. I was supposed to eliminate Queen Moon, and I failed... twice. I'm nothing but a failure. I could never show my face again.
Marco: Show your face where?
Jade: I can't tell you.
Marco: Well, then, what are you thinking?
Jade: I was thinking of living wherever this is.
Marco: Not here you're not.
Jade: Not in this house specifically, but... where is this anyway?
Marco: Peach Creek, California. Earth.
Jade: So this is earth?
Marco: Yeah. Why?
Jade: It's nice here. So simple. So peaceful.
Marco: Yeah I guess. There's this guy down the street with the really annoying dog that won't stop barking at night, but that's the worst I can say about this place.
Jade: What's a dog?
Marco: Never mind. Anyway, you can't just live in Peach Creek.
Jade: Why not?
Marco: Well, first off, there's no other lizard people_
Jade: Septarians, we're called Septarians.
Marco:_Septarians here.
Jade: I'm okay with that. The people here, do they do magic?
Marco: Well, with the exception of people that pull rabbits out of hats and those Las Vegas guys, not really.
Jade: Hm. Yeah. I like it here.
Marco: I don't even know why you guys don't just leave Mewni. Inter-dimensional scissors aren't that hard to come by.
Jade: I don't know if you've noticed, but the Magical High Commission doesn't take too kindly to Septarians. They're not just gonna give us some scissors. Besides, it isn't about leaving. Mewni was our land before the Mewnans stole it from us. The whole thing used to be Septarsis, until it was slowly wittled down, ground was lost, and the magic users took control.
Marco: So you would just walk away from it all? You would just walk away from your people? What about your friends?
Jade: I have no friends.
Marco: What about your family?
Jade: It's just my mom. She doesn't care.
Marco: What about Ludo?
Jade: What about Ludo?
Marco: You took him from the castle and are hiding him somewhere. You would just abandon him?
Jade: No.
Marco: I know you care about him.
Jade: Can I ask you something?
Marco: What is it?
Jade: Star told me, in the dungeon, that she and you were invited to Ludo's castle so he could apologize to you. How did that go?
Marco: It went alright I guess. I only went because of Star.
Jade: You really like her, right?
Marco: Yeah, Star's great. She can be a bit much, but once you get used to her antics, she's a pretty fun person to be around. Also, she was pretty motivated to see Ludo because she felt bad for him I guess. Would you believe it? Dude has 50 brothers and sisters, an overbearing dad, an ignorant mom and all this baggage. No wonder he snapped. In hindsight, it was pretty sad watching him confess all this stuff to Star. I really think they want to be friends now. As for me, I'm trying to be nice to him so maybe we can be friends too.
Jade: You think that will happen?
Marco: Who knows... maybe some day. What I do know is that it won't happen if you don't go back to wherever you're holding Ludo. He's been exonerated by the Queen for the conspiracy of trying to kill Queen Moon, and now that you're free, you might as well tell him that. You kinda owe it to him to tell him the truth, at least if you care about him as much as Star says you do.
Jade: Yeah... You're right. Thanks. I will.
Marco: So, you want me to make you a portal back?
Jade: Yeah, that would be nice.
Marco opens a rift in his room and lets Jade out. She goes back to Mewni, but she never forgets the small time she spent in Echo Creek, and she longs to go back. Many hours later, on the other side of things, Ludo dreams. A familiar voice speaks to him that he had not heard in a while. He'd been thinking about Jade in her absence, quite a lot.
Glossaryck: I sense guilt coming from you Ludo.
Ludo: Oh Glossaryck, It's Jade. I really miss her. She's been gone for a while now while I've been hanging out with Seth and Iggy and I can't help but think about her.
Glossaryck: How do you feel about Jade, Ludo?
Ludo: I miss her so much. I know she hasn't even been gone that long, but I want her to come back. I don't want her to go and fight Queen Moon because she's likely outmatched and I don't want anything bad to happen to her.
Glossaryck: So, you really care about her?
Ludo: I think I do. I think I do a lot. I've never felt this way about anyone before. I never thought so much about anyone before. Her smile, it makes me so happy. It's like an image burned into my mind and it helps me sleep knowing it's there. She has this weird effect on me where every time she's around, I feel happier, and when she's gone, I just go back to being sad again. I don't know why.
Glossaryck: Do you think it's possible that you more than like Jade?
Ludo: What do you mean?
Glossaryck: Do you think it's possible that you LOVE Jade?
Ludo: Love her? I barely really even know her.
Glossaryck: And yet you have feelings that strong for her?
Ludo: I love my family. I know that much is true. I know that no matter how much they've made me hate them, that I can't give them up. It's like a blood thing I think, where you just gotta stick by each other no matter how bad it gets. But no... this is different. I want to be around Jade. I want to always be there with her. I've never felt that before. It's so strange. I'm scared because I don't know what to do.
Glossaryck: What do you mean?
Ludo: Glossaryck, I have a terrible secret. I killed Jade's father and she doesn't know. I want her to like me, but there's no way she could ever do so if she found out.
Glossaryck: That is quite the dilemma there, Ludo. The longer you keep that secret from her, the more it will eat you alive.
Ludo: I'm so scared, Glossaryck.
Glossaryck: Ludo, I'm gonna tell you a secret that many people never find out in their lives, one that will save you.
Ludo: What is it?
Glossaryck: The truth will set you free. The truth, is the killer of fear. Truth is courage. Truth is the courage one needs to be strong when all odds are against them. Tell her the truth, Ludo.
Ludo: I... I can't.
Glossaryck: Would you rather her find out from Seth, or would you rather her find out from you?
Ludo: ...
Glossaryck: If you tell her, whether she hates you or not, you will no longer have to hide in fear. You will be free.
Ludo: That's crazy! What if she kills ME?
Glossaryck: Something tells me you don't have to fear that.
Ludo: I don't want to hurt her though.
Glossaryck: Jade is already hurting, Ludo. Everywhere she goes, others dodge telling her the truth. She can never find the symptom of her ailment, and is in constant pain in which she can never heal. Tell her the truth, the ugly truth, so she can stop feeling that pain. Grant her relief. Allow her to finally heal and be at peace with her life. Be strong. I'll be here for you.
Ludo: Really?
Glossaryck: I would never guide you wrong, Ludo.
Ludo: Glossaryck... are you really there? Are you real?
Glossaryck: ... I'm as real as you want me to be.
Ludo: What do you mean by that? Glossaryck?... Glossaryck?
Ludo opened his eyes to find that the entire night had passed once again. Ludo walks downstairs to find that Emerald has been among a group of other Septarian women. This is apparently a book club, and they are gathered to discuss a romance novel. Ludo walks by, ignoring most of them when Emerald attracts his attention.
Emerald: Ludo.
Ludo: Yes, ma'am?
Emerald: Call me Emerald, hun.
Ludo: Yes, Emerald?
Emerald: I doubt you have much to contribute to this book club, especially towards books I'm fairly certain you don't read, but humor me for a second.
The other ladies giggle.
Lady 1: Who is this young man?
Emerald: Why, Bellatrix, do you not recognize him? He's the small Avarius prince of Mewni. My daughter had brought him here.
Lady 2: Why that's positively scandalous!
Emerald: Regardless, Ludo dear, do you care to submit?
Ludo rubs his eyes?
Ludo: What's this question you want to ask me?
Emerald: What, would you say, is the greatest act of love?
Ludo thinks for a second, and wonders.
Ludo: Well, lets say for a moment that the two in love have a dilemma.
Emerald: Ooh, what kind of dilemma?
Ludo: There's a man, lets say, and he did something terrible to the lady he loves, but it's before he even meets her.
Emerald: Like what, per se?
Ludo: Lets say the man kills someone the lady he loves really, really cares about, but then meets her, and falls madly in love with her to the point where he's faced with the inevitable horrible situation of having to disclose his secret to her, even though she'll never forgive him, just because he wants her to stop grieving and feel better.
The ladies are silent. They all look at each other before murmuring to each other.
Emerald: Ludo, you bring up a very complex scenario in which the emotions of both parties are at supreme conflict. Dare I say, that's quite a dilemma. How would you like to join our little club? I'm more interested in the kinds of juicy stories one could derive from you.
Ludo: I don't know. It was just a thought. Think nothing more of it, ladies.
Emerald: Disappointing. Oh well. This is a ladies' club anyway. By the way, the man should absolutely not divulge the secret, not if he ever wants to stay with the woman. Not if he wants to maintain any sort of friendship towards her.
Ludo: That's what I'm afraid of.
Emerald: Hmm?
Ludo: Nothing. Don't worry about it.