Brudo's head is pounding. He has no idea what happened. One minute, he was following Croccy into the pit of Septarsis, next thing he knew, a flash of light and pain that led to unconsciousness. In reality, he had the crap kicked outta him by several very large Septarians and was taken to Seth, where he was ordered to be locked in a cell to await interrogation. Some time before partaking in his revelation of magical prowess to Ludo, Seth had other plans. Brudo opens his eyes to find nothing but darkness before him. It's pitch black, to the point where he believes he might be blind.
Brudo can feel two things, his knees and feet on a cold, stone ground, and the iron of shackles digging into his wrists. As he tried to move, he heard the soft rattling of chains. Brudo fades back into unconsciousness until the sound of boots start to get louder and louder. Brudo then hears a cell door open, light silhouettes tall figure with spiky hair as he stands in the doorway of the pitch black room. Seth lights a torch on the wall and brings it right to Brudo's face so he could gaze right into Seth's hellish eyes. His face twists into a maniacal grin as he looks at Brudo, and Brudo swears he recognizes it from somewhere.
Seth: Consider yourself lucky. My face is seen by very few outside of this place. And a vast majority of those who see my face never live to tell the tale.
Brudo: It's probably your face that killed them, ugly jerk.
Seth grabs Brudo's face, smooshing it in his hand as he forces Brudo to look straight in his eyes.
Seth: Cute. I can already tell it's gonna be a lot of fun to interrogate you.
Brudo: Do you have any idea who I am? Or the influence I have on all of monster-kind?
Seth: Wow, I was just about to ask the same question to you, almost verbatim.
Brudo: I'm not answering any of your stupid questions. I came for my son! I know he's here! Hand him over or I blow the location of this place sky high!
Seth: Sorry, songbird. There will be no singing of your song yet.
Brudo: Where... where's Croccy?
Seth: Oh, you mean your friend. He's right here. Say hi, Croccy.
Crocodile Monster: Huh...
Seth: I think he's still out of it. But I wanna know, Brudo. Who else knows of this place? I've kept it a secret for a long, long time. And now, everyone's stumbling on it. You wouldn't happen to know a small Septarian girl, would you? And before you answer, just know that I already know the truth.
Brudo: Then why are you asking me?
Seth: Because I want to hear how honest or dishonest you'll try to be with me.
Brudo: I heard something... a while back about a Septarian girl making an attack on Queen Moon. I heard she was small. Never seen someone of that description before in my life. Never seen a Septarian that wasn't a big ugly mug like you either.
Seth: You know, I don't have to punish you. I don't have to harm a single feather on your fat, pathetic, bald head. I got your kid, and I've been totally cool with him. Unlike you, I'm showing him the ropes. I'm showing him how to be a REAL leader.
Brudo: You leave him alone! Where's my son? Tell me or I'll make a pair of boots out of you, you leather freak!
Seth: Man, I feel BAD for your kid. Tiny little guy like that, 50 big mooses, and a deadbeat dad, and a mom that lets her son get tread on. Never got a proper education. Never went to school. Never made any real friends. Spent his life trying to get some magical piece of gilded metal just to make you guys so much as look at him. Now, all of a sudden, you CARE?
Brudo: I'm not a good father and I recognize that. That's why I'm trying to be a good father now! IT'S WHY I'M HERE! GIVE ME BACK MY SON!
Seth: No. You don't deserve him. You see, I had kids myself. I've had far more than 50. I loved and cherished every single one of them, and you know what? I didn't lose my kids. I had them TAKEN from me, by your queens. It's a miracle I'm still alive today myself.
Brudo: I don't even know who you are.
Seth: Yes you do. You recognize this face, as old as its gotten. You've seen me before, in the rubbish you dare to call your history books. You know who I am.
Brudo: No... no it can't be. You died centuries ago. How?
Seth: Through sheer will, and determination.
Brudo: Why my son? What do you want with Ludo?
Seth: Sorry Brudo. I'm gonna have to leave you to think about that. Use your own imagination.
Brudo: Why haven't you killed me yet?
Seth: You're not allowed to die yet. Not until I show you what a real father is like.
Brudo: I will get out of here, and when I do, I'm gonna kick your_
Seth shoves a tattered balled up rag in Brudo's beak.
Seth: You talk too much.
Seth goes over to Croccy, whose still unconscious. He kicks Croccy's leg, Croccy jolts awake to look up as Seth.
Seth: Rise and shine, buttercup.
Crocodile Monster: Huh? What?
Seth smiles at Croccy, obfuscating an affable, welcoming presence towards him.
Seth: How's it going?
Crocodile Monster: Oh no. What are you gonna do with me?
Seth: You know, I haven't figured that out yet. Should I punish you directly? Or should I punish that cousin of yours?
Crocodile Monster: W-w-what? H-how did you know I have a cousin here?
Seth widens his smile into a fanged devil grin and leans in right into Croccy's face.
Seth: A little birdie told me.
Crocodile Monster starts to bawl pathetically, begging not to be tortured or executed or violated in any way. He starts pleading with Seth, who just laughs and rolled his eyes at Croccy. Seth backs up and walks towards the door.
Seth: Man... you guys are too easy. Don't even think of trying to escape. You will be constantly on guard by several Septarians that I've ordered to tear your throats out with their teeth if you so much as make a thought about leaving. So be cool. Serve your punishment, and before you know it, it'll be all over.
Crocodile Monster: You-you'll let us go?
Seth: Oh no, definitely not. You're both gonna die here. Whether it's now, or whether it's when I say you die. Now that part, is entirely up to you. If you be good little boys, I promise I'll make it a quick and clean death. Later.
Seth turns off the lights, leaving them once again in pitch darkness. He walks up to two rather large men.
Seth: If those two do anything. Kill them both. Also, I want full patrol of the outside of Septarsis. Anyone that isn't reptilian, kill them on sight. I'd put this place on lock down, but I don't want to raise a panic.
Captain of the Guard: Yes, Father.
Meanwhile, in the Kingdom of Mewni, Queen Moon is about to depart to the Water-folk Kingdom for various boring political discussions. You know the deal, trade, involvement with monster and Mewnan relations, this is at least the way Star saw things. The mother and daughter sit in their slowly moving carriage and Star can't feel anything but apathy for having to go with her mother to such an uninteresting meeting.
Star: Mom, do I really have to go with you to the Water-folk Kingdom to some boring meeting with adults?
Queen Moon: It's not boring. Besides, this is your future, Star. As a Queen, you can't simply continue to just go on nonsensical adventures with Marco Diaz while ignoring the wants and demands of the people. There's so much to being a Queen, more than just wearing pretty dresses and attending balls.
Star: Okay, fine. If you need me, I'll be on my phone until the battery dies.
Queen Moon: Oh no you don't.
Queen Moon snatches the cell phone right out of Star's hand, shoving it into her bra.
Star: What? Mom, why?
Queen Moon: Can't we just spend quality time together?
Star: You're calling this "quality time"?
Queen Moon: You and I barely talk anymore. You're so wrapped up with Marco and your teenage friends. There are parts of me that feel like sending you to earth may have been a bad idea.
Star: How can you say that?
Queen Moon: I'm sorry, Star, but that's honestly how I feel. It's not that I don't like Marco, he's a sweet boy, but you're just so distracted.
Star: News flash mom, that's entirely what being a teen is like. It's a million distractions all pulling you in different directions. Oh, what? I can't go to Jackie's party because there's a concert in town with this really cute boy band with a number 1 single on the billboard top 100? But wait, I have to do my trigonometry homework, while also, I have to build a trebuchet for physics class to demonstrate inertia or whatever. Oh, and can't forget, there's my ex-boyfriend texting me every 5 milliseconds. It's exhausting! I feel like I need a vacation just from being a teen.
Queen Moon: Well, maybe this is the vacation you need. None of that other stuff is even close to as important as our relationship with the neighboring kingdoms. It's important to keep that balance. Please, just try to pay attention, okay?
Star: Fine.
Several hours go by in silence from Star and Moon as they sit there awkwardly. Eventually Moon caves in and gives Star her phone back just to keep her from exaggeratedly moaning incessantly. Star just play phone games to kill time for the rest of the trip as Moon skims through a rather tiny novel that she has to read with one of those pair of fancy glasses that rich people hold up to their eyes in order to look sophisticated.
Royal Carriage Driver: We have arrived at the entrance to the Water-folk Kingdom, your highnesses.
Queen Moon and Star unboard the carriage. Queen Moon daintily steps out with an aide guiding her down the stairs in elegance before Star leaps out of the vehicle straight into the dirt. They stand at the base of the water.
Both: Bulla Spiro.
Bubbles form around them and they head forward, descending into the water, the bubbles provide them with air supply as they sink deeper into the water. Upon descent they are greeted by two mer-men guards with golden helmets and spears.
Star: Hey fellas, watch it with those spears, will ya?
As they venture further and deeper, a massive glass bowl city appears before them. They enter the dome where they tread on the ocean floor, past mer-people going every which way about their lives. A maroon royal carpet stretches along a marble floor, leading the way to two massive gilded doors of filigree gold. The queen walks up to the door where she reaches through her bubble, which does not pop, and opens the door from a curved door handle with a pink gem for a lock. The door flies open to reveal a massive office room with a finished wooden table sitting on a white floor. The walls are nothing but transparent windows to the outside, where fish of every color imaginable can be seen swimming along the side in all directions. A council of mer-men float before them with Prince Larry Kelpbottom at the far end of the table. Larry is a hunky sea-monster man wearing burgundy clothes and has green, scaly skin.
Larry: Queen Moon, Princess Star, pleasure is mine. So glad you could come. Mother and father are out on business, so I'll conduct this meeting.
Queen Moon: Odd, they knew we were coming.
Larry: I apologize for the inconvenience. My father, King Kelpbottom, has provided me with all the talking points for this meeting so, fret not, we will resume as planned.
Queen Moon: Very well, perhaps the first order of business should be on the tariffs that have been placed on the ocean floor coral, which has risen 2.5% over the last year.
Star slouches in the floating chair, sliding onto the floor.
Star: Ugh! This is so boring!
Queen Moon: I'm sorry Star, did you say something?
Star: Mom. I don't know anything about tariffs, or coral, or any of these chart things.
Queen Moon: For goodness sake, Star, what in the world DO they teach you at that forsaken earth school you attend?
Star: I didn't come with you so that I could feel like I'm at school.
Queen Moon: Then why did you come?
Star: I don't know, so I could spend time with you?
Queen Moon: Well, this is time being spent.
Star: I'll tell ya what, mom, you go and conduct your boring meeting with boring Larry Kelpbottom and I'll go and, I don't know, get myself some water or something. All I'm gonna do is moan through this whole boring meeting so I'll save you the trouble of interruptions and I'll do something more fun like stare at hunky mer-boys or something.
Larry: ... Boring?
Star strolls the hallway and spots a nerdy mer-woman at a desk, she's drolly scribbling on some kelp paper. She looks up at Star through her glasses with a look of disinterest.
Mer-woman: Can I help you?
Star: Yeah, is there anything fun to do around here.
Mer-woman: ... No.
Star: Well you were no help.
The mer-woman's shell phone rings and she picks up. She begins filing her fins,
Mer-woman: Oh hey, Clara. Yeah, it's Aggie. No I don't have a cold what do you mean. Sigh, no, that's just some girl that won't leave me alone. So how's the Doc treating ya?_
She goes on and on about trivial nonsense and Star just leaves.
Star: It sure is pretty here.
She wanders down the hall, turning several corners. Nothing but boring business people and guards. There are no other kids here. The Water-folk Kingdom is one of the most beautiful places in all of Mewni and there are no kids in sight. They're probably all outside in the open water, Star thought. Moon specifically told her not to leave the dome until the meeting had adjourned and they were ready to go home, but Moon knows Star, and knows she will likely have to wrangle Star back to her. She looks at the paintings along the wall, all done in various watercolors for a nice touch. A large painting of a proud King Clarence Kelpbottom stands tall along the wall with a gold trim. He's a tall sea monster man in white kingly attire with a long, trimmed burgundy cape that leaves a train along the floor behind him, and carries a scepter of ornate gold and ivory with a cyan crystal at the base. He stands erect and proper.
As she turns down a particular hallway, Star begins to notice less people, and more guards as she walks along a passage that leads to a massive dead end wall of bricks. This immediately strikes Star as odd. The wall is not bare, but in fact, it is covered in a massive collage of yet even more tapestries. But the oddness of the wall, and the fact that there is but a single brick wall after many of ivory and filigree trim draws unwanted attention from her. As she approaches, she swears she can hear the faint noise of people speaking on the other side, even though there was no door or passage that could possibly lead to the other side of the wall.
Guard: Excuse me miss, are you lost?
Star: What is this?
Guard: Oh, pardon me, your highness, Princess Star, that's a wall. You do have walls on the surface world, correct?Star: A duh we have walls, but why is this one so different? Why can I hear people on the other side if there's no way around? Hm?
Guard: I assure you Princess, it's just a perfectly normal brick wall.
Star: But what's the deal with it?
Guard: I apologize. The dome is currently forgoing renovations in that area of the room. We just started, so nobody's removed the signs yet or placed scaffolding. I apologize for allowing you to enter this area in the first place.
Star: Yeah, uh-huh.
Guard: Look, neither of us are supposed to be back here. So lets keep this a little secret between you and me, okay?
Star doesn't know why the guard is being so secretive about that wall. She looks off to the right out of the window, past the ivory walls and notices quite the massive sea-serpent, floating along the ocean floor. She presses her face against the glass window, staring it awe at it.
Star: Whoa, that's the biggest sea-serpent I ever saw.
Guard: Why yes, quite the beauty.
Star: Hm, it's not moving.
Guard: !
Star: ... Must be sleepy.
Star shrugs.
Star: Bye, mister sleepy sea-serpent! Hope you're dreaming of buttercups and sun-beams!
Guard: Phew. That was a close one.
Star: You say something?
Guard: Nothing. Lets go back.
Star: I want a candy bar.
Meanwhile, Queen Moon's boring meeting that was just on of lowering sea-shell consumption is coming to an end.
Queen Moon: Well, our meeting is adjourned. 'Til next time.
Everyone in the board room is fast asleep.
Queen Moon: Lawrence!
Larry: Huh, what, no I'm not asleep. I heard everything.
Queen Moon: Well, I suppose it's time to head back.
Queen Moon extends her arm to the hallway.
Queen Moon: Mother-Daughter Magnetism!
Upon recital of the spell, Star's body becomes wrapped in a red aura, and she is helplessly dragged all the way down the hallway past various onlookers back to the board room, where she stops just as her arm reaches Queen Moon's hand.
Star: Man, I hate that spell!
Queen Moon: I know. Gentlemen, I bid you adieu.
Star: Later, Larry.
Larry looks at her with his hands folded, still sore about the boring comment.
Larry: Don't you mean "Boring Larry"?
Star: Sorry.
They depart from The Water-folk Kingdom and ascend towards the surface, escorted by guards once more.
Star: Hey mom?
Queen Moon: Yes, Star.
Star: Have you ever gone to one of those meetings, and went down a hall where there's this weird brick wall that's different from all the other walls?
Queen Moon: A different wall? Where did you see this?
Star: Oh, about a u-turn past the snack bar, where all the people stop showing up and it's just a bunch of guards.
Queen Moon: Now, Star, it's rude to just wander so aimlessly.
Star: Also, there's the biggest sea-serpent I ever saw.
Queen Moon: Sea-serpent? Where?
Star: On the ocean floor. In fact, it's right along the dome. You can see it down there, just resting along the dome.
Queen Moon: My my, that IS a mighty big sea-serpent. I didn't know they grew that big.
Star: Weirdest part about that wall is that I could hear talking coming from the other side of it.
Queen Moon: Oh Star, you have the wildest imagination.
Queen Moon and Star reach the surface of the water where they pop their bubbles and board the coach that awaits before them.
Moon looks at Star and Star just seemed puzzled, almost bothered by it.
Queen Moon: You're not going to allow some minor curiosity to disturb you the whole way home are you?
Star: Nah, I guess you're right. I am just overthinking it. I'm sorry for being such a pain in the butt. I know I'm gonna have to do this for a living someday.
Queen Moon: It's okay. I find Larry Kelpbottom quite the bore myself.
They both laugh as the carriage crosses the bridge back towards the Butterfly Castle.