Uggggh, finally, I get this out. Sorry dear readers, but I got caught up in trying hard not to fail my classes, and then I got sick, so yeah, this should've been out faster.
I had fun writing this, and yeah, I feel good about how it turned out. Hopefully you guys feel the same. This is the first chapter that adapts a whole episode of one of the shows, so please send constructive criticism, as I am still new to writing this sort of story.
Guest: That actually sounds like a perfect idea for that episode. I didn't have many plans for watermelon Steven, but considering how the S.U is going through the most changes here, that seems like a perfect fit.
Guest: Yes I have heard of that au, and some bits of Quartz changing forms will be addressed here, but not by much. I have plans for a 'corrupted' form to appear in my adaption of 'cat fingers'.
Please comment and review, they keep me motivated through all my stories.
I own nothing.
To the little Mewman prince, it felt like it was going to be a normal day for him, as in, he was pretty sure something big and out of control was going to happen later, though he really couldn't place his finger on how he knew. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he hung around Star so much. Maybe he was just so use to her energy and excitement by this point in his life that he now had a natural sensor for all things that were crazy and weird. Maybe it had something to do with that magical link that his mom said they had( she was kind of vague on the details involving that, though he didn't really mind. He was sure she had a good reason for it.).
Or maybe it was because he work up that morning with a slight dizziness in his head. Nothing nauseating or worrying, he thought so at least, but a bit strange to feel, especially so early in the morning. He could really say that it was a bad feeling to have. In fact, it felt a little nice. It was like that feeling you got when you finally stopped and sat down after spinning around for about two minutes. You just had a smile on your face as you watch the world go out of sync, and you laugh at how silly the world all felt and looked.
At least, that was the feeling he was getting. It was slightly woozy, but the good kind that made you feel good, the kind that you had the made you lighter than air, like nothing would or could go bad. It was a nice feeling, and as the boy swung his head side to side, back and forth, he formed a slightly silly smile on his face, practically waltzing his way to the dinning room, where his Mom and Dad were waiting for him.
Struggling to make a straight forward beeline to his chair, after shifting back and forth from the left to the right, Quartz, after struggling so much, finally crashes into his spot, where he struggles to climb up on the chair. "Good morning." He speaks in a slightly slow manner, maintain the same, droopy smile on him as Moon had a look of 'I'm happy to see you, but I think something is wrong with you.'
"River, do, do you think something's wrong with Quartz? He's smiling a little oddly." Moon leaned over to her short husband, who was in the middle of eating a large bird leg.
"It's a little hard to tell, Moon Pie. You do realize that this is our son that we're talking about, right? He smiles all the time."
"Yeah, I know that, dear, but this, this smile is different." Moon presses her concern. "It's, it's not as, cheerful as the others he's had, and, and he's messing around with his food." Both parents continue to watch their dazed son, and of course, he was, motioning the food he had on his plate in a seemingly random pattern.
"Quartz, are, are you okay this morning?" His mother finally spoke to him, and for the first time in that morning, Quartz looked as his parents.
"Ye, yes, I'm fine, I'm okay, just, just doing, swell." He stammered, struggling to keep his words focused. "Just, really, really excited for today! We, we get to work more, more.." His expression gets more drowsy. "We, we're working, working."
"Are you sure you're alright? You seem to be a bit, distracted." Moon questions. "Are, are you feeling tired at all, or anything like that?"
"Maybe. Maybe. The training has been getting a little, little harder to get through." He spoke in a stammered tone.
"I think I can speak for everyone here when I say you should probably take a bit of a rest today." River finally spoke up. "Go, see what Star's up to. We all know you want to go there."
"I, thanks." Quartz agreed, smiling and leaving breakfast without saying another word, leaving the two adults to speak freely among themselves.
"River, I, that was a bit of a rushed discussion, don't you think. I'm sure a nap or two was all that he needed today." Moon slightly berated her husband, walking over to her son's plate of practically untouched food. "If he can't get control of his abilities, than it'll be harder to conceal them before the time is right."
"Moon pie, Quartz is still a child. He needs the time to play, run around, and fight monsters to prove his mettle." River through out there, though not without Moon shooting him a glare. "Ah, maybe not that last part, but still, the point stands."
"I guess, but still, I wish I could know exactly why he's so distracted this morning." Moon leans over the plate, and notices the initials C.M written into the food everywhere. "Who's C.M?"
"Ohhh, OHHH, OHHHHHH!" River suddenly spewed from his mouth, gaining a realization. "Oh, I thought that this day would come, but I'd never thought it would be so soon! Ah, that's my little boy. He's already using that natural charm of his." The king spoke proudly.
"River. What are you talking about? Nothing, bad is happening with out son now, right?"
"Oh, of course not!" Moon was able to breathe a little easier at that. "He's told me all about this a while ago. It's absolutely nothing to fret about. He's probably thinking about that little girlfriend he got when he visited Star's school."
"Oh, it that all." Moon sighed in relief, leaving the table, though she immediately turned her head back once she processed those words. "Wait, what?"
Speaking of crushes, Quartz wasn't the only one of the royal sibling to be distracted by a potential significant other, as a dazed and smitten Star was completely on cloud nine, gazing tirelessly out the window, where in the parking lot of the school, a loud, obnoxious, and very irritating sound came from the edge of it. The source of this disturbance was none other than Oskar Greason, an aspiring 'musician' that spent most of his time grunting and smashing randomly on his keytar.
If you asked any of the teachers, than he would've been known as the school's bad boy, not for anything bad actions of his own really, that kind of reputation mostly stemmed from the fact that he hardly did anything other than practice his 'art' during class time.
"Mom don't tell me what to do! I don't have, to listen to you!" The rebel spoke in a rhythmic speed, clearly creating his art from personal( and quite frankly, very troubling) experiences. "Mom I don't have to follow your rules, I'm going to live in a car at the school!" The car bounced up and down repeatedly, only adding to the awful but somewhat catchy tone that he was producing.
Star, initially drawn to Oskar by the fact that he had a 'record' according to the principal, listened to the music as she stared dreamily out the window. She, oddly enough, found herself relating to the sound he was making.
Next to Star was Marco, who had been waiting by his best friend long enough for things to be awkward. "Star, hey Star!" He waved his hand in front of the dazed blonde, who did absolutely nothing in response to Marco's intervention, despite how loud he shouted. He could only sigh at his clearly deluded friend.
From what she had told him, and from what he had figured on his own in the few months that they have known each other, Star was attracted to troublemakers, people that were clearly not the best influence around her. Then again, Star herself was exactly a fairy tale princess, so it kind of balanced out a little. The best he could do as her 'safe kid' and best friend was support her and hope she ended up figuring things out for himself. It wasn't like he had the best experiences with Romance to judge, anyway.
"Star, time to go." Marco said for the final time as the bell rung, in a rush not to be late. Though upon trying to reach for his friend, he stop to stare at something that seemed to be a little off about her appearance. "You got some paint on your head, right about here." He points to the middle of his own forehead to show what he meant.
Finally snapping out of her love struck gaze, She could only give a confused look as she feels her on forehead. Sure enough, upon feeling it, she felt something thin, flat, and a bit sticky, proven by the slight struggle she had getting it off. Though upon looking at the purple, heart shaped object, she couldn't help but get a sinking feeling deep down in her gut. "Th-is, this, this is definitely not paint." She spoke with a slight stammer, holding the little heart away from her body.
Not taking her change of tone too seriously, Marco shrugged as he motioned Star to follow him. "Well, guess you have another heart."
"Marco! This, is, serious!" Star corrects the chill tone Marco had. "I think i'm going through.." She stopps at that last word, gulping upon hearing it's name. "Mewberty." She said at least in a ominous whisper, thinking of those words like a curse, feeling that even saying it out loud would've made something bad happen. Sure enough, as soon as she said it, purple hearts began to pop up all over her face like a bad case of acne. Ashamed and scared, she quickly turns her back and uses her own hair to cover up most of her face.
"Whaaaaaa-okee?" Marco answered a bit awkwardly, not sure how well this 'mewberty' translated to his own experiences. It was times like this that Marco whished he had taken the advanced health class. Sure, it would've been uncomfortable to listen to, but it might've helped in the long run, case in point. "I'm sure it'll be fine, it's nothing to be embarrassed about." He answered with a uncomfortable smile. "Heh, we have a similar thing here on Earth..."
"Don't confuse this for your Earth things, Marco! I'm from Mewni!" She pointed and yelled accursedly. "It's going to get really weird." She emphasized as she whispered, getting closer to Marco as she grabbed ahold of his backpack, almost dragging him down to the ground. "You have to keep me away from boys!" A slight realization hits them both, mostly Star tough, as her pupils become heart shaped, as she leaned in on him in a more, suggestive manner. "Wait a minute. Marco's a boy." She said that last part with lust and infatuation bleeding into the air, enough to make Marco uncomfortable and back away slowly, snapping Star out of her trance for the moment.
"Heh, yeah, when you say that this is going to get weird, do you mean typical Star weird, or like, destroy the school weird?" Marco asked, hoping for the former.
"Destroy the school." Star immediately answered in a loud whisper, making Marco sigh as he walks out the door.
"That's what I was afraid of." Marco said, slightly shrugging as he made his way out the room. Skipping school was hardly something you'd find the red hooded boy doing, but for the sake of his friend, school seemed like the least of his worries at the moment. Best case, nothing bad with happened, and he'd be one step closer to losing his safe kid image. "Come on, let's get you home."
"Yeah, yeah. My brother's coming over soon. Maybe he can keep me in a bubble until this passes over." Star slouched her posture, still hiding behind her hair as she shadowed Marco's path, trying to stay out of the way as much as possible. She truly did her best not to cause a scene, but sadly, her efforts were slightly in vain, as avoiding the opposite sex of the school proved to be a harder trial than she had foreseen.
"Oh noohnoohnohonohono.." Star kept repeating to herself. It seemed that the mere presence of any male seemed to trigger her lovestruck mood, and Star found it increasingly difficult to even walk as she stared deeply in a trance the moment a guy crossed her path. "Avert your eyes, aver your eyes." She kept talking to herself, doing her best to keep her eyes covered, though that could only last so long as her eyes seem to demand to look at a boy. "Marco, this isn't, I don't think that this is such a good.." once again, her train of thought is stopped by a boy, who was doing nothing more than drinking from the water fountain. Staring intently at this unimpressive act, Star's eyes formed hears as she slowly put her finger on the spout, catching the attention of the guy once he notices. "My turn." She sings with a creepy smile, the hearts continuing to spread all over her face, and into her arms.
Marco, already passed his limit with the levels of uncomfortable, quickly grabbed Star's purple covered arm. "Whoa, okay Star, that enough, lets go."
Thiwp.
The trial only seemed to get even worse once Marco touched her. As soon as contact was made, a thick, sticky, purple web like substance shot out of Star's arm and onto one of the nearby lockers, making the two teens silent before screaming.
"Ahhhhhhhh!" The loudest of the screams came from the princess herself as she tried to run from the mess she was making. Before she could, or Marco, could do anything about it, a portal appeared from the sky, and out from it came the little Mewman prince, falling on his bottom as soon as he came out. "I really, really need to work on those landings." He said in the same daze as earlier, though it seemed to have died down a little.
"Quartz!" Star shouted, immediately giving her little brother a hug. "Oh, you have no idea how much I needed to see you, something normal and not crazy!"
"Yeah, yeah, it's great to see you to, Star." Quartz finished returning the hug with a smile, though he found it really, really hard to let go. "Ah, Star, I, can you let go now?"
"I'm not holding on to you." Star answered, gently pushing her brother away from her as they both looked down. Sure enough, a thick, purple substance formed between them.
"Okay, this, this seems a little weirder than usually." Quartz reacted with no real shock to his voice. "Though I guess this isn't the first time we've been in a sticky situation. There was the time with the cotton candy, and the ice cream, the cake, the corned cream.."
"AHHHHHHHH! NO, no, no, get away, get away, get off!" Star immediately screamed, shoving Quartz off her body with incredible force and strength, making him land pretty hard on the other lockers. Star's face drops from disgust to concern as she watches her brother groan in slight pain.
"So, so, so, soooo, SO sorry about that Quartz!" The princess was quick to apologized. "But I'm going through a little, bit, a tiny case of, Mewberty." She explained with a bit of uneasiness. "It's not really the best moment for us to, touch each other at the moment, or, for me to touch anyone at the moment."
"Okay. Okay, I, I think I get it." Quartz complied, getting up to look at the webby mess that his sister had made, though getting closer to his sister, the same, drowsy feeling returned, though it felt a little more, welcoming this time. "Do you want to go back and get Mom for you? I'm sure she'd be more than happy to help."
"Nonononnoononno! Definitely not!" Star shouted defensively. "The point of being able to stay here is to make sure that Mom knows nothing about anything weird and or wild going on around here! She'll assume that I'm not ready to handle magic on my own and then I'll be.."
"...Sent to Saint Olga's school for wayward princesses." The two boys completed in a matching tone, causing the princess to shrink a little. Had she really been using that excuse that often?
"Okay, well lets at least get you home." Marco concluded, once again reaching for Star's arm, which was still stuck to the locker door. "Here, let me help you with that."
"Don't!" Star once again shouted, backing away from her friend and into the locker. "Your little boy hands are part of the problem." She locks herself inside, leaving Marco to feel slightly insecure about that last comment.
"Okay, okay, so we can't take you anywhere without triggering more of those, web things." Quartz thought, looking at the webs a little closer. "Isn't there any spells you know that could fix this?"
"Wait, the book of spells!" Marco eyes lit up. "It's your family's spell book and your guy's family history, right?"
"Yeah, yeah!" Quartz agreed with a smile. "It has everything about the Butterfly's in there. Surely, there must be a thing or two about Mewberty!"
"Then we shouldn't waste time, come on, let's get that book!" Marco and Quartz began to run off, only for Star to stop them in their tracks.
"I didn't leave it at home!" Star groaned in embarrassment. "I gave it to Ferguson!"
"Wait, why did you give it to him?" Marco asked in concern.
"And why would you agree to give it up anyway? Isn't that like the one of the most valuable things that we own?" Quartz adds, doing nothing to help Star's increasing guilt.
"I lost it in a bet. He asked, so I agreed." She huffed. "Its not a bet I'm proud of losing. Have you seen him eat his food? I've never seen one person scarf down so much creamed corn. But enough about that. Do you want to help me or not!?"
"Okay, we're going, but we're definitely talking about that betting thing later." Marco replied back, turning the other direction, signaling the prince to follow him. Before he could though, Quartz was stopped once again by the sound of his sister voice.
"Wait! Quartz, before you go, I need you to have something." She only opens the locker door the slightest bit, allowing her to slip out a singular object, her wand. Quartz eyes widen upon it being placed on his hands. He hadn't gotten a good look at the family's heirloom since his first day coming to earth. "If you do find something to stop this, or need to stop whatever comes next, I need you to hold on to the wand for me, you know, just in case."
"But, but the wand's only supposed to be used by the heir to the throne, and that's you!" Quartz tried to argue, not really sure how to feel about this. On one hand, this could be the best day of his life. The little prince loved to here everything about the wand, it was the greatest treasure that his family held. The prince always felt a sense of pride to be related to such a great family( even if it was by adoption.), but to be so near to probably the greatest treasure in the universe, that, that made him want to faint in happiness. "It, it belongs to you! I, I can't!"
"You need to, and I want you to take it!" Star answered back, her voice slightly echoing from the confines of the locker's closed space. "You've had all that training with Mom, and no one else here has any idea how to use it! Your the only one that can."
"I, I don't know, Star, it's, it's our greatest treasure, and if anything happens to it.."
"Nothing is going to happen to it, because it's in your hands, Quartz." Star kept reassuring. "I don't know anyone else that I can trust with it." Quartz still seemed to be a bit hesitant with it. "How about you just promise me that you'll hold on to it until this thing is over. You can do that, right?"
"That I can promise, Star." He said with a more reassured grin. "I'll make sure the wand comes back to you, to where it belongs." He nods one last time before joining Marco.
"Good luck, guys."
"So, can you shed a little light on this Mewberty thing?" Marco asked as both of them began to rush down the halls. "I mean, does this thing happen to everyone where you guy is from?"
"Ah, not really." Quartz said with a slight sheepishness. "Mewberty only happens to girl mewmans during their teenage years. It's kind of like a caterpillar to Butterfly thing, ironically enough." He chuckled. "She'll most likely go through some sort of big change, like an extra head or something, and will have absolutely no control over her actions as she tries to balance out her hormones by gathering as much boys as she can to satisfy her creepy thirst."
Like any sane person would, Marco more than tilted his head at his response, though he managed to put that strange explanation in the back of his mind, for the moment, at least. "Is there anything else that you can say about it, anything at all?" Marco begged, hopping there was something they were missing.
The Mewman prince's head slowly dropped."Yeah, sorry. I would know more, but when I asked mom about it, she told me it wasn't proper for a prince to ask about such 'vulgarities', which I still don't understand what it means."
"It probably means its just a little to PG for you to know for now." Marco offered a reply. "Don't worry, this is far from the first strange thing to happen around here. I'm sure between a master of karate, her brother, and that book, we'll be more than enough to figure out how to fix this." The red hooded boy comforted, making the boy look up just a little.
"Okay, class is still in session." Marco spoke again once the two of them made it to the Spanish class window, on the inside were various students repeating seemingly random phrases that the teacher had spoke. "I'm going to see if I can just end this quick. Just, wait here." Marco instructed as the boy peeked through the window, trying to get his friend's attention.
Quartz was happy to comply as he gave a slight mock salute and leaned his short body against the wall. It was the perfect time for him to rest all things considered. He still couldn't figure out that weird feeling he was experiencing. When he was with Star, the wooziness seemed to stop. Did this have something to do with her Mewberty? Did whatever bond they had have some sort of effect on him? Again, this was something he really whished he could've just asked his mother earlier.
"Hey Quartz." A familiar and sweet sounding voice rang in his ears. His heart paced a little as his eyes widen at the sight of his latest friend, Connie. He, for an odd reason, struggle to regain his posture as his heart refused to slow down. She was still dressed in her somewhat formal attire as the last time he had seen her, though something about her hair just made..
"Hey! Ha, he, high, hello, Connie, what, what are you doing here?" Quartz blushed, immediately talking in order to get his brain back on track. A blush immediately crawled on his face, though he remained unsure of where this sudden flustering was coming from.
"I kind of go to school here, Quartz." Connie answered with a small chuckle, choosing to avoiding bringing up how embarrassed the boy seem to be feeling. "The teacher decided to call it a half day, on the account of some sort of giant moth creature crashing into the classroom. I thought, since I can't call my parents at the moment, I'd might as well go and ask Star if she knew anything about that, now that I sort of know her, you know, through you."
"Heh, yeah, I'd probably ask her, but she's locker herself in one of those metal chambers at the moment." Quartz was able to speak once he felt a little less flustered. He lloks straight into Connie's eyes, the lovely, eyes that he could
"Are you okay, Quartz. Your face is turning a little red." Connie's words snapped him like a pencil, noticing how close he really was getting to Connie, the kind of close of the more uncomfortable kind.
"Yes! Yes! I, I'm just fine!." He answered a little to loudly, making Connie back up a little. "Sorry, it's just that I've had a long week at home, and my sister is kind of maybe, probably going through a monstrous transformation."
"Oh." Connie answered with a slight slowness to reply. Even after seeing Quartz's magic up close, it was still magic, and it was a field that was completely out of her league. She couldn't even pretend right now to accept it like it was normal like the Prince could. "Is she going to be okay?"
"I really hope so." He answered, mostly just to reassure himself. "I still have this if things end up going down hill." He holds out the wand in front of Connie, whos eyes immediately began to light up.
"Is, is that the wand?" Connie gasped. "Like, like the wand that your sister uses everyday to fire lasers and magic?!" Her hands immediately began to draw closer to it. "Can I, can I please hold on.." Her hands immediately made contact with the relic without meaning to, and before Quartz could do anything about it, his heart speed up upon feeling Connie's hand, which likewise held their place as both kids blushed. Connie tried to speak to apologize, but she stood still. Quartz did the same, his mind telling him to move closer, not minding if they could just hold on to each other for just a little bit...
"Okay, nothing useful here." Marco grumbled as he pulled his face from the window. "Come on, we have to check with another..." He pauses as he watches both awkward kids in their position, none of them moving an inch. "Uh, was I interrupting something here?"
"No!" "Nothing at all!" The kids quickly answered, the both of them not even sure what they were doing back just then. Quartz just held on to the wand tightly as he tried to move own from this. "We, we were doing something about my sister's mewberty, right?"
"Right." Marco answered a bit slowly, knowing better not to stay on that topic. "Let's go then. I know where the book is now. Come on." The red hooded said without another worked, walking forward, with the prince right behind him.
"Hey, I, ah, is it, would it be weird if I tagged along to help?" Connie asked as she followed. "I, it's kind of a slow day for me, and, well, we haven't known each other for that long, so, would it be okay, I mean, can it?" She sputtered out, still not feeling comfortable with how she had worded her sentences.
"Well, it wouldn't be any weirder than anything else that I've ever done, so I don't see why not." He gladly shrugs as both kids run along ide each other, none of which knew exactly how weird things were about to get.
None of them noticed the slight glow emulating from Quartz's stars either.
It was really frustrating for the princess. For the past who knows how long minutes, she had been stuck in a small metal container while picking off the purple hearts on her skin one by one. It was hard work, and honestly very disgusting for her, seeing as she didn't really know what that stuff was to begin with, but she had finally managed to get the majority of them off, slipping the fallen pieces through the lockers openings.
"Really not the best time for this." She moaned. For once in her life, she had wished her mom was here. She wished that she had done this back on Mewni, where the weirdness was normal and more well-equipped for this sort of thing. And she definitely didn't want to do this in front of her brother, considering what was the trigger for it. He was too young, too innocent, he didn't need to see her like this. She needed to be stronger, smarter, more dignified than what she was.
"Okay, now I'm starting to sound like mom." She mutters with slight disappointment in herself. Before she could continue on with her brooding, the school bell rang once more, signaling all the kids to exit their classes and move on to the next. "Oh, no oh no oh no!" Star whispered, peeking from the locker's holes to see the various teens make there way. Every time anyone of the male variety passed her way, her heart skipped a beat and another two to three hearts would be added to her skin. Frantic, she began to rub her arms as quickly as she could to scrap off as many of them as possible.
"Keep it down, keep it down, just stay down until Marco and your brother figure out how to fix this." She told herself to calm down. "Then afterwards, we can finally talk about his love life. Quartz, you really need to stop being in denial about.." She tried to speak, only to hear more voices coming out from ahead of her locker.
"Okay everyone, we're going to have our warm up out here." A masculine voice came in. Following it was the school's male swim team, wearing nothing but their swimming speedos, leaving absolutely nothing hidden from the Princess's view. " The Pool's been compromised. There was an accident in the pool. Poop. It was poop." The swim Captain explained to the rest of his muscular team. "Someone pooped in the pool."
Not waiting for anything else, the group began to stretch out their bodies, sticking out their rear ends into the air as they leaned down. Poor Star, too enthralled by the sight and her increasing hormones, couldn't resist any longer as she gave in to her more lustful thoughts, literally spreading apart the opening of the locker like paper to get a better view.
Soon the hearts came up more, and more, and more until they began to pop up everywhere like popcorn, encasing her, as well as the locker she was in, underneath a pile of the purple substance.
"Hey guys, wanna see a dead opossum?" The trouble maker known as Janna sly said as she walked up to two of her friends with a large burlap bag. The two sane and frightened girls were of course frightened by what Janna had said to them, and were immedietley hesitant to say anything else to their friend.
"Naw, I'm just messing with you. I gave the dead opossum to that guy over there." She pointed to a young kid wearing a sailor suit with a pear shaped hears and hair that sorta went up like a swirl. His big expressionless eyes were only made more emotionless by his blank smile. He only raised up a thumbs up in returns as he walked away with his own bag, which started to move. "At least, I think it was dead."
"Doe-s, does that kid even go to this school?" One of the frightened girls asked. Those eyes just stared out her soul.
"Probably not, but I know that his brother does." The trouble maker casually spoke as she ripped the bag off from the large old book that was in it. "But seriously, check this out. It's a spell book from Star Butterfly. Everything magical and destructive that comes out of that wand of hers came from here." She closes in on it as her smile becomes more possessive over the book. "We can do all sorts of witchy stuff with this thing."
"Can we use it to get my parents to stop fighting?" One of the girls spoke up with slight hope, though before an answer could be fully given, Marco ran up, causing the two to run off in fright. Not long after, Quartz and Connie caught up, both slightly distracted by the conversation that they were currently holding.
"Is it going to be that bad?" Connie asked in worry. The prince had explained the whole Mewberty with a somewhat eerie calmness, though she could trace bits of sadness throughout his voice.
"Yeah. I imagine the feeling to be like eating bacon for the first time. Once you get that first taste, you want nothing but bacon, and you'll do anything to get it."
Ignoring what they were saying, Marco groaned as he kneeled down to pick the book up. "I've been looking all over for this!" Of course, Janna wasn't going to try and make it easy for him, as she grab ahold of Marco and held him close to her.
"Well, now that you have that little book, lets make some magic with it." She joked with a suggestive tone, making even the two younger kids turn there heads at that.
"Knock it off already! I don't need your help." Marco shoved his way out of Janna's grip, who's smile had not gotten any smaller. She was clearly enjoying his reaction if anything. "I'm already dealing with crazy from one girl today, and I don't need it from another. I can handle this."
Rolling her eyes, Janna scoffed as she skipped off. "Whatever, you'll need me soon enough, Marco Diaz. Because, I got your house keys." She showed off the contents she stole and continued to run off.
"Is that even legal?" Connie blurted out once she was gone from view. "And are you just going to let her get away with that?"
"That's just Janna. Before Star came, if you wanted a daily dose of weird, than she's the one to go to. Better to never question it, I'll just change the locks to the house, until she steals those keys!" He says, clearly more mad about it than he let on.
"Wow, high school is weird." Connie muttered, with Quartz nodding in agreement.
"There's no time to think about it, come on!" The teen began to flip through the book, whispering 'mewberty' to himself as he skimmed through as much pages as he could. "Quartz, you know this book better than anyone here. Isn't there some sort of glossary in this thing or something?"
"Hehe, well, it's not a glossary per say." Quartz muttered with a slight hesitation. And before he could explain any further, the pages of the spell book began to flip on their own, making two out of the three kids back away, expecting some sort of big explosion or something. Instead, rising from the pages of the worn down book was a small blue man with a yellow robe, floating above the book with a show-offish smile one his face. Quartz quietly moaned at seeing him again.
"Did someone say, Glossaryck?" He cried out, smiling wide as the two normal people surrounding him could only gaze in confusion. Because that's my name, Sir GLOSSARYICK!" He announced, literally spelling out his name for them in bright purple letters. "Of terms. At your service, ma lady." He respectfully bowed gesturing towards Marco.
"Uh, eh, I'm not a ma lady." Marco responded with frustration, insigting a small chuckle from both Connie and Quartz.
"Oh." The blue man stared at the red hooded teen, getting a good look at all of him. "Could've fooled me, good bye." He bluntly insults as he turns o his side, allowing the pages of the book to engulf him, before Marco grabed on to the cover, stopping him from closing it entirely. "Look, this spell book isn't for the likes of you. Magical princesses only, kid!"
"Can you make an exception for a magical princess's little brother?" Quartz spoke up, causing Glossaryck to peek out of his book and looked towards the Mewman prince.
"Ahh, Hey Steve, long time no see. How's the belly button?" The blue man quickly changes his tone from bluntly apathetic to gratefully talkative in a blink of an eye.
Quartz could only roll his eyes. "Glossaryck, my name is Quartz." He snapped back.
"Sure it is." The small blue man smugly answered. "I'm only the all-knowledgeable being of everything ever. You look like I Steve, and I've had centuries to know what I Steve looks like." He floated to the top of Quartz's head and laid upon his soft, bushy hair. "If I say your a Steve, than your a Steve. It's just logic."
"What, who is this guy?" Connie looked further, still a little weirded out by the floating blue man that appeared out of nowhere.
"This is Glosseryck. His one of the oldest beings in the universe, and kind of also like a travel sized teacher for any user of the wand." Quartz said with a strange amount of detest in his tone.
"You forgot to mention smartest, wisest, most magical, most powerful, most important, need I go own?" Glosseryck gloated on.
"Is most annoying on the list, because I'm pretty sure that your where the definition comes from." Quartz snarked, making Marco widen his eyes a little. Star said nothing about her brother being ticked off at something.
"Oh Steve, you wound me so. Are you still mad about the thing with the bubbles? I can't be blamed for something that I didn't know was going to happen. How did I know that it was going to explode?" Quartz crossed his arms, making sure to not say another word. "Or is it about that, other thing? I told you, telling you about it is out of my hands."
"Okay, you can clear the air later, just tell us how we're going to fix Star." Marco picked up the blue man by his head, making him pay attention.
"Oh, Star Butterfly, my latest little trouble maker." Glosseryck remembered fondly, before turning serious once again. "What's wrong with her this time?"
"She says she going through Mewberty, and she's making these weird purple web hearts everywhere."
"Oh, is that all? Why are you worried then?" Nobody in the group was amused by his apparent apathy for the situation. Sighing, he spoke again with a mischievous tone. "Fine, I don't usually make acceptations, but maybe we can work out some sort of deal."
"You want pudding, don't you?" Quartz deadpanned, explaining it to the others. "Every time he wants something, it's usually pudding." Quartz answered. "It's what he asked me the last time."
"Exactly, pudding. High schools have excellent pudding." He floats up right in Marco's face. "Brrrinnngggg me the pudding, and I'll tell you what you need know." Marco scoffed, grunting as he sped walked away. Leaving only the kids behind to watch, the awkwardness left behind was reaching uncomfortable levels. Not caring for any of the seriousness of the situation, Glossaryck continued to keep his smirk. "Omnipotent knowledge has his limits, mine is a sweet tooth for something gooey that just slides down your throat."
"Are you really asking us to feed you when my sister, and the school for that matter, are in terrible danger!?" The Prince's voice got louder, showing that the kid was really losing his temper. "Your her teacher, her mentor, and your just going to be, be, be this lazy bum through it all!?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Steve, turn the dial down a bit." Glossaryck try to reason with the Prince. "Your usually a little more reserved than this. Why the fire?"
"The only fire that's going to be around is the flames of the underworld if you don't straighten out and.." Quartz marched forward towards the floating blue man, actually looking like he was going to hurt the little guy. Despite showing no apparent worry for his situation, the mini mentor slowly backed away from the prince as he reached out to grab him. Luckily Connie grabbed ahold and held back the boy before he could do something that he would regret.
"Hey, slow down. We're, we'll do everything that we can to help your sister, but nothing's going to be down if you spend all your energy being mad at him. Just take a moment to.." Connie spoke in hopes to get the boy to cool of a bit. As they stared at each other, the two sets of eyes became locked onto each other once more, and the Prince found himself lost in her gaze. With his star's glowing a bright light, he came in closer, penetrating Connie's personal space and hugged her tightly. Not sure what to think of the sudden embrace, Connie could only blush as she looked to the only other person around them. "Is this normal for him?"
"A little, though I don't think he's ever been this, huggy, or so quick to accept after an argument." Glosseryck said inspecting the two kids. "Come to think of it, I don't think he's ever been so upset about something like this before, and considering his mother, it seems almost impossible." He lowers his body a little, getting closer to the boy's stomach area.
"What do you mean? Mom get's mad all the time." Quartz blurted, as if he only just know acknowledged the world around him. He then took a quick look to the person he was currently embracing, and once again he separated himself from her, awkwardly trying to explain what had just happened. "What, I, didn't, Connie, I, didn't, this, what.."
"Don't worry Steve, your sudden lovey-dovey escapade is not your fault, to an extant at least. I would've tried to hug something other than the peasant." Glossaryck popped between them, ignoring Quartz's confusion and shoving them both away little with his arms.
"What do you mean/Did you just call me a peasant?" Both kids asked, both a little confused and a bit miffed by the man's vaguness by this point.
"I still need my pudding. But let's just for now that Star's Mewberty is growing.." Glossarck points back to Quartz's cheek marks, which haven't stopped glowing, though know all three people present began to take notice. "..and she's not the only one being affected by it."
"Come on Lars, there's literally no reason for you to skip out on work today. Literally none." A short blonde teenager walking along side a taller teenage boy with a huge puff of red hair on his head along with two big ear lobes on each side. The boy simply tried to ignore what appeared to be his friend as he sped walked towards his locker.
"Come own, Sadie, do you really think that I can go to work after everything that I've seen." Lars complained as he tried to keep his face forward, not turning around to face the shorter girl. "Monsters and magic, and stuff keep appearing all over the school. I've almost died trying to get those things away from me. I think I'm entitled to a little breather.
"Lars, all that magic stuff happens in the freshmen grade. You're hardly ever near it when something happens." Sadie argued. She knew that all the talk he was spitting out was just his general laziness that often struck him whenever he felt like it, which to be honest, was actually every other day.
"Not true. That football game was horrifying. I almost fell into one of those portal death things and had to run for my life when that bird creature tried to swoop me up. I was in mortal peril." He shouted as they both came to a sudden halt. Lars finally turned to his friend as he opened up his locker, not noticing the contents of what was inside, or the small, quiet voice that kept whispering 'BOY' every ten seconds. "I've been traumatized for life."
"Lars, you were in the parking lot when it started and went back home after you freaked out over the bird. It wasn't even close to you." Sadie sighed as she knew her words were having little to no effect on her friend's apathy. "And I really, really need your help. Something's been living in the dumpster again, and I really, really could use your help in.." Sadie at that point was rendered speeches as her attention was turned to the dark creepy presence and purple presence inside the metal container.
"Yeah, but, but that's not the case! I'm hardly fit to work after.." The continued to weasel out of the conversation, finally facing his locker, and noticing what didn't belong there.
It was Star, but aside from the hearts on the checks, one could find it hard to recognize it. Her entire body, and the entirety of the locker for that matter was covered in the weird heart things, covering every space that the locker whole. With a creepy whisper and a oddly shaped expression on her mouth, the girl slowly raised her arm from the sticky mess of her doing, and reached for the boy. Not knowing what to do, Lars and Sadie stood still in slight horror as Star poked the left cheek of Lars. Nothing happened after that, other than the heart's encasing hearts encasing her face, leaving nothing but the shinning glow of her eyes that burned though the piles of hearts.
Saying absolutely nothing at all, Lars quickly slammed the locker shut, and walked away without another word. Sadie wasn't far behind. She figured, maybe just this once, Lars was right to not work today. Maybe it was best that they both didn't work today. Who knows how long it was going to take to forget that frightening sight?
Unfortunately, Star's transforming was not complete. Despite the locker being closed, the hearts began to spread everywhere and everywhere, expanding to the point where the locker burst open, spreading out a dark, purple, vine like structures everywhere.
It was almost time.
More than a little angry by how they were going nowhere fast, Marco stomped his way back to the trio, and threw the pudding cup done at the book, not taking the time to acknowledge the uncomfortable aura surrounding them. "Here you go, pudding." Glossaryck still smiles, not doing a single thing to grab the thing he had asked for. "Well, what are you waiting for?"
"You have to feed me the pudding." He said like it should've been oblivious. "I can't do everything for you. You need to start pulling your weight if you want answers."
"Oh, for the love of corn!" Quartz outburst, snatching the spoon from Marco's hand and opening the cup himself. "I'll do it." The two others back track themselves just a little as the frustrated prince prepared to feed the arrogant little man. "Happy now? Good. Talk." The prince snapped as he impatiently waits for Glosseryck to swallow the large lump he had given him. Marco and Connie, a little unnerved by Quartz's irritation, chose to step back a little, just in case.
"Reminds you of the last time doesn't it?" The blue man recounts as he continues to ignore Quartz's growing anger. "You, me, some pudding, questions you want answers to right away. Funny how life finds away to repeat itself."
"I told you to drop it already." Quartz speaks, grinding his teeth as he did. Taking a breath, he calms himself down before allowing himself to have another outburst. "I was mad, but I got over it. It's not important to me anymore."
"Sure, and I'm not the keeper of the most sacred text of all of Mewni." Glosseryck said in disbelief, turning his attention back to Marco. "Now, you said that she's going through Mewberty?"
"Yes!" Marco exclaimed." How do we stop.." The boy stammers for a bit, noticing the huge mess around the little man's face. "Your, face, you got everything, all over your beard."
"Listen kids.." Glosseryck interrupts, scooping up as much of the pudding on his facial hair as much as he could, and quite messily at that. "You can't stop it." He smiles as he holds no reservations on delivering the grim news. "Nature has a course it needs to take. The more you try to fight it, the more it tries to fight back."
"Come one, isn't there anything we can do?" Marco begs, really beginning to regret this idea altogether. "Quartz, can you say something to.." The boy finally took a long look at his best friend's brother, and sees that something was definitely wrong with him. Aside from a angry expression that didn't really seem to fit his image, the stars, and now his eyes were now becoming illumonious, bright enough to bother people even during a bright sunny day. His eyes were just that, a light, no white, no pupil, just two glowing bulbs.
"Quartz, are you feeling.." Connie's concern was pushed to the side as once again, Quartz confronted the little man, looking like he was about to bite his head off at almost any moment now.
"Ah, more pudding please." Glossaryck writes off the anger. Up to his limit by that point, Quartz takes whatever's left of the pudding cup and dumps it on the blue man's head. The other two kids of course were slightly shocked by this, though not by much seeing as how he kind of deserved it. Glossaryck didn't seem to mind this however as he began to lick away at the sides and the various drops that fell all over his body. "No matter, Star she be back to normal soon. Sometime around, 3:57 lets say." Lifting the cup over his head, he sets a timer on a little watch he was wearing. "Or she won't."
"Won't what?" Connie asked with confusion. "And's what's going on with Quartz, you said that the, Mewberty was affecting him somehow?"
"Won't be back to normal. Either she does, or she doesn't." His smile made his chipper demeanor all the more inappropriate. "Growing up is weird like that. As for our angry royal here.." Quartz was being held back by said girl, not because he was trying to attack the little blue man, but more out of the fear that he might. With his eyes still glowing, it was hard to tell exactly what the little boy was thinking. "His magical empathic bond with his sister is directly responsible for this. Mewberty is an emotional train wreck on most mewmans when they go through it. Though the sudden influx of hormones seem to make him less lovey like his sister, and a lot more fighty like you see right now." A short growl emerged from boy. "It's a interesting case, that's for sure. I can only imagine what will emerge once it's completed it's course."
"Oh please, you're just saying that because you don't know how to fix this!" Quartz tried to advance, though Connie's hold held him back. Unlike last time though, her touch did little to comfort him.
"It's either that, or I'm a lot better at handling reality than any of you." Taking one last peek at the pudding cup, he uses his finger to scape away any remaining remnants of the sweet fluid before tossing it to the side. "That's just how it is. Nature is nothing more than a runaway dump truck. Hot, fast, and full of garbage."
"Wait, so, we've been standing here, feeding you and talking in circles, for nothing?" Connie concluded. "You had no intention of helping us, did you?"
"Eh, kind of. You were the ones who insisted on getting my advice. So long." Laying in a straight position, he falls backwards into the book, ready to close it.
"Wait, there has to be more than that!" Marco exclaimed, not wanting this to be in vain. "There has to be something that you're not telling us!"
"Haha, of course there is." He smiled one last time. "But than again, you're out of pudding." With no apologies, he slams the book shut, leaving the kids more confused and irritated than when they started.
"Oh, forget this!" In a burst of anger, Quartz lift the book over head and throws it across the room, leaving it where it lands as he storms off to go back to his sister. "We'll be better off taking her back home. Come on." He orders the other two, who were confused on what they just saw.
Finding her voice first, Connie turns to Marco. "Are, is he going to be okay? I mean, Glossaryck said that Star might not go back to normal. Do you think that might apply to Quartz as well? I, I miss the him that I met back at the library. And those eyes are a little creepy as well."
"I know what you mean. Seeing him in that state is kind of scary." Huffing, Marco could only shrug." I, I don't know, and right now, we don't need to know about it." With dertemination, Marco marches forward after Quartz. "Right now our friends need our help. Lets just see what we can do and go from there."
Feeling a little less than reassured, Connie nodded her head a little. Soon there was nobody left in the halls but the book, and a smiling Janna.
Before she could go out to grab it though, the same little kid she gave the opossum to runs by and quickly drags the book away with all the strength he had. "Hey! Come back, you little rat!" Janna shouted as she ran after the little guy.
Of course, things weren't going anymore smoothly as the trio made their way back to Star's location. The clouds for some reason started to darken as they made their way pass all the various vines and roots that had planted themselves around the surrounding area. The students were a frighten by the sudden bout of chaos as they duck and hid behind anything that was available to them. None of this was making it any easier for any of them, especially as shrieks of horror echoed through the halls.
Marco, Connie, and Quartz all made sure to avoid the obstacles in their way as they made it back to Star's locker. Though it became abundantly clear that nothing was getting easier for them when they finally had in it their sights. A huge, gapping hole in the shape of a heart was squished and indented into the metal chambers, the only thing filling it was the mess of hearts that were left behind.
Creepy didn't even begin to described what they were seeing as chills ran down the two non-royals. Sure, Marco had his fair share of Star's random and chaotic world that he was often introduced to on a daily basis, but it this was pushing the envelop just a little. What made it all the more troubling for him is that unlike the previous times before hand, Star was just in the dark about the weirdness as he was. She was unprepared to take it on, and even worse, she was the one that they had to face.
Connie, likewise, was silent on what they were facing. When the rumors of magic started to go around the school, she was thrilled. This was the real deal. It was more than just some fantasy story that she could on and on about, this was actual magic, real, reality defying, and potentially life threatening magic. It made her question everything she had come to know about her everyday life, but most of all, it made her curious. Meeting Quartz was amazing on it's own, but she would be lying if she said that she didn't get butterflies with the idea of seeing/actually doing magic.
This, however felt like the wrong time to get excited. Not only was her friend's sister going through something dangerous to either her and/or other people, it seemed to be taking a toll on Quartz as well. Those glowing eyes were just scary, and, ashamedly, she made sure to walk in front of him to avoid looking directly at them.
And Quartz himself was getting more and more quiet. He had hardly said a word after getting his frustrations on Glossaryck out. Not that anyone could blame him, but it all it did was off put the two humans even more. He was feeling anger, anger that didn't even feel right to him. Sure he was a little mad at Glossaryck for not really helping them, but he didn't hate the little man. He never wanted to be mad at anyone, except those that actively try to destroy his family. It was just so confusing for him. He'd either wanted to punch Glosseryrck across a room or hug Connie, and to be fair, the second option was very welcoming, but if he did, he would just continue to fell droopy and dizzy all over. At least with all the anger he was able to keep his head on straight.
The prince gripped the wand in his hand as he stopped in his tracks, his guard held high and his eyes and cheek marks growing brighter than ever. "Guys, I, I think she's close by."
Before Marco could as why, a sudden grip was forced on his right arm, tugging him in that direction. The sudden feeling made Marco nearly jump out of his hoodie, only to realize that it was only a student. "Please. Get us out of here." The boy shouted in a whisper. All three kids on the outside saw what he meant as rows and rows of other students where trapped in the lockers, each one of them held back by the same vine-web heart structure. Whether freshman or senior, jock or nerd, popular or unpopular, the one thing that they all had in common was that they were all boys.
"It's, it's just like some sort of spider!" Connie analyzed as she got a good look at the uncomforting sight. "Whatever the mewberty is doing to her, it's given her some sort of predatory nature! She gathering up a collection of weaker organisms and cocooning them for later! Wow!" She elated announced with a little too much enthusiasm in her voice, which of course did nothing to comfort the ones trapped, some taking offense to the 'weaker organism' comment. "Maybe it's like a praying mantis thing to, though I guess that it really wouldn't end well for anyone here." She laughs off in discomfort.
"Then we can't waste anymore time. Let's get them out of here." Marco orders as the both of them attempted to rip the boys free. Both had expected the prince to assist them, but for some reason, the young royal had elected to stand still where he was, almost like he was waiting for something.
That's when the creepiness got amped up to a ten. Right in front of them, about 20 feet away another teen, a bit scrawny and wearing glassed, screamed and panicked as he was dragged out of the room he occupied in a vain attempt to escape from the creature's wrath. Six arms pushed out of her body, using the added strength from each one to effortlessly carry her latest victim with a single emotionless expression defining every single movement of her body.
Dragging him to his fate was Star Butterfly, her Mewberty transformation now being complete, with various shades of purple covering her body and clothes. She know lived up to her name sake as a huge pair of wings, not too dissimilar to an insects. "WHAAT?" Marco let out a confused moan. "Star, what, what are you doing?" Star paid no heed to her friends as she ripped a locker from it's hedges without a sign of strain or stress, and throwing her latest victim right in it, beginning to surround everything in her thick webbing. "Star, get ahold of yourself, your, you're freaking everyone out." Marco warned, scared for himself, the school, and his friend. Star only gave a blank stare back, hardly noticing who Marco was as she continued to web up the poor, traumatized student.
"Quartz, go to her, maybe if she see's you, it might actually calm her down enough to stop." She stopped trying to free to boys as she made way to her friend. "Quartz.." She tried to gain his attention again, though when she reached for a shoulder to grab on to, it was interrupted by a sudden halt of another hand.
Quartz, for whatever reason, grabbed her arm, and kept it like that. Facing her, the Prince held onto the same emotionless expression as his sister, and the glowing of his blank eyes only added to the creepiness. "Quartz, your, you're scaring me." Connie let out, forcing her hand away from him. That's when the changes to Quartz started to affect as well. The hue of his skin became a light shade of pink, and his hair also became pink, slightly resembling rose petals as well. Claws formed at the tip of his finger nails, and a single fang arose from his mouth. "Quartz?" Connie fearfully asked her friend, who's only response was silence as he walked forward.
"Star, you need to stop now!" Marco demanded with a little more force, grabbing onto one her many wrists as he attempted to talk the princess down. "Your have everyone in a frenzy, and your transformation is making your brother go crazy too. You have to.." Marco, again, was interrupted as Star held him up with the two arms she had in the middle. Her blank face observed the now nervous teen all over, before slamming him against the wall and proceeding to web him as well. Panicking, Marco proceeded to struggle against it, but to no avail as Star kept piling on the webs to seemingly no end. "Co, Connie, I, I can really use your help right now!" He shouted, trying hard not to get the sticky substance in her mouth.
"Can't really help myself, so, you'll have to wait!" Connie answered, now equally scared. This was getting to terrifying levels now as Quartz only silently stood before her. No intention was made, and everything he was doing was made unclear. Both kids found themselves trapped in seemingly inescapable traps. "Quartz, please don't." She begged in a quiet voice. This prompted a slight flinch from the changed Mewman prince, who paused for a second, only to pounce forward, and a scream soon followed after.
Marco and Star didn't see or notice what was goin own with the younger kids as both were suddenly distracted by another sound. A rhythm of random keys playing in a failed attempt to make music. Flying up high, Star, like a moth to a flame, slowly flew towards it, making sure to grab it when it was at its most vulnerable. "Osssssskarrrr." She excitedly buzzed his name as she flew off, leaving her friend completely trapped in her web.
"This isn't good." Marco panicked as he continued his struggle. For the most part, Star was mostly behaving like an animal, mainly going on instinct with her hunt, but now she was flying towards someone she had a genuine attraction to. If she got to him first, than it could be the final straw that pushed her off the edge. "Got to, got to, break, free!" He groaned with every effort he could put it.
"Need some assistance?" A young, slightly echo-y voice called out below him. Looking down, it was Connie and Quartz, the former of which had a slight blush on her face while the former was still in his transformed mode, only now his eyes weren't glowing anymore. "Let me get that for you." With three swipes from his new claw, the red hooded teen was finally free from the sticky prison, though that didn't stop Marco from his continued shock and staring. "I know, it's a little weird, don't really know what happened either. I blanked out for a second, and, and Connie did something, I think?"
All eyes fell on said girl. "I, I don't, I couldn't say what happened, I, I think I, no.." She blabbered out, feeing too flustered and nervous to complete her sentence.
"No time to dwell on it." Marco stopped her before she could faint from embarrassment. "Quartz, are you able to use the wand?"
Slightly taken back by the question, the boy gives a small and hesitant nod. "Yeah. Yes, I can use it." He said truthfully. "But Glosseryck said that there was nothing we could do."
"We don't need a spell to change her back. We can put a pin in that plan later." Marco answered as he lead the way to Star. "We just need to buy a little more time."
Star's chase was not ending. With her enhanced sight and speedy flight, she made he way towards her target, who didn't move from his spot the entire day. "I don't like your boyfriend, Mom." The rebellious boy 'sang' as he tried to make music. This only seemed to enhance the Butterfly all the more as her glowing eyes widen with happiness.
She couldn't really think all that clearly, or remember that much about herself. She just did what her brain told her to do, which was catch boy after boy, and trap them for later. What she would do with them later depended on how well they preformed under pressure.
She didn't worry about that though, all she needed for everything to be complete was Oskar. With as much enthusiasm as she could muster, she dived deep down towards the probably homeless boy and reached out her arms to grab the unsuspecting teen. The closer and closer she was, the faster her heart paced, the more the desire to give into the creature she was became stronger. This was how it was, this was how she wanted life to be, nothing, nothing was going to stop her from...
"Rainbow Fly trap!" Quartz voice shouted at the top of his lungs, along with the strum of what sounded like chord's of a stringed instrument, and right before the crazed Butterfly could get he grabby hands on her target, her entire body became entrapped on a hard, colorful substance that rivaled the stickiness of her own webs. Struggling, she used all the power she had in her wings to attempt to peel her body off of it. See did so with relative ease, though the next spell didn't make things any either. "Raseberry Ribbon Lasso!" The Prince shouted again alongside the strange melody, as a bright stream of sweetness tied two of the girl's arm together, making it more difficult for her to escape.
Not to far from them, on top of one of the buildings, the trio was there, each one of them holding on to each other, pulling back to stop the girl from flying off. At the end holding the stream of brightness was the prince, holding on to Star's wand itself, though once he cast his first spell with it, the appearance changed. It was brighter in color, resembling a darkish red/pink tint. The entire shape of it completely changed, becoming slightly larger and wider, and resembled something like a little guitar. The crystal was at the very end of it, connected to the instruments' tuners, and sticking out at the sides were four large rose petals.
"Great shot, Quartz." Connie complemented as she struggled to bring use all the strength in her little body.
"Yeah, I've spent enough time around Star and Mm to know how it works." He smiled a little. He was downplaying his happiness of course, because if he could, he would be exactly like Star when she first got the wand(though hopefully a little less destructive). "I just wished that my first time using it wasn't against my sister."
"Just hold it steady!" Marco called, the struggle all three of them being apparent as they all pulled back as hard as they could. The sweat beating down, not just in strain, but in fear failing. Especially for the little prince, that was an awful feeling to have. He couldn't lose his sister now. He had to keep fighting, he had to pull harder, he had to be stronger for her, be strong just like her.
"Quartz!" Connie yelped, struggling to maintain a grip as she peeked over at her friend. "Your, your cheeks, your eyes, they're, they're.." The girl lost her grip and fell on her back before she could finish her warning. With one less person restraing her, that gave the Princess all the freedom that she needed to fly upward in a attempt to escape.
It proved to be a little too much for the two boys as Quartz was lifted out of Marco's grasp. "Whoa!" The prince grasp, quickly being suspended in the air as he was about to be shot upward, before Marco jumped up and grasped Quartz again, holding him close as he fell backwards on his back, making the both of them hang down backwards on the slanted roof, and sling shooting the Butterfly creature into a nearby tree, causing all the teens hiding in it to scurry of like a pack of squirrels .
Sighing, the two felt relief for about two seconds, as Star's feral side refused to relent it's crusade, flying upward, dazed and confused on what to do, like any other animal. This took the two boys holding on for a wild ride, as Star flew randomly in almost every direction she could think of. There was no thought or planning in her head at the moment. Just emotions of fear and panic.
Marco and Quartz were feeling the same way, albeit for different reasons. With Quartz only holding on by a wand, and Marco only holding on by a Quartz, the two screamed in panic as they both tried their hardest to hold on for dear life. There was no time to enjoy any thrill or fun that this could've produced, for the scary ambiance made everything feel all the more worse.
It was proving to become more and more difficult to continue on, as proven by the sweat and glowing of the little prince. Little did he realize again that his eyes and cheek marks were illuminating his face. They only glowed brighter and brighter the harder it became to hold on. Star seemed to have no intention of slowing down or stopping, as her face of struggle clearly showed.
Bumping and crashing aside, Quartz and Marco had no intention either, as the red hooded teen was given a stroke of luck once his feet hit the ground. It was only able to slow down Star by only a peg, but it was a step in the right direction. As he skied through the halls, the sight of Janna( who had small scrapes on her arms now, most likely from her attempt at stealing the book back from the little kid) feeding Glosseryck caught his eye, somehow appearing even more relaxed and disinterested in what was going on. "You're only making things worse!" He yelled out, before allowing Janna to feed him another spoonful of the gooey dessert
The blue man's apathy noted, Marco took those words in consideration, as a pit of worry hit his stomach hard like a a-bomb. Looking at the mess and panic all around him, the vines, the various number of boy that were still stuck in there little prisons, he wondered exactly what they've done to make things better.
None. Almost at every turn, nothing was getting better. In fact, things had only gotten worse. They tried to take her home, they tried to locked Star in a locker, tried to restrain her once again with her own magic, and all they've done was make things worse.
"Quartz!" Marco yelled, making the boy turn his head a much as he could.
"Yes." He answered a little sternly, the glowing on his face becoming so bright that it practically blinded Marco, almost disorienting him enough to make him let go.
"We-we, we, we have to let go!" He said with some reservations about the idea himself. "We have to let her go!"
"What?!" The boy understandably yelled, confused and angry at what his sister's 'best friend' had insisted upon. "Are you nuts?!"
"It's, It's just like Glossaryck said! The more we fight against it, the more it fights back!" He loosened his own grip on the boy, showing that he was indeed saying that this was an option to consider. He nudged on the boy's leg a little, instructing him to do the same. Instead, Marco got a foot to the face for his efforts as Quartz immediately fought the idea.
"But, but, she, I, can't, I can't let her go!" He shouted as the glow from his eyes became even brighter. "I never want to let her go!"
Right then and there, Quartz finally noticed the glow on his own face. He looked at his arms, his pink-turned skin, the sharp claws that had grown longer. Taking a long gaze back at his sister, he didn't really see much of her at all. Not the same sibling that he had known for the past 9 years, not the fun loving, adventuring heroine that he saw her as.
What he saw was something else. Another creature, not a monster, but different, almost like an animal. It could still feel pain, it could still feel scared, and confused, and frightened. That's what the Prince felt off her.
He wanted his sister back. He wanted to have her back to normal. He wanted to give back the wand and tell her how amazing it was to hold on to it.
But if all their efforts were doing nothing but causing her grief, than he didn't want to do any of it.
Looking back at the teen's sadden face, he could tell that Marco was thinking the same thing. The silence spoke for itself, as it was painfully obvious what they had to do next. Not taking anymore time to possible rethink the plan, Quartz pulled forward on the candied cable, lifting up his left hand, and slicing the lasso in one mighty slash. The boys skidded across the floors of the school, the air becoming slower and thicker as they could feel just how much longer the next few seconds felt.
Finally free from the weights dragging her down, the Butterfly creature shot forwards towards her next target, who still, after all this time, had yet to noticed anything beyond the parking space of the school lot. With no hesitation, she shoot her webs on all four corners of the car, and began to fly up to the sky, with no regret or shame for any of her actions.
Accept, a certain, watery feeling came to her eyes. It felt shallow, empty, like something was missing, and no attempt to get it back worked. Looking back down, she spotted the two figures that attempted to stop her raid. By all accounts, the creature assumed, she had no reason to pay them any more attention.
But the smaller one of the two caught her eye the most. Both of the figures had saddened expressions on their face. The older one of them seemed more accepting, as if he did the right thing by doing something bad. But his face had a tinge of acceptance on it. He would try to move on.
But the smaller one seemed to have a little more trouble in that regard. He dared not to look up as small droplets of water fell from his face. His sadness made clear and prevalent all around him. He looked like he was going to yell at any moment, lash out at the nearest living thing and take out any anger on it.
He stayed still. For all the pain he was feeling, the smaller one held on to the pain inside him, not wanting to let it be felt by anyone else. But the creature did feel it, the pain, the piercing, blood curdling pain that could be felt by a sword to a stomach. Any movement, any attempt to alieve it would only prove to make it worse.
Still holding on to the same blank expression it held, the Butterfly let go of the car that it was holding, making it land with a huge crash(though Osksar still barely noticed what just happened), allowing it to lift one of it's arms to wipe its eyes. Still wet, and no sign of stopping.
Marco wanted to say something. He wanted to say that it was all for the best. He wanted to say to the little boy that everything was going to work out in the end. He couldn't. He himself hated the decision, he had no right to attempt to alive the boy's pain. All he could was sit down beside him and mope away the sorrow. "Goodbye Star." Those were words he couldn't wait to say on the first day they met, but now it was the last thing he ever wanted to say. His expression changes however when the sound of heavy fluttering enter in, making the tips of Marco's from lift slightly upwards.
Soon a shadowy presence loomed over the prince. Quartz, not looking up, just assumed it was a cloud or Marco casting their shadow over him. He didn't mind, because darkness was now his only comfort, it was the one thing he knew would be there. Nothing to light up his day. No reason for him to shine like a star.
The feeling of arms covered him whole. "Stop it." He said quietly, not knowing who it was that was covering him. The grasp only got a little more firm as it leaned forward. "Stop." He asked again. Another set of arms wrapped around him, even tighter and more comforting. "What did I.." He immediately stopped once he saw who it was.
Right there in all her purple, multi-armed glory, was the transformed Butterfly, lifting her brother up almost instinctually. Her face still held the same blank slate it held since the beginning, but a sliver of caring emotion seeped out of her as she cradle the little prince in her arms like a baby, as she did so many times in the past, a once again flew off, not even going back to her previous prey.
Back with Glossaryck, he stared up at his watch, which beeped as it reached 3:57. "And now.."
Almost instantly, the glow in the girl's eyes began to dim, as did her brothers. Hearts began to shed off her skin like a snake, one by one, making the high-flyer begin to descend back down to the earth, until the wings on her back dissolved altogether, making both of the royal fall with a hard thump into the pile of webs and hearts that Star had made earlier, making it boom like a mini mushroom cloud.
Not sure what to make of what had just transpired, Marco walked over towards the pile, as the dust cleared. A purple smoke like steam arose from where the two had crashed. Dizzy, the first to emerge was Star, who's appearance was normal again, no glowing heart eyes, no purple skin or hair, or extra arms, just the same, crazy Star that Marco had gotten to know. Wasting no more time, Marco quickly rushed to his friend and gave her a big hug, to which she gratefully accepted and returned. "Wait, where's Quartz?" Marco asked with slight concern, making Star's eye's widen with worry as well.
It didn't last long though. Almost as soon as they looked down, a dizzy, but also normal Quartz arose from the hearts, the pink of his skin gone and his hair gone back to normal. With a daze, he leaned towards his sister with a wide smile. "You came back for me."
"Always." She responded, kneeling down to his level and placing a hand on his shoulder. Nothing else needed to be said.
Of course, Marco interrupts, noticing something a little something sticking out of Star's hair. "What's that?"
"Huh?" Reaching an arm out and feeling the things behind her, Star felt small but stiff tuffs of thin, paper like skin that stuck out of her body. It only took a moment to realize what it was. "AHHHHHHHHHAHAA!" She squealed in delight. "I got my Mewberty wings!"
"Ah, Star, I think I had enough flying for today." He chuckled a little nervously. "You should probably put a pin in thaaa.." Star tuned out his talking as she took a big leap, flapping her wings like a humming bird, ready to soar through the sky, and fell with a big flop.
Both teens grunted in disappointment as Quartz chuckled, floating above their heads. "I think you'll have to wait a while longer to join me in that."
With most of the day's chaos being played out already, the kid's agreed to just sit outside the school, trying to take a moment to finally breathe the air a little more easily. Connie eventually joined the group again once Quartz realized she never actually got off the roof. "So, do you remember exactly what happened?" Connie asked, finally feeling that know was the right time.
"Not really. It was all a blur, and a swarm of confusing emotions to be honest." Star cleared up. "It was like craving bacon after eating it for the first time, it's the only thing that you want to have."
"Knew it." Quartz whispered, making Connie chuckle a little. "I can understand the Butterfly thing with you, but what was it that I was turning to? It felt a bit, familiar for some reason."
"I think the better question is how you got your mind back on track before Star." Marco joins in on the questions himself, before turning his attention towards Connie. "Didn't you do something about that?"
"Ahhh.." Connie blushed, who had counted on no one to bring up what happened. She could still remember it vividly in her head, and how good it felt. This only caused the heat in her cheeks to rise. Fortunately, a loud honk erupted from the front of them, making the girl sigh in relief. "Saved by the bell.., I mean, sorry, I got, I got to go!" She said it a little to loudly, running to the car without saying another word, leaving the remaining three a bit confused.
"Weirdo." Star blatantly states, getting up and turning to her brother. "Speaking of which, don't you want to come back to the house with us? We can practice to see if we can get these wings to work."
"Nah, I really got to get back home now. I got to explain to mom and dad about what happened this morning." He said before whistling out, calling forth his mighty stead. "Oh, I almost forgot." From behind his back, he grabbed the wand(as confusing and misleading as the name was now) and handed back to it's rightful owner. "Thanks for trusting me with it."
"Hm, it suits you." Star chuckled as she held it. In a bright flash, it returned to the way it was before, as if it never changed.
"It does, but I believe it's better on you." He said one final time before a bright pink portal appeared, along side it's furry and fluffy source. Waving one final time, he leaps into the portal, and it flashes itself away.
This day was truly more than the boy had expected, and he really needed all the rest that he could get. Greeting his parents the moment he reached the other side, he smiled, knowing that they could always be counted on for a slow, quiet night that..
"Quartz, my boy, I know exactly what you've been through." His father abruptly announced as he wrapped his arm around the boy's head. "I know that your feelings are very confusing, and distracting, and that every moment you feel them you have the urge to rip apart and destroy anything that gets in your way, but it's all apart of growing up.
Why did he feel like he spoke too soon?
Here are the next three chapters ahead. Vote on what you want next:
ponyhead first meeting with baby quartz
lobster claws
or quartz hanging out with Tom