Aflame
Chapter 2
The stranger
Deep within the bowels of Echo Creek, there lay a hidden place. A dark place. The kind of place that children dare each other to go near on Halloween. A place that was filled with bad memories and seemingly endless horrors that no one wanted to remember.
The old abandoned DMV.
Located on the edge of town, it was a good distance away from any other buildings. At least, buildings that were still used. After the merge, some buildings in Echo creek were deemed "unsafe" due to the damage that they sustained from things that Mewni had brought with it, and thus were abandoned because it was too expensive and dangerous to tear them down at that time.
But even when the town had gotten enough money from tourism to finally rid itself of those structures, they stayed there. Perhaps some kind of reminder? Or maybe nobody remembered that they were there. But they stayed empty. Alone. They seemed like the perfect hiding spot for criminals. Or a good place to hold a secret meeting.
Which was exactly what was happening inside the DMV.
"Fellow Mewmans and company!" A voice cried out from within it. "Monsters and Eclipsa have ruined us! They have been invading our homes! Taking our land! The town is now ruled by two people, both of whom support them. Well, I say no more! It's time we take back Mewni!"
This voice was met with several cheers and cries of approval. If one walked into the DMV, they would see a troubling sight: Mina Loveberry surrounded by over two dozen loyal followers.
Mina had never learned her lesson. After the merge and loss of magic, she had brought together a group of people who wanted Mewni (Or "Earthni" as it was now called) to go back to it's "rightful" rulers. The Mewmans. Surrounding her were several Mewmans, and some humans as well, who she had convinced to join her after telling them that the monsters were ravenous and bloodthirsty.
"But I have a plan!" She continued. "We will take something that matters most to them! Something that they can't and won't ignore. In exchange for its return, the monsters will have to leave this town forever, and be forced to fend for themselves."
Once again, cheers were heard from around the room from all the people who blindly followed a vision that would never come to pass.
"Uh...wait." A voice said. It was one of the Mewmans, looking rather confused at Mina's statement.
"What is it, Doug-Doug?" Mina asked him.
"What are we going to steal?" He asked.
Mina smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It's simple. We're going to steal the abomination that is the queens half-Mewman half-monster daughter!"
Several gasps were heard from around the room at the bold statement, followed by murmuring. The murmurs varied, from some saying that it was going too far, to others saying that it was the best plan they had heard all year.
Mina continued talking, and everybody fell silent. "That's right my fellow Mewni patriots, we're going to steal that baby, and in return for her...return, all our demands will be met!"
"But...what if they don't agree to our demands?" Doug-Doug asked.
Mina suddenly got a bloodthirsty look in her eyes. If anybody had looked straight into them, they would say she was insane. (Not inaccurate) "If they don't agree to our demands…" she said. "Then we're going to kill Eclipsa's child! It will show them that we're not messing around! That we will not sway from doing anything in order to create a perfect Mewni!"
The end result of this statement resulted in a sudden flurry of words from the members in the room. Many were saying that it was going way too far, and even Mina's most loyal followers seemed rather uneased by what she had just said.
Hearing the disagreement coming from her followers, Mina shouted at them to get them to stop.
"COWARDS!" She screamed at them. Instantly the room once again fell silent, and all eyes were upon her.
"I've seen braver people at political debates than in this room!" She said. "If you don't want to go along with my plan, then you can be a traitor to Mewni and leave!"
Everybody stared at her.
"It's not that we're afraid to do it…" One person said. "It's that we think it's going too far. I mean, killing one of those filthy monsters is one thing, but killing a baby?! That's going too far."
Mina scoffed at this statement. "Too far? Do you think that's too far? I remember the days when I was a Solarian warrior, the greatest soldiers Mewni ever had, and I can recall every single thing I did. I killed monsters by the dozens! Not just the strong ones either! In the name of my great queen Solaria, I killed those monsters' children as well! So that they would never grow up and become a threat to Mewni! I don't regret it one bit. Those monsters are savage animals, creatures unfit to be alive, and to kill them is to do a great deed for the world!
But Eclipsa's little monster-Mewman baby? That thing sickens me to my core. Its very existence is a sin of the highest magnitude! If my informant hadn't told me not to, I would have already stormed the monster castle and slit its throat! I have no regrets about anything. Monsters are a virus, a disease upon this world, and I, and we, are the cure that will wipe them out of existence!"
Everybody stayed silent, stunned at the ferocity, and the power behind Mina's words. If a normal person was in that room at that time, they would have just walked right out.
But these people didn't.
Instead, they nodded. They agreed with the poison that had come out of Mina's mouth.
"She's right!" One person said. "We have to protect this world, no matter the cost!"
"She's right about the monsters as well!" Said another. "We don't have to feel bad for killing them. They aren't us after all. They're just filth. The one thing that's stopping this world from reaching its full potential!"
And so they conversed with one another. Each opinion was worse than the last, all spouting praise for Mina's words. Mina herself simply smiled. Her followers completely believed her, and now, it was time to set her plan into action.
"Manfred!" She said.
Manfred, who had been present since the beginning and was Mina's oldest follower on this new world, walked over to her. "Yes, ma'am?"
Mina took a square-shaped, black device out of her pocket and gave it to him. "Contact the Stranger." She said. "Tell him that my plan will soon come into action."
Manfred paused. "Can I speak my mind, ma'am?"
"Of course. What is it, my faithful servant?"
Manfred took a deep breath. "I'm worried about this "Stranger", as you call him. Every piece of information that you need you get from him, but I'm starting to get worried that we shouldn't trust him."
"Why is that?" Mina asked.
"He refuses to show himself to us, he always disagrees with our plans, saying we should do his, and we don't even know his name. If I was to have an informant, I would want it to be somebody we trusted. Somebody we knew."
"That's fascinating, Manfred." Mina said, obviously not having heard a word of what he said after "he." "Now, do what I told you! It's time to enact this plan and end this meeting."
Manfred sighed. "Yes, ma'am." He walked off.
"Good. Now, everybody!" Mina said, getting the room's attention. "It is time. Now, I told my informant about my plan a while earlier, and he said the best time to take that baby will be later today. Apparently, she's going over to the house of the princess's little boyfriend while her mommy and daddy have dinner with some guests! It will be the perfect time to strike! At 7:00 tonight, we will go to that house and take the baby. We will leave our note that explains our demands, and we will wait for their response."
The room was filled with nods of approval at this plan.
"Now," Mina said. "Everybody drink the official daily end meeting drink and come back later tonight."
Everybody did so, (the drink was a mix between liquified corn and Mewnian ale) and left. Mina watched them leave.
"Nothing can stop me now." She said to herself. "Soon, this whole world will be a monster-free paradise, and we will show no mercy to anybody that does not follow the rules of this paradise."
"Come on, Star!"
"Give me a minute! I'm picking out the right clothes."
"Star, Eclipsa said that we can wear our normal clothes. We're not going to a fancy restaurant. It's just a friendly dinner with Eclipsa and Globgor."
It had already been a half hour. Star and Marco were getting ready to have dinner with Eclipsa, and as usual, Star was taking a little more time than needed to pick out an outfit. Marco was still waiting downstairs for her, while Star was still upstairs picking something out.
"Okay!" She said. "I think I'm ready!"
"Finally," Marco muttered. "Every evening with this."
Marco heard Star coming downstairs, and got up from the chair he was sitting on, praying that Star didn't change her mind at the last minute.
"How do I look, Marco?" She asked.
Marco stared at her dumbfounded. "Star, that-that's the same outfit you've been wearing all day. You didn't change your outfit at all."
Her face dropped. "Oh...do you think I should try and find another outfit?"
"NO!" Marco said. "No, that's great! It's great. No need to change anymore. You looked adorable."
Star smiled at him. "Awwww. Thanks, Marco. You looked great too. Now come on, let's go!"
They both headed to the door, but when they opened it, someone was already standing on the other side.
It was Janna. Carrying baby Meteora with her. Overall, an odd sight.
"Oh hey, Janna!" Star said cheerfully. "Here to drop off Meteora?"
"Yeah," Janna said. "Guess I'm on babysitter duty, since Marco's folks are out tonight as well."
"They're visiting my mom and dad," Star said. "Something about royalty."
"Well, now that you two are together, they're gonna have to make the Diazes an official royal family," Janna said. "Can't have the princess marrying a commoner. What with tradition and all that."
"I suppose. I wonder if there's going to be a ceremony." Marco said.
"Eh, I'm sure there will be. A small one yes, but there will be one."
"I'll be looking forward to it," Marco said. "But we have to go now."
"Right, right," Janna said, walking past them into the house. "Well, have fun with Eclipsa you two. I'll text Marco if anything happens here. And make sure to tell me everything that happens.
"We will," Star said.
"Great. Now if you'll excuse me…" Janna held up Marco's wallet. "I'm gonna pass the time by looking through this little thing."
Marco stared at his wallet in shock and checked his pockets. "How- How did you even-"
"See ya!" Janna said, shutting the door.
"Okay, no," Marco said, who started walking back towards the door before Star grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
"Come on." She said. "She's already done that a million times and you know it. There's nothing in that wallet right now that she hasn't seen before."
Marco looked at Star and sighed in defeat. "...Fair point." He said.
With all that taken care of, the two set off towards the monster temple, unaware of the several pairs of eyes watching them leave.
"Alright." One of the nearby bushes said. "The two brats have left. Now we make our move."
Star and Marco strode to the monster temple, as fast as they could. Marco could tell they were already late without even having to check the time, due to several distractions that they had run into while getting there.
And when they finally arrived, it's massive shadow cast over them, towering above everything else in the area. The store, the houses, even a few low-lying clouds.
"Never gets old," Star said. "I could almost call this place a third home."
"Yeah…" Marco said, remembering the time that they had lived here. Before the Butterfly castle was finally repaired after the merge, they had both lived at the monster temple. But then Star moved back into the Diazes to be closer to Marco. Also to enjoy a regular life before she became queen.
They both walked into the temple, and an audience of Eclipsa, Globgor, and her monster butler Archibald was there to greet them.
"Hey, Eclipsa!" Star said.
Eclipsa waved at them. "Hello, Star. Hello, Marco. It's good to see you both again." She said. "How have you both been?"
"We've been great! How have you and Globgor been?"
"We've been fine as well. We have been rather busy lately, what with all the meetings we've had with the mayor and a few problems with some...protesters. But other than that, everything has been just great. Come in, we made sure to prepare a special feast for our get together."
"Is it mostly corn?" Marco asked.
Eclipsa nodded and started walking away, motioning for the others to follow her, which they did. "Well, you know, we do have a bit of an oversupply at the moment. When we asked the state government for corn when our supplies were getting low, we didn't quite expect to get so...much. It was honestly more food than any person in the kingdom had ever seen. So we've been eating more corn than usual lately so we have space in the stores for the corn that we regularly grow."
"That's great," Star said. "How is your relationship with the government anyway?"
Globgor suddenly chimed in. "It's okay. The humans seem to recognize the Mayor's authority more than ours, as monarchies apparently aren't very common anymore, and the ones that are left don't have much power. All the power is in something called the parliament. At least, that's what I've been told. But they have been supportive of us. They recognized our plight and helped us out. I'm pretty sure that they want us to stay in Echo Creek for the time being."
"Well, at least everything else is going well," Star said. "I mean, it is, right?"
"Oh yes," Eclipsa said. "After that monster-Mewman-human get together we had at the town's community center, everybody seems to trust one another much more. Oh, and here we are…"
Everybody entered the large room that Globgor had once been imprisoned in. The broken crystal was still there, but other than that, the whole room seemed to have been cleaned up nicely. There was a large wooden table with several plates already laid out. The plates seemed to be mostly corn, as Marco had suspected and Eclipsa had confined, although there did appear to be a few other random items as well. Everybody took a seat.
"Anything else you need ma'am?" Archibald asked.
"No thank you, Archibald," Eclipsa responded. "I'll call you if we need anything."
"Very good," Archibald said. With that, he flew off.
"Hmm. I like him a lot better than Manfred. He seems nicer." Star said.
"Quite," Eclipsa said. "Although we are still searching for Manfred at the moment. As well as...Mina."
A heavy silence came upon the table. Mina was not mentioned much, as everybody wanted to forget her. But try as they may, they all knew she was still out there somewhere, possibly gaining new followers for her anti-monster gang. But they didn't have to worry about that now.
"Well," Eclipsa said, hoping to divert the topic from Mina. "Everybody dig in." So everybody did.
Five minutes into the dinner, Globgor spoke up. "It's a shame your parents couldn't be with us tonight, Star. I was hoping for them to come. Maybe bury the hatchet after so long."
"Yeah, well you know," Star said. "They're meeting with Marcos parents, and besides, even if they weren't, they probably wouldn't come. Well, my dad might, but my mom wouldn't."
Eclipsa nodded. "How is Moon anyway? When did you last see her?"
"A week ago," Star responded. "She seems the same. I hope she doesn't avoid everybody forever. I can't remember the last time she showed herself in public. I feel like she's afraid that people are going to attack her if she shows herself because of what she did."
"They're not going to do that," Marco said. "Sure, your mom might be a little unpopular now, but she's not that unpopular. I actually think that some people want to see her again too. I bet the monarchs of the other kingdoms want to see her again as well. Don't they? Eclipsa, have the other kingdoms mentioned Moon?"
Eclipsa laughed. "Don't even get me started with them, Marco. The other kingdoms aren't particularly fond of me right now either. Due to the fact that the Mayor and I were appointed as the rulers of the town by the state, the other kingdoms are slightly mad that they weren't included at all. Which sadly, they technically aren't. They don't have any real power now. They only have power over their own people, unlike before, when they had control over sections of Mewni. But now that parts of their kingdoms have spilled into parts of Earth, they lost the power they had in those parts. It was given to me and the Mayor. You should have seen their reactions at the meeting when the governor of the state told them that."
"I was there for that," Star said. "I'm honestly surprised they didn't attack him."
"Well, he did have several armed guards with him. I do not doubt that he's never coming back here."
Everybody laughed. "You know…" Marco said. "It's nice that it worked out in the end."
A sudden ding was heard.
"What was that?" Eclipsa asked.
"Oh, that was my phone. Janna must have texted me. Hope I didn't just jinx us." He said with a laugh.
Marco quickly pulled out his phone and looked at his messages. His smile quickly faded.
Star noticed this. "Is something wrong?" She asked.
"Yes," Marco said with wide eyes. "Janna told me to call the police. She...said...oh god, she said that she thinks someone is trying to break into the house, and the power is dead for some reason!"
Everybody looked at each other.
"Oh my god! The babies are there!" Eclipsa said.
"Okay, we have to go now," Star said frantically. "Marco, call the police, we're leaving."
"Right," Marco said, quickly dialing them.
"Good," Star said. "Now come on. We're going back to the house. If somebody's trying to break in, then we're not going to stand around and wait. We're taking care of this right now."
Star quickly ran out of the temple, followed by Marco, who was explaining everything to the police on his phone, both of them running as fast as they could.
Eclipsa looked at Globgor. "Well, let's go then!" She said. Globgor nodded and the two of them ran after Star and Marco.
What followed was a mad dash through Echo Creek. Practically pushing people out of the way, all four of them basically sprinted to the Diazes house. After what seemed like an eternity of running, they arrived, all of them completely out of breath.
But it seems to be too late. The door was broken in, and most of the windows were shattered. It looked like every part of the house had been broken into at the same time.
Star gasped at the sight, but Marco quickly ran inside.
"Janna!" He said. "Are you here? Where are- where…" He suddenly stopped cold and noticed the rest of the house. It was a mess. Most of the furniture was destroyed, and it looked like a full out brawl had occurred in every room. Everybody looked around, searching for someone, anyone. Eclipsa ran upstairs, no doubt looking for the babies.
Then they spotted a hand coming from underneath a fallen bookcase.
"Oh my god!" Star screamed. "JANNA!" She rushed over. "Globgor, help me get his thing off her!"
Globgor stepped over to the bookcase and lifted it like it was nothing, tossing it aside. They were met with a grisly sight. Janna was underneath it, unconscious and drenched in blood with several noticeable wounds on her.
Star stepped back. "Is she-is she…"
Marco kneeled down and put his fingers on her neck, his hand shaking. "She has a pulse. She's alive." He gasped. "But barely. We have to get her to a hospital now."
Right on schedule, several sirens could be heard coming from down the street. Eclipsa suddenly came back down the stairs, her face pale.
"I can't find them." She said.
"What are you-"
"They took them. They took Meteora and Mariposa."
End chapter 2
A/N: Well, that's a fun little chapter, right? Janna's fine by the way. She's not dead. But Mina and her gang sure don't show mercy to people they see as traitors.
Also, Mina will not be the main antagonist of this story. Not even close. She's a small fry compared to what will eventually happen.
See you next time.
