Aflame
Chapter 6
Meeting madness, part 1
Nobody liked going to the meetings of the Earthni high council.
Not even the Earthni high council.
But who could blame them? The meetings happened constantly, were drawn-out like a bad movie that just wouldn't end, and were usually only about things that were important to a single kingdom. But the rules demanded that the monarchs of all the kingdoms attend, so attend they did.
Also, it was held in the monster temple, and most if not all of the other monarchs hated that.
First up was seeing who attended and who didn't. Then whatever reason the meeting came to pass would be discussed. It would be discussed until there was nothing left to discuss. This was usually a long process, and to the monarchs (and everyone else, really) it was mind numbing.
But one must do things properly.
Members in attendance based on location and/or position:
Ruling Duumvirate: Mayor of Echo Creek, Queen Eclipsa Butterfly
Butterfly Kingdom : Star, River, and Moon Butterfly.
Cloud kingdom: King Ponyhead, and Princess Ponyhead.
Forest of unlikely Spiderbites: Spiderbites: King, Queen, and Princess Penelope Spiderbite.
Jaggy mountains: King, Queen, and Princess Jaggy.
Johansen Kingdom: Queen Johansen.
Pigeon Kingdom: Rich pigeon.
Other:
Yvgeny Bulgolyubov (Buff frog)- Monster-Mewman ambassador.
Marco Diaz- Former Royal squire, possible future prince.
Globgor- Ruler of Monsters.
Shawn- Stenographer.
Members not present:
Waterfolk: King and Queen of the Waterfolk. (Currently attempting to board random fishing boats.)
Lucitors: Dave, Wraithmelior, and Thomas Lucitor.
Johansens: King and Princess Johansen.
With everyone present attended for, Eclipsa cleared her throat and started talking.
"Alright. With that out of the way, let the...57th? Yes. 57th official meeting of the Earthni high council come to ord-" She said, before being interrupted by Shawn's loud typing, courtesy of his typewriter.
Moon sighed at the noise, starting to getting flashbacks of Eclipsa's trial. "Again, Shawn? Eclipsa, weren't you going to get him one of those computer things?" She asked.
"We were." Eclipsa responded. "But we had trouble getting a good source of...wifey, I think it was called?"
"WiFi." Marco corrected.
"Yes. That." Eclipsa said. "We couldn't get a good source, so we have to stick with the typewriter. Shawn, try to keep it down."
Shawn nodded and start typing again, but this time slower than usual.
"Now then." Eclipsa said. "I'm sure you're all wondering why I called you all to this meeting."
"First off," Queen Spiderbite said, getting up from her chair. "Where are the Lucitors? Why do they get to skip this meeting?" All the other royals nodded in agreement with this. They wanted nothing more than to leave.
"Umm…" Star said. "Tom said that he and his family were going on a vacation somewhere in the Underworld, and he should be back by now. But I guess he's not."
Queen Spiderbite grumbled in response to this and went back to sitting down. "Probably just an excuse to skip this meeting." She mumbled.
"As I was saying…" Eclipsa said. "The reason I called you all to this meeting is that I thought it would be wise to inform that Mina Loveberry has...died, and we should discuss what comes next for Mewni due to her death.
All the monarchs perked up at this news. "Oh. That's...unfortunate." Rich pigeon said, entirely unsympathetic.
"Don't act like it's any kind of tragedy." Eclipsa said. "Because I'm not either. Although Mina was once a great warrior of Mewni, you all saw how she went off the deep end. As much as I don't like saying it, her death was...probably for the better."
"How did she die?" Moon asked.
"Burning." Eclipsa responded. "After her little assassination attempt at my life failed and Star and Marco got my child back, the Echo creek police chased her to her base, which was an abandoned building. Unfortunately, when they got there, the building was already covered in flames. We found what was left of Mina inside. We're not sure if it was an accident, or if somebody deliberately killed her."
"What about her posse?" King Jaggy asked. "I heard that she had a bunch of Mewmans and humans working for her."
"They're in jail." Eclipsa responded. "Any of them that weren't at the monster temple when they tried to kill me were arrested soon after Mina died. We found my former servant Manfred, and he just gave up all the addresses and locations in exchange for not going to jail. I suspect that by the end, he didn't even want to be part of Mina's group."
"Well...what if Manfred set the fire?" Penelope suggested. "You did say that he didn't want to be part of Mina's group."
"The police have confirmed that he didn't do it." Eclipsa said. "We know that he went with Mina back to her base, but left soon after without her. By the time the police got to the building, he was far away enough and it had been burning for too short a time for him to have lit it. Also, he apparently passed something called a lie-detector test, so we believe that he had nothing to do with the fire."
"Why did you call this meeting again?" Queen Johansen asked Eclipsa, diverting the topic. "Why didn't you just send a messenger to inform us of Mina's death? I don't see why you needed us here."
"Well," Eclipsa said. "That's not the only reason I called this meeting."
"What's the other reason?" She asked.
"Star? Would you like to explain?" Eclipsa asked, looking over at Star.
"Yeah." Star said. She stood up, and now had the full attention of the room. All eyes were on her, and she took a deep breath as she prepared to speak.
"Okay." She said. "Now, as you all know, in an attempt to get to Eclipsa, Mina stole her daughter. In the process she attacked and heavily injured my friend Janna. I met with her in the hospital, and she gave me what I guess could be interpreted as a...warning."
"What kind of warning?" Rich pigeon asked.
"Well, she said that she had been hearing rumors. Rumors that there was somebody that appeared in town. That everybody was afraid of. To the point that some people were leaving."
"Somebody new?" Moon said. "What do you mean dear? Who is it?"
"I don't know." Star said. "But Janna suspected that they were behind the baby kidnapping, not Mina. And I saw people leaving firsthand. While me and Marco were searching for the babies, we decided to ask Janna's friend Needles first, because we thought he would be a good start."
"Who's Needles?" Several people asked.
"Oh, he's a guy that part of the knitting Underworld in the town."
"What, like a criminal?"
"No, not like a criminal, more like...umm...you know what, sure, why not." Star said, wanting to get back on topic.
"But anyway," She said. "He knew where the babies were, and told us the location, but by writing it down secretly."
"Meaning…" Queen Jaggy said, expecting more.
Star sighed. "Meaning that he was too scared to even say where they were aloud. Like whoever this was was listening in on the conversation. It said that there "were ears everywhere".
"If that's true, then should we even be having this meeting right now?" King Ponyhead asked, worried. "What if whoever it is is listening in to this meeting?"
"I doubt that." Eclipsa said. "We always check for any type of hidden listening devices before every meeting, ever since we heard they existed. We don't want anybody knowing what we all say here. Unless they were hiding somewhere in this room, I don't see how they could successfully listen in to what we're saying in here."
"Even so," Star said. "Make sure to watch your words when you leave. I have a feeling that Needles was terrified in that moment, but he just didn't show it. Then he left. He said he didn't have anywhere to go, but he left anyway. He was that afraid. Everybody is afraid."
The Mayor, who had been quiet the whole time, spoke up at this news. "So, You're telling me that there is somebody in this town, who even the criminal underworld is scared of?"
"Yeah." Star said. "That's exactly what I'm saying. I got both Janna and Needles confirmation with this fact, so I think it's safe to say that exactly what's happening."
"Well then." The Mayor said. "Anybody here have any ideas on who it could be? Because I got nothing if it's somebody from Mewni."
"I think I have an idea." Rich pigeon said. "I'm betting it was that little green monster Ludo."
"What?" Star said incredulously. "Why would you think that he-"
"Why are you defending him?" Rich interrupted. "Didn't he take over your kingdom? Steal the Royal book of spells and then destroy it?"
"Well, yeah. But he's changed now. The few times I've seen him, I noticed that he's not like how he was before. I don't think he even cares about me anymore."
"Still," Rich said. "I think we have a possible candidate. I've heard of the things that little beaked monster has done, and I'm sure that scaring people and burning down things is exactly what he would do!"
"Okay, no!" Star yelled. "First off, Janna and Needles said it was somebody new that was scaring everybody. Ludo is definitely not new. Secondly, Janna also said that she suspects that whoever it was, was also the mastermind for Mina's baby plan. It would make no sense for someone like Mina to team up with a monster. She would never team up with Ludo! Finally, I don't think Ludo is even capable of scaring people enough that he's making them leave the town. Not when he doesn't have any magic or anything like that!"
The entire room sat silently.
"Excuse me." Buff frog said, standing up. "I have an opinion as well. I agree with Star Butterfly. I know Ludo. I have seen him at his best and worst, because I once worked for him. After all I have seen, I can say with certainty that after seeing him just yesterday, he is at his best. Ludo...would not do this. Not now."
Everybody in the room took this in for a moment, but it was obvious that nobody was agreeing with it.
"So...you're defending him as well?" Queen Johansen asked.
"No." Buff Frog said. "I am merely stating facts. Also, Ludo is monster. And like Star said, Mina would never work with any monster."
"Well, maybe Mina didn't know who it was." Queen Spiderbite interjected. "Maybe Ludo was just telling her information through notes or something like that."
Upon seeing that nobody had listened to a word of what either she or Buff Frog said, Star groaned, sat back down, and buried her face in her hands. 'This is just an excuse to leave the meeting earlier.' She thought to herself. 'They just picked someone that they knew had caused trouble in the past and said that he did it. They're not thinking this out.'
Eclipsa, tired of seeing this argument, spoke up. "Very well. If everybody thinks Ludo did it, then we'll go investigate him. Star, Marco, go over to the monster district or wherever it is that he lives and...ask him some questions? I'm sure you can tell if he's telling the truth or not. I'd send either the police or the royal knights, but I don't think he did it either." Eclipsa said this with noticeable annoyance, almost certainly directed at the other royals.
Star sat up and looked at Eclipsa. "Fine. We'll go after this meeting is over."
"Which it is now?" Rich asked. "Now that we've discussed everything?"
Eclipsa, not wanting to get into an argument with the royals, waved her hand. "Sure." She said. "You can go."
Almost instantly the entire room got up from their chairs and left. Star watched them go with disdain.
'Ugh.' She thought. 'They're not even taking this seriously. This could be a real problem, but all they care about is going home. I should talk to Eclipsa about giving them complete reign over their kingdoms. Ever since her and the mayor took over, they haven't really gotten to do anything, and now they've gotten lazy.'
"Hey." Marco said, breaking Star out of her thoughts. "Are we going to go?"
"Yeah. But don't hurry. Seriously, if Ludo is actually the one behind this, I don't know what I'll do."
"Well, at least we have permission to go investigate something this time. Even if nobody was mad at us last time."
Star laughed. "You think so? The police certainly had a lot to say. You were right you know. About the whole "three hour talk on why trying to solve crimes by yourself is wrong." That's something I won't forget for a while."
"Hey girl!" A sudden extremely cheerful voice said.
Star looked to her left and saw Ponyhead float up to her.
"Oh, hey Ponyhead!" Star said. "It's nice to see you again."
"Yeah, but under terrible circumstances." Ponyhead responded. "This whole Mina thing is crazy. Those royals are crazy. They seriously think that that little green goblin is responsible for this. I was just about ready to leave."
"I really think that Mina-" Marco started, before being interrupted by Ponyhead.
"Conversation between me and Star only Earth turd!" She said. "Don't interrupt!"
Marco, too tired to try and argue with Ponyhead, shut his mouth reluctantly with a look of defeat.
"Alright good. Now, Star, I got something else to say. I heard what happened to your other Earth friend Janna or whatever, and I just wanna say, my condolences. I promise I will help in anyway to find whoever this new person is that's freaking everybody out."
"Awww." Star said. "Thanks Ponyhead, that's really-"
"Not right now!" Ponyhead interjected. "I can't do anything right now. I have a new episode of the Ponyhead show to make. All the people in this town are loving it! I even got a deal with a late-night show host to talk about it! I'm gonna be famous!"
"Good for you Ponyhead." Star said. "But are you sure you don't want to come with us? We could use your help."
Marco quickly shot Star a look that said that they definitely didn't need her help, but she ignored it.
"What, with you and Earth turd? No thanks, even if I had the time. Besides, I've heard stories about that little goblin, and I don't want to meet him, even if you and the frog said he was cool now or whatever."
"Oh. Well, I guess I'll see you later." Star said.
"Yeah girl." Ponyhead said. "Don't do anything crazy without me." With that, Ponyhead floated out of the room.
Star sighed and walked over to Buff frog, who was watching the royals leave with a dismal expression.
"Thanks for trying to help me Buff frog." She said. "Even if they didn't believe it. I don't really like Ludo, but I definitely know that he didn't do this."
"Yes. But I had a feeling that they wouldn't listen to me. I am a monster, and they still don't trust monster, even after everything." Buff frog said.
Star shook her head. "We really need to do something about that."
"I agree. But now is not the time, What with everything else going on. But like I said, Ludo is odd and can be...unstable, but this is not what he does. Are you still going over to the ruins of that castle? I believe that's where he lives.
"I guess I have too. But who knows, maybe Ludo will know something about whoever really killed Mina. Like Needles."
"Just be careful. Ludo is back with some of his monster friends. The same ones you beat up countless times. I don't think they'll be happy to see you. Or karate boy."
"I'll keep it in mind." Star said. "Although I'm sure me and Marco can take them down if they do decide to attack us. I doubt they've changed much from when we last saw them."
"Indeed." Buff frog said. "I have to go. Cornball game between monster and Mewman children is going on soon. Can't miss it with little Katrina playing."
Star smiled. "Make sure to say hi to her for me."
"I will." Buff frog then left, followed by Shawn, the mayor, Moon, Eclipsa, and River. After that, Star and Marco were the only ones left.
"You don't want to talk to your mom?" Marco asked.
"Maybe later." Star said. "But I'm trying not to. I discovered that if she doesn't come up and talk to me before I do, then she doesn't want to talk to me at the moment. Which is...most moments."
"Geez. She's still being reclusive, isn't she?" Marco said. "After six months. And to her own family."
"Well, What would you do if you were almost single handedly responsible for that Solarian incident? Which then led to the destruction of magic having to happen. She blames herself for everything. I know I would…"
"As would I," Marco said. "But let's not think about that. Let's go visit Ludo. Go say hi. Ask some questions. If he's really behind it, then I feel like it won't be difficult to find out."
"Yeah." Star said. "Let's go."
They left the meeting room and the monster temple, walking down to the street below.
"So Ludo lives at that castle now, right?" Marco asked. "Castle Avarius?"
"Mmm Hmm. I think they're trying to fix that place up. Luckily, the merge between Mewni and Earth moved the castle closer to the monster temple. So I don't think it should be too far away."
"...Is there any part of you that thinks he did it?" Marco asked. "Just being honest, I'm wondering myself. I don't think he did it, but you never know."
"No." Star responded. "No, I don't think he did it. First off, I don't know if Ludo even knows about Mina at all. He wasn't there when she attacked the monster temple back on Mewni, and I don't think he's had any interactions with her."
"I mean, she had been on the news several times before that. As well as several WANTED posters." Marco said. "He could have seen one of those."
"And then decided that the best solution was to burn Mina alive? I don't think so. That's not how he does things. He would probably try and capture her with that giant spider he rides around, or send his monsters to do it for him. Buff frog did say that he made friends with several of his old monster lackeys."
"I'm surprised they survived his castle blowing up. I wonder how Lobster claws is doing. Or how any of them are doing. What jobs would they even have now?" Marco asked.
"Probably the same jobs they had before: Serving someone."
Star and Marco walked silently the rest of the way, until they finally turned a corner that led to the castle.
"Alright, here we…"
"Are."
Both teens stopped and stared at the "castle", which didn't even resemble a castle anymore. The towers were gone, as well as the gigantic walls. It more resembles a large stone mansion than a proper castle. There were two giant metal doors that led inside, with a small door slot in one of them.
"Wow," Marco said, impressed. "They really cleaned this place up. Last time we were here it was in complete ruins. But now…"
Marco trailed off, and Star grabbed his arm and started walking up to the door.
"Let's get this over with." She said. "I'm sure that Ludo won't be any happier to see us than we will."
"Yeah. Right."
Both of them strode up to the door, and Star grabbed one of the gigantic knockers and banged on the door three times. A few moments passed, and then the door slot opened and Star could see two yellow eyes inside it.
"Who is it?" A gruff voice said.
Star was puzzled. That...was not Ludo's voice.
"Um, I'm Star Butterfly and this is Marco. Who-who are you?" She asked in confusion.
The person on the other side of the door gave a huff of annoyance and then spoke. "I am Lord Brudo. Head of the Avarius family and ruler of this castle."
"Oh...have you seen Ludo?" Star asked.
"Ludo?!" Brudo said. "Don't speak to me about him. We finally managed to kick him out of this castles and get our ancestral home back. Although we had to rebuild it to resemble an Earth house after some complaints from the construction crew. Apparently they didn't know what they were doing, so we had to change the look."
"Okay, yeah, that's great." Marco said. "Listen, do you know where Ludo is?"
Brudo's eyes narrowed. "Why do you want to know about him?"
"Well...Mina loveberry died recently, and the Mewnian high commission believes it was Ludo. We're trying to find him to prove the commission wrong. We don't think it was him."
"Hmph! Well, I kicked him out of this place. Served him right for kicking us out all those years ago. We got the property deed by tricking I'm into giving it to us, and now he's living somewhere else."
"Where?" Star asked.
"Some house. Looks like it's made of garbage. Apparently he built it with the help of his monsters to resemble his old house when he was stuck in "the void." Don't know what that means. If you're looking for it, it's in the forest of certain death, where my family's old house used to be."
"Alright. Thanks for your help." Star said.
Eager to leave, both teens teens turned to leave, but Brudo stopped them.
"Hey…" He said. "What else do you know? I'm curious about who whole Mina thing. What happened there? Who else was she working with?"
"Oh, she kidnapped Eclipsa daughter and Marco's sister In an attempt to get monster to leave. But I think she changed her plans and then tried to assassinate Eclipsa, and that failed."
"And everybody she worked with?"
"In jail." Marco said. "Well, except for Manfred and maybe somebody else?"
"Somebody else?" Brudo asked, his eyebrow raised.
"Yeah. Apparently there's somebody that scaring a bunch of people that our friend Janna thought was really behind the whole baby kidnapping, so we're also looking for them."
With no warning, Brudo quickly closed the door slot.
"Okay...that was weird." Star said.
"He probably just wanted to know the details." Marco said. "I doubt a guy like that leaves his house much. Let's go."
Both Star and Marco left, heading towards the forest of certain death, where hopefully they would have better luck.
Inside castle Avarius…
With Star and Marco gone, Brudo practically ran towards his private drawer that held the item he was looking for. Unlocking it with a key he took out of his pocket, he grabbed the small black device, checked to make sure nobody was around, and pressed the button on it.
A faint ringing sound was heard, and a second later, a voice answered.
"Yes?"
Brudo didn't hesitate. "The Butterfly knows about you." He said. "She knows that somebody is scaring everybody and that you were working with Loveberry."
The voice on the other side made a "tch" sound and continued talking.
"How?" They asked.
"From what I heard, she got the information from a friend of hers called Janna."
"Hmm. I should have told Mina to kill that girl. The fool left her alive when she stole those babies. I should have known that someone like Janna would know about me."
"So what now?" Brudo asked.
"You do what I told you to do, and don't screw it up. You saw what happened with Mina. I'd hate to have to do that with you too Avarius."
"Of course Bren." Brudo said. "And in return…"
"You'll get your revenge on your son. I know how much you despise him. I promise you'll get your chance."
"And…"
"Yes yes, you'll get your lifetime supply of scratch-and-sniff stickers."
"Good. I'll talk to you later once I get the chance."
"I will be looking forward to it." A small "click" was heard, and Brudo put the device back in the drawer, grabbed a sheet of stickers, then sat down in his chair.
"Ahh." He said, before looking at his family portrait, with Ludo at the bottom.
"You'll get what's coming to you boy." He said. "You will suffer what we have suffered for ruining this family name."
"This I promise."
End chapter 6
A/N: Well, Brudo is working with Bren, how's that gonna play out for him? And he doesn't want to kill Ludo, just make him suffer for "ruining" the Avarius family name with his hijinks.
I don't think he'll get very far though…
It might seem that a lot of people are working for Bren, but remember that Needles said "there are ears everywhere" for a reason.
Until next time.
