Aflame

Chapter 22

Two halves and a Whole

"I want to see her!"

"Sir, please, I'm not able to help you. We've already gone over this, and I can't let you in to see your wife."

"Why not?! Those two Mewmans just went into the hospital a few minutes ago to see their daughter! And they had an escort! Why can't I see my wife?"

"Because their daughter is a patient who's still alive." The Desk Attendant growled. (You know which one) They rubbed their temple and clicked the pen they were holding a few dozen times in a row, the only thing at the moment that was preventing them from stabbing themselves in the eye with it. "So sir, please sit back down. People whose family members are currently deceased do not take priority. Not at a time like this."

The man they were talking to trembled, both out of sadness and anger. "I'm not going anywhere until I-"

"Security!" The Desk Attendant yelled, and immediately a guard showed up out of nowhere and grabbed the man's shoulder. "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to sit back down, or I'll have to forcefully escort you off the premises." He said, speaking with a no-nonsense attitude. "Which is it going to be?"

The man looked from the guard to the Attendant and then clenched his fists. "Neither!" He yelled, and reached for the Attendant's throat. They leaned back in shock just as the guard responded by landing a punch in the man's gut and then the side of his head. and then grabbing his collar. They then grabbed him by the collar before dragging him off towards the front door, but not before he loudly expressed his frustration for the last time.

"Let me see her!" He sobbed. "Let me see her! She's all I've got left! She-" But by then, it was too late, and the Guard and the man were out the door, his cries rendered inaudible.

A brief silence fell over the lobby until the chatter slowly returned at a leisurely rate, and the Attendant sighed again and placed their forehead on their desk. They really hated themselves right now. Mostly for having to do that. Sending that guy away when all he wanted was to see the body of his wife. Their heart would have been beyond broken, if it hadn't already been shattered into a thousand...ish pieces a few hours ago. Because incidents like this were pretty commonplace at the moment. Things seemed to have died down after the crowd saw over twenty people getting dragged outside by the same guard, who was the toughest one the hospital could find. He was actually a retired knight for the Jaggy Kingdom, and was wearing his full set of armor. They had employed him last night to deal with this kind of thing. Unfortunately, that also meant that the hospital would have to pay him a...substantial amount of money once this was all over.

But each one of those people was identical in personality. Angry, sad, and mourning all at the same time, demanding to see the mangled corpses of their friends or family. But like the Attendant said, the ones who were related to living patients were the first to go. There was a literal line now, and the range of emotion from the front end to the back varied greatly.

So after repeatedly slamming their head against the desk, the Attendant looked up to see the Knight coming back inside, a grim expression on his face and a small amount of blood on his fists. Obviously, the man took a great exception to being forced out, and special measures had to be taken. Again. Normally the Attendant would have given the Knight a swift reprimanding, as they were trying to help patients, not create more. But after five reprimands in a row, they didn't bother. They just let the Knight do his thing.

Because what would they do? Fire him? If he wasn't here restoring order when needed, then the entire lobby might collapse into chaos. Dozens of people were there, each of them pissed off to the extreme. Mumbling about how "the Royals" got special privileges and got to see their daughter before the rest of them.

But in reality, the only reason they got to see her early was because the Knight mentioned to a doctor that he wasn't going to fight any of that once King River strolled in, and he promptly left the area until the Johansen had disappeared. So mostly they were just terrified of River. And if his rage was anything like Star's, a phenomenon that quite a few doctors got to witness the day before, then none of them would stand a chance if he started throwing a fit.

However, the Attendant could care less about their complaints. Because it was time for them to sit down and finally do their damn job: Filling our pieces of papers that no one will ever look at, spare a quick glance or two. But hey, they still got paid, and at a time like this, that was an exclusive right.

So they got right back to it, and grabbed a sheet off one of the stacks. This one was another visitor form. Something something wounded knee...something something have to amputate...something something...blood. That's all they got out of it, which frankly was more than a good deal of the other forms. They bit their tongue and put pen to paper, their movements almost robotic in nature as they scribbled down the necessary information.

Then the automatic doors slid open as yet another person entered the hospital, and they didn't even turn to look.

'Whoopee.' They thought. 'Who is it this time? A person we kicked out earlier? Another patient? More Royals? Oh, please be the second option.'

Whatever the answer, they'd have to deal with it. The Attendant didn't even notice that the lobby had gone completely silent as the newcomer walked over to the desk and rested their elbows on it. They didn't even move their head up but instead kept working on the form, mentally preparing themselves to get yelled at later about it. They had learned how to multitask quite efficiently in the past twelve hours, and they'd rather be on clean-up duty than put such a skill to waste.

"Can I help you?" They asked.

"I'm here for a patient." The newcomer said. Low. Male. Young, but not that young. Probably another teenager. The Attendant made a "pft" sound and moved their fingers to the computer sitting to their right, eyes now focused on the screen.

"What's the patient's name?"

"Star Butterfly."

They didn't even flinch at another mention of that dreaded name. Was this that Marco kid that came back to life yesterday? Didn't sound like it, but it was the most likely possibility. But they were too tired to even look up and check, so they typed it into the system without hesitation.

"Are you here with a parent or guardian?" The Attendant asked, able to easily tell from their voice that whoever this was was definitely not old enough to be wandering around by themselves.

"I mean...depends on what you mean by guardian." The newcomer said, before sounding like they shrugged. "Yes. Just type in yes."

"Okay then...now what's your name?"

"...Bren. And that's it. I don't have a family name."

The Attendant soullessly started to type that in, but their finger stopped and hovered just over the "e" button as what they had just been told registered in their brain. Did they really just say…?

Their gaze drifted upwards and their eyes met the newcomers, one fiery orange and the other a murky brown. A choking sound was suddenly heard from the Attendant's throat as they recognized the face from the wanted poster hanging from the opposite wall. The same person who had caused so many people to get sent to this hospital was now casually standing in its lobby, a lobby that the Attendant just noticed had gone quiet.

"Hmm...are you okay?" Bren asked, tilting his head. "You sound like you're choking on something."

"I...I'm f-fine." The Attendant gasped out, now hyperventilating and doing their best not to show it. "Uh...how...can...I...uh...I…" They sputtered, coherent speech now an impossibility due to the raw fear that was coursing through them. They glanced to the left, where a demon-esque teenager was standing, looking grim. They gulped and forced their hand to move back to the keyboard, praying to anyone that was listening that they'd survive this little encounter.

"You're going to have to repeat that." Bren sighed, leaning in and cupping a hand over his ear. "I can't hear...well, I can, but you're not making any sense."

"How...can I help you?" The Attendant repeated, putting on their best customer smile despite the fact that they were screaming inside. (Years of retail before this job had prepared them for this moment.)

"You already asked that." Bren pointed out, before groaning. "I should have known coming here like this was a bad idea. Try to have some fun maybe, freak everyone out…" He surveyed the room, where every single person was clinging to the far wall, trying to get away from him any way they could. Even the Knight stood frozen in place, thanks to a death glare that Tom had given him the second they walked in.

"Figured that the panic would be a lot more...vocal." Bren said, obviously disappointed with the reaction he was getting. "Ah well. Maybe I can change that later..."

He then focused his attention back on the Attendant, who had been subconsciously holding their breath the entire time. "Okay. Where is she?"

"W-who?"

Bren facepalmed. "Butterfly." He enunciated. "The person I just mentioned? Just asked about? What room is she in?"

"Um...before I tell you, could I ask what exactly you plan to do?" The Attendant asked, wishing they could crawl in a hole and hide.

"Oh, me and her and gonna have a talk, that's all..." Bren declared. "Star knows a few things that could really bother me down the line, so I have to remind her not to try too hard. Even though I…told her and her boyfriend at the beginning to try as hard as she could. I'm starting to regret that now."

"That...sounds kind of hypocritical." The Attendant pointed out, and then immediately regretted saying it.

"True." Bren agreed. "But after Marco nearly killed me back at the Sanctuary, I found out that I probably shouldn't be giving them that many chances, so I'm changing things up a bit."

"..."

"But I'm not here to talk about that." Bren said. "So I'm going to ask again. Where is she?"

"I…" The Attendant sucked their breath and prepared to do what they considered to be the bravest/stupidest action of their entire life. They hated this job with every ounce of their being, but reason overcame fear as they made a choice to potentially save a life at the cost of their own.

And if she actually helped Bren, then the odds were that everyone in the lobby would tear them apart the second he left.

"I can't tell you." They said.

"Oh? And why's that?" Bren asked. "Do you not have the room number? Wouldn't be surprising if they wanted to keep it a secret, all things considere-"

"That's not it." The Attendant said. "I'm not allowed to give away the location of patients if I believe their visitors have hostile intent towards them. And...I'm sure you do, so I'm sorry...sir, but I can't give you the patient's location."

"...What?" Bren spat, before placing both his hands on the desk and grinning widely. "Sorry, I don't think I heard that correctly. Would you be so kind as to repeat what you said to me?"

"I…"

"Yes?"

"I...am not allowed to give you-"

"Not that." Bren scoffed. "What did you call me during that nonsense?"

"Um...sir?" The Attendant said, now slightly more confused than brave/stupid/terrified.

"Eugh." Bren gagged dramatically, his entire body tensing up. "Please don't call me that again."

"Is...is there a particular reason why-"

"None of your business." Bren mumbled. "Now, I believe you mentioned something about how you can't tell me because you think I'll hurt Butterfly, correct?"

"Y-yes. That's correct. It's required by law."

"Okay, but I doubt you listened to a word I said before that?" Bren asked. "Because I literally told you that I only wanted to talk to her, and nothing else. If she tries to attack me, then sure, I'll retaliate, but other than that, she'll be fine."

"I'm sorry, but I still can't tell you."

Bren's smile faded from his face and he leaned even closer. "Well. Then we're going to have a problem aren't we?"

The Attendant felt their heart drop to their stomach. This was it. This was how they died. Not in a car accident, not being attacked by some psycho patient, but this. Murdered by some psycho teenager with white hair, mismatched eyes, and who just blew up half the town. For a brief moment, the Attendant wondered why they were so afraid of him, considering his extremely unimposing appearance. (The fact that he might carry some kind of infectious disease due to how screwed up his eyes were was the most frightening thing about him honestly.) Why were they so scared? Because of his demon bodyguard?

'No.' They thought. 'No, that wasn't it. I was already petrified before I even realized that thing was there. So is there...no real reason?' They pondered 'Am I scared simply because he's the one who blew up that mansion?' The Attendant almost growled as they realized exactly what they had been scared of this whole time. 'Okay. This is ridiculous! Look at this guy! He's just some stupid teenager! There's...there's no reason I should be afraid! He has no...visible weapons. All he has is a reputation.'

Once this sudden realization set in, the Attendant scowled and glanced over at the Knight, who, like everyone else, stood frozen in place. "You!" They yelled, causing everyone to look at the Mewman. The Attendant then pointed at Bren. "Do your job! Take him out right now! The enemy is standing in front of you! He's not armed! All he has is one guard! Do your damn job! Do what we're paying you for!"

After all this had been said, there was a mixed reaction amongst the collective crowd. The Knight glared at the Attendant furiously, Tom bit his lip, sensing that something bad was about to happen, Bren facepalmed again and let out an annoyed groan, and everyone else inched further away from the pair, getting a feeling that they were still in the splash zone.

"Really?" Bren asked. "Do you seriously just-fine." He scoffed. "You know what, fine. Send your brave Knight to stop me." He turned towards said Knight, who was still seething at the Attendant for getting him directly involved in all of this. "Come on then." Bren said with a bored tone. "Try and stop me or arrest me, or...whatever. I promise that Tom will make it quick, because I have things to do and don't want to waste the time."

"I'm not going to attack you." The Knight deadpanned.

"...Oh. Well good." Bren said, visibly surprised. "I'm glad to see that at least one of you had some sense, unlike…" He turned and glowered at the Attendant. "...this one over here. But-"

"No, I'm not finished talking." The Knight said.

"Oh, goddamn it." Bren muttered. "What? What now?"

"I said I wasn't going to attack you." The Knight said, taking a small step forward.

"Yeah, and?"

"I never said anything about not attacking your friend. Now that I have been dragged into this, I suppose I now have no other choice but to interfere."

"What? Friend?" Bren chuckled. "What the hell are you-" His eyes drifted over to Tom. "Ah. I see what you were trying to say. You really should have worded that a little better. Even Tom would agree that we're nothing close to-"

Before Bren could go any further, the Knight took advantage of his distracted state and shot forward with incredible speed, moving faster than anyone thought possible. Tom hardly had any time to react before the old man was on top of him, and was in such shock by the sudden movement that he felt like his muscles had become that of a statue. The Knight reached out and grabbed his head, his palm so large that it encompassed his entire face. Without hesitating for a second, he lifted the demon in the air and then flung him into a nearby wall, shattering plaster and leaving a giant Tom-shaped hole in the process, like something out of a cartoon.

As the entire room stared in shock at what they just witnessed, Bren simply stared at the wall cutout for a second, fully expecting his demon to jump out and retaliate, but his expectations were ruined as the only response Tom gave after this was a soft groan of pain, muffled under a quarter ton of plaster. Bren shook his head and let out a disappointed humming noise upon realizing that whatever injuries Tom received from that one blow had somehow taken him off the board, and now he was the only piece standing.

"Really Lucitor?" He asked. "That's all it took? Him throwing you into a wall? Stop making yourself look bad and crawl out of there."

"Auuuuughh…" Tom moaned groggily. "Dad? Is that you? Make the room stop spinning...and get rid of all these flying demons. They're making me dizzy…"

'Oh. Hallucinations. Well, that's just fantastic.' Bren thought. 'I'd chide him for talking out of turn right now, but I don't think he even knows where he is." He shrugged. "Ah well, I'll deal with that later. Not like I can't take these assholes on by myself…"

"Your turn." The Knight said, making a Bren snap back to attention. "I don't care if you look like a weakling. You're going to pay in full for what you did to this town and it's people."

"Aren't you retired?" Bren asked casually. "Why are you here guarding this shit-hole instead of lazing around at home?"

The Knight was clearly taken aback by this response, having expected a plea for mercy or at least an escape attempt. "I...they asked for my help, and promised to pay me." The Knight said, before his gaze darkened. "Also, I heard about what happened to my fellow knights. About how they all perished in the mansion explosion. So I wanted to do something. To at least help out. Show them that I haven't given up, even after their deaths."

"If it makes you feel better, they were never my original target. That was Lord Brudo." Bren said. "They were just in the way, along with everyone else. Sure, it was nice to get rid of them, won't cause any problems for me down the line, but...yeah. I didn't care about them in the slightest."

The Knight shook with rage, infuriated at this reveal. He had thought that his fellow knights had been considered a major threat after they assisted in taking down the demon. That Bren took them out because he thought of them as a hindrance to his plans. But now he discovered that they were never even regarded as a threat to his plans. His fellow comrades had been deemed as little more than trash by this interloper. Such disrespect was a crime that the Knight could not allow to go unpunished. "You mock them." He growled. "Even in death?"

"I believe that's where a good deal of the mocking towards a person takes place."

"Well, not to the knights of Mewni!" The Knight exclaimed. "When a Knight dies, they are not mocked by their fellow warriors. They are treated with respect, because they died on the battlefield and did their duty to the Kingdom. We treat their bodies with the highest esteem, and give them a grand funeral in their honor."

"Wow, that's really interesting and all…" Bren said sarcastically. "But is it a bad time to point out that your friend didn't die on a battlefield? Or accomplish any kind of duty to the "Kingdom" in the process? They died entirely in vain. Any sane person wouldn't see their deaths as good ones. Hell, there weren't even any bodies left to bury. Not much available for you to treat with your "highest esteem"."

After this poison left Bren's mouth, the Knight struggled to resist the urge to simply grab him and hurl him at a nearby wall like he did to Tom. (Who was still partially unconscious). Frankly, he would have loved to do it earlier, preferably the second he set his sights on Bren, but the Knight knew better than anyone that a battle like that would be unfair. He figured Bren didn't have much going for him in the combat department. Why else would he need that bodyguard?

Even if Bren was a villain, and a true monster, he still deserved the privilege of an honorable fight. Even in a rather…odd arena.

But as for the "fight" with the said bodyguard, he considered this to be fair due to the fact that he was literally going up against the Prince of the Underworld, who had for some reason gone down after only one blow. (Even the Knight was surprised by how easily he was defeated.) So the old man preferred to give Bren a chance to win, even if he didn't have one.

"Enough of this." The Knight said. "You can make fun of my fallen comrades all day long, but it won't accomplish a damn thing."

"I agree." Bren said, nodding. "That's what I think It'd be in everyone's best interests if they…" He pointed to the Attendant, who was still staring wide-eyed at the Tom-shaped hole. "...Simply told me where Butterfly is, so we can move this along a little faster. Then I can leave, you can go back to doing...this useless job of yours, and that'll be the end of it. Pretty good deal, yeah?"

"No."

"Son of a...okay, what do we have to do to keep this moving?" Bren asked, rubbing his eyes. "Should we fight now and get it over with?"

"That would be the process of events." The Knight said. "However, while normally I'd strike first against an opponent, as I did with your friend…"

Bren reflexively bit his lip so hard it drew blood, fed up with all the misunderstandings. "For the second time, that little demon slave is not my fucking frien-"

"But with you things will be going differently!" The Knight interrupted. "Because you are not a proper opponent. The mastermind of everything bad that has befallen this town, yes, but not a warrior. I can tell just by looking at you! You are a user of brains, not brawn, and I can say with certainty that at your strongest you are still more frail than that demon at his weakest!"

"You know, if my knowledge about this dimension is correct, then in this day and age it's rude to make assumptions about people based entirely on their physical appearance." Bren said snarkily, crossing his arms. "I can already see the internet exploding over that...there are security cameras in this lobby, right? I could sell that footage...maybe do some more blackmailing…"

"Joking about this will not get rid of the fact that you are no match for me." The Knight said. "I don't care for the social guidelines of Earth, or Mewni. Only the actual law. And you interrupted what I was going to say! Hush now, so you can hear my reasoning."

"God, I can't tell if you have some weird superiority complex or if you're just a senile old man." Bren said. "Probably both."

"Quiet!" The Knight thundered. "So, my reasoning. I have fought many opponents Bren." He spat the name out with disdain. "And after so many years, I can tell the strength of a person with one glance. I saw the strength of that demon, and I knew I had to act quickly. It has helped in many battles, letting me know when I am fighting against an enemy that I cannot best. But when I saw you...I felt nothing at all. Which you are so weak that my special sixth Knight sense did not even register you as a threat! I-"

"Sixth sense?!" Bren shouted incredulously, hoping that he'd wake up right about now. "My god, do you hear yourself? This sounds like a bad movie! That is totally something you made up on the spot. You know you had to act quickly against Lucitor because he's a demon prince and would kick your ass if you didn't get the first blow in like that! So…" He sighed again. "I'm assuming this was some attempt at intimidation that worked against all the other morons you've gone up against, and therefore…" Bren looked like he was about to continue his beration, but thought otherwise and instead waved his hands in front of him, clearly done with everything. "Oh forget it." He scoffed. "I'm rambling on. Long story short, cut the bullshit and fight me already if you're going to."

The Knight stood silently after this lengthy criticism, taking it all in one word at a time. A minute later, he pulled a long dagger out of nowhere without saying a word and aimed it at Bren. However, before Bren could sigh again, he flipped it around in his hand and grabbed hold of the blade, offering up the handle.

"Take it."

"What?" Bren asked. "You want me to take your little toothpick?"

"Yes." The Knight said. "And I…" He pulled out another dagger of equal length, causing many present to question where he had hidden them. "Will use this to fight you. So take the dagger, and let us duel."

"What, right here in the lobby?"

"Yes."

Bren opened his mouth to say something, but closed it a second late, deciding that it wasn't worth the hassle to get in another moronic argument. He stepped forward and snatched the weapon out of the Knights hand, before twisting it around so he was holding it in a stabbing position.

"Okay." He said. "So how are we doing this? You go first, I go first?"

"You are the weaker of the two of us. I will allow you to strike first, but be warned that I will-"

"Oh, how generous of you! Bren interjected sarcastically. "When this is all over, I'll personally make sure that "overconfident" goes on your tombstone."

Without waiting a second more, Bren gripped the knife and then sent it flying at the Knight with perfect aim, so fast that the only thing the Mewman had time to do was move his hand in front of his face and block the attack. The dagger sunk itself deep into the back of his palm and exited out the other side, cutting straight through his armor like it wasn't even there to begin with. Blood spurted from the wound and splattered onto the floor, but the attack was so fast that the Knight didn't even react to the pain until a few seconds had passed, like his nerves had trouble catching up.

"AHH!" He exclaimed, grabbing the handle and yanking the blade out of his hand. He threw it over his shoulder in rage, where it disappeared behind a nearby vending machine. "YOU LITTLE…...little...no." He stopped himself and took a deep breath. "No, I will remain calm. I will not allow myself to get angry over this, painful as it is. It is not the way of a knight to get eagerly over paltry injuries such as this. Besides, that was an impressive move, and I am honored to have been injured by it."

"You have a...weird sense of honor." Bren noted. "Also, thank you. I've had some practice in…" He paused and his gaze darted to the side. "...Other places, even if I've never really needed a blade to kill people."

"All that may be true, but don't expect that code of honor to save you now." The Knight said, talking like he didn't have a hole in his hand. "You have given up your weapon, and you are now defenseless."

"You did hear what I just said, right?" Bren asked. "About not really needing knives and all that crap to kill people?"

"I heard you loud and clear." The Knight confirmed. "I assumed you were talking about the cowardly manner in which you plant bombs and blow things up that way."

Bren made a "pft" sound. "You know, one of these days, I'm going to make sure that everyone knows why trying to butt into these kinds of things is a bad idea. I just need an opportunity…" Bren then glanced around at her crowd of people still surrounding the two of them, several of which were recording the whole thing. "Oh hey. Would you look at that. An opportunity."

"Yes, an opportunity." The Knight parroted. "All of Earthni, and soon the world, will see what happens to those who harm it. Just like with Mina. She tried to destroy us, and now she's nothing but a pile of ash! She deserved her fate."

"First off, Mina was trying to destroy monsters, not you." Bren pointed out. "Second off...you do realize that I was the one who killed her, right?"

"You...you were?" The Knight asked. "That was you?"

"Wha-you didn't know?!" Bren exclaimed. He turned towards the Attendant. "Was this information not made public or something?"

They shrugged.

"Are you kidding me...what the fuck Eclipsa." Bren mumbled. He turned his attention back to the Knight, who was still recovering from the news that one of Mewni's worst enemies had been killed by another one of its worst enemies. He then looked over at one of the bystanders who was recording the whole thing and walked over to them. The movement was so sudden and random that they almost didn't react at first, but eventually they realized he was coming for them and backed away like he was diseased. Once they hit the back wall, they stopped and put their hands in the air like Bren had a gun trained on them.

"I-I don't have a problem with you." They said fearfully. "I d-don't really mind that you-"

"Your phone, give it to me." Bren demanded.

"What? You want my phone?" They asked. "What for?"

"I have to make a call."

"C-can't you just use the phone on the desk over there?" They said, pointing at the Attendant, who was still barely visible behind the dozens of stacks of paper.

"No, because that phone is currently buried under a good fifty pounds of paperwork, and I'm not in the mood to find it." Bren seethed. "I wanted things done quick and easy when I came to this little shithole, and even though that's not really an option at this point, I'm still going to try and accomplish it. So hand your phone over, or I'll cut your head off and mount it on the wall behind you for shits and giggles."

As this whole exchange took place, the Attendant slowly moved their hand underneath the desk, taking advantage of the fact that Bren was completely distracted for the first time since he got here. In truth, the desk phone was not buried under any amount of paper. It was actually hidden beneath the desk, in case they needed to call in an emergency. And this definitely qualified as one. If Bren just stayed like that for a minute or so more, then they might be able to-

"F-fine. Take it." The man with the phone said, offering the device to Bren, who snatched it out of his hands, and then stared at it for a second like it was the first time he had ever seen a piece of non-magical technology.

"What's your passcode?" He asked, holding the phone up and waving it back and forth.

"Uh...5636…" The man mumbled. "I use that because-"

"I don't care about your reasoning, but thanks for the cooperation." Bren said, putting in the code and then opening the phone app. He dialed the number to the Monster Temple (714-274-9999 to be exact) and waited for it to ring.

Everything was going wrong.


"Globgor, I'm fine, I don't need any help."

"Eclipsa, you're practically limping. Let's just get you to bed, and you can finally get the rest you need. Okay?"

"But I-"

"No buts. Not this time. We both know how tired you are. That little display back at the meeting confirmed it."

With a sigh, Eclipsa closed her mouth and forced her legs to move onwards, heavily assisted by her husband. The walk back to the Temple from the meeting had drained her of whatever stamina and adrenaline she had left, turning her into a pained and wheezing person that couldn't hurt a fly if she wanted to. The countless hours of staying up and working non stop last night had finally taken their toll, with some enforcement of course. Janna's little reprimanding had knocked her out of it and convinced the Queen that she needed to get home, although it hadn't entirely convinced her of the fact that she could walk without help.

And now they were back in the Temple and in their bedroom, with Eclipsa literally collapsing onto the bed the second they arrived. Globgor opened his mouth to make a comment on how she shouldn't push herself like this, but once he started hearing snoring sounds one second after she hit the mattress, he decided against it. He grabbed one of the blankets and threw it over her, before going to check on Meteora, who was hopefully asleep as well. Being a baby, she had a rather erratic sleeping pattern, one that had caused...disturbances, shall we say, in the past.

He entered Meteora's room and peeked in her crib, only to find it empty. While normally this would cause a sensible parent to have a freak-out, Globgor just huffed. This was normal after all, because Meteora didn't sleep in her crib half the time. One time they found her snoozing upside down on the ceiling, her claws digging into it for leverage.

'Still, I better search for her…' He thought to himself, fully aware of the kind of hijinks an unattended Meteora could get into. (He still shuddered every time someone mentioned the infamous "crayon incident." It took three whole days of scrubbing to get rid of all the evidence.) He checked under her crib, in the closet, inside those weird giant funnel toys she liked to crawl through, but she was nowhere to be found. And once he started to get a feeling of actual panic that she might have wandered off, he heard a loud "Dada!" directly above his head. He smiled instinctively and didn't even look up, already knowing who was above him.

And like clockwork, Meteora leaped down and landed on his head, babbling baby nonsense. And for all Globgor, or anyone else really knew, it could have been a genius explanation of quantum physics or just a request for food. Because even after months of trying, he and Eclipsa were still nowhere near successfully deciphering Meteora's baby speech. Those words were on a whole other level.

He then laughed and gently pulled her off, holding the baby in front of him so he could get a better look. Thankfully, Meteora wasn't covered in dozens of unidentifiable stains as she usually was, but was still holding something between her teeth. She spat it out, and Globgor recognized it as the head of the Marco doll that Janna had gifted to them a week ago.

And it was identical to the head of the doll that Janna had gifted to them the week before that. And the week before that, and...so on. Because Meteora destroyed the dolls at such a frequent rate that they had to be constantly replaced, and Janna's only request was that they send the heads back to her after Meteora was finished with them. Globgor didn't know why she had made this request, and frankly he didn't want to know. From what he had seen of Janna, she was...odd, to put it politely.

But unfortunately, with her having been in the hospital, she had missed the last delivery, prompting a bit of a meltdown from Meteora that resulted in something now known as the "doll incident." (There were dozens of named "incidents" involving Meteora. The only problem was keeping track of them all.) Thankfully, she had calmed down, but only after Eclipsa dug up one of Marco's old hoodies that he had left behind at the Temple and gave it to her to rip to shreds. She still occasionally found fragments of it, small red pieces of cloth hidden underneath cushions and rugs.

And Eclipsa really hoped that this murderous rage towards Marco didn't stick her entire life, because otherwise, the boy was truly in great danger anytime he came over. The Queen still remembered the time that Meteora has intricately converted a good twenty percent of the entire Temple into a "funhouse" polluted by trapdoors with spikes and various other torture instruments when she heard that Marco was coming over later that evening. All when she was still less than two years old.

If anything, Meteora could accomplish great things if she used her hatred of Marco to push herself.

But back in the present, Globgor had slung the baby over his shoulder and walked back into the bedroom, where Eclipsa was still snoring away. Meteora spotted her mother and reached out for her, and just as Globgor was about to tell Meteora that mommy couldn't play with her right now in the most baby-esque voice he could muster, the phone in the next room over rang, making Meteora grumble at the blaring noise invading her ears.

Globgor sighed and switched to holding Meteora up with one arm, before walking over to the phone and frowning when he saw it displaying a caller ID he didn't recognize. After so many months of learning to properly use the machine, he knew that this probably meant there was an attempted scam waiting on the other end of the line. But he also knew that it could be an actual person this time, so he grabbed the phone and put it up to his ear.

"Monster Temple, King Globgor speaking. Who is this?" He asked, while Meteora busily chewed on his ponytail.

"An old friend." The person on the other end of the line said, making Globgor arch an eyebrow. That voice...it seemed familiar, but he couldn't quite pin it down. Unfortunately, the Temple's phone lines had been partially chewed on by enfant terrible, and so any noise coming from the other was usually grabbed to the point where it was hard to figure out who exactly was speaking. It was still audible, sure, but if the phone didn't have caller ID, then it'd be impossible to know who was calling until they personally presented that fact.

"Old friend?" Globgor said. That was a lot of possibilities. "Could you be a little more specific than that?"

The stranger on the other end of the line sounded confused. "Do...do you not recognize my voice?"

"Sorry, the phone lines are really screwy here." Globgor apologized. "If you want me to know who you are, you're going to have to tell me yourself. Again, sorry."

"No need to apologize." The Stranger said. "Although this messes up whole mystery thing I was about to do…"

"The what now?"

"Nothing!" The Stranger said. "Listen, Globgor, is Queen Eclipsa there? I need to speak with her. It's urgent."

"Actually, can I request to know who I'm speaking to?" Globgor asked, as politely as possible. "You said you were an "old friend", but when it comes to narrowing down the list of possibilities...that just doesn't work out. I'd like to know if that's alright with you."

It's alright!" The Stranger said. "It's me, Buff Frog. You know, monster that came over while back to show you his kids?"

"Buff Frog?!" Globgor exclaimed, certain that the memorable frog monster he had met a number of times was not who he was speaking to. "Why are you...wait. You're not Buff Frog. What are you talking about? Who is this really?"

"What do you mean "you're not Buff Frog?" Of course it's me!" "Buff Frog" claimed. "Not many other monsters who know direct call number of Monster Temple after all. Remember, you gave me a number?"

"I...do remember giving him that number, but if you're really Buff Frog, then what happened to your accent?" Globgor asked. "He has a very thick accent, something that you're definitely lacking."

"Ah. Just a virus." "Buff Frog" claimed. "It's messing up my throat badly, and spreading through monster village. But nothing to worry about. Should pass in a few days."

"Oh...a virus. That's not good." Globgor said, before scowling in such a way that one would think his face had been frozen since the day he was born. Because now he knew that they were just blatantly lying. Globgor was completely aware of any and all major events taking place in the monster section of Earthni. It was literally his whole job. And if a "virus" was spreading through it like wildfire, then there was no way in a million days that he wouldn't know.

Although...back at the meeting, Buff Frog did mention a cold, which could have been a precursor for this virus. Globgor would have called him out on it then, but decided that Buff Frog had his own personal reasons for not telling the truth, so he let it go. However, with this call, he realized that whoever this imposter is was either at or listening in to the meeting. And neither of these were good options. But it could really only be the second option, considering that none of the Royals there had any reason to call Globgor at a time like this but what was this person trying to gain? What were they even after?

There was only one way to find out. And although denial forced the Monster King to believe that someone like Bren wasn't behind all of it, it was painfully obvious that it couldn't be anyone else at this point. Hell, he had even said that he wiretapped the meetings earlier, which would match up with the mystery caller who knew about the virus.

But what did this mean overall? Was Buff Frog an agent of Bren like Brudo and Mina? And was he going to turn out the same way as them? Killed by a massive explosion or a slow and painful trial by fire? Even if he was working with public enemy number one, Globgor didn't want that for him. Especially since Buff Frog would never work with Bren willingly. He had to be like Tom. He had to have some kind of leverage, like his friends or even his...children.

Globgor almost three up out of disgust right then and there, horrified by the implications of all of this.

'Steady.' He thought to himself. 'Remember, this is all just an assumption at this point. Well, not the part where this isn't Buff Frog, that little lie about the virus in the monster village proved that, but this might not be Bren. Just because he's the main problem at the moment doesn't mean he's behind everything bad going on. And who knows! Maybe this isn't even anything bad! Maybe it's just some random scammer pretending to be one of my friends in an attempt to get some money out of me.'

Globgor sighed and glanced up at Meteora, who was vigorously slapping the top of his head like it was a bongo drum. Wishful thinking, at best.

But all in all, Globgor was intrigued. If somebody was pretending to be Buff Frog like this, then he'd like to know their reasoning behind it. And since this person knew the Temple's phone number, they also had to be someone close. Someone Globgor trusted that for an unknown reason was now pretending to be one of his acquaintances. Unless, of course, it was a particular enemy that forced one of his friends to tell them the number…

And there was really only one "enemy" at the moment he could think of, further proving that the mystery caller was likely he-whose-name-will-become-a-misdemeanor-one-day.

'Alright.' The Monster King thought. 'I'll play along with this person. See what he wants. Pretend that I believe he's Buff Frog. If I can find out what he wants, I might be able to figure out who he is. And if it's who I think it is...then I need to find Buff Frog ASAP. And his little "Buff babies".' Globgor sighed internally. 'Oh jeez, I hope they weren't hurt in the explosion. There's so many people I haven't checked up on since that…'

"Are you still there?" "Buff Frog" asked, an impatient tone hidden behind a joyful mask. "Do you, ah, need help?"

"No, sorry, something caught my attention...Buff Frog." Globgor choked out. "Okay. I believe you. I was actually checking up with the monster village and they confirmed that you're sick with several others."

"See? I was telling truth!" "Buff Frog" exclaimed, although he sounded more than a little confused at this reveal. "Nothing to worry about. It's me."

"Yup. Nothing to worry about now. Sorry I doubted you." Globgor said, before thinking to himself again. 'I should see what they're after. Stick to what I was doing originally.' He thought. 'If it's not Buff Frog but just some random scammer that somehow got in in the meeting and is pretending to be him, I'll hang up and alert the council that we should up the security even more next time. But if it's Bren…' Globgor took a deep breath. 'Well, I'll just hang up on him too. Not much else I can really do. I could report Buff Frog to the knights we have left, but I don't even know what they'd do. If we try to take over his house, Bren might blow it up like Avarius mansion. And this time it'll be directed at taking us out. Which brings me to something else and...hm. Okay, "Buff Frog", let's see what you know.'

"Buff Frog, can I ask you something?" Globgor requested. "I know it's probably rude considering you were the one who called and you probably want to talk about something else, but somethings been on my mind for a while and I'd like to know if you know anything about it."

"Ask away." "Buff Frog" said. "I'd be happy to help Globgor. Long as it's not personal. As a former spy, I greatly value my privacy."

"I understand." Globgor deadpanned. "Okay, so as you know, at the meeting earlier Zudo went missing."

"Ah, yes." "Buff Frog" said. "Actually just left. I would have stayed longer for Janna's plan on how to invade Underworld, but I have children to take care of. Some of them don't like it if I'm away for too long. Really hoping that that's just a phase…" "Buff Frog" then chuckled, and Globgor gave off one of his own, although there was approximately zero humor in either of them.

"How are they anyways?" Globgor asked, stalling for time. Judging by the tone in this guy's voice, despite how much it sounded like they wanted to help, what they really wanted was for this to be done and done as quickly as possible. And Globgor wasn't about to pass up an opportunity to screw up whatever he was planning.

"They are doing well." "Buff Frog" claimed. "Little Katrina is even training other kids at human school to be spies like her. Some of the other parents have complaints, but I'm encouraging it. Never know when spy skills might come in handy!" "Buff Frog" exhaled and made a small mumbling sound like he was contemplating what to do next. "Now, what were you about to ask?"

"I was going to ask about Zudo." Globgor said. "I was wondering if you had seen him. I have a feeling that he might have run off to the monster section of town if Bren's after him, and since you're there right now, I thought you might have seen him."

"Buff Frog" made a low humming noise and sounded like he was shaking his head. "Sorry, none of us have seen him." He said. "If he's here, he's hiding remarkably well. I just hope he's okay. With Bren after him, I fear there is nowhere safe for him to hide…"

"Yeah, it's sad. But…if you do find him Buff Frog, make sure to be easy with him." Globgor said, not even sure himself as to where he was going with this. "He's probably really scared right now, and I don't think he'll want to be surrounded with a bunch of other people."

"I understand." "Buff Frog" said. "If me or anyone else find him, I'll make sure to have them tell you first thing. Maybe we can hold off Bren. Keep him in place where that little devil won't think to look."

"Thanks Buff Frog." Globgor forced out. "I knew I could count on you." He bit the inside of his cheek slightly and quickly thought of a way to drag the conversation out further. "Oh, and by the way, I want to ask you about the upcoming Stump Day celebration."

"Buff Frog" made another deep humming sound and for a second the Monster King thought he was about to break character. But alas, the pretender managed to keep calm, much to Globgor's own internal strife.

"Why? That's not for months!" "Buff Frog" said. "I get you might want to plan ahead, considering how important it is as Earthni's first Stump Day celebration, but don't you think it's early? Especially at time like this?"

"I know, but I think we need a bit of joy in this town." Globgor said. "If we start advertising Stump Day-"

"Going to stop you there." "Buff Frog" interjected, trying to sound as courteous as possible. "Winter festivities in middle of Summer? What are we, Hallmark channel? Globgor, I am saying this with all the wisdom I have learned from spending many years as Ludo's henchman, Mewni's monster ambassador, and father. We should not prematurely celebrate something, especially a holiday, just because we think it might go well with the people. We are in middle of a fight my king, if that meeting from earlier was anything to go by. You shouldn't waste time on thinking about trivial things, when the enemy is right in front of us, scheming away." He said, simultaneously reminding Globgor of what was going on and why his plan to drag the call out was failing.

"I...get what you're saying." Globgor admitted nervously, feeling that he was now on the losing side of this. "But-"

"Then why did you recommend we perform such wild move?" "Buff Frog" asked. "That is not like you, Globgor. I have known you for decent amount of time, and I am certain that you wouldn't make such ridiculous suggestion when enemy from another dimension has declared war on us."

'Don't start criticizing me you…' Globgor thought, before stopping himself. 'No, don't get mad. That's what he wants. He wants me to get mad and ask him what he wants so we can get straight to the point. But I need more time.'

He glanced over at his wife, who was still sleeping soundly. 'Should I wake her up?' He contemplated. 'She is a lot better at this kind of stuff than I am. And...no, I can't do that. She's exhausted. If she wakes up sometime in the next twelve hours I'll be surprised. So if I get Eclipsa up now, she won't be able to help. She'll just be disheveled and tired and...angry.' He winced. 'Not an option. Come on, think! There has to be a way!'

"Did you hear what I said?" "Buff Frog" asked. "About whole Stump Day idea. I hope you understand why it is, and I don't mean offense, just telling the truth, a terrible one?"

"Yeah, I should have thought it through a little better." Globgor admitted. "But you got the idea behind it, right? People need happiness right now! Maybe Stump Day can help with that!"

"Globgor, monsters literally living in fear of that cursed thing. Almost sacrificed animals at one point. No joke." "Buff Frog" pointed out. "Thanks to obnoxious and overblown tales by village elders. About how "Mewman Gods" are vengeful and demand sacrifice. Shame we didn't find out elders were taking sacrifices for themselves until it was too late…"

"What are you trying to tell me exactly?" Globgor asked, lacking the knowledge to either confirm nor deny the events of that story.

"My point is that most everyone is happy Stump is gone." "Buff Frog" said. "I don't think it'd make anyone happy. If anything, it'd only make everyone's attitude worse. Like I said, Hallmark channel. Cheesy, lazy, and not worth time."

"Okay, you keep saying that, but I have no idea what you're talking abo-"

"The premature Stump Day celebration...a terrible idea." "Buff Frog" finished. "If you decide to go through with it, then I will make sure no monsters participate. Do you understand now?"

"..."

"Glad you agree." "Buff Frog" said, taking the silence as a "yes." "But now, there is something I must discuss. The main reason I called actually. A matter...concerning Mina Loveberry."

'Dang it…' Globgor seethed internally. 'He got me. Roped me into his conversation just like I tried to rope him. I can't just interrupt him now, or he'll think I'm onto whatever he's doing. Okay. Don't panic. You can still do this. If Mina's involved for whatever reason...then maybe it's just one of her followers that wasn't at the mansion when it blew up?'

Globgor knew this was nothing more than wishful thinking, and sighed. It was quite possible that those morons didn't know how to operate a light switch, much less a telephone.

"Mina?" He said, trying to sound as surprised as possible. "What's going on with Mina? Isn't she-"

"Dead, yes." "Buff Frog" interjected. "But unfortunately, there seems to be misinformation trouble because of her death. Globgor, do you mind telling me exactly how she died?"

"Um, Bren burned her alive because he didn't want to share killing Star with her." Globgor replied, stating the obvious. "Why are you asking? You already knew that. You were literally in the meeting with everyone else when Bren crashed it and admitted to it."

"Not asking for my sake, but for the sake of the rest of town." "Buff Frog" said. "Has council made this information public?"

"Uh...well, we released a bit of a statement, but I don't think that many people paid attention to who did it." Globgor revealed. "They were just happy she was gone, regardless of who did the killing."

"Yes, and that caused problems." "Buff Frog" said.

"Once News of Mina's death reached monster section of town, everyone overjoyed and celebrating. And I know it's considered bad taste to celebrate over death of a person, but frankly, we couldn't resist after everything she put us through." He confessed, actually sounding guilty that such an event had taken place. "But we thought we had finally made it. That nothing else could harm us in our path to become one with the two other species of Earthni, now that she was gone."

"I do remember hearing that a few parties were taking place…" Globgor mumbled. "And I mean this literally. The music could be heard halfway across town."

"Apologize for that." "Buff Frog" penitently. "But once monsters start celebrating over something, usually don't stop until sunrise. If only police hadn't come to shut it down...otherwise it'd have spread into streets."

"And that's a bad thing?" Globgor asked.

"No, but it'd have certainly made for an entertaining night!" "Buff Frog" exclaimed happily. "At least until someone got hit by car. Probably Flunky. I always suspected that he would be first to die if one of our parties ever got out of hand."

"Right...Flunky…" Globgor said, wondering why any parent would name their child that way. "But what's going on with Mina? What happened after your party?"

"Bad things." "Buff Frog" said dramatically. "After we cleaned up mess, which took a good...twelve hours…we realized that we still didn't know how she died. We started festivities once news of her demise reached us. Then we…started looking for anyone who knew."

"Why'd you want to know so bad?" Globgor asked.

"Ha!" "Buff Frog" exclaimed suddenly, as if the noise had been forcefully pushed out of him. "Simple! Because we all wanted to meet person that had done it." He said. "Congratulate and thank them for killing Mewni's worst enemy. But...obviously…" "Buff Frog" sucked in a breath. "...it was not who we were expecting."

"Yeah, I suppose that kinda put a damper on your whole "monster savior" thing." Globgor said. "Especially since Bren only did it for himself."

"Based on what I've seen, that's exactly what I would have expected. Selfishly murdering Mina for personal gain, instead of us monsters. It sickened us greatly. All of us." "Buff Frog" revealed. "You see, we never wanted bloodshed. Even in years of old, most monsters were just following orders given to them by bloodthirsty generals. Refuse, and you'd end up on chopping block."

Globgor rolled his eyes, as he was of course already fully aware of this. Monsters had been doing that sort of thing ever since they first came in contact with Mewmans, and usually the foot soldiers couldn't care less about the war they were in.

Usually.

But this proved that whoever this pretender was didn't know their stuff, or at least didn't know him. No wonder they had asked to speak to his wife. No doubt they had a pre-written speech or something of the like already prepared for when Eclipsa answered the call, and was then forced to improvise when the wrong person did instead. It was clear they had been ready for something else.

"That's all interesting, but what does it have to do with why you didn't like the way Mina died?" Globgor asked. "I figure you'd be happy no matter what way she croaked, as long as it happened."

"Ah, but that is nothing but rumor." "Buff Frog" pointed out. "Like I said, monsters rarely want bloodshed. Only when something is directly threatening us and way of life, something like Mina, is when we make choice to have call to arms. Back then, decades before Merge, we did same with Mewmans, if only because they attacked us first and our generals decided that they all had to die. That was some whole stupid revenge-plot thing. Very cliche."

"I remember all of that back in my time as well." Globgor said. "But again, what does-"

"It is important because all the monsters in Earthni saw Mina as significant enough threat that she either had to be imprisoned forever or killed." "Buff Frog" explained. "None of us liked doing it. But we did make a bit of an...unofficial order against her before she died."

"A what?" Globgor queried. "What are you talking about? An "unofficial order"?

"Buff Frog" was silent for a moment, as if contemplating whether to tell Globgor or not. A moment later, he spoke again, only this time his voice was low and whispering, making sure that no one else could hear him.

"We issued order…" He repeated. "That if Mina ever entered Monster section of town, she was to be killed on sight."

"W-WHAT?!" Globgor exploded, almost dropping the phone and Meteora out of shock, who jumped at the sudden shout and clung to her father's head for dear life. "You...you had a kill-on-sight order?!"

"..."

"Buff Frog…" He grumbled, praying that this was still a lie and not an actual order that was put out there. "Answer me."

"Eh...sorry." "Buff Frog" said. "It's just surprising to hear you yell. I don't think I've ever heard you that angry before."

"Well, when it comes to something like this, I think it's appropriate for me to be a little peeved." Globgor said.

"You did that...without my okay...this…" He sighed. "This is too far. So please. Please tell me that was a joke." He pleaded. "Please tell me that that wasn't a real order you sent out."

"It...it was." "Buff Frog" said nervously. "Looking back, I can see how it was bad idea. But hear me out! We had reasons for it!" He said, causing Globgor to roll his eyes again. He couldn't wait to hear this.

"Fine." The Monster King said. "Tell me. But don't expect me to agree with you." After this, he sighed in exasperation, mentally preparing himself for whatever crappy explanation "Buff Frog" could scrape up. And while Globgor knew that this wasn't really Buff Frog, he didn't think the pretender had a reason to lie about the kill order. Because when he really thought about it...and after everything Mina did to them...he could see the monsters pulling something like that. Despite their pacifism, even they had limits. He had seen what war and hatred had done to the monsters of his time, who were nothing more than sadistic abominations, looking for any excuse to cut a Mewman to pieces.

But this didn't do anything to cool his temper. He was still angrier than he had been in centuries. While normally he only got mad when someone threatened his family, the fact that the monsters did this in the first place enraged him to no end. Because by issuing an order like that, they were just as bad as Mina. Because making a shoot-on-sight order for any monsters is what she would have done had her uprising been successful.

They were no better. And that is what really ticked him off about all this.

"Fair enough." "Buff Frog" said. "Now, it's like what I said. People were scared of her. They were afraid Mina might try to attack monsters again like she did with Solarians. But no one was worried about it because we knew magic was gone, and Mina couldn't threaten us like that again."

"Then what changed?" Globgor asked. "What made you do that if you didn't believe she was a threat?"

"The discovery that she could threaten us like that again." "Buff Frog" revealed. "It was in meeting. One where we sat down and discussed human technology and what it could do. Karate boy was in charge of teaching us, along with Star and Eclipsa. Do you remember?"

"I do." Globgor said. "It was quite the show to see the reaction on all the Royal's face when they were told about the things Earth was capable of."

"Buff Frog" chuckled. "It certainly was! Only wish was that I had a camera. Then again, both of us had equally shocked reaction, didn't we?"

Globgor paused and began to recall how he had felt that day. Back then, he wasn't sure what to expect before the meeting had begun. In his time, Earth was apparently no more technologically advanced then Mewni was. Wooden ships, horse drawn-carriages, swords, and other simple melee weapons, along with a few bow and arrows, that's all they were capable of. But 300 years later, humanity had created devices that almost no other dimension in the entire multiverse could even dream of making. All entirely without magic. Moving pictures, giant steel wagons that could break the sound barrier (the sound barrier was also a new concept to Globgor), and devices that could transfer hundreds of pages of information across the planet in an instant. It was insane to think about, and even more insane to see in action.

And him it was particularly shocking, as he was still getting used to the advancements that Mewni had made since his absence, with magic-powered phones and lights in some places. Mostly only available for nobility and the like, and very hard to make, but they still existed. He had tried to use Star's once, only to give up after a few minutes. It was simply too confusing. Eclipsa had already gotten a handle on all of it, but Globgor insisted that he didn't want to get involved with any of that unless it was necessary.

But with the Merge and the destruction of magic, it became more necessary than ever. Because now they were sharing a world where normal society wouldn't function without those sorts of things. Every Mewman and monster citizen had been given technology classes, including him. And then came the day with the meeting, which alone provided ten times more information than all of our precious classes combined. But Globgor knew better than anyone that the purpose of this meeting was not to show the royals some Earth tech. No, it was to illustrate why attempting to go to war with the planet a horrible idea.

This is how it went. First things first, roll call, a few complaints, Eclipsa starting it up, the usual. A slideshow was then brought in, containing hundreds of pictures with text showing examples of Earth tech and what exactly they were used for, as well as a short explanation of how they worked. Electrically powered phones, cars, rockets, satellites, televisions, all things that were completely alien to most of the Royals. Globgor just nodded along with it, seeing and hearing everything but understanding nothing. This went on for a half-hour, and then the real slideshow began.

The second half, the real half, was dedicated entirely to Earth weaponry and it's capabilities. Bombs that could vaporize entire cities. Gas designed to literally melt the flesh off its victims. And things like that didn't even begin to cover the experimental weapons which were still being tested, devices that were the stuff of nightmares. For over an hour, they were shown footage from wars, testing ranges, and factories where all these things were created. It was almost dreamlike, seeing all that death and destruction and realizing that yes, it all happened, in this dimension, and the same people who caused it to happen would gladly do it again if it meant securing victory for their country.

Or at least their children and grandchildren would, but that's besides the point. It was the same mindset, same lust for war.

Once all was said and done, the Royals, simply put, were horrified and terrified. Many of them had been totally ignorant of Earth besides the fact that it didn't have magic. In fact, quite a few of them had even suggested after the Merge that they take over the dimension to build a new and bigger Mewni. But any opinions they had on that took a complete 180 after the presentation. Because not only did they learn that Earth tech was centuries ahead of Mewni, but that going to war would only result in the total annihilation of Earthni.

Learning that the dimension they believed only consisted of a few thousand total soldiers had in fact upwards of over 20 million was such a shock that every single one of them voted "Aye" on Eclipsa's proposed bill, one that she introduced after the slideshow was finished. The "Don't go to war with Earth because we'll all be dead in approximately ten minutes" bill. It was passed and given to the Earth governments, promising that Mewni is not and never will be an enemy of Earth unless provoked. They never received a response from anyone, but that was probably just because the world governments and the U.N. already knew they didn't pose much of a threat to begin with. The first thing that they had asked to see was Mewni's military capabilities, and they didn't bother hiding their relief when all they found was a bunch of medieval-age weaponry.

And Globgor remembered that day. The day all those agents and soldiers and negotiators and diplomats came to visit. To investigate Earthni and to gawk at the new dimension. They were mostly concerned about the new moons surrounding the planet, which thankfully and miraculously didn't change much. Sure, a few cities might have been...sunk on some coasts, but they were small ones! They could be rebuilt.

But if Bren was in control of them that far back, then they didn't show it. Who knows. Maybe they were actually planning on launching a preemptive strike on Earthni, attacking the invaders of their world before they had a chance to respond. But Bren stopped them, wanting that privilege all to himself.

And all it took was a single teleporting demon to make them bow down…

Globgor huffed and shook these thoughts out of his head. The whole "Bren is in control of the government" theory was still just that. A theory. It made some sense, considering how little help they received for recent events, but until they got solid evidence, like say, an email that read "Bren has taken control of the Pentagon and everyone in it", the Royals couldn't prove anything.

And besides, he had more vital things going on at the moment. Who knows how long "Buff Frog" has been waiting for him to answer while he scoured through his memories and shut out the rest of the world. Globgor glanced upwards and saw that Meteora had fallen asleep on his head, which was proof that it had been at least a good few minutes. Not that he minded of course. The last half-hour had consisted of him stalling for time for...whatever reason, and who knew that all it led too was him simply getting lost in his own head?

But still, now was the time to answer. Hopefully the pretender hadn't hung up at this point and-

"Excuse me?" A voice to his left said. Globgor's focus on the phone vanished and his eyes widened as his brain registered the voice, one that he recognized in an instant. The phone dropped from his hands as he turned towards the newcomer, someone that he was sure would have skipped town by now.

"I need your help…"


"...But then again, me and you had an equally shocked reaction, didn't we?" Bren asked, doing his best to fake a Russian accent, which sounded a lot like a poor attempt at an Australian one. Despite all the weird and random skills he had learned since coming to Earth, faking a voice impression was something he never quite got down. Thank the fire-God that Mina's followers were stupid enough to fall for his Brudo.

But unfortunately for him, he was not having the same luck from Globgor.

It was obvious that the Monster King knew he wasn't really Buff Frog, and Bren silently chided himself for picking him, or heck, even doing an

impression in the first place. The whole point of the damn call was to get Eclipsa to make an announcement that he was responsible for Mina's death, and now the whole thing had been sidetracked so intensely that he regretted not simply saying "Hey, this is Bren. Make a public announcement that I was responsible for Mina's death or I'll have Tom kidnap Meteora and feed her a pack of feral dogs, okay? Okay. Glad we're all on the same page."

That would have been a lot quicker. Not to mention an easier method and also more in character with himself. But Bren wanted to have some fun with Globgor, and now that plan had backfired. The Monster King was wasting his time, and while he knew that there really wasn't any sort of threat from the police arriving (considering that there was no police), he wasn't in the mood for every single member of the hospital's security to show up and try to take him down, which for some reason they hadn't already.

Then they'd fight and they'd lose, people would be screaming from all the blood, and that would attract even more people who would start screaming, and it'd just multiply from there. Not helpful. To him or anyone else.

'Not helpful...' He thought. 'Speaking of which…'

Bren then glanced over at Tom, who was still buried in the wall, unconscious. The Knight who had done this to him was standing nearby, waiting for his enemies' next move. Bren was hardly even looking at him. Even if the Knight managed to score a surprise hit, it's not like he could do much damage. At most he'd get thrown into a wall like Tom, but that was nothing he couldn't walk off. Frankly, Bren was disappointed that the Knight hadn't already attacked him and gotten it over with. Because he could feel the stares of some of the other people in the lobby. And that was a whole other matter by itself...

Every single one of them was contemplating if they should attack him or not while he was distracted. Whether they should just grab a chair and whack him with it or not. Because all they knew about him was that he was now alone and without help. A few people had actually tried to make a move, but anytime someone did, the Knight forced them to sit back down with nothing but a glare, likely wanting the glory of taking down Earthni's current biggest threat for himself. At least that's what Bren thought. That and/or the fact that everyone in the lobby was wounded or otherwise exhausted, to the point where most of them needed help walking. Even if Bren was as weak as he looked, the outcome of the conflict between him and the gaggle of random people around him was obvious.

And then there was the Knight himself, waiting nearby for Bren to finish his phone call because of "honor" or something equally silly. And if anything could be said of the old man, it was that he had amazing patience. Other than the occasional glare, he hadn't moved a muscle since Bren dialed the Temple, behaving almost like a statue. After the last would-be attacker had been intimidated, it was quite possible that he had now fallen asleep, standing up with his eyes open, and Bren was tempted to throw a nearby wastebasket at him to test this theory.

However, a problem to be dealt with once the call was over…which might take a while, considering that it had been over two minutes and Globgor was still silent.

Bren's gaze then drifted over to the desk Attendant after the Knight and Globgor had left his mind, as that whole deal was a rabbit hole he'd rather not get sucked into further. They were sitting at the desk, as per usual, trying to look somewhat inconspicuous. Bren frowned and took a few small steps towards them, where he saw that their shoulder and arm was moving ever so slightly to the right, reaching for something out of view.

'Yeah...that's not happening. The hospital security or the remaining knights are the last thing I need right now.' Bren thought, before letting his phone hand drop to his side and walking over to the Attendant, who was just now realizing his approach. Once he reached them he did the same thing from earlier, resting both his elbows on the surface and staring at them.

"Uh...yes?" They asked nervously, trying to keep their arm as still as possible.

"So, what are you trying to do?" Bren asked, peeking over the miniature wall of paper.

"I...what do you mean?" They asked, noticeably sweating. "I've just been sitting here the whole time. I haven't done a single thing since you got here."

"Then take your arm out from under the desk, show me what you have, and everyone here can see if that's a lie or not." Bren said. "Otherwise...I'll rip your arm off, and figure it out for myself."

The Attendant gulped but didn't back down. They had already gone too far to stop now. Just like the earlier confrontation, there was no turning back. "You still don't scare me." They said.

"Oooh?" Bren said, with a tone that was saying "I should have just broken their fingers earlier and forced them to give Butterfly's room number so I could avoid all this crap". He placed the phone on the desk and leaned closer. "What's that? I don't frighten you?"

"No." The Attendant said sternly. "I'm beginning to wonder if a single person here is really scared of you. Look at that." They pointed at the hole in the wall, and all eyes fell upon it. "You little bodyguard is down, so it's not like you have any way to defend yourself. Every single person in this room has glanced at you and then at an inanimate object at least once. Literally everyone is planning to attack you."

"Then why haven't they?" Bren asked expectantly. "I'm been distracted by this phone for like, forever."

"Because of me." The Knight announced, as if it was supposed to be a surprise. "I have been keeping these people back from attacking you. They may have been scared at first, but ever since your pathetic demon went down, they see you for what you really are. A coward."

"How...am I a coward?" Bren asked, genuinely confused. "I have done basically nothing to suggest that-"

"Because you are not fighting me!" The Knight said.

"Yeah, because I'm talking to someone!" Bren said, pointing to the phone. "Also, what is taking Globgor so long? Never fancied him for the kind of guy who would have to think something out for this long..."

"That's everyone in this story. It's practically a damn theme." The Knight pointed out. "But you have not thrown a single punch at me! You have done nothing but talk and talk and talk, bluffing your way out of a fight! Well, no longer! I have decided that this fight starts now!"

"Now?" Bren huffed. "What happened to your precious honor? I remember you saying something about how I can throw the first punch or...something cliche like that."

"The honor of taking you down...is greater than the honor of keeping my word!" The Knight screeched, rocketing forward with his sword raised high in the air. Bren closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and pocketed the cell phone.

'This is why I should just stick to torturing people for information.' He thought, and he opened his eyes just as the sword came down. Bren stepsided, and the blade made a sharp whistle as it sliced through the air and struck the floor, carving out a huge gash. The Knight dislodged his weapon and jumped backwards before Bren could counterattack (he wasn't planning too) and prepared to strike again.

"Wow, you are really not kidding about not having honor anymore." Bren said. "It's almost like you discarded it for no reason other than to move the plot along!"

"My true reasons are my own! But I wasn't lying about killing you." The Knight said. "You are not leaving this room alive!"

"Fine." Bren said. "You wanna get rid of honor? Play dirty? I can play dirty. Let's play…sweep the leg!"

"Sweep the wha-" Was all the Knight got in before Bren rushed towards him. The old man raised his blade for another hit, but Bren was too quick, and kicked him in the back of his left knee, causing the Knight to flip over and land flat on his back. The resulting CLANG as the armor impacted against the linoleum floor made the entire room shake, and every bystander froze in place, the noise acting almost like some kind of freeze gun.

The Knight looked up groggily, now more furious than ever. Visions began dancing in front of his eyes as his rage started bubbling beneath the surface. Visions of him overwhelming this opponent, making him pay for this humiliation, all the while he begged for mercy. The Knight would never live this down, thrown to the floor by such a little scamp of an enemy. He'd make them rue that cowardly move. Every day for the rest-

Unfortunately, the Knight's dramatic visions of grandeur were swiftly interrupted when he spotted a fist flying at his face, coming at about a few hundred miles per hour. He gasped, and rolled to the side, barely dodging the attack as it missed his head and struck the floor. Almost like a meteor, a small crater was made on impact with cracks spiraling in every direction away from it. The Knight used both his legs to push himself backwards and then jumped back on his feet. He took a defensive pose with his sword and tried to ignore the now beating heart in his ears, cursing himself for showing fear at a time like this.

"Huh…" Bren said, glancing up at him and pulling his fist away from the ground. "You're surprisingly fast for your size. I thought that'd have gotten you."

"You underestimate me." The Knight said. "I may look old and frail, but I am like a great tree on the inside. I have grown stronger with age, and will continue too. The strength I possess is more than enough for the likes of you! That last attack you threw at me was only because of good fortune! Next time you won't be so lucky."

"...As we all well know." Bren sighed. "You've said that stuff about strength a few times by now. Or something similar to it. You can't beat me! I'm old but strong! We get it. However…" His eyes turned to the cracks in the floor. "I think you underestimated me as well. You really think a normal person would have been able to create that?"

The Knight looked down at the crater, which was a good few inches deep. Bren's claim had a good backing behind it. Even if they weren't injured, the Knight doubted that a single person in this room would be able to create such a hole. Truly, there was more to him than initially thought. If he had created a mark like that with a single punch, then a direct hit to his armor…

Well, that might leave a dent or two.

'Think.' The Knight thought, a single bead of sweat dripping off his brow. 'How do I beat him without endangering the civilians? He's already proven his speed and strength. Both of which are higher than I anticipated. It certainly explains why he wasn't backing down at all earlier, or why he wasn't weary of all the civilians attempts at attacking him. He could have taken them down with ease whenever he wanted. But me, however…'

The Knight narrowed his eyes and began walking to the side, moving in a circle formation. Bren smiled and began copying his movements, and the two walked around an invisible dome, staring each other down.

'He won't be able to take me down that easily.' He continued. 'This armor is made of the toughest steel that Earth had to offer. Much stronger than whatever material the hospital floor is-was made out of. He may be strong, but if his strength is anything like mine, then he won't be able to get past my shielding.'

The Knight then flipped the visor on his helmet down, obscuring everything but his eyes, and even then they were barely visible. He raised his sword in the air and prepared to launch another attack, resulting in Bren frowning in indifference and moving his right leg behind him. Now covered head to toe with the metal plating, the Knight was a fearsome opponent to behold, and most of the patients in the lobby moved towards the front door, wanting no part in the coming conflict.

'Wait...why didn't they do that earlier?' The Knight thought, watching them go. 'I'm actually confused by the way they just sat there earlier. The person who gave them all those wounds and possibly killed dozens of their friends was standing right in front of them for almost a half-hour, and they never even tried to flee until now?! All they did was try to perform sneak attacks on him, which I stopped because they could hurt themselves even worse in the process.'

While all this was happening inside the Knight's head, Bren sneaked a glance over at the door that led into the main hospital, wondering if he could sneak away, go to Butterfly, and get this whole thing over with. By this point, he should have visited her and left already. But because someone decided to allow themselves to be thrown into a wall...along with the fact that he couldn't stop himself from trying to have fun, this whole scene felt like it was far past it's expiration date. He grunted and decided against it, wanting to at least end the Knight first before setting out what he hoped to accomplish.

'The fact that they showed mostly anger up to this point is very surprising.' The Knight continued. 'Although it is comforting to see that even injured, the civilians of this town have a spine. In crisis, they have shown their true colors, and they do not disappoint. Well...at first.'

'Christ.' Bren thought, inching closer to the Knight, one centimeter at a time. 'Is this really important right now? Is this really something that needed to happen? Come to think of it, did any of this need to happen? I thought you wanted a challenge Bren! Literally what you told Butterfly when you first met her. Sure, I'm changing my mind against that now, but...does doing that make me a liar, or just a hypocrite? Wait, no, I don't think that's what a hypocrite is...right?'

'But their absence is welcoming.' The Knight thought. 'Now the only people in the room are me, Him, the Attendant, and that demon, who is...surprisingly still unconscious. I knew I hit him hard, but jeez. Hope this doesn't stir up any tensions between Eclipsa and the Underworld when word of this gets out.' The Knight then snorted and gripped his sword tighter. 'Although I think the fact that the demon is already working for Bren in the first place confirms that that's exactly what will happen.'

'No, you know why you're doing this!' Bren told himself, having gotten far along with his internal conversation from where the Knight had interrupted them. 'Don't delude yourself into thinking that you're someone you're not. I am Bren! I'm not that stupid, mindless moron from years past. Yes, Brudo was right. I am a child throwing a tantrum with too many toys at my disposal. But if only they knew why...maybe they'd start to understand.'

'...'

'...'

'...'

Bren paused and shook his head, silently noting how ridiculous that sounded. 'Oh, who am I kidding? I've killed hundreds of them. If I appeared in front of a crowd, a real one, then they'd rush forward to tear me apart before I even got a single word in…'

'Is he even paying attention? He looks like he's lost in the Cloud Kingdom.' The Knight griped, having turned his attention back to the enemy. 'Hm. All the better for me then.' He exhaled and briefly closed his eyes. 'Forgive me fellow knights, I must give up my true honor and nobility as one of you in order to kill this creature while he is distracted. For Mewni. For Earth. For all of you. And for you Bren…'

The Knight inhaled and raised his weapon above his head, preparing to downward slash.

"NOW YOU DIE YOU SANCTIMONIOUS LITTLE MONSTER!" He screamed, feeling that something should be said for this historic moment. And with all the speed of a rampaging moose, he sprinted towards Bren, who hadn't even noticed that he was being charged.

'...And that doesn't even go into merchandising rights, and...huh?' He thought, as he felt the sudden vibration of the Knight's footsteps in the ground. He was like a rampaging rhino, sword held high in the air. Each step made a foot-shaped hole in the floor, like a train of bloody prints. Bren hardly even flinched when he saw the sight that would cause most anyone else to faint out of pure animal terror.

'Okay, let's finish this crap. Time to play real dirty.' He thought. 'Let's see...hostage...hostage...wait, where the hell did everyone go?' He glanced around the room, only just now noticing that he, the Knight, and the Attendant were the only conscious people still there, and the latter was on the phone hidden under the desk, babbling incoherently. 'Fan-fucking-tastic.' Bren thought. 'Because I didn't consider them enough of a threat to bother paying attention, every security officer in the whole damn building will be here soon. No doubt a bad time had by all. But as far as hostages go…' He let out a "pft" and prepared to side-step just as the Knight leaped in the air. "...they'll do.'

"DIE!" The Knight shouted, as his sword came flying down yet again, only to miss...yet again. The sword went a full six inches into the floor, while Bren turned around after this and ignored the old man entirely, heading for the Attendant. The Knight tugged viciously at the handle, but it was stuck like it had been glued in place. By the time he freed his weapon from the ground, Bren would have made short work of him, likely denting his armor in two dozen fifteen places as a start.

Which, oddly, hadn't happened yet. The Knight turned to look at his foe, confused as to why the assault hadn't begun.

And then his heart sank.

Because he saw that Bren had a dagger in his hand, the same one he had tossed behind that human food dispensary earlier. And said dagger was now being held to the throat of the desk Attendant, the phone they were holding trembling in their hands with a look of pure terror in their face. Bren was standing directly behind them, flattening the blade against their neck as he held his other hand over their mouth, his single brown eye peeking from over their shoulder.

"You know...I should have just done this from the very start." He said, trying to ignore the tears that were coming out the Attendant's eyes and dripping onto his hands. "And I wanted to. So, so badly. In and out, quick and easy. But then I saw you, and all these people in the lobby, and I thought to myself, let's have some fun…so I tried to do that. Didn't work." He groused. "Everything was ruined by the reveal that nobody knew I killed Mina, and then I called Eclipsa, only for her idiot husband to answer, who is probably still thinking to himself about nonsense and wasting everyone's time by the way, and then you make up some shit about honor, take it back five seconds later, and...now we're here." He shook his head and chuckled, but it was more the laugh of a person who was losing their mind rather than a humorous one.

"...Let them go." The Knight demanded, not daring to make the wrong move. "I won't say it again."

"I don't think so." Bren said. "If you want them to survive, then you're going to do what I say. So first things first...step away from your sword."

The Knight glowered at Bren but did as he was told, taking a few steps backwards and leaving his weapon where it was. He had to, of course. Refusing to comply would result in the death of Bren's hostage, and their death would be because of him and his thirst for "honor".

That was a shame he'd be forced to carry forever, even in death.

"Good." Bren said. "Now Tom. Grab him and drag him out of the hole. And if you purposefully try to hurt him or break his arms or whatever, then I promise I will find a way to kill every single person I come across in this hospital today, not just this one." He twisted the dagger slightly, resulting in the tiniest amount of blood falling from the Attendant's throat. They whimpered, and silently wished that they had never tried to make that call to security. Especially since it had all been for nothing, since they never got through to them. No help was coming.

The Knight meanwhile, obeyed this order as well and walked over to the unconscious demon, before grabbing one of his legs and roughly pulling him out. Bren frowned when he saw the awful state his lackey was in, beaten and battered like he had been run over by a train. One of his horns had a giant crack running through it, and he seemed to be missing a few teeth as well. The rest of him was just covered in all sorts of various bruises, all of them a blackish-red in color.

'I should have prevented everyone from leaving.' He thought. 'Because now I have to track them down and kill them. They saw Tom get tossed into a wall like this. They saw him get defeated with a single smack, and seriously, how the hell did that happen, and I'm betting that they posted about it on Facebook or Twitter or Tumblr or whatever website they use to try and find meaning in their insignificant lives.' Bren grimaced. 'Which means that the government has likely seen it. Which means they know Tom is severely injured. Which means they know he isn't as tough as I claimed he was. Which means I have no fucking leverage against them, because now he's not in any shape to teleport in the Oval Office to give off some threats! Look at his arms for God's sake! Telling the Knight not to break them is pointless because I'm pretty sure they already are! And as for the emergency teleportation….forget it!' He huffed. 'That's only good for one go. Only for last-minute escape attempts and all that. Until Tom is healed, I have nothing.'

Bren but the inside of his lip and took a few deep breaths. 'Okay. Calm the fuck down.' He told himself. 'You're overreacting. Things may look grim, but they're not nearly as bad as you think. First off, you think the government is going to accept any calls from those people? The second one of those wounded loons so much as mentions me or Earthni online, the post will be "mysteriously" taken down without even being fully read first. And I'll admit it, the people I ordered to do that know what they're doing. Shame I had to kill a family member each and threaten the rest to get my point across, but hey…' He shrugged. '...It's getting the job done.'

He then turned his head towards the front sliding door, which hadn't been used ever since all the patients ran out like frightened rabbits.

'Alright. They're not a problem, so don't worry. But these two…' Bren turned his attention back to his adversary and hostage, one of which appeared to be checking if Tom was still alive while the other seemed to be silently praying. 'I still have to take them both out. The Attendant is likely going to go straight to what remains of the police, who will then go to the Royals, who will then complain about it to Eclipsa. Then she'll go to the government, and then they'll learn how I've taken over everything.' He blew some hair out of his face and glared at the old man. 'And him...well, I kinda just want to kill him now. But after these two are dead, I'll just get on that computer and search the hospital database myself for where Butterfly is. But not before locking the door so no one else gets in. And ending that call with Globgor, which can come never. Screw that whole thing, was a stupid idea to begin with.'

"Okay, good." Bren said to the Knight,. "Now come here."

The Knight paused. "No." He said defiantly. "No, I'm

Not taking another step."

"Excuse me?" Bren said, while the Attendant's eyes widened in trepidation. "Do you not see the hostage? Forget all the stuff I made you do five seconds ago? What are you doing now?"

"I'm not taking any more orders from you." The Knight said. "Not a single one. Those first two were just the initial fear of seeing that person die by your hand. But that fear is gone, overcome by humiliation and shame. I will no longer be bossed around by your filthy words. I refuse to listen to anyone but my superior."

"Fascinating." Bren said, obviously not interested in his reasoning in the slightest. "Then what's stopping me? Why don't I just kill them? After all, the only reason I'm keeping them alive is to use you. If you weren't here, I'd have slit their throat tens times over for that stunt they tried pulled the security."

"You won't do it. I don't believe you." The Knight said. "You are the type of person who does not like their hands getting dirty. At least not literally. You hide in the shadows, planting bombs, sneaking around, and-"

"I literally just tried to kill you with my bare hands five minutes ago." Bren said. "I don't like getting my hand dirty? Give me a fucking break!" He exclaimed. "Just yesterday I was drenched in head to toe with blood from Mina's little posse, and then I squashed a bunch of heads open like pumpkins! If anything, I like getting my hands dirty every now and then because it's fucking fun!"

The Knight reared back slightly after hearing this, a disgusted expression crossing his face. "Was that part about the head squishing a joke?"

"No, I did it to intimidate Brudo." Bren said. "Then he went all "I don't care about my life anymore", to caring about his life again, to not caring again. The whole situation was one giant nonsensical mess, like most things nowadays. Because if any of this made sense, then this fight would already be over, and I'd have moved on to Butterfly."

"You're saying none of this makes sense?" The Knight asked. "How so? I think you've outlined your goals pretty well."

"How so-!" Bren scoffed. "Take a look around dammit!" Where are all the doctors?! There were like a thousand doctors and patients strolling through the lobby every ten seconds that have suddenly and conveniently disappeared! Not to mention the fact that Lucitor still hasn't recovered or woken up after that one punch, and I don't care how strong you are, but he's a demon prince and should have gotten back up now. Christ, it's like he doesn't even know his own abilities. What's he even dreaming about? The big fat failure that is his love life?"

"...I don't see how any of this is relevant." The Knight said. "Those things can be easily explained. In the case of a threat, the required response is to press a button hidden under the desk to alert people not to come into the lobby, so-"

"That's not a thing hospitals have!" Bren shrieked. "At least not this one. Trust me, I scoped the whole place out months ago in preparation for a moment like this. I know the layout of the whole building, and there is not fucking button hidden under that desk!"

"It-it's...uh…" The Attendant choked out, before shutting their mouth and silently crying some more.

"Oh what?" Bren asked. "You got something to add? Tell me, what is that button doing there?"

"It's a new addition." The Attendant said. "It was just added l-last month."

"Ugh…" Bren sighed. "That explains it then. But it just adds to the nonsense because that would mean it'd tell people not to come to the lobby. Which means it should have alerted security to the fact that there is a threat, therefore you should not have made that phone call to get them down here in the first place! And where the hell even are they?!" He screeched, now totally out of control. "It's been like ten minutes since that call…"

"I-I wasn't able to reach them." The Attendant said. "Not before you walked over."

"Oh. Well, that's also completely idiotic!" Bren said. "If that phone is there purely for calling security, it should have a hotline with no buffering or delays or anything! If I was out for blood for all of you right now, I could have killed everyone in the lobby by the time you reached them! The hells up with the infrastructure in this place?! Phone calls like that working should be an absolute necessity!"

"The lines are likely tied up." The Knight suggested, dropping Tom's leg and slowly reaching behind his back. "Imagine how many people are calling the police asking for help."

"Idiot." Bren seethed. "A security call like that would be on a private line, not one that-"

"We d-don't have the money for a private line like that." The Attendant said. "The company we asked says we have to pay for it every week, as we don't have enough money to do that."

"Wha-you're an American hospital! You literally charge people's thousands of dollars for an ambulance ride." Bren countered. "How the hell are you out of money? Considering how stupid the people in this town are, you think they'd have to go here quite a lot…"

"Most of the m-money doesn't go to us or the hospital itself." The Attendant said. "It all goes to somebody else."

"Ah. The ones on top. Of course." Bren sighed. "You know what, I don't care. The world's problem, not mine. Back to criticizing all the flaws of what's happening right now. Let's see...ah yes!" His eyes lit up and he glared at the old man. "You!" He accused. "You and your hypocritical bullshit system of honor is easily the most inconsistent thing I've ever seen. One second you say I can land the first blow while also stopping others from attacking me, and the next you're the one striking from behind! What's up with that? Who even are you?! Why are you necessary?!"

"Why am I necessary…?" The Knight queried, looking at Bren like he was insane. "What kind of question is that?"

"It's the kind I ask when I've had enough of all the lazy explanations" Bren yelled. "Everyone has had enough. This entire thing has been an absolute bore for me to slog through. You two are completely unnecessary background characters in the grand scheme of things. I am done with having to be here, interacting with you, and being forced to live in the petulant adventures of people that I know nothing about and also don't care about."

"Do you have any semblance of sanity left?!" The Knight yelled. "What are you going on about? Background characters?! Petulant adventures?! Is this some sort of intimidation technique that-"

"Quiet!" Bren hissed. "You and your...ever-changing personality. You're like twenty different people at once. And you…" He glared down at the Attendant. "What happened to you? The person that's bored with their job and hates every aspect of it doesn't flee when they had the chance? What do you care about the people in this hospital?"

"Because I h-had too." The Attendant said. "If I didn't arrive, I w-was out of a job. I need the money."

"Not really, if your job performance before this all happened is anything to go by." Bren said. "You looked like a zombie. And not like a really tired person, I mean an actually fucking undead zombie, typing away at your computer. It's honestly quite amusing to watch at times. A person without a soul, sucked away by the corporate greed of their past professions."

The Attendant didn't know how to respond to this, but the Knight did. Or at least he knew how he wanted to respond. He had one weapon left, a small knife hidden in his back armor that was invisible to the naked eye. All he had to do was wait for the proper moment to throw it at Bren. He was positive that he could hit him without nailing his hostage, but even then, he'd have to be careful. It would take more precision than a skilled sniper trying to hit a target a mile away. If Bren moved just a little to the left, his blade would strike the innocent, and that would be the end of it.

So he just had to get him to keep talking. Talking about...well, whatever the hell he was complaining about just a second ago. Background characters and adventures and all sorts of nonsense. Keep him angry. Keep him distracted. Make him an easy target.

"What happened to that phone call you were on?" The Knight asked. "I thought it was very important, considering how you set all this aside in order to make it like nothing else mattered."

"Oh, screw that. I don't know what I was thinking." Bren said. "That entire thing was a waste of time, and-"

"Pft…" The Attendant scoffed, catching everyone's (all two of them) attention. "W-who's the guy with an ever-changing personality now?"

"Fair." Bren said, not at all irked by this comment. "Because that's actually true. I do have mood swings. Personality changes. But...I will never go back to being the person I was once. That worthless, green-eyed sycophant. Acting like everything was his plaything, but still remaining servile to everyone else. At least, until…" Bren trailed off and huffed. "Nevermind. But he is gone. That I made sure of."

"Green eyes?" The Knight asked. "But your eyes are...err...okay, I can't believe I didn't notice how weird that was before." He tilted his head like an artist trying to understand an obscure painting. "One of your eyes is orange, and the other is a dark brown. How does that work exactly? Do humans normally have eyes like that?"

"I'm not human, you dolt." Bren spat. "I'm actually from a species of humanoids called…hold it. Did you say one of my eyes was brown?"

"Yes." The Knight replied. "I assumed that was natural, and-"

"No…" Bren whispered. "Brudo...that of a bitch. That little bastard. His words actually got to me and I…and I didn't even notice it! DAMMIT!" He screeched in anger, causing the Attendant to try and slip free again. "Oh, what I wouldn't give to kill him again right now. That's it! If I can't get him, then it's time to go back on my word! His entire worthless family is going to-"

'Now.' The Knight thought, and he gripped the knife's handle, whipped it out, and threw it at Bren's head as hard as he could. He was done with the conversation, done with the phone calls, done with these "inconsistencies", and done with everything else. Mewni's enemy had been in his sights this whole time, and it was finally time to act, not react.

And then it all happened too fast. Bren saw the knife coming at him and moved to put the Attendant's head in its path instead of his own, but they had plans of their own, although it was completely unrelated to the weapon currently flying at them. Earlier, they remembered that there was one more button. A button that was rather hard to reach, as it was activated by breaking a handle of one of the drawers attached to the inside of the desk. An odd addition, but one that the Mayor requested be installed, once he had seen the idea on a television show. Everyone else thought it was a stupid idea as breaking the handle was a lot harder than it looked, but the Mayor's word was law and thus it had to be done.

But when the handle broke, it activated a blaring alarm that was spread across the entire building, and basically meant "danger, everyone get out or you will die". It was a last resort option, considering the extensive list of regulations that it had for usage, but the Attendant figured that it was now or never. They would have slapped themselves for forgetting about it earlier, if Bren didn't have a dagger at their throat.

But now was the time to act, just like the Knight had. Would Bren kill them for this? The Attendant figured the answer was a definite yes. But they also knew that Bren was going to kill them anyways, judging by the way he spoke. He didn't care about their life. He might not even care for his own. His only thought was of revenge. And considering they had already made that phone call earlier…he wasn't in any mood to spare them, regardless of whether the old man did what he said or not.

They wanted to do one final thing before they died. So they did. They reached their leg up and slammed their foot into the handle just as the knife left the Knight's hand.

Bren moved their head.

A phone clattered as it hit the ground.

The handle snapped.

The alarm rang out.

And a body slumped to the floor.


If Star could define in one word how she felt right now, it would be...infuriated. Yes. Infuriated. Because her worst enemy, the person who had caused her so much pain, the monster that had beaten Marco to death was standing right in front of her, looking smug as-

as...

Actually, scratch that. He didn't look smug at all. His eyes were dead inside, a blank expression casting itself into his face. But that somehow made it even worse. He was staring at her like a how a police officer might stare at a criminal they were about to interrogate. And that wasn't the only thing that set him off. His currently dead eyes were also...mismatched now? One was the usual orange, and the other was a dark green. A trait that Star hadn't seen in him before, but also one that was nothing but a mild oddity to her. Whatever it was, it couldn't be more important than whatever his reason for coming was.

"You." She growled, gritting her teeth together so intensely that they almost cracked under the pressure.

"Me." Bren deadpanned, a small bloodstain adorning the front of his clothes. His tone clearly indicated that he wasn't in the mood to make small talk, something that he had been so fond of in the past. "Hello Butterfly. I need to-"

"Don't move." A voice to his right said. Bren looked and saw Moon standing there, a hairpin in her right hand, placed between two of her fingers like a makeshift spike. The former Queen showed no signs of fear at his presence, and was clearly ready to stab Bren in the face with it at the slightest hint that he might attack. "How dare you-"

"Shut up, I'm not here for you." Bren said, waving her off. "You don't have to worry about anything. I'm not here to hurt your precious daughter, so you can put that useless pin away."

Moon did nothing of the sort, only deepening her expression. Her first instinct when she saw Bren was to rip his head off with her bare hands, considering that he did not appear to have Thomas accompanying him at the moment. But after she remembered what happened to Marco, Moon figured that Bren himself was likely some sort of capable fighter, and attacking him without a proper plan would be folly.

River also didn't attack, possibly for the same reasons, but it was clear that he was showing a great deal of restraint in the process. His fists were trembling along with the rest of his body as he shook in pure rage. This...this was the abomination who had caused his daughter to be put into the hospital. It didn't matter if some "God of flame" was the one who possessed Marco, because that God likely wouldn't even be here if not for Bren. River glanced to the side and saw one of the chairs, and temptation almost took over. Fantasies of him beating the abomination to death with a chair like some sort of common street rat took over his mind, and anyone looking at him could tell exactly what he was thinking of doing. His expression said it all.

"Good. Now then." Bren said, moving his attention back to Star. "Butterfly. I'm going to make this quick. I'm in a rather bad mood, so I'm just going to cut straight to the point. I know you know about Demon Magic, and I know your parents know, and I know that Moon probably wants to use it to defeat me and save the town. Right?"

"Uh…" Star said, anger turning to confusion as she wondered how he could possibly know all that.

Bren read her expression like a book and rolled his eyes. "Come on, what the hell else would you be discussing?" He asked rhetorically. "And we all know Moon isn't one to pass up an opportunity to take power, so I think it's obvious I'm aware of what she had to say about-"

"I wasn't going to take power." Moon spat, obviously not in the mood to explain her reasoning to someone else after painfully reciting it to Star. "I was planning to use it to help and repair the town." Her expression darkened. "And rid it of you."

"It wouldn't work. He wouldn't let you do that." Bren said confidently.

"He? Who is he?" Moon queried, before realization struck. "Hold on, are you talking about that god of fire you work for?"

"Oh thank god, you figured it out. I was worried I'd have to explain it to you." Bren said in exasperation. "Yeah, since he controls Demon Magic, he controls who uses it, and since…" Bren paused mid-sentence, and then looked away before groaning. "Whatever. You get the idea. You can't use it to beat me, since I'm his agent, yadda yadda yadda."

Star tilted her head after he said this, her bewilderment at what he was saying now turned up to eleven. This was definitely not Bren. There was no grandstanding. There was no arrogance in his voice. He wasn't putting on some evil grin. He wasn't describing everything in detail like a cliche villain. He just seemed...bored. Like, actually bored and tired of all of this. It was a side of him Star hadn't seen before.

'I think that the color of his eyes may actually be important…' She thought, going back in her earlier assumption. 'If his whole aloof mood is because of it. I don't think he's even going to hurt us. Not because he's "saving for it later", but because he just can't be bothered to right now!'

"Now that that's over with, I want to discuss the main reason I came here." Bren said. For starters, I-"

"PREPARE YOURSELF FOR BATTLE!" River's voice suddenly screeched, and everyone turned to see him standing there, the chair he was previously sitting in held above his head like a sledgehammer, and with a gaze so full of rage that if looks could kill, all of Earthni would be dead.

Moon and Star simultaneously facepalmed, the two security guards from earlier took out their phones to record the whole thing, and Bren merely blinked at River, narrowed his eyes, then turned back to Star. "Right." He said, not at all interested in a fight right now. "Anyways, I came here to discuss the whole issue of Demon Magic. First off, I think you should know that with the info I just divulged, the whole teleportation spell was a courtesy. Second, you-"

"Um...did you not hear me?" River asked, his arms lowering to the floor. "I said prepare yourself for battle!"

"I know. I ignored you entirely." Bren said. "But me and your daughter are currently in the middle of a conversation, and I'm not in the mood to fight you after the last one, so for all our sakes...how about you go wait outside?" He suggested, pointing a thumb at the door.

"Wait outside?!" River screamed. "You expect a Johansen like me to wait outside when the enemy is right in front of him?! It doesn't matter what you came here to do! I have been waiting a long time for this moment, and-"

"Have you though?" Bren asked. "How long have I even been in town? Week and a half maybe? Less than that? And how long have you been aware of my existence?"

"..."

"Thought so." Bren said. "You're just pissy because Star's hurt. And I understand. Truly, I do. But don't make this meeting any harder than it has to be. I already wasted too much time in the lobby with that Attendant and the old man, so this...is not needed."

"Wait, what did you do in the lobby?" Star demanded. "Those guards told me you killed someone!"

"Yeah...but that was only to save my own skin. At least, the first kill was." Bren acknowledged. "The rest just got in the way, and so I did what I usually do whenever I encounter a problem. Just get rid of it."

Star silently gasped and shot daggers at him, but remained sitting in the bed. She was smart enough to know that she probably wouldn't stand a chance against him even if she wasn't in the hospital. Especially if Tom was-

Wait.

She looked around the room, and then out the door. More people rushed by, but nobody was standing near the doorway, like they were avoiding it at all costs.

"Where's Tom?" She asked accusingly. "What did you do to him?"

"I didn't do anything. He's currently laying down on a bench." Bren revealed. "He got punched through a wall by the Knight the hospital hired to protect it, and that kinda took him out of commission for a while."

"...Are you serious? That's all it took?" Star said quizzingly. "You're saying he got smacked through a wall and couldn't get back up again?"

"Yeah, I personally think he's putting on an act, but since that Knight never actually managed to land a hit on me, it could be either-or." Bren said. "Plus, I don't think he's dumb enough to try and trick me...not after the close call he had back at Mansion Avarius."

"The hospital hired a Knight?" Moon interjected. "Where is he?"

"Relax, I don't think he was one of yours. His armor had the symbol of the Jaggy kingdom on it." Bren revealed. "As to where he is…you're going to have to be a little more specific." He then mumbled. "He's kinda spread around."

"Enough of the small talk!" River shouted furiously. "You are the enemy! We should be fighting you to the death, not engaging in civil conversation!" He raised his chair up again. "Bren, for what you have done against my daughter, Marco, and this town, I will defeat you here with this chair, like a true Johans-"

"You remind me so much of him…" Bren mumbled, shaking his head.

"What was that?" River asked.

"The Knight from the lobby." Bren explained. "Never actually got his name, unfortunately, would have made talking to him a lot easier. But he was like you." He cleared his throat and started doing a mockery of the knight's voice, sounding somewhat like an enraged armadillo trying to speak. "I'm going to defeat you Bren. Today you will die an honorable death, despite the fact that I constantly go back and forth with the honor thing for whatever reason." He sighed. "I've heard it before River. So if you're going to attack me, just do it so we can get this over with. This whole trip of mine has been nothing but a nonsensical disaster, and I'm sure everyone would like to get it over with as soon as possible."

"I…" River stuttered, and then he hesitated and fell silent. Despite the fact that Bren had personally given him an invitation to attack, he could no longer bring himself to just blindly charge in like this. His arms were slowly lowered to the floor as he thought it over, once again wondering if now was truly the best time to strike.

'He's right there.' River thought. 'No more than five feet away. But Moon is even closer. Why hasn't she attacked? She may not have her armor or swords, but I've seen her handle foes ten times larger herself! None of us should be cowering away from this! We have to attack now! For what he did to my family, we must-'

"River." Moon whispered, her voice deadly serious. "Don't do anything until the proper moment."

River sucked his breath in at this order from his wife, finally understanding why she hadn't attacked. She wasn't afraid. She wasn't being cowardly. She was just waiting for the right opportunity. After all, the confines of the room were minuscule compared to how it was earlier, what with all the added visitors. One wrong move could cause tremendous collateral damage. One misplaced punch could go flying where it shouldn't, like Star or the devices she was hooked up to. This was not an arena. This was not a place for battle, and with Moon's warning, River understood that.

But.

But he still couldn't stand by and do nothing. His gaze darted over to the one window in the room. Cheap and breakable glass. A single punch from him would be sufficient to shatter it. It'd certainly be a shame if someone was, say, pushed through? Into the outside, which was a far superior and safer place to hold a fight?

Yes, such a shame…

As River began mapping everything out in his head, Bren turned away and went back to Star again, who was clutching her bedsheets so tightly her knuckles were a pale white. "Okay. Enough of the sidetracking." He said. "First off, I want to know how much you know about Demon Magic."

"Yeah? Well, give me one reason why I should tell you anything." Star growled. "If you were here to kill us, you'd have done it already. And you yourself already said you weren't here for a fight. I don't think you're going to start swinging at us in order to get what you want."

"Maybe so. But you should know there are other ways of encouragement I know that doesn't involve "taking a swing" at you." Bren fumed. "Let's see what we have. I could go outside and kill some patients. I could go back home, come back with another barrel, and blow up this hospital. Or…now here's a fun one." He pondered. "I could take out your worthless friend Janna, the one who I now regret freeing from the hospital, for everything she's-"

As he said this last part, Bren took another step closer to Star, resulting in Moon smoothly stepping in front of her. Bren paused mid-sentence and glared at the former queen, who didn't even flinch under the gaze.

"Don't come anywhere near my daughter." She spat. "If all you want to do is talk, then so be it. But I don't care about what you've done or what you can do, and if you take another step toward her, then I-"

"You'll what?" Bren asked, unimpressed with her threats. "Let me ask you something before you continue Moon. Where were you all those times?"

"What?"

"Where were you?" Bren repeated. "This is hardly the first meeting between me and your daughter after all. I could have killed her so many times and you wouldn't have been able to do anything about it. Hell, in our first encounter, she literally accepted my invitation to meet in person! But if you had been there to help her, to guide her like you should as a parent, you'd never have let her go. But she did, and I could have murdered her right then and there. You've basically abandoned her along with everyone else in your life. Well, besides River, but he doesn't count."

Moon's expression darkened. "What's the point of all this-"

"The point is that's it's a bit too late to start making threats." Bren said. "You did nothing during the demon attack. You weren't at Mansion moron along with the rest of the townsfolk. You were back at home. You should have heard all that destruction going on. But what did you do? You sat there and did nothing. Like a coward." He spat.

"HOW DARE YOU!" River screamed, pushing his wife aside and getting in Bren's face, who didn't shy away in the slightest at the sight of the Johansen King stomping towards him. The two scowled at each other as rage overtook all of River's earlier planning, their faces now only a few inches apart. "YOU DARE INSULT MY WIFE LIKE THAT?! YOU'RE JUST A-"

"Enough!" Moon yelled, putting her hands on River's and Bren's chests and forcefully pushing them apart. "River, again, now is not the time for this! Look around you! This is not the place to get into an altercation!"

"That doesn't matter!" River protested. "I can't sit by and watch him demean!""

"I've endured insults ten times worse than that." Moon scoffed. "Let him say what he wants, and then you..." She leaned in and whispered into his ear. "...can finish planning whatever it is you were thinking up just a minute ago."

Moon then reared back, leaving River wondering how she knew he was plotting something. But a thought for later. She had given him an order, one that would still work out in his favor in the end, and so he was going to follow it, all his rage pushed aside by the power of his wife. He retreated back into a corner, putting on the same "thinking" face that earlier alerted Moon to the fact that he was up to something. He didn't stop the grumbling though, which was just quiet enough to be inaudible.

Bren, meanwhile, stared down at the part of his shirt that Moon had touched, and then looked at her like she dirtied it. "Please don't touch me again." He said. "Even if it's to get your psycho husband away from me, I don't need anyone like you-"

"Trust me, I would have let him tear you apart if it weren't for our location. I didn't do anything for you." Moon said. "And you know just as well as the rest of us that starting a fight in here would be foolish. Don't start making threats." She seethed, throwing his own words back at him. "Because if you do attack, I promise we won't hold back."

"Adorable." Bren deadpanned. "Moon, I don't care if you don't hold back. I never saw you as a formidable opponent. Not because you're not strong, but because of all the stuff I said earlier. About how you're a coward who sits at home all day doing nothing." He cleared his throat again. "In fact, let's go back to that. You haven't helped. You haven't helped in...how long, was it? Oh right, forever!" He shouted, as if Moon's lack of assistance with the town's problem had become personal.

"You are easily the most useless Royal out of all of them. Even more so then that stupid horn head." Bren said. "And that's definitely saying something. Because you had your chances. You had so many chances to help out, but you didn't. What do you hope to accomplish with this Demon Magic anyways? What do you personally hope to gain if you manage to kill me with it?"

"Besides the satisfaction of seeing you die after everything you've done…" Moon hissed. "I'm trying to help. Maybe I am a bit late with it. But I just had this conversation with Star, and I'm going to give you the same answer I gave her. I want to redeem myself. Payback what I've taken. I'm not looking to be some great glorified hero. I want to make up for past misdeeds and be done with it and you."

"And I wonder how that's gonna go." Bren said, rolling his eyes. "Face it. You can't please everyone. It won't matter if you kill me. It won't matter if you do in front of thousands of people on live television. You'll always be remembered as the person who almost caused the extinction of monster kind. With Mina gone, they have to have someone to blame."

"That's not how history works." Star interjected. "If my mom does some good as her last action, then that's what they'll remember her for. The things that a person is famous for really depends on timing."

"Since when do you care?" Bren asked. "I'd assume you hate her after everything she did. Not to mention how mad you probably were after Moon described her plan to use Demon Magic. Because a plan like that shows that she really hasn't learned anything from the last magical crisis, yes?"

"We were still talking it out when you arrived. Don't act like you were here listening in" Star said. "And I don't hate my mom. I've been trying to help her! Get her to meet new people! I don't even think that many people hate her anymore! They blame Mina, and they're always going to blame her even if she's dead."

"Is that how you think it works?" Bren queried, looking ready to laugh at Star's claims. "Then riddle me this. Let's say that you somehow defeat me. Demolish my Sanctuary. Execute me in front of the whole town. Repair everything and make it a misdemeanor to say my name public. Let's say allllll that happens." He hummed. "But there's a loose end. A missing piece that you haven't thought of. And it's what are you going to do to Lucitor?"

"Tom?" Star mumbled. "What are you playing-"

"Tom has done quite a few things for me. Terrible things. Things that'll keep him up at night even if I break control." Bren bragged. "I'm sure I've scarred that boy for life. Even a demon can only handle so much."

"Don't talk about him. You don't get too." Star fumes. "Whatever it is you're holding against, whether it's his parents, his Kingdom, or something else entirely, we'll take it out of your clutches, and I'll make sure that you get what's coming to-"

"But what will you do after?" Bren asked. "It's now a well-known fact that I have Tom on my side. It was literally part of that speech the Duumvirate made a few days ago. They're all on the lookout for him. As well as any other demons. And I've heard rumors…" He whispered. "That people are blaming him for the demon attack. That it was all his fault."

"What?!" Moon exclaimed. "That's ludicrous. The townsfolk and the Royals know full well that you're controlling him. They would never-"

"Wanna bet?" Bren interjected. "Let me tell you something Moon. The humans and Mewmans that make up Earthni are some of the most paranoid in the entire damn dimension. Always looking over their shoulders since the Merge, like they're waiting for someone to rob them out of nowhere. Wanna know why? Because they're all afraid of the fact that Earthni is one of a kind in this world, and the constant daily shitstorm that this fact brings with it!" He explained. "Imagine the kind of stress that brings. You live in a weird little town with castles standing side-by-side along skyscrapers, and you don't think people are going to think "hey, maybe this isn't the most desirable place to live anymore. Why can't I go back to the days when this wasn't the number one tourist destination in the world, and news hacks weren't interviewing every single person they saw, regardless of importance? Why can't I go back to living my normal life?" I'm not sure if any of you noticed, but the first few months were a total nightmare for this place's original inhabitants."

"I…" Moon stuttered, struck dumb by this rant. Out of all the people to give her a lecture on how bad the "normal" people of Echo creek and Mewni had it since the merge, Bren was certainly not the one she expected to do it. "Well, you may make a few good points, but-"

"Uh uh uh uh uh, not finished yet." Bren interrupted. "From what I've seen, life for the common person in this town is an absolute hell. Even a walk to the grocery store is an obstacle course! I simulated that experience by the way. I went from one side of the town to the grocery store on the other, just to see how it was like. Well, actually, I was mapping out the town, but I got a few "other" things out of it." He scoffed, air quotes and all.

"Let me tell what I saw." He continued. "First things first, tourists. Everywhere. And you can always tell. Somehow, the tourists are even stupider than the actual natives, and of course that makes it worse. But the questions." He groaned, and then started putting on a voice. "Do you know how to get here? Can you tell me about magic! Ah! What is that? Is that a monster! I thought it was just a bunch of people in rubber suits when I saw it on the news!" Bren chuckled slightly after this, although there was hardly any humor in that laugh. "It was annoying in the extreme. Not to mention disrespectful. Can you imagine if I had actually been a person who lived in this fucking town? Let me tell you, the streets would be lined with the corpses of those idiots by the end of the day."

"...Wait, are you serious?" Star asked, who was getting by and more intrigued by Bren's explanation of why Earthni was a terrible place to live. "Rubber suits?! That's what they think of monsters?!"

"That's right!" Bren said, nodding. "And when they finally saw a monster, and walked up to him…" He sighed softly and tapped his foot. "Gods, I don't even know if I want to say this next part…"

"No, I want to hear it." Star said, her eyes flashing with anger. "I've never been aware of any of this kind of stuff going on, and if monsters are being mistreated, then I need to know so me and Eclipsa can fix it."

"Erm...Star." Moon said slowly. "I think it would be best to focus on the other problem at hand before we work on that...the problem that is currently standing in the room with us-"

"No, if she wants to hear this, then I'm not going to disappoint!" Bren interjected. "Even if it's her, nice to see that someone finally cares about this problem."

"Why do you even care about the lives of our citizens?" Moon asked. "You just murdered hundreds of them!"

"Because I came from a place where shit like that is what you saw on a daily basis. One that most people I knew became a victim of. Despite the fact that I detest this town and everyone in it, that doesn't mean I'm going to stand by and watch the same thing happen all over again. It's...personal."

"So you're saying it's personal?" River queried incredulously. "That's your reasoning?"

"I'd be lying if I said it was anything else." Bren stated. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to give the person who I loathe most what she wants to hear." He turned back to Star. "So when they saw their first monster, one of Buff Frog's children in fact, they walked up to him, held out their hand, and offered them a piece of food."

"...I don't see what's so bad about that!" River exclaimed. "I'll take free food any day, and-"

"Oh, but it was what they said next that really showed what they were thinking." Bren scoffed. "They said, and I'm not lying, this is what I heard…"do you want a treat?" Yeah. Let that sink in for a moment."

"What are you…oh...oh no" Star stuttered, almost throwing up right then and there. Someone...someone said that to one of Buff Frog's children?! Like they were some kind of animal? Why was she only hearing about this now, and from her most hated enemy of all people?! She whipped her head toward her bucket by the side of the bed, and was about to grab it before Bren spoke again.

"And guess what they did next?" Bren prattled. "When Buff Frog's kid didn't take it, and politely asked the other kid to leave them alone, they ran back to their parents, complaining about how the "wildlife" was mean. Wildlife." Bren gasped. "Like all monsters are animals. Lower-life forms with barely functioning brains. Pets, if anything. And despite the dozens of signs you guys put up on the edges of the city before you opened it up to non-natives, saying that monsters were people, and were just as intelligent as everyone else, the tourists still treated them like literal zoo animals."

"…"

"Yeah." Bren said. "It really sucks. But let me tell you how-"

"...More." Star whispered.

"What?"

"More." She repeated. "Tell me everything you know about how the monsters and Mewmans in this town are being treated! I don't care if half of Earthni is currently on fire. I don't care if it comes from your mouth. I'm not going to allow a bunch of people who have never even seen monsters before to treat them like this. Once we get rid of you, I swear I will have Eclipsa every single law she can that'll ensure nothing can-"

"Star, stop." Moon interjected, making everyone in the room besides River and the two security guards glare at her. "He's just trying to rile you up with his. None of what he just said is true. It's all a lie."

"Mom, I'm going to try and say this in the most polite way possible." Star growled. "Be quiet. Don't change the subject away from this. Monsters didn't survive the Solarians and Mina's little posse only to be treated like this by a bunch of outsiders! And this...no. I don't think it's a lie. Because it makes sense the longer I think about it. Of course monsters wouldn't be treated equally by newcomers! Even after all the signs and warnings we put up, we should have none of it would do a damn thing! Why hasn't Buff Frog or anyone else come to us about this?! Why-"

"Because it's not true!" Moon repeated. She pointed at Bren, who glanced at her hand like she was pointing a gun at him. "What did I just say Star? It's all a lie! I've been in town! I've seen tourists and what they do to monsters. And they do absolutely nothing! They walk past them, maybe take a photo or strike a conversation, but that's it! It's nowhere near as bad as Bren made it out to be!"

"How do you know that?!" Star asked. "When have you ever paid attention to someone else on one of your walks?! You're trying to get home as fast as possible, and that's it! A literal shootout could be happening and you'd walk right on by!"

"To be fair, if there was a shootout going on, I'd walk right past it too." Bren said, peaking over Moon's shoulder. "Basically just asking to get shot if you try and stop it."

"You're not involved in this anymore!" Moon hissed.

"I'm feeling pretty involved."

"Don't you two start!" Star shouted, facepalming with both palms. "If you're going to bicker at each other, do it outside!"

"Wha-what are you saying?!" Moon shouted. "Star, you're acting like he's just some nuisance and not a person who murdered hundreds of people just yesterday, and someone that wants to kill you and everyone else!" She scolded, the veins on her forehead suddenly becoming very prominent. "Again, the only reason he's not dead on the floor right now is because of our location. Why are you acting like-"

"Is he not exactly that?" Star shrugged. "A nuisance? Just like Mina? Something we have to take care of?"

"D-did you just compare me to Mina?" Bren screeched, his calm tone switching to pissed in an instant. "Oh no. Oh nononononononono! Alright, I wanted this to be quick, in and out so I could tell you not to use Demon Magic otherwise I'll have Tom kill everyone in the Monster Temple, but that is a step too far!" He seethed. "How dare you compare me to that-"

"Well, you're no better than her!" Star said. "She was prejudiced against monsters, you're prejudiced against an entire dimension!"

"How long until you…" Bren muttered. "I don't hate the Earth. Anything I've done to its people outside of this town is just so they won't get in my way! If I wanted to kill everyone on the planet or some nonsense like that, I'd have done it already! The Underworld has enough weird Demon Magic devices to block out the sun or something crazy like that for centuries! And if that didn't work, I'd storm the Oval Office again and force the president to nuke everything!"

"Storm it again?!" Moon gasped. "What do you mean by again? Do you and the government have some kind of agreement? Is that why nobody's coming to our aid?!"

"Ugh, guess that cat's out of the bag…" Bren groaned. "Sure. Yeah. I forced the government to bow down or else I'd have Tom and my army of demons destroy everything. I have the entire country running scared with his teleporting powers!"

"Of course..." Star mumbled, her eyes bugging out at this revealed. "No wonder we haven't seen any scientists or researchers or government agents for months. You forced them all to leave!" She accused. "Are you going to have them attack us? Do your dirty work for you?"

"Fuck no!" Been exploded, his one orange eye flaring up. "I'd never let them sent in a bunch of second-rate, deceitful, corrupt, worthless, trigger-happy-"

"You bastard…" Moon seethed, clenching her fists. "You've completely cut us off from the world? Do...do you have any idea what you've done?! Have you even seen what we're dealing with outside?!" She stomped towards him and got in his face just like River did, bits of spittle flying everywhere. "There are thousands of people suffering because of what you did! And now you're saying you made it so that we're unable to ever get outside help?!"

"...Yeah. Yeah, that about sums it up." Bren said, irked by how close the former Queen was to him. "And yes. I have been outside. I've seen all of it. But I don't need a mortality lesson from you. I've already set my path in stone. No amount of death is going to sway me from doing this, and if you think that a few people begging for help is going to make me change any of what I have planned...then you're just as moronic as Mina was."

"I still remember you know." Moon said, narrowing her eyes. "Back at the meeting. When you hung Penelope out of that window just because you could. And walked around like you owned the place simply because you had Thomas on your side."

"And I remember you sitting there doing nothing. Like always." Bren forced a grin. "Although we just had that conversation, didn't we Moon? Then we talked about how horrible life was for monsters, argued a bit, and here we are. You wanna do that all over again? I'm fine with it, as long as you…" He shrugged. "...calm down a little. Because if I'm being honest, outbursts like this are kinda uncharacteristic for you, and I'm not sure I like it."

"Everyone has a breaking point. Mine was just shattered the second you stepped in the door." Moon stated. "Maybe it is unusual for me to be angry like this. But I've turned murderous towards people for far less. For corn's sake, I tried to blow up a family with pie bombs simply because they wouldn't leave me and my husband alone!"

"...Did you make that last part up?" Bren asked.

"Figure it out for yourself." Moon hissed. "Considering that I'm sure you "know everything about us"." She mocked.

"I don't know "everything about you", just what's necessary." Bren said. "Although...if I had known about the pie thing earlier…" He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "...yeah. I probably would have found a way to use that against you. But you did really kill that family with those pies? I actually wanna know how that story ends…"

"...Yes." Moon lied, knowing that Bren might do something obnoxious to them if he found out that they were still alive. Try and use her own past against her. "They're long dead. And ten years from now, I'll have a smile on my face every time I say the same thing about you."

"I'm shaking in my boots." Bren sighed sarcastically. "You can threaten me ominously all you want Moon, but it won't change the fact that I am currently A, winning, and B, winning by a lot. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but basically every "victory" you've won against me was because I allowed it." His gaze darted towards Star. "Butterfly, I know I might have said at the beginning that I wanted a good challenge, but that was only because-"

"I don't care." Star interjected. "It doesn't matter if-"

"Now."

"Huh?" Star said, looking to her left, where she saw River standing there, his face so red that it was almost purple in color. Star wasn't sure what his problem was, until she saw his hands, which were shaking like he was holding off the urge to throttle something.

'Oh Mewni...' She thought. 'Dad, please don't do anything stupid. Not again. If you guys fight and land top of me or something, I'm pretty sure I'd die. Please don't fight and make this worse than it already is.'

As if she had any say in the matter. Especially considering that none of that was said out loud.

"Sorry, I didn't catch that, you're going to have to speak up." Bren said, fully unaffected by River's grape face. "Did you say something? I think it was-"

"NOW!" River bellowed, and then with all the speed and force of a charging elephant, he leaped forward and snatched Bren into a bear hug, turned to his right, and sprinted towards the window. Three voices rang out over River's roars, all of them equally frantic.

"DAD!"

"RIVER!"

"GET OFF ME YOU PSYCHOTIC-"

Too late. With one final push, River leaped towards the window with all the grace of a ballerina with two broken legs, while Bren's expression shifted into one of terror as the two of them slammed into the glass pane and shattered it instantly. They and hundreds of shards of glass flew out of the newly made opening and fell three stories straight to the ground with a dull thud, which in this case was the hospital's parking lot.

As the two of them vanished from sight, Moon let out a cry of anguish for her husband, knowing full well that such a fall could severely injure even him. She ran to the window and looked down, while Star just stared wide-mouthed, shocked that he father had actually gone for it.

"River!" Moon shouted. "Are you…" She stopped mid-sentence, momentarily baffled by the sight before her. River was on his back, panting like he had run a marathon rather than jumped out a window, and Bren was beside him, his left arm twisted at an odd angle, twitching, moaning, and clearly in immense pain. Moon's first response to this was to breathe a sigh of relief as she saw her husband was alright, and the enemy was incapacitated.

'Must have used Bren to cushion his landing.' She thought, before stepping back and taking a deep breath. 'But there's no time to dwell on that. I have to get down there. Bren may have a broken arm, but Tom is still somewhere nearby. I can't take any chances. The time to act is now."

Without saying a word, Moon turned around and ran out of the room, ignoring Star's cries for her to come back. She slid her way past hundreds of patients, doctors, and other people that she had no concern for. All of them were still slowly trying to get out of the hospital, unaware that the main threat was currently lying down outside in a near unconscious state. Once she made it to the stairwell, she jumped down the steps five at a time and made it to the ground floor in less than ten seconds, none the worse for wear.

Twenty seconds later, after dodging everyone that ran past her like an out-of-control chimpanzee, she made it back to the lobby, and gasped at what she saw. The Desk Attendant was slumped over, their eyes dead with a gigantic cut across their neck. A knight wearing the crest of the Jaggy kingdom, presumably the same one that Bren talked about earlier, was passed out on the floor, bleeding from a large head wound that looked like someone had thrown a bowling ball at him. He also had a dagger sticking out of the back of his neck that had been embedded in his spine, presumably the killing blow. Moon simply grit her teeth in rage and ran outside, but not before making sure to grab the weapon. Something told her that she was going to need it.

Once she got outside however, she froze before she even made it five feet out the door.

Because Tom was standing there, looking quite hurt, rubbing the back of his head and leaning against the wall. He was clearly done resting on whatever bench Bren has shoved him onto, and was no doubt waiting for his master's return. The two spotted each other and Tom froze as well, turning still as a statue.

"..."

"..."

"I am so sorry about this Thomas." Moon said.

"Sorry about wha-" Tom started, but before he could get any further, Moon's left foot impacted on the side of his head and slammed the other side into the wall of the hospital with all the force and strength of a sledgehammer. Tom didn't make a single sound as he slumped to the pavement, out like a light for the second time.

"Sorrysorrysorrysorrysorry…" Moon repeated, as she moved past him the second she confirmed his unconsciousness. She hated doing that, but it was necessary. If Moon had ignored him and sprinted away, he likely would have followed, seen Bren with a broken arm, and protected him from her and River. Bren probably didn't need both arms to use whatever leverage he had against Tom, so unfortunately the demon was an obstacle that had to be taken care of. Hopefully that kick didn't leave too much permanent damage...but she was aiming it to knock him out in the quickest way possible.

She just decided to push it aside for now and focus on the bigger problem.

Turning a corner, she saw Bren and River about twenty feet away, in the same positions from earlier, only River had stopped panting and Bren was trying to crawl away from him. Moon almost smiled at the sight of that, Mewni's oh-so-arrogant enemy broken and battered on the ground. She jogged towards River and kneeled down besides him, and he responded by opening his eyes and smiling.

"Did I get him?" He asked weakly. "The fall knocked the wind out of me. I'm having a hard time checking my surroundings."

"Oh thank…" Moon started, before enveloping her husband in a hug. He tried to return it but failed, and merely let out a small huff in response. "I'm so glad you're alright River. When I saw you leap out that window, I was so scared. I didn't know what was below it or if Bren could shrug the fall off or-"

"Speaking of which, did I get him?" River repeated. "Please tell me I did. I'm hoping I didn't do that all for nothing."

"You…" She glanced at Bren, who was busy clutching his shattered arm and wincing. "Definitely got him." Moon nodded, as she contemplated her next move. As much as she wanted to stay here and help River, she had to finish what he started first. She couldn't give Bren any chance to get away, even in his current condition. "River, do you think you can wait here? I'm going to go finish the job."

"Of course. You don't have to worry about me leaving." River chuckled. "I...don't think I can. Now go and do it. I personally didn't think that fall would kill him, but I knew that you would be there to end it in case anything went wrong."

Moon nodded again in response and then got back up, turning the dagger in her hand so that it was in a stabbing position. Her husband had basically given

her permission to leave him and kill Bren, and she wasn't about to let that go to waste. She meticulously approached him, each step filling her with a sense of pride.

This...

This was it. After all that talk...after all those deaths...she'd finally be the one to end it. No holding back. No mercy. One fell swoop, and it'll be over.

Bren saw her approaching and groaned. "Lucitor!" He called out. "I could use your assistance right about-"

"He's not coming." Moon growled. "I kicked his head against the side of the hospital. He's out cold, so you're without any help. It's just you and me."

"Ah, come on, but there's still so much we need to talk about!" Bren said, stalling. "We didn't finish talking about what a terrible ruler and mother you are, Demon Magic, how the scientists treat the monsters of the town…all that! We sidetracked a lot, so I think we should use this quality time to-"

"Be quiet." Moon deadpanned, raising her foot up and kicking him in the face with it. She recoiled a second later, her foot suddenly aching like she had hit it with a hammer. It was like kicking a concrete wall, and Moon was briefly stunned by how durable he was. But it certainly did some damage back. Bren recoiled from the blow and spat out some blood, which was an extremely dark...blue in color?

To the former Queen's surprise, Bren's blood was visibly a darkish-blue in hue, something that she hadn't seen or even heard of in any human, Mewman, or monster. She asked him to question him on it, before realizing that since he was going to be dead soon, and that whatever...this was wasn't important. She stared at the odd liquid for another moment before turning back to her main target, who was still busy trying to wipe his face clean.

"Do you think you can talk your way out of this one?" She asked, preparing herself to kick him again.

"Maybe." Bren shrugged. "I like to talk. We could postpone this little fight you know. Maybe when my arm heals, or when I have Tom-"

"You want to talk? You really want to try and work your way out of this one? Alright. I'll give you the pleasure of having a few last words." Moon said. "Back there, what did I say was the only reason you weren't already dead on the floor?"

"I…"

"Because we were in an enclosed area, and Star could get hurt if we started brawling." Moon said, before actually grinning. "And now we're out here. In a parking lot. With no one around to get hurt, except for, of course, you. Did you really think I wouldn't take the chance to kill you when I had it? Ever since I heard what happened to Star, that's all I've wanted. An opportunity to end your miserable existence."

"If that's true, then why didn't you tackle me out the window like your husband?" Bren asked. "Surprisingly effective, all things considered…"

"Because that would have been rash. However, now that it's happened, I'm not going to kick a gift warnicorn in the mouth." Moon seethed. She gripped the dagger together and raised it above her head. "Goodbye Bren. No more deaths. No more talk. No. More. You."

And with that, she swung the blade downwards, aiming directly for the center of his forehead. Bren moved his head to the side at the last second as the dagger nicked his ear and made him cry out in pain. His one good arm grabbed Moon's hand and he squeezed it as hard as he could, resulting in a loud CRACK as bone was splintered and shattered. The dagger was dropped from her hand and Bren caught it before it even hit the ground. He rolled away while the former Queen stumbled backwards, chiding herself for failing like that.

'Damn it!' Moon thought, clutching her now broken hand while Bren got up and steadied himself. 'Fool. You were a fool for trying that Moon. You got too overconfident. He may have a broken arm, but that doesn't mean he's still not any kind of threat. And now he's got a weapon...and I'm down a hand.'

"Nice try." Bren said, noticing her panicked expression and smirking. "But if you think I'm going to let this little piece of metal be the weapon that kills me, you have another thing coming. The exact same weapon I used to kill that poor Attendant...there was a reason I left it in that moron's neck."

"Compassion?" Moon scoffed/guessed, hoping that River had the strength to step in before things got worse.

"No. And my reasons are my own." Bren said. "But this was not how this day was supposed to go. So many unnecessary side conversations. So many things that made no sense. All leading up to this. Just you and me, duking it out. I can't say I'm not disappointed. I was hoping for something less. I wanted this to be done hours ago, but-"

Before he could get another word in, Bren suddenly went flying backwards from a sneak attack by Moon, who had smashed her fist into his face. The non-broken one of course. Just like with her foot, it felt like punching a brick wall reinforced with steel beams. She recoiled and tried to shake it off, albeit somewhat successfully.

'If I survive this, the first thing I'm going to do is have a talk with Ms. Ordania.' She thought. 'Star's friend seems to be the only one who truly knows anything about this Demon Magic nonsense, so hopefully she can tell why it feels like I'm beating away at a sentient wall! And also why his blood is almost blue in color.' She pondered. 'I don't think I've seen that from any kind of creature before...maybe she could shed some light on it after I kill him."

'You little…' Bren thought, stumbling backwards and wiping some blood away from his nose. 'Damn it. Should have seen that one coming. Was too busy monologuing. Again.' He fumed. 'I have to take this seriously. She's right. No more talking. For real this time. Because I always seem to sidetrack, no matter what. Hell, it even happened up there in the hospital room with that talk about Tom and the tourists, despite the promises I made to myself that it wouldn't happen again!'

He sighed. 'These guys just don't get it. And even if I told them, they still wouldn't. I'm trying to do the right thing here. Butterfly deserves to pay for what she did. And all that time I spent spying on her...she was oh-so happy. Did she even care? Did she even think the destruction she and her careless family wrought?!'

He growled and charged, his left arm dangling uselessly behind him like an undercooked noodle. Moon began to back away as she quickly thought up a counterattack in her head, time seeming to slow down in the process.

'Don't panic. Don't panic. This should be easy, even with only one hand.' She thought. 'With that level of strength and durability, I don't think he was one to study any style of martial arts before coming to Earthni. No doubt he relies on raw power alone and just assumes it's enough to handle any enemy. Unfortunately, hitting him traditionally could potentially break my other hand, so…' Her eyes darted towards his legs. "...dirty moves it is.'

As Bren got close, he held the blade behind his back and then thrust it at the former Queen, but she ducked under his arm at the last second and slammed her leg into the back of both his ankles, sending him toppling over like a falling tree. Just like with Moon a second earlier, the knife fell from his grip and landed with a clang, allowing her to grab it once more.

'Waste no time.' She thought. 'He's on the ground. He's down. You're armed. End it. END IT NOW!' Her inner voice yelled, and she obeyed swiftly, raising the knife above her head and aiming dead center for Bren's heart.

But it was not to be.

Because at the last second, he stuck his hand out and blocked the attack, the knife sinking deep into his palm. Moon practically snarled and pushed it in further, the two now locked purely in a battle of strength.

"You-" Bren groaned, his face straining as he held her back. "You think you'll accomplish anything by killing me? If I die, more will just take my place!" He spat, spitting directly into Moon's face. "You'll lose, even if you kill me. I've planned it out so that-"

"Shut up already." Moon hissed, and she slammed the elbow of her other arm directly onto his mouth. Bren responded by kneeing her in the face, and the two tumbled backwards, Moon yanking the knife out of his hand and getting up as fast as she could.

"Damn you…" Bren groaned, weakly getting to his feet. He stared at his bleeding palm and frowned. "How...that wasn't supposed to...that dagger shouldn't have been able to…oh shit. Eyes." He gasped, much to Moon's sudden bewilderment. "The power...the connection...it's weakening."

"What are you yammering on about?" Moon coughed, holding her nose to check if it wasn't broken. "Actually, it doesn't matter. I have something to say. I have a deal to give you."

"Oh, this oughta be good." Bren said sarcastically. "Seriously though, I'm not going to make any kind of deal, so just keep trying to kill me and then we'll-"

"Surrender now, and I'll make a deal with Eclipsa so that you don't die from being tortured to death." Moon interjected, the only reason she was doing this at all because of her own uncertainty towards if she could still defeat Bren. "I can't guarantee anything further than that, but-"

"...Did you not hear a word I just said?" Bren asked. "Yeah, I think I'll pass on your little offer. Did you really expect it to work? Bren? Cooperation? Those are two words that I can't imagine being in the same sentence. To give up...is to lose everything." He announced. "I'd die before I'd surrender myself to you and your deplorable family."

"Oh good. Because I was hoping you'd say that." Moon lied as she cursed internally, before throwing the knife at him. Bren moved his hand again to block the attack from hitting his head, but realized a little too late that that wasn't what Moon was aiming for at all. Rather, the knife went flying toward his left knee and sunk deep into it, hitting and cracking bone and causing him to let out a high pitched wail.

"Fucking-!" Bren yelled, before taking the knife out of his leg and throwing it back at Moon. It struck her left shoulder and just barely missed her collar bone, causing her to stumble backwards and almost trip over River, who was attempting and failing to flip himself over. Bren, meanwhile, grimaced at his injured leg, and for a second Moon almost thought he looked afraid.

"Okay." He said, pushing himself up and standing on one leg. "I think I'm done here. Moon Butterfly. You are now my second least favorite person in this town. I will never forget this fight for as long as I live. Normally I would have gone after Eclipsa once I was done with your daughter, but...nah. I'm thinking I'm going to take the fake Butterflies out first. Remember this after I kill your daughter, because after her, I'm coming for you."

"Bold words from someone who can barely even stand." Moon spat, taking the knife out of her shoulder and wiping the blood of it. "If you haven't noticed, I think I have a clear advantage here. And...oh screw it." She said, tired of hearing her own voice. She rushed forward and panic flashed across Bren's eyes, who now had only one way to defend himself against a rampaging Moon. The odds were truly not in his favor anymore, and his world was crashing down on him with all the fury of the inferno he had hoped to unleash.

"Shitshitshit-" He repeated, as Moon got in close and prepared to stab him in the gut. Bren swung at her and tried to punch her in the throat, but the former Queen ducked under it, placed the knife in between her teeth, and then put her hand under his armpit and pushed as hard as she could. A loud POP was heard as Bren's shoulder was dislocated and another blow was sealed out. Moon took hold of the knife again and tried to slash at the top of his shoulder to ensure that it would be rendered permanently useless, but Bren hopped (tripped, really) away at the last second. This did not, however, completely exclude him from danger, and he screamed in pain as the knife instead sliced his right index finger clean off, bone and all.

And Moon almost smiled at that. However, a moment later she mentally slapped herself and shook the sadism away, reminding herself to not get cocky.

'Don't assume you'll still win.' She thought. 'Never assume you can win one hundred percent unless the enemy is already down. Yes, he's effectively useless now, but he may still have a few tricks up his sleeve. And that shoulder is only dislocated, not broken. He can still-"

With one quick move, Bren jerked the entire right side of his body upwards, providing enough leverage for his shoulder to painfully snap itself back in the proper position. He cried out and kneeled over, gritting his teeth and panting like an exhausted dog.

'...pop it back in place.' Moon finished, her own shoulder starting to feel uncomfortable at the sight. 'Okay, I'm pretty sure you can't fix a dislocated shoulder that way. Hopefully the power he was granted from that fire-god doesn't include regeneration, otherwise this fight will become a thousand times worse.'

On the other side of the battle, Bren was freaking out internally, seeing no way as to how he could get out of this one. 'This...this can't be how it ends.' He thought. 'I can't be beaten by her! She was hardly even in this story before now! She hardly knew anything about me at all! And now she's taking it personally because I killed a couple of people, people that she abandoned for months?!' He huffed. 'There has to be a way out of this. There's always a way-'

Bren paused as his mind suddenly flashed back to his final encounter with Brudo, specifically the part where he was threatening Tom for the billionth time. With his device. The one that Moon knew nothing about.

'Ohhh…' He thought, a new plan forming in his mind. 'Time to put on a good bluffing face.'

Without warning, he whipped the small black box out of his pocket and held it above his head, as if presenting it to the world. Moon stopped just as she was about to attack him again and stared at the device, unsure of what to make of it.

"What is this?" She asked. "Some final desperate ploy?"

"No, it...actually, yes. It's exactly that." Bren admitted. "I was hoping to avoid this, you know. Because I believe I made a promise back at the meeting I crashed. That I'd go easy on you guys for a while. Give you a breather. So you can either stop right there, and let me walk away, or I can go back on that promise."

"Breather-you call this a breather?!" Moon screeched, gesturing towards the devastated town.

"In my terms, yes." Bren said. "I could have done so much worse after all. But I decided to play nice. Only kill a small percentage of the town. Well, no more!" He shouted, and in an instant he maneuvered the device in his hand and held his middle finger over the small button embedded in it, causing Moon to actually become concerned. Because whatever this was, she knew that it was his last-ditch effort. He had admitted it himself. And if there was anything Moon learned from years of watching River fighting one-on-one matches, it was that the only thing more dangerous than an enraged enemy...was a desperate enemy.

"What are you doing?" Moon asked.

"Gambling." Bren said. "My one big "F you" to this town. Like I was saying. Breather. Small percentage. Can't kill too many people, or the town will collapse and devolve into chaos much too fast for my liking. But now you've forced my hand with this." He turned his head to the right, looking up at the hospital. Even from the outside, they could still faintly hear everything going on inside. Panicked people. A constant stream of footsteps. Orders from doctors and security guards. All of them were melded together and formed a noise that sounded like a symphony orchestra being thrown down a flight of stairs, and made for a rather unpleasant background noise.

"You can hear them all." Bren stated. "Can't you? How many people do you think are still in that building? I haven't seen a single person exiting it despite the alarms, other than those guys in the lobby. Don't know why they stuck around and don't know why anybody new never showed up, but that's not really important now. What is important is what's in my hand."

"And that is?" Moon asked, taking a small step forward and carefully eyeing him.

"The trigger." Bren said, making the former Queen's eyes go wide. "What? You really think I came here without something that'd ensure I could walk away no matter who threatened me?" He shook his head. "No. No, I knew what I was getting into when I arrived. Granted, things happened that I didn't plan for, like that Knight or the waste-of-everyone's-time phone call to Globgor…"

"I'm sorry, you called who?"

"Globgor." Bren repeated. "I discovered that the civilians don't know I was the one who killed Mina, so I tried to call Eclipsa to get her to announce that or I'd kidnap Meteora so something." He grimaced. "Long story short, it was a gigantic waste, it should have ended earlier, and it was in no way important to the grand scheme of things. Better to just skip the whole conversation and move on to something else…"

"I'd rather skip this one." Moon said. "Get to what you were talking about a moment ago. About that trigger."

"Oh, of course." Bren said, holding the device a little higher in the air. "I planned for a lot. I suspected that something would go wrong. I didn't know you would be at the hospital with your husband, so I just had to make do. I knew you were a reasonable person. You wouldn't attack me on sight. Not with Star right there, injured and slowly dying, all because of a few unfortunate circumstances."

"You…...wait. Did you say that Star is dying?" Moon asked in horror. "What are you-"

"Oh...right…you don't know." Bren said slyly. "I suppose that makes sense. Because if Janna had told her, or known in the first place, she probably would have informed you. About how little time she has left." He glared at Moon, his orange eye starting to lighten in color. "Because your daughter...she's dying. And there is not a damn thing anyone can do to stop it."

"Th-that's not true." Moon said. "Star said that she was fine. Severely injured yes, but nothing was fatal. The doctors never-"

"The doctors don't know, but I sure as hell do. And besides, this isn't some traditional medical problem. It's divine." Bren claimed. "She was attacked by someone possessed by the fire-god. She has his mark. And once someone gets that mark, they always die by the time his business in whatever dimension he's overlooking is finished. No. Matter. What. It's one of the rules. One of the oldest rules in dealing with him."

"Th-that can't be true." Moon stuttered. "You're just trying to mess with me. Distract me." She scowled. "It won't work you-"

"Sudden weakness. Vomiting. Pain. Constant grogginess, despite how energetic she usually is." Bren listed. "That's what's happening to her, yes? That's how she greeted you when you arrived?"

Moon sucked her breath in. She didn't want to admit it, but the answer was, of course, yes. But how did he know that? Star hadn't been close to throwing up ever since Bren arrived, apart from one exception. She hadn't mentioned how much pain she was in, or how weak she was. There was no way for him to know...unless he was actually telling the truth?

Moon's breathing began to quicken in pace as her brain put the pieces together, each one more malformed than the last. Bren meanwhile, started to hop backwards, taking advantage of the former Queen's distracted state.

'Oh, please let this work.' He thought. 'It's just plain luck that she's gullible enough to believe any of that. Or at least believe it long to give me enough time to make my escape. But then again, any threat against Star, even if it's an obvious fib, is enough for her stop and think things over.' He shrugged. 'Might not even need to pretend that my communication device is a bomb trigger anymore.' He took another "step" backwards and quickly looked around for anyone else, but they were alone apart from River l. Somehow, the parking lot was still entirely devoid of anyone else except for them. 'Good thing I guessed the symptoms of her daughters' so-called "impending death" correctly. Although considering the state she was in, any fool could come up with the correct answer from just one look at her. But now it's time for me to-'

"I still don't believe you." Moon announced, cutting through Bren's thoughts and scattering them. "You could have easily made all that up on the spot. Just to give me pause and allow you a chance to get away."

"Yeah? Then how did I know about what she was going through?" He asked. "I knew she was dead the second-"

"Anyone that took one glance at Star could have made those up too." Moon contested, unknowingly using Bren's earlier method against him. "It's obvious she's in pain and acting groggy. The vomit bucket is right next to the bed. I would have said those exact same things were I you. But the first real reason you're lying is that you would never allow someone else to kill my daughter, not even your precious god."

Moon flipped the knife over in her hands and began walking towards Bren, who started swearing furiously under his breath as his own impending death approached.

"I know just how much you hate her." Moon said. "I'm not entirely sure why. And if that breakdown you had back at the meeting is anything to go by, I don't think you know either. But I do know this." Moon reached out the second he was in range and shoved Bren to the ground, avoiding his pathetic attempts to stop her in the form of a failed punch. "I've fought your type before. The planners. The arrogant ones. The people who think they have their enemy in the palm of their hand, no matter what goes wrong. But if there's anything they have in common, it's this."

She slammed her heel down on Bren's chest and pinned him to the ground. It was like stomping on a chunk of solid rock, but Moon didn't back down. A little pain in her foot was paltry at a moment like this.

"They would never share the honor of killing their most hated enemy with someone else." Moon said, driving her heel in deeper. "They were all glory-hounds. They all thought they "deserved" to kill their opponents, because it was their right. I've seen them cut down fellow soldiers who tried to kill me simply because they didn't want my death on their comrades hands, but on theirs. And that's you."

Really? You think so?" Bren asked. "Because I'm not exactly keeping that a secret!" He then grabbed Moon's ankle and attempted to shove her off, but Moon simply scoffed and slashed at him again, leaving a long streaking cut along the back of his hand. Before Bren could even react to the pain, she lifted her other foot up and slammed it down on his wrist, pinning his one good arm to the ground. He whined in pain and tried to get up, but his stamina was long gone, and anything he had left was diminishing by the second.

"You killed Mina. You burned her followers alive." Moon continued. "And even though she'd never succeed in her plans, you still got rid of her simply because you abhorred the idea of having to-"

"She'd never succeed?!" Bren repeated incredulously. "Are you crazy?! The only reason she didn't is because of me! She would have assassinated Eclipsa if I hadn't tipped the police off, and sure, while I may have given her that idea in the first place, she was still capable enough to do it! That was the problem with you people back then! You always underestimated what she could do. Her followers were morons, but they were still blind loyal. They'd have slaughtered monster children, babies even, by the thousands if she ordered them to. That's why they listened to Brudo, despite him being a monster. Because they had to serve someone. None of them wanted to be a leader. It was practically in their nature to serve.

"Some of that may be true, but you're wrong about us underestimating her." Moon said. "We stopped underestimating Mina the second she put on that Solarian suit of armor. Even outside it and without magic, she was still a threat and-"

"Then why didn't you kill her then?" Bren asked. "If you knew she was a threat, if you knew how dangerous she was after the Solarian incident, why didn't you kill her? She was weak. Powerless. You had every opportunity. And all you did was shoot an arrow into her helmet? You should have caved her skull in with a rock the second she crawled out of that mech! But you didn't, and now look where it's got you." He sighed in disappointment. "That's another problem with this town. You don't eliminate a future threat when you have the chance. You didn't kill Mina. Star didn't kill Ludo after his castle blew up. You never successfully hunted down and killed Toffee like the rest of the Septarians. Seems you just gave up on that for whatever reason. And you didn't kill baby Meteora after she had been reverted to an infant by Eclipsa's spell!"

"I wasn't even there for most of those!" Moon claimed. "And I thought Toffee was dead! We tortured one of his soldiers and the MHC believed he was telling the truth. If I had known that my mother's murderer was still alive, I would have hunted him down far past the day my hair turned grey."

"Then the MHC did a pretty shit job of handling things." Bren said. "But I'm not talking about just you. I'm talking about everyone!" He exclaimed. "Because there was a chance...an actual chance that Eclipsa, Star, and Janna had, to kill me before I blew up that mansion."

Moon reared back in surprise. Her chest suddenly felt much tighter, like someone had just sucked the air out of the room. "Excuse me? What are you going about now? When did they have a chance to kill you?"

"Lots of time actually, but mainly after I beat the hell out of Marco." Bren said. "Nasty affair. He lured me somewhere and tried to kill me, so I gave him a punishment in the form of a fight. Which was entirely one-sided."

"I am fully aware of those events." Moon said. "But when-"

"They arrived just as I was about to finish him off." Bren explained. "Those three, all packed in Eclipsa's car. They ran into me and knocked me into a nearby tree, grabbed Marco, and drove off. And where, pray tell, was the opportunity?" He asked rhetorically. "It was right after they hit me. I can take a lot, as you can see. But being smacked by a car like that definitely took me out of the game for a few seconds. They should have kept going. Ran over me until the car ran out of gas. I wouldn't have been able to move. I wouldn't have been able to dodge it. Marco was already going to die, and by the way, good for him for being resurrected like that, he must be more important than he fucking knows, and so they should have just gone straight for me."

Moon bit her bottom lip. "How did you even find out about Marco's resurrection?"

"...Really? That's your first question after that?" Bren asked. "Well, if you must know, I may have had a bit of a visitor last night. You could call him my advisor of sorts. He told me the news, and I was mostly indifferent towards it."

"The god of flame I assume." Moon said, and Bren tried not to look surprised. "Yes, we know all about that. The creator of Demon Magic. Janna told Star who then told me. Soon enough all of your enemies are going to know."

"Doesn't make a difference." Bren said. "It doesn't if the entire damn town knows how I'm doing all this. Because I'm still riding on my earlier point. Even if you do get a chance to kill me, you won't take it. Because honestly...you could have done it already. I'm pinned here. And yet...even after that fight we had...when you went for the killing blow multiple times...you still won't do it. You finally got me exactly where you want me, and what do you do? Talk! Talk talk talk! And with each passing second, you're giving me more time to think of a way out of this!"

"You want to stop all the talking?" Moon asked rhetorically. "Alright then." She lowered the knife and hovered it over his mouth, a look of both irritation and anticipation in her eyes. "Then why didn't I cut out your tongue, and we cut the talking in half. How does that sound?"

"...That sounds like borderline sadism." Bren pointed out. "And also really uncharacteristic, like a ton of other stuff I've been seeing with you. Gods, what the hell is going on with everyone tod-"

But it was too late. Taking his "no more talking" request to heart, and realizing that yes, she should just end this already, Moon raised the knife in the air and prepared to drive it down his throat, the only sounds coming out of her own being a steady breathing noise that sounded like it was coming from an angry bull. She swung it towards him for the final time, and Bren was left with no chance of escape. He merely clenched his eyes just and braced for the explosion of pain soon to come…

...until a wild scream made Moon stop a centimeter from his teeth.

"STOP!" It screeched. The former Queen froze in place while Bren slowly opened one fear-laced eye, and simultaneously they looked to their left and saw Globgor sitting on the back of a warnicorn, with what looked like over four dozen knights accompanying him. Moon recognized none of them, but they appeared to be the backup knights that were put into action if the main ones were ever...unavailable.

But none of that mattered, nor where they had come from, how they knew to come here, and how Globgor had gathered them up so fast, as Moon was now nothing short of pissed that they had interrupted her in this crucial moment.

"Moon, don't kill him!" Globgor continued. "Not yet! We can't kill him just yet!"

"And why the hell not?!" Moon shouted, not caring the slightest why they were here. "Aren't we going to execute him anyway if he's captured?"

"Yes, but not like this!" Globgor yelled. "The town's bylaws state that he still has to have a proper trial. You can't just kill him on the street like this Moon, or otherwise you'll be a criminal too."

"Huh. Saved by the justice system." Bren chimed in, who was actually overjoyed that Globgor had arrived. "Never thought I'd be grateful for something like that…"

"Shut up." Moon and Globgor said simultaneously, before the Monster King spoke directly to Moon again.

"I get it." He said. "You want to kill him. Everyone does right now. But if you do, it won't do anything! We still don't know what he's planning or where exactly he's keeping Tom's parents! We need to get that information out of him, and we kinda need him alive for that!"

"If you think I'm telling you anything, even under torture, then you're out of your mind Globgor." Bren said. "I can take whatever painful methods you can think up, and it's not like you can blackmail. You've got nothing."

"Trust me, we've got plenty." Globgor said, glaring at him. "Enough to make you tell us everything we want to know ten times over."

"And that is…?" Bren asked.

"Something I'm sure you'd be interested in." Globgor said, before taking a deep breath. "Bren...we have your family."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Bullshit. They're dead dude." Bren said casually, entirely unaffected by this claim while everybody else in the area (including the knights) had been stunned into total silence by it. "They've been dead for a really long time. What the hell are you talking about?"

"No. No, they're still alive." Globgor said, who was trying to keep a straight face. "And the Council has them. You see, a few weeks ago, we came across a group of people who had made a camp in the Forest of certain death. About 20-40 people in total. They said that their dimension had been destroyed, and they had been somehow transported to this one. They had been living in that forest for months. So we tried to take them in, but they insisted that they-"

"Okay stop." Bren interjected. "This is beyond pathetic Globgor. An imbecile could see through this bluff. And while I am mildly impressed that you of all people tried to blackmail me by threatening my family, do you seriously think that there could be survivors from my home dimension hiding out in those woods for months without me noticing?"

"...They had hidden themselves well. In a cave on the northwest side of the woods." Globgor explained. "They had been using that Demon Magic that allowed them to cloak themselves from anyone getting close, and-"

"No, that's also total bullshit. And with that claim, you're just digging yourself deeper!" Bren contested. "That means you'd have known about Demon Magic far before you knew about me, that you shouldn't have been able to find them in the first place, because seriously, the cloaking spells Demon Magic can summon is some serious shit, and that still doesn't matter, because the fire-god would have told me if they were alive!"

"..."

"No more excuses, eh?" Bren said, mocking Globgor's inability to come up with another. "But you know what the real kicker is? They couldn't have been from my dimension. Even if a few people did somehow slip through, none of them could ever have been my actual family, because I personally fucking killed them!"

Moon (and half of the people present) gasped and almost dropped her weapon reflexively from shock. "You-you did what?!"

"Why are you acting so surprised?" Bren asked. "Seriously, compared to all the horrible shit I've done, killing everyone I was related to is kids stuff." He glanced over at Globgor. "So is there anything else you want to tell me, or should we just get this over with?"

Globgor grimaced and sighed. 'Alright.' He thought. 'I was hoping to do this the peaceful way, but now he's not going to believe anything else I have to say. No more discussion. Time to end this whole mess, guilty as it makes me feel.'

"Moon." He said. "Step way from him."

"No." The former Queen said sternly. "My position hasn't changed. I'm not going anywhere. He has to die, and even a pacifist like you must see that. Either I kill him right here, or the Council makes the decision to execute him later. He's going to die either way, why not now?!"

"Actually, you can't kill me." Bren said, and all eyes fell on him. "I'm under government protection, believe it or not."

"Oh, you mean how you're threatening them all to do whatever you want?" Globgor asked rhetorically. "We already know about that. Once they see that you're in a cell and that Tom has been saved, any bit of power you had over them is gone."

"I'm not talking about that." Bren said, rolling his eyes. "There's more to my deal with them than you know. And it is a deal. I'm not the only one getting something out of this you know."

"What do you-"

"I told them everything." Bren revealed. "About Demon Magic. About the fire God. About what Butterfly did to my dimension. And trust me...they were all very interested." He coughed and gave the crowd a toothy grin. "You think threats are the only angle I have here? No...it's not just that. You see, I didn't trust them completely to not attack me while I was burning this town to a crisp. It is still, after all, U.S. soil. And if the rest of the nation found out...well, then we'd have a bit of a problem."

"What did you do?!" Moon demanded.

"Were you not listening? I made a deal." Bren repeated. "In exchange for them covering up all the news outlets broadcasting out of the town, chasing all the scientists off, and guaranteeing that they would not interfere no matter how many people I killed…I would teach them how to use Demon Magic."

"You'd what?!" Globgor exploded, almost too shocked for words. "You-you're going to..."

"Teach them." Bren declared. "I told them "think about it. Your country will be the only one with magic. You'll have the ability to teleport soldiers, make giant balls of fire rain from the sky anywhere on Earth at any time, and be protected under literal divine power. You'll be unstoppable". Needless to say, they took up my offer pretty quick." He chucked and licked some blood off his lips. "I could practically see their eyes lighting up at the idea. They all only care about themselves and the houses they live in. And when I said that there was a way to protect that house with a barrier that no conventional weapons could get through...well, I'm sure you can guess what happened next."

"Are you insane?" Moon shrieked. "They're going to use that magic for war! And if it falls into the wrong hands, then the entire Earth could be destroyed! Do you have any idea what you've done?"

"Oh blah." Bren said, waving her off. "Do you really think I care? Let the Earth be destroyed. Let the humans kill themselves off. It doesn't matter to me. And it shouldn't to you. After all, if the world goes to shit, then you can just place a barrier around the town.

You live, they die, the end."

"I'd rather nobody die because of this." Moon growled. "And don't think our problems will be solved by putting a shield around Earthni. I've met with the leaders of the world. Both political and military. And I can say with certainty that most of them would rather blow it all hell then surrender! A magical barrier won't help us against more magic you idiot! Which you so conveniently gave them!"

"Yeah...I haven't forgotten." Bren mumbled. "But believe me, it will. The god of fire won't let everyone die. Even if the apocalypse becomes a thing because of all this, he'll make sure that there's a sizable enough population by the end of it that'll allow you schmucks to safely repopulate the world. Like I said. The Earth May die, but Earthni, or at least part of it, will live on."

"Wait." Globgor said walking over despite the knights surrounding him motioning for him to stay where he was. "You don't want to kill us all?"

"Oh, I do." Bren reassured him. "It's just that my God won't let me. Like I told you, there needs to be someone left to repopulate." He shrugged. "Of course, this is entirely speculation. There's no guarantee that the humans will wipe themselves out with the Demon Magic. And even if they do screw it up, I'm sure they'll bounce back somehow."

"That's all very fascinating, but why?" Moon demanded. "Why wouldn't your god of flame want us all to die? Are we important in some way to it?"

"No. If we're going by his reasons, then there's nothing special about you." Bren said. "Earthni is just...more secluded, so it'd have a better chance of surviving if the Earth goes nuclear. Or magical. But either way, any group of people that's large enough will do. He's not picky."

"But...why?" Moon repeated. "Why would he want any of us to survive?"

"I'm afraid I can't really reveal that." Bren said. "But I will tell you this. No matter what...no matter what dimension or species it belongs to...there always needs to be someone to continue his legacy."

'That's disgustingly ambiguous...' Moon thought, before glancing over at Globgor. "Your order." She said sarcastically. "After hearing that, are you really disagreeing with me that we should-"

"Not done yet!" Bren interjected loudly. "You didn't let me finish explaining why this means you can't kill me."

"Do you really think it's going to stop me from doing so?"

"No, but I'm betting it'll make them stop you." Bren said, pointing over at Globgor and the knights. "Now listen. The government wants me to teach them Demon Magic. I haven't done so yet, and the documents they had me sign say that when this is all over, when Star Butterfly is dead and I have finished my whole revenge plot, I will tell them everything I know. Of course, I'm still deciding whether I should actually do this, considering their precious "documents" have no power on someone like me…"

"Get to the point!" Moon shouted, pushing her dagger forward and holding it against his throat.

"Ugh…fine." Bren sighed dramatically. "The point is that they want that magic. Bad. And they need me alive in order for them to learn it. So if I die, then everything I promised them turns into lies, thanks to you lot. So if you kill me...or capture me and execute me later...the government will come down here raising hell over it, and then Earthni will fall under an avalanche of investigations of court orders."

"Is that supposed to be threatening?" Moon asked. "If the government is really doing this, then all we have to do is expose them, and then there'll be riots all over the country once the people hear about what they've done, and what they let happen!"

"Yeah, but will it accomplish anything?" Bren queried. "Will those riots actually do anything that changes the way the system works? No. Not a single person up top will go to prison for this. They'll find a scapegoat that didn't have anything to do with this in the first place and let them take the blame. If you really think those creeps are going to let a fellow creep get thrown out of their position or whatever over something as menial this, then you have another thing coming."

"Menial as this?!" Globgor repeated. "That's crazy! Almost a thousand people just died! How is that-"

"Yes, a thousand people just died, but if you look at past crimes, then that's just child's play!" Bren shouted. "The genocides. The indiscrimination. The cover-ups. The secret operations. The assassinations. There are things far worse than murder, and trust me, they've done it all."

"When did you become an expert in government crimes?" Moon scoffed.

"I'm not." Bren said. "But I know how things work. One look at those people sitting in their offices was enough to tell that a lot of terrible things had to happen to make this all possible. I've seen it before. My dimension was riddled with it. All the power...all the greatness…all the grandeur...but underneath, it was nothing but corpses, holding up civilization and slowly decaying so that others could take their place. That's what a society is. That's what it will always be. And that is why nobody will care if you vanish off the face of the map!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Quite the speech." Globgor deadpanned. "But as someone just told me...this is entirely speculation."

"If you want to use my own words against me, you might wanna come up with something better." Bren said. "Because that's a point I still agree on. This is a personal opinion after all. And opinions have never been facts unless proven to be so. Maybe the government will help out and shred those documents. But until then…" He turned his head and smiled at the Monster King. "I have every reason to believe they won't."

"..."

"So yeah." Bren finished. "Kill me, and your little town will die anyways."

Moon looked from side to side and then raised the knife in the air again. "It's worth it." She said.

Globgor, seeing that there was truly no changing her mind this time, yelled out "stop her!", and instantly fifty knights surged forward towards the former Queen. The blade came down just as they reached her, and one of them grabbed her arm resulting in the tip of the knife stopping a millimeter from Bren's forehead.

"Get her away from him!" Globgor ordered, and the knights started dragging Moon away, despite her loudly vocalized protests for them to release her. The other 45 knights then surrounded Bren in a tight circle with their blades pointed at him, cutting off any means of escape he might try to take advantage of.

"I'm sorry…" Globgor said nervously, walking slowly over to Moon. "But even if the stuff he said wasn't true, this isn't the way we do things."

"You're crazy!" She said. "Did you see what he did to my daughter? To Marco? To this town? To the people around us?!" She huffed and tried to wrestle her way out of the knight's grips. "I made a perfect argument earlier. He's going to die anyway, whether or not the government will try and protect him. Why not end it now?!"

"Because if we just kill like this, then we're no better than him!" Globgor yelled. "Once he gets a trial and tells us what he knows, I'm perfectly content with throwing him into a mob of angry citizens and letting them tear him to pieces, but until then, he stays alive!"

"You're making a mistake." Moon hissed, right before she started losing her mind. "You really think he doesn't have a contingency plan for being captured like this? He seems to have one for everything! Just let me do this Globgor! Tell your knights to stand aside and I'll finish it! Heck, tell them to kill him right now! It doesn't even have to be me!"

"Moon…" Globgor sighed. "If you keep that up we might have to arrest you too."

"Arrest me?" Moon exclaimed. "What for? What crimes have I committed?"

"Technically, public vigilantism, by beating him up like that." Globgor said. "Although I'll make sure the court marks that down as injuries he got from his fall out the window. Same goes for River."

"Oh, don't give me any of that. Like the law even matters right now." Moon scoffed. "Besides, if what Bren said is true, then the makers of those laws will try and defend him! We can't win a court case against the entire government! When they hear that we've got him, they'll come down, arrest him, and we'll never see him again. Then two years later, I'm betting we'll all be dead, crossfire in a war fought with the Demon Magic that they forced him to teach them!"

"..."

"..."

"Moon, maybe that will be how things play out." Globgor said. "But what's going on right now is what's most important, so I'm just going to give the knights an order. One that I had been thinking of doing ever since we got here. We're not going to kill him, but I'm sure that it will satisfy you enough to stop thrashing around like that."

"Globgor, you are easily the most non-violent person I have ever known. I'm honestly shocked that you're here with these knights in the first place." Moon said. "What could you possibly order them to do that will satisfy me?"

"Well-" He started.

"Hey, can I get in on this?" Bren interrupted, causing them both to turn his way. Despite his extremely poor condition, he had found the strength necessary to get on his feet (foot technically) again. The knights surrounding him were ready to start pummeling him at any given moment, but didn't approach without Globgor's okay.

"You be quiet." Moon said. "The only reason you're still alive is because I'm not going to attack my allies soldiers in order to get to you."

"That's nice and all, but I have something to say." Bren revealed. "You know, earlier, I was showing you this." He held up his device. "Unfortunately, I was interrupted before I got the chance to fully explain what it was, continuing the cycle of never-ending sidetracks that seem to be the prevalent theme for today. Had to go through all that bullshit I made up about Butterfly dying."

Moon stared at him blankly.

"...Oooh, damn it, there goes that plot point." Bren mourned. "Dang. I was hoping it would last a little longer." He shrugged. "Eh. No matter. It wasn't going to turn into anything anyway…"

"Hrrr...get to the damn point!" Moon growled/repeated, silently and angrily acknowledging that she had been right in her earlier assumption.

"Fine." Bren said grumpily. He cleared his throat. "This is a trigger, like I was talking about. Specifically, it is a trigger that is linked to several bombs I have planted under...this big building right here." He gestured toward the hospital again. "Enough to annihilate it entirely along with anyone standing in a half-mile radius. Much bigger than the one I set off yesterday. And considering how many people are in this hospital or trying to get to it right now...well, I think it's safe to say that the death toll will probably go up to around a full quarter of the town's total population."

Everyone, even the knights, started backing away as he finished saying this, as if the trigger itself was a bomb.

"Yeah, that's right." Bren said. "Back off, or it all goes boom. Because I'm going to say to you the same thing I said to Moon earlier. Did you really think I came here without a backup plan? I planted those last night after I had Tom teleport me into the hospital's basement. Specifically, the part that's blocked off because of a mold infestation. So all of you can just-"

"He's lying." A sudden childlike voice said. All heads turned towards the sound of the voice, where they saw little Zudo standing next to the now dismounted warnicorns, dressed in the exact same attire from the meeting and walking up to the group of knights like he was their commander.

"...What the hell?" Bren said, saying aloud what everyone except Globgor was thinking. "What are-"

"You're lying." Zudo repeated. "I saw you. Back at the mansion. That thing isn't a detonator at all. It's just a communicator! You used it to threaten that demon and now you're just doing it again! You-"

"Okay, where the fuck you pop out of?!" Bren interjected. "You've been missing for the past couple of hours, as far as I'm aware, and then you just appear right here, right now, in order to tell everyone I was lying?! What kind of convenient unlikely bullshit is-"

"He's actually here because of me." Globgor announced, stepping in front of the boy. "Zudo here came to the Monster Temple looking for help from Eclipsa, but then I got that phone call from you."

"Who told you that was me-"

"Who do you think?" Globgor asked rhetorically. "Zudo. He said that he had been listening in on the whole conversation using the phone in the other room, and he was able to tell it was you faking being Buff Frog only a few minutes in. When he got the chance, he came running to me, I believed him, and then we headed down to the hospital with a fleet of knights."

"You little…" Bren seethed, glaring at Zudo with such intensity that the boy actually stepped back a bit. "Okay, but how did you know I was at the hospital?!"

"You left whatever phone you were using on." Zudo revealed. "We heard the whole thing, and Globgor recognized the voice of the desk Attendant from when he visited once. Then he called the rest of the Royals, they gave him a surplus of all the knights they could provide, and we came riding down here as fast as we could."

"Why did you come?" Moon asked.

"In case he tried to pull something like that." Globgor said. "More bomb threats. Zudo told me that he got so used to how Bren spoke back at the mansion that he could tell if he was lying or not if he tried anything like this."

"First off, that's stupid and terrible convenient." Bren complained. "Second off, no. And third off, in what universe could a child get so used to how I speak that after what, a few minutes of me talking is enough to turn them into a living lie detector?! Well excuse me, but if Zudo manages to do that, then you jackasses should as well! Remember the meeting I crashed? That was a lot of talking! It's just like in the lobby! None of this makes any damn sense! Is everyone in this town besides me just fucked in the head or what?!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"No. Just you." Moon said casually. She looked over at Globgor, who was busy whispering something to Zudo. "Globgor. Is there anything else that needs revealing, or can we finally get this over with?"

"Yes, actually, there is something else that needs to be taken care of." River said noisily, who had been busy laying on his back watching this all unfold. "Could one of you please help me get up? I don't think I can."

Once everyone took this in and realized that they had completely forgotten or had just not noticed River for the past few minutes, Moon finally wrestled her way out of the knight's grip and freed herself. Globgor was about to yell out for somebody to stop her, but instead of going for Bren like he expected, she ran over to her husband and kneeled at his side.

"River!" She said in anguish, horrified with herself that she had been so obsessed with killing Bren that her heavily injured husband had totally slipped her mind. "I-I'm so sorry! I can't believe I left you here! I-"

"It's okay." River said weakly, looking not at all irked. "I'm a Johansen Moon-pie. We can take anything! I'll just have a few bruises in the morning. Nothing I can't-" He tried to get up for the fifth time but fell back down. "...walk off."

"River, we're taking you inside and getting some medical attention." Moon announced, before turning away in shame. "This is all my fault. I abandoned you for selfish reasons."

"Your fault?!" River bellowed. "Moon, it was me who recklessly jumped out that window! I got myself injured here. None of it was your fault."

"But what came after is!" Moon claimed, while everybody nearby wondered if they should intervene or just let the two of them have a moment. "I should have just helped you instead of chasing after Bren. Even if you had told me to finish it, I shouldn't have left you lying here. You could have been dying and I would have been-"

"Avenging me?" River said slyly. "If I really had been dying, killing him would still take precedence. Imagine if that lie he told about the hospital blowing up was true! One death is less important than thousands right now, even mine. I already saw the horror these people had to live through on our walk here this morning. They don't deserve to live through it again. No one does, except for maybe him."

"But-"

"No buts!" River interjected. "You did the right thing, taking him down. That should be the end of this conversation Moon-pie. Don't worry about me. In fact, once they take him into custody, go check up in Star instead. I'm sure she's aching to know what's going on right now, stuck up there in that bothersome bed."

Moon paused and then nodded, wiping a few tears out of her eyes. All the guilt from just leaving her husband there on the ground while going off to murder Bren was hitting her with all the suddenness and speed of a bullet train, and she struggled to contain her anger so she didn't slap herself and everyone around her for not remembering/noticing that he was there earlier.

Just another action done today that had made very little sense, but in the end, wasn't important in the long run.

Which is not what could be said of the next action.

"Moon." Globgor chimed in, walking over to her. "I know you're having a moment with River, but I think it's time to finish this."

"Fine. Take him into custody." Moon scoffed, still too focused on River to care while also being well aware that she now had no chance of reaching Bren. "I won't try and stop you."

"No, but I think you're gonna wanna watch what's coming next." Globgor said. "Earlier I told you that I'd give an order to the knights that would be satisfying, and you didn't believe me."

"You also said that you had been thinking of doing it ever since you arrived." Moon recalled. "What do you want me to watch? One of your knights punching him in the face to knock him out?"

"No. Because I want to make sure he physically can't' escape before the execution, and I don't mean just putting him in a locked cell."

Moon stared at him in confusion. "What do you mean then?"

"What I mean is that I think most people have forgotten that I was once one of the worst and most feared Monster Kings in Mewni's history, at least since the Merge." Globgor said. "And although I promise to myself every day that I can't let that side of myself come out again…." He grit his teeth and briefly closed his eyes. "Bren threatened to kill my daughter, and my wife, and me. And he's actually going to accomplish that if something isn't done right here, right now."

Globgor then stepped forward towards the crowd of knights, who looked up, eagerly awaiting his command. He glanced back at Moon one last time, a look in his eyes that she could swear mirrored all the tapestries and murals of him terrorizing Mewmanity hundreds of years ago. He sighed and then turned back to his subordinates.

"All of you!" He declared. "B-beat…" Globgor hesitated, before clenching his fists and forcing the next few words out. "...Beat Bren until he can no longer move, and then take him into custody." He paused. "That's all. Get to it."

All the knights nodded and then looked back at Bren, cracking their knuckles as they amped themselves up to basically torture the same person that had killed their friends and family. Bren tried to back away, but somebody behind him pushed him to the ground. He let out one last expletive under his breath as he saw what was about to happen, and once again lacking any kind of method to stop it.

Then a second later, an avalanche of fists of feet started pounding every inch of his body, not a single one of them holding.

Moon actually gasped at the sheer brutality she was witnessing, ordered by Globgor of all people. The knights were hitting him for all they were worth. Each punch caused them to pull their hand back and shake it to get rid of the pain, but they were back at it a second later, Bren's rock-hard skin nothing more than a nuisance. He didn't even make a sound as they beat on him, if only because his throat currently had several metal boots being slammed into at once. The knights worked without speaking, without cheering, without saying a single word. Their only job now was to as Globgor commanded, and all of them appreciated the chance to finally let loose.

"Oh my god…" Moon exclaimed. "They're actually going to kill him Globgor. If you want someone taken alive, then you can't do it like this!" She said in a matter-of-factly tone. "First off, you have to-"

"He'll live." Globgor said confidently. "Trust me when I say that. After this is done and the knights get it out of their system, I have someone who can heal him. She actually showed up at the Monster Temple right after Zudo did, thinking that Marco might be there. But...after I explained the situation and what we were about to do, she wanted to help out."

"...Let me guess." Moon said. "Ms. Ordania?"

"Yup." Globgor confirmed. "She has left the meeting with the other Royals after they had finished their plan of how to get back Tom's parents from the Underworld, which is actually what Bren's device does. It sends a signal down there to whoever's working for him to kill the two of them, which is why Tom followed his orders. If he didn't, then his parents would die."

"Why didn't he just steal the device?" Moon asked. "Or try to burn it?"

"You know, I'm not entirely sure…" Globgor mumbled, before trailing off. "By the way, where is Tom now?"

"He's over near the entrance." Moon said, pointing a thumb in its direction. "I knocked him out so he couldn't interfere, but he already looked like he was in pretty bad shape. I think you should go get Ms. Ordania and have her heal him." Her gaze switched over to Bren's device, which was lying vacant on the ground broken in two, having been stepped on by one of the knights. "After which we can inform him that he is now free."

"He is? That's a relief." A voice said, and the two of them glanced to their right to see Janna, hobbling on her crutches and looking extremely pleased with herself. "Although it's going to take a lot of preparation to actually start the healing process…"

"I told you to stay back at the Temple." Globgor sighed, not even the smallest bit surprised to see her. "You could have gotten hurt coming here. If Bren saw you and we hadn't already…" He hesitated and searched for the right word. "...apprehended him, then he'd probably go straight for you."

"Yeah, but with a hundred knights, I think I could take my chances." Janna said. She turned her head toward the knight crowd, who were still having a blast beating on their now barely-living punching bag. "Well, that's just horrible." She deadpanned. "Also pretty harsh Globgor. At least for you. How hard was it to give that order?"

"Harder than anything I've said in almost 300 years, but it was necessary." The Monster King replied. "We don't want to give him any chances to escape by himself. And if breaking all his arms and legs is what's required, then so be it."

"Yeah...but I think we all know the real reason." Janna said. "Heck, I'm surprised you're not over there helping in the "arrest". Considering everything he's done…"

"Trust me, it's tempting." Globgor admitted. "And that's not even counting the things he's done that we don't know about. Once this is all over, I'm going to go find Buff Frog. I think something is going on between him and Bren. Maybe an alliance like the one he had with Tom.

"Buff Frog?" Moon chimed in, sounding rather surprised. "Do you seriously believe he's working with him too? Not willingly of course, but...like how he got Tom under his control?"

"I mean, it would be pretty easy to rein someone like him in." Janna said. "Just kidnap his kids or something and boom, he'll do whatever Bren says. But forgive me for asking, but why do you think something's going on with Buff Frog anyways?"

"I'll explain later. There's a lot to unpack. But rest assured, I don't think he's dangerous. We'll go investigate him after this. But if he's not working for Bren, then nothing changes. But if he is, me and the rest of the Council will do our best to clear him of all charges." Globgor said, making Moon and Jannanid in approval. "But since you're here, popping up out of nowhere like you always do…"

"It's a habit."

Globgor grinned. "That's putting it lightly. But anyways, now that you're here, let's go get Tom so you can-"

"Hey!"

"What the hell is he doing?!"

"Back up! Back up!"

"Why is his blood blue?"

"Oh god, what now?!" Moon shouted, as the three of them turned toward the source of the voices. This was revealed to be several of the knights, who as a whole were backing away from Bren as if they were terrified of him. Janna tried to move forward but Globgor held her back, and Moon stepped in front of both of them, intent on handling whatever Bren was about to throw at them this time with her bare hands.

'Why couldn't I have just stayed home today?' She thought, asking herself the same question that everyone else was. She pushed her way past the knights and toward the center of the group, reaching it in no time. Moon let out a reflexive "eugh" at the mere sight of Bren, which was brutal enough to give the most hardened people nightmares.

He was, to be frank, nothing short of mutilated. Every part of his body was covered in giant bruises, his face so beaten that he was almost unrecognizable. His clothes were half torn and several giant scraps were lying on the ground, exposing his arms and legs, all of which were twisted and bent the wrong ways with pieces of snapped bone poking through. And the odd blue blood he had was just spread everywhere, like someone had taken a few gallons of paint and just poured it on him. Moon hoped that Janna must be able to perform a pretty powerful healing spell, because otherwise he'd be dead the second anyone tried to move him.

"What's the problem now?" Moon asked, gesturing at Bren. "Do you need help moving him or do you just not want anymore blood on-"

A hand grabbed her wrist, and a collective gasp of horror came from the knights, along with a "I don't get paid enough for this shit," from the back. Moon froze and glanced down at her wrist like she was moving in slow motion, where she saw five mangled, twisted fingers latching on to her, attached to the shattered arm of Bren, who was now kneeling on one leg and grinning at her with with half a set of teeth.

Janna huffed in confusion. "Dude, what the hell is-"

"DIE!" Bren screamed, and a second later he twisted Moon's wrist and then grabbed her elbow with his other hand. She responded by kicking him in the face, causing him to recoup in pain and let go of her. Without a moment to waste, Moon grabbed the back of his head and then slammed the front of it into the pavement, splitting it open and creating a small dent in the asphalt.

The knights were shocked.

Globgor was shocked.

Even Janna wore an expression of mild surprise.

And River...has fallen asleep a minute or so earlier.

But Bren seemed to be dazed for a moment as he took in the silence. He then pushed himself up and then stood on his broken legs as if they were completely fine, much to everyone's horror. He swiveled his head around until his eyes met Globgor, both of them now a brilliant green in color.

"Globgor." He hissed, using a tone that the Monster King had never heard before. It wasn't anticipation. It wasn't sadism. It wasn't even amusement.

He was...happy? That was a voice filled with pure joy, like a little kid who had just found a lost balloon.

"I suppose I should thank you." He continued, while all the knights wondered if they should keep beating on him or not. "They never let me out to play, you see. Thanks to Brudo and Star, the cracks showed every now and then...but they always kept me restrained."

"W-what are you talking about?" Globgor asked, wondering if he was in a dream or not

"Oh, I'm just thanking you!" "Bren" exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air which responded with a squelching noise. "For finally setting me free! I mean, I guess it was technically Moon finalizing it with that head slam, but still, you gave the initial order." He then giggled, making everyone take another step back. This was not normal. This was creepy, even for Janna, and stuff like that was supposed to be her department.

And the way he was smiling just made them all want to turn around and run until they were in another country.

"What do you mean by set you free?" Janna asked, sounding intrigued. She moved towards Bren despite Globgor's attempt to her to stay back, but just like Moon had done earlier, she ignored him and stopped once she was a few feet away, almost within grabbing distance.

"Oh, a little close there, aren't we?" "Bren" said. "A risky move, all things considered...

"Maybe, but if you really wanted to kill me this early on, then you would have broken into my house this morning and done it while I was still asleep." Janna pointed out. "Killing comes easy to you, so if you really wanted to murder any of us yet, you'd have done it already."

"You make a point. But it's your funeral, and the Bren that wanted to keep you alive…" He chuckled. "...Isn't here right now."

"And what does that mean?" Moon interjected, getting to her feet, rubbing her head, and using every ounce of willpower she had to not simply rip all his arms and legs off. "Are you done with this whole charade, or are we going to have to force you-" Her gaze darted to his face and noticed his discolored eyes, and she stopped mid-syllable, staring at them like she had just been frozen under Medusa's gaze.

"Hm. Cat got your tongue Moon?" "Bren" hummed. "Let me guess. You finally noticed. Well, I'm glad. Took you long enough."

"Notice what?" Globgor asked, walking up behind Janna and Moon. He followed their gazes and took note of Bren's eye color as well, before letting out a groan and facepalming. "Okay. Could someone please explain to me what's going on now?"

Bren took a wobbly step towards them. "What's going on is-"

"Be quiet." Globgor said, placing his palm on Bren's split forehead and then pushing him to the ground. He landed in a heap, his right wrist suddenly bending in three different ways, which he somehow didn't react to in the slightest. "Janna, do you have any idea-"

"Don't speak, and let me do the talking." Janna said bluntly, ordered really. "And I get that that sounds rude, but I know what's going on with his eyes and what it means, and if you don't ever want the old version of Bren to come back, then you'll stay quiet and let me do my thing."

"Wait-"

"Oh...and tell all your knights to move back. Or just leave entirely." She requested. "It'll be easier the fewer people we have here."

"Now hold on just a moment!" Moon said. "Janna, first off, we can't not-"

"No...let her take over." Globgor said, stepping between the two of them.

"Globgor?!" Moon exclaimed, with equal parts of shock and anger, infuriated that the Monster King was allowing Janna to go anywhere near Bren. She stepped in close and whispered to him, but it was still so loud that everyone could hear it.

"Globgor, we can't let her go talk to Bren! He'll try to kill her! Frankly, it's a miracle he hasn't already!" She hissed, gesturing toward the pair who were only a few feet apart. "Bren's down. Look at the condition he's in. We should take him in before Tom wakes up and thinks that he still has to-"

"Moon." Globgor said sternly, grabbing both of her hands which had been moving every which way during her whisper-fest. "Calm. Down. Ever since I got here, you have been angry and hissing and throwing a fit. It's not like to do that for this long a time, or at all really, and I'm not fond of seeing you like that. So for the first time today...and that moment with River a second ago doesn't count...could you please chill out?"

"Chill...out?"

"A phrase I taught him." Janna interjected. "Basically, he's telling you to settle down."

"Exactly." Globgor said. "Bren's not going anywhere. It's over. There's no real need for you to-"

"Maybe we should discuss this later, after we figure out how Bren is standing in two broken legs, why his eyes are now a different color, and figure out what he's talking about?!" Moon suggested. "It's quite plainly not over."

"..."

"..."

"Okay, I'm just going to play my part so we can get this over with." Janna said, turning her focus back towards "Bren". "Alright. Bren...or whatever your real name is. I get you're probably confused. You might not know what's going on here."

"I know full well." "Bren" said. "I may not be allowed out, but I saw and heard it all. It was the one gift I was granted."

"I see…" Janna said. "But whatever those two did to you...whatever happened that caused you to be trapped...it's over now. You don't have to be "Bren" ever again. There's no more god of fire controlling you, at least for now. All we have to do is bring that demon book here, and I think there's a spell in it that can get rid of his influence in you forever, okay?"

"Bren" paused and stared at the ground, seemingly contemplating where he should agree to this. Everyone else looked on in bewilderment, simultaneously wondering what the hell was happening and why Bren wasn't trying to kill them.

"I'm not sure I like this plan." "Bren" said. "You might have to tell the others why they shouldn't tear my head off first. Before we get to all the magic."

"I agree, but right now I think we should do the magic first. Namely...healing you." Janna mumbled, trying not to stare at the numerous fatal injuries he had sustained. "If you get too distracted by the pain, then it might give him an opportunity to grab hold of the reins again."

"Not a concern." "Bren" said. "I haven't felt pain for a long time. It was during my...change that I started feeling it though. Bren feels it because the god of fire…" He spat the words out. "...felt that it was necessary. But rest assured, if he does come back, it will not be because of the pain."

"Is that how you're walking around like that?" Janna asked. "With the broken legs and everything?"

"That's not how broken legs work." "Bren" said. "Or at least I don't think that's how they work." He shook his head, his neck making several cracking noises as he did so. "But anyways, I do thank you for not attacking me, and apologize for making that comment about how greeting close to me was your funeral. I was worried that you wouldn't know what was happening. Finally let up for air, and what's the first thing I'm greeted with?" He giggled again. "A fist straight to the face. And then...ten more."

"Sorry about that, but as I'm sure you know, your possessed self was kind of a dick." Janna explained. "He kinda screwed everything up."

"And I am sorry about that." "Bren" apologized. "I never meant for any of this to happen. Back then...I wanted revenge, yes...but not like this. Her. I just wanted her. I wouldn't dream of hurting anyone else. But when he took her...things got out of hand."

"Yeah, I think that's obvious." Janna said. "Do you...ah, still want to kill Star? Because if so, then that's a problem."

"No. No longer." "Bren" claimed. "I won't try to hurt a hair on her head. It's the least I could do after what I've done to your dimension. After all the pain I inflicted on her...and on her friends...I'd say I had my "revenge" ten times over…"

"Well, that's good." Janna said, although she clearly hadn't been expecting him to say that. "Then just stay here, and I'll go get the book." She paused. "After I explain everything to Moon and Globgor of course. Do you think you can...keep yourself alive for that long?"

"Yes." "Bren" said. "The god of fire won't let me die like this. Not until I complete my mission. Which, of course, I now have no interest in fulfilling. But still...I'll be fine."

"Got it." Janna said, before clearing her throat and addressing everyone. "Nobody hurt him, he's not evil anymore, and I'll explain everything later."

A discontented murmur spread throughout the crowd, all of them pondering if they should trust Janna's word or keep beating on Bren. Janna herself moved back over to Globgor and Moon, who were staring at her like she was crazy/some kind of psychological genius, of which there is hardly a difference.

"What was that?" Moon asked, keeping her voice down. "Why is he acting so docile?"

"Remember how Marco was possessed by the fire-god?" Janna said, causing Moon and Globgor to exchange glances. "This is the same situation. Only in Bren's case it was months or even years." She took a quick look at him and then turned back. "Don't you get it? There is no "Bren". It's just been his possessed self the whole time. The real Bren is right there, and that's not even his name. Just some nickname I'm betting the god of fire gave him."

"...Are you serious?" Globgor asked, his eyes bugging out. "This entire time...he's just been...possessed?"

"Yup." Janna said. "Possessed. And while the "real" Bren did say he wanted to kill Star, we don't have to worry about that revenge nonsense anymore. Because as you heard, he's...not evil anymore."

"But if what you're saying is true...and what he's saying is true…" Globgor mumbled. "...Then all this time he's practically been a victim, just like the rest of us."

"No. He's definitely not, considering that the "real" Bren still wanted to kill my daughter and let himself get possessed in order to do it." Moon disagreed. "It doesn't matter if he's reformed now. Bren, or whatever his name is, is still responsible for all the death and destruction he wrought on Earthni. He still has to be punished, victim or not."

"Whatever punishment you have for me….I'll accept it." "Bren" interjected, who had been listening in to the whole conversation. "And I get you're probably still going to execute me. But if that's the only way I can repay you for everything I've done...then I'll consent to this."

"We're not going to execute you. Not anymore, if this is all true." Globgor said, earning a death glare from Moon. He glared back and spoke while staring right at her. "We're not Moon. I'll make sure of it. And I won't let the citizens take you by force and organize some kind of kangaroo court either."

"I'm sure they'd kill me before I even got to the courtroom." "Bren" said. "But thank you. And thank you for...trusting me like this. Like I told Janna, I was afraid no one would believe me if I got free. I'm glad…" He lowered his head. "...things didn't turn out that way."

"Well, without Janna, we wouldn't have." Globgor said. "So I guess that means…"

"I saved the day again." Janna beamed. "Just like with the demon attack. Man, I really have to start showing up to events like these out of nowhere more often. It seems I'm needed everywhere I look!" She shrugged. "But I'm going to go get that book now. Bring it back here. It's safer than trying to move Bren through town and risk some of the townsfolk attacking him."

"It won't be hard to hold them off." Globgor said. "We can surround him with all the knights to the point where they won't even be able to see him."

"Yeah, but there's still Ponyhead, and you know how nosy she is." Janna said. "If she sees hundreds of knights parading around town in one big group, then I'm betting she'll swoop down and start live-streaming it. Then every single person in Earthni will know Bren's location, and converge on it."

"That would be an issue...if anyone actually watched that show." Moon said. "As far as my knowledge goes, along with some rather...notable comments I've heard during our meetings, her show is not particularly popular anymore."

"Even so, something like that would go viral in a few minutes, tops." Janna said, sighing. "Okay. Just keep an eye on him. And don't…" She looked at Moon. "Don't hurt him. I know it must be surprising to hear that considering what he's done to me and how aloof I usually am about stuff like this, but I want this disaster to end just as much as you do. So…" She shrugged. "...Stay here. I'll be back in ten minutes or so. Gonna have to use that shortcut I've never told anyone about though…"

With that, Janna walked off in a random direction, towards the other end of the hospital parking lot, and disappeared into the trees that were planted there. After she was gone, "Bren" laughed, causing all eyes to fall on him.

"How ironic." He commented. "The person who I caused to be put in the hospital and now has to walk around on crutches for months on end is the same one who trusts me the most."

"I think it's more the fact that she knows you're not...you anymore." Globgor said, motions for the knights to give him some room. "But could you give us a better, longer explanation as to what's going on? What happened that caused you to get possessed like that?"

"It's a sordid story…" "Bren" claimed. "Let's just say for now that I had my reasons for wanting to kill Star. Any person with a sense of revenge would have wanted to as well."

"Then what happened?" Moon demanded, ready to attack him the second he started showing signs of being hostile again. She didn't trust Janna's word even the slightest bit, even if it seemed she was telling the truth. "What did my daughter do? What happened to your dimension?"

"Ah ah ah." "Bren" said. "Technically, it wasn't just your daughter. You participated as well Moon. After all, I do believe my other side mentioned at one point that I wanted to kill all the Butterfly's. Your family exterminated magic, which caused the tragedy. Nothing is without consequences, especially an action that big."

"Now you're talking like him again." Moon seethed. "What happened to all that giggling from earlier?"

"Oh, I was just happy I finally got a hold of the reins." "Bren" said. "Nothing else. And I can assure you that they will stay in my hands for as long as I live. I'm never letting him get out again. You don't have to worry about Bren anymore. He's not coming back."

"Then what do you want us to call you?" Globgor asked. "Janna mentioned that Bren wasn't your real name, and you just confirmed it. So...what is your real name."

"Bren's" gaze grew solemn and he stared at the ground. "I can't remember." He said. "I'll be honest with you. While I'm fully aware of my "mission" and the experiences my other side went through, most of my memories from before are...foggy. Hazy. I only have snippets of them. A few conversations, an event or two...but most of who I was before my eyes turned orange…" He sighed. "...is lost."

"Permanently?"

"Not sure." "Bren" said. "I hope not. The things I could tell you about my dimension is truly stunning. All the culture and art that no longer is...it's exquisite."

"I, um…" Globgor started, unable to believe that he was starting to feel sorry for him. "I'm sorry that you had to go through all that. Losing your whole dimension, your family and your friends...I can't imagine having to go through all that."

"You sorta can." "Bren" said. "You woke up after a three hundred year nap. Besides Eclipsa and your daughter, everyone you knew is gone. I think you can understand part of what I went through."

Globgor shifted in place. "Well...I hope you're…"

"Okay?" "Bren" guessed. "It's fine if you don't know what to say. I probably wouldn't either. It's natural. A person goes through an experience like that, what else can you say besides "I'm sorry for your loss"? And I know you don't want to console me anyway. I don't expect anyone to completely trust me for a while...or ever."

"Yeah…" Globgor muttered, rubbing the back of his head. "But I have to ask. Earlier your...alter-ego claimed that you killed your whole family. Is this…" He hesitated and gulped. "...Is this true?"

"Yes." Bren said casually, much to the surprise of everyone present. "It's a deed that I will remember for the rest of my days. While they slept, I cut all their throats. I did it entirely without emotion, without pause. It was...unfortunate, to say the least. I regret it greatly."

"Good god…" Moon exclaimed. "This isn't like Marco at all, based on what you've told us. I thought the possessed could somehow fight back, like how Star claimed Marco did that so he didn't kill her, but he had total power over you. And to use that control to force you to perform such acts...it's horrific."

"Wow. Even you're starting to feel sorry for me." "Bren" said. "But he had better control because he had gotten to me earlier. With Marco, he tortured him in a dream and left his mind vulnerable and easy to invade. In my situation, it was systematic manipulation and bargaining for months on end before he finally got in." He sighed. "But...you're wrong about one thing. When I killed my family...that was before my possession, not after. Heck, it was before he even contacted me."

After these words left his mouth, a swift silence spread over the area, like someone had pressed a mute button for the entire town. The only sounds now were the light breathing of a few of the knights, the ones who hadn't been fully trained to show no reaction in situations like this.

"Y-you killed them without his encouragement?" Moon fumed, who was now a mix between furious and fearful. "Are you-"

"It's such a shame." "Bren" said. "Isn't it Moon? You had a lot of potential. You were a great queen. And then you threw it all away." He smiled. "Personally, I think things would have been better if you had stayed queen and ignored the fact that you were fake Royals. Would have made your life a whole lot easier. There probably wouldn't have even been a merge, and therefore...my alter-ego wouldn't have come after you."

"W-what are you getting at?" Moon asked.

"Who knows…" "Bren" said. "Just the rambling of a madman. Because that's exactly what I am." He lifted his head and giggled. "I had planned to tell you all this after Janna healed me, but I can't keep it going for any longer. I can't resist."

"Bren" stood up and wobbled on his legs, before outstretching a single hand to Moon and Globgor.

"There was always one thing I detested about you people." "Bren" said. "Just how trusting you are. Mina trusted me. Brudo trusted me for a while. Both of these things led to their downfall. Globgor believed that I was actually Buff Frog on the phone for a bit, despite it plainly not being him. And then there was the whole thing with Janna just now. You trusted her words like it was law. You didn't attack me once she had left, despite every instinct telling you too. Granted, none of this is her fault, she couldn't have known, as I am a very good liar...but still. What's about to happen is on her for not picking it up."

"Picking what up?" Globgor asked, silently motioning for the knights to ready their weapons.

"That between Bren and me…" "Bren" started, his eyes going wide as he bent what was left of his knees. "I'm the worst of the two."

"Oh godam-" Moon started, but by then, it was already too late. "Bren" jumped in the air and literally flipped over her like a crazed chimpanzee, a smile of pure insanity plaster on his face. The second he hit the pavement on the other side he started sprinting, all the knights behind Moon and thus him. The former Queen didn't hesitate as she literally expletives/orders screamed at the knights to start chasing him, which they all did simultaneously like an out of control mob.

It was chaos.

"Bren" was getting away.

Globgor was looking for Zudo in the crowd, who had disappeared again after he had stopped being important.

Moon was swearing incoherently, furious at herself and everyone else for letting him escape like that.

River was trying to figure out what was going on, the ruckus having woken him up.

And Janna was standing by the trees, returned from her walk with the demon book in her hand, watching the whole thing like she was witnessing the end of the world.

"CATCH HIM!" Moon shrieked, running at full speed and moving ahead of them all. She could see "Bren"

turn the corner that led to the hospital entrance...and to Tom.

"No." She whispered. "No! You're not getting away! Not like that! Not after all of this!"

Easier said than done however, because as Moon turned the corner, she saw her worst fears realized. Tom was awake, "Bren" was practically running on all fours towards him, and the former Queen knew that she did never make it to him in time at the pace she was going. Tom's eyes widened at the sight of his mutilated master, but "Bren" didn't waste any time and started barking orders at him.

"LUCITOR!" He screeched. "EMERGENCY JUMP! SAY THE WORDS AND GET READY TO TAKE US OUT OF HERE!"

Tom froze up for a second but then nodded, and for some reason he closed his eyes and started mumbling something. Moon was briefly confused by this act but then went over what Bren had just said. Emergency jump.

This was it. He was escaping and they couldn't-

'No.' Moon thought. 'There is...he doesn't...he doesn't have the device to use as leverage against Tom anymore!'

"THOMAS!" She yelled. "BREN DOESN'T HAVE THE-"

Too late. As the word "Thomas" left her mouth, "Bren" reached him and grabbed his shoulder, and the demon finished his incantation. Moon screamed "NO" at them one final time as a column of flame appeared out of thin air, consumed the two, and then vanished along with them.

And all that was left was the smoke from the flames, which rose into the air and soon dissipated just like they had.

Moon panted as she slowed down, standing in the spot where they teleported away, as several of the knights angrily threw their weapons to the ground and started cursing. And over all of this, the sounds of the hospital could still be heard, almost never-ending.

She fell to her knees and pounded her fists against the ground, crying tears of anger.

"Damn you…" She cursed. "Damn you…"

And then she slammed her fist into the wall with everything she had. It hurt, and bruised her knuckles a reddish-black, but it was all she could do to prevent herself from taking it out on someone else.

"So...what just happened?" Janna asked.

Globgor, who was still standing around the corner keeping an eye out for Zudo, didn't reply at first. Instead, he took a deep breath and sat down, rubbing his face and looking very much like he wanted to go to sleep.

"Nothing good." He finally said. "Bren betrayed us. After you left...he started talking to us. But it eventually led to the point where he started criticizing Moon's leadership, and then he said…" Globgor huffed as the words echoed in his mind. "..."that between Bren and me...I'm the worst of the two". Then he jumped right over Moon and ran away. I don't know if she's still giving chase or not, because I've been looking for Zudo. We can't let him vanish again, now that his whole family might be in danger."

"I...jeez." Janna mumbled shamefully. "I'm sorry, I didn't know he would-"

"It's not your fault. You just didn't pick up on his lies." Globgor said. "Even "Bren" said that he was surprised you didn't notice it. He tricked all of us. Not just you."

Janna sucked her breath in and then nodded. "Okay." She whispered. "I just can't believe...he was actually-"

"..."

"..."

"Actually what?" Globgor asked, confused as to why she had stopped so abruptly.

But Janna wasn't listening. Instead, she was focused on the ground, or at least what appeared to be a small object on the ground. She moved forward a few spaces and bent down to pick the object up, before holding it high in the air, right in front of the sun like it was a precious jewel.

"I...is that a finger?" Globgor asked in disgust. "Why is that-"

"It's Bren's." Janna replied. "I noticed he was missing a finger earlier, but I didn't think it'd be intact." She smirked. "I guess this whole mess...wasn't a waste after all."

"Why? What could that do for us?"

Janna chuckled. "This?" She hummed, staring at it, almost in admiration.

"This is our game-changer."

End chapter 22

A/N: Yeesh, what a slog of a chapter. Sorry that this one took so long, probably should have cut this chapter in half, but it's finally finished either way. So we got a few things. Everyone's (least) favorite desk Attendant is dead, every conversation held was sidetracked and unfinished, Bren is not very good at doing voice impersonations, River is injured, "Bren" is severely injured, and now Janna has a magic ginger. That's gonna give Moon a bit of Deja-vu...and probably everyone else that interacted with Toffee.

Until next time.