Episode
11: The War Games, Part 2
As Adam prepares for the Second Trial of the War Games, he divulges why he is so driven to redeem Ignius. Ignius's motives are revealed.
Darkness is ubiquitous. Its very definition implied absence of light. As opposed to information, the negative mass of darkness was a swarm that could hardly be contained. On such a stormy night, the sun had been temporarily extinguished in favour of collapsing into the blackness.
Thick, black-grey clouds stretched across the full expanse of the land, rolling over the hills to bring nothing but darkness and storms. Bouts of thunder growled as it cultivated its power. Flashes of lightning struck the tallest terrain about the territory of the Mace Kingdom. Leathery sheets of rain lashed the side of the tall castle, like some kind of draconian torture weapon. The rainwater was drawn into puddles across the gutters, before tricking down into the sewer railings.
Still, the Mace Castle stood tall against the tyranny of nature. Even with its status on a plateau that could theoretically collapse at any moment, the stone complex remained rooted to its spot. A wave of water – summoned magically or by natural means – could simply slide the castle down into the kingdom below, but somehow it refused, like an ancient sentinel. A beacon of strength against the dark.
On the outer edge of the Mace Kingdom, the two wide tents standing opposite each other were not quite so stubborn. They remained where they had been planted, of course, but the harsh winds and tempestuous rain was a formidable opponent. The fabric flapped and shuddered, threatened by the weather to expose its interior.
Inside the tent, the members of the Butterfly Family, along with their associates, were in attendance. They had found their beds many hours ago, and now they were apt to sleep in them. River snored the loudest, with Star not coming far behind. Not even the tempest brewing outside could match their unconscious noises. Marco somehow had managed to get to sleep despite the storm outside and the louder storm inside. Moon was a similar case, though she was probably just used to River's snoring.
Rather unsurprisingly, the only person not currently asleep was Adam. His bed was small and uncomfortable, but that wasn't what was keeping him awake. He didn't complain about the bed anyway, because he knew he probably wouldn't end up sleeping in it.
His eyes remained trained on the ceiling of the tent. He wandered over to the various folds and creases, as they fluctuated and shifted against the beatings of the wind outside. Absent-mindedly, he tapped the side of his elbow and bit his lip.
Another trial tomorrow. Or was it today? Had it passed midnight already? Adam didn't know.
All he knew is that the War Games would resume soon. And he could lose the next one. It was a very real threat. He almost died in the first trial. No amount of self-conceived plot armour could save him from that. The mere fact that he had almost died wasn't all too shocking to him. His heart had managed to withstand the stress more than last time, with Arybailos. Having the whole future of Mewni slammed onto his back was the main deciding factor over his current sleeplessness.
He wished he had never spoken to Ignius. He should have avoided him. If Ignius didn't have a legal reason to challenge him – like disrespecting their honour and breaking supposed refuge laws – then the War Games would have been void. And the Mace Treaty would have been re-signed as planned, and everything would have run smoothly.
He wished he had never come along to the signing at all. He wished he hadn't allowed his desire to support Star during a trying time to overwhelm his logical reasoning. Exactly what he had said could happen, happened. It was a wonder how Moon wasn't furious with Star for not listening to her and indirectly causing this whole mess. Maybe Moon understood that Star needed emotional support from her friends to keep her from exploding.
Above all else, Adam was really starting to wish he hadn't accidentally arrived on Positive Mewni at all. He got here by mistake; he got here because he let himself relax a little too much and let his guard down. A part of him screamed out against his wish to return. How could he? He'd made friends here – real, proper friends: Janna, Marco and Star.
Not only that, but he felt a moral obligation to stay. Dark Star only managed to get here because of his actions. Now that she'd seen their world, it was almost inevitable that she'd be back. With the might of an intermultiversal empire alongside her. If Adam figured out a way back and promptly returned, then he would be doing nothing to hinder their progress in reopening a portal to the Positive Multiverse and invading. Even if he attempted to take them out, alone or with help, they would still be dead set on invading. Plus, if Adam wanted a chance of beating the Dark Butterflies, it would be better not to fight them in the belly of the beast.
Still, though, Adam planned on figuring out how to open portals between multiverses. If he could do it before the Dark Butterflies, he could effectively stop them from invading. Once he did that…he'd have to figure out some way to kill them all.
No matter how much he could wish that he had never come here, Adam knew that wish would never come true. And also that it shouldn't.
Yet, if that dream never came true, then it meant that he would still very much be competing in the War Games. And that meant potentially jeopardising the future of Mewni, possibly even the whole multiverse. All because he didn't have the right excuse to justify his place in the Butterfly Kingdom.
A short sigh escaped his lungs.
He slid through his sheets and rested his bare feet on the carpet by his bed. The Mewman strained to reach his socks down by his ankles and gently slipped them on. Standing up, he walked over to his boots on the ground and shuffled his feet into them.
Adam patted down his clothes and reached down for his jacket. Today, he opted to wear a crimson red tunic and a midnight blue jacket. He thought it looked better than the sea-green variant he'd worn before. His dusty-blue combat pants were new, sewn himself, despite Star's comments that the royal carpenters could do it for him. Admittedly, his boots were new, and he hadn't made those, but that was because he didn't know how. He found his previous set of boots in a village a few miles from his bunker, and he had worn them for several years before getting new ones.
His raven-black hair was a mess. Adam didn't bother trying to rectify it. His hair was usually a messy pompadour anyway, but somehow it was even more frayed. He should probably get it cut soon too. It was beginning to look uncomfortably like a mullet, and he hated that.
Dispelling his self-deprecating thoughts, the Mewman silently stepped over to the exit to the tent. He spared a glance back to the others. They all were asleep, eerily still. The loud crackling of thunder outside didn't seem to affect them in the slightest.
He ducked out of the tent. Instantly, he was blasted with rain, drenching him in moments. Rain pattered on the sides of the castle walls to his right and collected in small puddles over the oversaturated earth. Another low rumble ripped through the air above. A flicker of lightning caught his eye, and he was reminded once again why Janna liked romanticism so much.
Unfazed by the weather, Adam trudged through the muddy ground towards the archway in the castle walls. Despite it all, he didn't feel even remotely cold. Not a single fibre of his muscle shivered; the cold air against his skin couldn't raise a single hair. Although his wet tunic clung to his skin, he took almost no notice of it.
If there were any stars in the sky, he couldn't see them. Adam was used to seeing something distinctly mystical about the skies of Mewni (Positive Mewni, anyway). Right now, there was just nothing.
The great sky hanging over him was a vacuumed canvas of darkness, upon which Mother Nature would paint. Light was scarce, apart from the moons of Mewni. Those particular moons were obscured by the black smears across the sky. Only the penumbra of the largest moon was visible, while the others' existence was purely evidenced by their soft white glow behind the clouds. The clouds themselves were barely even visible; they were the same colour as the sky itself. If it even was the sky, and not just more clouds.
Adam strolled through the bright archway in the dead of night. It led into a stone corridor with open passages into one of the gardens. Pools of water trickled across the stone floor slowly and inevitably. He ignored it, walked down the hallway, and turned right up a flight of stairs.
Specks of water seeped through the cracks of the old stone, steadily dripping on his already soaked person. His clothes squelched with each step, although the Mewman took no notice of it. By now, the thunder had quietened down such that he could properly hear himself think. Though the rain remained intensive and stubborn, at least he didn't feel like his eardrums could burst any second.
At the top of the steps, there was a wide balcony overlooking the field where the war tents were. It was the same one that Adam had spoken with Prince Ignius the day prior.
Where this whole blasted thing had started.
Adam stepped forward into the rain again, resting his arms on the stone fence. The endless barrage of water dripped from the ends of his hair. He didn't bother blinking out the rain from his eyes.
What was his next move?
Not in the War Games. No, he was wondering what his next move in life was. For months now, his goals had been simple: get home; kill the Dark Butterflies. Admittedly, the second part of that axiom seemed a hell of a lot harder than the first, but they were both still difficult regardless. Now it seemed things had changed.
Ever since Dark Star had waltzed her way into the heart of the Butterfly Kingdom and nearly killed them all, things had been different. Frankly, it just felt wrong to go home now when his friends had almost died. Sooner or later, the Dark Butterflies were going to come back to invade. The only option for him that felt right was to continue trying to learn how to open intermultiversal portals, so he could prevent the Dark Butterflies ever returning. After that, hopefully he could lead this world's Butterflies into the Negative Multiverse and end the threat once and for all.
Something along those lines. What Adam was certain about was that he couldn't just go back home.
Adam considered himself a forward-thinker. He calculated every move he took and analysed every eventuality. The Mewman avoided irrational decisions like the plague and vehemently denied being an emotional person. Every single step he took was carefully planned out to the last detail. After all, that was the only way to survive in the Negative Multiverse. Back then, in that hellscape he once called home, just the slightest slip-up – one tiny mistake amidst a harmony of correct choices – could quickly result in certain death.
So no. No, he did not understand how he had become so attached to the people of this alternate realm. When Beru died, it had taken years before he would even approach another living being. Ever since Janna died, he'd avoided making friends altogether. His Janna was dead. Murdered. Because of him.
Then he met a Janna from another multiverse, and his heart and mind opened just that tiny amount. Enough to drive him to pursue friendships once again. It truly felt like the deities above had given him a second chance, had given him the opportunity to atone for his part in Janna's death.
Janna was…well, Janna. She was weird, but in a good way. She was charismatic and beyond chill for the wacky events that frequently populated her life. Beneath her nonchalant, noncommittal exterior, there lay a heart of pure gold. Even if said heart was hidden more often than not. Still, though, she cared about her friends and wasn't all jokes and teasing. She was a lot like his Janna, but in many ways she was different. This Janna wasn't marred with grief, blood and anger like his world's version. That was nice, at least.
Weirdest of all, he made more friends. Of those friends, he was never expecting to become friends with Star Butterfly of all people. The very notion of a good Butterfly was always oxymoronic to him, but the past six months had changed his mind. Star was one of the best people he knew, and he couldn't spend any longer denying that fact. Even if she sometimes got on his nerves.
Marco was cool, too. Undeniably. His martial arts skills helped Adam develop new, more unorthodox spells that incorporated his fighting style.
Plus, he could make food that Adam could never dream of trying in his previous living arrangement. The squire had received the uncomfortable news, though, that Dark Star had murdered the Negative Multiverse version of him. And that Adam's Janna had a huge crush on him. This world's Janna dismissed the concept as comedic at best. Marco seemed unfazed; instead, he chose to tease Janna endlessly about her alternate counterpart's crush on him. The fact that his best friend had murdered him hardly seemed to affect him. Adam guessed that Marco dissociated Dark Star from Star well enough to the point where he was calm about it. Although, he suspected that he had unresolved issues about it. Star was probably helping him through it. Just like Marco had been helping her cope with everything about Dark Star.
Adam thought it was pretty obvious how Marco felt about Star. He never brought it up to him, or really paid it much mind, though. Romance had never been his area and he strongly doubted it ever would be. Nevertheless, if he were held at gunpoint with a question on their possible relationship, Adam would say he supported it. Star obviously felt the same, no matter how much effort she put into hiding it.
Star was a stickler for romance. Her actions yesterday with him and Caela had more than proven that.
She was probably a believer in true love and destiny and all that. Adam spat out the sour taste in his mouth. Those concepts were entirely dumb and pointless to him, but he supposed that he shouldn't rain too much on Star's parade. It's not like he was against the concept entirely; it just really wasn't for him. Whether Star understood that or not, he didn't care. She could continue on trying to push him towards Caela all she wanted, it was simply never going to happen.
Never.
'You know, if you stand out there all night, you'll catch hypothermia.'
Adam let out a small sigh. He was suddenly reminded of how much rain was hitting him from the skies.
'I'll be fine,' he huffed, sparing a glance towards the individual.
'I don't think so.'
There was a flash of bright pink light above him. He looked up to see a floating pink forcefield of Instinctive magic, sheltering him from the rain. The Mewman was about to complain, until he abruptly shivered from the cold. Another flash of magic revealed a floating orb of fire next to him. He felt the inviting heat and humbly accepted his warmth.
'I guess it can't hurt,' Adam acquiesced, turning to face her. 'What's up, Star? Everything alright?'
'Couldn't sleep,' the princess confessed. Adam frowned.
'You looked pretty asleep to me, back there,' he pointed out.
'I'm pretty good at pretending,' Star claimed, as she walked over and leaned on the balcony fence beside him. 'Besides, I was kinda…waiting for you to sneak off.'
The Mewman instantly stood up from the balcony.
'How'd you –'
'Because that's what you're like,' Star answered, with a small chuckle. Adam relaxed back onto the balcony. 'I'm not judging. I was planning on talking to you, anyway.'
'Well, I'm listening,' Adam offered welcomingly.
'First off…I wanted to say sorry about earlier,' she began. 'I was being overeager about you and Caela. I didn't consider what you wanted, and that was wrong. So I'm sorry.'
'It's okay,' Adam dismissed sincerely. 'I overreacted. When it comes to forming relationships…it scares me a little.'
Star raised an eyebrow.
'Why?' She blurted out. 'Uh…if you don't mind me asking, that is!'
'I'm careful who I make friends with,' he replied, glancing down at the war tent he was previously inside. 'After Beru died, and then Janna died…well, I was scared to form attachments. I don't even know how I managed to make friends with you lot.'
'You don't…regret it, right…?' The princess enquired tentatively.
'Of course not!' He exclaimed with a chuckle. 'Spending all that time hiding away made me feel lonely. I'd rather not go back to that.'
'I'm glad,' Star replied happily. 'I also wanted to…say thank you.'
Adam perked up a bit.
'Thank you?' He parroted. 'What for?'
'Just for being here,' the princess answered earnestly. 'You didn't have to come, but you did. I really appreciate that.'
'Star, because of me, we're close to starting a war,' Adam pointed out in disbelief. 'If I hadn't come along, we wouldn't be in this mess. How can you thank me for that?'
'It's not your fault, Adam,' she argued. 'Ignius wanted any reason to challenge someone to the War Games. He hates the whole idea of the treaty and doesn't want it re-signed. Chances are, even if you hadn't come along, we'd still be in the same boat.'
'That doesn't change the fact that I am responsible,' Adam dismissed.
'Uh, yes it does!' Star replied matter-of-factly. 'This is Prince Ignius's fault. You were just his unfortunate target.'
'I don't have an official position in the royal household, Star,' he argued. 'I'm just a refugee. Regardless of what the King and Queen think of that, the rest of the kingdom didn't seem too thrilled about it!'
'Eh, ignore them,' she advised nonchalantly. 'They don't know you; they only know what Ignius and Wildfyre tell them. I doubt Ignius would be willing to include the full context.'
Adam let out a loud sigh.
'You know, I don't regret what I did.'
'Hm?'
'Saving Ignius,' he clarified. 'I don't regret it.'
'How?!' Star suddenly shouted. 'He stabbed you in the back! That was his "thank you". As Marco would say…that was below the belt!'
'I know,' Adam snapped, briefly glaring at her. 'Like I said: I wasn't surprised he did that. I was his enemy. Taking me out then and there was the most effective option, and the one he would regret the least.'
'And how would you know that?' Star questioned, folding her arms sceptically.
'Because not too long ago, I would've done the exact same thing,' he admitted, catching his friend off-guard.
'No you wouldn't –'
'Yes, I would've,' the Mewman cut off. 'Ignius isn't bad…just misguided. He's formed his entire worldview from prejudice and arrogance. Remind you of someone?'
Star let out a pensive breath.
'Yeah, you,' she answered solemnly. 'I had noticed that…I just didn't wanna think that you and he were…'
'So similar?' He finished for her, receiving a nod in agreement from the girl. 'I can understand that. We're friends; I doubt you'd want to compare your friend to Ignius – an angry, fiery hotpot of pure napalm.'
Star sniggered at that.
'Yeah,' she agreed humorously. 'So that's why you won't give up on him, right? Because you're so similar?'
'Exactly,' he concurred. 'I mean, if I can be redeemed, then realistically so can he. It's worth trying, at least.'
'I don't know how the heck you can be so patient,' Star remarked in sheer awe. 'I'd have given up already!'
'Well…' Adam said diffidently, trying to come up with a respectful way to phrase it. 'Recent events have…eroded away your patience.'
Star's countenance instantly clouded over. The jovial look on her face drained, until she was pale and despondent once more.
'Yeah…' she muttered, crestfallen. 'That was another thing I wanted to talk to you about. I yelled at you a lot yesterday. I'm sorry…I, uh…I really need to learn how to keep my emotions in check – like Mom said.'
'You don't have to apologise,' Adam assuaged her. 'Nobody blames you. You're going through a lot. Your boyfriend lied to you, and you found out he'd lied to you many times in the past…and he also preferred a literal psychopath over you.'
'Thanks, I really needed the reminder!' The princess snapped, glowering at him for a few seconds. When she was met with only silence from her friend, her angry disposition faltered, before dissolving away completely. 'Sorry.'
'No,' Adam disagreed, putting a hand on her shoulder. 'I'm sorry. I should have been more tactful.'
Slowly, almost unsure of himself, he pulled her into a hug. Star reciprocated it appreciatively, her arms wrapping around him tightly. She didn't care that Adam's clothes were damp, or that she was equally damp. Right now, the warmth of this hug was all she cared about. Adam was surprised she was as comfortable as she was. He had virtually no experience in giving hugs; all the hugs he'd had involved the other person initiating the contact.
Star didn't seem to mind, though. In fact, she seemed to relax into his embrace, in a sisterly kind of way.
'Am I…doing it right?' Adam wondered awkwardly. Muffled giggles of laughter emerged from the girl, prompting him to raise an eyebrow. She loosened from his hug slightly and looked up at him.
'Yes, you're doing it right,' Star replied. In spite of the tears streaming down her cheeks, she was smiling. She wiped away the tracks of water down the sides of her face. 'Thank you, Adam.'
He frowned.
'For what?' He questioned. 'I hugged you. That's all. And I wasn't even any good at it.'
'Oh, hush, you,' Star dismissed. 'I know how hard it is for you to be emotionally available. Even trying is worth some appreciation, don't ya think?' Adam gave a hesitant shrug. 'Besides, this was the last thing I wanted to talk to you about.'
Adam found himself frowning once again.
'What do you mean?'
'Since Tom and I…fell out,' she elaborated, 'you've been around a lot to support me and pick me up when I feel down. And I don't feel like I've been showing how grateful I am for that. Not enough, anyway. You've been a really awesome friend, Adam! I hope you know that!'
'Thank you, Star,' he accepted semi-earnestly. 'But you have been grateful. You came here to say thank you, didn't you?'
'But I've been yelling at you all day and being mean!' Star argued. 'You've done nothing but be kind and supportive and patient and understanding! And all I can do is be angry at you for no reason!'
'And like I said, I don't blame you for that,' he reiterated. 'You're not invincible. The worst kind of pain is emotional pain. It hits you like a thunderbolt and stays with you like…slow-acting poison. I'd have to be even more of an emotionally unaware idiot not to expect that this might affect you and lead you to lash out.'
'That doesn't make it okay!'
'No, it doesn't,' the warlock concurred placidly. 'But the fact that you understand that makes you leagues better than most.' He hugged her again, this time with a little more expertise. 'It's gonna take some time before you can properly heal. And that's okay. You've got Marco, Kelly, Janna, Pony Head, River, Moon, and Eclipsa – and me, of course – to help you through this.'
Star leaned into his embrace once more, as the tears threatened to emerge once again. She looked up at Adam worriedly, unsure what to do.
'It's okay,' he reassured her. 'Just let it all out.'
Finally, the dam broke.
Fully, this time. Star wasn't even speaking words; she was only letting out whimpers and painful screams. Hot tears streamed from her eyes without hesitation or restraint. She ran her throat raw with her fervent cries of anguish, screaming and screaming until there was nothing left. All the while, Adam held her close and didn't say a word. He didn't have to. Even someone as socially stunted as him understood that there was nothing that he could say that would help more than staying silent and hugging her.
She had kept her distance from Tom and yet it felt like she would never be free from him. Admittedly, the demon prince had made that even harder for her, given his abject refusal to simply go away. Even without his presence, though, Star couldn't get the ordeal off her mind.
What happened with Tom had truly been a paradigm shift for Star. She wanted to berate herself for ever believing Tom could be redeemed. Last time, Star had thought that she'd finally overcome her naivety and moved on. Then, when she met Tom again at the Silver Bell Ball, she didn't want to believe he was good now. In the end, though, the princess fell to the demon's charms.
Not again. No matter what Tom might have thought, they would never get back together. If he thought it was over the first time around, then she was absolutely done with him this time. Forever. He was far more trouble and trauma than he ever would be worth.
And right now, she was not worth much to him. Yet, Tom was determined to force his way back into her life. He hadn't learned his lesson the last time he tried this.
Perhaps, if he were so inclined, he could go crying to Dark Star about it. Maybe she would take him in. Lord knows he would be on-board, given how much he liked her last time. At least then, he would actually be helping them for once by figuring out how to open intermultiversal portals.
If Tom valued their relationship so much, maybe he wouldn't have lied to her face about the problems in their relationship. Sure, Star understood that she had not been the best girlfriend, but she would have hoped that communication had been well-established in their relationship. Apparently not. She really should have noticed it the moment Tom started trying to "compete" with Marco, which had been ever since the lovable squire had returned from Earth to Mewni full-time.
She cursed herself for not having seen it then. There seemed to be no end to her incompetence.
Blaming herself wasn't going to help. She knew that; she just couldn't help it. She supposed the only thing to do now was move on. With the help of her friends, of course. That was the point: she wasn't alone. She honestly had no idea how she could manage it if she were left to deal with all of it by herself. Like Adam had, with most of his problems.
The fact that he'd even remained sane came as a surprise. Not that Star thought that the guy should receive any "congratulations, you're not insane" awards. Even if the denizens of the Negative Multiverse were not known for their mental stability.
Still, Adam was worthy of admiration.
After a long while, all the water had drained from the dam. Gently, Star's voice fell to quiet whimpers, before ultimately going silent. The princess looked up at him with calmer eyes.
'Hey, Adam?' She said quietly.
'Yeah…?'
'You're a good man.'
Adam blinked.
'Um, uh…' he stumbled, unsure how to process this data. 'Uh…th-thanks, Star. I guess.'
Frowning in dissatisfaction, Star separated from him and stepped away. She leaned her back on the fence of the balcony. Her eyes glanced sadly down at the ground, before looking back up at him.
'You don't believe that, do you?'
'Not really,' confessed Adam, shrugging guiltily.
'Why not?'
'It's like I told you before,' he replied, a slight tone of self-loathing in his inflection. 'I'm not the hero type. I'm not working to save the world from the Dark Butterflies or anything like that. I'm just on the other team. And that team's objective is revenge.'
'And that's all you care about?' Star prompted, unconvinced. 'Not about saving lives or stopping evil?'
'No,' he stated candidly, folding his arms. 'We've talked about this before, remember?'
'I know. We never really finished that conversation,' Star recalled. 'So it doesn't matter to you how you do it? The method in which you get your sacred revenge?'
'The ends justify the means,' Adam claimed, staring pensively out onto the landscape of the Mace Kingdom.
'Do they? Why?'
'Because they have to.'
'You're still trying to get me to buy this "I'm not a good guy" act,' Star noticed, almost laughing. 'If you were just "on the other team", why did you care so much about attacking me, after realising I was innocent? Why were you so concerned about being no better than the Dark Butterflies? Why would that matter to you if you thought that the ends justified the means?'
Adam opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out.
'If all that mattered to you was the mission, why did you make friends with me?' She probed. 'Why even bother helping any of the people of Mewni? Why comfort me? Why would you even care about starting a war, or saving us from Dark Star? I would've thought you'd think that isn't your problem.'
'Well…' he stumbled. 'Winning a fight is easier with strong allies. Helping them out would make them feel obligated to help you back. It's an effective strategy.'
'Are you seriously trying to convince me that you only became friends with me, so I'd help you beat the Dark Butterflies?'
Adam didn't say anything.
'Or are you trying to convince yourself?'
Again, Adam said nothing. Star tutted at him sceptically.
'Why do you insist on pretending you're a bad guy?' The princess demanded, folding her arms.
'Because,' he stated matter-of-factly. 'You don't know the full story. I don't come from a good place, Star. And I haven't done good things. Good people don't do bad things.'
'Yes, they do,' she argued. 'There's evil in all of us. Even the best of people do the wrong things sometimes. It doesn't make you a bad person.'
'Star, if you knew some of the things I've done, you wouldn't want to be friends with me.'
'I don't need to know,' she corrected adamantly. 'I've seen the kind of person you are. I don't care about all these "things" you've done. I know who you are right now. That's good enough for me.'
'Don't be naïve, Star.'
'I'm hardly being naïve,' Star disagreed. 'I've done some bad things too. Do you think I'm a bad person?'
'No!' dismissed Adam instantly, before blinking and rethinking his reply. 'It's…different, Star.'
'Different how?'
'You don't come from a Negative Multiverse.'
'By now, I would've thought you understood that you can't control where you come from Adam,' Star scoffed. 'If you didn't, then you'd still be shaming me for being a Butterfly.'
'I…uh…' he stuttered. He clenched his fists. 'Argh! Why do you have to be so clever sometimes?!'
'I learnt from the best,' Star jested, gesturing towards him. Adam hummed in reluctant agreement. He peered out from the balcony pensively. By now, the rain had eased down to intermittent spots of precipitation.
'It's…hard,' he admitted. 'To think I'm… "good". I think I've done too much, that I've lost too much, to say that about myself. If I did, it feels like I'm…showing weakness.'
Star's ears perked up at that.
'Weakness? How?'
'You have to understand, Star,' he elaborated. 'The world I come from is crueller than yours –'
'I know that.'
'Let me finish,' he retorted, glaring at her. The annoyed look on her face instantly evaporated. 'Growing up, there was one main rule everyone had to know: kill or be killed. I know it sounds cliché, but it's true. Everyone you met was either a friend or foe. Mostly foe. Being a "good person" is, strategically, a weakness. Being selfish is, by far, the most effective survival strategy.'
'But that's not who you are,' she pointed out. Adam stared at her. 'Adam. I told you to stop pretending. You're not that kind of person.'
'You think I haven't been selfish before?' The Mewman argued.
'I didn't say that!' Star clarified. 'We've all been selfish before. It's perfectly normal. But you know that wasn't what I was talking about.' Once again, Adam remained silent. 'Being good isn't a weakness, Adam. I get how you would think so…but as you said yourself, doing good things make people want to help you back. But you don't do it because of getting something out of it. You do it for the sake of doing it. Be a good person and you make good friends. It's not weak; it's strong.' She swallowed the air in her throat. 'Besides, you're not even in the Negative Multiverse anymore. The rules are different, aren't they?'
Adam wanted to argue, but he groaned when he realised that he couldn't. Because Star was absolutely right.
'I hate it when you use my own words against me,' he grumbled.
'Another thing I learned from you,' Star joked, smirking endearingly. Adam reluctantly nodded and bent down to give her one final hug.
'Maybe you're right,' he confessed reluctantly. 'I guess I shouldn't be taking life lessons from the Negative Multiverse too closely to heart. It's just not exactly easy to…you know.'
'To admit that half of what you learned your whole life was wrong?' Star completed for him, receiving a nod in agreement. 'Yeah, I never expected that to be easy.'
The two of them shared a final look out onto the dark inky night. Mewni was still steeped in darkness, its sloped hills and vistas humbly retreated into the night. Star's eyes wandered down their war tent down below.
'We should probably get back to bed,' decided Star, deactivating the ball of fire floating next to them. Adam sighed pensively.
'Yeah, you're probably right,' he concurred, scratching his scalp thoughtfully. A yawn seeped out of his mouth. 'Let's go.'
She nodded but stopped him as he turned to leave.
'One second.'
The princess produced her magic wand – which Adam was certain she had slept with, despite knowing she shouldn't – and wordlessly conjured a stream of hot air. The water that clung to his clothes soon evaporated, leaving his apparel suitably dry. Star then casually turned the wand on herself and used it like a hairdryer. After a couple minutes, she decided she was happy with the result, and thus cancelled the spell.
'All done!' She beamed.
'That was longer than one second,' he deadpanned. Star rolled her eyes, albeit endearingly. 'Thanks, though.'
Star smiled at him again. She looked up at the floating barrier she had previously created and subsequently deactivated it. All the rain had faded away, leaving only the coldness of night.
'C'mon,' she said, beckoning towards the steps behind them. 'You'll need plenty of sleep for tomorrow.'
Adam nodded. He almost certainly would need as much rest as possible. They had yet to receive the clue from King Pacem about the next trial, and he wanted to be prepared for when they did. Anything could happen, and he could be faced with any kind of threat. As calmer as he now felt, the danger had not disappeared. Adam needed to be on top of his game.
He hadn't spoken to Ignius since the first trial, but he was still hoping he could get through to him. And change his mind about the Butterflies. He felt compelled to.
In the early hours of the morning, Adam received the letter containing the clue on the second trial of the War Games. Currently, he was sitting at his desk surrounded by his compatriots, trying to decipher what he could from the message.
"Not all who wander are truly lost,
So long as they understand the cost.
A labyrinth of secrets all hidden,
A path to the true end is forbidden.
You may travel in circles and mazes,
Riddles from creatures who sing no praises.
Wade through the hedges, fearless but alone
Seeking the end, drawing blood from the stone."
Aside from Moon's appreciation for the iambic pentameter, there was little enthusiasm for this one. They were currently trying to decipher exactly what this poem was trying to tell them. Adam kept his eyes trained on the words, vaguely wishing that Janna were here to translate it. However, it wasn't like the rhyming couplets themselves were hard to understand. How they related to the upcoming second trial was what was eluding him.
'"Riddles from creatures who sing no praises",' he read aloud. 'Perhaps this trial involves solving riddles by magical creatures? "Solve the riddle and I'll let you pass" kinda thing?'
'Quite possibly,' Moon agreed. 'I haven't known the Mace Family to house and breed magical creatures, however.'
'You didn't know about the Ambassadors, either,' Adam pointed out. Moon nodded in reluctant agreement.
'Can you use magic to train creatures?' Marco enquired, curious.
'Of course,' Star agreed. Marco stared at her for a few seconds, as if expecting some elaboration on that. 'Ever heard of familiars?'
'Ohhh,' the squire suddenly realised.
'I've noticed a maze motif in this poem,' identified Moon, pointing at certain lines in the clue. '"Labyrinth", "circles and mazes", "through the hedges" …interesting, isn't it?'
'So it's some kind of maze with hidden creatures?' Adam enquired, scratching his chin.
'A hedge-maze!' Star suddenly exclaimed, after having silently been re-reading the lines that Moon had highlighted. 'It must be a hedge maze! Why else would they specify wading through the "hedges"?'
Adam stared at her blankly. She sighed helplessly.
'Don't tell me you don't know what a hedge-maze is,' she remarked in defeat.
'I don't know what a hedge-maze is,' he replied rather nonchalantly, shrugging honestly.
'Dude, when you said Janna introduced you to Earth culture, I didn't realise she missed out the good bits!' Marco exclaimed.
'Hedge-mazes are so fun!' squealed Star. 'They're basically like a maze with walls made out of hedges. You have to figure out where to go to get to the other end!'
'So it's some sort of labyrinth,' Adam surmised, prompting nods from his compatriots. 'Okay…well, all things considered, that doesn't sound too bad.'
'I wouldn't count your grishnaks before they hatch, Adam,' Moon advised. 'From what this clue indicates, there is the added issue of the magical creatures within the maze. They are entirely unpredictable, and they could be anything. There is every possibility there are creatures you are not prepared to deal with, or some you might not even know about. Additionally, there is the threat of Prince Ignius. You may encounter him, which would complicate things in numerous ways.'
'You're right,' Adam admitted. 'The deadly danger in this case is probably the magical creatures.' He hummed aloud. He turned to Star. 'I just have to get to the end, right?'
'Yeah, probably,' the princess agreed.
'In that case, why can't I just skip past the creatures?' He proposed. 'It's a maze, right? It can't be that hard to lose them in a maze.'
'I doubt it would be that easy,' Moon commented sagely. 'Have your wits about you.'
Admittedly, she was right. Adam couldn't afford to be arrogant right now, with so much on the line. The amount of danger he was facing was nothing to be scoffed at. He knew that. Whatever this next task may entail, the Mewman knew that he had to win it. He had three points, and Ignius had five. If he could win this one, and achieve five points, it would at least place him on level pegging with Ignius.
He heard some rustling of the tent behind him. Immediately, he spun around to see a stranger had entered the tent. It was a servant of the Mace Family, only this time it wasn't Caela. (He was surprised he actually remembered her name.) Instead, it was a boy who looked around fourteen, wearing a simple grey tunic.
'Mr Butterfly?' He called, his eyes searching for him. Adam walked over to him.
'Just call me Adam,' the Mewman requested, reaching forward to offer his hand. The servant looked almost puzzled for a second, but they looked like they remembered something about Adam and shook his hand.
'Carter,' he replied timidly. 'I've been sent to inform you that the second trial of the War Games is ready.'
Adam let out a nervous breath.
'Here we go,' he thought aloud, looking over at Star, Marco, Moon and River. The four of them offered him encouraging looks. Adam smiled and turned back to the servant. 'Well, lead the way, Carter.'
Carter stepped out of the tent, followed by the Butterflies close behind. Adam sped up his pace to walk side by side with the boy.
'Are we heading to the Great Fields of Glory again?' He enquired in curiosity.
'No,' answered Carter. 'King Pacem specified that the location of each trial be changed and kept confidential, so that nobody can cheat by seeing the grounds of the trial before they are supposed to.'
'Well at least we can count on Pacem to make this fairer,' Star supposed, shrugging her shoulders.
'But isn't Wildfyre managing the construction of each trial?' Adam pointed out, frowning.
'Wildfyre is the Chief Ambassador, so he is the lead administrator, yes,' the servant answered.
'So, it doesn't take a genius to see that Wildfyre is biased towards Ignius,' Adam elaborated. 'Wildfyre could easily be giving Ignius his own clues about each trial. Or worse, he could be adding secret shortcuts for the prince to use.'
'I wouldn't worry, Mr Butterfly,' Carter assured him. 'Pacem is micro-managing every last detail, likely to prevent that.'
'I think Wildfyre is smart enough to avoid detection,' he argued, unconvinced. He'd seen how Wildfyre, and the other Ambassadors, used magic. They wouldn't be able to manage that without the application of high intelligence.
'The War Games would not be able to persist for so long if there were not efforts made to ensure they remain fair, Mr Butterfly.'
'Why do you keep calling me "Mr Butterfly"?' He inquired, frowning. 'You know I'm basically just a Mewman peasant, right?'
'Everyone in the Kingdom knows,' replied Carter. 'You can thank Chief Ambassador Wildfyre for that.'
'So then why do you call me "Mister"?'
'Because…' he said, '…you deserve more respect than Ignius does.'
Adam was hardly expecting an answer like that.
'Really?'
'I've heard all the things that Wildfyre's said about you,' the Mewman servant prefaced. 'But I don't care. I've seen how you treat the commoners around here; I've experienced it myself. You treat us with respect. All of us servants have felt that. I can see it in your eyes that you're a commoner too, and it shows. People like Ignius and Wildfyre…they don't even notice us. We're nothing but tools for them to use and throw away when they get bored. You aren't like that. So you get to be "Mr Butterfly".'
'Well I'm glad I made a good impression,' he remarked, humming in content. 'But, given that we're all equals, I'd really prefer if you just call me Adam.'
'Okay…Adam,' Carter stuttered, surprised. The Mewman nodded in agreement and smiled at him.
The Butterflies were led by Carter through the castle to the courtyard, where horses and carriages were waiting to transport them to the location of the second trial.
Carter geared himself to bid farewell. He said he would be present at the trials, but he was not permitted to travel using the carriages, as he was just a commoner. Adam objected to that, pointing out that he was a commoner himself. He asked – or rather, subtly demanded – Pacem to allow Carter to travel with them. Pacem was initially against that, claiming that if they were to allow one servant with them, then sooner or later they would have to allow every servant to travel using the carriages. Apparently, that would "devalue" the point of using the carriages. Adam was well aware that Pacem depended on him winning the War Games, so he was able to pressure the king into allowing Carter to travel with them.
Moon disapproved of his actions, but Adam didn't care all too much. Receiving her approval was not something he was concerned about terribly. On the other hand, Star was delighted with him for his kindness, as was Marco. She seemed almost surprised about how kind he was being. Then again, Adam had been overtly rude to her for several months.
The six of them travelled in two separate carriages out of the castle. Star sat in the carriage with her mom and dad, while Adam sat with Marco and Carter in the other one. From what Adam could gather, they were moving towards a field on the opposite side from the Great Fields of Glory.
It took around an hour to reach their destination. The skies had changed to a more purple colour, as opposed to the typical pink tint. Given that, Adam could surmise they had travelled a sizeable distance.
The Butterflies and Carter stepped out of the carriage to the sound of a booing crowd. They stood at the grounds of a large field of purple grass, surrounded by large hills and mountains even further in the distance. A row of people encircled them, like lasers boring into their skulls from a distance. Adam was surprised they hadn't thrown rotten food at them yet.
In the centre of the great field, there stood exactly what they expected. The walls of a giant hedge haze stood tall over the land all around. The hedges of this maze were dark green, a direct contrast to the purple land. Their height cast a shadow several metres across from the hedge itself, like black paint spilled over a canvas.
Prince Ignius was standing by his horse and carriage a few metres to their right. King Pacem and Queen Lucetia stood beside him, a taut expression on their faces. Adam could tell they were still immensely disappointed in their son, and he really couldn't blame them. Ignius stepped away from his parents and appeared in front of Adam.
'If your performance today is going to be anything like it was yesterday,' the prince spoke up. 'Then this is going to be easy.'
'I wouldn't count your grishnaks before they hatch,' Adam replied, glaring at him. Internally, he was smiling to himself about his little inside joke. 'Victory is never guaranteed, Ignius. Don't be arrogant.'
'I'm not being –'
'Quiet, Ignius,' Pacem cut off, as he and his wife appeared behind him. He smiled at Adam. 'I wish you good luck for this trial, Adam.'
'Thank you, King Pacem,' the Mewman accepted with a bright smile. 'I hope I won't need it, though.'
'You are only two points behind Ignius,' Lucetia commented, as she struggled to keep the prince quiet. 'You still have ample opportunity to catch up and surpass him. Do not lose hope yet.'
'I'll keep that in mind,' he agreed, unsure what else to say.
'You will not silence m–' Ignius began. Lucetia muffled his voice with a hand over his mouth. She maintained an awkward smile over the noise of Ignius's voice seeping from between her fingers.
'As we expected, this trial is a hedge maze,' said Moon.
'I'm glad the clue I provided was useful to you,' Pacem replied. 'However, it seems Wildfyre is about to explain this task.' He pointed ahead of them. Chief Ambassador Wildfyre walked out from the crowd and into the centre of the field. The crowd fell silent in anticipation.
'Citizens of the Great and Bountiful Mace Kingdom!' addressed Wildfyre, projecting his voice with magic. 'Welcome to the illustrious Second Trial of the esteemed War Games! In this particular trial, our two competitors find themselves at the foot of a hedge maze, constructed by our very own Ambassadors for Magic! The task this time is simple, but also has many caveats: capture the flag. At the centre of the maze, marked by the Yggdrasil tree, is a flag that the competitors must capture to succeed.
'Beware, however: in the maze, there are many magical creatures from across Mewni that will block your path through the maze. Each creature will have a riddle, which when solved, will grant passage through that route. Competitors begin with three chances per riddle, though this number will decrease the closer to the centre they are. Get all your chances wrong, though, and the creature may become…hostile. It is not impossible to avoid the creatures once they attack you, but do not underestimate them. Death is commonplace within the War Games.
'First to the centre of the maze to claim the flag wins, and they will receive five points as standard. The loser, should they survive, will receive a certain number of points computed from the number of riddles they got correct and the distance they are from the centre of the maze. Once the winner collects the flag, both competitors will be removed from the maze.
'Both contestants will be placed at opposite ends of the maze. Should they meet, they are permitted to attack one another in self-defence. However, they are not allowed to sabotage the other player's attempts. This game is devised for strategy, not brutish violence. King Pacem, in his infinite wisdom, has decided that both competitors are allowed a sword to defend themselves, as magic of all kinds is banned.'
Adam was nudged towards Wildfyre by Moon. He briefly scowled at her before deciding to simply do as was intended and walk parallel with Ignius. He was handed a sword by a servant, whose presence he seldom had time to identify before they had disappeared again.
'Both are also to be given a "flare gun" – an item imported from the Terran dimension – to signal voluntary defeat, if necessary,' Wildfyre added, as Ignius and Adam were handed flare guns. 'Whenever one feels on the brink of death, or unable to progress, they merely need to fire this gun up into the air, and they will be teleported out of the maze. They will receive zero points as a result – and the other will receive five – but they will be allowed to progress to the final trial.'
Adam had no idea what this flare gun was supposed to be, but Wildfyre seemed to give an apt enough description.
'For those who were not present for the first trial, or have forgotten, here is a recap of the scores so far,' added the Ambassador, gesturing towards a scoreboard in the corner. 'Prince Ignius Mace has five points, whilst the peasant has three. This trial could go either way, although the odds are tipped in Mace's favour.' The crowd applauded and cheered loudly. 'Without further ado, upon the sound of the horn, the two competitors will be teleported into the maze. The event can be seen from the screens to your right.' He gestured towards large projector screens attached to wooden scaffolding by the sides of the hedges of the maze. 'Will the two competitors please get into position at the front of the maze!'
Reluctantly, Ignius and Adam walked side by side to the very front of the hedges. The walls of the maze loomed over the both of them, like great big sentinels of nature ready to impose their will upon them. Adam felt a slightly ominous feeling in their presence.
'I'm going to beat you, you know,' Ignius told him arrogantly.
'I was about to say the same thing to you,' retorted the Mewman. 'But I'm also gonna prove to you that you're wrong about the Butterflies.'
The prince snorted.
'I doubt it,' he disagreed.
'Why? Why exactly do you hate us so much?'
'Why? You really wanna know why? It's because of what you do. Long before my grandfather and your Queen made peace, we hated one another. Because your war on Monsters led to the deaths of thousands of innocent citizens of our kingdom. When I was a child, I remember…the last battle against Toffee's men. We were caught in the crossfire. My great-grandfather was killed. He was just one of the many, many of my ancestors that have died because of your family. You are all self-destructive and dangerous. And you…you're just desperate. Trying so hard to prove me wrong that you make a fool out of yourself in the process.'
'For what it's worth, I am sorry for what happened to your family,' said Adam, with the utmost sincerity. 'I never approved of the Monster wars anyway. It's terrible; it resulted in so much needless bloodshed. But we're not like that anymore. We're seeking peace for a reason. We recognised our mistakes – well, some of them, at least. That has to count for something, right?'
Ignius was unable to get another word in before the low pitch of a tribal horn echoed through the air. Adam felt the rush of energy throughout his entire body.
'It begins!' Wildfyre cried, as the two competitors were enveloped in a bright blue light. It only took a second before they disappeared from the view of everyone watching.
So began the Second Trial of the Eightieth War Games of the Great and Bountiful Mace Kingdom.
Star tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for the screens to project an image. Adam had to win this one. If he lost, there was little chance he could win the Games. Not unless the third trial had some caveat that accounted for competitors who lost two trials in a row. She knew how worried she was, and she allowed herself to admit it.
You see, Star wasn't really worried right now about the fate of Mewni and the prospect of war. She was just worried about her friend.
The road to death can be cruelly short.
Thank you all for reading!
This chapter ended up being too long, and I had to split it into two. I ended it just as Adam is about to enter the maze. I originally wanted one trial per chapter, but I feel all the scenes of dialogue in this chapter are so vital that they really can't be removed. They reveal a lot behind what the characters are thinking and feeling. Plus, I leaned HARD into the exposition at the beginning of the chapter, and I love starting chapters like that, and I wanted to keep it. Removing it to make space for the rest of the trial, I feel, would have made it less interesting.
So, Adam's drive to redeem Ignius comes from seeing so much of himself in him. I think this makes sense given we're off the back of the previous episode, where Adam learned to let go of his prejudice and treat Star like how she deserves, as a friend. Ignius holds a similar prejudice against her family for their actions during the Monster wars. That's why he was so dismissive of Star's speech in the previous chapter; he thinks it's ironic coming from a Butterfly to speak of treating Monsters fairly. Adam sees Ignius as someone making the exact same mistakes he did, so naturally I think it makes sense for him to feel so driven to help him.
Adam from Volume I would not have been suitable for this episode, so I think this shows some character development on his part. Not to pat myself on the back, or anything. However, Adam really hasn't been able to convince Ignius of much at the moment. Ignius probably thinks he's an idiot and way too nice for his own good, which only makes him think Butterflies are stupid as well as tyrannical. He has to something more than just be nice, and he'll figure out what that is soon enough.
Sidenote: I decided to go into a little bit of detail on what Adam is wearing for this chapter because I realise that I haven't been doing that much. It's easy for me to imagine it because I'm writing it, but I decided to mention it in this chapter. It's just for future episodes because what the characters are wearing is not important a lot, but for Dark Star especially I like to mention all the alternate outfits that she likes to wear. I have pictures for them, too.
Sorry if Ignius's motives weren't as complex as you might have hoped for. I didn't want his reasons for his vendetta to be too personal, because it would have been unrealistic for him to get over it so quickly. It took Adam 14 chapters just to get over his prejudice against Star, so I feel like it makes some sense to be about something that didn't affect him personally, but it affected his family.
I like introducing random characters who make short appearances, if you couldn't tell already. I gave Carter a name solely because I would hate referring to him as 'the servant' all the time, plus I feel it adds a personal touch to Adam's character in that he gives a shit what some random commoner's name is. It feels like something Adam would do, given he was a commoner himself. That being said, he did keep forgetting Caela's name, but that was more to highlight his lack of romantic interest in her. Plus, he did TRY to remember it.
Anyways, that's enough rambling. I hope you all enjoyed the latest chapter of The Negative Multiverse: Volume II'!
I will see you all in the next chapter, entitled 'Faeries and Daemons'!