Light of the Sun and Stars

by thDorkMagnet

His whole life Marco Diaz has been raised by monsters, living under the cruel rule of their leader, Toffee. But one day Marco escapes into Mewni where he meets a magical princess and Mewman like himself, who begins teaching him all about her world. Together they will learn about life, love, and the lights within each of them, as they change their world forever.

51. Monster Bash

Chapter 50: Monster Bash

Hey guys, I'm finally back with a new chapter yaaayyy! Time to get this season 2 finale started! Whoooo! Oh my gosh, I'm so excited for you guys to read this one! I can't believe we're actually at 50 chapters now! Like wow, how? Haha I honestly don't have a lot to say here except just… thank you! Thank you everyone for reading this story! It really has meant the world to me and without it I doubt I would still be here writing this haha! So yeah, I guess you could say I'm thankful for all of you guys this Thanksgiving hehe. Okay no that was corny. Better just let you guys get to the chapter before I get any mushy.

Disclaimer: Star vs and all its characters belong to Daron Nefcy and Disney. All rights go to them.

A light atmosphere filled the otherwise dark cave, Monsters and Mewmans alike all gathered together in celebration, simply enjoying each other's company. It had been an odd choice to host a party but the insistence from the Monster teens had convinced Star and the others to give it a try and the results spoke for themselves. While the dim lighting could be seen as creepy or dull, it instead created a sense of mystery and enchantment, helped along by the floating orbs of light that lined the ceiling, courtesy of Star. Colored spotlights had been aimed up at them, reflecting the bright colors across the dreary cave, helping create the perfect atmosphere for the guests. Off to the left was a mouthwatering buffet of delicacies found all across Mewni, including a few Monster dishes thanks to Kelly's instance. To the right was a simple dining area so the party-goers could sit and enjoy a meal if they so pleased, each table draped in fine cloth and colorful streamers. And it seemed the hard work everyone had put in had paid off as Monster teens laughed and danced with their Mewmans allies, mostly made up of commission members.

But it seemed there was one group who were not feeling the festive spirit, too deep in worry to enjoy such historic accomplishments. At a table near the back of the cave, a dark tension seemed to be swirling around four unsuspecting teens, each lost deep in their own fears. Star's foot tapped nervously against the stone ground, her eyes darting left and right in search of some invisible force that wasn't there. Every little sound made her jump, her movements stiff and mechanical as she fought back the ever-increasing anxiety bubbling just below the surface. Marco watched her like a hawk, refusing to leave her side for even a second, though the temptation of the party called to him, his girlfriend took priority over having fun. Jackie was sidelined already, her leg making it impossible to enjoy the party to the fullest, though she didn't seem troubled, a calm expression on her face as she looked over the happy party-goers. Higgs was much more alert, her eyes narrowed in surveillance as she slowly scanned the crowd over and over again.

Finally, the young knight groaned in frustration, slamming her hands down on the table. "This is ridiculous! All of this is a waste of time! We should be out there finding Heinous instead of sitting here doing nothing!"

"Shhhh, Higgs sit down!" Jackie hissed, grabbing her arm and pulling her back into her chair. She leaned in close as she whispered, "Do you want everyone in Mewni to know?"

Higgs scoffed, ripping her arm free. "I just don't see the point of all this! Star's a nervous wreck, the last thing she needed right now was a party."

Jackie sighed in exasperation, but spoke in a calm, even tone, "The point is that we have to make things seem normal. No one else can know about Heinous, it would just cause more issues than it would fix."

"Beside, Babs said she was close to figuring it out," Marco helpfully supplied. "Isn't that right, Star?"

The blonde nodded mechanically, anxiety written all over her face. "Yeah but she has been saying that all week."

"I'm sure she's got this, Star," Jackie comforted, placing a hand over her friend's. "We just have to trust her."

Higgs scoffed. "Yeah right, she's probably just taken the money and bailed. Assassins can't be trusted, they're all a bunch of murders and liars."

"Hey, if she was gonna do that why bother telling us about Heinous at all," Marco defensively argued.

"Oh Marco, you have so much to learn still," Higgs replied, shaking her head at his naivety.

The hooded teen frowned at his friend while still watching Star out of the corner of his eye, judging her reaction to the accusation. The blonde's expression didn't change, the same anxious energy surrounding her as she just stared down at her untouched plate of food. It had been as tough a week for Marco as it had for Star, the boy powerless as he watched his girlfriend's mental and physical health take a decline for the worst. She barely ate, hardly slept, plagued by nightmares as much during the day now then as at night. Marco had started sleeping on her couch in her room just in case her dreams took a turn for the worst (which they often did). It was clear Star was being crushed under the weight of her worries and although she tried to stay strong, Marco wasn't sure how much more of this she could take. At this rate, she wouldn't be ready to face Heinous when the time came and he wished once again that Star would reconsider letting her parents handle it for her. Star, however, wasn't budging, determined to face this herself, no matter what. A part of Marco admired her for it, finding it brave and heroic but the other part wished she would stop torturing herself this way. She claimed it was to protect the Monsters but Marco believed there was more to it than that, despite the mental toll it was having on her Star needed to overcome this, so she could finally find peace. And as much as Marco hated himself for it, he understood exactly how she felt.

"Whoa, what happened over here?" a voice called out to them, the four turning to see Kelly, carrying an empty tray over to the table, giving them all a suspicious once over. "Seriously, I thought this was supposed to be a party and yet you guys look as if you're expecting a murder."

Star and Marco instantly grew uncomfortable at the remark, shifting awkwardly in their seats. While the much more level headed Jackie kept a straight face, beside her Higgs regarding the hairy teen with sharp criticism. "Uh hey, Kelly," Marco nervously waved, his guilty smile speaking volumes. "We were just-"

"Talking about something personal, don't mind us," Jackie pitched in before Marco could stutter out some unbelievable lie that blew their cover.

Kelly's eyebrow raised skeptically. "Anything I should be worried about?"

"Nope all good," Star replied, putting on the most believable smile she had in her arsenal, one that Jackie and Marco instantly saw through but luckily it seemed to be enough to convince Kelly.

The girl just shrugged, a relaxed smile lighting up her face. "Good. The last thing we need right now is complications."

Star swallowed hard, her mask vanishing for just a second but Marco was quick to cut in with a question of his own. "Uh so, Kelly, how's everything going for you? Do the Monsters like your snacks?"

"They're called appetizers, Marco," the Woolett explained, before nodding confidently. "But yeah, they're a huge success! These Monsters can't get enough of them! And they're all super nice too! Way different from serving Mewmans, believe me." She rolled her eyes at that, causing the others to smile.

"When you're starved all your life, I guess you learn to appreciate free food," Star said, making no effort to hide the bitterness there. Kelly picked up on this but didn't allow her expression to change, holding her ground with the same friendly demeanor that had kicked off this conversation.

"Well whatever the reason, I appreciate the change of pace," she replied, putting a hand to her hip. "So what's up with you guys? How come you're hanging out here in the corner like a bunch of weirdos instead of enjoying the party?"

"I would love to but this leg isn't exactly fit for dancing," Jackie said, turning so her cast was clearly in Kelly's view and the Woolett nodded.

"Fair enough. And what about the rest of you? You all got broken legs I don't know about?"

"We're just keeping Jackie company," Star explained.

"Not me, I just hate parties," Higgs declared, leaning back and resting her legs on the table. "If it weren't a direct order from Star I would be as far away from here as possible, probably fighting something."

"Nuh uh, you came because deep down you love us!" Marco brightly declared. Higgs' cheeks lit up bright red, falling out of her chair in surprise at the sudden declaration. Luckily, her knight instincts kicked in as she rolled with the motion, landing right back on her feet. She coughed once in embarrassment, ignoring all the curious stares on her as she picked up her chair off the floor and sat back down, her head now hanging just a bit lower than before.

"I never said that," she hissed, before taking a long swig of punch.

The others smiled but said nothing, knowing teasing Higgs would only result in them getting punched and/or threatened. So instead Kelly changed the subject, saying in a vibrant tone, "Gotta say, guys, it looks like your party is a massive success." Kelly glanced out over the massive cave, the others following her wandering eye, finally seeing the true scope of their little get-together.

Many of the Monsters and Mewmans seemed to have followed their lead, finding a nice, quiet areas off to the side to chat, Star spotting her cousin Rocky engaged in what seemed to be a pleasant conversation with an elephant monster, while others were much more comfortable being the center of attention such as Pony and a squirrel Monster who were each trying to one-up each other in a singing contest. Regardless it seemed everyone was enjoying themselves, many making new friends, such as Alfonso and Ferguson, the latter bragging up his best friend to a group of Monster girls (much to Alfonso's embarrassment). The dancefloor was packed with eager teens ready to show off their moves, all except one happy couple who were much more interested in each other, Penelope and Slime dancing in perfect unison to each song that filled the dusty cave air. Slime kept a firm grip on Penelope's waist, while the girl had her slender arms wrapped around her boyfriend's neck, allowing them to keep an intimate distance as they glided through each fragile note. And through it all, their eyes remained locked, a deep connection seeming to form as their gazes performed a dance of their own. Star and the others smiled as they watched the happy couple sharing their first dance, Marco tearing up a little as he watched Slime dip Penelope low to the ground, the two's lips meeting for one fleeting moment.

"I'll admit I was a bit skeptical at first but you really pulled it off. You should be proud," Kelly continued, the others just watching on in silent contentment.

"Wow, it's crazy to think a little party was capable of doing all this," Star said wistfully, stunned at her own success.

"Hey don't undersell yourself here," Jackie spoke up, giving her friend a proud smile. "This party was an awesome idea! Everyone just needed a chance to connect and now, thanks to you, they have!"

Star blushed at the compliment, though she was happy to pass on the credit to someone else, saying, "Oh well, actually the credit should go to Marco, it was his idea in the first place."

Marco's head jolted upwards, his mouth stuffed with one of Kelly's appetizers as his eyes darted around the table. He hadn't been expecting to be called out so suddenly and without thinking responded with a full mouth, "Oh, um, I just saw it in a movie. Star's the one who did all the work." A few crumbs flew from his mouth onto his face as he spoke, the group all holding in their laughter.

Star picked up a napkin and wiped away the bits of food from her boyfriend's cheeks saying brightly, "You deserve just as much credit as me, Marco. None of this would have ever happened without you!"

Marco swallowed before giving his girlfriend an overly-large grin. "Well it's thanks to you I was able to make such a difference! You helped change my life and now we get to change people's lives together."

Star's hearts thumped once in unison, an affectionate look crossing over her as she leaned in for a kiss from her sweet boyfriend's lips. But before they could touch, Higgs loudly huffed, the two freezing to the spot as they remembered they weren't in private. "Okay we get it. You're both great and you're oh so happy together, now can we move on before I end up catching your gross love bug."

Star frowned at the knight, while Marco just cocked his head to the side in confusion. "What's that?" he naively asked.

"Something that isn't real," Jackie replied, shooting Higgs a scolding glare which the redhead ignored.

"Tell that to your freaky friend. She and her boyfriend can't seem to stay away from each other," Higgs retorted in disgust, making an extra point of rolling her eyes.

"Speaking of, where is Jan and Tom?" Jackie searched the crowd of party-goers but didn't spot either of her friends around.

"I saw them heading deeper into the cave earlier," Kelly said, pointing vaguely in that direction. "Probably to make out or something."

"Of course they did," Jackie said with an annoyed sigh. She had already told Janna to stay close in case something happened and Star needed their help. But as usual, her roommate was doing whatever she wanted. She was gonna have a serious word with her when they got back to the castle.

Marco on the other hand was overjoyed at the news, loudly proclaiming, "Awww that's so sweet!"

Higgs gagged and rolled her eyes again but otherwise stayed silent.

"Well, I'm glad they're enjoying themselves," Star halfheartedly replied. In all honesty, she would have felt much safer to have both Janna and Tom there for protection but she quickly shrugged the nervousness off. She was being ridiculous, they had every right to live their lives and it wasn't fair of her to deny them that just so she could feel secure. It was ridiculous thinking anyways, it's not like anyone was gonna find them out there. She was probably safer where she was than in the castle.

Marco suddenly gasped, coming to a sudden realization as his eyes frantically darted around the crowded cave. "But wait, if they went off alone then where are the twins?!"

"Right here!" Daisy and Violet screamed as they popped out from underneath the table, Marco yelping in terror at the sudden surprise. The others jumped but otherwise kept their composure watching the two girls intensely. The twins giggled at their successful prank, giving the hooded teen an apologetic hug to hopefully keep him from scolding them. "Did we get you, big brother?" Daisy asked mischievously.

"Girls, you know better than to scare Marco like that! You could have given him a heart attack!" Star said in a lecturing tone and the two cringed as they realized the one flaw in their otherwise brilliant plan.

"Sorry Star. We just wanted to surprise our big brother!" Violet innocently stated, batting her eyelids at her cousin in hopes of softening her anger.

Star did seem to calm a little, saying in a gentler voice, "Well maybe next time don't jump out and scare him, okay?"

"Okkkaaaayyy," the girls agreed in unison, while crossing their fingers out of the teen's sight.

"How long were you two down there?" Jackie asked curiously. She was surprised they had managed to stay hidden for so long without anyone noticing.

Both girls shrugged, neither seeming to want to answer the question.

Marco, now fully recovering from his scare, smiled down at the twins, excitedly asking them, "So how are you two liking your first party?"

"It's awesome!" they both exclaimed, Daisy hopping up and down in joy.

"I got to talk to a whole bunch of really cool Monsters!" Violet shouted, her eyes sparkling in joy.

"And everyone complimented my dress," Daisy proudly stated, twirling so they could all get a good look at the purple evening gown she had worn.

"And the best part is mom isn't here to tell us what to do!" Violet added, a wicked grin spreading from cheek to cheek as she rubbed her hands together menacingly.

"Hey, not so fast, your mom left me in charge, remember?" Star said with a smirk.

Violet wasn't unaffected, scoffing to herself and waving the casual threat off. "Yeah but you're not nearly as strict as her."

"I can be," Star argued, crossing her arms in front of her chest, raising a challenging eyebrow.

Daisy laughed that off, saying sweetly, "Aw Star, we know you don't mean it. You're almost as big a pushover as big brother."

"Wait, I'm a pushover!" Marco gasped, looking around at his friends for conformation and to his disappointment they all nodded. He shrunk in his seat, staring glumly down at his half-eaten plate, Star sliding an arm around him and cooing softly in his ear. "Aw, it's okay, Marco. We all love you just the way you are!"

Marco smiled back, his spirits slightly lifted and he leaned his head against Star in thanks. The blonde's face lit up red but she managed to keep her cool as she patted him once on the head.

While the others were all collectively holding in their squeals over the happy couple, Daisy's attention was diverted to Marco's hoodie pocket, something glowing and buzzing within. She leaned in closer, blinking in curiosity before asking, "Hey, Marco, what's up with your phone?"

"Huh?" Marco said, sitting up and pulling his phone out from the depths of his hoodie. He could see the tiny display reading 'missed calls' and frowned, clicking on the tab. Who was calling him? Buff Frog and the Monsters should have been busy with a mission and everyone else was present and accounted for. But as the name lit up on his screen his eyes widened in realization, muttering to himself, "Oh, it was Dennis."

"Wait, really!" Daisy gasped, grabbing onto Marco's hands and nearly ripping the phone away from him as she pulled it closer to read. "Oh my gosh it is him!"

Star leaned over, seeing his screen filled with the same name and bit her lip in concern. "Yikes, hope everything's okay."

"Isn't he babysitting today?" Jackie asked calmly and Marco nodded.

"Yeah, he is." The worry was clear in his tone, though he did his best to hide it.

"Is Katrina okay?!" Violet gasped, peeking over her sister's shoulder to see the phone for herself.

"I-I don't know," Marco nervously replied, his eyes flooding with fear for his baby sister.

"Why don't you try calling him, so you can find out?" Higgs suggested.

But her reason was quickly disproved as Jackie countered logically, "Can't. This place messes with mirror signals."

Marco's face scrunched up with worry, his grip on the phone tightening. It was clear he was itching to go and check but something was keeping him there, managing to fight his instincts and remain glued to his chair. Star could tell he was being eaten alive with questions and worries and the fact he hadn't gone running to check on his baby sister was surprising. Or it would be if not for the promise he had made to stick close to her until the Heinous situation was resolved, in typical Marco fashion he was doing his best to keep his word with Star even if it hurt him to do so. Which was why Star knew she couldn't in good conscience keep him there, it was only fair for her to put him first the same way he did for her, even if it meant coping without her best source of emotional support by her side.

So she slid a hand across the table, placing it over his, and speaking in a slow, even tone, "You should go check on them."

Marco's eyes widened in surprise, the desire written all over his features as he struggled to hold back the painful need building inside his chest. "Are-Are you sure?" he asked softly, almost apologetically.

The fearful part of Star's mind screamed in protest but she swallowed it down, making sure to keep a neutral expression on her face as she replied, "Of course I am. It's obvious you want to go check on them, so that's exactly what you should do. Don't stay here on my account."

Marco was out of his chair in a flash, though he still made no movements towards the exit, instead keeping his gaze locked with his girlfriend as he asked for one final confirmation. "Are you sure it's okay?"

"Yes, Marco. I'll be fine," Star replied, giving him a soothing smile before shooing him away with her hand. "But you won't be if you stay here. So please go!"

This finally seemed to quell Marco's fears, his face flooding with relief before he darted off for the cave exit, shouting out behind him, "Okay, thanks, bye!"

Daisy hopped into Marco's vacant chair, cupping a hand over her mouth as she yelled after him, "Say hi to Dennis for me!" She glanced over to a bored Higgs, gleefully explaining, "He's my husband." The redhead gave her a questioning look but the young girl offered no explanation, instead simply letting out a long, lovestruck sigh, the way she always saw people do in movies. She didn't know why they were always doing it but it had to be for a reason, so she figured she should just do it too, that way people knew their marriage was real.

…

Marco was already huffing and puffing by the time he made it out of the cave, fumbling with the dimensional scissors as he pulled them free from his pocket, wasting no time as he cut open a portal. He stepped through, the portal disappearing behind him a second later. With the small interruption gone a quiet fell over the forest once again, the only sound heard being the muted thump of music echoing through the cave walls and out into the open clearing.

That was until a loud roar cut through the silence, a portal slowly being torn open by a spinning blade slicing through the air itself. An x-shaped portal was formed, opening wide enough for Rasticore to step through, his good eye narrowed as he scanned the empty clearing. His ears quickly picked up the muted music coming from within the cave and he turned to it with a knowing grin. A sick smile spread over his lips as he took a step forward.

"Going somewhere, Rasticore?" a scolding tone interrupted and the lizard flinched, stopping mid-step. He had completely forgotten she had tagged along, stuffing down his anger as he turned to face Heinous, who had her arms crossed in a disapproving manner, an annoyed look on her face. "Don't tell me you forgot the plan already?"

Rasticore held in a groan, saying through gritted teeth, "I was just scouting ahead."

Heinous rolled her eyes, muttering in disbelief, "Yes well just make sure your petty revenge doesn't get in the way of my plan. I've worked too hard for you to go and ruin this monumental moment. So make sure to stay close and hidden."

He wanted to argue but held in the comment, knowing it would only enrage her even more. He couldn't wait to be done with this whole stupid job and hopefully the snooty and uptight Heious and her demanding ways as well. He had hated the woman from the moment they met but over time he found himself loathing her existence, imagining gruesome images of tearing her apart whenever he was alone. But lately, Heinous had brought out a different feeling in Rasticore making him lose complete control of himself whenever she asked something of him. It was as if she would say something to him and just like that his mind flipped a switch, his thoughts distorting as if lost behind a thick fog of confusion. When he was like that he would agree to anything she said, follow her blindly and without question. And he hated it. Hated that feeling more than anything he had ever hated before. Why was he so weak around her? Why was he letting her pull his strings without even fighting back? This job was way more difficult than he had originally anticipated but no matter what he did he couldn't back out. The moment he even considered it, his mind would go empty until he forgot what he was even thinking about. He had even wondered a few times if maybe had accidentally caught feelings for the woman but due to the wave of nausea that always followed this thought he knew it must be something else.

"Whatever, can we just get to the job already?" the lizard grumbled, pouting. Despite the weird feelings that overcame him when she was around, he did his best to fight her hold over him at every turn.

"Patience, my dear Rasticore. This part requires stealth above all else," Heinous corrected him, in a voice dripping with vile silk.

"Why? We got 'em right where we want 'em! Let's just charge in there and-"

Heinous sighed, massaging her head with her gloved hands. "My, you really are an idiot, aren't you?" she scoffed and Rasticore held in a growl. "If we rush in there with no plan we will likely be defeated and unlike you, I have no interest in losing to teenagers." This bit was said with no small amount of disdain, practically spitting the belittling words at her subordinate. "So our best option is to approach this cautiously." She cast another quick glance over at the cave, then back to Rasticore, asking, "Do you have the device?"

Rasticore nodded, parting his cloak to reveal a small metal orb attached to his cloak by a hook. Heinous smiled sinisterly before taking the time to straighten her hair and dress. Today was a big day and she had to make sure everything was perfect. "Good, then hurry along, Rasticore. We have a party to attend. Afterall, we don't want to be too fashionably late, now do we?"

…

The front door to Buff Frog's cottage busted open, a wheezing Marco crumpling to the floor, a hand over his chest as he looked around with blurry vision for his baby sister and her sitter. "Dennis! Katrina! Are you okay?!"

But to his surprise he didn't find the living room torn apart by some wild beast or the two children lying injured on the floor like his mind had been picturing, instead the two were simply playing blocks together, Dennis gaping at Marco open-beaked, caught off-guard by his sudden intrusion on their game.

"Dennis?" Marco said, his voice cracking. He glanced over at Katrina who was cooing and jumping onto one of the blocks excitedly. "Wh-What's going on? Are you guys okay? What happened?" he asked breathlessly.

"Oh, sorry it wasn't an emergency. I-I didn't mean to scare you," Dennis apologized, giving Marco a sheepish look.

The hooded teen sighed in deep relief, resting his head on the ground as he whispered, "Oh thank corn." He crawled over to the two kids, scooping up his baby sister in his arms, rocking her gently. "Then why did you call me?"

"Um, well, Buff Frog said they'd be back like an hour ago but, uh, so far I haven't heard anything," Dennis explained while stacking a few blocks on top of each other. He looked up at Marco, adding, "So, I thought you might know something."

"Huh?" Marco pulled out his phone, checking his messages but saw nothing from Buff Frog or the rest of his Monster family. "He didn't say anything to me either."

The two shared a look of concern, Katrina still giggling and babbling away oblivious to her family's possible plight. "Y-You don't think they're in some kind of trouble do you?" Dennis' voice was a mere squeak, one that Marco felt in his very core.

"I don't know," the teen admitted, waiting for his call to Buff Frog to connect. After a minute, it went to voicemail, Marco anxiously muttering, "I hope not." But then he saw the fearful look in Dennis' eyes and quickly backtracked. "Uh, but I'm sure it's fine! Let's not panic." He tried to sound reassuring but he knew it fell flat, the young bird Monster looking almost sick with worry.

Honestly Marco was right there with him, but he did his best to remain calm. He was the oldest right now so it was his duty to take charge and keep everyone calm, just like his dad. So thinking quickly, he tried to formulate some kind of plan, talking out loud in hopes of helping the process along. "Okay so we can't call him and he hasn't called us, so next we should try to, ummmmm…" The hooded teen scratched at his chin, his mind racing for some kind of solution when he felt something trying to wiggle its way inside his hoodie pocket, glancing down to see his baby sister already halfway inside. "Ah, no Katrina! My scissors are in there!"

As gently as he could Marco pulled his baby sister out from his pocket, his dimensional scissors slipping out with her and clinking to the floor, while he held baby Katrina close to his chest. He sighed in relief, clutching his sister close as his eyes slowly drifted over to the scissors. "Wait, I got it!" Marco screamed, picking up the scissors and holding them triumphantly in the air. "We can go check on them ourselves!"

"Oh yeah I hadn't thought of that!" Dennis exclaimed, giving a crooked smile. But it faded as he added in concern, "But, um, are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" Marco asked, confused. "You know where they went right?"

Dennis rubbed awkwardly at his neck. "Well, yeah, Buff Frog told me before they left but-"

"Then let's go!" Marco shouted, hopping excitedly to his feet, baby Katrina giggling happily despite having no clue what was happening, squirming some in her brother's grip.

"But wait!" Dennis stood too, grabbing Marco's arm to keep him from impulsively cutting open a portal. "What if it's some kind of trap or something?"

Marco hadn't thought of that, lowering the scissors and biting his lip, thinking hard for a new solution. "Oh, you're right, hmmmm." After a few moments of thinking he handed Katrina over to Dennis saying confidently, "Then I'll go first, okay. And I'll let you know if it's not safe."

Dennis still looked doubtful but he let out a long breath, nodding slowly. "O-okay."

Marco smiled, holding out the scissors in anticipation for the cut. "Alright, so just tell me where we're going!"

"Um, okay, so it's at the edge of the Fleetwool Forest, there's this big building that the sheep tribe used to use for like meetings and stuff. It's super old and smells really musty. Dad says it's falling apart but none of the Monsters want to tear it down because of the 'history it holds', whatever that means."

Marco slowly looked over at Dennis, his eyes wide with confusion, glancing from the scissors to Dennis then back again. "Ummmmm, maybe you should do it," he said, holding out the scissors to the young Monster, smiling sheepishly.

Dennis reluctantly took the scissors from the hooded teen's grip, shakily cutting open a portal before shuffling nervously backwards, staring at the glowing vortex as if waiting for something awful to come flying out of it. Marco, however, faced the portal fearlessly, taking a small breath in before stepping through.

An eerie silence fell over the house once Dennis and Katrina were alone, the boy on high alert as he regarded the portal cautiously. He made no moves towards it and as the seconds ticked by his nervousness only grew, his grip tightening on little Katrina as he watched the swirling vortex the same way a bird might watch a hungry cat. His heart was racing out of control by now and he began to shake with anxiety as the time stretched on infinitely. Or so it felt to his frightened mind.

Finally, a foot stepped through and Dennis screamed, crouching into a ball and curling around Katrina to try and use his fragile body as a shield. "Dennis, it's just me," Marco said in a reassuring tone, the bird boy's entire body flooding with relief as he saw the hooded teen and not some dangerous predator standing before him.

"Oh man I was really freaked out there for a minute," Dennis admitted, his heart rate finally slowing to a normal pace. That was until he noticed Marco's worried expression and it sped right back up again. "I-Is it safe?" he asked, taking another wide step back.

Marco hesitated before answering, finally stuttering out, "I mean, yes, but… y-you just gotta come see for yourself." With that the hooded teen disappeared back inside the portal, Dennis reluctantly following behind. He hesitated as he reached the swirling spiral, considering leaving Katrina behind but knew Marco would never put either of them in danger on purpose. He just had to trust Marco wouldn't lead them astray. So sucking in a deep breath he stepped through the portal.

The first thing Dennis noticed was the strong smell of rot and decay attacking his unsuspecting nostrils, the bird boy covering his beak in disgust. Katrina began crying from the horrible scent but Dennis had no comfort to offer her. His eyes stung from the awful smell and he had to blink the tears away to be able to see clearly again. Once he did though, he wished he hadn't, seeing the burnt and broken remains of the building a short distance away. The building that had been a part of Monster history for generations. The very same building Buff Frog and the other Monsters were supposed to be inside. It was now nothing but a hollow shell of broken beams and smashed boards, laying in a shattered heap on the ground.

Dennis' eyes filled with tears, reaching out and grabbing Marco's hand for comfort, the boy watching on in silent didn't feel Dennis' grip tighten or hear the shallow breathing from the frightened child nor his sister's unhappy wail, because Marco's attention had been drawn to something else. Something away from the decaying house, something that brought both hope and fear surging into Marco's chest, causing him to clutch the front of his hoodie tightly. The meeting house wasn't the only victim of destruction in Fleetwood Forest on this day, for Marco could see other broken remains scattered about the clearing, trees broken and ripped apart by some unseen force, patches of grass torn and scarred as if being ripped from their roots by sharp clawed feet. And most notably, a massive rock, half the size of the previous standing building, pierced through by a massive hole easily wider than that of a person or Monster.

No, this wasn't the sight of some accident, it was a battlefield. Someone had fought Buff Frog and the others here and judging from the destruction Marco couldn't imagine his family winning such a devastating battle. It was hard to tell but Marco was pretty sure he saw signs of a struggle etched into the torn ground, ending abruptly as if whoever had been fighting had disappeared into thin air.

Or into a portal.

Yes there was no doubt about it, Marco's family had been taken. Someone had lured them out there, beaten them and then stolen them away. But what frightened Marco the most was the dark green burns etched into every stone, tree and surface that had been scarred. Marco knew these marks well. He had seen them himself firsthand, way back in the Impure Village. And there was no doubt in his mind what had caused this destruction in the first place, what made his heart sink and his breathing to quicken as he imagined whatever horrible battle had taken place here. Nox's staff. Whoever took his family had Nox's staff.

And he had no idea where they were.

…

At first Rasticore was convinced his boss had completely lost her mind as she merely stepped into the crowded cave without a second thought, disregarding any form of stealth or subtlety in favor of making a 'grand entrance' and he was sure Heinous would be spotted in mere seconds. He had followed behind her, if only to see the look on her face when her pathetic plan failed, keeping a steady grip on his chainsaw in preparation for the moment the blond royal spotted them and inevitably flung some kind of large aquatic mammal their way. But somehow there was no assault or screams of terror or violent bursts of magic, because somehow nobody had even noticed her presence there, too invested in there own enjoyment to see the obvious danger now standing amongst them. Rasticore was confused of course, staring ahead dumbfounded but Heinous clearly had expected as much, keeping a superior nose raised as she glided through the darkly lit cavern.

She made sure to stay mostly in the shadows, keeping her eyes pointed off in the distance to avoid catching anyone's eye, that was the easiest way to get caught after all. It was clear her subordinate was surprised her plan had worked, due to his hesitant shuffle as he followed silently behind, but really as a professional assassin he should know that the easiest way to avoid suspicion is to act like you belong. It was no wonder he had failed so many times to capture a couple of children, his intelligence was far too lacking. Thank goodness she had decided to handle this one herself.

Heinous decided to risk a glance over the crowd, quickly spotting her target, the shine of bright blonde standing out even in all these annoying colored lights. The butterfly heiress was seated at a table off to the side, looking utterly miserable as she stared at an untouched plate of food. It wasn't surprising, how could she possibly be happy without Heinous' guidance. In fact, all of these rotten royals were clearly in desperate need of her training. It was as if none of them even knew how to behave, fraternizing with monsters of all creatures, partying as if they were regular children. It was utterly disgraceful. They would all need to be educated. Luckily, that was what she was there for.

Heinous leaned in closer to Rasticore, whispering, "There is Miss Butterfly." She gestured in the girl's direction, making sure her hired hand followed the movement. "Approach her quietly and incapacitate her. Once she is out of the picture the rest of these brats will quickly fall in line."

"Right," Rasticore responded with a hiss, his eye already narrowed dangerously on his unsuspecting target. He crept closer, making sure to stay out of the girl's line of sight. This would be easy. He was a trained killer, so pinning one annoying teen down, even one with magic, had to be the simplest job he had done so far. He looked around, making sure none of the rest of her annoying friends were nearby but lucky for him he didn't see any of the nuisances that usually swarmed around her. The demon boy, the Impure, even that goody-two-shoes Diaz was nowhere to be seen, the little butterfly was alone and completely vunerable And once he was finally done with this mission he could be rid of Miss Heinous and her stupid ideals forever. Maybe he'd even take that vacation he had been wanting, he had certainly earned it after this headache of a job. Rasticore smiled, already imagining the view of ten thousand sunsets before him as he sipped on a wormblood cocktail, far away from it all.

Maybe that was why, in the split second his guard was down, he wasn't expecting something to strike him in the face, shattering on impact and drenching him in sticky punch. He looked over surprised, just in time to see a fist flying at him and dodged to his left, his red-headed attacker swinging her leg around and catching him once in the gut. He groaned, the kick surprisingly strong for such a small Mewman and as he glared at the girl. It didn't take long to recognize her, the obnoxious smirk a dead ringer for the brat who had gone up against at the pet graveyard. He tried to grab at her, hoping to capture her before she drew any more attention onto them but she had already shouted a warning to the others, her voice echoing off the stone walls around them. "We're under attack!"

Rasticore flinched, physically feeling the attention shift to him, thousands of eyes now regarding him cautiously. The air became thick with tension and dread as worried mumbling echoed through the cave, Rasticore sure he could feel Heinous' disappointed glare burning a hole in his back. The lizard groaned, before muttering to himself, "Forget this," producing a small black ball from his cloak and tossing it high into the air.

Higgs tried to make a dash for it but it proved pointless as the object zipped up to the ceiling before twisting open, an array of black beams shooting out from the orb. The dark energies spread across the cavern, branching out into thick, black appendages that writhed and shuddered to life, seeming to take on a life of their own as they began attacking the very air itself. Loud humming could be heard as the cosmic vines violently tore through the fabric of reality, the party erupting into screams of terror, people fleeing the cosmic vines as they hastily shuffled to the exit. Dark portals of corrupted energy began to pry open as large, rusted bots fell from the ceiling, soon outnumbering the frightened teens. An army of robots now filled the cave, all single minded in their goal as they began their pursuit of the innocent party-goers, subduing both Monster and Mewman with zero discretion.

Star leaped out of her seat, pulling her wand from the little cloud purse at her side, ready to jump into action, when something grabbed her arm and pulled her down under the table. The blonde royal struggled free, lighting her wand with magic to blast away whatever foe had stopped her, only to come face to face with the concerned face of Jackie instead. "Jackie, what the heck?!" Star hissed in annoyance. "I have to help!"

"I saw Heinous," Jackie replied simply but the words pierced Star's heart like an arrow.

"Wh-What, where?" Star stuttered, stumbling back as if struck.

"Behind Rasticore, standing off to the side." All of Jackie's confident energy seemed to drain from her just then, her worry etched into every inch of her face, which only made Star more skittish.

The blonde paused, her brain flooding with horrifying thoughts that she quickly swallowed down. "M-Maybe you were just seeing things," she weakly countered, desperate not to face the obvious truth. She wasn't ready. "I mean it's pretty dark in here and everything's happening so fast you-"

"Star." Jackie's voice was heavy and numb as she looked her friend straight in the eyes. "It was her."

For a moment, everything around her spun, the room filtering in and out as her vision began to blur. She was breathing too heavily, she could tell, her chest beginning to ache from overuse but she couldn't seem to stop it. That was until she heard a frightened yell, followed by another, and then another. The screams seemed to be coming from everyone, each broken and terrified, and all calling for help. For her. Everyone was in danger right now, fighting and running for their lives while she cowered beneath a table and suddenly a spark ignited in her chest. Deep in the pit of her stomach, below all the fear and trauma eating away at her, a flame began to burn.

Star was still scared, petrified of facing the horrible woman who had caused her so much suffering, but she couldn't hide. She had been hiding for so long. Hiding from her fear, hiding from the hurtful past that had left her crippled and depressed for so long. She had hid behind a smile, pretended everything was okay when it so obviously wasn't, only to shut down and hide within herself, lying and saying she was okay. She had hid and told herself that she was somehow ready to face this demon from her past. But she wasn't. She never would be.

But this time it wasn't about her. Her people were in trouble and if she hid then she would be the very cowardly and broken little girl everyone saw her as. She would be a failure to herself and the people who depended on her as the future ruler of Mewni.

Her people needed her and, Heinous or not, she was not going to hide away from that.

So with confidence Star didn't even know she had, Star replied, "It doesn't matter. I'm going to help."

"No you can't!" Jackie burst, gripping Star tightly by the shoulders, the expression on her face one of pure terror. "She can't get you, Star! I-I can't let that happen!"

But Star simply brushed Jackie's hand away saying in a remarkably even tone, "They need me, Jackie. I don't have a choice." Her sudden bravery surprised Jackie, the white-haired teen looking conflicted as she seemed to be weighing the options in her head. But Star didn't have time to think things through, not unless she wanted this false bravado to fail her, for the fear and insecurities to take hold again. If she was going to help it had to be now. So with all the mental strength she had she leaned forward and gave her friend one last reassuring hug before bolting out from under the table, blasting off a beam of strawberry knives, quickly cutting down a robot just as it reached for a cornered royal.

The robots all took notice of her presence, the fight shifting as they turned to the blonde with glowing red eyes. Star recognized them in an instant, the same metallic faces that had stared down at her through all her suffering, dragging her to the dark room she would be locked in, standing idly by as Heinous poured hateful words into Star's fragile mind, corrupting her from within. She froze for half a second, the fear returning to drown her. But then she heard a scream from one of the pinned Monsters as the robot's grip grew just a bit too tight and something snapped, the blonde lashing out at the metal oppressor with another destructive blast of magic.

The others were all but forgotten as the robots focused on subduing Star, the blonde blasting the machines to pieces again and again as more and more continued emerging from the portals. She held nothing back, firing every spell in her arsenal at the machines, years of pent up frustration consuming her as she took out her revenge on the unfeeling bots. Metal pieces soon lay scattered about the cave, with more soon to join the pile.

But not all the outdated bots focused on Star, a few still pursuing the frightened teens hiding or fleeing from the battle. One such machine had a couple of poor Monsters pinned against a wall, the girls clinging to each other for dear life. Only for a heroic voice to suddenly shout, "Hey, tin can!" The robot, as well as the Monster girls, turned to see Ferguson running straight at the machine, yelling at the top of his lungs before slamming his fist hard into its metal surface. The chubby king immediately screamed in pain, clutching his aching wrist and bouncing back and forth on his feet, clearly in agony from the dumb decision. "Ow, ow, ow, why didn't that work?!"

The robot made a move to grab the boy only for a bowl full of punch to be slammed over its head, shorting it out and causing it to crumple uselessly to the ground. Once he was sure the bot was completely shut down, Alfonso stepped around the robot, stomping over to his friend with a look of fury on his face. He grabbed Ferguson by the collar, shaking him violently as he loudly scolded, "You idiot, your hands aren't stronger than metal! What were you thinking?!"

"It could have worked," Ferg argued dizzily.

Alfonso released his friend, rolling his eyes. "Let's just find somewhere safe to hide before you try anything else stupid."

"Oh yes, please," one of the Monster girl's spoke up, looping her arm around Alfonso's, her friend doing the same. "Thank you for saving us, we were sooo scared. Please protect us until all those scary robots are gone!"

Alfonso blushed, stuttering out a quick "sure" before ushering the two girls to a relatively safe place, his very jealous friend following after. "Hey, I distracted it and nearly broke my hand doing it, too! Where's my thanks?" Ferguson whined bitterly.

"Shut up, Ferg," came Alfonso's harsh reply, the chubby king grumbling under his breath as they headed for the cave entrance, hoping to find some escape from the metal menaces.

Meanwhile, Kelly was holding her own against the robot attackers, pulling a large broadsword from her thick tangled hair, expertly cutting the machines down as if they were made of paper. Wooletts were raised to be natural born fighters and that conditioning was coming in handy in this instance. A few of the machines specifically targeted her, seeing her for the threat she was, while others were simply misfortune enough to wander too close to Kelly's personal space, cut down to size within seconds of that grave error.

Kelly dodged an electrified punch from one of the bots, stepping to the side before slicing it in half with a single swing. Two more attempted to grab her from behind but luckily she had eyes in the back of her head thanks to her boyfriend Tad. "Kelly behind you!" he shouted and she turned on the balls of her feet, cleaving their heads from their body, the machines crumpling uselessly to the floor.

"Thanks Tad," she said quickly, her focus never leaving the fight, now looking for new opponents to conquer. She spotted one of the robots heading towards Ponyhead, who for some reason was simply floating out in the open, seemingly unaware of the machine right in front of her. The Woolett broke into a sprint, hoping she would be fast enough to save the floating horse, ducking under a pair of mechanical arms attempting to grab her. Most of the other royals and Monsters who weren't fighting had taken cover under tables or fled the cave so Kelly hadn't even thought to check to see if anyone needed saving and she was fast regretting that decision.

It became obvious that Kelly would fail to reach them in time, Pony would be caught, possibly injured, and Rasticore would have one more captive to hold over Star's head. That couldn't happen, Kelly refused to fail, refused to let a bunch of dumb machines best her and her friends, so without a second thought she pulled her arm back, bracing her muscles for the throw, before slinging the sword forward with all her might. It spun a few times in the air, making impact with the robot's middle, cutting a large gap in its stomach and shutting the machine down. Pony didn't even flinch as the sword came within inches of hitting her, still just floating there in a daze as if stuck in some kind of weird trance, the sword impaling itself deep in the cave wall behind her.

Kelly breathed a sigh of relief, crossing the remaining distance between her and the oblivious horsehead. "Pony, what the heck!" she screamed, throwing her arms wide in exasperation. "Did you seriously not see the guy right in front of you! What is your deal!"

Pony blinked but didn't speak, causing Kelly to raise a suspicious eyebrow. It wasn't like the normally loud-mouthed horse to be this silent, especially when being accused of something, normally she would jump in to her own defense, regardless of if she was in the right or not, but now there was just nothing. Something was definitely not right here.

"Pony?" Kelly said in confusion, waving a hand in front of her face. Nothing. "Pony!" Kelly screamed, getting within inches of the horse's face. No response, not even a subtle twitch from her blankly staring eyes. "Hello, are you in there?!" Kelly yelled but received no answer. The Woolett sighed, knowing what she had to do, muttering under her breath, "Sorry about this, Pony."

Smack! Kelly slapped Pony across the face, making sure it was hard enough to get a reaction but hopefully easy enough to not leave a bruise. This got Pony's attention, the horse letting out a cry of surprise and pain before glaring daggers at the green-haired teen, the tip of her horn just barely pressing into Kelly's forehead. "Hey, watch who you're slappin', girl! This face is a money maker and in my kingdom that's enough to have you behead- whaaaat's up with the robo squares?" Pony finally took notice of the ensuing battle, Kelly taking the momentary distraction to push Pony's horn out of her face, trying not to take offense to her violent reaction. She had slapped her, after all. Besides she had more pressing matters to attend to.

"How do you not remember, it just happened?!" Kelly screamed in frustration. "And why were you just floating there?! What were you in shock or something?!"

Pony looked offended by all the accusations, quickly snapping, "The only thing shocking around her is that sweater with your hair, okay."

"I will slap you again!" Kelly hissed.

"Girls, girls, let's all just chill out," Tad interrupted, hoping to cool their violent tempers. "All this negative energy isn't good for your health."

Pony rolled her eyes. "Uh, yeah, like I'm taking advice from a talking wig."

Kelly's eye twitched, retorting rudely, "Coming from the talking head mount."

"Head mount!" Pony screamed, snorting steam out of her nose. "Uh, okay, now you are beggin' to get stabbed!"

"Hey, that's enough!" Tad shouted, floating between the two, stopping them just in time from trying to impale one another with sharp instruments. "You dudes gotta cool your jets! There's a way bigger issue going on here, remember?!"

The two girls suddenly recalled the real situation at hand, that being the life or death battle against an army of mechanical captors, their petty squabbles feeling insignificant in comparison. "Good point, Tad," Kelly agreed, letting out a shaky breath, releasing the last bit of pent up fury from her system. She glanced over at Pony, saying, "Truce."

Pony nodded in agreement. "Yeah, truce. Honestly I didn't mean a word of it, I just hate being accused of stuff, especially stuff I don't remember even doin'."

"So wait, what is the last things you remember?" Kelly asked, raising a curious eyebrow.

"Being the center of attention, duh," Pony replied, vainly flipping her mane.

"Yeah well, that didn't happen," Kelly muttered, earning her a glare from the floating horse. "So then, you just completely blanked out when these guys showed up?"

Pony scoffed. "Ha, course I did. I don't pay attention to anyone beneath me, which is most people btw."

Kelly carefully pondered this new bit of information, for some reason feeling like it was important to whatever was going on, even if she didn't see how just yet. However, it was Tad who put the clues together first, stating, "Sounds like mind control to me."

"What? No way, I would know if I was being mind controlled, okay," Pony argued, looking insulted at the mere insinuation of such a thing.

Kelly, as well, had her doubts, saying, "But don't you have to have a mind for that to work."

Pony's eyes widened at that, before snapping back into an infuriated scowl. "Hey, what happened to the truce! I can still stab you, y'know!"

"Right, right, sorry," Kelly said, waving the thought off. "Well mind control or not, you seem to be back to normal so how do you feel about helping me finish off this crowd of robo-rejects."

Pony grinned at that, her horn lighting up with magical energy. "Aw yeah, now you're talking! I'm always up for taking out some lame party crashers!"

Kelly picked up her sword, holding it up in an offensive stance, Pony now hovering beside her, the two ready to jump into battle as a team. "Then what do you say we teach these guys how to really party."

…

Crouched underneath a nearby table, Princess Penolope was feeling much less sure of herself, curled up into a ball as she listened to the noisy chaos happening all around her. Her cheeks glowed a dull gray, her mood taking a serious turn for the worse as her heart ached with fear and guilt. Her boyfriend was unaware of her distressed behavior, preoccupied with observing the ensuing battle from their hiding spot. Every little noise outside their tiny space caused Penelope to violently flinch, her cheeks turning bright orange from panic before fading back to depressed gray, the girl's breathing growing more and more erratic. Slime happened to catch one such reaction out of the corner of his eye, offering his girlfriend a goopy hand to hold, whispering, "It'll be okay. We're safe under here. Just try and relax."

Penelope reluctantly took his hand, her other busy rubbing up and down her arm as goosebumps surfaced all over her skin. As her stress and anxiety began to get the better of her, dark wisps of memories began invading her mind, bringing with them unwanted sensations from a time she wished had stayed forgotten. Cold metal, sharp and rusted digging deep into her skin until she was sure bruises would be left behind. Violent jerks on her arm as she was pulled in whatever direction was desired, her pitiful cries and pointless struggles doing nothing but wearing down her own resistance. And now the others might be enduring the same treatment while she hid away like a coward.

"H-How's it going out there?" she asked with uncertainty. She wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer.

Slime squinted, a motion Penelope assumed was the slime equivalent of furrowing his eyebrows or lack thereof. "They're holding their own but… those machines just keep coming! I'm not sure how they're gonna take them all down."

Penelope lowered her gaze, squeezing her arm tightly, her nails nearly piercing skin. That was exactly what she had been fearing, her vision soon blurry with guilty tears, a few managing to drip down her cheek before she could stop them. This caught Slime's attention, the Monster boy quickly turning to her and whispering gently, "Hey, I'm sure it'll be okay. Star and the others know what they're doing."

Penelope furiously shook her head, causing her tears to only fall harder, soon staining her fancy party dress. "No, you don't understand. This is all my fault, Slime."

Slime was speechless for a moment, his brain struggling to process such a confession. It made no sense. How could his sweet, sensitive girlfriend be any sort of cause to such events. There was just no way. "What are you talking about? You didn't cause this."

Penelope hung her head low, unable to face her boyfriend, the guilt slowly eating away at her. "But those things… I don't know why but they're after me. Just like before. That has to be why they're here now. I've put everyone in danger and I can't even do anything to help them. I'm just hiding here like a coward."

"C'mon Penelope, don't say stuff like that. None of this is your fault and you definitely aren't a coward," Slime gently reassured her, tucking a goopy arm around her, pulling her in close.

She immediately shoved him away, undeserving of hugs from such a pure creature. "No you're wrong! This is my fault! Why else would those things be here!?"

"I'm sure there's another reason," Slime weakly argued but even he was starting to doubt. As far as they both knew Penelope was the first and only target these things had in mind, the others were just caught in the cross-fire. But for Slime that was all the more reason to protect her and keep Penelope safe. After all, if she was the target who knew what horrible fate or plan the machines had in store for her and he refused to find out. "Besides, it doesn't matter. Star and the others are gonna take care of those things and then everyone will be safe. Nothing bad is gonna happen, okay?"

"How do you know?" Penelope asked shakily, wrapping her arms around herself in a self-assuring hug. Still it seemed to be doing very little to ease her fearful mind, if the dark purple of her cheeks were any indication.

"Because it has to," Slime said confidently, gently prying her hands free so he could tenderly hold them in his, the princess's hands soon coated in a thick layer of slime but she didn't look disgusted, instead she seemed calmer, the anxiety on her face slowly melting away.

Still the fear wasn't entirely gone as she confessed softly, "I'm scared."

Slime gave her a sympathetic smile, before admitting, "I am too. But we'll get through this, okay. Together."

Penelope slowly nodded. In an entirely unexpected move she scooted closer so that she could rest her head on his shoulder, listening to the violent clashing happening all around them. She still felt the guilt tugging at her heart as she waited here in her cocoon of safety for the fighting to stop but at least she wasn't alone through it all. Slime was right, they would win, her friends were strong, much stronger than she could ever be. And when all of this was over she would make sure to apologize to everyone, to make it up to them. She simply had to wait it out until then, so she could set things straight. Swallowing heavily, she allowed herself to breathe easily again as she just let Slime's presence wash over her, the frightening seconds ticking by at an agonizing pace.

…

Higgs stared up at the disfigured mess of spiraling portals, robots pouring out into their reality like droplets of water from an ocean tide. Star was already doing her best to fight them off, to fix Higgs' own mistake after she had so confidently promised she would handle everything for her. Instead, Higgs was the helpless one, watching her friend fight in her place and that feeling of failure was enough to break her in half. That crushing weight soon turned into unbridled rage, as she turned to Rasticore with a hateful snarl, the lizard merely smirking in her direction, looking none too worried about the monster he had just unleashed. "Turn it off," Higgs demanded, taking a threatening step forward, her glare enough to strike the Monster dead.

Rasticore, as expected, merely grinned and chuckled, saying smoothly, "Or what? You're gonna beat me? I don't remember that going so well for you last time."

Higgs dropped into a fighting stance, hissing confidently, "This isn't going to go like before."

"You're right, it's not." In less than a second Rasticore had already shot a blast of electric energy at the girl, Higgs avoiding the blast at the last second.

"Learned a new trick?" Higgs commented, brushing some dirt off one of her shoulder pads.

"Several," Rasticore replied, before charging forward, his chainsaw blade spinning menacingly. Higgs maneuvered around it, twirling on her heels as the saw came within inches of her face, before lashing out with a lightning quick punch to the gut. Rasticore growled and swung his blade again, this time aiming for Higgs' head, but again the knight proved too agile for the assassin, dipping low so that it sailed over her, before shooting forward and smacking him once in the jaw.

The cat-and-mouse game continued for a while, Higgs dodging around Rasticore's wild swings, getting in a few jabs and kicks where she could, staying on her toes as the lizard became more and more furious with each violent swing, frustration making him reckless. Higgs expected as much, it was common for Monsters to become unpredictable as they soon became aware that they weren't engaged in combat with an ordinary teenager but rather a fighting prodigy.

Rasticore, however, was far from a novice himself, his own time spent fighting and killing anything he was paid to go up against had made him a battle-hardened warrior, one with far more tactical knowledge than a fifteen year old could ever understand. Which was how he knew he could easily outwit her into lowering her guard, giving her the illusion of an upper hand in hopes of buying himself enough time to prepare his finishing blow. The girl was good, he'd give her that, her fists packing a serious punch and her reflexes far sharper than most he had faced but her weakness was so easy to read. Her arrogance was limitless but that made it all the easier to manipulate. He would turn the tides of this battle in an instant and then turn his attention on the rotten princess who had caused him so much trouble.

Speaking of Princess Star, a quick glance in that direction and Rasticore could see she was on her last leg, struggling to overcome the sheer number of forces sent her way, barely managing to stay ahead enough to avoid getting hit. It would only be a matter of time before she was too weak to put up any more resistance and in that moment they would finally have her. Which meant he had to hurry up this battle so he could be the one to finish her off himself. He just had to wait for the right moment to strike.

The redhead certainly was making that easy enough, attacking with such confidence it was clear she thought she was the one in control of the battle, how cute and wrong she was. Rasticore braced himself as he saw her lift her leg to kick him again, not even bothering to hide her movements from him, a rookie mistake. It happened in an instant, her leg thrusting forward ready to smash deep in his gut only to blocked by the thick leathery skin of Rasticore's forearms as he protectively covered the sensitive spot. Higgs seemed to realize her mistake too late, starting to lower her leg, only to be pushed back by a harsh shove forward by the lizard assassin. With her sense of gravity compromised she quickly lost her balance and slammed hard into the ground, her shoulder taking the brunt of the impact and she grunted in pain but held back her scream.

Rasticore grinned sadistically as he leered over the fallen knight, his chainsaw still spinning wildly as he held it high over his head. Finally, it was time to end this. "Any last words, brat?" he taunted, a rush of power filling his veins at his victory.

But surprisingly Higgs just scoffed, rolling her eyes from her crounched position on the floor. "Yeah, you're an idiot," she replied, before flipping onto her back, revealing a small arrowgun that had been concealed under her fallen form. Wordlessly she took the shot, the arrow dislodging from the bow and streaking towards the Monster. Rasticore ducked, barely avoiding the projectile as it sailed past his head.

He laughed mockingly, pinning the girl's arm to the ground, making her weapon useless. The redhead didn't struggle, instead staring daggers at her opponent and Rasticore took this opportunity to put in a few more taunts before he put the brat out of her misery. "Quite the shot you got there, only you seemed to miss the guy standing right in front of you. And here I thought you were supposed to be some exceptional knight or something."

"I am," Higgs replied through gritted teeth. "And I don't miss."

"Ha, yeah right," Rasticore growled, revving his chainsaw just to get the girl good and scared before he made the kill. That's when he noticed a red glow fall over him, instinctively glancing up to see the large spotlight descending towards him. He screamed and swung his chainsaw up, barely managing to slice it in half before it knocked him out cold. He glared back down at the pinned teen, saying in an irritated growl, "And what, was that supposed to hit me?"

"No it was supposed to distract you," Higgs replied, beaming despite her powerless position. "So I could get my Trait ready." It was then that Rasticore noticed her cheekmarks were gone, instead the symbol had moved to the palm of her hand, another identical mark now tattooed to the skin of his leg. Rasticore sucked in a breath, panicked as he stared at the small marking. He couldn't believe he had let his guard down enough to let her tag him like that. What did it even do? Could he remove it safely?

He shuffled back, finally releasing the pressure on her arm as he tried to wipe the marking away but no matter what he did it stayed. He glared daggers at the girl, holding his chainsaw up in a threatening manner. "What did you do to me, brat?" he demanded and the redhead smirked back, the fight now in her hands as she held all the cards. She stood, brushing the dust off her clothes and straightening her uniform.

"Honestly I can't believe that actually worked. I never get a chance to use that move so I usually just go without but you were actually stupid enough to stand there and let me use it! Man you really are dumb!"

"What is it?!" Rasticore repeated in a near howl now, the uncertainty of the mark putting him dangerously on edge.

Higgs crossed her arms in front of her chest, explaining plainly, "It's sorta like my secret weapon or it would be if it ever actually came in handy. See I have to actually touch bareskin for at least five seconds to get the mark to stick and nobody ever holds still long enough for me to ever tag them. As for what it does, wellll…" Higgs snapped her fingers and suddenly Rasticore's entire leg felt like it was on fire.

He had experienced pain before, losing an arm and a leg had taught him pain well but this was something else. This was excruciating. It was impossible to focus, to think, to even exist with this much suffering and agony attacking his limb. He doubled over in pain, clenching his leg hard enough to draw blood but he barely noticed it. It was trickle compared to the ocean of torment he was suffering from. He could barely handle it. When would it stop. It had to stop, right?

Higgs tisked at the assassin's vulnerable state, shaking her head in disapproval. It was pathetic seeing such a trained killer reduced to such a weak state but at the same time she didn't blame him. Nobody could handle her marks, hence why she never used them. She hadn't been dishonest before, it was tricky to find a chance in the heat of battle to use such a technique but in reality she hated this power she was given, hated hearing the wails and screams of pain as she put them through so much suffering. It made her feel like a bully, like a monster. She preferred to do things without relying on her Trait but this battle was the exception. After learning Rasticore's true goals for her friend and who was making him carry out said goals, Higgs had lost all sympathy for the Monster. He deserved to suffer for even coming near her friends, so she ignored the painful sting to her insides as he cried in pain, looking around for the woman behind this all.

She had a feeling Rasticore hadn't come alone this time. There was something final about this one, no longer attacking in secret, forming schemes and sneaking behind enemy lines to do their dirty work, instead this was a full-blown invasion. This was the endgame, that much Higgs was certain of, and she had her doubts Heinous would sit out such a crucial step in her plan. No she was hiding somewhere, Higgs just had to find her.

But before she could get the chance, Higgs sensed something behind her, spotting a dark figure out of the corner of her eye. Acting fast she ducked under the swinging arm, barely avoiding getting grabbed by Rasticore's metal arm, already coursing with powerful electric energy. The Monster growled, his face twisted in agony, his stance awkward as he tried to not put too much pressure on his hurt leg. Higgs knew her Trait tended to die down over time, that in a matter of minutes he would be fully recovered but she still hadn't expected him to be so resilient. "Sorry but I don't fall for the same thing twice," she hissed, annoyed at the interruption. This guy was seriously starting to get on her nerves.

"You're gonna pay for this, brat!" he roared, his one eye bulging as he held up his chainsaw menacingly. Higgs just sighed, rolling her eyes. So much for Heinous. Looks like she was gonna have to take care of this guy first. So annoying.

…

Jackie could tell Star was starting to wear out, the blonde's movements becoming sporadic as she tried to keep ahead of the nearly endless string of robots coming to attack her, blasting them away with every spell available to her. Narwhal, winged cats, warnicorns and various other creatures laying around the cave, smears of candy and rainbows staining the walls. Although Star seemed in control it was clear this was just an act, Jackie could see her ragged breathing and her loose grip on the wand, her eyes layered with bags of exhaustion. It was only a matter of time before she slipped up and the machines gained the upper hand. Jackie had to stop that before it happened. She had promised herself she'd protect Star, only for her royal friend to throw herself into danger the second she got the chance, and thanks to her busted leg she couldn't even join her in that regard. But if she could find some way to even the battle for her friend then she'd finally be keeping that promise.

The question was how? What could she possibly do to defeat an army of metal monstrosities. It seemed unlikely she alone could do anything substantial. But then… she had to try. Since her leg kept her from jumping into action she decided to take the time she had to formulate a strategy, looking around for any ideas that could save them from this mess. There wasn't much to work with, no instant kill switch conveniently located off to the side, but Jackie did spot something useful. The portal machine, whatever it was, seemed to be causing the most trouble for her friends, so logically taking that out should be her priority right? Maybe then this battle could take a turn in their favor. It seemed like her best bet.

The question now was how she was gonna shut it down? It wasn't exactly like she could just walk up to it and hit the off switch, the device was hovering a good twenty feet in the air. Someone with flight capabilities would be most useful here but unfortunately none of them were available right now, all either missing or busy fighting for their lives. No, it had to be her. She was the only one who could. She just needed an idea.

Luckily, for her said idea literally fell from the sky as a particularly nasty blast from Star caused a banner to be freed from the back of one of the chairs, fluttering down next to Jackie's hiding spot. And as Jackie's eyes landed on it an idea immediately began to form, a smile slowly spreading across her freckled face. Keeping as low to the ground as possible Jackie crawled out from under the table, folding the banner into her arms as best she could before crawling towards another. Thanks to the chaotic fighting most of the decorations now lay scattered across the floor giving her plenty of options to choose from. It was far from an easy task for Jackie, her broken leg making crawling difficult but thankfully she was able to get around the broken dinner scene without drawing any unwanted attention onto herself. Getting spotted was not an option for Jackie, her broken leg spelling disaster in a fight.

But she soon had enough to enact her plan, taking cover under a nearby table as she tied the colorful parchment together, creating a rope hopefully long enough to reach the device hovering high over their heads. Once she was satisfied with her makeshift rope, she cautiously pulled herself out from under the table and braced her back against the wooden surface, making sure to keep any weight off her injured leg. She unfolded the large lasso before swinging it over her head a few times, trying to measure the distance in her mind. She was only going to get one chance.

A metallic clanking nearby caused her heart to stop and out of the corner of her eye she saw a robot approaching her. She had been spotted. Jackie did her best to still her nerves, keeping her breathing steady as she just focused on lassoing the portal machine. She did a quick calculation of the distance and curvature needed but ultimately she knew she was relying on pure luck here. So with a silent prayer etched into her heart, Jackie threw the rope with all her might, watching with bated breath as it sailed towards the destructive device.

Somehow her aim was perfect, the rope landing right on the thing, its loop snagging itself on one of the sharp edges. Jackie pulled hard on the rope, the device snapping closed with a satisfying click, all the portals vanishing from existence. Everyone seemed to pause to stare as the cave walls became empty and barren once again, only the mechanical bots focused on their single-minded objective. Even Higgs and Rasticore stopped mid-fight to look up at the ceiling in shock. "Impossible!" Rasticore shouted, in complete disbelief to see their plan had once again failed.

Higgs scoffed, giving the Monster a cocky grin. "Not really, you just clearly haven't met Jackie Lynn Thomas."

Rasticore growled in anger, the gears in his arm clanking noisely from the clenching of his fist. "Then I'll be sure to kill her first," he hissed, shoving Higgs out of the way as he raced towards the annoying girl who dared to get in his way, one of the robots already pinning the girl uncomfortably to the ground. Higgs followed right after him but she was a few seconds behind, there was no way she could stop him before he killed Jackie. The redhead cried out in warning to her friend, terror flooding Jackie's face as she realized her compromised position, unable to escape or even move as the assassin went in for the kill.

But before he could reach her, something flew in between the two, a flash of brilliant yellow light darting in the way of the lizard's helpless prey. Star Butterfly, glowing with magical power, held her wand straight out, Rasticore not even having time to react before being shot point blank with an extra strong blast of pure magical energy. The lizard flew backwards, crashing heavily into multiple tables, crumbling them under his massive weight. When the dust cleared, the assassin lay unconscious under a pile of rubble, finally defeated thanks to the blonde royal.

As the magic began to fade from Star, the blonde collapsed to her knees, her magical energy finally spent. Jackie and Higgs rushed to her side, the skater forgetting all about her injured leg as she hobbled over to her friend's side. "Star, are you okay?" Jackie asked, glancing the girl up and down.

Star nodded tiredly. "Yeah, I think I am. Thanks to you." She gave Jackie a hug, the skater freezing up before reciprocating the embrace, Higgs rolling her eyes.

"Right well, while you two are busy talking about your feelings, I'm gonna make sure the last of those bots are taken care of," the young knight grumbled, quickly excusing herself from the conversation. The second she turned her back to them, she was back on high alert, observing the situation closely. It seemed Kelly and Pony had drawn the few remaining robots' attention, slicing through them as if the heavy machines were made of paper. However, the machines were the least of Higgs' concerns as she searched for Heinous, unable to spot her anywhere in the dimly lit cave. It seemed she had already slipped away in the chaos, abandoning her cause without a second thought like the spineless coward she was. Higgs wished she was still there so she could finally exact some revenge for causing her friend so much pain but she did take a little solace knowing Star wouldn't have to face the demons of her past today. She wasn't sure any of them were prepared for that.

…

By this point Heinous was furious, watching as years and years of scheming and planning and toil slowly crumbled before her eyes. Her robots were scattered, her prized minion was defeated, and all her hard work was in ruins. She had been so looking forward to making her grand entrance, to finally take back all the horrible little menaces that had escaped her grasp so many years ago. But no, instead they fought back, behaving like the little degenerates they were, fighting and behaving like savages as they tore apart all her wonderful helpers. The fools, too young and ignorant to know what they were missing by stopping her. Couldn't they see she was trying to make things better, that they needed her help to become true monarchs.

If Heinous was anything less than a lady she would probably go out there and teach them a lesson herself but of course she was above fighting unless absolutely necessary. That was why she had needed Rasticore, though he had only proved a failure in the end. Heinous sighed in disappointment, massaging her aching temple as she headed back the way she came. Oh well, there was always next time, she would just have to leave and rethink her next move. Luckily, she still had more than enough robots to try something like this again, she would just need to wait for another opportunity to-

"See I told you Star could handle it."

Heinous paused, the small childish voice catching her off-guard. She had been certain there were only teenagers at this party.

"You were scared for nothing."

"I wasn't scared." A second voice, this one equally as young. She looked around for the source of these voices but thanks to the echoing cave walls it was difficult to spot. Finally she saw them, two little girls, probably around eight or nine, hiding behind a rock near the entrance. They barely peeked around their hiding spot, eyes wide and curious and cheekmarks glowing gently.

"Then why did you make us hide instead of letting us fight with Star and the others," the purple-haired girl said bitterly, so far not noticing Heinous' presence looming nearby.

The peach-haired one scoffed. "Because we would have only been in the way!"

The first girl rolled her eyes. "We fought literally zombies before I'm sure we can handle a couple of robots. Just admit it, you were being a scaredy cat, Daisy."

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

Heinous frowned at the young girls' inappropriate behavior, clearly they needed some discipline. But she was almost glad to see them misbehaving since it created the perfect distraction she needed to make her move.

It seemed her plan wasn't a complete waste after all.

Star tiredly helped Jackie to her feet, allowing the skater to lean her weight against her to avoid further damaging her leg. The blonde looked around for any sign of Jackie's crutches, only to pause when she heard two small yelps of terror. She snapped her head in the direction of the entrance, a deep dread seizing her chest as her whole body began to shake. Heinous. Heinous stood at the mouth of the massive cave, her very presence enough to rattle Star to her very core as every horrible word and memory looped endlessly in her head. But that was almost an afterthought in comparison to the true terror she felt upon seeing her twin cousins held captive in Heinous' grip. They were each tucked under an arm, arms pinned to their sides as they screamed and kicked for freedom. Despite their relentless squirming it seemed Heinous had no trouble keeping them in her grasp, a wide grin parting her painted lips. Star felt all the blood in her body run cold, instinctively holding up her wand to protect herself, though no spells were capable of coming to her trauma-fueled mind.

Heinous seemed to be enjoying the power she so clearly held over the blonde royal, her grin widening as her head tipped back in a superior manner. "Well now, after all this time I didn't plan on my grand entrance being quite like this but I'll happily make do." Hearing her voice sent shivers down Star's spine but she did her best to hide the discomfort, not wanting to give the woman anymore power over her than she already had. Oh who was she kidding, she had Daisy and Violet, Heinous held all the power here and they both knew it. Daisy at this point was close to tears, her watery eyes begging her cousin to please save her from this monster holding her hostage, while Violet growled and hissed in anger, trying to bite or kick the woman from her awkward position, anything to hurt her captor.

The entire cave had gone eerily silent as the Monsters and royals watched the hostage situation unfold in front of them, looking to Star to see how she would handle it. Penelope held Slime in a deathgrip, shaking almost as much as the blonde, her boyfriend trying his best to comfort her but there was nothing he could do to calm the panic slowly rising in her chest, years of abuse and fear hitting her all at once. Star was not faring much better, the only thing keeping her from completely breaking down right there was Jackie's weight pressed against her, a small reminder that she wasn't facing this alone, she had the support of her friends to keep her steady. Speaking of friends…

"Release them right now, you coward!" Higgs growled, shooting her an intimidating glare.

But Heinous was far from unnerved, merely rolling her eyes and saying, "This doesn't involve you, so kindly stay out of it."

Higgs took a menacing step forward. "Actually I am involved. Those two as well as everyone here is under my protection, so if you don't want to get the crap beaten out of you, I suggest you put them down right now."

"My, my quite rude, aren't we? Is that any way to speak to a lady of my status?"

"You don't have a status," Jackie spoke up in a bitter tone, wrapping her arms around Star protectively despite needing the blonde to support her weight. "Not after what you did to Star and the other princesses."

A snear spread across Heinous' lips, the venom in her glare enough to make Star shudder viciously but Jackie and Higgs held their ground. "You speak as if I broke them in some way. No, I was simply fixing them, undoing all that negative, problem behavior and turning them into the perfect little princesses their parents wanted them to be. And look how far things have fallen since I left, royals behaving like wild animals, forgetting their place as the top of our society. Fighting and partying and fraternizing with monsters of all creatures." The Monster teens flinched, shrinking some as Heinous' scathing eye glanced over them. "It is completely inappropriate! This generation has forgotten how to behave." Heinous glanced down at Daisy and Violet with a disapproving frown. "Even these two, so young and yet so unaware of the proper behavior for those of their status. It's clear I'm needed now more than ever. I must continue my work if this future has any hope of surviving."

Violet didn't know who this lady was but it was clear she was terrifying, sounding like some crazy person as she blabbered on about a bunch of confusing nonsense, all of the teens looking at her as if she were some wild animal about to try and eat them alive. When the lady grabbed them, Violet had fully expected her cousin to Narwhal Blast this lady in the face the moment she noticed, but for some reason she was just standing there, looking pale and scared. All the color had drained from her face, even the hearts on her cheeks nearly gray as she stared ahead with an anxious expression. What was with her? Was Star that worried about her and Daisy? Violet guessed she couldn't blame her, she was fully freaked out at this point too, though she did her best to act brave, unlike Daisy who she could hear sniffling. Still, why wasn't she trying to save them? Couldn't she see they needed her help?!

Suddenly, Star and Violet's eyes met, a burst of courage filling the blonde as she suddenly shakily demanded, "You aren't dragging them into this, let them go right now!"

Heinous scoffed, her eyes narrowing on her past student, the blonde doing her best to hold her place, Jackie still providing her a small bit of comfort in this moment of terror. "And you. Where do I even start? It seems all my lessons have been in vain. You've turned out to be such a disgrace to your name, Princess Star."

Star tried not to let the words reach her, tried to fight back the guilt and fear building in her chest at Heinous' cruel accusation. She blinked back a few tears, shaking her head before declaring, "I don't care what you think of me. There are people who believe in me now and I'm not letting them down." Star's wand began to glow with magic as she aimed it at the horrible woman. "So put my cousins down and surrender or else!"

Heinous smirked and Star felt her blood run cold. "Oh, Star. Such a disappointment. You can't even command anyone without sounding like a scared child. And your threatening is simply atrocious. You may have the wand but you hold no power right now and we both know it."

Star's grip faltered, the wand beginning to slip from her grasp as the magic faded. No, don't listen to her, she told herself. You're strong, like Marco says. Star could hear his voice in her head, as he innocently proclaimed, 'You can do it, Star. I believe in you!'

So Star let out a steadying breath, before lowering Jackie to the ground, the skater looking up at her with confusion but Star's eyes never left Heinous. She took a few purposeful steps forward, Jackie shouting something at the blonde but she was too preoccupied to hear it. She made sure to keep her wand aimed at the woman's head, gripping it tightly to keep it from shaking. "I won't tell you again," Star hissed, trying desperately to push back the terror building. "Let. them. go."

"Gladly," Heinous replied, catching Star off-guard. But then something evil glinted in the older Mewman's eyes and Star realized her mistake. Heinous hadn't been lying when she had said Star held no power at the moment. "Only if you give yourself up to me, instead."

Star breathe hitched, Higgs stepping in front of the royal and shouting, "No deal! Star isn't going anywhere with you!"

Heinous frowned, hanging her head in mock defeat. "Well then I suppose I'll just have to take my leave. Of course, I won't be going empty-handed." Daisy whimpered too frightened for words and even Violet was beginning to show her true colors, her pointless struggles leaving her exhausted and fearful, looking over at her cousin nervously.

"Don't," Star whispered, shoving Higgs out of the way, no longer trying to hide her fear as she reached out towards her helpless cousins. She couldn't let her take them. She wouldn't let them suffer the same way she had suffered, feeling sick at the idea of losing the sweet, innocent kids she knew and loved. "Please, please don't take them."

Heinous shushed her mockingly, clearly drunk on the power she held over her most elusive target. "Now, now, there's no need to beg. I'm nothing if not merciful. I'll let them go free. All you have to do is give up." Her sharp eyes landed on the feisty redhead. "In fact, I expect you all to obey me and stop with this foolish resistance. It'll be easier for everyone if you follow Princess Butterfly's lead."

Everyone turned to Star, waiting to see what she would do. She could feel the eyes burning into her skin, the expectations of so many falling heavily on her shoulders. She could sense Penelope's discomfort, expecting her to do away with Heinous before she suffered anymore at her hand. She could feel Kelly, Pony, Jackie, and Higgs begging her to find another way, to stand and fight and not surrender herself to such a despicable woman. Heinous, however, stared at her with dark, knowing eyes as if already seeing the outcome for herself, confident in the choice Star would make. It was the tearful looks of her cousins though that hurt the most, cutting into the very core of her being as she remembered the promise she had made to Aunt Lily to take care of them.

And looming over it all were the stares of the rest of the Monsters and Mewmans, expecting her to do her duty as future queen and dispose of this threat. She wanted to be that person for them, to fight back with everything she had, to blast away the woman who had hurt her and so many others, to wipe away the fearful expressions on her little cousins' faces and reassure them that she was strong enough to stand up to this woman. But how could she? Heinous held all the cards. Once again, she held all the power.

And Star. She had nothing.

Useless.

That was the word that echoed through her mind as her eyes involuntarily met Heinous'. She had wanted so badly to prove she wasn't weak, wasn't broken, but here she was, powerless once more in the presence of her tormentor. After all these years, it seemed nothing had changed, she was still pathetic. Maybe Marco was wrong to believe in her. Maybe she was wrong to believe in herself.

Heinous seemed to notice the change in the blonde royal before her, a triumphant smile slowly spreading across her face as she said simply, "Drop the wand, Star." The command dripped with a taunting superiority, the whole room going deathly quiet as they waited to see how Star would react.

With a defeated look, Star wordlessly released her grip on the wand, the thing falling to the ground with a loud, sentencing thud.

…

"So, someone took Buff Frog and the others using this weird, ancient staff thing?" Dennis asked, after Marco had anxiously explained the situation doing his best to keep out the finer details so as to not expose the half-monsters existence to the naive child. Meanwhile, Marco had been frantically searching for any more clues on his family or their kidnappers whereabouts, looking the whole clearing over in greater detail. But there wasn't much there other than what he had originally observed, some scorch marks, the green decay that could only have come from Eclipsa's staff, and a few scuffled footprints showing a clear sign of a struggle. Marco sighed, Star had given him a whole book series about some famous Earth detective but he had been so busy lately he hadn't had the time to read it. Maybe if he had, he could figure out who was behind this whole mess.

Marco realized Dennis had asked a question, quickly replying, "Uh, yeah. It seemed pretty dangerous too, from how N- uh, my friend made it sound."

"And whoever took it used it against Buff Frog and the others?" Dennis shakily questioned, terrified to think the kind Monsters might have had to face such a fierce weapon. He shifted Katrina to his other arm, making sure to not wake her from her slumber. The infant had eventually grown bored of crying and drifted off to sleep, one that Dennis was eager to keep.

Marco nodded sullenly. "It looks like it, based on… that." He gestured to the green acid eating away at the vegetation. He anxiously bit his lip. "I really hope they're okay."

"Me too," Dennis mumbled, reluctantly grasping Marco's hand. He was afraid Marco might get mad at him but instead his grip only tightened as if accepting this small bit of comfort even from someone so much younger than him. It surprised Dennis, especially as he saw Marco wipe tears out of his eyes before turning to him with a small smile.

"But hey, I'm not giving up! Whoever did this had to of taken them all alive so that means we can still get them back! Everything is gonna be okay!" Was Marco trying to comfort him right now? Dennis was often surprised by the way Buff Frog and company treated him compared to his own parents, Marco more so than anyone else. He was strange but in a nice way and Dennis couldn't help but feel a little at ease despite his fear.

While the young Monster was lost in his thoughts, Marco took quick action, deciding it best to call reinforcement for this one, pulling out his phone and tapping on the number for Star's mirror phone. As the boy pressed the phone to his ear, he wasn't greeted by the mechanic ringing he was expecting, instead only hearing a noisy beeping. He looked at the screen in shock, a small message below Star's name reading, 'No Connection'. Marco's heart dropped.

He forgot. The cave blocked the mirror signal, that was the whole reason he had come out here in the first place. Which meant, he couldn't get ahold of Star or any of his friends. He was completely alone. Marco tried dialing the others a few more times, calling everyone from Jackie to Janna to Kelly to Tom to even Ponyhead out of desperation but he was only ever greeted by the dreaded beeping and disheartening message.

Marco was starting to breath heavily at this point, struggling to keep his calm. Everything was going so, so wrong today. His family was gone, taken by some unknown sinister force wielding a power that even the Impures were afraid of. Meanwhile, his friends were cut off and none the wiser to his desperate situation, leaving him and him alone to fix it. He wished he could go running to Star and the others, to beg them for help in helping save his family but by then it might be too late for his family, he needed to get there right then. If only he knew where 'there' was.

How was he supposed to do this? He didn't even know who was behind any of this or what they were after. How was he supposed to rescue his family if he didn't even know who he had to rescue them from?

Despite his panic and fear, Marco shoved these thoughts down, trying to focus on the moment instead. He didn't have time to panic right now, who knew how long his family had in the hands of whatever force had taken them, he needed a lead and he needed it now. He frantically began his search for clues again, looking for something, anything he might have missed, combing over every branch, rock, and blade of grass he could, hoping something more had been left behind for him to discover. As he worked, Dennis continued with his questions, anxious and curious to find out more about this unknown evil that had snatched away the leader of the Monsters and his team.

"So, your friend, the one who you said had the staff thing, do they know who could have taken it?"

Marco humored the boy, absentmindedly answering with a simple, "Kinda? They said it was probably Jade."

"Who's Jade?"

Marco paused, realizing his mistake, trying to brush the subject aside as he stuttered out his reply, "Oh, um, just someone who knew about it, that's all."

"So did she hate your dad or something?"

"Huh?" Marco looked up from his searching to give Dennis a confused stare.

"Well, she did kidnap him and the others so clearly she must have been upset about something."

Marco shook his head. "No, no, I don't think she ever even met him before."

"So then why would she attack him like that?" Dennis asked, cocking his head to the side.

Marco opened his mouth to answer but stopped, turning the question over in his head as he tried to make sense of it. "She wouldn't," Marco finally responded, putting a finger to his chin. It didn't make sense, Jade had no grudge against Buff Frog or the rest of the Monsters, at least none Marco knew of. So what reason would she have for attacking and kidnapping them? Maybe she had some kind of ulterior motive? Or maybe she hadn't done it at all?

"It wasn't her," Marco gasped out, the pieces finally connecting in his mind. "Someone else did this. Someone who already knew about the staff but someone who had it out for my dad, someone who would go to desperate measures to get what they wanted. Someone like…"

Marco froze as the realization slapped him across the face. Of course, it was so simple. There was only one Monster desperate and hateful enough to try a scheme like this. "Ludo!"

"My brother?" Dennis gasped in fright, hugging Katrina close for comfort.

"Yeah, it had to be him! He knew about the staff and its power, he used it to capture my dad and the others!"

Dennis' face contorted in worry, glancing over the destruction his brother had apparently caused. He didn't want to believe him capable of all of this. But… it made sense. From what he had been told Ludo was really angry at Buff Frog for becoming leader instead of him. In fact most of his family was mad at the Bulgolyabov's for that. Everyone but him, really. But was his brother really angry enough to do this?!

"Oh man, this is bad," Marco moaned, pulling at his hair in pure panic. "There's no way Ludo knows enough about that staff to use it wisely. He's gonna get dad and the others killed if I don't do something!"

"My brother wouldn't go that far, would he?" Dennis hesitantly asked, his uncertainty eating away at him. "I-I know he hates them but he wouldn't k-kill them, right?"

"I'm not sure," Marco admitted, his own feelings for the Monster confusing at best. "But I'm not sure it matters what he would or wouldn't do. As long as Ludo has the staff he's a danger to everyone, including himself." Marco remembered Vigo's warning about the corrupting nature of the staff and he feared what it could do to someone like Ludo.

"W-Why?" Dennis squeaked out in fear. "What's gonna h-happen to my brother?"

Marco bit his lip, not sure if he should go into details or not. Dennis was pretty shaken up and he wasn't too sure on the specifics himself. He didn't want to make things any worse for the poor Monster kid than it was already, so he decided to keep it vague for his sake. "Hopefully nothing if I can get to him in time." His eyebrows furrowed as he gave a lost look around the destroyed clearing. "The problem is I have no idea where he went. He kept moving around a bunch, he could be anywhere!"

"M-Maybe he didn't this time?" Dennis meekly suggested. "My parents always say Ludo is too, um, predictable? I'm not sure what it means but they say it's why he fails so much."

Marco sighed, massaging his pounding temple with his fingertips. "Yeah, you're right. He wouldn't pick somewhere random, not this time. It'd be someplace meaningful and important. Someplace significant to him and the Monsters but secluded enough that no one would think to check for him there."

"Is there even a place like that?" Dennis asked.

And just like that, it clicked in Marco's head. There was only one place in existence Ludo could have gone. Somewhere he could make his grand debut without fear of attracting unwanted attention. A place that held so much history and importance of the Monster race but had been all but abandoned after Toffee's reign had come to an end. A place Marco knew all too well, one that sent shivers of terror up his spine as he imagined reentering the dreaded prison of his childhood.

"Toffee's castle," Marco breathed. "Ludo's took them to Toffee's castle."

And that's the chapter! Sorry to end it here but this seemed like the right place to stop on both until the next one. So yeah two cliffhangers in one chapter and they said it couldn't be done! Haha but seriously, for those of you who were really wanting to see Heinous get her comeuppance it's coming, I swear, Star just has a little more to face before she's ready to overcome Heinous. As for Marco, well time for some serious growth for him haha. So the whole reason I split up Star and Marco for the finale was that I just didn't think one villain would be a good substitute for the evil that was Toffee so I wanted to have two story arcs at once for this season. Plus Star and Marco tend to rely on each other and now they will have to do some growing on their own. It's all for a reason I promise.

I feel kinda bad using Daisy and Violet this way but this always the plan for them. I didn't create them just for this chapter but this was always going to be the direction it went in. However, don't worry Heinous is going to release them, I can't let them suffer too much.

So that's it I think. Gonna be hard at work on the next one, so I'll see you all then! Thanks for reading!

Monkey lover 911- Glad you liked it! Yeah, Marco really does bring out the best in Star. It's why they need each other! Star definitely had a hard time back then, that's why she's so traumatized later on. But at least she's doing better now…. Awww thank, I'll do my best! Stay awesome, friend!

Gamelover41592- Thank you! Yeah, as we've seen Star has gotten a lot better since Marco came into her life but trauma is hard to recover from completely. I'm sure she'll get there though! Thanks, it's good to be back!

LockAndKey989- Haha yeah I knew this would be a big one. I've been sitting on this chapter for years and it feels soooo good to finally let people read it! It was originally gonna be back in season 1 but I felt it would fit better here. I was excited when I came up with the concept of the backstory being told entirely from Jackie's perspective for the exact reason you stated. I got to do a deeper dive on Star's trauma, give Jackie her full backstory, and even show the bond the two girls have had for so many years.

Yeah, Star's coping mechanism is pretty much the same as Steven's, even though the reason for them acting that way is very different. It's funny Marco shares a lot of similarities with kid Steven while Star shares similarities with teenage Steven. Huh, totally didn't plan that but it's an interesting coincidence.

RJWritingInk ch. 49- Yep! Totally agree. Jackie isn't one to be held up for long, she's always gotta keep pushing herself forward. And she's definitely one to learn from her mistakes. Ha, eating out of a straw is impossible for a corpse, which is definitely what she's gonna be once I'm done with her! *sees Meteora comment and casually starts whistling inconspicuously*

Ch. 50- You said it! Death would be a mercy for what we'd all do to her no doubt. Star is gonna show her up when the time comes though, don't worry! All that suffering is not gonna be for nothing. Awww thanks! That means a lot coming from a fellow writer! I did my best to not go too into detail over what happened, since even I couldn't handle that much trauma, so instead I made sure to focus on the aftermath and impression it left on Star. To me that was more powerful anyways. I am pretty happy with how it turned out for sure! I don't know about that, you've got the writing chops in my humble opinion, but here's my advice. Know your strengths as a writer but always be willing to try something different, especially if it's something you struggle with. Even if it doesn't turn out great it's still a learning experience!

Bedrock Armor- Good question! It really came down to two reasons. Firstly, the way people view Star is very, very important to her and for most of her childhood she was always admired and looked up to, which helped give her most of her confidence and self-worth. Only for her to then come back after suffering so much and have everyone suddenly treating her like she was this fragile, broken thing in need of protection. No one saw her the same way and that was just crushing for Star. For her, pretending to be fine was easier than letting everyone see her as broken. And on top of that, she had a lot of guilt thanks to Heinous' manipulation, making her feel she deserved in some way to suffer in silence.

It really is amazing! Like seriously sooooo good! And yeah I agree Yamai is probably the one part of the show I don't care for. She's kinda a bit too much. Everyone else though is adorable and lovely and oh so wholesome! Oh hey yeah! Glad to see it's getting a decent fanbase! I'll do my best to check it out! I'm sure it's amazing!

Amazing Storytime- Hey that's high praise! Glad I was able to keep you invested!

DC the cat- I knooowwww it's crazy! I can't believe it's been that long or that I'm still hard at work on it! It feels kinda unreal to me to be honest. Awwww that's so neat! I bet Irish food is super good! Yeah not surprised, a lot of food that is supposed to be from a certain country isn't.

Chapter Review- Yeah it was a tough one to write for that reason but I sooo enjoyed the challenge. Getting to write both backstories at once was pretty neat. It's funny you mention it but originally that was a big part of the story. Like Star essentially created the child services and had orphanages and stuff built. I ended up cutting that down to make things flow a bit smoother. And yes that is exactly why Jackie is the way she is! Good on you for catching that!

Yeah I really didn't want to go into details, because I was afraid it would be too much and it allows people to fill in the blanks themselves. The aftermath ended up emotionally resonant enough anyways. Seeing her become a shadow of herself as everyone around her struggles and fails to help her almost hurt to write. And yeah the flashback was a perfect segway for this chapter.

California- That's exactly why I fear earthquakes so much more! There is no place to hide and no warning for them. Dang wildfires can do that! Scary!

Tolkien- Wow. He really had it all thought out. I do enjoy the tie in to our world but I like how he's able to explain how and why none of that is present here. One thing for me is why it's called Middle Earth? Like we call it Earth now but it's kinda like how WW1 was just called the great war back in the day, no one knew there would be a second one.

Amphibia Part 1- Yeah I'm sure there were. Dana Terrance even mentioned this some in interviews. However at a panel they were faced with this exact question and gave the same response that it wasn't Lumity and when asked for what the other reasons were they simply said no comment. Kinda suspicious. Still the show is ending the way it wants even at a shorter length and I'm happy for that. Star Trek and the Expanse both had good communities behind it that were big enough to save their shows from cancellation. Not every show gets that even though it happens all the time. Kim Possible was able to come back for another season thanks to fans, while my poor sweet Wander Over Yonder was left unfinished. It just happens.

Amazon and Audible are both companies first and foremost. This is sadly just common company business. Screwing over creators is just part of the sad, sad world we live in. Ruining art for the sake of profit. It's a horrible state our entertainment media is in let me tell you.

Part 2- Oh great! It was really too good a story to pass up! And yeah I've also seem comics about Luz coming to Earth from Moringmark. I love fics like this that just flip the plot on it's head like that! Vampire fic huh? Love it! This whole exchange is perfect and hilarious! XD Sasha would faint, I'd be right there with her haha. Oh I did! Phew!

Nightmare Fuel- Ohhhh hey I love this limit on there power! Power systems only work when there are limits and how they overcome those limits. I think aliens in this have a ton of potential! Also love that they aren't inherently evil just weary in the same way we are! Good stuff! Oh good! Stranger Things is a freaking amazing show! D&D has a ton of lore! Like soooo much! I only know because I have some friends who are playing it. I personally don't think I'd enjoy it as much but I certainly see the appeal!

Lore Question- I'd like to leave the exact number up to whoever is reading it, whether they think it's infinite or just more than have ever been counted. Personally, I imagine a vast amount of dimensions that have yet to be uncovered. You can only go somewhere you think about going, that's how the scissors work. And while there are ways to travel to new realities, it's a very rare practice at this point. But you are right, MHC can't overlook all of them. And they don't. They are only interested in preserving magic in the multiverse. Therefor, they only pay attention to those who have magical capability, especially those that can have an influence over the magical balance of the universe. If one dimension starts showing potential then they are suddenly on their radar. Or someplace like Earth might attract their attention since they went at war with their most powerful supplier of magic. If a dimension has limited or non-existant magic then they are left to themselves, for better or worse. I imagine it is not uncommon for entire dimensions to cease to exist thanks to the MHC's oversight.

Happy belated 4th of July and Thanksgiving!

KryptonWrites- Ch. 6- Haha, thanks! I liked it!

Ch. 10- Yep, it would probably be the death of Janna if the world found out, honestly.

Ch. 13- Starco's always a win!

Ch. 15- Haha, yeah! The only defense against cliffhangers honestly!

Ch. 29- Sorry it took me so long to get back to you but YES of course you can use my story! I highly encourage it, so long as you credit me!

Ch. 50- Oh hey, I love the idea for your fic! It's been waaayy too long since I've seen an AU crossover for Star! As for your writing request I'm sadly gonna have to decline. I just can't dedicate myself to another fanfic right now. I barely have enough time to finish this story and I have a whole list of other projects on top of that I want to write, plus I work a full-time job and just have a bunch of life stuff to deal with. So yeah, sorry it's just not in the cards for me right now. But if you have questions you're more than welcome to PM me! I'd be happy to give you whatever info you might need for your story! Hope that'll be a good substitute ^^;

Ch. 2- Yeeeaaaah my posting schedule has been pretty sporadic for a while now. I don't even know when I'm gonna finish one at this point, haha. I do have a Tumblr where I post a preview for the chapters a bit before they come out. Hope that helps. Thanks for all the lovely comments!

MYSTORY- Awwwwwww thank you so much!