A/N: Here's a little side chapter. We'll continue with Marco's trial in the next chapter.
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Disclaimer: All characters from Star vs. The Forces of Evil belong to the creators of the show. The plot of this story and any original characters that may appear in it, however, do belong to me and I would kindly ask you to inform me should you want to use anything from this story in your own fanfic.
Beta read by ElleFreak.
Story cover by Luzz015. Be sure to check her out on DeviantArt!
Star vs. The Forces of Evil: Staring it up!
Side Chapter
The Bloodmoon Mystery
The Underworld was famous for two things.
The first was the red hellrock that accounted for 90% of the terrain. It was ever-burning; Once you lit a fire, there was no putting it out. Fortunately for the dwellers of the Underworld, the fires remained where they were and didn't spread, allowing them to live in somewhat habitable conditions.
The second was having human cable and satellite television. How and why, nobody knew or cared, and the cable companies weren't bothered by it, either. The only drawback was that the only channels available were a cooking channel and, to Tom's utmost delight, a dedicated Love Sentence TV channel, the same one that the horned demon was watching whilst singing along to the tunes.
"Master Tom," a shy voice suddenly called, putting a stop to his singalong. Said demon shifted in his seat and turned his head round so that it was facing the door of his room. Upon noticing a familiar feathered figure standing in between the doorframe, twisting her thumbs nervously, fearfully awaiting his reaction, Tom lazily reached for the remote on the table before him and turned the volume all the way down before again facing Trisha, the shy Harpy librarian. In her hands, she was tightly holding four books.
"M-may I come in, master Tom?" she stuttered nervously. Tom smiled casually and chuckled at her nervous behaviour, which he found to be both amusing and cute. Also a bit annoying at times, but fortunately the former two outweigh the latter. He motioned her to step in and for a moment she seemingly disappeared as her red feathers matched perfectly with the colours of his room, mostly red.
"I'm here to report to you my findings," she said, sitting down next to him, and placed the four books she was holding onto the couch.
Tom nodded.
A few weeks ago, he and Trisha had done some research into the Bloodmoon and discovered that it bore a dreadful curse; The two souls bound under its light would, for some inexplicable reason, be forced into circumstances that would lead to one of the eternal lovers putting an end to the other. Normally, he wouldn't bat an eye and let things run their course, however, this time the said souls were his friends, Marco and Star, the former of which he was heavily indebted to, thanks to his involvement in a vile scheme that had, ironically, resulted in the bond between the two besties to grow even stronger.
But that still didn't make up for the fact that he had worked with a group of people whose motives were all but pure. Tom now regretted that he didn't tell Marco the identity of the villains when the opportunity had presented itself; He no longer remembered who they were! A week or so after his confession to Marco, his memories of those people began to blur until he could no longer recognise or remember any of them. The only things he could recall was the shadowy silhouette of a teenage girl and a woman. He couldn't even recall where their meetings had taken place!
The worst part was that, no matter how many of the Underworld mages and demon wizards he'd asked, none of could find any traces of a spell or anything similar on him, meaning that the loss of memory was caused by something else entirely.
It was frustrating, knowing how badly he'd screwed up and all he could do was try and mend it.
To his credit, however, he was trying. Immediately after breaking the shocking news to Marco, Tom ordered Trisha to look up every book, scroll, script, and even parchment that had anything about the Bloodmoon and the Bloodmoon Ball written on it. Trisha then locked herself into the library and spent sleepless nights reading through the encyclopedia of knowledge in an attempt to fulfil her employer's expectations.
Seeing her in his private room could only mean two things; She'd either found nothing, or she'd found something. Taking into account the books she'd placed onto the couch, Tom was betting on the latter.
"You've found something?"
Trisha nodded and placed the four books next to one another. Tom took the opportunity to read their respectful titles.
Of Gods and Celestial Bodies, Volume III
Mask of Tarlala, The Faceless One
The Offspring of None
The Fate of Lovers
Trisha picked up the first book and opened it on a page she'd marked, then placed it back down onto the couch. She repeated this process with the remaining 3 books.
"I've found an abundance of information that could be of great use to you, Master Tom," said Trisha, her voice now containing an edge of confidence that only surfaced whenever she discussed the contents of books. She pointed one of her talons at a picture of the Bloodmoon. Before the moon, bathing in its red light, the silhouette of a feline let its presence be known.
"This book is an encyclopedia," said Trisha. "It didn't contain a lot of useful information, apart from this one page, which speaks of a deity that's linked to the Bloodmoon, but there are no further details beyond that."
"Alright," Tom nodded and continued listening patiently to Trisha, who picked pointed at the second book.
"I'd ruled the book out as being completely worthless until I stumbled across this one," Trisha explained while pointing at the second book. "While no direct link between this book and the first is stated, I believe they both speak of the same deity. You see, the first one speaks of the existence of a goddess residing within the Bloodmoon, or more specifically, trapped inside it."
"Trapped?" Tom asked with an arched eyebrow. Trisha nodded.
"Yes, trapped," she affirmed. "Her name is Tarlala. She's supposedly one of the first beings who were given birth to by the Universe at the beginning of time. She's very powerful, but also lazy and prone to trickery, and loves taking up the form of a feline, which fits together with the vague description of the goddess in the first book." Trisha paused. "Sadly, there wasn't anything written specifically about her in the book, only about her mask. It says that she was outcast by the gods due to her deceitful nature, and they robbed her of her identity by stripping her of her face. To match her faceless appearance, she then carved a mask that matched her feline features. The mask contains her very essence. Anyway, the book then goes on to describe her taking interest in the realm of mortals and mentions that she created the Bloodmoon to quench her eternal thirst for trickery, but, like the other book, it doesn't go into any specifics. Instead, it goes on about sightings and mentions several theories."
"Alright, but why is she trapped inside the Bloodmoon?"
"There are several stories mentioned in the book, but the most likely one is that, due to so much of her power being expended during the creation of the mask, she could no longer retain her ethereal form without some form of anchor, so she placed the remainder of herself inside the very moon she'd created."
"Couldn't she just wear the mask and retain her form?"
"She could, but she chooses not to."
"Why?"
"The reason isn't stated in the second book. Like I said, it doesn't offer any specifics."
"That's where the third book comes in, right?" Tom asked, leaning back into his seat. Trisha nodded and picked up the fourth book, then inched closer to Tom so that he, too, could read the text.
"Indeed, Master Tom-"
"-Tom"
"Oh, alright, Tom," Trisha corrected herself. There was an awkward silence for a moment. Trisha cleared her throat to rid herself of the tension, and continued, "Um, The Offspring of None is a story that talks about a girl who, as the title suggests, the child of nobody."
"How does some random story have anything to do with the problem here?"
"Well, I've mentioned before that Tarlala was stripped of her face and outcast by the gods. Looking at it from a symbolical perspective, this means that she became Nobody. It's clever, actually."
"Not really... It's kinda stupid if you ask me."
Trisha puffed angrily at his remark.
"Regardless," she said with a bitter voice, "This girl, the child of none, is said to possess Tarlala's mask. Through it, the goddess influences on the events near the child to ensure her own entertainment. The mask also serves another purpose; It feeds off the love and misery of the fated couple, allowing Tarlala to, occasionally, take over the host's body. Why she does that, however, isn't mentioned in any of the books."
Trisha put down the third book and picked up the fourth, final book.
"Of what use could that thing possibly be?" said Tom, voicing his scepticism. Trisha arched an eyebrow at him. "No offence, but this book looks like some cheesy romance novel," Tom added.
"Well... that's because it is!" Trisha stated. "It's a book I read some time ago -a very good one, if I may add- and contains three stories of lovers."
"Then why-"
"Because, Tom," she interrupted him mid-sentence. "They all follow the same pattern. They all start with each of the couples dancing under the light of the Bloodmoon, and they all end with..." Trisha fell silent.
"How do they end?"
Trisha took a deep breath. Her tone was filled with sadness as the heavy words left her mouth.
"Sometime after the dance, each of the couples stumbles across a young girl. They form a bond with the girl and become a family. However, the bliss only lasts for a short period of time. Things turn for the worse and the lovers are forced to fight each other, unwillingly. One is killed in combat and the other takes his or her own life, while the fate of the young girl remains a mystery."
"Hmm..." Tom murmured as he rubbed his chin.
"What's more," Trisha continued, "All three of the couples have the same thing in common; The woman or girl was nobility, while her partner was a commoner or an outsider. And, while I can't say for certain, since I've yet to look it up, all three of the couples portrayed in the book are based on actual couples who lived apart exactly 667 years, which is equivalent to the period of time that passes in-between the Bloodmon Balls."
Tom sighed heavily.
"Crap," he mumbled. "Apart from having some kid with a cat mask randomly show up, Starship and Diaz fit the description perfectly..."
"Well, these are just stories and legends. There may be no truth to them, at all."
"If there's one thing I've learned, it's that, sometimes, the craziest stories end up being true." Tom cursed silently, and said, "Does it say anywhere how you can stop things from escalating to the point that the two kill each other?"
Trisha shook her head.
"Not that I'm aware of, no. But I still have two stacks of books to read through, so I may find something, hopefully..."
"In that case, I think I'll help you."
"Really?" Trisha said, surprised by the sudden offer. "Wouldn't it be better to relay the newfound information to Princess Star Butterfly's betrothed?"
"What am I supposed to say? 'Hey, Marco! Listen, you've been cursed by a goddess that looks like a cat for some reason, and you're probably screwed because we haven't found anything that could solve the problem!'"
"... fair point..."
Trisha closed the four books and stacked them atop of one another. As she was about to pick them up, Tom halted her.
"Let me do the lifting!"
"Are you sure?" Trisha asked, sceptically. "They're very heavy..."
"Pfff, heavy!" Tom brushed her worry away and made a roll-up-sleeves gesture, then said cockily as he was about to pick them up, "How 'heavy' could four books possibly be?"
"I did warn you..." Trisha said to a hunched over Tom, who was rubbing his aching back and mumbling angry curses under his breath as he walked alongside Trisha, who was carrying the four books with ease, down the corridor that leads to the castle's library.
Chapter End Notes:
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