I legitimately thought today was Friday... Look, in my defence, I've been cramming my way through 5 books of anthropological research and Japanese textbooks (memorizing Kanji is both the worst and best part of learning Japanese) so my brain is probably lagging a bit.

Derp.

Anyway, enjoy!

Replies to the latest reviews:

Bedrock Armor: The next part will be the last.

Da4K Sid3: The good news is that the next wait is quite literally 6 days. The bad news is that I've legitimately re-written parts of the plot so many times that even I have no idea which version I'm currently writing xD...

Sugar: I'll say this much: one of your speculations is spot on!

Rock Raider: Yeah, I borrowed that bit from E.E. Knight's Dragon Outcast but tweaked it a little. Hey, I like deep stuff. However, your guess of there being multiple universes... I think you'll be surprised.

Luci96: Thanks ^^! I hate making you guys wait, but I hope that the wait is at least somewhat worth it!

Disclaimer: I do not claim the right to Star vs. the Forces of Evil or any of the characters that appear in the show. They belong to Disney and the show's creator, Daron Nefcy. I do, however, claim the right to the plot as well as any original characters that may appear in this fic, and would kindly ask you to inform me should you want to use anything from this fic in your own story. -jolleIQ

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!

Chapter 11

Queen's Lament

Part 7

Mortals are intriguing

Diana didn't respond to the remark posed to her by the levitating orb of red light. Instead, she gazed up at the two sister moons suspended in the near-midnight sky and sighed.

"Do you think it will work this time?"

The orb chuckled.

You worry?

"It's just..." She hesitated. "We've tried so many times and failed each time. If we fail again, I won't know what to do with myself."

There was a pause.

I know not. The orb admitted, its voice soft and gentle, like that of a caring mother. We have tried and we have failed countless times, sister. Truly, I know not.

"..."

Diana kept gazing at the two moons. She reached out to the smaller one with her hand and closed her palm. The celestial object pulsated so faintly that none but an intentive onlooker could have noticed. The spirit girl, her likeness that of the queen whose shape she had taken all those years ago, sighed a weary sigh and looked to the floating orb of red to her right.

"...am I being selfish?"

What do you mean, sister? the spirit wondered.

Diana cast a solemn gaze at the spirit, and said, "I've caused much pain and suffering, and now-" she looked down through the hole of the dome-like structure and saw Moon hiding behind the doorway, clutching a wrinkled letter in her right hand and gazing at Ula who was dancing with her daughter. "-I'm about to cause even more."

'Tis necessary, sister. The orb stated, bluntly. Without sacrifice, there can be no triumph. Have you forgotten?

"I know, I know!" Diana replied, frustrated. "I just wish things could be different for once!"

Different how, sister?

Diana narrowed her eyes at the red orb.

"I don't know! Just... different!"

You say funny things, sister. The orb snickered. You know as well as I that this path is the only one left. We have crossed all others.

"Have we, though?"

It is what you have seen, is it not, sister? asked the orb. Diana cast her gaze downwards and frowned. This world, said the orb, is a strange one. It is the first time we have seen glimpses of our past actions and know how to act upon them to manipulate our fate. Or rather, you have seen them. And of all the possible outcomes-

"-Only one of which is satisfactory," Diana concluded for her and sighed a weary sigh. "But I only saw fragments; bits and pieces of past worlds, each of them ending in despair, but I saw only a single future for this one."

Have you tried wielding the wand again?

"Yes, but nothing happened. It is strange. Yes. Truly strange..."

There was a silence.

Perhaps the stage is already set? the orb suggested. Perhaps the path we are on has but one destination. Or, perhaps, no matter the outcome, this world will be the last. Our powers grow weaker with each transcendence, sister. And this one seems to have sent us very far back in time, further than we've ever been allowed.

"Which means that either way, this is probably our last chance."

It would seem so, sister.

Heaving a sigh, Diana stood up and looked downwards through the large hole in the roof of the dome-shaped ballroom and saw Moon hiding behind the main door, clutching a paper in her trembling hands as a Mewman soldier kept telling her something.

"It would be so easy to just go down there and put an end to all of this..." Diana's gaze drifted towards Ula and Tethys who were dancing merrily to the wondrous melodies of the bards' instruments.

Indeed.

"What if there's more to the wand?" Diana remarked. "What if I need to do... something in order to trigger further glimpses?"

The orb chuckled.

Your mind is still searching for a key to open Pandora's Box without unleashing the evils within, sister?

Diana replied with a solemn nod.

You still hope to fight fate, sister? Tarlala chuckled, but it wasn't a chuckle filled with ill-intent, but rather one of pity and powerlessness.

"I just need to figure out which steps I must manipulate in order to change the outcome. Even a single inch of difference per step can make a mile of a difference when tallied up."

Perhaps, the orb replied, bluntly. Whatever the case, it would be a folly to behave recklessly now. We must presume that this part of the play is set and look for the parts we can alter. We must endure, sister. We must endure.

"As if we haven't endured enough?" Diana chuckled grimly.

It seems not, sister.

"Aren't you supposed to be the optimist?"

A thousand years of having to witness different variants of the same tragedy numbs even the most resilient of optimisms, sister.

"Can't say you're not right," Diana admitted and once more gazed downwards at Moon. "I suppose it is time to assume my role."

Act well, sister. For all three of us.

"I do this for just one of us," replied Diana with a harsh tone. "And it is neither you nor me."

The orb chuckled.

'Twould truly be a strange world if she were introduced to the play this early, sister. The orb began ascending towards the sky, leaving Diana alone. Good luck, sister. I shall patiently wait behind the stage for my queue to emerge. Farewell, sister.

"Farewell."

With that, the orb of light disappeared.

Left alone, Diana survived the Ballroom once more and saw Moon gazing through the open door, her eyes locked onto the royal family she had welcomed with such open arms, disbelief written on her face. Diana looked away and allowed her bangs to obscure her eyes as her gaze was aimed at her feet. She chuckled, and the chuckling turned into maniacal laughter. After composing herself, she placed the palm of her hand to her forehead and gazed at the heavens with glistering eyes.

"How much more do you want me to endure for sins that aren't mine?"

There was no reply.

Outside the ballroom

Her breaths were shallow. The world around her was mute. The soldier was telling her something, but her ears wouldn't listen. Her mind was blank. She couldn't think. Not a single thought could manifest itself. The only sense that still worked was her sight, and the images it was feeding her mind were incompatible with her memories.

The words on the paper were swirling in her head. Again and again the young princess read the letter, word for word, sentence for sentence, paragraph for paragraph.

It made no sense.

It was a lie.

No, it had to be a lie.

It had to be.

She unmuted her ears and listened to the soldier's words. He explained it to her carefully and in great detail; the investigation, the evidence, the testimonies from the monsters they'd bribed; all were pointing towards the same, unanimous conclusion: her parents, the two people she had loved, no, still loved the most, had been killed, and the person who had ordered the cruel act was none other than the cheerful, friendly, kind, easy-going... and deceptive Queen Ula.

Moon took a deep breath to compose herself and asked with closed eyes.

"How reliable is this information?" she asked, the question coming out as a whisper.

"Very," replied the soldier.

"Alright," said Moon. "And tell me again: how exactly did you obtain this information?"

"Pure luck, really," the soldier chuckled. "One of our spies was busy rummaging through some desks in their sleeping chambers and happened to find a letter detailing the plot amongst a stack of other papers. We then did some digging and uncovered the whole truth of-"

"The letter," the young queen cut in, sternly. "Do you have it with you?"

"Naturally."

"Show it to me. Now!"

The soldier reached into his pocket and retrieved a piece of aged paper, like someone had rubbed coffee crumbs across the surface, and handed it to Moon. She opened it and her eyes darted from one corner to the other rapidly as she read its contents. Once she was done, she clenched the paper tightly and took a deep breath. She opened her eyes, brimming with focus, and asked, "And this is confirmed to be hers?"

"That seal at the bottom-right is one only she uses," the man said and pointed as a symbol of a mermaid wielding a trident and jabbing it through a star. "Regardless of whether this was her plot or not, she gave her approval."

Moon folded the paper in half, clenched it tightly and wordlessly stormed off down the hallway.

"My queen?" the guard asked, about to follow her, but he was stopped by Moon's stern gaze as she whipped her head around.

"Leave me be. If anyone asks, I will be back in a moment."

She made sure she was a good distance away from the ball and outside of anyone and everyone's earshot, having dismissed any feeble guardsman that insisted on accompanying her along the way, when she allowed herself to slump against a pillar and for her stern, undaunting look to be replaced by one of confusion and dismay.

She felt like throwing up.

With her right hand pressed against a pillar and her gaze aimed at the floor, she said, "That... that can't have been right..."

Righting herself, she unfolded the letter that was supposedly Ula's and read it from top to bottom once, then twice, then trice and even a dozen times, and with each reading, she grew more and more confused, even downright bewildered.

Queen Ula, a murderer?

"Impossible..."

And yet, she was holding the evidence of the exact opposite in her hands.

"Ok! Ok! Calm down, Moon! Calm down!" she kept repeating aloud as she paced in circles. "This is just a sheet of paper, nothing more. It could be an elaborate forgery! It could also be an attempt at sparking a war between Mewni and the Monster Alliance! Or it could even be... whatever! But there is no possible way that it's real!" She stopped in place. "Well, it's not impossible but it's still impossible!" Moon placed the palm of her hand on her aching forehead. "Ugh, what am I going to do?"

It was a rhetorical question as she truly was in a hopeless position.

If she walked up to Ula and asked her, even if she was guilty - which she definitely wasn't! - she could simply play dumb and cover her footprints, or even worse, she could cry outrage over such a blatant accusation and grant herself an edge in all subsequent negotiations.

Letting the matter rest until more evidence came out was also pointless. If this was true, then what's to say Ula and Tethys were not busily planning for her demise as well? Her guards were the finest of the fine, but even they could do little against an arrow rushing at her from a blind spot. Simply keeping quiet about it would only grant her alleged foes more time to execute the remainder of their sinister plots.

Keeping a close eye on her? Given that she was willingly inside castle Mewni, it couldn't get much closer than that!

"And besides," she muttered to herself, "I can't take any actions until I know for certain they are the culprits."

"They are."

The familiar voice startled her. She spun around and saw Diana standing in the middle of the hallway, gazing at her with a sorrowful expression. "They are, Moon," she repeated and walked closer.

"Diana?" Moon questioned, a puzzled look on her face.

"I saw you leave the ballroom. You looked distraught so I decided to follow you," the spirit-girl explained. "I was hoping to break the news to you in a more subtle way," she added, gazing at the paper in Moon's hand. The young queen's eyes doubled in size.

"Diana, you knew about this?" Moon asked in disbelief.

"I knew." Diana nodded. "I've known for some days now."

Moon could only stare at her as her mind registered this piece of information.

"H-How-"

"Remember, Moon," Diana interrupted her with a meek smile, "We may look alike, but I am not of your mortal coil. I have my ways."

"You have your- are you kidding me!?" The bubble burst and Moon's anger exploded like a water balloon, and the water splashed all over Diana, who took a trembling step backwards. "Diana! You're telling me that you knew about this for days and haven't told me!?"

"Moon, relax and let me-"

"Relax? Relax!?" Moon stomped over to Diana such that their faces were at best a foot or two separated. "Diana, you've been frolicking around while I was hosting murderers!? In my own castle!? What were you thinking? No, that's precisely it, you weren't thinking! If you had been thinking, you would have told me as soon as you found out! You're the worst! you're-"

*slap*

Moon rubbed her right cheek. Diana lowered her hand and placed the other on Moon's shoulder.

"Better?"

Moon aimed her perplexed gaze at the girl and blinked a couple of times, then frowned angrily.

"No. Not really," she replied, bluntly, and gently brushed off Diana's hand. "Diana, if you knew about this for so long, why didn't you just tell me? And more importantly-" Moon paused for a moment, then asked with a meek voice, "Is this really, really true?"

Diana nodded.

"It is, no doubt about it. Ula and Tethys are the ones who conspired against your parents and ordered their assassination." Diana cast a sorrowful look at the floor. "I'm sorry, Moon."

"B-but- why?"

It didn't make sense.

Nothing made sense.

The letter, Ula, Tethys, Diana.

Nothing made any sense.

Moon wanted- needed answers.

"How did you find out?"

"I was wandering about, pulling tricks on the guardsmen when I walked past their bedchambers and overheard them talking about it," Diana explained. "Sadly, that wasn't the only sort of noise I heard..." Diana shuddered at the second part.

Moon arched an eyebrow and let the words settle in, then blushed deeply and covered her flustered face with both hands.

"D-Diana!" she yelled, flustered and furious. "This is no time for jokes!"

"Oh, trust me, I wish I was joking..."

"Diana!" Moon practically shrieked, then turned her head in all directions to make sure none of the guardsmen had decided to check up on her. If they saw her talking to herself and blushing all over the place, they'd think she had lost it. They were still alone. Moon breathed in deeply to compose herself, then said, seriously, "What did they say?"

"When I overheard her talking to her husband in their bedchambers. They were laughing. They were making fun of you. "Oh, the poor thing! Maybe we should get her next, dear?" and things like that... it was horrible-"

Moon grabbed her by the shoulders and slammed her against the pillar. Diana looked at her with petrified eyes as the Queen yelled, "Why didn't you tell me about this sooner!? Why just now!?" It was a maddened cry. All self-constraint had left the young queen's mind. It was when she saw the fright in Diana's eyes that some of her natural composure returned. She let go of Diana and offered a swift apology.

There was an awkward silence between the two, which was broken by a sudden question by the spirit-girl.

"Do you trust me, Moon?"

The question took her off guard and after a moment of contemplation, she nodded.

"I trust you."

"Fully?"

"Diana, why are you suddenly asking me this?"

"I... I..." as Diana continued, her eyes began to water. "B-because!" Diana managed to stutter. "You and Ula were getting along so well. Surely, you would have thought me a liar! I didn't want that!" Diana turned away from the young queen and hugged herself, and continued with a teary voice, "I was alone for so long; a spirit lost in the cosmos. I had no one, whereas you've always had others by your side. If I lost your trust... I wouldn't know what to do with myself... I didn't want that..."

Diana glanced backwards to see a shell-shocked Moon staring at her.

"So I ask you again: do you fully trust me?"

"I..."

An odd feeling overcame her. Not sadness but... something.

"I do," she stated, and Diana smiled and turned her back to her once more.

"Then, you'll trust my words?"

"Of course!" Moon exclaimed, determined to uncover the cruel truth. "Diana, tell me what you heard!"

"All of it?"

Strange questions... strange feeling...

"All of it!"

"She smiles and laughs at your suffering, Moon," said Diana, spinning around to face her, a sinister expression on her face. Diana edged closer to Moon and ran a finger along her chin. "They all laugh, do they not?"

"A-all?" Moon stuttered.

"The monsters, of course," said Diana. "They laugh. They make light of your misery- no, they delight in it. All of them, no doubt." Diana leant in closer, such that her lips were an inch or two away from young Moon's ear. "They dance and laugh at your expense. I wonder how triumphant they are feeling right now? To dance and dine in the halls of the victim, and with your own blessings, no less!" Diana giggled. "Ah, what a poetic triumph, wouldn't you agree?"

Moon swallowed.

Confusion... anger... rage...

"Oh, and the sweet, sweet things they say about your parents!" Diana danced and twirled around Moon as she spoke, as though weaving her deeper into her trance. "Your father! He bled like a pig, they say!"

Moon could feel her body swaying from side to side.

The whispers grew louder.

"Oh, and your poor, poor mother!"

Hate... hate... hate...

"What did they say about my mother?" Moon asked. Or was it her? She didn't know. She didn't care. She just wanted an answer.

Diana placed a hand to her mouth and giggled innocently.

"Do you want to know?" Diana snickered. "Do you really want to know, Moon? Do you want to hear the truth from my mouth?"

"Tell me!" the cry echoed across the hall. The young queen's eyes were those of some primal beast, a great flame of rage burning within them.

Diana snickered.

"Very well..."

What did she tell her?

Truthfully, she didn't know. She didn't care. As she stormed towards the ballroom, a single thought consumed her mind. A thought so simple, yet so frighteningly powerful, and it was all she could think of.

One thought.

One word.

Revenge.

As she watched her go, wand in hand, Diana smiled and walked to the nearby windowsill and gazed at the sky.

The moons were red.

To be concluded next Friday...


So, thoughts?

-jolleIQ