Being tailed was probably not part of the plan, but luna was right, sky could just use magic to get out of this. The problem was just well, her wand was faulty. I guess compared to other spells these were simpler but sill, what if something went wrong? Though, it was still their best bet more then anything. If luna couldn't follow her it was up to sky, and if it is up to sky then she has to do something to make sure she got away with this. And magic was the only way.

Guess it was worth a shot, luna would not be happy if she showed back up empty handed.

She went on her way till she was as close as she could find herself to the crime scene without ticking off the guard behind her. She pulled out her wand and kept it from sight as she whispered among herself, "Easy peasy time freezy!". For a second it didn't seem to be working, until sky realized all sound had stopped around her. She turned around and just as planned, the guard was actually frozen, it worked! Sky sighed in thanks before bolting it, she needed to move as fast as possible before father time started moving again.

The guy was unpredictable, and that mean he could either return time in a few minutes or a few hours if he wanted to. Sky suddenly felt an urge of regret, as this could delve into a lot of problems if things went wrong. Oh god sometimes she wanted to punch luna. She could only hope this time around she'd be lucky, that and, all her years running around the lucitor castle with the princes paid off in the end. She kinda felt a bit like a spy, except less cool and more unskilled.

She found the room she was looking for quickly, thank god for being friends with the lucitors, and like as expected, it was filled with guards. Talking to each other. searching the scene, and carrying weapons in case of an attack. Sky just needed to take a look around and leave, simple. She hadn't exactly been in this room mcuh in her lifetime so she could only hope the walk was short. Stepping around the chamber carefully, it was fairly easy to find the display that was broken, glass on the floor and tape around the scene. Sky took a look at it, only to find the display did not have any markings indicating what was missing. The whole room in itself was filled with artifacts, some sky knew, others not so much, all in cases or perhaps under more maximum security cases. But much to the dismay of sky, in addition to no label, there wasn't even a map to help her out in here.

Then again, this was not some museum, this was a place to keep these things safe.

What to do though?

She pulled out the compact quickly before snapping a pic of the case, her eyes wandering around the scene as she got some snaps of her surroundings. Man the lucitors had more stuff then she remembered, in fact, most of this she could've sworn she saw during some of their presentations to previous balls. Memories flooded back as she finished taking pics and quickly started making her way back, she couldn't leave evidence behind and she carefully made sure not to touch any of the guards on her way out.

God, if her mom could see her now.

Surprisingly, the ordeal turned out better then she thought it would have. Guess judas really did have a point when telling her just how powerful her family was. Sky probably could've stolen stuff this way if she wanted to and no one would've been any wiser. Just as long as she made sure there was no way afterwards for anyone to trace the incident back to her. Sky then suddenly had a thought, one which she dismissed entirely as there was no way her mom did this.

Right?

Right.

She needed to stop letting luna get to her, no one knew her mom better then HER mom after all. She needed to focus just now on getting what she needed to continue the investigation and then scram before things got worse. She shook away her thoughts and kept a move on, thankful for the annoying dance lessons she had been getting for years. It at the very least kept her light and limber, so she could easily avoid the frozen bodies without difficulty, especially since she was small anyway..

However, her carefulness got the best of her when she felt herself slip and fall on the floor. Clearly slipping on some mopped spots around the area, welp, so much for being stealthy. She got up quickly, she needed to get a move on and she didn't have the time to lollygag. She picked up the pace and ran, and to her worry, time was starting to move again and she hadn't yet returned to the guard. She found her way back to the hallway and to her dismay the guard reanimated back to himself immediately.

curse father time.

He blinked at the sight of sky being a bit further then she was and sky knew it must've looked as though she teleported in his eyes.

"Uhhh...".

"Princess Butterfly?"

But that last one didn't come from the guard.

"Sky?"

Sky turned as two familiar figures came down the hallway. A human queen of the underworld, and a pink demon about her age standing next to them. Landon looked surprised to see her, but probably more surprised she wasn't with judas and instead was in the middle of the hallway. Sky was panicking a little, was she busted? until the queen stepped forward in delight, "Sky! Your moms didn't send you here, did they? Though It's very good to see you nonetheless...".

"No no no, my moms didn't send me, i just heard what happened and came over. Uh...what were you doing?", marco eyed their son, "We were just checking up on lucy, her nose is a bit iffy and i think she needs some times for it to clear out, she'll be ok.". Landon shrugged, "Our rabbits and horses and well..whatever mason is secretly keeping will probably be fine too after we get them all some treats.". His mother patted him on the back as they smiled to sky.

" I assume you're here for us...", marco noticed the guard in the hallway and urged him to move, telling them they didn't need their assistance anymore to watch sky. The guard looked as though they wanted to say something, but complied and walked off, giving sky the eye on his way out. " Well yeah uh...hope you don't mind, I have a friend with me. She went through the precautions of course! She's perfectly safe and judas vouched for her!".

Landon's expression told sky enough he knew who she was talking about.

"Alright.", marco said, "But next time, don't bring someone new in after something as bad as a break in...we're all a little on edge and last thing we need is people we aren't too familiar with just waltzing in, got it?". Sky nodded, making it clear she understood under the human's stern gaze. To an extension tom and marco were her parents too, at least, sometimes they felt like it judging by how they scolded her and took care of her at time when she was over.

it wouldn't surprise her if her own parents gave the two permission to ground her themselves.

Marco led the way, sky trying her hardest to not look like she'd just been snooping around as landon continued giving her the eye. Landon clearly did not entirely believe her story and honestly it was possible marco didn't either. Sky getting herself into trouble was too well known for the closest of her friends and family to not catch on how prone she was to getting in trouble whether she wanted to or not. Landon eyes to her as she looked away until they made their way back to the safe room.

Thank freaking heck marco walked in, how sky was going to explain herself teleportating would've been crazy. Though hopefully that wasn't going to bite her in the future. At least she had the pictures she needed, pulling out her compact and sending them to luna's new compact, making sure to text her mothers of where she was before pocketing her compact. Hopefully the situation wasn't going to force her down here the rest of the night, hopefully.

Though as she re-entered the room, she stopped in her tracks.

Luna and Judas were still head on in their game and much to her surprise the remained of guests were surrounding them and cheering them on, even celeste, it was like they were watching a tournament. Luna was not as good as judas and it showed however, but she did decent holding against her own, guess sky shouldn't have underestimated her so much. Judas luckily hadn't lost his cool, he was in his element after all. Judas was no sore loser, if anything he preferred a little competition.

He was winning, but only to 3 points.

Tom sure looked proud and marco rolled their eyes at the sight before approaching tom and questioning if this were his doing, which was followed by a playful push on their end to their husband. Landon looked to sky with another look before joining the group, though clearly only because he was bored, leaving sky to find a place to sit for now and just watch the show. One of the couches was free and she found a plate of nachos out, taking a few and munching on them. It had been a long day hadn't it? Though there was something rather nice about seeing everyone laughing and having fun together, especially all the girls.

She felt her eyes droop, and she found herself falling asleep right then and there.


She awoke with a shake to her shoulders, blinking her eyes open to find judas above her, as well as everyone else. Looking very concerned, as though she had three heads or something. Then sky realized her head hurt, and she wasn't on the couch anymore, instead on the floor. She felt her head, "Ugh...guys...did i like, fall off the couch?". Judas nodded, "Yeah it kinda seems so, are you ok? we were worried you got seriously hurt, you were still asleep.".

"Oh uh...sorry...I guess maybe i passed out and slipped off in my sleep uh...did i miss anything?", judas stood up, helping his friend stand as well. "You don't have to worry about that, you sure you're ok?", sky nodded, "you can relax, i didn't die or anything, just a bump.". Tom and marco then stepped forward, marco handing her an icepack, "Glad you're ok butterfly, maybe we outta send you back home to your moms though, it'll be getting late and i'm not sure if they want you stuck in here all night.".

"Queen lucitor, i'm not dying-"

"I'm aware, but i don't think we are allowed to keep you here unless we speak to them, we're all only here for the night just for safety, but you have other places to be. I'm going to send word to star, you just lie down for a second.", marco left and the groups disbanded as sky sat back down on the couch. Actually, she fell rather far from the couch didn't she? Whatever, luna took a seat next to her, indicating she got what she needed. "When I've visited the lucitor castle, i've never seen something in this display, guess we're going to have to question your friend.".

"We could've done that from the beginning..", Sky grumbled.

"Judas didn't know either, but now, he can tell us...oh, and delete those pics from your compact, can't leave any evidence."., she stood up, leaving the girl groaning as judas now took a seat next to her. "Hey, well, i think me and luna are gonna save the rest of the game for later, we were...well, we were more worried about you. For the record, i was still in the lead.". He poked his tongue out at her in attempts to make her laugh, sky took it, at least sending him a smile, "Well at least you had fun...uh...hows the band by the way?".

Judas stopped smiling and rolled up his sleeve, showing off the shock band. "Luckily i haven't had to use it, but, i think the fact it reassures me help my parents relax a little...and well, you know my grandpa is super happy about it. Maybe if i'm lucky this'll be the one.". Sky thought about the conversation she had earlier about his arm and sighed, "I hope. But hey, you're doing pretty great so far!". Judas seemed to appreciate that before sighing, "That reminds me, i want you to have this...".

He pulled something from his pocket, a small remote.

"You should have this...everyone has one, in case i...y'know...".

Sky didn't even refuse, whatever made judas feel safer honestly.

He smiled, nodding before there was silence between them, silence despite the room being filled with people who were talked to each other. At least they were giving the friends their space, at least that was appreciated. "Katrina says hi." Judas looked up, "Wait, you saw katrina? Aw man, I miss her. How'd you find her?", then he got it spoon after he asked, "She was in work today huh? I'm sorry I missed her, i miss her gumbo so much. Wish I had some, the servants don't make it like her place does.".

"She's planning on coming, to well, your crowning."

"She is?", he sounded touched at the sound of that, probably because he knew how busy katrina was as is. "Yeah dude, she's totally coming, she wasn't gonna ditch one of her favorite little buddies on his special day.", judas hit her lightly, "Oh don't start with that! But yeah, if she's really coming i'll make sure my folks reserve her a seat. Honestly i'm sure they delight in anyone they can invite considering how busy everyone is these days, mom is still struggling to get some of their family down here but i think the idea of being in a dimension underworld with a bunch of demons is uh...not for everyone.".

"Oh yeah, didn't your great grandma freak when she found out your mom was dating your dad?".

"Well, at first she was but, my dad sorta grew on everyone after awhile. But it wouldn't matter regardless, i mean, maybe mom can figure out how to live down here, but that doesn't mean every human can. Doesn't help that most of my family are on different parts of earth anyway. But it's ok, i mean, most of the people going are the ones closest to me anyway. You know my grandparents have no problem coming all the way from earth to my ceremony, though mom worries they'll go overboard with the pictures.".

"How overboard can they get?".

"My family has a room solely dedicated to the paintings of me as a BABY. When they choose to go overboard, they REALLY choose to go overboard.", he smiled, "Don't worry, my folks will try to keep them down i'm sure, let's just hope they don't get too ahead of themselves.". Judas seemed to be reminiscing about some of the nicer parts of his family, the ones who weren't judgmental about race or the marriage of his folks or grand folks, his family was complicated, but at least he still loved them.

"Hey sky?".

"Yeah?".

"Thanks for coming over, it's nice to talk to you about something normal for a bit, even if we're uh...locked in a safe room.", sky snorted, "Remember the time we got trapped in a cave cause i was chasing a stray cat? And turns out it sealed itself until we freaking had to meow our way out?". Her friend smirked, "Well, we were in the cats with human faces dimension, so honestly i dunno what you expected, we honestly should've tried that from the beginning.".

"Oh don't you dare, you did nothing too! You literally thought you could dig your way out!", the demon's three eyes only dimmed, "You know, when you're trapped in a dark cave, you need to consider all options of escape, our parents would've lost their neck if we never got home.". Sky shook her head, "You're weird jude.". And his response matched the girl's tone perfectly, "You're one to talk Princess Skyler Butterfly, you do wander around with monster hats on after all.".

"Oh don't even, horn head."

"Hate to break it to you sky, but i can't exactly take my horns off! Clearly you're working on your halloween costume 24/7 with clothes like those!".

The two started laughing when marco approached, finally getting word from sky's parents on the situation at hand. "Well, star apparently sees this as somehow a sleepover so i guess that means you really are staying in here tonight.", marco sounded annoyed, but not at having sky over, but probably more at star for her reaction. "We'll call on some blankets, in the morning everyone will head back and things should be in order, and you won't have to be under guard, in the meantime, don't get into any trouble in here. This is still a very serious matter.".

Marco patted their son's head before heading off to tell the other kids, allowing judas and sky to continue their talk. "Well i though your next sleepover event would be with melaine...but well, this works too. So tell me, what were you really doing when you claimed to be getting landon?". If sky had any water in her mouth she'd probably have spat it all over the lucitor's nice carpet. Judas was no fool, of course he was suspicious that she had been doing something else.

"Uh-".

"You can't lie to me sky, i know luna was plotting something and you were in on it. Spill it, you snuck to the scene didn't you?', Sky pressed a finger to her lips, "Look, we'll talk about it...later, after everyone is asleep, ok? Not out in the open where your parents are?". Judas raised an eyebrow but complied, "As long as you didn't make things worse or get yourself in trouble. You didn't did you?". Sky bit her lip, "Uh, probably not?", but her answer didn't satisfy judas.

"What do you mean..."probably?".

"I'll tell you later ok? First, sleep.".


Sleeping bags lined the floor, guards were outside the doors, and magic spells for protection were all around. Marco made an effort to make sure everyone was tucked in and was perfectly warm down in the underworld. Tom's parents had still not returned but were reported around the kingdom doing some of their own investigating. Though in judas's mind he could only assume his grandfather was meeting with more of his spies in order to have them figure out who broke in.

It sounded way more like his grandpa then anything else, though hopefully he knew what he was doing. Judas shifted in his sleeping bag, wishing to leave but was totally unable till morning thanks to his own parents. He had to wait till everyone was asleep, and luckily sky and luna were right next to him. Mason of course was a little upset his parents thought he should sleep in the bag and not on the ceiling and upside down like he wanted. But he passed out fast, wings wrapping around his body.

His parents had called him "Little bat" as a baby after all.

Judas slept on his back of course, he wished his had his special pillow for his horns but this was what he was stuck with tonight. He found himself moving a ton, trying to get comfortable in his spot. At least it kept him awake to speak to everyone, after his mom went to bed, right next to tom of course. He felt a tad relieved, now, he just had to wait. He was dozing off by the time sky and luna got his attention of course. Them motioning for him to follow them into the bathroom.

At least the bathroom was soundproof, quiet, and well...bright. Too bright in fact, the sudden light almost being blinding after being in the dark for so long. He blinked his way through it as he sat down on the cool tiled floor next to his friends. He was cold, but only briefly till his part demon body heat helped him. "Ok girls, you better tell me what you were up to, wandering around our castle at this time was not exactly a brilliant move, and you really could've gotten hurt.", he crossed his arms, sighing.

"Judas, what was in this case?", sky ignored his question to instead shove the picture on her compact right into the demon's face. "Wait? You took pictures too? How the heck did you even get this close?! Is our security REALLY that bad all of a sudden?". Sky waved her hands out in front of her though, "No no no! It's more like...I froze time for a little bit, i mean, luna sorta told me how so I did it and it worked, but i guess father time got back to wheeling cause time came back soon after..".

"You FROZE TIME?".

"Honestly it's not that hard of a spell, i'm surprised she hasn't used it sooner", luna added in, bothering judas further. "Besides, it worked, and no one will even know she was there now. Now, back to our question judas, what was in that case?". But judas was still processing the fact his friend used a spell to freeze time, perhaps thinking of ALL the times that could've come in handy in the past when they got into scrapes. "Prince lucitor? We need to talk about this before everyone wakes up and finds us here, if anyone would know about this it would be you.", judas bit his lips before looking at the photo again.

There was silence before a smile pressed to judas's lips, "Oh, that makes sense...". The girls shared puzzled expressions, "Whoever was stealing from us, was no ordinary guy, he must've been keeping track of all the artifacts we showed. Which were never to the public but to other royal families.". Sky snorted, "So you mean this was one of the artifacts your dad showed off? Was it the still-beating heart or something?". Luna raised an eyebrow, "And what's with the expression, you look way too happy?".

Judas's smile faded and he seemed to be thinking of something before he spoke again, "I-I'm not allowed to really talk about this i'm afraid, but just know my dad was right, it's not anything to worry about. ". The puzzled looks of the girls didn't change, judas wasn't making any sense. Why would there be nothing to worry about? If someone went through all this effort to steal it it had to be worth something right? Either way the girls were not pleased with his answers.

"Judas, c'mon, be serious-".

"I am being serious sky, and trust me, we're good.".

"What, are you forbidden to talk about it?".

"Something like that yes."

"It can't be THAT important, this is an artifact!"

Judas wasn't letting up though, "I'm sorry gals, but trust me, if it really mattered, i'd say something. You guys gotta trust me on this, i know you're starved for information on this but this is nothing you need to worry about, regardless, i'm at least happy knowing what was stolen. I'll have to confront my dad more on it later.". Luna was not going to give up and if she could sky would not be surprised if she tried to use magic on the demonic prince.

Then some knocking could be heard on the bathroom door, diverting everyone's attention to it. At first it was hard to hear who was on the other side, but they eventually could hear it was tom. Woops. Looks like he had to use the bathroom at night and found the kids. The kids got up, grabbed everything and as tom finally opened the door they darted out and made their way back to bed. Getting out was really their only plan anyway, hopefully tom was too tired to notice.


Nothing was mentioned about the ordeal till morning, and even then it was hard to sleep after something like that.

They were almost caught, and no doubt because of judas of course. If he wasn't keeping things from them this could've wrapped up way sooner and answered the questions the girls wanted to know and still had no answers about.

Guess if anything judas was at least happy to finally get some rest, the guy looked like he may pass out when he got into the bathroom anyways.

That made one of them.

Sky was annoyed with him for not being truthful about what was going on. He was probably right in that whatever was stolen was not a big deal but at the same time telling her would at least make her feel a bit better about the situation. Though the only one less satisfied was of course luna, at least sky could understand if it was a thing he was not allowed to talk about because of his parents, but luna considered the situation a possible matter of life or death and hiding this info could lead to future issues.

Honestly to Sky, Luna and Judas seemed to share so much in common, both being responsible and determined rulers who had their issues. But if anything, this kinda told her judas was much more laid back and was more accepting to failure then Luna was. Luna got on edge when something went wrong while jude learned to deal with it. Whether it had to do with years of his arm or not sky at least had to give him credit for his loyalty to his family despite luna's reaction.

The morning was spent grabbing some snacks and allowing everyone to go home as the adults went to speak with the guards. Sky pulled luna along quite quickly, galexia following a long behind them as she waved to judas and her friends. The Sooner she kept them from starting another fight the better, and honestly she just hoped luna would just take judas's word on the whole matter and allow it to ease her mind. But that was easier said then done.

This was a scary time and anything that happened put her on edge, sending her off to continue her knight training each day was worrysome in itself if luna wandered off and maybe started doing her own work. Even as days past and luna seemed to calm down it didn't make sky worry less that she may be up to something on her own. In fact, her not freaking out anymore was a sign that she may of found a less then suitable way to remove the anger she had.

Though after some time of this, as in, a few days, the sleepover sky had been planning with melaine was nearing and that at least gave her something to sorta look forward to. Plus Bernard was apparently being dragged along with her so at least landon could talk to him face to face. Though what happened next was unexpected, sky found herself after another session of spellcasting with her mother, another failure of one as the green magic started adding more worry to the queen.

And Star did not hesitate to spit it out.

"I invited nora and coral!"

Sky froze.

The sleepover was not exactly just for fun, it was an excuse for the whole group to discuss the stuff going on and provide their findings. But considering her mom didn't know that, of course she added two more girls who had nothing to do with it! Coral was normally playing video games and sky could only assume the girl got roped into it by her own folks just wanting her outta the house. And Nora was so shy she could only assume it was something along the same lines as long as the current rulers made it clear she didn't do anything "Unsafe".

Though considering they typically spent time curing illnesses with their goop, nothing at this party could've ever been more unsafe then their lifestyle in the first place.

It wasn't that sky didn't like nora, she did. Nora was socially awkward and acted funny sometimes around her and judas but she was sweet at all the events she met her in. But it's more that her being here was only going to make things worse and keep them from speaking about everything. Though coral may be easier to shake off since she prefers isolation, nora would not likely ever leave their sights throughout the entire night and that was an issue.

"But mom-".

"Sky, nora's a lovely girl and her folks personally requested it, they want her to start making some friends and well...you and your friends are around the right age range. They're a bit iffy on judas and the boys but i'm sure she'll be fine. Besides, think of it as...a fun girls night! This time, instead of a ton of princesses, it's just two, and all of your other friends! That's an improvement right?". Sky grumbled, they were already too old for sleepovers as is, this was not helping.

"Mom, i told you i don't like you inviting people to my parties like that...".

"C'mon Sky, you're great at making friends!".

Sky grumbled to herself, "No mom, YOU are great at making friends. I'm great at making people want to stand at least 50 ft from me whenever i pick up my wand!". Star crossed her arms at her daughter, "Skyler Butterfly, c'mon now. You're going to let these two girls spend the night with you, it'll do you some good to talk to some other leaders besides judas! Think of it as...more queen training!.". And with that, the lesson for today was over and sky found herself in her room sulking.

Yeah, of course her MOM had an easy time being everyone's friend, because why not? Like her mom was going to understand the difficulty of making friends when she spent most of her life getting along with everyone she came into contact with. Just another thing her mom did perfectly that sky couldn't seem to do, ugh. Her mom made it so easy, even as an adult, people were just drawn to her bubbly personality, something sky didn't seem to have inherited.

"Anything else you wanna tell me about how great you are mom?", sky mumbled on her bed, Guess whether she wanted it or not she was stuck with two more guests for the "Sleepover". And that meant she needed to tell the others as she reached for her compact. Melaine was excited, Luna's reaction of concern and anger remained and judas sounded rather happy instead of worried like sky expected. His face seeming more hopeful then anything on the screen.

"Nora well, she's been quiet, hasn't been answering my texts so...well, i think it's a good a time as any to really talk to her and y'know, maybe hang out!", sky smirked, "Got a crush judas?". Only for him to give her a look, "Very funny, no it's just...well, we've known her for years and we haven't ever spoke much to her and I think...well i think we should maybe invite her to spend time more often. She's well, she's really sweet and she needs company so...i figured..".

"Jude, we didn't really talk to her much before because she kinda used to hide behind her folks or run off when we were around. Nora was just well..never much of a talker herself, and her folks sometimes were a little...yeah.". She wasn't wrong, and the part demon knew it, but he continued to still explain, "Well, the last few years she's gotten better, i think she's starting to come out of her shell and maybe we should help her a little, make her feel comfortable socially.".

"We're not exactly socially comfortable either jude."

"I know i know, i just meant well...i think she should have other to talk to then her books, and well...she seems to like us pretty well. Plus i kinda really appreciated what she did at the ball for me.", he recalled the ball fairly well, and how much the monster girl was happy and comfortable around him and his family, "I know it makes us talking all the more difficult, but it might do us good to get along with her. Who knows, maybe she saw something to do with our little problem herself, or maybe she could help us!".

"Like-?"

"Sky, i can't provide you with a dozen examples right off the bat. Just trust me when I say that talking to her and having her hang out with us more often might not be as bad as you think it is! C'mon, we'll figure out a way to still talk, don't worry.", he smiled at her sweetly and his friend groaned before accepting, "Ok fine, I guess i can put up with it, i'm just sick of my mom trying to force me to make tons of friends, it's really weird and kinda uncomfortable.".

"She's just trying to help you get to know the other royals some more, can't say I blame her. We've been around these kids for years and don't really know much about them, guess it's as good a time as any to start making closer bonds with them y'know? I mean well, better then the ones we have with loki or angel or anything. I guess if anything your mom thinks the sooner you get to talk to them the better it'll be when you're queen and you need to speak to them as a leader!.", he rubbed his arm, "I'm sorta the only real other royal you talk to.".

"Well, you had the advantage of our parents making us hang out since we were kids. I don't think we can put them all on the same level. Like nora's parents sometimes get worried about you and loki's folks don't care a bit about him and angel's just a mess in general.". Judas was about to say something but sky cut him off, "Yes, i know there's princess pigeon, the musty mountain caves and a number of other places, but i can't exactly be expected to have long-standing friendships with 50 kingdoms jude. Like, how well do you know the smaller kingdoms in the underworld or their royalty?".

Jude didn't answer and sky gave him a knowing smile.

"See?!".

"Well, regardless, it's still a good idea. Don't worry sky, it won't be as bad as you're making it out to be, promise.", and with that judas had to leave, other business in hand. Sky was left to her thoughts and felt her eyes droop as she decided to take a nap. Upon awaking she found non other then galexia above her, being as odd as always. Sky was less startled these days though, she had grown expectant to lexi surprising her, in fact they all did.

"Hi SKY!".

"Oh...hi..".

She couldn't recall what she had been dreaming but it was kinda preferable then being back in reality. As her room was now filled with galexia's new drawings, a lot of them of the same subject in fact, seems lexi had been keeping herself occupied. Though all sky could think about was how she was going to have to clean this entire room of her drawings now, well, or she could make a servant do that now that she thought about it. Either way, work her mom wanted too be done.

"You were asleep!".

"Yep.".

"How was it?"

Sky's eyes dimmed, was she sure galexia was a couple years older then her?

"Great uh lexi...what are you doing ?", she acknowledged the drawings lexi was leaving and the girl smiled, "Oh! I was drawing my dreams! I wandered in here and wanted to move them around, you don't mind do you!?". Sky grumbled, "No, i guess not...", she took a better look around her room at galexia's scribbles as she sat up on her bed. There were all kinda of stuff, repeated over and over again across other drawings, mason's plants, a face, even some of the other girls and guys she knew.

"Those uh...they look nice.", galexia beamed at her, "Thanks! I like drawing my dreams! I get to draw and draw and remember.". She held her legs against her and started wandering off into space, "Back home i'd draw all the time, i had lots of free time to draw while my folks were away! So i could just scribble away and all over my room..". Sky raised an eyebrow, "Really? How often are they away? Can't be that much, they gotta like...rule the kingdom or whatever". The girl hummed to herself, "Well, they're gone all the time usually, the kings and queen of the underworld get to see my drawings ALL the time though!".

Sky found herself surprisingly more interested as she scooted her way over to the smiling brunette. She never really thought much to listen to lexi's world, even though lexi was clearly open to sharing anything she wanted to, but maybe it had to do with sky not being sure if she could believe anything she was saying. Nonetheless, her ears pricked up and she suddenly found herself curious about what exactly went on in the version of mewni galexia came from.

"Wait, your parents aren't usually home? Who takes care of you then?", Lexi just smiled, "The kings and queen of the underworld of course! They take care of me all the time so i spend a lot of time in the underworld! It's fun, I get to hang out with their kids and everything.". Sky, felt a little more awake then she was before, and she gave galexia a once over as she thought to herself. So Galexia's parents didn't really take care of her? Even their shared mom?.

"But... don't you miss your parents?"

Lexi turned to look at her, as if confused, "Why would i miss them? They come back sometimes, they're just busy." Sky just blinked at her in disbelief, lexi was strangely optimistic, i mean, sunny and mason were too but even then showed signs of sadness and concern. Lexi just seem oddly too happy about her folks leaving her so much, and sky suddenly was riddled with questions regarding lexi herself, was she...ok?. "Lexi? Uh...so does that mean you er...live in the underworld most of the time?", and as expected, lexi continued to sound chipper as usual.

"Yep!"

Suddenly lexi's interest in the underworld made a little more sense, and she smiled dreamily. "So, does that mean your mom doesn't teach you spells, or how to run the kingdom or...any of that?", galexia appeared to not entirely understand what the girl was saying as she finished asking, a slight blank expression on her face, "Mom gave me the spellbook, says to do what i want with it.". But the blunette still didn't seem happy with that answer though, still curious about this universe where her mom ditched her daughter.

"So...your mom just lets your do whatever you want, all alone, by yourself?", she could hear herself kinda getting a little angry, and she didn't know why. It was an alternate universe right? She couldn't have really expected her mother to have been perfect in every universe, could she? Or had she really been expecting her mother to have been the great queen she knew her as in her dimension in every single one of the girl's dimensions? It sure felt that way.

Despite everything, she could never see her own mom well...practically abandoning her.

Lexi didn't seem to care though, that her mother wasn't always home and she wasn't preparing her to be the next queen. God, if judas knew about her parents leaving her alone like that he'd be REALLY upset, probably more then sky was. It really got to him when parents mistreated their kids, probably because times in the past he felt very let down by a ton of adults due to his condition. Sky couldn't blame him, people being mistreated got to him quick considering the stuff he went through.

"sky?".

"Sorry it's...it's weird that you drop this on me and well...don't seem...to care?", lexi twirled her hair in her fingers, "Why would i need to care? I got the lucitors and my friends back home! They make me happy enough all the time!". She blinked at her before putting an arm around her, "Those guys must be pretty darn awesome aren't they?". The girl nodded and stared back at her drawings longingly, she had to have missed them, even if she didn't look it.

Sky suddenly felt a bit of affection for the strange girl then she did before, holding her a bit closer in comfort.

"We're going to get you home lexi, promise, we'll make sure you see them again.".


"I can't believe this...", sky grumbled into her pillow, trying to hide her face as the boys and girls entered her room, in pjs. Nora, Melaine, Bernard and Coral had not arrived yet and Sky already wanted to hide in her closet and never come out for the rest of her life. A freaking sleepover, a sleepover? What was she? 12? Did her mom still think she was 12? There was an entire reason these things stopped and it was cause they were all getting older and boys and girls traditionally didn't have sleepovers by this age.

and it only got weirder since the audience was surprisingly big now thanks to the guests sky didn't ask for, the girls.

all in hand-me down pjs and ready to pass out before the rest even arrived.

As long as they didn't touch her bed, sky was fine with that.

Sunny looked thrilled to met knew people though, then again sky had to guess in her universe these people were probably never born. Which honestly only raised more questions as the girl talked excitably about the guests and asking sky questions about them. Guess sunny was probably very popular back home with the citizens, she always seemed to be interested in being friends with somebody. A smile brightening up her face and sky was almost worrier her covered cheek marks would start glowing.

Landon also looked anxious, but for his own reasons. He hadn't talked to bernard face to face since that first time and he was probably shaking in his slipping, worried if Bernard would even have a good time at all in a place he's never been to. Though at least landon looked like he wanted to be here this time around, instead of him looking as though he just got out of bed and listening to music through his headphones during what was supposed to be important meetings.

Thank god his parents were cool.

Judas, following the tend, looked excited to see nora.

Regardless of all the teasing, judas was just anxious to talk to the girl once again. Have a proper conversation with her and maybe he could have a new friend to spend time with, as long as her parents didn't freak out and allow her to spend more time outside of her own kingdom. Honestly as long as he remembered her being here, she hadn't been one for much social interaction, usually always watching from afar and speaking minimally to anyone she approached.

Hopefully this time around she might be able to make more friends, as long as she didn't grab a book and isolate herself from the rest of the group. Judas hadn't been to something like this for a long time, and he couldn't help but feel awkward, but excited at the same time. Reminded him of when they were all still kids, staying up late to play video games or sneak out of the castle to watch fireworks from the monster village nearby. Though back then there wasn't usually a room of 12 people.

"Hey?"

Luna tugged jude's sleeve, watching out for anyone listening before talking to the prince. "So, all of this? What exactly are we planning on doing all night? ", jude gave her a questioning look before giving her a once over, "Well, it's just a sleepover, we just hang out, then go to bed, we can talk more later. To be honest, me and my brothers didn't have to show up, but well, landon's friend is coming, mason seems to like you guys and well...i have multiple reasons to want to be here. One being it's a good excuse for us to talk more about...it, cause I know you won't stop asking till we do.".

He still wasn't going to say, but it seemed best to give luna a better explanation then he did. Not to mention she probably had conducted some new theories upon further investigations of her own by this point. It was a wonder how come she hadn't gotten caught yet.

As long as she left his parents out of it.

"How soon can we talk about it?", the girl sounded impatient about this whole thing. Not a surprise, as she wasn't known to relax at all since they met. "When we can, for now, just have fun i suppose, at least this whole thing allows us some time to hang out with each other without having to worry too heavily about something. I kinda missed stuff like this, i don't know how often we'll get time like this when we're running mewni, do you enjoy sleepovers?", he leaned back against the wall and places his hands on his stomach, watching mason talk to sunny and lexi excitably, probably about all the stuff they were going to do tonight.

It was refreshing seeing the girls feel more at home around here, even if they all knew they missed their homes dearly. Though judas couldn't help but worry the attachment to the girls everyone was getting would only make them leaving more jarring. Mason had no idea especially and him waking up to find his knew friends gone was bound to crush him. Judas's thoughts suddenly became dismal before being awoken by the blonde's answer.

"Never had one.", luna said matter-of-factly, "Was just not my thing.". she leaned next to him, crossing her arms, "I had much more important things to take care of then sleepovers.". Judas seemed half surprised, half not surprised at hearing this, "What kind of things exactly?". Luna closed her eyes and tried to relax, "Just queen stuff, you're never to early to prepare you know, you have to train as early as you can to get where you need when you're crowned.".

"True, but there's nothing wrong with having a little fun you know? We all need a break from work otherwise we might all go mad. Plus, it's good to have fun, might as well enjoy being a kid while it lasts after all.", but luna did not seem to agree judging by her tone. "It's not that simple, one could become a queen at any time, and if you're not ready for it, you're doomed to fail, if something happened to my mother and i wasn't ready to take my place, oh god.".

"How long have you been...y'know?", judas asked in curiosity, without thinking.

"Pardon?"

Judas quickly corrected himself, "I mean, how long have you been preparing to become queen?". Luna blinks at him before shrugging, "Forever i suppose, was always just my passion to be as great as the queens who came before me.". Judas looked her over in fascination, wondering to himself just what home life was like back where she came from. Did she even have many friends back home, or was the people she talked to mostly servants and associates, was star strict back there?

Though, regardless, no wonder luna seemed so...well, stiff.

Judas felt like he should say something, but quieted himself instead, and only a few minutes later a portal opened. Judas at first lightened up, until he realized who entered through it wasn't a half monster princess but instead two humans, one with dark skin and curly hair, and another with a bunch of piercings and handsome face. Melaine, as expected, immediately lunged and hugged sky, clearly more then excited to spend the night with her alien pen pal.

Though bernard was a little speechless to say the least, looking at the room full of strange looking characters, inside of a magic castle. Guess even as someone who was getting used to the idea of this world he still wasn't entirely over it. Though that didn't last long as landon stumbled forward, immediately trying to calm himself enough to make it look like he hadn't been waiting for bernard to show up for hours now. Though judas knew quite well his brother spent hours in front of a mirror trying to fix his hair and practice talk to Bernard earlier that day.

His brother had it bad, even if he wouldn't admit it.

"H-hey!", landon started, before realizing how he sounded and trying to correct it quickly, "I mean, hey dude, how uh...how are you doing?". But the human didn't even get a word out before mason pounced on him in excitement, "HI!". At least the human didn't seem to mind really, laughing a bit, "Oh um, hello...mason right? Sorry, i'm not exactly very familiar with most of the people in this room and it's been awhile since I saw you outside of the diaz house."

"Eh, we'll show you around, you got all night to meet everyone I guess.", sky said through tight Melanie hugs, "Er guys, this is bernard, landon's weird friend, just uh...don't hurt him.". By the look on the boy's face, he hadn't been expecting this hangout to be well...full. Guess it must've read on his face that he was surprised cause he removed mason from his hug to quickly explain himself, "Ah, sorry, It's just when I was made to come, I well...I had no idea you had so many other friends coming.".

"Sorry about that, things uh well...things happen, and well...two more people are coming soon.", the human took a moment to process that before moving to landon, who awkwardly helped him find a spot in the roo where they could talk in private. Melaine had finally stopped hugging sky to resume her usual nonstop talking about her current theories and discoveries, though this was quickly interrupted by luna, who got up from her spot to immediately butt in and be her usual party pooper herself.

Guess Melaine talking about how the goverment is wiping out minds from seeiing aliens or creatures didn't sit right with her and sky snickered as she snuck away to see judas. At least meliane's talk seemed to have drawn most of the others to watch, as melaine's insane ideas always did. Judas never liked melaine's stuff, one of the main reasons they never got along, sky at least found a lot of melaine's stuff to be funny and plausible but jude in general seemed to think the girl was crazy.

Probably had a bit to do with marco being one of his parents, as marco would gladly dismiss some of these silly claims melanie talks about happening on earth. Sky sure knew her own moms would be either the types to egg on this stuff as being real, or at least try and prove it was real. They were not skeptics and sure weren't the type to dismiss claims like it, even if they've been on earth themselves enough to probably dismiss it. Either way, sky could spot the demon shaking his head at mel.

" I know you think it's funny but the girl needs more sense then this.".

"Aw c'mon jude, at least she hasn't hurt anyone ye-."

"She literally tried to hurt me with a cross and holywater the first time we met and several times after."

Well, can't exactly argue with that.

"Well, she's still cool, even if she goes overboard. I mean, no one know more about pop culture then Melanie."

"Hey, i know about earth pop culture too!", he argued back, "Well, not the trashy stuff she usually finds but still! Anyways i know she likes coming up with these crazy ideas, but sometimes she takes it too far and you know it.". His friend rolled her eyes, flipping her hair back "Don't take her stuff too seriously jude, she just likes discovering stuff and she has cool ideas! I'm sure she doesn't mean to ACTUALLY harm you.". Judas gave her a look, "Magical world or not, she's lost in her fantasies and you don't know what that can do to her.".

"Relax bud, i know i gave her a compact and scissors and stuff but trust me, i'm sure she's not getting into anything...bad. I mean, can't be any worse then the time i found you sneaking out to the-".

"ANYWAYS..", the demon added on, eager to change the conversation, "I'm glad landon is talking to someone, i don't think he's even had something like this for years, and not without someone like one of us either.". Sky punched his elbow, "well, it's better then him spending the whole night by the snack bar like he usually did. Though you think he's actually gonna even try asking him out?". The boy laughed to himself, "Probably not, but mason will try to push it till he does regardless, but honestly it's cute...seeing Landon get like this.".

"At least it'll keep Bernard VERY busy tonight if they're spending it together."

Judas then paused at her last sentence and gave her an amused and estranged look, "Sky, I swear if you're implying those two are gonna...oh god please don't.".

Sky shared a similar face as she suddenly realized what he was thinking, "Jude what? God what's wrong with you doofus?! Dude, shhh, c'mon, we got kids here. Gross man.".

They both giggled.

"By the way, how are the plans going, for uh...you know, the ceremony?", jude blinked at her before recalling what she meant, "Oh it's coming, i've just er been telling my folks to keep things normal. Y'know.". His friend snorted, "Normal, right. Mom told me you didn't want to really customize your big day cause you're worried people will freak out.". Judas suddenly found himself flustered as she said this, "Well, yeah! What's wrong with that?!".

Sky looked him up and down, concerned, "Uh, nothing, it's your day...are you ok dude?". Judas suddenly realized he got defensive for no reason and calmed himself down, "Sorry sorry, i shouldn't have lost my cool like that.". Purple hands ran through his dark brown hair, avoiding his horns, "I know I've been trying my best to prove i'm right to be king, but my parents seem hurt that i don't wanna make my event suited to me.". Sky bit her lip, suspecting something, "Look, the people who freak out cause of you are scummy, and i know you wanna be "Professional", but is this party about you or them?".

Her friend was quiet.

"Jude, my dude. You can have a normal traditional party if you want, but i think your parents are just worried you're letting a bunch of jerks force you to do things you don't want to do. I mean, my mom sure didn't have a traditional party and everyone loves her.". Judas hugged his legs, "I know sky, but it's not the same thing and you know it, your mom is popular, and loved, and has this bright personality that people seem to like. I don't have that benefit, i'm part monster for one, during a period where part monsters are disliked!".

He threw his arms up as he continued talking, "And then when i'm cursed, the eyes of judgment are even worse on me! It's not that i like catering to them, but i'll never be taken seriously otherwise.". Sky's eyes then darted to luna a bit, "Well, I know it means a lot to you to be an amazing ruler, but well...you should also have fun as well. It's your day, you can keep the traditions if you like, but maybe...put your own spin on them! It's what your dad did I think.".

"Well, my dad had my mom, and he wanted everything to be special for them as well...since they got married after it. I just can't risk it sky...", he hung his head low. So he did want to make the party to his own design!? Geez, poor jude, Sky couldn't help but feel bad. Jude was just so limited sometimes, she could even remember when they were young, so many kids refused to even dance with him at balls due to thinking his arm would attack them, and his parents were forced to accept their decision.

It made jude so sad when he talked about it too.

"Hey well, i'm sure it'll be fun anyway!", judas turned to sky, "Imagine how cool it'll be once the underworld has to listen to you from now on! You can literally do anything you want, go anywhere you want, eat anything you want...". That seemed to make judas feel a tad better, which wasn't a huge improvement, but something nonetheless. "Yeah, that's something...", sky probably knew it was best to drop it, allow her friend to focus on the stuff he clearly wanted to be thinking about instead.

And like a miracle, a portal opened up and a reluctant ponyhead using a game console and a slimy girl in a nightgown stepped in.

Coral didn't even acknowledge the room full of people and nora reacted as expected, surprised and suddenly very nervous. She didn't know most of anyone in the room except for those she say at royal events and it didn't help that a few of the strangers were walking up to introduce themselves. Judas though, sensing what was up, immediately go up to walk over to Nora himself, getting in the way of some of the other guests. Nora felt a sudden sense of comfort in seeing him as he greeted her.

"Nora! I uh...I'm glad you came! Sorry, we had no time to warn you about all the guests coming but i'll uh..introduce you...", she tried to hide behind her hair as she politely took the boy's hand, "I-I uh...didn't know you had so many friends.". Judas was careful as he moved around the room of talkative teens, pulling the shy girl alongside him as he mumbled out names and explanations for their current situation. "Well, it wasn't exactly...intentional, this is actually still a recent thing, but, i'm sure it'll still be fun regardless..", he could spot sky giving him a thumbs up nearby and he grunted.

At least things hadn't seemed awkward since he and nora had a harder time communicating recently, that or, nora herself had been talking to him less and less on purpose. The girl herself didn't look comfortable at all around the group and even as judas introduced everyone, it was clear maybe this big group should separate into smaller groups. Sky made her way to bed, standing on it and getting everyone attention as she raised her wand.

"Ok so well, my mom sorta forced me to have a sleepover and it's getting a little too crowded in here so how about we just split into different rooms, sound good?", somewhere in the crowd melaine whiled and cheered , a snort coming from celeste as she did so. Sky cleared her throat, "I mean, let's not go TOO far from each other, you guys probably wanna get to know each other, but my room is kinda tiny and stuff so...". Then mason raised his hand, "Can we watch a movie in your lounge?".

"Uh...sure?".

And like that, mason got up, followed by lexi and sunny, who probably were talking about the movie earlier with him. Celeste, clearly unsure where she wanted to be, followed, and coral came with, eyes not even leaving her game. Leaving Sky, Judas, Landon, Melaine, Bernard, and Luna left in the room. "Well, that worked...", sky said in relief, "I hope we can keep track of everyone. Mom will kill me otherwise.". Then she heard bernard and landon speaking to each other before standing up, "Uh, we're gonna be in landon's room a sec, he wants to show me his instrument. Is that ok?".

"You're already ditching us to go to the underworld?".

"We're coming back, I don't think we're gonna missing THAT fast.", landon put his hands on his hips and sky rolled her eyes, "Alright dweebs, go have fun, just make sure to come back within the hour cause my mom is probably gonna check on us and if you're not here she'll freak.". Landon seemed to understand as he quickly, and red-faced, grabbed onto his friends's arm, "Don't move when the fire shows up, and you'll be fine.". Bernard then gave him a look, "Wait, fi-?".

But landon had snapped and bernard forced himself to stay still as flames erupted and they vanished from sight.

And then there were 4.

Nora seemed a little more eased, so that was a good thing, though she didn't seem too comfortable around the much more talkative and social Melaine, who had already begun to take interest in nora and her strange slimy hair. Judas quickly and quietly told her to knock it off, though as per usual mel was not interested in what he had to say until sky butted in. "Sorry mel, but nora here isn't well...she's not too good with people, i don't think you should be looking at her so much, she's nervous.", then the girl immediately seemed to feel a tad bad before backing off.

Then sky quickly wondered if what she said was offensive to nora, speaking for her like that, but nora said nothing. She must've been uncomfortable being forced to be here by her folks, but then again her folks tended to make her decisions for her since she wasn't the type to speak much for herself. Probably didn't help she wasn't used to being around too many kingdoms, she'd rarely been outside of the event rooms, and sky was sure she was having flashbacks to the princess sleepover party her mom threw years back.

Nora tried to hide behind her hair some more and luna looked to judas. Since mel was in on the team, nora was the only one in this room they could not talk in private with, and luna clearly wanted them to find a way to have her distracted. Luna clearly just wanted to speak specifically to sky and judas, but jude knew more then anything that either sky or him had to leave if nora were to go anywhere, so luna was a bit out of luck in this situation.

Eh, the night was still young anyway.

"Well, i think, we outta show nora around the castle and maybe join the others, sky? Care to join?".

Sky, ignoring luna's annoyed face, gladly nodded, "Yeah, sure, c'mon nora, let's go for a walk...".

Sky turned back to mel as judas stood up and helped nora up, who was mostly just following along. "Oh mel, lemme tell ya, luna here. She is all about finding out mysteries and being all knowledgeable. We'll be back in a sec, but how about you chat with her a bit? Trust me, she would love to hear your ideas!". Luna was about to say something when mel gave sky the thumbs up, "AWESOME!, great to FINALLY meet another theorist around here!".

The door closed, followed by giggles and snickers.