Celeste glared at landon, geez well this was a trainwreck, she was trying to think up some lies in her head to tell the boy but the more quiet she was the more she looked like she was searching for a fake excuse. She glared at him harder as she stood up, "Dude!? Stop coming into my room like this! It's super weird! I'm not your go-to when you wanna hide away from whatever you got going on right now i got my own stupid stuff to worry about and you're just...butting in!".
"Well apparently you're doing things that my own brother doesn't know about and considering you don't have any other reason to leave your room, i'm guessing whatever it was...i just caught you in the act...", Upon closer inspection Celeste could still see he had been crying, though his tears were dryer now. "You know, i just came in here cause judas has been trying to talk to me all day and i just wanted to be left alone, but i guess i could just go and force myself to speak to him and tell him you're doing some stupid shady stuff...".
"Try me, i was gonna tell him anyway!".
"Oh, so you WERE doing something shady?".
Welp, she couldn't back out now. Dangit why did this boy have to constantly be so nosy or walk in at the wrong time? And she was technically related to him too? His face was still mad but he raised an eyebrow at her knowingly, she almost wanted to spit back about how he liked to hid his secret about spending his freetime watching performers in a coffee house but she couldn't seem to get it out this time, probably because landon wouldn't take the bait anyway.
"It's not your business Landon, you're not the only one whose got things they need to worry about. Look, can you just...", she was about to try and push him out but landon didn't budge, "No, i'm not going...i needed somewhere to hide and sunny'll never let me hide in HER room, so i'm staying here for now thanks...". He walked away and took a seat at the foot of her bed, "You might as well tell me what you were doing, or what? Are you gonna erase my mind?".
The girl snorted at him and sighed, taking a disgruntled seat next to him, "For the record...you only caught me because i was bailing out at the wrong time...". Her legs swung off the bed, "I swear something out there was after me...". She slipped off her raincoat and tossed it on the floor, "How'd you even get in here anyway? The guards just let you walk into a girl's room in the middle of the night just because you're the prince of this kingdom?".
"Uh...teleportation?", he said, giving her a look. "We don't need scissors to travel so we just kinda teleport around when we need to get somewhere fast, though that tends to always be a problem when we teleport into rooms at the wrong time so we don't always do it...", his facial expressions told Celeste he'd probably had seen some things from entering rooms that he wished he hadn't, but landon shook his head and got back on subject.
"Oh right, you know being able to do that wherever you want seems like a REALLY bad idea...".
The boy snorted, "Not nearly as bad as giving you scissors, you were outside...you know that's kinda a bad idea to go anywhere alone when there's some weirdo with a doll mask running around right? You get kidnapped and my parents are gonna freak..." he huddled up, pressing his legs against his chest. "Running around in the forest of Certain death in the middle of the night rarely tends to end well for most people around here, is your forest back home just laking the "Sudden death" part?".
"Look, i just had to help luna out...".
"Wait...luna? You mean stick in the mud, blonde, kinda annoying half sister luna?".
"How many other lunas do you think we both know?".
"What the heck are you helping HER for that apparently my brother isn't supposed to know about? She's not doing anything weird right?", sighing, Celeste folded her arms, "No it's more like, we're doing our own stupid investigation cause your brother isn't really doing squat to help us. He's so busy with other things and the guy refuses to do any of our ideas that we'll all probably be 50 by the time we find a way back to whatever universe we're from...so...luna wanted me to help...".
She kinda expected Landon to scoff at her helping Luna but to her surprise Landon seemed to understand fine, "That's because he doesn't think about the rest of us most of the time...what any of us wants, he makes his own decisions regardless of what we want...". His tail slipped out of his pj pants and swished behind him, "You can't make your own choices around him cause he won't let anyone else make the calls or whatever, and it's so annoying...he'll help some people, but only if it's important to HIM.".
The brunette took note of his frustration, "Geez, that bad huh? Sounds like you've been dealing with this a lot...". The boy crossed his arms, his face red, "Not like you have any idea, but yeah, and everyone loves him...everything's about him, his stupid arm, him being king, mom and dad can't bear to treat him like me or mason cause he's got that stupid arm. Like he's still 17, arm or no arm that doesn't mean they can't ground him or anything...".
"Sounds...fun...".
"He thinks he can just apologize and everything will be fine, and it's just like, it's not like that! My family just seem to care a ton more about him then me or mason...cause i guess we weren't important enough to treat as important as he is...". Celeste turned her head away from him, before licking her lips and turning back to him, "Well, you wear your mom's hoodie a lot it seems...so i kinda doubt you're not at all important to your parents in some degree...".
"Don't patronize me...", the pink demon sighed, "My mom and I just have a close relationship, since they want me to be more confident and stuff...but that's not the same thing. My family doesn't really talk about my talents, or things i'm up to...they care more about Judas and everything about him. It's like...I don't even exist! Not surprised though, it's not like the rest of the kingdom even cares much about me being here either.". Celeste raised an eyebrow at the demon, seems this conversation had stopped being about "Landon AND Mason".
"Well i mean, if they asked to hear your songs or ask about your boyfriend, would you even really say anything anyway?", Landon grumbled at her, she could almost barely make out him telling her not to call Bernard his boyfriend under his breath. But his silence on her question continued and the girl stared dagger at him, "Just saying, you wanna sorta talk about these things but also not really because you don't even like showing this stuff off much except like...when you feel comfortable with it...".
"Ok fine, maybe I just want judas to leave me alone, i'm sick of hearing him try and say sorry...".
"Yeah...I've been there...families are so annoying".
He turned his head, "got any siblings...?".
"Yeah, but it's not what you're thinking...trust me...", she elbowed him, "Anyways i might just give up on this alliance, i just wanted to do something and i already almost got killed out there. She freaking made me go out there all by myself and who knows if she's doing ok right now...". Landon almost smiled at her, "Well at least you're trying to hurry it up as soon as you can, can't say you didn't try anything at all once you get back home to your parents...".
"Right...parents...", her hand covered her mouth a little as she looked off into the distance.
"You ok?", technically he already knew the answer to that but he couldn't help but still ask her, even if he wasn't expecting a real answer. And as expected, Celeste seemed to not be listening to what he was saying, thinking about things, probably about whatever was going on back home. Landon had his own thoughts, about what she wasn't telling him, but saying something almost guaranteed he was being kicked out of this room almost immediately.
"Hmm?".
"You seemed kinda upset there...".
"It's nothing...", she was clearly lying about whatever it was and he knew it, but he also probably had to save it for another day.
There was silence between them and landon clapped his hands together, "You know, you don't have to tell judas if you don't want to...if anything it'll probably cause another stupid fight between him and luna. And then she'll get on your case or whatever..." The girl looked over to him like he was crazy, "So what? You're not gonna tattle on me sneaking out anymore? What happened to telling your brother about me and luna working together?".
"I'm too mad to talk with him anyway...", he pressed his legs against his chest, "In fact...i'll let you know if i find anything...or whatever. Team's kinda useless if it's just the two of you anyway, especially since you aren't allowed to go anywhere without guards on your tail...". The princess next to him looked him over and her expression dropped, "Wait? You're asking to...help us? Geez, you must be really mad with your brother if you're going that far...".
"Well, what am i really hurting? You guys wanna go home, my brother's not doing squat, not like i have anything better to do anyways..."., He clearly still seemed heartbroken about his friend and Celeste sighed, "Can't you just...teleport to him? I don't think your parents will really notice if you head out for a little bit to see him...". But to her surprise landon shook his head, "I'm...not much of a..."Rule-Breaker "Guy if that wasn't obvious enough...and besides...he knows i'm grounded...he'll be mad with me, my mom will be mad with me...".
"Why do you care so much about what other people think about you?".
"Because i do, why don't you?".
"I got my own problems...".
"Do they got anything to do with why you don't seem to like my mom very much when they're also YOUR dad?", nevermind, he WAS going to bring it up now, his glare at her was full of frustration, guess she sorta had it coming after kinda being rude to him anyway. "Look, if you wanna help us, you can start by not getting so nosy in our lives or whatever...you stop talking about my parents and i'll stop talking about your boyfriend...". But landon didn't seem happy with that last bit, still mad, with an added blush.
"How many times do i have to tell you we're not dating!", he lept off the bed and started pacing, "Look, i really think he's super cool and i'm still really anxious about hanging out with him, but we're not boyfriends, ok? He's...just my earth friend..". Celeste snorted at his words though, "You don't gotta deny it dude, i've been in a similar boat, trust me it's way better just owning the stupid thing and wearing it on your sleeve then acting like it doesn't exist..".
"But it doesn't!".
She raised an eyebrow.
"Are you sure about it? It's not weird if you are...I mean i think it's kinda weird you won't admit it to yourself already but the crush thing itself isn't weird".
"What happened to you not talking about it and me not talking about your parents?".
"Well, you haven't agreed to it yet, buuuttt...does this mean you do like him? Cause it kinda sounds like you just confirmed you did."
Landon crossed his arms, his tail swishing and his back turning to the girl, "Ok, fine? So what if i do? I just think he's...cool, he's one of the few people i know who really likes hanging out with me...and I like hanging out with him and talking about earth stuff.". He turned his head and for once, Celeste was smiling , something she rarely seemed to do in the first place. "Yep, i called it, eh, to be honest he seems just as weird as you anyway, so i guess you two secretly are a match made in heaven...or hell i guess.", her smirk didn't seem to amuse landon.
"Zip it, i'm not asking him out...we're just friends right now and...I don't wanna scare him.", his three eyes took a look around the demonic bedroom, "Not a lot of mortals adjust down here, besides like...my mom and my grandad but they're the rare exception. Most mortals kinda freak out about the underworld, it's not exactly the most comfortable or the most fun place for them to be most of the time. Not to mention the heat cause yeah that's...ugh..".
"Well like, how did your mom and grandad overcome them?"
Landon blushed and grumbled, "Because they love their partners enough to adjust, ok? But don't try to pull that on me, you don't know bernard. I don't know how much he likes the idea of spending so much time around...demon stuff , he's like...he's an earth kid, and sometimes...demons are kinda seen as...evil. But what...no wait what am i doing? We're getting off topic I don't wanna talk about this stupid stuff right now when we're supposed to be...i dunno, teaming up or something?".
Celeste stopped smiling, going back to her usual unhappy self, "Welp, fun's over...look, if you wanna help, i'm not gonna stop you, but you also probably should speak to luna, cause she'll fuss if she's not treated as the leader of this lil group. Just, don't think optimistically...I think she has a bit of trust issues anyway. And don't ask her about her stupid private life cause i guess that seems to really get under her nerves when you talk about it...".
"She sounds like you..."
Celeste made an inappropriate gesture at him and he smiled, "Whatever...i guess i'll text you and we'll see about this but uh...can i still stay here in the meantime?". Celeste feel over on the bed, tired, "Fine, whatever, but you're not sleeping anywhere near me...just sit in a chair or something and leave before i wake up, ok?". Landon didn't say anything as he took a seat nearby, making himself comfortable, he may be mad with his brother for now, but it wasn't all bad.
Taking a breath, he closed all his eyes and rested.
Finding the passageway was hard enough but trying to be silent while traveling through it was worse.
If a guard caught luna in here, she was deader then dead.
Worse then her soul being forever tortured in the underworld kinda dead.
Therefore, she BETTER get some answers out of this.
She even had her wand out, just in case she needed it, the memory erasing charm on the tip of her lips in case she needed it. The worst case scenario was janna was on the other side or she had some sort of security system, but then again if anyone was quite familiar with security charms, it was luna. She continued to crawl in the tunnel until she hit a clear end, pressing her ear against the wall to listen for any signs of life on the other side.
Hearing nothing, she got her wand ready.
She pushed the painting aside and breathed a sigh of relief that she had found her way in here without any issues. Leaping down from the hole in the wall she took a good look at her surroundings, man Sky's mom was still kinda creepy, even if most of these things were probably fakes and didn't even work.
Probably.
Her first step was the shelves of obscure items, monster tusks, lemon, crystals, whatever weird stuff the queen seemed to be into. She could even spot supernatural books on display as well, as Janna seemed to be into the occult quite a lot. But a lot of this stuff wasn't anything to arrest her about, in fact there was no reason for this masked person to use most of this stuff, unless some of these potion ingredients were perfect to use to keep Lucy's scent off her tracks.
Luna took a mental note of that before taking another look around, and then she noticed something she swore she saw the first time she was here by paid no mind to. While janna had no creepy doll-looking mask, there was a mask on display, just a clearly plain looking one. Luna glared at it, janna didn't even label the thing so it was impossible to tell what it even was, but then again if she owned one mask, she could have more somewhere else around here.
She moved on to check the drawers, putting on some long gloves, and using magic to open them up and go through the Queen's files. She couldn't exactly expect Janna to just have incriminating evidence right where luna could find them but at the same time if she missed a single drawer she had the potential to miss something she'd regret. She just had to hope Janna didn't have anything hidden away too deep that she couldn't access it without a map or list of secrets.
There were matters on taxes, letters from earth, and...photos of queen lucitor? But there didn't seem to be anything worthy of suspicion, well, actually photo's of judas's mom was kinda creepy but not the creepy luna was looking for. The vault was her next best option in here unless there were some secret compartments, however knowing mewni, this vault wasn't guarded by a normal code, but by a little bit of magic to keep criminals out of it.
Boy, it was gonna be hard to open it silently wasn't it?
But then again, if someone non-magic like JANNA could get in here...that meant there had to be a way for her to access it without just having Star join in and use her own magic to remove the spells. Luna found herself pulling out her want and using magic to examine the magic being used around the vault. Yeah, this wasn't gonna be solved with the flick of her wand, this vault was locked unless presented with a certain...smell? Because of course it was.
The girl took another look around her surroundings, grabbing some items off the shelves and making some quick work for a basic mixture of...a stink bomb? She plugged her nose as she slowly grabbed the handle of the vault and before anything could happen she held out the stink bomb. The door swung open, the magic protecting it fading due to the familiarity of janna's character, magic was weird sometimes but boy wasn't it great when the craziest things worked. The bomb was poofed away as Luna made quick work of the vault. It didn't look like much at first glance, full of a ton of papers, and when she starting inside she almost found nothing of interest.
Only to find...
More...documents on...criminals?
Peaking her interest, luna browsed through the files, some criminals she knew, some she didn't. But most if not all were convicted already and some were files of investigations on some criminals. Leave it to janna to be the one to keep tabs of the criminal side of mewni of all things, the problem was that none of these people seemed to be quite what luna was looking for. But then again if it were that simple sky's parents would've already known who their target was.
And as expected, there was no one in this listing who was known for wearing a creepy mask, there were monster criminals who stole baby clothes, a mewman known for dressing up like a bird, there where even a few who attempted to use Yada Yada berries on some political figures but there didn't seem to be anyone to place this. Mostly because the dead giveaway was them being good at magic and every criminal listed was unable to do it according to their profiles.
She found herself a tad disappointed, she'd gone a long way to not find anything out about their case. Just a few antics of Janna's and some criminals that weren't very important to know about at all. She grumbled to herself as she breezed through the profiles and closed them all one by one. She broke into a queen's office to search through her stuff, hoping to find out something she could use to further help her get home, and what did she get instead?
Nothing, she had gone through all this and had nothing to show for it.
Then she stopped and paused, none of these profiles had particularity given her anything remotely interesting to work with at all.
However.
What WAS interesting was among the files, there was one in particular that caught luna's eye.
Eclipsa's.
Taking pictures of any info she might need later, luna put everything back as she found it before opening Eclipsa's file and browsing through it. But her ears perked up, there was someone coming down the hall , their boots getting closer. Taking a picture real quick, luna moved fast, replacing the file perfectly and closing the vault, the seal for it returning as she checked her surroundings and dived behind the portrait, sealing herself into the tunnels and heading out before anything happened.
It wasn't exactly what she was looking for, but it was something.
"Why didn't you tell me anything about this sky?".
"Luna, it's 3 in the morning...can't you wait to talk about any of this?", she rubbed her eyes, her bed was covered in tissues and stains from days of being mad and upset about judas, she was in no state to be woken up so early to talk about eclipsa, especially not with luna. The older girl's eyes glared at her, "No, it can't wait, seems to me your...our mom had a good reason for not being fond of letting eclipsa teach you anything, she wasn't doing it to be bossy...".
"Look, i was 2 or 3 apparently if you're right about this, i don't remember squat about eclipsa accidentally almost getting me hurt with dark magic...ok? Like, if she did, i would've probably have said something by this point, ok?", her response didn't seem good enough for the blonde though. "You don't seem to get this, she has a criminal record, she almost ended up hurting the princess, your mom had her reasons for being so nervous around here...in this universe...she's not being mistreated just because of the globgor thing...".
"Look, eclipsa's weird...but it was probably an accident, and ...I'm not hurt...", the dark haired girl yawned, "This really was not worth waking me up so early, you could've waited, i mean like...I've kinda done stupid things that almost hurt people too...". Luna grumbled, "Sky, we need suspects, don't you think eclipsa is at least a little bit suspicious? At all?". Sky shot the girl a dirty look and was almost considering pushing her off the bed for a second.
"Luna look, i'm tired...i'm upset, i get you wanna find this guy but we need stronger evidence then that...eclipsa's just...not...a bad person. She made my mom upset yeah, but she still lives here with us, i mean it's still weird when she runs off to do things or creeps in the walls but that doesn't mean she's doing anything evil...like luna...let's just go to bed, we can talk about this stuff in the morning.". Her half-sister sighed, "Well, at least i've been doing something...can't say much for the rest of you...".
"Uh...what?".
"Forget it, We're talking tomorrow...er today, and bring judas...I need to speak to him as well, you both better be up and ready to speak to me...". Sky mumbled, remembering tomorrow...er...today.. was the day she and judas would see nora together for the first time, "Yeah...fine...". Luna nodded and left as soon as she came in, man she was such a stick in the mud, couldn't it wait till everyone was up and had the energy to talk about this kinda thing? Sky didn't even have time to really process much about what she was talking about.
Though one thing was for certain, she was going to be speaking to judas again.
Hopefully for the better.
She turned over and feel back asleep.
Judas's arm was still...well it was still transformed and the boy couldn't help but feel frustrated, it'd be so easy if he could just will this thing away but that would only be so simple. And magic was never simple, especially spells like this. Nora was not perfect but someone who was trained in some kind of healing was better then nothing at this point, though he kept his shocker very close just in case he needed it. He was considering shocking his arm right now, thinking that would do something but maybe it was better to save for actual emergencies.
He wasn't even sure if it wouldn't just make the thing angrier at this point.
It did make it harder for him to sleep though, a giant tentacle arm stretched out next to him on his bed. His body just felt so heavy and it was hard to sleep with the fear his arm would attack him or something while he was out. Most people might think it's incredibly silly to be scared of your own arm attacking you but for judas it was a very real fear, though luckily his arm was rather docile as it usually was since it appeared. His parents of course were upset but they were more then used to it.
Judas really just wanted to talk to his brother, and even sky right now.
Landon was still in the wrong but, he might've had a point.
And Sky, well it might be unhealthy but judas didn't meant to make her opinions feel unimportant if he did.
He just needed to work things out with them as soon as possible, the sooner they were all talking again the better. He sighed as he looked at the ceiling, counting the shadows that were bouncing among the walls and placing his normal hand on his chest. He tried closing his eyes again when he heard his bedroom door open, light coming through and a small demon with giant wings stood on the other side. Mason was staring at the floor, still sad, still anxious.
"Mason? Hey...what are you-".
Judas didn't have much time to react as his younger brother closed the door and ran up, hugging his older brother and wrapping his wings and arms around him. "Mason? hey...is everything ok? Did you have a nightmare?", the boy was only 13 but he was still only a kid, he was still young and was prone to have scary thoughts. The boy nodded, "I had a nightmare and mom and dad are a little too far away and your room was the closest and...". His brother smiled, hugging him with his one normal arm, "Hey it's ok...you wanna keep me company? I'm having a hard time sleeping..".
He nodded softly, "I dreamed you and landon were fighting and my plant attacked you and...", he seemed to still be wiping tears from his eyes. His older brother tried to sooth him, "Hey it's ok, it was just a bad dream, we all get them...me and landon are fine...". Well, as far as them both being alive and safe they were fine, as far as their relationship goes it seems there were things they needed to talk about between the two of them. Even mason seemed to know that.
"He's mad at you...".
"Landon snaps at everyone sometimes...".
"Yeah but...he's really upset with you, more then usual...", His wings stretched out then folded back against him, "I'm sorry...it was my fault, i shouldn't have been planting anything mom and dad said were too much to handle for my garden...now you guys are fighting and dinner is weird and...i'm sorry..". He sounded so small, so upset, and judas was reminded how young he kinda still was, how upset things like this always made him throughout his life.
He tried patting his back with his one normal arm, sighing and trying to find the right words. "No mason, look, the seeds were a bad idea but...whatever is happening right now isn't because of you, i think landon's been waiting to say something like that for a long time. And i think he would've said it to me soon enough, even if your plant wasn't the cause.", his eyes were still to the ceiling and he tried to keep himself as calm as he could for his brother's sake.
"It'll be ok mason, we'll talk it out and things will go back to normal...landon just...he just needed some time alone...we all do sometimes. Don't worry about it, it's not your fault.", the smaller part demon seemed to understand and sighed against the pillow. "You think he's gonna ask his crush out soon?", the sudden shift of this question left judas slightly perplexed for a moment before he shook his head and got back in focus, "Wait, what?".
"I'm supposed to be his matchmaker...remember?".
Oh right, he DID do that didn't he?
"Well, like i said mason, landon-".
"Doesn't handle crushes like how i do...I know, it's just, i want to help and he keeps pushing me out...maybe i'm not as great as i thought i would be at helping him...", He rolled over onto his back, being mindful of his wings, "You like helping people judas...what should i do?". His small brown eyes matched the boy's three red ones, waiting for an answer as judas turned back to look up on the mattress, looking for a good answer. "Well, sometimes, some people...don't want your help, and maybe...maybe sometimes you do need to learn to give them space to figure things out on their own...", his bit his lips, "Sometimes that's the best way you can help them, by leaving them be..".
"Is that what landon is doing? He's leaving you all be so he can help?".
"Maybe...".
Mason sat up, "I don't like you guys fighting, i like when our family hangs out all the time, and we get to play games and have fun and laugh. When mom and dad give us hugs and laugh and our grandparents are having a blast. But when you and landon get mad, i get upset...I feel like when you both get mad at each other you might never be friends again and i don't want you guys not to ever be friends again. I like hanging out with my brothers and stuff...".
"We'll work things out mason, we always do...things will pass and we'll be hanging out with mom and dad and having the best day ever together, ok? We'll all be playing games together, laughing, and mom and dad will be so happy and we won't be fighting.", he went silent for a moment, "I hate fighting with landon too mason, i know it's not weird for siblings to bicker sometimes i just wish me and landon didn't bicker so much...I don't...I never mean to hurt him.".
"Do you think he knows that?", Mason laid himself back down on the bed yawning and sinking into the soft mattress.
"I-I'm not sure mason...but i'm gonna make sure he knows anyway.", he could hear the faint sound of the ticking of a wall clock and he sighed, "We better get some sleep though, we all have things to do tomorrow and we both need to try and get some rest...". He reached over to give mason a hug, only to realize sometime during his talk, his arm had returned to normal. He looked over it and snorted, "Huh, well what do you know?", and mason smiled before yawning and making himself comfortable on the bed.
"Thanks judas...".
"It's ok, thanks for talking to me little bat...i needed that.."., he pulled the covers over both of them, "When we get up we can go get some pancakes from the kitchens together, sound good?". The demon smiled as his wings wrapped around him and both managed to drift off into a delightful sleep. Judas's mind was still conflicted and he had a lot to take care of within the next 24 hours, but at least talking to his younger brother did help him feel a bit better.
Hopefully talking to the others would be easier, and this could be hist last night thinking about nothing more then apologizing to everyone the next day.
Hopefully.
Unlucky for Luna it seemed, finding time to talk to Sky and Judas was harder then it seemed. Jackie seemed to have taken a liking to her and wanted to see her train more often, resulting in her spending more time in the gym then she wanted that morning, and between sky's class with angel and other actitivites finding time where she could speak to judas and sky in private was increasingly difficult. Especially since judas was caught up talking to his parents about his coronation.
Sky didn't mind on the other hand, she wasn't entirely looking forward to meeting judas right away, even though she knew she needed to.
Though was it weird she was starting to somewhat get along with Angel of all people?
Well, she still kinda thought he sucked in a lot of ways, but for some reason, he seemed to think she was actually a capable person. Well, judas and eclipsa and a lot of people that knew her thought she was capable, but it felt weirder coming from the guy she beat up way too often for her liking. She was still keeping a close eye on him because she still didn't really trust he wouldn't pull something and go to another extreme to get what he wanted.
But she supposed in a time where she was kinda doubting herself it still was kinda nice that weird dude thought she was more powerful despite them not liking each other.
She almost waved to him as class dismissed, almost.
Though she was a little more focused on eclipsa, luna's rambling wasn't entirely unjustified. And to be honest sky had always kinda wondered why her mom was so antsy around eclipsa despite the fact they usually seemed on good terms, but then again if sky had been her mom in that situation maybe she would've freaked out too. She almost wanted to ask eclipsa but was that even appropriate to bring up? It was all kinda in the past anyway and eclipsa seemed more careful now.
Then again...
"Sky, darling? Class ended, do you have a question?".
Oh yeah, sky WAS just kinda staring at eclipsa for no reason now wasn't she?
"Oh uh...not really, i just uh...", Eclipsa smiled and leaned against one of her tables, "Any mother issues you wanna talk about? boy problems? Or is there anything else you want to tell me but think i might be worried about?". She rubbed her arm and diverted her head, "I mean, i dunno, maybe something like the first but also...not exactly?". Her strange expression was followed by the biting of her lips,"It's just uh...uh, how do YOU feel, about my mom?".
"Me? Oh well, of course i adore your mother, she's a powerful and capable queen. I do think she sets out a lot of unfair expectations on you and maybe doesn't always do the best to help you out and make your life easier but i still think she's a good queen and a wonderful person.". Sky leaned against the wall of eclipsa's room, not entirely satisfied with her answer, "Do you think...she likes you?". Eclipsa blinked at her, confused before going to surprised instead.
"Likes me? Well, your mom tends to like everyone sky, is this because your mother wasn't sure about me being your new teacher? I'm sure she didn't mean to make it sound liked she hated me or anything...she just cares about your safety and what you learn...". But the more she looked at sky, the more her smile dropped, "Oh dear, you found out about the accident, didn't you?". Sky nodded, "I mean, yeah, but i don't know what happen or anything, i guess i was too young to remember..".
"Sky...".
"I don't think you were doing anything harmful, i'm just kinda...well it's just kinda weird..".
Eclipsa sighed, "Well no, it was not intended to do anything to you, it was just...i was being trusted to take care of you for a moment, i tried to do some magic...things got outta hand...and you almost ended up hurt. Your mother hasn't trusted me the same since then, though she still lets me stay here and everything...". Sky nodded, "Yeah that...that explains a lot...is that why you kinda don't seem to well...our balls and parties as well? Y'know?".
"Something along those lines yes...sometimes things like relationships are just complicated, i think your mother was worried if she told you about the accident she'd be forcing you under her rule and well, your mother never liked so many of those.", she then grew a sad smile, "Does that help make you feel a little better?". The princess simply nodded and looked off to the side, "I guess it just feels better being trusted , to uh, know all these things or whatever..".
"You're still worried about not being respected?".
"Maybe...".
Eclipsa's face became more sad and sky grumbled, "Look, it's not easy, it seems so easy to just tell someone they're great and they'll do great and they're overthinking things. When people don't like your ideas, or don't tell you everything, and you just feel so useless the whole time. Like i know you wanna help, and so does judas...i guess it's just hard...when even you feel like you kinda suck most of the time and you're not the person people want you to be...".
"Darling, you don't need anyone's approval but your own...".
Sky didn't answer.
"Now of course, we all need support to do what we want and feel confident in ourselves but at the end of the day you need to trust in yourself to do these things. Pushing yourself down never quite...ends well for most people.". She walked over to pat the girl on the shoulder, "I should've said something sooner about my carelessness, but we all sometimes have secrets and things we don't like to talk about. Don't take it as a sign i don't trust you sky...you're a wonderful girl, but even I have things I don't like to talk about and I don't want to trouble you with...but that's only because I care about you...".
She bit her lip, "Wait...", heading over to another part of the room, she pulled out a book, "I mean, i was planning to give you this another time but maybe you'd enjoy seeing it now.". The book was quickly recognized as a photo album, and of who? Sky of course, who else would it have been? Sky looked a little stunned, especially since her and eclipsa had never been all that close to each other. How long did eclipsa take to make her a gift like this anyway?
There was no way she would've gotten all these pictures unless it was from...
Her moms.
"You made me an photo album...?", she stood there in disbelief, "Wait...why did you make this for me at all?". Eclipsa almost seemed to cry for a moment, "Well, i may not technically be your grandma, but, i still consider you my grandchild. And well, what kinda grandma would i be if i didn't make you something nice? You're 15 sky, you're growing up and you deserve something nice for all the things you've gone through, it's nice watching you grow...".
"Eclipsa...".
"Sorry for making today rather emotional, but trust me when i say, you can do this...I mean, you can't do any worse then me.", she winked and it got sky to laugh, "You took me talking about all this way better then i thought you might've...uh, sorry for dumping my weird emotional issues on you. Just...got a lot on my mind these days and there's so much pressure.". She made some weird hand movements as she spoke and eclipsa sighed, " Don't let anyone tear you down sky, be yourself...and you'll do great things..".
"Thanks eclipsa...".
"Anytime dear, you better get ready to head off, Oh and uh...skyler...before you go, is there...anything else you wish to talk to me about, anything else troubling you?", the woman looked at sky with a serious stare and Sky could've help but maybe shiver in her place, Sky was tempted to almost confess to her about everything happening but that was something that was not worth the risk. Instead she shook her head, and readjusted her outfit as her eyes wandered to the pages of the book. "No Eclipsa, sorry, that's it...thanks".
Sitting next to judas again felt weird, wondering who should speak first between them and wondering what the other one was thinking and so much else. Luna was in front of them, leaning against the wall in her bedroom, she was still in her knight gear, because as soon as she left she managed to get the two of them in a place where she could talk in private. Though the whole thing made sky feel like she was being scolded by her own mother of all people.
Luna had the face of a disapproving mother.
She wondered what Luna was like back home with an attitude like that, did all of her friends back home feel the same way she did? Were they as bad as her? Though she sure hoped whoever Luna hung out with didn't have to deal with this side of her as often as she and Judas seemed to have to.
"So, you wanna tell me sky?".
Ugh, she even SOUNDED like a mom.
"How do you know?".
"I hear things...so, fess up...".
"Look, i talked to eclipsa, it was just an accident, she didn't do anything to me...", sky said gently, "You're losing it luna, like i get it...it's just, you need stronger evidence to go against eclipsa to do anything? I mean, did you even find anything else to be suspicious of?". Luna's face didn't change but her lack of an answer made judas smirk and sky sigh, "Ok, so maybe we haven't been of much help but we're looking out for strange stuff, it's just hard when we don't know what to find...".
Then she tugged a little on her hair, "I guess i could contact Katrina? I just...i don't know if i'd be wasting her time or if it's a good idea. I feel like if i have a chance to talk to her, i might not get another one so easily...and what if she doesn't know anything and i go there for no reason and-". Then she thought about what eclipsa told her, "Ok maybe i can just pick a day and go and speak to her, see if she knows anything, i guess it can't hurt to try.".
"Yeah, might as well, uh...is it ok if i come with to see her as well?", sky looked over to the demon who was rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, "She's kinda always been like our weird older sister, and I want to see her again. Uh...but it's ok if you don't really want me to come.". He was doing that thing again, he probably got it from his parents, where he was so guilty that all confidence he'd have at times was completely drained from him, leaving him a little mopey and blank.
Guess their kinda sorta fight was really getting to him too.
Luna grumbled, "You know, this conversation isn't going to get any easier unless you two actually speak to each other. I don't know why you're both having such a hard time looking at each other in the face but i suggest working it out because I can't spend all night here trying to speak to both of you when your both won't even speak to each other.". The teens were silent for a moment, thinking about things and deciding what to say to each other, one of them needed to speak and get this over with.
"Yeah, you can come...", sky made a smile towards him and she could just feel luna giving them a glare, but she ignored it. It was nice to see judas again, even as worried as she was to talk to him now that they were in the same room she felt a lot more comfortable. He didn't seem to be mad, and he looked just as happy to see her. "Thanks, i uh...hey i uh...I'm sorry if i was being kinda pushy or rude last time, i didn't mean to hurt you or anything.".
"No, you were kinda right, i might've overreacted a touch or something to...y'know...", she slightly looked over to luna remembering what judas told her, "But uh...i didn't mean to like...accuse you of not caring or anything, that was kinda rude...". They exchanged a smile and a laugh and luna sighed, getting their attention, "Listen, we have work to do, now that you both are looking at each other again, is there anything else you guys have even found out? Or have you decided there are more important things then finding this creep?".
"We're royals, not crazy...we can't do a ton from our angle.", judas stood up, "We can't exactly risk doing something if our parents find out, not to mention what if this guy overpowers us? It's like this luna, let's say we do find this guy? What then? Are we expected to fight him? Her? Them? What if they kidnap us, almost kill us? Maybe back home you have the authority to boss around people and have them do dangerous tasks for you but that's not the same here..".
"Well what exactly are you doing to help?"
Apparently the tone of her voice had hit a nerve for the demon prince, walking over to the princess and staring deep into her blue eyes with a serious glare. Luna wasn't the least bit scared of him of course but Sky could tell Judas was really getting sick of Luna's behavior around him and everyone else for that matter. Though at the same time he still seemed to be getting a hold of himself, his voice remaining calm despite how mad he seemed to be.
"Listening to my parent's work on the matter, keeping the group updated, attending all meetings my family has so i can figure out what they know and where they suspect? Just because i don't have a ton to say doesn't mean i don't do anything luna. We're all busy people with our own lives, we want to help, we really do. But we can't just fix everything so easily, find everything we want in the span of a day. Look, i'm sorry nothing's come up but did you really expect this to be fixed so easily?", luna glared at him before grumbling and tugging her hair.
"Things don't get done unless you put in the work to do them.", she said, staring harder into his eyes.
"They also don't get done right if you don't wait for what you need first before going for it, you can't bake bread without knowing the recipe...or otherwise it ends up a disaster.", he shot back at her, still somehow remaining calm.
"Well sometimes if you wait too long people get hurt and things only get worse!".
"And other times you end up doing something reckless and stupid and end up regretting it entirely!"
Sky sighed, here they went again, arguing.
"HEY!".
Her yell got their attention fast.
"Look, maybe me and judas could be doing more and maybe you are way too bossy about this whole stupid thing. But is this really helping? At all? Like you guys wanna be good rulers but you both kinda...have a hard time just..talking to each other.". Luna looked to her, then back to judas, "it's normal, just because we have a similar mindset does not mean i agree with him in every way. We disagree and i'm quite used to dealing with people like that back home thanks.".
"Then let's agree to disagree thanks...", judas took a breath and nodded to sky, "Thanks for talking to us luna, about this whole thing, but me and sky have other things to get done today. We'll call you if we find anything, ok?". He gave her s skeptic look, he didn't seem to entirely trust her to do as he said and he probably had every reason not to trust her. Though then again he also might be slightly annoyed he got roped in here to talk about something that lead nowhere and then was being accused of not caring.
Could go either way.
Luna didn't answer, turning her head away and judas bit his lip and started heading out. Sky didn't really want to admit feeling kinda bad for luna, but even though she was kinda bossy and rude, she was also kinda desperate for answers to get back where she belonged. Geez, maybe luna and angel could go to therapy together, going to such extremes out of desperation and hurting the people around them in the process. Sky attempted to follow judas out as fast as possible but then luna called out to her.
"Sky, i saw my mom...".
So close, and yet so far.
Sky stopped in her tracks and turned her head around to face the tall blonde, "Yeah, what about it?".
"What can you...tell me about her?".
Sky turned completely around now, eyes glancing to the door where judas was waiting for her no doubt, "Uhhh...well, she's our head knight, she's usually not here most of the time cause she has missions, my moms love her a whole lot. I think she dated Jude's mom awhile back? I think she's still single? I mean, are you sure you even wanna know about any of this? I mean, you don't talk about your universe at all and well...it's dangerous to know too much about them since it might well...make you have a crisis, I've kinda maybe been there.".
"I don't care about her love life sky, i want to know how she works. Is she assertive? How many people has she captured? Is she smart enough to discover i'm not just another mewman? She's taken a liking to me and i need to be careful around her-", she closed her eyes and folded her arms together, though sky was sure there was more to what she was saying. "Look, i'm not the kinda person who y'know, looks into people that much? I don't know luna, you're just gonna have to handle that yourself..".
"But you know her here, you live here, you grew up knowing her. You need to give me more then that..".
"Me and judas were young when we first met her, and like i said, she wasn't always around much. Sorry luna, handling her is just gonna have to be your problem because i really don't know all this kinda stuff. She's like, a great knight and does a lot of work but if you're going to fool her, you're gonna have to be creative , but then again, i dunno how many people on mewni would just assume you're her daughter from another alternate timeline.".
There was a silence between them.
"I should go, sorry it's just...i'm not exactly much of a strategist, just...don't get too involved with her or anything...keep your distance i guess. I mean, you don't suspect HER of doing anything right?", luna didn't say anything for a moment, "No, but...I don't entirely trust her either.". Sky gave a knowing glance, "Well, I guess let us know if you find anything interesting...we'll...we'll see you later I guess...uh...sorry this meeting didn't go better?".
"Just go, i have matters to attend to as well...".
Sky gave her one last look as she headed out the door, luna pulling out her compact and sighing as she texted someone else she needed to have a talk with.
Luna: "Celeste? My room, now
"Hey...i'm glad we're uh...talking again, I was SO worried y'know and...", judas laughed it off, playing with his hair and smiling, "I know I shouldn't have been so worried, I guess with everything going on and my brother being mad at me I think my anxiety caught up with me.". Sky walked alongside him, she almost felt like a huge weight was lifted off her chest, "Yeah, I guess we just don't really fight all that often now that I think about it, things have just...gotten complicated.".
"Well, yeah...we're older then we were...we're growing up...we're not the young kids who'd do stupid stuff like we used to.", he seemed to be thinking back to fonder memories as he said that, "I'm sorry if me wanting to hang out with nora so much made you feel...weird. Maybe i'm just...putting too much of myself into nora these days...and it's just making things harder for everyone. I guess it's just...she's just so nice to me and I feel obliged to help in a way...".
Sky snorted, followed by weak laughter, "You get it from your parents, trust me, they rub off on you a lot. My moms sometimes talk about how your folks feel inclined to do their best to help even in issues that don't involve them so there's no further conflict, i mean your mom loves being a hero and getting to do crazy adventures. Though maybe don't tell your family too much about nora cause knowing them they'll start setting you two up on dates more then anything...".
"Yeah, when my mom started dating my dad, my grandfolks went ALL OUT to set them up on perfect dates together and that made things weird for awhile. Though after they got them to back off things worked out just fine, but yeah, better not say anything, they might get the wrong impression. ". He suddenly thought of something before looking to sky, "Hey? How are classes with angel going? Is he on his best behavior the whole time or do you think he's still up to something?".
"He asked me to beat him up."
Judas stopped walking and gave her a strange look.
"Uh...what?".
"I told him I sucked at magic, he didn't buy it, and he said for me to use magic on him like we always did when we had our regular fights. And yes, he ASKED me to fight him, so...don't freak out too much I didn't attack him in an attempt to hurt him.". Judas's stare still remained though, his hands out in front of him, "Sky! I told you you can't just do stuff like that, imagine if he got really hurt and you got in serious trouble because of it! That wand? out of your hands and even out of ours until we figure out why it sent these girls here!".
"SHHHH!", sky placed a finger to his mouth, "You're supposed to be the careful one here mr loud mouth, might not wanna talk about some of that stuff out loud.". Judas held a moment of embarrassment as he moved sky's hand away from his mouth, "Look, i get it, but he's fine...honestly i didn't even want to do it, he just sorta flinged a web at me and i sorta...well, hit him with a narwhal on instinct. It's like, I do spells better when i'm not really thinking too hard about them...".
"And angel...helped you huh? Hmm, i knew he always had some good in him...i just had no idea he uh...well he even wanted to help you. I always got the impression you two were almost impossible to stick in a room together without you fighting like kids...", sky gave him a look but sighed in response, "Well, don't get me wrong I still think he kinda sucks, but I at least think he sucks a little LESS for sorta, being weirdly supportive of me for whatever reason?".
"He cares more then he lets on...".
"I still kinda think he's using this class as a way to talk to my mom and convince her to help him though...".
"And you kinda still have every reason to think that...", they resumed their walk, "Truth is, angel has not given you much of a reason to think otherwise. But that's because he's kinda stubborn and has no real reason to feel like he needs to change...then again, maybe we could...". Sky raised an eyebrow at him, "Judas, you know you can't help everyone right? I mean, no offence it's just that we already have a ton going on and if luna already found out we're talking to nora she'd be mad as is..".
"Well, not, actually...it kinda involves nora...", he reached behind the back of his neck, "Sky? Did your moms ever tell you about where the land of the spiderbites came from exactly? How it got into their hands?". Sky shook her head and he nodded, "Well, when the first mewman settlers arrived, that land used to kinda be owned by angel's family, they were renowned spider creatures who well, lived in a forest full of spiders that they were considered to be friends and lived in peace with...".
His voice sounded sad, his head turning away, "And when the mewmans took over, they saw his species as untrustworthy and dangerous foes, so they drove them back using the wand and took away all of that land, the forest. But when they found out it was infested with spiders, they refused to live in it or make it apart of the Butterfly kingdom. So they handed the land off to one of their allies, the man who helped lead the charge and took the land from the Arachfords...Sir Cornelius. And as he loved the forest despite it's dangers, he renamed himself as the king of Spiderbites, and the land itself became his kingdom. A kingdom for a bunch of mewmans who live under the conditions of creatures who had been living in peace in that land for ages...".
As sky thought about it, she did realize over the years how strange nora and angel's families were to each other. Angel's folks were polite of course and seemed to get along with the queen and slimy monster king, but angel seemed to have a weird relationship with nora. Nora either seemed guilty or afraid of him to some degree, and angel got tense and weird whenever he ended up running into her. Sky really hadn't questioned it much beforehand but if what judas said was true...it made sense.
"You have to remember sky, mewmans were not native to this land, the monsters lived here first, you can't believe that kingdom full of mewmans outside of the butterflies had existed long before the first mewmans arrived, could you? Considering the spiderbites never minded monsters I'm surprised they hadn't tried to work things out sooner between the kingdoms but at the same time maybe the tension between them just makes it hard to make the first move and just speak to each other...", His tone was soft and his mind seemed to be wandering.
"How...did you find out all that?".
"Demons live a long time, i have some relatives i could ask about the history of mewni, thought not all of it is very pleasant. I mean, your family nearly drove his species to near extinction and starvation where his kingdom ended up in ruins, but he also kinda has a beef with nora as well he doesn't entirely act on. I'm saying this, because i think if we want to help him, we might need to just, separate you and her from the mistakes of your ancestors...and maybe...nora...could help...with his mom..".
"Uh...you're asking a lot of nora to cure your curse and his mother you know, it's...no offence, it's just it's already hard enough for her i don't know if putting a life on her shoulders is a good idea too .What if she can't be cured? Like i know it'd be amazing if she could be cured so easily, but if she can't? You've seen his mom, like...his dad's weirdly right, if anything were to happen...he kinda needs to have support and friends or he might...get worse...", man, and now she was agreeing to HELPING him? When did she go soft?
"Maybe but...think about it, we resolve the tension between those families, and angel might change his mind about the things he's been doing.".
"Maybe...".
"We have priorities and other things to focus on, but i also think something is up with angel...and i think we're better off being his friend then his enemy right now. I'm still suspicious of him being found in the castle in the middle of the night and we can't entirely rule out his patience at your lessons as something else in case he is still up to something. Either way I think we need to finally put things to rest between him, which we were going to have to do eventually if we want to make the alliance work when we take over..", he turned to look at her straight in the face again, "We need Nora to help if she can...".
His tone was serious and sky seemed to fully understand what he was talking about as they kept walking. When she really thought about it, maybe she and judas should question angel at some point on the masked character. Not that he'd probably tell her, he was brutally honest at times but that might be the one thing he'd probably want to keep his sharp toothed mouth closed about unless he wanted to get into even more serious trouble.
"Well, we can work on it then, i guess...I mean, the dude already seems to sorta kinda like you? and maybe sorta kinda respect me? Maybe we can work off of it or something so we can get him to admit what's really going on with him and all of this...", judas snickered as she made hand motions as she spoke, "Yeah, i think maybe we can work something out later and figure out if something else is up with that prince, well, after we talk to nora of course.".
They stopped in their tracks and sky grabbed judas's arm, "Speaking of nora, we better get a move on soon, we don't wanna keep her waiting..". The friends turned to each other and nodded, "Yeah, i think that's one thing we can both agree on right now." . They smiled and the fire engulfed them as they vanished from the hallway, unknowing to them that someone was watching from down the hallway, the figure moving off somewhere else as fast as they came.
