"I could portal?", the demon girl looked down at her hands, as if memorized by them, " But, i'm not supposed to be able to do that without years of practice dipping down right? I mean, I've just never heard of our mewberty forms letting us...portal before...it's never been recorded in our history at least...". Sunny of course, was still upset about her recent...freakout, but what put her more on edge then anything was her abilities, being more overpowered then normal.

She sighed, "I got my wand so young...because I was too powerful...I...needed to be able to control my power sooner then other princesses, so...it's just...a little scary to find out...what I can do...when i'm not in control of my own body.". She looked to the people in the room with her, that being for now, galexia, and judas. Judas coming here right after seeing his father, and waiting on the return of sky, and and keeping a close eye on galexia as she drew in the corner, this was lexi's room after all, anyone was welcome.

"I know the feeling...it's kinda a personal fear of mine as well..".

"It's always been like this for me...you know? I kinda always felt like me being stuck at home so much, it wasn't just to keep me safe...it was to keep others safe...from me.", sunny's wings fluttered behind her, they were still new, so still soft and weak, it was going to take some getting used to for her. She was used to flying without wings that having wings felt like a bizarre experience, what were her parents going to say if and when she got back home?

"I'm sure it's nothing you need to worry about, at least, not right now...you're back in control of your body, and you seem to have gotten a good hold on yourself...", the smaller demon nodded, "I have...but, sometimes it's a scare when you have that kinda power...especially when you want to control it.". Sunny always seemed so in control of her powers, almost better then luna was, so her talking about this, especially as dismal as she spoke on the topic, well, it was strange.

Sunny was usually so sweet and cheery, and right now, she was far from it.

"You gonna be ok?", it wasn't entirely like judas himself was in the best of moods after speaking to his father, but he sure didn't want sunny to feel awful considering all the stuff she must me going through, the stuff that usually seemed to hide behind her smiles. "I'll be ok...I think, i'm used to having strange things happen to me...I just need more time to process it...". He understood, he honestly would ask her further about her magic back home but it didn't seem remotely appropriate right now considering how sunny felt.

"It's alright sunny...for the record though...your butterfly form was incredible...".

It seemed to make her feel a little better, smiling and twiddling her fingers together, "Thanks...I just hope i didn't scare you all TOO bad, i know mewberty can be a little...insane...not to mention how long it'll take to clean up my room of evidence...that stuff doesn't come out easily you know? How are you planning to even get rid of it? If one of the underworld servants walks in to clean it they are going to have to report it to well...your parents...". She took a seat next to her older half-brother, who tried to reassure her.

"Eclipsa said she'd take care of it...i'm...still not entirely comfortable with her knowing about...you know, but, i do want to trust her. I just hope she doesn't go into any of our minds again, I don't particularly like people invading my privacy like that...", he looked over to lexi, who was still drawing to her heart's content, "Yesterday was such a crazy day my mind feels like it's turned into jelly, i can't entirely concentrate and today hasn't been much better with my dad... I just hope sky's doing better then me...".

"she's talking to angel?"

"Yeah, kinda, well...inviting him to hang out...globgor is going to look into his family but we think well...we might be better talking to angel ourselves to a degree, right now, we're better off as friends then enemies..", she crossed her arms, "Just, i hope you're not doing it just to get information out of him...he's still a person you know? I know i'd hate it if someone became my friend just to use me like that...I know he's kinda weird but, he's still a person...".

She pouted, "Awhile back you got mad with me for trying to mess with Loki, for trying to trick him? I was only trying to help but I wasn't going about it the right way, I have friends back home who'd...well I guess they would've seen the situation more harmless then you did, but i get the feeling being tricked or lied to bothers you a lot...". He nodded, "I guess you could say that yeah...", and Sunny nodded, "I made you upset, and...I don't want you to make him upset...i've met monsters like him back home and...", She stopped speaking, but judas seemed to understand what she was getting at.

Sunny had a real sympathy for monsters and people that need help didn't she?

"I promise, this isn't just because we're suspicious...we do want to be on good terms with him, trust me.", he patted her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her, "With everything going on we need answers, and something is definitely up with angel and we need to look into it, but...I don't want to hurt the guy either...If nothing is really going on and he truly wanted to hang out with us...then...this can't do any real harm in the end. And hopefully...things work out between us..".

She seemed to understand, "Just be careful, he seems like he's going through enough...I don't think he'd like feeling as though you didn't actually care about him.". Judas knew well enough, and after him being almost friendless aside from sky for most of his life, he wouldn't want to turn into the guy that made someone else feel uncared about either. He just hoped in the back of his mind angel wasn't withholding any dangerous secrets from him, that things could be peaceful between the three of them.

There was definitely something strange with him, between him just magically appearing in the castle during the sleepover, to stealing jude's phone, to producing silk again when he shouldn't be able to? Maybe he was indeed overthinking it, it had crossed his mind that he was getting way too paranoid about everyone and everything these days, but he was getting desperate for answers. The biggest issues was mostly going to be getting them from Angel once they confronted him.

He was always stern with the boy, but also friendly, despite how tall he was the last thing he ever wanted to do was come off like he was planning to hurt anyone. But if he wasn't careful he might get nothing from him, and only make their relationships with angel worse then they kinda were. He at the very least, could hope the respect they shared between being monster princes from mewni would at least allow the boy to be more comfortable if sky failed.

For as long as he remembered the three had never been on the best of terms, even if he wished that were different if he had known he'd sometimes feel as disrespected or as isolated as angel did at times. If there is something on the loose out there, targeting kingdoms, they needed as many allies as they could, and if anyone in this large and insane magical world needed allies and friends at this time of need. It was the boy with extra legs and whose stubbornness matched the one of his best friend most times.

No more fights, no more bitter rivalries, no more of angel causing issues.

That was the dream, a nice dream at least.

"I hope you three become good friends...you know, and nora, nora too...", sunny sounded sad, her voice growing weak, "If and when we go back home, we're not going to see you anymore most likely...things will go...back to normal, and well...when i'm gone...", she looked over to him with sad eyes, "I hope you all well...are happy...at least, I want to think about you all being happy together, you, sky, angel, nora, mason...landon...all of you.".

"I'm gonna miss you too sunny...it's well...it's nice to have a little sister...", sunny smirked, eyes glistening, "Well, it's kinda cool to have an older brother, i've always been so used to being the oldest I've never known what it was like to have a protective older brother looking out for me...I-I hope maybe...we can just...find a way...to talk again, when all of us go home...you know? Think about it, you could meet my friends and they could meet yours and...it's a nice thought..".

"Yeah, yeah it is...the future is always a little funky and even when your reassure yourself things will be easy it can still come back to you but...the though helps, that maybe...everything will work out.".

"GUYS!", the door swung open, sky walking in, frantic and...happy? Catching the attention of both part-demons who were momentarily scared but relaxed and eased as the princess looked the happiest she'd been in awhile.

"I think...it actually worked...?".

"You asked angel out?", Sunny asked, jokingly, eyebrow raised.

"Uh, No...but I think, we're kinda...sorta...friends? Maybe...well, I actually think he wants to hang out..", Judas stood up, half surprised and half in utter joy, "You actually got him to want to hang out with us? Wow I thought it would take longer but...sky that's wonderful! What happened?". Sky shrugged, knowing full well the entire situation was kinda awkward to explain , "Well, we kinda fought together and he kinda freaked out and I actually...comforted him? And well we...he actually...admitted to well...not liking his actions, that they weren't helping and we...hugged.".

"You hugged?"

"Don't make it weird! But yeah...he sorta...cried into my shoulder..".

"He cried?! "

"Yeah, he kinda went haywire for a sec and i guess it scared the heck outta him and he kinda needed to vent and talk to someone and I was just kinda there and ...look, it's not that important how it happened! I think we just...had a "Bonding moment" and well, he actually smiled, at me...it's kinda strange when i actually talk about it." Sunny looked rather giddy, "He SMILED?! Awwwww! That's really sweet! Did you get his number? You could-".

"Sunny, angel doesn't have a compact, remember?", judas reminded the small girl, thinking back, "for several different reasons but considering he has to steal mine off me, yeah it's clear he never had one he could easily access, and to order food for some reason too...so that's kinda odd, but yeah, we'd have to go to him to hang out...though, his parents most likely would think we were there because he did something...and our parents still are on high protection of us...".

"So how do you even plan on spending time with him? "

"Simple", Sky said, not very happy with the solution but knowing full well where it was going, "I'm going to have to talk with my mother..". It didn't sound that bad without context but her mother wasn't very fond of Angel's antics and the only way they could avoid most issues was for angel to come to them

And angel can't come to them, without Star herself intervening.

Fantastic.


'Hey celeste...", landon caught up with the girl, a little spring in his step and a compact being placed into his pocket and celeste could only assume what...or who was now putting him in better spirits. "Um...how did things uh...go...with sunny? I'm not talking to judas so...I kinda thought you'd tell me but you've kinda ignored me...", She simply grumbled, her mind feeling as if it were fighting with each other, should she say something or not?

By the sounds of it Judas hadn't made it public to the whole group yet , was he even going to?

Was everyone just planning on not telling luna anything?

Including her?

If the Nora stuff was any indication, they were definitely not telling them everything that was going on, sneaking out to see a girl? Seriously? Where were their priorities at if they were sneaking out to see someone else unless it has to do with their current task of finding their way home? It was like being stuck between a rock and a hard place, she was pissed at luna but she was also pretty pissed at judas and sky for keeping more secrets from her.

Even if they may of been warranted from someone like luna.

She was so lost in thought she only just now noticed landon snapping his fingers in front of her, keeping an eye on the guard following celeste nearby, "Look, we have to talk because if we don't so something and luna finds out, I kinda get the sense she'd wipe our memory or something and I'd...rather she didn't...you have to do some some questioning to figure out what's so...weird about sunny and I have to look at sky's wand and well, we kinda need to talk if we want to do our own investigating I guess..".

"You still want to work with uh...luna? You seemed pretty mad with her...".

"I don't like her, trust me, but...I've been doing some thinking and well...I still want you to go home...So, i'll put up with it, but only if it means we figure out what's going on around here...because If i catch that stupid guy who did this well, imagine that.", she could see a glint of joy in his eyes and suddenly she understood where this was headed, "No more hiding in that private box huh? You just plan on going out there and capturing the guy yourself?".

"Oh you bet, i'm freaking sick of this, sick of no one knowing who i am, sick of my brother being more important, sick of people like that girl stomping all over me. I was about to back up, thinking i made a mistake in getting involved in this against my brother, but you know what? Maybe this is just what i need to show him and everyone else, you and me, we work together to figure this out, we'll get what luna needs but we capture the guy together...we both show the others we're not useless..".

"You're serious? We team up and work on this together?".

"I'll show them...I'll show them all...", he was definitely serious, his violin strapped to his back and his three eyes looking dead forward, "We both will, if luna and everyone else wants to tear us down...we'll shown them what we're made of...". His attitude was so...unlike landon, not to say landon never did anything, but that the boy rarely ever seemed happy or eager to get involved in anything when she'd seen him, she had a feeling luna's words got to him more then he let on.

Was he really that mad? She'd seen him mad before but mad enough to push himself into situations he didn't normally like doing? She almost felt like she should talking him out of it, but social interaction wasn't her strong suit, maybe if she was lucky he'd back out of it himself, though right now she just decided to shake it off. She might be overthinking it, if the dude wanted to take charge and prove himself she couldn't really be the kinda person to ruin that for him.

"Do you even have a plan?".

"Sorta...".

"Sorta?!".

"Look, Sunny kinda sorta lives with you, you can talk to her...she's an open book right? Just...ask about her and what's up with her...why does luna even want to know about that anyway?", his partner shrugged, looking behind her at the guard who wasn't paying too close of an ear to their words, "I assume she just finds it kinda weird this 14 year old girl is more stupidly powerful then she is...honestly are you surprised? It is freaking weird how good she is at magic...and she's younger then me.".

Well, actually, landon had barely ever seen the girl do magic, so he technically had no reason to really know now that she thought about it, but whatever. She shook her head and moved on, "Anyways, I think luna's on edge, the longer she's been here the more and more on edge she's been getting, maybe she thinks...sunny did it?", his eyebrows were raised and his hands were placed in his pockets. "Sunny? But Sunny doesn't really seem to have much interest in like...I dunno, doing anything to hurt anyone? I mean, you've seen her, she eats dinner with our family and she's kinda...well...not really sinister...".

"Well, she's also a pretty good actor I believe...", Celeste mumbled, "I dunno, I think at one point she mentioned being in plays back home and you've seen how she talks to your dad and can get what she wants out of people, I mean...what if she's a better actor then we thought? She seems to have a way with people...".

"Yeah, but she's also not tall enough to be under that outfit...well, i guess unless she flew...but still, like...remember the portal thing? She can't be in two places at once, we were ALL there!", he had a good point, "I mean, unless...but no, sunny doesn't know anyone else around here enough to have a accomplice, she's in a whole new dimension...and that doesn't explain sky's wand and all this other junk or why she'd do these things... and UUGGHHHH!".

"Look, let's just work on talking to her and looking at the stupid wand...though, I dunno what she expects you to do with the wand...stare at it? I mean, if she holds it it would just turn into her wand so...", he grumbled and scratched his head, "I dunno, i've known sky for a long time, seen her use magic all the time, and I don't know enough about it to even know what i'm looking for! I mean, nothing seems wrong about it from the outside...I think...".

"Take some pics or something, I dunno...I apparently have to learn to "Socialize" and talk to sunny...", she was clearly not too keen on having the task where she had to smile and make friends and she threw her arms up in the air, "Like, i HATE talking to most people, because most people are annoying and treat me like garbage and I have to try and get information nicely out of them? Like, Ugh...luna sounds like my mom back home, trying to get me to make friends..".

"Really?".

"Don't your parents ever just...y'know...make you do these things? Try to help you make friends? Try and make you into what they want to make you into?", he shook his head almost immediatly, "Our parents never really pressured us into anything...being...anyone, judas was gonna be king but...our parents preferred we had y'know...freedom to make our friends and persue our hobbies...you know, i was shut inside my room a lot...my parents didn't try and force me into anything...".

"Huh...", she pondered over that for a moment, before turning her head away, "Well, I guess you're lucky then...". She went silent as she felt landon touch her shoulder gently, trying to comfort her," Look, I-I'm sure you can do it, don't give up...just...be yourself or something, you can probably get what you need.". She didn't seem all that optimistic about his words but took them anyway, Well, I uh...hey...let's head to my room, I think there are some things from yesterday you outta know.

He understood, following her.

"Hey uh...is it weird to ask if...you know, why do you fall back on things you say you want to do? Like...You said awhile ago you wanted to use magic, use it to help...but don't use it..., and you hate talking about your home...but want everyone to spill their guts...it's kinda weird...".

"Why do you care?".

"I dunno, it's just...sometimes...It feels like you say things...looking for a fight...but don't actually mean them...".

She went silent, before brushing him off, "C'mon, move it...and keep your voice down...".

She really didn't want to talk about her problems right now, and just focus on getting this dumd mission done so luna didn't explode.

Sunny was an interesting choice of a suspect, but her being in two places at once was an odd thing to explain for now.

However, she was not the only monster/mewman that could be under suspect of being responsible behind this.

Now, she knew there was another as gears turned in her mind.

Meteora.


"You finally ready to go talk to her?", judas sighed, watching sky as she held out the pendent Katrina gave her, sky sighing to herself, knowing he was going to see nora alone today to tell her his progress, in which, there was none of course. Nothing to present to her besides the fact his father would be considering the whole thing, judas would be more then fine on his own of course, though he did seem sad his friend would be sneaking off somewhere else.

"Guess I've been stalling long enough...huh?", she was partially laughing, but it was true, she had kinda been stalling for a long time from when katrina first told her she could contact her at any time using this...thing she supposed. Maybe something about going out there to find her made her anxious, maybe she was worried this was a set up for some bizarre elaborate trap, or maybe she was just scared she'd find her and talk to her and come back with nothing.

She clutched her wand in her hands, anxious about it and using it before examining the pendent, "I'm not even sure how to use the thing honestly, it's not like this came with any instructions, or katrina told me much, just that this pendent is supposed to help me find her...somehow...". Upon close inspection the pendent was quite decorative, with a few green gems on it, but it wasn't particularly very helpful to point her the right way, because of course it wasn't.

Ugh, Spies.

Judas carefully took it out of her hands, looking it over closely, "Katrina...you could at the very least write a note if you wanted to allow us to find where you go", he turned the pendent in his hands and bit at his lips, "I'm not sure sky, maybe you should try using your magic or something?". He was met with silence as he put his hands in his pockets, "You don't have to go, I mean, not tonight at least, you can come with me and nora and we'll talk and you can figure this out later...".

"No it's cool, the arm thing is mostly your business anyway, I just...there's gotta be something here...katrina knows us...there has to be something about it to help...the chick is a freaking spy, if anyone knows wat's happening outside of these walls, she would", he smiled, giving her a small hug before standing back up, "Well, if that's the case, i know you'll figure it out, call me if you figure out anything...ok? We'll talk soon enough, I believe in you...ok?". She smiled and watched him teleport away, staring at the pendent and getting a little more frustrated over time.

It was nice for them to be on good terms again, reliving actually, sky could be stubborn as all heck sometimes but judas was probably the one person who could get her to soften so easily. She missed having his support and things sorta seemed to be looking up a little more recently between them being back to normal and angel and her actually seemingly working things out at a decent pace. She wished he could stay and help but, honestly after their stupid fight the last thing she wanted to do was ask too much of him.

Plus, this thing with Nora mattered a lot to him personally and no doubt she would be the worst friend ever if she tried to take that away from him. She probably should take advantage of this situation to handle more matters without judas, though she kinda was always under the impression in their duo he was better suited to figuring out puzzles and stuff like this. Even if people were encouraging her that she was pretty competent on her own with magic, she doubted they could argue for her knowledge considering how much studying annoyed her and that she was far from the most knowledgeable about mewni.

But she stalled this enough and she had to figure this out, at least, if only because judas was counting on her and believed she would figure it out herself.

"Ok...what am i supposed to do here...how do I find you...ugh...think sky, think like a spy...".

She rolled the pendent around and looked closer at the gems, one was a little bit bigger then the other when she took a better look at it, but that was probably for decorative purposes. The she turned the pendent around, looking at it's bare back and scratching at it, "Think think...like...ok...well, Katrina knows I like to make hats...so maybe...it has something to do with that? But this is like...jewelry! That's...that's not the same thing! Ugh...maybe I just...".

She placed the pendent on her hat, the chain around one of the ears as she frustratingly sat it there, all out of ideas, grumbling, "Ugh...this is freaking stupid...".

The pendent, as if it could hear here, hit her in the eye as she moved.

"OWWW! Ugghhhhh, c'mon...".

Then she froze, the gem right in front of her eye as she held it closer to her eye.

Everything was green.

It was a freaking spyglass to hook onto her hats, my god.

And then she held it out towards the window.

"Are you kidding me..."


"You came! Bluebell!", Katrina wrapped her arms around sky, holding her tightly, "It was about time, I would've thought you'd be more eager to see my other outside work...". Sky huffed and puffed as she pulled up her pendent, the one katrina gave her, "Well, this thing didn't exactly come with instructions, I had to use this weird spyglass thing at my window, till i found some weird blinking thing in the distance, to find your location, and then i had to SNEAK outside of my room to find you...".

She looked over the the green gemstone on top of the wall, the stones were clearly linked somehow to find katrina magically but sky still seemed mad about going through so much effort to make it where she should've been countless times before now if she hadn't been so lazy.

"And it took you THAT long? it's been weeks!"

"What? No! Things just kinda...got in the way", she felt embarrassed, she should've come sooner, and she promised everyone she would, and still didn't do it. Her procrastinating seemed to never fade did it? Katrina still seemed delighted to see her though, smiling from her hideout, atop the ruins of a giant wall, clearly broken from a past war no doubt. Did she really spend her days watching things from atop a ruined wall? What would she normally even find up here?

"Ah, what kinda things?", she was smiling a toothy smile and the mewman groaned.

"Trust me, nothing THAT special, but...I'm sure you've heard about the whole..."Masked thief" thing going around? The entire kingdom is kinda in a huff because of it, not to mention security is way tighter to avoid them sneaking back in...". Katrina seemed to get it almost immediately, her eyes diverting to the scene in front of her, "Oh, I know exactly what you mean Sky, I've been on watch for her ever since I heard...I think the monsters have been paranoid about her being a mewman out to get vengeance or something..".

"A mewman out for vengeance?".

"Yeah, against the royal families for allowing monsters rights and such? You know what some mewmans are like about monsters or half monsters these days...you're not even a monster and you deal with some flack, i think there have always been rumors for awhile about...secret cults or assassins out to put things back to normal, most of it comes from paranoia of course, but spies like me have caught some crazies out there on the job sadly...you don't think Princess Spiderbite is kept at home or the Lucitor princes are restricted on where they go and what they do for no reason do you? There are dangerous people out there...".

"And...you think this is one of them?".

"Yes but...you should be careful...because i'm also hearing...you're under suspect from the commission..".

"You...hear a lot of things through the grapevine huh?", she had almost forgotten the commission thought she was responsible for the destruction of the archives and tried to take her wand away, it had been awhile since being under suspect had even been brought up and judas made no mention of it when he went to meetings with his parents. Though then again, talking about his best friend like that in front of him would've been a stupid move for them anyway.

"Word gets around bluebell...especially when the kingdoms become more heavily guarded and the royals don't leave without bodyguards...besides, you know me, spying is a part time job for me...things slip through the cracks eventually...for example, I assume Judas is out to meet that slime girl?". Sky's eyes widened, then she groaned, "Ugh, does EVERYONE know about that besides our parents? Cause we haven't even done it for very long!".

"Oh no, just me...I can see a lot from this point, plus I'm probably keeping better eye on your then the guards anyways..."., she was partially laughing but did seem a little concerned, "Don't worry, I won't snitch, just be careful out there...there's been some weird stuff going on and I'd rather neither of you got hurt on my watch. I know you both can take care of yourselves but if I know you're sneaking out and something happens...that's on me.".

"What...weird stuff have you been seeing exactly?".

"It's hard to explain, though you know that ponyhead kid? He's been wandering around a lot during the night, I can spot him in the woods sometimes, other times...I spot other people out there, the high commission for one but I can't tell if it's part of their job or not, and some people out there are meant to be out there anyways...". Loki had been wandering around in the woods huh? Yeah, that didn't seem to suit the kid, though it peaked her interests drastically.

"Loki's under heavy guard to keep him from running off, he hasn't been like...tagging me or judas for weeks since they locked him up...".

"Really? Cause I'm sure it's him...".

"Well, judas has said he's been acting strange, tired, more paranoid...dazed...".

She hummed and went back to looking over the wall, pulling out binoculars, "That's not a good sign, do you know if he sleepwalks...er...floats? Perhaps he's lacking in rest as a result? Being out in the woods these days, not a good idea...I've tried to catch him, but he's too fast, even for me...and those woods...easy to get lost in. I've been sending reports to his parents you know, but either they aren't listening or whatever they're doing...isn't working..".

"You know anything...else going on...that's odd?".

"Well, a spy can't tell you everything blue girl...however...i'll tell you this, the high commission are still onto you, be careful, they're looking for more evidence to convict you and the only thing standing in their way of coming to you sooner is your mother..", guess regardless of her mixed feelings towards her mom, she was at least the one thing keeping her from being trialed by the high commission for possible crimes. "You have them on edge, take it from me though, i personally think someone's trying to frame you. That or...the commission is all too eager to remove you from the throne...".

"You think they would do that?".

"I put nothing past them after what they pulled with Eclipsa years ago, they're no longer the credible all mighty magic users mewni once saw them. Pretty sure the reason they aren't fired is they don't have anyone to take their place...but they are still have you under suspicion sky, just...don't trust them, I think they want to believe you're the one under that mask, that your friends are just covering up for you, the stunt that happened with the chandelier? It was only the beginning of trying to make you out worse then you are...".

"I got mad during that...my mom...".

"Isn't understanding all the time, or perfect, I know...it's not entirely your fault she leaves you so...emotionally upset. Though, as someone who knew her, she struggled a lot as well, I mean "Fixing" magic? Dying and coming back to life? She went through a lot, and she was just around your age if not younger when she did...and then, she grew up, she kinda had to grow up fast going through all that...she never intended to be so..."Y'know"?".

"I guess...".

"That's life sometimes, things happen and there's not much you can do about it, your mom wants the best for you she's probably just not..."Good" at expressing that, it's ok though. You'll get through it, you're getting better at magic right?", she held out her wand, "Yeah, I am...i mean...my mom started training me and It did some good...but...I also failed a lot...but then eclipsa started helping and...of all people out here, ANGEL sorta made me realize a lot of the reason I screw up...is cause i lack like...confidence...or well...i'm emotionally messed up..".

"Angel? Awww, that's sweet...".

"Don't make it creepy.".

"Oh don't worry, I just think sometimes you can learn just as much from your enemies, as your friends. And besides, angel is nice boy, sometimes a little stupid and inconsiderate, but a nice boy. I suppose your mother teaching you specifically would make things more complicated wouldn't it? Well, don't worry about it...your friends will-". Then she went silent, touching sky's shoulder, "Shh, quiet...there the boy is...wandering around again?".

Sky looked up and over the wall, squinting.

"Uhh...I don't see loki anywhere, I mean...he's bright green...".

"That's because he wears a black costume blue girl..., but if you look close enough you can make him out despite that...here", she handed sky her binoculars and sure enough, the outline of a pony could barely been seen as the prince rapidly moved through the woods, "Well, if he's putting on a costume, he's out for a reason...you think he's looking for something?".

"Not sure, just know he's scared a lot of villagers passing by because he's so fast and hard to make out..."., the frog woman eyed sky, "I'm not supposed to leave my post tonight since my usual partner ain't here but...you think we should catch him? I've tried tailing him but he's too fast, but maybe...", she looked to sky's wand and back to her, "You're not perfect I know, But...if you're improving as much as you say you are...see if you can catch that rouge prince before he gets back home, i'll cover for you if you get caught...".

"Catch him? You mean go over there and rope him?".

"Yep...ever lassoed a stray warnicorn? It's like that...except...it's flying...though, might wanna be careful considering he's royalty. If you can catch him we might be able to find out what he's doing, his parents never listen to me otherwise i'd go to their kingdom and ask myself but...yeah, you know them...". She grabbed the binoculars back as she examined the surroundings, "If you can catch that guy, we might get to properly confront him on this right here, right now...".

"You sure we couldn't wait...?".

"It'd make good practice...just be careful of the horn, and maybe magic possibly, but it might help you more to use magic in action.", she noted, and she was indeed right. Sky was thinking for a bit, well, if she did catch him she might be able to find out some info, but then again, loki usually lacked anything of interest, even angel at the very least, was fascinatingly annoying, loki was straight up a burden most of the time, and if he weren't being kept in his room he probably would've caught onto sky's little secret uncomfortably fast and blabbed it to the world.

"Here...you are now spy, spies wear this...", she handed sky a dark mask to hide her face, "Here...put this on, might help him have a harder time noticing you...I don't know what he's doing down there, but I think we'll both be better off knowing.". She needed only to look at the mask for a second before grabbing it and pulling it over her head, "Alright, I'll give it a shot, I don't promise i'll catch him though, I have no idea what he's even doing out there...".

"Well whatever it is, we outta find out...".

Sky creeped away from the way, sneaking over towards the edge of the woods, wand in hand and eyes looking out for sudden movements, she and judas had gotten into a few scrapes, never really to go after anyone of course, but she had recalled times where sneaking around and having your hair stick up on edge was incredibly common for their adventures, that was the thing about mewni at least, you never know what to expect and so much out there was deadly enough to kill you in an instant.

Especially out there in the woods.

Loki was lucky he hadn't been hurt yet out there, was he using magic against anything that could've killed him?

He was pretty cowardly, too cowardly to really fight back that much, too cowardly to sneak into the dark woods at night where he could easily be kidnapped or hurt or worse out there. Maybe he really was sleepwalking or something? Though that probably just meant he should be slamming into every tree he came across, breaking his horn easily. She gripped her wand tighter as she peeked further into the woods, feeling a breeze as something flew past her fast.

And then stopped in it's tracks, much to her surprise.

"L-Loki?".

He turned.

He didn't seem normal at all, his eyes were glowing and she couldn't even see the prince's pupils, she barely had time to think when he darted for her and her wand, sky ducking and the prince missing her by a few inches. What? was he trying to impale her or something? He wasn't sleepwalking, that was for sure, he was under some kind of spell. And something about sky and her wand seemed to call to him, he darted again for her and sky put her wand out at him, aiming to hit him.

Without hurting him of course, or judas would be PISSED.

But then he stopped in his tracks, right in front of the wand, transfixed by it in fact. Sky was panting, shocked by the sight in front of her, was he responding to her being a magic user or something? Did it even really matter? She roped him no trouble with her licorice spell though, right around his mouth, pulling him along and back to katrina, who looked just as stunned as sky was as she got a close look at the spell cast prince. "You caught him...rather...easily...", Katrina reached out to touch the prince's face, he didn't react, whatever spell he was under made him kinda stiff other then the floating his species normally was capable of.

"Does he...recognize me? Why would he stop?", Katrina didn't seem to know herself, "Right now, let's just get him home, "Or correction, I'll get him home, you probably shouldn't say anything...I need to report this one sky, he's clearly been tampered with magically. We won't be able to question him till he snaps out of it...and who knows how long that might...last..". Sky circled him, in fascination, "Does this mean...someone's been using him for something?".

"It would explain his vanishing for awhile, seems he was an easy target to take control of..", she snapped her fingers in front of his glowing eyes and hummed to herself, taking rein of the "Rope" sky was using. "You better leave blue girl, not safe if masked person is taking control of others for their own benefit. Your safety is incredibly important and I can't risk you ending up like him...". Sky really couldn't argue with that if she tried, though he felt shivers go up and down her spine as she removed the mask she was wearing.

"S-should I tell judas? About this?".

"The sooner the better, if he's here it's highly likely the masked one isn't too far away...".

"Alright, I'll-".

Then before her eyes, Loki's eyes returned to normal, the prince fainting and falling only to be caught by katrina quickly, he came to shorty after, dazed and very much confused. He looked between the monster and half-mewman and blinked at them, "Uh...what? Sky, you're kidnapping me? Where you taking me? Tell me you're taking me away from my parents...". Sky gave him a look, and the pony went back to floating, his hair waving and gills working as normal.

"Uh...w-why are you staring at me...is...what am i wearing?!...ugh...", he seemed drowsy, even if he wasn't in control of his body, his body still seemed to have all the same affects it normally would've if he had had them, he still seemed a little out of it and katrina looked back to sky as loki finally noticed he had been roped. "Don't worry your highness, I'll explain later, c'mon...we're heading out...", she looked over to sky and motioned to her spyglass, "I'll lead you back home, follow, but once we get back, don't come looking for me anytime soon...I'll come to you next time we need to talk...".

"Wait, what's going on...I-I..", she shushed loki, "C'mon, we move...".

And she was out of sight quickly after, tugging the prince behind her as sky grabbed her things, summoning her bat-winged cloudy to catch up.


"Landon...sweetie?", Marco knocked on the boy's bedroom door, hearing a small "Yeah?" from the other side. Marco opened the door to find the boy...reading a book on magic? And Celeste was with him in the corner, writing something. Marco didn't pay her much mind though, wanting to see their son specifically. Landon looked up at the sight of them and seemed a little embarrassed, he wasn't entirely over the fact he dissapointed Marco as badly as he did.

"Hi mom...", he was flipping through the book, specifically on the pages about the butterfly wand, the recorded gemstones it had had in it's history and such, finding any info he could on his mission, his knowledge of sky's wand was limited, but maybe...if he knew more about it...he might have an easier time getting a hold of it and finding out what about it had suddenly gotten luna's attention. Maybe he could figure it out himself? Before she or anyone else could?

Though his mom entering the room was a bit of a distraction as he put the book down, he just hoped it wasn't anything...bad, he was getting a little too used to getting bad news for his liking and he especially hated hearing it come from his mother of all people. But his mother seemed rather happy, their first instinct being to ruffle their son's hair, being mindful of his sharp horns, "I'm glad you made another friend landon, you called bernard recently? I'd like to have him over at some point...so we can all get to know him...".

"Mommmmmm~", he was giving her a childish grumble but his mom only seemed to laugh and find it adorable. "C'mon, I think it's a good idea, sky's been over for meals so many times in the past but you've never invited a friend over for dinner to meet the rest of us , I think it'd be nice for all of us to get to know him a bit better, well, as long as his parents were cool with it. I know the whole "being rulers of the underworld" thing, doesn't work with everyone...".

"Well, I'll ask, I...I do want him to come over...soon...", he couldn't see if but he had a feeling celeste was smirking and rolling her eyes from her seat, "You think he'll be cool with...all this? I mean, he saw a little of it and he says it'll be fine but...". The human covered his mouth, "Don't worry about what he thinks, if he can't accept your home and culture, then you can find better friends out there who do care about you and your culture...ok?".

The queen removed their hand and landon sighed, "I-I guess...".

"Anyways, I came here because I have a package for you...from your brother..", as if by magic, which it probably was, marco pulled out a box from behind them, a rather long box in fact. It didn't take long for Landon to get an idea about what it was, he just was mixed about taking it. His mother though, seemed entirely aware of this, their attitudes to each other at more recent dinners and such most likely gave it away rather quickly since landon was maybe a little too easy to read for his mom.

"Open it...please? I know you two are still mad at each other but...at least see what he got you...".

He sighed but complied, ripping open the package and the paper being used to cushion the object as he found...a new violin bow. Oh yeah, judas did promise him a new one awhile back didn't he? It was beautiful though, back and red with a small wooden skull carved on the top. He stared at it, at a loss for words when he noticed a note in the box as well, pulling it out and looking over it. Yep, it was clearly from his older brother, and he almost considered scrapping it for a moment.

But his mom was there and...well...he'd kinda be the worst if he did that, wouldn't he?

Sigh

Landon,

I don't want us to keep fighting like this, but i know you don't want to speak with me so for me this was the best way I could talk to you.

Listen, I don't mean to make you feel however you feel, whether it makes you feel inferior or unliked or...that our family prefers me.

I never asked for this, to be cursed and have to deal with people either despising me, fearing me, or so sympathetic towards me that...it makes you and others feel insignificant. I feel like a burden sometimes, personally, especially to our family who have to spend so much time arguing about taking care of me or trying to help me that even asking for help feels like crossing a line to some degree. I don't like being the guy everyone is worried about or is pressured to be so many things or i'll blow up like a bomb.

You're lucky landon, you're free to do what you want, no pressure, to go out there and make a name for yourself.

Mewni has already decided both those things for me, and it's something I have to deal with whether i want it or not.

I never meant to come off like i didn't care, you know how much i hate hurting my friends or family members, you're still my brother and I don't want us to keep fighting. We need to talk about this stuff more, in person, I'm not mad with you, and you don't me owe me anything but, just understand I never intended for things to go this kinda way in our relationships.

Maybe i could've better, about everything...and maybe I sound kinda bad by trying to make any kind of excuses in this, I guess it just doesn't feel...fair to be blamed for something that's just...out of my control. But If you need a real apology, because i REALLY don't want to come off like i'm trying to guilt trip you...can we talk? In person?

We should talk and sort this out, together.

I hope you like the bow, It finally came in after awhile and I figured this was the best place i could leave a note since i promised you a bow.

just...tell me when, ok?

Judas.

Landon put the note back in the box quickly, a fast reaction and most likely a resort of his lingering anger. But his face softened a little and marco sighed, "Listen, you can't stay mad at your brother forever, you know how badly he hates hurting you or sky or anyone, he's not perfect but he does love you and mason. This...this feels more like something you have with me and your father, not with him. And...we're sorry if you ever felt like we treated you any different".

Oh boy, this was NOT the conversation he expected to get today.

No sire.

He could hear celeste coughing awkwardly from her spot as his mom continued to speak, "Listen, things are rough lately, especially since all the kingdoms are paranoid and the high commission themselves are failing to help solve the problems despite our efforts, but right now, we need to work things out between us, not create a bigger divide. We love all of you and maybe we're not the world's greatest parents but you should speak up about this...if you feel...like this.".

"It just wasn't...".

"Landon, we're your parents, you should be able...to talk to us...about these things, if you're afraid to speak to us then...we feel like we failed you three as parents. And you three are our whole world...", landon frowned, his ear twitching as he could hear celeste was no longer writing, in fact, she most likely was listening to the words of the human very closely in fact. Celeste of course, took no interest in in talking about her family back home, but he got the feeling whatever his mom was talking about...meant something to her.

"Mom...it's...It's complicated...".

"Well, when it came to my parents? For awhile we were kinda distant from each other...they barely talked to me and I barely talked to them and we were growing apart...and when we realized it, we realized we needed to fix it and mend our bond again. Landon, talk to us...please...if you need to, and we'll do our best to fix whatever's been bothering you...at it's roots. We want to be better for you and your brothers if possible...", they sighed and took a seat on the bed, "You and your brother need to talk, work things between you, we need to sort this all out...".

Landon grumbled and Marco gave him a look, making him quiet down and sigh, "Ok, sure...I guess...". This seemed to ease the human, putting their arm around landon in a sort of side hug, "He's your brother landon, you can't stay mad at him forever, look out for each other...alright?". Landon looked up at the human sadly, "And mason?", rewarded with another laugh and head rub from his mother. "Of course, he's your little brother after all, he needs you too as he grows up...".

"Is he...ok?".

"Well, lately he's been hanging around the stables more recently, since he's in trouble for his plants his garden time and what he takes care of has been more...restricted, we should've kept a closer eye on him and that was on us...however, the skeleton horses are fine as long as he's careful, but you know how much he loves animals. I think he just needed some time away from the garden for a little bit to get some fresh air somewhere else, he's still being kept an eye on though," they winked, "The stables are luckily indoors thankfully...considering the horses don't need to graze...".

"I'm sorry mom..".

"No, you're still a teenager, i remember being your age, being a moody teen who thought i knew better and had my life figured out...before i realized i was being a complete idiot. We both, me and Tom, we knew this kinda stuff was coming when we wanted to be parents...we just don't want to make the same mistakes our parents might've made and just be the best we can be. We just want you all to have a good future, and if we're letting you down...that's rough for us...", but they smiled, laughing to themselves.

"It'll be fine landon, you're a smart boy, let's all just try and do better in the future, ok?".

Landon felt his head lean on his mother's shoulder, on instinct, and was he...crying?

"It's alright...just relax...let it all out...", They were looking over to celeste, hoping they weren't embarrassing their son by having this conversation, but it didn't seem to be a big concern of landon's. He wiped at his eyes, trying to calm down, "Ugh...mom can't you just let me be a bitter and mad teen?". Which seemed to make them both laugh as landon felt some of his usual makeup run down his face, great, now he'd have to wash up before it stained his clothes.

Though his mom kissing at his face seemed to draw his attention elsewear as he swatted at them playfully, "Sorry, as your mom I refuse to let you stay bitter and mad at your brother for the rest of your life, it's a important rule for me as a parent.". Landon snorted at them, dear god he was still mad at judas but he knew well that his mom had this kinda affect on him, if anyone in this family could talk him into doing something, it would have to be marco.

"M-MOM, Celeste is here!", he said, half amused, half annoyed.

"That didn't bother you before, c'mon...you're never too old to get kisses from your mom!", marco tugged them close to affectionate peck them more and landon was reduced to nothing but laughs before his mom finally, FINALLY let up, Landon red-faced and actually smiling. "I-I'll talk to judas...I guess...but...I'm still kinda mad at him...I can't really help it". Marco seemed to understand though, nodding along, "If you've felt that way for years, it's hard to blame you...but...please talk with each other...ok?".

"Yeah mom...".

Celeste went back to scrawling, trying to ignore the scene going on nearby, even though she was very much lost in thought at this point in time. Thoughts swarming of back home and she found the pen dropping from her hands once again despite her protests.

Swatting away little tears before they could streak down her face.


"I'm sorry Nora...I know you were hoping for more from me today but it's gonna take longer to get what we need.".

He sounded guilty as he paced around the princess's room, biting at his lips and crossing his arms, his ears twitching and listening for any signs of trouble during this meeting. He could spot nora taking small notes for her journal as she listened to him speak, but even though at times she seemed to be shyly avoiding eye contact with him, he could tell she looked worried about him, well, more worried then what he had been used to with her in the past.

He felt he couldn't help it in a way though, even if he knew it was stupid.

"Jude, i-it's fine, i didn't expect you to get it immediately anyway...your dad is nice, i'm sure he'll come around, he just needs...time...like he said. Let him have time and we can look more into this stuff in the meantime...", he nodded, she was kinda right, he was thinking about this way too much, worrying way too much. There were other matters to worry about as is and he should take advantage of the time he had here while it was still going.

"Y-you're right, i guess i'm just stressed out...and confused and...a lot is on my mind these days..."., it was true, in the last few days he got hit with WAY too many things at once, way too many things he wanted to still talk about, mostly with sky. It was as if one problems was being topped off with another and he wasn't given enough time to recover from the last even though he wanted to desperately, he'd been trying to focus on everyone else today to distract him but it was a lot harder now, when Nora's prime focus was him.

Being calm and trying to stay cool seemed to have escaped from him these days, he was trying so hard to be the most responsible and the biggest adult in the room and now all he felt like doing was letting everything out of his system, he supposed maybe he had been letting all these matters grow inside him for too long, he almost made himself the ringleader of this entire situation and having that topped off with so many other problems seemed to have formed some cracks he usually tried to seal.

God, what would it be like when he was king and was dealing with even more on his plate at this rate? He almost wondered if some of those people out there were right, about him not being able to handle it, about being set off but he still scoffed at it, he was being insecure again and he almost wished he could crawl up in a ball or vent. He felt he was almost growing a headache and he tried to quickly calm down before nora panicked about him maybe coming down with something.

He was a prince, he needed to pull himself together and handle this, he needed to clear his mind and calm down.

"Oh...would you like to...uh..?", she didn't seem to know how to say it, that or, she couldn't spit it out to the boy.

But Judas seemed to know what she was trying to say regardless, "I want to talk about it...but...I don't think I can...it's...well, a lot of it is private..".

"Oh..", her voice must've sounded a little saddened judging by judas's quick reaction, turning towards her, a little stressed as he tried to ease the situation and explain himself.

"It's nothing against you it's just...I think I've put enough weight on your shoulders, I feel lately like...maybe i'm making you too uncomfortable by pushing you to do these things for me, even if you want to, and for now, I don't want to push any more on your back. I sorta just, wanted to help you get out of your shell, but it feels more like i'm doing this more for me because i feel guilty about mistakes i made in the past and, I don't want to do that anymore...I just want us to hang out...like friends...no huge issues, no pressure, we hang out and work together and...yeah...".

"Judas...are you...sure you're ok?", she sounded nervous, moving hair from her face and looking at his rather closely, all judas's mumbling making her rather worried. "No one...was mean to you today...were they? Is it really just...what you were saying?". Judas waved it off though, "I'll be fine, there's just so much on my mind and I wish i could talk about it more but...I can't, you don't have to worry I'll hopefully cool off and get back on track...".

He went quiet, he was rambling, probably making a fool out of himself out of stress when he was supposed to be relaxed and focused, he must look incredibly stupid right now in front of nora, who had no idea about all the messy details and problems he was going through. He was lost in thought about Meteora, wondering if maybe it was too much to ask Eclipsa if he and Sky could meet her in person, though at this point it was most likely she was off having a great life, maybe married, maybe wanted to be left alone.

and what would he say anyway? There was nothing to say to a person he didn't really know, who he thought was dead and knew nothing of what happened.

And his dad, geez everything about that was judas walking on dangerous territory, especially with how his dad was about the whole thing. He wasn't even sure about seeing him again, dinner would just be plain awkward, and it was already awkward enough with landon. And don't get him started on stuff with angel, it honestly wasn't his top priority but if eclipsa and globgor found it strange, him finding it strange couldn't be that weird, though he was happy sky seemed to have gotten along with the boy.

There was just a lot to think about, and worry about.

He hoped Sky was doing better and she was not sitting in her room, still fiddling with the charm Katrina gave her.

He found himself leaning against a wall, keeping his mouth closed shut, nora taking some notes in her little journal, she didn't seem to want to push him any further right now, letting him take some time to clear his own find. He wondered if this was how luna felt most of the time, constantly worried and stressed, feeling like her world was collapsing and being incredibly anxious as she worked alongside her own mother who had taken a VERY big liking to her and he obvious skills.

Maybe he gave her too much flack for being such a stick in the mud, considering how much stress she was under over her situation, even if she wasn't the best about it. She was most likely already planning her own solutions, probably behind their back if she had to to get some results. He wouldn't hold it past her in all fairness, considering the results they had been getting where less then ideal, though in all fairness so much more was at risk if they were caught as opposed to her.

"Judas...?"

"Yes?"

"Y-you don't have to be so...nervous around me, y-you seem so...scared i'll get mad...or...something like that?", she was looking at him with her soft green eyes and judas suddenly felt embarrassed, "Well no, it's just...I feel like...I keep screwing up, trying to talk to you and I just...I don't wanna come off like...like a jerk, not to you. I'm just not...I'm not perfect...at talking to people sometimes, and I just...with everything happening...I just don't want to hurt anyone again". She blinked at him softly, it was as if she wasn't used to him acting like this, so nervous and worried and as if he were falling apart.

"You're not a jerk judas..I don't think you are at least...", she hid her face in her book a little more," You're nice and you just like helping people, y-you... ".

Then she stopped.

"Nora?"

"My parents...I can hear them coming...your spells are sending an alert...you have to remove the magic off the door and hide...or they'll suspect something!", and sure enough, the eyes off his skull chain lock were glowing, a perfect silent alert system for them in case their soundproofing didn't work. That had to mean the arrival of King and Queen spiderbite were only seconds away and boy judas was the last person they would want to find in nora's bedroom of all places.

Judas was fast, darting under the bed and snapping his fingers, the enchantments leaving the door quickly after. Hearing two figures make their way in, he kept his mouth shut and hoped he hadn't made it apparent someone else was in the room, though much to his surprise, the conversation going on had little to nothing to do with him, or the fact they may of heard something. Instead, they both sounded worried, even a little panicked.

That couldn't be a good sign.

"Nora, you need to come with us...", the queen was walking towards the bed, and judas could imply she was most likely grabbing onto her daughter's arm, "What? Mom, is something bad happening?". The woman only frantically pulled her off the bed, "We saw her, out the window, we need to get you somewhere safe, we're on high alert! The guards are on alert and the commission will be here any second...c'mon". Nora wasn't even given much of a time to react when she was pulled out of her room, the door shutting behind her, leaving the boy in complete darkness under the girl's bed.

Her?

Wait...

He was only given a few more minutes of panic before he heard footsteps.

LOUD footsteps.

And he held his breath as a cloak, or most likely, a black dress, dragged across the floor in front of him.

Oh No.