It was kinda risky and probably stupid, but going out to look around the woods was his best chance.
Fae was about to argue and landon stopped her, "Look, i don't know how bad things typically get with you here but if we don't find this guy things are about to get a whole lot worse, you're the closest thing we've got to a lead and if you can help...please help...". The small girl blinked at him with her one eye, a few horseshoes falling off the wall behind her as she thought about this, "You sure you wanna go out there? I can't promise you'll find anything...".
"Look, i don't know what else you've heard about me, but i'm used to people ignoring me or thinking i'm useless...if there's a chance i can figure out what's happening and prove everyone wrong, i need to do it...please?". He felt so pathetic begging this young girl but he couldn't end this day with nothing, he needed something. If he couldn't get anything useful this day was a complete and utter waste and making this effort thinking he had a lead was stupid of him.
"When exactly do you want to go?".
"Tonight, as soon as we can...maybe we can find their hideout...".
Even Celeste was looking at him as if he were crazy, "Wait wait wait...you want to go into the woods and search for them...tonight? Like i know you wanna like...show everyone off, but you sure we're ready to go out there...i could've DIED out there last time...". She pushed him to the side for a more private conversation, Fae going back to work as the skeleton horses stared at the strange duo. Landon looked determined though, and Celeste knew it was a lost cause trying to stop him.
She almost missed it when he was grumpy, wanted to be alone, and hated being involved in anything.
He took out the wand paper again, "Celeste, we need to find out where they are...i mean...c'mon, don't you want to know? Some weirdo wanted to know more about sky's wand, so much so they stole a section from her book? Why? What's so special about sky's wand? We could find out where they're hiding and catch them! If they lost this thing out in the woods, then they must have a reason for going there, if we can find something we could-".
Celeste closed his mouth with her hand, taking the paper from him for a closer look.
"You're in over your head dude, yeah it's weird someone wanted this page so badly but we don't know WHY yet, there could be like...several reasons they'd take this. If they wanted sky's wand, then why not steal it? They can break into everything else easily apparently.".
"Well...".
"Still, i mean, they must take some kinda interest in sky's wand...i can't really go against that".
Celeste looked over the page, going through it carefully, "Hmmm...weird...". Her eyes lingered on the page for a second, before looking at landon, "Y'know, when we popped up out of sky's wand seemingly, we really didn't know why or how cause like...sky said she never did it because she sucks at magic. But her wand here says sky's wand can like...well...one's of it's gems is kinda unusual...the big purple opal one...maybe we need to talk to sky herself about this kinda nonsense cause something's definitely weird about her wand...".
"How weird?".
"Multiverse weird...it says it can show shards of multiple universes inside of it if you look close enough...".
Landon blinked at her, "Wait...sky's wand...it's gem...can show multiverses? Now that was something sky sure never mentioned it could do before..."., celeste grumbled, "But it's written here, she should know it can do it then...geez, her wand gets that kinda gem huh? Lucky...i got the lame blue teardrop one.". Landon looked over to fae, who was cleaning up her area, though rather unsuccessful as she was only making more of a mess for her to clean up rather then actually cleaning up.
"I mean, i dunno much about it other then that...but turns out that wand is funkier then usual, well it says it can peer into multiverses but nothing about affecting them i guess. Her wand is just...unique, maybe it has something to do with why she says it's so buggy all the time, that or it's literally just broken. ", she held the paper tighter, "I sure hope she has a good reason for not telling us about this stuff, it's kinda important considering the situation...".
"We'll see, but like...we'll have to worry about it later, the paper is kinda important here...sky having it is less weird then it being in the middle of a field".
"It's still a kinda concerning find landon...can you blame me for being kinda anxious? No matter who has it, it's kinda freaky...".
"Ok, well...we still don't know why'd they'd want this page or what they're up to and we're never going to figure it out unless we go out there and look. I know you kinda got freaked out there, but hey, you're not alone this time...we'll look around, and if we don't find anything we'll come back, sound fair?". Her brown eyes seemed to pierce into his as she glanced him over as if to make sure he was serious, she handed the paper back to him and he stuck it into his boot for safekeeping.
"We need to question sky on this...her gem...cause i swear if she's behind this...", celeste closed her eyes, "Fine fine, we'll do this...it better not be a waste though, and i swear if you get us killed i'll kill you myself in the afterlife...". Landon held out his hand, "let's just look out for each other ok? It's at least worth a look since we might not get another chance, and...then we'll find sky about her weird wand...take a look for ourselves...see what happens...".
"Fine...".
Landon headed back to the small girl, who finally finished putting things away, dusting off her dress and crossing her arms. "So...you want to go into the forest of certain death, and search the spot i found right? You sure you wanna do this? I mean, i'm not opposed to extra pay i'm just saying...if you're going there, better stay close...or...actually considering you're with me...maybe a safe distance and just be cautious? Either way just be careful...".
Celeste grumbled, hand touching her disguised wand bracelet.
"Oh trust us...we will".
"I don't like this guys...".
Luna was armed with her wand, ready for anything, "Just stay close to us...we're better sticking together.". Sky felt a little squished between the two tall teenagers, both stealthily making their way through the woods after a fast travel using their scissors to get to the outside, sky trying to keep close to them, armed herself with her wand and tazer. "How'd you guys lie your way outta this one anyway...? It's gonna be pretty bad if our parents find out we're out here, doing this...", and luna shushed her, "Me and judas already took care of business...turns out he's as eager to find his slimy friend as i am to finding what is happening...".
He reassured he, a hand on her shoulder.
"Remember how we can't go anywhere without the assistance of a guard?", sky nodded and he pointed to luna, " We have one...the best one they had available in fact...we told our parents and your parents after lessons that you and me would spend dinner together, under guard, nearby...it was the only way we could get the three of us out...and before you ask, we already have a distraction to help keep out parents busy. Well, my parents, your parents are plentiful occupied...".
"With...what exactly?".
"Sunny's always wanted more of an audience to perform for, hopefully she and galexia can keep them bust for a bit, i think my grandparents are supposed to be with them as well. The mission is simple, we go there, and look for them, if it gets too hairy, we return home for back up. But i can't wait much longer, we wait any longer and who knows what might happen...nora wanted to help me and now she's in danger and god i shouldn't have left her behind...".
Sky frowned, "Judas...if you hadn't come back...you could've been in danger as well...". Luna shushed them, forcing them to move along through the woods to get closer to the castle, Sky spoke a little quieter this time around. "If you never came back from seeing nora i would've freaked, you're my best friend and god then i'd regret not coming with you...". Judas gave her a sympathetic smile, and wrapped an arm around her in a small hug.
"Thanks sky...i'm glad you care so much...", though the smile faded quickly, "But now, we gotta focus on what's here and now...and nora and jackie and...i just hope they're ok...". Sky tried to ease his worries as they made their way finally to the large green and brown castle covered in it's usual slime and webs. Though what made the trio anxious were the lack of guards around, of citizens, or literally anyone for that matter around the kingdom.
Luna looked to judas and sky, "We better split up, i'm going to enter through one of the towers, your two can go around the sides, report back to me with your compacts, we do a sweep of the area. We might not be too late...", though before the blonde could zoom off judas grabbed her arm, "You sure you'll be ok on your own? We don't know what we're up against...". But luna pulled away, "I've been through this plenty of times before, with or without help...now get a move on...we want to find them in due time here...".
And with that she has already used a charm, zooming through a window like a ninja and leaving the friends behind. Sky looked over to judas who nodded, "Sky, just contact me if...anything happens...be careful ok? I know you can do this...you've been training after all...we'll meet up soon...". Sky kept her lips shut, after last night with her mother, she really could't miss her chance now to prove herself capable on her own, that she wasn't weak or incapable of helping.
Judas nodded to her to make sure as he headed off in one direction, leaving sky to go the other, armed and nervous.
She wanted to do this alone, but she also would be lying if she didn't say she liked having judas's company, especially at dangerous situations like this. He got freaked out too but he was better at hiding how much he got freaked out. Sky never really visited the spiderbite castle much, not really outside of custom visits and well, when she snuck in here with judas. She had a weak memory of where to even start with this place though her suspicion was they were hiding in a bunker.
Though where? Who honestly knows.
She felt anxious wandering around the silent castle, finally finding the door and easily pushing her way inside to the left or was it right? The whatever wing she was in. Taking in how filthy this castle was, did they ever dust in this place? It looked more like a place angel would like considering all the webs and woodland setting, then again this castle was built on his species's original homeland so of course he would probably live here if it were possible.
With buttered rolls as well.
The castle was silent, so silent you could hear a pin drop, not to mention it was incredibly dark and hard to tell what was going on inside. It wasn't a good sign, what if they weren't even here anymore? sky used her wand for light as she wandered around the halls, honestly Her already seemed to have gotten what she wanted right? The book? What need did they have to do...whatever this was? The spiderbites weren't exactly these super powerful people with a super powerful kingdom to mess with.
Sky had to imagine whatever it was, jackie got caught in it with her team. She was usually so cautious, so careful, she had to have been pretty caught off guard to get captured of...who knows what. Then again, Her was a clear magic user, so she did have an upper hand in all of this depending on how skilled they were. Maybe they mind controlled them like loki? But then again, if she could do that then why hadn't she utilized them? There was no reason why not.
Hmm.
She only usually came here when her mother dragged her into this place, the spiderbites were not typically the most...clean when it came to their castle and it kinda made it harder for others to want to visit, sky was mostly assuming they just gave up on the webs because they couldn't remove them as fast as they showed up, though the slime that was everywhere was also not entirely helping. Sure, the stuff was basically amazing for healing, especially in this kingdom, but was a hazard in many other cases.
Even when Nora went to other kingdoms, the servants there were cautious of the slime that dripped from her hair and usually would stain the walls and floors when she walked around. Though honestly maybe it was things like that that made nora more anxious about people when she was a walking mess. Sky barely knew where she was walking around here, having only been here a handful of times, the castle might not be big but it sure felt that way for her.
This was going to take awhile, but hopefully something good came out of it.
Her curiosity led her to check out some of the rooms, only to come up empty once again. God this place was spooky when it was empty, she was so used to servants rustling and bustling about that seeing a big empty castle was so bizarre for her. She really hoped judas was inside by now, she really wasn't into being alone like this, and she wasn't making a lot of progress so far. Though as she crept along the halls, she suddenly hear a banging noise in the distance.
The hair on her neck stood up and she froze.
She outta check it out and she knew she had to, but boy she didn't want to in a place like this. Where was it even coming from anyway? It seemed pretty far back in the house somewhere, and sky gulped as she moved slowly through the halls, trying to find the source of the noise, more empty rooms and more empty rooms. This castle wasn't even that big and yet sky felt lost in it, watching her step and almost always turning to chekc her surroundings as she came across the source of the noise.
Under...the floor?
A trapdoor!
She must've found their safe room...right? Unless this was a secret vault or a dungeon or...who knew with this place. This castle was old, and sure wasn't held up by magic, for all she knew this was where they kept a pack of giant spiders. Was that weird to assume considering the forest they lived in? Maybe. Though regardless she had to check from top to bottom if she could, hopefully luna and judas were ding alright on their ends and hopefully she wouldn't end up worse.
Sky had her wand at the ready, moving aside a rather dusty rug from under her to spot a hidden trapdoor, locked. And whoever was under it was banging on the door rather loudy, desperate to escape, was this really a good idea? Then again, if it were her, she would have no need to bang on the door...unless this were a trap? Sky debated about it a bit more in her head before deciding she needed to calm down and go for it, wand at the ready as she focused and busted the lock.
Though the first thing she was met with after she carefully opened the hatch was...
A book to the face.
Sky fell to the floor, this was just not her day today was it? Though she could hear her attacker's voice call out to her and luckily she hadn't passed out this time, being able to make out a green figure who almost looked like she'd cry.
"Sky? SKY!".
"Ah...Nora?", sky rubbed her head, looking up to find an extremely embarrassed and armed girl standing in front of her, immediately pulling her to her feet and checking her head, "I-I...what are you doing here? Is your mother here too? Judas...?". She looked around as if to check for sky's group only to find no one in sight and she tensed further, Sky trying to relax her and ask what happened. Prompting her to sit down and talk, nora sighed and took a seat in a rather dusty chair.
Then she started sobbing.
"When the blackout and craze started, we were lead to the safe room to keep us protected...but...my dad didn't show up, so my mom went out to find him herself and told me to stay put and...i don't know where anyone is, i kept banging for help and no one let me out...no guards, no parents...i was down there by myself and i didn't know if i'd get out...", she batted at her face, before looking up at sky, "Judas...he's ok right? When it happened... i had to leave him and..".
"He's fine, he's here actually...".
Her eyes lightened up, "He is? Where? I haven't heard from anyone in hours, i don't...I don't know if...". She huddled up into a little ball and sky tried to ease her worried, nora pulling her into a hug, blushing and seeking some kind of comfort. Despite any conflict with her parents or her home, this was a nightmare for her, sky hugging her tightly as she pulled out her compact to tell judas the good news. At least nora was safe, even if she was distressed.
"Just stick with me for now, we're gonna figure this out...uh...you need anything? I'm not sure what your safe room is like compared to ours...".
"No we had food, and water and all that...i'll be fine...I just...i need to know where my parents are...".
Judas texted back instantly, nora still crying into sky's clothes and staying close to her as she read her messages, he seemed more then thankful, in fact, it seemed judas had just been about to text sky himself with some news. The castle was still rather quiet except for sudden creaks and noises here and there, making both girls want to put up their weapons and aim them at whatever came through the door next so any news that got them one step closer to leaving was fine with them.
Judas: You need to come to the ballroom, i found them
Sky: The king and queen, the knights, jackie?
Judas: Yeah, all of them, they're here...and...you're not gonna like it...
Sky: Are they...?
Judas: No, no no no, nothing like that...but you better get over here...it's the room with the forest mural overtop it's entrance...or just ask nora, she'd know better then either of us...
Sky: You ure you can't handle it...maybe we should get nora out of here first?
Judas: No sky, i need you for this, i'm not gonna be able to do this myself
That wasn't a good sign.
She bumped nora, getting her attention , she wiped her eyes again and sky nodded to her compact, "We found your parents...well..technically judas found them...c'mon...let's go...the sooner the better...". Nora followed her out, armed at the ready to be safe for sure alongside sky as they made their way through carefully and safely. "Sky...thanks...for coming for me...", nora was blushing deeply, hiding behind her hair, "I was so worried...you...that i'd...".
"What? No we wouldn't just forget you and leave you down there...", sky quickly said, trying to calm her down and get her to look her in the eyes, "My mom is just under so much pressure and i guess she didn't want to rush over here unless she knew for sure it was urgent, she couldn't be sure...what was happening but...yeah". Nora smiled though, even through all her tears,"I just...thanks for caring about me so much...you guys...are nice... .".
Sky blushed this time round, geez, nora was really sweet despite everything going on wasn't she? Sky didn't really ever get flustered but then again she rarely was complimented like this from anyone who wasn't super close to her, she usually assumed the worst.
Then again that was normal for her and judas both at times.
"Our parents don't know we're out here...we came to help but...we knew they'd never let us go out there ourself...so...we may have snuck out...", nora didn't seem to mind though, if anything she seemed to find that even more charming. "You know...after this...we might not get to see you anymore...",nora's smile fainted, "I...had a feeling...my parents...were paranoid as is...". Sky sighed and kept her close, "i'm really sorry about that...i know...it meant a lot to you and judas...".
"it wasn't just about me an judas and his arm...".
"Hmm?".
"You know, I wanted to hang out more...with you too...and now i might never get to...I wanted to take a risk, to feel what it was like to hang out with friends, even if it was also medical it was still nice", she sighed sadly, "My parents...they were worried about you hurting me, being a bad influence on me, getting me in trouble with the people of mewni who hated you...you're not...you're not like that...i think you're both...", then she stopped, looking at the large door in front of them and stopping, "We're here...just...arm yourself...I-I...don't know what might be around...".
Sky got it and held her wand tightly, walking over to the door and-
Knock Knock.
"Sky?".
Judas walked out opening the door and looking at the armed girls in front of him, just the pure sight of him made nora drop her book. Judas froze as well but it didn't last long as he ran over and pulled her into a hug, "Nora! Thank god...i'm glad you're ok...when i didn't see you with your parents i got worried...". Then nora pushed him away to look behind him, and sky followed her into the ballroom to see what caught her eye so much she'd avoid hugging judas.
oh, that's why judas needed her.
All along the ballroom were giant bubbles like sky's bubble charm, and inside of them, frozen in the air? Everyone, the servants, the king and queen, the guards, jackie and her squad, all frozen and hovering like ornaments for the trio to find, if it weren't horrifying it might actually look kinda beautiful. Though seeing everyone floating, froze, through the air in greenish bubbles looked like something out of a horror movie, though if it were anything like sky's spell they'd be fine.
Though sky felt a pit in her throat, holding her wand tighter and more anxious as she looked around the room, judas's expression was sad, but he at least seemed thankful they were ok and not...well not under any worse conditions. "If you ask me...i think whoever had been running around under that mask either had other business and they were in her way, or they have some kinda personal vendetta against this kingdom in particular to go so...well...like this on them...".
Nora clutched onto his arm, frowning, "Are my parents really going to be ok?".
"Yeah, i think so...sky has a spell just like this...it's harmless, i guess if anything...it's a good sign that whoever is under the mask had no intention of harming any of them, not truly...but...i don't have any idea why they'd leave them here...like this...the castle seems empty...". Then the door opened and everyone turned around, armed to attack as luna stepped in, her arms crossed and unfortunately...also armed, nora seeing her wand and her eyes widening.
"Isn't it obvious what's going on?", she crossed her arms, unamused and uncaring about nora's presence as she looked towards sky, "Someone is very much trying to frame sky for all this, trying to get her in trouble. Trying to blame her...this is as bad as i was expecting...". She grumbled, looking over the trapped individuals, "Honestly considering they were one person i'm surprised they managed to pull this off on their own, clearly they're very skilled in magic..".
Nora hid behind judas a little more, the other girl clearly intimidating her quite a bit and judas stood in front of her a little more as luna looked at her, he clearly had no intention of luna mind-wiping her, regardless if the situation. Luna only scoffed at him and kept talking, "Well, sky, no matter where you are with your mom at the moment she seems to be the only real reason the high commission hasn't out you on trial yet, either you had done this or someone knew your spell...".
Sky froze and nora of all people was the one to speak up first.
"Sky would never...she's nice...she wouldn't hurt my parents...".
"I didn't say she did it...but...there are a lot of fingers pointing to her right now...".
She glared to sky and sky gripped her wand even tighter, "It wasn't me, you know it...I know i've had mistakes in the past and things are kinda weird but...c'mon...". Then she thought back to the weird dreams, had she ever done anything during those times she was passed out? if loki was any indication it was impossible to tell you were being controlled so...
She shook the thought out of her head, no way, that wouldn't make sense, she was out with katrina that night, there's no way she had been here. She looked between the group and only then did she notice her wand was turning green again, quickly waving it off before they could have another chandelier incident . Nora frowned, "sky...whose...this person? And why does she have a wand? I-I mean i saw her at the sleepover but...not like this...".
"We'll talk about it later...", judas whispered to her, sending luna a glare.
"You're not very good at keeping secrets, are you?".
"She's a friend...".
"And i suppose you want us to just not mind erase all the other floating up there as well? We're not supposed to be out here judas, when we found them i told you myself that if they were captured we'd wipe their minds of us so we wouldn't get ourselves in more trouble...", and judas stood his ground, in front of nora, "Mind-erasing is still serious business, you know what could happen if that spells failed or went wrong? I agreed to it as a last resort if we didn't have another way, but nora can be trusted...".
"Judas...".
"You told me to stand my ground instead of getting pushed around to do what others would want, so i'm standing my ground, i can explain everything and i promise she's on our side...", She glared at him before sighing and crossing her arms at the ceiling, "I'm surprised they used them this little, but then again...the spiderbite kingdom isn't the most powerful of allies in mewni, they're less magic and focused more on plants and animals and being grounded.".
"Look, let's free jackie first, we leave...outta their sight, they don't need to know we were here, she runs for proper help...done and done...", then sky thought about it further and shook it off, "Oh wait no, then either she or my mother will see it and maybe know it was my spell, and also know someone was there to free jackie...huh...".She rubbed her wand against her head and took a moment to think about it, "We'd have to free them at once, but...then they'd get hurt falling from the ground, they'd want to know who freed them, and oh yeah this is harder then i thought...".
"We don't have all night to offer other solutions sky, i have a talent for this sort of thing, i'll take care of it...because if you get busted...we're all doomed.", then judas stepped back in, "Jackie might stop you before you get the chance, there's a lot of people here, and if they take your wand from you...they'll think you stole it from sky and we'll be in another mess.". He did actually have a good point, even if luna tried to mindwipe them there were risks to doing it to so many at once.
"Y-you're a knight...yes?", now nora piped up, though not eager to cross a line with the tall teenager who had been talking about erasing her mind, "What if...you made it seem like...you saved me and everyone else? Without the minderasing...sky's clever at different tactics...i'm sure she can come up with something...". Nora thought she was really clever? Well geez that put a lot more pressure on her, "Well, the bubbles can't...pop...so we need to do magic to save them...but we also can't let them get a good look at the charm, we can't let these people get hurt...".
If she wasn't quick here, luna would be quick to butt in, she needed to think fast.
"Ok how about-".
Then a sudden noise from somewhere in the castle made everyone jolt, luna's brows furrowing, "Someone's coming, we gotta hide...", she looked over to the couches on the edges of the ball room, nodding towards them as everyone scattered to different sides of the ballroom. Taking position as the noises got closer, guess they spoke too soon thinking there was no one around to protect the place, as a suit of armor burst into the room, and when they meant suit of armor, they meant no one was inside.
Judas remained silent, though if someone was trying to frame his best friend he wondered what the guard served unless it was a way to make the situation seem more real.
He motioned for the others to remain silent from his position, getting involved with a magical knight was usually not a good idea, nor was going up to attack any random magical being they came across. Nora seemed terrified, pressing her back against the chair she was against rather hard, trying to avoid screaming if possible. Luna was at the total opposite end, ready to pounce if she needed to, she was probably planning out a strategy in her head whilst also wondering how to finish their mission.
She hummed before pulling from under her shirt that strange herbed necklace eclipsa gave her to ward off evil she assumed, or perhaps to cure her at the time? She'd be wearing it out of habit these days considering she'd wear a charm at home, even if she wasn't trusting of eclipsa, and even went over it several times herself to make sure it wasn't a tracker. She suddenly had some ideas in mind as she motioned to judas who was telling her to not fight and wait, but luna gripped the herbed necklace in her hands and came out of cover before anyone could stop her.
"This is it?".
"This is it...".
Celeste kicked at the clovers under her feet, earning a punch from the small demon on her shoulder, "Don't touch...these are growing clovers...you're already cursing yourself spending time next to me, harming clovers cause only bring more..". Celeste snorted, this girl was really superstitious huh? Was she really unlucky or just incredibly clumsy? Maybe a bit of both but honestly Celeste was probably just annoyed they were standing in a big clover patch in the middle of the words and it was getting dark.
Thankfully getting here had been...surprisingly easy, sure Fae using the scissors got them a feet miles away from their desired location, but they still got here without any issues. Celeste was clearly on edge, preparing her wand in case, but for once the woods seemed quiet. There was no shadow monster in sight, maybe the clover landon received was providing them a little luck today, even with Fae's presence. Or Maybe whatever supposed shadow monster she saw was just animal?
Though landon had to admit, it was a little unsettling how easy it was, no evil plants, no dangerous creatures, nothing, almost as if none of them wanted to be here.
This read bad news all over.
Landon was closely looking through all the clovers, as if expecting a trapdoor or something to be hiding underneath, which there wasn't. Everything just seemed to be plain old dirt with small green clovers sticking out, another false lead? Landon grumbled as he fumbled around, trying to find clues as the worst detective possible. There had to be something, there was a good chance they had a hidden base, anywhere around here, they had to have it if they passed through.
Though he started to feel himself resort to anger, falling to his knees and resisting burning the plants around him in a fit of rage. How was he supposed to get anything done if he kept finding more and more false leads that lead him nowhere? Ugh, he felt stupid thinking he could show his family he was capable and manage this. He clutched onto his hair and tugged, grumbling into his knees as he cooped up into a little ball, feeling celeste walk over to try and comfort him in her own unique way.
"Well...so much for that...you tried...".
"Go away-".
"Dude, there's nothing here...it's a dumb empty field full of clovers...".
"Could you at least try and help!?", he snapped back, "We're supposed to be a team and this and you keep bashing me! I know you're freaked out but you could've stayed home! If you're going to help find what this is all about...the least you could do is stop insulting me! I need to do this...", Celeste seemed to quickly figure out she was hitting a nerve with him, her mouth shutting as she lumbered off to go back to searching, leaving landon alone.
Then his compact buzzed in his boot, getting his attention away if only slightly, from his current failure, Pulling it out for his tears to dry immediately at the number. Bernard was calling him? Now? He wasn't sure to be annoyed or thankful after how everything seemed to be going but he immediately answered, actually relieved as all heck to hear the boy's voice on the other end. He could almost imagine him on the other end, getting ready for dinner with his family but wanting to spend a bit of time speaking to landon again to check on him.
Though it seems Bernard had other reasons to call other then that judging by his tone.
"Landon, hey...it's great to see you...are things stressful over there still?".
"Bernard...hey, i'm glad you called I...everything's going wrong today, it's all a mess...I don't know where to begin but...what is happening on your end? you usually wait to call till after dinner...", he could imagine bernard sighing on his end, finally spitting it out. "I have melaine with me tonight for dinner with my family, I wanted to invite you but melaine informed me about the whole...well the situation going on and i knew you might need some alone time...i hope you aren't mad...".
"No i'm not mad...It's fine, there's a lot more to be mad about today honestly..", he could hear bernard snickering, "I promise we'll talk later...i'm calling because mel here...well, she wanted to ask if sky was done with her "Secret mission" yet. She apparently has a theory to propose to her, she tried calling sky but she didn't pick up, and she apparently didn't have your brother's number so she suggested i call you.". Landon blinked, shaking his head, "What?".
"Apparently sky texted her a few hours ago that she was going to the spiderbite kingdom for something, apparently she thought if anything happened someone should know? So she told mel and now mel wants to speak to her, is she back yet?", of course melaine would be the type to barge in to talk about her latest theory at the worst of times. Though this time landon suddenly felt anxious, sky going to the spiderbite kingdom with everything happening, there was no way she was going without his brother as well.
Guess he wasn't the only one sneaking out to do his mission.
But no response from sky? that wasn't a good sign, especially considering everyone else missing from that location at the current moment. He coughed, looking over to his companions, celeste kicking more rocks and plants and boy if Fae was unlucky, if by cruel fate something slimey and white fell from the sky, ruining her dress. At leas they were keeping busy as landon continued to talk to his friend, "Uh, no, she's not back yet...but i promise to tell you when she comes back...".
"Hey landon...".
"Hmm?".
"Oh it's nothing but uh...hey...thanks...for being my friend...".
Landon felt himself blush slightly, "Hey it's fine...you're fine, i uh...I wish we got to hang out in person more...texting is great and all i just...". This was embarrassing, real embarrassing, though truthfully he had to make it quick, he couldn't be out here long and maybe he could convince celeste to help him if his brother was in possible danger. "Hey...I...I want to invite you over some time, for dinner maybe ironically enough? I mean, things are complicated but...I still want you to come and meet everyone properly...".
"Yeah that sounds...nice...".
"LANDON! Quit chatting it up, what are we still doing here?!" , man Celeste was loud.
"Uh YEAH! sorry uh, i gotta go but...we'll talk later...ok? promise...thanks for calling...".
He could feel bernard's warm smile from the other side of the phone.
"Don't die out there...ok? I'm seriously counting on you to make it to after dinner in one piece, homework's not fun without you rambling over the phone while i'm doing it.", landon snickered as he hung up, actually smiling warmly about the call. Though it ended shorty after when he realized his brother had probably gotten himself into serious trouble again, which was of course incredibly unsurprising for judas, and with sky as well? Should he do something, just in case?
His relationship with judas was hard but it didn't mean he wanted him dead or anything.
But that forest was ways away, how the heck were they-
"Landon?".
He turned around, stressed, "What?! Can't you see i'm kinda panicking here!".
"I Kicked a rock and found a secret entrance...".
"Wait...WHAT?"
"It's literally one of the most obvious tactics to finding secret doors, why didn't YOU think of it?"
He froze and just as she said, a small hole had opened from next to a couple larger rocks, celeste looked about as happy...as she normally did, Fae on the other hand was looking at the hole rather closely. "Oh, these are tunnels are OLLLLDD, i remember these things... it was how people who didn't have scissors traveled from the surface to the underworld and back, until most of us realized the surface people kinda sucked and just stayed underground.".
"Don't demons enjoy fighting each other down there for no reason?", Celeste popped up only to be met with a glare from a bright orange eye.
"It's all in fun for us, Don't mewmans enjoy doing it to the point the monsters can't walk any more?".
Ouch.
Landon quickly headed over, leaning over it and peering inside. It was dark but that was nothing a little flame couldn't fix, but there was no telling where it led entirely, and who they might run into while using it. He looked to fae, the small girl now leaning against a rather large rock herself, "Hey uh...what else do you know about this uh...tunnel?". She shrugged, "As much as i know from being a underworld citizen, "I think the holes mostly went unused cause they started getting used for like...wars and stuff as ways of sneaking in to invade...no one wanted to get involved with them much after THAT.".
"Wait, what's the point of holes if people can just use scissors now?", celeste turned her head towards fae and she snorted back, "You can prepare for scissors these days with magic, but you can't prepare for soldiers popping out of the ground from secret locations.".
"Do they...go to any other kingdoms? Maybe?", landon diverted their attention back to the matter at hand, it was in the back of his mind, explore this cave further, find the info you need. But the other half of his mind told him he'd look like the utter worst leaving judas in a potentially bad situtaion.
"Again, they were used to invade...so...what do you think?".
"I think...maybe we need to make a trip to the spiderbite kingdom...".
"Luna?! What are you doing?", judas said before he could stop himself as she went in for the attack, raising her necklace at the knight as a defense mechanism, "I'm working? What else!". He grunted before getting out from cover as well, it's not like he didn't trust her to handle herself, it was more like if whatever she was doing failed she needed a backup. Luna glared at him but held her wand out at the knight, not letting judas distract her. What she wasn't prepared for though, was what happened next.
Without warning, Judas's arm started to transform, it became longer, the fingers practically melting into themselves as suckers popped up and his skin became dark and more slipperly then anything. Judas was perplexed at first and it caught luna totally off guard, she almost wanted to scold judas for trying to get involved when she could handle it, but then she remembered judas was very much not in control in this situation. And it showed plainly on his face as the arm suddenly started fighting the knight itself, wrapping around it quickly despite what it's owner might've wanted on instinct and slamming it against the wall of the ballroom.
Judas looked terrified, though luna took this as an opportunity to run over and present the herbed creation again, making the knight scream in agony before falling to pieces, the magic fading from him and returning him to a suit of armor, "Dark magic was used for him...that's why he's affected...someone was seriously dabbling in dark magic...". She huffed, before judas's arm fell to the ground, limping along like it didn't just magically start fighting a moment ago.
And was it just him or did it seem to leave...bite marks in the armor that weren't there before?
He sure hoped it was just him.
But it wasn't over despite how it seemed, a whisp of black smoke escaping from the knight and bouncing along the walls, the spell must have the ability to posses objects! Judas ducked as it flew past him, hitting a vase, the vase being flung to judas which his arm immediately protected him from with a smack. It only got worse from there as it started to posses other objects, flinging them at the group, even sky and nora had to come out of hiding to help, nora slamming things with her book, and sky trying to blast them with her wand.
Huh, kinda reminded her of her lesson with angel earlier that day.
Though it reached it's peak when someone else started coming down the hall, and the doors slammed open.
Three bewildered figures stumbling in before stopping in their tracks and staring at all the chaos going on inside of the room.
Three bewildered figures stumbling in before stopping in their tracks and staring at all the chaos going on inside of the room. The dark figure moving, the teens fighting wildly, everything breaking and smashing to bits while surrounded by bubbles above the ground, only for a brief moment was judas able to get a good look at their visitors.
"Landon?".
"Judas?".
"DUCK!".
The spell passed by again, and sky suddenly got a sense of deja vu as it hit the last thing she needed right now.
The chandelier.
On instinct, the arm wrapped sky, nora, and luna to judas, and while attached to him, they jumped oout of the way and into the trio that had just entered. Thought it wasn't as fancy as the butterfly castle's, it was certainly going to take a ton of time to clean up and left a big mess. The spell wasn't done yet, racing itself towards sky's wand only for luna to blast it herself, but this time it was different, her eyes lighting up and through the makeup her cheeks were glowing.
Actually, one cheek was glowing, the other remaining docile.
The spell was fully destroyed now, vanishing into smoke as luna stopped glowing, her expression more mad then ever, she breathed heavily and looked at the damage around her. What a mess, and all because of a tiny little dark protective spell too. There was a lot to unpack with everyone united, and first things first, luna stood in the middle of the ballroom, proceeding to fix the damage with her magic, sky was freaking out just as much, standing up and helping the rest up with her.
Judas's arm had sunk back to normal, fingers and all, though judas himself still looked panicked at the violent behavior it had shown for being normally lifeless outside of popping up randomly. It...saved them? It seemed to have been the case anyway. Though as everyone started getting up and checking each other for safety he took better notice of landon's companions, one that had very much not been apart of their little group and had now just seen some...questionable things.
On one hand he felt like he should scold landon for letting someone they didn't know find out about this, on the other he was only minutes ago it felt, defending nora because she ended up finding out on accident as well, so he wasn't one to judge. Landon looked sheepish, but also hurt and was met with a close hug from his brother as celeste pulled out her wand, no point in hiding it anyway, healing everyone of any damage that may of occurred, like the particular gash landon had in a leg.
She was good at that.
"Landon...wha...".
"We found out you were here and I guess...I wanted to make sure you weren't...dead...or anything...".
"Well, not yet but...i think luna's gonna be mad at both of us for uh...letting our friends see maybe too much.", he let out a weak laugh, sky and celeste stumbling to help luna as a shy nora walked over, the smaller blue demon at her side. "Thanks...for protecting me...", he was about to interject but she stopped him, "Both times...was she...really going to...wipe my mind?". He hated having to actually answer nora's question there but he nodded, "We're...going to have to talk...someway...somehow...but i get the feeling we're out of time at this point...we need to release them and get going...".
"What about me?".
The girl's bright orange eye was piercing, crossing her arms and silently judging the young adult as landon took her side.
"Judas...this is...fae...she works in the stables...i'll explain why she's here later...but, she knows things...we need her. I mean, granted...not EVERYTHING but...look, i just met her today and all that but she can't lose her memory...". Judas understood, though he looked directly at the small girl, he didn't know her so it was kinda a different case then nora, though, if she could be helpful, they were better off taking the risk then taking away possible help.
Fae sensed this however, and coughed, "I mean, i didn't think the princes got themselves into so much trouble...but...i guess as long as i'm not the reason it's an improvement.". As if on cue another portrait that had just been put him behind her fell back down and crashed, luna screaming in frustration. "What will it take for you to stay silent about what you saw here?", if luna had done this he felt she'd possibly be threatening her with erasure otherwise, so thank lucifer it had been him.
"Get my family higher paying jobs under your servitude?".
"That's it?".
"Well i'd ask for you to help with my own bad luck thing but i can tell you guys aren't experts at "Curse breaking" So...".
Was he being roasted by a child mason's age?
"If you're done conversing we still have a hostage matter at hand, we can talk later...", luna grumbled , walking to the group with her sisters behind her, "We don't have all night here...", That's when celeste, landon, and fae got a proper look at what was above them, landon gasping. There was an exchanging of glances but no answer as luna gripped her strange wand, "Alright, we're back to my plan then, we'll wipe their memory and they'll never know we were here...".
"Why don't you just put them to sleep?".
Everyone turned to fae, whose usual gloomy mood seemed to almost make it feel she was mocking them.
"What?".
"I mean, why can't you make it seem like they fell asleep? You don't want them to know you were here and i guess you're trying to avoid them suspecting anything, just make them think whoever kidnapped them had them under a sleep spell after freeing them and uh...blondie here saved them from the kidnappers? Why is that so hard? Kingdoms used to use sleep spells to have the upper hands loads of times during invasions, the stuff works all the time...".
"I'm not fond of how much you seem to know about wars and invasions of all things...", landon grumbled, only to be met with a shrug.
"That's...not a bad idea...", sky pipped up, "I mean...it'd work? Shouldn't it?". Luna still didn't seem pleased but she also seemed outvoted in this situation as she agreed, "Fine, I'll do it...". and before anything else could happen judas took a few steps forward, "I'll be here to keep an eye on it...sky... you better get home along with everyone else...we'll talk later...if possible...". Though then his attention turned to nora, she looked somber, as if knowing the moment they were free it'd be over.
Then she fell, hunched over and sky leaned down.
"Nora..".
"Ah...my ankle...uh...maybe you should take me to mewni...to get it looked at? Luna can let my family know...", judas smiled, nora smirking back, "Alright, we'll see you soon...sky...keep an eye on her...". she nodded and tried to lift the girl before hoping on her dark cloudy, landon, fae, and a curious celeste riding with her. Judas turned back to luna and sighed, "You're not going to answer but what's with you and mind-erasing...you seem...way too comfortable with it..".
"I've just had to do it alot...c'mon...let's go..".
She sighed, holding her wand out, a gas seeping from it and entering and surrounding the room, judas then pipped up, "Oh shoot, i didn't ask sky about how to pop the bubbles, i better text her and-". Luna put her arm in front of him, mattresses, live ones...popped along the hard floor and quickly, before the gas could leak out she popped the bubbles at once, everyone falling to the mattresses below but quickly falling asleep before they could process anything...".
"You knew? How did you-".
"I snoop, we've been through this...".
"I'm not sure i like that you know sky's spells...you were in the book of spells, HER book of spells, weren't you?", the doors were shut tight and luna sighed, "it's just research...don't take it too personally, i needed to get a grasp on this reality, you saw how i panicked when i was in a world where i was confused and nervous.I figured my way through it, you wanted me to do so didn't you?". He nodded to her pendent, "And uh...what's with that? Doesn't seem to suit you...".
"Eclipsa gave it to me awhile back, i supposed she was worried something had been trying to hurt me, so she figured this would help...i suppose it was more powerful then i thought.". She hid it and glared at judas, "I assume you have questions about my glowing back there...listen, it's-". He stopped her though, "It's another one of those things you want to keep to yourself and not tell me or the rest of us, right? I get the jist of it already, but...i wasn't the only one who saw it, the others might start talking...".
"Let them, i suppose if this place has convinced me of anything, it's that i need to stop trying to appease others, even if it was from janna of all people...it's slowing me down. I can't let anything slow me down now, i need to focus...even if it means we all have to work together again...". Judas wasn't sure if that last bit was an insult but he didn't take it to heart, he was getting rather used to how luna talked to everyone anyways. He leaned against the wall, "Hey...look, if they spill, i'll take the blame, full on...".
"If they spill you'll have more trouble to worry about then just your parents or the high commission...you're lucky your brother said nothing when he found out.".
"And You're lucky the rest of us do still want to help you...", he sighed, pressing his ear against the door, "You think it;s good in there?"., Luna tugged him back and opened the doors wide open, letting the gas out to spread and make it clearer, both taking cover from behind the door as it aired the room out. When it did luna walked in, removing the mattresses, her wand disappearing into her disguised ring , "Just go...you're done your task, i'll take it from here before you get in trouble...".
"Maybe...".
"If i erase their minds, i think you'll know...now go...".
He gave her a nod before leaving, teleporting out as jackie's eyes opened.
"L-luna? What happened?".
She rolled up her sleeves and entered, she had her work cut out for her.
Nora was placed in the Butterfly hospital wing for her "Injuries", surrounded by everyone besides luna and judas. A curtain blocking her from view so no one could report on her to the queens too early, hopefully this story they spinned on luna would work, though sky felt a little peeved since she was technically the one who saved nora and luna had to get the credit for safety reasons. She actually did something kinda cool, on purpose, instead of kinda stumbling her way through or ending in the situation on accident, and she couldn't even really talk about it.
Figures.
Landon had already gone into detail about everything, and so did she for that matter considering everyone in here was now on the same page, it was great the medical wing was so quiet and mostly empty today otherwise they'd be running into more issues. Nora was so out of touch she looked puzzled beyond belief at what was really going on but that'd have to wait for later, what did get her attention she needed little explanation for, was her book.
She looked broken, almost on the brink of crying in fact, and sky wanted to hug her so badly but wasn't sure if nora was ok about it yet since she was already freaked out as is.
"My work...gone? But...I can't cure judas without...that's all my research, years of my work...I mean i guess i could start over on the monster arm because i only just began my research but everything else?", she pulled at her hair, tugged it and sighed, wiping at her face before trying to calm down. "I'm glad she didn't find judas though...the book is hard but...if he got hurt and it was because of me...I'd...I'd never forgive myself...I'm just sorry I'll have to start from the beginning...".
"It'll be ok nora...but hey...you did pretty well for yourself back there with that book, that was amazing", nora tensed, blushing, she knew that voice too well.
Judas finally returned, looking at the rather dismal group in front of him and pushing the curtains back. His appearance seemed to help uplift the group tho, sky coming up to hug him almost instantly before judas hugged her back, reaching over to include nora and using the other hand to make landon join in. Landon seemed reluctant, untill Fae pushed him in anyway, being pulled into the group hug with his brother and his brother's friends. Celeste eyed Fae and she grumbled, "It's his brother...".
When the hug dispersed judas's attention was to Fae, "You better head back to the underworld, no offence, but when jackie and our parents inevitably get here, it's going to seem a lot more suspicious if we're all here...especially considering the circumstances...". Fae didn't seem offended though, "You wouldn't want me here much longer anyway, since i've been here several chairs have collapsed and butterfly slipped on a wet floor...twice.".
"hEY".
Judas had a warm smile as he nodded to the younger demon, he probably shouldn't question what she meant by all that anyway "We'll keep in touch...You swear to say nothing?". The blue demon shrugged, "Do i look like the kinda person who could blab this stuff and be believed ?" She had a good point, and celeste stood up, "I'll take her back...I kinda better see how those weirdos are doing with your parents anyway, plus i'm starving...". Judas was about to ask if Landon wanted to stay or go but celeste was ahead of him, "Landon needs to talk to you two, he better stay...".
Landon didn't even protest as the girls left through a portal, judas crossing his arms, "She's not wrong, sunny can't distract them forever, no matter how good of an actor she can be...". He then looked to the ground before giving his brother a sad smile, "Luna confessed about...the whole thing, I know...". Landon turned away his head, before sky pinched judas's arm, "He confessed while you were out, we exchanged most notes to get up to date...I guess the group is back together...".
"You were gonna ask what I was doing anyway, I basically signed away the secrecy when I stumbled into the castle...There's...one thing i haven't mentioned yet though.", how would he bring about the spell book page? And nora being there made things more awkward, though before much more could be said, someone else entered the wing. The teens tensed, expecting it to of course be the queens, luna, jackie, the high commission, a whole number of people.
Though instead they were met with more of a surprise.
Eclipsa and...
"Angel?".
Sky left as soon as lessons ended to do this mission, what was angel still doing here?
"-Don't stress yourself out so much, you're a very charming young man...you're too down on yourself...".
"But-".
"You're overthinking things, you need to learn to communicate better...whatever it is you want to talk about, you better open up about it.". This was met from silence on Angel's end as Eclipsa sounded like she was going through some cabinets, "No ice pack, we'll have to check the kitchens then, angelus...when's your father returning anyway?". The boy coughed, and though sky couldn't see him she assumed he was probably looking at the floor nervously judging by his voice.
"I don't know...he's...late...I'm worried...", then there was a pause, and a sniffle, "We're not alone in here...". And the curtain was pulled back fast as angel's wide eyes looked upon the people before him, in all honestly judas and sky especially had recognizable smells to him so it was bound to blow their cover soon enough. Sky gave him an awkward wave and Eclipsa came next to him, all smiles, "There you are! Oh? Nora? Oh thank goodness you're ok...".
Angel's face had twisted from a mix of embarrassment and confusion to curiosity as he looked among the group.
Though before much could be said, the door to the room burst open and everything came by fast, there was luna among a group of people, the queens, jackie and kelly, the king and queen of the spiderbite kingdom, but those had been expected. What hadn't was the next part, following them was Angel's father, Amir, and behind him, carried in a clearly webbing made gurnie, was Arana, angel's sick mother. She wasn't looking any better, and the sight of her seemed to paralyze Angel as she was placed on a bed.
The spiderbites immediatly pushed judas, sky and landon away from their daughter, the teens backing out of the room to look among the chaos. Queen Star panicking more then ever as she turned to look at sky, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Jackie called...the spiderbites were rescued, I see you must of heard about nora being taken in before I did?". Sky froze, "Well i got hurt today remember? I needed to get more ice packs, she was here when i got in...".
Star seemed to buy it luckily, probably too stressed to really think too deeply about it.
She glanced to Arana, and then back to her daughter knowing she had questions, "It's gotten worse, King Amir didn't want to risk moving her or taking her away from her home, but he's out of options, she's staying here to get immediate care from some of our staff. We'll just have to hope we can keep her around long enough to cure her...". As if on cue, angel stepped in, tears starting to leak from his eyes, "You...NOW you wanna help? Cure her! Just...use your magic...and...".
He broke down to his knees as Star loomed over him, slightly guilty but still stern. Sky felt awful, worse then ever watching him break down, if his mother could be cured simply by magic things would be so much easier, but magic was never that simple and whatever was killing her was taking life away from her slowly and painfully. Angel butted past them, still crying and heading over to his mother's bedside. Sky could spot judas and nora glancing at him themselves, nora especially felt worse looking at the sight.
There was an itching to run over and comfort him, but something told him he needed time to himself for a bit with his family, and there was enough chaos going on as well. The spiderbite princess felt sick to her stomach, she had faked an excuse to be here just so she'd get to talk to her friends, but now she was actively starting to feel sick. She'd never seen angel...like this, like he was at a breaking point and couldn't keep himself together any longer.
She had valid reasons to have refused before when Judas had brought up the subject, though having the woman in her sights nearby was only making her feel worse. She had seen stuff like this before, many of times, her family were practically doctors after all, but it was still painful. The thankfulness of being surrounded by her parents wasn't enough to help either, though even despite everything she had with them she was thankful to be reunited.
Her parents paid the other family no mind, but that wasn't a surprise considering the history.
The chaos cleared out soon enough, landon and judas being escorted home via their parents coming to pick them up, only a little worried and at least not too suspicious they had been up to much else that night. Somehow nora had convinced her parents to let her stay in the medical bay for the night, most likely because her parents had taken a room in the castle as they weren't looking forward to returning home anytime soon until star finished her upgrades after that incident.
Though she wasn't the only one staying that night.
She could spot Angel cuddling up on a bed near his mother, refusing to leave her side. He wasn't sleeping though, his legs folded or around him but his eyes wide awake, more panicked then he was earlier that day. There was food laid out to him, rolls? Nora presumed sky gave it to him when she showed up to hand them the phone numbers of all the "Members" of their little group but she had been so caught up in whatever was happening with this group to notice.
God, she had been worried sick about the fate of her own parents earlier that day and now this? Oof the world was just punching her in the gut today between this and the book. Angel had never been someone she had been as eager to approach, not like sky or judas. Everything with Angel was more complicated, maybe because fate had decided before she was born they were never meant to get along, her parents didn't help much in that front by mostly avoiding their family as much as they avoided hers.
If only things had been different between them, maybe her family could've-
She froze, she had an idea, it popped into her head suddenly and she almost tried to shake it out of her mind. This was a bad situation, and it did make her sick to her stomach just looking at it, but she was trained in these situations to want to help and look into solutions, whatever it took to save a life, it was almost in her instinct to want to help a patient that had been put under her care. She tried to push the idea from her mind, she had been deadset on her choice to not get involved and now she was rethinking it just because of how awful it felt to do nothing?
Sigh, she was letting this get to her too much but then again...angel had also been an "out of sight, out of mind" issue for her, it was hard to push him away for the sake of family history when he was right in front of her, weeping his four eyes out. His sniffling remained and she thought back to judas when he asked to give angel a chance and talk to him, make peace with their family history, should she try? Well she knew it'd mean a lot to judas and he did help save her...and...well it was too hard for her to leave angel like this.
It was most likely a really bad idea, and might entirely fail right off the bat, but it was an idea nonetheless.
But, would angel even want to speak with her, would it even be smart? Nora didn't even know if she had the ability to speak up, then again, she did fight alongside her friends today, she did lie through her teeth to spend time with them didn't she? Those were very unlike her and she still did them. Heck, she did them and judas beamed at her, he was so impressed with her, the thought making her smile. She thought for a moment, going back and forth on the matter, trying to muster her courage at least, one last time today, on her own within the dark room as the boy pulled at his hair.
Though as his sobs continued, nora managed to sit up and speak through the darkness, calling out to him for what felt like the first time ever .
"Angel?".
He stopped sniffling, sitting up and at first glaring at her, before wiping his eyes and turning his head, "Princess spiderbite?".
She was bad at talking, like SUPER bad at talking, especially to angel. She had spent years being scared of him, refusing to speak to him, and choosing not to get involved with him, all because of their family history. She couldn't remember if they had really exchanged a single word between them before now, though still, even as she instinctivly hid behind her hair and turned her head away, she felt the need to say something. Her voice barely a whisper but still understood by the monster prince.
"I...I think we might be able to help her..".
