"So, the trial has been announced tomorrow huh? They...it's sooner then I thought.".
Judas sipped on some demonade as he rested his head against his fist, "I guess they didn't want to waste any longer on this, no point in it...the commission won't be the judges...they'll just be going over the event putting out evidence...it'll be a sloppy mewnian trial...considering...this place ain't as organized or clean as earth's...especially with magic and stuff. The biggest issue though is while thankfully the commission are not allowed to judge, well...they chose people that might be harder to convince...the other leaders of the kingdoms...".
"Our parents are judging?!", she almost spit out her taco, before taking a swing of chocolate milk, "That's...are we sure it's worse? The high commission are pretty bad to go against these days, even if they're trying to be better...". But Judas nodded, "Here's the thing, my parents told me they had a meeting with all the representatives, well the kings and queens, of the other affected mewni kingdoms, and they've decided this matter is more universal to the kingdoms then magic...which is where the high commission stands...and should stand, angel's crimes weren't well...they weren't on magic...they were against the kingdoms...so they thought it fair they were the ones to judge him...".
"Guess that does make sense...they were the ones he kinda messed with the most...".
"And...look, even if we convince our parents, we have to convince most of the others as well, the pigeons, the spiderbites, the jaggs, the ponyheads...i mean loki was turned into a mindslave for this woman...thing...and they're going to just forgive him for it? The queen would probably rather stab him with her horn, even if she sucks as a parent and how much she cares about loki is on the fence.", he tugged at his hair, "Sunny did manage to meet with me for a few minutes today after she found out, these kinds of trials are rare...mostly because the High Commission for a long time handled these kinda crimes and the kingdoms rarely had the time...but their distrust in them has made this outcome more desired since every kingdom gets to have their imput.".
"They're not brutal enough to...exile him...right?".
"Unless they're all from the johansen clan, probably not...he's too young...but they're still going to be a challenge to convince not to dethrone him...I mean Angel getting involved put them all in jeopardy, your mom had to give them all magical security to make them feel better and safer. And if he hadn't been involved she might've been caught right away and saved them so much time and money and panic, angel's not exactly the most popular guy in mewni, i mean...none of us are...but...he's in the worst position right now...he's in a vulnerable position for people who already hate him to take their revenge on him.".
Sky put her food down, staring down at it as if it was the most interesting thing at the table.
She didn't want to speak up about it, but she had such an urge to and she had to force it out.
"Is he...ok?".
"Angel?", judas looked to her, surprised at first but sky could tell judas knew how much sky actually did care for the prince's well being.
"Yeah...".
"Well...", he put down his drink, crossing his arms on the table and relaxing his shoulders, "He...didn't react much to the news, I guess there's not much for him to react to, he knew he was going to on trial and he knew someone other then the commission would probably do it, so this can't be too much of a surprise. He was probably thinking someone in charge of a kingdom would take the trial and be judging him, makes sense of all the kingdoms to do it then one random one.".
"Think the same thing will happen to me?", her voice was both more aggressive and more nervous, her arms lying on the table as well as her friend reflected on the info he had gotten, "Maybe, It's hard to say for sure, my parents haven't confirmed if or when you might go on trial, but then again...you haven't even been convicted of anything, you're only under investigation. Though I don't think that makes the situation any less stressful honestly for you...because of our investigations, they have more of a reason to convict you, you were everywhere the criminal had been and you would have the knowledge the criminal could have, even if you weren't in the costume you're highly suspected as an ally and I can imagine that's terrifying.".
"No, no it doesn't, I'm half expecting them to take my wand in my sleep...the worst part is, i don't even get to see them...hear from them. All I'm hearing is from other people, like yourself...the cowards don't even have the nerve to confront me, they're talking behind my back...to you...and my moms...and who knows who else...". The boy was quick to reach across the table to comfort her, trying to be positive, "At the very least me and your moms think you're innocent, that's gotta count for something here...".
"Yeah, at least my moms are on my side I guess...I'm not even sure if angel has that...considering how much they never defend him...".
"From what I can tell...he's not too confident either, angel was just a troubled kid...his parents are so used to him doing dangerous stuff and...you know...though here, there really isn't anything they can do to defend him at all, and trying to defend his actions would only make things worse, I think angel's worried if his mother did wake up, she'd be more then dissapointed in him for his actions. He says he's very close to his mom, what she'd do if she were here seems...to really worry him...".
"He told you that?".
"He's had no one else to really talk to recently besides me...so we've been talking, I think at this point he's more comfortable opening up...he's got nothing to lose, he might as well...I...think it makes him feel better to talk about this stuff then keeping it to himself. He's never had someone to vent to, to talk about this stuff with, we always had each other but he...nora...so much bottled up emotion for years...he doesn't want me to feel guilty about it...but...It's hard not to...even if it's all in the past...".
"Well, you're here for them now, aren't you?".
Yeah, yeah I am...and I think he's a little better now...he's...better on the outside...and he's getting his emotions out...", sky simply nodded, thinking back to the time angel did something similar with her. Judas's brows furrowed, "He misses you, y'know...you don't have to speak to him right now but it tears him up inside he hurt you...". Sky didn't answer, playing with her food now, not really looking the demon in his eyes, leaving judas to sigh and continue.
"He hopes you'll forgive him someday, it almost feels like he cares more about you two reconciling then what happens to him at the trial to me. I guess you really did make an impression on him...sky I just want both of you to be happy, you're my friends...",still nothing from sky, who shoved more taco into her mouth to keep herself from answering. He was just going to have to save this for another time, "I know our parents freaked when luna's room was found empty...I was worried they'd assume we helped her escape but...guess luna had prepared for that, she left them a message as well.".
"She's probably fine...on her own...".
"I hope she is...I just worry...".
"Well, you were closer to her then me, sister or no sister, we weren't exactly always on the same page...and she drives everyone up the walls.".
"She did help you with your magic for a bit...didn't she?", sky thought back to the time she and her were with eclipsa and nodded, "That's true, but that's not like...it's the closest thing we had to real bonding, thought hanging out with katrina at her restaurant was sorta fun too...in a weird way...I guess...", she almost hated to say it, "Luna's not so bad...when she isn't trying to be in charge of everything, just...hanging out and stuff, she just gets so...mad...and then no one wants to be around her...".
"I can understand that...celeste is also not entirely the easiest to get along with, she tends to keep to herself most of the time and the only person I usually see her around is landon...I...don't think she's just as comfortable around us, she seems antisocial and I think...well I think she's been able to connect to landon more then any of us..". Sky understood, neither of them seemed to get along with celeste, but then again she wasn't easy to get along with and tended to rarely speak to any of them, nora was shy and antisocial but in a very different way.
"Sunny is absolutely lovely, even if she's...a little scary sometimes...I mean, wielding a knife, knowing extremely powerful magic, being good at persuading others...she's the most friendly, and I think the most trusting, but surprisingly the most intimidating for reasons that are hard to explain...", and then his mind wandered to the last girl, "Galexia is...mysterious...she's nice and well-meaning, but I always never know what she's thinking and where her mind is at...".
Sky tapped on the table and judas poked at her arm to get her attention.
"If we're going to get through this, we all need to communicate, we already lost luna...I don't want anyone else running off, we need to band together more then ever...these girls are your sisters sky, and two of them are technically also my sisters as well, even despite the circumstances and that we have our parents watching us like hawks, we still have them and we can't let anything happen to any of them. I don't want us to lose anyone else out there.".
"That's gonna be even harder with nora being well...yeah".
"We'll manage, luna was powerful and strong but...we just have to manage without her, maybe i can convince them to meet in our archives, it's usually insanely quiet down there, though...Katrina will be following me regardless...we can't leave anywhere outside of our castles so...we're kinda limited. We should find time to talk more with the others, celeste especially, I...feel like she hasn't left her room since...they found out...I...get the feeling she's not thrilled about mom knowing she's their kid in another timeline...".
"She shows up to dinners...right?".
"No, not even that, she requested the food be sent to her...though I doubt she's not still talking to landon despite this...".
"That bad huh?".
"Celeste has never exactly been the social type, and with sunny and galexia being tight and hanging out more often, she might feel left out...maybe, maybe she just gets along with my brother and we're just not people that can get along with her...I don't wanna give up though...I want to bring us together as best I can. I'm not promising anything, I just...losing luna made me think that I want to make sure we all stick together as best we can...it's already rough that I can't see nora...losing luna too...I don't want it happening again...".
"I haven't been down to the hospital wing...are her parents actually trying to the cure the queen?".
"I've seen them, yes actually, I'm not sure what they're doing and if it's working but It seems nora being complacent with them just to help her might actually be working...though I wish I could see her and ask what she said to them.", he took out his compact, thinking as his fangs pricked his lip, "I wanna get in touch with loki again, but...I know his parents won't allow me anywhere near him after what happened, I just wonder...if there's more I could get out of him...last time I saw him was before he got caught, and I haven't gotten a chance since...".
"Then just ask coral...you got her number right? They probably haven't taken her compact."
A Lightbulb seemed to turn on in the boy's brain.
Coral.
He quickly took out his compact to speed-dail the pony's number, only waiting for it to ring a couple times before the image of a green-ish blue pony to show up on the other side, and unsurprisingly, she was in the middle of playing video games. Though it seemed for once in her life she actually paused it at the sight of the boy, and that was enough to tell judas she already knew about the situation at hand. And her voice was loud enough to even startle Sky.
"JUDAS! WHAT HAPPENED!".
Geez, if she was this eager to talk to him he'd think she'd try calling him herself, but then again maybe time got away from her while playing games as often as she did. "Coral, oh uh...hi...it's uh...It's complicated, but look...I need to know how loki's been doing, if that's ok?". Coral's face suddenly looked more annoyed then anything and judas simply gave her a strange smile and shrugged, "Look, trust me, it's important...If you do i'll promise to do another verses game with you."
"I'd rather verses you to see if you can beat me, if you win i'll tell you everything.".
Sky, snorting, got up and walked over next to judas and appear in front of coral, "Uh...yeah, judas can't go over there, and not sure you can come over here either...so you're just gonna have to go with his option.". Coral snorted at the sight of sky but sighed, "Fine fine fine...but lemme guess, the entire reason you both got in trouble has to do with why you wanna know more about my brother, right? What did he do? Is he about to be arrested too?".
"Hopefully not, look...last time I spoke to loki he couldn't recall anything about his actions cause he thought he was sleepwalking, but I remembered something...the day he vanished...he was going to see angel to confront him and he doesn't remember a lick of it...as if he were mindwiped or something. I just want to see if maybe we can jog anything from his memory about maybe who magically infected him...I know your parents aren't...easy to converse with and...we need help coral...". The pony's eyes drifted back to her game before laughing, "Another day in the life of Prince Judas lucitor Diaz...you never seem to have a normal week do you?".
"Well, at this point it's happened enough to feel normal...".
"Judas, honestly i'm surprised you haven't gotten killed at this point, you crazy weirdo...alright i'll cave and see what I got, you do owe me a verses game tho, maybe also I could use someone to scare off one of my game rivals too...", judas's face was enough to tell her to only expect half of that offer, "Alright, look, my stupid brother has barely been allowed to leave his room unless our parents are preparing him to take the throne, he's tried to flee a few times though...I think Queen Butterfly found a way to prevent that...".
"Does he recall anything...from what happened since I last saw him?".
"Well, I normally completely ignore him...uh...", her eyes wandered back to her game, "Ugh...I'll make this exception for you judas...". Holding her compact with her tongue, she floated her way up to the green ponyhead's room, placing the compact on top of her head and she moodily knocked on the door to be met with loki's voice on the other end. "Huh? Whose there?", judas couldn't see her faced but he was sure coral was rolling her eyes as she spoke.
"You got a call...".
"From who?".
"Freaking Lucitor Diaz and Butterfly, it's not like you have anyone else who calls you...", the door was locked so they couldn't see his face, but they could hear him, and that was fine for now. He clearly had slammed his body up against the door at the mention of their names, "Wait, what? Why? Are they still dating? Please tell me you're not getting married, I can't even leave this tiny room long enough anymore to even be a best man anymore...".
Even Judas looked annoyed.
"No you dunderhead! They wanna ask about you being possessed and if you remember anything else since the last time lucitor showed up! Look, make it quick, I had to pause my game for this...", loki seemed to pause on his end and judas and sky eagerly awaited an answer from his end. "Uhhhh...wait...about me being all...that? I mean...that was awhile ago for me...and uh...I mean, I can't remember much from it, it's kinda just...a fuzzy blank...".
Sky could already feel her friend's shoulders sag.
"Loki...the day you seemed to get...controlled, you went to go find angel remember? Well, i mean you didn't remember but you did do that! And you never made it...how...how far did you get? Where were you when you got...what was the last thing you did remember? Can you recall where you were?". Loki didn't respond right away and judas was about ready to give on on this idea but much to his surprise loki did answer, "Oh well...um...uh...I mean this is kinda a pointless thing to ask about since I barely remember this happening but uh...I guess I might've been in the woods already...maybe...like...close to the spider place..not the other spider place...but THAT spider place.".
"Think closely, did you ever see angel...or the masked being before you got...y'know?".
"Uhhhh...I don't remember...like I said I like...can't remember anything about when I was sorta kinda taken over...it was...bad...", sky jumped in, crossing her arms, "Loki, you're a sneak, always spying and prying and tagging along when it's not appropriate, I find it hard to believe you never tried to confront angel again after the first time, especially considering how much you knew we were getting involved with him and you love following us, even if you were in trouble with your parents. You decided to go after him yourself a long time ago and after it doesn't happen you just...gave up? Even when judas told you you did you didn't even try to figure out why? You don't even leave us alone no matter how many times I say to go away...".
"Well, that's mostly cause Judas-".
"That's not the point Loki, the point is after that one time you never bothered angel ever again supposedly, you basically acted like you didn't care enough about it after the situation, that's weird for you...", judas himself even had to agree with that, Loki wasn't prone to backing off unless forced too."Yeah, Loki, you wanted to confront angel...basically for me and to get in sky's good graces...and you didn't get caught for being...y'know...under control for awhile after, are you sure you never saw him again?".
Sky bit her lip, "Hm...I mean i guess with you all buddy buddy with angel he'd probably say if loki ran into them I guess...".
"True, but I think you have a good point sky, if loki went to find him again, maybe on one of those occurrences he could've seen something, I never questioned the idea that loki might've seen something if he went to find angel, who was working with Her, I just assumed loki gave up and forgot and...it's worth a shot.". He tried again, "Loki, look, i'm just asking you to dig deep into your memories, I need your help right now, more then ever, is there anything you can recall that could help us?".
"Well uh...I mean...uh...".
"Look loki, we don't get along and i kinda say rude stuff you you all the time, i know judas wants to sorta promise some weird hangout between us three so...look, if you really wanna impress me...or do something worthwhile for once...then please, try and recall something...it'd mean the world to me and judas right now.", sky was practically pressing her face against the compact, silence still coming from loki's bedroom door. And slowly the hope started to drain.
Coral snorted, "Ugh...sorry guys, seems this was once again, a waste of time...my brother can't remember things when they actually matter-".
"I SAW A CAVE!".
He practically screamed through the door, catching even coral off guard that she almost dropped the compact, Loki sounded like he was panting, "Like, maybe I blocked it from my memory cause everything was so fuzzy but...I got lost...I think, trying to find the stupid spider kid...and at one point I might've...stumbled upon some weird monster cave, like...it was old...probably used to be used by the monsters in the old monster and mewman wars...but like, I think I saw it...and then like...I passed out I think...".
Judas's heartbeat seemed to beat a little faster, "Anything else? Loki, can you remember anything else?".
"I...I might've heard a voice...I..I wasn't paying much attention to it though...".
Sky raised an eyebrow, "What kinda voice? Man's? Woman's? Supernatural entity? When we heard them speak their voice was all...warped...It was hard to tell who was under there." Loki huffed, "I mean...I think it was a woman's...I think...no one I knew tho...she was like...creepy...or soothing? I only heard her for like...5 seconds and i'm not sure if i dreamed her or not.". Even sky was intrigued by this, Loki? Actually being kinda helpful for once? This was a miracle.
"Did you see her face?".
"Heck no, i don't think I ever saw anyone, not weird spider boy, not weird masked lady...it was all woods".
Judas seemed to be thinking hard about loki's answer, whether it was extremely factual or not, "A woman's voice...that would imply...she was older...unless he's just mis-remembering her...or he heard someone else...weird.", even Sky seemed more puzzled, though then again they were talking to loki, who was pretty common to not understanding stuff. Even they couldn't be sure of how accurate this account was, and Judas himself knew if Angel had head the foe's voice he would've mentioned it by now.
"I swear...that I think,that's what I heard...maybe...".
He didn't even sound sure himself.
Coral sighed to herself and mumbled to the royals on her compact, "Alright, well, then looks like this meeting is over...that's what you're stuck with unless something else jogs his memory...mom doesn't let him outta this room though so...good luck with that". The demon looked to sky and back to the compact, "Thanks for the help loki, it means a lot...maybe the sooner we put an end to this the sooner you might be allowed some freedom again...and we'll get a chance to hang out...we promise to let you know if we find out anything".
"Will you promise to confess to your obvious relationship?"
"And we're done...bye coral, text or call judas later or something...whatever". Sky hung up the compact for them before Judas could protest, he could call coral back later, at least he got something out of the pony that might be useful. Well, it's possible it might not help at all if the prince's memory was fuzzy, but judas was quick to write it on his napkin, "I'll maybe talk to angel about this later, see if he has anything else he wants to add to this whole thing but I can't imagine he knows too much more...".
"Not even a...cave?", sky moved her hands around to emphasize the cave, "Like that thing is a kinda big thing he should probably mention if it exists, like...no one's been able to find a hideout for this chick or whatever because no one can simply track her down.". Judas shook his head, "No no, angel talked to me, they never met in any hideout, whenever they met they contacted each other through notes or such and went to a certain meeting place, angel's never been to a hideout...they probably knew it was possible angel would back out...".
Guess it figures, that would be pretty stupid to just invite him into a secret hideout you don't want anyone knowing about.
"At least my parents might appreciate it, it could reduce their search a little more...", he pocketed the napkin and Sky returned to her seat as judas took his compact out again, "Maybe I can convince them to take loki in for questioning themselves...I'm not sure truth potion would work in this case though, so better off with normal questions...". That reminded Sky, they had truth potion they made themselves didn't they? The commotion was so crazy she didn't quite remember where she left it.
Hopefully nowhere dangerous.
"Hey, thanks for hanging out with me today jude...".
He looked up from his compact to see the sad face of his friend, munching on her meal rather pitifully. He closed up the compact and leaned against the table, smiling, "I'd gladly make time for my best friend, you know that, and...I needed this too sky...I'm stressed...like...REALLY stressed. Sky I can't stop thinking about...my arm, the time it attacked that knight, sky my arm had teeth...it had a mouth...i can't stop thinking about it. It's never done that before...it's...uncomfortable...".
"Judas...".
"I...also...needed some normalcy, even with angel, he does remind me when i'm around him that i'm a target and could get hurt, you've been with me since the beginning and I just...sky i'm really scared...i'm trying to be cool but i'm terrified right now. But everyone needs me to remain clam and be the voice of reason and no matter how much I wanna calm down, I can't...it gets worse sky, angels's worried she might...use my arm against me and...I don't ever want that to happen.".
"I'm sorry judas, I just wanted you to rest...but I guess it's hard to under these conditions...I get the feeling it's building and you can't catch a break...", he nodded, "I just...what if...what if you do get hurt because of me, sky i'm going to be crowned soon, and I don't...I don't know if I should be taking charge as the leader right now, I don't think it's good for my health right now and...without luna I feel more then ever like I should be stepping up but maybe it's too much for me to handle with...this going on...".
"Well, what if...I-".
"Sky...I can't let you take care of all this...that's not fair to you either, all this stuff with your moms-".
"-Is petty and nothing compared to what you've been going through, judas you've done a lot already, and you keep coming back cause you're...well...you're used to handling everything...you're used to being everyone's big brother whose always looking out for everyone and helping everyone and trying to guide everyone...you're...cool that way. But...you're so stressed with your arm and you already have pressure because your family has put so much blame on you for your siblings being involved...judas...maybe you should let...someone else have a go while you sort yourself out...".
"Sky you know me, something will happen and I'll get back in there and..I can't relax long enough to-"
She covered his mouth with her hands, "Jude...you need to rest and I need to take responsibility for this...a lot of this...revolves around me, you wouldn't have even gotten involved in all this if It wasn't for me. Jude I'm not asking you to not help sometimes or assist but...it's getting harder watching you like this...you're getting worse...look i'm asking, I wanna handle some of this, I should be handling some of this...you shouldn't be the one with all this on your shoulders...especially not like this...".
She removed her hands and took one of his.
"Dude...promise me, as your best friend, to take it easy from now on...if something happens, you tell me and i'll try to get a grasp on it...ok?", she was pleading to him with her pretty blue eyes and judas's shoulders sagged, he looked tired, and he gave in. "I promised to trust you, and always believe in you...sky...if you're really sure, I can't argue...I know i'm not doing well, angel knows it as well, and even my family last night came to check on me, asking If i wanted out of trying to help and just wanted to stay out of it...".
"I can handle it...".
"You sure?".
"Yeah".
"Then I trust you to help bring this to a close...".
She quickly pulled him in a tight hug, standing up to do so, "Thank you.".
"Luna really did run off on us...huh?", Celeste sat on her bed, landon pacing close by, her legs swinging off the bed and arms crossed. "Whatever, she was a pain anyway...she can go out there by herself and...be a nuisense to some squirrels or something...", she seemed amused by the meer thought of that, laughing to herself a little. However, landon didn't turn around to look at her, still pacing and thinking to himself, annoying celeste who snapped to get his attention.
"Yo...Landon, what's with you?".
He tugged on his hair, "Well ignoring the fact that i'm being followed and tracked all the time because my parents are super paranoid about me and mason, Queen Butterfly went out to the magic dimension to look for clues, I've just been wondering...if...maybe...well". Celeste could tell where he was going with this, "People lose their minds out there y'know? And it's big, like SUPER big. you'd have to do some searching to find any clues out there, though no doubt that weirdo wouldn't stay in it very long unless she had an unlimited supply of puddling or something, even...mom...this mom...even she's been taking breaks by searching other dimensions... and magic wells...".
"Yeah it's just...what if we could find something she can't? It'd give us a chance to be one step ahead closer to solving this...".
"and making you look cool to your family? No point in wallowing in success if you're not around to see it right? Like the interrogations and investigating? Sure whatever...but are you willing to like...die just to be better then your older brother?".
"Don't make it sound...so...weird...".
"i mean, that's what it is...isn't it?", she looked him up and down, "You're pretty bad at making it out as anything else, you wanna save the day and be seen as better then judas and all that. I mean...considering everything else, get the feeling the dude's gonna be kinda pissed you might get hurt trying to overpass him.". She leaned back on the bed, sighing, "Like, all the stuff we were doing, it was kinda meh before, normal detective stuff, going out in a magic dimension though where people lose their minds and some creepy guy who tried to kill us went? I dunno...".
"Since when do you care so much? You usually don't care about getting into dangerous situations all that much...", celeste simply shrugged, huffing through puffed cheeks, "I don't want you to like...get hurt, or end up like that stupid ponyhead prince, it's like...is it worth it THAT much? Like you can do cool things with your music and you got a guy who kinda seems to like you, I mean at this point you might as well not even bother, s'not like your parents want us doing anything anyway...".
"You're an only child, you wouldn't get it...".
"What about me makes you think I "wouldn't get it"? Or that i'm an only child for that matter? You should know that's not true...", she sat up, he had stopped pacing of course, and now she was glaring at him with those brown eyes. "Look, i'm just saying maybe we should stop bothering with all of this and let them figure it out...trying to catch them did nothing but almost get us killed and attacked over and over...they'll probably sort it out and we can go and whatever...i'm just...i'm done..".
"You really aren't very proactive when push comes to shove...are you?".
"I beg your pardon Mr "I sit in my room all day"?".
"Well, right now I'm trying to do stuff, since when have you done much to help out on your own besides the time you almost got attacked in the woods? You just get mad at people for not doing things and do nothing yourself, at least luna does stuff all the time...you won't even leave your room anymore.". He was probably being too harsh to his friend/half-sister, but she was being pretty hard to him as well for just wanting to take action at a time where action needed to be done.
"Ugh...look, I've had my own experiences with that kinda place back home, it's where I cross the line...it's a MESS. I'm just trying to make sure you don't go out there and die...I've been attacked by ponies dressed in dark clothing, girls going through demon mewberty, and masked weirdos who tried to murder a monster for trying to get the heck out, we have GONE past crazy, if the magic dimension doesn't hurt you, the rest of us here sure will", she was being serious too, and landon pouted.
"But if I find something...".
"You might end up worse off...".
She was stubborn, there was no way landon could convince her otherwise, closing all of his eyes.
"Then...what am I supposed to do celeste? Just...give up? You can tell me to not do something I want to do, I want to do this ok? I...It might be my only chance right now.". She got up and off the bed, arms still crossed and trying to look him in the face, "Dude, you don't gotta "Prove your worth" to people, some people out there just suck, they're idiots, you want people who are idiots to like you? Or do you want people who you like to like you?".
"My parents aren't idiots...neither are my brothers...", she mumbled under his breath.
"Well I mean, if you gotta almost die for them to even like you then that's a problem..."
She had a point.
Celeste wasn't the type to go out of her way to impress anyone really, she didn't seem to care that much what people thought of her most of the time. Landon probably looked silly to her, trying to do all these things to one-up judas, even if she went along with it. She was starting to tear him down and he grumbled again, he prided himself on being more mature then her but he was sure if judas or his parents were listening in they'd agree with the grumpy brunette.
For now he sighed, "Fine...".
He still didn't entirely agree and he had a feeling Celeste could tell the idea wasn't entirely out of his mind, but this seemed to settle her a little. Walking over and pressing his face into the sheets, feeling celeste walking up behind him. "Look, I snuck out once...but it was only to help luna...like i didn't sneak out on my own...you know that. But at least I had my wand with me...if you went in there and lost your mind, there's nothing you can do to protect yourself...you go in there, who know what could happen to you...".
"Yeah, I got it already, you don't have to keep telling me..." he pressed his face further into the mattress.
She took a seat once again next to him, sighing, "Look, When I showed up here I was kinda...I guess...maybe...mean to everyone ok? It's pretty clear that...nobody really seems to like me all that much...well, outside of your dog and maybe sunny...you're like...the only person here who kinda sorta likes being around me. If you did something stupid and got hurt or something...you're gonna make me feel guilty for not stopping you from doing the stupid thing...".
"Is this your way of trying to say you consider me your best friend?".
"No, i already have one of those back home...".
He turned his face to give her a dirty look.
"But here? Yeah, you're my best friend...".
Guess this was as nice as he could expect from her honestly.
"You know you can't stop me if I change my mind right?", he mumbled, only to be answered with another shrug, "Yeah, I kinda know, but I'd like to think you're not stupid enough to put that over your own life, we all want to make it out of this in one-piece if we can...". His grumbled turned to sighs as his mind shifted to other matters, sitting on the bed properly, celeste could see his tail slightly exposed from his jeans, much to the demon's frustration.
"Alright...spit it out...".
He turned to look at her, confused, "Wha-?".
"You wanna ask me something, I can tell, as long as it's not...personal, you might as well spill it out.", she elbowed him and she could practically feel him snorting smoke from his nose, "Do you think I should...do my song...for bernard...for him? I've...had it for awhile...but...he's never actually heard it, he's heard a few of my songs but...not that one...and...I dunno, we've been talking a lot and...i'm not sure if he'd think it was creepy or not If I made him a song...".
She almost seemed to smile, she had pretty much expecting something along these lines to have come from his mouth, "Well I mean, if you were some kinda stalker i'm sure it would be pretty creepy if you made an entire song about him, but you're friends aren't you? Not really the creepiest thing you could do, you just tell him you made a new song for him and see if he likes it, it's not that big of a deal...of is this your weird way of confessing to him?".
Landon was silent.
"Hold on...", she looked him more closely in the eye, brows furrowing, "Are you trying to confess through song?".
"What's it to you?", he shifted his gaze away, "All I asked was if you thought i should play it for him with my violin, nothing else.".
"You could've just said "No celeste, i'm not trying to confess to him through song", sounds like a big ole "Yes" if i ever heard one", landon still wasn't looking her in the eye but he puffed is cheeks and mumbled, "I dunno, I like him, I don't know if he actually likes me...the only person he even talks to much besides me is melaine and talking to her is a pain for any of us since she thinks us demons are supposed to be evil or something cause earth is just stupid...like If i said something, he could say no...and i'd look silly.".
"Or be rejected...?".
Landon's silence said a lot.
"Honestly I think it's bold you want to confess to him, I'd think you would still be too nervous to say anything...why the sudden need to do it?".
"I dunno, I guess I just though, if things went to wreck...he should know? He...he kinda poured out and talked to me a lot more...and...he kinda trusts me and...I guess I feel like maybe i'd be breaking his trust if I didn't say anything. I mean, my mom likes to tell us these cheesy stories about how they got with my dad and they do all these cheesy stuff like singing the other songs or doing these weird gestures of romance. It worked for them I guess...".
Then he coughed into his hand, the realization of what he said coming to him, "Uh oh...sorry celeste, I uh...should be more careful when talking about my parents...or my mom in general around you...". She was silent, though still grumpy, he looked over her and then turned away as if looking her directly in the eyes might kill him. "They couldn't have been...always like that though...i'm sure, i'm sure they used to be super happy and everything", he almost expected celeste to say something mean after that, but she didn't.
She seemed dazed in fact.
"C-celeste?".
"They were...a long time ago...now all I see is them being happy with others..".
"Sorry...I'll uh...change the subject...I just...I dunno, maybe it is kinda stupid, I guess I just thought and...look, i'm not good at flirting or wooing people, judas makes people anxious and that's why no one dares even peruse him but he's still more attractive then me...he'd probably have all the princes and princesses after him if people didn't think he'd strange them in their sleep." Now it was landon's turn to get sad and frustrated, "I'm not...exactly prince charming here...".
"Well, no duh...no one is...no one can even be some perfect sweet handsome prince".
"I think Bernard's like a prince charming...even if he isn't actually royalty...".
She almost seemed bemused, "Man, you really do have it bad...".
She stood up, tapping her foot with her back to him for a bit, before turning around.
"Look, if it gets you to focus on something less stupid, then go for it, you clearly like this boy, so you might as well...do...whatever it is you want to do. Unless you wanna just have a wingman of something around too, but he seems too smart to be fooled by that.", Though landon's eyes widened, "Actually, if someone could ask and see if he likes me, that could take so much pressure off me, maybe help me feel more confident in asking him, that's...a good idea.".
"Dude, are you serious?", she looked dumbfounded.
"Well yeah! Maybe you could do it?".
She suddenly wished they were talking about the magic dimension again.
"Dude, I barely know the guy, If i go up and ask him if he likes you , i think he'll know what this is all about...".
"Right right...I...would need someone else close to him..."
"You're...not going to ask that nerdy conspiracy theorist are you?", though judging by his face,that was about exactly who he needed to ask. Though he seemed to smirk, "Well no, I can't ask her, she's not good with us, but sky could ask her...to ask him...and well...uh...". Was he starting to blush now? He certainty looked a little pinker then before, "Ugh, maybe I am going too far with this, Bernard's...he had a few exs back in some of the other places he moved...like he told me through our texts and...I don't wanna make a weird impression.".
"Is this your two moods? Trying to be cooler then your brother or crushing on the dude with 50 piercings?", landon wasn't paying much attention though, still thinking about texting sky to help him out, though he could just see her face wondering why THAT was his biggest priority right now of all things. Though he still pulled his compact out, looking over the texts he'd received, "Sky's kinda judas's friend more then mine, I don't really text her directly very often...even though we're the same age and stuff...".
Then his voice suddenly got sad, and the compact closed, catching Celeste's attention as he sighed.
"Never mind...I probably shouldn't...".
"Landon...?".
He changed his mind rather quick, back to being sad and unsocial landon, the confidence he had being washed away in an instant. He stood there, holding the compact and sighing, "I was getting ahead of myself there...wasn't i? I gotta stop doing that...i'll make a fool out of myself doing that...". He ran a hand over his hair as celeste practically blurted out to his face, "Are you ok?". His eyes looked to her and back to his compact, "I dunno I...I don't have a lot of friends...".
"What about it?".
"Well...if...y'know...".
She was confused intentionally but another look at him, and the situation clicked.
"You're worried he'll reject you and you'll lose that friendship..huh? I'm sure that's come to mind before though? I mean, he's the guy you hang out the most around besides your brothers, he's basically your best friend around here unless that violin counts.". Landon almost snapped at her for a moment but pulled himself together, "Of course, yeah I've thought about it...but actually trying to do it...If I do screw this up...he might be too uncomfortable to even be my friend...".
"You're that worried he'll feel uncomfortable...I mean, he's already cool with demons and your family, I mean...it can't be the weirdest thing he's seen...".
"Celeste i've never done this before...I...I don't want to screw this up...".
"Fine, then i'll convince sky to help then...".
He turned his head towards her in shock.
"Wait...you're...celeste?".
"I'm going to go up to sky, and tell her to convince mel to help you out on this, I'll...leave the stupid room and talk to her...", she sounded annoyed by the prospect but landon clearly seemed touched by the gesture, celeste didn't seem to commonly do nice things for anybody, especially if it affected her. His face grew soft, "You'd do that? That's...really nice of you, I mean, well, you don't have to get involved in all of this if you really don't want to, I know this is all my issue and with everything going on my parents are breathing down our necks as is...".
"No no, i'll do it, I'll get out there and actually speak to them...don't...make that big a deal about it. It's really not that important, but if you really need some help...I'll...see what I can do, just...don't do anything stupid ok?", Landon was still smiling though, even though his half sister was grumpy and blushing in embarrassment. He nodded though, "I swear I won't do anything stupid...", though she still gave him a suspicious look, but it'd have to do for now.
"You know, I think the fact you wanna confess...it's pretty brave of you...like all this stuff about trying to take down the enemy and make yourself cooler then judas, I mean...that's one thing, but...like...wanting to tell the guy you like that you...well...like him, even despite everything...it's...it's cool landon. I think it's kinda cool you wanna sorta be honest with him about how you feel...", the boy rubbed the back of his neck, "Bernard's just been...really personal with me...i'm not...used to people trusting me like that...with this kinda stuff...it's...".
"You're such a lover boy...".
"C'mon, it's a first crush, better tell him now before one of us actually does get killed...I...maybe if he knows...I don't know, the thought of doing it has been driving me crazy", then he laughed to himself, "Judas has never been on a date so I kinda can't ask him for advice...even if i wanted to, unless he's dating one of those princes or princesses he hangs out with and just didn't decide to tell anyone for some reason...". He grabbed his violin from it's case, "I uh...I guess you don't have a crush back home...right?".
"No...", she said, though her tone made landon curious if she was lying or not.
"Well, you're a cool person, most of the time..so...I think people are...missing out, even if you can kinda be a jerk.".
Celeste didn't have much time to ponder on that though, pulling out her compact that had suddenly buzzed, texts coming from-
"Sky...texted me, asking me to meet with her...and...the other girls?".
Landon put his instrument down, looking over at her compact and back to her, "Wow...usually judas does that kinda stuff, weird...but well, there you go, an opportunity to talk to her and...looks like the other girls too I guess.". Celeste still grumbled and growled about it, but if luna wasn't there it couldn't be so bad. She got up and collected her things, "So..are you just gonna chill in my room and play violin or something? Cause you look like you are...".
"Well I was gonna show you my new song...but...if you gotta go you gotta go, I can practice in here...I kinda can't get a lot of privacy in my own room anymore...mom's always kinda checking in on me...the whole situation kinda spooked them...gotta prepare if i'm going to perform right?", she shrugged, "well, if you're staying here...get out before I get back and go to bed...and word of advice, if you don't want to get caught, maybe don't play your violin too loud, not exactly like there's a lot of violin players around here they could mistake you for...".
"Good idea...".
She sighed as she headed out the door, leaving landon by his lonesome.
Landon huffed to himself for a moment before pulling out his compact, setting it aside next to him, he needed to breathe. The silence of the room made it easier to clear his head a little bit as he pressed the record button, attempting to make himself seem presentable. "Ok, ok...take 1...this is...landon, and he's me trying not to make an utter fool out of myself by practicing my...well...how i'm going to talk to...bernard. Whose kinda currently my best friend..and...I uh...yeah...".
He suddenly felt himself grow red and he quickly grabbed his violin, "So I wrote this, I hope it's good...and uh...ok...".
He then grabbed his bow, and began to play.
"You're probably wondering why I called you all here...", sky mumbled, looking over the three girls sitting before her, the guards outside of sky's room simply to keep a close eye on all of them had only added to her anxiety on the matter as she cleared her throat. "I mean, I don't normally text you...or even really do this kinda stuff, but well, it's...judas has enough going on in his life and...I decided...to kinda sorta be in charge of whatever group we're in...kinda sorta..".
Sunny and galexia simply blinked, Celeste raised an eyebrow and somehow she seemed almost offended.
"Wait wait...you're doing what now?".
"I'm...taking control, I'm gonna help us end all this...while judas takes more time to get himself together...".
But celeste still didn't seem to get it, standing up from her seat on the floor of sky's room and shaking her head, " Sky, since when have you ever been the type to command the rest of us and do all this stuff? Is this because luna ditched us all to go do whatever?". She had to stand her ground with this girl, had to stand for judas, and sky attempted to hold her head high. "Look, Judas needs a break, and i'm his best friend, we need a new direction right now, angel's on trial tomorrow and with all the stuff before we all barely spent any time together, we...we can't so it again...so...I figured...-".
"Figured-?".
"It's my universe, all my friends are getting hurt by all this and...I should've been the one trying to help since the beginning...Judas shouldn't have had so much of this on his shoulders...", she had a ting of guilt in her voice, even leaving judas to go about the rest of his day sucked. She knew he was mostly off to probably prepare angel for the trial ahead, she was so relieved to see him a little more relaxed and even if judas may not agree, she felt she could've done more to keep so much of this from being on his shoulders.
She carefully reached out and set a hand on celeste's shoulder, "Look, we're all kinda mad and weird...and...frustrated...but we're not going to get through this if we keep...pushing each other away. Judas...had a lot of pressure placed on him, he had to keep an eye on you all, he had to deal with nora, deal with angel, attend meetings to try and get some new information, he had to deal with his brother and deal with all the stuff with his arm...and I...I just attended class and tagged along sometimes to help with these issues...I...I want to be more useful..in helping you guys...".
Celeste's expression seemed unimpressed, "You sure it wasn't just to look cool enough to surpass mom? I'm fairly observational, i'm not fooled by lies and that kinda nonsense.". Sky huffed but she brushed some of her hair from her face and split it, "Fine, maybe to a degree it was...but I still want you all to make it home...and...angel almost died or got his mind zonked by some creep, and that creep put nora in danger, and put my best friend in danger too...they...need to pay...whoever they are...".
Celeste seemed almost...taken aback, sky had never been so mad before, at least, not in this fashion.
Then Sunny raised her hand, Sky taking it as the girl spoke, "I'm not opposed at all, I just want to know if judas is ok? You want to do this because so much is on him right? He must've been...well...tired and stressed...", even galeixa perked up at that, celeste turning to sky for an answer as well. "Well, I think he'll be ok, he's had a rough time recently, i'm at least hoping he might get more of a break to rest...though doing this means I gotta be the one to meet with his parents and...uh...can't say i'm looking forward to that...".
"He's not dropping out entirely?".
"Well, he kinda has to help to a degree, I mean, he is the one mostly talking to angel and he knows things I kinda can't replicate, but he's...he's not in any condition to keep piling this stuff on him so...i'm going to do my best to make this work, despite our parents being involved and everything else...if you'll have me I guess. I don't really wanna kinda force you into it cause I kinda can't stop any of you regardless, you're all kinda more useful then i am...but...can we give this a shot? Please?.
"YES!", everyone turned to Galexia, who beamed at Sky.
Sunny crossed her arms, "Well, I can't say no sky, honestly...I missed the fact we all didn't really get to hang out a lot...". She beamed, showing off her fangs, "And if judas is ok with it, then I say I'm happy to have you make sure we get all this done, right Celeste?". Sky kinda figured Celeste would be the hardest convince, if only because luna wasn't here and celeste was clearly not easy for anyone to get along with, though all the girls beaming at her was making anxious.
"Welll I uh...uh...are you even allowed to be doing this with your parents not wanting us younger ones involved?".
"Well as being primary kinda a big part in all this supposibly, that sorta doesn't apply to you, you're all worth having involved to a degree...though i'm sure it's awkward for all our parents right now since you're all technically their kids too...", Celeste couldn't argue against that, "Fine fine, but what do you plan to do about luna or...y'know, handling the matter?". She was clearly trying to find holes she could to not agree off the bat and sky leaned against her bedroom wall, fixing her hat.
"Nothing...".
"Nothing?".
"There's nothing to do when it comes to luna, she chose to leave and none of us sure can convince her to change her mind.", Celeste couldn't really argue against that after how luna's acted to her throughout their time together, "We kinda just gotta focus on us right now, the trial is tomorrow, so we'll deal with that and...hope for the best. Mewni's legal system ain't exactly...great, but, I guess we hope to use that to our advantage...then after we hopefully prevent angel from being eaten alive by all the kingdoms he angered...we'll...set a trap...".
"You made that up just now, didn't you?", celeste being so observant was incredibly uncomfortable, made sky question how much else she was able to tell about her and the other's through her observation. "Maybe...but..angel makes pretty good bait...if she goes after him, then we'll be able to pounce on her easily.". She seemed sure as the words slipped from her mouth but even Sunny had to interject, "Well, it sounds like a good idea, but angel probably wouldn't want his life in jeopardy like that, he nearly escaped her last time, and she most likely would easily tell it was a trap...wouldn't she?".
Celeste turned back to sky, "You can't just put the dude out on a silver platter and expect her to go fetch, she can't be that stupid! They gotta know by this point Angel spilt the beans on them, got nothing to gain by grabbing them now unless they're super petty or something. He was only useful because he knew stuff, now that we know that stuff, no point in trying to stop him...if you wanna set a trap, you kinda need to know what they want and not make it blatantly obvious it's a trap."
"Look fine, can I just...", the anger was getting to her, she regretted not trying to work on this sooner, she probably looked foolish trying to look like a competent leader when she didn't have a very good plan as to what to do next in their course of action. As she struggled to find something else to say though, sunny coughed, the brunette turning to her, "Celeste? C'mon, sky's trying, it's not a perfect plan but it's a good start, I think the idea of drawing them out and capturing them sounds really smart actually!".
Her voice always seemed to have a certain 'Pep' to it, as if it alone could make anyone smile and feel better even when they were bleak.
She stood up, almost rather defensive actually, despite how small and rather adorable she was.
Though the knife under her dress was enough to be clear she was not one to underestimate.
She stood between celeste and sky, hands on her hips.
"I think we should give sky a chance, it's not like she can make anything worse, judas is basically your brother too anyway. We're all the ones most affected by this...and we're all competent without judas or luna around, sky's creative, celeste can read people well, galexia is sweet and keeps us going, we can do all this stuff...we should be building each other up right now, not trying to tear us all down. Only way we're going to win is by doing all this together...".
Celeste looked like she would barf.
"This isn't one of your little musicals or plays, our lives are on the line here, believing in the power of sisterhood isn't going to make us go home!".
Then Galexia stood up, catching her REALLY off guard.
"Let Sky help.".
She felt surrounded.
She was outnumbered, 3 to one, and if judas were here that'd make 4. Though her reluctance was clear on her face she gave in, though she wasn't really looking anyone in the eye, closing both of them and fighting back the urge to say anything else. "Fine...you win it seems, can't convince the rest of you of anything...but if something goes wrong, I hope you know what you're doing here...we're already on thin enough ice as is and we are not cracking it any more unless we all wanna suffer...".
Sky felt a sense of relief wash over her, at least the girls knew about it and she had convinced them to give her a shot. Now it was a matter of moving forward from there, "Thanks guys...I guess now, we just need to put most of our energy into the trial tomorrow, and help angel as best we can...sunny, you've got everything you need?". The small girl nodded, "You know it, we'll go out there and make a case for him...of at least we'll try and defend his actions where we can...speaking of which, I kinda think you outta speak to him...at least before the trial?".
Sky blinked at her, nervously looking away and fixing her hair, "I'm not sure i'm still in a good mood for that...actually. He still betrayed me...y'know? It's not a big thing that i can just...forgive...like you can't easily forgive anyone for stabbing you in the bacl.", the blonde shook her head in response, correcting her. "I just said "Talk", you don't have to forgive him now, but if he's going up against pretty much all of mewni...he's going to need everything he can to make it easier on him...and you're really close with him...I know he'd appreciate it.".
"I'll...think about it...".
Her smile turned from happy, to a little sad, "I can imagine how scared he was...doing that, I...I've...had bad people...try and hurt me too, mind-erasing...it's something I hate to see...because...people have tried to use it on me before and it's terrified me ever since then...he must've been terrified to lose his memories, but he was willing to do it to keep everyone safe...he's lucky to have friends like you. You're all really lucky to have each other in fact, you, judas, his brothers, nora, and angel...it's cute how much you care about each other.".
She wiped at her eyes and smiled sadly at sky in almost a relieved way.
"Ugh...don't make it so sappy...", celeste mumbled under her breath, getting the demon's attention. Sunny smiled and reached out to touch celeste's shoulder gently, trying to calm her down and reassure her, "We care about you too celeste, I don't know what it's really like back home for you...but...we care about you. You don't got to be alone in your room during all this, ok? We're here to help out and we'd love to have you if you'd want to join...?".
The brunette didn't answer, looking around the room at the three around her and sighing, "I'll see you for the trial...don't screw it up...". She was quick too head out, closing the door behind her, sunny sighed, "Give her a little more time, but I should leave soon too, being monitored like this means I can't be out too late so...I better get back to my own room and you'll have to report all this to the Lucitors and your moms...oh, and i'll see you tomorrow for the trial!".
Galexia blinked at Sky and hugged her, rather tightly, before following sunny out.
Most likely to say goodbye to sunny as well before she went off to bed.
Sky was left to her own devices one more, gripping her wand tightly as she thought it over. She almost didn't notice celeste had left a note on her bed, guess she had been so worked up with sky she didn't think to ahnd it over herself, sky snatching the thing and reading it over. Sky almost wanted to smile, landon actually convinced celeste into talking to her just so she could help him confess to a guy huh? She sighed, quickly pulling out her compact to shoot melaine a text, once this trial was over, if she could find a way to bring melaine over as she promised her before, she outta anyway.
Hopefully mel wasn't weird about asking bernard anything, she could only hope.
"Celeste really is softer then she looks...huh...".
Kinda like Luna a bit, or her mom, or angel...
There was a part of her that really didn't want to do it, but a part of her that really did want to. Even as she put on her pjs it kept hitting her on the back of her head, she stared at her door in the dark, getting off her bed and and reluctantly grabbing her wand just in case. There was a part of her still telling her not to bother but then again if she were in that situation , she knew him well enough to know he was definitely show up to see her before the worst part came.
"Ok...fine...i'll do it"., she grumbled as she slipped out the doors carefully, trying not to wake the guards who certainly were going to be fired at this rate.
"I just hope i'm not too late to speak to him...".
