Angel was in slightly better spirits the following day, in fact he and sky both were, the two of them surprisingly hanging out together and talking. Angel was smiling more then usual, and so was sky for that matter. Though with the mess that happened no one could really blame them either, seems both of them being targeted seemed to have brought them closer then it did before.
With Sky spending time with Angel and Nora being busy with her mom surprisingly it left judas to focus on other matters, more specifically, his own younger brother.
Landon had been giving judas more of the silent angsty treatment ever since he got caught sneaking out of bed to check Queen Butterfly's office, though with their parents being alerted landon was in a world of trouble. The only bright spot of this being landon took the full blame for the situation, considering no one else had anything to do with this.
Even Celeste was ignoring the boy, giving him the silent treatment in her own frustration.
Landon's closest ally here, considering Bernard was on earth and could mostly on text landon throughout this.
Sky had promised to get in contact with Melanie as soon as she could and now that the scare was over it was back to business. And For the demon prince, that meant confronting his younger brother and dealing with this situation once and for all. His gradnfather was dealing with Fae, Sky was talking to Angel and was going to chat with mel, Sunny and Galexia were off going through the library with Katrina who'd been nice enough to lay off on judas as long as he didn't go anywhere beyond the two kingdoms.
Yep, back as usual.
Judas headed inside his room real quick, closing the door behind him, before he was going to talk to his brother he needed one more little thing. There was no point in delaying it, he needed to talk to his brother about what happened and what he did. Especially since landon didn't really mention it himself before, and whatever it was might be important.
Though he felt someone's presence in his room and he quickly turned on the lights, in a fighting post before he noticed the small girl sitting on his bed.
"Celeste?".
"Hello Judas".
The girl was kicking her feet on the side of the bed, "We need to talk about your brother...". She looked frustrated, frustrated at landon, frustrated she had to talk to Judas about this, frustrated she cared about this so much. Judas calmed himself down, with Celeste living here with them, he couldn't be surprised she popped into his room to see him, though he would've preferred a call or text beforehand.
"Yeah...I figured that's why you'd be here...we haven't exactly had the closest relationship here all things considered..."., the girl huffed but she had to agree, though granted she didn't have a close relationship much with anyone at all.
"Well considering luna ditched this place to live in the woods and sky's chummy with the spider guy...guess you needed another princess to talk to...and since sunny and lexi are out...you're stuck with me...but anyway...", She huffed, breathing through her nose, "Honestly normally i wouldn't go to you to deal with this stupid stuff but Landon doesn't listen to me...dealing with him is like-".
"Dealing with another you?", Judas continued with a hint of amusement.
"Don't push it...look we worked together on trying to start out own group because we thought you and sky weren't focusing on the task at hand and we got sick of it, then we ended up being worse then you because the three of us, luna me and landon...we're all buzzkills and we don't get along...I mean mainly it was blondie's fault but still...so then me and landon worked together...yada yada...he just wanted to be seen as a hero above you...".
"Yeah...I guess I had a feeling about that...".
"Look...I can't believe i'm saying this...but I care about landon...and helping him before well...I wanted to do it so I could go home and whatever...but He only cares about it to beat you and prove himself and he doesn't seem to care nearly as much about me and how I feel...your brother's a weirdo but i'm sick of him thinking he needs to do all this nonsense to be considered...someone...".
Judas looked astonished, clearly not used to celeste talking to him or anyone like this for that matter.
"I knew you both were close...I didn't know you both were...well... THIS close...but...I am really glad to see someone really cares about my brother this much...", Judas walked over to the girl, ruffling his hair, "I'm...me and landon don't get along on the best of days...but with everything going on I had to put the stuff aside with him, I knew he was doing stuff but I didn't know to what extreme or...really exactly why...".
"Well that's obvious...your family seems to basically ignore him...".
Ouch.
"Hey, I don't mean any harm by it...so much has just gone on and i'm set to be king...and...".
Celeste sent him a glare.
"Ok, It doesn't excuse my parents...but the situation is more complicated...and he knows that...", he took a seat next to her, "I know landon's not useless and he's talented in his own way...we tease each other but...I don't think of him as useless..". Though as the words left his lips he thought about it more, he really couldn't speak for how landon felt, even if he didn't feel like he did anything wrong intentionally.
"Even if I told him face to face...you know he wouldn't listen to me though...he'd tell me I was too perfect or something and go back to how it was before. I can't really...fix the situation, mom and dad can't just ignore me to focus all on him, celeste I get it...I just...what can I be expected to do about it? Landon doesn't even want to look at me sometimes...".
"Ugh...I'm not really entirely blaming you...I just want landon to stop caring about this stuff...".
"You know you can't-".
"I Know i can't make him...", she responded quickly, "But I don't know what I can do...I...I feel like he's going to hurt himself trying to be better then you..". She sounded actually worried, her fists clenching, "He's so frustrating, He craved attention and love from people but when we show we care he doesn't listen to anyone and it's just...UGH!".
Then she stopped, sighing.
"Yeah...guess he is kinda like me...".
"We can both talk to him...together...I would've taken sky but she's busy with angel today so...I'd be happy to have your company if you'd like to join me. We'll...see what we can do at least...". He seemed confident on the outside even if he wasn't much so on the inside, whatever landon felt, it was deep, and a simple talking to probably wouldn't just fix it.
But at least it might do something.
Judas helped his somewhat sister up and escorted her through the halls,Celeste grumbling under her breath, "You...did pretty well for yourself...yesterday...with the trial and the whole scene...". Celeste seemed to rarely hand out compliments, so Judas was happy to take it, "Hey it's ok...I was just protecting my friends...I was honestly surprised to see you get along with angel last night...talk to him and stuff...".
She went silent.
"I know opening up to other's is not something you tend to do often...but I think it was sweet. Just like how you healed my injury when sunny hurt me on accident that time.". She kicked at the floor, "I've seen people hurt before...I uh...I dunno...I can't help it...". She still seemed embarrassed to talk about it, even about her revealing why she knew so much about healing in the first place.
But Judas seemed to understand, not prodding any further, "Well...I'm glad you care so much...and I think it's great your so talented with healing injuries like that...it's actually hard to do so it's impressive to see you do so well at them with ease. You should be proud.". He almost thought he saw a smile on her face as they continued further down the hallway.
"I can tell you're scared about her...".
Judas felt his chest clench.
"Ever since Angel told you she had the book, you've been slowly been getting more bothered by it...more scared what anyone could do with the notes nora had on you. Y'know it's not going to do any good to ignore it...i mean I think people would get it if you're worried about some creep taking over your body and making you do things you don't want to do...", she spat at the floor, "You maybe wasted time when you could've helped but...no one wants you to go through that...".
"I know...I know...I think before with all the work on my back it was easier to ignore how nervous it all made me...but with sky taking the charge...well...I thought about it more...and what if i'm not as brave as I thought I was?", though as the words left his lips, he shook his head, "Maybe I am being too hard on myself...It's not about what others think...it's about what I think of myself...".
"And what do you think?".
"I think i'm not sure what'll happen if...anything happens...but I know no one will hold it against me...anyone that matters at least.", he took a deep breath, "I don't think I'm ever going to properly get over it...I've been haunted by this kinda stuff since I was a kid...sky knows it...she knows how much It scared me as a kid...and how terrified I was of myself for years...it's just...not easy for me to not be scared...even no matter how hard I try...".
His eyes looked over Celeste, eyeing her expression.
"I'm sure you've been scared a lot too...and felt you had to ignore it...".
Celeste again, said nothing, but it was as good as any yes.
The rest of the walk was quiet as they approached one of their family living rooms, where landon was currently grounded for the time being till it was meal time. Judas looking to his companion as the guards let them pass, at the very least landon might be able to help out or apologize or do something if they could get past his thick skin finally.
But that was a major if.
Regardless, there landon was, lying around with his violin nearby, bored out of his mind on the couch, sitting up at the sight of his sibling and half sibling. He seemed almost excited at first but his face dropped quick, because he knew exactly why they were here. He'd already been scolded by his parents earlier that day, forced to stay here till further notice as punishment.
Though at least it meant he didn't have to see anyone.
Until now.
He turned his head away, grumbling, Celeste grabbing a nearby pillow and throwing it at him, "You could've gotten HURT! Something could've happened to you out there and we'd have no idea! Being exposed to magic too much is dangerous! And lucifer, no matter what i say to you you don't seem to listen to a single word of it, do you? ". Celeste got mad quick, judas unsure what to do though first he took Celeste's arm before she could throw anything else at the demon boy.
"HEY! WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU!?", Landon hissed, "Jeez...you guys make it sound like I was the one robbing everyone, I just went to peek at the findings, you would've done it too if you had been given the chance considering how much you guys sneak around behind our parent's backs...the secret meetings? All the times you evaded katrina? Don't go acting like you're such a upstanding demon prince...".
That seemed to shut the two of them up, Landon standing up and grumbling.
"You guys might have never gotten a chance to see what I saw without me...I helped...even if It was because...I wanted the upper hand...", he mumbled that last part, "Look...can't I have this one? Just this once? I want to be the successful brother...just once...I'm so tired of my brothers being so imfamous for doing this and that and everyone just...GOD!".
Flames seemed to erupt from his fingertips as she stomped the ground.
Then he simmered.
"I'm so sick of...everyone thinking i'm useless...I have to hide out in a stupid coffee shop club thing to even feel some sense of...importance...".
He sniffled, "Just let me have this...ok?".
"Landon...".
"Don't landon me...even if it's not your fault...even if...even if i'm a failure...I just...I WANT this...I'm so sick of feeling second rate...or even third rate...I don't need to prove anything to you...I want to prove it...to me...", he turned away from his siblings, "I'm good at music...but...that's it..i'm not magically remarkable...i'm not good with emotions or feelings...I want to feel like I matter judas...".
"Landon..you do matter, you matter to everyone...me, celeste, our parents, mason...Bernard...", Judas placed a hand on his brother's back, trying to soothe him, "Landon...even if...you don't feel important...or loved...I want you to know we all love and care about you...I...don't know what would happen to me if...something happened to you...you're my brother landon...".
"You can't make me feel differently...".
"Maybe not...but...I still want to tell you regardless...", celeste tapped her fingers together, seeing the brothers come face to face. "Landon...I'm not doing this because I want more attention...or to be better then anyone...I want to do this because...I want to help celeste and sunny and galeixa and...luna...they have people to get back to...people who love them as much as I love you...frankly...I always wished I could be you...".
"What?", Landon almost sounded...surprised.
"Everyone looks at me like a freak most of the time...it'd just be nice...to not have that kinda attention...to not have so much pressure on me...to have the freedom to do whatever I wanted without so much on my shoulders...but...I don't have that choice...so...for now...i'm going to do the best I can...by helping out my friends...and keeping them safe...landon you don't have that pressure...you can be whatever you want...do whatever you want...not to impress anyone...but to make yourself happy.".
"You wanted to be me?".
Judas nodded, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder.
"Landon...I...can't change how you feel...I can't change what happened...but you have the chance me and mason don't have...the chance to make your own life how you want it, no pressure from anyone stopping you...landon you can do so much...and I know you have so much to give...maybe you need time to see it...but you have so much potential..".
"You're just saying that to make me feel better...", Landon shoved his brother's hand off of him, "I'm useless...if not useless i'm forgettable". Though as he turned around someone grabbed his shirt from the back and tugged, and considering how well landon knew the two people behind him he could easily tell which one it was. Celeste made him turn around and face her, her arms crossed and her eyes away from his.
"Dude if you were forgettable, do you think i'd be spending so much of my time trying to help you? You're not useless, you held part of the investigation yourself, that's not useless...you're not useless landon...you should stop being so down on yourself...those idiots insulting you don't deserve your time and attention. You keep doubting yourself...you don't need to catch some weirdo to be cool.".
"You're right...you can't change how I feel...but without this...what do I have?".
The two looked to each other before back at landon.
"Well, you have a lot of time to think about it...you don't need to know right now...but you'll get there someday...", landon seemed to have finally calmed down a little bit, pacing around the room. "I'm sorry...I can't help it...every time I think i'm going too far i think about the...my situation...I think about what I could be and what It is now and I can't help it.".
"I know...".
"I...I'm not trying to sound selfish...I just...I don't want to...deal with this any longer...".
He paused, getting onto his knees on the floor, "I'm...sorry for being a butt I guess...you got separated from your family and I guess I've made the situation about myself..when it's kinda...terrible.". He actually did kinda sound like he actually felt sorry, in fact he looked tired more then anything. Like keeping all this buried inside him ate away at him.
And it probably did.
"It's alright landon...we'll take it a day at a time...is that ok?", judas kept his distance from his brother but seemed to constantly be checking to see if his brother was alright or not.
and with a small nod, that was enough.
"What I saw...what they found...", he started, "W-when the explosion happened...it seems the uh...person under the mask did get hurt...well I mean...I think so...they didn't seem to find them but...their mask...their mask broke...they collected it.". He looked up at his companions and judas processed the information before looking to celeste, "I'm guessing since they don't know who it is still..they got no dna off the thing?".
"Maybe...".
There was a silence between them, only stopped when just let out a large sigh.
"I'll...ask out parents about it later...maybe have sky come with...we'll look into it...but if they lost their mask...then their face must have been exposed...unless...they had another mask...they're magic after all they can change clothes with it.". The blast was bound to do damage but if it broke their mask then what did that mean for their face? Queen Butterfly had been in the presence of those blasts before and they had varying effects.
Sometimes destroying your entire body, sometimes leaving you unharmed if you were good at self healing to any degree, sometimes it just depended. Magic was unpredictable after all, and in ways that only made it worse for the people who had to use it. Though whoever was out there, if the blast was enough to break their mask, it as bound to hurt a little.
"Thank you landon...for letting us know...".
As conflicted as landon's emotions were, he did actually seem rather happy to have helped regardless.
This was going to take some work if they were ever going to sort things out together with landon, what he was dealing with was deep and wouldn't be solved with a simple conversation. Judas watched the sad face of his brother and felt his heart sink some more, making a mental note to himself to spend some more time with his brother in the near future if he could.
"I...hope mom and dad weren't too hard on you...", landon's ears flickered, "They weren't...they knew I meant no real harm...they're just...upset I snuck into her office during an emergency for seemingly my own selfish needs...mom was just kinda disappointed in me but they didn't do anything too bad...just grounded me...I didn't tell them I decided to join in your little gang...because they'd assume you learned nothing...they think I did it myself...".
"Well...I guess that's a relief...but...are you sure you're ok with that?".
"Well, you had nothing to do with me doing this...so...yeah", the scene still felt a little tense and awkward but landon wasn't mad anymore and judas and celeste got out what they wanted to say. Landon went to take a seat back on the couch, keeping to himself, "Look I just need to be alone for a bit...ok? And i'm sure you both have better things to do out there then stay here...".
They exchanged looks, knowing landon wasn't entirely wrong, though neither seemed to want to leave him alone like this.
"We can hold off for a bit...I think sky's going to be busy for quite a while anyway...", and then proceeded to take a seat next to his brother who looked pleasantly surprised, celeste joined him, curling up on the couch. Landon, who had told them to leave, didn't protest, in fact instead of arguing against it, had a smile creeping among his face. Looking over to his violin nearby.
"You guys...want to hear my new song?".
"So this Melaine girl?".
"My earth pen pal...she's into theories and pop culture on earth and aliens and all kinds of stuff...I thought maybe since she's been helping put theories and pieces of evidence together...she'd be perfect to consult and get more from...", Sky pulled out her compact to text her friend, angel sitting on her bed, clearly a little awkward being alone with her in her room.
"How'd you meet?".
"Went to earth to meet my grandparents, plus my moms love earth to death...they like to go to do fun stuff and get off mewni once in awhile. You might like earth, it's weird but kinda neat. Anyway mel saw me and saw us do magic and was ENTHRALLED ever since, especially finding out i'm basically an alien almost since she's obsessed with extraterrestrials."
"Extra...what?".
"Aliens...it's an earth thing...".
"Ah...", he still didn't seem to have any idea what she was talking about but maybe it was better not to ask further. It would take sky all day if she had to explain exactly what aliens where, and why earth was obsessed with things that probably weren't nearly as weird on mewni. On earth lizard people were a conspiracy, on mewni they were people sky saw get groceries every day.
"Hopefully she can help us out, having an earth pal who knows like..earth things and makes connections better then me sometimes is really handy...though uh...be careful. Mel's cool but she's also a little...well she doesn't know mewni too well so she makes a lot of assumptions based on earth stuff, it's not her fault, just don't be surprised if she..well...is incorrect about stuff.".
Angel now looked even more puzzled then he was before.
"Just follow my lead...", she smiled when melaine texted her back, the human eager for another video call.
"Human compacts work on our own?".
"Yeah? Who knew?", she laughed in utter embarrassment, at least she wasn't the only one who hadn't known that.
"SKYY!"
"MEL!".
"I'm so glad you called, I missed ya! Is the fact you're asking for my help mean your parents finally ungrounded ya?", Sky made a face, glancing over to angel, "Yes and no kinda...but...nevermind that...mel I'm going to update you on everything we know, I want you to help us as best we can...put the pieces together...you're kinda made for this honestly.".
Melaine's eyes lit up, a sparkle in her dark eyes that could light up galaxies.
"YESSSS".
She immediately started grabbing papers off the shelves, making a huge mess around the room, Angel took a seat closer to sky to get a peek as to what was going on on Melanie's end. His four eyes blinking in curiosty at the excited human piling stuff everywhere messily. He'd seen her at the sleepover but other then that, this was his first time REALLY meeting her.
Sky could only hope melaine didn't make it painfully awkward considering how much she used to complain about the boy to mel.
Mel was luckily occupied setting up before jumping into frame with a notepad and pen, papers trapped in her wild curly hair.
"So where do we begin!?"
Then her eyes looked to angel's and she almost squeed, "Is that spiderboy?! Sky, i didn't know you were bringing spiderboy!". Sky suddenly felt a bit of secondhand embarrassment as angel looked at her quizzically, "It's just a nickname she has for you...uh...mel?". Her attention went back to her earth friend, who was already sketching angel out for her board.
"Yep?".
"His name is angelus...or like..angel for short? I think he'd prefer that. Please?".
She signaled with her face to mel this was one of the times she really needed her to listen, and Melaine...thankfully, listened.
"Alright, Angel spider, got it...".
Well it was better then nothing, they had work to do.
Sky and Angel started listing off a few new details that had been caught up, the human girl writing them down with the speed of a race car and pining them up on her board, covered with articles, notes, pictures and more. Melaine was used to this, after all she made plenty for the mothman and for the mole people sightings before, this was like tying her shoe for her.
Even angel seemed impressed, he didn't know all that much about humans outside of the ones that visited mewni and jude and sky's own moms, much less about human culture and what humans did with most of their time. Though granted, considering angel was rather sheltered, there was a doubt angel would even know people made theories and stuff like this at all to such an extreme.
"You...found a person who spends her time organizing facts and coming up with solutions?".
"Kinda...sorta...yeah.".
Maybe she outta leave out the other stuff melaine does like go out hunting for lizard people and reading up on horrorscopes, angel seemed confused enough without her explaining the rest of melaine's active lifestyle. Melaine seemed especially excited at the mind parasites, much to angel's discomfort, though at the very least she didn't focus so much on his mom and more on who could access them.
"Any enemies?", she asked Angel, who shrugged.
"Honestly...we haven't made enemies for a long time...our kingdom just kinda...sunk into the shadows, avoiding conflict as to not make anything any worse for ourselves. We fought back when the spiderbites took over but other then that, and well..solaria...", he went silent for a moment, "We never had much of direct conflicts with monsters...especially not recently...".
"And i doubt the spiderbites would poison your mom, they have no reason to, they seem to talk with each other fine...", Sky piped in, "No one has any real reason to attack you or your mom...". Then sky tapped angel on the shoulder, "Is there anyone who'd have anything to gain by hurting your mom? Or i dunno...maybe they were trying to get someone else and ended ep with your mom?".
Angel looked visibly uncomfortable, and sky quickly reached out to him.
"Sorry...maybe i should...uh...".
"No...it's fine, I know there's no easier way to ask me stuff like that without mentioning her...", he tugged at his light pink hair, huffing, "I don't know sky...even If i were to blame the one under the mask...I don't know who is under the mask, rendering it all back to same question...I...personally want to think it was all an accident If i can help it.".
"Well, it could be...if one got out and ended up on your dinner table because someone didn't know it wasn't good to eat...then yeah.".
He seemed a little more reassured from that statement, something about someone coming after him seemed to only increase his worry and anxiety. He already had one masked foe who was pissed with him, what if he had another? Melaine was writing stuff down and sky was wondering what she could possibly write if there were no enemies to really speak of.
Though as she placed more on her board sky could tell they were drawings of the spiderbites, the masked foe, solaria, and everyone angel mentioned basically.
Guess even if they weren't at fault melaine felt they were important enough to at least mention.
"Skyler?".
Sky turned to her companion on the bed, who coughing into his fist, ears folding.
"Yeah?".
"A lot has happened...recently and I...I know it's hard to properly forgive me...and maybe to a degree you also feel bad because of...everything that happened before. But I um...wanted to suggest, we...um...uh...", Angel's social skills were pretty on par with a mushroom at this point, he'd clearly still had a long way away till he could properly talk to others without stumbling a little.
Though Sky was more then used to it at this point, and despite his stumbling she seemed to tense at his wording.
"Are you asking me on a date?", Sky looked at him, shocked, though he was quick to devolve the situation and try to explain himself better.
"What?! No no no no no no no NO No, I mean...", he looked embarrassed,red and ears pressed against his face, "I was hoping we could properly make amends...I want to make amends...I still feel guilty...I want to make it up...if you'll let me?". Sky seemed oddly charmed as awkward and embarrassing as that was, smiling and trying to keep her cool, "Yeah, that sounds...nice...honestly...I want to maybe try and make some kinda amends as well...if possible.".
He smiled back, the embarrassment flushing away from his face, angel smiling these days was a treat honestly.
Thankfully mel was distracted enough not to notice the scene, heck knows what she would say, she had a loud personality and was quick to make assumptions sometimes and that was something sky already needed to work on with her before she got herself in trouble for it.
She finished setting up and turned back to the royals, "Alright then, so there's my set up, i'm going to start working on this right away, text me any info you get on any of this, i'll keep adding and text you any revelations I can come up with...". She immediately started using markers on the board, typing together the pieces she knew connected together before pulling a book out of her messy bookshelf and holding to to show them.
"Maybe considering the proof of the multiverse, maybe you should study up on the stuff? I've been going through these books ever since you told me about it, maybe you can use it to help make some cool magic...". Sky glanced to her gemstone before going back to melaine, "Well...uh...maybe yeah? Thanks mel...uh...maybe you could send me some picks of the most relevant chapters?'.
She sent sky a thumbs up, "Gotcha! Oh, and if you see me any mothmen, send me pics as well! I made a bet with some classmates!". The mention of a mothman seemed to make angel puzzled though he didn't dwell on it too much as sky motioned to him that she'd try to explain it all later. Melaine on the other hand was eagerly waiting for her kinda sorta butterfly monster friend's reaction.
Sky sent her a thumbs up back as the screen turned black, returning the two royals back to themselves in sky's dirty room.
"She'll keep me updated...she tends to be good at that...".
"You...have a lot more friends then I realized...", he mumbled, "Uh...that's not to be rude or anything, I had just never seen you with anyone other then judas...you...seem to have friends all over.". But she was quick to stop him before he went on, "Nah...not really...I mean even if I ignored that mewni thought i was inferior or evil or something...i'm not good at...making friends...i'm not as friendly or easy to get along with as judas...or maybe at least...i wasn't when I was younger...".
"Perhaps we had more in common then we thought...", he added, "We always acted as if we could never understand each other and we were so different...but...maybe we were wrong."
And when she thought about it a little more, he was right.
That almost made her smile a little more considering how funny that was, though the thought of it quickly transferred to thinking about the bad aspects of their lives and she became silent. Angel was almost worried he said something offensive to some degree but sky shook her head and coughed into her hand, before asking the question she wanted to for some time.
"You still talking to eclipsa?".
Her question caught him by surprise, coughing into his hand, "Not since yesterday...after the trial...I um...I think she wants to speak to me after what happened last night regarding my mom but you've been with me ever since and she um...know you're not a fan of her right now, you're probably more angry with her then you are with me about what happened...why is that?".
"Hmm?".
"Sky...I...went behind your back, I was working for the enemy, even if i barely did much that harmed you while doing so...I still went behind your back...eclipsa went behind your back as well...but you seem more fine with me...then her.", she huffed as she laid back on the bed, "It's not the same, you both were doing it to protect me...but you didn't reveal this big team to my mom and get everyone in trouble...something we tried to avoid.".
"I always figured with you coming after me on your mom's orders...you well...were used to working under her...".
"I never liked working under my mom's shining shadow...I didn't want her fingers all over it, i didn't know what she'd do and i didn't know if she'd use this as another way to well...make me feel like...like i'm not good enough. That's one thing we can't relate to, my mom is a hero of mewni, i can't top that...and mewni knows it, i'm not as gifted as her...or as powerful.".
"You're powerful to me, even if you claim you aren't", he said back, and by his tone, he truly believed that.
"You haven't seen powerful unless you've seen mom, i don't compare.", sky was quick to tell him, god was she just good at beating up on herself? She tore herself down everytime someone gave her a compliment it felt.
"Well...you helped her help my mother...didn't you?", angel pointed out, "If she needed the help of another butterfly then clearly she wasn't powerful enough alone to handle the task.".
"Well I...yeah, i did but...well...I mean i was the one who got you to help...well tiny you...Angel your being too nice about it, mom did most of the work, i stumbled my way into that situation and she was the one who knew how to help at all...i'm not nearly as powerful if everyone else does the work and i accidentally stumble in and help somehow...".
"Well...I don't think there's anything to be ashamed of...you still did it, didn't you? Without you my mom...well...", he wasn't wrong, even her mom said herself she needed sky's help to even finish the process. Without her there nothing might've been fixed at all, angel didn't seem to care that she stumbled into it or didn't have the plan ready as long as she helped and cared.
But then again, angel didn't exactly care about sky's level of skill personally either, he thought she was powerful no matter what.
"I guess I still have some issues to work out...concerning my mom, i've been rethinking my feelings on her and maybe I was too judgmental...just assuming everything was easy for her...she...almost failed..without me to help. Though she's still...she's still so much more powerful and experienced...I've never been that way"., her voice was full of sadness and loss, in fact it seemed she no longer felt angry at her mom, but more sad then anything.
Though Angel was quick to attack that, huffing in that pompous way that he used to when they used to tease and mock the other.
"Well I for one don't see any reason you need to be as powerful as her to be great, you're clearly just fine without that power. This entire situation proves you have the ability to do so much, even if you're not the strongest at magic.", she smirked, "Well yeah, I guess the same goes for you, you spent your time training to use your powers? You're not perfect at it yet...but you're smart without it...sometimes...".
"Thank you...I think.".
"We should go...no point in staying here any more...let's find sunny", Sky hoped off the bed, "We'll...talk about what we wanna do together later...but for now the best thing we can do is keep focus on the task at hand and worry about it later." Angel got up and off the bed too, though his legs nearly knock down mannequin sky was using for one of her hat designs, catching it just in time.
"S-sorry...".
Sky quickly readjusting the thing as angel observed the sunhat, cute but still creepy with it's greens and eyes.
"This is for nora...isn't it?".
"It's not finished...but yeah, I promised her one awhile back but I got sidelined...but it's nearly complete.", angel looked at it with curiosity as sky looked between him and the hat, then away from both of them, thoughts rolling in her head as she changed the subject. "Y'know...nora reached out to you...she talked to you to help, how did she...your families didn't like each other for so long...how'd...", it was hard to get the right words out.
Though angel knew what she meant.
"Nora...and me...we...we didn't share the same hatred as our ancestors...we never really talked, nora was well...scared of me and I never put my focus on her...I feel like I put so much blame on you when nora's family took our land...but something about nora I can't really hate. Nora was just as alone as I was...she wasn't hateful or bitter...she was nothing but sorry and sympathetic...".
"and I was antagonistic if not ignoring you entirely...", sky finished.
"I didn't mind nora's help...I think...she's different from her family...but...I think we all seem to be in one way or another...".
"Maybe that's for the best...like you said.".
"Yeah, I hope so.".
Sunny's first instinct when seeing the two enter the room was to run up and hug them both, angel still not used to all the affection of these new friends but complying regardless. Sunny's smile was nice to see after that mess, she tended to always seem pretty cheery and happy and right now it was needed more then anything to helps them feel a little better.
"Good to see you! Let's get started.".
She quickly dragged them away from the door and further inside the library, katrina glancing up and waving as she went back to texting on her compact. The library was closed right now, outside of them being allowed in to look for whatever they needed. Giving them more freedom to look around, mostly for info on mind parasite and how to handle them.
Or masked creeps.
She and Galexia seemed to have gone through several books together, making sure lexi didn't draw on any of them in the process. Sunny probably had every page memorized by this point knowing her, her amount of research was impressive. Showing off her notes she'd been taking, "The Spiderbites and your mom is taking care of the same info but I thought best we got a good grasp on it as well...and yeah, I think our-your mom is up to something here...the symptoms match perfectly to previous victims of the bugs...weak memory, inability to control body, near parallelization...".
"I'm not sure if we should consider that a serious relief or not frankly", sky laughed, sunny shoving her nearest open book at her, "A relief! It makes it easier to fix if we're careful! The reason most people are too late is because it's so good at being a regular illness that they never think to cure it as if it were an parasite infesting their body! But it still needs care and if we're not careful can really hurt her...".
Angel jolted for a sec, suddenly nervous.
"But it's alright, we're working with professionals...once the bug is out she can heal properly...if she's not too damaged.", angel shuddered again, he almost wanted to leave the room but sky kept him still, trying to reassure him. "She'll make it through...what do we do to get it out?", sunny nodded to the page, "There are a few things that work, like evil repression charms...if luna were still here...we could've used her's but for now...we outta ask eclipsa.".
"Eclipsa?".
"She was the one to give luna her's right? I believe you told me that thing is practically a repellent that takes out dangerous and dark magic. That's perfect for weakening the bug inside of her.".
Angel and Sky exchanged looks.
"Is...that the only thing we can do?".
Sunny looked between them before remembering sky's current feelings towards eclipsa, "Well, no, of course not, we can do other charms to draw it out, and other spells, it was just an option...magical charms like that are a safe way of scaring the little buggers...it doesn't fully remove them but it does start to weaken them. But we can try another spell...though maybe we shouldn't conjure it...healing spells are more celeste's thing...and i'm never tried a cruse repenting spells before and...maybe we should wait for mom.".
"Ok...fine.".
"Hm?".
"I'll...ask eclipsa for one...".
She was very reluctant, but if it meant helping angel's mom, well...she'd be stupid to say no. Angel, knowing how mad she was, seemed super appreciative. He became a little less tense, his legs folding back behind them as to not accidentally hit anyone in his anxiety. Sunny looked equally happy, "Thank you! The sooner the better, it'll give it more time to take effect before we can do some of the other steps.".
"What are the other steps exactly? Nothing...crazy I hope?".
"Well, that depends on what the spiderbites and well...what your mom wants to do, the charm is just to slowly weaken it, removing it and convincing it to leave might still be hard, it is a magical being after all. But we have enough professionals we might be just fine, Arana's been fighting this long to keep it from destroying her from the inside after all...we're not giving up without a fight.".
"Is uh...lexi doing alright?", sky pointed to the brunette scribbling nearby, who looked up and waved at the three. Sunny laughing and turning back to the companions with cheer, "Well, I thought since lexi really wanted to help i'd play to her strengths, she's not the best at communication sometimes or with people, but she is great at speaking her mind through drawings and art in general...".
"What do you mean?".
"I mean I assigned lexi the role of our planner, with her dream knowledge and her abilities she can help plan ahead for what we should prepare for. Not to mention she's fantastic at design, she can visually interpret anything. And before you say anything, this isn't because i'm paranoid or obsessed with her...abilities, i think the best thing to do, is have HER be the one to deal with her own powers...if she finds something worth mentioning, she'll tell us.".
"You...think she can handle it?", sky said, worried and a little skeptic on if lexi would for sure know when to tell them anything significant. Looking at her drawings it was never really easy to be sure what they should be worried about or not, and it seemed like most of the time they were purely doodles and nothing that seemed logical enough to happen.
"Sky, ever since she's gotten here i've been the one talking to her the most, I know she can handle it, she's smart and great in her own way.", the girl was confident, she almost seemed like a proud mom as she looked over lexi. Sky knew they hung out a lot but she never really though heavily about it, at least about what they talked about or how they felt about each other. Sky had not talked to lexi much, and neither had anyone else that much either, so it was hard for her personally to say for sure this was something lexi could do.
But she did trust Sunny.
So she had to trust Lexi could do it.
"Alright then.".
"OH!", the small girl quickly ran over and collected her compact, excited, "Celeste texted me early today! She NEVER texts me, she wanted to let us know she was hanging with judas today to talk to his brother...er...landon. But I was just so happy cause celeste doesn't really talk to anyone other then landon so it was just...nice...having her speak to me.".
"How long will um...Judas be gone?", angel asked curiously, though sunny could only shrug, her focus had been elsewhere most of the day and judas could take as much time as he needed frankly.
"You'd have to ask him, i could text him right now if you want me to?".
"That's ok!", Sky interrupted, "He should get all the time he needs to deal with his brother...we'll talk to him when he's ready, anything else you want to share before we head out?". She was not looking forward to seeing eclipsa and was partially stalling for time, but she outta not leave until sunny provided her with any and all information she might need.
"Well...".
She tapped her toes, her third eye on them and her others eyes elsewhere. Whatever it was, she wasn't sure if she should say something or not, though considering the lack of time, better she came out with it now then ask later. "Sky...you're good with costumes and clothing right? I've been meaning to ask if maybe...you could...make me some costumes...?", she sounded as if this were embarrassing to ask, and sky's puzzled face was reason enough to explain sunny's worriedness.
"Why do you need costumes?", sky said, snapping back into reality, "Is this something to do with any of your plays or something? Cause this ain't really the time to be putting on plays or musicals right now when we got all this other stuff going on...". But Sunny shook her head, "No no...it's more like...with everything going on it's a lot harder to listen in on conversations and get details from the people, and I was thinking...with costumes we could sneak out and listen in on gossip or any news outside the castle walls...".
"You mean, you want me to make disguises?".
"Well yeah...you're so good with it...and it might help us out to walk around undetected...it'd be perfect! Everyone knows us, and some people are still well...against us...so maybe we could make disguises and see if we can get more from other sources on the matter of the bug and Her.".
"Well actually that sounds like a good idea...why didn't you bring it up earlier?", Sunny rubbed her arm, "Well, asking you to do that is asking you to do a lot of work and I wasn't sure you would want to spend so much time on something like that when we could put our focus elsewhere, with Katrina going on about being spies...well, with disguises...we could work with her...".
Sky eyed katrina, who had been listening in, "Well problem is...I don't think you're allowed to have us spy on anyone correct?". The frog woman nodded, "Nope, i am not allowed to let you out of the castle sunshine, but, i'll be fair, if you want to dress up around here? I have no reason to stop you, just don't go sneaking out of the walls, we're not taking that risk no matter how tough you guys might be...and i'm in trouble enough as is".
Sunny pouted, she'd probably been hoping to convince the spy to help them but seems the lady was quick to shut that part down, well...that's what it looked like. Sunny almost was about to leave when angel stopped her, his brow furrowing before he took a risk with his next words, "Um...forgive me...I uh...that was a well told lie but I uh...I think we'd appreciate more truth out of you...considering how much I had lied and you wanted me to be honest...".
He actually didn't know if she were lying, but it just kinda came out, and yet-
Sunny suddenly became embarrassed, her facade dropping, "Fine...it was a half lie...I do want some costumes for a play outside of the disguises...I know a place landon showed me and I thought it'd be a good place to perform...but it's not out of selfish reasons...I thought...maybe...we could set a trap there and you could make us costumes to help better disguise us to catch them there...and I've been writing a play for you guys in my spare time".
"Why weren't you honest about that from the beginning?".
"I though you guys would think It was a waste of time If i asked you for costumes for a silly play of mine...it's easier to ask for costumes to go around in public then to ask for costumes for a play I want to perform in...I mean you even said it was a waste of time before i told you.".
"Sunny no, that's a great idea, for a trap I mean".
"Ahem!", Katrina said from against the wall, "No scheming to go anywhere outside the walls. it's cute how much of spies your are but any traps laid about should be addressed with your parents sky".
"Aren't you supposed to be following judas?", katrina shrugged, "I am but after last night it seems king and queen lucitor decided maybe I outta give the boy a little more space...can't blame him, he looked really upset last night, i think the whole situation really hit a nerve with him. He's a tough kid but he's struggling with trusting himself and feeling comfortable and safe with himself...seeing the woman hurt probably made him think about it being one of his family members.".
Angel suddenly felt a ting of guilt, "I told him about Her having the book with notes on his condition in it...I told him i was worried about it and...he had tried to tell me he'd be ok...perhaps I...shouldn't have said anything...I was just worried and thought he should know...". His ears folded and his face turned pinker then usual, his mistakes seemed unending.
"It's not your fault kid, no one can speak for how judas feels then...judas, the kid can ignore how people feel and use this zappers all he wants, but honestly to me...I think what he needs to focus on...is his own mental health. Purple needs more help, and honestly better you tell him he might be in danger then say nothing at all and let something bad happen he can't prepare for...even if It hurts him...".
The prince nodded, "If you're sure.".
"Kid, you can hurt people, but not everything could be easily fixed by you doing nothing either. The stuff that kid is dealing with is more then just you, the best thing you can do now...all of you, is be there for him as his friend and reassure him and protect him. He'd do the same for all of you and the best you can do is the same for him while he's struggling.".
"We will...promise.".
"Good, now you ll better get back to...whatever your doing...and stay safe...call me if you need me. Right now i'm watching these two but If I need to help i will, if the guards don't alert me...". The two nodded and before they left Katrina nodded to Angel, "And sorry if I was too aggressive last night, I know that entire situation was emotional for you...but your safety and hers should be a priority and I couldn't jeopardize it".
"It's fine...", he didn't seem too forgiving by tone, but he couldn't hold a big grudge either considering the outcome of it either. He moved forward, following sky closely as the door closed behind them, leaving sunny, katrina, and galexia in the library. Sunny smiled at them leaving, "They're so cute working together...I knew they could do it!", going back to opening her book on medical magical practices.
"They're strange friends alright...", the older monster nodded, leaning against the wall nearby.
"But...I welcome them completely, honestly the more the merrier".
Sky definitely didn't want to meet eclipsa.
Not now, not anytime soon.
Of course when she blabbed on about how upset she was with her that's the day she HAD to meet her in person.
Of course, just her luck.
She didn't know if angel tagging along made it more awkward or less awkward frankly.
Though angel seemed to be right by her side on this no matter what so that was a little reassuring, at least he wasn't acting like she couldn't be upset on the matter, considering he technically went behind her back as well he didn't really have much of an excuse himself. He adjusted judas's old clothes he'd been wearing, nervous as they entered the garden.
"I could go...if you...don't want to." sky stopped in her tracks, huffing.
"I know you could..and you would...but I should do It, i'm supposed to be taking charge here...I shouldn't...make you do anything that I should be doing. I promised to help right? I'm just gonna have to suck up my anger and deal with it. I won't even have to look at her for very long...", then she paused, "I...I do miss our lessons together though...".
"This does seem almost like going to one somehow...doesn't it?".
Sky's annoyance was apparent, "Yeah...it does...".
But then she turned around to look at him, her face becoming a smile, "Maybe when all this is over...we could pick those back up again? If that's cool with you? Maybe with a different teacher? We...have a lot to work on if we're going to be in charge at some point...like a lot of work. Helping your family and people, trying to fix our terrible security, y'know...trying not to ruin people's lives?".
"I accept your offer...Queen Sky.", he was being playful, bowing, and sky actually seemed to find it a little amusing.
"Alright, now i'm just stalling...let's get it over with...".
She headed up to the tower door, knocking, angel close behind her as she became more anxious by the second. She found herself tapping her foot, waiting before she heard the door unlock, her blue eyes looking towards the door. Though as the door opened it wasn't eclipsa at the door, but Globgor, who looked excited and relieved to see the kids there.
"Back so soon?", he teased, "I jest...yesterday was quite a day wasn't it? You kids alright?". He was mainly looking at angel and the boy could only give him a weak nod as his answer, and that seemed enough for globgor who didn't push it further. "So what are you doing here? Lessons are cancelled and Eclipsa knows you're mad with her and...you need something don't you?".
Sky's face told all, looking away and shuffling, "Maybe...is there something wrong with that?".
The monster ushered the two in, "Of course not, you know we're willing to help. It's good to see you two again.". Globgor followed behind as she headed inside eclipsa's tower, though eclipsa herself wasn't there, globgor himself only sat down in front of them as they took their usual seats as if this were another one of eclipsa's lessons all over again.
"Eclipsa's out, she'll be back soon...she asked for me to hang out here to check in with the queens, we're going to head back to our place soon after...but for now you can talk to me if that makes you more comfortable. What's on your mind?", the royals exchanged looks between them as sky let it out of the bag, "We need eclipsa to make us a charm to ward off bad magic...".
"Oh...that sounds a lot worse then I was expecting, what are you getting into exactly?", the princess was quick to nod to her companion, "It's for his mom, it's all to help her...I'm only here to help him and his mom. So yeah, if eclipsa can make us a charm to use for her, i'd appreciate it, i'm not exactly knowledgeable on that and i know for a fact it's not in the book of spells...".
Globgor suddenly smiled in a way sky did not like, clasping his hands together, "Reminds me of eclipsa, she was so brave doing everything she did to be with me and make me happy. You're facing someone you're mad with to help someone you used to be enemies with, that's so adorable". Great, another one of those people, was this going to be regular thing from now on?
Just random people gaping at how sweet it was they no longer wanted to fight each other?
Was it too late to change her mind?
Even Angel looked embarrassed, coughing and trying to change the subject, "Yeah, ok...anyway...globgor...can eclipsa help us? I'm glad you're happy that we're friends now but i'm here to help my mom...I need to help her in anyway I can...if there's even a chance we can save her life...". Globgor understood, no doubt thinking back to the many monsters he lost back in the war, the friends and family.
"We'll help...promise, we'll have to wait till eclipsa gets back first.".
The monster king looked over to the unused teapot nearby, "I'm not good at it but...you want a drink?". Guess they were going to be here for awhile weren't they? Might as well in the meantime. Globgor attempted to make tea as sky took out her compact, looking for updates from any of her friends. Angel glancing over to take a look as well, "Any updates from judas...?".
"Not yet...but we'll hear from him soon i'm sure...".
Sky had to admit angel's attachment to judas and even nora was touching to her, it seems she and judas were no longer a pair of two anymore ever since this mess started.
"How do you know for certain that he's not in danger or anything? Not that I don't trust Prince Lucitor, but with everything happening...how are you sure he's safe?", the princess could only return his question with a nonchalant shrug, "I just know judas can take care of himself, despite the mess...he's...strong, even at his worst...and he's not alone either...".
"He isn't?".
"Landon is with him, landon's not the most powerful...but if judas was in trouble, landon wouldn't leave him...". she tucked her compact back into her pocket , "I wish we had a greater idea what they wanted...where they might strike next...without knowing their goal it makes it harder to figure out where to catch them...you sure they gave you no real idea of their plan?".
"I swear they didn't, they certainly didn't trust me enough to disclose that info to me...I wonder if to some degree they expected me to betray them and didn't think I was worth trusting with that information...all I know was the plans I was told about and that they were scary powerful with magic...enough to deliver on their promises to me to keep me in line...", he crossed his heart, "I'd spill if i could.".
"Magic is so limited to people in mewni...well...that kinda powerful magic...it has to be a butterfly, But i know it's not my moms, eclipsa, my grandmother doesn't have reason to do this...does anyone in my family have a big enough grudge to be targeting the other kingdoms like this? Though considering what they took...they seemed to want power I guess...", sky didn't know much about her extended family, but then again, how much did her extended family know about low mewman? Or the book?
Maybe it really was some kinda toffee follower...the butterfly secrets didn't exactly remain secret because of him or the people around him, maybe they should be investigating any living supporters of him.
Or maybe she was just losing her mind at this point and just desperate to make sense of all of this.
"Ugh...I wish i hadn't left the-".
Her eyes suddenly lit up, god had she really let that slip her mind already?
"The truth potion...it's here...I last saw it here", she aggressively whispered to her companion, if she could get that back, maybe she could find some use for it in their investigation, especially in terms of getting straight answers out of her family and other suspects.
Her eyes immediately scanned around the room, hoping to spot the blue potion somewhere in plain sight but finding nothing, instead globgor returned, presenting the pair teacups and immediately apologizing. "I'm not as good as eclipsa with this whole thing. so if it tastes bad...sorry about that...but boiling water and adding tea dirt feels like it's hard to mess up...".
They both took the teacups, even angel was looking around the room, his eyes darting around so much globogr seemed to be wondering if there was something wrong with him.
"Prince arachford?".
"Hmm?", suddenly all his eyes looked at globgor, taking a quick sip of his tea, he wasn't keeping a very good poker face right now.
"I wanted to appluade how you were in the trial yesterday, you really stuck it to those commissioners, it's fantastic seeing you tell them off like that. Normally before when a monster did so they took it as a sign of aggression and would've arrested them sooner, I'm impressed", globgor reached over to pat his fellow monster on the shoulder, "Not to mention they're in a world of trouble right now.".
"Well..I wasn't going to let sky get arrested for something that was my fault.", he mumbled, "It was my fault alone...and she could've been arrested alongside me.".
"Well I think you did great, I'm impressed.".
"Impressive because I fought back?".
"No, impressive because you were willing to take the fall to protect people you cared about, that's the sign of a true leader right there. I think your people will be happy to welcome you back once things settle...", oh right, his people were mad at him due to what happened, he'd been so distracted he seemed to entirely forget about that part of the situation.
He couldn't even return home because of what happened, his people were beyond mad he had done something that put them in possible danger, not to mention all of mewni. He did the whole thing in hopes of bringing them back to greatness, allowing them to use magic like they used to, but it seemed they hated it and the idea of it if it came under these circumstances.
He really screwed up.
Globgor seemed to notice he looked down but his voice grew softer, "Hey, you always had a great heart...what happened back then...honestly It's a guilt that's lingered with me as well...you can be mad at solaria...you can be mad at the butterfly family...you have every right to be. But it's great you've gone from wanting nothing but revenge...to wanting to work to fix things and form friendships...It's what we originally wanted as well...".
"Doesn't appear to always work...", he muttered under is breath, the hurt still present in his voice.
"No but...well...do you trust the ones you're working with to work beside you?", globgor eyed to Sky, was distracted looking around the room to pay much attention to the conversation. Angel of course couldn't say no, "I do trust them...even If I was too stubborn to even consider it before.". Globgor rustled his hair, snickering, "Well I happen to think the monsters will be in better hands going forward...so we can finally truly reach proper peace...hopefully.".
Globgor sighed, looking to sky now, who was still looking around rather strangely, and he set his full attention on her.
"So...what'cha looking for sky?".
Sky suddenly froze, clutching her teacup.
Yeah, no duh she'd get caught, her head was moving like a bird's right now, as unnatural as possible for a normal looking individual. She could've just asked globgor but there was no telling if THAT was a good idea or if it was another excuse for the lovers to betray them entirely and not let them have it at all. Though now that globor knew she was looking for something...well..oops.
But the monster wasn't stupid, smiling a toothy grin that almost seemed teasing.
"Oh right, when you came here to fine the young lad you ended up leaving a special potion around didn't you? You never came back to collect it since.", he took a seat once again in front of the pair, folding his arms. "Sorry kids...but you're a smidge late...King Lucitor...well actually...Dave...since he's no longer king. He requested some to question that young demon girl and since Eclipsa had it she let him borrow it, i'm sure he won't use it all though."
Oh right, Judas's grandfather had mentioned he wanted to further speak to Fae didn't he?
Sky suddenly pulled out her compact, and gave angel a knowing glance.
Cue team Judas.
Judas's compact buzzed, the boy waking up from a nap he'd been having and opening the device up, his brother and half sister sleeping next to him. Had he really fallen asleep? Guess it figured after how stressful things had been he'd be more tired then usual, though upon reading the message from the princess and seeing his brother alongside him, the thought of leaving their side did not resonate with him.
He did not want to leave landon, not right now.
There was still much to do with him and right now he seemed rather worried about his safety after that mess. At the very least he and Celeste both outta make sure he wasn't physically harmed due to magic or glass or anything. Because if there was, landon would be hiding it, just like he hid his tail from everyone, even from his parents at times when he was upset with them.
But what to do? If he had to stay with his brother for now, he needed another idea.
Granted, his grandfather would most likely give the potion back, but what if he didn't? In fact what if they couldn't remake the potion due to the strict hold on the garden for ingredients? But the real reason sky wanted judas to do something came to him quite quickly, fae was not a team player of any kind, but she knew about landon and celeste's escapades.
Knew they had been out when they shouldn't be and investigated on their own.
Not to mention the fact the girl was prime witness to the rescue mission to save nora, something that they were still choosing to keep mostly under wraps to keep sky from being further attacked and considering his grandfather was currently in the dark about who the girls were and about the truth about what was happening, having him find out his family wasn't telling him anything...was bad news.
Sky could be in trouble, and so could all of them.
If Fae spilled, they'd be in trouble.
He needed to make sure the two people next to him didn't end up in further trouble, not to mention the rest of them so they weren't further exposed. Not that he didn't trust his grandfather, but this sure wasn't the best way to bring that up to him.
But he couldn't just leave...could he?
But if he couldn't do it...
Judas quickly sent out another text, knowing the best person he could send for the job, without putting them at much of any risk. All he needed was to keep his grandpa from finding out anything he shouldn't, and hopefully, they could keep it together just a little bit longer.
He hoped.
"Mason...you got this.".
And nearby in his own room, mason's wings could be heard flapping in excitement.
