Landon was frantic, more then before.
Apparently he'd been trying to get in contact with Bernard for awhile, no answer. He'd tried to rationalize it as maybe he was busy or didn't get his calls or texts, but that excuse was getting less and less real as time passed. Something seemed very wrong and landon had already started to panic. Even Sky was unsure how to react, she didn't want to panic just yet becuase it could all be fine in the end.
But Landon looked so...WORRIED.
Melaine would've said something to her wouldn't she? If Bernard was missing or something?
They were now in the boy's room, all of them, the old king leaning against the wall. Landon had apparently tried sky's compact first, but she had silenced it to avoid it going off and getting them in trouble during sneaky times. He also tried his parents but neither had seen sky that day and neither were available to try and contact his parents for more information right now.
Getting Sky at all must've been a huge relief.
"Sorry, i should've said something before...but...I didn't want to do it...too soon.", he was pacing, he clearly wasn't too thrilled about being so desperate right now. He felt silly, ever though he needed to do this, he couldn't help it he was just...worried. If he had done something too soon and nothing was wrong, he could've freaked bernard out and landon would've felt humiliated.
Imagine panicking so much you end your friends after your crush and they're just fine the whole time. It was a situation landon wanted to avoid if possible, there's caring about your friends and going too far, and if the guards just showed up at bernard's house while he was doing homework and having a fairly normal day, bernard would probably not wanna speak to landon again.
Landon didn't want to feel like he was clingy or obsessed or...weird.
But he just felt worried, and his desperation showed on his face.
He just wanted to make sure, that's it, nothing more.
And his distress definitely seemed to make everyone else just as worried, no one seemed to shame him of the group, his grandfather clearly wanted to comfort him and so did mason. But the boy clearly needed to calm down a little more as fire started appearing from his boots, Sky was trying to get in contact with melaine but it seemed melaine must've been busy for the time being.
She wished judas was were, she tried texting him but he hadn't responded yet.
And neither had celeste.
Darn.
Despite how much mason and Mr Lucitor wanted to approach but resisted to give the boy some space, Sunny was the first to step in in the middle of landon's panic. Walking over to take his arm, something about her actions left sky with the impression sunny was a little more then used to dealing with angry and stressful people. Sky never asked about her life back home but if she had to guess Sunny was very comfortable doing this to help people.
And though her comforting touch maybe seemed to trigger something in the demon, it didn't fully make him feel better.
But as his flames dwindled, that was enough to signal his two family members to approach, coming in to hug him.
Landon wasn't usually a hugger but he didn't protest this time around, in fact he probably appreciated it that he wasn't alone right now.
Angel was sitting between galexia and sky, curiously looking at sky's compact as she sent her pen pal some messages, asking her to call her back as soon as possible. Knowing mel, she'd call the second she got that text and give sky anything she needed. Sky didn't want to panic, but she didn't want to dismiss any of the obvious anxiety landon was going through at the moment either.
This was important to him, she couldn't call that silly.
It was just her luck that now of all time she couldn't get in contact with melaine to help her out on this,
Angel wasn't an expert on compacts, his curiosity must've been peaking at seeing sky get stressed over the tiny little compact mirror. Angel actually didn't know much about bernard but he could tell from the distress on landon's face he meant a lot to the guy. It reminded him of how panicked he had gotten when he was about to betray Her and how worried he was she'd hurt sky or judas because of him.
Except he'd been alone in his pain when it happened to him, he couldn't confine in anyone to deal with it or risk getting in more trouble.
For this boy's sake he just hoped this was a misunderstanding, though he had a bad feeling.
Sky put her compact in her jacket for now, they were just going to have to wait, they didn't have much of a choice, hopefully in the meantime they could get judas to speak to them and everything. Maybe he and celeste were on silent so judas can get more sleep but not even a respond from texts? At the very least she wanted to let them know how bad they messed up by getting caught again.
Well, at least no one sold them out this time, this time it was just plain stupidity.
If Jude had known they were breaking into his grandpa's office, he would've definitely have warned them his grandpa was much too familiar with having ears and eyes where he could to keep an eye on the things he cared about, his office included. Though sky had to admit, having a guy with those abilities actually might come more in handy then they had been expecting.
But for now they had other things to worry about.
Bernard was a human after all, if he was in trouble he was more fragile then most of them.
And he didn't have the power of mewni magic on his side to help him, earth magic wasn't made to defend and protect oneself all that much.
Maybe bernard simply lost or broke his human phone?
"I-I...", landon was blushing through tears, "I wanted to...confess to him...I tried to...before he vanished...what if...he...he knew what i wanted to say and-". He was mumbling those words, they were barely audible, but the addition of them only made the pain he was going through way worse to everyone's ears. His family done hugging him and quick to question him.
Bernard didn't seem THAT cruel.
Besides, was landon's crush THAT obvious even he noticed?
Well...actually...it probably was.
But that didn't somehow mean Bernard would just cut all contact away from him either, they seemed too close and he seemed too nice to pull that without telling landon or anything. But just to be safe she could hear his family telling him it was going to be ok regardless, reassuring them they'd find his friend and sort thins whole thing out as soon as possible.
"Are you sure there's no other way to contact your human friend?", the spider prince asked out of curiosity, only to be met with a shake of the head. "Not unless we go in person, and we're not allowed, even so though stepping on someone's front door like that was bound to come off as awkward.". Unless they were given permission, they were stuck here.
Far away from the place their person was most likely at.
They were forced to sit here and be patient until further notice, and who knew how long that would take.
"Where's judas...?", landon asked suddenly, turning to sky and focusing on her in particular. "Maybe he can help out or something...he's good at...helping people.". Man, if he really wanted help from his older brother he really was desperate. Even if their relationship was making strides, inserting judas into his personal business like this was still something new for him to do.
"Judas is uh...busy, i can't get in contact with him either...", he had to admit him the truth, if she could get judas here she would, but if mel got back to her she didn't wanna risk heading back to her castle and not being able to bring landon the news right away. Landon didn't seem too pleased with her answer and his attention then got turned to his grandfather, who patted his shoulder.
"How about I take care of it, i have your other grandparent's number, so i'll have them check...I know you probably wanted to avoid that as much as possible but I think it's worth trying". Indeed landon was trying to avoid that because last thing he needed was his grandparents to embarrass him in front of his crush right before he could confess to him.
But desperate times called for desperate measures.
"I'll be right outside...call me if you need me.".
He sent his grandkids a reassuring smile before heading out of landon's room to make a call on his compact. Landon quick to flop onto his bed, sunny up and behind him to pat him on the back, "Is it ok if we ask what you said to bernard before you noticed he wasn't responding?". Landon rolled over on his side, his eyes now staring at his violin case nearby among his other stuff.
"I just told him i had a song for him, because there was something I wanted to share...", he pressed his face deeper into his mattress, still rather red faced for how embarrassing this whole thing was next to stressful. "Maybe he did figure it out and now our friendship is over, I screwed up our friendship by liking him more then a friend...I knew this would happen.".
"You don't know that...".
"Maybe, but it's probably true...I screwed everything up."
"Landon...c'mon um...what would bernard say if he heard you say something like that?", granted, he could not speak for the human at all, he didn't know him as much as landon had, but at the same time, he never got the impression bernard would be cruel to landon in his time of need and his worry. Well, he could only hope that were the case, otherwise his attempts to make his brother feel better were just making it worse.
It only took landon a moment before he sat up, his hair a mess and his face still red, "He'd tell me i'm assuming things and hurting myself over stuff that might have nothing to do with me.". He held himself and rubbed the neck of his neck, "I know...i'm assuming too much, i'm just...worried, I really like him...ok? I'm worried everything is falling apart...and...that i screwed up...or something happened.".
Angel seemed to sink at those words, yeah, he knew well as much how THAT felt too.
"Well, do you think Bernard would say anything mean to you about this?"
"Well...no...he's...he wouldn't do that...I know he wouldn't, I just...I can't help thinking he would...", his self loathing was catching up to him again, and the absence of his crush and best friend was only making it worse. He felt like curling up into a little ball and mason and sunny were trying their best to clam their brother down, honestly this was probably the most vulnerable anyone had seen landon for some time.
His makeup even smearing down his eyes for a bit.
Sky looked back to him and back to her compact, before standing up, "I'm gonna go get judas...angel? You wanna come with me?". She didn't wanna separate landon from the people comforting him and she didn't wanna separate galexia who was drawing to herself something nice for the boy from him either, leaving angel as the best candidate for now.
"Sure...", his tone seemed more sad, and maybe getting out of this room was the best thing for him, though sky quickly handed the compact to landon himself, "I'll be right back, just have it in case mel calls...or texts or something". She tried to reassure him, nodding to her friends before heading out the door with angel tagging along behind her, the former kind on the phone nearby.
He was quick to notice them, giving them a look before sky mouthed she was going to find judas and bring him back.
He didn't fight her, handing her his own scissors before going back to his call as she and the prince left through the portal quickly. Hopefully judas wasn't still asleep by the time they arrived, they really didn't want to wake him up when he desperately needed more rest, though he'd probably argue his brother and this issue was more important for the time being.
However, why he nor celeste answered their compact was worth asking too.
Though upon entering her room, sky paused, her room as messy as before, but with not a soul in sight.
"Uhhhhh...where are they?".
Angel peeked in from behind her, "Did uh...did they leave?". She went inside fully and looked around, "Ugh...how did my sheets get wet and burned? We weren't gone THAT long were we? Yeesh, you leave anyone from this group anywhere and they have a full fledged adventure without you..." She looked around her room for any clues before her bedroom door opened again.
Her pointing her want at it quickly as a reaction as judas, celeste, and nora stepped in, her wand falling and her face full of relief.
Well relief and also annoyance.
"Judas?!".
He had looked sad when he entered but he then smiled, also in relief but probably also in extreme embarrassment as he saw his friend's expression. Knowing he probably just completely worried the heck out of her, though celeste stepped forward and grumbled, "For the record, it wasn't his fault we left...it was actually mostly nora's...things got out of control".
"Hey!", nora said, entering herself, clutching a book in hand, "It worked in the end i guess...".
"What...worked?"
They all exchanged looks, "Sky i'm super duper sorry about everything, i didn't mean to worry the heck out of you, we just...look we went to eclipsa to maybe find some help for my nightmares and we couldn't find her and it was a big mess but...sky you won't believe this...we um...we...". He seemed to tug at his hair, in completely disbelief and with so many mixed emotions on his face.
"Uh...jude? Nothing bad happened...did it?".
He shuffled in his spot, "We uh...we saw luna.".
Angel and Sky both suddenly looked spooked, like judas had said something super unusual and unnerving.
"Luna?"
"Luna...we saw her...in the flesh."
Sky's face seemed to drop, she half expected luna to come into the room next but obviously based on their expressions luna was still out there somewhere and hadn't wanted to rejoin. A lot of questions were quick to arrive in sky's mind, was luna ok? Was she hurt? Did she make any progress at all in the slightest on her mission? Did she even really want to come back?
But judas didn't hold back from answering some of her lingering questions for long, clearly expecting her to have just as much as he did when he saw luna again. Sitting her down to talk, after apologizing for the sheets on her bed. Angel's attention being driven to the girls, nora nervously waving and celeste mostly looking just as annoyed as ever it seemed.
They didn't seem injured, so no fight broke out.
That was good at least?
"Um...you ran into...luna?", he felt awkward even asking considering he barely knew luna, but his curiosity had very much been peaked. Though nora seemed more open to explaining then celeste did, celeste seemed very upset at whatever happened in fact. "We um...we found her hiding in eclipsa's secret snack stash, taking food...she wasn't too happy to see us.".
"I uh...from what i know i didn't think she would...", he looked back to the demon boy sitting on the bed, "Is judas alright? Um he didn't look too good when uh...he walked in the room". Nora and him seemed to be on a very similar page, being concerned for judas and she tried to keep eye contact as she explained, "Well...seeing luna again, he was hurt and upset and luna was kinda nice to him but left and...i think he's in a mix of emotions...'.
"Well, it um...well i guess everyone seems to be these days...".
"Are...you ok? Angelus?".
Angel's ears flickered, eyes lingering to the two on the bed, "I um...maybe...i'm sorry I may be still dealing with a lot of...guilt. Well...more like everything i did is coming back and...I'm upset when I shouldn't be...". The princess looked on him sadly, "Well...i'm sure it doesn't feel good...i um...sometimes I think about what i was like...before...before all this and i get sad".
"How do you deal with it?"
"Well...I don't think it ever goes away...it comes back sometimes, but it helps to look around you and spot all the differences from before...i'm not home right now, and i'm not always in my room, and i get to have friends i see everyday now, and i'm not constantly studying fungus and leaves anymore...try something...like that. Every time you worry about your past, list stuff that's different from then.".
"Well, judas and sky like me...i call them by their first names now, i...don't dress the way i used to anymore, my dad isn't here, i'm...not alone anymore, i'm not...trying to make the queens help anymore, i'm not injured anymore, i'm not working under someone that never cared about me, i'm friends with the princess i was fighting,...the princess...likes spending time with me." There seemed to be a range of emotions on his face processing all of those things, sadness, joy, anger, but he was seeming to calm down a little bit.
Not all of those changes were positive, but they weren't all negative either, in fact most of them felt more positive then before.
What happened was bad, but that wasn't what was happening now either.
Things were fully different now.
"You...feel any better?".
He nodded, he wasn't "Cured" or anything like that but being reminded did seem to help him deal with it just a little, "It's in the past...I can't take any of it back...it's happened and it's behind me...and it hurts...but...I...I just need to focus on moving forward right? It hurts...but all I can do...is try my best to do better and not make those mistakes again...never again, I just...it's going to take time to really forgive myself...I think.".
This was info angel had already known, but saying it aloud, it seemed to help in his current state.
"Thank you...nora."
"No it's ok,we need to y'know...look out for each other...and not be like well...our ancestors...I...I feel bad for judging you because of everything and...I hope we can well...work together like they never did before, if that's ok with you.", something about that last bit really seemed to strike something in angel, even if he had already known nora wanted to help despite their families and their past. Honestly nora was too kinda to him despite how much he used to scare her and make her nervous in the past.
Having the other's backs right now only made him feel more assured.
"You think your parents will ever fully feel the same way?", her parents were helping of course, but that didn't exactly meant their feelings had changed much on the Arachman kingdom in itself. However nora didn't seem to knock him down entirely either, "I'm not sure, but well...maybe if they got to know you and your family...maybe things can change for both of our kingdoms fully.".
"You...never had to help me...you were scared of me...y'know?".
"I know, but i also knew it was right thing to do as well...", I never want to see anyone deal with losing someone they love like that, "it's a pain i want to prevent if i can...I took a chance...and...I'm glad i did it, I don't regret trying to talk to you and help". She looked at him right in the eyes with that one and he carefully and awkwardly took one of her hands to thank her with a princely kiss to her knuckles.
"Thanks...Princess Spiderbite.".
"Your welcome, Prince Arachford."
"Guys!?"
The two's attention were quickly drawn to sky and judas, sky still processing everything judas explained and tugged at her dark blue locks, "I can't believe it, she just handed you her little charm, and booked it? This is the same girl who was not afraid to intimidate us but she's scared of her own mom?! Ugh...like she didn't even give us any good information either because of course she wouldn't!".
"Well...she might've just helped me with my nightmares...that's a good thing", judas tried to relax sky but she just seemed more annoyed, "Sure sure, fine, that was nice but still.".
Judas couldn't even argue with her considering his emotions were just as mixed and muddled.
Though the raven haired girl then suddenly leaped off her bed, taking judas's arm, "Oh god, i almost forgot, landon! C'mon we need to get back to him right now!". She was so caught up on luna she completely forget when she was even here in the first place! Everyone followed her out, judas confused and worried as they were soon through a portal and back into the castle of the underworld.
Judas's grandfather was still waiting for them, but he was no longer on the phone either.
That wasn't a good sign.
"Grandpa?", oh right, sky hadn't really prepped judas properly on everything happening right now, so seeing his grandpa right here was bound to make him nervous. "Well, i got in contact with the diazes, and they headed over to the Bonderios, They're uh...yet to really contact me back but they haven't seen bernard for awhile so...that's not a good sign.".
"Bernard? What's going on...?", judas quickly turned back to sky before some realization dawned on his face, "Landon...he was acting weird the last few days, always on his phone and checking it...oh no," He quickly headed inside the room behind him, not even waiting for anyone else and the door closed behind him. Nora and Celeste both still processing whatever just happened.
Then celeste entered, slamming the door as well, she did it with such ferocity it was best she was probably given space for the time being.
Leaving sky with the king, nora and angel.
"Maybe you should give them a moment", Dave Lucitor leaned on the wall again, "Honestly i haven't seen landon want his big brother this much since he was very little, it might be better to give them some privacy.". He placed a hand on sky's shoulder, "Thanks for getting him over here, as soon as i can hopefully marco and thomas can talk with him too.".
"It's not a big deal...", she shrugged, "He wanted judas, i got him over here.".
"Well, it's a big deal for him, and for me...so thanks.".
"Your welcome sir...", she leaned against the wall next to him, "Um...thanks for uh...not getting us in trouble for uh...what happened earlier.". Angel and Nora took a seat nearby, talking among themselves as sky flipped and played with her wand against the wall. "We've been caught so many times at this point i'm just expecting something bad to happen when we do,,,,we're not much of a sneaky team it seems".
"Hey, it's nothing to be ashamed of, your mom wasn't much better either, she, thomas, marco, janna, jackie, and a few others also worked together a few times, they were not much better then you at keeping stuff hidden. For the first few months of their relationship thomas didn't say a word about him and marco going out to me and wrath, but we weren't stupid, and we actually ended up walking in on them kissing , they're still embarrassed about that one.".
"Yeah but, this is a lot different then like...teen relationship junk.".
"Maybe so, but don't be ashamed, you're all still kids, you're not super geniuses that can handle everything without fail, you'll make mistakes even years later. You got caught because you're not perfect, but that doesn't always make it a bad thing either. I've had a few mistakes made in my own youth, stuff i regret sometimes...though those mistakes led me to my family and i don't ever regret that happening to me.".
"You think going through all this will lead to something...good?".
"I want to personally think we'll come out of this better, landon and judas getting a long a little more is a good start, and of course seeing you and judas and even young princess spiderbite over there getting along with the prince of the arachfords, now that's something special. I'm not going to be some jerk who outs you all on this, even at his most struggling i encouraged the best for judas...i'm not going to end all that for him".
"Your son might disapprove".
"Maybe, but we're all family. With what's happening, we all should stick together".
He seemed to intensely stare at his palm, before clutching it in a fist. "Tom has grown to not want my help much these days but it's because he wants to show how much of an adult he is now, he doesn't want to seem like a failure when he's felt like that for so long when he was younger. I don't mean to upset him, I want to encourage my family and protect them and help them...i don't want to see this family break apart".
"Oh yeah...judas told me about the stuff that happened with your own parents...i'm sorry about that.".
"It's...not a big deal, i felt much more at home with the Lucitors then back home anyway with those...horrible people, i don't regret it. I just don't want to lose my new family, or see them break apart or...see them hurt. Judas is going through a lot of pain, and i don't want him to feel hopeless or as if he'll be miserable and hated the rest of his life...i want him to work on new ways to help himself and succeed.".
"Not every miracle cure is gonna do something y'know.".
"I know, but there's not much else i can do other then get him help where i can and not put him down for his situation either. Judas gets beaten up enough about his problems, he should be encouraged for not giving up and taking risks, not beaten down for them. I'm more then impressed how much you've done together, your parents might hate that because they're worried for you but they were no different at the time.".
"Well i don't think you'd willingly put tom in danger...not complaining you're helping us but that's probably how my mom feels sometimes".
"Tom's an all powerful half demon who could crush me with his fingers if he wanted to, you can imagine the stress I was under taking care of him", the man went on, laughing, "That boy has been in danger before, when he was little, but he's proven to me if anything were to happen, he'd take care of it. You blasted a criminal and saved your friends while also organizing and running your own spy team, that's pretty impressive for your age.".
"Yeah, guess so...".
"Hey, it was impressive for your mom, so it's impressive for you as well, if anything, more impressive since you fooled and snuck into several kingdoms, now that was something your mom didn't do, pretty smart, and don't complain about having help, having help doesn't make it any less cool.".
He was kinda right about that, her mom did impressive things, but the stuff they both did was very different from each other.
"Well, anyways, thanks...means a lot.".
"Anytime, just take good care of judas, keep being his friend, you're lucky to have each other and he especially is lucky to have a supportive friend looking out for him throughout all this, I'd hate to have seen him go through this without you around, you don't just mean a lot to him, but to us". Sky felt warm hearing all that, at least there were some adults around here they could feel super comfortable trusting to help them and keep their secrets, even if not the ones they were expecting.
"You think we should head inside now?".
"A few more minutes...i don't want to barge in and i might get another call back soon.".
Fair point.
Nora and Angel were still talking among themselves nearby, and angel looked a lot better then he did before, a lot more comfortable despite the situation going on around them. At least things were a little ok for the time being, though then again this could easily be just another clam before the storm hit and there was no telling what was going on from inside landon's room for the time being.
Sky could only hope it was good.
The sight of landon's older brother entering the room seemed to wash some relief over him, quick to hug judas like mad. Judas himself was caught off guard, his brother rarely going in for hugs like this in general, especially with him. Landon just looked distressed and like he just needed some serious comfort and reassurance wherever he could for now.
Celeste entered the room quickly after, but didn't go in for the hug, letting the brothers have their moment.
"Landon...tell me...what happened?".
The boy was still sniffling, clutching onto his brother and sobbing still, "I-I texted him days ago, I wanted to...anyway he didn't respond back, then not to my calls, and i'm just so worried and-". When he said it aloud it did almost seem like an exaggeration to get this upset someone didn't text or call him back, but judas didn't say anything mocking or dismissive.
He simply let landon cry it out, whatever he needed to do to make himself feel better.
Judas would probably do the same in this position, he really couldn't judge or tease landon much about this.
Sky certainly knew how upset he got about nora and luna for days on end, and the poor boy still had some lingering conflict from luna, he knew landon's pain.
"Hey it's ok, we'll sort this whole mess out, we got this...always.", he patted landon's back, his eyes now looking to the others in the room, noticing mason and sunny there, watching him. They must've been curious why it took sky so long to bring him back when he had been sleeping in her room as far as they were aware. Though that didn't matter now, they looked happy to see him.
Judas just had a comforting presence despite everything, he was a gentle person when stuff like this happened. Besides, bernard was landon's only real best friend who wasn't related to him, he needed some family support from people he had some closeness too.
"I'm just...i'm sorry...this entire thing has been bothering me and i didn't want to keep bothering everyone but i just...broke down today, I just...I feel so alone and worried and I just...need someone", landon was so vulnerable right now and all he wanted was his brother and to have company, judas rubbed and patted his back, trying to calm him down futher.
"Hey, we're here...it's ok.".
'What if he's hurt? What if it's my fault?".
"Landon...".
"Bernard always texts me, he's always trying to call me every day, this is...i can't help it...but he'll probably think i'm a creep for wanting to make sure he's ok and panicking over this.", judas removed him from their hug and placed both his hands on his shoulders, looking him dead in his eyes, "Hey, it's ok to care about someone and worry, as long as it's not overboard, it's ok if you're worried since something seems off...".
"You sure?".
"Yeah, of course, he won't think you're a creep".
Landon's tears seemed to finally dry, though his makeup was still a mess all over.
"Yeah...I just...I just want to know if he's ok or not...", he wiped at his face, "I'm sorry i dragged all of you here and freaked all of you out...I didn't mean to...I just...I panicked and I just...I just want help". He hugged his body, looking among the crowd around him, "I know you're busy with all the other stuff happening but this would mean the world to me, he's my first real friend".
"And that's enough to want to help landon...it's ok".
Landon seemed to have felt a little better, though for a moment he seemed to blink, staring at judas's neck and then looking at him straight in the eyes. "Hang on, what's under your shirt?", landon must've felt the charm during their hug. Judas of course had little reason to really lie about it, revealing it to the group, if only for a split second, "Well, we ran into luna-".
"Luna?!", Sunny perked up, "When? Why? Where? How?". She jumped to her feet to confront judas, careful around landon who was already sensitive as is for the time being and probably didn't want to hear about luna of all people. She directed judas to the corner to talk privately, Celeste taking her time to approach landon instead now. Her frustration with him there but not outweighing her care for him either.
"You found luna!?", sunny's eyes were excited and full of wonder, she actually seemed rather excited to know about luna rather then mad or frustrated like the others. Hearing news on her must've been a delight in a mess of constant worry and problems, knowing luna was ok and everything was honestly a bright spot for the young demon girl. At least that meant nothing bad happened to her and she hadn't turned or something.
Which honestly mean a lot right now since they couldn't see her to confirm her fate.
"Well, we weren't trying to find luna", he didn't mean to sound so frustrated, he was just still rather emotional about that encounter right now. He looked to landon who was now sitting with celeste and mason and back to sunny, "We ran into her and she handed me her charm to help with my dreams, but she didn't want to rejoin us...she knows she's being spied on...and she knows jackie is after her.".
"Oh...OH...", sunny's excitement dropped, "She gave you her charm? That was for protection! What is she going to do without it!?".
"Well, I guess protect herself.".
"Well, she's strong...but...what if they're stronger?".
Judas took a look at his charm, he could honestly just hand this charm over to Lucy, and track luna down using her through her scent, if luna had no found a way to mask this from happening they could go get her right now. But would it even be the same to force luna back instead of her coming back willingly? She wouldn't approve and she would never forgive them for it either, much less fight her way out of it.
Was it worth it?
"Judas? Everything ok?"
"Sunny? I think we're just going to have to trust luna on this one, as much as I want her back...better she came back willingly then us make her come back...so...we're just going to have to worry about ourselves for now...if we need to find luna, well, i guess we have something to help us with that now.". He patted his shirt where the charm now hid, "One problems at a time.".
"Maybe you should go get some rest now judas?", she offered, "We'll watch landon...".
"No, after we figure out this, then I'll rest, my brother needs some help right now...".
"Judas...", she sounded stern, her cheeks puffed, "You're supposed to rest so you can better help everyone remember? You promised that...and you're dropping it like that? We'll find bernard if we have to, you stay with your brother, you need to take care of yourself...and by taking care of yourself you're helping landon. We'll handle all this, it might not even be so bad".
"But-".
"Judas...".
He was being scolded by a 14 year old girl, being told to rest and take care of his brother.
When did sunny become his mom and not his sister?
"Fine fine, i'm sorry...I'm not used to doing this...I'm just used to helping out, i'm not used to holding back even though I want to and should...I'm sorry sunny". Sunny placed a hand on his arm and her eras flickered, "I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be mean...I just want everyone to be ok and happy and everyone's worried and upset and...please stay...".
"Well I guess sky can-".
"Maybe sky should stay too, to keep an eye on you...no offense...we'll take grandpa along instead. If only because if we're seen with him we're less likely to get in trouble in comparison to being caught with either you or sky.". She did have a point on that one, judas and sky were basically considered in hot water as is and would be the first to be approached if they were caught.
But if his grandfather took the lead...he could cover for him.
But how would they-
Then he paused, processing exactly why his grandfather was even here in the first place and why sunny would ask his grandfather to help her on a mission like this that could expose them, and honestly his reaction wasn't too surprised at all, raising a bushy eyebrow.
"Wait...does grandpa...?".
Sunny looked suddenly sheepish, "The plan to find your brother took an unexpected turn, we really screwed up, but he wants to help, he's not going to rat us out to your parents...like dad. Not right now anyways, look i get it if you're mad but we'll handle this thing, besides...landon really wants you around right now and you should stay with him..ok?".
She was giving him those eyes and he couldn't help it, sighing and nodding, "You're right, i'll stay with landon, I'm sure sky could use a break too...but if something happens...just tell me, and be careful. I don't want to see anything happen to any of you, and...just if you have to use your wands for any reason, then I trust you to handle yourself well out there.".
"Just rest...ok? And when you see us later, we'll have already taken care of the problem.", she was trying to flex, but despite how strong she was physically, she had very little muscle on her small body. But the gesture was enough to make judas laugh for a small bit, sunny was pretty touch and strong, he just hoped he was making a good choice in letting her go and him stay.
But then again, his grandpa was there, which did reassure him.
"Alright, i'm trusting you on this...".
"Then you're in good hands".
A knock could be heard at the door, Dave himself peeking through, "Alright, i'm heading over to bernard's home myself, anyone who wants to follow me, just come aboard and we'll head out...i'm going to check in on the diazes and maybe bernard might be there, hopefully we won't be long. ". They could spot sky, angel and nora peeking out from the hallway, and sunny was quick to volunteer, "I'll go! If that's ok?". And galexia stood up to join her, as per expected of her to do.
Nora seemed to be looking at judas, assuming he would volunteer to help, but he didn't, staying with his brother, who seemed to want to go but knew his grandfather would insist he don't in his current state. Sky also seemed to want to go, but one look from sunny seemed to be enough to indicate maybe she should stay here with judas, if only to talk to him more about what happened with luna.
Nora and Angel stayed with judas and sky, as expected.
Celeste stayed for landon.
Everyone else seemed to be staying, until the old king looked to mason, and ushered him to join. "Mason maybe you should come, someone should go considering your other grandparents should be there and it'd be strange if i walked up there with two kids that the diazes have never seen before, so i'd appreciate it if you helped me out. Then we can talk more on your um...robbery methods".
Mason's ears pressed against his face in embarrassment, getting up and following his grandpa out in shame.
With a reassuring nod to landon, the team left, closing the door behind them.
The room now mostly silent and awkward, all the teens stuck together, unsure of what to say and what to do for the time being while they waited. Though with the sound of stomachs growling, nora was the first to step forward, anxious with all the eyes on her but trying to keep herself together. "Me and Angel cnd go grab something for us all to eat if you want...maybe that will make everyone feel a little better, with food.".
The sound of landon's stomach was enough of an answer for nora.
Food sounded really good right now, they seemed to barely have time to eat these days.
She tapped angel on the shoulder, "C'mon, we'll be right back guys, just hang out...", angel awkwardly looked to sky and judas before he followed nora out of the room, the room now more quiet then before. Landon's eyes wandering to sky's wand, she was flipping and tossing it in her hands, trying to keep herself from getting bored. Though her face was enough to tell anyone she was thinking about so much and wasn't sure what to talk about.
Judas laying down against a wall, tired, falling asleep and hopefully this time he wouldn't be waking up to nightmares.
Though instead he might be waking up to ones about luna instead.
Landon was still on the bed.
Celeste was pacing around the room to herself, probably still thinking about luna and what she was up to.
And sky seemed like right now she wasn't interested in silence, trying to awkwardly break the tension with the only one in the room who seemed available to speak to.
Landon.
"Your granpda's cool...", sky mumbled to landon, who simply glanced at her. "Sure, i guess he is..."., he was still rather moody, but at least he wasn't crying and panicking like he had been earlier. Though he was watching sky's wand still with wandering eyes, "Y'know...that thing kinda sorta might not be something you should toss...i've seen it do real damage...".
"Maybe...yeah...i'm just fiddling, I dunno...i've tried to avoid using it mostly...so no more weird bugs happen or green magic or anything. But i'm worried, sometimes I'm holding it and it just seems to get green...just not enough to shoot anything, maybe i just haven't been as...mad or something while holding it as the times it was set off before...".
"Maybe...reminds me of us...we get mad, fire starts spewing out of our bodies...you can't always control it either, you don't even noticed it happening, it just happens and you have to deal with it so people don't get hurt and stuff...". He bit at his lip, his eyes wandering to the wall and away from sky, "Y'know, I get how you feel...with the whole magic thing, being moody, feeling like people will forget you in comparison to the rest of your family...wanting to prove yourself despite not being powerful...".
Sky's eyes widened, had she ever considered how much she and landon had in common before this point? It didn't feel like she really had.
"I'm sorry if i ever got suspicious of you throughout all this...I kinda thought maybe you were well...lying or something to judas." His feet kicked off the side of the bed and she had to admit, it would seem that way to an outsider considering the convenient evidence against her. "But a part of me also knew you'd never do anything malicious to my brother either...".
"It's fine...we've both kinda screwed up a lot with all this happening...".
"He means as much to you as bernard does to me, I got so obsessed figuring stuff out i didn't consider that as much as i should have. You're so weirdly loyal to each other...I might've made judas question your friendship for awhile there and I know that probably messed him up for some time...i'm sorry about that". Landon was apologizing to her?
Not that landon was cruel but, this was so...mature of him.
"It's fine...lucky for you judas and I are stubborn and loyal as hell to each other", she twiddled the wand in her hand some more and landon looked between it and judas, not to mention celeste. "Hey um...if bernard is in danger...you have a spying spell...right? I saw luna perform it and everything, maybe we could use it to find bernard...maybe...if that's ok".
"Spying leads to crying' is what my mom always tells me with that spell".
"Well...it's not to spy...it's for something important...please?".
Sky stared down at her wand, she did use that spell for the sake of finding angel after all, he might've been dead if she hadn't used it to find him. If this was related in any way maybe it was best to try it and save the trouble, there was just one problem though with the whole deal. Eclipsa helped her before to strengthen it, sky might not be strong enough to do it alone.
Unless...
Landon was looking at celeste and it didn't take long for them to put two and two together,
"I'm not sure she's willing to uh...yeah...".
That's when celeste's eyes shot to the two of them, "What are you two talking about over there? You keep whispering and staring at me and judas...what's wrong with the two of you?". They looked at each other before landon had to spit it out, "Hey I um...we were thinking about using the all seeing eye to find bernard and I was wondering if you would-?".
She seemed to clutch onto her wand bracelet a little more tightly, "Oh no, you remember when we tried doing that to find that masked being right? That thing could've broken through...I'm already annoyed and freaked out when that stupid pony almost grabbed me back in the woods awhile back. We could do it and send her right back to us...to your brother...i'm not getting involved no way".
She motioned to judas.
That's when landon stood up, a determined look in his eyes and celeste seemed more then surprised as a tension built within the room. What landon said next came a sa surprised, and even sky couldn't believe his next request as the words left his lips.
"Fine...then...let me borrow your wand...I'll try and do the spell myself, and if I find out she had something to do with this, she's going to regret it real fast".
God earth, how often had sunny even stepped foot on earth? She couldn't remember the last time she did. Her parents weren't from earth so she only really went whenever they did or she was seeing friends. Seeing it now again felt so strange, she felt she hadn't been here in so long, so much of the action on mewni and far away from the simple life earth provided.
Well, mostly simple.
Honestly most people would worry about her and mason walking around with wings and tails and horns and multiple eyes and all that, but from her experience on earth, either the humans didn't care, or they just brushed it off as something else. In fact she was probably safer here then dealing with a lot of mewmans on mewni, which was saying something.
If marco , jackie, and janna were anything to go be, humans could be scary.
They had taken the carriage this time, sky still had dave's scissors and he was willing to let her have them for a bit longer just in case anything happened and judas was unavailable. Besides, the carriage was the best way to signal their arrival, though the man did seem to wish his wife could've come. But time was of the essence and she might not keep this secret for as long as he could.
She had plenty of tells, and tom would very much question lava raining down on the castle and put two and two together she knew something.
Another time, when they could.
He headed right over to bernard's home, knocking on the door to the house with mason and the girls behind him. The door was opened quickly and that's when what he assumed to be bernard's mother stepped out. Landon had seen her before, and so had tom and marco and the diazes and well...actually everyone in the family expect for him and wrath.
Bernard was a little self conscious about being adopted for reasons like this, he had one too many neighbors or kids laugh at him for being adopted and not living with his birth parents. Landon only mentioned it a few times at some dinners if only because marco had asked a few times about how his adoption had went, which was fair since marco wanted to adopt originally before the boys were made.
But other then that the only time the two were mentioned was when landon talked about how health conscious they were and how often they moved from place to place. So dave himself was going in blind and hoping they would be rather helpful and not make things any weirder then they already were. Hopefully with the diazes there he wouldn't come off strange.
But this was coming from a man who wore skulls and a cape, so maybe not.
"Hello m'am I um...I-"., he was trying to be polite but the woman seemed maybe a little intimidated to see him, as expected considering who she was speaking to.
"DAVE!?", the sight of Rafeal diaz, in all his happy and hairy glory, actually seemed to scare the man as he walked into frame.
The former king couldn't lie, he was pretty happy to see him. He spent so much timje on mewni he didn't really get to see his child-in law's family much, or viceversa, he maybe just wished it had been under better circumtances.
He was almost instantly crushed by a hug from the man, and angie was quick to come into frame, marco's mother and another delightfully happy figure. Followed by what he assumed to be bernard's father. The kids behind them had to not draw too much attention to themselves, after all, they didn't want anyone getting suspect or getting involved where they shouldn't.
But considering the circumstances, they probably felt a little awkward.
Bernard's dad was tall and lanky with curly hair, a pointed nose and dark eyes, and the skin color of tea, and his mother was short and squat and dark eyes and short dark hair with fair skin. The two seemed to be in an utter mix of emotions by the looks of it, in contrast to the two happy elders hanging out with them. What they could tell was that they knew this man and that was enough for them.
Dave pushed himself out of the hug, looking to Rafael nicely, but clearly he didn't have time to goof around right now when his grandson was flipping out in the underworld.
"It's good to see you but um...sorry for the sudden arrival but you weren't answering your phones...I felt I had to come in person myself and well...make sure you didn't uh...well...get yourselves into trouble.", Dave ushered in the kids behind him and the Diazes squeed at the sight of mason, seeing their grandkids was extremely exciting for them.
And it meant they might be here awhile.
"I um...deeply sorry, who are you?", Ms Bonderio seemed sweet but a little startled, the crew who arrived to her door didn't exactly scream "normal". The former king quickly tried to recover the already odd situation before the couple kicked them out, "I'm sorry, me and the diaz's are related by marriage, our kids are married, sorry to interrupt like this...hope you don't mind".
"Well...come in i suppose...", and the group was let inside the couple's home despite how much they clearly seemed a little off about it, it was full of plants and blue and white walls, a bowl of fruit in the nearby kitchen and overall it looked like the most cheery house they had ever been inside. Bernard's adoption certificate hung up over the fireplace and pictures of the family down the hallway, through the glass doors in the back they could spot a large garden. The place looked so bright and cheerful, extremely funny in comparison to the multiple piercing, dyed hair teenager landon hung out with who seemed out of place in a home like this.
"Care for some freeze dried banana chips?".
Bernard's dad handed him a bowl of some obvious healthy snacks, though his smile seemed rather fake, and dave turned it down, though the kids took a few for themselves to not seem rude.
Honestly the older man didn't even know how to approach the subject of bernard without making it super awkward. He himself dealt with tom almost being kidnapped several times and there was never a right way to ask someone about their child when they seemed absent and lost. Would he be better off ripping the bandage or going slowly with these people?
But lucky for him, he didn't need to think much further into it, Mason quickly took his chance before it was lost, his innocent expression was honestly probably way better then coming from an older man who barely knew their son.
"Where's bernard?", mason said, curiously.
The man almost dropped the bowl he was holding, and the diazes went quiet, clearly they had completely forgotten about bernard in general, wanting to be here to hang with their neighbors.
And dave quickly tried to recover before things got worse, "Oh um sorry, mason is my grandson, his brother landon is friends with your son bernard...I think he was expecting to see him here.". The couple exchanged more uncomfortable looks between them but didn't say a single word. Something felt really off, they were almost making it out like they didn't want to even talk about their child.
And so were the diazes.
This wasn't a good sign.
"Oh um...i'll put these away...", Bernard's dad headed back into the kitchen with the treats, and everyone resumed their awkward silence with each other. Only increasing everyone's worry, after all the king himself had dealt with his fair share of situations like this and dodging the question was a tell tale sign something was wrong and maybe the reason why was watching.
He suddenly was a lot more on alert.
"I um...my name's Lydia, this is Samuel...", Lydia, ushered everyone to take a seat on the couches within the living room. "We weren't expecting so much company today, please make yourselves at home and um...if you need anything just let us know.". The kids and the man were ushered to take a seat on the sofa but all of them did not seem comfortable at all.
Not even galexia.
Sunny seemed as high alert as dave was, clearly also sensing something was terribly off about this situation.
These parents being off about their son? Their obvious tension? It left a rather uneasy feeling for all of them, so much so dave felt tempted to check the place for any kind of bugs, to see if anyone was listening in. But there was no way to do that without that looking suspicious, and even so they may be jumping to conclusions. They needed more evidence on what was happening.
And Sunny nodded to him, quickly asking to use the bathroom ad being directed upstairs awkwardly by Samuel, who was avoiding eye contact as angie tried to strike up a conversation with him. She didn't know bernard freakishly well, but this didn't seem normal for his parents, and if they weren't acting right there had to be a reason for it.
She took advantage of the upstairs to check inside the rooms, she was no detective, as that honor went to one of her friends back home, but she learned enough that it was time for some investigation herself. The hallway was super neat, balls walls and more white doors, she couldn't be here long or they may get suspicious of her so she had to make it quick with these rooms, or just hope for the others to give her time.
So far mostly normal.
One was the parents room, a closet, the bathroom of course.
And naturally bernard's room, which happened to be the most obvious from the outside judging by the band posters and magician stickers on the outside of the door. Bernard's room was the opposite of the light blue and white home, as sunny peeked inside she spotted a room with dark blue walls, full of posters of celebrities and music. His room was decently messy in comparison to the clean home.
Dark sheets, magic tricks all over his shelves, and just a lot of sweaters.
Like a LOT of sweaters.
But there was no teenage boy inside, and that was the most important part, bernard clearly wasn't home.
Looking to make sure no one else was around, sunny summoned her wand, she honestly missed getting to use this thing. She had to be careful, but hopefully she'd be just fine, her ears twitching for any sounds, she whispered a spell under her breath. Suddenly a few stuffed animals rose from the floor, though they seemed more creepy then your average stuffed animal, stuffing sticking out and missing pieces from each.
She hadn't used this spell in so long, ah she missed magic.
"Silent and unseen...", she whispered, and the teddies and her both vanished from eye and not a peep was made from any of them
But the toys knew why they were summoned.
They quickly started spreading out around the house to find anything strange, bugs, evidence, anything they might need, some even went downstairs to check there and sunny just hoped they didn't run into anyone down there. She was like a little commander, and her team of soldiers were helping her scope everything out carefully so they could plan a new strategy.
Sunny was a very alert and cautious person, she learned that a lot back home.
This was right up her ally.
Just as long as everyone stayed downstairs and distracted.
And indeed they were, as galexia had started sketching rapidly in her seat, her loud scribbling making quite the noise and Lydia Bonderio herself clearly worried about the girl marking their nice couch. Mason's wings on the other hand, were in danger of hitting anything in the house and smashing it to the floor, which was the main focus of Samuel Bonderio.
He was watching them like a hawk.
Honestly it was a wonder why they didn't just ask them to leave if they were so uncomfortable with all of them being here, even the Diazes seemed to be making them uneasy for the time being as they tried to cheer them up with light conversation. Mason saw his grandfather stare down the couple and all things considered, his grandpa did go easy on fae for being younger.
Now he looked like he seemed almost rather scary and intimidating.
He wasn't going to assume the worst about the parents, but he wasn't holding back on them either.
He became the king of the underworld for a reason after all.
You don't earn a role like that without making yourself a top dog and someone to fear among many.
With how quickly he and sunny got on the same page, the fact they were related became a lot more easy to accept. Even with knowing it was real it was hard to fully process that fact, it was moments like this that helped make that sink in. Mason was wondering what he should do to help while sunny was off doing what she wanted, left thinking about his strengths.
His plants, sure, but...what else?
He looked over to bernard's mother, upon closer inspection, he noticed her gloves and was quick to point out something that got him excited. "You garden?! I love to garden too! Do you grow anything neat?". She was a bit startled and clearly set off guard, but with angie nearby to follow them getting excited she pulled the boy aside to show him her garden. "Um well...alright then...if you want to see...I suppose we can show you.".
Angie stepped in, an arm around her grandson, "Oh yes! Mason here is an amazing gardener, he knows everything and anything about plants at his young age! He has his own garden and everything! I think he'd love to go out and see your garden, maybe you both can give each other tips and everything!". Mason felt himself blush, sheepish about her compliments towards him.
But Mrs Lydia Bonderio didn't seem to mind much.
She honestly looked just happy to have any excuse to get out of the room for the time being, mason acknowledging his grandfather as he left to the backyard with his grandmother and Mrs Lydia. Grandma angie seemed super happy to see her grandson again, she was going off about how talented he was with plants to the poor other woman who honestly looked more then relieved to be out of her own home.
Their garden out back was full of vegetables, tomatoes, cucumbers, cauliflowers, it was clear they grew a heck ton of their own food whenever possible just from looking at it.
Mason was used to mewni's plants, so to him, this was more wondrous then it'd have been to most humans.
But he didn't even get much time to enjoy it when the woman pulled he and his grandmother to the side, "I know i sounded strange back there, but thank you so much for giving me a reason to go outside, I think this is the only place they might not be able to hear us...". Her tone was more panicked, her eyes wandering around the backyard as if expecting someone to jump out at them and attack.
Her change seemed to take mason completely off guard, the boy a little startled as her expression became more panicked and anxious and she didn't wait at all to start explaining as much as possible. "You have to help us...you clearly have to have some link to this...please we need help and we're afraid to go anywhere and say anything and we tried so hard to stop the diazes from even mentioning anything all day.".
That explains why his grandparents were so weird about it, they must've been so confused.
"I uh...w-what...what's happening?", the small demon was still startled
"Your brother landon...someone came asking about him, well they originally came to see the diazes but they weren't home so they went to our house and they insisted on coming in and they took our boy...they snatched him...they told us if we said anything they'd come for us next and...please tell me you can find him...we don't know where he is and-".
Angie Diaz, who had no idea about the stuff going on back home, was both confused and overwhelmed, but mason, who did know about all this was also quite overwhelmed, "What...why did they-?".
"A wand...something about a wand...they want a wand...".
"A wand?!".
"I don't know where bernard is and we've been terrified to do anything since it happened, just...he's being held for random, I don't know why they took bernard or chose him but apparently it's related to you people and...", she was crying, and mason wanted to run back and tell his grandfather everything. But they might be seen or watched from inside, he'd had to get his grandpa out here to tell him.
"Can you find him-".
"I think so...", mason couldn't make too many promises for now, bernard was missing for a few days, who really knew where he was at this point. But he probably wasn't dead considering the ransom wouldn't mean much if he was. The fact the masked one knew about bernard however...now THAT was strange, maybe she knew him from the sleepover...but where he lived?
Did someone tell her?
Did she read someone's mind?
"i... better get grandpa...uh...just invite him out here and-".
"No no, you're less suspicious for me to tell because you're young but if i bring him out here...I...you need to tell him after you leave, we'll be fine just...bring bernard home.".
"No need".
The woman turned to spot sunny, accompanied but her grandpa, galeixa, mr diaz, and Bernard's father, her arms crossed and way too pleased with herself, "Your home is officially de-bugged! So...tell us, from the beginning".
"I beg your pardon?".
"Well, you don't want to do it, so...let me try...i've seen luna do it so...".
He held out his hand and celeste looked at him like he was crazy, tempted to wake judas up and stop this whole thing before landon could do another stupid stupid thing once again. But this time landon wasn't forcing her or had interest in just taking it off her, he was asking permission to help look for his friend, no strings attached. "Look, I get it, you're worried and stuff...but we have to take that risk...bernard could be...".
"It could be a trap...".
"I know...that's why i'm asking to use it, not you, if I screw up i'll take the blame for it and deal with the consequences, you won't...this is something for me, you don't have to get involved.".
Sky wasn't sure what exactly to say on her end, they both kinda had a fair argument, they didn't wanna risk putting themselves sin more danger but at the same time they saved angel's life practically through this spell, and who knows if they'd find bernard without it. The sooner they better right? Though landon was no expert on using that kinda magic and who knew if he could even do a spell like this.
Then again, sky was no expert either, and she doubted celeste was, if celeste wasn't comfortable using her wand for that, then giving it to someone temporarily who was wasn't a terrible idea.
"Look, celeste, i'll never go off and do anything stupid ever again, but please...let me try to save him...I won't break your wand or anything.".
"Dude, it's my wand...I shouldn't give it up to anyone, if i go home and have lost this thing i'll be in serious trouble...", but the look on his face seemed to hit a soft spot with her, clutching the wand in her hand as she summoned the rainmaker wand. "Alright, look, if you want it for a few seconds...i guess that can't hurt, but for the record, if something goes wrong you hand it right back to me...got it?".
"Yeah, of course..."
The wand being presented to landon seemed to make him anxious, this was different then the magic he tried to do, it was different and dangerous in it's own right. It was magic that was ancient and powerful and only few could really master, he never held a royal wand before, in fact he was felt worried it'd blown him up the second he touched it.
Which, wasn't unrealistic considering what it did when sky held it.
Sky was nervous, he was nervous, and celeste was nervous as she reached out for it, grasping it in his hand.
What came next did surprise him.
Landon had probably expected nothing much to happen and he'd just use the wand as normal, but instead he was met with a rather nasty surprise.
A burst of light came from the wand, landon's arm being shot up and the boy being spun around before falling to the ground. He was in completely shock the whole time, and looked utterly terrified.
Judas woke up finally from the action, the light scaring him half to death as everyone backed up away from the pink demon boy.
In his hand was no longer celeste's red rainmaker wand, instead replaced by a golden violin and bow.
They were stunning, and beautiful, unlike any wand any if them had ever seen.
And on landon's face, were markings, white glowing crosses, landon reaching to touch his face in utter disbelief and confusion.
"Landon?", judas said, gawking at his brother in surprise.
The other demon turned to his bewildered brother in shock.
"Judas...what's happening to me!?".
