"LANDON!?".
Landon seemed startled, sure, he was expecting maybe something when holding onto one of the most powerful magical weapons in the world, but this was still shocking to him. No one could've told him this was going to happen to him. He thought he was just going to take the wand for a minute, use it himself so celeste didn't have to, and hand it over when he and sky both found bernard.
But his cheeks felt...warm?
Was this how his mom felt when their cheekmarks glowed?
His mom.
He was at a loss for words.
Years of feeling inferior to his brothers, and their superior mastery of their demon abilities, their father's.
How could he have never considered the weaker side he got from his mother might of led to this? His mother had markings, his mom used a wand before, he seemed in utter awe of this revelation, something he and no one else considered. Though considering his exposure to pure magic most likely only escalated this on him and made it worse, he reached up to touch his face, but his face felt normal.
But it was still glowing.
His face was glowing.
"Judas...I was just...i wanted to do the spell...the spying spell and find him and...judas what...how..". Judas wasn't even mad, reaching out to touch his brother's face, lost in thought, they had to tell their parents about this one. There was no way they couldn't mention this to them, landon barely knew what to do with this information and they would know better then anyone.
"Landon...I...", judas didn't seem to know what he should say, should he be impressed? Scared? Should he do something about it right now?
Landon quickly put the violin and bow down on the bed quickly, heading over to a mirror to look at his face, "S-sky...celeste...how do you turn these things off!? You can turn them off right? Please tell me these aren't permanent!?". He was patting his face as if it was somehow a light switch that would just turn his markings off, but of course they stayed as it, glowing pure white as sky's would when performing much more powerful magic.
"Knowing your mom's...they're probably not permanent, but like, if you keep panicking they're not going anywhere, you need to chill and they should die down...".
"What?! What do you mean by that?!".
"Dude, magic and emotions are basically linked, if you keep panicking, you'll just keep them on!", she said, waving her arms, "Take deep breaths or something, don't panic! Once you chill the magic should fade down...hopefully...". It was probably hard for landon to just calm down though, his face was glowing and he had his own magical wand pop up in his hands.
Of course he was panicking.
Any reasonable person would.
Landon tried to calm down, breathing and thinking of words, but the marks had yet to fade, probably because landon wasn't actually calm and was just trying to force it. The boy's mind was not at ease and for now they were just going to have to deal with it as is, the wand was still sitting on the bed, shiny and fantastical. Of course landon would have a violin as a wand.
She'd never seen it used by anyone who wasn't in her own family before, not even the one Queen Lucitor had, so this was a new one for her. What was celeste's blue teardrop gem was now what seemed to be a beautiful ruby, the gold wouldn't really be the first thing sky would think of when it came to "Landon", but then again sometimes wands didn't look exactly like their wielders either.
Even Celeste seemed to like landon's wand more then her own.
Landon was so obsessed over what just happened he nearly forgot why he waned to borrow the wand in the first place, quickly turning to sky again in more panic, "Bernard! We need to find him...I need to...". Only for judas to quickly intersect, "Oh no no, we have our friends and grandpa out looking as is...right now we need to tell mom and dad what just happened...".
"Judas..", sky said, tapping his shoulder, "C'mon, it's his crush and best friend...maybe that takes more priority right now, we can do it right after...and tell them what we found...if we find anything.". Guess she had a point, it was just last time sky used that spell, they did get exposed because of it, then again they also saved angel because of it as well...
He gave in, if only because a life was possibly on the line if they did nothing.
"Alright...I guess you're right, but unless he's in critical danger...we don't go in immediately, we need a plan if he is...just...be careful", landon still seemed highly nervous, no longer confident he could actually use this wand to do anything, in fact he wasn't even sure he wanted to touch it even thought he knew he had to. Celeste sure seemed uncomfortable in giving it to him now.
Sky gripped her own wand, praying it worked and her lessons were paying off.
Now she was teaching others like eclipsa and her mom taught her.
Landon carefully grabbed ahold of his wand, because it wasn't a traditional wand it was hard to say if landon would even follow the same rules sky did, but they didn't have much of a choice here if they wanted to do this, and they didn't have a ton of time to goof off if bernard was in any sort of trouble either. They needed to get themselves together and hope for the best.
"Ok well...hold the wand like this...uh...get a good grip on it, point it away from you...please...", landon stared and tried to adjust his wand, not really sure which way the magic would be shooting from considering it's shape. This was probably not the spell he would learn first on a regular day but it would have to be the first one for this case, though celeste looked about ready to take her wand back and just suck it up and do it herself.
"Ok, just repeat after me...and just...concentrate on what you're looking for...you need to focus...we might not get it right away...", landon nervously nodded, "Sure uh...i'll try...". He better try, if he didn't they might end up looking somewhere else entirely and be entirely off track, though him being her partner in this only made sky more nervous.
Sure, others had done it fine before but-
Luna, was a professional.
Her mom, was a professional.
Eclipsa, well eclipsa made the spell, so yeah.
They just, well they had to be careful.
"Ok...follow my words on this...", Sky coughed, nervously eyeing landon, "I summon the All-Seeing Eye...To tear a hole into the sky... Reveal to me that which is hidden...Unveil to me what is forbidden." Landon attempted to speak the same words as she did but he clearly fumbled a few of them, resulting in a spark from sky's wand, a tiny hole appearing before vanishing...and a spark only from the demon's new wand.
"Sorry...", landon quickly started saying the spell under his breath to remember it, "I'll try again, i'm ready...". Celeste looked nervous nearby, it was a bad idea to let landon do this wasn't it? Not that she would be much better with this spell, but still, this was a rough spell to make landon do when he was panicking and not sure even what he was doing was good or not.
It was just more stress on top of stress.
"I summon the All-Seeing Eye...", both parties started off, slow, giving the other more time.
"To tear a hole into the sky... ", their wands started to spark, small glow coming from both.
"Reveal to me that which is hidden...", their eyes were shut tight, gripping for impact.
"Unveil to me what is forbidden!".
A reaction, both wands forming eyes, a purple portal opening before them and-
It closes, it's shape vanishing from where it was and leaving the users again in the dust.
Again, they have to keep trying.
But the next try failed, and so did the next, the portal vanishing over and over.
However, it did seem to be getting better, small improvements, but they weren't fully getting it right, and even so...sky was doing better then landon.
They didn't have time for this, they needed to get it right.
He knew he was just starting out on magic he barely knew much about but he was quickly starting to feel just as useless as he did before, only he could possibly discover something about himself he hadn't known before and then proceed to screw it up when he needed it. He wasn't good before, of course he wouldn't be good now? What had he even expected?
His anxiety was quickly effecting his magic, and everyone in the room could tell.
This was a bad idea, and faint green light from his wand was a clear sign of it.
Landon was about to give up until celeste grabbed his shoulder from behind, "Do it again...c'mon, your boyfriend needs you right? If he's in danger you can't give up and sit here...dude just...have confidence in yourself. You did a bunch of dumb stuff but you can get better...don't give up, this is not the time for your to chicken out on doing something you care about...".
She was right, he was already giving up, and as sky started to raise her wand to do it again he started already chanting the spell again, sky being the one to try and quickly follow. Landon still wasn't good but it seemed having celeste helping him helped boost the power, a faint glow around the both of them to help make landon's attempt at a spell more powerful.
And this time, the portal finally stayed, sky in utter relief.
The portal however, showed very little, in fact it was too dark to see anything.
At the very least it ruled out a few options of where the human was.
"Bernard?", landon got closer to the portal before being pulled back by celeste, "Don't get close to it...you might as well be trying to die, we know that thing can at the very least see these spying portals...so if they break through we're out of serious luck". Landon backed off, "So wait...he can't hear any of us through this thing?", and everyone shook their heads.
"The whole "Spying" thing is kinda pointless if the person being spied on can see a giant spying portal in front of them, that was why it was a shock when she tried to break it before...she shouldn't see it", landon looked at the dark portal more skeptically, if bernard was in there he wouldn't have any idea anyone was even looking at him. Or maybe they got it completely wrong and weren't tracking him much at all.
After last time, that masked person was sure to have put extra measures up so they never spied on them again.
"Well, now what? should we just-".
That's when the door finally opened, a spider prince and half-slime princess returning with a pile of snacks, accompanied by a server who had some on a small table. Clearly they had expected to come back to everyone as they were, quiet and waiting, but with landon...how he was, everyone up and freaked, and well y'know...the giant portal sitting in the center.
And judas worked fast.
The two were pulled in with the table and the worked was shut out, with a quick "Thanks" from the demon prince as the bewildered royals nearly dropped the goods they were carrying on them. The food was put down as the two royals took in the scene before them, their faces had entirely dropped, and though they were looking at the portal, landon was definitely more of interest right now.
They were just...staring at him.
"So...landon wanted to find bernard...and well...yeah", sky said, rubbing her hands together, "Look...we're all a little freaked out right now, ok?". Angel was quick to come close, all his eyes directly on the glowing cheekmarks, "Wait...he can do that? I mean sure, i've seen Queen Lucitor with them despite being human...i've never seen them on well...a monster before...".
Considering meteora had them, and no one in this room had seen her, yeah, this would be everyone's first occurrence seeing this on a monster.
"They're not permanent...I think...", sky tapped her chin, "Queen Lucitor's aren't...but when you use butterfly magic or maybe get a little emotional, they'll act up...mom always told me they were more of y'know...a tracing of a mark since you guys aren't really mewman...but still marks anyway. But yeah, guess landon's gonna be getting used to this...".
Landon felt his face, "I have marks, i used a wand...and I did magic...".
"How did it feel...?".
Landon paused.
"Weird...but...I guess not...terrible either...".
Nora approached the portal, curious, though there wasn't much to see.
"Nothing?".
"Nothing...it seems".
Angel took a look at the portal next, contemplating what he was looking at, his ears flickering. "Well, I think you mentioned before last time you tried something like this a counter spell was used...right? To make sure you couldn't see what you were looking for...so...I guess it figures they'd be using one now. I'm not exactly an expert on your magic but well...that seems to be the case". He was right, they weren't stupid, whoever they were, of course they had protection up just to be safe.
"Yeah, but how do we counter a counter spell?!", sky asked, frustrated, "Even luna had no idea how to really fix this thing, not that he had a chance before they tried to break through, so what we were supposed to do about it?". Luna sure wasn't here to help them either, so it was all up to them to figure out something soon if they wanted to know what was being blocked from their eyes.
But what?
Judas came closer to the portal, thinking carefully before taking out the charm he had gotten from luna. This was possibly not going to work, he didn't exactly know what would happen, but it was at least worth trying just to text. At worst it didn't work and they had to try something else entirely, he hesitated before reaching out his hand to touch the strange portal.
he felt a strange stinging sensation as a finger touched the portal and he felt as if his arm would trigger from the sensation, thought upon closer look it did seem the mere touch of his finger left a small see through hole in the counter spell. Judas was purely experimenting but he actually felt impressed with himself, and so did sky who nodded with approval.
"Huh...nice thinking, guess it wasn't all bad you saw luna today...".
He clutched his arm, "Well, if this actually works, I-I can try to open up a bigger hole in this spell and we could try and peek inside and see what's happening, but...we'd need to be fast...it's not exactly the best feeling...". There seemed to be an agreement on this as the right solution, and judas looked to landon before looking back at the portal awaiting him.
He kinda wondered if maybe he should hand it to someone else, especially if this could trigger his arm into a reaction.
But he felt himself push that out of his mind, was he an idiot? Someone's life could be in danger here.
He gritted his teeth and went in, if he had to deal with the arm because of this, it would have to be a risk he was willing to take.
He pressed his palm flat against the portal, the stinging remaining as he gritted his teeth and closed his eyes. Sky and Landon were the ones to approach to get a quick peek inside, the sooner they did the sooner judas could get off before he couldn't anymore. Inside of the growing hole in the blockage they could finally get a view of whatever it was they wanted to hide.
Before their eyes they could spot stone walls, rather old ones by the look of it, the room itself was not very defined and seemed to be small.
But that's not what mattered, because their eyes quickly too attention to the main event.
In the center of the small room, annoyed and lost in thought, was a very familiar pierced, sweater wearing human.
Bernard was playing with what looked like cuffs around his arms and legs, and landon only stared at him, not sure how to react his expression was quickly twisted into one of serious anger, though upon closer inspection he seemed to also be crying. He was going through so many emotions at once and as judas removed his hand from the portal he had to pull landon away from the portal.
But not before sky snapped pics with her compact of the scene.
"Landon...are you-?!".
"WHERE WAS THAT!? I'm gonna CRUSH THEM!".
His eyes were glowing in anger, flames around him explosively that everyone had to stand back from his outburst. This was the maddest anyone had ever seen landon, and with his marks it looked like he might combust. Judas rubbed his arm before quickly trying to calm his younger brother down with a hug, pulling him into a tight embrace before his anger got the best of him.
"JUDAS LET GO OF ME! I NEED TO- I-I need to..." back to tears, as his eyes stopped glowing and he was crying into judas's shoulder, where were they supposed to go now? That barely told them anything about his location! Bernard being locked up anywhere really tugged at landon's heart, just thinking about how long he might've been in there, was he even eating?
What if he was hurt or-?
Sky's compact buzzed, she quickly pulled it out and her blue eyes widened.
"Hey uh...sunny texted me...they know as well...", sky gritted her teeth, "He was taken to be held ransom...".
"Held ransom for what?".
"They want a wand...".
Angel stiffened, considering how in the dark he had been about Her's plans, hearing this must've been making him rethink a lot of things. Though considering how much they seemed to thought they had targeted a rather powerful item in the underworld, and how loki had gone for celeste's own wand awhile ago, there did seem to be a high interest in magical weapons for whoever this was.
"Why? Aren't they powerful enough without one?", celeste grumbled, "They never needed one to do magic before...what could they possibly need the wand for?".
That...was a good question actually.
They clearly had shown to be rather powerful magically, whoever they were, they had no need for a wand to do spells, so what was the point in even having a wand at all? Most of anyone who wanted the wad simply wanted magic and to perform magic, something most beginners needed a wand for. There was little benefit to owning a wand unless you wanted to become powerful with magic.
Guess for the time being however, that didn't matter, what mattered was they wanted the wand for the boy.
And no one in their right mind wanted bernard in danger, or for this person to have an all powerful wand in their possession. This all seemed to be familiar to sky, her mother told her story once about giving up her wand for queen lucitor once, who had also been kidnapped and held ransom for a wand. Her mother had chosen her friend over the wand, a bold move, but if possible they wanted Bernard back and the wand.
Besides, sky might need her wand to bring her sisters home.
It would be no use with someone else.
But what could they do?
Well one thing was clear.
"C'mon, we need our parents...now...".
The removal of the bugs sent the couple out of control, they talked over each other, were constantly panicking and asking questions, and overall all their emotions were let out to everyone. The diazes had no idea what had been happening, so even they needed to be a bit filled in on what they were missing. This had gotten chaotic rather fast and now they were overwhelmed by bernard's family.
Though their reaction was fair.
Dave would be the same if tom was kidnapped like that.
Sunny was texting sky and carefully slipped her compact to her grandpa, sky had sent them the pic which he carefully kept away from the distressed parents.
They didn't need to see that, they were under enough stress.
"Tell sky to talk to tom and marco...we should stay here...just in case that thing notices we destroyed those bugs and come back...", the parents were in danger too and leaving them here alone was out of the question. Though as sunny texted dave whispered to her, "for the record, I'm impressed with your skills finding those bugs, well done back there..".
"Well...it's something you and papa taught me back home...I'm good with this stuff...".
"I can tell, and I appreciate it...".
Sunny beamed.
"And mason...?", he turned to look at his grandson. "Despite what happened earlier...thank you for helping out too in this..". He reached over and fluffed his grandson's hair, "You did good...thanks mason.". Mason seemed actually rather flattered, even if what he did to help was small at best. At least this time around he didn't get caught and make things worse.
"What are we going to do?", he asked innocently, Curious what their plan even was at this point.
"Well, we're just going to stay back for now, keep them protected, sometimes the best thing you can do is put it in other's more capable hands.", he sat back and watched the couple talk to the diazes, "Marco and Tom are experts on going out on missions, if they can figure out what to do i think they can handle this well...". His attention turned to bernard's family, tapping his fingers.
They turned to him, still incredibly uncomfortable and anxious as any couple would be under these circumstances. But at the very least they were talking and giving them some sort of assistance instead of pretending there was nothing wrong while obviously acting like something was probably wrong. The former king of demon still lined with more questions about the kidnapping.
"So...question, this was all done for the sake of ransom...correct? We never received a ransom before this point so i was curious about how they thought we'd hear about this?". The couple exchanged looks, "Well, with your grandson and our son being friends they thought we'd tell you... or he would find out, but well...we never were sure how to get in contact with you...I think they assumed we all in really good contact".
Dave pointed to the diazes.
"Oh...right, that might've worked...we were well...a little panicked at bernard being taken by a magic flying doll...sorry.", they shrugged their shoulders sheepishly, "Bernard...tells us stories sometimes about well...landon, but we never thought this would well...lead to something like this. Granted, him going to a demon realm probably wasn't rather safe to begin with."
"It's a bit safer then it used to be...", the old king quickly added in, "My kid in law really knows a lot about making things safe i'll tell you that. Bernard was safe being there...but unfortunately it seems someone took notice of him.". Honestly after this they were lucky if Bernard would be allowed back on mewni considering how going to mewni led to him being kidnapped.
The man couldn't even completely defend his own kingdom, he nearly died several times down there, some of which were doing rather simple tasks.
But it HAD improved, and it didn't seem they were the direct cause of this situation themselves, bernard seemed to have just been unlucky as the captive for this. He however, had not been harmed by the looks of it so at least he was still better off then what had happened to angel, though they were on a time crunch and who knows what would happen if they didn't act now.
No one wanted t think on that.
"How can we guarantee his safety?", Mrs Lydia nervously twiddled her thumbs, "We don't know anything about your...weird world how do we know he'll be back in one piece.".
There was really no easy way to say it honestly.
We can't", the man said plainly, "But...honestly if we don't get him back safe and sound I don't think landon will ever forgive us, and that's enough for my family to make sure of it.". They didn't seem to know how to react to that, but they didn't have much of a choice but to trust in them for the time being. Lydia let out a weak laugh, "Bernard used to hide chocolate bars around the house...since we weren't fond of him having sweets...I remember cleaning his room to find one hidden in a show box...he's such a smart boy...though strange.".
"I see you miss him.".
"Any sane parent would...I just wish we hadn't fought before the kidnapping...".
"You had a fight?", that seemed to make everyone pause for a moment, as if wondering if something more had happened during this whole thing.
The couple exchanged looks, "We aren't big on his well...magic thing, we don't find it practical, he's always been upset about it with us.". The mention of it seemed to get sunny's attention, who frowned and bit her lips. "You mean you don't support his hobbies? But he's really passionate about them! Why wouldn't you support something that makes him happy?!".
"Well...it's just not practical as a career...few make it and he could work on something else...prepare for something more...helpful for his future".
They said it so casually and it really seemed to bother sunny in particular, not that it didn't bother the others, even the smiley diazes were feeling the tension in the room from that comment. The couple seemed to have noticed they hit a nerve with the people who were here to protect them and seemed to fall silent, no one in this room knew Bernard that closely but they did know his magic seemed to make him happy.
"I'm a prince...", mason said, his legs swigging off the side of the couch," I like to garden...I know I'm not built to garden and I know being a prince gives me an advantage, but...being able to garden just means a lot to me...it makes me happy. Bernard has magic, magic makes him happy, why don't you want to do anything that makes him happy?".
"Well it's not that-".
"Pardon me Mrs Bonderio", The diazes finally spoke up, Angie raising her hand, "But whether or not your son makes it as a performer, if he decides he doesn't want to do that, maybe it's best for him to figure that out himself instead of picking that for him? Raf here paints for a living and I do lectures, they're not the kinda jobs you would expect typically but they made us rather happy anyway...sometimes the best jobs for us are not the ones people first think of".
"If you ask me...", dave interjected, "I think bernard would prefer to come home somewhere he could enjoy what he enjoys...i'm sure he knows he's loved but...supporting your child is just as important...I promise you that.".
They didn't say a word, though Mr Bonderio said less then his wife, preferring to let her speak.
Must be a rather quiet man.
"We'll find your son, but I think you all have some stuff to talk about once you reconnect.".
Tom and Marco were handing some meetings in tom's office, signing some paperwork when judas came in, the demons they were talking to leaving and shooting the prince glances as they headed out. Honestly it was embarrassing to interrupt his parents like this, but it was for important reasons, so there was no time to waste anyway. They had to get this done now before things got worse.
"Judas! Alright, what happened?".
Judas shuddered, "It's a long story but...don't freak...ok?".
They shot him confused looks as judas motioned for landon to come inside, accompanied by celeste and sky.
Wand and marks in full center.
The reactions between the two were mixed.
Both started in shock, as anyone would, marco pressing a hand to their lips as they processed what they were both seeing. Landon felt so uncomfortable, he wasn't sure what his parents were supposed to think about this, his dad was already upset about what happened to judas when he was created. How was he supposed to process landon having cheekmarks?
Marco walked over first, reaching out to touch landon's face, their marks lighting up immediately at the meer touch.
Then they began to cry.
But their face had warped into a smile before landon was crushed in a hug.
"They're beautiful...".
Landon was frozen stiff, not sure how to react to that.
"Oh landon...you performed magic!? I'm so impressed! What spell did you learn?", the boy seemed rather overwhelmed, stumbling on his words, red faced. "Uh..well...I um, I wanted to find bernard and-". Marco looked at him dead in the eyes, "The all seeing eye...that was the first spell I ever tried as well, you...did the all seeing eye too?! To find bernard? Landon that was both irresponsible...but...also rather impressive".
"You're not mad?", he said, eyes shifting.
"Mad that you discovered something about yourself through the love you have for someone you care about? Well, we'd be hypocrites to be mad about that...at least you didn't do anything super dangerous...". They ushered tom to come forward, and tom was still gawking at the sight in front of him, the purple and pink demon coming closer and looking carefully at the boy's marks.
"You're so much more like marco...I...wow...".
Landon was crushed from a group hug with his parents, judas's face twisting into a smile behind him at the sweet scene before him. He knew their parents couldn't ever be mad at landon for this happening, but landon had every reason to be anxious about it and to feel anxious about it. As his parents gushed about landon's cheekmarks, judas coughed to get their attention.
They had other matters to get to.
Judas held out his compact, the picture sky took and sent to the other plain in view for the couple to see, tom immediately taking it from his hands, "Y'know, normally I might get mad you did this without saying a word but...if this saves his life...I can't get too mad...just tell us next time." He took the compact from him as marco further looked over landon.
Tom rushing to get in contact with star to further identify this location.
"I'm sure you feel a little strange...", the human mumbled, thumbs tracing over the markings, "Don't worry, you'll get used to them...they're not permanent anyway." As if to demonstrate, marco's own moon marks vanished, only making landon more embarrassed, "I-I can't seem to turn them off...I think i'm panicking so much I can't seem to control them at all-".
"It's ok, this whole thing is kinda freaky...take it easy...ok? Don't stress out. We'll handle this".
"You sure you're ok?".
"Landon, we love you now matter what...all your imperfections, all your weird quirks...you don't have to be afraid about dealing with this alone or being a freak...your are important to us and we aren't gonna get mad at you for something like this. You look fantastic and we'll help work through it so it doesn't feel nearly as scary...you got it?", they waited for landon's answer.
His shoulders relaxed, nodding.
"Yeah star, come over as soon as possible, if we can identify the stones we might know where he's being kept...but the sooner the better, call your mother if you have to, we need to act fast.". Landon was torn between his emotions about his marks and his emotions about his crush and best friend being in danger, he was a mess of anger, sadness, and anxiety.
Judas could tell too, his arm still in a bit of pain, and he was trying hard to keep it from getting any worse.
His brother was in no emotional state to go anywhere right now, and he probably wasn't either.
Marco ushered them all out of the office for now, surprised to see celeste sitting outside of the door, next to sky who was still holding her own wand. They were eating from one of the trays angel and nora brought them, angel and nora next to sky and also eating, startled by marco's sudden entrance. It didn't take long for marco to put two and two together when they say sky with her own magical weapon.
"He's using your wand...isn't he?", they asked celeste, who didn't look at them, but nodded.
"Landon, maybe you should give it back to her...for now...", Landoned stared at his wand and bow before handing it over to his half sister, the girl taking it from him as they transformed back into her red, blue and gold rainmaker wand in a flash. Landon's cheekmarks finally fading down without the wand under his control, though with his emotions right now, they could easily come back.
But his mom being here did seem to help.
Angel reached out, offering landon a roll, the boy taking it and biting into it.
All they could do was wait for now.
Star was quick to send guards out almost everywhere she could after seeing that picture, though tom had to tell her to minimized most of them, considering whoever kidnapped the boy could catch on and either hurt him or go somewhere else. This was their opening to find him and they could easily lose it if they knew what was happening and for all they knew they had ears in many other locations.
They needed an idea where to look and they needed to go there without looking suspicious.
With jackie gone, Kelly was already here to help out, right next to katrina.
They were already both giving out plans of action and marking off locations they knew were not this one.
But considering how big mewni was, this didn't help as much as they liked, there was no reason to believe bernard was still even on mewni and not in an entirely different dimension.
"Maybe our best approach is lucy...even if she is a well...rather large and easy to spot dog...", tom scratched the back of his neck, "Or we wait till the ransom arrives and have her come to us while the rescue happens...without a clear idea where he is a rescue is going to be even more tricky...maybe if had had something on him that maybe we could track...".
"His cell phone!", marco said suddenly, "Maybe he still has that! We could use that to go and find his location!".
"Marco, he has a human cell phone! It's not like a compa-".
"Landon provided his number, if we have his number, we can find his phone...", Star looked outright surprised, guess there were still things about human tech she still didn't know anything about. Tom on the other hand, well aside from being impressed marco could hear him mumbled under his breath a little, "Well...that's a little bit creepy...actually...maybe more then a little...".
"I'll go get this sorted out...we'll meet back here with a plan...guess we'll be skipping on dinner tonight...Tom, get your mom, star you outta find eclipsa and janna, kelly and katrina? See if you can get ahold of jackie. "., marco raced out of the office and the group disbanded for now, all with a mission on their hands and no time to goof off. The kids all watching them pass by.
They didn't even protest at not being in the meeting.
They were tired enough as is.
Judas himself was trying to go back to sleep, clutching his arm, though even sky could notice his arm was acting funny, like it was trying to shift but resisting heavily. It probably was not making it any easier for her best friend to get any rest. Honestly after doing that she probably owed him quite a lot, even if he did it not expecting anything in return.
Angel was sharing food with her, everyone back to sitting around and talking and contemplating everything happening.
Especially landon.
If Sky could read his mind right now she was sure it'd be full of anxiety and tons of overwhelming thoughts, he was mostly staring at the floor. His parents probably wanted to spend time with him in his time of need but with bernard at risk they were just going to have to leave him with his brother and his friends, there must've been something strange about going through your life seeing yourself as unremarkable.
Only to find through your mistakes you were more special then you knew.
But landon didn't seem...happy about it, anyone might of found having secret powers exciting.
He wasn't sure what to make of them.
Was he happy? Terrified? Sad? Angry?
There was so much to think about now, more then ever.
And the thoughts of bernard in trouble were only making those new emotions more complicated.
He was hugging his body and squeezing his shoulders, wishing he had confessed before this all went down just in case he never got the chance to confess. If Bernard was brought back he HAD to confess, after he rested, well...after everyone rested. He might never get a chance and his parents might never let him see landon again after this entire thing and-
"Landon...for the record...what you did back there was pretty cool."
Sky offered him a donut, the demon taking it without looking much at her.
"I had help...", he was quick to dissmis exactly what he did it seemed, kinda reminded sky of herself a little.
"Still...pretty cool for a first spell...".
"Thanks...", he said, though his voice was still on the downer side, sky had dealt with landon for years, his bitter attitude and grumpiness were common to her. Though she really had no idea how to deal with it, sitting there and twiddling her fingers. She kinda wanted to cheer him up, something she usually never did but felt inclined to considering how upset he was but she didn't know how.
"Hey...um...landon...I know this whole things is sorta...freaky...I...got mad when angel was well...almost killed...I went off the edge too...wanted to hurt her for what she did.", landon eyed her, wondering where exactly this was going, "So I just...while you're dealing with these new...emotions and stuff...just...be careful...i'm not a demon but...I know magic can get out of hand if you're not careful...".
"We both should want to crush her...", he added, "Does it matter if they're hurting someone we care about?".
"I dunno...but like...when you start hurting people with green magic around here, they tend to make you out as the bad guy...not to mention when magic goes green...well...anything can happen...you don't think I wanted to break the chandelier right?". Landon went quiet at that, he clearly knew internally sky probably didn't, though what if she did?
What if she did and didn't know she did? Had some sort of urge to hurt someone but was unable to really control it before it got out of hand?
"Look, it's just...magic is complicated...and you know less then I do about it...if you ever use that wand again...just...be careful...you don't wanna attract the wrong kinda attention...", though the demon crossed his arms, eating his snack, "Not like I get much attention anyway...right now I just want to save him, that's it...that's all I care about...I want him to be ok...".
"I'm sure he's thinking about you throughout all this...".
"Knowing him...he's not scared...well...not showing he's scared...but he's thinking of some way out of it...", something about that seemed to almost make the demon smile, a faint redness on his face, "He'd never just sit there and let his happen...he'd want to figure out an escape plan himself...like any magician would. Though he'd have to improvise.".
"You think he is?".
"I know he is.".
He sat back and kept eating, "I-I...I'm going to tell him...".
"What."
"I'm going to confess...as soon as he gets back.".
She looked at him like he was crazy, probably because she thought he was, "Not sure after a kidnapping the first thing he wants to hear is a love confession from his best friend there bud...". She didn't meant that to sound rude or anything, it just did baffle her that he intended to do this after bernard hopefully survived a kidnapped and dangerous rescue.
I'd be like her telling nora she was in love with her right after saving her from where she was locked up while her parents were still missing.
There were times where it was best left secret for the time being, even if she admired his boldness here.
Did landon even seem sure he was ready?
He'd never confessed to anyone before, and this was a big moment for him in general. His hands seemed to be shaking and sky only could scratch her neck as a response, "Just uh...be careful...". She left the boy to her own devices only to find angel was staring at her, quickly turning his head, embarrassed to have been caught eavesdropping as his ears pressed to his face.
"Uh...sorry...".
"You heard your name and got curious didn't you?".
He turned redder, "Y-yeah...sorry for eavesdropping on your conversation...".
But sky simply shrugged, "Whatever, it's fine, I could talk if you want...like maybe how you and nora seem to be getting close...". Angel stiffened in his seat, his legs twitching a little, "Oh? Uh...yeah...I guess we are...working with you guys has just uh...kinda brought us together...she admires you both and I went from fighting you to getting along with you so...we've become friends because of you...".
"Well, I think it's great".
"You do?".
"Hey, seeing you and nora go from no friends to a ton of friends is nothing to scoff at...trust me...", she leaned back against the wall, "A lot has changed since we were fighting...don't think we'll ever be the same after all this is over...". She was right about that for sure, no one would get out of this the same as ever, it was far too large to really do that.
"I um...I'm sorry we never became friends before this point...I would've liked being friends for much longer...", he seemed to still have some regrets only for sky to pat his shoulder, "Best not to worry about it too much, judas regrets a lot just as much...now that we are friends, better that you make the most out of it instead of think about what could've been...maybe we needed to fight to learn something or another...".
"You think so?".
"Judas told me his parents were originally enemies, now judas fussing about how lovey dovey they get every time they're in the same room together. Like they're first date was literally his dad tricking his mom into helping him win a badge or something and then that led to them somehow singing to each other? Anyway point is, well...I kinda felt like a total jerk to you...".
"Yeah well...so did I...".
She found herself laughing to herself, "Yeah and y'know...i'm really glad we're not doing that anymore...fighting like that. I'm actually really happy that we're well...friends...it's weird to say but...I like working with you...". Angel smiled softly, he liked hearing that honestly, "Yeah It's a bit...odd...all things considered but...I do prefer this over you and judas pining me down...".
"Eh we can still pin you down, just...not from fighting like that...", she joked, "Yeah...it's well...I'm sorry If i ever...said anything mean or stuff...before...I don't...want to be like that...not again. Maybe it was justified to be upset about my mom and that you were attacking others...but I just mean...I'm sorry if I ever went too far, you shouldn't have to be the only one to apologize for all that...".
"That's...really nice of you...", he clutched his knees against his chest, "Thank you.".
"Y'know, with eclipsa teaching us magic and landon now having well...THAT...maybe we could sorta teach him or something? Together, i mean you're magic isn't the same as butterfly magic but y'know...you learned a lot about it with me...so...maybe we both can help him out. I mean, if mom is gonna be busy and eclipsa well...yeah...maybe keeping landon from using the magic he has badly might be a good idea...".
He seemed to like that idea, though sky got a sneaking suspicion he was a little worried about it.
She had used it badly too after all, not all on purpose.
It was a nice thought, but how could she teach someone something she didn't even fully know how to do? She'd have to think more on it, she just knew looking at landon himself, that if they weren't careful, landon could abuse the new power he's discovered. Her mother could also do it, but better to be around her in her eyes then her mom at this point.
At the very least, everyone HAD to keep an eye on landon from this point forward.
"I think bernard will make it...", sky mumbled.
"How come?".
"Galexia has a drawing of um...a hug...everyone is in it...including him so...he has to make it...I hope.".
Angel was silent at that, but a nod from him said he trusted her on that, even though he knew as well as she did by now that not all of lexi's drawings would come true or not into the world. In her own eyes though, there was no reason to hurt bernard, the masked being only attacked angel because he planned to expose them and tried to attack her.
So they didn't hurt just to hurt.
If bernard didn't do something stupid, which from all her encounters with him told her he usually didn't...no harm should come to him.
But then again, she couldn't promise that,
What she could promise was everyone here would be here for landon no matter what throughout this, there was no way even his parents could kick him from helping out now . He was in too deep, and he was much too important to be neglected. Even angel seemed nervous around landon, knowing the pain of a loved one being in danger and feeling helpless all too well at this point.
Judas slept nearby, grasping his arm in his rest.
At least he was getting rest at all right now, though the way it was acting put sky in worry, she still had the device to zap him if needed, she still had her tazer, but would that do anything? If that portal situation told them anything, pain only provoked it, it didn't send it back. Angel and Nora looked just as concerned about the arm, the necklace clearly wasn't doing much to affect it.
It seemed to be hard as is to keep it from coming out by force at the moment.
Though the shifts in purple and the fingers unfusing and fusing together was not pleasant to look at, in fact it was shocking judas could sleep with it happening, unless it wasn't as painful as it looked. Though as Sky looked it it, it almost seemed to move in line with judas himself, not entirely, but it did make her wonder a little. She'd never seen judas force back a transformation before.
Curious.
Though soon enough, the adults started to return, the most important and first being marco themselves.
"I HAVE IT!", quickly heading inside the office, Tom following them behind soon after, ushering the kids inside to update them. Judas had been awoken by his mother's loud excited boasting anyway. The Queen quickly put the phone out for everyone to see, and sure enough, it had marked a location for bernard's phone. "I might've went to the compact store and had them track it down...compacts and cell phones connect after all...he seems to be...in the musty mountains somewhere.".
The news seemed to bring some light into landon, but also some fury.
"So...what now?".
"Well, star's already sent some spies over there...when they find his exact location, we go in for the attack.".
Marco smirked as his mask magically appeared on his face, his eyes glowing and his mask ready for action.
Tom already getting dressed up in a cloak to better hide his face.
Star in armor under her own cloak.
And Janna...well janna was already wearing a cloak before they even told her what was happening.
Today they were going to save a child, and maybe catch a criminal.
And the kids?
Left behind, as they expected they would be.
Left in worry and in anticipation.
They trusted their family would be fine, it was more, well...what if they were walking into a trap or something? Or maybe she was one step ahead of them if they had figured out her location? It was always scary when your parents went out, cause sometimes you never knew if they'd come back. The kids left to their imaginations at what the adults were up to.
And as they were stuck there, their parents were already walking through the musty mountains, following marco's tracker closely and hiding themselves as much as possible. This was far from their first rescue mission, would unlikely ever be the last, though it was tense each and every time. They were tough fighters but they'd had their fair share of defeats as well.
And they were almost going into deep waters on this one.
There was a sense of dread, unsure of what they were to find when they found the boy, they knew he was unharmed, sure. But even if she weren't there waiting for them no doubt it would be full of traps just in case someone like them found their way or the boy himself attempted to escape. They were all on caution, well, everyone except for janna it seemed.
Janna was cautious, but she was always loving every minute of this.
The musty mountain town was quiet, they were more eventful with their underground mountain city then on the outs in most cases. Making this town in general incredibly scarce in people. It was hard to say where bernard was, he could be in any of these buildings, but he could also be buried deep underground in a hidden cell. There was no way to be sure without more investigation.
Their spies pinpointed them here, but while they were out to make sure no one escaped and look out for further info, it was time the royals stepped in to get into the action.
"We might have to split up...", Tom acknowledged, "You and janna? Me and Marco?".
Only for janna to snicker, "Really? If we let you two go together you won't be able to keep your hands off of each other.". Tom blushed and Marco patted their back, Yeah, but i'm not going with you because you can't seem to keep your hands off me now can you?". They looked to Tom and the idea of working with Janna didn't seem to please him too much either.
"Actually, let's just go with the first option...", star piped in, "I have better control over janna then you guys anyway, just stay focused on the job, we gotta hunt for the juicier details". Marco rolled his eyes, he and tom could focus on the job if a boy's life was in danger, they weren't that love struck. As long as star and janna didn't get into too many hijinks.
Which always happened with them, no matter who they were working with.
They split off, one team going one way and the other team going another.
They knew from the tracker they were close, but a tracker could only do so much unless they knew where the phone itself was.
And they didn't.
Tom almost felt relived seeing the woman head off, the less pressure on him during all this the better. He didn't need star or janna judging how he and marco handled things like this, hopefully both of them could come back with joined info of the next step. Tom turned to his partner and sighed, "So...where should we start? Got any good ideas fof where someone with a murder boner for spider teens would hide someone?".
"Honestly maybe the best thing we can do is ask some locals, see if they've noticed anything strange".
"How do we know none of them are working for...you know who?".
"Well tom, the glowing eyes might be a dead giveaway, though last we heard from angel he was the only one who did it willingly.", there was a chance there was more and angel never met them but still. Granted, with how much of a criminal they now were, anyone would be a fool to trust them at all. Angel was a fooled teenager, so they could go a little easier on him.
But anyone at this point who went on their side...
Well they'd have to meet the wrath of some of the most dangerous rulers in mewni.
Their first stop to investigate? The local tavern, a place where many criminals they could interrogate could be. Not that they expected to just spot a masked being getting drinks at the bar but it was good a place as any to ask about anything weird and suspicious from people too drunk to remember what they said. Granted, they could also send them on a wild goose chase by rambling stuff that didn't actually happen.
They'll just have to take their chances for now.
The bar was mostly mad of stone, with a wooden roof lines with straw, on the inside it actually looked rather beautiful all things considered. It had a fireplace, plenty of tables, a warming atmosphere. Well, the pigoat's head on the wall wasn't exactly very welcoming, but other then that it wasn't too bad. Even though the people occupying it were a varity.
Some looked intimidating, some were just casually hanging out, others were dancing and singing to music nearby.
The Musty Mountain Kingdom were a kingdom of mole creatures mostly, it was a mining kingdom for the most part. They weren't close with the butterfly or lucitor kingdom overall, keeping mostly to themselves and themselves only. At the very least that decreased their chances of being recognized, if they had gone to something like the mer folk kingdom they'd been lucky to make it out unnoticed.
Tom nodded to marco, who headed to the bar as tom took a seat at a table, watching some of the residents, some had looked upon them as they entered, but went back to their own tasks soon enough. Marco themselves had been to plenty of bars in his life, they kinda had a knack for places like this, and how to mostly act so no one noticed what they ere up to.
And the mask on their face certainly made them intimidating for anyone watching them.
The bartender gave marco a look as they cleaned some mugs, mugs that seemed to be made of skulls actually.
They seemed to be worried marco was about to start something with how they were eyeing them, before sitting the skull down and looking at them in the eyes. "Can i help you?", they weren't being rude, but not being nice either, in fact marco thought they were trying to our-intimidate them. Just judging from the way they squinted their eyes and leaned across the counter.
Marco shrugged, "Oh, just hanging out, looking for someone...".
"Oh?", they snorted, "Well if it's the person who gave you that face, then better look elsewhere."..
Marco assumed the guy was talking about the mask, but who knew at this point.
Regardless, how rude.
Marco ignored that comment and proceeded to move on with the ask at hand, "No, not them, see, I'm looking for someone in black, wears white mask, perhaps has magic powers...". They were slightly deepening their voice, hoping maybe it would be enough to send some shivers down the moleman's spine and hide their identity just that much more.
They snorted in response, "Who are they, your lover?".
"Nah, trust me, I have someone way better...but enough jibber...have you seen them?", marco's face turned cross, his eyes glowing a little more as the moleman started turning away from their gaze. "Well, a lot of strange people come in and out every day, can't be expected to remember all of them, might of had a few weirdos like that come in...like you for example.".
"Yeah but this weirdo is pretty hard to miss, i don't see many people around here in big black dresses and doll masks...".
The guy was clearly trying to avoid telling them something, and marco wasn't going to fell for his mind games. The moleman went silent, continuing to clean a clearly already clean mug, marco glaring at him. "Sir, if you have any updates...I'd like to know, this is important, I don't think you'd want to cross me if you can help it. If you have any info, I'd like to hear it.".
He coughed, "Are you gonna buy something or not?".
Marco continued to glare, getting drunk would only make it harder to get things done, instead a glare of magic coming from their hands, getting the bartender's attention. He gulped, "Look...someone might of come in looking like that, but only for a day, we haven't seen them since...they're probably long gone by now...might as well head out somewhere else.".
"You're not being honest with me, I can tell.".
The monster snarled, "Look pal, if you wanna find your friend you're better off heading out and looking for them yourself...not bothering me about it". Then the bartender's attention turned elsewhere, to tom in fact. The king was talking to a few of the the people at the bar, and in fact, they were all smiling and laughing together, tom cracking jokes at them and making them holler.
Well, good to know tom wasn't taking this seriously.
Marco shot him a look as one of the bigger and scarier mole people put an arm around him, "Yeah that freak of a woman went off about some underground house she stays in, I think that's what it was, either way she was obsessed with it!". Then another piped in, "That creep can't leave anyone alone, wants to shut us up they do! No one can talk squat about them!".
Marco was baffled.
Of course Tom figured out info from just talking and making friends with some drunk criminals, of course. Tom even looked at marco with an awkward expression, like he hadn't even expected this to work all that much. Marco sighed, tom was too cute sometimes, at least they got something good from this. Though the bartender looked utterly horrified about the scene.
"Get out", he said, rather rudely, more then he ever had been before.
Marco turned back to the mole, who pointed at the door, "The lot of ya! Get out! We're closing early today!".
And despite the protest, tom and marco and the rest of the crowd were quickly moved outside, the door slamming shut behind them. Leaving them all back outside, and a little frustrated they couldn't explore the place further of dna or any clues of the thief's whereabouts. Marco simply shrugged, "Well, he was pretty close to kicking me out honestly anyway.".
To be fair, it wasn't the first time marco had been kicked out of a bar.
Tom snickered to himself, "Well, that was fun...didn't realize how much of a charmer i was...", he sent marco a wink and marco rolled their eyes, smiling. "Well, at least that wasn't a total waste of time...we outta meet up with star and janna, wherever they went. We can exchange anything we've found and maybe we'll be a step closer to his location.".
Maybe, it depends what the girls had actually done with their time, for all they know they went widely off track, which was very accurate for the both of them. In some way marco wished he had taken their son along, judas was not someone they ever wanted in danger but they could trust judas to keep focus on their task. Though if star truly cared about something, she'd get it done.
That he didn't doubt.
Tom talked more to his new bar friends to gather any further information on the masked being. Apparently they had indeed been spotted, but not wearing the same mask, they were talking about someone in a dark cloak and cat mask. But they considered it to be the same person judging from tom's description, people had mostly seen them as a ghost.
Seems the knew look kept them from being spotted as the wanted criminal they were.
But an underground house? Were they living inside the mountain ?
They had to take a chance that this was real and not the rambling of a drunk mole monster, just because the bartender seemed rather bothered by it being mentioned. They were just going to have to do some digging, maybe some actual digging at one point. "We've never seen the house, there are just rumors going round about hearing chanting under the ground...and since that thing is a new addition...we assume they're connected.".
Another one of the crowd piped in, whispering, "The town's been a little...antsy about that gal, something about her seems...off...unsettling even. No one can talk around her...and no one wants to cross her...frankly hearing someone come by with answers is a relief.". Marco seemed to be thinking hard about this, seemed the being had relocated here to stay in hiding after they say then last, knowing the people hear knew little about them.
Clever, that means while they never found her old hideout, she had a new one within their reach.
"Has anyone ever...seen them without their mask?", tom hesitated to ask, but it was worth bringing up despite him knowing what the answer would be.
"Sorry, no, no one dares to challenge whoever that is...not even the toughed among us.", nodding to their fellow monsters, "Ripping off a mask is just asking for a fight, but i tell you, they must love it enough to keep it on all the time, who goes into a bar with a mask all over their face...honestly!". Tom furrowed his eyebrows, "You're right...that...is strange.".
"But well, we're heading off to the next tavern, you coming big guy?"
The gang of scary looking mole people nodded to tom who sheepishly shook his head, "Uh sorry, not now, maybe later...uh...thanks for talking to me!". The mole people waving him off as tom sighed, amused. But his face shifted, really considering what was just said, "Marco...most people go to the bar to have fun, party sometimes, but usually to eat and drink...".
"Yeah?".
"If this person isn't there to eat or drink, and clearly not since their mask never came off, and they are mostly definitely not there to party...why do they go into the bar?".
Marco scratched his chin, looking back at the tavern that kicked them out, "C'mon, let's go meet up with the girls and contact katrina, but we have to be fast...I think we're not done in there just yet.".
Meanwhile Star and Janna found themselves nearby, checking out everyone's homes door to door, partially because janna probably just wanted to get into people's houses. It wasn't going much anywhere so far, unless you counted scaring some of the residents, but you couldn't prove the thief wasn't hiding in a regular old house nearby unless you made the effort to check!
Though they probably wouldn't be invited back inside anytime soon.
Another door slammed in their face as star check another one off of the list.
"I don't think this plan is working janna, we might have to go try something else if we wanna get a step closer to saving bernard...and...janna?". Star turned around to find janna speaking to more residents a smirk on her face and a terrified one on theirs, when you wanted to intimidate someone, you called janna, even tom wasn't nearly as scary as she had made herself out to be.
She had a presence about her, she always tended to scare the living heck out of anyone that crossed her just by standing in the same room as them. It's probably one of the reasons she made such a good queen, no one wanted to cross her. If she didn't intimidate them then she had plenty of others ways even without magic to help her out with the most unruly of mewmans and monsters.
If she was taking this whole thing seriously she had a good chance of getting some real info from these people, if they didn't keep slamming doors in their faces over and over again to avoid eye contact. If they didn't make progress soon, well they'd meet up with the others empty handed, and they couldn't afford to do that. Not when someone's life was in their hands.
They were going to have to figure out a whole new plan if they wanted to find what they needed, this was getting them nowhere and they didn't have all night to keep running around like earth girl scouts.
Star tapped janna on the shoulder, getting her attention away from bothering the townsfolk who were more then eager to get away from her. Janna crossed her arms and seemed to realize star had a few ideas of what they could do next. Star nodded to some kids playing nearby, maybe the adults would refuse to say something, but kids? Well who knew, maybe they had a better chance.
She knew how they were as kids after all, if they weren't getting into trouble, trouble usually found them.
Star dragged janna long over to the kids playing with a rock, smiling at them as they mole kids started at her in confusion. She kinda stood out with how colorful she was in this grey and dirty town, and so did janna. If they weren't careful, they might scare the kids off thinking these two weird woman were up to no good , star quirk to get to the point.
"Um hey kids! We're looking for someone...you seen someone creepy with a mask around here?".
They kids looked at each other, then at the queen, "You're weird".
Janna snorted and burst into laughter, "I love them already.".
Star tried again, coughing.
"Um...I'll give you candy if you tell me...with insect cores?", bribing tended to work with most kids, janna sure knew that well enough.
The kids looked between the three of them and the middle one stepped in, "The witch doesn't want to be seen...she lives under the dirt and speaks to no one, anyone who meets her gaze may suffer a terrible fate.". The kids's eyes seemed to be darting around the area, as if expecting said witch to come out and grab them and punish them for speaking about them.
"She doesn't talk...to anyone?".
They shook their heads.
"Momma sees them at the tavern, they go in, and rarely come out...they're like a ghost.".
"Tavern?"., that wasn't really what star had been expecting to hear, if anything.
"Yeah, the PigGoat's demise, it's haunted.".
Star looked over to janna, who as already heading out on her way to said tavern, star almost running away she she remembered her promise, reaching into her bags. "My wife kinda likes passing these out to gross people but glad someone likes them!". She eagerly headed out some scorpion lollipops, finally happy to be rid of those things, the kids taking them before stuffing them...into their ears.
Ok...
Star, maybe a tad grossed out let out an awkward wave before running off to find janna, knowing janna would very much get herself into trouble if star didn't catch up with her in time. Janna tended to like finding trouble, and knowing her she was already prepared to break inside of this tavern. That is until star found the woman lying on the ground .
Two familiar royals under her, one holding their talkie with katrina on the other end.
"JANNA!", marco said, annoyed.
"Hey marco!", janna said, brushing off her outfit, "Good to know you guys weren't too far, better watch where you're going though, there's 5 eyes between the two of you.". Tom shot her a look before star approached, "Guys! We thinks we might have a lead...there's some tavern...that she goes into...we should check it out...we should...guys?".
Tom and Marco exchanged looks, sitting up in the dirt, concerned.
"Which tavern exactly?".
Star looked spooked, as if she said something particularly awful to them, and it didn't take long for marco to get ahold of katrina again, their heart beating fast.
"Katrina? I think we found the exact location, get over here fast, we should strike right away."
