"Just stay here in and keep quiet."

"I promise I'll be back soon dear."

"Wait here, everything will be okay."

That's what she had said over and over again while she hid him away. But no matter how much she tried to reassure him, he got this sick feeling in the bottom of his stomach she wasn't coming back.

She reached up and pinched his cheek, giving him a reassuring smile. "Just stay hidden and safe Asterossa. Mommy will be back soon." She turned and walked out of the door, leaving him behind, scared and alone.

That was the last time he ever saw her…

Astro gasped and shot up in his bed. He panted and looked around the room, ready to fight. He reached around for his sword, but couldn't find it. A pair of hands suddenly reached out and grabbed his shoulders. "Whoa, whoa, hold on! Calm down. You're safe now man," Micah said trying to keep him cool.

"Micah? Where am I? What happened?" he asked, still breathing heavy.

Once Astro calmed down a bit more Micah took a seat at the chair next to his bed. "Well, the first part is easy. You're back at base. As for what happened… I'm not really sure myself."

Astro suddenly felt a huge weight on his chest and barely had time to react before Sear dragged his tongue across his face. He had been totally unprepared and ended up with a face full of dragon saliva. He coughed and spat out what he could before looking over his dragon. "Sear?"

The dragon grunted before rubbing his face against his. Astro managed a weak smile and reached up, rubbing his head. "Hey, it's okay. It's okay. I missed you too boy."

At least he knew he wasn't in enemy territory anymore. He tried to get up from his bed, but Micah held his hand up. "Chill man, just rest. You took one hell of a beating. Your worst injuries got healed already, but you still got a few bruises and cuts."

Astro looked confused. He was healed already? "How long has it been?"

"A few hours I guess."

That… that was impossible. He was a fast healer, but not that fast. He knew he had at least two broken ribs. That didn't heal in a few hours. "How?" he asked, getting straight to the point. "Who was the one who treated me?"

"Nobody. We rushed you to the infirmary and your wounds just started… healing. The major ones anyway. You had nothing but cuts and bruises," he explained. "I… I think it had something to do with Nia…."

He raised an eyebrow. "Why would you think that?"

Micah hummed and laid back in his chair. "Maybe because… she's the one who brought you back here," he said. "I'm not sure how. She was screaming that you were in trouble, and suddenly there was a light. You were here, and in pretty bad shape. But she put her hands on you and you started healing. She passed out afterwards. She's fine, just tired I think."

Astro shook his head. "Wait… you're saying Nia brought me back? She opened a portal on her own?" he asked. Opening a portal without scissors was extremely advanced magic. Even his mother could only use it when she was in her Mewberty form. How had Nia managed to pull something like that off?

"It wasn't a portal. It was more like… teleportation I guess? You were just there all of a sudden. Mewman magic really is pretty amazing."

Astro looked even more confused. That didn't make any sense. Teleportation magic was a thing, but there wasn't any form of it that teleported other people to you. And healing magic was pretty tricky too. Healing something like broken ribs or arms wasn't an easy feat. "Where is she?" he asked. He needed to check on her. Something strange was going on and he needed to-

"Take it easy Astro. I know you're worried about her, but she's fine. You've been through a lot and you need to rest. Like I said, your major injuries might be healed but you should still try not to push yourself," he said trying to calm him. "Besides, she needs her rest too."

Astro grit his teeth, but knew he was right. There was no point in interrupting his little sister's rest. He didn't know what she did, but it had apparently saved him. She had earned a nice long nap. "Yeah… yeah, you're right," he said.

Micah nodded and then reached into his pocket. "Still, I figured you didn't want to just sit in bed all day so I grabbed something for you to keep yourself busy," he said, pulling out a handheld game. He passed to Astro. "It's Kid Icarus. Pretty fun."

Astro grabbed the game and chuckled. "Well, at least I won't be bored out of my mind…" He was starting to find these little Earth games amusing. Especially one Micah couldn't just ruthlessly beat him down in. "Are Kingsley and the others coming by. I was hoping I could speak with them about what I found out in their base. It was nothing major, but it might be something they can use."

Micah whistled. "Man, right back to work. You really are a workaholic," he said before suddenly frowning. "Hey… I'm sorry I couldn't move fast enough back there. If I hadn't let my guard down I might have been able to get to you in time. You might not have ended up like this."

Astro looked at him confused. "What? What do you have to apologize for? It isn't like you did this," he said before noticing his arm was limp. It was dislocated. He reached up and grabbed his arm before casually snapping it back into place.

Micah winced and rubbed his arm. His shoulder hurt just from watching that.

"We have just finished fighting an enemy. We never could have seen it coming. It's no one's fault. Besides, even if you had made it you probably would have ended up even worse then I am," he said before running his hand through his hair.

He stopped when he felt something poking from his head. His eyes widened and he realized there were two curved horns sticking from his head. "STUMP!"

Micah hummed. "Oh, forgot about that…"

He never saw Astro coming as the boy grabbed the front of his shirt and shook him. "How in the hell did you forget about two horns sticking out of my head?!" he shouted, shaking him.

Micah grabbed his wrists. "Hey man, chill! I thought that was normal for you. Mewmans transform and stuff right?" he asked. He heard Vera say something about the queen transforming one time. He figured this was the same thing.

"Not like this! This isn't normal! Well, it is for me, but… look, who else saw this?"

"Nobody. You did it in your sleep. A little bit before you woke up," Micah explained. Dang it, he must have let it slip doing his nightmare. "What's wrong man? Is this some kind of spell or something? Should we get you checked out?"

"No! God no!" he said, stopping him. He looked Micah dead in the eye. "Listen to me. Nobody else can know about this. Not a single sole. Not even Nia. Especially not Nia! Do you hear me?"

Micah held his hands up. "Okay man. I get it," he said. "But I don't get the big deal. You're part monster or whatever right? I thought monsters were all over Mewni. And you're the prince. Who cares what you are. They can't touch you."

Before Astro could explain the door began to open. Cayenne made her way inside and her eyes widened when she saw Astro was gone from his bed, and the window was wide open. Sear was sitting on the bed tilting his head sideways. She turned towards her cousin. "Where the fuck did he go?"

Micah sat there looking towards the window. If he had moved that fast when they were fighting that monster they probably wouldn't have needed Ryu's help. "Out… of the window…"

"Okay, is there any reason why?" she asked annoyed.

"He… he said he wanted some fresh air."

"So he leapt out of the fucking window?"

"I don't know, Mewmans are weird…"

Cayenne scoffed. "Ain't that the truth. Well when you see his ass tell him to come find me or Kingsley. We got a shit load of stuff we need to talk to him about," she said before turning and walking out.

Once he was sure she left, Micah got up and headed towards the window. He looked down and saw Astro hanging from the window ledge. "So… are you going to bother explaining to me what that was about?" he asked.

"Just pull me up damn it…" he said annoyed.

Micah reached down and grabbed his arms before pulling him back up. He groaned before squeezing his eyes shut and focusing. Micah watched and then winced as Astro's horn began shrinking back into his head. It looked… painful. Very painful.

When he was finished Astro groaned and rubbed his head. "Wow, that hurt me," Micah said, giving him a sympathetic look. "But I'm still confused here. Vera mentioned you mom a few times. She's like a huge monster supporter right? Why do you have to hide this."

Astro scowled. "It's not what I am. It's who I am," he said running his hands through his hair again, this time feeling relieved his horns were gone. "Let's just say I have a… complicated relationship with my father. And it's important that nobody else find out about this. I need your word you won't utter what you saw to another soul."

Micah stared at him. "Like I said, my lips are sealed." He knew if he was this serious about keeping it a secret it must have been important. It wasn't his place to pry. "But you know if you need to talk about this I'm all ears right?"

Astro nodded. "Thanks…" He appreciated the offer. He really did. But he wasn't planning on letting anyone know about this. He'd take it to his grave.

AJ sat back and looked at Nia as she snored away in her bed. She looked like a total mess with her arms and legs all over the place, and her blanket half hanging off the bed. She even had a snot bubble blowing in and out of her nose.

He had expected a princess to sleep more… dainty-like he guessed. But over the past couple of days he was starting to learn not to expect the cliché princess stuff he saw on TV.

The boy kept staring down at her. When he came rushing in to tell the other what had happened, he found his friend passed out on the ground. They had told him it was just from exhaustion, but he wasn't planning on leaving until he knew for sure she was okay. After all, this only happened because of him.

He tightened his grip on his chair. He had been useless back there. Worse than useless actually. Nia could have at least fought them off if he hadn't been there. But he'd gotten knocked down and captured in two seconds flat. This was the third time since they'd met she'd had to save his sorry ass.

It wasn't about just being saved by a girl that bugged him, though that did hurt his pride a bit, it was just feeling too damn useless. Before he could sulk anymore, the door opened and Vera made her way in. "How's she doing?" she asked, taking a seat.

"Fine I guess," he said as he watched Nia begin biting into one of her pillows. Even in her sleep she was trying to eat.

Vera noticed he was looking a bit down. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Getting my ass kicked and having to be saved by a girl three times in a row is a real confidence booster, you know?" he asked sarcastically.

Vera put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, relax. You were up against the Youngblood. You saw what they did to Astro. You're lucky to have made it out as unhurt as you did."

He scoffed. "Don't talk like you get it. You're some kickass demon princess. Plus you're a princess. Even if you didn't have demon powers or whatever it's cool if you need to be saved. That's like a princess thing," he said crossing his arms.

Vera laughed. "What? Do you seriously think me being a princess means I'm supposed to be defenseless or something?" she asked amused.

"Well, I didn't say you're supposed to be. I just mean nobody'll give you grief about it. Besides, you got powers from hell or whatever right?"

Vera shook her head. "Nope. As of now I don't have a single one of my dad's powers. All I really have are a few karate moves my mom showed me," she said.

AJ looked at her in disbelief. "Are you serious?" he asked. He had assumed her being the princess of the underworld she had some sick demon powers or whatever. But all she knew was karate. Karate was badass and all but… that was it?

She nodded. "I've known Astro and Nia since I was little. Astro had always been good at fighting and magic. And Nia, well, even before she got the wand you could tell she just had a whole bunch of magic power in her. Kind of hard not to feel weak standing next to them sometimes."

"So what do you do?" AJ asked, raising an eyebrow.

Vera lifted her fist up. "You work hard and get stronger, duh," she said as if it were obvious. "When I joined the Vanguard I started learning from Cayenne and working to get better. I know I still have a ways to go, but I'm getting there."

AJ hummed. He had thought about training or anything since he hadn't planned on getting involved in this hero or villain stuff. But it might not hurt to be able to help Nia out. Or at the very least not get in the way.

They heard a yawn and then turned to see Nia sitting up. She stretched her arms out and smiled. "Man, that was a nice nap," she said before looking around the room. "Wait, where am I?" she asked looking towards them.

"The infirmary. You passed out after you did some totally mystical junk," AJ explained.

Nia looked confused, but then gasped. "Astro! Is he-?!"

"He's fine," Vera said quickly, calming her down. "He was in pretty bad shape, but from what I heard his injuries cleared up pretty well."

"Oh, that's a relief… wait, why am I in the infirmary then?" she asked.

Vera rubbed the back of her head. "Uh… that's kind of hard to explain. I'll think I should tell it to you later. You just woke up and I don't want to overload you," she said.

Nia just shrugged. It didn't matter how it happened, as long as her brother was safe she was fine. She then turned towards AJ. "You're okay too right? I was worried those guys might try something after I went through the portal."

AJ nodded. "I'm good. The creeps bailed right after you left," he said leaving out the rather stinging insult the boy had given before leaving. "I'm sorry Nia. I got the crap kicked out of me back there. But this is the last time you'll have to bail me out, I swear it!"

Nia blinked a few times, and then reached over towards him. "Chop." She tightly chopped him on the forehead, leaving him looking confused.

"Uh… what?"

Nia smiled. "I chopped you for being silly," she said giggling. "You don't have to feel bad about what happened AJ. It could have happened to anyone. Heck, I was gonna stand my ground and fight if you weren't there. Then I would have gotten my butt kicked. So I kind of owe you."

AJ didn't even know what to say to such twisted logic. He thought she was just trying to make him feel better, but she seemed pretty genuine right now. "You're weird, you know that don't you?" he asked.

Nia just shrugged. "It's part of my appeal… at least I think it is."

AJ smirked. "Yeah, it is," he assured.

Hours had passed since Paw had been captured, and he was bored out of his mind. It was probably around midnight now, and they hadn't given him a single thing to entertain himself with. The Earthlings that had captured him put him in a highly secured cell. He'd tried to find some way to escape, but he was stumped. He'd have to look for a chance to break loose when they came to feed him or something.

Then he could bust out of here, find his confiscated scissors, and achieve his objective. He wouldn't screw around and mess with the lightning or wind ones this time. He'd grab Astro and get the hell out of there. He couldn't afford to go back empty handed.

The king would have his head.

As he thought out just how he was going to execute his plan, a portal opened up at the back of the cell. He raised an eyebrow. "What the…" That was odd. Who in the world would have come to get him right now? He still had a couple more days before his time was up.

He hesitantly got up to his feet and then made his way to the portal and walked through. When he walked out he found himself out in the middle of a field. "Hello? Who's there-?" Before he could finish a fist smashed into the side of his head, knocking him to the ground.

Before he could move a foot stomped down on him, followed by a sharp pain in his leg. He yelled out in pain as the portal closed behind him. He looked up and found himself looking into the eyes of Astro. He had stabbed his sword down on his leg so he couldn't move.

The monster felt like he was looking at a completely different person than he was early. Astro had murder in his eyes. A dark aura was radiating off of him, and Paw felt like he was choking off the dark magic he could feel coming off of him.

Astro pressed his foot down harder, making him cough in pain. He kept pressing down until he felt a few ribs crack. "Ah! Ah, stop! Mercy! I give! I give!" Paw yelled desperately.

The prince scowled. "Listen, and listen very closely. This is the first and last warning I'm giving to him. I don't know what he's planning or what he wants, and I don't care. I'm not playing along with his stupid games," Astro warned.

"Wait! Just hear me out! He only wants to talk- GAH!"

Astro kept pressing his foot down on him. "I don't think I'm making myself clear. This time I'm sending back a messenger. That's you. But if he tries this again, I'll be sending back a corpse. If he thinks he can get around the deal just because I'm on Earth now he's wrong. Go away, and stay away. If I see you here again, I'll kill you. Understand?"

"Yes! I get it! I understand!" Paw yelled.

"Good."

Astro reached into his hoodie and pulled out a pair of scissors. Paw's scissors. He opened up a portal before stepping back and then kicking Paw in his side, sending him flying through it. It closed it behind the monster and Astro took a breath.

The dark magic around him disappeared and he turned around and began heading home. It had been a pain getting Paw's scissors without the others noticing, but he needed to get him out of the cell without the cameras seeing him.

He knew they would freak out about having lost a prisoner, but he couldn't risk them figuring out what he knew. He had hoped him being on Earth would give him a break from all this, but it was clear his problems from Mewni were tagging along with him here too.

But he'd be damned if he let his father have his way.