"You have nice abs."
Typhon stood in front of the woman with a raised eyebrow at the blue haired woman. When she had walked into his den as if owned the place, he had been more than ready to end her life. He had no love loss for anyone in the Butterfly Family, and he had been bored out of his mind being stuck here for so long. It would be nice to have a fresh kill.
But when he towered over to her and flashed his most intimidating smile, he hadn't expected that to be the first thing out of her mouth. "Excuse me?" he asked.
Rosetta Butterfly smiled before reaching out and touching his chest. "All the pictures I saw made you look hideous, but you're actually quite handsome," she said, not even trying to be slick about groping him. "Oh, so well-toned."
He scowled down at her. "Are you… are you not aware of who I am? You don't seem to register that you're in danger," he said crossing his arms.
She hummed. "You're Typhon. Former member of the Magical High Commission, and sealed away by said Commission. I wasn't sure if you'd still be sealed here after all this time, but here you are," she said before stepping back and taking out a notebook. She started sketching him.
"You, a Butterfly, sought me out of purpose? Do you just not value life," he said before reaching out towards her. He put his hand right over her face. "I could crush you with the most minimal effort, and I wouldn't lose one wink of sleep over it."
"I suppose you could," she said as she casually moved his hand and kept scribbling. "But I decided that it was a calculated risk. After all, no knowledge worth attaining is obtained easily."
"…you're a very odd woman," he said before sniffing. "And you smell of… Eclipsa?"
"I'm her descendant… well, I'm her brother's descendant actually. She's the one who told me where to find this place," she said looking back up at him. "Would you be a dear and spread your wings out, I'd like to get a better view."
He scowled down at her. It really would be nothing to kill her right now. He could snap her neck, or just pulled her head right off her shoulders. But… something compelled him not to. The lack of fear this woman had towards him made him… curious. "Be quick about it."
Nia stood there with a neutral look on her face. Amber had one of annoyance, and Vera one of shock. After arriving Star had just decided to tell them what happened. Everything that had happened. She knew it might not have been her place to tell them about Astro's past, but after everything her daughter probably went through she thought she deserved to know.
"So, the High Commission basically killed Astro's mom?" Nia asked, crossing her arms.
Amber grit her teeth. She couldn't believe her mother had done something like that. Astro had basically been in the same situation as her. A little worse actually. "I don't believe it."
Nia hummed and then grabbed her wand. "Amber, I really don't mean to be rude, but I'm totally going to clobber your mom and the others," she said turning her wand into a hammer. She ran off, but Star quickly grabbed her. "No! Let me go mom! You can't seriously let them off the hook after what they did!"
Star sighed. "I'm not Nia. But this isn't how we deal with things. We can't just beat up anyone who does something wrong. Especially not the high commission… believe me, I've wanted to."
Nia groaned and ran her hands over her face. All of this was just… so much. She didn't know how to feel right now. Should she still be mad at her brother about not telling her? Sorry that he had to go through all of that? Angry at the commission for putting him through it?
She honestly wished she could just hit something and let all of this baggage go. Now she knew why her brother would run off to his own dimension and just thrash stuff sometimes…
The princess sighed before turning back to Amber. "We need to go back to Earth."
Vera grew wide eyed. "But what about Astro?" she asked. "You were so bent on going after him before. You're just gonna let him go?"
Nia shook her head. "Oh no. I'm still gonna go after him. I just need to get Sear so I have a ride. If he went to the monster kingdom, then that's where I'm going to."
Star held her hands up. "Oh, no! No, no, no, no! You're not going anywhere near the place young lady! Earth is one thing, but the monster kingdom is just… no."
Nia frowned. "But you let Astro go!"
"I let him go because he needs to sort things out with his father. Besides, he's technically they're prince. They won't hurt him. But you on the other hand…" she frowned. "Look, I've tried my best to make peace between everyone, but there's still a lot of monsters who would jump at the chance to go after the royal family. It's just too dangerous."
The princess pouted. "Well if his mom was a trueborn Butterfly then he's technically the real prince, and the real heir to the throne here too!" she argued.
Star clicked her tongue. That was technically true. Eclipsa and Meteora wanted nothing to do with the throne anymore, so he was technically next in line. But the Commission would have never allowed it. Not without putting up a huge fight.
"Sweetie, I understand how you feel. I'm worried about him too. But this is something he feels like he has to do on his own. I think we should respect his decision."
Nia held her hands out. "Mom! He does EVERYTHING by himself! I can't remember one time he ever asked for help with anything besides dancing! And that was only because of Maria!" she said, stomping her foot. "I'm his sister! I should be there to help him!"
Star held her hands up. "Nia, it's too dangerous."
Nia narrowed her eyes. "I'm going," she said with finality. "I don't care what you say, or what he thinks. He's my brother, and I'm tracking him down."
Star looked like she was going to say something, but then sighed. She knew even if she said not to, she was going to sneak away the first chance she got. Nia was definitely her daughter. She looked up towards Vera and Amber. "Would you two please go with her?" she asked.
They both looked sort of surprised, but then nodded. "We'll make sure she's okay auntie," Vera said. She knew she was hoping Nia would be safer if she went there with two monsters.
"If you're going to do this, you need to make sure you're careful. The scissors will only carry you so far there. Afterwards you'll have to go on foot. Find your brother the first chance you get. You'll be safe with him. And please try not to start an incident. We may have a shaky relationship with the monster kingdom but the last thing we need is to give them a reason to declare war."
Nia nodded. "Got it." She turned back to Amber. "Amber, you and me need to head back to Earth first. We need to go get Sear." Amber nodded and pulled out her scissors. "Vera, you go get Maria. She's gonna wanna come too."
Vera's eyes widened. "Uh… are you sure that's a good idea. You know when she hears what happens she'll be really mad right?"
"I'm counting on it."
Astro, now back to his normal Mewman appearance, walked up to the pair of large double doors in front of him. They towered so ridiculously high in the air he wondered just how practical these really were.
So this was it.
The Monster Kingdom.
It wasn't a castle so much as an old ruin. They had obviously done some work to fortify it, but it's age still showed. He let out a breath and then moved forward. As he got closer he saw two figures standing in front of the door. Both monsters.
One was a girl with greyish black skin, white hair, and emerald green eyes. She had a scorpion-like tail sticking out of her back. The other was a younger boy, with pitch black eyes, antennas, and bee wings sticking out of his back. He hovered beside his fellow monster.
The girl bowed as he approached. "Welcome home young prince. His majesty had a feeling you would be arriving soon. It's a pleasure to see you in good health. My name is Sting."
The boy buzzed in front of him with a wide smile. "And I'm Buzzbee. We're your father's top general. It's an honor to meet you young prince!" he said snickering.
"Where is he?" Astro asked, glaring. He feels like going through these formalities.
The girl stood back up and then turned towards the door. "Of course, I imagine you're in no mood for small talk at the moment. We shall take you to him at once," she said tapping on the door with her tail. They slowly began to open up, and she walked through them.
Astro followed her, and Buzzbee hovered after them. "Young prince, you do know you don't have to stay in that form. Everyone here is aware of who you are. There's no need to hide in that ridiculous disguise," he said.
The prince glared at him. "I'll take whatever form I please, and you'll shut your mouth until spoken too," he said irritated. Buzzbee just smirked and shrugged before making a zipping motion over his mouth.
As they passed by Astro noticed everyone moving around the kingdom. There were more monsters here than he had ever seen in his life. And they all looked… happy. Not that he hadn't seen monsters looking happy before. But he had assumed under his father's rule it would be more of a stronghold that an actual city.
But everyone here looked so carefree and upbeat. To his utter shock, he had even seen a few mewmans around as well. And if there was any tension between the two species, they didn't show it openly. "You look as if you expected to see something different, young prince," Sting said looking amused.
He grunted. "There are mewmans here…"
"Of course there are. His majesty doesn't discriminate against anyone who sympathizes with our cause. This is a safe haven for anyone wanting to escape the tyranny of the Magical High Commission."
Astro raised an eyebrow. Well, that explained while they had made no effort to be recognized by the court. And after the day he had it was hard to blame them. He noticed there were a few people using magic as well. Some of them were children. Did they just not have any type of restrictions here?
"Here we are, young prince," Sting said as they stopped at a large tower. "You'll find your father residing at the top resting. Between finally breaking the seal and ripping open a portal with no scissors, he was quite drained. I told him not to press himself before he returned to full strength, but he's quite stubborn. A trait he seemed to pass on to you."
Astro grit his teeth at the comment, but let it go and made his way up the stairs of the tower, leaving the others behind. When he reached the top he found himself in front of a large metal door. He kicked the door open and saw Typhon sitting in a chair.
It wasn't the extravagant throne he was expecting to see. Just a rickety old chair. Typhon, who had been sleeping, shot up and looked around. "What the-?! Who… oh, it's you…" he said yawning. He stretched his arms and neck. "You know, there was a knocker on the door."
He narrowed his eyes. "Don't screw with me…"
Typhon smiled. "Oh, someone is in a bad mood. Did you actually take my advice and demand an answer from the Commission? I'm surprised. I didn't think you'd take anything I said at face value," he said crossing his arms. "Did you get what you wanted?"
Astro scoffed. "I never get what I want…"
"That's life for people like us son," he said getting up. Astro could still hear his joints cracking as he stretched his limbs. "We're never allowed to be completely happy. At least not for long. So, what happened? Did you kill the commission and come running here for protection?"
The prince scowled at him. "I didn't kill any of them. Despite how much I wanted to," he said balling his fist up. He really had wanted to slice them down then and there, but it wouldn't make him feel any better. Not really.
Typhon clicked his tongue. "You're better than me. When I found out I wanted to skewer the lot of them. I greatly considered heading there the moment the seal broke and wiping them all out, but that wasn't what Rosetta would have wanted."
He noticed Astro's expression change when he mentioned her name. "I came to apologize for spending the last thirteen years of my life trying to murder you," he said crossing his arms. "So, I'm sorry. There."
"You don't sound very sorry about it, but apology accepted," he said shrugging. "Now I very much doubt you came here just to give a half assed apology. Is there any other particular reason you're here? Or did you really just come to make amends with your old man?"
Astro crossed his arms. "Why didn't you come for me?" he asked. "She was dead for three days, and TOM was the one who came. I know you were sealed here, but you could have sent someone, anyone, to come and look for me. Or did you just not care? I wasn't useful enough to start caring about until now?" he asked.
"That's not it…" Typhon said, frowning. "I just thought… I thought you'd be safer there."
Astro looked angry. "You thought I would be safe near the people who killed my mom?!" he asked in disbelief. "What the hell kind of logic is that?!"
Typhon glared back down at him. "I believed you'd be safer with Star!" he said looming over him. Astro looked at him confused. "I may have been sealed away here boy, but I had eyes and ears all over Mewni. I knew she sympathized with monsters. I also knew Rosetta was close to her. So I arranged for you to come into her care."
"What?!" Astro asked. "That's impossible! Tom was the one who found me and-!"
"And he did so after receiving word from one of his, or rather my, soldiers," Typhon said, turning back to his chair. He walked back and took a seat. "He was smart enough to know you needed to be under her watch. And she could protect you in ways I couldn't," he explained.
"Besides, I was still stuck here. What in the world would I have done if I managed to get you here safely? Keep you locked up in here with me? No. That's no life for a child," he said slumping down in his chair. "The Commission may have been able to see you, but they couldn't make a move against you. Not while she was there."
Astro shook his head. "So you sent me to them to protect me? Is that what I'm supposed to believe?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.
"You're free to believe whatever you want to boy. You're a grown monster."
Astro held his arms out. "What about all this then? You're kingdom? Why put all of this together?" he asked. "You were sealed away because you rebelled against the Commission. I may not give a damn about them, but if you're planning on starting a war I'm not going to let it happen. I'm still the prince of Mewni, and I'm not letting innocent lives get lost just so you can feed your ego."
"My ego?!" Typhon asked, shooting back up. He stomped over towards Astro who looked ready to brawl. "You think I rebelled against the commission just to feed my ego?! FUCK my ego!"
"Then why?" Astro asked.
He let out a low growl as he stood over him. "When the Mewmans went on the warpath and came for monsters, the monsters I was created to lead and guide, I stood by and did nothing. Because Glossaryck told me it wasn't our place to step into mortal affairs," he said, grabbing him by the front of his shirt and pulled him forward.
"When they drove them away from their homeland, I held my tongue and trusted that everything would work out for the better. When they oppressed, and killed, and discriminated against my people I stood by and watched. I hoped at some point things would change. Someone like your Queen would arrive and put an end to it."
"But it was never enough. Never enough bloodshed or pain. It just kept going and going, and I had to watch it all in silence. So you tell me boy. What would you have done?" he asked looking Astro dead in the eyes. The prince glared back for a few moments, but then looked away. Typhon shoved him back. "I did what I did because I was sick of being a mere observer."
He held his hands outward. "Look what I've created. A safe haven for monsters and mewmans alike. There's no tension. No animosity. No limiting those who can and can't use magic. I've made a place Star could only dream of creating. And I did it without the guidance of those fools. I have no plans to sully this place by dealing with those lots anymore."
Astro looked at him surprised. "You're… you're not going after them?"
"No," Typhon said simply. "If any more blood is spilled, it'll be on their hands. Now you have a choice to make boy. You can stay here and rule this place by my side, or you can leave and waste your time trying to create a half hearted peace that'll never last."
Astro stared at him. "I… I'm not staying here…" he said. "I can't, I have to go back home. My mother and Nia are back there. I belong with them…"
Typhon snorted. "Star and her daughter are better than most, I'll admit that. They truly do care for you. But the fact is that they're family will be forever trapped tirelessly trying to fix a broken system. This is the place you belong son. This is your home."
Astro bit his lip. Did he… did he really have a place back there? Even if his mother kept the commission in check, they'd still just see him as Typhon's son. And what would happen when the citizens found out? It was true a fair amount of people had become accepting of monsters, but there were still plenty who'd turn on him.
They'd call him a liar. They'd call the royal family liars. "I… I need to think…"
Nia tied her bag down to Sear's back and dusted her hands off. She had everything she needed to make the trek to the Monster Kingdom. "You packed all snacks…"
She looked up and saw Micah walking into the room. Despite his injuries from earlier, he looked pretty well. "Well it's not that far away. But we'll still need snacks!" she said smiling. "By the way, are you sure you should be up so soon? You got pretty banged up back there."
Micah patted his ribs. "I'm good. Turns out your brother and Serena know how to make some pretty good healing potions. Yonji looked over me and gave me the okay to go. Turns out the guy is actually pretty good with medical stuff," he said. "So, when do we leave?"
Nia didn't seem at all surprised that he wanted to come. Micah and Astro were pretty close. He was just about the only person he constantly hung out with on Earth. "Right now… wait, does Cayenne know you're leaving with us?" she asked.
Micah smirked. "She'll figure it out. Not like our department doesn't have enough people to pick up the slack in case something goes down," he said.
Amber walked into the room with her scissors already out. She noticed Micah, though also didn't seem surprised. "Well, if we're going to leave we should do so now. She's looking for you," she said.
"Right, let's go."
Amber opened up a portal, and the three made their way through, determined to bring the prince back home.