Episode:
3: Status Quo

After his bout with the Washer Beast, Adam tries to acclimate to the new status quo. Janna attempts to parley with him.

Later that evening, Adam found out just how annoying getting magical water to dry was. He'd been trying to dry his clothes for ages now, but nothing seemed to be working. Every time he'd thought he'd managed, the teenager found the other side was still dripping with water. Not to mention his hair remained completely soaked. Fortunately, it was short enough not to be too much of a problem.

Lavabo hadn't been much help, but at least he did tell that Sir Jaxon guy about the Washer Beast. At least now, he was free from being vilified by the Queen. And he didn't have to worry about being thrown out of the castle when he just got here.

Adam had been sitting on a bench in the castle gardens when he ultimately gave up trying to get the water out. He set down the towel cloth he'd been using down beside him and sighed to himself. The birds chirped in chorus, wandering the grass with animalistic naivety. Unfortunately, the Mewman had no birdfeed with him to pass the time.

He watched the sun in the far distance begin to set. A dark orange pigment poured out from the horizon, reaching across the sky overhead.

Thoughts of back home began to fill his mind.

Back there, he never would have imagined actually living in the Butterfly Castle. Or even spending sustained periods within its enclosed walls. He'd usually avoid it, knowing the high security and fatalistic journey that would entail. In fact, he rarely even wanted to spend time in the kingdom at all, only ever there for scouting, reconnaissance, or to meet up with a contact. Adam always had this sense of uneasiness whenever he traversed the streets, as though a Butterfly was reaching into his soul at all times.

This Mewni was different. Something about it made him feel more like a fantasy world had come to life. As though this was the Mewni he dreamt about from his short childhood living here.

He remembered a few details. Living in these walls always felt so secure for him, as a toddler, as though the rest of the world beyond its boundaries didn't exist, and it was just the cosy interior of the Butterfly Kingdom. Unfortunately, the memory of that feeling had gotten only scarcer for him, and the feeling of fear, and hatred, remained.

Adam remembered very little about his biological parents. They were Mewmans, of course, but that only made sense. Whether his father was a copper merchant or a stall seller on a street corner, he didn't know. Something made him think his mother had been a noblewoman, but he didn't have a clue about their statuses.

All he knew was that they didn't love him.

At least his adoptive parents did. When they found him, he'd initially been scared of them. As a toddler just barely out of babyhood, he had been frightened when something he didn't understand appeared to him. Adam thought they'd eat him, or worse, but they didn't. They took him in, and raised him as their own, despite the fact he wasn't like them.

Then he met his best friend, Beru. Beru had always been energetic, and enigmatic, as a child. There were few days where a smile did not grace his face. Even when ridiculed for his small horns, he just kept smiling like nothing could touch him. Adam had shared much the same sentiment, free from the woes of later life, and filled with childlike innocence of a young boy.

Every cell in his body wished he could return to such simpler times. Times when Beru actually smiled, and didn't have a permanent scowl on his face. Times when Adam didn't have to worry about what was for dinner, or if there even was a dinner.

When had things gone so wrong? It was easy to pinpoint when, and rather depressing when he knew there was more than one incident.

Getting abandoned. Losing his new home and parents. Losing his best friend. Losing Janna.

All of it as a result of the people who lived in the castle he found himself sat by. Alternate versions of those people, to be accurate. It was so hard not to think about all those things he had lost, and all the things that made him crave revenge. And yet, the settling sky and warm clouds gave him a sense of momentary peace to himself.

This world was untouched. Untouched by the fury and conquest that had marred his reality. A whole new existence with infinitely different possibilities for infinitely different people. Now, Adam sat among them, the sole Mewman from another world where life persisted but didn't want to.

Ending up here had been so random Adam could almost call it destiny. If he believed in destiny, of course. Not to discredit all believers, but the warlock believed, quite firmly, that his life was in his own hands. And nobody else's.

A part of Adam admitted it was indeed nice here. Peaceful, and not consumed by war and blood. If he failed to return, at least he had somewhere to stay.

His mind crossed to a question he hadn't considered before. If he existed in his reality, was there a version of him in this one? An alternate counterpart to himself, but a completely different history . Moon had said they had not been able to identify him after he was captured, so it was more than likely his alternate version didn't live in Mewni. Or didn't exist.

What would an alternate version of him even be like? No doubt completely different to him. He'd initially thought that this parallel version would not have been abandoned by his Mewman parents as he had, but this idea seemed less likely. There was no record of him; no one matching his appearance and nothing on any of the censuses.

Maybe he didn't exist in this world. Maybe that was for the best. Maybe it didn't matter.

'Adam, right?' a voice greeted.

The Mewman turned to see Janna, of all people, was approaching him.

'Uh, yeah,' he agreed, immediately sitting up. He tried to hide the smile creeping up on his face.

'Mind if I sit?' She asked, prompting Adam to shake his head. Janna sat on the further end of the bench, putting her feet up on the wood next to him. 'Nice view, isn't it?'

'It is, actually,' he admitted. 'I don't have anything to feed the birds, though.'

'Don't worry, dude, I got that covered.' She reached into her bag and produced a large plastic bag of bird feed. Ripping open the tab, Janna offered it to him.

'Thanks,' he said with a small smile, reaching in and taking some. Throwing some out at the birds, Adam watched as they all descended upon it and snapped it up between their beaks. He watched and remained silent.

'Look, I'm trynna extend the olive branch here,' she stated candidly, with a humorous smile.

'Oh! Sorry,' he apologised quickly. 'I just figured that…it would be a little awkward for you. Since…you know.'

'You mean since I found out you're from another universe where I was murdered by one of my friends?'

The Mewman was taken aback by her frank delivery. Rubbing his scalp abashedly, he began to nod.

'Yeah. It's…a lot to take in for me too,' he responded.

'I've noticed,' the Filipino said. 'You can't even look me in the eye.'

'I don't want to,' Adam confessed. 'If I do…'

'…you'll see her,' she completed for him. 'I get it, honestly.' There was another poignant silence between them, before Janna came up with something to say. 'So…you and her – me – were friends, right?'

'Um, yes,' the teenager answered disconcertedly.

'How'd we meet?'

'On Mewni,' the Mewman said. 'I was infiltrating the city through the sewers when I found you doing some weird occult ritual.'

'Ha! Sounds like me.'

'Yeah,' Adam agreed with a small chuckle. 'You said you were from Earth but you somehow got to Mewni. You asked me to get some ingredients for you, which took a while, but after that we became friends. Not long after, I had to leave the kingdom, but I asked you to stay as my contact for the Butterflies. You were already "friends" with Star because of Toffee and the Resistance, so you agreed.'

'You mean…I was like, a spy?' Janna asked, sitting up in excitement at the possibility.

'Basically, yeah,' he told her with an impression of humour in his inflection. However, as he thought about it, his countenance darkened. 'It was dangerous. You wanted to be more helpful, so…you returned to Star, and faked being friends with her again, to keep me up to date on what she was doing.'

'I'm guessing being her friend has a long job description.'

'If she decided she didn't like you anymore, you'd be incinerated,' he stated hardly. 'I told you not to, but you wanted to help with my…revenge plot.'

'Revenge plot?'

'I have more than a few bones to pick with my Butterfly Family. I've always wanted revenge, but I had to be clever about it.'

'This world you come from…is it really that bad?' The Filipino realised, her eyes widening in concern.

'"Bad" is an understatement. It's a nightmare.'

'Well, at least you had me,' Janna supposed. 'I'm pretty cool.'

'About the coolest person I knew.'

'What was I like?' She inevitably asked, out of curiosity. 'The other me, I mean?'

'Weird, but in a good way,' he described. 'You had some…concerning interests, but you were always a lot of fun. Kinda refreshing against all the doom and gloom. And well, I can't even begin to describe how thankful I am for all the help you gave me. Sure, your hatred for the Butterflies was a strong motivator but…you helped me much more than you needed to. You were the first friend I ever had in a long time.'

'I'm glad the other me did a good job.'

'You sacrificed your life to help me,' he clarified. 'You did more than a "good" job. You were amazing. It's just that…amazing people always die.'

'It must be hard not to compare me to her,' the girl admitted, with no sense of judgement in her voice. Adam gave out a sigh.

'It's hard not to compare anyone here to their…others,' he replied. 'Especially Star. I watched her kill you, but in this world, she's nice and you're not dead.' Finally, he summoned the courage to look her in the eye. 'I look at you, and I see a ghost. And it's not fair to you. I see one of the most amazing people I knew, and you see a stranger. I should be seeing a stranger too, but I don't.'

'You can't seriously blame yourself for having grief, right?' Janna enquired in disbelief. 'Dude, I'll admit when I found all this out, I was overwhelmed, to say the least. I mean, how could I not? Suddenly, there's this guy who knows me, and is so pleased to see me, and I'm clueless as to who he is. Yet here I am. Wanna know why?'

Adam looked up at her in perplexity.

'Why?'

'Because I know that, despite how crazy this is, things are going to be fine. I'll work through this, and I'll adapt to the new things. I don't have to let these things take over my mind.'

Adam hummed in agreement, as he thought over her words.

'Yeah…you might be right,' he somewhat agreed. 'Besides…I should be happy, right? You may not be my Janna, exactly, but you're still…Janna.'

'Unless this was some other universe where I had a different name. Like…Rutherford.'

Adam laughed at the comment.

'Rutherford's a common girl's name, is it?'

'I don't know, man, ask my parents,' she replied with a comedic grin. The Mewman chuckled in amusement as the two stared at each other. Janna raised a hand between them and said, 'wanna start over? Friends?'

A bright smile on his face, Adam reached over and shook her hand in agreement.

'Janna,' she greeted.

'Adam,' he said back.

'Now that that is over,' she said. 'Mind explaining why you're all wet?'

'I had a fight with a Monster in the Wash,' he said curtly. Janna sniggered.

'Only on Mewni would that sentence sound perfectly normal,' the Filipino joked.

'I don't even know how it got there,' the teenager confessed. 'The Washer Beast kept eating people's clothes, so I was thrown in to take care of it.' He patted down his damp clothes exasperatedly. 'Turns out, magical water doesn't evaporate very easily!' He sighed. 'I created a spell to rapidly heat water, but I can't use it to get the water out. I don't wanna set my clothes on fire.'

'It really hasn't been your day, has it?' Janna presumed with an intrigued raise of her eyebrow.

'Well let's see…' Adam replied, a pensive look on his face. 'I opened a portal to another multiverse, ended up outside the castle, I put a knight in Dreamless Sleep, I fought Star Butterfly, I found out it wasn't the right Star Butterfly, I got offered a room in the castle, I fought a giant Washer Beast and now I'm…sitting here feeding birds.'

'It's peaceful, though.'

'Yeah, they're much nicer than the birds in my universe,' he observed. 'They're mostly big angry vultures who like to eat out your eardrums.'

'Yikes.'

'I think "yikes" describes it pretty perfectly, actually,' the warlock concurred, staring at the tweeting birds on the lawn.

'Ahem,' a voice addressed to his left. Adam turned to see a straight-postured man with a stiff upper lip, wearing royal black apparel. 'You must be the former prisoner.'

'Adam,' Janna corrected. The man scoffed.

'Adam,' he said in disgust. 'Whatever the case may be, I've been sent to collect you.'

'"Collect" me?' The teen said in confusion, frowning.

'That is correct,' he confirmed. 'I am Manfred, one of the many royal servants of the castle. I am to bring you to the royal dining room. You have been invited to the royal feast.'

'Oh, uh…thanks,' Adam replied, caught off-guard. He glanced at Janna. 'Well, it looks like I gotta go.'

'Don't worry about it, dude,' she assured him, waving a dismissive hand. 'I'll be around.'

'Alright, cool! Thanks for the birdfeed!' He exclaimed with a genuine smile, as he leapt off the bench. As he walked towards Manfred, he turned back at Janna one last time. 'Keep me up to date with the goings on around here, will ya? Helps to have information.'

'You got it,' the girl agreed, giving him a single-finger salute. Adam smiled and left to follow Manfred.

On the way to the royal dining room, it became abundantly clear to Adam that the people in the castle weren't particularly fond of him. It shouldn't have surprised him, honestly, as they probably all knew about how he had attempted to assassinate the heir to the Butterfly Throne. It was a little annoying for him, given they'd all made their minds up about him before even speaking a word to him.

However, Adam couldn't exactly express any of that exasperation. Expecting them to warm up to a former prisoner was as likely as a human casting magic. The dirty looks they continually gave him certainly didn't make him very comfortable.

Of course, Manfred didn't pay much attention to him. He kept his nose up, pointed away from him. He kept a posture that was remarkably rigid, towering over him a magnifying glass over a fly. For a moment, Adam was concerned that he was going to get jumped by one of the royal staff, and Manfred, more than likely, would just walk away and pretend he hadn't noticed.

By the time they reached the door, Adam was just about ready to hide inside. Ordinarily, he wouldn't have cared, but something told him it wasn't a good idea to get on Moon's bad side by indulging in these people's rage fantasies.

Reluctantly, Manfred opened the door for him and allowed him entry. Adam stepped into the royal dining room.

It was a long, relatively narrow room with several rows of tall windows on either side. A large, rectangular dining table sat in the centre of the room, orientated so one end was pointed to him. It had an expensive blue cloth covering some of it, held down by numerous plates, cutlery, candles and bowls. There were multiple seats placed on both sides, containing the same blue carpet over it.

'Your Majesties, I present –' Manfred began.

'Hey Adam!' Star interrupted, with a bright disposition. His eyes snapped to her. She was sitting on the near side of the table, next to Marco. 'What happened to your clothes?'

Adam looked down at his clothes and realised they were still damp. They were no longer absolutely soaked, but there was definitely still a lot of water absorbed.

'Washer Beast, remember?' He reminded her.

'Oh,' she remembered. 'Well, that's no good.' After a second of fumbling through her handbag, she produced her wand.

'Star! No magic at the dinner table!' Moon scolded, but the teenager merely ignored her. Instead, she pointed her wand at Adam and conjured a blast of hot air that nearly knocked the young man off his feet.

After the sustained blast finished, he patted his clothes down and found they were now completely bone dry. Running his hands through his hair, Adam realised they had dried now too, as though the water had never even been there in the first place.

'Oh, uh, thanks,' he appreciated awkwardly, as he stepped towards the table.

'Greetings, Adam,' Queen Moon said, her voice echoing from the far end of the room. 'I am glad you could make it.'

'Oh, so this is the prisoner,' King Butterfly said gruffly from beside the queen. 'Moonpie, you can't seriously be allowing this scoundrel to eat with us?'

'I am, River. Adam here could be a great help to us.'

The Mewman looked between the two awkwardly as he took a seat opposite Star and Marco.

'We can't trust him, I tell you!'

'Your concerns have been noted,' Moon brushed off. 'For now, just try to enjoy the meal, honey.'

'Oo, corn, nice!' Adam exclaimed with a bright smile, as a plate of it was set down at his side of the table.

'I take it you are a fan of corn?' The Queen deduced with an intrigued look.

'Yeah, I used to have it all the time when I was a kid,' he said with a nostalgic smile. 'My parents had a corn farm out front. We had it a lot for dinner but…I never got bored of it.'

'Aw that's really nice,' Star commented happily. She gave a prompting look to Marco, who was currently digging into his meal.

'Oh!' He realised, looking up at Adam. 'Yeah, your parents sound pretty cool.'

'My parents were good people,' he replied with a sad look on his face, as he began to munch on some of the corn he'd been given.

'I am glad to hear that. I'm sure they'd be proud of you,' Moon said respectfully, a tentatively forlorn expression forming on her brow.

'Well, of course!' River interjected boisterously. 'Any self-respecting Mewman would take care of their child with the utmost care and concern!'

'My parents weren't Mewmans,' Adam told him, frowning at him slightly.

'Nonsense! How else would you cast magic?'

'My real parents were, yeah,' the teenager confirmed, folding his arms. 'I wasn't raised by them. I was adopted.'

'Really?' The Queen asked, purely out of interest. 'By whom?'

'By Monsters,' Adam answered curtly. At this reply, River spat out his drink of water.

'Oh? By Monsters?' Moon repeated, trying to remain complete composure. Star gave her a prideful look in the corner of her eye. 'That's…lovely. I am sure they raised you well.'

'This is balderdash!' River interrupted. 'A Monster raising a Mewman? They'd sooner eat one than feed one! They are utterly barbaric!'

'Dad!' Star yelled angrily. 'We've been over this! Monsters are people too!'

'You know, you're one to talk!' Adam argued, glaring at the king. 'In my universe, King River Butterfly is the most brutish, barbaric meathead in all of Mewni!'

'Oh, is that so young man?' The King exclaimed, rising off his seat. 'I'll have you know River Butterfly in this world is the bravest of them all!'

'River, please sit down,' Moon requested tiredly, attempting to pull him back down by his arm.

'I refuse,' he replied, rolling up his sleeves and clenching his fists. 'This boy insults my honour!'

'You insulted my parents!' The warlock pointed out. 'Parents who happened to be murdered by you and your wife! You're just like them – you hate Monsters for no reason at all.'

'Well, why don't you come here and test your metal!' King Butterfly taunted, storming over to him. His path was immediately blocked by a taller figure over him.

'No, dad,' Star commanded, an apoplectic look on her face. 'You're not attacking our guest!'

'"Guest"! He tried to kill you!' River disputed.

'I mean…I have to agree with him,' Marco chipped in, warranting a dirty look from his best friend.

'Not. Helping. Marco,' the princess scathed, prompting him to go completely silent. She turned back to River. 'Look dad: it was all a misunderstanding. Adam's not a threat to me.'

'He cannot be trusted!' The King boomed. 'We should have left him in the dungeons!'

'RIVER JOHANSEN!' Queen Moon bellowed, freezing the king in place. 'Return to our bedchamber at once! I will see to you when the meal is over.'

'But Moonpie, I –'

'Go!'

Sighing in defeat, River walked past the side of the table opposite Adam and walked out the room. He muttered multiple expletives to himself on the way out. Star gave Adam a sympathetic look to which he gave an abashed shrug of his shoulders.

'A-Adam, please accept my sincerest apologies –' the Queen began hastily,

'It's fine,' he cut off, waving a hand dismissively. 'If he wants to think that, then I can't really stop him. I just wish people weren't so prejudiced towards Monsters.'

'I'm doing everything I can to put an end to the Monster oppression,' Star assured him with a determined look on her face.

'We all are,' the Queen added.

'Then you have at least one supporter,' Adam said stoically, looking down at his food.

There was a long silence after that.

Marco seemed the most at home when nobody was talking. More accurately, he was at home when Adam wasn't talking. Star laughed awkwardly after she made a joke that nobody laughed at. Moon continually glanced up at Adam in his peripherals, probably trying to determine if he was upset or not. Meanwhile, Adam himself just continued to eat his food in silence.

Despite the atmosphere, it was a nice meal. The meat and corn were nicely done, certainly better than anything he had had recently. That morning, his breakfast had been Fickleglow berries, which, while being nutritious, were sour and distasteful.

'So, Adam…' Moon addressed, catching his attention. He looked up inquisitively. 'About this other multiverse you're from…is there any connection between that one and this one?'

'Um…nothing beyond the superficial,' he replied. 'I ended up here mostly by chance, as far as I know. You'd better ask Glossaryck.' He looked around. 'Glossaryck! Where are you?'

'Here!' A voice called. Adam looked down to see the small red man rising out of a cup of brown liquid. 'Ah, pudding. Truly a magnificent creation.' He swam around it comfortably, making the Mewman grimace. 'How may I be of service?'

'I don't suppose there's any "connection" between our multiverse and this one?' Adam enquired. Glossaryck sat up curiously.

'What do you mean by that?'

'Is there any particular reason he was sent here and nowhere else?' Moon enquired. 'I was rather hoping that, if we could establish some connection between these two worlds, then we could use it to get Adam home.'

'Then I cannot help you,' Glossaryck responded. 'As far as I am able to discern, the two multiverses are separate in every conceivable way.'

'Then just how was he able to traverse between them?' Moon questioned.

'I don't know,' the man revealed.

'What?!' Star and Adam replied in shock. Star stared at the multiversal duplicate and added, 'that's a new one.'

'Yeah, you can say that again,' Marco added humorously.

Glossaryck blinked.

'Please explain,' the Queen requested.

'By all accounts, Adam should have been sucked into a vacuum and died a very horrible death,' he explained candidly. 'Once the portal itself opened, I knew something was different.'

'What do you mean? You said I was just really lucky!' Adam recalled, glaring confoundedly at him.

'That's what I thought,' he admitted. 'However, after you banished me, I had some time to think about it.' He turned back to Moon. 'Nobody is that lucky. I suspect ulterior factors were at work here.'

'What ulterior factors?' Star prompted.

'I don't know,' Glossaryck repeated. 'That's what I've been trying to figure out.'

'I think Queen Moon's right,' Adam concurred, receiving a disinterested glare from the magical entity. 'There has to be some kind of connection. If I can travel here, then I should be able to get back.'

'This magic is beyond me,' Glossaryck admitted.

'But not impossible,' the Mewman pointed out.

'Theoretically, yes, but highly dang–'

'Globgor!' A voice, very similar to the last, yelled. Confused, Adam looked down the end of the table to see a small, blue-skinned figure climbing up on the table.

'Glossaryck!' Star cried out in exasperation. 'I told you to stay in the cage!'

'And you actually thought he would?' Marco commented sceptically.

'Is that…your Glossaryck?' Adam asked in bewilderment, staring at the blue-skinned variant. Star gave an awkward nod. 'I have…so many questions.'

Meanwhile his Glossaryck floated over to the blue version, which was crawling across the table towards him. Moon watched curiously, with a look on her face as though she didn't want to admit she was curious. Eventually, the two met face-to-face in the middle of the table, and the feral Glossaryck had a wondrous expression on his face.

'Globgor!' He cried again, leaning forward to sniff the more affluent one.

'Oh, how the mighty have fallen,' Glossaryck commented sadly, shaking his head. 'Ow!' The blue one bit his finger, hard. 'I am not pudding, you imbecile!' The red one swatted him away, prompting him to cry, yet again, his now signature catchphrase.

'Gloooobgooor!'

'It's…a long…story,' Star confessed. 'Ugh, the Book of Spells was burnt by Ludo and, well, Glossaryck initially went with it. I managed to bring him back – sort of.'

'Why does he keep saying "Globgor"?' The Mewman questioned, with a bemused look on his face.

'It's just gibberish,' the princess claimed, shrugging her shoulders. 'He's like a…dog, or something.'

'This world is so…strange,' Adam remarked, his eyes widening. 'I could never imagine Glossaryck being like…this. He's supposed to be a magical guide! Your Glossaryck is just…weird.'

'Ok, this is gonna get confusing with two Glossarycks around,' Marco complained, as the two magical entities fought over the last scrap of pudding.

'Ooh, I know!' Star announced, with a bright smile on her face. 'How bout…we call the red one, "Red Glossaryck"…and the blue one, "Blue Glossaryck"?'

'Eh, works for me,' Adam agreed, shrugging his shoulders noncommittally.

'That seems like a good idea, Star,' Moon concurred.

'Adam, you better not let this happen to me,' Red Glossaryck warned, as Blue Glossaryck absentmindedly munched on his toga. 'Get off, you cretin!'

'If I did that to you, how would you teach me anything?' He pointed out, a sanctimonious disposition stretching across his face. Red Glossaryck looked at him fairly, and then nodded agreeably.

'You make a good point.'

'Now, perhaps you should…leave Blue Glossaryck alone before you…get into a fight,' Adam stammered, still unsure of the situation. 'I know what you're like, especially when you're fighting over food.'

'I'll go if you bring me some pudding later.'

'Yeah, whatever, deal.'

'Good,' he replied in satisfaction, before suddenly blinking out of existence. Blue Glossaryck sat up and stared, possibly not understanding how teleportation worked.

'Well, Queen Moon, this has been a lovely meal,' Adam commended, rising up off his seat. 'I should be getting some sleep tonight. I'll be getting up early tomorrow to see if I can figure out how to get back home.'

'Of course, you are excused,' she agreed, with a polite nod.

'Goodnight, Adam!' Star bid farewell, waving at him. 'Tomorrow I'll teach ya that room-making spell. Then you can have your own room!'

'Thanks,' he replied with a small smile. After a few moments of staring at Blue Glossaryck, Adam turned and left.

It was dark again that night.

The sky was a dark blue-black, not a single star in sight. It had been dipped in shadows, as though it was permanently in the darkness. Looking around, she realised she couldn't even spot the Moon. At the very least, the girl expected to at least detect a soft white glow behind the thick coat of clouds painting the sky.

She sat up and surveyed her surroundings. A strange haziness permeated her mind, like an ethereal headache. Everything was marred with a germinating purple tint, tainting the very air that surrounded her. The ground was cold and frozen, the grass crunching beneath her weight. There was a thin fog at her feet, a veil of grey-white mist snaking between her legs.

A huge rumble coursed through the ground beneath her feet. Almost knocked to the ground, she was hardly prepared as another quake shook the ground. Confused, the girl began to walk towards the source of the vibrations. She could barely see more than a few feet in front of her, for the air was clogged with a dark black mist.

As she got closer and closer, she began to hear words to accompany the vociferous noises. They were muffled, overcome by the huge booming explosions. However, as she got closer, the dark mist began to clear, and she could make out the scene before her.

'Narwhal Blast! Narwhal Blast! Narwhal Blast!'

Star. The Dark Star. She was blasting the ground with pale green narwhals, getting more and more frustrated at her diminishing returns.

'Ugh. This isn't working! Crimson Comet!'

A fireball shot out of her bony pale wand. She recognised that spell, but this looked…different. The ball of fire was dark orange and blood red, a combination that registered in her mind as evil. It blasted the ground and set the grass on fire.

In a blink of an eye, she suddenly found herself standing before a shadowy figure. She blinked a few times and her eyes began to focus on them. A greenish-yellow hat came into view, and instantly she knew who it was.

No! The girl cried, but the words didn't come out. They were unmistakable, but the look of terror on their face was alien to her in every possible way. They'd never looked at her like that before.

She couldn't control her hand as it began to rise up. A bony wand with skeletal wings was held tightly in her hands, secured by her fingers. All control over her limbs had been lost. She continued to direct her wand at the person before them, and they continued to stare and step away in fright.

A bright blast of pale yellow shot out of her wand. Her target's skin burnt and cracked, melting away and bubbling with heat. Soon, all that was left was a skeleton held together purely by melted muscle fibres acting like glue between the joints.

Janna was dead. Again.

Star shot up instantly from her bed.

She was met with her cold, empty bedroom. Completely alone. Raspy coughs forced their way out of her throat, her chest feeling tight and caged. The princess took several gulps of air and looked around her empty room.

She may not be sleep-portalling anymore but a part of her wished she still did. Not because of how ethereal her dreams would feel, but because Marco would frequently check on her to make sure she came back. Nightmares were far easier to recover from when he was there.

Wiping the cold sweat off her brow, Star leaned over and slid off her bed. A vigorous shiver coursed through her feet as they made contact with the ground. It took several steps before she was able to put her foot down without recoiling.

Wearily, the princess walked down the hall to Marco's room. She wasn't too concerned about being quiet, not that she had the mental fortitude right now to care.

She considered knocking, but the two inside would be asleep anyway. Quietly, Star opened the wooden door, grimacing when it made a tiny squeak. Peering in, the girl was about to whisper Marco's name, but she spotted something more interesting first.

Adam's bed was empty. The covers were in disarray, thrown over each other. Clearly, this was evidence of someone leaving the bed willingly.

Where did he go? She wondered, turning around and gently closing the door behind her. Star didn't have her wand with her to cast the All-Seeing Eye right now, and she couldn't really be bothered to go back and get it.

Sighing, the girl stepped away and decided she needed to go somewhere to think. There were a number of places she could go, but Star was feeling particularly like going to one of the round tops of the castle. It'd probably be windy up there, but it was hardly an issue to her right now.

Roaming the hallways of the castle, she kept an eye out for Adam. Star had no idea where the teenager had gone, but it was too early in the morning for her to be able to put any effort into that. He can't have gone far – and it wouldn't make much sense if he weren't going to come back.

The steps on the way up were tiresome, though the coldness of the stone shot her awake. Almost missing a step, Star rubbed her eyes and slapped both her cheeks.

As she got to the top, she was feeling much more conscious than before. Breathing pensively, Star reached over and began to climb up the ladder leading to the top. It had always been a little rusty, though fortunately a lot of it had since been rubbed away from frequent use.

Giving a slight groan, Princess Butterfly threw up the top hatch over her head. The bright warm sky washed over her face, like a warm fire licking her cheeks. As she rose up onto the large dome, she spotted someone a few feet away, sitting on the surface in a contemplative pose.

'Adam?!' Star exclaimed in shock, as she set down the hatch. The teenager turned his head halfway to acknowledge her existence. 'What are you doing here?'

'Couldn't sleep,' he admitted, as he stared at the rising sun. She hummed in agreement.

'Neither could I,' Star agreed, sitting down beside the warlock Mewman. 'Had nightmares. You?'

'Been kept awake just…thinking,' Adam replied, frowning pensively.

'About what?' She asked him tentatively. The teenager breathed out sadly.

'I have to get home,' he insisted, looking down at his feet. 'The Butterflies in my world are powerful. The longer I wait, the stronger they get.'

'I understand that, Adam,' Star assured him. 'All those people in your multiverse – you can't just leave them and –'

'No. You don't get it,' he cut off. 'I don't care about that. Those people are suffering, yes, but we've all suffered. I want to get back because I'm the only one who can get revenge.'

'Revenge?' The princess echoed, jerking back in surprise.

'Revenge,' he repeated back. 'For everyone they took from me. They've never had to suffer like I have. So I'm going to make them suffer. Painfully.'

The sheer blaze of violence burning in his eyes almost scared the Butterfly girl. She'd never seen such violent hatred concentrated in one person, let alone someone so young. Was this other multiverse really that bad? Was it so bad that it could turn a simple, happy young man into a murderer? Star should've known it was about revenge, given their previous conversations. After all, he had tried to kill her, and had taken quite some delight in trying.

Star's mind crossed to something she remembered Adam had said before. Something about why he hated the Dark Star so much.

'You said…I…killed your best friend,' she remembered. The Mewman looked up at her. 'You…you weren't talking about Janna, were you?'

'No,' he confirmed, shuffling slightly away from her. 'When I was adopted by my parents, they took me to this small little village in the middle of nowhere. They were hiding there from the Queen. I was a toddler at the time, but eventually I made a friend, Beru. We grew up together in the village, but then Queen Moon came and destroyed our village for harbouring Monsters. We barely got out alive.'

'I'm…so sorry, Adam,' Star apologised. 'Losing people like that…just because they're Monsters…I can see why you'd want revenge for that.'

Adam nodded in agreement.

'After the Second Great Monster Purge, I was on the run from the Butterflies,' he continued. 'For the first few years, I wasn't alone. I had Beru with me. He was never the same after the Purge, though we were a good team. My parents left me a message telling me there was this bunker I could hide in, but they only gave us vague clues on how to get there. We spent years looking for it. Then we ran into someone.'

Star blinked.

'Who?'

'You.'

'Oh.'

'Exactly,' he said flatly. 'I think you were out on a Monster hunt. Must've been convenient for you…Beru was a Monster. Humanoid, at that – but very much a Monster.'

'So…the other Star…killed him…' she stammered, looking back out to the sunrise.

'We had a scuffle,' he elaborated. 'We didn't stand a chance. You killed Beru right in front of me. I was powerless to stop it. I don't know whether it was out of cruel mercy, or prejudice because I'm a Mewman, but you let me go.'

'At least you got to live, I guess?'

'It didn't feel like living.'

Star stared at him for a moment. Grief welled up in his slate-grey eyes, and something told her it wasn't just over Beru. Over everyone he'd lost, like Janna.

'And this is…about revenge?'

'What exactly did you expect?' Adam snapped. 'Did you think this would be some…heroic mission to free the world from the Butterflies?! The Resistance already tried that…and they were incinerated – by you!' He let out an exasperated sigh. 'I'm not some hero who's here to save everyone. I'm not a good person or anything. I'm just on the other team, Star.'

'I don't believe you,' she stated firmly. 'Earlier…you felt guilty about showing me how Janna…you know. Why would you care about being better than a Butterfly if it were just about what side you were on?'

Adam gave no reply to the question. He turned away and stared at the water as the orange light of the sun glinted off the waters. Taking the message, Star turned away and looked at the sunrise too.

'Your nightmare,' Adam inexplicably mentioned, catching her off-guard. 'It was about Janna, wasn't it?'

Star opened her mouth to protest, but the words never came out. She raised her hand against it for a moment, before letting it fall to her side.

'Yeah…' she answered, with a defeated tone in her voice.

'Sorry,' he apologised, his eyes turning grave. 'Did you talk to your boyfriend about it?'

'No, not y–wait, how did you know I had a boyfriend?'

'Marco, isn't it?'

'Uh, no,' Star replied, with a very awkward laugh.

'Really?' Adam responded in surprise, raising an eyebrow. 'Coulda fooled me.'

'You're gonna stop talking, now, right?' The princess asked with a low voice. The Mewman didn't give a verbal reaction, merely shrugging his shoulders noncommittally. Star panicked for a moment. 'Uh, well, for the record, I do have a boyfriend, but his name's Tom. Tom –'

'Lucitor,' he finished bitterly. The Butterfly heir stared at him in confusion.

'Wait, how do you…?' Her voice trailed off as Adam raised his eyebrows matter-of-factly at her. She let out an awkward series of laughs as she realised the answer to her incomplete questions. 'Ohh, right…I'm guessing you know the Tom from your universe…'

'I know of him, yes,' he confirmed, scowling at her. 'He's an angry, aggressive child with temper tantrums. He any different over here?'

'Er, absolutely!' Star defended staunchly, folding her arms. 'I mean…he gets angry and jealous a lot. And he has a short temper, but…he's working on that! He's trying to be better!'

'A leopard doesn't change its spots,' he scorned, shuffling slightly backwards. 'Quite the pair, you and him. You like incinerating people; he can set people on fire with the snap of his fingers – match made in the Underworld if you ask me.'

'My Tom is not like your Tom!' She exclaimed with a mixture of fury and disconsolateness. 'You don't even know him!'

'From the way you described him, I think I already do,' he shot back flatly. Star breathed out in exasperation but didn't bother arguing with him. Adam wasn't going to listen; it was clear to the Butterfly that he'd already made up his mind on the matter.

Another poignant silence erupted between them.

Adam looked away again, his thoughts crossing to his home multiverse. There had to be some way back, he just knew it. There were too many underlying questions for him to think the case was closed just yet. After all, he was in the Butterfly Castle – a repository of magical knowledge spanning hundreds of years. Surely, there had to be something he could use to work this out – or someone.

Glossaryck had said this magic was beyond him. That statement alone wasn't exactly encouraging. Additionally, Adam knew this meant the magical guide couldn't help him this time. He figured this would happen anyway, considering how much he'd come to rely on the man over the past couple years. Inevitably, Adam was going to find himself largely on his own, and right now, it seemed that situation had come to fruition.

It wouldn't be long before Moon would take him to see the Magic High Commission. Absentmindedly, he wondered if they were in any way similar to the MHC in his universe. Granted, he'd never personally interacted with them, but he kept an eye on them through the All-Seeing Eye.

If they were anything like the ones he knew, then he felt the inevitable meeting wasn't going to be very productive. It would probably be laden with arguments and hindrances. They'd probably argue if he were "bad" or not and promptly accuse him of "tainting" magic, or stealing it.

All Adam wanted was to figure out how to get back home. Moon clearly wanted to discern that too, more out of fascination than anything else. Admittedly, too, Adam was intrigued to know the physics of the whole thing. How he was affected by travelling between multiverses would be quite interesting.

Meanwhile, Star's thoughts were much less tactical.

She knew she probably shouldn't listen to Adam's opinion on Tom, but his words hadn't left her mind. Was his Tom so strikingly similar to hers? Or had he downplayed the details? The second one seemed very unlikely. Star could see he hated his world's Tom, and she had seen all too well that Adam did not hold back in describing how much he hated someone.

Her Tom couldn't possibly be so bad. Right? No, she thought. Tom had put a lot of effort into becoming a better person, having been working on his negative traits. Tom wouldn't do that if he weren't at least slightly good-natured. Yes, the Prince of the Underworld had learned this lesson.

Then again, while Star could be somewhat sure he had learned his lesson, it was a wonder why the lesson had come so late. After many attempts of improving, and many failures, how could she be sure he had really succeeded this time? After all, he was still insensitive at times, and it frustrated her to no end that he always seemed to want to compete with Marco. Marco clearly had no desire to compete, especially over her, but Tom persisted regardless.

Of course, Star knew why. Tom knew she had feelings for Marco at one point, and he was making sure they wouldn't emerge again. It was cute that he cared so much about their relationship, but Star was concerned that he didn't trust her enough to get over those feelings herself. Tom really shouldn't have anything to be afraid of; she wasn't going to leave him for Marco anytime soon.

Well, she didn't have feelings for him anymore. Right? Star hadn't questioned that since she had begun her relationship anew with Tom. Was it still worth questioning?

Star brushed away the thought like dust on a desk.

No, you have feelings for TOM, Star. Nobody else.

'The sun's almost up,' Adam commented, breaking the silence between them. Star nodded.

'It's beautiful,' she said with a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips. 'I like to come here when I need to think.'

'I can see why,' he admitted. 'And it's pretty close to your room.'

'Yeah,' she mused, before frowning. 'We should…probably get back to bed soon, though.'

'You're right,' Adam agreed, breathing in deeply through his nostrils. 'Just a few minutes though.'

Star and Adam both watched for several more minutes, as the bright warm sun rose up and painted the sky an orange-pink. A new day was rising over Mewni, and the two of them watched with solace and solitude. Adam blinked a few times at the brightness of the sun, as Star waited for the birds to fly by.

This world was something greater. A Positive Multiverse.

Thanks for reading this latest chapter! It was definitely a long one. HUGE character development strides made in this chapter.

First off, Janna and Adam are friends! Again, technically. Yay! It was kinda sad writing two chapter ago when Janna just walks away, spooked out by the whole situation. Now that she's had some time to digest it, and the shock has faded, she was willing to talk to Adam and properly get to know him. Janna and Adam's friendship is something I want to be quite heart-warming, just two friends having fun.

Writing the interaction between Blue and Red Glossaryck was a helluva lot of fun. They're not really going to interact a lot, but them meeting was really fun to write. Another episode in Volume II will feature them having a more extended conversation.

Plus, I revealed in this chapter that there is indeed a reason why Adam ended up specifically in this multiverse, and not any other. That'll explained way later on, though some hints will be given. I always planned to do this, because Red Glossaryck claiming this happened by random is a major plot contrivance that sounds absurd to consider. The idea was that you were supposed to question this contrivance, if unconsciously, so that it's less surprising when Glossaryck claims it wasn't in fact random.

Of course, Star had a nightmare that night about Janna's death from the Negative Multiverse. Not surprising, I should think. She's going to be okay; this is probably going to be the last time we see her suffering from what she saw. His blindness in assuming this world's Tom is identical to his, refusing to accept any other alternative, is quite telling. Plus, his obsessive desire for revenge by any means necessary is unhealthy and obviously concerning to Star.

Adam is someone who believes the ends, for the moment part, justify the means; while he has standards, and lows he will not go, his ultimate goal is to kill the Dark Butterflies and have his revenge.

While he does care about people, he's less concerned about being the hero who saves everyone from the bad guys. He's concerned mostly with his own self-interests, which, on occasion, may coincide with others'. Still, it's implied that a part of him is still a caring and thoughtful person, given that he was concerned about being no better than a Butterfly, despite claiming in this chapter that it was as simple as what team he was on. He shoves that side of him down because his experiences of loss and grief have led him to believe that the only way to survive is to be ruthlessly efficient and calculating, even though that's not who he is.

My favourite scene to write was the ending scene. Star and Adam watching the sunrise from one of the meringue tops of the castle. It's a bitter-sweet scene. While the two hash it out and talk for the first proper time, Adam's flaws quickly come to a head. While Adam is smart and forward-thinking, and occasionally compassionate, he's also arrogant, overly serious, selfish and highly fixated on revenge.

Also, some small seeds of Starco in this chapter. Of course, that's the ship that I personally like the most. Relationships are not the main focus of this story, however.

I've rambled long enough. Next chapter will introduce the Magic High Commission! Stay tuned! If you think this chapter was long, the next one's going to be even longer. About 9k words for the next one, possibly 10k with author notes.