Vestiges

Death. No one is good. No one is bad. No one is blameless.

24.

"You're quite talented," Toffee complimented.

The Knight and the Bishop were seasoned killers. There was no doubt about it. While one was an immortal Septarian born for war, the other was a woman trapped in a girl's body, having learned different aspects of the art of killing. One would wage a war and win from attrition, the other could fight and win from the bleakest of situations by skill.

They made for an unusual pair, but they worked well together.

Higgs gave their partnership that much. Their relationship, on the other hand… she took it with a grain of salt. A fucking huge grain of salt.

She didn't reply to his compliment, not wanting to make small talk with the most dubious addition to their little group. The heat of battle was another thing, and she wanted to keep her wits about her. The lizard could afford to talk… but it wasn't as if she could grow back an arm or two.

Finally, the knights they were fighting thinned out; Toffee didn't kill the last one, instead settling for breaking the knight's arms after knocking his weapon out of his hands. Leaving him leaning against the wall to grunt and shout curses after them, the two continued to make their way through the castle that now seemed to be devoid of anyone else in its hallways.

"So… about you being alive…" Sienna mumbled, seeing that it was now safe to talk, "what's up with that? Marco told me that Star nearly killed you, and Ludo finished you off." She didn't speak very firmly, not wanting to risk offending him. To her astonishment, though, he laughed.

"Death of the body doesn't mean that my mind does… it doesn't mean that my soul dies either. Eclipsa was gracious enough to rebuild my body, although the new blood in my veins gives me constant pain. Regardless, who you're looking at is the very first Septarian."

Sienna paused and gaped at the lizard. "The… what? Books say that your kind is over a thousand years old, plaguing lands before multiplying into an army that wanted to go to war with Mewni-"

"Oh yes, but I was the first. I was cursed by Glossaryck with advanced regeneration and immortality just for the laughs... probably wanted to see how a mortal would react to it. Everyone after me got a vestige of that, though it paled in comparison to mine. Perhaps even I could outlive the destruction of the universe… but I'd only be a mind, then, devoid of a physical body."

"Then why are you helping us?" Her skepticism had grown even larger, but so had her curiosity.

"Because I want to die." Toffee said carelessly whilst gazing at his bloody axe as if to avoid looking Sienna in the eyes, knowing that she was probably thinking that he was lying. Perhaps she was thinking that he was just batshit suicidal and could risk getting her killed, and who knew what else. "Girl, I am tired. But my deal with Appendaxuz is that after I've lent my assistance, he'd be able to kill me."

"Let's just pretend that I believe you," Higgs said after a while of careful thinking, "How can the guy in Marco's head kill you when this immortality shit can't allow your mind and soul to die even if your body does?"

"One of his many duties," Toffee explained patiently, "is being Death. Do you need an even more simplified explanation?"

"… Nope."

The mood got tense between them, none willing to reinitiate conversation around such a sensitive subject. The uncomfortable silence was unbearable, almost enough to make her wish she was fighting again. As if on cue, she started to hear the clanging of metal as there were a group of knights in motion close by, and instantly went on the alert. Subconsciously, the girl started to walk in a sneak in an effort to be cautious and hopefully catch her enemies off guard, but Toffee continued to walk normally, his pace outmatching hers. "We don't have any time for you to be overly careful."

"Some of us can still bleed and die," came her sarcastic reply, "unlike some people who can't die, even if they get fucking killed! How does that make any sense?! How can you get killed and not die?"

"You're a frog in a well… you don't know how big the universe is," Toffee said quietly. They finally made around the corner, only to see Hekapoo knocking out the last of what looked like a half-dozen knights. There were three Hekapoos, in fact, who looked like they had just fought, but two of them faded away as soon as the conflict ended. The third one looked up and locked eyes with Higgs and Toffee before disappearing as well, making the girl scratch her head in confusion.

"The fuck was that all about?" Sienna mumbled. "She fought these knights? But why? Is she on our side now?"

"She probably knows that we're in the castle and killing the knights," Toffee reasoned out loud for his partner's benefit, "so she's either knocking them out for their own benefit so we don't have a reason to slaughter them or for some other motive. If she was on our side, then she could free Marco herself. We've been doing this the hard way to avoid having to use your scissors… but perhaps we've become redundant." He pointed at the open doorway which was the entryway to Marco's cell and approached it to look inside. "He's not in his cell. He's most likely with the Hekapoo… and they could be long gone while her clones kept these knights busy."

"And where would THEY be?" Her question was irritating to the Septarian, who tried not to let it show how peeved he was. Toffee knew that he wasn't the most trustworthy character given his blackened history with Mewni, but this girl was only tolerating him only because Marco 'trusted' him. It only further showed how dedicated the girl was to him if it wasn't obvious enough, but did she expect him to have all the damn answers and have to break his back just because he was the black sheep of the group?

"I suppose that he would be trying to finish off the girl, the one who I told you about earlier. He's either there already, or on his way." Seeing her about to repeat her earlier question, the lizard held up his hand to signal her to keep quiet, suddenly hearing a newcomer approaching. He turned around to see Rhombulus approaching as if to investigate, and pushed Sienna into the room where Marco was originally imprisoned in. Toffee himself entered the room afterward and held a finger up to his lips as he closed the door quietly so that they could hide.

"We can take on anyone!" Sienna hissed in a whisper to Toffee as he looked out through the tiny window in the door, trying to see who was coming. "We can both fight, and besides, you're immortal! What spooked you…?"

Toffee ducked down from the window before he was spotted. "It's Rhombulus," he whispered back, "and River and Moon. I can hear Moon yelling about Eclipsa betraying them. They must be coming here to see if Marco's still locked up in here, or if he's escaped. Of course, we could fight them head on, or we could do the sensible thing…" Toffee gently placed his axe on the ground to avoid making a noise and rolled up his sleeves. "We could strike when they least expect it. Rhombulus can't fight very well at close range, Moon looks like she has a head injury and River is a barbarian. Attacking them unawares is our best course of action."

'Assassination, huh?' Sienna mentally calmed herself to become more limber. Nodding to Toffee, she saw him glare at her in answer, and she got the silent message. 'Right, you don't like me either. You're using this little opportunity to test me to see if I have what it takes. I ain't weak, you scaly piece of shit. But still…' She could perform assassinations easily from her time on Hekapoo's trial to earn money… this wouldn't be her first time. Regardless, whenever she had time to think about killing, she tended to get muddled up, asking herself if the person she was killing deserved it. Already, she was thinking of why she should kill them… the King was no threat as far as magic was concerned, right? But what about the Queen? Higgs could easily recall how the woman had tried to knight her… it'd taken every ounce of control she had to not cut open her jugular right then and there. Not to mention being an intensive magic user, she had to go.

But if she had to be really honest with herself, she had often before entertained fantasies of killing the King and Queen to see if things and times would get better because of it. Higgs had long hated the monarchy; she had her reasons. Them being Marco's enemy made them that much easier to despise and to dispose of.

Higgs shook her head hard to clear her mind. 'Just act, and react if necessary.' Subconsciously willing her adrenaline to flow into her bloodstream, everything seemed to slow down as Toffee waited just long enough to see that the window of the cell door to darken, meaning that their targets were just in front of it, one of them probably looking inside. Already, they were reacting out loud about the fallen knights, and Toffee grinned maniacally. As soon as it sounded like one of them had grabbed the door handle to open it, he kicked off the door at the hinges; it flew off and struck down the M.H.C. member and the King, taking both by surprise. Almost as soon as it struck them and left them dazed, Sienna came rushing out of the room with Toffee, her in a blur of orange and blue and a wicked glint of her blade.

Both the girl and her weapon were equally dangerous; the girl was immediately in front of the Queen, having marked the woman as priority number one. Moon saw her-… her eyes widened in shock when she saw the knife in the girl's hand lunging for her chest, far too close to dodge. Still under the effects of a concussion she got from Eclipsa earlier, Moon clumsily entered a fighting posture while blasting magic out of her hands to defend herself and hit nothing. Instead, the knife had stabbed clean through her upper arm and before she could even react to the pain of it, not to mention the sight of Toffee grinning as he slaughtered Rhombulus next to her, the knife was yanked out and Moon was stabbed again.

It was in her chest this time.

It was the most horrible feeling she'd ever experienced, far worse than her near-death at Toffee's hands only a few days prior. As Moon collapsed to her knees, staring into the cold face of Higgs with an expression of shock and pain, Higgs savagely twisted the knife around in the queen's chest to worsen the wound before pulling it out to go attack the King, who had finally gotten his bearings after being taken by surprise.

Short in stature and higher in age, but no less formidable. Be it whatever brand of luck that told him to keep himself armed in these troubled times, he gave silent thanks as he drew his broadsword from its scabbard, and raised it to fend off the girl before she got too close to slit his throat. Not taking his eyes off of Higgs as she fell into her stance just outside of his sword's reach, River was about to yell to Moon to ask her if she was still able to fight, not having realized that his wife had been stabbed in her vitals. "Moon?"

Still no answer.

His face fell. Instead of sounding like the king he was, he sounded like a whimpering child. "… Moon?"

Still no answer.

Tears welled up in the man's eyes as he began to weep, "… Moon…?"

Seeing the man about to cry, Higgs urged herself to act. Running towards the man with the intent to kill, she raised her bloodied knife to execute him where he stood. Only a few feet away from doing so, River came alive with an anguished yell as he swung his sword at her. Sienna skidded to a halt before jumping back to avoid his wild attack and continued to back away to give herself some distance. Just as she was about to approach him again, she was forced to stop when his broadsword nearly came close enough to chop her in two pieces.

At the moment, she realized that her choice weapon was woefully inadequate in pitched combat. From the first day she learned how to defend herself, sought out mercenary training and got mentored into conditioning her body, she realized that she was never meant to fight prolonged battles. Being agile and always the person to attack a weakness or taking people unawares, she fought with her knife that she habitually sharpened.

That knife had might as well have been a stick given how useful it was against a broadsword. Or an emotional barbarian. The man was bawling his eyes out, and she still couldn't approach him.

And what about Toffee? Sienna knew that he wasn't going to be of any help. She could tell from the start that he was just using this situation to see how useful she was in a tight spot. No doubt about it, having Marco yell at him to save her life by any means necessary must have rubbed him the wrong way, even when Toffee had been the one holding off the heavy hitters of the M.H.C. all by himself. She wasn't being the most useful person on their little ragtag team right now, especially since Hekapoo (the wildcard) was now in the mix.

Thinking it through a bit, she realized that she still had another ace up her sleeve, that being her scissors were still in its holster, unused. Though their dogma was forbidding dimensional scissors use unless it was absolutely necessary, she doubted that she even wanted to use it. Just using it simply for the reason that she knew that Marco would let it slide because he liked her wasn't good enough. But hey, if he liked her that much…

"I should really get around to asking him out… at least before the universe ends," Higgs mumbled with a smile teasing her lips. She was suddenly brought back to her situation when she heard a sickening squelching sound coming from behind her in her blind-spot and almost looked behind her to see what was making that sound. After all, Toffee was watching her back. Right?

The sound came again, and Higgs finally identified it as what it was and nearly vomited. It was Toffee, and he was behind her, using his axe to chop up Rhombulus, dismembering him and hacking him into pieces. The snake hands, when severed, hissed before going silent. Higgs couldn't see it, but she could imagine the deed as she struggled to keep her head centered on looking at the King, who she still was trying to finish but kept getting fended. It was a pitiful sight… it was as if he had lost the will to do anything, except for his customary wild attacks that kept Higgs from reaching him. Coupled with the narrow corridor, she couldn't even flank him without getting herself hacked to pieces, although that was precisely what Toffee was doing… with River forced to watch.

He could see everything and although being a barbarian by nature, it was the first time that he'd ever seen such cruelty; it was made even worse as Toffee had begun to hum a tune as he finally snuffed out the weak life that had still remained in Rhombulus, and still continued to chop him, golden blood splashing about wherever veins and arteries were severed; Rhombulus was no longer recognizable, and was only a mess of reptilian-like flesh in meaty blocks. "I thought he looked pretty good for someone I thought I killed. I'll have to assume that Omnitraxus Prime had something to do with that, with some sort of time ability. However, everything else in and around the castle was unaffected." He flipped the poleaxe in his hands, the blunt hammer side now being the offensive one. He lifted it, and swung it down hard against Rhombulus' head, but not cracking it. He swung it again hard again, this time producing a crack, and the floor of the corridor shook with the force. "Ergo, the time ability was rewound time in people only. There's nothing wrong in making it harder for Omnitraxus to bring this nuisance back to life."

Higgs took a deep breath, trying to steady herself. Now, she thought, now would be a good time to try to fight the King now that he was distracted. Now would be a good time to kill him when he was still muddled with grief. But she couldn't stop hearing the sounds of a gem splintering up, with each thud of the axe sounding as if it would be the last.

"His head is supposed to be as hard as diamond. But with magic starting to run scarce in the universe, I bet even his powers and durability lose effect too." With an almighty swing, he put the entire axe through Rhombulus' head, breaking it apart into so many pieces like glass.

On his knees, River was still grieving, not so much for Rhombulus but for his wife.

Not yet done, Toffee reached down and picked up what was presumably a large piece of Rhombulus's heart and after giving the King a smug look, ate it.

"… Just in case." Was all he said. It was a guarantee that the M.H.C. creature couldn't be revived without all of his pieces present.

He then approached the prone form of Moon, where there was a small puddle of blood slowly growing around her. Seeing a faint light beneath her and the woman twitch, Toffee smiled his manic grin. "Moon? You're still alive?"

There was a weak moan as the queen engaged her butterfly state while desperately trying to heal her life-threatening wounds, but to River, it might as well have been the singing of angels. Brushing away his tears in relief, he got off his knees and was about to get closer to her only for Toffee to lift up his poleaxe above his head, ready to kill his wife.

"We can't have that, now can we?"

He thought he had lost Moon-… not a chance in hell was he going to lose her again! River's face reddened with rage, and he was blowing like a bull. He had completely lost it and started to rush at Toffee, not even minding Sienna who was practically in front of him; seeing her, but not really noticing her. Finally spotting her opening, she threw her knife as hard as she could at his face, already moving towards him while she did. On reflex, he shut his eyes while lifting the flat portion of his sword to shield his face. Those were all his mistakes, and he paid dearly as Sienna made it beside him and grabbed his leg. With a sudden wrench, she had tripped him to land on his belly, and while he was prone, she grabbed her knife from where it had fallen and tried to stab him in the back.

Not to be outdone so easily, however, the man rolled to his side while slashing his broadsword at her to force her to keep her distance. Higgs just barely managed to lean backwards from it, before she felt the wind trailing behind the sword blow across her throat hard. Realizing how close her overconfidence nearly got her killed, she nearly ran away and had to steel herself to keep fighting. 'Calm down, Sienna! You can take him! You've gone through worse than this!'

Could she really fight him? When she tripped him, she felt like she had tried to flip a human-shaped boulder. When he just slashed at her, the wind from the sword was nearly enough to knock her off balance. She'd always known that he came from a barbaric lineage, but this was getting ridiculous. Although it made sense for a strong man to be the husband of the Queen of Mewni, he was still basically a killing machine. An ANGRY one at that.

Take him by surprise? Sure. Fight him in a fair confrontation? Fuck NO.

Sienna glanced pointedly at Toffee, silently asking him for help with her eyes. He shook his head. Damn his tests! Was now actually a good time for this kind of shit he was pulling? Whatever. If he only wanted to piss off the King just to give her a slight advantage, then she wouldn't even want to try to take it. Let him worry about the King.

That would have been all well and good… then River suddenly ran at Toffee like a speed demon and cut him into two pieces at the waist with his broadsword, spilling his acrid blood all over the place. Hardly had he finished bisecting the Septarian, River turned to Higgs, the girl turning panicking when she saw his eyes nearly fully upturned to whites in his rage.

Quick to act with an even quicker attack, River's sword swung in wide arcs as he dashed at the Knight, forcing her to instantly go on the defensive, backpedaling and reverse leaping to avoid getting bisected like Toffee. Suddenly, her back hit the wall just as River was about to swing his sword for the last time. Her body moved on autopilot, and the first thing that she did was to pull out her dimensional scissors in a frightened haste, and opened up a portal in behind her.

Sienna fell backwards through the portal to get the hell out of the situation fast, just barely escaping with her life. Toffee, who had finished pulling himself together by this time, silently watched as the girl's portal disappeared, leaving a furious king behind as his sword carved out destruction in the wall. Toffee readied himself to fight River; he momentarily wondered if the girl had chickened out of the impromptu test he was giving her. That test being whether or not she could fight River when he was at his full capabilities. Although he himself was taken unawares by the man's sudden attack, Toffee knew he could take on the man alone on his worst day… he had thought that Higgs could do the same.

No matter. The second he had walked into the battle at the ceremonial hall, Toffee had been able to tell her apart from the other knights… he had spotted the warrior who was fighting alongside his King. But the girl ending up being the one seriously injured and had to be bailed out had damaged his confidence in her. He realized that she was older than she looked and fought the part, but there was only so much that she could do.

He wanted a tight-knit team with strong members, not just any weak sympathizer that Marco took a liking to. With River now turning back with his face all red with anger and charging at the Septarian, Toffee only frowned back in return.

"Wherever she's run off to, she'd better stay there. I hope she knows that if she cannot face even you, then we don't need her to throw her lot with us," he said darkly. Readying his poleaxe, he was about to fight River when a new portal appeared, right before the man's feet. River stopped just in time before he stepped into it, but another new (tiny) portal appeared behind him via which an arm came through, and pushed River forward to step into it. With his mouth open in a silent scream, he fell into the portal up until his gut prevented him from dropping through any more, like a pitfall trap that was one size too small to capture him. There was also an intense burning sensation wherever his legs were, one ten-times worse than the time he got burned by a geyser on Earth. Before the man could use his arms to brace himself to push his way out to avoid suffering any more, two new portals opened up where his palms met the ground, and exited through the ground via more portals before him, now looking like his own hands growing up out of the ground in front of him.

River yelled in shock at the portals ensnaring him, now panicking as he realized that he was helpless. Toffee, in one of his extremely rare times of being surprised, watched wide-eyed as a large portal finally opened in the usual upright fashion, and a woman stepped out. Decked out in a solid breastplate armor that protected her upper torso affixed with shoulder pads, she had chainmail as a substitute along her lower back, which revealed a part of the blue tunic she wore underneath. Her lower torso was more of the same; metal-plated at the front and very closely-knit loops of chain armor to guarantee that every movement, that every single step was as smooth as not even having armor on at all.

Her armor was the first thing that Toffee noticed… clothing told him everything he needed to know about the person… this person was obviously a strong fighter. When she turned to face him, he nearly gasped in recognition. The ginger hair was longer, the face more defined as a woman's would. But the stark-green eyes framed by the freckles underneath…

She turned away from him and faced the King who was struggling on the ground in front of her. "Well, look at that. Just as I thought, your damn gut stopped you from falling in all the way. Why don't you try sucking it in?" The woman paused, as if for effect. "Oh, you don't want to. Right now, your legs are touchin' a lava pit in Hekapoo's backyard. Why don't you suck in your gut?" As if fed up, the woman drew her steel-tipped foot back and kicked him in his solar plexus, making him dry heave in pain. "SUCK IT IN! I want to know how a pig smells as it fucking cooks!"

Gasping for breath but not getting enough, River doubled over. "Who the devil are you, woman?!" he spat, as he glared at her, noting her attire. "Are you a knight? You're fighting the wrong person-!"

This time, she kicked him harder, then again and again as hard as she could until his organs busted inside of him. River retched up blood all over, staining his clothes and beard and coating his teeth. Not fazed by her treatment of him, she looked down at him coldly.

"Higgs. My name is Sienna Higgs."

"Higgs…?" He groaned as he tried to place the name, before recognizing the woman as the girl who had insulted his wife at the Knighting ceremony and slain many of his subjects. Furthermore, she was the same girl who he had just been fighting. But how was she a grown-up…?

"And I am a Knight," she said matter-of-factly, "And I'm fighting the right person." She was now able to speak her mind, speaking her pent-up feelings since she now had the upper hand with her prey helpless to resist. The theme wasn't appropriate, but she didn't care. "I used to be a squire in your army. You know why? Because I didn't want to starve to death."

Toffee raised an eyebrow, not sure how this was relevant. He could already guess where this was going, but why Higgs had chosen now to act on these feelings was beyond him.

"…" River stared incredulously at the girl, more in shock than his own pain. "You're killing me because you were hungry? You killed my knights, helped that thrice-damned Diaz to ruin the kingdom, and all for what?!" His eyebrows furrowed in sadness, regret, and anger. This girl had butchered so many of the knights, worked with Marco and caused so much chaos and nearly killed his wife… might as well have been… she was breathing heavily as she struggled to heal herself and even if any of the monsters standing before him didn't finish her off, she likely wouldn't make it anyway.

He became saddened again.

This girl had killed his wife.

"The King should work for the people, not the people work for the King. If you weren't such a fat slob, you would have had an easier death… maybe I wouldn't even have been here. When was the last time you went for a damn walk through the neighborhood just outside the castle, eh? Just to see what the people live like? You stayed locked up in your pretty little castle, safe from all the dirt, the Forest of Certain Death creeping in closer every year, and most of the damn food in your storehouse... all for you."

"Fuck… you…"

Anyone could tell that it was the first time he had ever sworn. He was that angry and discomforted, what with a girl accusing him of mooching off of his Kingdom, getting fattened up while they starved. It was true that he ate better than them, but surely that didn't mean that he did not care for them! He cared for them!

Didn't he care for them?

His pain worsened. It was that much worse that his legs were cooking, already burnt almost to a charred mess. It was taking everything he had to avoid screaming in pain, not wanting to give her the satisfaction. But by cursing her, he had unintentionally worsened his situation. She had wanted to see some repentance, but didn't get any. Then she'd get her revenge instead.

Sienna pulled out her dimensional scissors and dragging them across the portals where his arms were, closed them. As soon as the portals closed off, River's arms were amputated in a bloody explosion. His arms fell down limply in front of him, blood rapidly flowing from his severed veins. From his own stumps, blood squirted out faster, and his racing heart made the bleeding worse… as if his suffering wasn't enough, the fires consumed his legs, and River accepted that he had died, all the while as Toffee began to hum again, beginning to hack off her butterfly parts off of her, who screamed everytime the axe came down. River yelled his hurt in the back of his throat but still managed not to do it full out loud. "DAMN YOU!" He shouted from reddened locked teeth, "DAMN TOFFEE! DAMN MARCO TOO! I hope that you spend every second of your miserable lives in torment before you all get the fate you DESERVE!"

He'd already said far too much... far too much. Wanting to shut him up, Higgs closed the portal encircling his stomach.

They sat in the corridor on the floor next to each other, slouching with their backs against the wall. Every now and again they'd glance at the mutilated bodies, and Moon still struggling to cling to life. Sienna briefly thought about telling Toffee that she did all the work, but chose not to. She wasn't made to act, only react. Acting of her own accord always messed her up, made her do things she regretted. Killing… she could blot it out. Even worse, she had gotten used to it. Killing the King and Queen… no, that wasn't for Marco. It was personal.

But still, this was for a good cause, even though she broke it by using her scissors. She could feel a few tremors every now and again and wondered if it was because Moon was still trying to use magic to heal herself. Or were the quakes a result of using her dimensional scissors? And for what? Just to pass Toffee's little test? Wasn't killing the queen enough for him, but the King too? At least she had proved that she was strong enough to handle herself, particularly because she was now in her adult body. Higgs but couldn't understand why she hadn't reverted. Who knew? Maybe with the present crisis going on, she might be stuck like this. Not exactly like it was a bad thing. But it did symbolize something.

She wasn't an innocent girl anymore. She wasn't even just a wetworker anymore. Sienna Higgs was a warfighter.

"You're quite talented," Toffee repeated his earlier compliment, meaning it even more this time.

"Fuck you."

Toffee nodded. It was fair, he deserved the cussing, even though he didn't really care. The test was impromptu, but he'd never imagined that she would take the fight personally. He thought about what Higgs had said earlier and frowned deeply. "Your parents… your parents starved to death, didn't they?"

Sienna nodded sadly, trying not to cry. "It was during a famine. They starved to death right in front o' me. Every day, they wasted away, trying but couldn't even grow a single damn ear of corn. They begged, they stole, they did everything… but all they managed to do was feed me. They always smiled and told me that they were eating in other places, and I should eat what they gave me. And me being the stupid one didn't even realize that they were giving me all the little food we had."

Toffee nodded. "I think I know about that famine… four years ago was when it was…? It was rumored that River once stoned a stray animal out of the palace with corn." The Septarian turned his head to look at Sienna, but she wouldn't look him in the eyes. "You're ashamed. But if I were in your position, I would have done the same thing that you did."

"To do what? To work in his army just to feed myself?" she mumbled wistfully. "I had to train myself, and grovel in the dirt just to become a squire." Sienna then spotted the queen looking at her and glared back. "You can call it rationing, or 'trying to make it last longer than the famine', but that's not what was happening. You're the damn QUEEN, you could've done something! Not sit on the fuckin' corn harvest as if your whole kingdom wasn't starving! You and your husband were just another set of assholes on the throne."

The queen only wheezed in response, blood dribbling down her chin. Her internal injury was fatal; it was taking everything she had just to stay alive, even after Toffee had chopped off her extra Butterfly appendages causing hemorrhages at her sides and back. In her own mind, she was only stalling for Omnitraxus at this point, hoping that he'd come and bring River and Rhombulus back to life. WHERE WAS HE?! It was the only reason why she hadn't allow herself to die. She'd been pinging her magic, hoping that somewhere, wherever he was, he'd recognize it as a signal that she needed help.

Footsteps were now heard. Moon feebly turned her head to where the sounds were coming from. She desperately hoped that it was a rescue. It could be a servant, a squire, a knight, anyone! Anyone who had legs who could run away to warn others was good enough. Through blurring vision, she thought that she could make out the orange form of Hekapoo approaching, accompanied by two others at her sides. This was even better than what she could've asked for-

Her heart fell when she recognized that one person was Eclipsa. The other was Marco.

"Feels like a bit of a waste of time," Eclipsa was saying, "making Hekapoo drop off that girl in her bed at home. It's not as if she's going to wake up. Forgive me for sounding callous, but she was dead, and the Universe isn't improving."

"I made the time," Marco said sternly. "It's the least I could do."

"By making Hekapoo use magic? Not exactly the wisest decision, Marco. Doesn't the phrase 'perishable resource' come to mind? Every portal we make has to be essential."

"Eclipsa, it was my choice." Hekapoo grumbled. "So let it be."

"Very well." The three came to a stop, Eclipsa being the first when she saw the bloody messes in the hall, and the Bishop and Knight sitting in the corridor close by as if waiting for the rest of their group to pass by. However, she was also the first to spot and recognize the queen. "Oh? Moon? I forgot about you. Wait… are you crying?" Eclipsa knelt and rested her hand on her back and patted. "There, there. Everything will be all right-"

"That pile of guts over there is her husband," Toffee deadpanned, pointing at the corpse. Said dead body had no lower torso to be found, and blood was seeping from it everywhere, and staining the corridor carpet in a nasty color.

"Oh." Eclipsa didn't know what to say. It didn't matter, it would not have mattered anyway, as Moon continued to weep. Fifteen minutes had passed. Even if Omnitraxus came now, no one could be saved. She could only watch as Higgs had tortured and killed her husband right in front of her, and for all her status, wealth, magic and lineage, Moon was powerless to stop it. She was powerless.

Eclipsa was a traitor, Higgs and Toffee had murdered her husband, Marco had escaped and was being abetted by Hekapoo… everything was making a turn for the worst. Marco, sensing magic pulsating from her, narrowed his eyes as he stared at her coldly. Excusing Eclipsa away from the queen, he then picked Moon up bodily, setting her to sit up against the wall, just across from Higgs who continued to glare at her. Her eyes dimmed as her blood loss was catching up to her.

Yet, her eyes were open just enough as she stared back at them. They were all there.

Sienna Higgs, the Clandestine Knight. Toffee, the Septarian Bishop. Eclipsa Butterfly, the Queen of Darkness. Hekapoo, the Enforcer Rook. Marco Diaz, the Proclaiming King.

The Black Insurgency.

In Moon's eyes, all she saw were monsters.

Marco was saying something she didn't quite hear. Instead, she thought about how she wanted to see her husband on the other side of life if there was one. She didn't want to leave their daughter behind, but she didn't have a choice to make. Too much blood loss… instead of her life-liquid being in her, it was all over her, and spreading over the floor. Finally, she was gone, her celeste eyes lost their light, her diamonds breaking.

Perhaps it was just as well… she wasn't feeling how Marco was cutting her neck open from ear to ear, digging into it as it were nothing but a slab of meat.

He was putting pain in a corpse to make sure that it wouldn't use any more magic.

That was all.

=X=X=

At some point in the night, a girl woke up in the castle, unattended to, unlike how she had been all her life. Although extremely dazed and confused, she knew just enough to realize that she had a splitting headache and that something was terribly wrong. She had a sense of urgency, something hurrying her to get out of the bed. She was only in her nightie but still went quietly padding off in her bare feet through the castle.

She was being beckoned somewhere. At some point, she thought that she was sleepwalking, but realized that she wasn't. She was conscious. Wasn't she? Maybe this was like that time when she was sleepwalking while casting magical spells in her sleep? Is that why she couldn't see anyone? And why did it feel like she was tripping over invisible objects every now and again? And why did it feel like the bottoms of her feet kept sticking to the floor? And what was that stench? It smelt like when someone was sharpening a weapon on a grindstone. Smelt like iron, maybe? And what was that other smell? Smoke?

Where was everyone?

She was starting to become uneasy. The castle was easily huge when it was occupied by people, and even more so when it feels like she was all alone in it. But that couldn't be right, could it? Did she miss something, like an event being kept somewhere else?

This was as far as her conscious thoughts went.

Finally, she came to a stop. She wasn't sure why, but whatever that felt like it had been calling her had stopped. She was in the middle of a corridor one that had a doorway with no door. She giggled a bit, despite herself.

Then she thought that she could see Glossaryck.

He wasn't crouched in his usual dog-like stance. In fact, she didn't really see him. She thought that she could see that he was there, but not really seeing with her eyes. Like a sixth sense. She was seeing his presence, but not seeing him literally. Then he wasn't there anymore.

She was so confused.

After this, it felt like some sort of covering had fallen from her eyes, like lenses that distorted the way she saw the world. She wasn't seeing before. Now she was.

She wished she hadn't.

She hoped she wasn't.

Closest to her, strewn about were pieces that were all steeped in golden blood. She thought that she couldn't make out what used to be a snake arm and reptilian-looking flesh for a torso. By the time she saw the purplish cape, she realized what she was looking at, or who.

"Rhombulus?"

She was about to step forward, only to be stopped by the same sticky feeling that had lingered on her feet, the fibers of the carpet clinging to her soft soles. Glancing down, she was horrified to find that blood was all over them; she had been walking in the blood of the occupants of the castle, and tripping over their dead bodies as she stumbled her way here. What was worse was that if Rhombulus was dead, the stationed protector of her parents, then where were they-?!

That was when she saw them. Her jaw dropped in bare recognition of them. Her father was horribly mutilated, his body in pieces all over the floor with all of his innards spilled out of him. Some of them looked as if they were stomped to pieces maliciously. His face was frozen in a yell of anger and pain.

"…Dad…?"

She was already tearing up, unable to breathe because of the lump in her throat. Taking a deep swallow, it wouldn't pass. Trying to tear her eyes away from her father, she was met more with the sight of her mother. She had a single stab wound in her chest, easily visible because of the hole in her white dress. Her butterfly arms and wings were on the ground, having been lopped off and ripped off roughly to cause her to bleed even more. But nothing looked as horrible as the huge gash in her throat, so wide and deep that it'd been cut right to the bone; spilled blood had painted the entire woman's dress into a new color in the worst way. Her glassy eyes stared back into hers as if she was waiting to say something, but never got to.

"…Mom…?" She looked so unhappy. The distraught girl tried to shake her mother awake, expecting everything but getting nothing but her mother's head lolling about uselessly. "… Mom…? … MOM? … MOM…?!"

There wouldn't be an answer. She wanted a hug, a friendly word, a scolding, anything.

Her mother didn't say anything.

The girl wanted to wake up. But she didn't. All she got was her mother's eyes staring lifelessly back into hers.

Unable to take any more, a shriek tore from Star's lips that echoed through the empty burning castle filled with the dead. The princess lost her mind in grief, and all of Mewni heard Queen Star scream in anguish.