"Okay…so what do we do from here?" Star asked Marco, as they were staying atop of a former castle wall, gazing at the flaming bursts of the setting sun.
"Come to think of it, I didn't really think it through, when I came here. I kinda just went to the flow, you know…the Marco way," he answered trying to sound cool, but it came out pretty coy.
"Yeah, sure, sure, sure, as if I didn't know you," she said smiling, touching his hand. Initially he recoiled, but after the instinct faded, he just gave in.
"Didn't Scott send you here, or whatever?"
"Busted. But still, we can't stay here, I mean, this place is a total mess, what happened here?"
"Ummm, nothing really…"
"Star, you're saying this as if I didn't know you either…"
"Well…I was snooping around in Scott's room, when I found this thing," she said as she got the painting out from her little bag. "And it had some sort of protection on it, it spawned some sort of tiny beasts that grew stronger every time I hit them with magic, so I had to take matters in my own hands and I bashed their skulls in with my axe, and it was all fine and now here we are, h-hey Marco!" she said hastily in one breath, hoping that Marco didn't really pay attention.
"Come on, Star…Didn't it have any sort of warning on it?"
"Well…,' she said in a drifty tone.
"Aham, I see…"
"Hey, you know how it is with this guy, never know when he's really serious or when he's just messing with you…"
"No, he's actually quite frank, most of the time. You should've known not to go through his stuff, 'cause he's Scott and all. Still, let's see if it was worth it," he said unrolling the worn out scroll. At first, his face was filled with awe. He had been to museums before, but never has he seen such a beautiful work of art. The amount of detail, each one of the queens had, the incredibly diverse background…it was just amazing. Star was in the center of the picture, oddly enough, because, as worn out as the paper was, you'd think that was just an old thing he started centuries ago, and he just added each queen as time passed by, but however…the center of attention was Star. That was something to ponder about.
"Welp, it's a nice painting, but still, did you need to have your entire castle destroyed for it?"
"Totally…I mean…do you see the first one in the line?"
"Yeah, the brown haired girl, with hazel eyes, what's the matter with her?"
"I've never seen her everywhere in my documented history, and all the other people in here are my ancestors…apart from your cute red hoodie right here," she said pointing to the top of the picture. "Point is, this got me thinking…this girl right here was Scott's girlfriend in the past, like some thousands of years ago, and she stays right in front of everyone else…"
"You think that…she is some great-great-great grandmother of yours?"
"Well, yeah…And not only that, but I believe that Scott is…pretty much one of my forefathers…"
"I think you're going pretty far there…He said himself, he doesn't age and he is clearly our age…I don't think we gotta go into any more details," Marco said, blushing embarrassed.
"True… Now back on track. Where do we go from now?"
"Well, I think the safest place right now, would be your parents' palace…So…should we go?"
"I guess you're right, Marco, as always," Star mumbled apparently bored and condescending, but with a quirky smile crossing her face.
"Ok then," Marco said, putting his helmet on and grabbing his scissors. "Set course for the Royal Palace!"
Star didn't say anything. She just fell behind the brave knight in shiny armor who was boldly leading the way. They passed through the barrier Scott had made, and only then she started deliberately slowing down, in order to grab Marco's attention. He was walking with exaggerated movements in front of her, trying to amuse her in any way possible, to get her mind off the situation at hand. Marco knew that his now-girlfriend, was pretty absent-minded, therefore she may've been pretty unaware of the situation at hand. She seemed pretty ok with her new home being destroyed and with them going on a dangerous path in order to go back to her less safe home. This put her in clear and imminent danger, but she didn't need to know any of that at the moment. He had noticed that she had changed…a lot. Even though, she retained most of her playful attitude and carefree temperament, but she didn't have the same joy in her eyes that he grew accustomed to. Her blue gems were filled with an unspoken sadness. He could see her gazing in the distance, with grief all over her face, but the second she caught his glance, she would smile, sincerely so. He was happy that his presence had this beneficial effect on her, but this all seemed…made up and fake. She was…different, yet the joyful girl he had fallen for was still there, albeit seeming trapped under a sea of anguish.
"Ummm, Marco," she said chuckling, having her scissors in hand. "Don't you think it would be faster, if we used the dimensional scissors?"
"Yeah, yeah, sure, of course," he replied caught off guard by her ingenuity. She opened a portal, through which they both stepped through, only to appear in the middle of the throne room. The Queen was quietly drinking a cup of tea, looking unfazed at the portal in the middle of the chamber, only to spit her drink out, when she saw who came in.
"Star? Why are you here?"
"Buckle up, mom…We've got a lot of catching up to do…"
For the next two hours, Star and Marco explained everything they understood happened with their friend, and, judging by her mom's look…she wasn't pleased by it. She didn't quite seem to care much for their friend's untimely and mysterious death, who was attributed to some higher beings than the highest they had in their then-known world, but she was visibly infuriated of what happened to her daughter, because of him.
"So…this is all that happened, right?" The Queen got up from her throne, only to go to a nearby window and contemplate her kingdom, pensively.
"Yep…all in all."
"This worsens everything to an impossible degree…Not only, did the most powerful of us all leave us in our time of greatest need, but he didn't even fulfill his single duty, that of training and protecting you. How…predictable."
"What do you mean?" Star asked, surprised by her mother's reaction. Queen Moon, didn't seem to have heard her.
"I should've thought twice before leaving this man do this, but I believe that my rash decisions were justified given the circumstances…I ought to have made a back-up plan, but now…here we sit, unprepared for the great battle that is about to come."
"Mom, what are you talking about?"
"Star, didn't he tell you?"
"Tell me what? What got into you?"
"Toffee will return, according to your late friend, in three days from now. Since I hadn't heard from neither of you in a while, I've decided that it was best to take matters into my own hands."
"You've totally lost me at this point," Star said, losing interest in what her mother was saying.
"Then, let me find you, Star. Toffee will come marching towards your location, the second that wretched Dark Night, your friend also told us about will fall upon us. That was a cleverly worded definition for what is nothing more than a lunar eclipse…And judging by the fact that the last time such a natural phenomenon occurred was during…Eclipsa's rule, we can tell that evil thrives in such condition. That evil Sartorian had surely gathered himself an army. He will come to storm our castle and take his finger back..."
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait," Marco interrupted the Queen's speech. "All this for a finger? FOR A FINGER? I had trained with Hekapoo for a month, Star left Earth and this guy rose an army only to get his finger back?"
"Marco…you don't understand. When I was in the prime of my power, I had to resort to my darkest and most powerful spell to defeat him…It was said that if one of his kind had any of its parts missing, his strength would be greatly impaired…but only for a matter of seconds, before he would've grown it back. Therefore, I had to inhibit his inherent ability using…black…magic. I did wrong, but it was for the greater good of the kingdom, so it had to be done. Anyway…once Toffee is all patched up, his power will revert back to its full potential…which is immense at the moment. Therefore, under no circumstances we can let him be complete again. Do you have the finger?"
"Yeah…about that…I think, my wand has it inside it…I think I might have removed it from it at some point, when my wand was going all craaaazy, but it might have been all symbolic and stuff like that…"
"Of course…This is why Toffee was so set on you destroying your wand…It kept the memento of my victory over it, inside…If we lose our most precious possession, now, Star…We are done for."
An eerie silence settled across the room. Nobody could break it at the moment. Star was the main candidate, but realization had finally caught up to her. It was only now that she saw the consequences of her reckless actions. If only she didn't involuntarily kill her friend, maybe things would've been brighter than the way her mother portrayed her. For sure, Scott had told her time and time again that the fight between them was going to be extremely difficult and harsh… but still, having him there to support her in everything she did. Be it wrong, or right, he would've scolded her or praised her like a true friend, but now, without his voice of reason, she was starting to lose hope. The Queen provided them with an extremely cruel truth, lacking an extremely important sugar-coating, in this situation, at least. And even though, he more or less would've said the exact same thing, the way he did it was severely different. They needed that extra glimmer of hope he'd bring to the table, not to mention the added power he had. Now all they had left was an uneasy calm, the silence before the storm…
"So, what are we waiting for?"
"I am glad you have asked that, Marco," the Queen turned around, her usual monotony returning to her face. "For the moment, I am waiting for Omnitraxus to report to me, as I made him spy on Toffee. He rarely succeeds, because the monster has shielded himself from his gaze, but from the moments he managed to peek through, we had gathered the following information." The Queen grabbed a list and started reading it aloud, sitting on her throne. After she cleared her throat she commenced her lecture, as if she was proclaiming the new laws of the land.
1. Toffee will fight mostly accompanied by the monsters inhabiting the outmost corners of Mewni.
2. Toffee has the help of spiders, rats, vultures, wolves and bears from all over the kingdom.
3. His power has not increased ever since our last encounter with him.
4. His army comprises a total of twenty thousand souls, mostly animalistic.
5. Toffee has full control over his entire army, managing to guide them in extremely organized formations and attack strategies."
"That's it?" Marco said. "And what do we have?"
"So far, I have enlisted the aid of our entire family, who unfortunately possesses no magical powers, the Pixie kingdom, whose frailness is only complimented by their combined power and the Pony Head kingdom. However, we are outnumbered twenty to one…"
"But we have something he hasn't got," Marco uttered, obviously preparing to bravely make a statement, but he patiently waited for the Queen to ask him…Since she wasn't moving a muscle, he continued either way. "We've got Hekapoo, Rhombulus, Omnitraxus, your Highness, Star…even myself."
"I don't see your point."
"We've got champions. We've got heroes that are capable of taking on multiple enemies at once. We can decimate his army, with the aid of our friends and allies, leaving Toffee to face us all by himself…"
"You don't know much about the art of war, Marco, do you?"
"I believe I do, Queen. Have you devised a plan yet?"
"We actually have," the Queen answered, waving her arms, using her powers to reveal an immense map of the castle and its surroundings. It was an essential general's map, portraying the two colliding armies with its important members, pinpointed on the map.
"As you can see, Star is here, safely placed at the shelter of our Castle that we will be protecting from all sides just to be sure. Our plan, will be only to defend ourselves in the proximity of our heavily reinforced castle. Hekapoo and Rhombulus will aid at the gates, holding off our enemies for as long as possible, thinning the enemy lines as they try to advance. Omnitraxus would've been the last resort, should Toffee breach our lines, but since you decided to join, Marco, you will be taking his place, while he will help me guard the castle. I hope that it is clear we will have a three layered defense, where the five of us are the important rooks, while the rest are just pawns."
"Wait, so I don't fight? At all?"
"It is too dangerous for you to even stay in here, Star, let alone fight Toffee up-front…I am sorry, Star, but you're going to have to sit this one out…"
"No, she won't," a tired old voice mumbled, one that they haven't heard in a long time. Looking at the window, they saw the small silhouette of Glossaryck…He was the Ex-Machina they needed at this moment, appearing at God's will. Such a serendipitous appearance was bound to be received with shock and awe, apart from the obvious happiness and joy.
"G-Glossaryck? Is that really you?"
"No, it's my shadow, that appeared when you needed it most," the little old man answered Star's surprised question, in his usual sarcastic tone.
"Where is your book, Glossaryck?" Moon asked, knowing the binds he was tied to his permanent home.
"Oh, that. Right, right, right," he answered seemingly thinking about it. His eyes cleared as he looked at them and said with complete relaxation: "Toffee was nice enough to free me from it."
"So, then, why didn't you come to us earlier? It's been months!" Star asked annoyed at his blatantly innocent answer. She was mad at him, mostly because of his strange attitude, not because he hadn't showed up when they really needed him…
"Oh, I vacationed for a while on the Orc Plains, then I believe I had visited the Pixie Mines," he said taking out an album of photos from his sleeve, with pictures of his dastardly adventures. "Then, I believe I visited the farthest corners of my favorite dimension, Pudding On Corn Chips dimension."
"YOU WENT ON A VACATION?!" Marco, Star and the Queen vociferated as the little former teacher, calmly presented his multidimensional voyage.
"Well, yes, and I've got to say, it was well worth it. After all, I've been tied to a book for a thousand years now. And I can't use any sort of magic to modify the contents of my home, as a genie can decorate his lamp, so imagine you spending all that time in a crammed place. I believe it was my right to do that," he said crossing his arms and looking away, infuriated all of a sudden. With its petite stature, he was looking like an angry little child, throwing a tantrum.
"But still…Scott did the same thing for more and he didn't take any time off."
"That's what you think? The second the princesses turned twenty one, he would suddenly vanish. From time to time, he offered his support, whenever things took a turn for the worse. He was pretty nice about it, though, I'll give him that. We remained in touch, he would send me notes about his findings, newspapers from different dimensions and really interesting stories from all around the universe. He would be back right before the next princess' birth, but during these little gaps, he had a blast…The best thing about it was that he'd keep me rather entertained…"
"And you know where he is, now?" Marco asked, trying to restrain the old man's blame thrown at their late friend.
"Of course, I do. He died. You know, magical beings such as myself don't just pop into existence, because we want to, but because we were made…True neutral characters such as myself are carefully made by agile hands. I was informed that my 'colleague'," he said making air quotes, "has perished and that I was left alone now in the whole universe as the sole true balance keeper."
"But why did he…" Queen Moon, asked suddenly intrigued by Glossaryck's story. Only now did she understand the true meaning of that 'brat', in her conception, that is. He was meant to be a force of balance, a true neutral, one to bring peace upon the world. However, his untimely death, seemed too…strange.
"Die? I believe it is redundant for Star, because she had been there, at the trial, we held. Surprised you didn't notice me in the audience, but given my small size, I don't judge you. Still, I will explain it to you, Queen. You too, Marco. Scott, as you call him, Saturn as he is referred to in our higher circle, was supposed to be a true neutral, in charge of keeping the forces of good and evil, equal. His alignment, however changed over the time. He was left alone for a while, but because of his most recent decisions, he had been called to the stand. At this time, he was no longer a true neutral…He had turned into a force of neutral good."
"But why this propensity towards balance, when at the moment it's clearly a blatant disequilibrium?"
"Will you let me explain, or not, Queen?"
"My apologies. Go on."
"We can't turn into forces of good, Queen, because this would tilt the balance, forever…Whenever good gets too powerful, evil is soon to follow. Since evil usually has this native affinity towards keeping their advantages, if we don't keep everything stable, we may never be truly able to restore the balance. Those worlds are anarchic, every single attempt of restoring the peace, being deafened in a relative instant and our influence there has been removed…Our messengers of balance sent there have gone rogue, becoming chaotic evil beings. Should they ever grow more in number, they might overthrow our entire organization. And what appeared to be good at the moment, will turn into nothing but desolation. Do you understand now?"
Glossaryck was extremely calm about every single detail he unveiled to his awed audience. It might be his nature or just his personality, but it was extremely unsettling for all of them, especially for Star, who was now lost in thought…Did this mean that she was not to blame…for his death? That her reckless actions didn't actually caused this, but rather his own ruthlessness? She wanted to ask Glossaryck, but as if he read her mind, he continued.
"Scott had been charged with tilting the balance, but since the Council knew about the arguments he wanted to bring into discussion, he was manipulated into believing that Star Butterfly was to blame, for reading his diary…That was just a pretext used by the affectionate leader, in order for your friend to let his guard down and be easier to be dealt with… Even though, he had an enormous sympathy for him, he was a man of law. He couldn't let any mistake be unpunished…"
"But why did he become what he was?"
"I can't tell you that…Star. Even though, I am blatantly spewing information, I still have my limits and my rules…"
"Ow…" she sighed disdained. This determined her to leave the room, followed by Marco. The two shared a feeling, that of tiredness. They were both fed up with all this…so much stress, so much mystery, so many questions left unanswered. Star couldn't wait to be done with all this, regardless of the outcome of their war. She just wanted a place to reflect on all, but mostly to relax…to free herself from all the stress everyone was exposed to.
The night settled in, so the best place she was mesmerized by ever since she was a small child, was the rooftop, on top of the main tower of her palace. She laid on her back, with a troubled frown on her face…Marco followed her, silently lying next to her. At first they didn't say anything to each other, but Star got up all of a sudden.
"Why do you think this is happening, Marco…?"
"I don't know Star…I really don't know. I wish I did, but I can't…"
"Me neither, Marco…" she replied to him, letting her head fall on his shoulder. They were left speechless. Marco's hazel remorseful eyes, met her blue melancholic gaze. It's said that the eyes are the gateway to your soul…This is why they could understand each other only by exchanging concerned looks. The young couple hugged, forming one unity…they were so little and small in the game that the universe was forcing them to play, and the only reason they didn't break down, was because of their splendid love.
Downstairs, Glossaryck was still spitting out exposition to the extremely curios Queen.
"But why, you who have blatantly helped us for generations, didn't get any grief from your Council?"
"We both had contracts, Queen. I was bound to my book; whoever possessed it had me in their control. I was and still am a neutral, and my help towards you, is solely because evil is greatly outweighing you at the moment. The second Ludo took hold of the spell book, I had to turn my back on you and Star. Scott's contract wasn't towards an inanimate object…It was the first time one of us was bound to live beings. This made his job and duty all the much harder. Stoically he followed it, but with time, his human nature prevailed…"
"What do you mean?"
"This is the last thing I can say to you, Queen, and I am glad you've made it worth. Humans are prone to emotions, we aren't allowed, nor made to have. Love, hatred, compassion, are things we are not strange of, but we know of them only second hand…With this amount of foreshadowing, do you need anything else to get my point? You're a smart, insightful person, so I believe not…"
"I do…unfortunately," the Queen said looking at the eponymous celestial entity, shining brighter than usual, with a rather bluish tint…"I am glad you told me all this, Glossaryck. I pity him, now…Being shackled by such an ineffable force is sad…especially when it binds you to impossibility…
A portal opened back at the ruins of the desolate castle. Scott exited it, but as soon as he set foot on the ground, he fell to his knees, in despair. He saw the fire raging softly in the fallen tower that once was his room…He saw the two gaping holes in the ground, letting out the warm glow of the magma chamber beneath…He saw the shredded labyrinth, the destroyed stables, the broken down walls of the palace he had created… He saw the princess' diadem, lying on the ground, missing a part of its jewels. It was crushed by an immense force…
There was nothing left to say now…he gave up…No point in contemplating the vicissitudes of fate that got him to this state. His mind drew a blank. It was the last stand, separating his sanity from his insanity…Having everything he had worked for being laid to waste…at the hands of his own hubris, nonetheless…it drove him mad. He knew what he had to do now…He opened a portal, giving out a wicked green glow…He passed through it with no remorse whatsoever. As the energy dissipated into thin air, it left a burning mark on the grass below.