Kingsley

Chapter 10

Off with Her Head

"Too much. I've clearly had too much..."

Toffee shut his eyes. She'd go away in a minute. It was a sick effect of drinking swamp water and the fact he'd just seen Eclipsa's frozen body a few hours ago. There was no possible way she could be standing in his room. However, her voice rung clear to his mental objections of her presence.

"I'm not a hallucination. I'm using up my magic reserves to send a projection of myself here." she snapped, in an angry huff. "You should be grateful. It's not easy."

"Why me?" Toffee questioned, re-opening his eyes and sitting up to face her. Out of all the things she could've done with such great power, why had she chosen to waste it on him?

"I saw you with my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great granddaughter when you came by to visit me earlier. Glossaryck can be such a downer, he didn't even let me say hello." Eclipsa explained. Toffee suddenly realized why Glossaryck refused to keep his eyes off her. He was suppressing her magic and preventing her making contact with them. "It was still great to see you both. Moon is so much like me. I can't wait to see her again."

"You won't ever get to. You're never getting out of that crystal."

"I won't be there forever, dear. I hope to be out real soon."

"If you think I'm going to help you break out, you've come to the wrong monster."

"I didn't come here for your help." she claimed. However, there was a tick in her expression that seemed very insulted by the fact Toffee had just flat out told her no. As a queen, it was not something she was so used to hearing. "Why are you continuing on with loyalty to a kingdom that will never accept you, anyway? If I was asking for your help, you should be honored to help me! I fought for equality."

"You fought for yourself, using some pretty iffy methods, and ended up imprisoned for life." Toffee rebutted. "I may have sunk low, but I refuse to go any lower."

"My, my, you certainly weren't in this state a few hours ago. Something dreadful has happened, hasn't it?" Eclipsa laughed, cruelly. Toffee tried to hold onto his anger, but the cruel laugh with Moon's inflection stung him too badly. He cringed a little in agony. "Let me guess, they found out about you and my darling granddaughter and took care of it, before she could end up like me."

"It happened. Nothing can be done." Toffee stated, flatly.

"Well, of course something can be done. Why do you think I'm here?"

"To torment me?"

"Don't be silly. I've come to help you." she insisted, although nothing she'd said had verified that was her intention all along.

"How do you expect to do that?" he questioned, with high doubts that she could accomplish such a thing. Eclipsa smiled in a wicked way Toffee could tell had no good intentions. She had obviously been waiting for him to ask.

"I'm going to give you my secret to immortality." Eclipsa revealed.

"How would that help me at all? It would just make this already wretchedly long life of mine stretch on for eternity." Toffee muttered, grimly.

"Don't you understand? If they cannot kill you, there is little they can do to stop you from taking what you want." she elaborated, with growing excitement and passion. "It's all about power, Toffee. Why do you think the Butterflies have ruled Mewni for thousands of years?"

"I don't have magic like the Butterfly's though. I've got muscles and the ability to regrow limbs, but that's basically it."

"Magic is great because you don't always have to be born with it to use it. In your case, all you need is a wand."

"Why do I have the feeling you mean one wand in particular." Toffee mumbled. He looked back at her fiercely, making sure she would hear him and really listen to what he was about to say. "I won't steal Moon's wand."

"I don't want you to steal it." she added. "I want you to convince her to destroy it."

"What?" he gasped, with genuine surprise. The wand was a Butterfly heirloom and had been around since the first queen used it to win the Monster War. Eclipsa herself was one of the previous owners. Why would she want the wand destroyed?

"There is a spell to extinguish the wand called the Whispering Spell. It's the first spell a princess must learn when inheriting the wand." Eclipsa explained. "Once the wand is destroyed, you can absorb the magic inside it. Moon won't need it in the future anyway. The wand is just a training tool for her."

"Regardless, I could never ask Moon to destroy her wand." Toffee reiterated. Although, sometimes he felt a slight rage towards the wand and its actions under former queens, he did not want to take it from Moon. She'd never said it out loud, but Toffee knew it meant a great deal to her that her parents had trusted her with such a responsibility.

"Then, there's the grim alternative."

"I'm afraid to even ask…"

"You're going to need to kill the queen." she bargained, far to lighthearted for what she was suggesting. "She's got the most powerful magic in the kingdom, next to your princess, and I really don't think you're about to kill Moon—"

"Are you crazy?! I'm not going to resort to murder either." he snapped, defensively. At this point, Toffee didn't know why he was still listening. He just wanted her out. But, unfortunately, he didn't know how he'd go about getting rid of her.

"Crazy? I don't think I'm being crazy." Eclipsa said, innocently. Toffee stared blankly at her, silently wondering if she was expecting him to believe her. "Don't look at me like that. She ruined your life. You want her dead."

"I do not!"

"You want to bite her head off. I can see it in your eyes. Don't deny your urges!"

"Stop it!"

"Trust me, Moon wouldn't blame you. Her mother has never been a real mother and, after something like this, do you really think she could ever come to forgive her?" Eclipsa reasoned. Toffee couldn't argue that fact. He'd never once seen Moon's mother act endearing in anyway and, out of all the talking they'd done over the years, Moon talked of her the least. Maids read her books to sleep and helped her get ready for big life events. Toffee and Glossaryck schooled her. Queen Willow was a terrible mother and King Juniper, as kind-hearted a man he was, didn't help much either. They were a pair Toffee suspected he would have no choice but to kill together, if he was to follow Eclipsa's plan. "This is the answer, Toffee! You'll be king of Mewni forever, with Moon at your side. The Monsters and the Mewmans can finally live in harmony. This one act of villainy is all for the greater good."

Toffee was quiet. What could he say? She actually had a point to her crazy. Mewni would be a far better place with people like him and Moon in charge. Toffee had groomed her into the perfect queen, but with their separation came the chance to brainwash her back to the girl she was when they first met. It had taken two years to get her this way and there were still two more left, until she became queen. If they ended up sending her to St. Olga's Reform School for Wayward Princesses, they'd change her back in no time at all. He wanted to say no to Eclipsa, but there was too much to risk and he was desperate.

"Fine. If you really don't want my help, sit here and wallow for the rest of your life." Eclipsa huffed. She was finally leaving. It was what Toffee had wanted from the start, but as she began to fade away an ugly little part of him called out,

"Wait!" Eclipsa stopped fading. Her back still turned to Toffee, concealing an enormous victorious smile. She had won. Although, the lizard could not free Eclipsa, she now held the key to controlling Moon. The helpless, little, lovestruck girl would free the dark queen, whether she wanted to or not. "Help me..."

"It's a deal."

Then, Toffee disappeared. No one knew where or why. One day he was there and the next he had vanished into the darkness. Rumors flew around Mewni of Toffee's banishment. Nobody connected him to an affair with the crowned princess, but the exile of such a public figure was bound to make headlines for at least a few weeks. Then, for their last article, they spun a tragic tale of how Toffee was so aggrieved he must have taken his own life. The small buzz quickly died. Of course, no one really cared about Toffee's absence, except for Moon. But, unfortunately, she was too busy having disappeared herself. The crowned princess was absent from Mewni for a whole month. No events or festivals. The public didn't really notice, but her friends from her other life noticed something was not right. They became increasingly worried about the lack of contact and the carousel of half-assed excuses that the queen gave them. Finally, they sent in a representative to scope it out. Heckapoo visited the castle to try and find out what had happened to Moon, even if it was just to hear a variety of lies spat in her face.

"Is Princess Moon in today?" Heckapoo asked, for what seemed like the billionth time. It was her fifth visit to the castle that week and she was lucky enough to catch the queen off guard by the entrance.

"I'm afraid not." Queen Willow replied, once again.

"Really? I haven't seen her in over a month—"

"She's had to go off to St. Olga's. It's only a temporary visit to see her cousin. She'll be back in a week or so." the queen announced, with a smile. The smile was definitely suspicious, but could not be questioned only due to the fact she was queen.

"I see…"

Heckapoo curtseyed politely to excuse herself, before exiting back out of the castle. However, she was not giving up. She cut herself a portal and landed in the poshest prison anyone could ever hope to be sent to. Thankfully, the school was new and a method had not been invented yet to stop the use of Heckapoo's scissors. However, despite the immaculate rooms, all the princesses kept there were still screaming for their release. She could hear them from the barred window in the wooden door along with zaps of lightening magic, trying to silence them. Moon was not screaming, even though one of her best friends had literally cut a portal into her room. She was sitting at a vanity with dead eyes, mindlessly brushing her long blue hair.

"Temporary, my butt! This is a full-on lock down." Heckapoo scoffed, gazing out the large windows at the stone barrier and guards walking its perimeter. Her friend finally acknowledged her, but not with an embrace, or even an excited expression. "Moon, are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

"You don't look fine. You look like a proper mess." Heckapoo reasoned. "Why'd your parents send you here?"

"They didn't send me here. I wanted to go." Moon insisted, dully.

"Yeah, I'm not buying that." Heckapoo stated, flatly. When she'd once asked of Moon's opinion on the new school, Moon had reported that it sounded like a dreadful place and, if her parents ever tried sending her there, she'd drop the chandelier on them. "Why didn't you just call me, or River, or my brother? We would've bust you out in a heartbeat. Toffee definitely could've used some of his influence—"

"Don't mention him. I don't ever want to hear that name." Moon said, with a little more grit in her tone. Based on her small return from a lifeless doll at the mention of Toffee, it was suddenly clear why she'd come here so willingly.

"Ugh, I hate it when Lucifer is right." Heckapoo groaned. "He told me you guys started dating and I didn't believe him because I thought you would've told me. You should've told me, Moon!"

"It doesn't matter anymore. He's gone. Mother banished him and then he disappeared."

"You're overacting, Moon." Heckapoo assured her. "He may have dropped off the face of Mewni, without any choice, but I'm sure he's busy in Septarsis. You know how he gets."

"Go check Septarsis, then. I know he's not there. He would've found me and rescued me from this awful place." Moon shouted. "I thought he'd fight for me, but he just gave up."

"I'm sure he didn't give up. Toffee never gives up."

"There's a first time for everything." Moon scoffed. "Maybe my mother was right after all. Maybe he never really did love me."

"Alright, first off, we're going to get you out of here. This place is clearly messing with your brain. Then, we're going to go find Toffee and punch him in his big snout." Heckapoo snapped, clearly fed up with this sad new Moon. She tore a new portal, but Moon did not burst into action at the escape plan. "Come on, Moon. Get your stuff and let's get out of here."

"The headmistress has my wand hostage, which means I must be checked out by my parents to get it back." Moon replied, diligently. Heckapoo sighed at her resilience to stay there, however, Moon smiled a little. "I've been on good behavior, so she should let me call them and have me released in a few hours."

"I'll start the search for then and tell the crew you're alright." Heckapoo sighed, in relief.

"How about you meet me back at the castle at five?" Moon proposed. Heckapoo nodded in agreement. She was just about to walk through her portal, when Moon snapped fully back to reality. "—Wait!"

Moon ran to hug her remaining bestie. It meant a lot that someone had come to find her, even if it was not Toffee.

"Thanks for coming to rescue me, Heckapoo."

"Don't mention it. I'm glad you're okay."

Luckily, Moon was released without any issues and she was back in her own room in no time at all. Her mother probably would've kept her in there, but her father was still clueless as to why she'd been sent in the first place and welcomed her release. Moon spent the next few hours waiting until Heckapoo arrived, trying a variety of things to feel at home again. She took a bath, lounged around reading her favorite books, had a nice cup of tea. However, the feeling had gone. Everything was just as she remembered, but for some reason she couldn't make it feel like home. It was a little past six when Moon started to wonder what kept Heckapoo. She was running extremely late. However, it was somewhat explained by a suspicious letter that had appeared on Moon's bed when she arrived back from dinner.

Royal Gardens. 10 o' clock. Tonight.

"I wonder why she changed the time…"

Regardless of how peculiar she found Heckapoo's letter, Moon obeyed and stayed put for a few more hours. When it was almost time, she wrapped a cloak around her and snuck out the servant's entrance for the gardens. They were starting to come back to life from the dead of winter. It was insanely hard not to think of Toffee here. Playfully hiding from him in trees and having lessons in the bright sunlight. The last time she'd been there was with Toffee. Unlike, in the castle, where she'd been so numbed up that it was rather easy to keep him out of her thoughts. They swirled so much they became a real gust of wind. A vision of Toffee appeared from the darkness, wrapped in far too little to possibly been real. She was about to pass it off as just mental trickery, but he wasn't going away. He called out to her. Moon walked closer to the apparition and put her hand on his cheek. It was extremely cold, but it was real.

"Toffee! It's really you!" she gasped, immedietly embracing him in a tight hug.

"Moon, I've missed you so much..." he smiled back, thankfully sounding just as relieved she had.

"Heckapoo found you, did she?"

"Hmm— oh. Yes, Heckapoo found me…" Toffee replied. He seemed a little distracted and, now that Moon had the opportunity to look at him closer, looked tremendously tired. It was different from his usual work stress. She was about to question it, when he interrupted her with his grand news. Their separation would soon be at an end. "I've come to make an appeal to your parents about my wrongful termination. They've accepted an audience with me in a few minutes."

"Really? Oh, thank goodness."

"Don't worry, my dear. I promise we'll be together real soon."

Toffee kissed her hand, bidding her farewell, as he made his way towards the castle. Moon wanted to follow him back up, considering she'd only gotten a few minutes with him, but didn't want to ruin his chances of being un-banished by showing her mother nothing had changed between them. So, she simply danced around in the gardens, humming a prematurely joyful tune. Everything was about to be right again. She was hopelessly lost in a whimsical world of her own and was only forcibly pulled out by a loud bang.

Moon gasped, drawing her wand, and quickly looked around for the source. She couldn't pinpoint where, but clearly heard a fight going down. Then, the queen's high shriek rung throughout the entire castle and Moon saw a bright green light suddenly emanating from the direction of the throne room. She ran.

"Mother? Father? Toffee!? Are you alright? What has—" Moon words got caught in her throat as she stumbled into the scene in the throne room. The grand polished room was in the shambles of an epic battle she'd missed. Tapestries were ripped and the chairs once occupied by her parents were knocked to the ground. The king and queen laid lifeless in the debris, bloody and broken. King Juniper's eyes closed, so he almost managed to look peaceful in his death. However, Queen Willow's eyes were gone and Moon was involuntarily forced to gaze her to look into the empty black void where they had once been. It was a horrible temporary solution, so she would not have to look at the only thing left standing and whole in the room. Even though she'd waited months to see him, Moon suddenly didn't want to look at him. She didn't want to believe he was the culprit of all this. However, had no choice. "Toffee, what've you done?"

"I've gotten rid of the only two things standing in our way." he replied, a touch of madness in is voice that didn't belong there. Toffee dove down to retrieve her mother's fallen crown and placed it on Moon's head. "You are the queen now and you make your own rules."

"Lovesick Lightbeam!"

A jet of sharp blue light sliced him across the cheek, creating a green gash. He stepped back from her looking bewildered.

"Why are you attacking me? I did this for us." Toffee protested, innocently. Something was wrong. This was not the Toffee that Moon remembered. The Toffee she knew would never do this to her. Yet there he was, standing over her parent's dead bodies, taking all the credit.

"What possibly could've made you think I'd want something like this!?" Moon cried. Toffee tried to approach her, but her eyes glowered at him in anger and she shot a quick spell at him. "Stay back, monster!"

"Moon!"

"Do not call my name!" she shouted, defiantly. "If you've finally made me a queen, then I will do my first duty and protect my kingdom."

She raised her wand to fight, but Toffee did not want to fight her, even though with Queen Willow's powers he could beat her easily. He still loved her. He'd done all this for a better future for everyone, including her. Why did she resist? It was not a real tragedy. Perhaps, it would be prudent to give her time and let the message sink in. Toffee retrieved a pair of recently stolen scissors from his waistband and cut open a portal.

"I've left Heckapoo dead, north of the gardens." Toffee added, knowing her dead friend would distract her for the second he needed to get away. Moon dropped her guard for a moment in shock, while Toffee hoisted the king and queen over his shoulders. "You can have her body, but your parents are coming with me. I can't risk you taking them to Lekmet."

"No!"

Moon ran for Toffee and the portal, but was just a second to late. It closed and he disappeared again, taking the king and queen with him.

This chapter is for Cas. A sick friend of mine who died yesterday. You were the only one I'd ever let watch me write in a million years and I already miss you dearly.

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