Not everyone can handle the claustrophobic feel of a prison cell. The small, cramped room can give its occupant the impression that the walls were slowly closing on them; to be smothered forever in this little hell.
That what was happening to Ludo. The former monster magic wielder who lived in a castle and later out in the wild was now in a dungeon cell deep in the caverns below Mewni, with torches only offering him a source of light. His eyes were crusty and his beard grew longer, the only activity he had was marking on the walls a line with a piece of chalk to count the days he have been trapped here.
There were hundreds of lines on the walls. "456 days. 456 days since I seen the light of day." Ludo spoke in despair.
"Please, you only been here for a week."
Ludo turned around to see Queen Moon standing outside of his cell. "Queen Moon!" He crawled to her and grabbed the bars that separated them with his two hands. "You can't keep me here! I was once was prince! I deserve better than this! I demand to see my lawyer!"
Moon raised her eyebrow at him. "What kind of justice system offers the accused a lawyer? You've been visiting Earth too many times. "
Ludo groaned as he slowly descended further to the ground.
"I'm not here to talk about your predicament. I'm here to talk to you about the wand you were using." Moon stated her business.
Ludo looked up. "No. No, no, no, no. NO!" He ranted like a little a child as he paced around his cell. "I don't want to talk about that accursed hex! It's the reason why I'm here. Corrupting me with fake power and whispering me lies!"
The last part grabbed Moon's attention. "Whispering you lies? It spoke to you?"
"Yes!" Ludo confirmed. "Telling me secrets of Mewnian Magic, promising me great power. But it was only using me like Toffee! Making me do its bidding and speaking to me in a-"
"Soft, female voice." Moon finished the sentence for Ludo.
Ludo looked at Moon a bit surprised, "Yes?"
"Tell me everything the wand said to you in the days you had it," Moon demanded.
"And what do I get in return if I cooperate?" questioned Ludo.
"I'll reschedule your execution to much further ahead," Moon answered with a stern tone. She was going to let him weaseled his way out of this.
Ludo gulped, "Okay."
All was quiet in Diaz's household; both Mr. and Mrs. Diaz went to their respective jobs leaving behind Star and Marco who were in their own rooms.
Marco sat on his bed, anticipating whether Star will talk to him now or later. She said she needed some time to comprehend that Marco is the Flash, so Marco was more then willingly to give her some space. But a he couldn't help but worry about their friendship, something that Marco treasured with his heart. Also as a speedster, things everything in the world seemed slower to him and it felt it was forever since he told her.
In Star's room, Star was was laying on her bed looking up at the ceiling with one of the laser puppies, Sayjax, on top of her belly. "Has anyone ever told you a secret and you didn't what to do with it, Sayjax?"
Sayjax barked and shot a laser at the wall.
"Yeah, I guess puppies don't have to worry about that." Star responded to Sayjax. "Protecting the city from super criminals, that's pretty cool and I have no problem with Marco doing that. But he also attacked me and my dad, to be honest I can forgive him for that since we're always being attacked."
Sayjax barked again.
"The real problem is that he is a speedster and speedsters are declared a public threat in Mewni." Star explained to the curious puppy. "The first one massacred a bunch of our soldiers and Marco fighting us doesn't help their reputation. What am I going to tell mom? 'Hey mom, Marco is the red speedster that beat up dad, scared off our top lieutenant and his elite soldiers, and had an intense battle to the death with me, but he's cool. He didn't mean to do that, he's under some anger inducing spell.'"
Sayjax barked.
"Yeah, that sounded stupid." Star agreed. She grabbed one of her pillows and pressed it on her face. "I came back to Earth to make my life simple again, now it just got more complicated again."
A dimensional portal opened up in her room, prompting Star to sit up and causing Sayjax to fall onto the floor. Glossaryck floated out of the portal.
"Glossaryck! About time you came to Earth, the meeting took longer then expected?" Star asked.
Glossaryck did not answered her question. "Sorry Star, but your training is about to become more vigorous."
Star tilted her head in confusion. "Why?"
"Because Eclipsa has returned."
That sentence would have struck fear to any mewnian, but Star did not know her history well and was quite forgetful. "Which tapestry was hers again?"
Marco couldn't help but snoop. When he heard the familiar noise of an dimensional portal open up in Star's room, he quickly ran up to her door with an empty glass cup. He had the top end of the glass pressed on Star's door and his ear pressed on the bottom of the glass. "Eclipsa?" Marco heard the word utter from Glossaryck's mouth.
Suddenly he heard his front door was violently opened and two pair of feet where running up the stairs. "Marco!" shouted two familiar voices.
"Jackie? Janna?" Marco said as the two girls made it up the stairs out of breath. "What's going on?"
"Would you guys keep it down! I'm talking to Star!" shouted Glossaryck from Star's room.
"First day back and he's already bossy," Marco muttered to himself.
"We need to talk!" said Jackie.
"Like talk talk," said Janna. "The type of talk that you can't have over dinner."
Marco gestured his hands at them to calm down. "Okay, okay. Let's go to my room."
The three teens walked to Marco's room. "Was that Glossaryck?" asked Janna.
"Yeah, he's finally back. Which means I have to hide my pudding." Marco answered.
"The Queen of Darkness?" asked Star.
"Yes," replied Glossaryck. "She attacked the castle just for showmanship, quite the Butterfly trait."
"She's the one that mastered Dark Magic and has the tragic backstory you're keeping vague for me." Star recollected her memories. "How is she even alive?"
"It had something to do with Ludo's wand. Ludo did not know he was a just a pawn for something larger at play." Glossaryck explained.
"That makes sense," Star agreed. She remembered that when she touched Ludo's wand, she saw flashes of Mewni's past and heard a voice. "Why is she here? No one goes through all that work to come from back from the dead after hundreds of years without a reason?"
Glossaryck had a idea, but did not which to tell Star and opted for a vague explanation. "She's going after the Butterfly lineage."
"Glossaryck?" said Star.
"Yes?"
"Are you keeping something from me?" Star raised her eyebrow and placed her hands of her hips.
"Yes." Glossaryck answered without hesitation.
"And you're not going to tell me?"
"At the right moment," Glossaryck responded.
Star stared at him for a few seconds. "Okay then." While Star would like to know Eclipsa's background, it would be too much for her in one day.
Meanwhile, at Marco's room.
"So what got you guys so spooked?" Marco asked the two girls that barged into his house.
Jackie and Janna huffed and puffed air. After collecting their breaths, the girls began to tell their tale. "We were at Mercury Labs trying to see if there was anything useful for you." Jackie went first.
"I found it really boring, but it beats looking after my baby cousins." Janna chimed in.
"And then there was meta attack on the building," Jackie continued. "And it was speedster."
Marco eyes widened. "A speedster? Like me?" Marco asked in shocked.
"He's nothing like you," Janna said. "He was faster, scarier, and evil. He killed almost everyone there."
"And the scary thing is, he knows who we are." Jackie said in fear. "He knows Marco Diaz is the Flash."
Marco felt as though his whole world went upside down, again. He did not know how to feel about this. He walked away from the girls and sat on his bed to comprehend the information he just received.
"I think he's just trying to copy your style," Janna said. "He's suit.."
"Was exactly like mine except it was yellow." Marco finished Janna's sentence. He looked up at Janna, "And his lightning was red."
Jackie and Janna looked at him confused. "How do you know that?" asked Janna.
Marco sighed, "I told Star that I am the Flash."
Jackie left eye twitched a little, "And what was her reaction?"
"Honestly, it could have been worse." Marco answered truthfully, "She said she needed time to think about it. But before that, she said the reason why speedsters are public enemies in Mewni is not just because I attacked the Royal Family, but also decades ago a speedster dressed in yellow massacred a bunch of Mewnian soldiers and attacked then Princess Moon."
Jackie walked toward Marco and sat next to him. "And you think this the same speedster?"
Marco bobbed his head, "I think so."
"Then why is his suit similar to my designed?" asked Janna. "I made that designed up on my own, without any inspirations except the lightning that hit you."
Marco shook his head. "I don't know."
"We're going to need more information about this guy," suggested Jackie.
"You're right," Marco said. He looked at Star's door across his room. "And I think I know just the people to asked."
It was a little passed 1 am in the Diaz's household and only two souls were awake. Inside Star's room, the sound of snoring was emitting from the Book of Spells signaling that Glossaryck was asleep.
Star sat on her bed looking through a Mewnian history book on the Butterfly lineage while using her wand as a flashlight. "Okay, okay, okay." said Star to herself as she skimmed through the pages. "Auroa, Festiva, Solaria, aha! Eclipsa."
Star held the page closer her face and read the chapter that was dedicated to Eclipsa's legacy.
"The dark queen of Mewni, Eclipsa master what was deemed impossible to do, dark magic. Controlling it to her will, she became the most powerful Butterfly in all of history, which was confirmed by Baby. However, she felt sympathy to the monsters and sought the end of the Butterfly lineage. Her dark heart fell for a monster and she fled to the Forest of Certain Death in her lover's arm. Side note; this is the only information that is available to the public, any further information regarding important events and her fate has been deemed classified by the Magic High Commission."
Star groaned when she finished the last sentence, "This is stuff I already know. It doesn't even mention that Eclipsa's parents forced her to have a mewnian child to continue the lineage." Star tossed the book outside her window. "I'll be evil too if someone forced me to have a kid I did not want to have."
"OW!"
Star perked up when she recognized that voice. "Marco?" She got up from bed and looked out of her balcony. She saw Marco who was wearing his typical hoodie, rubbing the top of his head where the book made contact and holding a half eaten burger.
"You should make yourself a bookshelf, Star." Marco suggested.
"Sorry," Star apologized. "What are even doing out there?"
"I couldn't sleep so I went for a run," Marco gestured his burger to Star. "And I've got hungry so I stopped by Big Belly Burger."
"The Marco I've knew always knew never had trouble sleeping and did not like midnight snacks," Star said.
"Well, that was before Marco was struck by lightning and now he has to eat like an elephant to balance his metabolism," Marco quipped. "And he can run in super speed."
Star chuckled, "I've guess things change faster in Earth then I thought."
"You could say that again."
Both teenagers stared at each other in silence. It's been a ruff 24 hours for both of them, and the issue of Marco being the red speedster still loomed over them. Star decided that this silence was enough and she wanted her friendship back, no matter how much it changed.
Star cleared her throat, "Do you want to come in and talk?"
Marco smiled at her request, "I would like that."
"Hang on, I'll create cloudy to lift you-" as Star was about to waved her magical wand, Marco ran up the tower and appeared in front of Star. "Up."
Marco smirked at Star. "I've got it covered." He put the book that Star threw at him on her bed.
"I don't think I'll ever get used to that," Star commented.
"If I can get used to a foreign exchange student from a another dimension with a magical wand and fight monsters all the time, then you can get use to me running at super speed," Marco joked.
Both teens sat on Star's bed. "Do you think things will ever be the same between us?" Star asked.
Both lamented the early days of their friendship. Dimension hopping, fighting bad guys, meeting new friends from other worlds, and most importantly not worrying about their destinies when they were having fun. Now both Marco and Star have heavy burdens to bear, but they might need each other more than ever.
"No," Marco said, crushing a bit of Star's soul. "But it could be more fun."
Star smiled in response. "My parents are not going to be happy that you are a speedster." Star chuckled, but her joy died down and turned to anxiety. "The people of Mewni are going to compare me to Eclipsa because I'm friends with an enemy of the kingdom."
Marco was concerned for his friend, but a bit confused. "Who?"
"Eclipsa, the Queen of Darkness." Star answered. "She mastered Dark Magic, but ran away from her queen duties for a monster."
Marco placed her hand on her shoulder, "Star, you're not going to be like her."
"But that doesn't stop people from speculating," Star countered. "Monsters are Mewni's enemies, and Eclipsa fell in love with one. Now speedsters are also enemies of Mewni and I'm i-... best friends with one!" Star pulled her buttercup hair. "And now she's back and threatens my entire family."
Marco was lost, "Wait? What do you mean she's back? Ancestors don't just come back to life."
Star let go of her hair. "But she did. I don't know, she used magic or something to return. She already attacked my mother and now I have to ready myself, my magic is nowhere near her level." Star held her knees together.
"I'm sorry you have to go through all of that," Marco said sincerely, he remembered a particularly speedster. "Hey, remember the yellow speedster you told me about?"
"Yeah?" answered Star. "What about him?"
Marco clenched his fists as he told Star. "He attacked a science building the other day when Janna and Jackie were there. He killed several people and stole something important."
Star gasped. "That's terrible. Are Jackie and Janna okay?"
"They're fine," Marco assured her. "But I think you were right about him."
Star looked confused, "About what?"
"That I might know him. He knows who Janna and Janna are and knows that I am the Flash. I mean, how is that even possible? If you're right about him attacking Mewni several decades ago, then I how does he know who I am?"
Star placed her hand on Marco's shoulder. "There, there. I'm sure there is a crazy explanation for all this."
Marco looked gloom, "I don't even know who he is."
An idea pop into Star's crazy mind. "Maybe the Mewni's history book of villains might help." She hopped from her bed and began scouring her room for the book.
"The book of villains?" questioned Marco.
"Yeah," responded Star as she found the book and made her way back to Marco. "Mewni has a history of bad guys, so we documented them." She sat next to Marco again and began turning the pages; "Let's see, the The Scourager? No. Resyer? No. Toffee? Hmmm, wonder whatever happened to him? Aha!" Star turned the book to Marco, "The Yellow Speed Devil."
"The Yellow Speed Devil?"
"He didn't exactly gave us a name so the High Magic Commission put a vote for it. It was either this name or the Red-Eye Demon, but the latter was deemed offensive by the Lucitors."
Marco grabbed the book from Star's hands and studied it closely, "I can't read Mewnian, Star."
"Sorry," Star waved her wand at the book and the Mewnian words translated to English. "The Wand Translator."
Marco eyes skimmed the text; it had a drawing depicting the yellow speedster monstrous and vicious. He read out loud the text, "The Yellow Speed Demon. Origins: Unknown. Species: Unknown. Connections to the Royal Crown: Unknown. As quickly it appeared, it disappeared. Using the power of an unknown energy and red lightning, it killed dozens of Mewnian finest soldiers and bested the then Princess Moon, Prince River of the Johansens, and even Glossaryck. It had broken into our relic vault, which contains some of Mewni's dangerous inventions but for some odd reason it stole the weakest and useless relic we had, the Dimensional Orb. An early prototype invented by Hekapoo for dimensional traveling, it was deemed unreliable and unpredictable before it was replaced by the dimensional scissors. While we question this creatures' intelligence and motive we do not underestimate it's power or dare seek it's whereabouts. Beware any creature that bears its symbol."
Marco placed the opened book on Star's bed, "Well that explained why your dad, that soldier, and you were so eager to fight the Flash. I thought I was the only one, but I guess not."
"Sooo, the thing its a human?" Star asked.
"Just like me, I guess." Marco slouched. "I faced dangerous metas while you were gone, some terrified me. But going up against someone that has the same power as me, but knows how to use it a lot better its much more scary."
"You're telling me," Star grabbed the book she was reading earlier and opened it up to Eclipsa's page. "I only know Eclipsa through Mewni's history, but I don't think I will be strong enough to beat her." Star placed the book next to the second one, both books opened to the duo's respective enemies.
Marco looked at the yellow speedster and Eclipsas' pages and smiled. "Well, I guess we'll get our ass kick together."
Star chuckled, "We'll share the same hospital room." Both teens hugged each other, not ready to face the future but being less afraid to do so together.
Outside the Diaz household, Eclipsa dressed in her usual black attire was standing a street away from Marco's house. She was looking at the tower that Star created with her magic when she first arrived here. Eclipsa half-smiled at the tower.
"So this is where you've taken residence, my dear child?" Eclipsa asked to herself. "I wonder if my husband and sons' lineage would have liked it here." Eclipsa half-smile turned to a frown. "I'll see you soon, Star." Eclipsa turned to walked away from her spot. As she turned to a corner, she accidentally bumped into a stranger. "I apologized, sir."
Eclipsa turned to face the stranger and who turned around to face her as well. He was middle age man with blonde hair, he was wearing a black jacket and was holding a takeout bag from Big Belly Burger. "No need to apologize ma'am, tourists can get a bit lost here at Echo Creek."
Eclipsa was a bit a surprise at the man's quick assumption. "How do you know I'm not from around here?"
The man smiled at her, "I could read people, it's always been a gift."
Eclipsa smiled at him and took a step closer to him. "Oh? It's that why you're out here late this late? To read people?"
The man chuckled at her, "No, just went for a run." He lifted his hand to show her the Big Belly Burger takeout, "Got hungry."
Eclipsa was intrigued at this man, "Why where are my manners? I am Eclipsa of Mewni, Queen of Darkness."
"I'm Eobard Thawne," responded Thawne. "You know, I've been to Mewni on a few occasions."
"Really? What are the odds?" Eclipsa was a bit surprised.
"It's true. Every time I visit there, they are always passionate about something. Corn, Flags, Magic, but I say the most important thing they're passionate about it's vengeance." Eclipsa smiled went away. "Every time someone wrong the Mewnians, they will concentration on nothing but to return the favor, albeit a lot worse. It blinds them, controls them, and makes them throw out all logic until they get their vengeance." Thawne took a step closer to Eclipsa. "And I say there is nothing wrong with that."
Thawne smiled at Eclipsa who had nothing to say. "Well, Eclipsa it was nice meeting you. I hope I'll see you again." Thawne turned and walked away, while Eclipsa looked at him go.