Author's Notes:
Hello, all! Welcome to the sequel of my other current SVTFOE Fanfic titled "Dark Times"! For those that haven't read it, DO! None of what is going on in this chapter will make sense until you read its context. I promise it's worth the read.
For the rest of you, here we are! Enjoy!
…
Chapter One: Queen of Hearts
Blood drizzled down Star's bruised forehead as she lingered over her father's body, holding his head in her hand as she stared into his eyes, watching for some glimmer of hope that he would come back, but even as minutes passed, she saw no change in his face, life in his eyes, or even breath from his mouth.
She shook her head in disbelief as she pulled him close, squeezing him before pulling away. She sniffled and wiped her tears, her face falling when Marco suddenly broke the silence.
"Wait," he said, earning a glance from the girl, "Where's your mom?"
Star's eyes widened, her gaze snapping toward the ruins of the Kingdom, then to Marco.
He nodded, carefully trading places with her and lifting River's body over his shoulder as Star hurriedly ripped open a portal and sprinted through with Marco trudging behind her.
Her eyes locked onto the ruins of the castle. She sprinted, her surroundings blurring and her senses fading as she closed the distance until, finally, she skidded to a stop, scanning from side to side as she tried to remember where her mother was.
Vague images of her battle with Toffee flashed through her mind and her gaze snapped to the side as she remembered watching the castle fall.
Again, she sprung forward, shoveling massive pieces of rubble to the side. Even with her immense Johansen strength, she struggled, each clump of shattered stone heavier than the last.
She let out a deep grunt as she tossed a massive chunk aside, her eyes widening as her gaze landed on two split halves of her mother's cracked battle crown.
She knelt down and lifted the larger of the two pieces to her eye, looking it over for several seconds, her brows coming closer and closer together as she fought against what seemed so obvious.
She groaned as she threw the crown away, diving into the pile of rubble and frantically shoveling the debris away.
She cast aside lump after lump of wreckage, each piece revealing more and more of the ground until, finally, she fell to her knees, unable to catch her breath.
She heard footsteps clattering behind her, and sure enough, she heard exactly the voice she was expecting, a smile slowly growing on her face.
"Star," Marco called with confusion, instinctively stepping back when Star didn't immediately face him.
She chuckled through broken breaths, her smile slowly growing as she pushed off of the ground.
She turned to face him with a gleaming expression and before he could form a word, she wrapped her arms around him.
"She's alive," she muttered with a crackling voice. Marco's eyes widened.
He glanced past her, quickly growing confused until Star turned his head to meet her eyes. She pointed to the cracked crown.
"I found that," she explained, chuckling, "I searched around, but she's not here. She- She escaped…"
Marco smiled, walking toward a nearby tree and setting River's body down carefully. He turned back to Star, his joy quickly dissipating as he realized what this meant.
"But-" he mumbled, Star meeting his eyes with a smile, "Wh- Where is she?"
Star's smile slowly faded as she stared at the incredible destruction, her eyes drifting to the crowd of commoners that slowly gathered near where the castle gates previously stood.
Her eyes widened, the depth of what her mother's absence truly meant.
"If- If she's not here then I-"
Marco's jaw hung as he realized what Star was about to say.
"Then there's no Queen…"
Her eyes fell to the ground for several seconds, her face blank and pale. She turned to her father's body, meeting his wide, lifeless eyes, her face tensing.
A gust of wind blew by, a chill running up her spine. Her legs felt weak. Her hands trembled. Her breaths grew shaky.
She closed her eyes, summoning all of the courage that both her mother and father had gifted her. She steadied her hands and legs and took a deep breath, raising her arms toward the castle ruins.
The blood leaking from her head burned away as her cheeks took on a vibrant glow, her eyes sharing the same brilliance when they bursted open.
The piles of rubble lifted from the ground and slowly melded together, returning to what they once were as Star continued to raise them up.
Marco as well as the crowd watched with bated breath, their jaws hanging and their eyes agape with amazement as the tower slowly reversed its path.
Star pointed her second hand away, the commoners' houses mending themselves one by one as Star's hand brushed by all the while the massive tower still climbed.
It was effortless. It was unlike anything that Star had ever done before. The child that destroyed the kingdom time and time again put it back together with unfathomable grace.
Slowly, the tower melded back together with the castle, Star's light flickering until, finally, she fell to her knees.
Her heart pounded and she could barely breathe in short gasps. She could barely keep herself from collapsing her arms were so weak. She glanced at the crowd, who all looked back at her with awe in their eyes.
All was silent for a moment before, suddenly, a screaming cheer pierced through their air, widening the Princess's eyes in an instant. It didn't end there, though. Instead, the cheers only grew, gaining volume with every new member until she couldn't even hear herself think.
Memories flashed through her mind from a mere year ago. She was cast out from her kingdom and forced to practice her magic in the human world. She remembered every disdained glare she got on her way out and she saw nearly every expression replaced by loving support.
Marco knelt down in front of her and pulled her into a tight embrace, but she couldn't move a muscle.
A smile slowly grew across her face, only accelerating when she turned to Marco. Amazement, love, but most of all, pride. She let out a soft chuckle as her emotions overflowed, wrapping her arms around him and squeezing him tightly as joyful tears streamed down her face.
For minutes, she reveled in the love of her people, but as she opened her eyes her jubilation quickly faded.
Her eyes fell on her father's body, which sat leaning against a tree. Still, her smile never totally vanished.
Once again, her mind returned to the night before that fateful day. She remembered every word he said to her, even if she acted like he had nothing to worry about.
He told her that the wand was a responsibility. He told her that there would be times when she would fall short. He even told her that he was terrified that the wand would put her in danger, but after that, he told her exactly what she needed to hear. He told her that when the day would come that she would need to defend her kingdom, he knew that she would succeed. He knew that she was good enough. He didn't have a doubt in his mind.
Her tears returned, packed with even more joy than before. Slowly, she pushed off of the ground, the people of the kingdom slowly quieting as a stern expression overtook her face.
As the crowd finally silenced, she searched her mind for what her mother would say, but time after time, as she opened her mouth, words continued to fail her.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before finally addressing her people.
"The Butterfly Kingdom suffered unimaginable losses today," she began, all of the joy in the air seeming to vanish in an instant. She pointed to her father's body.
"King River Butterfly along with more people than I could possibly know were killed in the monsters' attack on our home and to be completely honest with you, I have no idea where my mother- I mean… the Queen is."
She paused for several seconds, the uncertain eyes of her people burning themselves into her mind as she struggled to get her next words out.
"I-" she stammered, letting out a deep sigh, "For the time being, I-"
"I will be your temporary Queen."
Again, silence loomed large as the crowd processed her words until, finally, another cheer bursted out from the crowd, quickly joined by another and another as Star turned to Marco with eyes full of confusion.
He smiled back at her and she couldn't help but do the same. The crowd cheered and cheered seemingly to no end, but when Star eventually stepped forward, they all went silent.
It was strange. For her entire life, she remembered them never taking her seriously, and yet, here they were. Still, she couldn't let herself lose focus. She took a deep breath, putting on a stern face before finally breaking the silence.
"Manfred," she called, scanning the crowd, and as she turned his head, he seemed to appear at her side.
"At your service, my Queen," he said. Star smiled, crouching to his level and whispering in his ear.
He nodded and rushed into the castle. She watched as he left and turned to Marco, whispering just as quietly as she had before.
"Where is Buff Frog," she asked, his eyes widening.
He gestured to the castle and she nodded, quickly pivoting toward the expectant crowd.
"Please, return to your homes," she said, "Tomorrow morning, we will hold a ceremony at the center of the Kingdom to mourn our losses."
The crowd stared at their new Queen for several seconds before finally obeying, and once they finally turned away, Star finally took a sigh of relief, turning to Marco with weary eyes.
She groaned with her shoulders slumped, nearly collapsing into his arms as Manfred trodded out of the castle with several other servants.
She watched from over Marco's shoulder as they carried her father's body away, her face falling as her body sagged into his.
She took several deep breaths, letting herself revel in the silence of the Kingdom until, finally, she peeled away, meeting Marco's eyes with dread.
"It's gonna be okay, Star," Marco reassured. Star nodded, but she could do little to hide her lack of confidence, even as she finally took her first step toward her castle.
The descent to the dungeon was walked in silence, the Queen's eyes locked on the ground for every step.
Marco constantly glanced in her direction, but it was clear that she was in her own world.
Once they finally entered the dungeon, a flood of terrible memories came back to her. She'd only spent a single night in that cell, but she knew as well as anyone how terrible it felt.
So when she finally let herself meet Buff Frog's hateful eyes, the depth of her sympathy only grew.
"Why have you come," he finally asked, a poisonous tone in his voice.
It took several seconds for Star to find her words, her skin pale.
"I'm sorry," she said with watery eyes, "Katrina should've-"
"Do not speak her name!"
His voice boomed against every corner of the dungeon, his entire fury packed behind his voice.
Star didn't flinch.
Silence lingered in the air for several seconds as the monster stared the Queen down until, finally, he backed down with a huff, turning away.
"Leave me," he said.
Star stepped forward with frustration, slamming her fist against the bars of the cell so hard that she made a dent.
"No," she shouted, "I'm not just gonna leave you here. Your children need you."
Buff Frog groaned, turning even further away as he held his head in his hands.
"I'm gonna fix this world and I want you to be a part of it."
Silence lingered in the dungeon as Star leaned against the cell walls, her head light.
"Impossible," Buff Frog remarked.
"What- Why," Star stammered.
"There is nothing left here for my family," he explained, "Even if you somehow do what so many before you have failed to, my family will never be happy here."
Again, silence loomed between the two, Star's face falling as she gripped the bars of the cell. She let out a deep sigh before pulling her dimensional scissors from her pocket.
"I understand…"
She reached her hand between the bars and held out the pair of scissors, Buff Frog turning to her with a puzzled expression.
"Why?"
She didn't say a word, her hand steady until Buff Frog finally pulled the scissors into his webbed hand.
He met Star's eyes with a stoic expression, slowly slicing the scissors through the air.
"I wish you luck, Star Butterfly," he remarked before stepping through the portal, the scissors clattering to the ground as the portal closed behind him.
"What now," Marco asked as Star's eyes lingered on the scissors.
She knelt down and reached through the bars, pulling them into her hand.
A smile slowly crept onto her face as she came to her feet, lazily slicing the scissors down.
"You first," she gestured with a smile, following as Marco stepped through.
Marco chuckled as he walked into the room and within a single second, Star plopped her face down on her bed, her entire body sinking into her impossibly soft mattress.
"Finally," Star remarked with a sigh of satisfaction, "...freedom."
Marco playfully shook his head collapsing beside her.
He met her eyes with a loving smile, reaching for her hand and pulling it into his own.
He closed his eyes and she stared at his lingering smile, her own smile only growing.
Again, she sighed before letting her heavy eyelids fall, her entire body tense as she finally drifted off to sleep.
…
Drops of water rhythmically pitter-pattered against the tough, rocky floor of Eclipsa's dark prison. She lay on the floor with her limbs outstretched, her body too weak to move.
Still, her arm stretched out, reaching into the darkness and wrapping her fingers around the handle of a bag that she had with her a century ago.
She pulled it to her chest and reached inside with her trembling hand, pulling out a lone, wrapped piece of chocolate.
She smiled as she struggled to rip the packaging open, the melted chocolate oozing from the packing before she could even reach her fingers inside.
She chuckled to herself as she held the wrapper over her face, letting the chocolate drip into her mouth, her eyes dilating further with every drop until, finally she fell onto her back, her head leaned back with pleasure as she took several moments to catch her breath.
The silence of the cave was restored for only a short moment before, in a burst of amethyst luminescence, her body ascended.
She got her feet underneath her, her hands trembling with power.
She clenched her fist, slamming it through at least fifty feet of rock, sunlight oozing into the cave and onto her skin for the first time since her imprisonment.
Her smile grew as her eyes glazed over the distant Butterfly Castle.
"I'll come home to you soon, Meteora."
…
Author's Note:
Well, there it is, the first chapter of the sequel to Dark Times. As I said before, none of this will make sense if you haven't read the other story, but for those of you who have, you can probably tell now why I felt that it was best to split up the stories. The tone is different, the characters are different, and the end of this story is in sight.
As I mentioned in my Instagram story before, this story is planned fairly far ahead, with 13 chapters planned out and much more ground to cover after that, so strap in, because there's plenty of story to be told.
As for the time it took me to write this chapter, there's nothing I can really say. I started college last week and I've had a lot going on lately, so time hasn't exactly been an infinite resource. I can't promise that the next chapter will come out faster, but I can promise that I'm doing my best.
Either way, thank you for reading. As usual, your follows, favorites, kudos, comments, and reviews are greatly appreciated. I love hearing from you and every interaction helps get my story out to more people, so, please keep up the support.
I'll see you all soon. Stay tuned.
~ lucash21
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