STLTH 100
This isn't chapter 17. This is chapter 16.2. It's the latter half of the previous chapter.
Anyway, here's chapter 17.
17.
It had been thirty minutes or so, long enough for Higgs to be continually pestered to her wit's end by incessant females, and long enough for Eclipsa – who'd earlier retreated to her room – to return fully and appropriately clothed, her butterfly wand umbrella in hand.
With barely any incantation, open umbrella in hand, she floated over to the bench that stood next to the castle's front entrance and conjured an arbor of flower bushes that sheltered the bench from the increasing mid-morning sun. Seating herself in the newly made shade, she gazed below at Higgs and hintingly patted the seat at her side, overtly inviting the squire to sit with her.
"I put her down for a nap. You have my undivided attention," Eclipsa remarked coyly.
Too exhausted to do anything other than to acquiesce, Higgs heaved herself up from where she sat on the lowermost steps, slowly ascended the remaining eight steps, and swung her tired legs over the shin-high garden wall. At last, after what looked like a strenuous effort on her part, she plopped herself down on the bench next to the queen.
Hardly had she done so did a woman run into the front yard and stand below them at the foot of the stairs. Higgs recognized Lady Whosits, but the burly woman was too harried for pleasantries. "Have you seen Diaz?" she yelled.
Higgs groaned, "Another one." Before she could say anything to the knight, however, Eclipsa rested her hand on Higgs's thigh to signal her to remain quiet before she answered Lady Whosits herself.
"Um… Marco already left."
"DAMN IT! Where did he go–"
"He used dimensional scissors," Eclipsa said simply.
To anyone, it sounded that Marco could and would stay unfound for good, and it achieved the desired effect; Whosits quickly became disinterested with the queen and squire on the bench and she stalked away growling, swearing heaping violence to be enacted when next she found the object of her anger. Higgs wondered if Marco was taking everyone's panties on a tour of the multiverse and wondered how he could manage to piss off so many people in his sleep.
"It has been an awfully peculiar morning, wouldn't you agree?" Eclipsa commented. "How are you holding up?" Higgs didn't answer. "Have you had breakfast?" The queen folded up her umbrella wand and leaned it against the bench between them. "Never mind that, you missed breakfast, and it's still too early for brunch. Some scones ought to be ready by now. Would you like some?"
Higgs looked up into the woman's stoic face and continued to hesitate. She urged herself to speak, only to end up admitting the first thought at the front of her mind. "You're not really what I was expecting."
"Expecting the 'Queen of Darkness', were you?" Eclipsa said grandiosely, assuming different emotions, vainly attempting to reflect the same wickedness as her titles but only succeeded in looking like an annoyed aunt. "Or did you want to meet 'The Queen Who Shall Scorch Mewni With Flames of Wrath?' Or how about 'She Who Shall Arrive With The Setting Sun'? You must be so disappointed."
Higgs couldn't utter a word, wondering what next to expect, and whether or not she'd made a mistake coming here if the queen didn't act in a manner that befitted royalty.
"For as long as I can remember, mewmans have always dispensed names and epithets with a flair for the dramatic, and mine are a tad worse because I'm not very popular," Eclipsa said plainly, "and for all sorts of reasons, reasons we both know. Reasons we shan't get into."
Accused, Higgs felt a sudden twinge of guilt. She'd been on a severe misjudging streak of people all morning, and couldn't stand up to any sort of criticism herself. One more issue to the list. She must've looked penitent; when next she looked up again into the queen's face, Eclipsa favored her with a forgiving smile.
"Regardless, I am the queen. It's my job to listen to my subjects' grievances, and at the very least, I must be a good hostess to all my guests."
That fault was still there but the girl was determined to make a better impression. To do so, she had to extend both an olive branch and the benefit of the doubt to Eclipsa and her brood. Moreover, she couldn't afford to piss off the only person who could protect her. It was easily enough accomplished, especially when the woman was so amiable. "I'd like a scone," Higgs said politely.
"I'd like one too." She didn't even make a visual cue, yet a flying bat monster with too many eyes and too many limbs glided down toward them. He was about the size of a mewman ten-year-old but more importantly, Higgs noted, was that the monster had a platter in one of his hands. He exuded a much more agreeable aura than Manfred as he presented a plate of scones that Eclipsa urged Higgs to take, and the monster flew off again. They both helped themselves to the buttered scones like longtime friends sharing a plate, and the girl found herself increasingly relaxing around the so-called Queen of Darkness.
Eclipsa asked her for her name.
"Higgs. Um… your highness? My queen?" Higgs stuttered, uncomfortable and uncertain about title usage. "Miss, uh, Eclipsa –"
"Just Eclipsa is fine for now. I'm sure you're still adjusting. Many of my subjects can't even call me 'Queen' without conscious effort. Most of them are probably still waiting for Moon to return. Perhaps they expect her to return things to what they were accustomed to."
Higgs would be lying if she said that she didn't feel the same about Moon, but what Eclipsa said made her realize that it wasn't fair, and though Eclipsa had troubles of her own, she was taking them in stride as best she could. "I heard from Marco about Festivia," she said, suddenly loose and apologetic. "I'm sorry. Queen Eclipsa. It IS hard to adjust. Monsters are everywhere, and we're all supposed to be friends now? We've always been at each other's throats, and now, we're not. It's just so sudden."
"Uh huh," Eclipsa mumbled around the food in her mouth.
"But if you had held on to your reign, maybe things would've changed back then, and would be normal by now. I'm sorry for thinking that you were evil. And… Heinous is… well, Meteora is…" Higgs hesitated, recalling the baby's penetrating snake-eyed stare and couldn't think of a decent adjective that wasn't even halfway acceptable. Eclipsa was almost morbidly expectant, awaiting feedback on her baby daughter. "She's still scary," Higgs admitted dryly, hoping she didn't offend the woman, but had a feeling that she would understand.
As expected, Eclipsa chortled, saying that Marco also had the same misgivings, and the squire smiled.
"Marco was always telling me that you were a good person and that I should give you a chance. If I'd have known if you were like this or if I'd at least listened to him, I would've been here weeks ago."
"While I'm glad that I was able to win over even one of my subjects today, I do believe we should get to brass tacks. Higgs, was it?" Eclipsa asked, and the girl nodded. "You're the one who ran in here, yelling that you needed to see me." Higgs didn't reply but was given no chance even if she wanted to; Eclipsa went on, "You asked me if I have ever seen two of the same people, and moments after, you screamed when you saw Marco and you mistook him for someone else. I take it that you're in danger from someone who looks like him? Rocam, you called him?"
As unassuming as she was, the queen didn't miss much. "You're right. Rocam is–"
A golden portal opened in the front yard, and both queen and squire looked up just in time to see Star emerge from it. She was a luminescent yellow in her butterfly state, backdropped by large pale translucent wings idly fluttering behind her in an act that seemed more done to avoid looking static rather than truly flapping to keep her in flight. Her gleaming blond hair was braided and rigid atop her head like standing antennae, and her six arms were in elegant poise for both regality and anticipated action – a complete Butterfly. Higgs marveled at how striking and pretty she looked.
"Is Marco here?" the girl asked plainly as if she were a perfectly normal person.
"I'm afraid you missed him, Star," Eclipsa offered. "He came and left nearly an hour ago."
"Stole her frillies too, huh?" Higgs mumbled. "Princess?" Higgs called out loud, drawing the Butterfly's attention; Star turned to the squire, expectant. "Marco was sleeping in a village close to the Forest of Probably Itchiness, so he'll end up going back there. You should ask around down there, they'll have seen him."
"Really? Thanks." She turned away but before she left, she returned her full attention to Higgs and glared at her. "Wait, hold on, hold on." One of her arms cupped her chin, looking thoughtful, another scratching her head. Two more hands were on her waist, another hand snapped fingers in eureka, and the sixth pointed at Higgs accusingly. "I remember you. You hate Marco. I bet that you're trying to set me off track!"
Higgs denied this. "I don't hate him. I know he's cursed, and I want to help. Honest."
What she said softened the princess's expression, something she said or how she said it made her trust the squire. Maybe she sounded genuine enough to satisfy the Butterfly, or perhaps Star knew that the curse wasn't common knowledge, which would make Higgs one of Marco's confidants. Either way, in a complete 180', Star trusted her all of a sudden and asked if she was sure about Marco's location. Higgs thought her naïve, but to an extent, it also equated to a heart of gold. The squire found herself jealous of the former princess: Star and Marco were close – moreover, she was the one that Marco loved, and it was she who met the better Marco first. Higgs nearly wished that the princess would run into Rocam, but it was needlessly selfish.
"I'm positive he's there."
Her actions had hurt not only Marco but Star as well, something that the princess likely didn't know yet, given her attitude. Higgs wondered how Star would react when she eventually found out that Marco's curse was her fault, supplied by Tom. If Marco still hadn't told Star the truth of what had happened, then it must be for good reason, but Higgs expected it to be a perfect flashfire if and when everyone eventually found out the truth. Star was raring to leave, but Higgs stopped her. "One more thing."
Slightly annoyed, Star turned back to her. "Yeah?"
"You shouldn't fly too high. You're in a skirt."
Star stared at the squire, and after an uncomfortably long silence: "I knew that." Higgs smirked; it was obvious that the princess didn't remember; Star lowered closer to the ground before she opened a new portal, and she was gone in the next instant.
Eclipsa, who had been silent for nearly the entire exchange, nudged Higgs. "I think we'll continue to be disturbed if we stay out here. Perhaps we ought to go inside for some privacy–"
"No, we can stay here," Higgs replied. "When his friends show up, I need to tell them where to find him."
Eclipsa looked about ready to remark on this, but she smiled widely instead as if she knew something and wouldn't tell. "We were talking about this doppelganger of his. Who is he?"
"Rocam," Higgs said. "He's my ex-boyfriend. I hadn't seen him in over a year, until this morning–"
Eclipsa interrupted, "Boyfriend? How old are you?"
"Fifteen, almost sixteen."
"You started awfully early, haven't you?"
Higgs scoffed good-humoredly, and bit into a buttered scone, not even savoring it; she was famished, and she finished it quickly. "You must be older than Old Guy."
"Well, that's not very nice." They both chuckled, but it broke quickly, and Higgs became pensive. "He's dangerous, I take it?"
"I'd say so. Yes."
Eclipsa replied instantly, "So you're seeking asylum then." Higgs thought it was a complete blunder on her part. She'd meant to provide background on the situation first and appeal for her sympathy prior to the request for protection, but it was already spoiled – the queen had seen right through her. She probably wouldn't be accepted after all.
Higgs begged, "Please let me explain–"
"You're more than welcome to stay, Higgs." Eclipsa interrupted, surprising the girl. "You don't have to say any more than you have to. Anyone can see that you're scared of him. I know what bad romance is like, and if you've had to run to your queen for protection, then I certainly recognize abuse when I see it."
Higgs shook her head. She didn't want to defend him, but it spilled that way regardless. "He wasn't always like that. He was perfect. He was good to me. He took care of me. He even had dimensional scissors, and he brought the multiverse to my doorstep. I fell for him. But one day, out of the blue, he called me Sianne."
"I'm sorry?"
Eclipsa didn't know enough to understand, and Higgs provided the background. "I'm not proud of my birth name. My parents were asshats." Realizing too late that she had used explicit language with the queen, she hastily begged for her pardon, and Eclipsa admonished her to not let it happen again. "My parents were… um… scum." She let the word hang, wondering if she'd made her point without being excessive, and Eclipsa gestured for her to continue. "Childhood labor, family-run scams, organized theft, you name it. When I got big enough, I moved in with my granduncle, and he was always calling me Higgs, after his daughter – my aunt – and going on about how much I took after her. Because everyone said I looked a lot like her, they did it too, and the nickname stuck, especially since I preferred answering to it instead."
"But what's your birth name?" Eclipsa insisted.
"Annise," Higgs said glumly.
Eclipsa looked thoughtful. "This other Marco… he knew that your name was Annise, but he called you Sianne?"
Higgs nodded. "He kept saying that I was just like her, whoever she was, so I must be her. Some twisted logic, he wouldn't shut up about it. It wasn't the same thing like my aunt, he made it sound like I didn't know my own name."
"Her?" Eclipsa was puzzled, eating another scone. She conjectured for a bit. "I take it that he meant that you were like someone else named Sianne? Could she be a different you?"
"Now that I know better, she could be. If you have a different you, and Marco has one, I could have one too." Higgs paused, slowly spiraling, detailing how Rocam backslid after that, how perpetually absent he was half the time, and how angry whenever they were together. He was an insane train that absolutely derailed one day – he tied her to the foot of the bedhead and stretched her left arm, holding her wrist so tight that her fingers went numb and pale. His iron grip didn't even slip from her sweat as he pulled her arm nearly hard enough to dislocate it out of her shoulder.
The knife was in his other hand, and then it was in hers, again and again, in and out, in and out, him telling her not to cry, telling her that it would be over soon, telling her to keep still so he didn't make a mistake or he'd have to start over on her other hand. In and out, over and over, he punctured the point of the knife into her flesh and dragged it across her hand, blood staining the sheets and the wooden floor. A reminder he said, he was helping her, he said, she needed to always remember her name, he said, something to make sure she would always know how much he loved her, he said.
Higgs removed her arm warmer and presented the aftermath to Eclipsa. The woman had to tilt her head at an angle and was horrified when she saw the inscription on the girl's arm:
My Sianne, My treasure.
Four words were etched on the inside of her arm from her wrist to nearly the inside of her elbow, scratched in block letters in lines that sometimes went overboard, like the t's cross being too long, one of the n's being bigger than the other, an 'e' nearly capital letter-sized. Eclipsa was appalled at the atrocity the boy had committed with a blackening knife. It was an outdated predecessor to present-day tattoo needles and she both knew and had seen it used in professional work before – the marks carved into the girl's flesh wasn't it. Anywhere else, even in a mutually wanted tattoo or cut into a tree, the words would've been romantic but this was just torture, barbaric, and unnecessary.
"After I passed out, Rocam left me alone long enough for my granduncle to come home and find me. He dug up his own dimensional scissors, and the two of us ran away. "I thought I'd never see him again. But he found me last night." Eclipsa saw the girl close to tears, then suddenly not, and she palmed her eyes hard to keep from crying which only irritated them more than anything else. Eclipsa pulled the miserable girl closer for a hug, trying to comfort her.
"I'm sorry to hear of all this, Higgs, I'm sure it's been difficult. I promise that you'll be well looked after, and if he shows up," Eclipsa said severely and with finality, "If he dares to show his face, he'll be swiftly dealt with."
She had laid bare her history, but she couldn't afford to be selfish. She couldn't afford to withhold information if she expected the queen to protect her, no half steps.
"He thinks I'll go back with him if he makes me happy. He'll try to bring back Moon. I came to warn you too–"
Down in the front yard, two blades suddenly poked their way into reality from nowhere, and they cut open a portal from which an angry Hekapoo emerged, a fire blazing alive around her that threatened to consume and destroy anything it touched. Her visible eye glared white hot and she locked on to Eclipsa and Higgs, more demon than any other demon in kind.
"WHERE IS MARCO?!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.
"He came and left hours ago," Higgs lied. "I don't know where he went."
Furious and screaming the whole time, she stabbed a new portal open and was soon gone again.
"That was Hekapoo of the Magical High Commission, wasn't it?" Eclipsa observed. "She's Marco's friend. Weren't we telling his friends where to find him?"
Higgs shrugged. "I don't think Marco's friends want to burn him to a crisp."
That was something that Eclipsa could easily concede. "That's fair. You were saying that you were warning me–" the queen stopped suddenly. "Marco. This Rocam is another version of Marco."
Oddly enough, Higgs thought that she could tell exactly what the woman was thinking, and what she'd ask next; for Eclipsa, this was abruptly more critical to her than her own welfare. In the short time Higgs had known her, she recognized that Eclipsa would be more concerned for Star and Marco than most else.
"What was it like, seeing Marco for the first time?"
"Terrifying," she said quickly. She described the few times she'd watched him from a distance, trying to ascertain if Rocam was after her still, and whether he recognized her. She had finally chanced meeting him face to face in Quest Buy, but his face lacked the scar under his left eye. She couldn't be certain if it was him; she troubled the waters: she made fun of him, lengthened any misery that happened to him and exacerbated any problems he found himself in. "I had a feeling that Marco was someone else, but I wanted to pay Rocam back in kind, just in case it was him after all. So… I tried to kill him. I poisoned Marco with the curse on the night of the celebration. That's why he's like this."
"And you're sorry for it. That's why you're trying to help him now. But it's not a mewman curse, is it?" Eclipsa accused, "I daresay that you got that curse from Tom, didn't you?" Higgs didn't have any bite to try defending her employer. "I always suspected it was him, a nasty strain of a Lucitorian curse, but I didn't know how to tell Star. And I bet she still doesn't know. I haven't seen any friction between them that would suggest it."
Eclipsa had long ago established to Higgs that she was among the sharpest knives in the drawer, and she wouldn't put it past the woman to continue watching from the sidelines until she was drawn into the fray or willingly entered it when she had no other choice.
"Marco's a fine young man, Higgs," she reproached sternly. "And his is a heart that beats, not at all like this horrid Rocam person you had the misfortune of knowing. All you need to do is to keep apologizing and keep making sure you mean it. If you must go your separate ways, then fine, but not before you help rid him of his curse. That goes for both you and Tom."
"Yes, Queen Eclipsa. We'll fix this," Higgs promised. They finished the scones as they sat in the shade for a while longer. Not too long afterward, the woman suggested that they eat their feelings, and called for a couple of Snookers candy bars. As they unwrapped and had them, a large portal opened, and a large wolf monster emerged from it. Kelly was astride the monster, and an unconscious shirtless Marco was draped across in a blanket saddle before her, and Star trailed behind them just before the portal. The green-haired girl waved to Higgs, who waved back excitedly. "They found him."
"I can see. You've got good intuition. But how did you know where he was?"
"Marco was drinking cornshine," she said simply, as if it were obvious enough for anyone to realize. Eclipsa didn't query further. By now, Kelly and Star had removed Marco from the monster wolf's back and were carrying him by his arms and legs between them. They ascended the stairs and were soon gone out of sight through the double doors. Higgs watched the doorway a while longer, and Eclipsa became fed up.
"What are you still here?" she demanded. "Waiting on me to count you off? Go with them!"
"Yes, Queen Eclipsa," Higgs answered, a touch grateful for the dismissal before she stepped across the threshold and entered the castle. Left alone, Eclipsa mused on the happenings and the predicaments that accompanied them hand in hand. There was also Higgs's interrupted warning that'd had the same effect as if it had been fully voiced.
"What a troublesome fellow he is," she mumbled. "Suppose he intends to harm me somehow to replace me with Moon. I'll ask her later for the details." She watched the front yard, expecting him as if he were meant to be on cue, but he didn't appear. "So long as we keep Marco where we can see him, anyone else is sure to be Rocam. With some luck, maybe all those women will find him. It'll be too good for him."
If she blasted him with her most dangerous spell, it would still be too good for him. Some people really ought to just disappear permanently, like how Shastacan did, that dreadful man.
Poor girl.
So, like I said, this was heavier than the interaction between Higgs and Kelly. And I'd be lying if I said that the parallels to rape in the hand-cutting description weren't intentional. Really pushing the limit on T-rated, but I still think it's all right. I didn't get too graphic.
The next chapter will be out in a jiffy.