.
Disclaimer: oof. That's confusing.
Chapter 18
You abandoned your friends, and Mewni! Now pay for your betrayal!
XxXxXxXxX
You're the pinnacle of our race! The apex Mewman! Special!
...
No contest! No warrior alive, dead or future can match you! Not even—
...
You will prove that we don't need outside protection!
...
Epic poems and legends will talk of you for eternity!
…
Do you see these results! You've mastered it so quickly!
...
You are Mewni's Hope!
...
You're better than anyone else!
...
You are the one and only!
…but why is there
Her head dipped and woke herself; she nearly dozed off! She discreetly glanced at her retainers seeing them as stoic as ever.
Queen Spiderbite lounged upon her throne, her thoughts murky as she was sifting through recent events. Troublesome events. Normally she would be in her study but after what had happened she'd rather not be in the place that reeked of her failure. She had such high hopes for her masterpiece but in the end it only ended in disaster.
It's been months since the Dark Knight had gone into exile.
Along with her failed secret project.
Queen Spiderbite kept the incident quelled, it took a lot of doing, a lot of lying of course and bribes here and threats there to get things under control. She rubbed her temples thinking how things could go so horribly wrong.
She made something so wonderful, so magnificent.
Only for it to be dashed into pieces.
She spent so much resources on it and even more to keep it under wraps and she got nothing to show for her hard work. Now, she was hearing things were going awry in the surrounding kingdoms and lands of her home, she knew it wasn't anything good. She reached for and sipped her goblet, the wine was a fine vintage but it was sour in her mouth, her mood made anything distinctively terrible.
"Your highness, you have a visitor." Came a page, he had a spiderbite on his neck.
"I'm not seeing anyone today." She sighed, not wanting to vent her anger on her subjects. Most of the time.
"Beggin' your pardon, but it's the Informant."
"…very well."
The page bowed and quickly scamper away, the queen felt an eerie dread fall upon the throne room, her husband away for a trade deal with the Waterfolk royals, hoping to salvage their alliance after the Peace Talker debacle. The merman Mewmans along with the mountain Mewmans were aghast with the rest of the royals, sure they were the least affected from the recent shitstorm but they still sided with the Dark Knight.
And that made things difficult for everyone.
The Waterfolk had the vast ocean for their bounty.
The Jagged Mountain royals had the long mountain ranges and valleys to secure resources along with what laid underneath the mighty mountains.
They promptly closed their doors to the rest of Mewni royals, unable to comprehend their fellow royals. They chose to prioritize Marco over them and they made enemies of them, but to their dismay it mattered little as the two had plenty of resources to spare and putting embargoes on theirs.
Now everyone was racing to secure trade deals, forcing the royals to compromise and treaty with each other. Even without the Dark Knight present he managed to get Mewni to change to his devious design. It would take centuries but his meddling would bring about a 'different' Mewni.
Or it would be the natural course.
Whose to say.
The queen sat up straighter as the doors swung open, two knights escorted the Informant in, she had heard rumors of the Mewman, apparently the Informant was able to parley with the Monsters and Mewmans alike; allowing for safe passage and many diplomatic powers. It was an attractive power as of late. Draped in a cloak, the Informant looked side to side, the knights stood there, steadfast. There were only the two plus four other knights stationed in the room.
"Ah, dear Informant, what pleasure do I owe this visit?" the queen said kindly, hoping to get on the Mewman's good side.
"I came here to talk business. Maybe trade information. I know many sensitive things."
"I see. Perhaps we should speak in private then." The queen eyed her knights.
"Oh, I believe we should."
"Ah, your hood; you must drop it, no? It's ill manners to have it while we talk."
The request was simple and reasonable, the hood shadow obscured the Informant's face and many longed to see the true face of someone so powerful diplomatically.
The Informant shrugged and reached to pull it off.
In a whirlwind of movement, the cloak spun out and something flew out striking each knight before the Informant grabbed the knight on the right and flipped him, the other one fell back after a well placed strike to his temple, denting his helm.
Queen Spiderbite stood up, alarmed and ready to call for help but she grunted as web stuck her to the throne.
"Tsk tsk, do not scream or I'll add regicide to my resume~" came a cold hard threat.
"!"
The Informant grinned as the cloak fell off, walking upon the dais and looked at the pale queen, a sinister smile curled the queen's guts. The Informant crushed and tossed aside a spider the size of a football, using its webbing to entrap the queen.
"You're making huge mistake—"
"Hehe, shhhh~ I came here to see how you're doing especially after that fiasco. Cleaned it up like nothing happened."
"What are you—!?"
"Tell me: are you going to try again?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"I know about the blood pits."
"!"
The queen stared at the Informant, eyes bore into her coldly.
"ANSWER ME WHORE."
"…no. It's pointless now. I have no more material to try."
"Ah, what a shame~!"
The amused voice did not match the look of hatred she was receiving.
The queen felt her body well up with dread, who else knew? The other kingdoms? Monsters? It had to be! Someone had her masterpiece!
She glared angrily at the Informant.
The Informant smiled too widely. Tracing her face with a finger.
"Surprised~?"
"Fine don't talk~ but just a little warning: I CAN TALK."
The Informant walked down the dais in an easy pace, kicking a knight,
"Ah, these knights aren't dead, just a little knock out poison they should wake up…in 12 hours. Or is it 18? Oh, who cares~ We'll see each other again soon…then we can talk about all sorts of things…like how you dispose of Darcy. So cruel! So efficient."
A deathly chill slid down her spine at the name.
…no. No. No. NO! How could—?! I was alone! No one around! I only knew!
An image of a headless body, hair and blood on the floor burned her mind.
"…WHO ARE YOU?!"
The Informant smiled and bowed, icy blue eyes glittering with vicious intent.
"I am Nefon, the Informant~"
"When is this 'Informant' coming?" Moon glanced over the top of the parchment she was reading, Star close to her while River had chosen for many weeks now to sit as far away as possible from his wife.
"The Informant will come in due time." she raised her voice, River gave a slow nod, not meeting her eyes.
She watched him for a second before she returned to her meal.
Star looked at the two, torn over how her parents were acting.
Since the Peace Talker Incident her father had been rather frosty with Moon. And the same could be said about Moon to River, they talked rather formally, River more so now than recent memory.
He had stopped acting quite so free spirited and fell in line with doing errands around the castle, spending as much time as possible away from his wife. Moon on the other hand made no remark over his behavior and continued to run the kingdom without much incident.
Star could tell her mother and she was distraught and blindsided with the Johansen Clan member and him. Marco struck a mighty blow to River and he wasn't himself anymore. He begun to act as if he was just a staff of the castle, he spent a lot of time feeding his eagles on the castle rooftop.
He had no problem with Star, he would smile and the two would get into their usual antics. Star thought it was just a show, that Marco was trying to get him to change—for the better.
But the moment Moon came into view, it seemed as if all his liveliness was sapped away.
She tried to ask why he was acting like that but he would tell her:
"It's nothing Starship!" "Your mother and I just disagree over some things. It happens." "Sweety does this make my butt look big?"
She heard yelling one night months ago.
Things started to fall apart afterwards.
Star ate her food in silence.
She looked at the letter addressed to her and that made her just as bad: it was from Tom.
If her parents were fighting.
So was she and Tom.
It irritated her that Tom not only chose to fight Marco but at the same time was disappointed with her choosing to Abstain.
It was her mother's call, not hers. However if she was in her shoes, she would have Abstain as well. She didn't want to choose a side and risk alienating her friend and boyfriend.
But it seemed as if it was result regardless.
Tom started talking shit about Marco, how he got away scot-free and the like despite his insistent meddling and Star had enough of it. She felt terrible he was saying that about their friend.
"Friend? Marco is NOT my friend. Not anymore, Starship."
"But he—"
"Why are you bringing him up, Star? He's gone. Never coming back."
"...look Star, Mar—that guy wont come back to Mewni, so put it behind you, alright? C'mon let's go to Lava Beach."
"...I dunno Tom, maybe some other time. I have a lot to think about."
"...like the fact you were kissing him. Heh, you had no problem sucking face with him, but when it's me it's all vomit."
"Tom, you already know its the damn curse! Marco is going through the Unbinding and when it is lifted we can kiss all we want!"
"...so I have to be indebted to that guy? This is some shitty irony..."
Star wanted to say so much more, to tell Tom off, tell him that at least Marco was doing something about the curse instead of just circumventing around it. She regretted it a second later, sicken she would even think of such a retort to throw at Tom's face, after two years he stuck with her despite the curse and not knowing it fully.
But everyone in Mewni knew now.
Star Butterfly was eternally bond to Marco Diaz the Dark Knight of Mewni. The royalty tabloid were all over it. Somehow, some way it got out to the public and now all sorts of stories were being prop up as a result. How Star just loved bad boys, Pony Head Princess took it in great stride on her behalf only showing her articles of sappy rom com stories that made her laugh or thought it was really sweet.
Tom didn't like it one bit.
Whether he was the one on top or not, it made him out to be a dastard in the most unflattering light.
It didn't matter for Marco, he wasn't here to get the burn. But no matter how Marco was presented it just made him more irresistible, the female Mewman population just adored it. He was a villain already so if he did something good in the articles the consensus was he was a jerk with a heart of gold, if he did something bad no one bat an eye, they expected it of him anyways.
To Star's surprise Tad was the one writing one of the more popular underground articles: A Love Beyond Hope, a Dark Knight's tragic love story.
It was nothing but that, the article had obscene amounts of smut. Just oodles of it.
She nearly killed the hair ball but he quickly pleaded, "C'mon Star this is the one gig I got that I'm good at! Kelly left a hole in my heart...and I left a bald spot on the top of her head...this is the only way I can think clearly...and let me move on with my life..."
"I feel for you, Tad but WRITING HOW MARCO SEDUCED MY MOTHER, MY GRANDMOTHER AND THEN TRAVELED BACK IN TIME TO MAKE OUT WITH MY MOTHER AS A YOUNG WOMAN—IS SICK! YOU'RE A SICK WRITER, TAD! I HOPE YOU GET BANNED LIKE NRG DID!"
"...how do you know that? Do you read my articles, Star?" Tad asked slowly, his eyes narrowing. Star glared at him.
"Pony Head Princess reads them to me, I can't just muzzle her...she'd might like it..." Star muttered the last part.
"Star, I wrote in the front of the article in big bold letters every time: IT'S FICTIONAL. IT DOES NOT REFLECT WHO YOU ARE AS A PERSON. Please Star, for the first time in months I haven't let Kelly being gone affect me so adversely. I've been going on dates. Meeting new people. I'm really trying, Star."
Star bit her lower lip seeing Tad happier than before, she relented but on the condition that no one of consequence would see it, especially her family or Tom.
"You have my word." Tad swore.
[Somewhere in Mewni]
"Oh, my~"
"Mother, I—what is that!?"
"Nothing Meteora. Now be a doll and fetch me a Snookers Bar."
I looked out the cell they threw me in ages ago, I watched them scurry along carrying objects in their hands, their robes obscuring them.
They stuffed a bag over my head and bind me with thick ropes.
Nothing like the first ones when I was pooled out of the water…
They dried me…
Fed me…
Dressed me…
Taught me how to read and speak…they smiled? Why? The opened their mouths and gibberish came out…but soon I understood them.
I was learning fast, they said. They put strange things in front of me and I 'mastered' it? I don't know…I never seen them before—but it felt natural in my hands. I could swing a 'sword' and 'fight' and that made them very smiling.
They said I was—'special'? I was better than—
A loud metal bang jolted me.
I looked out of the bars, curious if they would give me more food.
I was hungry.
I called out of the cell.
I scooted back when a wooden baton slammed on the bars, a pair of angry eyes looked at me.
I rubbed my arm, feeling where they pulled out that red sap from before.
It hurt. I didn't like it at all.
I told them.
But they did it anyways. They took a lot.
I huddled in the corner, a meager heap of straw and a thin blanket was prepared for me.
I got comfortable and slept.
.
I woke up with a start, someone was at the front of the bars.
I didn't like him. He looked at me funny, he had more eyes than I did…
He made a beckoning gesture and I walked tentatively forward, seeing his face again; an urge…I wanted to hurt hi—
"Hello little spider…"
"…"
He smirked before pushing something forward, draped in a cloth with something red and an 'X' across it. It looked like fir—
"I want you to meet your better…do you know who he is?"
I looked forward, my eyes adjusting before I noticed it was me.
Did he bring a 'mirror' to show me?
I reached out but he slapped my hand, hissing,
"—!"
"Don't touch him with your filthy hands! Sacrilege!"
"…"
I nursed my hand, he glared at me…and I stared at me.
"Is that…me?"
"NO! No, no, no! You're better than him! In every way! You have in your veins all the qualities of your benefactor and donor! Rest his soul…"
I looked at me curiously, I looked back at me too even as I was turned to face the robed one, "You may have been born like liquid, unlike him, solid. But you pulled yourself together! You did that all by yourself! He could never do that! He was pulled out of the pit whole and solid, but you showed you are better because even melted down you regenerated! You can do anything he can and more!"
The robed one was so smiling.
I looked back at me, then I realized something.
It wasn't me.
…eyes were slitted.
Not like mine.
I backed away.
"Afraid little spider? You should me."
"…Spider?"
The robed one gave a careless wave, "It doesn't matter."
The robe tried to move the other 'me' but 'I' continued to look at me.
"Spider. You're Spider. That's you."
The robed one looked at 'me' then to me. He looked angry.
"Me? ME?" I saw 'me' point to 'myself'.
"No, you're not—wait…oh, I understand: that's Spider. Yes, I suppose it would be annoying to just refer that to 'it' all the time. Okay, if that makes you feel better, that's Spider. And you should be…ah, in honor of your benefactor and donor, Lizard. Because Lizards eat Spiders."
Lizard looked into the cell and the robed one allowed it, I moved closer to look at Lizard, his lips pulled back to show his sharp teeth, I readied to huddle back but he held it. I stared until I understood, Lizard was…smiling?
I smiled too, showing my teeth.
We both smiled.
The robed one pulled Lizard away, but as he turned Lizard slipped something through the bars and I caught it and wrapped my fingers around it. The robed one gave me a look of disgust and walked away with Lizard, he turned and showed me his teeth before they disappeared around the corner.
I opened my fist and saw it something shiny and hard, I pressed it and I smelled something sweet, I fumbled with it before sticking it in my mouth and tasted it.
"Try unwrapping it, Spider."
I nearly swallowed it.
I coughed it out to my hand and looked around. A robe was looking at me.
"Go on, I'm not going to tell."
"…"
I did like I was told and it was a blue gem. I stuffed it into my mouth and I tasted it a hundredfold more. And just like like that, it melted away.
"Hmmm, like a child…"
"Who are you?"
"Me? …you can call me, Slink."
"Slink…"
Slink smiled and nodded ever so slowly before looking at me again,
"I met your…" he paused, "…let's say, 'father'. Unfortunately…he was Exiled from Mewni. Now, I suppose I'm stuck with you and your brother."
"Brother?" the word was strange.
Slink looked amused, "Hm, yes, brother would be an apt word for your relationship. Lizard is your brother."
"What is a brother?"
"Family. He is your family, someone who is connected to you by blood and bonds, it would take forever to explain the concept, but that's the major premise."
"…okay."
"Good. Now eat your meals and grow up strong…" Slink slipped out of sight, "Now that your 'father' is gone, I have only to look forward to the his 'sons' as my prey…"
Slink passed by his colleagues, catching tidbits from the experiments and test they were running, his thoughts slipped back to what the High Priest had spouted.
Spider was pulled out of his blood pit as a solid being. The Informant's report was anyways.
Lizard was pulled out like a heaping liquid paste just like Toffee before his demise. Slink tacked it to pulling him out too early.
But his regeneration could not be denied.
It was gruesomely powerful even for such an infant creature.
Lizard was born near liquified.
Spider was born completely solid.
Liquid Lizard. Solid Spider.
The 'Sons' of Marco Diaz, eh?
"Hah, another day...another plan set in motion~ I really must find a way to get those Monsters under my sway, but how...ah well, I will leave that for some other time."
The Informant cackled loudly in the cozy lair given by a very generous Mewman merchant.
After some arm twisting and threats that is.
"Mewni needs a firm hand to guide it, too many royals bickering...to many voices adding to the din... I'm the only who one can make things right..."
Looking at a nearby mirror, the Informant blinked seeing green eyes gleaming back,
"Ku ku ku~ well hello there, Darcy."
XxXxXxXxX
Seriously.
What is even going on anymore.
Well Mewni is literally in the shite. Especially with Nefon the Informant running around Mewni doing mischief with both Mewmans and Monsters. And the drama ooh, the curse is alive and well for Star, if you need a refresher how the curse works in my fanfic look at the Prequel's Author's Note.
This chapter is a tad confusing, but if you really read it you might be able to make some sense out of my non-sense.
tu ne me reconnaiss pas?
I AM NRG
END OF TRANSMISSION