Chapter 15
Return to Mewni Part 3
Darkness surrounded Molly and Star as they both looked around their surroundings. It appeared that they were in some kind of dark world with dark green liquid everywhere. Confused, Molly and Star tried to think back to what just happened to them. In an attempt to free Ludo of Toffee's corruption, Star performed the whispering spell to destroy the magic of Ludo's wand. That was the last thing they remember before being dragged in this mysterious world.
"Where are we?" Molly looked around, confused.
"I'm just as lost as you are, Molly. Hey, what's that?" Star pointed up.
At that moment, Molly looked up towards where Star was pointing at and noticed some kind of portal showing all of their friends. Back in Mewni, Queen Moon picked up Ludo, trying to shake him awake.
"Ludo, where's Star?!" Moon demanded "Where is my daughter?!"
Both, Molly and Star were surprised by what they were seeing before Star spoke up. "Mom, I'm in here!"
This left everyone surprised as they heard Ludo speaking in Star's voice. They had no idea what has going on, but they were relieved to see that Star was okay.
"Star, is that you?" Moon asked in surprise.
"Yes, it's me!" Star continued to communicate through the mysterious world she was in.
This time, Molly decided to speak up as well. "And I'm here too!" Everyone now heard Molly's voice from Ludo's mouth.
"Molly?!" Libby rushed forward, relieved to here Molly's voice. "Molly, where are you?"
"I'm not quite sure. It looks all gross and gooey." Molly stared at the dark green liquid in disgust. "It's okay though. Star and I are fine."
"Don't worry, Molly! We'll find a way to get you and Star out of there. Just remember that I'm always here for you, and I love y-"
Right before Libby could finish her sentence, the portal, and Molly and Star's only connection to the outside world started to flicker.
"Libby? Libby, can you hear me?" Molly called out, only for the portal to disappear completely, causing her and Star to panic.
"Oh, what is happening? Mom?" Star desperately tried calling out for her mom one more time.
Suddenly, Molly and Star began to feel something rising out of the dark green liquid. It rose higher and higher until the girls were startled by a giant eyeball staring down at them. A couple of arms rose up shortly afterwards before the giant figure completely rose out of the liquid, revealing itself to be Toffee.
"Hello, Princess." Toffee greeted Star before bringing his attention to Molly. "It has been so long, Molly."
It took Molly a while to find her voice as she gazed at the giant Toffee staring down at her. "Toffee? It really was you!"
"Aha! We knew it was you all along!" Star bragged before noticing that Toffee was in a liquid form, just like the dark green liquid she and Molly were swimming in. "Wait, is all this goop you?"
"Oh my corn! I think I'm going to be sick!" Molly placed a hand over her mouth, trying not throw up.
It was at that moment when the liquid form of Toffee began circling Molly and Star. "You don't even recognize your own magic when you are swimming in it!"
Upon taking a closer look at the liquid, Star noticed small bits of gold, representing the magic. Much to Star's shock, more and more of the gold turned dark as it slowly withered away.
"As you can see, all of the magic in Mewni is slowly fading away, thanks to my corruption." Toffee explained. "Now, all the magic in the world is doomed to fall into darkness."
"You're wrong!" Molly yelled. "Even if you do corrupt the magic with darkness, you will never destroy the light! Light is more powerful-"
"Yes, yes. Light is more powerful than darkness." Toffee interrupted as if he already heard it a hundred times. "However, what could you possibly hope to do when there is no more light left to protect you?" Toffee touched one of the golden bits of lights, turning it dark. "Sometimes, you just have to know when to give up. Now, it's time for the two of you to disappear."
With that, Toffee raised two giant hands and slammed them down towards Molly and Star. However, right before he can hit them, a powerful light suddenly shined in the darkness of the world. It was so bright, Toffee had to look away in surprise. As the light dimmed down, Toffee looked back and was surprised to see that Molly summoned a platform of light that helped her and Star out of the corrupted magic.
"You're not going to corrupt the magic of Mewni anymore, Toffee!" Molly yelled.
After getting over her surprise by what just happened, Star nodded in agreement. "That's right! Molly and I will stop you!"
"How interesting. You still have light on your side." Toffee noticed. "Let's see how long your light can protect you for."
At that moment, Toffee swung his giant arms at Molly and Star. In response, Molly countered by swinging her keyblade, slashing both hands off. Toffee appeared to be unfazed by this as he simply regenerated his arms.
That was when Star decided to attack with some magic. Since her wand was stuck back on Mewni, she gathered as much light around her as she could and blasted it all towards Toffee, causing him to flinch in pain. Seeing that the light was working, Molly fired orbs of light from her keyblade.
It was at that point when Toffee has had enough of them, so he grabbed the orbs of light before corrupting them into darkness. He them through them back at the girls, hitting them with Molly's own spells.
Things only got worse from there as Toffee began to use his powers of darkness drain Molly of all her magic. Even when Molly was drinking ethers to restore her magic, Toffee didn't let up and continued to weaken her. Before long, Molly and Star were so weak, they could barely stand.
"I don't have anymore magic left." Molly panted.
"Come on, Molly! This can't be it! We can't lose!" Star said, getting more desperate.
"I believe you already have." Toffee taunted before destroying the platform of light with his hands, sending Molly and Star plummeting back into the ocean of corrupted magic.
"Well, it's been fun, but I have some unfinished business to attend to." Toffee summoned the portal back to Mewni once more.
Back in Mewni, Molly and Star's friends and family were more worried for their loved ones than ever. Moon shook Ludo's body, desperate to get in contact with her daughter again. Before long, Ludo's eyes opened once more, this time speaking in Toffee's voice.
"Hello, Moon!"
Shocked to hear Toffee voice, Moon replied, "Toffee! Give us back Star!"
"Oh, of course! But I'd like something from you first! Something that belongs to me!" Toffee moved Ludo's arm to reveal a missing finger.
With no other choice, Moon took out a bottle containing Toffee's lost finger.
"Take it!"
After Toffee grabbed his finger, it fused with the rest of his skin. This caused the reptilian skin of the finger to fuse all around Ludo's body. Before long, everyone was shocked to see Toffee, now back to his original reptilian form. Feeling queasy, Toffee suddenly barfed Ludo out of his mouth, leaving Ludo covered in slime and disgusted by what just happened to him. Ignoring what just happened, Libby and the others desperately tried to find out what happened to their friends.
"Where's Star?!" Marco demanded.
"And where's Molly?!" Libby yelled, worried for her girlfriend.
It was soon revealed that Toffee was holding the star to the wand in his hand before crushing it, shattering in into tiny pieces.
"They're gone." Toffee said with cold indifference, much to everyone's horror.
Without another word, Toffee walked away. It was at this point when Moon started to tear up, knowing that she just lost her daughter. Her sorrow soon turned to pure hatred before she picked up Star's wand and charged at Toffee with a scream of rage. As Toffee turned to Moon, more annoyed than anything else, she aimed the wand at Toffee's heart before reciting a dark spell.
"I call the darkness onto me from deepest depths of earth and sea! From ancient evils unawoken, break the one who can't be broken! From blackest night I pledge my soul and crush my heart to burning cold! To summon the deadly power, to see my hated foe devoured!"
Moon wanted nothing more than the spell to work and get revenge on Toffee for what he had done to her daughter. Unfortunately, the spell didn't work with no more magic in the wand.
"Are you finished?" Toffee asked.
Suddenly, Toffee's eyes widened in surprise when he felt Libby impale him with her keyblade. Devastated by what happened to Molly, Libby glared at Toffee with raged filled tears, wanting to kill him just as much as Moon did.
After getting over his shock, Toffee reverted back to his usual deadpanned expression before taking out the keyblade with little effort. His skin regenerated where Libby wounded him at before he knocked Libby to the ground with a single slap to the face. This time, Marco charged at Toffee, wanting revenge for Star, but Toffee dodged and through Marco against a wall knocking him out. As Toffee turned to leave, Ludo weakly held on to his leg.
"Please, just tell me. Did I have any part to play in this?" Ludo asked.
"No." Toffee coldly responded.
It was at that moment when Xehanort blocked Toffee with his keyblade in hand, getting ready for a fight. Instead of fighting back, Toffee simply grinned.
"It's good to see you again, Xehanort!" Toffee recognized Xehanort, even in his younger state.
"Wh-What? How do you-" Before Xehanort could finish his sentence, Toffee simply left, paying him no more attention.
Back with Molly and Star, the two friends were left alone in the sea of corrupted magic. With no way back, Star began to to back.
"This is horrible! Toffee is out there doing who knows what!"
"Uh, Star?" Molly tried to get Star's attention, but she continued to panic.
"I should have known it was a bad idea to use the whispering spell on the wand."
"Star?"
"I'm so sorry, Molly! This is all my fault! Now we're never going to see our friends and family again!"
"Star!" Molly yelled loud enough to get Star's attention. "Listen, I know that this seems bad, but we can't give up yet! Our friends now need us more than ever! I know we can find a way out of here if we stay calm!"
"But how?" Star asked.
Truthfully, Molly wasn't sure how to escape, herself. She looked around before noticing a tiny glimmer of light. Curious, Molly swam towards it before holding the light in her hands.
"No matter what, there will always be a light in the darkness." Molly said to herself.
Soon, Molly took notice of more sparks of light. With Star's help, Molly gather as many sparks of light as possible. After a few moments, Molly and Star combined all the light they found together before they were suddenly blinded by a bright light.
Meanwhile, Marco slowly opened his eyes to see Buff Frog trying to wake him up.
"Karate Boy. Wake up. I think the queen and your friend need help." Buff Frog brought Marco's attention towards Libby and Moon.
They both desperately searched for the pieces of the star that Toffee shattered before placing them in the wand. Upon seeing how devastated they were, Marco approached them to comfort them.
"Libby? Queen?"
Moon turned to Marco with tears in her eyes. "M-Maybe if we put the wand back together it'll bring them back."
"I-It has to bring them back. I can't lose Molly. I-I just can't!" Libby stuttered, feeling just as upset as Moon.
Feeling back for his friends, Marco looked down in sadness. That was when he took notice of one last piece of the wand. He still had hope that there was a chance to bring his friends back, so he handed the last piece to Moon.
"Here. Try this one."
With a nod, Moon took the piece and inserted it into the wand. Thanks to all of the light that Molly and Star gathered, the wand began to glow and rise in the air. With a flash of light, Molly and Star appeared in front of their friends.
"Molly!" Libby teared up in joy, happy to see Molly again.
Before anyone could say a word, they looked up and were all surprised to see Star in a golden butterfly-like form with six arms and golden wings.
"Star!" Moon exclaimed.
"Hi, Mom!" Star smiled, speaking in a distorted voice.
"Hi, sweetie! Don't you look lovely!" Moon said, surprised by her daughter's new appearance.
Soon her smile turned to a frown as she asked, "Where's Toffee?" to which everyone pointed to Toffee, who still wasn't far away.
Using the power of her newly upgraded wand, Star fired a powerful blast of light at Toffee. Sensing something behind him, Toffee turned around, but it was too late as the spell already hit him at full force, slowly disintegrating his body. With Toffee defeated, Star flew back to the ground, reverting back to her normal form.
"Star, you did it!" Molly exclaimed, meeting up with Star. "You were amazing!"
"Thanks, Molly!" Star giggled. "I couldn't have done it without you!"
Suddenly, Molly and Star were taken by surprise when Libby hugged Molly in a tight hug while Marco did the same for Star.
"Oh, Molly! I was so worried about you!" Libby hugged Molly in tears.
"Gee, Libby! Usually, I'm the one giving you a tight hug!" Molly joked, blushing slightly.
"Yeah, who are you and what have you done to Marco?" Star joked as she blushed as well, surprised by Marco's tight hug.
"I'm just so glad that you are okay, Star!" Marco smiled, tears still running down his cheeks.
Before long, the rest of Star's friends showed up before embracing her in a group hug. It was at that moment when Molly noticed that Xehanort was the only one who wasn't part of the hug. Molly never thought she would say this, but after all he had done to help save Mewni, she considered him to be a true friend.
"Hey, Xehanort! What are you waiting for? Get in here and join us!" Molly offered.
"Uh, no thanks. I'm not much of a hugger. Whoa!" Xehanort was taken by surprise when Buff Frog grabbed him and dragged him into the group hug as well, much to Xehanort's embarrassment.
Suddenly, their heartwarming moment was interrupted when Toffee showed up, crawling towards them. Thanks to the impact of Star's spell, Toffee's flesh was ripped off, leaving him in an oozing skeleton like state. Despite that, he was still laughing maniacally as he crawled closer and closer.
"You think you have won? Ha! You don't make the plans! I do! Me! Only I know how this all turns out!"
Before Toffee could get any closer, a pillar suddenly landed on him, killing him instantly. The dust around the pillar cleared up to reveal that Ludo was the one who pushed the pillar down.
"It turns out you're dead! That's what you get!" Ludo taunted the now dead Toffee. "Hey, look what I did all by myself!"
Ludo continued to brag, not noticing someone walking right behind him. Curious, Ludo looked up to see Maleficent staring down at him, causing him to back away in fear. Maleficent simply ignored Ludo as she gazed at the pillar Toffee was crushed under.
"How unfortunate. He was so close to covering this world in darkness, but the darkness got the better of him in the end." Maleficent spoke up.
"Maleficent!" Molly and Libby gasped before summoning their keyblades.
"I see that you two have once again saved another world, but at the cost of nearly losing Molly, correct?" Maleficent said, with Libby's silence being all the confirmation she needed. "Then it won't be long before you both fall into the darkness." Maleficent soon approached Xehanort. "And Xehanort. It is an honor to finally meet you."
"Who are you, and how do you know my name?" Xehanort demanded.
"Let's just say that I am aware of what you would become in the future. Molly and Libby are deluded in thinking that you can be friends with them, knowing fully well what you would become. We both know that there is darkness in your heart that you don't want to let go."
At first, Molly and Libby thought that Xehanort was going to deny it and tell Maleficent that she was wrong about him. Instead, Xehanort looked down, as if Maleficent actually figured out who he was deep down.
"Don't worry about it. It's only natural that you accept who you are and embrace the darkness in your heart." Maleficent soon brought her attention to Molly and Libby. "Don't think that this is over. You may have saved this world, but I promise to conquer all worlds and cover them in darkness!"
With that, Maleficent disappeared in a flash of green flames. Now that Maleficent was gone, everyone tried to process what they just saw.
"Okay, well that just happened." Marco said, still surprised by Maleficent's unexpected presence.
Despite what happened, Ludo decided to ignore it and turned to Star, "Okay, Princess! I think we can both agree that I got some stuff to work on." Ludo said, taking out a pair of dimensional scissors.
"You want me to cut off the beard?" Star asked, pointing at Ludo's beard.
"No! I want to go back to the void and find myself. You there! Boy!" Ludo pointed to Xehanort.
"Huh? Me?" Xehanort asked.
"Yes, you! I don't know why, but there is something about you that seems trustworthy to me. I want you to be the one to throw me into the void."
"Uh, okay I guess."
Once Star cut open another dimension, Xehanort carried Ludo in his arms. As Xehanort approached the portal, Ludo let out a sigh, ready to be sent to another dimension, but not before saying goodbye to his bird and spider minions.
"I'm ready."
Once Ludo was ready, Xehanort tossed him into the portal. Now that Toffee was defeated, things returned back to normal in Mewni as Star's dad returned home, thanks to the help of a flock of eagles flying him back home. As the magic of Mewni was restored, Star and Marco decided to say goodbye to their friends.
"Well, it looks like you helped us save Mewni once again!" Marco smiled.
"Molly! Libby! Thank you for everything! We couldn't have done it without you!" Star thanked. "And thank you too, Xehanort!"
"Hey, it was no problem! Libby and I are just glad everyone in Mewni won't have to worry about Toffee anymore!" Molly replied.
Libby nodded in agreement. "Anyway, Molly and I should get going. We have plenty more worlds to save!"
"Ah, yeah! Saving worlds and beating up Heartless!" Star exclaimed. "Marco and I know you can do it!"
"Good luck on the rest of your journey!" Marco wished Molly and Libby luck before waving goodbye.
After saying goodbye to Star and Marco, Molly and Libby traveled through a portal with Xehanort back to Echo Creek. Here, they returned to the gummi ship as they spent the next couple of moments repairing it from its crash.
It wasn't long before Molly and Libby were able to fix the ship up good as new. With the ship repaired, they were ready to move on to more worlds. That was when Chirithy appeared as they were left impressed by how well Molly and Libby fixed the ship.
"Impressive! It's amazing how well you fixed your ship, despite all the damage you took!" Chirithy complimented.
"Well, that, Chirithy is the power of positive thinking!" Molly said before turning to Xehanort. "Thanks for helping us out in Mewni, Xehanort! I never thought I'd say this, but how would you like to come with us on our gummi ship? We can see a bunch of new worlds together!"
"Why would you want me to come with you, knowing fully well what that sorceress said about me?" Xehanort asked, much to Molly and Libby's surprise.
After all the trouble Maleficent gave them, they should have known that she would try to manipulate Xehanort. They had both worked so hard to befriend Xehanort, and they weren't going to let Maleficent ruin it.
"Don't listen to Maleficent. She was only trying to manipulate you." Libby explained.
Xehanort shook his head. "No, she is right about me. There is a darkness in my heart. A darkness that I don't want to let go of."
With a nervous chuckle, Molly stepped in. "Xehanort, we really shouldn't think that way! Darkness is bad!"
Xehanort soon glared at Molly. "Of course you would think that darkness is bad! You're just like Eraqus! All my life I was taught that we should protect the light, but you are all too scared to find out what it is like on the other side! In the end, maybe Toffee should have just destroyed the magic after all!"
"Xehanort, how could you say that?!" Libby gasped.
"Libby, how can you still think the existence of that world's magic was a good thing? It was because of Star's magic that you nearly lost Molly forever!" Xehanort argued.
Libby opened her mouth to argue, only to think back to how devastated she felt when she thought Molly died. As much as she hated to admit it, she knew that Xehanort had a point. It was because of magic that she nearly lost Molly.
Molly soon started to get angry as she yelled, "Okay, that's enough! This whole thing was Toffee's fault! He had darkness in his heart. Do you really want to turn out like him?"
"Not everything is as black and white as you think it is, Molly!" Xehanort yelled.
"I know that! I'm just trying to save you from being evil like Toffee! If what Maleficent said was true, we have to free you of the darkness in your heart!"
"Well, maybe I don't want to be free of the darkness!"
This left Molly and Libby shocked by Xehanort's outburst. After all the time they spent trying to redeem Xehanort, they never considered the fact that he didn't want to leave his darkness behind in the first place.
"If you two think that light and darkness can't be together, maybe we shouldn't be friends." Xehanort said.
Before Molly or Libby could say another word, Xehanort ran away before leaving Echo Creek. As the girls were left alone, Chirithy stood by their side, feeling bad for their friends.
"Molly. Libby. I'm so sorry." Chirithy apologized.
Molly let out a sigh before she said, "Don't worry about it, Chirithy! As much as it pains me to say this, I'm starting to think that some people weren't meant to be friends."
"Well, if we do see Xehanort again, hopefully it would be on better terms." Libby hoped.
Once they were ready, Molly, Libby, and Chirithy got back on the gummi ship before piloting it back in the sky. As they searched for their next world, Molly and Libby started to wonder if being friends with Xehanort wasn't such a good idea after all.