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I Summon the All-Seeing Eye	By : all_possible_worlds Category: +S through Z > Star vs. The Forces of Evil Views: 29523 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Vs. the Forces of Evil or its characters. I made no money from writing this story.

Chapter List
- 11
- 12
- 13
Chapter 12: When this Shooting Star Ignites
Note: Please review if you enjoyed. Constructive criticism very welcome! I respond to reviews here: http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/topic/64957-review-responses-and-open-discussion-for-i-summon-the-all-seeing-eye-star-vs-the-forces-of-evil/
Continuity stardate: Chapters 10 to 12 take place during the span of SvtFoE episode "Face the Music" (S02E21), but the timeline has diverged enough that some important scenes will play out very differently from canon. Previous episodes are in continuity for this fic, episodes after S02E21, generally speaking, are not. That said, Chapters from 11 onwards can contain indirect Season 3 spoilers.
This is a SFW chapter, sorta. Nobody fucks Star, well, not unless you count good old Ruby fucking her over...
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"Are you sure you know where we are going?"
"Shhhh!!" she shushed the other princess, not bothering to give her question the obvious response. In fact, her own admonition was far louder than the tiny pixie's voice. Fortunately for both of them, however, this particular hallway seemed rather deserted. And, well, so what if she was a bit less than discreet? After all, it was not like her to sneak around like this. Oh, who was she kidding? It was totally like her to sneak around! She was baaad like that! But that didn't mean she had to do it quiet-like, though, not really. Not her style. Besides, no one had actually bothered being in this part of the manor in a very long time, not since the old owner was, ahem, forced to tend her resignation. Little did they suspect, back then, all the ways in which the new management would turn out to be even worse. But hey, at least she knew just the person to help them out of that particular bind. The problem was getting the message out to her.
They found the door easily enough. She saw it first, of course, and pointed it out with her horn. It was the biggest, most ornate and, at the same time, the most depressingly sober and least inspired door in the entire floor. It took deliberate effort to have a large door in a hallway of many identical doors, and yet still have it stand out as the most unimaginative of the lot. If you asked her, she wouldn't be able to tell how it was exactly that the door achieved such paradoxical effect, but it did; the old hag had managed it somehow.
Her pixie friend pulled a pin out of her belt, as if she were unsheathing a rapier, and proceeded to quickly apply herself to picking the tumblers on the lock with it. The lock lasted only a few seconds in her dexterous hands, and they soon both walked, or floated, as the case might be, into the former bedchamber. The room was old and dusty, and it showed no signs of anyone having lived there in months, yet they both still felt nervous to go inside. They both had bad memories of when this room was inhabited, back when the school was still a school, or well, more like a jail, really. They moved quickly, despite the foreboding feeling, opening drawers, unlocking chests, taking perverse pleasure in untidying the damned room. Until she finally found what they needed.
"Ohhh scoreee, Giiirl! Look what I just found!!" she shouted, not caring in the least if anyone heard. Even if someone did hear, they would be far too late to stop her now. Inside the cabinet was a small basket, and inside the basket a dozen or so pairs of scissors. But not just any scissors, those were all dimensional scissors, confiscated to all of the former students of Saint Olga's Reform School for Wayward Princesses, by old hag miss Heinous herself. Those were their ticket out of there! "Now we can go fetch my home girl... and when we do, I swear White won't know what hit her!"
As she picked up a pair of scissors with her tongue, Ponyhead let out a loud whine, which soon morphed into a maniacal laugh. Thunder and lightning outside, an usual feature of St. O's, echoed her cackle.
----
"Get your exclusive Star Butterfly merch here!" a vendor shouted as their carriage passed by its cart. Jackie looked out of the window, aware that she was probably gawking around like an inexperienced tourist. She couldn't help it. Try as she might to keep her usual cool, there was nothing usual about her first visit to Mewnie. The entire place looked like it came from a cross between her history books, a fairy tale animated picture, and literal Disneyland. Especially what with all the food stands and glowing Star Butterfly branded products.
"Yo, Manfred, could you please get us some of that sweet swag?" Marco asked, leaning out through the window himself and passing their driver a large handful of dollar bills. Six hundred and fifty dollars, to be precise.
"Certainly, young master," the servant replied.
Marco thanked the man, and soon they found themselves surrounded by Star-themed trinkets. Jackie was holding a wooden replica of Star's wand with a glowing star in the middle, while Marco held on to a similarly adorned wooden sword. He was also wearing a horned diadem on top of his hair, which contrasted with his otherwise impeccably prince-like attire. It was really surprising how handsome the boy looked in that whole getup. He was even wearing shoulder pads and a cape, atop a regal looking white vest. Star's blue and white dress was even more ornate, and she was wearing an actual gold crown atop her massive updo. Compared to the both of them, Jackie, even in her best sea-green formal dress, felt way under-dressed.
"Marco, you know this is all for kids, right?" Star groaned, as Marco brandished the wooden toy around, badly. The princess seemed used to the commotion around them, but at the same time, bothered about it in a resigned sort of way. She sat in the long cushioned seat facing backwards from the front of the carriage, clearly uninterested in the view of Mewni's castle, which the opposite seat offered the two humans. Jackie wouldn't miss that majestic sight for the world, but she figured that, to Star, it was just home. "This whole thing is going to be so boring, and so pointless..." the Mewman gripped.
"But Star," Marco smiled at the other girl, giving her a fake pleading look. "How can we cheer on for your Princess Song, if we are not waving around the merchandise!" he joked, getting a broad smile out of the magical princess despite her sulky mood. Jackie laughed approvingly. Oh Marco, he was such a cute idiot sometimes!
"Marco, you are not going to be wearing those," Star took off his horns. "Or waving any of this stuff out there. As part of the royal entourage, you are supposed to wave politely, smile measuredly, and be proper and regal. Honestly, it really really sucks. Sorry to drag you guys to this!"
"Come on Star, this is pretty cool! I mean, I feel like I am hanging out with a celebrity," Jackie said, making it sound like a joke. In reality, it was a bit intimidating. Mostly because it was true: she was hanging out with a famous celebrity. No, more than a celebrity. These people weren't Star's fans, they were her subjects.
Even if the princess didn't make a big deal of it, and even if Jackie never gave it that much thought when they were on Earth, it was pretty clear that Star came from a very different social class than the two humans did. And, well, of course, that didn't matter: she was her friend, and Marco's other sweetheart, first, magical princess second. But the human girl would be lying if she said that, now that she found herself confronted with the reality of Star truly being a magical princess, with a kingdom of her own, she didn't find it at least a bit intimidating.
"Yeah, Star, besides, weren't you saying you and Ruberiot changed a lot of stuff on that song?" Marco asked, and the princess' eyes lit up. "Can't be boring if you helped write it!"
"Oh, yeah, can't wait for you guys to hear it!" She beamed. "It's going to be so much better than my mom's old song! Just hope she doesn't have an attack from it... I mean, I don't think even her can get an actual heart attack from a song, but..." she trailed off and laughed nervously.
Taking full advantage of the lull in the conversation, Jackie pulled Marco closer to her side of the couch. She wrapped her arm around his shoulders and turned to kiss him. Their lips met and they melted into each other briefly. It was a reassurance thing, again, just making sure Marco still thought both of his girlfriends were cool enough. She felt a bit guilty about it but, fortunately, Star's reaction was nothing like that at the concert.
"Awwww, you two!" the mewman grinned. "Better get the smooches out while you can, though. I think it might be better if we all keep it friends-like in front of my mom..."
Star had mentioned that, if they needed to introduce anyone as a couple today, it would be Jackie and Marco, just as it was in school. But she had also asked if they could all just act like friends. She seemed nervous about showing any part of their complicated relationship around her people, and specially around her mother, the queen. Jackie could understand that. What if some day Star had to introduce Marco as her boyfriend? She would have a lot to explain if they previously introduced him as Jackie's, particularly if she was still in the picture. Given that Star was doing her a really big favor simply by inviting her to the Song Day celebration at all, Jackie felt that following her request not to flaunt her relationship with Marco was the least she could do. That didn't mean, however, that Marco and her didn't get to be boyfriend and girlfriend behind the privacy of the carriage's doors and curtains.
"Oh, right," Marco quipped at Star as soon as Jackie let go of his lips. Then, in his best imitation of Queen Moon's voice, he continued, "Star, public displays of affection aren't a Butterfly virtue."
Star rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, not-a-Butterfly-virtue this!" she shouted and jumped from her side right on top of Marco's lap, straddling him. One of her legs falling atop Jackie's own.
"Star, that sentence made no sen... ooh," Marco began to complain, but Star shut up their boyfriend with a deep kiss. Jackie laughed. Princess or no princess, magical kingdom or no magical kingdom, it was hard to see Star as anything other than the happy-go-lucky friend she knew. Feeling appropriately reassured, Jackie was left only to ponder how comfortable the three of them had grown with one another in such a short span of time.
----
"With all due respect, Moon, we need to talk now!" Hekapoo asserted herself, angrily stomping her foot on the ground.
"Hekapoo, I told you, we will re-convene after the celebration, it is starting as we speak..." Moon replied impatiently, as she tried frantically to adjust her hair.
"Omnitraxus is gone!" the sorceress argued. "We can't get ahold of Glossaryck either, turns out nobody has seen him in months. I assume he is with your daughter, in which case she must bring him here immediately!"
"Omnitraxus, gone?" Moon replied, pausing for a moment, sounding genuinely surprised. "Are you sure of this?"
"Sure as can be, my queen," Romulus interrupted. "Thought glass ball might be on the frizz. Went to find him in person. Not in time dimension! Not anywhere!"
"We need Glossaryck," Hekapoo continued exasperated. "He and Omnitraxus are the only two who can find someone instantly across dimensions, and since Omnitraxus is the one who is missing..."
"Alright, alright," Moon raised a hand. "Hekapoo, there is some stuff I need to tell you, and you are not going to like it. I promise to explain it all, but only after Star's song is done. We have this under control, an hour is not going to kill anyone, alright?"
"But, Queen Moon..." she began, angrily, but was swiftly cut off.
"Hekapoo, I have my duties to my kingdom and my responsibilities as a mother. One hour. One song. After that, I promise you I'll make this whole high commission business my first priority," she looked at the short sorceress directly in the eyes, then placed a hand firmly on her shoulder. "Trust me, Hekapoo: I. Will. Do. My. Job."
The Forger of Dimensional Scissors held the gaze briefly, then she smiled, nodded, and gave her queen a deep bow, "Of course, your majesty."
Hekapoo was not easily appeased, but she had learned to trust the word of Moon the Undaunted, specially when she used that tone. Without further argument, they all walked out together into the castle's balcony, leaving only the empty crystal ball behind, as to not alarm the other guests with the dark void it displayed.
----
"And now, Mewni's newest court composer, the songstrel, Ruberiot..." shouted the announcer. The crowds below clapped loudly. "In honor of the royal family..." The spotlight went up, shining on Queen Moon, and King River, and Star, and, well, on him. Marco nervously shuffled himself out of the bright radius, almost crashing into Jackie, who sat to the right of the whole row, and begun clapping towards Star. The princess of Mewni simply waved around, like it was nothing, while the two human teenagers exchanged an uncomfortable look. Clearly, this was way too much exposure, for either of them. Although, Jackie, as usual, seemed to be handling it better.
Besides a general discomfort about being the center of attention at this scale, Marco also wasn't sure he wanted to create any implications that he was part of any royal family. I mean, dating Star was one thing, and it was amazing. But, well, he guessed neither of them were thinking at all about the future. Hell, for all he knew, Star might be just thinking about him as a fling of her teenage years, before she actually set to look for the kind of guy that would be able to handle her life as Queen of Mewni. That seemed pretty likely, now that he thought of it, specially given their unconventional relationship. When the Earth boy thought of that, he wasn't sure whether he felt sad, or relieved. It was clear that the crown weighted pretty heavy on Star, and she was like ten times stronger than he was, metaphorically just as well as literally. If she could barely handle that life, then what hope did he have?
He was interrupted from such grim and rather premature reflections, by the sound of slow chords on a lute, amplified by god knows which magic to the point to which the notes actually reached all the way to their balcony, together with the songstrel's words. A ridiculously happy marionette of Star, with literal hearts for eyes, glided into the stage as Ruberiot began singing. The puppet dramatically mimicked along with the lyrics.
Who is the maid with the buttercup hair?
Who sleeps on moonbeams and dances on air
With tears made of honey and a heart full of bunnies
Whose infinite virtues are known near and far
It's Mewni's own sweetheart, our dear Princess Staaar*
Even Marco felt weird hearing his best friend described that way. Sure, that was Star, kinda, she was a happy joyful girl that could, sometimes literally, dance on air. But there was also so much more to her than that! He glanced at her, to gauge her own reaction, and saw her cringe and grimace. A second later, though, she turned to him and Jackie and sent them a brief wink.
Marco wondered what kind of changes Star could have made to the song. She had refused to tell him much about the plans she had made with the annoying musician the other night, except to say that they had reached an agreement, and that it would be nothing like her mom's princess song. Marco was a bit worried, considering how Star sometimes got carried away with expressing herself, and how important this event seemed to be for her and her family. But on the other hand, deep down she knew all that much better than he did, and he trusted Star. Besides, if worst came to worst, surely the songstrel would make sure the show went well. The other day he had seemed, well, terrified of not being able to do his job properly, which meant he would probably make sure to strike a balance between pleasing Star and Queen Moon, right?
And under the shimmer and rubies and pearls
Lies hidden a fierce and adventurous girl
The forces of evil that lurk in the night
Will cower in fear when this shooting Star...
...ignites!*
Marco was thinking to himself how those verses fit Star so much better than the previous ones, when Ruberiot jumped forward and literally smashed his lute against the floor. The bold gesture drew oh's of surprise from the crowd, including Marco and Jackie. In the confusion, the musician seemed to pull a guitar out of thin air, and the stage exploded into a light show and a really sweet rock beat. "Whoohoo!" Marco yelled, and he wasn't the only one. Queen Moon looked a bit surprised, but not angry. This was just perfect, this was Star!
----
Weaving magic like a born spell-caster
And wreaking havoc like a natural disaster
She rocks her Narwhal Blast and Warnicorn Stampede
She's gonna earn her crown, so hail to the quee-e-e-een!*
Wow, now that was cool! Jackie had to admit she was impressed. Not just by the song or the elaborate visuals, but by Star herself. She might not know the mewman girl as well as Marco did, but she knew the song was all true. Star was not only royalty, she was some sort of magical fantasy warrior-girl! Again, Star was cool and popular back in Echo Creek too, but it was easy to forget there just how incredible the girl truly was, just her intrinsically, without putting an ounce of effort into it. Like, how on Earth was that Jackie still held on to her cool girl title when she had someone like Star around? She herself didn't understand how that was possible.
'No, come on Jackie, be chill, you are not competing with Star' she mentally reminded herself. Her eyes drifted towards the girl, and she saw how the princess carelessly danced punching the air. She looked then at Marco, who stared intently at the stage below and cheered. Ugh, she felt a sickly gluey sensation in her stomach, like if she had eaten something bad. Jackie wasn't happy with how she felt about this now. It wasn't like she had anything against Star, or against her being royalty or famous, and she didn't worry about her and Marco. Jealousy wasn't her thing, right? She was happy when her boyfriend was with someone cool, it made her cool by transitivity, did it not? Then what exactly was this feeling eating at her now? Why wasn't she happy for Star like everyone else was? Like she should be?
'Cause she's a rebel princess, she's the best
She's a ball of lightning in a hot pink dress
She's a thunderstorm roaring through the night
She's our shooting Star, and she's lighting up the sky!*
Yeah... yes she was, and Jackie was, well, what was she? A moderately popular high school girl in a small town in California? How had she managed to get to Marco first? And what had made her think it was a good idea to open her relationship to Star? I mean, Marco might like them both equally now, or so he said, but one day he would figure out how much cooler Star was than her, and then what? Maybe this whole thing was a mistake, and she should have kept her big mouth shut. Even if the three of them were pretty happy together for now, how could she be sure it would last that way?
Jackie took a deep breath. Wow, Star was right, this jealousy and self-doubt stuff was way heavy. She reminded herself of the advice she had given the other girl when the roles were reversed and it was the princess that, for some unknown reason, had felt jealous of her. 'Well, Lynn Thomas,' she silently chided herself, 'don't talk the talk if you can't walk the walk...' She would learn to feel happy about Marco having someone like Star too, and deal with her own doubts on the matter, it just maybe was a little bit harder than she had anticipated, specially after witnessing something like this.
----
Star looked at her friends and family, and was pleased to see happy faces all around. She loved her song, and they loved it too! Even her mom seemed pleased, "What a delightful little ditty. Good job, Star!"
"Uh, right. It's not over yet," she replied. It really wasn't, and even she didn't know what to expect. Ruberiot had asked her for help with all of the parts so far, particularly with the stage work for this last part. He had needed some serious Butterfly Light and Magic to get those Narwhals and Warnicorns ready in time. However, for the third act, he had shooed her away, something about true art needing solitude. She only knew one thing about the third act, that it would be a darker contrast compared to the previous two segments; which is why she didn't feel too worried when she heard slow somber chords coming from the songstrel's guitar, or saw bright red light overflowing the stage from behind.
Of royal secrets - sadly I must tell,
A tale of a princess under tragic love spell
She blushed a little. Well, Ruberiot had said this was necessary, for it to be real, and that he would keep things hidden and metaphoric. She was sure she could take this, in the name of the people of Mewni truly getting to know something about the real her. She just hoped her mom would not be too shocked at the result. I mean, after all, she knew about her dating Tom before being sent to Earth, and that was all she really expected to hear put into her song. She had once dated a demon, big freaking deal...
And who is the boy in the earthly attire?
Attached once already to the one he admires
Our princess with longing, watching from afar,
the prince who unwittingly stole her young heart!
Wait? What?! What was a puppet of Marco doing there, and a puppet of Jackie? And, they were dancing, waltzing around on literally tangling strings. Puppet-Star glided back into stage and glanced at them from the ground, falling on her knees, clutching her heart. It hadn't been like that at all! Star told herself, unconvincingly. Ok, alright, it had been like that, but why was this in her Princess Song?
This wasn't what she and Ruberiot talked about! It was supposed to be about Tom, about her previous relationship with him, with a demon, as kids. That was scandal enough! She barely told anything about Marco, let alone him and Jackie, to Ruby. She glanced at Moon, who had one eyebrow up in a regal gesture of surprise and mild confusion. Besides her, River was glaring daggers her way. Wait, no, he was glaring daggers at Marco!
Star glanced at the two human kids and saw that they had the same awkward confused expression on their faces as she did. "Sorry-Ruberiot-never-told-me-about-this-part!" she apologized.
Down on the streets the people were silent, and the tune picked up into slow and powerful riffs. Ruberiot sang the next few verses as if it were a modern epic, punctuated by metal cords. It would be kinda cool, if the subject of matter weren't so incredibly humiliating.
With ache in her chest, with tears in her eyes,
She masked her feelings, encased them in ice.
And as I have promised, I won't say his name,
But our poor little princess confides in a fiend.
Then, a perfect puppet replica of Tom, three red-glowing eyes and everything, entered stage left. So, this was about Tom after all? Wait, about Tom after Marco and Jackie? Oh, no! No, no, no, no! This is not what she wanted. She had told Ruberiot this stuff was a secret, surely he wouldn't dare include it. She looked panicked at Marco. She hadn't told him yet! She had meant to, but, it was never the right time. This was not how he was supposed to find out about that night. Please, please don't be about that night!
She saw with horror as her own puppet glided towards puppet-Tom and began dancing with him.
Playing with fire, and dancing on knives,
A tale of ex-lovers, of rebels, of knaves,
Of old flames yet burning, with passionate hate,
By dark they adjourn to their private daaaate!
A powerful chord punctuated the end of the verse and suddenly the stage lights blasted red at their maximum brightness, blinding everyone in the audience, before going dark in one fell swoop. Ok, that was a lot more than Star wanted the people of Mewni to know about the real her. But at least Ruby had kept his promise, he had kept it tasteful and metaphorical, almost. That last line was still way too obvious if you asked Star, but she could still play it off. She could explain "a date" with Tom to Marco, is not like he was her boyfriend at the time! It was none of his business! Her mom would be too embarrassed to ask for details, and her people could be convinced she had, I dunno, like, simply hung out with Tom. This was bad, but it could have been so much worse.
As soon as Star thought that, the stage begun lighting up again. Ruberiot was there in the middle, his guitar laying on the floor, and he had changed his outfit again. He wore loosely fitting jeans and a ragged t-shirt with a musical note inside a star on the middle. He also wore an impractical amount of golden jewelry for some reason, and a blue baseball cap turned backwards on his head. He looked to the floor and counted the beat with his left foot. Apparently, he wasn't quite done yet.
Then Star saw the panel behind the songstrel. It was a crude painting of an irregular stone brick wall, and a small river, and a bridge. She recognized it immediately and her heart almost jumped to her throat. She felt paralyzed. It was a graffiti painting of the bridge where the three of them had released the ducks back into the creek, and where later that night she and Tom had... No, no way! Ruby wouldn't do that! Would he?
With beats so inspired, and verses so fly,
I rap of the dalliances of Star Butterfly!
He would! Oh damn it, he would! Also, a rap? What the hell, Ruberiot? What the hell?! Star considered for a moment just taking her wand and blasting the stage, or creating a distraction somehow. Or plain just running away herself. But she couldn't move a finger. She felt her palms get sweaty. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the shocked, huge-eyed expressions on Jackie and Marco's faces, as they begun processing the next few lines.
Under moonlight she craves alleviation,
Heart, loins, both need consolation.
She knows she is a liar, and feels like she cheats,
Got the harsh stone floor, not her silky bedsheets!
As Ruberiot busted out such crude lyrics, a shadow play unfolded behind him, cast on the wall drawn on the stage curtains. Star could clearly make out a shadow representing herself as it embraced and kissed a shadow clearly representing Tom. Her wings and his horns made it obvious which one was which, despite the limitations of shadow puppetry. She saw the projected shapes fall together into the floor, in a clear depiction of two people having sex together. What was Ruberiot thinking?! How on Mewni was this any sort of metaphor?! Star was now hoping the chair she was sitting on would swallow her whole. She could not wait for this torture to end.
And he pushes and pulls, he cuts and he bruises,
Demon prince's charms with deep carnal uses.
Release that she finds, amidst all this harming,
it fails to replace her one true prince charming!
A second spotlight shone on the stage, far up and to the left. Now it was shadow-Marco and shadow-Jackie, hugging each other while they sat together on the outline of a shadowy bed, clearly making out. Star ventured a look towards her friends, and saw that they were also beet red and looking around uncomfortably. Everyone else in the entire kingdom seemed transfixed, silently looking at the scene in front of them, in a mixture of shock and morbid curiosity. Star saw her shadowy doppelganger conspicuously look up towards the scene involving Marco and Jackie, even as shadow-Tom still laid atop her.
Our princess so valiant, our princes so bold,
she slays down her foe with an action so cold.
For her lips do reveal, what her touches must hide,
the name of the boy that lits her inside!
A red heart lit up in the middle of her shadow and Marco's, and the shadow representing Tom stood up and ran away, in obvious pain and anger. The lights dimmed down. The shadows vanished, and Ruberiot took his guitar again.
'Please be over, please be over,' Star thought to herself. But then again, how could it not be? Ruberiot had already sung everything she had told him, in excruciating and indecent detail. There literally could not be anything worse to come.
The wooden puppets from earlier floated into the stage: Star, Marco and Jackie. They looked at one another and then down towards the floor as if sad. The next few chords were slow and acoustic, sounding almost like waltz music. Ruberiot continued in a soft melodious voice.
Our story has a happy ending,
for our princess and her future king,
confession and feelings requited,
that results in a triangular swing.
The puppets acted as if they were speaking to each other, until finally they all held hands and begun floating up, rotating as if they all danced together.
For Marco is Jackie's and Staaaar's!
And it works for our princess
...so faaar!
And with one last guitar riff, Ruberiot fell silent and bowed deeply to the audience. Moments passed, and not a noise was heard. Then a steady confused murmur rose from the crowd.
"What's wrong? You are supposed to be clapping!" the songstrel spoke finally. His pleas immediately drowned by angry shouts from the audience. Star heard some very unkind words used to describe her and her friends, and those were just the one's she recognized. Star looked at Marco and Jackie, they both stared back at her in shock, without saying a word, and eventually she couldn't help but avoid their gaze. She looked at her mom, expecting to see anger in her eyes, but Queen Moon's regretful expression hurt her even more than the fury she expected.
The queen lifted up from her chair and motioned everyone to go back into the castle, Star and her friends first. Star's dad looked like he was about to chase after them, his angry sight still trained on Marco, but Moon put her arm in front of him, stopping his husband.
----
"Star!" Moon was the first to speak. "What was that?!" She seemed furious, genuinely confused, and very uncomfortable, all at once.
"Mom, I am sorry, I didn't know, I didn't think... I am sorry, ok?" She was. Under other circumstances she would have argued more, reminded her mom she could not have done the kind of fluffy pop song she expected. But this time she was truly sorry, and she didn't even know what for. For the song? For Tom? For Jackie and Marco?
"Star, as a ruler, there are some things you don't say about yourself. What you tell your people has implications, for you and for your friends," Moon explained, angrily. "I can't believe you would be so foolish as to encourage these sort of rumors about yourself!"
"Mom, I swear I didn't know Ruberiot would say anything about that," Star replied. Then, she processed what her mom was saying. Rumors? Did she think the song was fake? Or was it that she wanted to pretend it was fake? Was it only the citizens of Mewni or did her mother too wanted to pretend Star was a perfect little princess? Star knew this was hardly the time to make things worse, but something in Moon's words just angered her, beyond the shame and dread she now felt. "But well, mom, they are not rumors. Marco is my boyfriend! ... mine and Jackie's..." The Mewman princess shot her mother a determined look.
Queen Moon sighed and lifted a hand to her forehead, massaging her temple. "And I suppose you have given full thought to what it would mean for Mewni to have a king regent with a second wife? Or for your other friend to accept a more, lets say, secondary position, for the sake of the monarchy?"
"What?! Mom, no, I mean, I haven't even thought about... he is my boyfriend, but well... we never talked about..." Star protested. King regent? She was pretty certain she loved Marco, but that sounded too, well, permanent. She wasn't even on board with the idea of being queen herself, thinking about a royal husband was the furthest thing from her mind.
"I know, I know, sweetie. But well, that's what a lot of people in Mewni are going to be discussing tonight. And they will discuss it again, whenever Marco comes to visit, or for how ever long you stay on Earth. Incidentally, they will also discuss whether consorting with demons makes one a dark queen, in the same way consorting with monsters does. It is all nonsense, in either case, but it might just be how they see it.
Star, the magic wand guarantees your own right of succession, no matter how many traditions you break, or how flagrantly. But that doesn't mean there are never consequences. Honestly, in the long run this all could lead to pretty bad things happening, mostly to her and to the boy..." Moon looked to the side, as if embarrassed of what she was about to suggest next, "Perhaps the best course of action is for you to distance yourself from your Earth friends. Maybe if we do that, further rumors can be avoided..."
"Mom?!" Star was shocked. Was her mom saying she could not date Marco anymore? Or that she could not go back to Earth? "No, I love Marco! I might not know much about the future, but I don't want to not see him again, or Jackie either! Not over a stupid song!"
"A song that has put them both in danger, and you and me in a very delicate political position. What do you want me to do, Star?!" the queen retorted, sounding as tired and frustrated as Star was feeling.
"I want you," a fierce voice remarked behind the princess, "to do your job."
Hekapoo walked between Star and Queen Moon, cutting through the tense atmosphere like a hot knife through butter, staring up at the monarch of Mewni with a fierce glare.
"Hekapoo, I am sorry, this is kind of an emergency..." Star's mom began.
"So is Omnitraxus being missing!" Hekapoo remarked. "An emergency you promised to handle before anything else. Certainly before the political implications of your daughter's teenage indiscretions. Or is the kingdom going to fall tonight just because some people are going to be talking badly about the princess' private matters? Because, well, if so, certainly a lot has changed since the days when you first took the throne..."
Moon's cheeks reddened slightly, and Star felt like she was missing some subtext to this conversation, a lot of subtext, actually. The queen coughed briefly, "yeah, well, you are right, of course, Hekapoo. Star, we will discuss this fully sometime soon. But please, try to not drop any more shocking revelations on the kingdom, at least for a while..."
Hekapoo followed Moon through a huge double door. Lekmet, Romulus and even King River followed close behind. After they were all gone, Star felt a hand drop on her shoulder. She looked back to see, well, Hekapoo again! No matter how many times she did that, her whole cloning thing was always super weird. "Well, nicely done, kid, you really fucked up this time," the sorceress smiled at her, giving her at once a mocking grin and a comforting wink.
"Yeah, I know," Star replied with a half-smile. This Hekapoo just gave her a nod of acknowledgement and poofed out of existence.
The princess was unspeakably thankful at the high commissioner for running interference like that. Unfortunately, her mom wasn't the only one Star had to talk to right now. She heard a voice behind her way before she was done processing the previous exchange, "Eh, Star..."
It was Jackie, but she seemed very un-Jackie like. She was looking at the floor and her voice felt flat and uncertain.
"Jackie, I am so sorry, I..." Star begun, but Jackie cut her off with a hand gesture.
"Actually, Star, I am sorry too. First, I sort of overheard your conversation with your mom right now, so, well, sorry about that," the human girl apologized. "For the record, I understand if you decide not to go back to Earth because of what is best for yourself, for your mom or for Marco, but as far as I am concerned, I don't care what kind of crazy political danger our relationship puts me in on Mewnie. We will figure stuff out if there is ever stuff to be figured out, but it is not anyone else's business but ours. If your subjects disagree, they can go suck on a big fat juicy..." she trailed off.
"... lemon?" Star suggested, but her tone made it perfectly clear she knew that wasn't where the other girl was going with that sentence.
Jackie chuckled briefly, before getting back into a very serious expression, "But also, I want to apologize too for, well, for not really believing you when you said being a princess sort of sucked? I don't know if you noticed at all but, today I've been, well... lets just say I got impressed by your life here, and how much people care about you and look up to you, and I sort of got a bit envious of that, you know?"
"Ptfff," Star almost laughed. "If it were up to me, you could have it instead, all of it, Jackie."
"Yeah, I know," she looked around nervously. "Not sure I want it anymore. I think Marco knew already why you felt like you did about being a princess... I just didn't fully get it, until now."
Oh, right, Marco! "How is he doing?"
"Not well," Jackie replied. "He is not really talking to me right now..."
Star felt a weight drop in her stomach. She turned around to see Marco with his forehead against a wall, fists closed. Oh fuck, guess he was taking the Tom thing worse than she expected? Again, it wasn't as if it was really any of his business, that was before they started dating, even if only by about twenty hours or so. Then again, considering how she had felt about him and Jackie... And, even back then, Star actually liked Jackie. Marco hated Tom. Well, not as much a few days ago as he did when they first met. But those two, they were, well, on complicated terms. Competitive too. This was not going to be an easy conversation.
"Hey, Marco!" She put her best happy face forward. "Guess that wasn't as boring in the end as I feared, but well, it was sort of terrible for a different reason..." she babbled at him.
"Star," Marco spoke slowly, without turning back, looking at the floor, his clenched fist trembling in anger. "It's just... well, why didn't you tell me?"
----
Author's note:
* The starting verses of this song are quoted literally from "The Ballad of Star Butterfly", by Brian H. Kim, Sabrina Cotugno, Amelia Lorenz, Michael Kohl, Patrick Stump. This song apears in the canon episode on which this chapter is based. The original lyrics start at the (*) mark and end right at "she's lighting up the sky!". The rest of the lyrics are altered to fit the fic but might draw inspiration from the original. Notice added as per AFF ToS.
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I Summon the All-Seeing Eye