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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
- 17
- 18
- 19
Chapter 18: With Ache in her Chest, With Tears in her Eyes
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A girl with no friends, and no loved ones left, skulked through the bleak cliffs surrounding Saint Olga's School for Wayward Princesses; slowly making her way among thick and prickly tangles of dead tree branches. As she did so, the evil child only thought of what had gone wrong, what she would do differently if she had only another chance. She had been thinking, and fleeing, for hours. Now the sky was dark once more, but the end of the day did not erase the damage done.
As her mind was balancing, for the eleventh time, the ledger of all of her mistakes, she heard a sobbing sound from just ahead. Cautiously, she approached the source of the noise. It came from a small valley clearing. A vulnerable position. Or perhaps a trap. Not wanting to take any chances, the girl got only as far as the edge of the dried woods, and with a swift movement jumped atop one particularly tall, particularly sturdy, elm. As it landed, her lithe body made nary a sound, none that would be heard over the ceaseless weeping.
The figure below was familiar to her. Even so, it took her a moment to recognize her now, without the long horns and the ridiculous fake eye-patch. The sniveling blond mess had curled herself into a ball in the middle of the clearing, and was likely in the process of crying herself to sleep. She could see her hands bracing her knees, as she shivered in the freezing night wind. Perched atop the tree, Princess White smiled a long wicked smirk. Star Butterfly had no wand on her person.
It would have been easy, and oh so satisfying, to drink the mewman princess dry of her sweet young blood. A palliative for her hunger, and for her bruised pride. But White recalled promising to leave the other princess alone, as part of the terms of her surrender to Prince Jack, the giant killer. White was a creature of the told story, a being of tale and myth, and she knew the traps fate and legend usually put in the path of those who violated an important promise.
There was a kind of magics, White knew, which acted like contracts with the world and its powers, and were enforced by potencies far beyond mortal comprehension. Cassandra's prophesies had been thus. It was that the reason why she had found the brunette so indispensable an ally, despite her infuriating crypticness. Invoking similar powers, she had managed to stave away the sun from her temporary kingdom, claiming the ancient right of domain. But her domain had been broken the second she declared herself to lose the duel she had accepted to fight for its control. That meant her word and her promises had at least some weight for the ancient powers, and it followed then that she should think it twice before seeing herself forsworn over a petty act of vengeance.
She had promised to leave Jack, 'and Princess Marco, and the mewman, and all the princesses of St. Olga's alone'. Was there a loophole there? Anything she may try that would count as technically keeping her promise, while achieving the spirit of her revenge? Surely, the child was mewman, and the only one in St O's, so she could not sneak out of her vow there by claiming its object was ambiguous. If she had sworn to leave her alone, what was there left, that she could do to her with impunity?
While she thought, a second figure entered the clearing, from the 3 o' clock relative to where she kept watch. White ducked and hid further among the dry branches, as she saw a boy approach. It was not Jack, and certainly no princess.
"Hey, Star... are you alright?" the boy asked.
White noted the concern in his voice. A friend of the mewman perhaps? Well, now that she thought of it, killing her friends did certainly match the wording of a promise 'to leave her alone', quite nicely. Ah, the beauty of poetic irony! The vampire princess grinned at the thought. She coiled herself over the tree, ready to strike at Star's friend, to deprive the other princess of his company, to multiply her misery without touching a golden hair of her head.
She did not attack.
It took her a moment of hesitation, a second to appraise the newcomer, to decide firmly against that first plan. For even if you were a princess of skin cold as snow, and lips red as blood, and ancient darkness of fairy tale lore, it was nevertheless unwise to attempt to prey on a boy with skin of gravestone tint, and burning red coals for eyes, and long taurine horns. No, it was not wise at all to ambush a demon.
----
"Tom...?" Star looked up at him in surprise, her eyes red with crying. A moment later, she turned her dulled gaze back to the floor, as if he weren't there. She continued whimpering, more softly, but no less sorrowfully, than before.
She seemed so sad, and so defeated. The demon prince could not recall ever seeing her in such a state, not even the night of... No. He forced himself to think of anything but that. This was already going to be awkward enough as it was. For once in his life, Tom wanted to be the ex Star deserved, to be something to her other than her biggest regret, her biggest mistake.
"Star," he spoke. He felt the urge to call her 'Starship' and squashed that feeling with all the wrath of the Astray One himself. "I... heard what happened, some of it. Do you want to talk?"
"No," Star replied. "Marco hates me now, and Jackie hates me now, and... and I hate you."
To hear that, spoken so plainly, hurt almost as much as that damned anger spell had back then, the day of the concert. In some ways, it hurt even more. But now it was not the time for him to indulge his ever-burning anger, or his own self-pity. Tom breathed deeply, and kept his temper in check, without bothering to count this time. He just didn't have the time for that. Instead, he made himself to suppress his inner fire, through force of will alone.
"Star, Jackie is, well, she is angry, but I don't believe she hates you," Tom spoke softly, as he sat besides Star and cautiously draped an arm around her. She did not react. He knew well enough that it was more of an indicator of how apathetic she felt right now, rather than any sign that she welcomed his touch. Still, he couldn't help but feel happy to be holding her, then angry at himself that he still felt so.
Tom forced himself to stay the course. He had promised, before coming out to look for Star, that he would not lie, he would not plot, he would not manipulate. He had promised that he would not put any moves on Star, no matter what. That he was to be here out of concern, and out to help the mewman, as any friend would. A friend and nothing more, if the princess was willing to accept even that from him. It went against his nature, the same way calm went against his nature. And yet, he had long ago mastered calm, nonchallantness, at least most of the time. It took constant effort, but it was effort he was willing to undertake.
"And I know Marco doesn't hate you, he..." The words dried his throat, like puking dense burning lava, "... he loves you, Star."
"He hates me, Tom!" yelled Star, tossing his arm off of her and turning her back towards him. "And he is right to do so! Guess you have also heard about me being evil, no? Since you seem to know everything that has happened to me lately!?"
She sounded angry. Anger was good. It was much better than hollow defeated sadness. Maybe what Star needed was to hit him again with the dark vortex spell, to let the anger and the hurt out of her system. Tom was surprised to discover, that after all that had happened between the two of them, he would gladly let her do that again. Except this time, he wouldn't mess it up by expecting any kind of affection from her in return. Star didn't love him, and she didn't want him. But if she indeed did simply hate him, then by the deceiver, may that hate be put to a good a use!
"Evil is relative, Star, and I say so with some personal understanding of the concept. I also have been called evil, after all," Tom said as he shrugged. "From what I heard, you were less than forthcoming with one of your magical mishaps, and then got some ambiguous seer mumbo jumbo thrown at you. Big deal!"
It was, actually, a bigger deal than he was making it out to be, but Star didn't need to hear that now. Prophecies were one time a blessing and ten times a curse, and it was always near impossible to untangle them until they came to happen. Sure, the girl had called Star "the dark queen ascending" and "the force of evil incarnate", but Tom had a hard time seeing either of those come to pass, knowing Star like he did. Not that he would care if Star ever went dark, not really. Good or evil, she would still be herself, and that was all that mattered in his book. He was far more concerned about the fact that the prophecy also said that "death shall be the one to claim her". That he could visualize, all to clearly. Tom Lucitor, prince of the underworld, was determined not to let that come to pass.
"Tom, you are evil," Star said, giving him a look of disgust. "And... well, I didn't think so back when we first met, or when we were together. I only realized it way too late. So, I think is very possible, well, that my moral compass is so very twisted that I can't even realize that I am evil too, or turning evil. That, maybe, I have done something truly beyond the pale. Jackie seems to think so. And another reason I might be evil, is that I actually know for a fact that right now I am not nearly as concerned about the fact that I may become a dark queen when I grow-up-than-I-am-concerned-about-Marco-hating-me!"
Her words became quicker and quicker as she got to the last part, until there was a torrent of them stumbling one atop the other out of her mouth. In the end, it almost seemed she only paused because, near the end, she had no choice but to take a breath of air. Tom sighed. There was only one way to get to her then, one way only. It was not what he would have preferred.
"Star, how do you think I know all of this? What happened back at Saint O's, and the prophecy?" the demon prince asked her calmly.
"That's obvious," Star countered. "It is because you have been spying on me, again. Like evil people do! Like I did to Marco and Jackie..."
"Actually, Star, is because Marco called me, and asked me to find you," he admitted.
For the first time, Star looked up and met his gaze, eyes filled with surprise and just the slightest dash of hope.
----
Princess White felt like she was going to puke listening to the two of them. So, the girl had managed to annoy her friends and now felt bad about it? And now the demon was for some reason trying to reassure her it didn't mean she was a bad person? Since when did a demon cared if someone was a bad person? If anything, he should be welcoming the fact that the girl thought herself evil. That self-perception made it so much more likely that she would fall into the fiend's clever snare. White was sure, she could sense it in his body language, that the purple fiend lusted after the princess. It defied all she knew about the nature of the underworld denizens that he didn't take her by force. Demons were, after all, creatures often slave to their own base emotions: lust, wrath, envy, and so forth.
It took her only an instant, after she let her bored mind tune out their conversation, to notice the rustling of the leaves a hundred or so paces away from the clearing. The movement was almost in a perfect line with the angle from which the demon had come into the clearing.
Curious, the vampire slid unseen through branch and root, a quarter way around the clearing, and a short walk away from it. There she found a girl with hair almost as black as hers, with eyes dark green, and a black cloak around her. Her body seemed to rest against the tree, giving her back to the children in the clearing, just far away enough not to overhear even through the quietness of the night. She deliberately pretended that she was ignoring the other two teens, but her face was one of apprehension. In front of the girl, uncomfortably nested between scorched trees, was a skeletal horse, chained to a black unearthly carriage.
White gave herself a few minutes to examine the situation. She could kill the girl, of course, but to what end? To steal the black hearse? That she might do. If the vehicle belonged to the demon, then it was a way for her out of this forsaken place. And, she reminded herself, into an even more forsaken one. No, that would not do, not unless she was sure she could direct the carriage somewhere other than the underworld. She was bound to end there eventually anyways, and was in no hurry to make that trip.
Then, perhaps, it was better to learn more of the situation first. She drew her fangs back. Her face human again, and not just human. Snow White had once been called the fairest in all the land. Now, in what was left of her rebel princess attire, she figured she would look like a pretty rad punk girl. No way to tell for sure, of course, not without a reflection. She hadn't had one of those for a pretty long while.
"Oh, sweet ride!" spoke White excitedly as she made her way out of the trees in front of Janna. Her raised voice carefully measured to be just below the nearby demon's threshold of awareness, even if the mewman child shouts were to suddenly stop.
"Ah, it's alright, I suppose," the human girl shrugged. She seemed to inconspicuously move an arm to the inside of her cloak. Looking for a weapon? White thought it unimportant. "And who are you supposed to be?"
"Princess Lumi," she responded without hesitation. It was a name she had used before. "I guess you have heard of St. O's, right? Used to be super lame, now is a total party school. Which, I guess is a different kind of lame..."
"Right," Janna agreed. "Tell me about it. So you are like, a troublemaker princess?"
"Eh," White gave a non-committal shrug. "I guess. I mean, clearly you get into some trouble yourself," she observed, pointing at the carriage, "not that you seem to mind. Are you the demon's... servant?"
White's mask was intended to look like a far more naive girl than she herself, trying to appear to be shrewd and conspiratorial. The dark haired human smiled in return, taking the role of the more experienced one, exactly as White had hoped. No better way to make someone vulnerable, than to trick them into feeling strong.
"What makes you think it is not the other way around?" Janna asked.
'Well, for one, kid, that is clearly a demon prince. For another, I can see the chain marks on your wrists,' thought White. But Lumi's face reflected only surprise and what was intended to read as badly concealed admiration.
"Oh, are you a powerful witch then? You must be! Wow, that's actually pretty cool," she spoke. The girl seemed like the type to be amenable to flattery. "If you are the one in control, then perhaps I could... no, I mean, we just met, it is too much to ask. But could I maybe see the inside of, of that...?" White pointed towards the infernal carriage.
"Sure," the foolish human conceded with a smile. That's when White noticed the flickering purple light emanating from inside the velvet cloak. "And, after that, why don't I give you a ride to Earth myself so that you can feast on the blood of all my classmates? I mean, I'd consider it if it was only Brittney, maybe even Sabrina..."
"What?" Lumi reacted with confusion and surprise to the human's words. She paused as if to try and comprehend what the other girl was saying. Inwardly, White used that requisite pause, that pretended hesitation, to attempt to figure out how it was she had been found out. The game was clearly up, even if it didn't hurt her to keep the charade a few more seconds. Was there anything she had forgotten in her disguise? "You are joking, right? I mean, jeez, I know I don't dress like a goody-two-shoes, but you seriously have been spending too much time with demons if you think..."
"Oh, come one, that's just sad. Just drop the damn act," Janna interrupted her. "Seriously, how naive do you think I am?! You are obviously that vampire bitch Marco was talking about!"
Ah, it seemed White's reputation had preceded her for once. She supposed that would explain her failed bluff. When Janna took her left hand out the cloak, a small sphere of burning purple flames danced in her palm. She raised her right as well, and half of the flames jumped to that hand. In an instant, both spheres had grown again to the size of large man's fist.
Princess Lumi's mask fell in an instant at that point, and White's features, still human, turned sharp and cruel. She smirked. "Naive enough to oppose me openly, which makes you at best a clever fool."
----
"Marco called you?" Star asked, looking at Tom. That didn't sound right, why would Marco send Tom to her, of all people? Specially after what he knew from her Princess Song. But, but, it meant that Marco cared, didn't it? That he wanted to have someone look after her, even if he himself didn't want to see her. Oh, well, he had always been a sweetheart, taking pity on the evil wretch that was the wicked princess of Mewni...
"Star, he, and Jackie too, searched for you the entire afternoon, until it went dark. Then they started to get truly worried, so they went back to Heinous room, and they called me on the mirror," Tom said. "I am sorry, I would have been here sooner, but I insisted on knowing the whole story before I set out to find you. Then, when I heard how she had spoken to you, I wasted even more time in saying things to that Jackie girl that I don't really believe, but which made me feel much better. I recall a particularly good one about her having sexual congress with a dolphin..."
The mewman chuckled. She felt almost surprised that she could still chuckle. But the knowledge that her friends still cared about her was enough to lift her spirits considerably. Wait, was laughing about something like that something an evil princess would do?
"So, basically, they are angry, Star," Tom admitted. The princess felt her heart sink back into despair for a moment. "But they don't hate you, and they certainly don't think you are evil. Ask Marco if you can't take my word for it. Just like this: 'Hey, Marco, do you think I am evil, or did I just fuck up?'"
Star thought about it for a moment. Yeah, she had fucked up, and she had doubled down on her fuck ups by not telling either of them sooner. She put herself in Jackie's shoes, and she knew she would have been hurt, and Jackie was more sensitive about her privacy than Star was. But feeling hurt, and feeling angry, and yelling at someone, didn't mean you considered them irredeemably evil, or even that they were no longer your friends.
She thought about Marco, he had clearly been put on the spot there, between both of his girlfriends. He had just lost his most priced possession, and had just wanted to figure out a way home. He didn't hate her, not really. Star could almost see him, calling out after her just a moment too late for her to hear, then spending the entire day searching for her.
Both of them would be worried, maybe even feel guilty, and here she was wallowing in self-pity rather than owning up to what she had done to hurt them. Well, fuck up number three.
"I, I think I know the answer," Star dried her tears with one arm. "But I am going to ask, just in case."
"Good," Tom remarked. "Now, Star, not asking for anything between us anymore, not even forgiveness, but... do you truly think I am evil, or did I just fuck up?"
"You fucked up, Tom," Star said after taking a moment to think it through. "But I also fucked up that night. Tom, I don't want you to think there is any chance of us getting back together, because, I am sorry, there isn't. But I do forgive you, and I hope you forgive me, and if all that works for you, I would want us to be friends."
"Can't imagine anything better," said the demon boy, with a broad smile.
"Friends?" asked Star, nervously, lifting a fist.
"Friends!" Tom fist-bumped her.
Wait, was she the last person in any dimension to learn that gesture? Guess that's one downside of growing up with a bestie with no fists to bump. Speaking of which, "Oh, Tom, what about Ponyhead?"
"She was with them too," noted Tom. "And angrier at Jackie than even I was. Say what you want about that pain in the butt, she is fiercely loyal."
"Yeah, she is," Star admitted, feeling a lot better now that she knew she had not lost all her friends. If anything, she had perhaps regained one. There were plenty of amends to make, but well, she could always bake the two humans cookies when they all got back to Earth! Ok, maybe not cookies. Based on previous experiences that was not a good idea. Wait! How where they going to get back to Earth? The scissors still didn't work, the mirror didn't work. One moment! "Hey, Tom, you said they called you from the mirror?! I thought it was broken."
"No, it reached me just fine," said Tom with a quick shrug. "Maybe it is not reaching Mewni for some reason? Either way, we can check, right now. My carriage is just that way, and it got me here. It will probably take us to Mewni too unless there is something else wrong, no scissors required."
----
"Those magics did not impress me eight hundred years ago, when I was young and foolish. They certainly do not impress me now." the vampire princess scoffed at Janna's purple blazes. "If you truly know who I am, you know you cannot hope to defeat me."
The troublemaker felt her head burn in pain with the concentration required to keep the magical fireballs under control, to guide the forces she had stolen from her undead enemy, from her magical friend, and from her demonic lover. She knew it was just a whiff from their power, in each case, so little that they had not noticed her reaching for it. It was, Janna thought, amused, a bit like taking five dollars out of Marco's wallet for lunch. As long as she did it only occasionally, neither would realize anything was missing.
She had considered playing along a bit longer. Let the vampire princess believe she had bought her pretense, maybe try to get some information out of her. But there was little she could ask 'Lumi' where the response wouldn't be predictably useless. She could have just made excuses not to show her the inside of the carriage, to stall until Tom came back, but then she wouldn't have a chance to ask the real White any questions. As soon as Star and Tom got involved, the evil princess would almost certainly flee, otherwise she would have gone to the clearing in the first place.
"But I don't have to beat you," Janna observed, trying to match Snow White's smirk with an evil grin of her own. "I only need something to hold you at bay for long enough for me to cry out for help. Then Tom and Star will come, and kick your undead ass, Vladislava."
Even that was not a given, that she could hold her off long enough to cry for help. She had heard, from Jackie, that the evil princess was fast, impossibly fast. She also knew she had gone toe to toe with Star's own magic, or at least with some of her spells cast in advance. Janna knew her own magic wasn't even in the same ballpark. Maybe her spells would cause the creature no harm and her throat would be pierced by sharp white fangs before she could even yell for help. There was a pretty big chance forcing White's hand had been a bad idea after all, that she should shout now if she was ever going to. But, there was also the issue that, well, she didn't want to cry out. Not if there was any other option.
"Ah, but the question is, then: why haven't you cried out already?" White observed, more amused than concerned. "I see. You don't dare interrupt him, not while he is talking to her, not unless you absolutely must. So you are looking for an alternative, a way to beat me that does not involve them, or a way to bluff me into withdrawing. Am I right?"
Janna tried to keep her face straight. To not betray even a hint of how much White's cold read had shaken her. But the dark princess was right. Janna definitely didn't want to yell for Tom when he was with Star. Partly because she cared about her friend, and they had agreed, earlier, that it was better if Tom went to her to talk some sense into her without bringing up the fact that Janna had spent a weekend in hell. There would always be time to tell her that after she had calmed down. But there were other reasons, darker reasons.
First, Janna didn't want to seem needy, or like she cared if Tom was talking to Star. Second, she thought of the possibility of Tom coming to help her, and, in her grief and confusion, Star fleeing away. It had taken them long enough to find her as it was. Not only would that be bad for Star, it would also make Tom angry at her. The worst part was, Janna knew those weren't good enough reasons to risk her life over them, but still, she found that she could not just yell for help, not unless Snow White moved to attack. She didn't. Not with fangs, at least.
"Pfft, I just don't want you to go running away as a coward when they come here!" pointed out Janna. It was no longer really true. In any case, it was not wise to say it, it put White on guard about Janna's intentions at best, and might make her angry at worst. There was something making it hard for Janna to think, to strategize; the strain of maintaining her spell, perhaps? or something else?. No matter, keep talking, keep her distracted, that was the only thing that mattered now. "How come you are a vampire? Do you automatically turn evil when you become a vampire? Why is that not part of the legend? What the hell is the deal with your green eyed freak of a friend?"
Instead of seeming mad, the dark princess shrugged and grinned back at Janna. She seemed to regard her very intently. Undead eyes gazing deeply into human ones as she sized her up. The troublemaker girl felt her body shiver with the effort of keeping the purple flames alive. White moved neither closer nor further away from her, seemingly unconcerned by the magical fireballs.
"I was born dark, a myth among the myths, but most of my kind are turned. Those who are turned are still themselves, until hunger and age strip them of their delusions of morality," she had counted to two with her fingers, as she answered the first two questions. "And there are many tales told of me, all true in part and false in part."
Three fingers up. A mocking smile.
"What about your friend?!"
"What about her?"
"Her riddles, how do you know what they mean?" risked Janna. It was too important to be left unasked.
"No one does. She has the gift of prophecy. What she says will come to pass, one way or another, and you can spend years pouring over every word for a way to avoid it and still be caught in the net in the end," the vampire's smirk told the human girl that White had spotted her own shock. The vampire was smart, smart enough to know that Janna wouldn't have asked if there hadn't been a prophecy and that she would not have reacted this way unless the prophecy was bad. A pale hand raised a fourth and final finger. "So, I have answered four of your questions, and I shall ask four of mine: this prophecy, the one that made you ask, does it involve your demon master? Does it involve you? How about the Mewman princess?"
"Yes, yes, and no" Janna lied. She had never been one for playing fair. She estimated a higher than even chance that her counterpart had been honest in all her answers, but that did not mean she had to be. White seemed to buy her answer. But then again, she was known to be a good actress.
"You care for him, don't you?" the princess smiled and glanced at a place behind Janna's back. Not being an utter fool, the troublemaker girl did not turn around to follow that gaze. "The demon. Alright, my fourth question: Do you love him?"
"That, would be saying too much," Janna attempted to brush off the question.
"No," White's face was clearly mocking her now. "I think that would be saying just enough. Also, I believe you lied about at least one other answer. You love him. He loves her. It is a story as old as tale, and it has quite a sad ending, am I right?"
Well, Janna thought, at least she had managed to fool the monster, throw her off the scent. Cass prophecy had nothing to do with any of that. And yet, a voice in her head whispered that it was indeed probable that White's own words would also turn prophetic nonetheless. It was certainly not a new fear for the troublemaker girl.
"She doesn't love him, though," the human girl replied, unsure of what compelled her to argue against the vampire, specially about something like this. She should be throwing her fireballs at her, or crying for help, now that she had gotten her answers, but she felt like she could not move a muscle. Her mind was racing with thoughts of Tom, and what he felt for Star and not for her, never for her.
"Ah," White spoke, "but she is pretty, and you are not. She is royalty and you are not. She is powerful and you are not. And so, even if he stays with you, his heart will always be hers, whether she ever choses to claim it or not. The instant she wishes, what you imagine to be yours, she can take to be hers..."
"I can take something of hers too!" shouted Janna back, feeling suddenly irritated. Angry at White, angry at Star, angry at reality. She wasn't sure why she had even said that, but she could... she could... well, pickpocket Star's magic, if you could call it that. And Star would never know! Maybe that made up for the fact that Tom was still obsessed with Star. Maybe that made them even.
"No, foolish child," White shook her head sadly. "You can't. At best..."
In an instant she was in front of her, having moved too fast to be seen. Her hand choked Janna's windpipe, making it impossible for her to cry out. White lowered her own face, her blood red lips, towards her outreached hands, and blew out her magic flames like birthday candles.
"... at best you can beg for crumbs," the vampire lifted her face and grinned victoriously. Then, she drew a finger to her face. "Now, shush, you wouldn't want to distract your love when he is with someone he cares about. Not over something as unimportant as your life. Would you?"
Fangs sprouted out from inside Snow White's pretty lips, her eyes turning bloodshot as well. She leaned downwards again, towards her neck. Janna tried to cry out, to yell, but she couldn't even breathe. She felt the vampire's lips against her flesh, and then...
White licked her neck and drew away again, chuckling softly. The creature of the night shrugged, as if implying she wasn't worth drinking her blood, only barely worth toying with. Well, Janna thought, that's something White and Tom had in common.
Faster than shadow, and faster than wind, White let go of her neck and jumped up, disappearing almost into thin air. Janna did not see where she went, and she did not cry out either. She just collapsed against the tree, pale with fright and feeling terrible about her lot in the world, for quite unrelated reasons. In her heart of hearts, something dark began to fester.
----
It was only a few minutes later when the other two teens finally left the clearing. Star looked slightly less disconsolate than before, Tom walked besides her, looking around nervously for, for...
"Hey, Star," spoke a seemingly bored girl, leaning against a tree.
"Whoa, Janna Banana," spoke Star, clearing her face once more with the back of her own dirty right arm. "What are you doing here?"
"I wonder that myself," Janna scoffed.
"Eh, sorry Star," Tom scratched the back of his head. "She was, ahem, at my place, you know, when Marco called."
"Oh," mouthed Star. "Sorry about what? Anyways, cool to see you. I am sorry I am such a mess right now, I... lets go find Marco, and... and Ponyhead, and Jackie."
Janna seemed about to say something, but held back in the last minute. The other children didn't notice.
From her hiding spot, already inside the demon prince's hearse-like coach, White felt her unbeating heart sing a song of joyous malice. All was going according to plan. The longer she waited, the less the human would be able to say anything about her encounter with her. It was all part of the suggestion, and it would take hold slowly but surely in her mind. Snow White had always had a way with words, and the mesmerizing gaze of a strong vampire, and those were often more wicked weapons than blades or fangs. The seeds of her revenge were already planted, and now all she had to do was wait. As a bonus, she could now hitch a ride, making her own escape by secretly following her enemies. A shadow of victory, within the mid-day of her temporary defeat.
----
"Star!" Marco cried out as soon as he saw her emerge from the blood red doors of the hearse. He ran to hug her, but someone cut in before him, tackling him out of the way.
"B-fly!" shouted Ponyhead. "Sooo good to see you are alright! Don't ever ever scare me like that again, gurrl!"
"Awwww, Ponyhead! Nothing to worry about," Star said hugging her older bestie, then made a gesture to punch the air. "I can handle myself, remember?"
"Right," scoffed Tom, emerging right behind her. Star stuck her tongue at him.
"Hey, glad you found her, man," Marco nodded towards Tom. Then, turning towards Star, "He didn't do anything stupid, right? We couldn't think of anyone else to call, so..."
"Yeah, no, Marco, it was alright," Star replied. It still felt a bit awkward, she had to admit, there was so much to say, so much to apologize for, but for now she was just happy the boy was looking at her and talking to her. "Tom and I, well, were are cool now. We are friends. I mean, we fisted each other and all!"
Everyone's eyes went huge at that, Tom gulped. Ponyhead's mouth went slack. Jackie, who had not yet said anything and stood a few steps back of the group, with her hands behind her back, suddenly seemed to cough in surprise.
"Wait, I think she means they fist-bumped," Marco reasoned, "please tell me you mean you two fist-bumped, Star!"
"Yeah, yeah, that..." Star shrugged.
It begun with Marco, nervously. Then Tom, who rolled her eyes. Then Ponyhead, raucously. Then Jackie, who tried to conceal it, and Janna, bitterly. They all, one by one began to chuckle. Star didn't yet get the joke, and she intuited it was at her expense, but she felt relieved as everyone seemed to relax, even just a little bit. Soon she had joined them in laughing too, even if she didn't know why.
"I... Star, I am sorry, I shouldn't have said what I did..." Marco begun. Star cut him off.
"Not now, Marco. You were right, we need to get home first, then we can talk this all calmly," the mewman said, holding her hand up. "But, for the record, I know I fucked up, and I know what I did was terrible and keeping it a secret was also terrible. I know it will take more than one apology, but for what is worth, I am sorry... I... you don't think I am evil because of it, right?"
"Of course not, Star!" Marco shook his head in disbelief, and Star smiled in return.
It was then that Jackie walked up to her, and extended both arms towards the princess. In her palms laid the Kingdom of Mewni's most sacred heirloom: Star's royal magic wand. The human girl offered it to the her without hesitation. Not exactly the wise thing to do when you heard someone was well in her path to become a dark queen, not unless you believed that was absolute hogwash. "Star, what you did wasn't cool. But you are still cool, alright?"
Star took back the wand from the other girl, carefully. Then, trying to remember the right Earth custom, or at least the right Jackie custom, she asked, "So, we are cool?"
Jackie seemed to hesitate for a bit. "... I think we are going to be, Star. Just, maybe give me more than a day to process all of this? I mean, this weekend was pretty crazy, you know? But, well, most of it wasn't bad at all... so thanks for that?"
Star smiled and Jackie smiled back.
"Ok, what are we waiting for?" Star shouted. "Tom, if you'd be so kind, could we go to Mewni first? If the scissors are not working there either, then we might also need you to take some of us to Earth..."
"Sure, Star," Tom shrugged. "Will wait for you all there for a bit. No biggie."
----
Tom's hearse was surprisingly spacious on the inside, and quite able to accommodate the five teens for the brief inter-dimensional road trip. It wasn't nearly as instantaneous a method of travel as dimensional scissors were, but it was still impressively fast given the vast gulf between worlds. It was barely a half-hour trip between St O's and Mewni, it would perhaps be twice as long to Earth.
Strangely enough, Marco and Tom passed the time together, playing video games. Meanwhile, Janna, who had remained inside before, was keeping Jackie busy by asking her, in through detail, about her fight with princess White, seemingly both curious and impressed. Since Ponyhead had once again stayed behind in St. O's, this left out Star once more. She could not join either group right now, not without feeling at least a bit awkward.
That said, it wasn't so bad this time, not like in the forest. Sure, she was left alone to think, but this time her thoughts were calmer. She thought back to Cass and her prophecy: "Only surrender may undo the shadow, but the price shall be too high to pay". That meant there was a price, though, right? Something she could do or sacrifice to avoid the fate that the brunette girl had predicted for her. To avoid going dark.
It was not something Star wanted to think about. Normally, the mewman avoided thinking about all the things she didn't want to think about. Hell, right now she was avoiding thinking about the conversation she still had to have, with Jackie and Marco, when they got back to Earth. But, even then, it didn't feel right to ignore Cass' words in that same way, no matter what Tom had said. If her fate was to become evil, and there was a price, any price, that she could pay to avoid it, then she needed to be ready to pay that price. Right? Whatever it was, it couldn't be worth it, not if the alternative was Star becoming... what? Eclipsa? Princess White? Someone Marco and Jackie could truly hate rather than just excuse as a mess up of a princess? Star didn't know.
"Hey, Star," Marco's voice interrupted her thoughts. "Are you ok?"
Star saw then, that Tom and the human boy had finished her game. 'Tom: 58, Marco: 0' read the screen. The demon prince had then made his way to where Janna and Jackie were talking, and was now laughing with them, with an arm draped around the troublemaker's shoulder.
"Yeah, yeah, Marco," Star forced a smile. "I am fine, go have fun."
"Fun? Playing any game with Tom is only fun for one of us, Star," Marco shrugged. "But, seriously, are you sure you are fine? If this is about the spell backfiring, I... Star, it doesn't matter to me, not as much as seeing you hurt over it. Just, maybe, can you not do that again, Star, please?"
"It is not just about that, Marco. It is about, you know, the 'evil incarnate' bit," Star admitted. "And, well, I am not sure I can't avoid doing it again, either. I get the visions now, whether I want them or not... I'll try, you know? Make an effort not to watch, but..."
"An effort is enough for me, Star. Although not so sure about Jackie," Marco hesitated. "But Star, no matter what it is: Ludo, Toffee, gift card monsters, vampire princesses, weird sex telepathy, or even destiny itself! I'll be there, alright? We will face it together, whatever it is. Because I love you. Because you are my best friend. But most of all, because I know you Star, and I know no matter what it is, you can do it. Screw prophecy. Prophecy never has had to contend with Star Butterfly and Marco Diaz!"
"Awwwwww, Marco!" Star smiled, and cried. They were tears of joy. She turned back to hug the best bestie a bestie could have, and the best boyfriend a girl could wish for. They stayed like that, hugging in silence, for what felt like an eternity. Only stopping when Tom announced they had reached the Mewni royal castle.
----
The demonic carriage appeared right in front of the castle bridge. A few townsfolk ran away in fright, spooked by the sudden burst of flames and the skeletal horse. The royal guards remained at their posts, however. They were all disciplined enough, or accustomed enough to the weirdness of Mewni nobility and their allies, not to be surprised when the demon prince carriage emerged from the flames. Nor did they seem particularly confused when their princess, Star Butterfly, emerged from the hearse herself, her friends following behind her.
The first thing Star noticed, was the somber expression in those same guards' faces. They nodded gravely at her as she emerged from the carriage. They clicked their heels a bit more stiffly, a bit more formally, than they would usually do in the presence of the princess. Then she saw the banners; all black. Then she spotted the flag of House Butterfly, flying at half-mast over the castle towers. Finally, she saw her father.
King River Butterfly of Mewni, born River Johansen, seemed to have aged ten years in the two days his daughter had been gone. Some measure of happiness and a huge wave of relief washed over his face the moment he laid eyes on Star. Even then, that did not hide the immense sorrow underneath. He came running through the bridge as fast as she had ever seen him run, even when he was much younger. His eyes were still bloodshot red, worse than her own had been earlier that night. He looked pale, sick.
He hugged his daughter tightly, and Star let herself be hugged, limply. Normally, she would have been so happy to see her dad, and so eager to hug him in return. But her mind had taken in all the signs, even as she refused to process them. She had read it all in his expression, even as she wished she was wrong, as she told herself she had to be wrong. That there was no way, no way at all.
It occurred then to Star that there was indeed a price that would have been too high to pay for the goodness of her heart, or for her own life. It occurred to her that such price might have already been paid, and that nothing that had been gained, nothing that could be gained, in exchange, would ever come close to being worth such a price.
River Butterfly let go of her daughter, and looked her in the eyes, as the horror Star felt seemed to reflect into the usually carefree blue orbs of her father.
"Dad, where is mommy?"
----
END of Part II
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Author's note:
Coming up next: Part III: Going Through Hell, Chapter 19: Long Live the Queen.
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