Chapter Text
“Papa! Watch this!” The young Butterfly princess hooked her legs around a low-hanging tree branch and flipped herself so she was hanging upside down. “Lily and me are gonna see who can do it the longest.”
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Marco, her overcautious father said warily with his eyebrows raised. “Too much blood flow to your brain at once isn’t good for you.”
“But I can do it!” Lily chirped triumphantly, swinging her torso back and forth in the air with a wide fanged smile. “And we have a lava pool at home we fall into.”
“Yeah well, you’re a demon. Pandora’s half human, so it’s probably best if she—”
“Is that why you’re The Safe Kid?” the horned three-year-old interrupted, her innocence making the question sound more like curiosity and less like teasing.
Marco stiffened. “Who told you I’m The Safe Kid?” As if he even needed to ask.
“Mommy,” Lily replied predictably. “And Daddy thought it was funny so he called you that, too.”
“Of course he did.”
“Mommy told me when we were eating breakfast, ‘you’re gonna go see Queen Butterfly and The Safe Kid today’—”
“Thanks Lily, I got it,” Marco said a little too loudly as his daughter began to giggle at his expense. He couldn’t wait to rip Janna and Tom a new one when they came to pick their toddler up tonight. He got enough of that taunting from his own kingdom, the last thing he needed was the Lucitors picking at him as well.
“Is that why you’re watching us and not Mama?” Pandora asked, holding her forehead as the pull of gravity started to get to her, her crimson spade emblems flushing bright. “‘Cause you’re The Safe Kid?”
“No,” Marco insisted, even though his mind gave a half-hearted “yes”. “First of all, I’m not a kid anymore, I’m your father. Second of all, your Mama has a lotta work to do over the next couple days, so that’s why I’m watching you.”
“She always does,” Pandora pouted, her blue eyes dulling in disappointment as her father approached her, bending to turn his head upside down so he could face her properly.
“And she wants to get it done fast, ‘cause someone’s having a birthday party soon.”
“Me! Me, me, it’s me!” She flailed so excitedly that she forgot to enforce her leg strength, and with a yelp came tumbling towards the ground, where Marco caught her just in time.
“Yay, I win!” Lily cheered, though her triumph was short-lived as the king scooped her up in his other arm. “No fair! I’m telling my Daddy!”
“Oooh, I’m so scared,” Marco rolled his eyes — the Underworld king hadn’t scared him since he was fourteen, and it was gonna take a lot to make him cower now. “Besides, I don’t want you girls that close to the forest.” He hadn’t wanted them to be here in the first place, but it was too nice of a day for the princesses to be cooped up inside. And unfortunately this field on the outskirts of the castle grounds was the only place they could play — the park was currently closed due to being raided by Invisible Goats. The girls wouldn’t be able to run five feet without hitting one.
“I don’t wanna go home!” Pandora whined, wiggling her feet in the air in violent protest as her father carried them several feet away from the shaded clusters of trees.
“Hey c’mon, that’s not how a big girl acts, Miss I’m-Almost-Four,” Marco pointed out sternly, setting her and Lily down on the grass. Two angry pairs of eyes, one blue and one red, stared him down as he knelt to their level. “We’re not going home, we’re just...gonna do something else.”
“Hide and seek!” Lily exclaimed, clapping her pudgy lilac hands and completely forgetting her annoyance at her best friend’s dad. “And you be ‘it.’”
“So you can go back to the forest? I don’t think so,” Marco replied, and the Lucitor girl stuck her tongue out at him — looking strikingly like Janna back in kindergarten.
“Ooh, can we ride the Warnicorns?!” Pandora asked, jumping up and down in place. “The baby ones? Pleeeeeaaaaaase?”
“Oh, uh…” Marco trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, “I dunno if we should do that today, sweetie.”
“I’m not too little anymore.”
“No you’re right, it’s not that, it’s just — well, your Mama really wanted to be around for your first Warnicorn ride. She’ll be really sad if she misses it.”
“Pleeeeeeeaaaaaaaaase?” both girls sang out, clasping their little hands to their chests, begging with their lower lips protruded. And the king found himself cornered, unable to resist their pleading gazes.
“Okay, but you both gotta do me a big favor,” he gave in, turning to his daughter first. “Pandi, when we take you out again with your mother here, you have to pretend it’s your first time. And Lily, don’t tell your parents either. You’re big girls, so I know you can keep this secret. Okay?”
The children looked at each other for a moment, considering his offer. Then they smiled wide, each drawing a finger across their lips. “We promise.”
“Alright, I’ll call the stables and have the little ones brought out.” He took out his phone and pushed one of the speed dial buttons as the girls squealed in their excitement, turning and plugging his other ear. “And stay close!” he added over his shoulder as they ran off into the field.
“Butterfly Castle Stables, this is Wesley, and no we’re not the calzone place, their number is—”
“Wesley, it’s me,” Marco cut off the stable boy’s rehearsed spiel. “Could you bring those two little Warnicorns and a couple saddles out to the grounds for the girls? And keep this on the down-low from the Queen.”
“Right away, Your Majesty.”
“Thanks.” He hung up with a wide smile at how happy his little girl was going to be atop that steed, while combating a twinge of guilt at crossing this milestone without Star there. But Pandora was growing up fast, and was itching to do all the “big girl stuff” she was too young for before. He and Star had already started window shopping for a beginner’s sword, but that was still a few years down the road.
I’ll record it on my phone, in case she does find out. Temporarily relieving his conscience, Marco turned back to where the girls had been standing a moment ago.
“Pandi?” he called out, his eyes scanning the deserted grass field. Nothing but a brisk winter wind answered him. “Pandi?! Lily?!”
They didn’t, he groaned inwardly once his gaze landed on the entrance to the fatally enchanted forest. “Girls?!” he shouted at the top of his voice, sprinting into the darkened woods. “Pandora?! Lily?!”
The silence was deafening, pressing down on him with a weight of complete and utter dread. “Girls c’mon, I know you’re hiding...” They had done this before in the castle, but one of them would’ve giggled by now and blown their cover. Now there wasn’t a single sign of life.
As fear gripped Marco’s heart, his mind worked frantically on what to do next. Calling Star was out of the question — besides, maybe there really was nothing to worry about. Then he remembered the stables and fumbled for his phone once more.
“Sire, I was just about to leave—”
“Forget that,” Marco said shortly, shocked at how hoarse his voice had suddenly become. “I need Churro saddled and ready to go, and tell two of the guards to come along.” Removing the dimensional scissors inscribed with his name from his belt, he slashed them into an elongated sword. “I need to make a trek into the Forest Of Certain Death now.”
“Your Majesty?” Geoffrey, the head chamberlain of Butterfly Castle poked his head timidly into Queen Star’s study. It was all he could do, since the door would barely budge past that point. The room looked as if she had cast several rounds of Narwhal Blasts; stacks of papers littered the floor, some toppled, some balancing dangerously. Spilled bottles of her signature glittered ink stained the ancient rug that had survived the past thirteen queens’ reigns, and the skinny high-strung man danced around broken pen nibs as he made his way to the desk.
“M’Lady? Erm, are you there?”
“I told you not to bother me!” Two three-foot high stacks of proposals and treaties parted forcefully to reveal an extremely frazzled Star Butterfly. She wore the same teal gown she had donned two days prior, hadn’t showered or touched up her face, and her bloodshot eyes made her look more than slightly crazed.
“Unless it was an emergency! You—you did say that.”
“I have ten proposals to make decisions on before five o’clock tomorrow, three building permits to accept or decline, on top of five appearances in the morning alone, and I literally haven’t seen my family in forty-eight hours.” She slammed her fists on the rickety table, making the teetering piles tumble down around her skittish chamberlain. “Someone better be dead, Geoffrey.”
“It’s the King, Madam.”
She froze, every corner of her sharpened features softening. “Where’s Marco? What happened?”
“He’s perfectly fine, but there is a—”
“I’ll take it from here,” came a softer hollowed voice from the doorway as Marco shuffled slowly into view. He gave the nimble little man a look, indicating the need for privacy, and Geoffrey bowed and scurried out the door, cowering from the blowout that was sure to occur.
“It’s Dad, isn’t it?” Star breathed out huskily.
“No, no one’s dead, Star.”
Dropping her head in relief, the queen slumped back into her chair and blinked rapidly, trying to focus her tired eyes on the thick packet in front of her before taking up her pink feathered pen to scribble her signatures once more.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” Marco spoke up, his voice trailing off, his gaze dodging to the floor so he could avoid looking at his already tense wife. “Star? Can you pay attention for, like, one minute?”
Looming over the paperwork, Star sighed, lazily looking at her husband. “What is it?"
She was already tired, on her third cup of Pixtopian coffee — which was technically banned in most dimensions — and already had so many things to battle as a Queen. Did she really need to hear this now? Could she afford to fit it in, amongst everything else? Then again, Marco pondered, how in the world would he be able to hide this?
“Marco?” Star piped up, arching an eyebrow. “What’s up?” Her tone of voice was just a tad bit rigid, and she looked ready to snap at any moment.
And Marco himself knew he was shaking, but he couldn’t avoid this—
“PandoraismissingandsoisLily,” he blurted out.
It took a moment before Star could respond, squinting at him. “I’m sorry, what did you say?” she asked. “I haven’t slept in two days, Marco, please work with me here.”
Marco took a deep breath, screwing his eyes shut and clenching his hands into fists.
“Pandora is gone,” he said. “And Lily is too. I — I was watching them and turned around for a little while a-and someone took them. I’m sorry, Star.”
He hung his head shamefully, practically refusing to look at his wife. But there was an eerie quiet for what felt like forever, and Marco opened his eyes slowly, looking up just in time to see his queen stand, shaking just as much as he was, laughing hysterically for a few seconds … and then promptly fainting at his feet.
“What’s happened?!”
“Young Pandora has gone missing!”
“The Princess is missing?!”
“And the Lucitors’ little girl! They were playing near the forest — snatched right out from under the King’s nose.”
“The King lost them?!”
“Figures, I never liked him.”
“Quiet!” The hubbub in the throne room died as Queen Star marched in from around the corner, climbing the stairs to the thrones with her husband behind her. Although the emergency meeting had been called with no warning, she had still tried to make herself look presentable to her subjects. Yet the dark circles under her eyes were barely concealed under foundation and strands of hair were poking out of her updo.
“My shoulder tassels aren’t attached—”
“Sit down,” she hissed to Marco, lowering herself into the queen’s seat before addressing the members of the Mewnian High Court who had been able to attend on short notice. “I’m not going to allow any panicking or finger-pointing in this room. Most of you are parents yourselves. It’s hard to imagine how you’d react if the unimaginable ever happened to your children.” She took a deep breath through her nose, “I know you’re concerned for your Princess. But as her mother, if I can keep my cool, so can you.”
“The girls were King Marco’s responsibility!” came a woman’s shriek from the rear.
“You’re right, they were,” Marco replied, projecting his voice as loudly as he could over the utter shame in his tone. “Blame me if you wanna blame someone. But that’s why I’m bound and determined to find out where the girls were taken and bring them back to us.”
“Does anyone have any helpful suggestions or questions?” Star sneered at Marco’s accuser.
“Were there signs of a struggle?” called a young duchess of Avarius. “They couldn’t have possibly vanished into thin air.”
“No, and that’s the weird part.” Pulling his phone from his pocket, Marco sifted through the photos he’d taken of the site. “Um — don’t think they’ll see it from here.”
“Gimme,” Star muttered shortly, taking the phone and positioning her right hand over the screen. “Imageri Engorgio”. Rays of neon light shot from the phone to hit the wall just below the Heart Regime coat of arms. Now the picture of the edge of the forest was large enough for the entire room to observe, the holographic image flickering as Marco went on.
“See? There’s no tracks of uprooted grass.” He flicked a few more photos across, “I searched two miles deep into the forest. There’s no way the girls would’ve gone further than that on their own, not on foot. I never heard a scream or cry for help, but I couldn’t find a trace of them either.”
“What are you saying then, Sir?” asked a nobleman sharply.
“I’m saying Pandora and Lily were abducted,” Marco announced darkly, switching the phone off. “And magic was involved. Something to silence them, something that wouldn’t leave a trace of evidence behind. Whoever this person is, assuming they acted alone, they covered their tracks really well.”
“So we have no leads.” The crowd could hear the despondency in their queen’s voice as she assessed the situation, her eyes lowered to the floor and her shoulders wilting. What they couldn’t see were her white gloved hands shaking as they gripped the arms of her throne, her resolve weakened from fatigue and worry. But Marco saw, and he reached over to hold one of them in his warm grip.
“I’d still be searching if I did,” he spoke only to her, a tremor rising in his voice. “But I know I’m right about this, Star. Pandora would’ve put up a fight if she was being dragged off, but if she was spirited away—”
There was a sudden whoosh as a wall of fire lit up the throne room, and the court scattered themselves in fright. The king and queen’s eyes widened when the flames receded almost as quickly as they appeared, and they instantly jumped to their feet. Standing before them in equal regality were their long-time friends and neighbors to the south — very south, as in directly below their castle. King Thomas Lucitor, clad in a blood red cape that nearly clashed against his orange-red hair tied in a ponytail. And next to him, Janna Ordonia, his enchantress queen, her own raven hair in a messy bun as if she had hastily bunched it up before departing.
“You. Are. Dead.” Neither of the Butterflys had to wonder who the demon was speaking to for long as he literally flew across the room, latching a hand around Marco’s throat and pinning him against the wall behind them.
“Tom!” Star cried out.
“Forget torture, forget taking my sweet time — I am gonna drag you down to the pits of Hell myself!” Tom hissed, his red eyes glowing as his long nails dug into Marco’s skin.
“Let go of him!” Star looked around at Janna, who strode forward calmly with her arms folded over her chest, breaths heaving with a glare that could slaughter the entire crowd if looks could kill, and knew she wasn’t going to get any backup from her.
“It was an accident Tom, I swear—” Marco gurgled, his windpipe cut off as Tom’s grip tightened.
“There are no accidents when it comes to my Lily! You got me?! None!”
“Crystalized Ice Blast!”
Tom shrieked in pain as a sensation akin to freezer burn welled up in his fiery hands. He jerked them back, causing Marco to drop to the marble floor on his knees, and the Underworld king whirled to face the queen of Mewni, who lowered her wand slowly.
“I think that’ll be all for tonight,” Star called to the remaining members of the court who hadn’t run for the exits, “You’re dismissed.” The monsters and Mewmans bowed before making to leave, and Marco grabbed onto Star’s arm for balance as he got to his feet, his knees wobbling after hitting the hard surface.
“You think I don’t know how you feel?” he shot at Tom, who didn’t look the least bit remorseful over his actions. “Both of us? My daughter’s gone too, Tom.”
“Cut it out, he’s right,” Janna finally spoke up, grabbing her husband by the wrist as his palm flared up. “I’m pissed too, but tearing each other’s throats out over it isn’t gonna find them faster.”
“We’re sorry this happened — I’m sorry, w-we’re both just really sorry,” Star spluttered out as Marco coughed harshly, massaging his neck. “I-I don’t know what else to say.”
“Don’t say anything, ‘cause we’re done talking,” Janna stated curtly. “I dunno why you're wasting time rehashing with your court when we should all be out there looking for them.”
“You know we would, but I don’t even know where to start!”
“What happened to the Star Butterfly who used to charge in first and ask questions later?!”
“She grew up, Janna! Try it sometime!” Pressing her palms to her eyes, Star drew a shuddering breath and exhaled in something that sounded like a whimper. “Sorry… I’m running on, like, no sleep already. And now this.”
“We have to start somewhere,” Tom finally spoke up, keeping his hands pressed together as he breathed deeply, Janna holding his shoulders until he calmed down. “Like where they were taken, for example.”
“I already searched the area for two miles by myself,” Marco repeated, removing his crown to scratch his scalp in frustration.
“Then imagine how much ground we could cover with all four of us searching,” Janna pointed out with a proud nod.
“No,” Marco insisted, looking around at each of them. “Tom’s right, this is my fault, I’m the one who needs to get them back.”
“I’m not going back home without my daughter!” Janna barked angrily, and the three of them stepped back as a sudden bout of uncharacteristic rage flew across her naturally chill features. “You think you’re gonna go alone with just your little scissors to protect you, Diaz?”
“Didn’t know you cared so much,” Marco said smartly.
“I’m not doing this for you,” Janna snapped impatiently.
“Fine, then the two of us will go.”
“What?!” came the outraged cries of their spouses, their jaws dropping open.
“I’ve got my scissors, and Janna knows plenty of hexes and jinxes to keep any magical attacks at bay—”
“Um, hello?!” Star yelled, waving her wand in his face.
“This is probably gonna be dangerous,” Marco continued calmly as he watched his wife’s face flush, nearly concealing her heart emblems. “Whoever took them isn’t gonna let them go without a fight.”
“Don’t you dare tell me—!”
“I’m not saying you can’t handle it!” he shouted over her defensive presumption. “Mewni needs their Queen! You can’t just rush headlong into danger anymore, Star, you have a responsibility to your kingdom!”
“Oh who are you, my mother?!” Star crossed her arms over her chest, the crystal on the wand in her grip tinged with green. “Oh no wait, she’s dead. So I can do whatever I want.”
“Star—”
“Marco, you’re the last person who should be lecturing people on being responsible right now,” Tom bit out, baring his lower fangs.
“Shut up, Tom!” Star rounded on him next. “It was a mistake! It could’ve happened to any of us!” She stroked the head of the wand as if to soothe both it and herself before hooking it back on her belt. “We’re in my throne room, so what I say goes. All four of us are heading out to search — and that’s final.” She emphasized the last three words directly at Marco, who simply stared resignedly back at her before throwing up his hands.
Ironically enough, it was Tom who seemed the most serene at this moment. He smoothed his hands over his suit jacket, and sighed.
“The Queen’s word is law,” he muttered. “Lead the way, Your Majesty.”
Looking at her oldest friend for a moment, Star could see the pain in his eyes and she shook her head as a silent apology. “We’ll leave in an hour,” she declared.
“So you’re positive there wasn’t any scissors activity in the forest today?”
“Trust me, I would’ve known about it right away,” Hekapoo confirmed, her face peeking through the swirling orange portal as she watched the king and queen strap armor to their bodies in preparation for their journey.
“That’s good,” Marco breathed a little easier, securing the metal plates on his shoulders. “That means they’re somewhere on Mewni, maybe even still in the forest itself.”
“Mewni’s huge, Marco,” Star sighed impatiently, weaving her long blonde hair into a braided bun behind her head to keep it out of the way. “And no one’s ever seen the edge of the Forest of Certain Death. We could still be searching for days or even weeks.”
“Are you sure you don’t want backup?” Hekapoo asked, looking between them uncertainly. “I could summon Omnitraxus and Rhombulus — okay, maybe not him — but you guys need some kind of escort.”
“We’ll be with the Lucitors, I think we’re covered,” Star assured her, clamping her belt shut with the heart-shaped buckle, stowing her wand in her right holster and a sword in her left.
“But—”
“Hekapoo, we’ll be fine.” She regretted her rather harsh insistent tone when the scissors forger twisted her hands together anxiously. “What is it?”
“Alright look, the High Commission might’ve taken a solemn oath to your mother before her death that we’d watch over Queen Star and her family in any dangerous endeavors. But…” Hekapoo sighed, “I can’t disobey an order from you either. So we’ll stay out of it, if that’s what you really want.”
“It is,” Marco answered before Star could. “I dunno who or what exactly took our daughter, let alone why. And I don’t wanna put the High Commission at risk because of my mistake.” He withdrew his own scissors, the gold blades glinting in the light from the chandelier above.
“Gimme those a sec.” Hekapoo reached through and snatched them from the king before he could hand them over. “Eww, when’s the last time you cleaned these?”
Marco blinked. “You’re supposed to clean them?”
“Gross.” Raising the scissors to the ignited flame hovering over her head, she ran the dirty rusted blades through it three times before thrusting them back at him. “Lotta grime on there.”
“Sixteen years worth,” Marco smiled in remembrance, and Hekapoo’s eyes lit up when she realized it had indeed been that long.
“Hmm, you’re not as packin’ as you were in my dimension.” She eyed his stomach, which he covered with his arms self-consciously. “You’ve got some Dad-chub.”
“Well, he is a dad — squish.” Star poked Marco’s love handles from behind as she passed him on her way to the wall mirror.
“But seriously, weapons aren’t gonna be enough to get you through the forest,” Hekapoo warned them, and they both looked up in alarm. “There’s some stuff in there that can really mess with you, stuff you can’t fight off with swords and karate and fire. And four parents worried sick about their kids aren’t exactly the most emotionally stable people to tackle them.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll do whatever it takes to get Pandora back,” Star vowed solemnly, then slid her heart-jeweled crown into her hair firmly as if for emphasis. “There’s no room for negotiating when her life could be on the line.”
“Okay… in any case, you know where to find us.” With a whoosh of air, Hekapoo’s face along with her portal disappeared.
“Well, whatdya say?” Star stepped back so Marco could take in her blue and violet clad armor, stretching her wings out behind her to make sure they weren’t obstructed before folding them flat again.
“I’d be scared of you,” Marco replied honestly.
“No one’s more scared than I am right now.” She turned her head when she heard the door to the armory open, Tom and Janna walking briskly towards them. “Don’t tell ‘em I said that.”
“You think they aren’t?” Marco held her by the arm and she stiffened, glancing at him out the corner of her eye. “We’re gonna find them—”
“I know we are,” Star cut him off curtly, pulling away from him just as he leaned in to hug her. “I don’t plan on coming back to this castle until we do.”
“Phew, this is starting to go bad,” Janna commented on the potion in her hand she had sniffed briefly. “Hopefully I won’t need to use it, or it’ll be totally weak.” She stuffed the bottle back in her belt, where she had a row of them lining her waist, as well as a couple of pocket-sized spellbooks of her own design in leather pouches. Over grey leggings with the durability of cargo pants was a skin-tight long-sleeved black shirt dress with a rectangle collar, a woven choker with fangs lining it around her neck. Tom wore a complete set of armor similar to Marco’s, but spikes protruded from the shoulders and wrist cuffs, a red and black theme with purple lining that contrasted the Butterflys’ softer yet fierce ensembles.
“Let’s not waste any more time,” Tom announced gruffly, tightening his holsters containing sharpened thick swords and tossing a machete to his wife, who caught it easily one-handed. “Show us where you were when it happened.”
Marco nodded at Tom, determined to avoid Star’s gaze. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t hurt by her refusal of his embrace, but honestly, he wouldn’t want to hug himself either after today.
That winter’s night, not just one but four angry parents were about to enter Mewni’s most treacherous lands. And in his mind, Hekapoo was wrong. It was the Forest of Certain Death that needed to worry about them.