Chapter Text
Una-Met, the one you know as Toffee, stared at nothing, bags under their eyes, while Rasticore and Tecoloa argued in Septarian. Necahua seethed in silence, staring at the table. "And what if it does happen?" Rasticore was saying. "What, we're supposed to rely on Star to do the right thing? The Last Resort is still centuries away. She won't care about what happens to her people that far into the future! And I know she definitely won't care, because she's clearly not smart enough to consider the consequences of her actions!"
"We have no idea how she even knew that spell! For all we know, Glossaryck told her it was a fun prank spell. And what do you suggest we do about it?" Tecoloa replied, ghostly figure advancing on Rasticore, clipping through the table they were sitting around. "Mount a full-scale offensive? You know what happened last time."
"No," Rasticore said. "I was thinking assassinations. Leave the kingdom in a succession crisis, and then offer one of our own as a solution."
"We tried that already!"
"We didn't have as many resources then as we do now!" Rasticore protested. "We have more spies, more leverage in the castle, heck, we even have more magic."
"No we don't! We lost the well, or did you not remember your history classes?"
"We can sneak back in. Those gatekeepers are neutral, they don't intentionally choose sides."
"Yes, and how do you intend to get around the –"
A cough, from the person at the foot of the table. "Are you two sure now is the best time to be having this conversation? We were supposed to be – I mean, really, if you continue like this, I'll have to force you two to get a room," they said, glancing at Una-Met.
Una-Met didn't seem to notice them at all. They shrugged, and kept talking. They never shut up. "I mean, right now we have to focus on what's really important. And maybe we shouldn't tear each other to pieces over the next step until we've processed this one."
Rasticore and Tecoloa glanced at each other, chastised.
"No!" Necahua said, standing up. They slammed their hands on the table, making sure they were corporeal for added dramatic effect. "We have to do something! We can't just sit here and do nothing! We need to make her pay for what she's done!"
The person at the foot of the table sighed, and shook their head, and stood up. "Necahua, can I talk to you for a minute?" they asked, gesturing outside.
"...fine," Necahua said. They followed the person outside. "What is it?"
"I don't think you or... anyone realize this, but Una-Met took this defeat very hard. They're not saying anything, but that's just their way. And the way she finished the battle..."
"Yes, that's the point!" Necahua said. "She broke her promise to me, she –"
"She doesn't matter! Una does!"
Necahua slammed their jaw shut.
"Look, Necahua, I know Star did the one thing she promised not to do, and you want revenge. I understand. If I were you, I would, too. Hell, I want it without being you. But we have to worry about the direct consequences of her actions first! Una's barely spoken a word since it happened. They didn't even think of the obvious plan to lure the army into the Mountains so we can deal with them. I had to point it out on my own! If I didn't see them doing it in another timeline, I would've totally missed it too! The point is, we need everyone to concentrate on making them feel better. This wasn't even supposed to be a strategy meeting! I invited members of Una's family because we were supposed to make them feel better! If they're stuck in an endless flashback they can't help us with our totally awesome revenge plan, and we need to do that together, right ?"
"...okay," Necahua said.
"And we will get our revenge. I have an idea that will definitely raise the stakes. You just sit back and watch."
Later, Necahua looked out the window, listening to Toffee and the person next to them talk to each other with half an ear, staring out at the city spread out in front of them. Then raised voices shook them out of their reverie.
"You did what ?" Toffee was saying.
"Raised the stakes!" the person said, grinning a sharp grin. "Your previous plan was a half-measure. We need to go all in if we're going to win this thing."
"My previous plan did not threaten the destruction of the entire multiverse!"
"Yes, but that is easily prevented. The Butterflys will quickly notice it before it has the chance to spread, but they won't be able to stop it on their own. They'll need us, and they'll agree to any of our demands."
"You're missing the part where the entire multiverse is our hostage!"
"Pfft, I had them drop off near the Mountains Whose Name is Unpronounceable in Your Tongue. It won't spread that fast, and there's only one well anywhere near there. It's... well. You know."
Toffee sighed. "And how do you know it won't spread so fast we can't reverse it? And what if we do succeed, and the Butterflys go back on the deal and use all I've taught them to do actual damage?"
Their grin widened. "It won't and they won't. Don't worry, I would never have done this if there was any way it could go wrong."
"We both know that's not true."
"Well, it will work out," they said, eventually. "It has to."
"Yes, it certainly does. And there's no way to reverse it?"
"No. Put too many safeguards and magic-draining traps in the code of the spell for that."
"Explain to me, then, exactly how you cast the spell. You're supposed to be conserving your magic."
"I didn't cast the spell. I just had a chat with the Realm of Magic and they cast the spell for me. This has to do with the Realm of Magic, and I caught them in one of their rare lucid states, so they were the best one to do this. My sibling interrupted me while I was explaining it to them, and they get confused easily, poor thing, but the spell should work as intended."
"Should?"
"They'll need their priorities reset. But I'm sure Glossaryck will do that for me."
"Glossaryck? Really?"
"Well, the Butterflys are just so vulnerable when they're sleeping! And they'll end up where we want them anyways, it's just that they'll probably have a few bite marks and a lot of grief on their hands. And they may fall into a dream they'll never wake up from, eventually."
"I suppose that makes sense," Toffee admitted. "Any plan where Glossaryck loses magic is elevated in my eyes. But that doesn't change that the rest of the plan is stupid and reckless."
"We could use a little recklessness around here, don't you think?"
"No."
Necahua grinned from their window. This sounded perfect. Everything their sibling wanted, and everything they wanted. Perhaps this time the Butterflys would pay . Especially Star. Their sibling thought Star was redeemable, and if they were right, Necahua would see her crawl on her knees begging for forgiveness. Star wanted the support of all monsters? She'd get it if she tore her kingdom apart, and she would like it .
That feeling lasted approximately two and a half months, until their newest spy told them that Moon adamantly refused to talk to him about anything important, citing her busy schedule as the painfully transparent reason. The spy had been more gentle, saying that Mewni needed to be changed so that Moon didn't have so much on her shoulders, but Necahua wasn't charitable. And Star, despite her constant talk about Mewman-monster equality, was doing nothing. She'd promised to talk to Moon, but they all knew the value of her promises.
Toffee sighed. "Okay... Rasticore, do you have anything to report?"
"Well, I threw a few scales through the portal when Heinous wasn't looking, but they can only sense with touch, so not as much spying on them as I'd hoped. And Heinous and Olga are probably going to go to the nuclear option after their latest failure."
"We could use that..." Toffee said, thoughtfully. "I mean, Meteora would be magically powerful, right?"
"I have been training her. She deserves someone kind in her life," the person sitting cross-legged on top of the table said. "Also, we both knew she was going to have to learn that spell eventually, but with the power she was born with, multiplied with the spells I've been teaching her in her dreams, well. She's unstable and dangerous. She could conquer an entire dimension with that." They grinned, sharp teeth showing.
"Then she will. That kind of magic is something Olga and Heinous would disapprove of, right?"
"Yep. If we play our cards right, she could conquer most of Mewni. Maybe not a queen with a wand, but we have other cards to play along with. I'm sure we can arrange something. She could defeat the army, definitely. And what use is a queen without their army?"
Necahua felt a fierce joy. This plan was even better than the previous one. They weren't sure if they believed in fate like their sibling, but they definitely did believe in just desserts. And this would help them so much more than any corruption of magic. It contained the best of the corruption plans and the Last Resort: Cítalaoléy restored, and even with nothing bad happening to the Mewmans. They could even wake the princess, get her to help with the current corruption in exchange for her people's souls. Just a temporary pause, to get in position, and then the Mewmans would get to wake up and see what had happened to their world. It had to work out.
It did not work out.
"Well. Star certainly believes in the inherent superiority of hereditary monarchy. I couldn't create any universe where this particular belief ends well."
"No, I'd imagine you couldn't," Toffee replied. They got up from the chair, and left the room.
Necahua watched them go. Toffee would seem emotionless to others, but this time they were not blinded enough by rage to see it. They knew their sibling. They could see the weariness in Toffee's eyes. They expected this. This plan was a pipe dream, they had all known that. But it hadn't stopped them from hoping.
"Necahua... don't do anything reckless," the first speaker said.
"I'm not going to do anything reckless," Necahua spat out, anger and recklessness simmering beneath the surface. They could feel their back teeth grinding against each other. "I'm going to do something I should have done a long time ago."
"Una needs you," the first speaker said. "We need you. If you get hurt... they would be devastated. There's still other plans we can enact. One of them has to work eventually."
"I don't care! I don't want to make endless plans that don't work! I'm taking this into my own hands."
"Necahua... I love you, but you are young. Your plan won't work either. Maybe you need to talk with –"
"You think I'm too young to make these decisions? I've waited eight hundred years to do something, and I'm going to do it."
"So have I. But I'm not frozen at fourteen. It was a terrible injustice that you never got to grow up, but you alone can't fix that injustice."
"I don't care. I'm doing something, and you can't change my mind."
The person shook their head as Necahua flew off. "You will be okay, no matter what happens! I'll make sure of it!" they shouted after the retreating ghost. Necahua didn't hear them. They didn't need to.
Star added the finishing fixes to the throne room, hanging up a fixed painting. "Aaaand room number two of our... probably hundreds is done! We just need a throne!"
Marcie carried a freshly carved wood, marble, and blue plush throne into the room. It was very cute, a mix of the previous Mewni queens’ styles. It clashed horribly with Eclipsa's hair and dress. "So, Eclipsa, where do you want this?"
Eclipsa smiled. "On the throne plinth, of course. I don't want to be too controversial while my power is still in question."
Marcie nodded, and set the throne down. "Will you need, uh, a princess seat for Meteora?"
"Maybe later," said Eclipsa. "We don't know if she's the crown princess yet. I mean, she hasn't even tried for the wand. And..." Eclipsa glanced in the direction of Repaired Room Number One, a bedroom for Meteora to sleep in. "...I think we both want to keep it that way for a little longer. The kingdom needs to get used to her, and she... needs to have a normal, teenage life for a little while."
"And you need time with the wand to make sure you keep your power," Star noted.
"Yes, there is that, as well," Eclipsa said.
"Well. We're arranging the transfer of power pretty well," Star said. "What should we do next?"
"You and Marcie should get a day off. It's been a very tiring time for both of you," Eclipsa said. "There's only boring administrative work to do in Butterfly Castle, and Marcie has scissors. Go have fun."
"But we need to –"
"Are you implying that I can't deal with one afternoon of boring castle repairs and delegation?" Eclipsa asked.
"No no no no!" Star said, as Marcie shook her head. "We just... there's way too much to do for one person."
"I'm not alone. That's the whole point of delegation. Besides, this way you can start planning a way to find your mother."
"Oh, thank goodness," Star said. "If you're okay, I want to find her immediately. She’s in serious danger. We'll look for her right now!"
"No," Eclipsa said. "I meant planning your search for your mother. Not actually acting it out. This is a day off. You need to physically rest and recuperate. Star, your magic is coming back, but very slowly. Marcie, you just got your soul drained. Meteora's not the only one who needs rest."
Star sighed and rolled her eyes, and Marcie frowned. "Uh, is that an order, Your Majesty?"
"It is if it has to be," Eclipsa replied.
Marcie nodded, and Eclipsa retreated to talk to another Mewman about talking to another Mewman. "Okay. Let's go to my house, and start planning our search. It's not currently being repaired, and it'll be nice and normal. You can add your tower if we feel the need to nap, right? Or would that take too much magic?"
" Or I could sleep on the downstairs couch!" Star said. "I just heard that's a thing common people can do, and since I'm now a common person, I'd like to try it out."
“Right. And after that,” Marcie glanced back at Eclipsa, “we can actually start searching. From what you said, Moon could be in serious danger. We need to find her. And we will. After a good nap and a planning session, there’ll be nothing that could distract us from finding her.”
Star gasped. "Marcie! You can't say that!"
"What?"
"Now something will come up, to distract us from finding Mom! Just you wait –"
A buzz. Marcie's phone was ringing. "There we go," Star said, as Marcie got her phone out.
"It's... Mom," Marcie said, and answered it.
"MARCIE!" Angie shouted. "The soulflowers! They're growing out of control! You need to bring Star and your ghost hunter friend and help us!"
"Well. So much for an uneventful day," Star said, elbowing Marcie.
Oh... you have no idea.
This won't be an uneventful day for anyone.
Star and Marcie got Tom and Janna. Angie hadn't been clear which ghost hunter to bring, though Janna dealt more in the occult and, oddly, magical sciences and the secrets of the multiverse. Then they cut a portal to the Diaz house, to see...
Star swore loudly. Angie had not exaggerated one bit. The soulflowers would be visible from the other end of the block. They were creeping over the house, smothering it in poisoned vines up to the roof. The Diaz parents were wearing masks and desperately trying to hack them away with a chainsaw. The Morrisons were helping with a weedwacker. But the soulflowers were easily trouncing all resistance.
Also it was raining buckets, cats, dogs, men, etc. This sucked.
"Okay, yeah, I do see why you wanted us," Tom said. "Someone's clearly angry here."
"Use your little ghost radar thing and tell me what's going on here!" Star said, as Marcie and Janna went to get the Diazes and Morrisons out of the one-sided battles they were engaged in.
"Okay... I'm detecting a whole lot of spiritual energy out there," Tom said. "Especially with the soulflowers."
Star groaned yet again. She was supposed to be done with groaning! "And how firey can you be in this rain?"
"Not very. But I wouldn't be even if it wasn't raining. I don't want to burn the house down."
"Pfft, I've done that so many times. You just give the Diazes some of your family's money –"
"Doesn't Eclipsa, you know, own that now?"
Star made a hilarious 'oh crap!' expression. "Oh yeeeeaaah... uh, let's try not to damage the house."
"Star!" Marcie shouted. "A little help?" Her and Janna's rescue attempt was not going well. Janna was wrapped in thorns, and Marcie was straining to free her, but vines were reaching for her too.
Janna didn't seem that bothered, at first. "These vines are wicked. Never seen them in person before. Angry ghosts, totally get it," she said. And then a thorn jabbed her, and she scowled. "Ow! Seriously, you idiots, what are you doing?"
"Coming!" Star ran up and tugged on the vines. When that brilliant strategy didn't work she tried to turn into her butterfly form. She managed to summon it, but when she tried to summon a spell, her magic failed. "Darn it! Tom, can't you make yourself even a little burn-ey and help?"
"Uh, I do have claws?" Tom said, though it was phrased more as a question. He ran up to the soulflowers and started slashing.
'The soulflowers, in response, shot some of their thorns at him. He yelped, and stepped back. But the soulflowers advanced towards him and grabbed him. He tried to chant the incantation that would heat up his body, but the soulflowers covered his mouth.
Star growled. "That's it! Time for my last resort!" A funny choice of words...
Star took out a potion from her (magically enhanced) purse, and spoke the spell that would make spirits appear.
And appear they did. Several dozen ghosts were sitting and floating around the Diaz house. And in the center of them:
"Necahua? Why are you here? Why are you doing this?"
"Isn't it obvious?" they asked. "You swore to me that you'd never kill anyone like how I died. But here we are."
"But – we're friends! I know, I made a mistake, but it didn't hurt anyone permanently! Please, we can talk this out."
"No, we can't," Necahua said. "And we're not friends. You haven't tried to make up for it since it happened. I waited and waited for you to try to do something right, and well. I've seen enough. You waited until your actions caught up to you to do something. I don't see how any of that points to you being worthy of talking it out ."
"But... why now?"
"After another one of my sibling's plans to win peacefully failed, I decided to do something more direct. I'm taking things into my own hands."
"Your sibling... your sibling is Toffee?"
Necahua stared at Star. "Duh."
Star had hoped to reason with Necahua, but that was looking more like a losing battle as time went on. The other ghosts were watching, and she wasn't getting to them, either. Luckily, they weren't killing her friends or poisoning them. Yet. "But... Toffee... they don't want to win peacefully! They helped Meteora take over, they put Ludo in charge, they –"
"All necessary damage that can easily be undone. Next."
"But this isn't necessary! My friends – you're hurting them!"
"I don't care about that. Because I'm not my sibling. I don't care who gets hurt as long as you're one of them!"
A bolt of lightning struck so close Star could taste the ozone. She didn't know what to do. She wasn't going to get through to them if all they wanted to do was hurt her. "Fine. If you want to hurt me so bad, be my guest. But I'm not going to sit down and let it happen!"
She summoned her butterfly form and flew for them. Several vines came out to grab her, but she dodged them all. She was almost to Necahua –
A vine wrapped around her ankle, stopping her just before she could reach them. She strained against it, but more vines came to reinforce it, and they dragged her down into the tangle around the Diaz house. Her butterfly form blinked off.
Necahua floated in front of her, watching as she struggled, as the thorns dug into her. "Yes, by all means continue to struggle. That's definitely helping you."
Star growled, and her hand ignited. She strained, and her hand burned itself free, and she jabbed at Necahua. The ghost's face was only semi-solid, but it burned under Star's magical flame. She cut across their eyes, burning them out, hoping to burn Necahua off the physical plane.
But Necahua only laughed. "When I was alive, septarians could only regenerate limbs and tails. But things changed." Their face twitched, and grew back, ghostly flesh and eyes returning to their place. "And the dead follow the living."
Star wasn't done. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them, they and her cheekmarks were glowing. She burned away the vines covering her. Her butterfly form reformed itself in an explosion of color. Flames traced down the soulflowers, burning them away to the roots. They scorched at her friends, but they knew to get out of the blast radius as soon as possible. The ghosts scattered, knowing from experience that they couldn't stand against a truly, ugh, dipped-down Mewman princess.
Necahua didn't move. They stood frozen, staring at Star. Then they laughed, short and bitter. "I can't believe I ever thought you were one of the good ones."
"Please, just leave. I don't want to hurt you," Star shouted.
Necahua shook their head. "No." They jumped for Star –
Star aimed her magic, and blasted Necahua away.
The force of the blast echoed through the neighborhood, collapsing the Diaz family house and burning down the garden around her.
Star drifted down, eyes full of tears. She reached the ground and started sobbing, chest heaving and eyes red. Smoke rose up from the ground and around her as the rain faded and dropped away. Marcie, slightly singed and scorched, ran up to her. "Star! Are you okay?"
Star looked around. She had tried to leave her friends out of the blast, but they had clearly been hit. Rafael was putting out a fire in Angie's hair. Tom was clutching his stomach, eyes watering, while Janna dragged him towards an open portal. Probably to a hospital.
Star sniffled, and then started crying openly.
"Star!" Marcie said, hugging her. "Hey, it's okay."
"I... I want my mom!" Star gasped out, every word aching. "I want my mom."
"Hey. We don't have Moon, but... we do have the next-best thing."
Star sat on the Morrison's couch, wrapped in blankets. She stared into nothing while Rafael called the local crisis line. Angie sat next to her, rubbing her back and whispering reassurances. Star had freaked out the first time Angie and Rafael had tried to speak Spanish to her, accusing them of speaking nonsense, but now the words of reassurance – todo va a estar bien and si quieres hablar, aquí estoy and lo siento, cariño – almost helped. Marcie was talking with Eclipsa, back on Mewni. Something about getting the Diazes a place to stay, and making sure Tom was okay. He had minor internal bleeding, apparently, but Janna had brought him to a good hospital and his parents were rich. He'd be fine.
Star didn't really pay attention to any of that, though. She just... sat there and stared at the wall. She kept thinking of Necahua, and how she'd made them want to hurt her so badly... and how she had kept doing the wrong thing over and over again. What was she supposed to do? What was she supposed to change? She wasn't even a princess anymore. She was just a person. How was she supposed to make anything better, especially stacked against her previous mistakes, the ones she'd made when she still had power?
How was she supposed to go on?
A portal opened, and Marcie walked out. "Okay. Apparently the palace bank is totally untouched by anything, so we can easily fund a new house. So there's that."
"Marcie?" Star asked.
"Yeah?" Marcie said, coming up to sit by Star.
"Could I have one of those... business cards? For the people who dissect you to make you feel better?"
"Therapists don't dissect people," Angie said gently.
Marcie got out a card. "Here."
Star took it, and pocketed it. "Thanks."
Outside, the sun shone bright and scorching. Star could feel its warmth. It wasn't enough to warm the coldness in her heart, but it was something.
In the wreckage of the Diaz house, a portal opened and two people stepped out. One was Toffee, who clicked their claws together, making both people and the portal invisible to prying eyes. The other was the other, currently nameless, person, holding blue-tinted dimensional scissors. "Hey, anyone still there?" they said, calling to the wind in Septarian.
Ghosts, no longer present on the physical plane but visible to the two "living", drifted on the breeze towards the pair. They all looked a little guilty. Necahua, their ashes left in the rubble, came forward, trying to explain that they were the instigator of this fight, not anyone else.
The person looked at Toffee. "You want to play good cop, or should I?"
"I don't think anyone should play good cop, because I don't believe they exist," Toffee said. That earned them a laugh. Necahua tried to hesitantly join in, but was stopped by Toffee's glare. "And also because they don't deserve one right now." They took a breath, and Necahua prepared themself for a world-class berating. "I cannot believe you. You would put yourselves in jeopardy, put everyone and everything in jeopardy, and for what? To get back for a petty slight like breaking a promise?"
"She promised me she wouldn't hurt anyone how they killed me!" Necahua protested. "That's not petty!"
"And so what? The only person affected by her magic was me, and I was willing to forgive her if she cleaned up her act. Which she may yet still attempt to, and you will go along with that should it happen. I don't expect you to like it, but I do expect you to accept it."
"But –"
"No buts!" the other person said. Toffee said something significantly worse.
Toffee continued. "You know what happens to people who go against the Butterfly queens directly. I think my past military failures have illustrated that quite plainly. So, even if you were totally justified in pulling this stunt, why in Nahualquizqui's holy name would you choose to directly threaten her and her friends, instead of, I don't know, killing them in their sleep ?"
"I... I wanted..."
"Yes, I know, you wanted her to know what was going on, and you wanted her to suffer, and a million other reasons besides the clear fact that you were so unflinchingly angry, and anger makes you incredibly reckless and incredibly stupid ." Toffee sighed. "Necahua, I really do love you, but I am going to remove you from all commanding positions from now on."
"But you need me!"
Toffee snorted. "You're a captain, Neca. Sorry, but you've never been critical to our cause."
Necahua deflated. "I..."
The person beside Toffee shook their head. "Kiddo, you may be strong and charismatic, which is always a good trait for a leader, but boy oh boy are you reckless. Especially when you feel you've been slighted. If our plan is ever going to get off the ground, you're going to have to set that aside, or you're going to have to be benched."
Necahua rolled their eyes. "Yeah, another stupid plan that's not going to work at all."
The person laughed. "You're one to talk. But I think we've failed enough that we've fine-tuned the process. And this plan is special."
Necahua snorted. "Yeah? How?"
Toffee looked away. "How indeed," they muttered.
"It's already succeeded." The person laughed. "The magic realm has been corrupted beyond what they can ignore, and there's nothing they can do to heal it. And I mean nothing . It would take more knowledge than they could handle. I can't wait to see the Butterflys tear their own dynasty apart."
...