Summary: Can you justify darkness?
"Globgor! Globgor!" Glossaryck was at the edge of his wits. For weeks he had been trying to warn the Butterfly siblings of Globgor and queen Eclipsa in the most stealthy of manners, giving all sorts of signals, but they weren't picking them up.
"Are you hungry?" Star asked him. "I deal with the Tadpoles a lot, I feel I should be used to incoherent rambling."
"We barely understood him when he talked normally. Are you actually surprised you can't understand him now?" Steven rubbed his chin. "I feel like I heard that word before though…something magic related."
"Globgor! Globgor!" He whacked his head against her wall to sell the message. "Globgor." Maybe a bit too hard, now everything was blurry.
"Maybe he just needs to go outside. It's just like dealing with the laser puppies, you have to get them to use their energy or else they get all antsy." Star suggested as she got the leash out.
"…Did we leave the laser puppies with the Diaz's?"
"Yes, yes we did." Star latched a collar to him. "If they had a problem with them, they would've asked me to take them AWAAAAAA-AAAAH!" Star screamed as Glosseryck took the opportunity to at least show one of them what he was talking about if they couldn't figure it out for themselves.
"Globgor! Globgor!" He kept spreading his warning as he led Star outside, jumping out a window to emphasize just how urgent they needed to get to the root of the problem. They crashed right into a rose bush, which meant he was exactly where he needed to be. "Globgor!"
"Glossaryck! You ruined the rose bush! That one's been around since I was a kid, even longer than that probably!" Star chastised him, but he paid it little mind. Eclipsa's scent was near, pure utter darkness and chocolate, with a hint of red velvet. Finally he stopped in front of the woman in question, circling and panting around her like a dog.
"Aww, is someone feeling bad?" She picked him up and rubbed his crystal just how he liked it. He knew there was a reason she was his favorite. "There we go, just relax."
"How did you do that and teach it to me now." Star said in an amazed gaze. "I've been trying to get him to calm the corn down for over a week."
"Nothing much to it, he just looked like he needed a little head scratch." The dark queen snickered. "Once in a while, you have to slow down and just smell the roses, or eat a bar of chocolate." The woman shoved the piece she held in her hand and tossed the wrapper into a bucket full of them.
"It seems someone has a sweet tooth." Star chucked. "Me and my brother have that too."
"I suppose it's just a trait that's passed down." The old queen smiled. "Do you like the garden as much as I do?"
"Oh yeah, my brother and I used to hang around here all the time back when we were kids, although I guess it's kind of ironic he loved being around the Rose bushes." Star laughed before narrowing her eyes. "You know, I can't help but get the strangest feeling of Dejavu right now looking at you."
"I've been known to be around here and there all over the place in my youth." The Queen smiled. "Don't mind me, I'm just waiting for two things to show up, hopefully one before the other."
"Oh, what's the first thing?"
"Star, are you here? I can't find…." Steven came up and froze in utter terror. "EC-EC-EC LIPSA!?" Finally, one of them was starting to catch on.
"Him." Eclipsa spoke with disdain. "You have a lot of explaining to do young man." She marched to him. Even if she never learned to dip down, the years of dark magic gave her the most terrifying of auras.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait!" Star instinctively got in front of her brother and held her arms out. "Eclipsa, as is the Queen of Darkness Eclipsa!?"
"I never gave myself that title, but yes." Eclipsa walked right past Star and kept going towards Steven. "And if you don't want to leave your sister an only child, you will explain why you have my friend's gem lodged within you!"
"Oh, that, that's a bit of a long story." The boy began to sweat. "You see-" He was interrupted by the explosion of a gate … great, his children always did have the worst sense of timing.
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"Star, Steven, thank goodness you're safe!" Mom hugged the both of them, Star watching as the Commission placed chains on the former queen. "Did she hurt you, did she threaten you?! You didn't get tainted by dark magic, did you!?"
"Oh, hello Moon, you look all grown up." The old Queen looked on with a cheeky smile. "I see the spell I gave you worked out fine.
"Stay away from them, or so help me I will bring vengeance upon you!"
"Aww, I can't even say hello to my great … something granddaughter?" Eclipsa smirked before her glare got dark, being dragged off by one of the Heckapoo clones. "The grandson I'd rather live without knowing."
"Great, she knows me for five seconds and already hates me. New record." Steven sighed as he was placed into a chair with straps.
"Wasn't Toffee the one to set the record by hating you before you even exi-what's going on?" Star asked as she was strapped down.
"Testing to see if she tainted you both with her evil." Hekapoo spoke, staring intensely into her eyes. "No black spots …"
"We need to double check." Omnitrackis guided Steven to an eye chart and gave him a paddle to cover one of his eyes. "Read the chart as best as you can."
"Okay. I…..a m….The chart literally just spells I am Evil." Steven rolled his eyes.
"No!" Rhombulus began pounding his snakes against the ground. "First we lose Lekmet, now my Gem Buddy admits he's evil!"
"Are you being serious right now?! That's clearly rigged!" Star pointed out. "Anybody would say that if they read it out loud!"
"I think I see a dark spot here." Hekapoo pointed at Star's finger.
"No, that's just a mole … which I'm sensitive about." It wasn't a cute one like Marco's.
"Why do I have a monkey going through my hair?" Steven asked as said animal in a doctor's uniform began picking through it.
"It checks for evil fleas." Hekapoo stated. "So far it's just regular fleas."
"What the-why do I have fleas in my hair at all!?" Star should probably not say anything.
"These tests are ridiculous!" Star shouted as they placed suction cups on her face that were connected to a monitor.
"Maybe, but we still got to do them." Rhobulous held his snakes over her. "ARE YOU EVIL!?"
"We are not evil!" Steven shouted. "Why go through all this trouble because we talked to one woman?"
"Steven, that's not just a normal woman, that's Eclipsa!" Mom exclaimed. "She's a traitor that abandoned her kingdom for a monster!"
"Okay, just going to ignore the fact that a monster helped us during the whole Toffee thing." Star grumbled. "Yeah, we know the story. What she did was selfish. Very, very selfish. But what did she do afterwards? Blow something up?"
"She ate babies!" Rhombulus shouted.
"No, that was Babibsa, the notorious baby eater." Heckapoo corrected.
"Oh right … well there was the entire creation of the forbidden chapter."Omnitraxus stated.
"Did she actually use any of that magic to hurt anybody?" Steven asked.
"Not…anybody we can recall…or at least anybody we cared about.." Of course. "…but she still studied it, so she had to have evil intentions." Heckapoo rubbed her chin. "Oh, she totally double-dipped her chips!"
"Dad does that all the time! I do that all the time!" Star wanted to slap them for their stupidity. "So you're telling me that you're going this far…because of assumptions and guesswork?"
"Look, there were a lot of complex situations at the time." Onnitraxus made excuses. "We had to stop her before things probably got horrible."
Steven sighed. "I don't know how else to put this … but liking a monster isn't evil."
Hekapoo groaned. "It's one thing to have your mom's powers, can you not have her dumbass political stance too?"
"Okay, first of all, screw you, don't you ever talk to my brother like that." Star stood up and gripped her wand. "Second, mom, do you really trust them… THEM…!" She waved her arms at the trio of idiots in the room with her family. "..To know what they're doing when it comes to handling this kind of thing? For corn's sake mom, what about Buff Frog!?"
"Look, I learned that not all monsters are evil." The Commission looked aghast at her. "But I will keep my stance on Eclipsa being a danger … you saw the way she looked at Steven."
Steven sighed a bit in defeat, and Star couldn't make a counter to that. Heck, she felt the need to blast the old queen for looking at her brother funny. "She's just confused about me having her gem. If I can clear it up…"
Mom raised an eyebrow. "And how well has 'explaining you're her son' gone with every crazy maniac you've met so far?"
"Oh come on. There was …" Star paused. "Um … there was …" Mina … Jasper …"Oh, Lapis!"
"The gem that was stuck in a mirror for six thousand years and is staring at Eclipsa with justified homicidal intentions?" They all turned to the blue girl wielding water blades from the window.
"Just give me the excuse you bitch!"
"How charming, a watermancer."
"I may have my differences with some of the Commission's choices, but in this matter we stand together." Moon and the idiots began making their way out of the room. "We'll be recrystallizing effectively immediately."
"Doesn't that seem extreme? She can't even do magic." Star said. "Otherwise she would have just warped out of here."
"It's the only way we can assure she can't do anything evil ever again." Onmi spoke.
"By taking all choices and decisions out of her hands?" Steven raised his eyebrows.
"Exactly! Now you're getting it." Rhombulus patted her brother's back.
"… Maybe Glossaryck was right to ignore you guys." Steven grabbed the blue man. "You want him? He's got a broken brain."
"Globgor!" The word actually seemed to make the commission look terrified.
"That settles it. We're getting this woman into the deepest and darkest cell we can find and freezing her forever." Heckapoo said with finality. "Come on, the sooner, the better."
The commission left, leaving just the three butterflies as Mom was heading out the door. "I know this issue is not an easy choice, but just as Rose said to not judge a monstrous appearance, you shouldn't be so quick to trust someone appearing pleasant."
Star was about to raise her voice in anger. "I understand." Steven interrupted. "Thanks for looking out for us mom." He pulled the woman into a hug.
"Thank you for understanding." Moon kissed him on the forehead. "This will all make sense when you're older."
"What was that for?" Star asked when mom was out of earshot.
"Stole the keys, we're busting in."
Star hugged her brother. "This…this is why we're great siblings. Embracing our inner rebels at the most vital of times!"
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"Damn it, usually Sadie is here to listen to the crap." Lars spoke, the two guys he really didn't want to talk to were sitting down with forlorn expressions on their faces.
"Damn it, she was so cool! I should've known it wouldn't have lasted. Of course I found a way to screw it up!" Marco was currently on his six donut of the dozen he ordered. "Chocolate…my greatest enemy yet best of friend."
"At least you know your truth." Rholnaldo took a bite of his fifth donut. "Everything is a lie, nothing is real, it's all fantasy as one's life is wasted … strawberry sprinkles please don't be a simulation!"
"When did you both get more pathetic than you already were?" He had to ask, just for the sake of hearing anything other than complaining.
"Since Jackie broke up with me."
"Since Jana proved everything Starfan13 said was right."
"Of course, and you chose to come here to the guy that doesn't have any sympathy for either of you because…?"
"You're miserable just like us and misery loves company." Marco spouted.
"I just wanted some hard cold reality to wash away my sad life, like the fact you're an asshole." Rhonaldo sighed.
"Oh, like I'm going to take that from the hypocrite sad sack and the egotistical sad sack." Lars rolled his eyes. "I at least have a job while you two just act like bums."
"Look, the one thing we both can agree on is Marco is the biggest hypocrite in the room." Rhonaldo spoke. "That's the one truth I can live by."
"What, why am I the hypocrite!?" He shouted.
"Because you ditched us both for doing dangerous things, but now you're a danger junkie and you still think we're the problem." Lars deadpanned.
"You didn't know how to handle anything dangerous. When it got tough, you just ran off, trying to preserve your 'coolness'." Marco rolled his eyes.
"Hey, I can do dangerous cool stuff." Lars argued. "I can … skate."
"Oh yeah, you're living on the edge." Rholnaldo sarcastically groaned. "That's why you ran away from the lighthouse, because you were so scared."
"No,'it was because you got so obsessed with your theories that you wanted to show a picture of a board hitting me in the face to everyone!"
"It was one embarrassing picture, Marco has those posted all the time!"
"I resent that." The boy argued. "Also it turned out to be a gem thing." The guy shuddered. "Almost more creepy than hungry Larry."
"Look, you guys have issues. Lots and lots of issues." Lars reiterated. "And the last thing you're going to find here are answers to solve them. Diaz, you have weirdos like you to hang around with. Fryman, just get another obsession. If hocus-pocus junk is real, learn more about it."
"Yeah … I do …" Marco looked at a donut before tossing it. "Thanks Lars … this may be the last time I see you for a while so … it was nice talking with you guys."
"Super weird, more like it…an okay weird I guess." Rholnaldo shrugged.
"Yeah…let's not make this a regular thing."
"Agreed." The one time all three of them would be on the same page ever.
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Eclipsa sighed as the Magic High Commission stood before her. "I never took you as one for loopholes Moon, I'm very impressed." She complimented the queen. "I guess the apple hasn't fallen too far from the tree."
"Don't even go there, Eclipsa, I've only ever done what I needed to." Moon crossed her arms in defense.
"Like I haven't heard that one before." She still had fond memories of her mother … even if she was a violent maniac. "So how does this work? I stand accused for my crimes, I battle someone to the death, or am I just frozen again?" She asked the three commission members.
"Freezing you is the quickest and easiest option." Rhombulous shrugged as he pointed his head, ready to fire. "Just one blast, and BOOM, you're out of the way."
"And we'll make sure the next queen isn't stupid enough to make any more deals with you." Heckapoo added with a snide look towards Moon.
"Don't be mad at her, she was looking out for her family." Eclipsa smiled. "It was nice meeting you all again … even if one circumstance hasn't been corrected." She still needed to figure out how to save Rose.
"You're only giving me more reason to freeze you." Moon looked in anger. "We're stalling by this point. Crystalize her and be done with it."
"Oh, I'm going to enjoy this." She didn't take Rhombulus for being such a sadist….okay, at least not as big as one as the other two were.
"I'm sorry Rose, I guess I won't be seeing you again after all." She closed her eyes, hating that she wouldn't be able to keep her promise. That brat probably didn't even know what he was carrying, parading her gem around like a piercing.
The beam began to charge, firing straight at her … as the boy in question jumped in from a hole in the ceiling. "No!" As he shouted, a giant and familiar shield formed itself in front of them, the pink rose design managing to deflect the attack … as it hit Omnitraxus Prime instead. "Oh boy.."
"What…how did you.." Eclipsa was at a lost for words. The gem shouldn' have given him powers, at most an energy boost. Rose had a particularly hard time with a group of monsters using abandoned gems and shards as decorations and accessories.
He sighed as he turned to her, the other Commission members in a frenzy as they began to unfreeze their friend. "It's a long and complicated story like I said but in short … I'm Rose's son."
Eclipsa processed that for one second. Then another. In the third second she let out a shriek of joy, grabbing the boy in a tight hug despite the chains. "Oh she had a child, she always wanted to create life on her own and she did it! Oh, I'm an aunt now, we're going to have so much fun together! I'm so sorry for trying to cut out your guts over this misunderstanding."
"It's… fine… not… the first time someone's wanted to kill me over… this." The boy answered, taking small gasps of breath from her hug.
"Wow, this is the fastest redemption to date." Star spoke, jumping down from the hole herself. "Then again, we don't know if she's actually evil or not."
"For the record, he is my son." Moon stated with a glare at her, looking like she was holding herself back from attacking.
Eclipsa blinked. "I knew Rose was a shapeshifter but I never knew she could replicate male anatomy with such fi-"
"PLEASE DON'T FINISH THAT SENTENCE!" The boy looked green in the face. "There was a warping incident that sent her here, and left me in a river because we can't… exist….at the same time, so I was taken in by the Butterfly's." He bowed his head. "I'm Steven Quartz Demayo Universe Butterfly."
"Nice to meet you Steven, I'm Eclipsa Butterfly. But I think you already knew that." She smiled brightly as she ruffled his hair.
"Why me … why out of all the people in the room did it hit me!?" Omnitraxus shouted as he was free. "He didn't even have to TRY to cause me a headache! Curse you Steven Quartz DeMayo Universe Butterfly!" Oh, looks like Rose gave birth to a fun one.
"Star, Steven, what on Mewni do you think you're doing!?" Moon accused her children. "She's evil, she meddled in the dark arts and messed with the natural order! Just look!" She took off the gloves on her arms, and showed off the blackened hands.
"Oh right, because that was totally her fault-you asked her to give it to you." Star countered. "You made a deal to set her free, and now your trying to back track. That's a very cruel and extreme way to go."
"Lapis, back me up here." Moon asked the only other gem there.
"She already stopped trying to hurt Steven, that's half of my motivation down the drain." She shrugged.
"And mom, you meddled in the dark arts when you made that deal. If using dark magic is evil, how does that make you any more good than her?" Steven asked.
"It doesn't…the world was just so messed up back then that everyone saw me in the right." Moon looked down sadly. "Everyone…except one."
"Alright, both of you stand back." Hekapoo spoke up. "Otherwise we'll have a legitimate excuse to take you in as well, civilian unrest be damned."
"Okay, that's my cue to switch sides." The water gem casually walked over and raised up walls of water around everyone. "On your word, Steven."
"Just a sec, Lapis." Steven walked up to the adults. "Before we do anything, I want to note that I've been learning a lot about my mom, about monsters, and about the Butterflys, we've both have."
"I know there's more to life than just 'hit the monster, everything is fine', because it's not that simple." Star stood right beside her brother. "You've all done nothing to convince us that Eclipsa deserves to be refrozen, especially after Mom, the queen of Mewni, agreed to let her go free. We say that she's served her time already."
"What do you want us to do?!" Moon asked in an exhausted tone.
"A trial. A fair and proper trial where both sides can present their case." Steven offered.
The Magic High Commission looked at each other. "... Yeah we can work with that."
"It's gonna be a while before we can gather everything together, and Eclipsa can't be allowed to roam freely." Rhombulous readied his blast again.
"We're not refreezing her at all." Steven reiterated. "And we're not going to let her stay in this dingy cell hooked to chains either."
"Yeah, we can look after her." Star smiled. "And when we prove she's innocent, she's free to do as she pleases."
Hekapoo scoffed. "And when she gets proven guilty, you will accept it and butt out of it."
"Sounds like we have a deal." Steven held out his hand, and only Rhombulus was willing to shake it.
"You really are just like your mom..:you should be careful of that." Rhombulous stated as the commission walked out.
"... Anyone else find that ominous as the underworld?" Star asked.
"I'd feel safer in the underworld next to an angry Tom." Steven shuddered. "Well, I guess the next stop is figuring out where your going to stay."
"Oh, I can just live in my old tower." Eclipsa waved off.
"That tower was locked away after you were arrested." Moon answered.
"Oh please, this place has all kinds of secret entrances when you know how to be a rebel." The former queen smiled. "Plus it gives me such a lovely view of the roses."
"Grandma Eclipsa for the win!" Star shouted with laughter.
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"Oof, this place is a bit of a fixer upper." Steven muttered as they all did their best not to cringe at the dishived state the room was in.
"Meh, it has its old charm." The supposed queen of darkness walked around with a smile. "I've already fixed most of it, I've been hiding out here for the last few days now."
"Yeah, I'm guessing you broke free the moment Toffee went gonzo." Star muttered, kicking away a dead vine that was on the ground. "So what was your whole plan again if you were staying in the castle?"
"I'd hide here until I could figure out why Steven has Rose's gem and rip it out if I could've." Eclipsa states with a light laugh. "Obviously I won't do that now."
"Riiight." Steven nodded with a wince. "Please don't attack her." He asked Lapis, who was holding a blade of water menacingly.
"Only if she gives me a reason." The gem slowly backed out of the room, still keeping her killer gaze on the old queen.
"Honestly, she's actually nicer than most people who want me dead are." Eclipsa stated.
"Exactly! I feel like people really overlook the small details." Steven agreed. "I mean in an alternate dimension you were nice … and you were completely justified with the information you had at the time."
"And now I have two grandbabies to spoil." Eclipsa held them in a tight hug. "You're just so adorable."
"Thanks, it's a gift." Star stated bashfully before getting serious. "Look, there's things around Mewni that need to change, and that's made me have a more open mind when it comes to people." Star sighed. "So be straight with me right now. Are you evil?"
"Well…I always did what was right for me. The commission thinks that evil. So call me a villainess." She said in a goofy menacing tone.
Steven laughed. "Nah, you're not evil. You're way too protective and happy around your family."
"If you say so." Eclipsa rubbed his cheek. "I still can't believe it. Rose made such a beautiful baby boy. And he is a Butterfly, and human. It's like your the culmination of everything she wanted to be."
"Rose wanted to be human?" He asked with surprise.
"Never got the details, but I know she preferred organic life to gem life." The queen chuckled. "Oh there was so much trouble we got into in this room. You know the reason why there's a rose garden was because she brought a whole acre of rose bushes to life by accident once."
Star snorted. "I know her name was Rose Quartz, and Rose Guard, but do you think she leant into the name a little too much?" She asked jokingly.
"It was the first piece of organic matter she ever laid her eyes on." Eclipsa said. "Although once or twice, she told me she wouldn't have minded the name Nora."
"Apparently that was gonna be my name if I was a girl." Steven shrugged. "And I'm … sorry about what happened."
"Oh it's fine." The queen sighed. "I'm just glad my family was able to come out unscathed. Meteora probably was an amazing girl."
"Ah…who?" The name sounded familiar but he couldn't put his finger on it.
"Bah, I shouldn't dwell on the past so much. I'm here in the present now." Eclipsa ruffled both their hair. "And I'm sure the future of Mewni will be a bright one."