Bob's watcher sat, his back against a cornapple tree, with the brim of his baseball cap pulled low, eating a cornapple, as he continued his vigil. He was far enough away from the keep that he could see all of it, while still being hidden and, hopefully, undetectable; his trusty telestereoscope allowed him to see details, if needed. As he watched, Star and Marco emerged from the trees, walking toward the keep's entrance hand in hand. They stopped short, clearly taking in the sight and discussing features they thought interesting, as now and then one or the other would point.
The boy scratched his beard, newly grown over the month since he began watching the old building. He kept himself busy training, strategizing, working out, maintaining camp, and keeping himself supplied, but personal grooming was too much a luxury under the circumstances.
Watching the teens, the boy thought, amused, I don't get the attraction of that place. First that evil bitch takes a keen interest, then these two show up on a sightseeing ... The watcher froze, the cornapple dropping from his stilled hand. His eyes flit back and forth, as he analyzed everything he had seen regarding the keep. Angry with himself for not figuring it out sooner, and with regret constricting his heart, he thought, Dammit to corn, I should have warned them. He launched himself from his hiding place, not caring who saw. He had no time for that now, and, pulling his cap from his head so it would not fly away, ran as hard and fast as he could toward the much closer Butterfly Castle, dread and panic consuming him.
— OoOoO — O — OoOoO — O — OoOoO —
Marco had been laid up for days receiving healing magic from Moon. He was not entirely healed, but after spending so much time going on adventures with Star, not to mention being out fighting a war for a year and a half, even a couple days cooped up made him stir crazy. When the promise of a "safe" adventure cropped up, he couldn't resist; it took him all of three words, "Let's go on," to convince Star to sneak out of the castle with him.
"So, you had no idea this was here?" Marco asked.
"Sorta. I've probably seen it from a high castle window, but it never made an impression on me," Star answered. "I'm surprised Higgs paid it any attention."
"Well, it's an old fort of some sort, so it would make sense she's interested. I wonder why she sent the suggestion by email while she's out on maneuvers, rather than wait to tell me in person." Marco rubbed his chin. "Actually, why tell me at all, out of the blue? She's not hostile like she used to be, but we're not exactly buddies."
Star shrugged.
Marco had invited Janna to tag along, but she demurred, stating there was a one-day sale on witchey paraphernalia at her favorite store in the Village. Besides, she said, I'm not into threesomes. Marco ended the conversation there, a livid blush on his cheeks. He heard Janna chortling as he walked away.
The teens walked around the keep, looking up at its features. They noted the arrowslits and windows, the crenellated flat top for observation, and what appeared to be the keep's drains, where raw sewage was directed out of the circular stone structure.
Arriving back at the entrance, Star asked, "Shall we go in?"
Marco walked up to the entrance and peered inside. It was not well lit, but the light from the windows was enough that he could see. He saw various doorways and stairs, stone and wood littering the floor, but nothing jumped out as dangerous.
"It looks safe enough, but stay frosty, especially with 'Madame Palpatine' still unaccounted for."
The pair entered, exploring each room, closet, and cubby hole, in turn. There was a lot of debris, but not much that was interesting. It looked like a typical, abandoned, medieval military outpost.
"Maybe there's something more interesting upstairs," Star said.
Star took the lead going up the narrow stone stairs, in between the outer and inner walls. The first landing opened into a large room with a lot of ancient wood; Marco guessed it was the sleeping quarters. The second landing, the final one before the stairs climbed to the roof, consisted of a single, small, doorway.
Marco pushed on the heavy door, which opened easily without even a squeak. Inside, the two could see many artifacts in the circular room, from statues, to busts, to tapestries, to paintings. They all looked old, but reasonably intact. There was a thick layer of dust on everything but the floor. Unlike the other rooms in the keep, there was little evidence of animal or plant life.
"These are in really good shape," Star commented. "I wonder why?"
"Maybe the door kept the room sealed enough," Marco answered.
The teens quickly lost track of time, examining each artifact in turn. They didn't know how long they had been there, but it had been long enough for the angle of sunlight entering through the window to change. Finally, they stopped in front of a large painting depicting two ancient lovers holding hands, engaging in a kiss.
Star and Marco looked at each other, both smiling. They had joined hands and begun a passionate kiss when a feminine throat-clearing drew their attention.
The teens turned to find "Madame Palpatine" facing them. She gestured over her shoulder, closing the door like Darth Vader in Revenge of the Sith. She then stood silently watching the teens, hands clasped behind her, her face still completely hidden by her cloak's hood.
Star and Marco quickly recovered from their surprise, Marco muttering, "Goddammit." He shook his head ruefully; they had stupidly let their guard down.
From their observations during their travels, and Glossaryck's warning, the pair knew the prudent course was to assume nefarious intent for the confrontation. They stepped a couple feet apart, then fell into ready stances.
Despite everything, Star still gave the stranger the chance to convince the teens her intent was benign. "Who are you and what do you want?" Star asked.
"You may call me Bob."
Star and Marco glanced at each other. They did not find a female being named Bob particularly odd ... after all, Marco's Princess Turdina disguise was still named Marco ... but they noticed Bob had not answered both questions. Giving her one last chance, Star demanded, "Show your face."
"No," Bob replied.
On a silent cue, Star and Marco rushed Bob, each throwing a Raspberry Ribbon Lasso that ensnared one of Bob's ankles. Bob had been prepared, as if she knew beforehand when the pair would attack and how; when the pair pulled their lassos taut, Bob took two hard steps back, pulling the teens off balance. As the two fell onto their knees, Bob ran forward, vaulted off their shoulders, then, spinning in the air, conjured a dagger of magic, using it to cut the lassos. Landing behind the teens, Bob dissipated the dagger while falling forward. With a loud kiai she put her full weight behind open palm strikes to the large spinous process of the first thoracic vertebra, using the force from the blows and her own momentum to whiplash the pair's foreheads into the floor with a resounding crack. Bob fancied she could feel the resulting concussions as they occurred, to her great satisfaction. She stepped away from the teens as they recovered, Marco briefly retching as the world spun, having received a second concussion so soon after the first.
Climbing shakily back onto their feet, the teens conjured stingers and again attacked in tandem. Bob again seemed to know what they were about to do, conjuring a small shield on each hand. With one hand she blocked the low stab at her ribs from Star, while blocking Marco's high stab at her throat with the other. With that hand already high, she swung its shield into the bridge of Marco's nose, continuing on to crack it into the side of Star's head.
Ending up on opposite sides of Bob, Star and Marco again attacked in tandem, and again Bob reacted as if she knew the planned attack. Bob slammed the raised boss of a shield solidly into the middle of Marco's chest, cracking his sternum; she used the follow-through to push him to the ground. Bob then spun, blocking multiple quick thrusts from Star.
Marco fought down the urge to retch again, then stood, swaying. Marco watched Bob easily defend against Star's attacks, and was overcome with certainty that he and Star were in a fight for their lives ... a fight they would lose if they stayed. He remembered the indistinct room in Glossaryck's vision, realizing it fit with the room they were fighting in. With Bob's attention on Star, Marco pulled out his dimensional scissors and ripped them upwards ... to no effect. He quickly tried again, with the same result.
Star, thrown by Bob, suddenly crashed into Marco, the two bouncing off the nearby wall and falling to the floor. They both turned, keeping an eye on Bob, who slowly walked to the middle of the room where she stood, waiting.
In a quiet voice, hoping Bob couldn't hear, Marco said, "I tried to open a portal to retreat, but it didn't work. I think there's a tramorfidian crystal somewhere nearby. You've portaled past them before, can you do it again?"
"It takes a lot of power," Star answered. "Whoever this being is, she's really strong. I doubt you could hold her off long enough for me to do it, even in your Butterfly Monster form. I'm not certain I could do it."
"Maybe I can distract her long enough for you to get away."
"No."
"Star, remember what Glossaryck showed us; we'll both die if we stay here."
"I don't care. I want to be here, with you; this is where I belong. With or without life ..."
Marco cupped Star's cheek, finishing her sentence, "... we belong together."
The teens helped each other to their feet, then prepared to attack once more. With a quick nod from Star, they attacked.
Marco took the lead, swinging at Bob with his stinger. Bob responded with a hard blow to his wrist, knocking the sword out of his hand, causing it to dissipate, then stepped past him. Not expecting Marco to be handled so easily, Star was surprised by a hard punch to her jaw, staggering her.
Marco attacked again, Bob quickly turning and blocking his punch, then giving him the same taste of strength that she gave to Star with a blow to his jaw. Star stabbed her stinger at Bob's head, who ducked backwards beyond the length of Star's reach. Bob then stepped past the thrust, grabbing Star's hands, grappling with her for the stinger.
Bob, out of the corner of her eye, saw Marco coming to Star's aid and, using her grip on Star as leverage, flipped herself up and over, landing a kick to the side of Marco's head, staggering him. Her momentum carried her feet against the wall, where she kicked off, spinning to land a double kick to Marco's head with her heels, knocking him to the floor.
Still holding on to Star, Bob brought her knee into Star's gut, then, as Star doubled over, brought her knee up again, this time into Star's forehead, knocking Star's hairband halfway across the room. Bob released her grip as Star staggered backward, summoning a stinger of her own to follow up the attack.
Marco, suffering from having received a third concussion, slowly climbed to his feet, hammering through severe dizziness and nausea. Seeing Star desperately fend off Bob's attacks, he knew what he had to do. Seeing his opportunity in Bob's turned back, he drew the wond. Steadying himself as best he could, swallowing any regret, and steeling his nerve, for Star, for family, for Mewni, and for all their variants across the alternate multiverse, he quietly cast, "Blackberry Death Ray Blast."
In that moment, Star made a mistake and left herself open to a sweeping kick that took her feet out from under her. As Star fell, Bob turned in time to see Marco's magical attack; she dissolved her stinger and conjured a shield bubble, absorbing the energy of the purple beam of death. It seemed to actually stagger Bob. Had Star not been clambering to her feet and been able to attack with her magic, the two together might have been able to breach Bob's defense.
Alas, it was not to be. With a grunt, Bob's shield expanded in an explosion of energy, knocking Star and Marco back to the floor. "So, the gloves are off," Bob said to Marco.
From a single hand, a beam of magic, with a ball the size of a cannonball on its end, lashed out, catching a slowly rising Marco square in the chest and flinging him back. The impact from the ball was devastating enough to his already damaged sternum, but it continued pushing him until he contacted the wall, the back of his head smashing into the stone, causing a fourth concussion. His skull fracture not yet healed, the impact separated the bone plate into two pieces. Bob dissipated the ram and, the magic released, an unconscious Marco fell bonelessly to the floor, on top of the wond; blood dripped from the back of his head and out the ear that was turned toward the ground.
"Marco!" Star screamed. Her blood boiling, Star had begun transforming into her Butterfly Monster form when Bob snapped back toward her, casting a coil of pink magic that latched onto Star just as she finished her transformation.
"I like the new form," Bob said, smiling in genuine appreciation, "especially the hair."
Before Star could act, the coil sucked enough magic out of her to cause her to transform back into her humin form. Gasping, Star was terrified as she was then helplessly ensnared by a Raspberry Ribbon Lasso studded with hooks, the same spell she had used against Hekapoo. As Star had done to Hekapoo, Bob proceeded to slam Star into the wall and floor. Pushing Star away to the end of the length of the lasso, Bob then spun Star like a hammer in the hammer throw, until she inflicted a blow to Star's head from hitting one of the still-standing busts. Bob released the lasso and Star fell to the floor, blood dripping from far too many wounds.
Bob sighed, then, breathing hard from exertion, walked over to the unconscious Star. Bob grabbed her by her shirt, dragging her next to her unmoving Marco.
Bob stood for a few tens of seconds, catching her breath. Bob was pleased her trap worked. The teens stayed in the room until she could disengage from her current task and return to their AU, in response to the magical alarm they had tripped. Still, she was surprised. That AU's protectors were likely the most wily and powerful she had ever faced, yet they had been tricked and defeated relatively easily.
Bob decided to apply the first coup de grâce to Marco, but then hesitated. She wasn't certain why; she had never hesitated before when having other Stars and Marcos killed, or when she killed one or both herself. She rationalized it was because her machinations toward the destruction of all this Mewni weren't as far along as they could be, so might benefit from her letting the pair live a little longer. Deciding the pair were too powerful to pass up any opportunity to kill them, she buried the feeling. Bob's hand had begun to glow as she called on her helical sword, when a deeply masculine voice cried out, "Stop!"
Bob turned toward the voice. In a defensive stance, with what appeared to be, of all things, a baseball bat from the Earth dimension, was a boy, in his late teens, wearing a light-blue shirt, long blue pants, purple sneakers, and a green hoodie tied around his waist. Over his medium-length, blonde, hair was a baseball cap with purple devil horns and a large, yellow, star above the bill. He had a scraggly beard, blue eyes full of azure fire ... and no Magic-Pips.
"Well, my Stars and garters," Bob punned, "if it isn't Star Butterfly." Bob magically closed the door that Star had left open. "How's Marcia doing?"
"She's dead, bitch, and you goddamn well know it," Star replied. "She was impaled by the Guardian Unicorn while freeing Tamsin Lucitor, when we went with dad and Darhk to the realm of magic to destroy the magic." Star noticed Bob's hood move almost imperceptibly as she looked at something to her left. With the hood hiding her eyes, Star couldn't tell what Bob had glanced at. Deciding it was immaterial, he continued, "How did you do it? How did you con Barbara Frog into telling us the only way to stop you and Min Loveberry was to destroy the magic?"
As he was talking, Star maneuvered himself between Bob and the unconscious teens, sacrificing his only route of escape by putting Bob between himself and the room's exit. He was sick at heart; the rescue might be too late.
As Star moved, Bob had backed away and turned with him, to remain facing the threat. She declined to answer Star's question, smiling smugly.
Star continued, "We were certain that destroying the magic would depower you and Min, and ... sacrifice ... Hankapoo and the rest of your allies on the High Council of Magic. It did all of that except depower you. Since we no longer had magic, we were defenseless against you and the Monster army that you had gathered behind B-Frog's and Min's backs. Every Mewman was slaughtered ... if I hadn't been able to focus the last echo of magic in our universe to create a space-time portal to this AU, I'd be dead, too." Star smacked the bat into an open palm. "Before I beat you to death, I want to know 'why.' Why did you do it, and why did destroying the magic not affect you?"
"Sweet boy," Bob sarcastically answered, "destroying an AU's magic affects only the magic users of that AU. I'm not from your AU. I thought you were one of the smart Stars and would have figured that out. Guess I was wrong. As for why I'm doing this? Spoilers."
With a flip of a finger, Bob pulled the bat from Star's hands with a simple strand of magic, flinging the bat across the room. "Looks like I'll be doubling up on dead Stars today. Blackberry Death Cloud!" A purple cloud of deadly magic leapt from Bob's hand, enveloped Star, then soaked into his skin. Star began to shudder in pain.
"I want you to die slowly, and I want to watch your face as you accept the depth of your failure; that you failed to prevent the destruction of two Mewnis."
"At least I'll be joining my sweet boo. I miss her so much; I want to be with her, where I belong. With or without life, we belong together. But ..."
To Bob's utter shock, rather than a pain-filled grimace, a predatory grin spread across Star's face.
"I have prevented the destruction of this Mewni, and countless others that would have come after. You see, I didn't come here to stop you, I know I can't; I came here to distract you."
Bob was caught by surprise, but her years of experience had honed her senses. Thanks to Star's mistake of an unintended warning, Bob sensed the attack from behind just before it struck home. She began to turn, saving her life, as a blade, which was about to be plunged through her heart, missed both heart and spine, running through to the right of her backbone.
An enraged female voice echoed off the wall, yelling, "Bitch!" as the flaming broadsword erupted from Bob's chest.
Instinctively and without turning further, Bob conjured a rainbow fist punch that knocked her assailant across the room and into the wall next to the now open door. Bob used her magic to extinguish the broadsword's flame, then turned the blade into a swarm of purple butterflies that flit away before turning into popping bubbles.
Bob threw her cloak open and off her shoulders to examine the wound, its hood pulled off her head by the gesture. Star gasped; the cloth armor, the face, the Cheek-Thingies ... he knew this being. Bob's face was the last thing he saw, and shock, confusion, and sadness at Bob's true identity were the last things he felt. "Oh my fucking corn, you're ..." he began, before disintegrating into purple dust, joining his Marcia.
Even though the wound was cauterized, Bob knew it was likely still fatal, having watched Red Star die from the same type of wound. Already weakening, Bob opened a dimensional portal beneath her feet, despite the tramorfidian crystal, and disappeared.
Janna picked herself up from where she had fallen after hitting the wall, shaking the cobwebs from her mind. She took a defensive stance, flames enveloping her hands, but Bob was gone.
No more than nine minutes had passed since Janna had been approached by the boy she now knew to be Star Butterfly, a formerly-magical prince from an alternate universe. When he had reached the outskirts of Castle Village, he recognized the girl exiting a store specializing in the macabre. He was desperate for the help of a magic user; he quickly introduced himself expecting to be taken for a lunatic, but he had approached one of the few beings on this Mewni who knew about travel to alternate universes.
Star was able to quickly convince the girl Janna ... whom he had known in his AU as the creepy and annoying boy Jan ... that he wasn't scamming her or setting a trap, as she also knew about the day trip to the keep, and about the being cloaked in black. He then hurriedly related his tale of Janna's Star and Marco being in mortal danger. With no time to seek help from others, the two had portaled outside the keep using Janna's demon magic, then executed their hastily conceived plan.
Janna extinguished her flames as she ran over to where Star and Marco lay. The head wounds she observed on her dear friends were so severe she immediately knew it was likely that the rescue had been too late, and she was witnessing her friends' final moments. Eyes welling with tears, keening nonstop, "Oh god, oh god, oh god," she fell to her knees. Checking each teen, she found a weak pulse. Still a chance, she thought, as she stood and dipped down, for the first time summoning any amount of Butterfly magic without the wond; she painfully flashed not into her Pink Nightmare form, but a "normal" Butterfly Monster form.
Janna's new monster form was still very pink, but all the demon elements were gone, except for the tail she loved so much, now bright pink. Her Magic-Pips, now purely Butterfly, consisted of a pink heart on her right cheek, and a light-red crescent moon on her left cheek ... the side of her heart. She wore a pink skirt and blouse with scalloped fringe along the hem of the skirt and along the neckline, pink striped leggings, green sneakers, and a red hoodie. On her head was her ubiquitous beanie.
Janna knew her friends' only chance was immediate attention by a powerful magic wielder like Moon. Janna had attempted to portal directly into the keep, but had been knocked outside, likely the effect of a tramorfidian crystal hidden somewhere in the keep. She could not simply portal directly into the castle, either; Butterfly Castle's portal defenses were turned on after Star and Marco reported the appearance of the cloaked being, and remained on after Star and Eclipsa were unable to locate her with any espying spell. Janna would have to carry her friends outside the keep, then portal from there to outside the castle, then find a way to quickly transport her friends to help, unless she could portal past the two crystals. Thankfully, due to Star and Bob, she knew it could be done.
The only way for Janna to successfully bring to bear that much magic was in a Monster form. Demon magic was not as powerful as Butterfly magic, not even when combined with some of "The Butterfly," as Janna called it, resulting in her needing to take an almost pure Butterfly Monster form. She didn't like it, much preferring her Pink Nightmare form, but in this instance it was worth it to her, especially since she kept the tail.
Janna dipped down hard and, grunting as she waved all six hands and her tail, opened a dimensional portal beneath Star and Marco. They fell through, directly into the Butterfly Castle emergency ward, followed by Janna, the portal closing behind her.
The keep fell silent, the damaged and destroyed ... and bloodied ... statuary and tapestries serving as mute reminders of the life and death struggle that minutes before had been waged on this Friendship Thursday. The painting of the two lovers looked down on a small pile of purple ash on the floor, still smoking, where another Star had winked out, never to shine again.
Soon to be joined by yet one more Star and another crescent moon.
All by the hand of a familiar psycho wearing a black cloak.
— OoOoO — O — OoOoO — O — OoOoO —
Eclipsa hurried to the group standing outside the intensive care ward, out of breath. She joined Janna, Tom, Buff Frog, Jackie, Angie, and Rafael; Tom and Jackie were attempting to comfort a clearly distraught Janna. River was absent, mustering and positioning the King's Guard to defend the castle, as a precaution.
Angie took Eclipsa's hands. Her eyes swimming with tears, she said, "Granny Eclipsa, it's not good. Star and Marco were attacked and beaten badly." Angie indicated Janna with a sweep of her hand; Eclipsa felt a chill from seeing the normally stoic Janna in such distress. "Janna portaled them directly into the emergency ward. We don't know what actually happened; the strain of what Janna did knocked her senseless, and she's been hysterical ever since she started to recover."
Angie paused to collect herself; Rafael, who had been speaking with Buff Frog, joined her, putting an arm around her to provide strength and comfort. "There were still some Earth doctors here training the royal physicians, and they managed to stabilize the kids, then moved them here into intensive care. But ... they have severe head trauma and probably damage to their brains." Tears began to fall. "On Earth there would be no hope. There's some hope here, that Moon's healing magic will fix them, but even Moon is pessimistic; that's why she sent Manfred to collect all of us. We're out here to allow Moon to concentrate but ... she said to be ready to come in quickly to say our good-byes."
Eclipsa, her own eyes now swimming with tears, hugged her great-great-something granddaughter. After several seconds she broke the embrace, gave Rafael's hand a manly squeeze, then walked over to Janna. She hugged Janna hard, kissed her on the forehead, then whispered, "thank you."
Eclipsa turned, and with back straight and clear purpose, marched up to the ward door, kicking it open.
Moon was standing between two hospital beds that held Star and Marco. Next to Marco was a small table, where the wond lay within a shimmering sphere of magic. Eclipsa recognized it as a security spell, to prevent theft of the wond. The two teens were still, wrapped in bandages, their chests barely moving. It was worse than Eclipsa imagined, and she had imagined a catastrophe.
"Moon," Eclipsa shouted, "I have a spell that can save them!"
Moon turned her head, her eyes glistening. "I am already casting healing spells, Eclipsa, which you have just interrupted."
"Yes, I know them, don't forget the wond and Book of Spells were once mine, same as they were yours." Eclipsa hurried to stand next to the table with the wond. "They are designed for deep, long-term, healing; that's why they can remove scars. But that makes them too slow for traumatic injuries like these. Mine heals quickly; the spell I based it on was for battlefield wounds. It was created by my mother, and I took it and augmented it. If it's used quickly enough and before their spark leaves them, it can save even the grievously injured."
"Augmented with dark magic, I presume?"
Eclipsa nodded.
"I will not risk my daughter's life with dark magic."
"They will die if I don't use it, Moon!" Eclipsa wailed loudly. "I've lost my only child by my own hand, so I will not now stand by and lose one grandchild, let alone two." Eclipsa's voice became shrill with anger and desperation. "Give me the mother fucking wond right fucking now you fucking cunt or I will beat your mother fucking goddamn corn-head into a fucking coma and take the mother fucking wond!"
Moon ... Moon the Undaunted ... was not intimidated by Eclipsa's threat, not even a little. She was impressed by Eclipsa's use of Earth obscenities, though. Moon hesitated for a few seconds, then turned, removing the security spell from the wond.
A single tear rolled down Eclipsa's cheek. "Thank you," she whispered, as she picked up the wond. She moved between the two beds as Moon vacated the space, took a deep breath, opened the canopy of the wond, now in its parasol-shaped Eclipsa-Cast, then, with Magic-Pips glowing, said, "Cardigan Healing Cocoons."
Star and Marco were cocooned in purple strands of fabric. The healing spell double wrapped their heads, leaving only enough opening that the two could breathe.
Eclipsa sighed, winded by the effort, as she closed the canopy. "If we were in time, the spell will quickly reduce the danger to their brains, then begin healing them. Our kids will have to remain in comas for two weeks or so, then we can replace the spell with the deep-healing spells. They should be perfectly fine, eventually ... physically, anyway."
Eclipsa looked at the wond, then, without hesitation, held it out to Moon.
Moon, however, did hesitate to take the wond, then instead held up her hand. "No, keep it. As you said, this wond was yours, once. Keep it safe. Practice your magic. When this crisis, whatever it is, is over, all three of us will teach you wondless magic, Princess Eclipsa."
There was no reaction from Eclipsa. Moon was beginning to think Eclipsa had suffered a stroke, when Eclipsa launched herself at Moon, wrapping her in a tight bear hug. "Thank you, Moon," Eclipsa said, almost in a sob.
Moon hesitated, public displays of affection not being a virtue of the second Butterfly line, then relented, returning the hug.
Eclipsa moved to break the hug, but Moon held her even tighter.
"Eclipsa, you sacrificed your daughter, for the good of the kingdom and to save my daughter. Monster Love and Queen of Darkness you certainly are, but evil you certainly are not, and I have to get over myself; myself and my hypocrisy, given we queens following Rhina are part Monster. One queen to another, one mother to another, thank you for all your sacrifices, and I hope we can all prove ourselves worthy of them."
"Thank you again," Eclipsa whispered, overcome.
Before breaking the hug herself, Moon said, authoritatively, "You need to stop using Janna to expand your Earth vocabulary."
"Oh fuck no."