Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was nearly pitch black. Nearly. 

The star gem faintly glowed against her armor. At least Star knows that she can fend for herself. A faint glow came from her hand and quickly began to form and take shape into a sword. A sword with a blade that gleamed white. Well, at least for now Star can tell where she is going, although there isn’t much to begin with except for darkness. She began to stroll into the darkness.

Star has probably walked for two minutes before she heard something. A whisper perhaps? Star wasn’t sure where the sound came from. As she turned around in circles, she thought it could’ve been her imagination.

Star.

There it was. It was faint but it was definitely there.

Star.

There it is again, but louder. It was already creepy enough being in this endless black void, she didn’t need a voice calling out her name.

Star still couldn’t make out where it came from. It sounded like it came from...everywhere?

Star!

Yup, definitely getting louder...or closer. 

Star! 

It sounded like a woman’s voice, but with each time she called Star’s name she sounded more worried and more impatient.

STAR!

"AH!" Star swung her behind her, only to have her sword connect with one similar to hers. White glowing blade with a faintly glowing gem on the handle. 

"Huh?" Star looked up. She saw a woman in almost the same white and silver metal armor. The same white fabric. The same star gem but it wasn’t on her collar like Star’s was. It was on her left wrist. The woman had dark short black hair and intimidating dark eyes and pale skin. She glowed.

Star blinked, "...Stella?"

The woman nodded.

Star slowly lowered her sword.

"Wh-wh…" Star couldn't think of the right question to begin with, "Why? What’s going on? Why are you here?"

Stella sighed, "There is much to fear, Star..."

"Fear?" Star was confused. "What is there to fear?"

"You used the Ultimate Star Incantation, didn’t you?"

Star paused for a moment, "...yes."

Stella took a deep breath, "You do know the consequence for that?"

Star looked down. She knew the consequence of using the incantation and yet she did use it.

"Yes, I know.." Star looked away.

There was a pause between them.

"Star, do you ever wonder why you’re still here?" Stella asked.

"Not really…"

"You should…"

"Why?"

"Because I fear that your job isn’t done.."

Star was confused. 

My job?  

Star has always thought her only job is to protect.

Stella slowly inhaled, "I fear that you have set yourself to a fate worse than death."

Star woke up in a cold sweat.

She sat up.

Her anxiety was through the roof. Star felt as she carried the weight of a boulder in her chest. She was panting. Star felt a tear rolling down her cheek.

Star looked around the room. 

It was dark, but at least she can see the dark blue outlines of her sisters sleeping in their bunks.

Star plopped back down on her bed. 

It was just a dream, Star put her hands on her face.

She sighed and turned to her side. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep again. 

Star didn’t get much sleep last night, her eyelids felt heavy. She sat on a pile of hay and rested her head.

Just for a moment, Star thought, as she closed her eyes.

Perfect.

"Star!"

"Ah!" Star jumped.

"Sorry, papa. " Star yawned.

"Didn’t sleep much, huh?" 

"No," Star rubbed her eyes.

"We're almost done. You can go back home to sleep if you want."

"No, we're almost done here. I can push though. Plus I have to go to the castle after this."

"Okay, if you say so." Star's dad said reluctantly and continued to clean the stable.

Star began to lay the last of the fresh hay bales in the last stable. 

Just this last one and then I’m free!

"Well done, mija, " her dad said proudly as he placed the last hay bale on the ground, "I’ll finish up here. Go to the castle now and do your Star Knight duties."

Star smiled proudly.

" Gracias, papa! " Star hugged her dad and ran off.

"Star," her dad called her.

Star stopped when she heard her name being called, "Yes?" Hopefully it wasn't more chores she might’ve forgotten about.

"You have straws in your hair," he pointed to her head. "You want to look presentable to the queen, mija. " 

"Oh, yeah, right. Thanks." Star shook off the hay from her hair and ran off to the castle entrance.

The royal stables weren’t far from the main castle entrance. Star entered the castle into the hallway and walked to the throne room. 

Star stood in front of the massive castle doors that led to the throne room. She slowly opened one of the doors and peeked her head inside.

"Hello?" Star said with uncertainty. She wasn’t sure if she wasn’t interrupting anything important.

"Ah, Star! Please come in!" A familiar voice said.

Star proceeded to enter the throne room. The room was vast. Columns that stretched from one side of the room to the other. The floor was freshly waxed and it reflected the light of the candles, which made the room even brighter than it was. 

Star walked to the center of the room. Where someone was sitting on the throne.

"Your highness," Star bowed.

"Star, I’ve told you this already." The short haired brunette queen stood up. "Rapunzel will do just fine." 

"I know…" Star looked up, "it’s just that...I’m really proud of you."

Rapunzel chuckled, "So, Star, shall we proceed to get some things in order?"

"Yes, of course." 

"Follow me," Rapunzel exited the throne room and Star followed her. 

"With all due respect, Rapunzel, I was wondering why you don't discuss this with Nigel? You know, since he's the official royal advisor."

"Ah, yeah, well about that," Rapunzel nervously scratched her head then whispered, "Between you and me, I'd prefer to have someone that isn't such a strict rule follower."

"Oh."

"Plus, who says I can't have more than one advisor?" Rapunzel winked at her.

"Well, you are queen."

"We have several things that needs to be done," Rapunzel walked down the hallway, 

Rapunzel began to list the things they needed to do as they walked. Star's mind began to drift away from the conversation. She was very tired and her mind began to wander off. Star could feel herself spacing away from Rapunzel.

"Woah, there!" Rapunzel grabbed Star by her collar, before she nearly walked into a pillar. "Watch where you're going!"

"Oh, sorry," she said faintly.

Rapunzel gave her a good look at her face. She spotted the  dark circles under her eyes, "Not sleeping well, huh?"

"No, but I'm just fine."

"How about some coffee to wake you up? I'll get one of the handmaidens to get you some. Hey!" Rapunzel stopped the handmaiden that walked into the hall.

"Yes, your majesty?" she answered.

"Would you mind fetching me a cup of coffee? Oh, make sure it's the one that was freshly imported."

"Yes, your highness," she bowed and left.

"Rapunzel, that wasn’t necessary." Star said.

"Oh it's no trouble at all," she smiled. "Even if I did send you back home to rest, you would still fight me on that."

Star smiled sheepishly. She even had to admit that something she would do.

"Ugh, between my royal duties and wedding planning, I hardly have time for myself. So glad you're here, Star," Rapunzel said.

The handmaiden rushed in with a tray with a cup and a teapot, or in this case, a coffee pot. 

Rapunzel poured the coffee into the cup and handed the cup to Star.

"Woah!" Rapunzel stepped back.

Star smelled the coffee and took a sip. She immediately spat it out,

"Oh sorry," she coughed. "This is my first time drinking coffee. I didn’t imagine it was this bitter." She smacked her lips as the bitter taste lingered in her mouth more than she would like.

Star decided to drink the coffee. If she wanted to make it through the day then she had to drink it. Star looked down at the drink in disgust and began to drink the coffee until the cup was empty. Hopefully, that wouldn't affect Star too much.

She handed the empty cup to the handmaiden. The handmaiden simply took the cup, excused herself and left.

Rapunzel opened a door that led to a stairway. As they walked up the stairs Star contemplated whether she should tell Rapunzel about her dream she had. She trusted Rapunzel, but what would she make of it? Rapunzel also had dreams that seemed to be telling more than what she thought.

They reached the top of the staircase and Rapunzel led Star to her room. 

"Okay, so I need to get rid of some books that I had for a while." Rapunzel said as she looked through her things. "Now that I’m queen, I don’t really have a lot of free time to read as much as I want to. It’d be nice to donate them or give them away."

Rapunzel grabbed a book with an elegant blue cover and flipped through the pages. Rapunzel sighed, "Remember this book?"

Star looked at the book, "...yup, it’s the first book you let me borrow when we just met. It’s one of my favorite stories."

"You can have it, if you really want to."

"Really?"

Rapunzel nodded. "If there’s any other books you want to keep, feel free to take some. The rest we’ll just donate."

"Wow, thanks!"

"But first, we have to sort which ones I want to keep and which ones I’ll give away, then you can pick some books from that pile."

Star nodded and they began to gather books in the room. As they sorted the books they talked about which stories were their favorites and which books they planned on reading next. 

"Okay," Rapunzel said. "Now that we’re finished sorting. We can donate this pile of books later today. But right now, I need this dress fixed." Rapunzel pointed to a green dress with a tear in its seam. 

"You wouldn't mind helping me with that?" Rapunzel asked. "I would ask your mother but she already has her hands full today on cleaning duty."

"I don’t mind at all."

Rapunzel pulled out her sewing kit from one of her drawers.

As they proceeded to fix the dress, there was an awkward silence between them. Star thought about telling her about the dream again. Star finally settled down on her decision to just tell her. Now the hard part: telling her.

Star felt her heart race again. Oh, how she hated her anxiety. 

Star took a deep breath.

"Hey, Rapunzel?" Star paused what she was doing.

"Yes, Star?" Rapunzel raised an eyebrow.

"You’re an expert in dreams….or at least have some experience in dreams with messages in them, right?"

"I guess so…but the fact that I had several dreams telling me my destiny was to bring the Sundrop and the Moonstone together was a message that wasn’t sent very clearly to me." Rapunzel chuckled. "So, is there anything you want to talk about?"

"Yeah…" Star resumed sowing the dress. "There’s this dream that I’ve been having lately and it’s always the same thing. Stella warns me about something coming, something real bad coming,"

Rapunzel stopped for a moment to think, "Hm…"

"I’m not sure what to make of it exactly," Star said worryingly, "but all I know is that it’s bad news for me."

Rapunzel looked concentrated with the sewing of the dress and didn’t respond. Star began to worry that she might’ve said something that could’ve made Rapunzel upset.

"There!" Rapunzel announced proudly. "All done!"

"Rapunzel?" Star reminded her. 

Rapunzel sighed deeply. 

"Come, sit over here." Rapunzel sat down near her bedroom window and patted the spot next to her.

Star didn’t like where this was going. She slowly walked over to Rapunzel and sat down.

"Star…" Rapunzel began slowly, "I don’t want to worry you, but I’m not going to lie to you either."

Star looked away from her. If Rapunzel is saying this, then it must be bad.

"But..." Rapunzel continued.

Star looked at her.

"A lot has happened since I first met you. And one thing I do know about you, is how anything that has come in your way, you were able to overcome it."

Star's eyes lit up. 

Rapunzel looked behind Star. "Oh, and if anything does get in your way, you still need to keep those fighting skills sharp! It’s nearly time for you to meet up with Eugene."

"Oh, yeah! It nearly slipped my mind!" Star turned around and paused for a moment. "Thanks for listening, Rapunzel."

"No problem. Whatever you need, I’m always here for you." Rapunzel put her hand on Star’s shoulder. Something about Rapunzel’s eyes gave Star some hope that everything will be fine. 

Star gave Rapunzel a quick hug and ran off outside to meet Eugene.

"Eugene!" Star yelled. 

"Hey, Star!" Eugene greeted me. "Ready for practice today?"

"Yeah, but Eugene, remember that dream I told you about? The one I keep having."

"Yeah I remember. What about it?"

"Well, I finally told Rapunzel about it. But she wasn’t sure what to make of the dream either."

"You’ve had this dream for how long exactly?"

"The first time I had the dream was about a couple of months ago. And it’s been reoccurring ever since. About every couple of nights I get the dream again."

"Hm…you know what I think?"

"What?"

"I don’t know exactly but maybe it has to do with the battle we had with Zhan Tiri six months ago."

Star thought for a moment. It does make sense. Pretty much that night after Corona won over that demon she had that dream come to her. But how does it connect? Zhan Tiri is long gone, right?

"Maybe…" Star was skeptical.

"Look, Star, it's been six months and nothing really has happened."

"But—"

"Look, I’m not saying to completely dismiss it. All I’m saying is maybe you should give this a rest. If something really is gonna happen then it will happen. Maybe it isn’t the right time."

"Yeah, I guess you’re right," Star said reluctantly, "But, it’s kind of hard not to think about it when I keep having the same dream recurring."

"I can imagine."

"But, it’s practice time now and I don’t want to become rusty."

Eugene pulled out his sword, "Neither do I."

Star smirked. 

She closed her eyes and whispered, " Starlight, star bright, I summon the power for me to fight. "

A star shaped figure began to glow from her chest through her clothes. Star’s feet slowly got off the ground, she was rising. Her body began to glow faintly. In an instant her entire body began to glow bright white and only her eyes were visible. The glowing figure of her body began to change its shape. The silhouette seemed to have armor on. As fast the white glow came, it faded. Star dropped to ground on her feet,

She opened her eyes. She had on silvery-white armor that glowed faintly. The star gem on her collar glowed brightly. 

Star took her hand out and a ball of light began to form and quickly materialized into a sword with the same silvery metal that her armor was but it was changed for offense instead of defense. 

Both Star and Eugene got into position.

Star made the first move. Star swung her sword, but Eugene quickly blocked her attack. 

Star noticed for the past couple of months that he has grown pretty quick with a sword. Star has only practiced with Cassandra, but ever since she left Corona, Eugene stepped up to mentor Star in combat. Which is fitting since he is now Captain of the Guard now. But now she’s afraid of disappointing him if she begins to fall back in sword fighting. 

Their swords continue to clash against each other. They dodge each other’s attacks. Both were trying to look for an opening. They clashed again and they pushed each other away like two of the same forces being repelled by each other.

Star could feel that Eugene was going to hit her from the side. Star waved her arm and a transparent white circular shape came from the ground. It was some sort of light shield, it looked like someone spilled glitter all over it since it sparkled like crazy. Eugene nearly hit it but stopped immediately.

"Star," Eugene put away his sword. "What did we talk about you using your light shield?"

Star’s light shield glowed and disappeared. "Um...to...not to use it?"

"Yes, exactly!"

"Sorry, it’s just my instinct," she shrugged.

"I’m saying this so if you somehow lose your magic necklace that gives you magical powers, you can use a plain old non-magical sword. You know what maybe we should start using them right––"

"Captain! Captain!" A guard soldier came running.

"Oh, what is it now?" Eugene groaned.

"It’s...It’s…." the guard couldn’t keep his breath. "It’s about the missing horses! There has been another report about a missing horse!" 

"Oh, has there been any new information?"

The guard soldier shook his head. 

Eugene sighed in disappointment.

"We have been trying to find this horse thief for nearly two weeks and we aren’t even close to finding who it is." Eugene said in frustration. "It’s been driving me up a wall!"

Eugene sighed, "Look, Star, I’m afraid that we have to cut our time short, but this is really urgent."

"No problem, Eugene. You go ahead and find that horse thief!" Star said. "Anyways, it works out, I have to meet up with someone for lunch. I can wait around at the cafe."

Star got on Luna, "Well, see you around, Eugene." 

Star took a sip of her drink. 

She looked out towards the town square from the cafe. Corona was still in a rebuilding period. After the battle with Zhan Thiri, a lot of construction has taken place. Although the black rocks were gone, the destruction that was left behind was still there and there is still  a lot to rebuild.

Star began to take a sip of her drink. Hm...I wonder what could be taking—

"Star! Star!"

Star spat out her drink because otherwise her drink would’ve gone up her nose.

"Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you!" 

"It’s ok, Varian…" she coughed.

"Sorry, we had some..." Varian paused and patted some soot off his clothes, "um...technical difficulties."

"No worries, anyways, why did you invite me here?"

"Oh yes! I was just going to get to that!" Varian sat down across from her. "So, I have another project I’m working on and I need an extra pair of hands. So, are you in?"

"Yeah," 

"Great! Right after you finished the weekly check up we can start working on it."

"Varian…" Star’s tone changed. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, sure, anything." Varian nodded.

"Are you sure there wasn’t anything else on the scroll about the Star Knight. Like anything at all?"

"Um...no. I’m pretty sure about that. Even if there was, the scroll is long gone. Daminitus didn’t exactly make the scroll fireproof."

Star looked away in thought. She knew Varian was telling her everything he knew. She just needed some answers.

Varian leaned forward, "It’s the dream again, huh?"

"Yeah," Star leaned back.

"Yeah, figures, those dark circles under your eyes kind of gave it away."

Star was embarrassed. It was that noticeable, people have been pointing that out all day.

"Other than some information about the three levels of the Star Knight and the Ultimate Star Incantation, there wasn’t anything else about it. All we know is that there’s been a previous person who was also the Star Knight during the time Daminitus was still alive."

"Stella…" she whispered.

"Who?"

"Stella, she was the previous Star Knight, I think. This one time when I was able to connect with her, she mentioned working alongside Daminitus or something like that. The point is, they knew each other."

"Well, that explains why the Star Knight even appears in the scroll at all but still. Your gem has to be connected in some way with the Sundrop and Moondrop, but they are reunited already. Hm…"

"Ya know…" Star stirred her drink, "I talked to Eugene about it. He suspects that something will come. I don’t think we’ve heard the last about the Sundrop and the Moonstone."

They both looked at each other in silence. The last thing either of them needed was to be entangled into that kind of magic again.

Or do they?

Star let out a long sigh, "I just want to learn more about all of this…I just know it."

"You know, we can go back to Daminitus’s tomb." Varian suggested.

"We can?" Star raised an eyebrow.  

"Yeah!" Varian pulled out a map from his backpack and rolled it out on the table. "With the balloon we will be there faster than we ever will be traveling on the ground."

"Cool! So when can we go?"

"First thing tomorrow," Varian rolled back up his map, "This is a great chance for me to find more information about Daminitus’ work."

He placed the map in his backpack.

Star paused. 

Maybe they shouldn't go? The past couple of months have been really calm. Nothing about celestial rocks or anyone wanting to wield them for their power since they are gone. Corona is no longer in danger. They didn’t have to wake up every morning to wonder what would attempt to kill them this time. It’s been...nice.

"Maybe we shouldn't go?" Star said.

"What? Why?" Varian blinked. "I thought you wanted some answers."

"Yeah…but, what if we somehow reawaken the magic again?"

"I haven't thought about that…" Varian pursed his lips, "Maybe we should put this on hold."

"Yeah, I think it's best...for now." Star began to go deep in thought. It didn't feel right to hold off this mission. A part of her wanted to go and find answers. Although the Sundrop and Moonstone were gone, she still had questions about them and her gem. 

"Varian," Star began, "do you ever feel like there's more in you that needs to know? Like you don't quite belong?"

"Ha!" Varian chuckled. "Of course I do! All the time. I mean, I didn’t have much for friends before you guys came along. Of course I had Ruddiger here."

Ruddiger climbed up and Varian petted him.

"Same here," Star said, "Before Rapunzel returned after years, I had a hard time making friends. I seem to...mess everything up. So, when I met you, it was great having a friend around my age."

Varian smiled.

"For a while now I felt like I still haven’t fulfilled my destiny. Like a puzzle missing a piece. I know it sounds crazy but maybe it’s my calling."

"To be frank, I do feel the same way. I still have so many questions about Daminitus and his work. I feel like there’s more. So much more we haven’t seen."

They sat there with their own thoughts for a moment. 

"Anyways," Varian stood up and looked at the clock. "We'd better get going. It's nearly—oh no! I promised my dad I’d be back at the lab in time! We are never gonna get to my lab back in time!"

"Not on foot," Star got up and whistled. Within moments a black horse came trotting in. The horse has a white lunar shape on her forehead.

"Hey, Luna," Star got up on her horse. 

"Come on," She held out her hand.

Varian hesitated for a moment. He grabbed her hand and got on. 

"You may want to hold on to me." Star said.

"What?! Why?" 

Star pulled on the reins and Varian almost immediately fell off. He grabbed on to Star. Star could feel him hugging her a little too tightly. She could sense that Varian was closing his eyes.

As they rode across the field, Star enjoyed the breeze blowing through her hair. She always loved horseback riding. It always had that sense of freedom. 

They stopped as they approached Varian's home.

"Okay, you can let go of me now," Star said.

"What?" Varian still had his eyes closed.

"You can let me go before I squeeze to death."

Varian opened his eyes. He immediately let her go. "Oh, I am so sorry—woah!"

Varian nearly fell off before Star grabbed him by his arm.

"Thanks, but next time warn me before you go full speed." 

They got off Luna. And headed towards Varian's lab.

"Hey, dad!" Varian greeted his father 

"Hey, Quirin!" Star said. "How's things going down here?"

"Hello, everything's going pretty well. We've only had one difficulty this week. Less than usual."

Star pulled out her goggles. It had yellow stars painted on either side of them. Star also grabbed a book and pencil. 

"Okay, for this week," Star started to write down in the book, "only one mishap. Definitely, an improvement from last week. Queen Rapunzel will be pleased to hear this."

"Yup, we're making excellent progress." Varian said proudly. "Soon, no more explosions, ever. Ha, imagine that! And you can finally have a break. You no longer have to come here."

"...oh, yeah, t-that’d be great," Star said hesitantly.

"Look, Star," Varian pulled her aside, "you’ve had a lot on your plate for the past couple of months with you knowing being the royal advisor and having to keep on being the Star Knight. I think you deserve a break."

"I don’t need a break," she said.

"B-but––"

"I guess we are all done here!" Star changed the subject. "Goodbye Quirin! I’ll see you later, Varian." Star walked away leaving Varian hanging.

Star sat alone on the steps in front of Varian’s home. She sighed miserably. She knew what she did wasn’t good, but she didn't understand why she acted that way. Varian was right, she has been pushing herself a bit too hard, so why should she feel so upset? She should be jumping in joy about this, right?

"Hey, Star."

Star turned around, it was Varian. 

"Hey," she said. Star couldn’t tell if Varian was upset with her with how she left things hanging. She felt pretty bad with how she left things.

"Sorry for storming off like that. I know why I reacted that way."

"Eh," Varian shrugged. "It's alright. You still seem pretty tired."

Star chuckled softly. 

"So what’s this project you’re working on?" Star asked.

"Oh, it’s just a little idea I had after adding the thrusters to the balloon back when Rapunzel needed to get to the spire," Varian pulled out plans from his bag and placed them out on the floor. "Well, what if we added thrusters to a wagon and added some sort of maneuvering system to control it. Transportation would be so much faster!"

"That sounds great!" Star looked at his plans. "Uh, how do we do it?" 

"I brought all the materials we are going to need," Varian rolled up his plans and pointed to the wagon. 

Star walked up to the wagon and looked into it. The two thrusters lay there alongside parts and tools. 

"Well then," Varian stretched his arms, "we better get started."

They got started on building Varian’s invention. 

Star held a part in place, while Varian screwed it in place.

A shuffling sound could be heard from the bushes.

"Did you hear that?" Star asked. 

"Hear what?" Varian said as he screwed [the part in place. "There! I screwed in the brake!"

Star looked into the bushes, but couldn't see anything that would make that sound. Could it be just her imagination?

Luna was grazing over the grass until she heard another shuffle in the bushes. She perked her ears towards the direction of where the sound came from. She turned her head but saw nothing and continued to graze.

"Okay so," Varian put gown his wrench, "it's nearly done, all we have to do now is to test it out so see—"

Neigh!

Star turned around and saw Luna being unruly, kicking her hooves in the sir. There was a person sitting in her saddle, attempting to settle her down.

"Hey!" Star yelled. "What are you doing?! Get off her!"

The stranger grabbed a hold of Luna and galloped off.

"We have to go after them!"

"How? We don't have a horse!"

"We have to use your invention!"

"What? But it hasn't even been tested!" Varian warned her. "That is dangerous!"

"We don't have a choice!" Star hopped into the wagon. 

"Ugh, okay fine! But I'll be driving!" Varian hopped onto the wagon cart.

"Fine," Star knew that they'd be better off having Varian as a driver. She hopped into the wagon after him.

"On three you turned on the thrusters. Got it?"

"Yup," Star put her hands near the thrusters. She was nervous that her hand might slip and accidentally blast them.

"One...two...oh, make sure to hold on tight!"

"Wait, what—"

"Three!"

Star didn’t hesitate to turn on the thrusters and as sound as she did, they blasted off. They were going fast. Faster than Star would like. 

They traveled across hills and bumpy roads that nearly threw them off. Star saw trees and people go by.

"Sorry!" Star said as they nearly hit a man.

"Over there!" Star pointed forward. "There’s Luna!"

"And there’s a huge rock ahead!" Varian yelled. He pulled on the lever as hard as he could. "I think we’re going too fast! We can’t turn in time! We’re gonna get hit!"

They hit the rock with great force. They were flung out of the invention. They flew across the sky. Star could see everything in slow motion. She saw the sky and a bird flew nearby. 

She felt herself hit something...or someone.

"Ow!" A voice yelled. "Get off of me!"

Star found herself on top of someone in the soft grass.

She got up and looked for Varian.

"Varian!" Star called for him.

"I’m here!" Varian crawled out of a bush covered in leaves.

"You okay?"

"Other than the fact that I think I bruised everything, I’ll be fine," he shook off the leaves in his hair.

Neigh! 

Star gasped, "Luna!"

She turned around and saw the horse thief with her horse. Turns out this thief was just a teenager.

This kid was about Star’s age but he was average height, maybe a little bit more. He had bright red hair and had more freckles than Varian. His blue eyes were bright in confidence.

"Hey!" Star yelled. "Give me back my horse!"

"Well, it was your horse," the red headed kid said.

"I’m warning you!" Star said as she took out her star necklace.

"Or what?" The kid smirked. "Are you—"

"Hold it right there!" 

Star turned around.

There were two guard soldiers that she had never seen before. They must’ve been new recruits, both had their swords out. 

All three of them had their hands up.

"Are you three the ones stealing all the horses?" One of them asked.

"What?! No! It was him!" Star pointed at the red head kid.

"No! It was them!" The kid tried to convince them.

The guard soldiers looked at each other. 

"I think we should bring them all in," said the taller guard soldier. The other nodded in agreement.

"What?!" Varian exclaimed. "It was all him! You have to believe us! I’m the royal engineer! And she’s the Star Knight!"

"Look, I can prove—" Star said before she got interrupted by one of the guards handcuffing her and Varian. 

"Hey, watch it!" The horse thief said as the tall guard soldier almost pin him to put on the handcuffs. "No need to be so rough! I’ll go with you guys, jeez!"

Star nearly fell over when she tripped when she was taken away. She felt her necklace slip through her hands. "Hey!"

"Sorry, kid," the short guard said. "This is the way things have to be while this is being resolved."

"My necklace!" Star said.

One of them picked her necklace and observed it. 

"That’s mine! Star said. 

"Do you think it might be stolen?" He asked his partner. 

His partner shrugged. "Could be. Hold on to it just in case."

"What? No! It’s mine! I told you! I can prove it!" Star said.

"Hey kid, maybe stop with all the talking. You can say all you want until we get to the dungeon."

They close the door on the prison wagon. Star plopped on the ground and sighed. How could all this go so wrong so quickly?  All three of them remained quiet for the rest of the trip to the dungeon.

Chapter Text

The guards closed the cell behind them.

Star slumped over and sighed. She glared at the boy that got them into this mess in the first place.

He gave her a faint smile, "Um, hi. I'm Jake."

Star rolled her eyes. The nerve of this kid for introducing himself as if they were pals after what he's done. 

"Varian," Varian introduced himself. "The royal engineer of Corona."

Star elbowed him.

"Ow!"

"What are you doing?" Star whispered at him.

"Introducing ourselves. This kid doesn't seem that bad."

Star just gave him a look.

"Oh, and this is Star! She's the Star Knight!"

"Wait! What?" Jake perked up. "You're the Star Knight? Oh my gosh! That's totally awesome—uh, sorry for trying to steal your horse." 

Star simply glared at him.

"Don't mind her," Varian said, "she'll warm up to you….er, eventually."

"So…" Jake tapped on knees, "looks like we're gonna be here for a while."

"Yeah," Varian laughed awkwardly.

A long awkward silence came after that.

"So…" Jake broke the silence, "how did you guys meet?"

"Long story." Star said, still not looking at Jake.

"There’s nothing here but time…"

Star sighed, "Fine, since there is nothing better to do while being imprisoned again."

"Again?"

"Yeah, I’ll tell you about that too."

"Ooo! Exciting!" Jake’s blue eyes lit up. "Are you gonna talk about how you got your powers? Oh! And how did you become a knight? And the battle near the Corona Walls? And don’t forget the battle with Zhan Tiri!"

"Woah, this guy knows a lot," Varian pointed out.

"Yeah, just one thing at a time." Star said.

Jake squealed in excitement. He crossed his legs and rested his head on his hands.

Star took a deep breath, "So, how I got my powers... As you may or may not know, I am the stable girl."

"Stable girl?" Jake blinked.

"Yeah, I help out my dad with a lot of the work around the royal stables. But I used to take morning rides with Luna and one of those rides we came across the place where the Sundrop flower was found. I found the Star gem there, it was weird because it felt like it was calling to me somehow."

"Calling you?" Jake was indeed intrigued. "Oh! Like destiny!"

"Yeah...that," Star said.

"Anyways," Star continued, "I turned the gem into a necklace."

"The first time I transformed was when I was talking to Eugene. He was really attached to the idea about proving to everyone else that he can keep a secret."

"Oh, yeah," Varian laughed, "I remember that well."

"I felt words coming to me. And when I concentrated and said those words I transformed. Eugene and I were extremely confused. We went after Rapunzel and Cassandra when they looked for Varian. Eugene was able to look through the window to see Rapunzel was going through Varian’s tests and completely freaked out. I tried to see it for myself but...well, I wasn’t quite tall enough to see."

"Oh yeah you’ve stayed the same height for the past 3 years." Varian teased.

Star punched him in the arm.

"Ow!" Varian rubbed his arm. 

"You know at that time I was taller than you." Star remarked.

"Was." Varían pointed out. "Now I’m taller than you."

"Barely." Star scoffed.

"Okay, okay!" Jake stopped them from taking their argument too far. "Let’s get back on track."

"Fine." They both said.

"But...both of you are pretty short…" Jake muttered.

"WHAT?!" Star and Varian exclaimed.

"Okay, you know what? I’m done telling you about everything!"

"No, no, no!" Jake rushed to her.

"Look I’ll be shorter than you!" Jake got down on his knees, "See? Now I’m shorter than both of you now!"

Star glanced at him then sighed.

"Get up." Star said. "I’ll tell you, but you both have to try to not interrupt me."

Varian and Jake looked at each other and nodded.

"So, Eugene thought Varian was hurting Rapunzel and I thought so too. So, we crashed into Varian’s home and I tackled him."

"That wouldn’t be the first time." Varian said.

Jake looked confused.

"We’ll get there. I promise." Star said. "When I realized he wasn’t trying to hurt Rapunzel, I was pretty embarrassed that I jumped to that conclusion. I wanted to show Variano here, what this gem can do. Unfortunately, my connection with it was pretty weak since I wasn’t able to show anybody after that. Not until the exposition."

"Exposition?" Jake looked at them curiously. "Wait! Isn’t that the super geeky exposition to show off gadgets?"

Star nodded. Varian looked slightly offended but he kept his mouth shut.

"Let me guess. This guy," Jake pointed at Varian, "participated in it."

"Yeah…" Varian admitted. "Is it that obvious?"

"Hey, I live in Corona too ya know. Plus, the fact you dress like that," Jake gestured towards Varian’s outfit, "is a pretty good giveaway."

"And didn’t your invention explode or something?" Jake tried to remember.

"Pfft...no…" Varian crossed his arms. "You have an idea what you’re talking about."

"No, yeah, I remember. It caused this super huge storm thing that sucked everything up! Honestly, pretty cool!"

Varian smiled 

"So, if I remember correctly, Varian made an element and called it Cassandrium, right? Isn't that the name Rapunzel's handmaiden?" Jake asked. "Did Varian like her?"

"No…" Varian looked away from them. But Star could tell he was burning up in embarrassment. 

Jake gave Varian a look, "Well, that answers my question." 

"What about the big storm? You know the one that had to do with Zhan Thiri's curse?" Jake proceeded to ask more questions. "What exactly happened that day? Since...ya know..."

Star raised an eyebrow.

Jake hinted towards Varian.

Oh. Star knew what he was talking about.

Star and Varian simply looked at each other and looked away.

"Sensitive subject, I see." Jake tried to make things less awkward.

"It's not…that." Star began. "We went through a lot that day. I think everyone did..."

"I think I know where this is going, but if you don't want talk about you don't have to—"

"No." Varian said firmly. "I'm not going to hide away my past. Star, you can tell him what happened."

Star took in a long sigh before beginning, "When the storm got stronger we all had to seek refuge. Rapunzel was the acting queen and she had to make tough choices. I had also been through...some stuff. We all had to endure things that day.

"Varian came in pleading, begging for help from Rapunzel. But she had to make so many decisions all at once. As acting queen, she decided to put the safety of the citizens of Corona above all else. Before I could offer to help him, I was informed that my family wasn't able to get out of the house—"

"I was basically dragged out of the castle…" Varian said in a cold tone. "After Rapunzel promised me that we would help each other, she refused to help me. My father was slowly being encased in amber. In a failed experiment that I created. After he told me not to, but I choose not to listen " 

Varian was on the verge of tears. The atmosphere became heavy.

"When I came back home," Varian's voice began to crack and he wiped his nose. "I found my father fully encased in amber. There, I swore to set him free and seek revenge on those who wronged me."

There was this silence. Star felt like the Varian she once knew, the traitor, might've come back. 

"But...it's all in the past now." Varian wiped a tear from his face. "I've moved past it."

Varian gave them a weak smile. 

Star cleared her throat to continue to tell her story, "I promised Varian to come and help him after I got my family out. When I got the message that my family wasn't able to evacuate, I went home only to find that the snow made the roof of the house collapse on the front door. The back door was completely buried in snow. I tried to find a way to get my family out. But I couldn't. I tried to transform to get my parents out but my gem wouldn't react. Over and over I said the incantation."

"I tried screaming for help, begging for help out in the cold, but no one was there." Star went into oblivion. "My family was in there, freezing. And I could hear them suffering. And I couldn't do anything. I never felt so useless."

Tears began to roll down her face. She clenched her first and sucked the air through her teeth. 

"I remember thinking ‘what's the point of being the Star Knight if I can't even save those dearest to me?' I said and threw my necklace in the snow. My parents could hear me and convince me to not give up. So, I grabbed my necklace and took a deep breath and concentrated. I said it once, then twice and then a third time. It finally worked. I transformed. I broke into the house and got my parents and my sisters out of there…"

Star looked up once she finished telling her story. She saw Jake's face had snot and tears all over him. He sniffled, "Can I like….hug you guys?"

Star and Varian glanced at each other.

"Um...yeah?"

"Sure…?"

Jake quickly wrapped his arms around both of them and held them tightly. Star didn't want to admit it but it felt...nice.

Jake slowly backed away.

"Wow," he said as he wiped his nose with his sleeve.

"Wait a minute," Jake interrupted himself. "What about your promise to him?"

"Well…" Star continued. "After the storm calmed, I went to Old Corona as quickly as I could. But the bridge was broken. So, I had to wait until they fixed it to get to him. When it was repaired, I knocked at his door. I kept knocking on his door but he wouldn't open the door...Varian I never told you this but I knew you were in there. I knew you at the other side of that door and I don't understand why you didn't open it? Why didn't you let me help you?"

Varian sighed. "...I was blinded by my hatred. I never felt so alone...Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I did open the door to let you guys in and help me sooner.."

Star stared at him in silence. 

"I waited there for hours, Varian." Star continued. "And I kept returning day after day hoping you would let me in. To the point where my father had to forbid me to go to Old Corona. Eugene found me more than once waiting outside your house sleeping next to Luna. But, I didn't let that stop me. I asked Rapunzel for paper and pen and kept writing letters and slipping under your door."

"Why did you do that, Star?" Jake asked.

Star shrugged. "Maybe because he was the only kid my age that I could actually call my friend. Before all of this, it was really hard for me to make friends. My anxiety would act up and I would keep messing things up. I tried to befriend one of the handmaidens by helping her with folding clothes but I somehow managed to rip one of Queen Arianna's favorite dresses. The handmaiden never spoke to me again."

"Well, that sucks," Jake put his hand on Star's hand. "She missed out on having a cool new friend."

Jake smiled widely. Star smiled in return. She was beginning to like this guy. 

"Well…" Star pulled away. "I guess that's one of the main reasons why I tried so hard to be his friend. Also, I don't think that the fact that Varian and I met by nearly punching him in the face left a very good impression." 

Varian chuckled.

"So…" Jake resumed the conversation. "Star, how did you find out that Varian turned against you?"

"Not in any ideal way, I’ll say." Star said. "Rapunzel started to have dreams about the Sundrop, the black rocks and Varian. We haven’t heard from him in a while, when he sent us a message asking us to retrieve something from his lab. Which was one of the four parts of the Daminitus scroll."

"Daminitus scroll?" Jake blinked. "I've heard about him before. Didn't Rapunzel use one of his machines to save the kingdom?"

"Yeah, and more than once " Varian said excitedly

"That scroll was important because it held the secrets of the Sundrop and the Moonstone." Star said. 

Star took a long sigh before proceeding, "We entered his lab and found the reason why Varian did that. I saw his father completely encased in amber. I couldn't blame him for choosing to take that path after everything we've done to him."

"Once we had the scroll in our hands, after fighting the King's own men, weirdly enough. The next day, things got weird really quickly. Everyone couldn't stop telling the truth. Cass, Eugene, and I investigated the situation. Apparently, some guy with a squeaky voice was hiding in the bushes giving out free cookies."

"Squeaky voice? Who said that?" Varian looked offended.

"Doesn't matter," Star moves on. "Anyways, Varian wanted to get his hands on the Sundrop flower. So he gave everyone truth cookies to find the whereabouts of the flower. Varian asked Rapunzel for help and of course, Rapunzel helped him steal the flower from the royal vault. And I witnessed him betray Rapunzel. I-I couldn't believe it at first. I denied it, I wanted to believe that the Varian I knew was still there. But then came Rapunzel's birthday and boy, that was wild. He distracted us and kidnapped the Queen and my mother when she tried to prevent him from taking her. We went after them, but he found a way to trap us. I tried to snap him out of it. He refused and that was my last straw. Varian forced Rapunzel to break the amber with her hair but when it failed, he completely lost it. We managed to free ourselves but Varian attacked us with the automatons."

"I knew I had to let him go…" Star looked down. " I was no longer his friend. He was my enemy now. I fought him but...I was outnumbered by his automatons. I only remember fragments of what happened after that. My mom came to me. I remember seeing Rapunzel and the black rocks and a flash of bright light. Then when I gained consciousness again, Varian was being handcuffed and taken away and I felt anger and hate. I tackled him and I was ready to throw a punch until Rapunzel grabbed me and told me that it was over. I cried in her arms. He got what he wanted, he broke me."

Star found Varian burying his face in his hands. He was ashamed and regretful of everything he'd done to Star and to people he now called his friends.

Jake inhaled sharply. "Woah, um...that's a lot to take in…"

"Varian? You okay?" Star asked.

Varian looked up at her. His eyes were red. "I thought...I was past it but I guess not. Not yet at least." 

Star patted him on the back.

"The rocks showed Rapunzel towards a direction. The pathway to the Moonstone. I joined her in her journey because I knew if I stayed in Corona I would turn mad knowing how close he was to me. Days after the battle, before we left, I was knighted as the ‘Protector of Corona’ because of my ‘bravery’, which to me felt like a mocking since I didn’t exactly defeat Varian, it was Rapunzel. The royal family gave me this custom made guard uniform which I never wore until a year later. And I needed to find out about myself. That's when I decided to cut my hair." Star stroked her hair. "Eugene and I bonded a lot during that time. He helped me put my thoughts in order. I found out that Varian's betrayal became my worst nightmare. I had—still have—a hard time trusting people. When Cassandra turned against us, that didn't help me either.

When we returned to Corona after that, the Saporians attacked Corona. Everyone was just gone. I couldn't find my family. We went to the castle and found out Varian was working with the Saporians to take over the kingdom. When I saw him, I felt that rage and anger all came to me at once. We managed to escape but Rapunzel, as impulsive as she is, went back to the castle alone. I tagged alongside her because I needed to find my family. That wasn't...a good plan...er, Rapunzel got caught and I got caught too. We were thrown in jail. And that's when Rapunzel tried to convince Varian to not to stop working with the Saporians. Then, somehow, he changed and went against the Saporians, which didn't work out since he was thrown into prison with us." 

"Yeah…" Varian scratched his head. "That didn't go exactly as I planned."

"Rapunzel and Varian talked it out and made up. I, however…" Star crossed her arms and looked away. She sighed. "Refuse to believe that he changed. He hurt me and I didn’t want to be hurt again. We eventually defeated the Saporians but I still refused to trust him. But, I promised Rapunzel that at least we’d get along."

"W-what made you trust him again?" Jake asked with hesitation. Star could tell that he didn’t want to get in too deep.

"It was because I didn’t trust him. When Cassandra crashed Eugene’s birthday party demanding the scroll. Varian had it to decipher it, so we went to see him but Cass was there and kidnapped him. I wasn’t convinced he was kidnapped. I thought the worst and thought that he betrayed us once again. I pulled another Star and left alone to the black rock tower Cassandra made. I got up to the tower using my powers and saw everything. Varian was trying to convince Cassandra that the path she is taking would leave for no good. I hid behind the rocks and I heard everything. I felt foolish that I thought the worst about him. Cassandra eventually found me eavesdropping and we fought. She attacked me from either side, I blocked both attacks and she attacked me behind and imprisoned alongside Varian. That’s when I had to suck up my pride and apologize to him."

"And now you guys are friends again!" Jake beamed. "What about the fight with Zhan Tiri. I heard it was pretty bad."

"Yeah, Zhan Tiri had the Sundrop and the Moonstone so she was able to use the decay incantation which made everyone really weak," Star said. "I knew I had my duty to protect Corona so I did what I had to do…"

"And nearly died doing it," Varian said.

"Varian," Star sighed. "We talked about this. Your translation was wrong. Nothing happened to me!"

"No it wasn't! And that dream you've been having has to do something with it!"

"Okay, what are you guys talking about?" Jake asked.

"I used an incantation in order to stand a chance against Zhan Thiri," Star answered. "Varian said there was no evidence of the Ultimate Star incantation anywhere in the scroll. He lied to me, I insisted on using it even though the scroll said that after I used it, my life would be taken away. But I'm here now."

"And you're lucky to still be alive." Varian said.

They heard keys opening the cell door.

"Oh what in the world?!" Eugene yelled. "Why are the Royal Engineer and the Star Knight here? And who’s that kid?"

"We found them stealing horses, sir." One of the guard soldiers replied.

"Uh, no we weren’t. It was all him," Varian pointed at Jake.

"No, you guys were in it too!" Jake said.

Varian and Star stared him down.

"Okay, fine! It was all me."

"Wait, so you are the Star Knight?" The guard was stunned.

"Yes, yes I am. I was telling the truth the whole time!"

" Oh. " the guard said. 

"Oh, well…" the other guard scratched his head. "We’ve never seen the Star Knight in person. We’ve only heard about you. We thought you were older…"

"And taller!" his partner added.

Star pouted. She didn't like it when people reminded her how short she is.

"Anyways, looks like we finally caught the Horse Thief!" One of the guard soldiers said proudly.

"Up high!" His partner raised his hand and gave him a high five,

"What are you guys talking about?" Jake was confused. "I’m not The Horse Thief."

"But you have to be…" said the guard soldier. "We caught you red handed. Or should I say red headed, eh? Eh?" The soldier nudged his partner, but he simply rolled his eyes. 

"Yeah, I stole a horse. But I’m not the Horse Thief. This was my first attempt at stealing anything."

Eugene facepalmed. "Okay, okay. First things first. Redhead, I think your dad is here to bail you out."

"Really?" Jake stood up. "Ha! I told you guys I would leave without any problems!"

"Ah, ah, ah!" Eugene grabbed Jake by the collar as he exited. "You’re not leaving yet, kid. We told your dad that we will only let you leave if you gave back all the stolen horses."

"But I already told you that I am not the Horse Thief...but I do know where we can look for them."

"Okay then, I’ll cut you a deal, kid. You have 24 hours to get back those horses or you have to say hello to these." Eugene tapped on the metal prison bars. “Trust me, it’s not a good idea to stay here longer than you have to.”

"What? You're Captain of the Guards! Why can't you do it?" 

"Look between my captain duties and the wedding planning, time hasn't been a thing I have a lot of. Plus, you walk out of here free. I see this as a win-win."

"But I didn’t even steal anything!"

"But you do know where the horses are, don’t you?"
"I—uh," Jake got tongue tied. 

"Okay, fine!" he finally gave in.

Star felt bad for him. He had to be telling the truth. Why else would this kid have been caught if he already took so many horses but haven't been caught in the past two weeks?

"I’ll help you…" Varian said.

"Really?" Jake’s face lit up.

Star nudge Varian.

"What do you think you’re doing!" she whispered to him.

"Come on, he doesn’t seem that bad!" 

"Did you forget the part where he tried to steal my horse?"

"No," Varian whispered back, "but I also didn’t forget how it felt like being in prison either."
Star didn’t argue with him and she felt mortified for saying that. She has been here for a couple of hours and it wasn’t fun. She hadn’t really thought about Varian and his time in prison. If she didn’t like it, why would she let  anyone else go through that. 

"Yeah, I’ll help you too." Star grumbled.

"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! We are going to be the most epic dream team ever!" Jake squealed. 

"Well, better get going kids. Time is ticking." Eugene said.

"Let’s go!" Jake said as he ran off. 

Chapter Text

Not even two steps out of the dungeon we were stopped by a deep voice, "Jacob!"

Jake stopped in his tracks. Star nearly walked into Varian when he stopped behind Jake abruptly. 

"Oh, hey dad," Jake held his breath.

Jake's dad was a well dressed man. He had reddish brown hair with some gray streaks. His beard was neatly kept. 

"I was told by the Captain that you are able to walk out here without a problem if you just give back what you stole. I trust that you are able to handle this, right?"

"Yeah, sure I can! I even have some help—"

Jake's dad stopped him. He pulled out a pocket watch and checked the time. "Good, I have a client I need to speak to right now," his dad abrasively said. He closed his pocket watch and slipped it into his vest pocket.

"Oh, okay. I'll see you later, dad." Jake sounded a little disappointed but Star didn't want to jump into any conclusions about Jake’s relationship with his father. 

Jake's dad stood up, grabbed his cane and left. 

Jake's light faded away from his eyes. 

Varian patted him on the back. 

Star wanted to say something, but she wasn’t sure what she should say in this situation. 

Jake seemed to know what she was thinking and said, "It’s okay, guys. My dad is a pretty busy guy. I don’t need to worry him with my things."

"You sure?" Star was a bit concerned. 

"Yeah." Jake reassured me. 

"Ok. Then, Jacob , huh?" Star raised an eyebrow.

Jake let out a chuckle, "Yeah, that’s actually my nickname for him."

"Nickname?"

"Yeah, my full name is Jacoby." Jake flushed. "Please don’t tell anyone about that."

"We promise we won’t say anything." Varian held up his hand. 

Star nodded in agreement.

Jake smiled widely. "Glad to know you can be trusted."

"What you said back there," Star said. "Do you have any idea where this person could be?"

Star, Varian, and Jake walked out of the castle with Luna following them close behind them.

 "Not a person," Jake said. "Persons...er or people. Yeah, just more than one person."

"How do you know?" Star was becoming suspicious of this kid again.

"The reason why I even tried to steal your horse in the first place," Jake said. "It was because of a dare...of sorts."

"Really? All this for one dare!" Varian exclaimed.

"Oh, it’s more than that, Varian, my goggle-wearing friend." Jake said. "I'm not sure if I can tell you guys about it, yet."

"Uh, Jake you’re being really suspicious. Come on, tell us," Star said.

"It’s better if I show you guys." Jake said. "But you have to promise that you aren’t going to tell anyone about this."

Star stopped and looked at him. "Why? Is it something…" Star didn’t want to assume anything so she avoided using the word illegal, "...bad?"

"No. At least as far as I know." Jake continued to walk. "But you guys need to change into something more…" Jake waved his hand around, "...something that won't track attention. Like a cloak or something. You need to look dark and mysterious."

"What? Why? Is there something wrong with what I'm wearing?" Star asked.

"Yeah, your outfit yells 'Hey, Corona Guard over here!'" Jake laughed. 

"Well, technically I'm not a Corona Guard but I see your point." Rapunzel customized this outfit for her after she was knighted as the Star Knight of Corona. It's modeled after a certain guard uniform.

"Uh, I still have my overcoat from my time with the Saporians."

Star raised an eyebrow, "You still have that?"

"Yeah," he chuckled nervously.

Star wasn’t sure how to feel about that. She always thought that Varian would probably throw away anything that reminded him of that part of his life. Keeping it was a surprise to her.

"I don’t really have a long cloak or anything like that," Star said. 

"No problem, I have a trunk filled with all kinds of clothes you can borrow! In fact, wait right here, I'll be right back!" With that, Jake left, leaving Star and Varian alone.

Star glanced at Varian. "Are you sure we should be helping him?"

"Well, he trusts us now, so there's no getting out of this now." 

"You're probably right." Star crossed her arms. "But, don't you forget that you got us into this."

"I know you won't let me." Varian laughed. "I'll get my coat while Jake comes back." 

About half an hour passed and Jake came in running with a handful of distinctly colored clothing. "I'm back! Here, you can choose any of these."

Star tilted her head

"It’s okay, my dad bought a lot of clothes when I was little to play pretend." Then he whispered, "I liked to pretend when I was a pirate a lot."

Star eyed the darker colored cloak. She grabbed and unfolded it. 

"Are you sure these were from where you were little? 'Cause some of these look like they still might fit you."

"Okay, maybe I haven't quite gotten over my dressing up phase." Jake admitted and Star caught him blushing a little.

"Cool," Star wrapped the cloak around her. "How do I look?"

"Dark and mysterious." Jake smiled.

"Guess who's back?" A voice behind them said.

Star and Jake turned around to find Varian wearing his coat from his days as being an ally to the Saporians that wanted to overthrow the kingdom. 

Star didn’t want to admit that seeing Varian in that coat again made her feel uncomfortable. It reminded them of the tense hate relationship between each other. She tried to hurt him and he tried to hurt her as well. When Varian did have that change of heart, Star didn’t believe him. That is something Star wishes to forget. 

"Okay, um the plan," Star began. "So when I think it’s the right moment, I'll count to three and once I say three Varian you throw your goop so they get stuck. Then Jake and I will catch them and we'll take them and the horses back to the castle."

"Sounds like a plan," Jake said. "Oh, uh, they're not staying in prison for too long are they?"

"Uh, I'm not sure. Depends on what the Captain thinks. Not much more than a few days. Why?"

"Oh, it's because I consider these guys as my friends and well I don't want to throw them under the bridge like that." he said.

"Oh, um, how are you friends with them? And most importantly, why? " 

"Long story short, my dad and their dad know each other and I know they stole stuff but they said they were gonna give it back once they were done."

Star and Varian exchanged looks. 

"When they were done?" Star asked.

"Well, I didn’t want to pry. I don’t know them very well. We’ve only known each other for a bit. And they ask politely to help them, so I did." Jake stared at Star and Varian looking for their response.

"Uh, yeah. We should probably get going now." Star said.

"Yeah, follow me!" Jake led the way.

"I still don't understand how the dare plays into this," Varian said as they walked through the woods with Luna.

"Okay fine, I'll tell you guys," Jake said, "so, we were playing a game of  Truth or Dare and they dared me to help them round up some horses. I said 'No way!' and they said 'Oh well then that you lose' and I said 'No way I’m letting you win. Fine I'll do it, but only once' and here we are!"

Star blinked, "...and you didn't ask why?"

"I did...they told me to be quiet."

As they walked further into the woods, Star spotted several dark figures in front of a worn down building that looked like a barn. They're probably the people Jake wanted to meet up with. 

"Hey, guys!" Jake smiled at them.

Teenagers. They were teenagers. Suspicious looking, but still teenagers. It was relieving in a way. For a good while, she has never really hung out with actual teenagers, besides Varian of course. Star usually tags along with Rapunzel and Eugene, so it was nice to hang out with people her age.

"Who are these guys, Jake?" one girl said. She had long dark hair and blue eyes, she wore dark clothes. She had a cold look. Star guessed she wasn’t a fan of meeting new people, much less letting them in her group.

"They're good. This is Star and that's Varian," Jake introduced them.

Star reluctantly waved at them. They didn’t seem to acknowledge it. Star put her hood up to hide her embarrassment.

Standing next to her was a boy, Star assumed he was her brother. He had the same blue eyes and dark hair.

"Let's see that horse you brought."

The girl took a look at Luna and studied her. Then, she went back to the other horses in the barn. 

The building was worn from the outside but surprisingly it wasn't as bad inside. It was well maintained, at least for what they needed. There were a couple of stables and there were at least three of them filled. Star took a closer look and she saw that the horse had the Corona crest on their saddle. These were the missing horses.

The dark haired girl approached the first horse that was lined up and put her hand on the horse’s forehead and whispered something Star couldn't quite catch. She proceeded to do the same thing to every horse down the line. When she came close enough to Star she heard her whisper, " Show me your magic. " 

Magic? With horses? Star wasn’t sure what to make of it.

Star decided to shake the thought off, they had more important things to do. 

"Okay guys," she whispered to Jake and Varian, "once I count to three we go with the plan."

They both nodded. 

Star whispered, "One, two…three—!" 

Varian was about to throw his pink goop ball, when they were interrupted by two guards bursting in and yelling, "Halt! You two are under arrest!"  

Varian stumbled and dropped the goop ball. The ball exploded with pink goop covering them in pink goop. Star tried to lift her foot off the floor but it was stuck. Varian laid on the floor and as he tried to lift himself up, but the goop glued him back on the floor. Jake got his hand stuck to the goop as well.

Star looked over and it was the same guards that arrested them. 

"Hey!" Star shouted at them. What were they thinking that they were doing? "What are you guys doing? We had this under control!"

They ran towards the siblings but before they could reach them, they drew a circle on the ground around them and light came and they simply disappeared.

"What? Where did they go?" one of the guards furiously looked around the room. 

"You didn’t tell us they were sorcerers!" Star looked at Jake.

"I didn’t know either!” Jake exclaimed. “Actually now that I think about it, that explains a lot…"

"Uh, I think maybe we should discuss this once we are all out of this goop." Varian said while his head was stuck in the floor goop.

"Hey! You two!" Star yelled for the guards. “A little help here?”

The guards looked at each other, they both knew they were in trouble. Both seemed to hesitate, but they grabbed her by the waist and both began to yank her out of the pink goop. They pulled until Star was yanked out of the goop with a force that sent them backwards.

"Thanks," Star said as she got up. 

Star grabbed Varian’s arm and tried to pull him out of the floor goop. 

"Ow, ow, ow!" Varian yelled. “I think you're gonna rip out my face!”

"Oops, sorry," Star quickly stopped pulling.

"Grab the blue vile out of my alchemy belt." Varian said. "That should help get me unstuck." 

"Which one? Is it this one?" Star pointed at a blue vile on his belt. She tried to grab it from his belt but then Varian started laughing uncontrollably.

"Oh, I probably should have mentioned that I'm ticklish."

Star tried grabbing the vile again, but Varian kept squirming and wiggling away from her. 

"Varian!"

"Oh sorry. I promise I'll stay still."

Star grabbed the vile and poured over Varian. The pink goop dissolved. 

"Thank you so much," Varian got up.

"Uh, I could use some of that over here!" Jake waved with his hand that wasn’t stuck.

Star poured the vile and set Jake’s arm free.

"Thanks. m’lady," Jake said. Star wanted to roll her eyes, but she turned her attention to the guards.

"What was that?!" Star asked. 

"It was his idea!" They both said as they pointed at each other.

Star glared at them.

"Okay, okay, fine. It was our idea." The short guard said.

"After unjustly arresting you guys, we felt bad and tried to make it up. We thought we could help you catch the Horse Thief, but it's clear that we made things worse…" the taller guard looked down.

"This is our first week on the job and already we messed up." The other guard said. 

Star felt guilty, they were only trying to help. She knew that they were genuinely trying to make up for what they did.

"How did you guys even know where we were?" Varian asked.

"Followed you," they both said.

Star sighed, "Okay, what’s your guys’ names?"

"I’m Greg," the tall one said.

"And I’m Phil," the short one said.

"Thanks for trying to help us," Jake said, "even if things did get a bit out of hand."

“I’ll say,” Varian said. “What are we going to do now? They’re gone now.”

“Well, at least the deal was getting the horses back,” Jake said. “And not also capturing the thieves.”

“Well, if you guys wanna help out, you can help us bring back the horses back to the castle,” Star said.

“Yes ma’am,” they saluted and they started to gather the horses out of their stables.

M’lady? And now ma’am? I’m younger than them. 

Star went up to Luna, “She didn’t do anything to you? I don’t think she got to you yet…What could they be up to?”

Star got up on Luna and they all headed back to the castle with the horses.

The sun began to set when they got back to the castle. The warm orange light hit the castle. The castle always looked the best at sunset. 

"Hey!" Eugene greeted them. "You're back!"

Eugene looked over and saw the guards, "Ah, so there’s where you guys went."

Greg and Phil looked guilty, "Hey, Captain…"

"I'll deal with you two later. You got them back!"

"Yeah, we found the horses. Unfortunately we couldn't catch the thieves," Star said.

"That's fine. We'll get them soon enough.” Eugene said. "Honestly, I didn't think you'd find them," he murmured.

"Hey!" Jake heard him. "Thanks for having faith in us." Jake said in a sarcastic tone.

"Well, you're off the hook now, kid. You can go home now." 

"Thanks, Captain."

Varian turned to Star and asked, "So we're still going to Demanitus’s tomb, right?"

"Yup." Star replied.

"Demanitus's tomb, eh?" Jake butted in.

Star wanted to shoo him off.

"Yeah," Varian said.

"Um, can I come with you guys? Ya know since my schedule has freed me from being imprisoned." Jake said.

"Well, uh…" Varian looked at me for an answer.

With my eyes, she tried her best to signal no, please, no.

Apparently her eyes were actually saying 'Yes! The more the better!' because Varian said, "Uh, sure. Why not?"

"Cool!" Jake smiled. "Uh, when is it?"

"First thing tomorrow morning."

"Got it. See you guys tomorrow!" And with that he left.

"Varian!" Star turned to Varian.

"What?"

"I thought it was just gonna be us two!" Star paused. She realized what it sounded like. "N-not like that," she flustered. "You know, without him…"

"Why does it bother you so much?"

"Because we barely know him. He tried to steal my horse, remember?"

"Yeah, I do. But he also helped. Also, he seems lonely…"

"Lonely?"

"I mean his so-called 'friends' are pretty suspicious."

"Doesn't take much to see that." Star knew how it feels like to be alone. She remembers a couple of times where instead of playing with the other kids, she would sit under a tree and watch them play. Other times she would bring a book, that way she wouldn't feel so lonely.

"Fine, I just hope this is just a one time thing." Star said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Chapter Text

Early that morning Star met up with Varian. To her disappointment, she saw Jake next to him, talking to him, all happy with a huge smile on his face. Star was too far away to overhear their conversation. Jake said something and Varian laughed. They were becoming pals, more than Star would have liked.

Varian spotted her and waved at her. “Hey, Star! Jake came here super early. He’s pretty excited about the trip.”

“I sure am!” Jake jumped. “I even bought a lot of stuff for our adventure!” Jake pointed to his backpack.

Varian pulled out a map and showed it to his companions, "Here's where we're going." He pointed to an area where there was a red circle.

"So…" Jake said, "how are we getting there?"

"Balloon, of course." Varian replied.

Jake gasped, "A balloon?! You guys have a balloon? That's so awesome! Where is it?"

"Just you wait and see." 

They stood in front of the balloon that is currently being filled with air. 

"Woah!" Jake gasped. "That is epic!" He pointed to the balloon.

"Yeah, well, not to brag but I designed it myself," Varian boasted. 

"You did?!" Jake exclaimed. "I wish I could make something as epic as this. Oh, what does that do?” Jake pointed a lever.

“Uh, don’t touch that!” Varian warned. “If you pull that you might shoot up into the sky.”

Jake smiled nervously and slowly backed away from the lever. 

“Okay, the balloon is ready to go,” Varian said as he climbed into the basket. 

“Alright, balloon time!” Jake followed.

Star wasn’t afraid of balloons, but they do make her uneasy. The idea of floating so high in the sky made her anxiety shoot up. She likes to avoid anything that causes her anxiety. She knew that this was really the only—not to mention the fastest—way to get there. She sucked it up anyways and climbed into the basket. 

Her stomach quickly turned into a knot. Star clenched her stomach.

Star braced herself as the balloon rose off the ground.

"Wee!" Jake screamed. "This is the best thing that has ever happened to me!"

Star sat down in the basket and tried not to think about looking down or how they're high above the ground, for it would probably make her more anxious than she already was. Varian sat beside her and patted her on the back.

"Hey, you're doing great," he said. 

"Yeah…" Star said weakly. Varian stood out and helped her up.

Jacob noticed that Star wasn’t comfortable with balloons. “You're not a fan of balloons, aren’t ya?”

“I am, it’s just that I’m not a fan of the ones in particular where I am in a floating basket high in the sky.” she said as she gripped one of the ropes of the balloon. “Uh, Varian, how long til we get there?” 

“We could get there in less time if we just used the thrusters…” he suggested. Star knew it would be worse if they used the thrusters but they’d get in a shorter amount of time.

“Fine, use the thrusters,” she gulped.

“Okay, hold on tight you guys!" Varian pulled on the controllers and the balloon suddenly began to pick up speed. Star could feel herself trying to pull herself away from rope. Star took a peek at the others 

Jake was leaning against the basket yelling with delight, "Yeah! This is so fun!"

Varian gripping the controller, while continuing to navigate the balloon. His hair blew away from his face. He kept his focus on where they were heading.  

After enduring a couple of minutes, Varian pulled a lever and they stopped at a slower pace. 

Star felt the temperature drop around her. Snowflakes were lightly falling from the sky. 

"We're here," Varian pointed towards the entrance of the tomb.

"Woah! It's way bigger than I thought it would be."

They slowly lowered  and then they halted to a stop once they reached the ground.

They all got out of the balloon. 

"Uh, so what now?" Jake asked as he crossed his arm from the cold. 

"There," Varian pointed to the massive wall with carvings.

They stood there in front of the entrance. Star has forgotten how big it was. 

"Hey, there's something written on here.” Jake pointed to the writing on the wall. “It says, I grow but do not live. I need air but I do not breathe. ” 

"Oh this is easy!" Jake said. "It's fire!” 

“Hm,” Jake stopped for a moment. ”Thought this would be harder."

"I thought the same." Star remarked. 

"Hey,  Demanitus was a busy guy, he probably didn’t have time to make a harder riddle.” Varian defended his idol as he dug through his backpack.

“Well, if he can solve the riddle then I think it should be harder. It’s a miracle this place hasn’t been broken into, in all this time.”

“Hmph,” Varian pulled a device and proceeded to light up the entrance to the device that made fire. The fire began to slowly crawl out, falling the carvings of the entrance. It began to dance faster. The gears of the walls pushed and then the entrance rumbled and opened.

Star looked over, both Varian and Jake were in awe. Jake had his jaw dropped in amazement. Varian smiled widely and his eyes were bright. 

"That will never cease to amaze me!" Varian pointed at the entrance.

"Awesome!" Jake squealed in a high pitch. 

"Yeah, I guess so…" Star remarked. "Come on, let's see what we can find." 

Jake took a look into the corridor. “Oh look! A long dark creepy hall! That’s a good sign for adventure!”

Star looked at Varian, “Is he joking?” She whispered. 

“Uh, I don’t think so. I think we should have that kind of spirit, hehe.” Varian laughed. 

They walked through the corridor and into the area where they found his book. It was filled with green tropical vegetation. 

"Woah!" Jake stopped.

Something hurled at them but it was too fast. Fortunately no one was hit. 

They looked over and saw the monkeys laughing at them.

"Hey, that better be a banana you threw at us!" Star yelled. 

"Monkeys, eh? Looks like Demanitus was a monkey fan." Jake said. 

"Yeah, Rapunzel said that Demanitus was actually a monkey."

"A what?" Jake stepped back.

"Demanitus used a device to switch minds with a monkey," Star explained. "That's how Rapunzel was able to meet him."

"With this device right here," Varian patted at a broken machine proudly.

"Uh, but it's broken." Jake said.

"It wasn't always like that!" A part of the device fell off. "Hehe," Varian laughed nervously as he kicked the part hidden from view. 

"Okay, fine. This thing is broken beyond repair." Varian admitted. 

"Good thing too, I don't want to mind-swap with a monkey." 

"Hey guys, I think I found something here!" Jake called them over.

Star and Varian walked over. Jake was standing next to a lever while holding up a branch to reveal it. 

"We didn't find this last time. Guess we were too busy chasing monkeys and mind swapping with them last time, hehe." Varian said.

"Yeah, don't pull the lever just yet." Star said. "We don't know if it's a trap."

"Oh, um, too late…" Jake nervously smiled. When Star looked down the lever was positioned to the other side. 

Star wanted to scold him for pulling the lever. How would they know if that lever wasn't a trap? Demanitus isn't a stranger to putting traps to prevent trespassers from stealing. Especially with what Rapunzel and Eugene have told her from the Maze.

Star could feel the ground underneath starting to shake. She looked behind her and the far wall was beginning to open, split right through the middle.

"Woah," Jake said as they walked towards the entrance. "Another creepy corridor. Cool." 

"Since you pulled the lever, I think you should go first," Star gestured to him to enter.

Jake looked into the corridor and gulped, "Uh…yeah, sure! No problem!" Star sensed that he actually tried to be confident for once. Up until now, Jake has been pretty confident effortlessly. Sometimes Star doubted his bright personality. No one can be that bright, but knowing Rapunzel, she knew that Jake could potentially equal Rapunzel’s personality. 

Jake fiddled a bit before entering the corridor. Star and Varian closely followed him. As they walked further into the corridor, the light from the outside faded. Jake stopped. 

"What's wrong?" Star asked.

Jake looked at her and looked at Varian. 

Suddenly, he grabbed her hand. Star out of panic, pulled away. "What are you doing?"

"Sorry, I'm just a bit afraid. It would make me feel better if we all held hands before entering into darkness." Jake looked at them worriedly. 

"Actually, that's not a bad idea." Varian said. "We wouldn't be separated from each other." Jake offered his hand and Varian took it without a second thought.

Jake held his hand out to Star. 

She hesitated.

Both Varian and Jake glanced at Star. 

Star sighed and she grabbed Jake's hand.

Varian pulled out his lighting device. He gulped and said "Okay, here we go."

Star took a deep breath and began cautiously walking forward. 

Looking at the walls, Star noticed it was covered in spiderwebs and small cracks. Green moss covered in between the cracks. 

They walked for about twenty minutes till they reached a wall with nothing on it other than a small hole in an odd shape. 

"Oh great there's nothing here! We just wasted hours of our lives." Star said in a perturb tone, Star turned around and began walking back to the exit. 

“Wait a second, Star!” Varian stopped her. 

Star sighed and turned back. 

Varian studied the door closely. 

“There has to be something here.” Varian said while moving his fingers across the door looking for a clue, “Perhaps, there’s a code hidden in here.”

“Or maybe a riddle we have to solve.” Star added. They began quickly to search the area for anything that resembled a clue. Jake looked but he stopped at the strange hole in the wall. He looked at it curiously. 

"You know…" Jake began, "Maybe this hole here is like some sort of keyhole?" 

"A keyhole?" Star walked over to the keyhole. 

"Yeah, it could be but what kind of key would it have that shape?” Varian asked.

Jake thought for a moment, “Hey, Star, your necklace?”

Star was immediately defensive, “My necklace? Why?”

“I think it might be the key,” he said. 

“Pfft, no way,” Star scoffed. “It's probably another riddle, right Varian?”

“Huh? Oh, um...” Varian was clearly not prepared to be in the discussion. “I’m not sure. It could be, but...”

Star knew Jake could be right, but she didn’t want to admit that or risk losing her necklace. 

Star inhaled sharply, “Fine, I’ll do it.”

Jake and Varian took a step back. Star looked into the keyhole. Star did admit that it was in an odd shape, the same pointy shape as her necklace. She took off her necklace and placed it carefully in the keyhole. It fit perfectly, Star waited for a second but nothing happened.

“See?” Star said confidently. “Nothing–!“

The ground around them began to shake.

They looked behind them and the necklace was glowing brightly. A stream of light came out and began to dance on the wall, forming strange shapes…almost like constellations in the night sky. Star took a step back as she saw the wall opened up.

"Woah," Varian gasped.

"You two overthink a lot," Jake smirked.

Star didn’t want to admit it but he wasn’t wrong. She did get into her head a lot of times. Often with scenarios that most likely never will happen. Or the worst scenarios with this worst possible outcome…

Star put on her necklace. 

“Come on, you two!” Jake yelled as he ran off towards the darkness.

Star and Varian, once again exchanged looks and went after him. 

“You shouldn’t do that!” Star said catching up to Jake. “You know, running into dark rooms.”

“It’s really dark in here,” Varian as squinted, 

“Starlight!” Star yelled and with a flash her armor appeared and her sword came into her hand. Star has gotten pretty good with summoning her armor. She didn’t have to say the entire incantation to summon it. Sometimes she does it only for the coolness factor. 

“Wow!” Jake looked at her sword glowing in the darkness.

“Take a step back from Starlight!” Star warned. 

Jake blinked, “Is it that sharp?”

Star paused, She never thought about it. She never actually attacked a person with the intention to hurt them with Starlight. She really only used it to defend herself—or more probable—to threaten someone. She never actually used Starlight to harm anyone, except for Zhan Tiri, who kept using the healing incantation to heal and grew tentacles back faster than Star could weaken her.

Star shuddered remembering that. 

“Not sure, but I don’t think you want to find out,” she said. “Can’t see anything. I’m not sure if there’s something even in here.” 

Then out of the darkness small lights began to appear one by one like stars in a night sky. Then, in the distance, Star could see a bright light begin to glow brighter and brighter.

"You guys seeing that?" Star pointed.

"Yeah…" they both said.

They all cautiously walked towards the bright light. The light seemed to get closer to them.

Star's heart began to pound rapidly. 

"You guys two, stay behind me." Star gestured to them to get behind her. 

Jake and Varian didn't hesitate and got behind her. 

The light looked like an orb. It came swooping towards them. Star, instinctively, swung at the orb. 

The orb went right through her sword and floated upward and dived down again. Another orb came flying. Star saw the swarm of them, attacking them. Star kept swinging at them, 

One of them went right through her. 

“Ah!” she screamed not because it hurt, but because it was shockingly cold. 

Then they all just stopped…

Star observed a bright orb in the distance.

The light came closer and closer. 

“STAR!”

Star yelped and swung her sword towards the light. She was already on high alert.

To her surprise, Starlight hit something, 

Star opened her eyes to the light that had formed into a human shape. She squinted closer and recognized the face. 

“S-Stella?” Star said.

Stella slowly lowered her sword, “Yes, it is I. Sorry for scaring you like that but you did swing at me first.” 

Stella was like a ghost. A sparkly ghost. 

“Ah, sorry.” Star lowered Starlight. “It’s okay guys, She’s not going to hurt us.”
Star looked behind her to find Jake and Varian hugging each other tightly.

“A-are you sure?” Jake was clearly shaken up, and hesitant to let go of Varian. 

“Yeah, pretty sure,” Star said. 

They let each other go. Jake slowly approached Stella.

He quickly poked Stella. "Huh, went right through," Jake said. Then he kept on poking her. "Haha!"

"Stop that!" Stella snapped. 

"Oops, sorry, I just got carried away."

“Is this your team you’ve decided to assemble for yourself?” Stella asked Star. 

“Huh? Uh, no...still working on that," Star said. “It’s still a work in progress,” 

Star remembered the nightmares. The ones where Stella warned her about something coming. 

“Stella,” Star’s voice changed into a more serious tone. “You remember that the last time we talked, that there’s something coming, but you never said what.” 

Stella, her face stern as ever. She inhaled deeply, “In all honesty, I’m not sure what it is. But I feel it…”

“So wait, you’re not even sure what’s coming? So, what’s the point of all this? I’ve not had a good night's sleep in months! After Zhan Tiri, I just want to rest.” Star said exasperated and sat down on the floor.

“Trust me, I understand, better than anyone.” Stella's voice softened. "The burden we carry is great but I want you to be prepared for it. I asked Daminitus to have this place built for us, the welders of the gem, and only for us ." Stella glared at Jake and Varian.

In response, they acted as if they weren't listening. 

She looked back at Star, “I hope you understand.”

“I do...” Star said softly. “I just hoped it was all over…" 

Varian and Jake approached her and sat right next to her.

Burying her face, she mumbled, "I don't how I can do this again."

"You will, I know you can," Stella put her hand gently on her face. Although she felt her hand right through her face, she sensed her warmth. "If it wasn’t the case, the necklace you haven’t chosen you."

Star wasn’t exactly convinced, but she gave a weak smile in response.

"She's right," Varian said.

Jake nodded in agreement. "Uh, I haven't met you very long, but from what I've heard and seen, you can take on anything!" 

Star never knew how to take compliments, so her cheeks flushed red. She tried to make it not so obvious.

"Hey, Stella, how did you get in here?" Star asked.

Stella sighed, "To be frank, I'm not quite sure. I remember everything up to a certain point. I remember discussing with Demanitus about constructing a building only accessible to the person wielding the gem to ensure our secrets do not fall into the wrong hands. The more I try to remember the further my memories feel. I know something happened but I can't remember."

Star could hear her frustration. "It's fine, soon you'll regain your memories." 

Star looked around, she hadn’t realized that the place had lit up.

"Woah," she said as she looked in amazement. 

It was still relatively dark, but it was still light enough that she didn't have to squint her eyes to see. Star looked up and saw a high ceiling filled with a cloudy night sky. Stars and constellations as far as the eye can see. She couldn't tell how big this place was. There was fog that prevented Star from taking a guess of the size of this place. Pillars stretched to the ceiling. Taking a closer look, the stars and constellations were also on the pillars, as if the material that was used to build was already decorated into it. 

The night sky didn't look like it was painted on, rather, more likely, it was infused into the pillars and ceiling. It looked like it was...alive.

"This place...is so magical…" Star said. "I've never seen anything like this before. And that's saying a lot with the places I've been to." 

She has been to a lot of strange places: Matthews' House of Yesterday’s Tomorrow, the Lost Realm, and other strange magical places, but never like this. 

"Impressive, isn't it?" Stella said. "You and I are gonna spend quite a bit of time here for your training."

"Training?" Star blinked. 

"Yes, training."

"What? Why training now? You know it could’ve been useful three years ago!" Star made sure Stella heard that she was perturbed. 

"Yes, it would. But you did quite well without my help."

"Yeah, only because Cassandra and Eugene helped me out. I've never even held a sword before I came across the gem."

"Alright, enough excuses." Stella held out her hand and Starlight appeared in her hand. Star looked over at her own hand, thinking Stella might’ve taken it out of her hand, but it was still in her grasp. Getting a closer look, she saw that Starlight was just as transparent and glittery as Stella was. "Let's see what you've got."

"Oh, uh, okay," Star said without confidence. She knew that Stella had been the Star Knight longer than her. She was also legendary from the few tales she heard. Soon she’ll find out to what degree all of that was true. 

Star’s sweaty hands gripped the hilt of Starlight tightly. Stella immediately went into the starting position. Clearly, she knew what she was doing. 

Star wasn't sure to attack or defend. She went with her gut and charge at Stella. 

Without hesitating, Stella blocked her attack. Quickly, Stella retaliated. Star managed to block it by summoning her light shield. But Stella attacked again; barely giving Star a second to react. 

Star had no idea she was this fast.

Another attack. Block. Another one. Block.

Star fell into a pattern she knew all too well. Just defend and make sure you don't get hurt. 

Star started to feel her body ache. She slipped for one second but it was enough for her to lose her balance and trip to the ground.

"Ah!" Star yelled as she hit the floor. 

Star met the end of Stella's sword. "Okay, you win. You've made your point clearly…and very sharply…" referring to the swords' pointy end. 

Star laid on the floor, trying to catch her breath. 

Stella lowered Starlight and extended her hand and pulled Star to her feet. "In all honesty, you did far better than I thought you would." 

Star doubted that. "Yeah, sure."

"I know you haven't seen it yet, but soon you will." Stella said. "Alright then, training will be twice a week here.”

“Training? Twice…a week?” Star said between breaths. “But, I already have training with Eugene. Daily.”

“No excuses, Star. I’ve been quite generous with training.”

“Ugh, fine! Didn’t know there was homework with being the Star Knight…” Star grumbled. 

“Of course, there is much to learn. I’ll teach you everything I know. I’ll be here whenever you need advice.”

“Oh, um…” Star was surprised with how eager Stella wanted to help her out. For the first two years—for the most part—she had to figure it out all by herself, so someone having actual first hand knowledge of what she was supposed to do was a first. And something that she won’t pass by. “That’s really nice of you. I really appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome, Star,” Stella smiled softly. Star smiled in return. She connected with Stella in a way she hadn’t had with anyone. “Well, then…I’ll see you at our—”

Rumble!

Star felt the ground shake around her. Judging by the look on the others, they felt it too. 

“What?” Stella mumbled under her breath.

“Uh, do you happen to know what’s going on, ghost lady?” Jake asked.

“No, and please do not call me that ever again,” Stella said sternly.

“Sorry.”

Star could sense that she was worried. 

Seemingly, Stella read her mind. “Not sure what it could be. I asked Demanitus not to put any extravagant traps or security. I specially asked him to make entry accessible as simple: either you have the Star gem or you don’t.”

“Well, not entirely sure if you know this but…this place is under the tomb of Demanitus,” Star said.

“And from what we’ve seen it also served as his lair for his last several years before he…” Varian knew that Demanitus ‘died’ per se, 

“Died?” Stella tried to finish the sentence. 

“No…he did, however, switch brains with a monkey,” Varian said awkwardly.

“Ah, of course,” she said, as if it were commonly done by everyone, “Not surprising. He’s always been quite fond of primates.”

Star, Varian and Jake ran towards the entrance in which they entered. 

Peering through the darkness, Star could see two red dots resembling eyes.

“Um, are you guys seeing what I’m seeing?” Star asked frantically. 

“Uh-huh,” they both nodded, confirming what Star was seeing.

They felt footsteps as it came closer, the ground shook with every step.  

Soon Star could make out its shape through the shadows. It was massive, human shaped. As it got closer, Star could see it was a warrior statue with red eyes. It was made out of stone. It was worn, with cracks and moss covering it. It reminded Star of the statue that Rapunzel had told her when she and Eugene went into Demanitus’ Maze to find the final piece of the scroll. 

“Uh, I think we should running for our lives now,” Jake began to back up, Varian followed. 

"Ugh," Stella rolled her eyes, to Star's surprise. "Absolutely hated how Demanitus gives life to those things." She said it in such a way that it was simply an annoying habit he had. 

“Oh he tends to do this?” Star asked. 

“Yes, quite too often. This should be no problem for you, Star.”

“Wait, what? There is no way I’m fighting that thing!”

“It would be nice if someone just get rid of it anytime now,” Varian said. 

“I’ll show you how easy it is.” Stella said.

Stella closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She opened her eyes and they were glowing white.

She charged to the statue with the sword and with one swing, she slashed the statue into two. Half of the statue slid off right of its body. 

“Holy horse turds,” Star said in awe. 

Stella turned around. The glare she gave them sent a chill through their spine. Star now knew how she looked when was in that form. It frightened her how that was how everyone else viewed her. She can’t control herself well in the form yet. 

Stella closed her eyes again. Her eyes returned to normal upon opening her eyes. 

“Wow, that’s amazing!” Jake yelled. 

“I-I…” Star was still in shock.

“Don’t fret, soon you will be able to control it, with training.” Stella patted Star. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll see you in training.” Star said. “I think it’s time for us to go.”

“Be well, everyone.” Stella departed. 

Jake and Varian waved goodbye. Star weakly waved goodbye. She wasn’t as excited as she thought she would be. It was a lot to take in. Watching Stella jump into action like that made Star realize that she wasn’t working hard enough to be that good. Stella had no one. She was the first. She had to figure it out all by herself, and she controlled the second form effortlessly. Star was always afraid of the second form. The time she used it against Cassandra when she took over the kingdom, she was lucky that it went smoothly as it did. 

They walked backed towards the entrance to the tomb, with Star still lost in thought, she didn’t realize that Jake was calling her, 

“Star!” Star heard Jake her. 

“Hey you okay. Star?” Jake asked.

“Uh, yeah. Sorry,” Star realized that they were climbing back into the balloon. 

“I was asking you guys something.”

“Oh, what is it?”

"I wanna invite you guys to my birthday party!"

"Birthday party?" Star blinked.

"Yeah, since we're friends now—bonded by our near death experience—I want you to come! I'm gonna turn eighteen! I will become a fully fledged adult."

"Uh, sure,” Varian said.

Star nudged him, “Ow, what? It’s a party! Oh, don’t tell me you don’t like parties either.”

“You need to stop accepting invites on my behalf. And I do like parties, just not particularly large and fancy ones, but yes I’ll go.”

“Great! I’ll mark you down…but it is going to be big and fancy. My dad is planning it so…”

“It’s okay, we’re still going,” Star assured. 

“And…there’s a dress code too,” Jake added nervously.

But before Star could say anything, the balloon lifted off the ground and threw them off balance.

Star sighed, she was already committed to it. There’s no turning back now. She knew that it was going to be a long way back home.

Chapter Text

Star waited in front of the gated door of Jake’s home. 

Star was starting to have second thoughts about attending Jake’s birthday party. She couldn't believe she had to wear a dress. Star hated wearing dresses. Mostly because they're inconvenient. She started learning horseback riding when she was about six and horseback riding with a dress is not a good idea. 

Star also found them uncomfortable since she didn't wear dresses. She always ended up tugging on it. So, Star simply refuses any formal parties as a resolution to her dress problem. 

Star only accepted Jake's invite since she felt like she needed to return the favor for helping her—or more accurately—trying to help her.

It was not too long after the sunset, so she was able to see that Jake's home was pretty big. A lot bigger than her own home and most houses in Corona. A mansion, of course, it was. This kid is probably filthy rich. She should have known from the way his dad dressed and talked. 

Upon further inspection, she realized the house was old, it had old-style windows and door frames. Through the gate, she could see the porch was flowering–quite literally–with green plants and colorful, exotic flowers that probably weren’t native to Corona. The garden was ordered neatly, well kept, and arranged precisely with the flowers and shrubbery. 

"Hey," she heard a voice behind her call.

Varian stood there. His hair was slicked back with his goggles. He wore a formal suit.

Star tried to hold her laughter in but Varian caught on.

"What’s funny?" he asked.

"Oh, um, I just never seen you so...formally dressed." 

"Could say the same to you," he pointed to her pink dress. "I could never imagine you in a dress. A pink dress, nonetheless."

"Yeah, I tend to avoid formal parties to avoid wearing dresses." Star kept tugging her dress. It feels like she's wearing the wrong size dress, but her mother made sure it fits. Her mother is one of the Queen’s handmaidens and one of her responsibilities is to sow dresses. 

A person approached them and opened the gate. Star guessed he was an employee judging by his uniform resembling the ones that service workers would wear back at the castle.

"Are you friends of Jacob?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm Star and this is Varian,” Star introduced.

“Yes, Jacob mentioned you two.” 

“He did?” Star was a bit surprised. She thought he'd be more interested in talking more about his ‘friends’.

“Yes, he’s quite excited to see you. But please, come in,” he gestured toward the entrance of Jake's home. 

Star and Varian exchanged glances and they followed the employee to the door.

The employee held the entrance door for them, Star looked inside and saw how many people were standing there. To her surprise, there are more adults than she was expecting. She felt her stomach turn into a knot. 

"Hey!" Jake popped in suddenly.

"Ahh!" Star and Varian stepped back. 

"Oh, sorry for scaring you. I’ll handle it from here, Wilfred," Jake told the employee whom she guessed was Wilfred. Star observed that he was wearing expensive clothes. She recognized the fabric as the ones her mother would use to fix the clothes of the King. 

“Come on in!” Jake invited them. 

Star and Varian entered his home.

“Um, you guys go ahead and go over there,” Jake guided them in a direction. “I got to do something for my dad. But I will only be gone for a sec!” And he left Star and Varian. 

Entering the ballroom she was even more surprised. From the high ceiling were hanging crystal chandeliers. The furniture seemed just as expensive, or even more than the one in the castle. The floor was so shiny that you could see your reflection like a mirror. There were tables with mouthwatering food. A live orchestra, playing classical music. 

Every adult in the room was dressed in their best outfits. The women wore the biggest, poofiest dresses, The men work jackets with silks and fabrics Star has never seen before. Some of them had a glass in their hand while they laughed in a conversation. at

Star looked around. Where are the other kids? Everyone here is an adult.

Varian tilted his head in the direction. Star could see that there were teenagers at the party, they were all in a corner of the massive room. All were well dressed as the adults. They didn’t seem too thrilled to be there. They were probably dragged to be here by their parents. 

Some of them leaned against the wall. Others were looking at the floor or the ceiling. One of them was making weird noises out of his mouth. Some just had a simple conversation with each other. One girl caught her gaze and went back to conversing with her friends and giggled along with her friends.

Star wasn’t sure if that giggle was directed to her. 

“Sorry, about that,” Jake said as he came back. “My dad wanted me to greet some clients of his. But now let me introduce you to my friends. Hey everyone!” Everyone turned in their direction. 

“This is Star and this is Varian!” Jake said proudly. 

Star and Varian waved awkwardly at his friends.

A few of them whispered into each other's other ear or mumbled something too low for Star to hear. Her mind raced with thoughts of what they were thinking.

The girl that giggled earlier was the first to stand up and say something. “Hello, Star, Varian. You're the new friends of Jacob aren’t you?” She had a soft tone but at the same time, her voice was almost squeaky. 

The girl was a brunette, with ashy brown hair. She had olive green eyes and wore a beautifully embroidered green dress that matched her eyes. 

“Y-yeah,” Star responded. 

“I’m Alisha Wilkins,” she said proudly, almost like a brag, but with her soft-spoken, squeaky tone, Star couldn’t tell. It was almost like she wanted sympathy from her. “But you can me Lisha.” She gave them a little smirk.  

"Uh, why did you call him Jacob?" Varian asked. 

"Well, only the people he's closest to call him that," Lisha answered, smirking with pride.

Lisha stepped next to Jake and grabbed his arm. “Jacob and I have been friends since we were young, My father is a long-time partner of his. So, how do you know him?”

“Uh…he tried to steal my horse…” Star blurted. 

“Ah, yes of course.” She turned her attention to Jake, “Jake, I have something I need to talk to you about, come.” She walked Jake away from them, which was fine with Star. She didn’t exactly find her the most pleasant company. 

Star sighed in relief. "Glad she's gone. Everyone around here is so…‘uppity’." 

"Jake seems pretty nice. He didn't have to invite us, you know."

"Yeah, Jake's nice, but you've never worked at the castle. You've lived in Old Corona your whole life. You don't get to meet the type of people that my parents had to serve when they came visiting for political reasons. Some are nice, others aren't. The worst ones are the ones that put up a facade in front of others but when they're alone with service workers, that mask drops." 

Yeah, she’d been around them, but she never had to engage with them beyond offering their services. There is a difference between working for and trying to hold a conversation with them.

Star noticed that she was probably going too far with this conversation. She was probably making anyone with money the worst person imaginable. She decided to stop herself. 

"Sorry, I'm probably making it sound worse than it is. It’s only happened twice, but I hate people that don’t respect service workers,” Star realized she was clenching her teeth way too hard. She took a deep breath and relaxed her jaw. Her heart was already beginning to race. 

"I digress, but my point is I don't like the people here. We don't fit, Varian. I feel so out of place. I just don't want to be here." Star spotted an empty balcony.

Oh thank goodness, she thought. 

She felt that she couldn't breathe, alongside the feeling of being an outsider, she felt constricted, like her lungs weren’t getting enough air, in part due to her anxiety. Being in an environment where there are so many people didn’t help either. 

Star knew she shouldn’t have come. For one, she didn’t like to be around people; being around big events like this simply drained her. Especially for people from such a high class. She knew that the royal family was part of the circle, but they’ve treated her and her family as, well, family, especially Rapunzel. 

As she took in the crisp, cool night air, Varian stood beside her. Star looked up at the starry night sky. There was a full moon, with little to no clouds. She looked at the tops of trees, and with the moonlight, she was able to discern the shape of the treetops, that’s how strong the moon’s light was. The moonlight reflected off the sea in the distance.  It was calm and peaceful. Only the soft noises of crickets and cicadas were audible in the distance. 

“You know, you didn't have to come with me,” Star said to Varian.

Varian smiled, “Eh, I’m used to it.” He leaned forward to put his arms on the railing. Star followed. “We’re kind of stuck with each other now.” 

Star paused for a moment, after hearing him saying that.

“The two of us against the world?” Star found herself muttering out without thinking.

She looked at Varian to see his reaction. He probably was thinking how corny she sounded, and to be fair, she thought so too. But, to her surprise, he nodded and smiled softly at her, as the wind blew his hair. Star never realized how blue his eyes were, with the full moon above them, his eyes shone brightly.

“I, uh…I’m a little thirsty,” Star said awkwardly after abruptly breaking their eye contact. “Can you get me something to drink?”

“Yes, I can do that,” Varian said and he went back inside.

Star exhaled. What was that all about? She’s always been comfortable around him, why this now?

“That’s cute,” Star heard a voice interrupt her train of thought.

She turned around to find the girl with black hair and electric blue eyes from the stables standing there. She wore a long elegant black dress, it wasn't as decorative as the other girls had it was simple, but she was able to look far better than most of the people here with less expensive and decorated clothes. She smirked at her.

“You!” Star’s defense went up. She was ready to pull out her sword but she hesitated because it was Jake’s birthday party and she didn’t want to ruin his party by pulling out a magical sword and threatening one of his guests. 

“Yes, it is me from the horse stables. Don’t worry, I’m not here to fight.”

“You know, I could have you arrested right here, right now, if I wanted.“

"Sure," she was not alarmed at all.

"What do you want?"

"Just wanted to properly introduce myself," she walked next to her on the balcony railing. "Zoe. Zoe Malchance. My brother, Nathan, should be around here somewhere."

"Star," she said, still on guard. She didn’t want Zoe to feel too comfortable with her.

"So...which one is your boyfriend? The dorky one with goggles or Jake?"

Star almost choked on her spit. "What?! W-what are you talking about?! I don’t have a boyfriend!" Star blurted out quickly. She felt her temperature rising. 

"Woah, geez. I was just kidding," Zoe leaned back on the railing. "I was just poking fun."

"Hmph. I don't think that's fun."

Zoe snickered.  “Hey, I noticed you don’t like Wilkins that much. I could see you fuming from a mile away.”

“Oh! No! I—” Star wanted to explain herself but Zoe cut her off. 

“It’s okay. Any enemy of that shallow tyrant is a friend of mine,” Zoe said as she observed her black-painted fingernails. 

Star was a little taken aback by not only how harsh her words were, but also how forward she was. 

“Everyone here follows her like a puppy. Mostly because she comes from a long line of rich heirs, old money,” Zoe scoffed.  

"Hey, Zo! Who are you talking to?" A guy with black hair appeared gleefully. Her brother, Nathan, most likely. She recognized him with the same blue eyes and dark hair. Unlike the other invites, his suit was simple. Nothing fancy like everyone else. He held a plate of dessert in his hand. 

"I'm Star," she groaned. The reason she came here is to get away from people, not to attract them.

"Nice to finally get your name. I'm Nathan, but you call me Nate," he winked. 

"I'm surprised you two are here,” Star said. “After what you made Jake do. He still invited you."

"You would be surprised at how quite forgiving he is," Zoe said.

"Yeah," Nate ate a bite of his dessert. "He's pretty cool that way. He's like the nicest person we've ever met."

Star watched as Nate gobbled down his cake. "So, how do you know him?" Star had the feeling that they weren't from the well-respected and highly regarded part of the social upper class she was familiar with.

Nate looked at his sister, almost looking for approval. She gave a slight nod.

"Our dad owns a small shop outside the walls of Corona. We sell potions and other small varieties of magical things. Mr. Goldfield owns the building. He takes a small percentage of the cut. He takes care of stuff like building repairs. Aw man, you should have seen the shop when the black rocks were there. There were so many holes poking through our shop, it looked like swiss cheese!" 

"If your dad owns a shop, what were you going to do with the horses?" Star was still curious about that. Something didn't sit right with her. It didn’t seem like they were going to hurt them…

Nate again looked at his sister. She simply gave him a subtle head shake. 

"Sorry, can't tell you," and he continued to eat. 

Why did Nate need to ask his sister for permission? 

“Hm, you know what? I like you,” Nate said.

"Wish I could say the same for you," Star mumbled under her breath.

"Wow, you're honest! I like that!" 

“Here you go,” Star turned around and found Varian handing her a drink. He seemed a bit out of it; like something upset him. 

“Are you okay?” she asked concernedly. 

“Yeah, I was just thinking about something Jake said…” 

I knew I couldn't trust him, Star thought.  “What did he say?” 

“He asked about you,” he said softly.

“Huh? What did he want to know about me?”

“He asked, um—you know what? It wasn’t that important,” he lied. 

Star wanted to know but she didn't want to push him. If it was that important he would've said it, right? At least Star hoped would have learned his lesson after the whole Zhan Tiri thing. 

"Hey, guys!" Jake appeared, gleeful as ever. "Oh, I see you've met the Malchance siblings." 

"Yep," Star replied without the same enthusiasm. 

"Hey, um, Star," Jake's voice changed dramatically from that upbeat tone. "I want to say I'm sorry for stealing your horse. I realized that I never really apologized for it."

Star was surprised by his honesty. She didn't know how to respond. 

"Yeah, Don't blame the man, he was just helping a fellow bro out," Nate said, trying hard to be cool. "Which I appreciate, Jake."

Jake just winked at him. 

Star suppressed her urge to facepalm right then and there. She wasn’t amused. 

Lisha approached with her posy of rich friends, which included Jake. 

“Hey, there, again,” she said. Star could see that Lisha knew that the Malchance siblings were talking to her. “So…you’ve met the Malchances.”

"I would keep my distance if I were you." One of Lisha's friends said. "Especially with Nate…"

Star looked over at Nate, she can tell that it irritated him but he didn't do anything more than that. 

“Oh, I forgot to mention Star is the Star Knight and Varian is the Royal Engineer.” 

Star wished he hadn’t mentioned that she was the Star Knight. She didn’t need any more attention than she was used to, which is usually none and that’s how she likes to keep it that way.

Star observed the reaction of his friends. Some of them look at her in awe, almost like they couldn't believe it. She saw some of the girls whispering once again to each other. 

A person stepped up and smiled at her. "Wow! That's incredible! So does that mean you know the Queen?" 

Star looked at Varian and nodded at her. 

"Wow," she gasped in awe. "That must be so fun to hang out with her?"

“Yeah, it kind of is.” Star was unsure of what to say. 

"Why are your teeth like that?" The girl asked coldly while pointing to Star's teeth, her tooth gap.

Star's smile quickly disappeared. She covered her mouth. "Uh, I don’t know? Because it is." Star said weakly. 

Star had always been self-conscious about her teeth gap. She refused to smile or laugh around people she didn't know for the exact reason. 

“Stephanie, stop asking questions like that!” Lisha scorned her friend. “It’s very insulting to people who aren’t as fortunate as we are.”

Star could tell that Lisha tried to ‘cover’ her insult, in a weird roundabout way to defend Star. In reality, Star suspected Alisha knew that as well. 

“Thank goodness, if we did, we would all be as shallow as you,” Zoe said, 

“Hey, Star, I want to show you something,” Jake interrupted. 

Star wasn’t sure whether to go with him or not. She’s only known him for a couple of days. 

“Yeah,” she said hesitantly.  

Varian seemed to catch on to what Star was thinking.

"I'll come with you guys!" Varian started to follow them.

To Star's surprise, Jake didn't even protest. "Yeah, that's cool." 

Jake took them to the back door, he opened it and gestured to them to go ahead. 

Star walked out first. She looked at the backyard garden. It was too much to take in all at once. Star didn’t think that the front yard could look tiny in comparison to the backyard garden. It was a couple of miles long. There was a fountain right in the middle. An entire hedge maze fat in the back. Rose bushes and hedges were carefully placed around. Tulips, lilies, and even chrysanthemums.

“Woah, your garden is…amazing!” Star said in amazement.

“Thanks, but the gardeners and landscapers deserve all the credit for that,” Jake said. "Star, I noticed how uncomfortable you were with all those people around. Thought you needed some fresh air."

"Yeah," Star said shyly. She didn't want to admit he was right. 

Jake began to walk the length of the garden with Varian and Star shortly following him. They eventually stopped at a green patch of grass. 

Jake plopped down and lay on the grass, looking at the sky. Star and Varian lay next to him as well. 

“I like looking at the stars,” Jake said. “Stars are always pretty.”

Star looked up at the sky, she agreed. The clear night sky had a way of calming her. Maybe it’s because her name is Star and there is this connection to the night sky she’d always had. 

“Oh, hold on,” Star said. “We didn’t even say happy birthday to you, Jake! Happy birthday.”

“You’re right, Star,” Varian realized it too. “Happy birthday, Jake.”

“Thanks, guys,” Jake said, still staring at the stars. 

“So…how’s it feel to be eighteen?” Star asked. 

“Honestly, not that different. I tried drinking wine today, though. Not that good. I spat it out immediately. I thought it would be more like grape juice.”

They all laughed. 

"Actually,” Star interrupted the moment, “now that I think about it, we don't know a whole lot about you. Especially when we told you our whole life story back in the cell!" 

"Oh," Jake laughed nervously. "Yeah. Guess that isn't fair. Okay, where to start. I was born in Corona. My mother was gone when I was pretty young. I only remember fragments of her here and there. So for a while, it's been me and my dad..." He trailed off at the end.

Star looked over at him. He looked lost in thought. 

She felt bad. It felt like she accidentally hit a nerve. A painful memory to remember. "Uh, sorry for asking, I didn’t mean—"

"No, it’s alright," he said. 

Jake inhaled sharply. "One of the most vivid memories I have of her is when she told me that I was her ray of sunshine. That no matter how gray the day was, I would brighten up her day. That's why I dedicate myself to trying to cheer people up. It's the one way I still feel connected to her…"

There was a long silence between them. 

“I know how that feels,” Varian finally broke the silence. “I lost my mother when I was young too.”

Star felt out of place in this conversation. Star has both her parents, thankfully. She has never really lost anyone dear to her. She never felt the true pain of grief—which only made it harder when the time came. So, she feels guilty simply just being in this conversation, like what can she even say? 

She heard him sigh, “I wanted to apologize on behalf of Alisha and her friends. I know what they said wasn’t cool. My dad always says that client relationships are important even if it is just with their families.”

“Jacob!” They heard a faint voice call.

Jake got up and looked in the direction of the voice. “Oh, right, Gee, I almost forgot! There’s going to be a HUGE light show!” He jumped up. 

“Oh, so like fireworks?” Varian asked. 

“Mmm…not exactly,” Jake said. “Come on! You don’t want to miss this!” 

Jake ran back to his home. Varian and Star quickly followed him. 

Star saw that everyone was gathered at the porch of the mansion. 

“Jake, you ready?” Zoe asked. 

“I sure am!”

Zoe motioned everyone to take a step back, everyone backed up.

Then, Zoe stood completely still in a pose. Her arms were crossed across her chest with two fingers she held up on each hand. What a strange position, Star thought. 

Everyone held their breath, anxiously waiting for something to happen. Star observed Zoe, she was calm and didn’t even twitch. She had complete control. 

Electric blue sparks began to jump from Zoe’s fingers. Zoe opened her eyes and the sparks began to fly, bigger, brighter. Zoe slowly began moving her arms. The electric magic was following her motion. She began to charge up with more magic. Star watched as the magic danced between her hands, following her every move. 

Abruptly, the magic condenses into Zoe’s hands. Zoe then threw the magic in the air, it looked like glowing spheres. The spheres exploded with a bright flash and small lights slowly fell from the sky like golden snow.

“Woah…” Everyone was admiring the beautiful lights. 

"I think alchemy can do it better," Varian whispered to Star. 

Everyone began to gather around her, showering her with compliments. 

“Wow, how do you do that?” A boy asked. 

“Zoe, it was perfect as always!” Jake said.

“Zoe, you rock! You should do that at my birthday party!” a girl squealed. 

“Brava, Zoe!” Mr. Goldfield applauded her. “Remarkable! Silverious, your daughter is a prodigy!”

“Thank you,” the man next to him said. “Indeed, she is quite a sorceress, my pride.”

Star looked at the man curiously, he looked relatively young, not much older than her parents, but his gray hairs would say otherwise. He is certainly Zoe’s and Nate’s father, with the same dark hair and electric blue eyes. 

“Hmph.”

Star turned around to see that Nate was behind them. Star could sense his jealousy.

“Hey, dad!” Nate called out. “Watch this, everyone!”

Nate began to produce sparks from his hands. He tried to mimic the same movement Zoe did. The sparks quickly began brighter, much quicker than Zoe’s performance. 

His father looked in fear, “Nathan! Stop this at once!” 

The wind began to pick up. The light started to become blinding. Everyone starts to panic and back away from Nate. 

“Oh no,” Star knew this was her cue. “Starlight, star bright!”

Star had on her armor and Starlight in her hand. “Everyone behind me!” 

Everyone began to run behind her. Star commanded Starlight to disappear and instead, she commanded her light shields to appear, one on each arm. She merged them to form a massive single shield. 

“Nate! You gotta stop!” Star begged. 

“I’m trying! I’m trying! I am!” he exclaimed. 

With a big flash, an explosion came. Star’s vision was blinded by the light, she closed her eyes. Her ears were ringing. Then, everything was still.

Her vision slowly came back. As fast as the light came, it went away leaving only light orbs scattered across the ground. It left a mess. Everyone had their hair ruined with leaves and dirt. People helped others off the ground from being blown away. Their expensive suits and dresses are covered in muck and grime. Flowers bare naked, petals stripped away. The Fountain has half of its water, the other half soaked in the ground. They groaned and cried, but no one was hurt. 

Star eyed Alisha, she was spitting out leaves that entered her mouth. “Ugh! This is disgusting!” 

Star smirked. She couldn’t lie, it gave her satisfaction seeing her like this. 

Both Varian and Jake were fine. Their hair was covered in leaves and twigs, though. 

“Aw, crap!” Nate yelled. He threw his arm in frustration, small sparks flew from his hand. People around him flinched, they were still uneasy 

“Nathan Malchance!” Silverious snapped. “I told you not to use your magic! Look at what you have done!” 

Nate sat shamefully in the mud. He didn’t even look his father in the eye. “I-I’m sorry…” he croaked.   

“We’ll discuss this at home, in private.” Mr. Malchance turned his attention to Mr. Goldfield and Jake. “I’m deeply sorry this happened. I told him he cannot use his magic at this event, unfortunately, he decided it would be fun to try to ruin Jake’s party. Come on, you two. We overstayed our welcome here.” He left the party with Zoe shortly following him. 

Nate got up and tried to clean the first of him. He turned to Jake and mumbled softly, still facing the ground, “Sorry, Jake,” and ran after his family. 

Even with the Malchances gone, the tension was still there. People began to leave, to clean themselves, which Star couldn’t blame them for. She found some leaves and twigs in her hair. 

As Jake’s father said farewell to everyone, Jake sat on the steps of the porch. 

Star and Varian sat next to him.

“That party didn’t go as planned, right?” Varian asked.

“Ha,” Jake chuckled softly. “Yeah, the whole explosion thing wasn't part of it, but hey, at least the party ended with a bang!” He forces a laugh. “I just wished this would happen after I blew out my candles.” 

“Oh,” Star hadn’t realized this. She thought about what she could do to make him feel better. “Wait, a minute. I have an idea!”

Star got up abruptly and ran back inside.

Some time went by and Star returned with a plate with a piece of cake with a lit candle. 

Jake’s face gleamed with joy. “Wow, thanks, Star.”

“Sorry, I couldn’t find a bigger piece,” Star handed the plate to Jake. “I think Nate ate most of it.”

“No, no, this is perfect.”

“Well, then make a wish.”

Jake gave a pensive face. Then he blew out the candle.

“So, what did you wish for?” Star asked as a joke.

“Glad you asked!” 

That wasn’t the reply she was looking for.  

“No, Jake, that was a joke, you’re not—”

“I wished that you guys would come with me to the showing for the play next week that’s happening in the Town Square.”

“Uh, you mean the play that Feldspar writes?” Varian asked. 

“Yeah.”

Star and Varian exchanged glances. They didn’t have anything going on that day, so why not?

“Sure,” they both agreed. 

“Great!” He stood up. “Thanks for coming to my party. It…it means a lot.” 

Star and Varian parted from their friend and went home.

On the way back home, there was silence between Star and Varian. It was dark, the street was lit by the candles on the side of buildings, but something changed in the air. 

Finally, Varian broke the silence. 

“Um, do you like Jake?” he said abruptly.

Star almost tripped.

“Um, what?”

“Do you like him?”

“Uh…” Star looked at Varian’s face, trying to discern what he asking,

“You mean as a friend?”

“Uh, yeah.”

Star, relieved, said, “Oh, yes. He’s really fun.”

“I think so too.”

Star thought that was strange, It was the first time anything like that happened. She wondered what could have caused it. 

The conversation with Jake, she thought.  

No, there is no way, right? Right? 

“Oh!” She stopped at an intersection. “I’m going this way. My dad is going to meet me over there.” 

“Oh, okay, yeah. I’m going this way,” Varian pointed in the opposite direction. “Home is this way. Okay, bye!” He threw finger guns and turned to walk in that direction.

“Yeah, bye.” Star walked away, feeling awkward as ever. 

Chapter Text

Star tried to keep her footing but Stella wasn’t going any easier on her. 

One clash after another, she kept on defending. Star looked around for anything that would give them an edge. They were in the near-empty void, it was starry skies as far as the eye could see, with only pillars appearing every couple of feet—

The pillars!

 Once she saw the opportunity come, she ran toward the pillar. Stella followed her and swung at her. Star quickly moved and Stella’s sword hit the pillar, which surprised her. Star didn’t waste a second and knocked her sword right out of her hands. 

“Ha! Yes!” Star said gleefully as she pointed her sword at Stella, who was still processing what just happened. 

“Good job,” Stella said with a smile. “But…”

Oh-uh. Star didn’t like the sound of that. 

Stella widened her hand in the direction of where her sword lay on the ground. The sword vanished with a flash from the ground and reappeared in her hand. Star caught her smirking before she struck and knocked her sword from her hands. 

Star plummeted to the ground and lay there in defeat. She was too exhausted to get up. 

Alas, another victory for her ghost mentor. 

Stella looked down at her. “Don’t worry, you almost had it, Star.” 

Star simply responded with a thumbs up while she was still breathing heavily, 

“By the way, shouldn’t you and your partner have somewhere to be?”

“Partner?” Star raised an eyebrow. “Oh! Varian!”

Star almost forgot that they arrived here via hot air balloon…and that they had to return to Corona in it…ugh.

“Yeah,” Star finally caught her breath. “We better get going. Thanks, Stella!”

Star waved at her and ran through the corridor. It was a lot less scary than it was when they first arrived here. It was still dark but at least Star knew there weren’t any more huge statues trying to kill them. 

Varian was sitting in the tomb room reading a large book: Demanitus’ journal. 

Varian noticed Star’s presence and looked up from his book. “Oh, hey! Looks like you’re all done. Wow, time sure went by fast. I would've joined you but the lighting in that room is pretty awful. I wouldn’t be able to read a word of Demanitus's work.”

“Yeah, but we gotta go now. We promised Jake that we would meet him at the Goodwill Day Play.”

“Well, well, look at you. Remembering that we have to meet up with Jake, And here I thought you didn’t like him.”

Star tried not to look embarrassed. “Well, he’s not that bad. He’s kinda cool. And we did promise him.”

Varian continued to tease her with a look. Gosh, she hated that look. It always made her feel flustered.

“I kinda missed this…”  Star said softly, without knowing it.

Varian blinked. “What?”
Star didn’t realize that he heard. “Oh, uh…” she scratched her head and sighed. “You being a little sassy. I thought I wouldn't miss you being that sassy…”

Oh, she felt her embarrassment rising. He probably thought she was being silly.

To her surprise, Varian said, “Well, if that’s what you want, it’s what you’ll receive.”

Varian cleared his throat. His expression changed to something Star has been quite familiar with. "Well, Star, looks like you got your butt kicked again by a ghost."

Yup, this is exactly what Star was familiar with. She changed her expression too.

"Well, at least I didn't let a journal with invaluable knowledge get stolen by a bunch of monkeys!" Star responded. 

"Yeah, well—wait. What?"

Stat pointed behind Varian.

Varian turned around and saw a bunch of monkeys turning the pages of the journal curiously.

"No! Give it back!" Varian ran after the monkeys that scattered back into the trees.

Star giggled a little and ran after the monkeys as well.

"Hey, give me that! It contains invaluable information that you can't even fathom!" Varian scorned the monkeys as if they understood English. 

The monkey with the journal climbed up a tree and rested on a branch. Varian hesitated in front of the tree for a moment then he proceeded to climb up the tree, or at least he tried to. Star watched as she managed to climb up. Star, on the other hand, wasn’t sure if she was even going to try and possibly embarrassed herself. Instead, she decided to just observe. Who knows, maybe the monkey would lose grip on the book and accidentally drop it to the ground, then Star would be there to grab it.

Varian was on the branch where the monkey thief had his book. Varian held his dear life to the branch. “Okay, monkey. Can I have my book back?”

The monkey seemed to shake its head and jumped off to another branch. The movement from the monkey jumping off made the branches around shake aggressively. Varian held tighter to the branch. “Woah! Okay, okay! Not good at listening to instruction, I see.” Varian looked around frantically and saw that the shaking caused a banana to fall on the branch next to him. Star could see his face change. Stat knew that face meant he had conjured an idea. 

He grabbed the banana and yelled at the monkey with the book. “Hey! If you want, we can negotiate!” Varian waved the banana in the air. 

The monkey looked intrigued by his offer and approached closer with the book. 

“That’s right. little monkey…bring it to papa,” he said.

The monkey reached for the banana but Varian pulled the banana away from the monkey's grasp. “Uh, uh, uh,” Varian shook his head. “First, the book.”

The monkey looked hesitant, looking at the book and then looking at the banana. The monkey sighed and handed the book.

Varian lit up, his plan worked. He gave the monkey the banana. “Ha! A pleasure doing business with—Woah!”

Before Varian could finish his sentence the monkey hopped on Varian and jumped off Varian’s back to another branch causing Varian to lose his grip on the branch and fall off it.

“Varian!” Star yelled.

Instinctively, Star summoned her light shield to break his fall. A light screen appeared under Varian. Varian fell onto it with a big thud. 

"Ow," Varian's face was squished on the shield's hard surface. He sat up. "Where’s the book?" He looked over and sighed in relief to find it next to him. He grabbed it and held it close to his chest. "Okay, I think we can go now." He put the book in his backpack. 

Star nodded.

“Oh, great you’re here!” Jake waved at them from some seats with the same great big smile he always had. "The play is gonna start in a few."

The play took place in the town square which is a better place than last year's event where it took place in the castle courtyard, which could only hold a limited number of people. 

Star looked around at the purple and gold decorations that were hanging all over the kingdom. Flags hung from every window with the official Corona seal of the sun embroidered in golden threads. People carried small flags. Others had the seal painted right on their faces. 

It was a lot more packed than last year's Goodwill Festival. It made sense since there weren't any immediate threats to the safety of Corona this year. 

"I got some front-row tickets!" Jake said excitedly.

"Tickets?" Stat blinked. "The plays are free."

"I meant that I came real early and saved us some good seats." He seemed proud of himself.

“Uh, thanks, but you didn’t have to do that,” Star said, “it would’ve been just fine if we sat further back.” 

Jake shook his head. “No, I insist! I even got popcorn!”  He pulled out a bag of popcorn then he patted the spots next to him, gesturing for them to sit down.

“So what’s the play they’re putting on this time about?” Varian asked. Ruddiger crawled down from his shoulder and curled up on his lap. 

“Oh, what a cute raccoon!” Jake’s eyes lit up. “Uh, I think the play is called Cassandra’s Revenge. ”

“What?” Star and Varian looked at each other. It can’t be their Cassandra, right? 

Jake pulled out a brochure and read it. “Looks like someone called Feldspar wrote it. Hey, isn’t that the shoemaker guy?” 

“Yeah, he was the only one that wrote the screenplay for the play last year.” Star thought he quit, it looks like he’s giving screenplay writing another shot.

“Oh, it’s about to start!” Jake giggled excitedly. Everyone around them took their seats and the place soon fell to silence. 

The curtains opened up and a bunch of people were already on stage. Looks like it takes place in the castle's throne room. Star's attention was caught by two actors that looked like Eugene and Rapunzel. The actress playing Rapunzel wore a long blonde wig. She seemed to be hot in it since Star could see she was sweating—or maybe it was because she was nervous. The actor playing Eugene looked like him. He had the same brown hair and eyes. 

“Happy Birthday, Eugene!” Actress Rapunzel said gleefully. “Today is your twenty-sixth birthday!”

“No, no, no, you must be mistaken. I’m turning twenty-five, not twenty-six.” Actor Eugene has a higher register than actual Eugene had.

Star remembered what happened. Eugene began to be more concerned with getting older. 

“Well, are you going to blow out the candles?”

Actor Eugene was prepared to blow out the candles until the figure appeared on the right side of the stage.

A woman, which kind of resembled Cassandra, surprisingly but not quite as tall, wearing an all-black suit with a blue pattern that swirled around her body. Since Star was up close she could see that the blue was sewn onto the black suit. The actress wore a blue wig and held a sword that resembled much like Cassandra’s sword made of black rocks, but instead painted with a shimmery night sky dark blue paint. 

Star was surprised with how much effort they put to have the actors actually resemble the people they were playing. 

Everyone gasped. 

“Guess, I wasn’t invited,” Actress Cassandra said with the same cheekiness Cassandra did. 

As Actress Cassandra walked across the stage dragging her sword prop on the ground, Star noticed a girl with the same purple guard outfit she was currently wearing. Star hoped that it wasn’t who she thought it was. The actress was pretty short. Her hair was short, chin-length, and straight. No unkempt strands or curled-up flyaways as she has. She had bright blue eyes, though. She probably would have felt jealous. This actress looked way better than her but it wasn’t accurate. 

Star could feel Jake leaning over to her. “Hey, is that supposed to be you?”

“Yeah, I guess…” Star whispered back. She couldn’t imagine who else this girl could be.  

“Either hand over the scroll or Corona becomes,” Actress Cassandra paused and laid her plate of cake on the ground and stepped on it, “well, you know. It’s your choice.” With that, she left the stage. 

The scene changes to Rapunzel's bedroom.

“I can’t give her the Demanitus scroll!” Actress Rapunzel paced back and forth. 

“What if she leaves us alone?” Actor Lance suggested. 

“That’s the problem. I don’t have it.”

“If you don’t have it then who does?” Actor Eugene asked. 

The scene changed again but this time it was a familiar underground sanction. 

A boy with the messiest hair Star had ever seen, was facing away from the audience. He was also tall and lanky, vastly different from the Varian they knew. The actor was looking intensely at a board filled with complex formulas and symbols scrawled on it. 

“I think I almost got it, Ruddiger!” His voice was extremely nasally.  The actor turned around to reveal a sock puppet in his hand. It had a striped tail and black buttons for eyes sewn on. His messy hair was almost completely covered by the goggles he was wearing. 

The audience laughed.

"Hey, I don't sound like that!" Varian's voice cracked. 

"Sure you don't…" Star smirked. 

"Varian!" Actress Rapunzel and her friends ran up to him. "Do you have the Demanitus scroll?" 

"Yeah, it's right here, why?" 

"Oh, thank goodness Cassandra doesn’t know he has it," Actor Lance said in relief.

"Who doesn’t know he has it?" A familiar voice said.

"And I spoke too soon."

They knew it was Cassandra.

Actress Rapunzel stepped up and said, "We won't hand you the scroll!"

"Oh, I wasn't asking." 

Wow, this actress nailed Cassandra, Star thought. 

They began to start fighting, but they found creative ways since the actress didn’t really have magic blonde hair. They used a long cloth that was the same color as the wig and it was tossed around. The Demanitus device was made out of cardboard and slowly started to crumble. 

Actress Rapunzel saw that her friends were going to be crushed and she threw the cloth onto the Demanitus device prop and tugged, leaving Actor Varian exposed. 

Actor Varian did exactly what the real Varian did. He spilled some liquid that was in a beaker onto the wall where the translations were written.

“Ha! Now the only possible way to translate what the scroll says is for you to have this ,” Actor Varian pointed to his head, “brain.”

Actor Varian immediately regretted it, “I shouldn't have said that.”

“Guess I have to take it then,” Actress Cassandra gave a sly look.

Star was surprised at how extremely accurate this was. Did Rapunzel tell Feldspar about this? Who was Feldspar’s insider? 

“Oh no, they’re gone,” Actress Rapunzel got up after the Demanitus device collapsed and the dust cleared. "We gotta find them." Everyone ran off stage. 

Then, the curtains were closed.

Intermission has begun. 

Star got up from her seat and stretched. “The play is surprisingly accurate so far. Well, as far as the events taking place.”

“Yeah,” Jake looked down at his now empty bag of popcorn. 

“Did you eat all the popcorn? I didn’t even eat one!” Star protested. 

“Oh, sorry, yeah, this was supposed to be for all of us. I’ll go get another one.” Jake got up and walked to get more popcorn. 

Star sat next to Varian and asked him about his thoughts on the play so far. 

“Uh, so far it’s great. I think it’s a big step up from Feldspar’s play from last year. Although, Ruddiger wasn’t a fan of the sock puppet.” Varian giggled as he looked down at the resting raccoon on his lap. 

“I agree with Ruddiger. The character portrayals aren’t one hundred percent accurate.”

“Yeah. And my hair is not that messy.”

“Yeah. it’s messier. ” Star started to run her hands through his hair. 

“Hey, that's not true, but if you keep doing that it will.”

“I’m back!” Jake sang.

Star quickly drew her hand back and went back to her original spot. She hoped he didn’t see that. 

Jake sat back in his seat with an even bigger container of popcorn than he previously had. 

“I know what happens next since you told me already, but I’m still excited to see what happens next.” Jake’s knees were giddy with excitement. 

The curtain rose and on the stage were Actor Varian and Actress Cassandra in front of a pile of rubble. 

Actor Varian woke up and frantically looked around. “W-where are we?” 

“That’s not important. What I need to know is what was written on the scroll. I know there’s an incantation for me there.” Actress Cassandra said as she squatted down to meet him eye to eye.

“I’ll never tell you,” he said vehemently. 

“Are you sure about that? I found something in your bag you recognize.” Actress Cassandra pulled out an empty vile from his bag and waved it in front of him.

Actor Varian’s eyes said everything. He knew exactly what it was. “M-my truth serum…” he said warily. 

“You can’t fight it, so might as well stop wasting time and spit it out.”

He gave in and gave her the incantation. 

Actress Cassandra stepped in front of the rubble. Facing away from the audience, she began to cite the incantation. 

The production got creative and had a cardboard cutout of the tower slowly rising behind the rubble. 

The audience was in awe as it rose higher and higher. It reached above the stage set. 

The scene changed to the royal stables. Actress Star—er, wow, it was really hard for Star to grasp that someone else is playing them, but Actress Star was petting a fake horse head made out of stuffing and fabric that was sticking out from the cardboard stable. 

Neighs came from offstage. 

“Woah, you felt that too?” Actress Star asked the inanimate horse head. Star looked away. She was mortified. Star knew it wasn’t her, but it felt embarrassing for others to think that she talks to lifeless horse heads too. 

She stepped out of the stables and saw the tower that was drawn on the set stage. 

“I think we should check it out.” Then the actress came out with a stick attached on top with the same stuffed horse head she was talking to. It was a toy she was very familiar with when she was younger and had fond memories of,  but she’s outgrown it. This only made her even more flustered. She covered her face with her hand to ensure that no one saw her burning face.

Also, was it not enough for them to embarrass her but also, her best and most loyal friend?

The scene then changed once more to Rapunzel's room where the gang was lost on what their next move was going to be. 

“Where can we even begin to find them?” Actress Rapunzel asked as she paced back and forth. 

“Uh, I might know where we can start,” Actor Lance pointed to the window. The window had a painting of the tower high in the sky, 

“Guess that’s we’re going,” Actress Rapunzel stared out the window. 

The next time the set changed, it was a dark, cold room. The set background was painted in a rich deep dark blue color that was almost black. In the center of the stage was a throne prop made with jagged black rocks. Scattered around were cardboard props of the black rocks. 

Murmuring came from off-stage. 

Actor Varian and Actress Cassandra walked on stage. Actor Varian had his hands tied as he walked behind Actress Cassandra. 

Actress Cassandra stopped and untied him. “Don’t do anything stupid,” she warned. 

With a snap of her fingers, a cage was dropped on him. 

Taking a closer look, Star saw there was a target drawn on the stage floor right where he was standing. 

“Hold it right there!” a voice boomed in. 

Actress Star burst onto the stage. “Let him go!” she commanded. She wore a costume of her armor. It was clearly made out of cardboard, but it was surprisingly well-made. It was painted with silver paint. The white cloth had glitter to make it shine. Starlight was painted but it twinkled in the noon sunshine. Her headband probably had a fake rhinestone to mimic her star gem. 

The actress twinkled in her costume. Did she look that cool in her armor all this time?

“You?!” Actress Cassandra took a step back. “Where’s Rapunzel?”

“I came here alone,” Actress Star said. “Let him go. I won’t ask again.”

“No.” Actress Cassandra pulled her sword out. 

Actress Star did the same. 

Actress Cassandra struck first. They engaged in battle, clashing cardboard swords. It wasn’t the worst thing Star saw, given how she started with sword fighting, but it wasn’t that good either. It was passable. 

Star watched as Actress Cassandra got behind Actress Star and knocked her out from behind. Actress Star fell to the ground.

The audience gasped. 

The scene changed to Rapunzel and the gang trying to reach the top of the tower. A comedic montage’s worth later, Cassandra let them in. 

The scene changed to Star and Varian being trapped in a cage together. The cage was on a platform about a foot above the stage floor. There was a wooden beam painted that extended to the cage in blue to match the black rocks. 

Actress Star was holding her legs close to her chest. Actor Varian looked concerned and finally broke the silence. “Um, are you okay?”

No response. 

“Um, thanks for trying to save me.”

Again no response. 

Star sighed, This was painfully accurate to what happened. Stars' gut dropped. She felt an overwhelming sense of guilt for treating Varian like that. 

The actress finally sighed and said, “I-I’m sorry.” 

Actor Varian’s head turned to her. “It’s okay. I know you’re not a talkative person."

The actress shook her head. "No, that's not what I meant. I mean I'm sorry for not believing that you've changed. I-I just…” she let out an exasperated sigh. 

“Does this mean we can be friends again?” he asked. 

Actress Star’s expression changed to a soft smile. 

“Yeah…” she said shyly. 

Star thought she might’ve seen her even blushing.

They looked softly at each other. With such tenderness that Star might’ve thought…

"What the—" Star muttered under her breath. She shifted in her seat. Star did not like where this was going. 

"Maybe we can be more than friends?" the actress finally said.

Star could not believe what her ears just heard.

"Yeah, I'd like that…" the actor said.

"Oh wow, I didn't know you two were a thing. " Jake ate another handful of popcorn.

Star wasn’t sure if that was a joke, but either way, it wasn't true. 

The actors got closer together.

Oh no, they're gonna kiss. Star couldn’t bear to watch. She covered her eyes.

"Woah! There it is!" Star heard Jake say.

Star knew that she would hate herself for doing this but she moved her fingers and peeked through the small window her fingers made. Just as she expected, they were kissing. 

Star felt the rising embarrassment in her. She felt her cheeks burning bright red. 

“Oh, the shame!” Varian covered his face.

Her stomach turned into a knot. She couldn’t move, she was frozen. She wanted to get up and leave to no longer endure this, but she just couldn't. Star simply sat there in just pure dread of what utter false nonsense was going to happen in the play next. 

She didn’t pay attention to the play anymore. She just saw everything else happening in a haze. Staring into space, as she looped that stage kiss in her head. 

Thoughts came to her about what other people might’ve thought about it. I mean, what is the audience going to think? People know this is fake, right? Yeah, so I have nothing to worry about —

“Star?” a voice interrupted her thought (thank goodness).

“Huh?” Star grounded herself. 

“The play is over,” Jake was standing in front of her.

Star looked around her.  The curtain was closed. The place was nearly empty. Many of the seats were empty. Some people were lounging behind to discuss the play.

Star felt a tug on her uniform. She turned around to find a little girl about seven or so. “Hey, you were the one in the play fighting Cassandra right?”

“Uh, yeah?” Star felt uneasy about where this was going.

“That’s so cool! When I get older I want to be like you.”

“Oh. thanks—”

“And have a boyfriend I get to save too!” 

“He is NOT my boyfriend!” Star snapped. 

“Oh, jeez….” the girl began to slowly back away from her. 

“Okay,” Jake intercepted. “Sorry about my friend. She can be really…um…you know what? You can go off now and play some games.”

The girl, more confused, walked back to her mother. 

“Well, we won’t let that ruin our day at the festival, right gang?” Jake beamed.

“Well, guess not,” Star shrugged. He was right. She wasn’t going to let that one silly interaction ruin her day. There were plenty of things to do. 

“Right, now off to the games!” Jake led that way. Varian and Star shortly followed.

At first, everything seemed to be fine. Star participated in some games and was so focused on winning that the interaction with the girl was a distant memory. With her competitive stubbornness, she repeatedly tried to win every game. Then, came more odd and annoying comments. 

It was Varian’s turn to knock the moving ducks.

He knocked one over. “Yeah!” he cheered. “And that’s how you do it with the power of science!” 

Star rolled her eyes and smiled. Glad he was able to make it, but he wasn’t going to let him win. 

“Okay, which prize would you like?” the lady behind the counter asked Varian. 

“Oh! I’ll take the stuffed raccoon!” Varian pointed to the small plushie of a raccoon sitting on the shelf. “For very obvious reasons, if I may add,” he whispered to his friends. 

“Aww, sweet of you to get that for your girlfriend.” the lady said. 

His what?  

“Oh, no. no. You must be mistaken, she’s not my girlfriend.”

“She isn’t? Oh, I am so sorry!” she pleaded. “I-I just thought that the play—and, um…it was a mistake. I didn’t mean to offend anybody.”

“Pfft, don’t worry. We’re not mad. Right, Star?”

“No…” she felt like she was lying. She wasn’t pleased but she also knew it was a mistake. 

“I’m sorry. Here.” The lady gave Varian his prize. 

“Thanks.”

Star hoped that would be the last of it but she was wrong. Oh, so wrong.

Throughout the day, Star caught whispers of them from people. 

"Can't believe the Star Knight settled with the person that tried to kill her. Couldn't be me."

"I think they make a cute couple. Short gang."

"I think it’s sweet to save the person you love.” 

Star could tell that Jake and Varian were hearing it too, but they tried not to show it for her sake. Star decided that she would do the same, 

Star and Varian were debating what they should do next. 

“I think we should go to the Gopher Chase. It's an annual tradition, by the way.” Star stated. 

“Exactly! It happens every year so we can skip it this year and do something else,” Varian argued.

Interrupting their conversation, a woman came up to them. She was well dressed, but not well mannered when she said, “I think you should do what your girlfriend wants. It’s not fun to watch young lovebirds bickering.”

Varian was dumbfounded. 

“I-I…wha…?” Star was taken aback by this woman’s audacity. 

“When you’re older you’ll understand relationships better my dear.” Then the woman walked away. 

She went through a rollercoaster of emotions. First, the purest and deepest form of degradation. Now she felt angry. Pure rage. Why would someone write this?? Why?

“Jake, can I see that brochure again?” Star asked. 

“Sure,” he handed over the brochure. 

She scanned over the brochure and printed on it:

Screenplay by

Feldspar

“Feldspar…” she hissed. 

“Let’s go,” Star sounded irritated as she grabbed Jake’s and Varian’s hands.

“Uh, where are we going?” 

“The Snuggling Duckling.”

"Who is responsible for this?!" Star burst through the door. 

Star looked around the room and everyone froze and pointed to Feldspar, who was enjoying a well-deserved meal (or so he thought).

She stomped towards the corner he sat at. 

Everyone in the room sensed that Star was not to be messed with. 

When Feldspar caught a glance at Star, he immediately started to fumble to get away from her. “Um, um, check please!” he stuttered out. 

She held up the poster in his face. 

“Why. Would. You. Make. This?!” Star felt she was about to combust. 

“Well…uh, it wasn’t my idea,” Feldspar stuttered. He gulped and pointed to Lance. “He came up with the idea. He said it would grab more p-p-people’s attention. A-and given how the p-play went last year, I thought it would help the play that I envisioned.”

Everything made sense. Lance was Feldspar’s insider. That's why everything was strangely accurate. Minus the whole Varian-and-Star-being-a-couple thing. 

Star rolled up the poster and stomped over to where Lance was sitting. 

He seemed relaxed, leaning back slightly in his chair. “Hey, Star, Varian, and…er, friend.” 

“Jake,” he quickly introduced himself but Star stopped him from saying any further.

“Why would you suggest…” Star didn’t want to repeat it, “...that?”

“That…?”

Star sighed. “The idea that Varian and I are in love…” Star fought through herself into forcing her to say that. It was simply too embarrassing. Star looked at Varian and he wasn’t even looking in their direction. He turned around and was staring at the wall.

“You know it’s not true,” Star said. 

“Yeah, but Feldspar wanted to reel in more people in this play. So I thought, what better way to reel in more people with a sprinkle of young teenage romance?”

“Well, yeah, I understand that, but it is not true! And people have been bothering us all day about being ‘love birds’ and stuff. I just want it to stop!” Star made sure her pleas were being conveyed through her words. She was desperate for this to end. 

"Oh," Lance seemed to finally grasp how desperate she was. "I didn't know it was going to end up like this…How are we going to fix it? The play is done.”

Star knew he was right. The play is done. What were they going to do? Go up to every person that watched the play and tell them, oh hey, you know that play you just watch? Well, the whole Star-and-Varian-being-a-couple thing was utterly false. Have a nice day!

“Yeah,” she mumbled in defeat. “Come on, guys. We’re done here.”

“I’m sorry!” Star heard Lance yell as she left the Snuggling Duckling. 

“Guess we have to wait it out then,” Varian suggested. 

Star is about to respond when BAM!

Star looked over her shoulder. The door was completely toasted. There was a huge black spot on the door that emitted smoke.

“Woah! What was that?” Jake was stunned, he moved his head right in the nick of time.

“ Starlight! ” Star immediately summoned her sword and armor. 

“Cool armor,” a familiar voice cut through the smoke. 

“Too bad we don’t need you,” Zoe walked through the smoke and alongside her, her brother. “We need him .” She pointed to Varian.

“Oh, great, not this again,” Varian recalled the time Cassandra took him.

“They’re not being serious.” Jake stepped in. “You guys are joking, right guys?” 

He looked at the Malchances.  

They didn't respond. 

“Hehehe, right?” Jake croaked.

“Just give him to us,” Zoe ordered. She was clearly perturbed. “You don’t want to become toast, do you?” Zoe held up two fingers. Sparks began to fly from her fingertips. 

“And you don’t want to be sliced, do you?” Star drew her sword. 

Zoe laughed. "Only if you touch us."

Zoe launched her first attack and pointed her fingers in their direction. The lightning began to flicker brighter and brighter til she strikes them.

Star instinctively threw up her shield. 

The bright blue magic lighting collided with her shield, dispersing outward and creating a gust of wind that blew harshly. 

"Come on guys! We can talk this out!" Jake yelled. "We're friends!"

"Sorry, Goldfield, but we were never friends," Zoe said coldly.

Star saw the heartbroken face Jake made when she said that. He actually believed they were his friends. 

That made Star angry. Jake was a great friend. He didn't deserve to be treated like this.

Star dropped her shield and gripped the hilt of Starlight tightly. She ran up to the siblings and attacked Zoe. 

Zoe, of course, dodged her attack. Star saw Nate try to grab her. 

“Hey, there,” Nate smiled. 

Star was confused. It looked like he was trying to start a conversation. She shook it off and tried to attack him again. Just missed him by a hair. 

“Woah, careful! Almost got me there,” he said. “Zo, ain’t gonna be happy if we don’t get what we want.”

“I am...not letting…you…take…Varian,” Star managed to say between attacks.

“We just want to borrow him,” Nate said nonchalantly while dodging every attack Star threw at him. 

“Ugh,” Star grunted, frustrated. “Why can’t you stay still?”  

“Since I can’t really use my magic, I became  a total expert on dodging attacks.”
“Come on, now I’m tired of you playing the hero, Star,” Zoe said. 

“Same, here, I don’t want to fight you,” Nate agreed. 

“Well, you’re going to have to!” Star ran up to the siblings but Nate seemed to be caught off guard that his hands were sparking with magic. He raised his arms in a defensive position and right when Star was going to attack him, a bright flash went KABOOM!

A massive gust of wind blew Star off her feet. 

Star heard a winding in her ears. She couldn’t find the siblings. Once again, they vanished. 

When everything was settled, Star ran back to her friends. 

“Varian, are you okay?” Star asked. 

“Yeah, I’m fine—wait, hold on a minute,” Varian paused and opened his backpack, and rummaged through his things.

“Oh, no, no, no, no!” he panicked. “No! Where is it?!”

“Where is what?” Jake asked.

“The book! Demanitus’ book! It-it was in my bag and now it’s gone!” Varian covered his face with his hands. “They took the book!”

“They weren’t after you, they were after the book,” Star said. “What could they want with the book?”

Varian began to breathe heavily. “That book had notes of his past experiments and observations of magical artifacts. I was only halfway through reading it. Who knows what they can do with the book in their hands!” Varian began to scramble his hair in frustration. “AGH!”

“Varian, we’re going to go get it back so don’t sweat it.” Jake put his hand on Varian’s shoulder. “I know where to find them.”