11Chapter 10- Where's the wand?
Citadel Arcturus-The Badlands-Grand Lucitor Union
"You're supposed to be dead". Hekapoo's voice filled the air with a mixture of fear and surprise that was more than apparent on her face as she stared in horror at the man who stared back towards her. It was...impossible, there was just no way he was stood there. But as much as Hekapoo tried to deny what was in front of her she couldn't deny the feeling of dread inside her. The air felt heavy, thick and hot to the point of boiling around her, those eyes that stared back at hers with a crimson glow behind them were the same as the ones in her deepest nightmares.
Helvete chuckled at her words "Now now Hekapoo, that's not a very nice thing to say" he mocked with an amused expression on his face. Hekapoo's expression shifted to anger at just how cocky he seemed to be. "Just how did you come back anyway?" she demanded to know causing Helvete to pause as he tried to figure out the answer for himself. He shrugged casually "Well now, that's actually a good question" he remarked before turning towards Beumont, the old mystic stood close by to the tyrant with the wand and his ancient tome at the ready should Hekapoo try anything.
"How exactly did you bring me back Beumont?" Helvete asked with a curious look on his face "You told me it involved the wand but.." Hekapoo instantly reacted to this and interrupted Helvete's question with her own outburst. "The wand!?" she yelled urgently, drawing looks from all those gathered. Helvete gave her a glance and a cruel grin as he pointed towards the staff in the old man's hand. Hekapoo glanced towards the old man, studying him for a moment before her eyes went wide with realisation of two facts. The first being that the staff, while a drastic change from the wand which Star wielded, was unquestionably the royal wand of Mewni.
The second she shouted as an accusation towards the old man "You're that geezer that Ponyhead brought to the wedding!" she yelled while pointing a finger towards Beumont. The old man just chuckled wickedly "Guilty as charged, it truly was lovely, but I wasn't there for the cake if you take my meaning" he said with a sinister grin crossing his lips. Helvete turned to look at Beumont with an eyebrow cocked in confusion. "Wedding?" he asked the mystic who cleared his throat awkwardly at the question. "Errm, yes my lord in order to secure the wand I errm..well had to attend the wedding of Star Butterfly and Marco Diaz" the old man awkwardly explained.
Helvete shrugged "Huh, well I suppose there's no harm...that's gonna be a real interesting situation when they show up" he reasoned with a grin before turning his attention back to Hekapoo. "Now then, where were we?" he asked, a cruel and twisted smile returning to his lips as he eyed the red-haired women before him. Hekapoo scoffed and drew two halves of a pair of scissors, using them much like one would hold a pair of daggers. "Just about to send you back to hell and then have your buddies locked in a crystal" she answered as she multiplied again and again until there was a practical army of her clones surrounding the small group.
Each of the group members got ready to fight but Helvete held up an arm to stop them. "There will be no need for that" he uttered darkly as he stretched out his arms, rolling his shoulders as if warming up even as the rest of the group stared at him in shock. Sophia was first to protest "But my lord please, to fight alongside you again would be..." But she was stopped as Helvete turned with a small chuckle, his eyes glowing with a gentle crimson light. "I know dear Sophia, I know...But you will get your chance in time" he reassured her with a wink before turning back towards Hekapoo.
"I estimate that being dead for two years has made my body soft and stiff" he started as he took a step closer to her army of clones which all eyed him with fierce anger in their eyes. His own eyes glanced across all of them, as if studying each of them and making minor calculations to himself, he then chuckled once more. "Dealing with H-Poo should be a prime warm up for me" he mocked as he gestured for Heckapoo to attack him.
"Overconfident bastard" Hekapoo flared as she and her clones each charged the group, Scissors held high as they prepared to fight the tyrant head on. Helvete stood for a moment, watching the charge with an amused look on his face. He then took a deep inhale of breath through his nose, his nostrils flaring as they took in as much air as his lungs could take. Once he was sure he couldn't breathe in anymore, his crimson eyes flashed brightly and he blew outwards, exhaling all of the air he'd taken in at once. Hekapoo's charge was met with a wind that struck like a hurricane which smashed against Hekapoo's line of clones, instantly snuffing each of their flames and poofing all but the original Hekapoo out of existence.
Hekapoo stood stunned for a few moment, alone in a field once occupied by her hundreds of clones now literally blown out of existence in an instant. She gritted her teeth as she looked towards the smug expression on Helvete's face as he stood amused at her attack. "You know..." he began with a confident smile on his lips "You probably should've tried that attack on someone who didn't know your clones die when their flames are snuffed" he mocked as he crushed a small flame he'd made in the palm of his hand.
Hekapoo scowled and yelled back in response "Yeah!? Well try this!" before suddenly opening a portal and leaping through it, vanishing in an instant. Helvete sighed and made himself ready to be attacked, he knew for a fact it was coming. Now it was just a matter of predicting her movements. The tyrant let his mind go to work, calculating his opponent's method of attack in his mind's eye. 'Let's see, she fights with preference to her left hand so she'll attack from the right, she'll also want a strong route of attack so above or below would be preferable, so if it were me I would go with...' Helvete then opened his palm and faced it just up and to the right of his head.
As predicted an orange portal slashed itself open before his eyes and immediately in front of his eyes. A sickening grin shot across his features as he watched Hekapoo's form come through it, a look of shock and horror on her face as she realised the peril she was in. Helvete's hand quickly gripped her neck hard, as he slammed her hard against the ground and leaned over her form with glowing crimson eyes which were filled with dreadful intent and cruel ecstasy as his form loomed over hers. Hekapoo gripped at her neck as she gasped for air, all of the air in her lungs previously having been forced out by the sudden impact with the solid ground.
She opened her eyes to witness a horrifying pair of glowing crimson ones staring back at her, immediately a sense of dread flowed through her body as those dark pupils reflected a world of pain and devastation into her very soul. She felt his grip tighten around her neck and immediately her hands shot up to attempt to pry away his grip, to no avail as the tyrant pressed his weight down onto her airway, cutting it off and starving her body of precious oxygen. "Now then H-Poo.." Helvete mocked in a low tone as his teeth bared in a ruthless grin "You got any more tricks to show me?".
Hekapoo felt her brain scream for oxygen as she pried helplessly at the tyrant's hand in a vain attempt to loosen his grip. This was now or never and she only had one thing she could try, but dammit she really didn't want to. "Just...one.." she struggled out before her eyes glowed a bright orange, her entire body began to increase in temperature rapidly shooting upwards of 1000 degrees in mere seconds. She pressed her hands against the tyrant's chest and struggled out the words of her most powerful spell. "Ignesco" she struggled out and a huge blast of flames erupted from the palms of her hands point blank into Helvete's body.
The shockwave rocked the ground beneath the pair and the citadel behind them shook as it's old and unloved walls took the brunt of the horrendous flames. Their black stone did not show it easily but one could distinguish a thick layer of soot which formed on the surface of the outer walls as the flames licked at them. The group of Helvete's loyalists shielded their eyes from the light of the flames, all except for Beumont who shouted for his leader as he watched the flames slowly fade out around a large crater which had formed around Helvete and Hekapoo's positions.
The loyalists stood in shock as they once more returned their vision to the sight, astonished at what greeted their eyes once they did. Hekapoo and Helvete's position hadn't changed in the slightest, aside from the fact that Helvete was laughing loudly and with a menacing look in his eyes as his hand remained firmly around Hekapoo's neck. Hekapoo's eyes went wide as she realised just how fruitless her effort had been. Helvete's clothing was singed and small patches of it had burned away in the flames but ultimately the man himself hadn't been even so much as phased by the assault.
Hekapoo felt her eyes begin to roll in her skull as the lack of oxygen combined with the exhaustion from such a powerful do or die attack took effect. "Ah, a valiant effort H-Poo, but unfortunately it seems it was not enough" he said as he tightened his grip further "Sleep now, don't worry, you'll wake up I promise" he soothed with a cocky tone to his voice as Hekapoo's resistance finally caved and her consciousness faded. As soon as it did, Helvete released her from his grip not wanting to actually let her die just yet.
"Well, that was fun H-Poo although I had hoped you'd be much more of a warm up" he remarked coldly as he stretched his body out from the fight, raising his arms up as high as they'd reach and twisting his midsection slightly trying to loosen up his muscles. "Honestly it's scarcely more energetic than getting out of bed in the morning" he mumbled with a strain of disappointment in his voice as he looked down at the unconscious body of his opponent.
The tyrant stood over the fallen body of the commission member, victorious in the short and extremely one-sided battle. He once more directed his gaze towards his group of loyalists, who were still standing in surprise at the short display of the tyrant's power and combat ability. Hekapoo by all means was not a weak opponent, she was easily one of the stronger commission members and Helvete had defeated her like she had been nothing. It was beyond incredible for them all to see. Helvete however picked up Hekapoo and slung her lifeless body over his shoulder before turning towards the group. "Come now all of you, it's best to restrain a prisoner before they wake up" he spoke very matter of factly as he made his way towards the towering black fortress once more.
Butterfly Castle-Butterfly Kingdom
Dawn broke in the Butterfly Kingdom, the purple skies suddenly set ablaze by the orange light of the rising sun over the hilltops of the kingdom's borders. After the exultation, laughter, joy and tremendous celebration of a royal marriage and coronation it was little wonder that there were scarce bodies drifting through the streets compared to normal. A merchant here and there along with the changeover for the morning guards were all that could really be seen. Most of the kingdom had basically accepted an unannounced day off which was required for most to treat the horrendous hangovers that many experienced after one of the largest nights of drinking and merriment the kingdom had seen in years.
In Marco's room, the bedsheets stirred as a blonde haired beauty awoke first from the gentle slumber that the young couple had shared. Well, that wasn't all they'd shared, the thought bringing a small pink glow to Star's hearts as she looked to her side and saw a small tossled head of brown hair covering the face of her husband. She stifled a small giggle as she gently pushed the hair out away from his face so she could better see him sleep.
He shifted slightly at her touch, rolling over onto his side so that he faced where she lay. Star looked over to her small, portable mirror to check the time. It was just after 9AM, around an hour after she usually woke up in the morning. She shrugged to herself 'I guess that's enough of a lie in...especially for him' she thought with a mischievous grin drawing across her lips as she leaned in towards Marco's sleeping face. "Marco...time to get up" she cooed as she placed a gentle kiss on his exposed cheek, just barely on the corner of his lips.
Marco stirred, a small murmur escaping his lips as he shuffled his body in the sheets. His brain still resisting the urge to wake his body from it's slumber. Star couldn't help but giggle at him as he clearly resisted a gentle method. 'Oh well, he brought this on himself' she thought mischievously as she stepped down onto the cold marble flooring beneath the bed, making her shiver slightly as she made contact. She turned to face Marco once more and sighed quietly before she breathed deeply and shouted "Morning Marccooo!" came her cheerful voice causing Marco to jump in surprise from the sheets, his eyes wide from the sudden awakening.
Marco looked up into the cheerful ocean-blue eyes and giggling smirk of his beloved. 'Of course, should've known' he thought as he rolled his eyes and smiled back up to her. "Morning Star" he greeted with chuckle as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, "You sleep well?" he asked as he stood up from the bed and wrapped his arms around her slim figure. Star giggled and wrapped her own arms around the back of Marco's neck "Always sleep well next to you Marco" she teases, placing a small kiss onto his lips. They linger for a moment before separating with wide smiles across their faces "So, you ready for your first day as queen?" Marco asks, his tone giving away some of his own nervousness at the whole ordeal.
Star could immediately sense her husband's nerves and took his hand into her own, squeezing it gently and smiling up at him with her shimmering pale blue eyes gazing into his hazel ones. "Marco, we've been doing this job for years already, we just happen to be called something different now" she assured him before planting a small kiss to his left cheek. "It's gonna be fine okay, we've got each other and that's more than enough" she asked before turning to walk towards the bathroom door in the corner of the room. As she reached the doorframe she paused and shot a flirtatious look towards her husband, who stood in the corner of the room watching her with a strangely content smile on his lips. "Well, until the heirs are born anyway" she teased with a wink causing the young king's face to flush red with embarrassment. "S..Star!" he protested but his voice was only met with giggling from the blonde girl as she closed the door behind her.
Elsewhere in the castle, guards were making their rounds. Each of the castle guards were stationed in specific locations to monitor the hallways and react to emergencies. The castle guard changes occurred roughly every six hours or so to avoid fatigue in the guards and to give them ample time to rest and relax off duty. Two guards, freshly rested and with a full stomach from breakfast, made their way down the halls towards Star's room. Their swords gently clattered as they tapped rhythmically against their sides with their footsteps as they inspected the hall for any irregularities or changes on their way.
As they drew around the corner and spotted the doorway, an odd sight struck them immediately. Noone was there. Normally there would be someone waiting patiently for them to arrive so that they could head to bed, but in this case the hallway and door to Star's room was left open. Though the door itself was closed. One guard turned to his companion "We're not relieving Williamson and Tucker are we?" he asked with a sigh "Guys never sticks to their damn post how are they still in the guards?" he grumbles as he goes to take up his position at the door. His companion grips his arm and stops him however with a troubled look on his face.
"Williamson and Tucker had the night off, something's not right" he mumbles as he reaches his hand cautiously towards the handle of his sword. "Take a look around and ensure the Queen isn't in her room" he orders as they begin to scan the area around the room's entrance for anything suspicious. One of them knocks gently at first onto the door of Star's room to be met with zero response. He cautiously knocked a little louder and called through the door with a nervous tone in case he had woken the new queen rather rudely. "Your majesty, my sincerest apologies but we found your room unguarded, are you okay?" he asked but was yet again met with zero response.
Just as the guard was resolved to intrude on the Queen's room, both of them heard a shuffling noise from a nearby cleaning cupboard. Both of them immediately focused onto it before glancing at one another cautiously. The guard closest to the door nodded to the other and they both drew their weapons simultaneously and as silently as possible. One of them placed his hand on the doorknob and awaited the other's signal. The guard who wasn't waiting by the door made ready just next to the door, aiming the tip of his blade right where the door would open, he then nodded to his companion who turned the doorknob and in a rapid movement flung the door wide open.
In a flash the guard who had been ready with his weapon now burst through the opening in the door and pointed the tip of his blade directly towards the person they had found. Both guards gasped in shock at the sight however and quickly recoiled their blades when they saw the face of their 'intruder'. "Dawes? Is that you?" one of the guards asked to the delirious and groggy looking man who was lying clumsily in a mess of cleaning supplies.
Dawes rubbed his eyes and placed his hand to his forehead. His head was throbbing in pain and it felt like he'd been asleep for a thousand years. The voices of the guards calling his name were muffled and distant, as if they were being shouted across a valley toward him. The light of the hallways blinded him in an instant with the sudden and intense light and he could only make out vague silhouettes of the people before him.
"I...what happened?" he called out with a weary voice, cracking under his own exhaustion. The two guards quickly rushed to his side to help him to his feet, he was mostly dead weight however and they struggled to move him from the closet onto a nearby chair. Laying him in the chair, one guard looked towards the other. "You go and check the Queen's room, we have to be sure she's okay" he ordered as he pointed towards the door. The other guard nodded and rushed to the door, knocking once more "Your majesty? We're coming in!" he yelled through the wood of the solid door before turning the knob and rushing in, sword drawn in case of intruders.
Star's room was devoid of life, the bed made neatly and surprisingly there was not a single thing which looked like it had been disturbed. The guard scanned the room with a puzzled look before calling back to his companion. "Room Clear! The Queen isn't in here!" he called back into the hallway. His companion immediately stood from helping Dawes, his face an expression of shock as he heard the guard's words. "What? The Queen isn't in there? We have to..." He was cut off as Dawes gripped his sleeve weakly, tugging on it to get the guard's attention. "Didn't...stay..." he spoke deliriously as his senses still tormented him.
"What is it Dawes?" the guard asked his friend with concern "What are you trying to say?" he implored him as he attempted to gently shake the incoherent thoughts out of the man's head. Dawes tried desperately to grasp reality for even a moment so that he could tell the guard what he could remember. "Queen, never stayed in her room...boy broke in..name was...Kahchi...Helios" was all he could muster before he once more collapsed into the chair. The guard checked him over, breathing but unconscious.
"We have to get him to the doctors, and report this to the Queen immediately" the guard said to his friend, who nodded as they each took an arm of the unconscious guard and carefully dragged his body down the hall to the infirmary.
Citadel Arcturus-The Badlands-Grand Lucitor Union
It was a dark and horribly bleak room that greeted Hekapoo when she finally woke up. The walls crafted from blackened stone which had been left in disrepair for some time now, a steady stream of water which dripped in from god knows where had by now left a thin layer of moss down one of the walls near where she lay. She herself lay chained to the wall on a hard slab which just about barely resembled a bed if you really stretch your imagination.
A worrying thought came to Hekapoo's head 'Why couldn't she see anything? Her flame should be...' As she felt up for the flame that usually burned brightly over her head she stopped. It was gone. Usually this wouldn't be much of an issue, she could re-ignite it at will after all, but no matter how much she concentrated she simply couldn't seem to get it to ignite. What the heck was going on here anyway? Her mind raced at every possibility until she heard a loud snapping sound in the darkness of the room. As the snap sounded a small flame suddenly burst into life in a small, rusted brazier in the corner of the room.
"Must be odd, like losing something precious to you" a voice came from across the room "Of course..." Came the voice again before the owner of it revealed himself, coming into the light of the fire so Hekapoo could once again see his face "..I'd know a thing or two about that" he finished with a grim expression on his face. His crimson eyes stared daggers into Hekapoo's, once more she felt fear especially when these chains still bound her to the wall of this dingy little cell.
She scoffed at his comment "As if you would, you don't care about anyone but yourself" she uttered back, a strange look of hurt on her face as she did so. Helvete was rather taken aback by her comment, not exactly expecting a meaningful conversation out of his captive. He chuckled to himself and took a seat on the stone slab which served as a bed his eyes never leaving Hekapoo's. "An easy thing to assume by a women scorned" he replied as he relaxed slightly into the uncomfortable seat.
Hekapoo took immediate offence to his response and stared furiously towards him "A women scorned? What the hell's that supposed to mean?" she spat towards the tyrant with a sudden defiant attitude which surprised even her in this situation. Helvete just laughed for a few moments, wiping a small humoured tear from his eye once he had quite finished. "You always were good for a laugh H-poo, you know that?" he replied before his face turned to a cocky and self-assured expression for a moment "We both know that you had fallen for my charms that night so long ago, I mean...it was part of the plan after all" he remarked as thoughts of the past quickly flooded Hekapoo's mind.
Hekapoo looked down, ashamed at thoughts of that night. He wasn't wrong after all, she had been weak, his charm had worked so well that she'd gotten Eclipsa frozen in a crystal for 300 years. It wasn't a proud memory. Helvete reached a hand forward, causing Hekapoo to flinch back as far as she could but it didn't stop the tyrant from cupping her cheek with the palm of his hand. It felt warm, his skin was strangely soft for someone who had fought endless wars for so many years. "Oh dear Hekapoo, I do hope you didn't think I actually loved you?" he enquired with a wicked chuckle in his voice.
Try as she might, Hekapoo couldn't stop a small tear forming in one of her eyes. She looked away from the tyrant to stop him seeing but Helvete was all too aware of her emotions and he took a twisted pleasure from seeing them on display. "I don't know why you're surprised, noone's ever loved you before, so why did you think I would?" he mocked her as his hand removed itself from her face. Hekapoo shook the tear from her eye and spat under her breath "Cruel bastard...you should've rotted in that dimension".
Helvete chuckled "My my, what a hurtful comment, it's almost like you think I'm heartless or something? Do I seem heartless to you?" he asked her, by now she had turned her head downwards as if all the thoughts of the past brought out some feeling of shame within her. "You slaughtered thousands, that seems pretty uncaring to me" came her monotone reply to his question. Helvete just chuckled at her reply "I suppose it would seem that way to you, but who really suffered? Some mindless birds? King Ponyhead?...well..." he paused with a cruel grin adorning his lips "I suppose Queen Moon suffered in the end, how is she by the way?" the last question rolling off his tongue with a fained expression of concern for the queen he had so cruelly tortured.
"The second I get out of these chains you'll know exactly how much she suffered" Hekapoo hissed as she struggled against her restraints, attempting desperately to summon up any of her powers. Nothing seemed to work, she couldn't summon portals, clone herself, even her pyrokinesis was gone. It seemed unreal to her and all the while through her efforts, Helvete's laughter at her filled the room. "You really think it'd be that easy?" he asked as he wiped a small laughter fuelled tear from his eye. Hekapoo glared at him, incensed at how amusing he seemed to find her struggle.
"I mean really, you think I'm the kind've guy that would underestimate a member of the magic high commission? Do I look like that kind've guy to you Hekapoo?" he asked with a wicked grin drawing across his features as he tugged lightly at one of the chains clasped firmly to Hekapoo's right arm. "I'm sure you remember that Helios is famed for it's rare alloys, manufacturing and machinery?" he asked with a slightly more serious tone this time. Hekapoo nodded "What's your point?".
Helvete smirked and tapped at the chain "Draining crystals, I'm sure you remember those curious little gems?" he teased as he watched Hekapoo's eyes go wide with worry. She immediately knew that he'd about this well. "But personally what I enjoy most about them, is something that you're about to experience" as he said this his eyes flashed with a bright and cruel crimson light for a couple of seconds as his smile grew ever so slightly too wide for Hekapoo's liking. Immediately she felt her nerves begin to soar as the tyrant's gaze ran over her. "What are you talking about?" she responded with a harsh tone, trying hard to disguise her nervousness and fear at the tyrant's next move.
"Well my dear H-Poo, when a magic user is exposed to draining crystals they will lose their abilities for the duration while the crystals feed on their magical energy as you well know..." he began very matter of factly. Hekapoo nodded cautiously, wondering where he was going with this exactly. "But you, well you're entirely composed from magic" His eyes began to glow with that sinister crimson light once more, appearing like beacons in the relative darkness of the dingy cell. "Do you know how painful it'll be as these chains slowly leech away at your mind, body, soul...well everything really... until eventually...well do you have any idea?" he enquired with a sinister tone as he seemed to grin in anticipation.
He once more ran his hand across her cheek, gently stroking it as she flinched back in an attempt to avoid his touch. "Now I'm sure neither of us want you to suffer such a horrific fate do we?" he asked as he turned her head so that she was looking directly into his deep, crimson eyes behind which lay a world of malice and horrifying thoughts and powers which even struck fear into Hekapoo. She gulped and unsteadily asked "W..What do you want?" with a sense of dread as thoughts of what this evil man would demand of her ran through her mind, each thought more horrible to bear than the last.
"Oh it's really nothing you couldn't do in your sleep, I simply need your half of the spell" he said with a sincere charm once more returning to his voice as he pointed towards the Mewnian writing which had been fused into Hekapoo's skin on the back of her left hand. She looked towards the writing, the spell which gave her the ability to control all portal travel in the multiverse. A spell which had been inscribed on her by Glossaryck himself when he created her all those hundreds of thousands of years ago.
She clenched her fists tightly and looked up into Helvete's eyes defiantly. "Never" she answered, a clear sense of resolve in her voice as she awaited what she expected to be a harsh punishment for her answer. Instead she was surprised as Helvete sighed to himself and got up to walk towards the doorway of her cell. "Have it your way, don't blame me if you regret it" he said with a shrug as he opened the doorway before pausing "Although, I suppose you won't live very long to regret it" he remarked with a chuckle, snuffing the brazier with a snap of his fingers as he left. Outside the door he turned to someone that Hekapoo couldn't quite see through the darkness. "No food or water for the next 24 hours, a half slice of bread and small cup of water in 8 hour intervals after that" Helvete ordered to the obscure individual before turning around to once more look Hekapoo in the eyes.
"I'll be back in a day or so, in the meantime..." he grinned cruelly once more "Well..I hope for your sake you've a high pain tolerance" he finished before slamming the heavy iron door shut and the locks of her cell slammed home, leaving Hekapoo once more alone in the darkness and cold of her prison.
Butterfly Castle-Butterfly Kingdom
The atmosphere was tense in the Butterfly Kingdom, crowds had been forced off the streets as troops were given orders to lock down the city. Rumours of the loss of the royal wand had begun as whispers between the houses as soldiers patrolled the streets for stragglers. Through the windows wherever they could all the citizens looked towards the castle. Guests under full military guard came flocking in one by one. The entire magical high commission began to arrive, although few noticed that Hekapoo wasn't among them. Each of the commission members looked nervous and Rhombulus especially looked petrified as he walked into the castle, carefully carrying a crystal ball containing the image of omnitraxus prime.
The citizens attention was drawn away however as criers, dressed in their long red and black coats with golden buttons and sporting hats with a myriad of gloriously coloured feathers atop their heads, marched through the streets, ringing shimmering golden bells and calling loudly for the attention of all they passed as they relayed an urgent message from the castle. "Attention, all citizens, Attention!" came the cry from a nearby crier as he passed by main street. "By supreme authority of Queen Star Butterfly; All homes are subject to immediate and thorough search by troops who will make their way through shortly, any resistance to the search will be met with detainment!" the order came to the mixed murmurs of those within houses and sealed up shops which littered the kingdom's capital.
'What was going on!?', 'Why are we being searched!?' , 'Queen Moon would've never done anything like this!' came the random and angry shouts from windows in the street as certain citizens showed off their objection to this forced and random search of their property. Some began to barricade their doors as a form of protest as they spotted squadrons of soldiers in full plate armour marching down the streets towards their houses.
In most cases the citizens relented to the search and opened their doors without resistance towards the soldiers. The troops would then begin a thorough search of the entire property. Every pot, cupboard, desk, drawer, wardrobe and biscuit tin was searched for even the slightest trace of the wand. When nothing turned up the troops interviewed the occupants and then moved onto the next house without much of a word about the affair.
In other cases where disgruntled citizens refused the troops entry or even went as far as to barricade their homes to prevent access, the troops actions were much more harsh. Using brute force along with large steel cylinders to bash down the doorways to insubordinate homes and rushing to detain the inhabitants, locking them in cuffs and placing them under armed guard before turning the house upside down. When nothing was found the citizens who resisted were brought to the barracks for questioning.
As the army carried out the grand search of the city, the castle was experiencing it's own form of chaos. The guards searched every room and every closet and even the most disgusting areas of the castle with men having to pick through the rubbish and inspect the sewage pipes of the castle for any sign of the wand. Meanwhile other guards, arguably the lucky ones, only had to ensure that noone interrupted the emergency meeting being held within the castle.
The meeting's participants had been summoned at immediate notice, so naturally few of them had taken the time to prepare in even the most basic areas, luckily for them noone was exactly sweating the finer details at the moment and they all managed to make their way to the castle within a couple of hours of the summons going out. In a sense it was lucky the wedding had occurred yesterday, if not then many would be much further away by the time they had been summoned.
The meeting room was quite plain, a simplistic room with minimal decoration and a large oval shaped oak table which sat in the centre with ample seating for around 25 people, in this case it was nearly full to capacity when you included the junior officers that some of the generals had brought with them as scribes. This was arguably the most high profile a meeting that you could get in Mewni with many of the major names being present.
Marco and Star were obviously at the forefront having called the meeting in the first place and each of them looking white as sheets from the news they had just heard and now had to deliver to the rest of the confused looking individuals in the room alongside them. To the royal couple's immediate left sat Tom and Tamia, the pair having been freshly woken in their room by the soldiers storming through the hallways. Needless to say they were feeling a little grouchy from the rude awakening.
To the right were sat River and Moon who were looking just as concerned as everyone else, although Moon was a lot more focused as it seems River and Globgor hadn't fully recovered from their ill advised drinking competition last night, each of them maintained they had won despite various other telling them they had passed out at the same time. Globgor and Eclipsa were also present for the meeting being seated alongside River and Moon, opposite them was Ponyhead and the Magic High Commission with Omnitraxis prime being positioned in the centre of the table in his crystal ball.
Finally, the highest generals of the Mewnian army and Higgs, the new head of the Skylords, had also turned up and by her side as per usual was the now Senior Squire Potemkin, the two having been inseparable since Higgs had taken the boy on as her own squire. The two were sat chatting amongst themselves, Higgs giggling to herself as Potemkin subtly pointed towards one of the older and balding generals with a smirk.
Star and Marco gave each other a worried look, They hugged quickly before Star broke the contact to begin the meeting. "I'm not going to lie to you all, if the situation is what we suspect then it's serious" Star began attempting to hide her nerves through a strong sounding voice as the room fell silent to listen to her words. "Marco will fill you in on the details that we know for now" she said as she gestured towards her husband who now stood at the head of the table.
Marco stepped up and began talking immediately, mostly directing his eyes towards the generals who's faces of concern were arguably the most serious in the room. "The royal wand is missing, stolen it seems during the celebrations last night" Marco came right out with it, not mincing words as sugarcoating the truth would only delay them. The gathered crowd gasped in shock and murmured amongst each other, this news was some of the most terrible that Mewni could experience and Marco knew there was still more to tell.
"This morning when making their handovers, two of the guards found one of the guards outside of Star's room passed out in one of the cleaning cupboards, the castle doctors found that he'd been drugged with a powerful sleeping agent" Marco reported, trying his best to keep as calm as he could even amongst the horrendous news and his own mind racing to find a solution to what had happened and who would take the royal wand, because the person he heard it was...well it couldn't be true...could it?
Tom interjected quickly with a serious tone to his voice "Who did it Marco?" he asked towards his friend with many of the others at the table nodding their heads and murmuring about needing the same answer. Marco sighed "The guard is still unconscious, but he was able to tell us two things the intruder said to him, two words only; Kahchi and Helios" came the solemn reply from Marco as the crowd once more gasped in horror. None looked more horrified than Tom and Tamia who both went white as sheets as the shock took over.
"But..that's impossible...Kahchi is dead we killed him Marco" Tom stammered with a look of sheer disbelief on his face. Marco nodded "I know we did, But that name alongside Helios is too much to just be a coincidence" he remarked to his friend before turning back towards the crowd. "We know that smaller groups of loyalists to Helios still exist, but until now they've only ever caused problems in their former territories; bombings, kidnappings and industrial sabotage for the most part, this time it seems one of them got organised enough to steal the wand, for what purpose we don't know" he informed them as he directed their attention to a small map of the former Helios territories.
Tamia interjected as Marco finished speaking "Helvete trained fanaticism in his citizens, we've had to put extensive security measures and sizeable garrisons in place just to maintain some semblance of order there" she said with some disgust in her voice as was always present when the topic of her father came up. Tom placed his hand atop hers and squeezed lightly, reassuring her he was there.
Moon rolled her eyes and spoke up with a sarcastic, if not slightly solemn tone. "Yes well, we all know just how cruel that man could be, it isn't surprising his cruelty would find some way to carry on even in death". River's eyes turned sad as his wife spoke, knowing just what that monster had done to his beloved and that he hadn't been there to stop it.
"At any rate we have to track down the wand and put a stop to whatever these maniacs have planned" Star ordered. "We'll be sending troops into the former Helios territories, with the Lucitor's permission?" she questioned to the couple sat beside her. Tom smiled and nodded "You have it, the sooner we track them down the better, I'll have the garrisons put on high alert for anything suspicious" he answered her, receiving a nod in response.
Marco took over at this point, directing his gaze to the high commission. "Omni and Rhombulus, you two search key magic locations; with special emphasis on the Magic Sanctuary and the Royal Archives, if they took the wand then it's likely they'd need some way of using it properly" he ordered to which the commission members nodded in agreement. "Finally, Hekapoo..." Marco paused, looking over those in the room for a telltale flame or orange dress of Hekapoo. But was shocked to find nothing "...Where's Hekapoo?" he asked curiously, his eyebrow cocked in confusion.
The rest of the room looked around themselves, more low chatting and whispers filled the room as the attendees wondered just where the Scissor Enforcer was. It was extraordinarily unusual for her to miss a meeting, even if it was called very suddenly. "Maybe she overdid it a tad last night?" Eclipsa chimed in "If there's a mirror phone in here we could perhaps call her?" she suggested with a smile. Star nodded and looked towards one of the Junior officers stood in the corner of the room, jotting down the notes from the meeting furiously in a small notebook.
"Contact Hekapoo immediately" Star ordered the junior officer who nodded and turned to a diamond shaped mirror in the far corner of the room. The mirror phone rang for a few minutes and then cut to a blank screen as the call failed. Everyone in the room eyed each other nervously until Marco sighed "I know Hekapoo's dimension better than most, I'll go see if she's okay" he said, in the back of his mind assuming she must've really overdone it at the wedding and was passed out somewhere in her home.
Star nodded "Okay, Marco you go and find Hekapoo, the rest of you all know what you need to do" she affirmed to a room of nods and mumbles of approval. "Now let's find the wand, Meeting adjourned".
A/N: Hekapoo is at the Mercy of Helvete and it seems she doesn't have long to live. Meanwhile Mewni goes into mayhem as the search for the wand begins, what will they do when they learn about Hekapoo's disappearance? Until next time guys :)
