Like Father, Like Daughter
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Star vs. the Forces of Evil
Chapter 28: Fire Forged
Brittney didn't understand what was happening; Seraph was on the floor looking terrified at the Lizard. The Lizard seemed to be growing, but that wasn't even the weirdest thing she'd seen. The stuff the Moo-ni princess brought to the football game was a lot scarier.
But Seraph looked like she was staring at the devil, which was weird, wasn't she a demon or something.
Brittney was about to say something when she saw Seraph, and terror wasn't even the right word. She was shaking on the verge of tears as she stared down that Lizard.
The Lizard jumped at Seraph, but before it could reach the horned girl, Brittney just kicked it in the side.
"Buzz off! You- you thing!"
The Lizard hissed in pain and turned snarled at the cheerleader. Razor-sharp claws sprouted out of its paws.
Brittney gulped, and she shuddered as the claws started to glow hot. Small yellow horns began to sprout from its head.
"Run," Brittney slipped out. "Run!"
The scream snapped Seraph out of it, and both of them ran as the Lizard chased after them.
0000
Marco had a sharp pain in his stomach; instinct was telling him to do something. He felt himself sweating through his hoodie. Marco couldn't help feeling like these two government agents could spell the end for the life he had come to know. Silently he promised himself never to let that happen to his daughter.
Janna glanced over him; there was a look in his eyes. It was hard for her to put into words; there was something she had never seen in his eyes before. It was something that she wasn't sure belonged in those eyes. It was scary but also kinda exciting. The pair continued to run away; the pretense was that they were going back to class.
Skeeves continued to talk to the agents, "Well, gentlemen, if you could just tell me what you were looking for, maybe I could be of some assistance."
Powers put it simply, "The unusual."
"Okay," Skeeves replied in the most respectful tone he could manage, "How about something less vague?"
0000
Jackie sat down before Mister Candle.
"Miss Thomas, do you want to start?"
"Uh, yeah, sure, I'm just not sure where to start."
"Start with why you wanted to come here."
Jackie paused as she tried to organize her thoughts. "I- it's those dreams."
"Okay, everyone has been having issues with those dreams? What happened in yours?"
Jackie continued, "It's about Marco. The dream we were together. We were in the middle of a date; it was like the stuff with Hekapoo never happened. We were together, and we were happy. It seemed so real. And while I was dreaming, I wanted it to be real."
Candle leaned back, trying to let the words settle, "It's perfectly natural to have such thoughts. Your break-up was somewhat abrupt. It is easy to see why you might revert to when things were…easier and maybe happier."
"I'm supposed to move on, Marco is moving on. He's doing everything to be a good father, and - it's better if we- I don't make it harder."
"That sounds reasonable."
"Then why do I still miss him? Why do I still want to be with him?"
"I never said emotions were reasonable. We feel things because we do, not because we should."
"How do I fix it?"
"I can't say, there is no answer that suits everyone. I can only suggest you find some way to get closure. My advice is to talk to Mister Diaz about it, it won't be easy, and it will likely be awkward, but talking to him about how you feel might help you get closure."
Jackie sat silently for a moment, thinking over the words.
0000
Brittney and Seraph ran down the aisles. "Help!" Brittney screamed.
Most of the students and the teacher were zoned out; after all, everyone was affected by the Dream Eater. The real world seemed to be a bit blurred because of it.
Francis looked out of the window to see the girls being chased by the Large Lizard.
Francis just blinked and said, "Huh, must be another one of Star's magic things."
He then continued to try and focus on his studies.
Yeah, everyone here had become pretty blase of the strange because of Star and didn't always know when they should be worried.
As they ran, Brittney noticed a trash can; she grabbed and tossed behind her hurling it at the Lizard. The trash can landed right on its head, and it struggled to remove it. They continued to run as they spotted an open door.
Someone of the custodial crew left it open for them, so when they needed more supplies to fix things they could get them easily.
Both girls bolted into the room and slammed it closed behind them.
They both moved as far in as they could, outside they could hear a guttural growls.
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Marco and Janna ran wildly through the halls trying to reach Star's classroom as she was far closer than Seraph was.
"This is it!" Marco pressed himself against the window.
Janna peered in, "Uh, Star isn't here. Maybe she ditched class?"
"She wouldn't do that."
"Uh, well, sometimes me and her just skip class."
Marco facepalmed, "Why?"
"Class gets boring, sometimes we wander around the school or go into an empty classroom and watch videos or-"
"No, why would you teach her to do that?" Now we don't know where she could be." Marco looked at her with a deep stare, "Have you being doing that with Seraph?"
"No! That girl loves her class; she actually enjoys them. Plus, she wants to make her daddy proud."
Marco paused, "Okay, okay, if we can't find Star, we have to find Seraph. We just gotta keep looking."
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Star shuffled in her chair, awkwardly.
"Miss Butterfly," Mister Candle spoke up, "You wanted to talk to me, and we've been sitting here for a while.
Star petted her long blonde hair, "I had a dream."
"Okay, what happened?"
Star thought back to her dream about growing up and losing Marco. She had flashes of a life that was never real, being in the castle and looking up at the moons all alone—waiting for someone who would never arrive—wanting to go on an adventure with Marco but him never being there.
A dream of becoming Queen and having no one to talk with. About having a life without Marco.
She missed him in her dream and her real life.
"I was the Queen… and I wasn't happy."
Candle waited a moment, "That's understandable, becoming queen comes with a lot of responsibility and a lot of pressure."
"… yeah, that's what scared me." Star looked at her boots.
0000
Seraph was as far back in the closet as she could; she had curled up trembling. Brittney wasn't the nicest person but did feel a tad concern about that. The girl looked ready to have a full break down.
"Uh," Brittney cleared her throat, "Are you okay?"
Seraph managed to release a small negative sounding squeal before burying her face in her knees.
"Come on; it's not bad. It's just a big lizard! Its nothing as bad as that freaky house in France. And according to the Football player, your super strong, they said you carried the quartet back across the field during gym class last week. Why would this be an issue for you?"
Brittney gave her a nudge trying to get her to respond. "Come on, do something."
Brittney didn't know what reaction to expect, but she didn't expect Seraph to raise her face with eyes filled with tears.
Between sobs, Seraph let out, "It's" sob, "Back" sob "for me."
"What?"
0000
"When I said unusual, this isn't what I meant," Powers told Skeeves in his usual steady tone.
The agents were standing in front of the school with Skeeves.
More to the point, they were standing next to Oskar's car as the boy played his keytar.
"Why don't you clean your room, mom?~" Oskar bellowed without a concern.
"Who plays the keytar?" Trigger couldn't help but ask out loud.
"But you see why I thought this when I heard you were looking for the unusual," Skeeves told them.
"That's fair," Powers admitted, "What's his situation?"
Skeeves shook his head, "That's Oskar, he's a former student. He's a recent dropout; he refuses to live with his mother since she got remarried and thinks he can make it big as a musician. We've tried to talk some sense into him, our counselors, his parents, I've tried, we did an intervention. But we are at a loss for what to do." Skeeves sighed, "Since you're here, would you mind talking to him? Maybe you can get to him."
It wasn't what he came here for, but Powers would be willing to try.
Power walked up to him, "Excuse me, young man, would you be willing to talk?"
Oskar stopped playing, "Hey, Mister Suit."
They spoke for several minutes; they couldn't talk any sense into the boy. In the end, they did get him to move his car away from the school.
A net win overall.
0000
Hekapoo pulled a small blanket onto Seraph as she napped. The forger did think of moving to her bed, but the small girl was fast asleep and cuddled next to Nachos. Hekapoo smiled to herself, her little girl was growing up, and she was so cute. Hekapoo gave Seraph a kiss on the forehead and headed to work on the forge.
In the time before she left the forge when Seraph was just a small child, she lived happily with her mother. Hekapoo would teach her things and play with her. Seraph was happy; this was her life.
Nachos snored as she curled on the couch with Seraph. That dragon thought of the girl as her own pup and would do anything to protect her.
In her sleep Seraph chewed on her small plush dragon, she was doing that more one of her fangs was poking out, teething was a bit annoying.
Eventually, Seraph woke, rubbed her eyes and sleep away. "Mommy?"
Seraph looked around confused; she pushed away Nacho's tail, making sure not to wake her up.
Seraph walked around for it a bit, looking for her mother. She eventually found her mother working over some flames, making another pair of scissors. Seraph decided not to bother her mother, to let her continue working.
Seraph raced down the halls, her arms outstretched like she was going to fly. She loved flying on Nachos, and she wanted to do that again but didn't want to wake her. She was a small girl and bored. With no one else to play with, she decided to find something to do. She pulled open the big heavy doors in front and went outside.
In her yard, there were lots to do. Seraph could play in the sandbox or on the swings, but that was boring without a playmate.
She could go swimming in the lake, but her mommy told her never to swim without someone watching her.
Seraph sat on the ground and pouted, "I'm bored."
Then she noticed the forest around her home; she rarely went in there. Her mom took her to walk there sometimes.
That was it!
She'd go exploring into the forest, that sounded like fun.
The small child scurried into the forest, trying her best to follow the path she walked with her mom last time.
She was prepared, or so she thought, she had on her shorts, her favorite orange shirt and a pair of sneakers. She still felt she needed something else.
Then she spotted it; she walked off the path she found a sharp-looking twig. Seraph swung it around a few times, taking a few practice swings like she was wielding a sword.
Now she felt ready!
She walked deeper into the forest, swinging the stick around. She wondered if this was how her father felt like when he was making his way through the forest.
She wanted to meet him one day, to be an awesome daughter, one he could be proud of, to be brave and strong like he was.
She continued to explore; she heard a strange sound and followed it. She pushed aside a push and found a small chimera lying on its side.
"Hello? Mister Chimera?" It was moving, sort of.
There were sounds of globbing and munching. Then something stuck its head out from the chimera; it was an orange lizard. Its mouth was covered in blood as it chomped down on some organs.
Seraph squeaked in shock, disgusted and horrified she tried to take a few steps back but ended up tripping and falling.
The Lizard started to crawl towards Seraph and, with a quick sprint, reached her. Seraph desperately swung the stick at it before it quickly snapped it in half with its jaw.
The Lizard opened up its mouth again, Seraph panicked and shot embers out of her hand to try and fight it.
It didn't work, the ember went into its mouth, and it just started chewing on them. The Lizard's body twitched, and it's skin bubbled before it began to grow. It licked it and jumped onto Seraph.
The air filled with the sounds of sharp teeth tearing flesh away and the sounds of a small girl screaming.
The Forge Hekapoo looked for Seraph, she went to check on her and found her gone. She barely walked outside, looking around the yard with Nachos when she heard the scream that made her heart stop.
"Seraph!"
Seraph's eyes were filled with tears, blinding her for the most part, but she saw this giant Lizard on top of her tearing at her skin and her blood spilling out. Seraph screamed and tried to pull away, but its claws pinned her down and dug into her.
A fiery portal opened up and, with a roared Nachos shot out, biting the Lizard, forcing it to let Seraph go. The Dragoncycle squeezed its jaws, making the lizard squeal in pain before pulling it away from Seraph.
Hekapoo followed quickly, her eyes going wide when she saw her daughter.
"…mommy?"
Seraph was bleeding badly; Hekapoo's mouth went dry. Hekapoo quickly made two clones; one clone rushed back into the portal. Hekapoo tore the end of her skirt and promptly used it to cover Seraph gash.
The other Hekapoo ordered Nachos, "Let it go!"
The dragon complied, and as the now bleeding Lizard hit the ground, it looked up to see a pair of scissors rushing towards its head.
The Lizard twitched before flames erupted around it.
Hekapoo kissed Seraph, "It's going to be okay; it's going to be okay."
She went into the portal, leading her back home, where the clone brought out potions.
"Okay, honey, you need to drink these."
Seraph was trembling as a bottle was opened for her and pressed to her lips. It tasted awful, but she barely noticed and drank it up. Her mother made her drink three more. Her wounds started to close up, and she felt her body begin to replace the blood she lost.
Hekapoo pulled her close to her chest, now crying herself.
Soon Nachos joined them, licking the tears away, trying to comfort them.
0000
Modern-day Seraph trembled as she raised her shirt showing the large scar around her torso.
Brittney cringed, they were clearly teeth marks, Seraph barely managed to tell her the story.
"The potions…they grew back what… it back but scars… scars …they don't go away." She lowered her shirt and looked down at the ground.
Brittney knew she wasn't nice, but she stared shocked and horrified, even though she didn't want a kid attacked by an animal.
She didn't hear of anything like this, she heard of people who were scared after dog attacks, but this was something else. She had never heard of dogs eating something out of a person. No wonder she was terrified, she probably would have died if her mother didn't heal her.
Hekapoo never really talked about it; she blamed herself, that if she took better care of her, they could have prevented it. She spent the next days with her clones burning every Lizard they could find in the forest until those that survived moved far away. Seraph never talked about it because she didn't want to remember it. She even put extra effort to try to always cover the scar, to not be reminded.
"I made it worse,"
Brittney blinked, "What?"
"My magic… those things eat magic and… grow. I did it the first time, and I did it again." Seraph was starting to cry again.
"Come on, that was years ago," Brittney tried to reassure her, "I'm sure it's nothing to you now, right?"
Seraph looked on, confused, "That was months ago."
"But you said that was when you were small."
"Yeah, months ago. I had to move here because I aged really fast there. If I stayed, I would get old fast."
Wheels started to turn in the cheerleader's head.
There had been things she never really got about the whole situation with the family. Not that she paid all that much attention to Marco to start with. And the entire explanation, well, she was surprised to hear he had a kid so maybe she lost some of the details.
"Oh, god!" Brittney let out, "You're a kid."
No wonder she acted like a small child, she, in essence, was. She got aged up to a teen and was keeping up, but she never had the experiences that why she was so excited to make friends and go to school; everything was literally a new experience for her. That is why she acted innocent and playful. It had been annoying Brittney for a long time.
It felt like a punch to the gut; she was planning to have a little kid fight her nightmare to getaway. Brittney was many things, but she wasn't a person who would do that.
There was a small girl alone and crying, who just wanted her parents. They would be there if they knew, but that didn't change anything now.
For once, she knew what she had to do.
"Okay, I am going to get that Lizard to chase me. When it does go and run away, find someone. Okay?"
Seraph could barely register the words but finally nodded.
Brittney got up, reached for the door, and took a deep breath.
Nearby the Lizard scuttled towards her, "Hey big ugly! I'm over here!"
Brittney seeing it had its attention ran the Lizard chased after the easy prey.
It wanted magic and smelled a twinge of magic on the girl probably from being around Seraph for so long.
The Lizard hungered for magic; it seemed to be less if it lately, and it tasted stranger, so it lunged after it.
Seraph pushed the door open to see Brittney leading the Lizard away.
Brittney ran as fast she could, but it wasn't fast enough, and soon the Lizard pounced on her. She braced herself for what she knew would follow.
There was a loud squeal, but it wasn't from her.
She saw the Lizard get flung away from her. Seraph had run after her and arrived just in time to punt the Lizard away. The Lizard hissed as it landed on it's back and swiveled itself back onto its feet.
Seraph was scared, but she knew what it was like to be alone with one of those things and didn't want to leave someone like that. Her scar ached at the very thought.
"Come on! Let's go!" Seraph took her hand and pulled her along.
"Just give me a second!" Brittney got on her feet, and they both ran.
0000
Marco's heart dropped into his stomach, "Something happened here."
Janna could see the blood drain from his skin. Where Seraph was supposed to be was empty. The tools and some paint cans were all tossed around.
Marco looked around at scorch marks, "These are fresh."
"What?"
"These aren't the ones Seraph made this morning."
"Are you sure?"
"I followed her mom for 16 years; I know about scorch marks." Marco jumped around, "Scratch marks, something with claws."
"Wait. What?"
"Something else was here." Marco got on the floor and looked at skid marks on the floor. "She ran away, Brittney was with her, and whatever was chasing them …" Marco looked around the marks, "It's getting bigger, the claws are bigger over here, then they were there."
"Are you sure?" Janna was starting to panic.
"Yeah, I've chased shifters before, the pattern is the same, just bigger."
"So something is after Seraph?" How?"
"The thing with the Dream Eater, we opened up all those portals. We didn't see anything, but Hekapoo was worried something could have slipped in." Marco slumped, "I did this, I just wanted to keep her safe. Now, something is chasing her! What kinda dad does that!"
"Marco!" Janna snapped at him. She grabbed him by his head and raised him to her eye level. "You love her! You would do anything for her! You'd fight actual monsters for her! You did everything you could to save her from a giant nightmare thing! You aren't a bad dad."
"But-"
"She's being chased by something, what are you going to do?"
"I gotta find her!"
Janna slapped his face, "Right!" She helped him up, "Track! Seraph is fine; you taught her to fight and everything. She can protect herself, but if we find her fast, the better."
Janna saw the gears spinning in his head, "This way!"
Marco had a terrible moment of doubt, Janna was more used to messing with those, but he couldn't let that hold him back now. It had been a long time since she had seen him have a moment of doubt, but she guessed worrying about being a dad was a good reason to have one. It meant he feared he wasn't good enough to be one, but Janna knew he was. She wished he knew that, but she didn't mind reminding him.
They both raced down the hall looking for her.
0000
Skeeves was starting to sweat a little; he'd been doing well to avoid the hotspots. He was hoping the agents were not going to call him on it.
Power took a breath, "It looks like nothing stands out."
"Well, this is a perfectly normal school." Skeeves chuckled, "Well, besides our outstanding students, that is."
Beep. Beep. Agent Trigger held up the device, "It looks like we are picking up something this way."
Skeeves blinked, "That's the way towards our gym. There shouldn't be anyone near there; it's the Coach's period off."
"We better check to be thorough," Powers told him.
"Sure, I'll lead the way." Skeeves didn't argue; it was leading them away from where Seraph, Star, Skullnick, and even Candle were. If they found nothing at the gym, then they might leave and end this.
0000
"To the Gym!" Brittney yelled. "We can lock the doors! Hurry, it's catching up!"
They ran towards the gym. Seraph squealed in horror, "Bigger things move slower." The realization wasn't helping.
Brittney felt a chill as she realized what she meant. "No!"
But looking behind them, she saw the Lizard was catching up.
"Run ahead!" Seraph yelled. "Find something we can use to block the door."
Brittney let go of her hand and ran.
Seraph took a deep breath and tried to be brave; this is what her parents would do. Seraph let her hand filled with flames, and as the creature rushed at her she fired away.
The reptile opened it's maw sucking in all the magical flames.
It was warm and savory; it's mouth-watering as more flames were sucked in. The scales on the Lizard's body bulged and cracked as its body began to expand.
Brittney slammed into the door but found it locked. "You have to be kidding me! Why would they lock it!?"
She didn't know how much time they would have. She took a few steps back and rushed forwards with everything she had. A thud followed a crack as the lock broke and the doors pushed in.
She hit the gym floor, annoyed but happy that Skeeves bought cheap locks. She jumped on her feet and towards the Equipment Room. "Come on!" The door was being held close by a bike lock.
The adrenaline rushing in her body made her try; she kicked the lock as hard as she could.
Brittney stifled a cry of pain.
There was a crack, the lock didn't break, but she kicked the door hard enough that the handle broke off the door. She slammed against the door and rushed in.
"Ugh! Janna!" Brittney didn't find much. She remembered Janna had a little stunt that made all the clubs fight each other, and they messed up their equipment. Skeeves still hadn't bothered to replace anything yet. He might have just bought a coffee machine for the teachers.
"How hasn't this school fallen apart?!" Brittney dug through, looking for something to use.
She did find something in the back, covered in dust bought during the last Olympics to boost school spirit.
Seraph felt tired, she didn't know if the Lizard was draining her or wasn't sleeping well or the flames, but she felt weaker. The fire died down; the Lizard gulped, looking more like a giant crocodile.
Seraph couldn't help but stare; it looked like it could eat her with one bite now.
Seraph ran for the gym; the Lizard staggered towards her. It's massive body jiggled, but it continued.
Seraph felt slower and harder to breathe, but soon as she crossed the threshold she slammed the doors closed. "Brittney!"
Seraph pressed her back against the doors.
Brittney ran out with a bunch of javelins.
Seraph was about to ask about that when the Lizard burst through the doors. The force threw her right at the Brittney. They both collapsed to the ground and the sports equipment scattered around them.
The Large Lizard bellowed out as it found his prey, it stomped deep into the gym.
"How much did you feed it?" Brittney paled.
The Lizard liked its lips ready to get to the main course. The two teens looked up to see a beast out for them. It turned its head sideways and opened its maw to snap them into its mouth.
Brittney grabbed the javelin and shoved it in its mouth; it shook as it tried to close its mouth as the javelin held it open.
The girls quickly scrambled away when they had a chance.
Seraph grabbed one of the javelins, and she looked at Brittney, who knew what they had to do. Brittney's hands trembled as she picked one up. With the snap, the javelin broke as it finally managed to close its mouth. As it closedin, a volley of javelin struck it.
It turned to see the girls throwing them at it for a moment before one pierced its eye.
As they ran out, Seraph grabbed one and ran to the beast spiking it as far in as it could. Brittney stabbed at with her last spear.
The creature let out a howl before giving a small whimper, and it stopped moving.
On the verge of tears, the girls stepped back; the beast was still.
"It's… over." Brittney finally dropped the javelin.
"…" Seraph's mouth opened, and nothing came out except a long tired sob.
It was over, and they had made it the other end. Both girls grabbed each other and hugged one another.
The ground shook, the Lizard rose its head. Was playing possum? Had it just been stunned? It didn't matter anymore, they didn't have a weapon or anything, and it would only take a second for it to kill them. Their minds went blank as they stared at their deaths.
"SERAPH!"
Marco jumped into the air and drew his scissors, which turned into a sword. Marco plunged it deep into its head and until it emerged through the other side. Marco pulled out the sword and without hesitating sliced off its head. There was a gush of green blood that spilled over them, but they were sure it was dead.
"…daddy." Seraph pulled away from Brittney stepped forwards but hesitating seeing the Lizard, afraid that it would move again.
"Seraph!" Janna quickly ran into the gym.
Her heart was racing; they stopped at a closet and almost didn't make it in time. But when they saw the Lizard Marco ran as if every instinct in his body was telling him too.
Janna threw her arms around the trembling Seraph, "It's okay; I got you."
Marco jumped off the creature and hugged them.
Brittney only watched as her arms wrapped around herself.
The doors on the opposite end opened up with a grunt, "Sorry, the lock is-"
Skeeves stopped as he and the agent stared at the massive dead beast.
The device in Trigger's hand was beeping but slowly dying out.
"What's this?" Power's asked.
Janna spoke up, "It's a play. We were rehearsing for the play."
Skeeves caught on, "Yes, I forgot they were borrowing the gym for the play they are performing. I try to be very supportive of creative endeavors. Even some of the more macabre, you never know when the student will be the next Poe."
The agents took a few steps forwards, looking at the dead beast.
"It looks real." Trigger had to admit. "Outstanding work."
He continued to look at the teens covered in green lizard blood.
"We still haven't found anything unusual," Powers admitted.
Both agents turned to Skeeves.
Trigger suggested, "We might need to call in backup."
"Yes," Powers added, "we still need to get to the bottom of the strange reading we picked up."
Marco pulled away from the hug and readied his sword. Marco moved swiftly and quietly towards the agents, only Janna and Skeeves noticed, and they both paled.
Would Marco kill these two men to protect Seraph?
Marco had killed two creatures last week to protect Seraph. But these were men; men are just doing their jobs.
They couldn't answer for sure. Janna struggled, should she try to stop him or cover Seraph's eyes?
Beep. Beep. Beep.
"Excuse me," Agent Power looked at his phone, "Oh. I see. It's a report from the agency; they discovered that the readings were caused by solar flare activity combined with large quartz deposits found in the ground beneath this city. It was a wild goose chase."
Skeeves breath a sigh of relief; the school bell rang, "It seems like it's the end of the day. It's a short day. Gentlemen, I'll show you the way out," he paused and looked at the group. "Clean up; I'll be back in a few."
Skeeves led the agents away and checked on Seraph.
0000
A young-looking man sat in front of a computer screen in a dark room. His glasses obscured his eyes, the glow from the screen reflected off them. He arched his fingers and leaned in.
"Are you done playing evil anime-dad?" A black orb with a single red glowing eye hovered above him and spoke with a feminine voice. "Why are the lights off?"
He explained, "I blew a circuit."
"Sure," She sounded unconvinced. "Good news, the message went through and it looks like they bought it."
"The Eagle Eye Guys? Good. I can't believe we missed them."
"Really? They'd only been at it from the '80s and found one thing. And it looks like someone took care of them for us.
They just aren't a big threat to the Masquerade, they slipped through the cracks."
"Still, we can't let it happen again. Other Government agencies could cause a lot more trouble, but that doesn't mean they can't mess things up. Especially with Mewni in the mix."
"Are you sure you don't want to deal with them? I know you try to avoid Mewni stuff but-"
"It's a princess, and she has the wand. I'd rather avoid them if possible. It looks like she's got a protector that is handling it. If it gets much worse, I'll step in." He ran his finger through his hair with a tired sigh, "I still can't believe that Hekapoo let that spatial anomaly get that far."
"Anything you want to do about it?"
"If anything seems to push past the borders of the city, let me know, and we will act."
"Got it, do you want me to light the way to the door?
"Yes, please."
The red-eye flashed a beam of light, showing the way to the door.
0000
Skeeves walked the agents out when Skullnick's voice bellowed. "Come on; people keep it going."
Skeeve stared at the troll, "Yeah, she's a part of the play too. I love it when a teacher volunteers for these things. Probably going to meet them now."
Skeeves sped up, walking past her as fast as he could.
"And then blast!" Star walked with Starfan. Star held out her wand. She was about to let loose a spell but stopped, "Hey Principle Skeeves." She waved at him.
"Hello, Star, uh, run along and don't cause trouble."
He walked faster to keep her from doing anything.
Finally, he reached the entrance of the school.
Powers was a little surprised, but they were leaving why question things. "Well, your government thanks you."
"Think nothing of it." Skeeves smiled, "Really, don't."
That's when Trigger's device beeped again, and he slapped it, trying to get it to work correctly. The problem was that it was working, a swirling orange portal opened up behind them and out stepped Hekapoo.
The beeping died, and Trigger noted, "Piece of junk."
"Uh, excuse me," Hekapoo spoke up, the portal closing up.
"Pardon us," Power blinked and stepped aside, "we didn't see you there."
Skeeves spoke up, "Yes, the others are waiting for you at the gym. Go there! That way."
Hekapoo shrugged and walked that way.
Power's looked on, "Uh, I guess those horn headbands are becoming popular."
Skeeves smiled with a shrug, "Yes, what can I say? Teen trends."
The agents parted ways, and Skeeves stood there smiling as they got in their car and drove away.
Soon as they were gone and fell to the ground, "I think I'm having a heart attack! Someone get me ice cream!"
0000
A small girl in a purple princess dress with a crown sat by the window waiting.
A man in a butler suit walked up behind, "Miss, I don't think they will be here any time soon."
She didn't say anything; the costume was a gift from her parents on her birthday. It had been several weeks, and they hadn't seen her wear it once. They didn't even give it to her in person; it came with a note promising to play with her when they got a chance.
She took off the crown and let it drop.
They never came, they always promised to be there for holidays or her birthday but never really showed. It could be months before she saw either of them. She learned not to count on them; if they couldn't be there for that day, why should she expect them to be there when she needed them.
0000
Brittney walked into school, because of what happened Skeeves let their punishment flop. So she didn't have to worry about losing her position as a cheer captain.
"Hey," Seraph's voice sprang up.
"Hello," Brittney greeted her
"…so, I wanted to say … thank you. Everything that happened yesterday… was bad, but you made it better. I probably would have been trapped in the closet if you didn't do something. So thank you."
"Okay," Brittney steeled herself, "I'm sorry, I- I shouldn't have made fun of you. Things are messed up for you as it is, I shouldn't make it worse. I think those bad dreams just made things worse for me, and I took it out on you. I shouldn't have."
Somewhere Mister Candle was proud of their progress, he had nothing to do with it, but he'd take credit.
"Ah," Seraph tried to talk, "I heard you weren't doing great in math. I'm really good at math, me and some friends are going to get together during the weekend to study."
"A study group?"
"Yeah, if you want, you can join us. Get ready for finales and everything."
"…" Brittney looked away, "I'll think about it."
"Okay,"
"Okay."
Both girls just walked away, neither one knew how to handle the situation, and they did the best they could.
Brittney walked away when someone else stopped her, "Hey Brittney, can we talk?"
"Diaz?"
"Yeah," Marco tried to muster a smile, "I just wanted to say, sorry about that whole mess yesterday. Things went out of control. But you handled yourself well. Thanks for helping Seraph through it."
Brittney fidgetted, "Uh, don't make it something huge. I just stepped up. If you want to pay me back, just step up and be a better father."
Marco gave her a strange smile, "I'll try."
Marco walked away, and Brittney watched him leave. Honestly, she didn't think he was a bad dad; he was trying hard. He was pretty great.
As Marco made his way to class, he ran into Jackie, "Hey Jackie,"
Jackie greeted, "Hey, Marco."
What Mister Candle told her rung in her head.
"Hey, Marco, I wanted to talk to you about something."
"Sure, what about?"
"…Uh, that study session with Seraph is this weekend,right?"
"Yeah,"
"Cool, I could use some help with math."
They walked along, and Jackie silently cursed herself for not saying what she knew she had to.
0000
Mister Candle dismissed the last student; he'd stayed late and expected he'd be staying late for a while. He slipped into his chair and picked up his coffee cup.
He was emotionally drained, he started as a plant for Tom, but he grew into the position. He wanted to help these kids, but there was only so much he could do.
He took a sip of his drink and, after a moment, just started to stare into it. His reflection in his drink distorted before him, and he didn't see himself anymore, just smoke and flames.
He put his mug down, just held his head as he tried to push down these memories.
0000
Hekapoo had cloned herself and was scouring through all of Echo Creek, making sure there wasn't anything else that slipped through. She found a strange lady by the river, she was nice enough but offered some weird pancakes.
As Hekapoo ran down the streets, she paused and looked at an older woman with a suspicious-looking dog.
She had done a good sweep the day before after she heard of what happened but decided to double-check her work.
Not that it mattered because of her punishment. It wasn't like she could do much. She could at least make sure Seraph didn't get hurt again. They got lucky yesterday, but they couldn't always count on luck.
0000
Through the crystal ball, three people watched Hekapoo. Soon the image switched over to Marco and Seraph at school.
"I'm worried," Rhombulous spoke up.
"Bah blah baw!" Lekmet let out.
"Yeah, you make a good point. But we have to make sure for Seraph and Hekapoo."
Omni moved before them, "I take it, that's two to one, we need to put some special attention on this Marco Diaz."
Author's Notes: Okay, so here you go. The world seems like it's falling apart since last year, sorry it took so long to update. I've lost my job, so I've been stressed about that. But enough about me.
Let me know what you guys think, I feed off your feedback. Also, my beta has been super busy so if anyone else wants to help being a beta reader please DM and we will talk. Anyway , let me know what you guys think. I was a little worried about this chapter so yeah I really hear what you guys think. The next chapter should be something fun so I'll get to it when I can.