"Eclipsa" - Dialogue

Eclipsa - Thought

[~*~] - Time change

{Line Break} - Location change

{...} - Flashback

Discomfort noises passes through Eclipsa's lips when sunlight hits her. Forcing her to roll on her opposite side and pull the velvet blanket to her face. A smile forms on her lips before her face twists into a frown. I can't be late for study sessions.

She's too well accustomed to her routine: dress, eat, then princess lessons.

So with great reluctance, she slips the warm blanket off, and then pushes aside the veil drapes to put on her bunny slippers. She stretches her arms and releases a long yawn. Smiling wide now, Eclipsa walks over to the windows ready to greet her flower garden.

Swinging them open, the young Princess leans out and breathes deeply.

Hmm? A less aromatic smell hits her, so the frown returns stronger. Her sluggish mind clears to focus on the sight of a wooden fence and several square houses of different sizes and additional changes.

There are rows of houses on the other side of the streets and behind the one she's in. Eclipsa looks side to side in confusion, but then she exclaims "oh!"

I live here...for now. Yesterday's memories come one by one. She sighs, feeling a void growing in her chest, but then smiles at remembering the fun she had with Marco.

"At least I have a friend here," saying the words alone sends a rush in her. With no princess duties weighing on her and a friend to have fun with, she's ready to tackle this day with vigor.

She closes the windows and walks back towards her bed with a spring in her step, and right there leaning on the wall next to her bed, is her parasol/wand. Holding it again sends pleasant shivers down her arms.

Angling her wand in the air, the purple orb on top glows, and from her wardrobe, clothes of her choice fly out.

Not wishing to waste daylight, she quickly changes out of her sleeping robes into a long purple dress with a white collar. Flat shoes with knee length socks and white silk gloves that reach her elbows.

She uses another simple telekinesis and floats the body mirror till its in front of her. Examining herself, she brushes her long green hair but takes seconds longer to examine her gloved hands.

She forgot to put them yesterday because of the amount of stress she was in the morning, but now, she had put them on just out of habit. 'As a proper Princess, appearances are everything,' a snobbish tone answered in her head.

But I'm not in the castle anymore, a quick moment of thrill runs down her spine as she tosses the sleeves to the ground.

While the sleeves were no longer itchy due to the months of practices, she prefers her hands to be able to breathe.

Despite the brief satisfaction, The image in the mirror is still not good enough in her mind.

A moment of inspiration hits her and quickly floats in two pieces: a black ribbon and a long blue cloth. Setting her wand on the bed, she ties the black ribbon to her hair to make a ponytail, and then ties the cloth around her waist to end it with a bow on her back.

Eclipsa likes the sight of her dress to have a puffed out skirt and how it curves around her waist.

Nodding to herself, she steps out of her room and already notices the noise downstairs, I hope I didn't oversleep.

She walks down the stairs before catching sight of her new friend, "Marco!" With eager steps that matches her tone, she passes by the kitchen while receiving and returning a quick "hello" to his parents.

Then sits herself next to Marco on the couch, who's just about shrugging off the surprise from the earlier greeting. "Hi, Eclipsa," he greets casually, putting down the control and letting the television become background nose, "sorry for not waking you up early, but my parents thought it be better if you slept in for your first day."

"I don't mind," she leans back and relaxes. Her eyes still on him, "now I got energy for the entire day." More importantly, she slides closer, getting him to look nervous as she whispers, "I know we planned to go to the mall, but is it possible for me to get some magic practice before we do."

It only takes him a moment to smile in reassurance, "sure, we can always go to the mall at any time." She had a feeling he agree, but it feels nice to hear it, "After you're done with the practice, you can come back here and then we can go shopping."

Before he could finish, her lips already curved downwards, "Marco, what are you talking about? You sounded like you're staying here during my magic training."

His gaze drifts off, and rubs the back of his neck, "I mean, I thought you would want to do that in private. You know, without distractions."

Confusion sets in first on her, "Marco, why would I think you're a distraction?" Her reassuring tone matches her smile, "Of course I want my friend to be there with me. I promised to show you a new world, my world, and I intend to keep that." Before he can react, she pinches his nose, "boop."

He leans back. His eyes focusing on his nose before moving to her. Who snickers at his reaction. He smiles back as he leans back on the sofa.

*Click*

Both teens turn to the kitchen to see Angie holding her phone. A twinkle in her eyes and a double-sided grin.

"Mom!" Marco yells with a hot flush forming.

A snicker comes from her as she inspects the photo, "It's better to preserve every memory if possible. Please continue, pretend I wasn't here." She steps back into the kitchen. The biggest difference is that there's a low murmuring chattering between the adults.

Slumping once again on the couch but releasing a frustrated groan, "Sorry about that. My mom is just…" he waves both hands in the air in an exasperated manner, "eccentric."

"I don't mind," it's accompanied by a short laugh, then by a pleading smile as she rubs her thumb on her wand, "Did you reconsider on accompanying me?"

He takes a deep breath. Still staring at her. At the back of his mind, he's aware that this could turn out more dangerous than anything he and Janna tried to pull off, yet he can't deny that he wants to experience the danger. Not to die of course, but to try stop being the 'safe kid' like everyone thinks he is, and he did enjoy the flight that Eclipsa gave him yesterday.

With a smile that's more confident than what he feels, he nods, "Yeah, I want to. We...are not going to do anything too dangerous, right?"

She lets out another lighthearted chuckle, "Nothing too bad. Just experiment with some new spells, maybe shoot some lasers and try raising the dead. Nothing complicated."

Marco stares as she smiles innocently, I did want more danger in my life. I just hope I don't turn into a zombie myself.

After another corn-based cuisine, at least in Eclipsa's opinion, they're in their way to a place suitable for Eclipsa's first real spell. Not the simple ones she casted with little problems.

Since Eclipsa wants to raise the death, Marco fearfully recommended the cemetery, but to his relieve and surprise, she said no.

"I don't know the potency my spell will have, so I need an area with small amount of test subjects." Something he learned, after she clarified, are dead things. Cats, dogs, people, doesn't matter.

Doing his best to ignore the squirmy feeling inside him, he told her he might know a place.

So they're walking through a neighborhood he's passed a few times with Janna. Walking side by side for the past forty minutes, Marco has a backpack carrying some books and scrolls of Eclipsa's choosing. The Princess herself is carrying her family's magical book on her shoulder with no effort.

It did get a few odd looks from the sight of a teenager carrying a giant book, but nothing else that could dampen mood as she continues to chatter with her friend, "I don't know what spells to try afterwards! Perhaps a beam empowered by dark magic, or a flame sword!" She frowns, and with the hand holding her parasol, she places a finger on her chin, "Hmmm. I feel like my Mom would have a spell for that."

That's how she's been during the entire walk. Talking of spells that could manipulate emotions, scrying anything and everything, amongst things that are for pure destruction and patch injuries, like how she did to the bird yesterday.

And Marco listened intently with curiosity and excitement, asking questions whenever he thought he won't interrupt. Right now is no exception, "Why can't you just make it your own?" She stares at him and those big eyes of hers ask him to continue. "Well, you could," he fumbles with his words at first, "try and reinvented it? Like how people keep doing different versions of phones. Maybe you could turn it into your own version?"

Heat rises to his cheeks, Did I say something dumb? I shouldn't have said anything.

"That's an interesting idea," Marco feels relief and mirrors the smile Eclipsa has, "I'm sure Mother would be delighted to know I'm working on her spells and Grandmother's."

More confident with himself, he allows one of his questions out, "You said you were doing dark magic, but what about your Mother?"

Her cheeks lift up and a sparkle appears in her eyes, "fighting spells. If there's one Queen that excels at combat, it's her." She hums, "Modifying my Mother's spell could weaken its power, but I can always add some interesting side effects." Then adds as a side thought, "My Grandmother's time spells will be trickier to incorporate with dark magic."

Marco nearly stops at how casually she said time magic, I thought yesterday was crazy enough, but now… As that bubble of apprehension surfaces, so does the confidence he has for Eclipsa. How careful she was when they were flying over the forest, and how she gave the bird a new wing, she knows what she's doing.

Putting the thoughts aside, he takes a mental note of all the familiar streets they passed, and guides Eclipsa to a wide drainage ditch. She looks at him with a raised eyebrow, and he smiles in confidence, but it's more for himself for what he will see soon, and silently thanks Janna for showing him this place.

After looking around to ensure the place is empty, he slides down the concrete edges of the ditch until arriving on even ground.

Eclipsa wasted no time on arriving next to him. Now looking eager for her test subjects. She follows behind Marco as he takes her to underneath a bridge ahead. While the shade it provides is nice, the real treats are scattered all about.

Dead dogs lying around. Some from lack of eating or sporting fatal wounds.

But the most important thing of value, is that there are only five practice subjects for her.

"Aww, poor dogs," and she did say with genuine care. It's tragic for her to see them like this, but there's nothing she can do for them, and can put their corpses to good use. As she's about to thank Marco, he's currently pinching his nose close and looking paler. "Marco, what's wrong?"

"Oh, you know, the smell of corpses." He tries to put up a composed look, "have you done this before?"

A sigh leaves her but still smiles fondly, "No, but it was by choice. I wanted my first raise of the death to be with the wand." Then chuckles as she looks intently at his face, "But if you're wondering why I'm not about to barf, practicing with potions requires a strong stomach."

Stepping away from him and to her new specimens, she's glad that they all have their body parts.

"Glossaryck, come out!" She tosses the magical book up high, nearly touching the bottom of the bridge as she does so.

As it falls down, Marco is worried that it would hit Eclipsa's head, but that giant book stops a mere feet from the smiling Princess.

The front part of it shimmers as a small blue being in yellow robes phases out, "Ready to learn the secrets of the universe, Princess?"

"Heh, maybe some other time," part of her wonders how serious he is, but more importantly, "time to to learn my spells, Glossy."

Still holding a neutral look as he gazes at the Princess, and only raises an eyebrow as he looks over Marco, "look at this, friends yesterday and already sharing your heritage with him. You work fast."

A hum comes from the Princess as her eyes squint at the blue man, "Mom is right, it's difficult to tell if you're complimenting or not."

He offers a side-glance at her, "more of an observation, but if you're looking for positive affirmation, then I say he's a good pick."

Eclipsa nods with a smile, but Marco looks troubled at the new being, "who is he?"

She gasps, turning to him to eagerly answer him, "He, Marco, is my teacher for anything magic related!"

The teacher smiles and throws his arms up for show, "I'm Glossaryck!" The words appear on top of him in gold. "Of terms," The last appearing below him. Letting them hang on for a few seconds till they puff into dust with his neutral look returning, "Its a title."

Still looking at the blue man curiously, Marco did pick up on something, "A title? But isn't it your name?"

To this he shrugs, "names are such a simple concept. So I just stuck with Glossaryck because its my job."

While Marco just thinks of this as an oddity, Eclipsa ponders for a moment at that, having learned something new about his instructor.

But shakes those thoughts away and refocuses on what's important. She claps her hands as her heart flutters, "now that both of you are acquainted. We can begin with my experiments. Marco, get my books out!"

He nods, uncovering his nose before setting down the backpack.

"Glossaryck!" she continues with that same upbeat tone of hers, "Get ready a page for my first spell."

The magical being looks at the dead animals with an uninterested look, and the floating book opens. It's clusters of huge pages and stick notes fly past in a blur to stop on a blank page.

"Hey, Eclipsa," Marco is holding a green and red book, seemingly normal looking, while three more are still in the backpack, "are we going to use all of these?"

She hums. Then giggles with a smile, "Most likely not. I'm just not sure which spells I want to work on later, so I wanted to have my options open." Marco has to acknowledge that her eagerness is becoming infectious, "It's the green book."

He puts the other one back and hands her the one she wants.

But as she opens it to the page she wants, Eclipsa shifts the book in her hands while also holding her parasol. Then remembers what her friend suggested and decides to put it into practice.

She tosses it up, "Velvet Dust." A small patch of air on front of her turns purple with glitter white dust, and the book falls on top of it only to hover in place. "Simple and good," she says as she admires her work.

Marco steps closer and pokes the purple air, but it feels like strong jello that pushes back. An inch in before it becomes impossible to push further. Retreating his hand, he looks at the princess with a questioning tone, "so, a variation from yesterday's spell?"

She twirls her parasol before setting it on her shoulder and smiles in satisfaction, "You were right. No need to overcomplicate a spell when the framework is there."

Not his exact words, but he can understand her.

Using her now free hand, she flips the pages again due to the impromptu throwing. Then stops to a page with a title: Knicknacks of Undead.

"From every book I read, I made sure to add the important bits into my personal books." She taps at the writing for him to read.

If a body hasn't decomposed and sustained no injury, they make for perfect minions. But broken muscle, bones or decomposition will become more severe as the subject moves again. The incantation would have to be modified to account for this.

Limbs can be missing, but never the head. Substitutes can be used like the skull of other animals, but without a brain, simple commands can only be taken.

Bringing back a soul from its slumber is not recommended. The threat depends on whose spirit is yanked back from their slumber.

Marco notes, aside from the rest of the writing below it, are the sticky notes of information on the sides. Once contains: pleading might help? Strong connection can increase success? Medium might be needed.

"Pretty flexible. Don't you agree? I could either try to summon the spirit or try to get the body to give me answers." She leans closer to him, smiling wildly and eyes reflecting her enthusiasm.

He mulls over it. His eyes drifting to her with a small smile growing, something she's grateful for, "This-This is amazing! Think of everything we could learn!" This is like his fantasies of bringing back Mackie Hand, but real.

"That's exactly what I thought! We could set up an entire line of communication! Ancient mysteries solved and families can talk to loved ones." She halts with her smile dipping.

No more needed to be said to Marco, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he closed it. He wanted to say something, but he didn't want to push it. Instead, he puts a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Do you want to talk about it?" After all, he did promise to listen to her if she ever needs it.

Her smile lifts, and grabs onto his hand on her shoulder. Enjoying the warmth of friendly contact, "I want to bring back the soul of my Grandmother."

"Oh," instantly he feels bad for the lackluster response and quickly responds, "sorry, you must really miss her."

She gently tightens her grip, "I never met her." Now he blinks owlishly before staring at her, "she was killed by a…" she grits her teeth and turns her head away to spit the words, "septarian."

It might've been a trick of the light, but Marco thinks he saw her cheekmarks glow briefly. And in that instance, he feels a deep desire to run away. Similar feelings when he was in Solaria's presence, but like before, his body becomes rigid against his will.

Then as quick as blinking, it's gone as he sees Eclipsa showing him a waning smile, "sorry about that." Her voice sounds smaller, almost scared, "I don't have good memories about Monsters in general, but my Mother already dealt with that septarian." And will soon deal with the rest of them. She takes consolation in that thought, and more so when she sees Marco relax, "I do want to talk to her, getting to know her, but I'm sure Mom would like to do it more."

His heart is beating like he gone through a marathon, but manages to smile, "I'm sure you can do it. A lot of this magic stuff will go over my head, but even I can tell you did your research." If her Grandmother manipulated time, then I'm sure bringing back spirits shouldn't be as hard.

"I do love being prepared," she grins and puffs her chest in pride. Then, with reluctance, removes Marco's hand as she has to get serious.

She flips more pages till she stops on a new one that has several sentences crossed out.

Curious, Marco reads the title Strings of Life, and he understood after reading the visible sentence: Heed my call, I offer a reward for your services. With a sticky note next to it saying: spirit might ask for more.

This just leads Marco to think, I guess summoning spirits is more than just using protection circles like Janna does, but it's not like we had to worry about bringing an actual ghost from the tomb.

The more pages she moves, he sees most of the writing crossed out with few readable sentences with more sticky notes. He doesn't have time to read as she keeps moving forward.

"Here," she taps the page hard with a heavy breath of anticipation. Like the rest, most of its pages are crossed out, but a few are visible near the bottom, "Ah, so I was remembering some words wrong."

"Does it have to be long? Can't you just use two or three words?" His own curiosity winning and looks over any detail with wonder.

"Depends on how elaborate a spell is. My Grandmother has a few that requires a dance steps." She hums for a moment, lost in thought before she shrugs with a side grin, "But I prefer poems. They're easier to rework than changing a dance sequence." She looks away before continuing with a faint blush, "That and...I got away from practicing ballet in exchange for poetry." The less tripping I do the better.

Watching their little exchange, Glossaryck is floating on his side and eating from another pudding cup. So much has changed, but how much of it will remain the same? For a brief moment, the corner of his lips curve upwards before returning to its neutral look.

Eclipsa soon directs her attention to the nearest dead dog and aims her parasol at it. The orb at the end lights up.

"I pull the Strings of Life. Heed my request. Answer my questions with no lie. Then return to rest."

As she started her chant, fog began piling around the body. It surrounds it until the body can't be seen.

As they both watch with awe, it comes as a surprise as a string is shot from the wand's orb and into the fog.

Marco asks worriedly, "Is that supposed to happen?"

"Yes." She steps closer to see her spell working, "I did it on my first try. It's actually working!"

Granted, she didn't think an actual string would go inside a fog, but she doesn't feel a negative feedback, or the spell overcharging and ready to explode.

She's ready to start hopping on her feet as the spell continues to work, and Eclipsa feels her spell reaching its climax. She holds her breath, imagining how her Mother will praise her after she tells her this.

Then the string fizzles out as the fog evaporates.

"...What?" The young Princess asks out loud. Caught off guard to the point she can't hide it. She didn't notice herself lowering her wand, or Marco moving to her side.

Seeing her visibly crushed, he puts a hand on her shoulder, "Hey, you can try again. Maybe the dog didn't hear you."

"Don't misunderstand, they heard her." Glossaryck doesn't meet their gaze as he's still focused on his pudding, "they just didn't care."

Not appreciating her spell failed for something so mundane, she puts aggression behind her tone, "I would like an explanation."

"I could," he poofs away the spoon and cup to give his student a dull look, "but instead of giving you the answer, we can play twenty questions."

To this Marco raises an eyebrow, "Can't you just give her answer? This is really important to her."

"Because it won't do any good to her." He watches them dwell in confusion till he got bored of that, "Where's the fun in giving her the answer? She's supposed to rule Mewni one day, and if she can't figure out something this simple, then there's little hope for her."

A frown sets on Marco, but Eclipsa pats him on the shoulder. He thought she be angry like him, so he didn't expect to see her smiling.

She focuses on her teacher, "Thank you for your consideration. I will gladly play your game."

It might've been small, but he cracks a smile, "what is the purpose of your spell?"

"To get spirits from the beyond to come back and answer my questions," her answer comes quick.

But Glossaryck hums before thinking of the next one, "how do you get a dog to do what you want."

At this Eclipsa ponders, wanting to give a satisfying answer. One that Marco beats her with enthusiasm.

"That's easy!" Marco answers confidently, "food can be used like a distraction or get them to do something."

The answer sounds reasonable for Eclipsa, but she looks at the death dogs with a sour look, "what does that have to do with my spell?"

Running a hand through his hair, Marco wracks his mind for a good answer, so when he finds none, he just says what's in his mind, "maybe the dog didn't want to come here."

"So what, because I didn't give them a treat, they won't show up." It clicks as she says it. She groans and pinches the bridge of her nose, "That's embarrassing. Of course a dog won't be pulled by my spell."

Marco's eyes move to the dog's body, "I thought the spell was supposed to...pull the soul here and the rest happens." It still feels surreal to say it.

"Not necessarily," her face scrunches in thought with her fists on her hips, "I don't wish to make the souls violent, so I didn't include any bindings in the spell." She turns her head, hiding part of her face with her hair to hide the blush, "And why would a dog be incentivised to answer a question." I am aware some spells won't work on first attempts, but I'm glad Mom wasn't here to witness it.

"Now that I think about it," Marco gives a light-hearted chuckle, "we should've gone to the cemetery instead." His chuckles continues till it dies down when she doesn't laugh.

*Pfft*

Eclipsa hunches over before straightening up and rubs small tears away. "You're right, we should've." Tension leaves her as she lets the good humor wash over, "I got overly excited in trying my first spell, but it's alright, mistakes happen." She once again looks at the dead bodies, thinking of what if she changes the wording of her spell.

"Shame," Glossaryck now leans back on the open book with hands behind his head, "I wanted to keep going in our game, but good for you, now you know your mistake."

"It's not like I made a mistake with my spell," she raises her wand and makes electricity course through it to show it works on command, "it just lacked the desired intention."

"If it helps you sleep better," he yawns, leaning more into the pages, "so what do you want to do now? Go to the cemetery or try to get your spell to work?"

Indecisive sets on her, not sure to give it further time or invest it on other spells.

"You could give it a try," her guide speaks on more confidently, "this can be like your practice." He isn't sure how karate lessons translate to magic training, but he assumes practice will always be essential. That, and he really wants to see the dead rise.

"We're already here. It would be a waste to leave with little learned." She puts a hand on her cheek to lean on it, "which words would even work? I pull the Strings of Life. Heed my request. Answer my call to play. Then return to rest."

Simple and effect for Eclipsa, but she only chanted the words to get feedback from Marco and Glossaryck. So when the wand's crystal shines a brilliant purple, she pauses as she stares at it.

Six strings shoot out of it and into the six bodies when fog manifested on them.

Marco's voice ends up snapping her out, "Eclipsa, did you mean to do that?"

She yanks her parasol to the side in hopes to break the threads, but ends up feeling a weight on her wand as it reels the souls, "why did it activate!? I didn't mean to!"

The threads wobble before pulling back into her wand.

"Funny thing actually," Glossaryck watches the spell with a hint of a smile, "Butterflies so attuned to magic it weaves to their words alone."

"Interesting," Eclipsa says through gritted teeth as she tries to command the spell to stop, "but not helpful."

She stumbles backwards after the threads snap, and regains her balance after Marco catches her.

But the fog on the body remains, which makes Eclipsa realize why, "the souls have already been called."

And it didn't take long for white light to come through their eyes and mouths. The fog seeps into their open wounds and leaks from them.

The bodies twitch, and as they get up, bones crack and their limbs angle unnaturally to do so. Heads lull and jaws open as a raspy sounds come out.

A green tinge grows on Marco's cheek, but aside from that, he stays next to Eclipsa. Who watches in a mixture of frustration that her spell activated on accident and wonder at watching it work successfully.

Aside from the macabre way they got up, they stand still with their bodies jerking every second. Some look around, but that movement is slow and is accompanied by bones snapping and cracking.

*Grrrrr*

Until one bares its teeth, and a deep rattling voice to match. The other dogs cower and whine, but Eclipsa smiles with an eye roll.

"Rude," her parasol crackles with electricity as she takes aim.

Before the first shot is made, Marco steps forward, "let me try something."

Eclipsa is surprised at first, but lowers her wand, "go ahead." Its just a dog. No need to worry. She still keeps a tight grip on her wand.

Her friend pulls his jacket up to unzip his fanny bag, and pulls out a granola bar. She watches curiously as he opens it and tosses a piece of it near the aggressive one.

It stops. Head tilting to the side and takes crock steps, nearly stumbling down but it does make it. Its head bends down with bones popping out and fully visible. The dog tries to close it jaws and with few attempts it manages it. Its lower jaw shifts left and right to grind the food.

With the minor threat gone, Eclipsa looks at her friend as he breaks another piece of the bar, "what else do you have in that?"

"Um," he stops to make a mental note, "some gauzes, gloves, disinfectants, a box of band-aids, a fire blanket, a handkerchief and two of this," he waves the granola bar in hand, "because after a dog chases you once, you're always prepared." He ends it with a wavering laugh, clearly unpleased with the memory.

"Those are still many things." She says with a bit of wonder, "you love to come prepared don't you?"

"I try," he breaks the bar into more pieces and tosses more to the violent dog that already swallowed his. Then throws the rest to the others. "So what are you going to do about them?"

What am I going to do? she takes a look at the dogs, distracted and docile at the moment, "originally I was going to destroy them and try the spell again tomorrow while focusing on others, but I shouldn't waste this either." Flipping pages from her book, she enters a new section with the title: Banishment. She smiles in elation, "It's not a bad idea to learn a counter-spell. This will prove to be productive."

A/N: Yes, I know, cliffhangers aren't fun, but it's either this or take even longer to post a longer chapter.

So I had this chapter done for around 2 weeks, but I waited for my friend to proofread this, only that they never messaged me back, and I don't know when they will. I got tired of waiting and really wanted to post this, so here it's.

But there are other reasons I'm worried about this chapter, and that's because it feels slower than the last chapter which prepped the mess that will fall on Mewni. But Eclipsa and Marco's journey needs to start somewhere and escalate from there. Which I promise to make things a tad crazier after every chapter, and I mean a complete chapter; chapters divided into parts count as one.

Please leave a review and tell me the good and the bad of this chapter. I'm always looking to improve so constructive criticism is always welcome, and they let me know people are interested in this story.

Until next time.