Ascension: A PL&DE Novel (SVTFOE Fan Fic)

Comet

It must have only been a few days, though I felt as if the angels were shunning me. I still received my meals, but I ate alone in my cell, in solitude and silence. Still, I couldn't help but think, it could've been better. To be more ironic, this was the Above. The Above was supposed to be a place of joy, peace, and prosperity. It was supposed to be a utopia. But I guess the treatment is different when you were never meant for a utopia.

It's different when you are unrightfully sentenced for a darker place, where your screams are just one of many under the surface of the ground under someone’s feet. It's different when you are doomed for the Underworld. I wasn't like the rest of them, the rest of those chaotic demons who deserved their fates. Though, I have killed once, it would've made me a criminal at the most, but nothing more.

But then again, maybe that was just enough to make me a demon. The more I thought and pondered and wondered, the more I needed a second opinion. The more I let my mind drag me down without anyone to talk to in this excruciating solitude, the more I needed to ask someone, someone who really knew me.

“Do you think I'm really a demon? Did I really deserve the Underworld?”

I needed Star. I needed her here to remind me. Even then, I wouldn't really believe her. Even if I asked for the truth, she would still tell me I was good, deep down. But, if she was really honest, would she tell me something otherwise?

Maybe what I truly needed was a scientific test or experiment to determine the clarity in my heart from the amount of dark, demonic blood in my veins.

Just as I had kept thinking to myself, a door had whined open in the prison hallway and dragging footsteps came from the staircase. It was Comet. She had come to inform me of the court trial, saying that the angel court had taken the trial and was accepting the case. Not only that, she had volunteered to be my lawyer, considering that, back when she was living her days on Mewni, she was a member of the court as well as the Queen. She also said that no one else wanted to testify for me anyway.

“But why? I mean, you don't even know me.” I said.

“Well, yes, but neither do they, honey. Yet, they'd like to believe they do. That is why I chose to take the case. I trust that you say who you are and I know that my granddaughter loves you for the purity in your heart.” While she talked, she talked with a very soft and motherly talk. She was gentle and caring, her voice reflected it. She smiled, a true smile that meant her sincerity, her truthfulness. “Now, let me see those hands.”

Comet held out her hands, gesturing to my own. I raised my hands to her for her to inspect and she took them through the prison’s bars, inspecting them for herself. She stroked the palms of my hands and then did the same to the tips of my blackened, sharpened fingernails. A giggle escaped her throat and she grinned once again. “You may have the appearance of a demon, but you've got the sure mannerisms of an angel, dear. Your touch is tender and kind. You mean no intentions of harm.”

To this, I felt half my face lift up in a smile, a smirk. I dropped my eyes and my stare fell to the floor. Comet must have caught me daydreaming for a few seconds because she tilted her head slightly to try to meet my eyes again. “Marco, what troubles you?” She murmured.

I shook my head slowly. “It's… nothing. I just - how's Star?”

She giggled her heavy-hearted giggle and nodded. “So, this is about Star?” She let herself chuckle once more before continuing. “She is doing fine. She worries herself about you, too. That was an incredibly brave act you made to bring her back, you know that?” After a moment of silence with me drifting into another daydream, she kept on. “I know I should save this for the court hearing, yet I can't help myself but to ask. Why did you bring her back?”

“I-I don't know. She doesn't deserve it.” I mumbled.

“Deserve what, dear?”

“The torture… the Underworld… the sin.”

When I lifted my head to watch her facial expression, I saw her focus was firm and she nodded in understanding. “What about you? What keeps you here? Why do you stay?”

I opened my mouth to respond, but couldn't seem to quite find a definite answer so I shut it. I sighed. “It's complicated.”

“Not as much as you would think. If I'm correct, Star is your reason. You stay to be with her. If it wasn't for her, you would not be here, sweetie. You would not even be fighting for your justice if it were not. Remember, Marco, I believe you are on the right side of this fight.”

“Thanks. I, uh, really mean it.” I chortled.

“I have to be on my way now, but I will let Star know that you are alright?” She said it as if it were a question, but still, I nodded and she gave a final nod and smile back before heading back to the staircase. The light tipping and tapping of her heels echoed in the prison’s empty corridor before I knew she was gone as the door creaked open and then closed with a whump.

Silenced prevailed itself to the still prison corridor again and I slouched down and sat myself down against the bars of my prison cell.