Star vs. The Forces of Evil - Never Hold Back

Chapter Twenty-Seven

It's weird how a brain can just stop working, how a body can grow still and everything it has ever learned vanishes… The true impact that they make is the legacy they leave behind to other bodies that will also eventually die. We learn through communication, and we strive to build a different world with each word, for better or worse. Each body, each brain, everything known has a name. Names, so many names echoed in time…

Don't worry about it, Johnny; you’ll make it through. I believe in you.

Ryan, your face, what's on your face? … Oh jeez, are you okay? That looks like it hurts… Let's get you home.

Oh, Peter! Where’ve you been? I've been looking everywhere for you! I need your keen eyes to help me, please!

Lynn, my dear, you never fail to make me laugh. I love you, just remember that. Okay, sweetheart?

Dan! Dan! Keith needs your help… Yes, all of them. All of the Keiths.

If you want a good fighter like me, you should talk to Alejandro. He's a good, tough guy! Right, bro?

Josh? … Oh you're not Josh? Which one of you is Josh? Oh, hah! Silly me. I swear I need to put name tags on you two!

Evon, would you be a sweetie and retrieve my chainsaw? … Thank you, darling. Now, as I was saying, WHO WANTS A PIECE OF THIS BEAST???

Timmy! … Right, sorry, Timothy. Timothy, you've been promoted! Sort of, at least. They want you to partner with Janna on her stealth mission. Stay safe and I'll see you when you get back, okay?

These names… their bodies were broken, their names never to be called again. These conversations are now just mere memories the receiver will never get to remember again. Any calling of them is just a cry into an empty void, the sound ceasing to reach its distant walls and failing to echo. Brothers, sisters, friends and lovers… all gone. All that's left are legacies that howls their dirges at every memory of them recalled, bringing pain upon any who hear it.

Jackie was lucky she could call for Oskar and receive a reply, and the same goes for Blake. The three of them were close friends, they always had been. It seemed as if one couldn't remember a time where the other two weren't around. Yet, there they were, dreading the thought of that becoming a possibility all too soon…

…

“What the hell am I thinking?” Jackie thought. “Is this what my life has come to, thinking about nothing but death? … Well, how can I not; I'm surrounded by it… I trust her, I trust Star, surely she'll find a way out for us. We can't all keep fighting until we're all dead. These creatures… they want something more than our lives. They don't care about us… What are we all fighting for?”

Knock knock knock…

…

“Yes?”

The door opened, and within the doorway stood her dear friend Hope, named appropriately as she brought the news.

“Jackie, let's go,” she whispered from afar. “We're going home.”

Jackie bolted upright as her heart leapt into her chest again, her eye gleaming for the first time in years…

“Do you mean it?” she blurted eagerly. “The war is over?”

“We don't know,” Hope replied as she held the door open for Jackie. “Alfonzo and Ferguson came by, waking everyone up. They said we’re evacuating somewhere.”

“Where?” Jackie asked while she approached her.

Hope just shook her head.

“They refuse to say,” she answered. “Most likely due to… security purposes. But, wherever they take us, it'll be a road to home… Echo Creek.”

As the name left her lips, the students sprang to life, their energy gradually combining in the atmosphere. The hangar opened, the engines roared and the aircraft soared, following their hearts on the path to Mewni, the journey to Echo Creek. In a burst of spirit, never have they felt so proud to live, so proud to be raised in Echo Creek, so proud to be a part of the team. They swear, they could feel it... Were the souls of the fallen smiling down upon them? Perhaps it could be so… Perhaps they never leave after all. May the ghosts, like galloping horses, follow close by.

~☆~

”My name is Star Butterfly. I am twenty-five years old. I went to Earth when I was fourteen, and I was sent back to Mewni ten months later… and I hate it here.

I hate my own birthplace, my own lineage, my assigned destiny… all because of this stupid fucking war. This war over what? A castle. My kingdom dragged the innocent lives of CHILDREN into this war all because they fucked up when I said I'd be safe with them and that they'd protect me. We've been at war for ten years… heh... My family is full of cowards. The Magic High Commission was full of cowards. I know everything they did. They deserved what they got... I'm going to fix what they did, and I'm only going back to Mewni once...

To go to my true home.

Earth is my home. I want to be a humble human and live the life of one. I want to live in Echo Creek with my dearest friends… the ones I have left… I can't watch them die because my white lie worked all too well and my parents thought it would be cool to kidnap my friends. I should've put an end to this years ago…”

The wind howled solemnly as her footsteps trudged…

”You hear this? You hear this, you bastards?! I'm not gonna be your queen. I'll cut off a mermaid's tail if I have to! I'm not gonna honor your fucking sick ways. You have the goddamn audacity to literally kidnap helpless children and sign them up to your war over a shitty castle?! How'd you like it if I took your Mewmans and sent them to Earth’s wars, huh? All because we turn into freaks! Oh yeah? You'll see…”

The sounds of cheering and weapons clattering in the distance grew louder…

”This is it. This is where it all ends. Even if I die, fuck it, my friends are safe. Take a lizard for your next ruler, bitches…”

”TOOOOOOOOFFEEEEEEEEE!!!”

The call rang out… Silence fell as attention turned… There was a singular, barely audible voice in the distance…

”Miss Butterfly?”

”We, the kingdom of Mewni, surrender to you and your army! The kingdom is yours! All we ask for is your mercy!”

The white flag whipped in the wind as Butterfly flew it...

”... I don't believe it. I actually don't believe it. Butterfly… you have genuinely surprised me. We accept to end this war. You and your kind will be spared.”

”... So be it.”

Click. The tape ends there.