Moon jumped, the fog in her head immediately clearing to jarringly put her on high alert. She wrenched herself away from the cold hand that had been on her shoulder, and she whipped up her wand to hold it up to the face of...

Eclipsa.

She screamed, shrill and desperate, and Eclipsa's face twisted into something halfway between worry and annoyance. The once-frozen queen covered Moon's mouth with her hand, and Moon thrashed to shove her away as Eclipsa tried in vain to quiet her.

Then the clubs on Eclipsa's cheeks glowed a faint white, and Moon suddenly felt as though she had been horribly winded, unable to make sound other than strained hacking. She clutched at her throat and stumbled backwards, and Eclipsa just sighed and shook her head. "It wears off in a few minutes. I wouldn't have had to have done it if you had just been quiet"

Moon just held back scared tears as she fell to her knees against a crystal, crawling away from the ancient queen. Eclipsa watched with faint amusement. "I can't do much outside of simple spells without the wand, you know. I don't know what you expect me to do, so please stop overreacting" she said idly, impervious to the death stare directed at her.

Moon directed her wand at her and her diamonds began to glow, and Eclipsa, realising that maybe she had went too far, knocked the wand away from the girl before grabbing her wrist and forcing her to look at her. "Look, i apologise for being so harsh. But you need to calm down, alright? I'll let you go when you agree"

She stared at Moon until the younger hesitantly nodded.

Eclipsa waited until Moon seemed calm to fully glance at Moon's hands, which were the same shade as her own arms, though the faint veiny lines that accompanied them were much less prominent on Moon's. She gave Moon a soft look. "Aah, you followed through? I do apologize, while i am under the assumption that this is your first kill, you do seem a bit more shaken up by the turn of these events than may be reasonable"

Moon made a few strangled noises at the insinuation that she was overreacting to having KILLED SOMEONE, and her body shook with the effort not to pull herself away. Her nails dug into her now blackened wrists, scratching desperately, trying to find that familiar red blood - to prove she wasn't as wrong as she was scared she was.

Eclipsa's eyes widened in horror and she quickly pried the girl's hand away before she could do any more damage, and Moon collapsed in her arms, shaking as images passed by her eyes.

"It passed by so quickly, but.." Moon's voice felt scratchy, hoarse. Dark magic sure did a number on you, even minor amounts. "I didn't really want to, not truly. I just got... Got angry.."

"I know, dear" There was an unrecognizable element to Eclipsa's voice, but Moon didn't dwell on it, trying to still the shaking of her hands as her eyes moved to see her discarded wand lying only a foot away.

Eclipsa followed her gaze and nodded to it. "You can go pick it up, as long as you don't try to kill me with it" she stated flatly though with a tone of amusement, and Moon nodded, tongue lolling in her mouth as she couldn't find the words to reply. The terror wracking her body was only hammered in by Eclipsa's prescence, and having the older woman speak and act so callously was putting her on edge.

Her fingers wrapped around her wand tightly, holding onto it as though it were her lifeline; as it may as well be. Without the artifact, she would have been long dead by now from the war.

She forcibly relaxed her body when she held her wand once more, certain that she was now at least more protected than before. Eclipsa smiled patiently, any kind of sinister or irritated undertones gone, though Moon was on edge by the knowledge that they HAD been there.

Eclipsa had seemed nice when she had spoken to her trapped in the crystal, but it could all be deception..

"Hey" Eclipsa said softly after a moment, a blank expression carefully placed. "Wanna get some chocolate from the machine? Then we can haul you off back to your castle. You have a kingdom to run after all"

Moon couldn't help it, she giggled slightly at the first sentence, before the giggles evolved into full on broken cackles, hysteria not yet gone. Her throat stung as the black seemed to crawl higher up her arm...

Eclipsa slapped her.

Moon's head veered to the side, shocked, and threw up her arms instinctively. Eclipsa pulled Moon up while the girl was still stunned, and when she seemed incapable of walking, stumbling every time she tried, Eclipsa just shrugged with a slightly sneaky smirk and full-on tugged her up bridal style.

The flustered princess/queen/blue haired ptsd victim snapped out of the slight reverie she had slid into, and yelped embarresdly, throwing her arms around Eclipsa's neck to keep from falling, the sudden and suprising motions making bile rise in her throat. She painfully pushed it down, ignoring the burn of acid on her tongue.

Eclipsa didn't seem to mind as she booted the machine, breaking through the glass. With a shrug at how ridiculous it all was, she collected as many snookers as would fit under her hat, and set off for Mewni, captive Moon in tow.

As she walked, she chanced a short glance at the girl in her arms. Moon seemed to be struggling to stay conscious, head lulling in her arms. She sighed before smiling slightly crookedly at her. "You can sleep. Don't let me stop you."

She wasn't even sure the princess heard her before her eyes shut.

With a frown, Eclipsa noted that Moon was far lighter than she should be. Nothing too alarming, but she was certainly underweight. It was likely stress causing her to feel too ill to eat. Poor girl..

Eclipsa hung her head. "I've really caused a monopoly effect, hm?" she asked to the empty air, the sun low in the sky, signalling closeness to night. The cold bite in the wind added to the effect. "My actions caused this.." she shook her head. "Though... I don't know if i regret them. Am i evil if i think that way?"

She looked again at Moon, the way that sweat was present on her skin, and how pale that skin was. The mess of her hair, the corrupted blood now in her lower arms. How light she was.

Eclipsa felt slight guilt flood through her.

"Maybe i am.." she told the sky, voice trembling slightly.