Growling as she slumped on her bed and glared at the floor, Moon watched the shadows move across the floor as the sun gradually set.

A knock sounded on her door, elicting a frustrated groan from her. "Who is it?" she called impatiently, and her door opened slightly to reveal River standing nervously.

She couldn't stop the faint blush from covering her face, though for some reason she felt less warm around him than usual.

"Hey, Quee- Moon. How've you been?" he asked hesitantly, a nervous flush on his cheeks and neck. Moon smiled slightly falsely. "Stressed, but for the most part I'm okay. The delegates from the northern sides of the utopian dimension are so unbelievably annoying!"

River smiled slightly, stepping fully in. "Mm, politics are messy and sucky, which is why i tend to avoid them. I'm glad that you're doing ok though! I got told that you were missing for a while... It... Worried me.." this time his flush transformed into a full out blush as he fiddled with his sleeve. While Moon felt herself blush more, she didn't feel like her heart responded particularly to the admission.

"Oh, i'm sorry for doing so. I never want to hurt my friends in any form" she said gently, and River seemed to deliberate on the word friends before brushing by it. "Ah well. Crazy stuff's been going on, at any rate. After you knocked off that general, the monster army has been falling back more. We're pushing them through so many borders - In just these 2 days we must have killed a few hundred!" he explained excitedly.

Moon felt slightly ill, wincing, but River obliviously continued. "In a few weeks we will probably have killed all of them!" something somewhere in his eyes darkened. "So much blood will be spilt... And we'll finally avenge those on our side!" the darkness was muffled by the usual childish glee as he smiled toothily.

Moon rubbed her wrist, not even wincing as she got used to the sting of her worn skin. "Aren't they thinking the same - that they are just avenging theirs? I want to win the war just as much as you - but does everyone need to die on their end?"

He looked bewildered. "Well of course? It's what their kind deserves!"

"What about the children?" her voice shook.

"What about them?"

His voice was cold. She shook harder, face pale, before forcing a smile. "Well as nice as it was to catch up, i-i'm tired now... Could we meet again another time?"

"Oh! Sure- sure!" River lingered just a moment too long, and Moon became incredibly uncomfortable.

When he finally left, he left behind a stale air that made Moon gag as she scratched her wrist again, breathing coming heavy and uneven.

"I... Guess Eclipsa's rubbing off on me.... A few days ago none of that would've bothered me..." she whispered to herself, shaking terribly. "Why did that... Upset me so much?"

Images of her mother and Toffee's bodies flashed through her head, causing her to stumble.

"I- it's happening again-!" she gasped, and, lost in her own head, she only realised how roughly she'd been scratching when blood flaked away onto her fingers, a small smear of bright red.

She fell backwards onto her bed, trembling as she pulled her sleeve down and pressed it against the small bead of blood welling up.

"I need to keep a clear head...." she managed to whisper to herself, before lying down and eventually passing out until morning.

×××

The next morning was mildly less depressing, albeit due to a lack of River or any pressing political matters that needed adressing, outside of the usual war debreifing.

She walked down to where Eclipsa's small home was situated, and used her spare key to enter after a series of knocks were left unanswered. She wandered through the still unfamiliar rooms, until she found Eclipsa sprawled on her bed, disguise slightly fading.

Deciding to take it apon herself to re apply it, Moon chanted the spell she had wanted to before she had gotten a flashback, and thankfully was mostly trauma free this time. Eclipsa's disguise returned, though Moon decided to embellish it with extra touches, such as loosening and straightening her hair slightly and dotting light freckless over the bridge of her nose.

"There. Now even less people will recognise you" she muttered into the air, smiling. Eclispa stirred, and Moon stepped back as she awoke.

"Oh- good morning, Moon.." Eclipsa said tiredly, only half awake. "Why are you... In my house so early?"

Moon shrugged. "Honestly? Not much to do. And, well... My perception on reality has become a bit messed up. So i figured I'd go to someone so scarily grounded despite whatever chaos surrounds them" she finished with a small point at Eclipsa, who laughed.

"While I'm sorry to hear that, i appreciate the compliment" she shrugged, sitting up and rolling her shoulders back, cricking her neck before noticing the straighter hair. "You been practicing on me while i was out?"

Moon smiled. "Nah, just figured I'd make it a bit more convincing. Do you like?"

Eclipsa glanced in the mirror, and her mouth moved before her brain. "Do YOU?"

Moon's entire face went pink and Eclipsa internally cursed. She was supposed to disuade any relationship hopes- not stoke them!

Moon shrugged sheepishly, fiddling with her hair. "I-i mean... It's okay..."

Eclipsa laughed awkwardly as the air grew thick with slight tension.

The moment was broken by a faint noise akin to demolition, but was followed by screams. They glanced at each other, worried, before Moon tugged the usual hood over Eclipsa and they ran out to where they'd heard it.

Along the way, they found small groups of people limping and being carried, small bloody footsteps along the floor leading to their destination. Moon began struggling to breathe.

It was a mess. 3 buildings were reduced to rubble and several more were damaged. The cause was obvious when Moon saw some monsters being ushered by armed guards, and even the body of one close by.

Rage seemed to fill her, and all of a sudden she agreed with River's sentiment.

Her grip on her wand tightened, and the black on her arms crawled ever higher, now only a half inch from her elbow.

Eclipsa shook her roughly, snapping her out of her enraged stupor. "Moon, DON'T!"

Moon hissed, eyes flashing green as her wand began to spark that same colour. "You're only stopping me because you love those filthy creatures!"

Eclipsa flinched back, hurt. "Moon-" she managed, but the girl just shoved her. "Shut up, Eclipsa. Just shut up."

The former queen of darkness relented, but her grip remained on Moon's shoulder, only to be roughly shoved off.

The Monsters were finally out of sight, no doubt to the dungeons or execution. Moon knew she was being irrational- this was war after all, and her kind had already purged hundreds of theirs prior to this attack.

But the mewman blood in her was hot like fire.

Then the images returned. Those that she was paradoxically used to and yet always stunned by. Toffee, reaching out a clawed hand, being torn into shreds by her attack-

And the killing intent drained from her almost in entirety.

She doubled over and emptied out her stomach, heaving as the images kept appearing, as though they were phsically burned into her psyche.

Eclipsa rubbed her back, eyes downcast. "I know this is hard.." she said tiredly after a moment. "But... Please do hold yourself together more..."

Moon laughed slightly insanely before wiping her mouth, shaking from the sight of flecks of blood over the floor and the bodies being covered with sheets.

"God.... " she breathed. Eclipsa couldn't help but sympathise, if only slightly.

"I.... I think we do need to work on controlling my magic.." she finally said as Eclipsa guided her away from the scene. Her eyes fixated on the elongated black texture covering half of her arm. "This is... Getting... Frustrating..." she gagged but held it back.

Eclipsa nodded. "Mm, certainly. The more darkness that enters your blood, the more corrupt your spellcasting becomes..." her voice trailed off as she suddenly grabbed Moon rather roughly by the arm, causing the acting queen to lurch and swallow back sick.

Moon felt a bit miserable when she saw that Eclipsa was now looking at her wrist, and at the rather red scratches where blood had obviously previously been drawn.

Moon wrenched her hand from her grasp. "It was an accident!" she tried, face pale. "P-please, can we not focus on this?" when Eclipsa opened her mouth to reply, Moon shook her head and looked Eclipsa directly in the eyes. "Please?"

Eclipsa hesitated but nodded, face indicating turmoil. Moon quickly changed the subject. "S-so... How do i learn to control the darkness?"

Eclipsa smiled. "Well, you're going to need to dip down, first off"

Moon blinked.

"Whut?"

Eclipsa chuckled. "Dip down. Dipping down is when you summon apon everything you have- and sometimes extra. You borrow somewhat from the magic dimension - which, while perhaps not the most sane place, is made up purely of light magic"

Moon's face filled with recognition. "Aa- yeah, i think i get where this is going"

Eclipsa chuckled. "So, you dip down and try and focus all the excess energy you've just gained into your arms. While it won't remove it, after a long enough period of consistently doing it, it should at the very least fade"

Moon smiled, before faltering. "I'm not all that good at dipping down... I've done it, but it's pretty difficult for me.."

Eclipsa smiled patiently. "In what circumstances have you done it?"

"Once during combat training on accident, and twice while in a controlled environment. It's like... This box where you can't hear or smell anything. It's so that you can fully concentrate"

"And is it effective?"

Moon shrugged. "I mean, sure? I've managed to dip down while practicing in it, after all"

"Two, correct?" Eclipsa rubbed her chin. "How many times have you tried it to get two positives?"

Moon flushed.

Eclipsa smiled. "Come on.." she beckoned, and Moon buried her face in her hand. "S-seventy six... I know.... I suck" she groaned in embaressment, burying her face in her hands.

Eclipsa shook her head. "No, no, this has nothing to do with your magical ability. A controlled environment is perhaps the worst place to do that"

Moon cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Dipping down, in essence, is a final defence state. Something that was originally involountary and only came about as a result of completely depleted magical reserves. And while through the generations we have learnt to channel it without those conditions, it's still incredibly hard to do unless your body and mind both are in desperate need of it"

Moon sighed. "So wait... How do i active it then?" she slumped.

Eclipsa smirked. "Fancy a sparring match?"