Moon's face was pallid and sullen as she looked in the mirror.

It had only been a week since she had killed Toffee, and yet her mental state sure had dipped substantially since then, huh? She didn't know it was even possible to get this low.

It was such a simple death, barely lasting a few moments. The spell tore through him, and he was gone. No blood.

The water sprayed her face as she turned the faucet in her bathroom up to it's highest setting, scrubbing violently at the mid-tone purple taking up half her arm.

She rubbed feverishly, something clogging her throat. Tears? She couldn't tell.

His body fell to the ground, the screams of his army ringing through the air---

And then another memory joined the initial one.

The screams as those buildings were attacked.

The face of a body as it lay broken on the floor.

The way Eclipsa had backed away from her, hurt, when she had yelled at her.

She itched at her skin under the water, hardly conscious that it hard warmed to an almost boiling extent and that her skin was quickly thinning.

And her nails dug fully into her wrists, and something seemed to snap in her as the water pinked.

She pulled back, now fully away pf the minor burns on her hands as they smarted. Hissing in shock, she muttered a short soothing spell, and the pain subsided, though only minimally.

Turning off the running water, she stared in shock at the clear groove in her wrist, and the blood beading up.

'It sounds to me that the Queen is simply giving up'

It rang through her head and her bewildered expression morphed to one of anger as she almost seemed to stare accusingly at the mark in her skin.

Then, with a reverence she had never felt before, she pressed her nail below the tear, and tugged across.

The result was instantaneous, and the thrill so as well.

She felt her breathing quicken, and felt like she was in some form of a dreamlike state, swaying on her feet.

"I really need to... trim my nails" she muttered to herself before giggling quietly, a hysterical note present.

Then the door to her room busted open.

She turned in shock to find Eclipsa stood there, bedraggled and disguise fully worn off, revealing her with her traditional poofy green curls, purple-grey eyes and spade cheeks. Beneath her elbow she held a rather bulky but expensive looking scroll.

"Moon, I'm going to need you to validate something for me" she panted, and the blue haired girl stepped over to her to rest a hand on her lower back, concerned. "Did you run all the way here? Why?" she asked, worried, and the tired ex-queen chuckled dryly. "Security. In any case- mind checking? It's important"

"Of course!" Moon nodded, taking the scroll and positioning her arm so that her sleeve slipped down it. She didn't need to keep worrying Eclipsa with her own problems when the other woman clearly already had her own.

Skim-reading the section Eclipsa was presenting to her, her brow raised at the sight of the addition. "I'm pretty sure that you aren't allowed to alter scrolls, even append; moderation of history can be disastrous" she looked up gravely. "This has obviously been tampered with. And i think it's rather obvious who by"

Eclipsa nodded. "But how do i- WE- go about confronting this?" she took back the scroll as Moon proffered it and slipped it into the inner pocket of the cloak. Moon rubbed her chin, though the fabric rubbing against her wrist made her bite back a wince.

"Well.." she murmered, pacing. "We could go with my original plan when you first thawed from the crystal, which is 'turn you in' and try to get a fair trial with this scroll as evidence. Alternately, i could attempt to go straight to them with it and flat out ask. The first one is risky because if it goes downhill you could end up crystal again- or worse- and the second one is risky because there comes the matter of why I'm interested or how i got hold of the scroll" she bit her lip in consideration.

Eclipsa smiled thinly. "Do you still do 'trial by box', perchance?"

Moon's pacing stilled, and she slowly turned to face the other. "Well... Yes. But it's a pretty risky gambit. Try to veil or avoid even the most tiny detail- and your life could be on the line"

Eclipsa's plastic smile dropped completely, and she folded her hands in front of her. "I'm tired of being clueless and having other people decide what to do with me. With trial by box i can end this all now. Maybe I've only been conscious for a week, but this has been going on for 300 years at the LEAST. I want it to conclude"

Moon swallowed and nodded after breif hesitation. "Yeah... So, here's the pla-"

A knocking sound cut her off and sucked the words from her throat. She stiffened.

"Moon? Can we talk?"

"Shit- River!" Moon cursed in suprise, only flushed for a moment at the completely unprofessional reaction before shoving Eclipsa toward her closet. "Quick!"

Eclipsa weakly struggled, indignant though with a small tint of amusement. "Moon!"

Moon shook her head. "I don't have time to re-apply the veil spell- get in!" she pushed the now slightly laughing woman into the cupboard and slammed the door right as River stepped into her room. "Hi"

She automatically stood in front of the door, a fake smile plastered across her face. "Riiiiiivveeeeer! What a suprise- whyareyouhere?"

Her blonde visitor sat down on the chair by her desk, causing her eye to twitch in annoyance that he was just letting himself in. "I wanted to apologise for possibly making you uncomfortable before- i wasn't being empathetic enough in our last conversation"

"Ahhh, nono it's okaaaay!" Moon said unconvincingly, balling her hands behind her back. River laughed. "Even so, i figured i owed it to you to warn you- i was wandering around the town and heard some muttering. Seems like some of the townsfolk are planning to leave at midnight to attempt to capture the northern monster camp as revenge for the recent attack"

Moon's eyes widened in suprise. "Oh, thanks for warning me; that's very serious. Any idea who the specific individuals are?" she asked, but was given a shake of the head as a response. She hummed. "Well, warn my guard to tighten security around the northern gate and to watch out for any suspicious behaviour. We can't have people rushing out and getting themselves hurt or even killed"

River nodded. "Can you make me a note, so that i can have the authority to make such an order?"

Moon nodded and headed over to her desk, pulling out her drawer and tearing off the corner of a leaflet, scribbling a short note before ending with her scribbly signature. "Here" she passed it to River.

River smiled and, in a suprising display of brevity he darted forward and pressed his lips to her cheek.

Her diamonds brightened slightly as a blush immediately coated her cheeks. River backed up immediately, embarassed. He stammered a "bye!" before darting out the door.

Moon's hand lingered on the area of contact, mouth open slightly.

Eclipsa stepped from her cupboard, an unusually emulous envy present on her face. "Done? Can we actually go back to planning now?"

The bluehead blinked in suprise at the unexpected sourness, but was still rather woozy from the kiss. "Uh- we can decide tomorrow. I have.. stuff. Bye" she squeaked, wanting to be left alone with her thoughts. Eclipsa frowned. "The veil spell?"

Dazed but hearing her clearly and nodding to the guised order, Moon muttered out the spell to re apply the disguise before ushering Eclipsa out.

Slumping against a now shut door, Moon groaned.

She must be the most romantically confused teenager in the multiverse.