Chapter 4: Fixin' The Truth - part 1

Well, at least Queen Moon was kind enough to give him back his clothes.

Too bad he got thrown into the dungeon for his troubles. After finding him freed from his chains and standing a little too close to her daughter. The royal guards immediately wrangled him up and dragged him out of the healing chamber while Queen Moon stayed behind to give a nasty tongue lashing to Star and Doctor Doom. He felt bad for the two, but after being roughly thrown into the latrine smelling dungeon, he felt like they were getting off pretty easy.

The dungeon itself was pretty standard one you could imagine from any fictional story. Thick rafters with large strands of spider-webs hanging from above, small air-vents set too high for him to reach with his poorly-trained body, standard chains attached to the walls and a single filthy looking bucket with flies dancing around it ( The less said about that little piece of horror show, the better). Luckily, despite the lack of windows or natural lighting, he still got enough light from the two torches hanging by the wooden doorway, burning with blue magical flames that never seem to burn out. The thick door had a small metal-slot set about head- height to allow a guard to yell to him his meal was ready and set it beside the entrance.

With the lack of internet, music, people, or even the most basic of entertainment to pass the time. Jorge was expected to sleep, eat, and do nothing but stare at a wall for his remaining time. Sitting in his pile of hay– A make-shift bed– he felt nothing but bitterness from the whole experience.

How exactly did he find himself in this predicament? One moment, he was driving down the road; the next, he was stuck in a castle dungeon for supposedly trying to kill their future queen of Mewni. He knew that the circumstances were widely out of his control, but after being stuck in the dungeon for so long, he felt greatly unappreciated for his sacrifice. It wasn't like he was trying to grab all of their gold or demand the crown. He just wanted to try and help someone who he really cared about from his favorite television series. Now, he was no better than a monster to everyone in the castle.

If this was how monsters were treated by mewmans, than it was no wonder why they had so many wars with each other.

He hated this.

He hated them.

Downhearted, he laid his head between his knees and wondered why he even bothered to try and help someone when this was the thanks you got for it? Perhaps, this was the fate that they all deserved in the–

-Pssst!-

A faint hissing sound caught his attention. Lifting his head, he looked toward the doorway and felt his spirits lift when he saw those familiar heart-cheeks and bright blue eye's staring at him from the metal-slot. He pulled himself to his feet and ran up to the door with a big smile.

"Man, I'm happy to see you," he said, trying to cast away his earlier darker thoughts.

"Yeah, two days in the dungeon will do that to ya," she replied with a small shrug. Though it mattered little to her, Jorge mentally staggered from this fact.

"Only two days?!" With no clock or sun to tell the time. It had felt like months since he bathed and had a decent meal that wasn't corn slop and hard corn bread. He felt like an animal living in a cage. All for a crime he never tried to commit!

"Shhh! Do you want the guards to come back?" She harshly whispered as she double-checked her surroundings.

"Sorry," he apologized, "I just can't stand being in here anymore. It's not fair." He felt his throat tighten. No, no. . . you were not going to cry in front of the princess. Teenage body or not, he was still mentally a man. He needed to be stronger than this.

"Hey, it's fine, so don't sweat it," she encouraged him with a smile. "The guards should be distracted long enough for me to bust you out."

Wait, what?

He felt his heart soar over the idea of freedom. No more slop, no more hard bread, and no more sleeping on a cold stone floor with only a little bit of hay to keep him comfort. He wanted nothing more than to escape from this wretched place, but Star wasn't finished. . .

"BUT first, you have to tell me more about the time-line you mentioned," she coaxingly said.

Jorge felt himself tense as he found himself stuck back in his previous moral dilemma. He truly wanted to be free from this awful place, but knew that if he took Star's deal, then not only would he be risking her future, he'd also be on the run from the Magic High Commission while stuck in the middle of kingdom he knew next to nothing about. The chance for freedom was so tempting, but he had to bite his lip.

"What about your mother?" He asked thinking over the offer, "won't she be furious if she found out you helped me?"

"Oh, she's not going to find out." She grinned with that familiar self-confident tone that made it sound like she had everything planned out. "I paid some of the guards watching my room with Quest Buy gift cards if they promised to pretend I was still in my room. So as far as my mom knows, 'I'm still 'grounded.' " She finished, immaturely mocking her mothers nagging tone.

Jorge frowned. Though bribery was an easy solution he wasn't sure if the guards would be much help if Moon or River randomly decided to visit Star or ask for one of the servants to fetch her. Though the idea was far from masterful, it was an unexpected plan from the laid-back princess.

"Did you bribe the guards in the dungeon too?" He asked curiously.

"Nah, my mom put her personal royal guards on this job, so I knew bribing them with stuff wasn't going to work." She suddenly pulled out a small, but familiar empty cage. "So I had to take a quick visit to Uncle Doom's room and borrowed a cute looking snake from there. Then all I had to do was cry out ' there's a monster loose in the hall!' And everything worked out from there." She swelled with pride from her masterful plans, until she realized they were getting off track.

"Hey, wait, forget about that!" She shook the cobwebs from her head and focused on her main objective. "That snake isn't going to distract them forever. So, I'll let you out of here right now, but only if you tell me about the time-line!" She emphasized with a firm stare.

Having thought over his options earlier. He decided to answer, "I'm sorry. . . but I can't."

Star was shocked by this. "But I thought you hated it here?" When she saw Jorge nod, she continued, "then why don't you just tell me so I ca– "

"Because I don't want to ruin your future!" He yelled back. Cutting her off as he slammed into the doorway, causing her to flinch back from his intensity.

She looked nonplussed by his reaction, so he calmed down and quickly explained. "L-Look, it's true I know about your future and your time-line, but I'm not sure if I should tell you or not." The anger in his tone turned sympathy as he looked toward his favorite crazy-wand wielding princess.

"I don't want to risk hurting you or ruining whatever encounters you'll have." He finished, trying to rub the fatigued from his eyes. His mind wandering over to the wacky and crazy adventures she would enjoy and endure with her future best friend: Marco Diaz.

Unfortunately, Star was hardly satisfied with this level of explanation.

"But isn't that the whole reason you came to the past?!" She shouted back. "You know something about me! Something that involved you needing to save me, so I just want to know what you're hiding!"

He let out a faint gasp as he looked to her. " How did you– "

"Figure it out?" She gave him a straight-faced look. "Besides the fact you just confirmed it. Not many people, even on Mewni, get the chance to talk to Glossaryck, unless me or my mother allow them too. He usually doesn't have much interest in anything or anyone who doesn't hold the wand or the book. Trust me, I checked."

Jorge groaned as he laid his head against the cold door. Damn, he was a mess. Normally on the big screen, something like this would've been easy to catch, but after all the works of fiction he's read over his lifetime, he just couldn't recall how to deal with something this big. He wasn't Doctor Who; he wasn't special, and he certainly wasn't the sharpest crayon in the box. He was a freaking pizza guy that probably ran into truck-kun along the highway and just so happened to hit the Isekai lottery. He had no idea what would actually happen if he told her the whole thing. Sure, she could avoid her fate and make the world a better place, OR the opposite could happen and she could make everything far worse than before.

The idea left a bitter taste in his mouth as he finally answered, "I just don't know if I can, Star."

"Who the heck are you to tell me that?!" She exploded, causing Jorge to react like he'd been slapped as he stared back at the vexed princess. "This is my future your holding over my head, and even though you know something bad is going to happen to me and my family, you're just going to sit there and do nothing about it!?"

The glare she gave him was harsh. It ranked right up there with Queen Moon when she found how close he was to her daughter. But, in a way, he knew that Star was right. She did deserve to know about what happened to her. The only problem was: he didn't know what the result would be if he did tell her? Maybe he was just being stupid and over thinking this whole thing, but then what the hell was the right answer to give to an impulsive princess like Star?

Apparently, Star was a mind reader and understood the reasoning for his silence.

"You think I'm a screw up, don't you?" When she saw his eyes widen, she frowned heavily. "You're just like the rest of them. You don't believe I can do anything by myself, huh?" He felt his heart leap into his throat from this. He knew this was a trigger for her, but he didn't know what to say to prove her wrong. With or without the wand, he knew she was more than capable of handling herself. Hell, considering her mewman lineage, she was probably far stronger than him. He just found the words impossible to say.

She suddenly turned from the doorway and started walking away. "Fine! I don't need you tell me my future. I'll just try and figure it out for myself!"

Seeing this, Jorge pressed his head against the slot and called out to her, "Star, wait! I'm not underestimating you or anything. I just don't want to hurt you, I swear it!"

She stopped and turn back to him. Despite her glare, he could see her eyes shimmering with tears of frustration. His hands balled into fists from her expression and continued, "I don't know what will happen if I tell you the future. I'm just a nobody that got here by accident." He closed his eyes as he felt his heart pour out the truth. "In your time-line, you don't even know me. To you, I'm just an idiot who bit off more than he can chew. I don't know what the right answer is to any of this; I just didn't want to be the one that ruined your future. I just wanted to help you, because I care about you."

He tried to ignore the tears collecting in his eyes and hurriedly wiped them away. But he did catch her expression falling from righteous anger to a more accepting level of concern. She looked like she wanted to say more, but the voices from down the hallway got her attention.

"Dang it. I wasted too much time." But before she left, she gave him a stern look. "We're gonna finish this talk after the trial. . . but I just want you to know that despite what you may think, I can handle myself pretty well with or without your future knowledge, but if you really care about me as a friend, then I want you tell me the whole truth."

With that, Star ran off.

Jorge stood there with nothing but the sounds of her shoes tapping away in the distance. He turned from the door and laid his back against it; slowly sliding down, until his butt hit the floor.

He really hoped after all this, he could see her again.

Left with no choice but to rest in the hay-pile. Jorge tried to sleep in order to make the hours pass since Star's earlier appearance. However, his cat-nap was interrupted when he heard the metal-slot shift open and the royal guard shout:

"Get up, prisoner! The Commission wants a word with you!"

He rubbed the crust from his eyes. The door's rusty hinges groaned as it opened up and revealed not only the intimidating presence of Queen Moon herself, but also the crystal-shaped noggin of Rhombulus and the still living goat-man member of the Magic High Commission: Lekmet.

"Umm, hello?" He gave a weak wave to the group just as the guards moved through the doorway with heavy looking cuffs and chains. The trio soon following after.

"Baaaah?" Lekmet pointed at the pizza worker as the guards went to set the cuffs on the human to prepare for transport.

"He does look kinda puny for a paradox," Rhombulus translated for everyone as Jorge was forced to stand before the Magic High Members for examination. The crystal guardian's monster arms moved about, flickering their tongues. "Then again, I've crystallized monsters way smaller than him."

Hearing this, the human gulped.

Queen Moon kept an even look as she said, "never the less, this is the suspect that will be put on trial. I was going to do this personally, but Omnitraxus said this was a 'High Commission business.' " You could practically hear the eye-roll in her tone.

"So does this mean, I'm going to die then?" Though Jorge knew they weren't the type to do such a thing ( unless the situation called for it). He just needed to know how similar they were to the counterparts he remembered from the show.

Thankfully, Rhombulus responded first with his crystal eye widening from the accusation. "What? Of course not, we're not monsters," he stated with a raised snake hand, before placing it on his chin as an after-thought. "I mean, we might put you in a crystal cage and seal you away for all eternity. . . but we aren't evil or anything."

The robe wearing goat shook his head at Rhombulus's words and raised a hoof as he spoke. "Baaah, baaa!"

Though Jorge could tell Lekmet was trying his best to explain. He knew no one else could understand the demon goat-man except for the crystal user.

"Like Lekmet said, you're just going to get a trial to see if you're a danger to the universe or not, and then we'll deal with the punishment afterward."

Jorge blinked at this. "Wait, so I am being punished then?"

Rhombulus tilted his head. "What? No– "

Jorge pointed a finger at him. "But you just said, I was going to get punished either way, right?"

"What? No, you're getting a trial first," Rhombulus repeated himself.

"But what's the point of a trial, if I'm going to be punished anyway?" Jorge gave the puzzled guy a weird look. "It just seems like a waste of time if you're just going to crystallize me anyway, right?"

Rhombulus started to rub the side of his crystal head in confusion. "Well, uhh, no, I just meant that if you get found guilty, then you'll be punished, but. . . uh, what was I trying to say again?"

"Baaah!" Lekmet turned to Rhombulus and motioned to Jorge.

The crystal guardian looked admonished. "I know we're suppose to judge him! I just got confused, that's all!" He suddenly turned a furious crystal eye to the suspect, who suddenly felt like he may have bitten off more than he could chew with his smart-ass commentary. A single hiss was all he heard before one of the snake hands grabbed him by the loose shirt and pulled him up close and personal to the furious guardian.

"Are you trying to use evil magic to mess with my head!?"

The pizza boy couldn't speak, feeling quite intimidated by the hefty crystal guardian. Though he couldn't tell from the show, but compared to him: Rhombulus was built like Andre the Giant.

"Enough!"

The clear and cut tone of Queen Moon butted in as she stopped the posturing. "If you don't want to be put in the time-out corner again, then I suggest you behave yourself and release him."

Hearing this, Rhombulus let Jorge go with a grumble, and crossed his snake-arms over his chest so he could sulk by the goat-man's side– who gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

Moon took this chance to step foreword, her royal gaze set on the staggering prisoner; saying, "as for you. I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to keep your words in check. You're already under suspicion of assassination and tampering with the royal wand and far worse. I see no point in having you crystallized, before the trial actually begins."

Grateful for the save, he softly nodded. " I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to make anyone angry. I was just scared of being crystallized, before I got to say anything."

He looked to the pouting Rhombulus. His intimidating form turning into a child who just got chided by his mother. "I'm sorry to you too. I wasn't trying to be a jerk, it's just that I've never been to jail before, ya know?"

The crystal user mumbled something under his breath as he looked away.

"I'm afraid things are far more serious than that, Mr. Rivera," said Moon with a curious look. "Though my soldiers wish to charge you with multiple crimes of wand tampering, assassination and more. Speaking with Omnitraxus Prime has given me a far more pressing matter that you're also being charged for." At his confused looked, she continued, "you're being charged with the crime of being an unlicensed time traveler."

His eye's widen from this. "Wait, you knew I came from the future?!" Had Star told her? After spending so long in this place, he couldn't even recall if he'd told the king or not. . . ?

Moon nodded. "Quite so. This is also a very big issue, since time travelers can cause great catastrophes and if what Omnitraxus said about the paradox is true. You could be one of the greatest threats to this whole universe."

Jorge was growing even more confused from all of this. He knew his crime of being a time traveler was going to be a problem in the court room, but now he was causing a paradox? God, what he wouldn't give to have a friend like Doctor Who right now to help explain this crap to him.

"How did you know my name?" He was sure he knew the answer, but he wanted to establish some level friendliness to the queen to show he wasn't quite the monster everyone seemed to think he was.

"My guards procured a few of your items when they took you to the healing chamber. Your drivers license being one of them," she explained, satisfying his curiosity. "Thanks to your drivers license, and unique clothes, we also know you're not from Mewni, but from the Earth dimension."

Jorge nodded, thankful to hear about his world again. . . or at least, this universes version of Earth.

"And what about Glossaryck?" He asked, thinking back to the tiny man. "Will he be at the trial too?"

Queen Moon frowned at this. "I heard from both my husband and daughter about your desire to speak with him. You even claimed he would know something about this?" Seeing him nod, she continued, "unfortunately, I've already taken the liberty of asking Glossaryck about this and he only gave me, 'it's a possibility,' as his answer." She didn't even know why she was surprised by this. He was never one for straight answers and while she had a pretty good hunch that this whole case had him involved, she couldn't really force him to answer something he had yet to experience himself. It was like trying to punish her daughter for a trouble she hadn't committed. . . yet.

"But, I get to at least, explain why I time traveled here by accident, right?" Jorge confirmed with a wary look.

"Getting your story is only one part of the whole thing, I'm afraid," she admitted with an uncomfortable expression. "There's still the matter of the damages and several other charges you're still being held accountable for. Not including the time travel issue, which we will be specifically focusing on today." Growing tired of the smell of the dungeon, she glanced back at the other two members of the commission.

"I believe this conversation will need to be expanded on further in the court room. Hekapoo and Omni are still waiting for us to arrive and begin the trial." She looked to Rhombulus and motioned to Jorge. "Grab his chains and let us go. The royal guards will return back to their patrols." With that said, the two royal guards standing to the side gave their queen a salute and proceeded to leave the dungeon as one of them handed Rhombulus the chains collared to the prisoner's hands.

"Fine, but I still think crystallizing him would be a whole lot easier." The snake wielder reluctantly pulled the human forward as the three prepared to make their way to the main trial room.

"Wait a second!" Jorge pulled back the chain, barely moving the green power house as Queen Moon and Lekmet focused on him again.

"What is it now?" From her tone, he knew the queen wasn't in the mood for further games.

Swallowing the dryness in his throat, he decided to take a risk. "May I ask for two things before we begin the trial?"

The three members of Mewni glanced at one another, not expecting the request from a prisoner of all things.

"Baaah?" Lekmet gave a contemplating sound.

"Ugh, Can't I just crystallize him a little?" Rhombulus asked with a bit of heat to his tone. "He's getting kinda annoying."

"Calm yourself, Rhombulus." She held a hand up, but didn't take her eyes off of Jorge. "I'll hear the requests, but I won't promise anything yet."

The pizza worker nodded, but stared solely at Moon as he made his first request. "The first thing I ask for. . . is the right to a trial by 'The Box of Truth.' "

Hearing this, Lekmet pressed his hooves against his cheeks and let out a surprised "Baah!" Even the angry Rhombulus looked take aback by the request.

"I'm surprised you even know of the box, considering Earth's lack of access to magic," Queen Moon said with a disturbed look. "It's not something we usually advertise due to the massive danger it possesses to the ones who swear to it."

Jorge knew that he was probably going to have to explain more in this trial than he wanted to. It wasn't exactly common for a simple human of this universe to know about magical artifacts from other dimensions, much less one that held an incredibly deadly ability if mishandled poorly. But despite the danger, the box was his ticket to earning everyone's trust, and clearing whatever charges could be set against him. After all, no one would be stupid enough to lie to the Box of Truth, at least not any true fans of the show.

"What about the second?" Rhombulus asked out of curiosity.

The prisoner hesitated for a moment as he wondered if the choice was the right one. But since he'd come this far, he might as well go for broke.

"Can you make sure that Star Butterfly doesn't appear at the trial?"

Moon furrowed her brow, while Rhombulus and Lekmet shared a confusing look to one another.

"My daughter doesn't have the authority, nor the need to be apart of a trial where the Magical High Commission is in charge of," she bluntly stated with a wary tone. ". . .Why are you so concerned about her?" For the first time since she arrived, Moon felt a shiver run down her spine when she saw his expression twist for just a moment. One that she never expected a mere commoner to give to the most powerful royal queen of mewni: a look of pity.

Her instincts as a mother dreaded the answer he would give.

Sure enough, despite how uncomfortable he felt having to say this. He knew he had gone too far to back out now and shakily said, "because the reason I originally came her was to save Star Butterfly's life."

Nobody said anything for a few moments. The two children of Glossaryck looked to Moon, whose expression became unreadable. A single hand unconsciously covered her mouth as she stared him, daring him to reveal the deception in his eyes. But after awhile, she looked back to the other members and motioned them to the door.

"Take him to the trial room. . . I'll be there in a moment." Her tone brokered no argument. With a swift nod from both immortals and a rattle of chains from the Jorge, they stiffly walked to the trial room.

Queen Moon stood in the same spot. A weary look already adoring her expression as she covered her eyes with both hands and whispered to herself,

"Not again. . ."

Doctor Mushy S. Doom stomped his way toward the healing chambers as he dragged an oversized sack of corn and a variety of potion ingredients up the stairway, grunting and heaving through the trial. Since his reprimand from Moon for letting the prisoner free from his bindings and allowing Star to interact with the criminal. Mushy decided to focus on his work and ignore the sting of disappointment and humiliation he endured from his former student. He knew it was unwise to allow the prisoners to be acquainted with Star, but from what he could tell, the boy/man had no intention of hurting anyone. In fact, after going over the strange story he concocted and the temporal residue he collected. Mushy knew that his story as a time traveler held water. It helped that the top brass of the universe had come to investigate and judge the individual for said crime.

But why he was here and for what purpose. . . Mushy decided it was best to leave it be. Time itself was twisted, complicated mess that only Omnitraxius could understand. His place was at the table with his brews and that's where he would stay.

Now, if only he could drag the infernal bag up these damn stairs! The sheer weight of his findings and rewards was like trying to drag a warnicorn up the damned steps. If only these castle towers weren't so nauseatingly high, this would be a simpler trip.

Thankfully, after a good fifteen minutes, he made it to his lab and opened the door. Upon entering the room, some of the animals in their cages let loose a variety of noises and grunts. The familiar sound reminding him that it was time to feed some of his less than desirable creatures and set the infernal bag to the side.

"Quit your bellyaching!" He yelled over the noise as he went over to the barrel of feed set in the corner of the room. Many types of meat set to the side for his more protein loving animals. "I'll get you your lunch. I just need to check the feeding schedule first. Now where is it. . . ?"

Ignoring the animal cries, he searched his messy table– scattered with books and papers. He knew that stupid clipboard was somewhere around here. . . Ah-ha! He found it!

"All right, let's see here," he muttered as he read the list. "The harpy, loogaroo, skunk ape, mimic, hedgehog pie. . . Oh, wait, here's one." He said with a smile behind his iron mask. It had taken him quite awhile to find his latest specimen. A rare creature that even Quest Buy had trouble keeping in stock on their shelves. Not because of its popularity, but simply because of how incredibly deadly it was to keep.

"The basilisk should be ready to eat today. . . I wonder if he prefers corn or shine rats today?" He went over to double check the small cage he remember setting up for the small creature. Despite his confidence in his skills in handling deadly beasts, he made triple sure to get a specialized magical cage for the reptile.

Luckily, Quest Buy had some decent cages made of enchanted mythril for toughness and melting resistance. He even added a few of his own enchantments and potion-skills to keep the monster from rapidly growing to its full-size in times of danger and sealed it's deadly vision, so they couldn't penetrate the openings of the cage nor escape. The most important part of the whole system was the soothing effect it had over its mental well-being.

Though basilisk were known to be magic resistant and highly aggressive, there were certain mental charms that could keep it calm, while its deadly vision could be stopped with small barriers in its weaker form.

That's right, he made a 1000% sure that there was no way this beast could escape form it cage, even during his ingredient collecting. Not unless the monster had outside help of course, but who could ever be stupid enough to help a basilisk of all things?

He was cut from his musings when heard footsteps heading his way, and without a moment notice, waltzing right into the room without a care in the world was Star Butterfly herself.

"Eep!" The princess let out. Clearly not expecting to be caught red handed by the very person she thought wouldn't be back until far later. She poorly tried to hide the familiar cage behind her back, with little success given her frame.

The two stared at each other for a few moments, before the doctor lifted a single finger and asked in a tone that borderline terror-stricken.

" Where's my basilisk?" He weakly whispered.

Star Butterfly replied with a single nervous grin. "Uhh. . . It's not my fault?"

The cage slipped from her fingers and noisily clattered to the ground. She grimaced as the doctor slapped his iron hand into his face-mask and let out a heavy groan.

"I'm in trouble again, aren't I?" Star gulped from the look he gave her. Oh yeah, she was in trouble.

Big time.

END.

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Fun fact: In this universe, Basilisk kill with magic laser-vision and have the ability to change sizes at will. Isn't Quest Buy a fun place to visit?