*Arrives late with a Starbucks frappucino* I won’t even ask because being late is now my thing so *shrugs and slurps from frappucino*
Well, after being forcefully transferred non-officially to my new position in my work, my time to write has been reduced (not to talk about the whole stress that consumes my energy to write) so when inspiration/motivation hits I literally have to go overdrive before it expires. Which is why I’m not joining many fandom events, sorry guys.
anyways, this is inspired on true fact events that happened this weekend at home which got me to think “what if was Starco” and it got me giggling so much to think that I have to write and share this. And since the shoe fits, why not join @starco-week Day 1 and try fill in again? :D
So let’s go!
Fun fact: The part that was inspired in true events it’s in the tags, but I recommend you to look only after reading the whole thing ;)
...
Murphy’s First Date
Marco let himself drop on Star's fluffy carpet. With the towel still on his head he tried to hide his face from her, frustrated on how the day went from awkward to a holy level of mess.
It was their first official date as a couple, but everything went down in the most awkward ways. First with both their parents wanting to tag along, it took them a run along the mall to lose them and get somewhere else, then they ran into Janna who was monitoring the date through one of the cameras in his hoodie. So while getting a new shirt and hood, they run into Ferguson and Alfonso, who decided to pay help Marco which was nice… until they left for their DND meeting and Marco realized they switched bags, leaving him with a elf costume he had to wear so Janna stop looking into his date.
So they finally get to tacos and made their order… And then Jackie and Tom arrived and sat by their table trying to find comfort and completely missing the fact it was a date by them (Marco couldn’t blame them when he’s wearing a freaking elf costume) because, one had a huge fight with her girlfriend and was afraid they would break up, and the other got stood up by his date. So instead of eating more tacos, Star and Marco ordered them to go and tried to calm down both the friends who were crying their hearts out and stuffing their faces on tacos.
That is, until Jackie girlfriend showed up and talked to her and they were making out right then and there (At this point he didn’t even know if he wanted to ask for them to take another table or just leave) and Tom's date (Janna?! Say what?!) Showed up eventually since she was late trying to fix her TV ("thanks, Marco." She had said and suddenly it got him that their date was spying on his somehow.)
It was almost night and things were a mess, but it was OK! Because he got Star, she was happily walking beside him holding his hand and they had some tacos to eat somewhere nice and finally things could be fine!
That was, until the thunder and sudden downpour went on them.
Holding her hand tightly and trying not to slip on the streets as everyone run for cover, Marco got in his house and search for his key… Which was on the hoodie he threw away with Janna embodied camera. He hitted his head on the door angrily as Star tried to call his parents by no results.
His parents got home ten minutes later finding them soaking to their bones as they waited by the door, trying to take cover in the little patio build there with no use (it almost could shelter one, two people was impossible). The Diaz opened the door to them, Star's parents walked in right after them carrying Mariposa under an umbrella.
He took a looked on the tacos in vain before throwing them in the trash for being soaked and ruined.
But the worst part, the worst of it all wasn’t the awkwardness, the shame or everything that went wrong. The worst was when he got her a towel and was about to tell her to take a shower to get warm and she began to sneeze.
Star got sick.
They stayed out in the rain for too long and she just had because a normal human, so it was only natural she as her body wasn’t used or weren’t prepared for such things as getting soaked in sudden cold rain, of course she would get cold!
And now here they were, sitting in Star’s fluffy carpet in the room she left ready for her visits in his house, as Star had her hair dried by her mother, curled under a blanket his mother gave and a hot drink (probably some mint tea by the smell of it) to try help her to avoid getting anything deeper than sneezing from cold.
Marco sighed frustrated as ever throwing the damp towel away as he finished drying his hair and left it a mess.
"Are you mad?" Star asked cautiously.
"Of course I am!" Hiding his face between his hands he confessed to her "I was right all along, I was a terrible boyfriend to Jackie and I a worst boyfriend to you!"
"Wait, what?!" Star put her mug with the tea down and took his hands away from his face "Marco, what are you talking about?"
"What am I talking about?! I am talking about this our first date as a couple being ruined!"
Star blinked at him "What?"
"Come on, everything that could be wrong today had gone wrong!" Marco pulled his pajama shirt up to hide his face "From our parents, to Janna, to Ferg and Al, to Jackie and Tom to the stupid rain and now you’re sick! I’m the worst boyfriend ever!"
Star smiled ever so lovingly at him, remembering how she fell for this dork. "Marco, you’re not the worst… You’re the best ever."
Gently, Star pulled his shirt down until it was down his neck and she could see his face again, but he avoided her eyes by looking to the other side.
"It’s not your fault… Actually I think it’s mine."
"What?" Marco asked confused looking at her.
"Well… I didn’t really think of this as our first real date or anything… I mean, dates are for couples to know each other and bond and we already have all that, we have for a long time… So when you told me we would go out, I thought it was, more casual hang out and stuff. So I told our parents and I might have let them think they were invited because wasn’t anything special… Like, you said ‘we’ as The Diaz and The Butterfly, not as Star and Marco."
"Oh…"
"Sorry, I should have asked before talking to your mother and kinda letting her think the same thing."
"No, it’s ok…" He sat up thoughtful, "I think I also should have let more clear, I never mentioned about movie and dinner, now that I think about it make sound like hanging out… I wanted to make it kinda like a surprise, but I should have at least let you known I wanted to be just the two of us.” He smiled at her.
Star nodded and went on, "Then about Janna… I asked her to record it." Marco blinked at her several times too shocked to speak, so she went on "I… Once she said about the cameras, I thought would be nice to have some recordings for us, so I asked her to record… But when you found out you got so freaked out I couldn’t tell you! So… I just let on mine." She looked at her lace pin soaked and frowned "But I doubt something survived the rain."
Marco rested his hands in top on hers and caressed gently "I guess, I did freaked out more than I should have…"
"You guess?" Star chuckled
"Fine, I screamed like a little boy wetting his pants for finding monster under his bed." He sighed "Recordings are fine, but we can do that ourselves Star. We can take pictures, videos and whatever else you want. Even contract Janna, but let me know first, OK?"
Star nodded and held his hands, "Then… There’s Ferguson and Alfonso."
"How you have anything to do with us switching bags?"
"Cause I was trying to recover your hoodie and the camera without you noticing, so I dropped the bags, but both looked the same and were zipped, I didn’t have time to look cause they came and I had to guess, so I went with the lighter one because I thought his costume would be heavier!" Star facepalmed herself "When you checked and I realized the mistake they were already off. I had sent a text for them, but they were on the road until few minutes ago, Ferg said he will get your hoodie back to switch."
"I don’t care much about the hoodie, I just didn’t want to make you feel a idiot walking around with a guy dressed as a elf for no reason… But didn’t work much."
Star laughed "I guess it didn’t."
Marco smiled and sat closer to her passing his arm around her shoulders and giving her cheek a gentle kiss that made her giggle.
"Wait, you don’t have anything to do with Jackie and Chloe’s fight, do you?"
"No! No, no no no. That was just an unfortunate coincidence for real. Though Janna did get late because I had asked her to go get the camera you threw away" she smiled ashamed.
He smiled painfully back, "Yeah we gonna need to make it up to Tom somehow even if I ruined without knowing. He deserve better."
His girlfriend agreed and held him closer, "I thought you got angry because after you threw the hoodie away you lost your keys and got wet… And I know you hate wet socks. So I was afraid to speak and getting it worse… I’m sorry."
He smiled at her and rested his forehead on hers, "I was angry that the date went wrong and you were getting wet. I was never angry at you… Well, maybe a little bit now, but it’s already gone knowing you meant well."
Star smiled at her boyfriend leaning up and touching his lips with her own on a longing kiss before snuggling into his embrace wrapping them both in the blanket.
"You know, we don’t need anything else. This is good."
Marco hummed in agreement caressing her back, "Yeah, this is fine… As long as I have you it’s OK."
Star smiled "With or without dates, we belong together" she giggled.
"That was super clichê" Marco laughed.
"Shut up."
For a while they stayed like that. Getting warm in each other arms and being just comfortable in each other. And for that moment Marco realize he really was too stressed on what he wanted them to be instead of what they are and taking that into the natural way. Star was right, they had their relationship a long way already, some things did change now they were a couple, but they become a couple by who they were and that could not change; if so what would be the point?
Yes, they had flaws and things to solve as any other, but they were just in the beginning and sincerely? Marco couldn’t wait to see what was to be in future.
They rearranged their position and he turned on his notebook in her room, choosing a movie to watch undercovers with her, and to be fair? This was as good as any date they could have. Maybe wasn’t fancy or epic, but they had each other and they were having fun watching some silly movie in the comfort of the home, and that was good enough for them. So what? They didn’t need anything else, opportunities for all the other stuff would happen eventually.
As he thought about all that, taking her shampoo essence and handing her tissues when she sneezed a few more times, he heard it. A squishy sound, so soft and low he almost missed if wasn’t for the silence in the room as he was selecting another movie.
"Star… Did you just fart?"
Suddenly looking like a red tomato, she looked down completely embarrassed "I-I guess that Taco didn’t get me so well… Sorry ha ha"
Marco laughed, "It’s ok, it’s very normal-" he was about to comfort her, when he stopped mid sentence and felt the smell looking at her horrified "I take it back, it’s not normal."
"What?"
"Star, you’re rotten" Marco said getting out the blankets.
"Marco!"
"Air! I need air!"
"It’s not that bad!" Star pouted getting more embarrassed.
"You can get worse than this one?!" He said surprised as he opened the door.
"Stop that!"
"Oh my God, Star!"
Star facepalmed herself, she was really being fart-shamed by her boyfriend? "Marco Diaz!”
"Marco!" Rafael called from the living room "What is this rotten smell?! Did you find the corpse of Mr. Cinnamon?"
Star wrapped herself under the blankets hiding embarrassed, as Marco replied "No, dad. Star just farted!"
She looked out the covers with a look that said betrayal to what Marco didn’t see as his back was to her.
"Oh my, that was a powerful one." Angie commented.
Marco suddenly took a moment to realize "Wait, corpse of Mr. Cinnamon?"
"Yeah, your hamster in Fourth grade stays for another time, Marco. Fix your girlfriend!" Rafael replied murmuring about turning the fans on and home essences.
Marco turned around and got attacked with a pillow by Star "I can’t believe you told them I farted!"
"What?!” He replied as he defended himself as he replied “They could smell!"
"Ugh! Marco Diaz, you’re the worst!"
Marco began to laugh as he knew she wasn’t serious just extremely frustrated on her embarrassment. Now this was more like them, switching from a sweet moment to awkward to laugh.
It would be a long and fun journey.
"We spiraled high on a gust of love!" Marco began singing as he got a pillow to defended himself of her pillow attack "And I knew right from the start, nothing could tear us apart… Until the day you farted hard-"
"Marco Ubaldo Diaz!" Star screamed at him angry. He began to fall down as if he was being dramatically defeated.
You know maybe I’ll make this a part thingie. Look at me being ambitious when I’ve never even written fanfiction before. How long will that last?
OH! It’s Star’s POV too.
Also I barely edited because it’s 2 in the morning and my face hurts.
Hope you guys like it!
“MARCO!” I called in the loudest whisper I could manage as I tried to get my coworker’s attention from across the crowded office. Miraculously, he heard me and he looked up ever so slightly, already trying to analyze why I might be calling him. He’s perfect, he’s just what the show needs.
I quickly tiptoed over to his slide-y chair and he merely shifted his gaze to my face.
“Marco!” I repeated, “I need someone to help me do this new series for the blue channel, and Janna said you were a skeptic so I think you’d be good for it.” I rambled quickly and Marco thankfully looked intrigued.
“What do you need a skeptic for?” He asked and I smiled because this must mean I got him.
“It's for the Unsolved thing I used to do with Pony Head but we got into some...issues.” I paused for a second awkwardly as my mind wandered, but then got back to the matter at hand. “We talk about murders and ghosts and fun stuff!” I clasped my hands excitedly to emphasize my statement and beamed as Marco smiled, seemingly convinced.
“Well I’m sure this old skeptic could be of service to you,” he said as he straightened an invisible tie, “when are we shooting?” he asked.
“Oh, in like, ten minutes, but it's no big, your part’s unscripted,” I checked my watch, “but we should go now anyways, so up, up, up!” I ushered him out of his chair and he hastily followed me to the room we were recording in. I loved the set for this show; it had so many spooky things, like skulls and dark lighting.
“Here we are!” I said. I excitedly showed him to his chair, I picked up my folder with my notes inside and took Marco through a visual tour. I motioned to all the creepy stuff in glee, as I was proud of the establishment. Janna and I had worked so hard getting all this stuff cheap, so I was gonna show it off.
Speaking of Janna, she smiled knowingly as she saw Marco settle into his new seat.
“Took my advice, eh?” She nudged me with her elbow. I nodded earnestly and hugged my folder to my chest as I watched Marco take in the room.
“I'm so glad you mentioned him, I forgot about his two hour rant about how the Blair Witch Project was clearly a murder mystery and that just screams Non-Believer.” I managed to stop myself from squee-ing, “It might be tough, but it’s definitely a plus to get the other perspective in the show. And Marco’s hilarious so this is gonna be great!” I finally couldn’t help it. I let out a squee.
Janna looked at me like I was a camera on The Office but I took no notice. I was too excited to get into the theories. This episode was a fun one.
Sighing, Janna brought me back down to Earth and gently pushed me in the direction of my chair and I realized I should sit down so the crew could set up the rest of the lights.
Marco turned to me with a smile and he said, “So, what are we talking about today?”
My eyes lit up with anticipation and I told him so he wouldn’t be caught off guard.
“We’re talking about the illuminati.” I said with glee.
He laughed and raised an eyebrow.
“Really? The triangle society?” He laughed again.
I felt slightly defensive, but I didn’t let it show.
“It’s not just triangles, besides I bet you don’t know where it all starts or any of the evidence for it in recent times. This is an educational show, Marco.” I said pointedly.
He smirked at me, “Oh, I’m sure I’ll learn a whole lot.”
Satisfied with his answer, I smiled again until a post-it on my folder fell into my eye line.
“Ooo! Before I forget, clear your schedule for all of thursday we’re going ghost hunting. Also we need to go to Mexico. And Kansas.” I flicked off the post-it as it had served its purpose and Marco followed it with eyes as he slowly absorbed the information.
He broke through the shock in broken sentences.
“Gh-ghost? Hunting? Why Mexico and when Mexico and, what?!” He scooched his chair closer to me and his eyes met mine and all I could see in them was confusion.
“I need you to repeat...everything you just said, but just, just pace yourself,” he said carefully.
I figured first comes first. “Thursday, can you go ghost hunting? Also, I wanted to meet with a priest, so it’ll literally be all day thursday.” I asked slowly.
He nodded dumbly before voicing his answer as well.
“Y-yeah I do Thursday.” Marco cleared his throat, erupting from his shock, “I didn’t realize you’d actually want to attempt to contact the ghosts that are clearly not real.”
I made a noise that was half offended, half confused.
“You-You can’t say definitively that ghosts don’t exist, that’s why we gotta find them.” I said matter-of-factly.
“Yes, because they are hiding and my charm will draw them out, those silly demon boys.” Marco said mockingly.
“You laugh, but you shall seeee.” I said in a spooky voice. Marco chuckled and I joined him playfully until Janna got our attention to start filming.
I carefully restacked my papers in an anchor-like way and looked to my Marco dramatically, only to be caught slightly off-guard when I noticed he had been staring at me.
A nervous laugh erupted from me awkwardly and I tried to cover it up with a falsely confident “You, uh, you ready?”
Marco backtracked from his staring almost immediately and cleared his throat, before saying “yeah, yup, totally...ready.”
“Okay.” I said, turning away from him, as a funny feeling in my stomach grew. I shook it off and yelled, “Janna!”
Janna answered my yell with a suspiciously sweet “What?” from behind the white filming line.
“We ready to, uh, to start?” I asked, noting that Marco’s demeanor was slowly shifting back to his casual self. Which got me to settle back into a more comfortable state as well.
Janna only gave a thumbs up in response and our camera guy Adam said, “Anytime you wanna start, Star.”
I nodded affirmatively and snuck a glance at Marco. He smiled at me encouragingly and so I opened my folder to start, knowing this was going to be a tricky first shoot but Marco and I would grow into this show more over time. The ghost hunting was gonna be so much fun too. And less scary since Marco would be there.
I took a deep breath and looked straight into the camera to begin.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/2
Fandom: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Star Butterfly/Marco Diaz, Marco Diaz/Jackie Lynn Thomas
Characters: Star Butterfly, Marco Diaz, Tom (Star vs. The Forces Of Evil), Original Non-Human Character(s)
Additional Tags: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Jealousy, jarco is together but this is definitely not a jarco fic, i still have to tag it though, Depressed!Star, starco will be endgame
Summary: “Am I on a good path?” Star asks, suddenly desperate. The wind gets louder as the golden eyes shift back to her.
“The path shifts, always. Once you were happy, now you are not. Once you knew the way, now you do not.”
But no, actually you didn’t read wrong. this is the actual chapter. and kinda of april fools? I wanted to see how many would actually believe I would post... including me.
So here it is, the chapter without betas cause they left me to runaway from the country, and the ones i found didn’t had time to catch on yet. Me in middle of a breakdown with ill brain but hey... we got witchcraft (which is one of the reasons I’m posting) and also art!
So I hope you guys enjoy!
Thank you for the patience, support and love from: @goldenjokster27, @mrevaunit42, @tamiletrange, @thatgirlinspace, @secretlyinthestars, @allisonwickey, @adf722-blog, @axis2800, @jafet-ceballos, @ladyxgilex, @allancutrim, @squaredoors, @cid331, @shadow-claw12, @ask-the-deadman, @cartooniste2z, @zthinksyourstuffiscool, @littlelemon-ade, @monkuee, @surroundedbyperverts, @justyouraveragefangiri, @slothbeanie, @sparkly-eyed-dork, @even-losers-can-win, @lokimen, @smokyrosequartz, @watop, @manifisto42, @jafet-ceballos, @hurtbyme, @xxkillerxx10, @scarletsunrise14, @yoitsjojomojo, @myminutethoughts, @girls-with-boys-names
You can read Ever After at Ao3 | FF.net | DeviantArt and on Tumblr, feel free to go read where it pleases you the most :)
Chapter 14: After Departure
The princess stepped in her kingdom once again and then looked behind as the portal to Earth closed forever. The dimensional scissors in her hands felt heavy and dull, maybe she should give it back to Pony Head, she wouldn’t use them anyway.
Her heart was stinging. She felt the longing of going back already, but that was impossible now. Being a world out of magic, the scissors couldn’t connect the magic from one to another there wasn’t.
With a sigh, Star went straight her room ready to pass out on her bed.
“Star.”
And avoid the confront with her mother waiting her right beside her door.
“Mom,” Star said calmly and tired as she went inside her room, “I know you wanted me to come back early, but I needed to say goodbye and-” She stopped talking as the one goodbye that matters the most went completely wrong. Trying to keep her breathing even, she continued- “can we talk about everything tomorrow?”
Her mother gestured for the remaining maids to stop getting the baggage in place and leave them alone. Once they were out, she turned her attention completely to Star “Do you really think I wouldn’t notice?”
Star held her breath. Did her mother noticed she was trying to avoid her goodbye to Marco? Was she mad at it? Did she not approve him? Well, the last option didn’t matter anymore. It no longer mattered as there was nothing left of it.
Queen Moon sighed, “I know there’s something wrong. Something that happened on Earth that got you in a hurry to come back. I don’t expect you to tell me right away, because I trust your reasons and that you’ll tell me when the time is right…”
Star felt a relief to know her mother wouldn’t pressure her to confess what happened. “Then why are you here?” Trying to act as casual and normal as possible, the princess took one of the baggages and continued the work of the maids.
“I’m not here as the Queen,” she explained taking a few steps closer, “I’m here as your mother. I came here because my daughter come back home. She had to say goodbye to her dearest friends and had a hard time doing so, especially with her best friend…”
Star felt the tears burning in her eyes, but she refused to shed them. She couldn’t; she should not.
“Star, my darling, I know it must have hurt, a lot. I’m here to give you the only thing I can to help you…”
“A spell to broken hearts?” She asked with a sniff.
“Stronger.” Moon smiled warmly at her daughter and opened her arms.
It was all that it took for Star to stop pretending things would be fine, that nothing hurt and she could live like that. The princess let go her bags, dropping everything on the floor and she run for the queen and got into the warm embrace of her mother. She let it all out, the tears, the screams, the whines, the pain and hurt… Star gave herself that unique moment to feel everything as it was to her.
Her mother didn’t ask anything or said for her to control herself. Instead, Moon caressed the blond strands of her child, holding her close and offering the comfort as she could give. Once in awhile, she would give comforting words, since it was all she could do in the moment of pain and grief.
Star held into her like a life force, the same way she did as a child and she hadn’t done in a very long time. They both sat on the floor, Star was more into laying on it as she kept her face into her mother’s chest, as if it could hide her from every single pain and keep her safe from anything. She had forgotten how warm her mother could be. Thus, as Moon caressed the princess head and kept holding her close until the young royal fell asleep. Still soothing her, Moon called her husband and a guard to help to take the princess to her bed. Moon decided to keep company for her child in grief as did River.
That night the royal family slept together on the same bed, holding the princess between them, as they haven’t done in a long, long time. The princess sobbed every once in awhile still calming down in her sleep.
In the darkness, neither of them were able to see the blurred makeup and the revealing marks of breaking hearts underneath.
.
.
.
.
.
The first to notice something wrong was Ponyhead.
If Star was honest with herself, it was expected. Really. They were best friends since their early age, she had been there in almost every moment and they shared everything. The first sign of her broken state was probably when she refused to speak of that night. Her best friend could understand and even expect she wouldn’t tell Moon, River, the royal counselors and even her other best friend. But to hide something from Pony Head… meant serious business.
“Star, you know you can tell me anything…”
“I know Ponnie…” Star sighed as she got measures for a new dress done, “I just don’t wanna talk about that.”
“Why, what could happened so bad?!”
Star flinched, but no one got needles on her. Ponyhead wondered for a moment about the things her friend did the night before going back to her kingdom and then made a face, because the only thing that could possibly gone bad, was the only thing she was absolutely sure it should have been fine.
Unless a certain Earth-Turd…
“No. Freaking. Way.”
For her voice and horrified face, Star knew she figured out the puzzle, “Ponyhead…”
“Earth Turd could not have rejected you! He couldn’t! His mother said he-”
“It doesn’t matter!” Star interrupted, unable to hear the words to be said.
The maid frowned and pulled her down. “Stay still, please”
“Look,” Star got the maids notes and showed in her face “You have enough measure to start a few dresses, I am out of patience and I need a moment alone with Princess Ponyhead, so please, leave for now. I’ll call you when we’re done and I’m ready to take the other measures.”
The maid nodded at the princess then gave the same order to the others around to follow her lead and get out the room. Once they were all out Star took a breath and turned to her best friend.
“One, please do not mention that day, it brings me headache just to think anything related to it. Second, yes, he did. He’s free to choose Ponyhead, and he did. He wanted his girlfriend and he got to be with her.” The Mewni princess looked away to a random spot in the room.
And she didn’t feel hurt about it, more like the bittersweet taste of rejection, it didn’t hurt her that her best friend got a choice over his future on the same way she didn’t. To be fair, there was a lot of things she wasn’t feeling lately. Sleepy, hungry, energetic, or even determined with wanderlust. Days passed by like grey. There was a routine to it, get up, have breakfast with parents, royal duties, study a way out the marriage mess, how a war could be avoided, dinner with her parents, bath, sleep. There was nothing more to do with them, so she focused in doing things well since it was the only thing to do.
Deep inside Star knew the problem was deeper. Mewnian magic worked as the sound of element one. Moon, water, time, even a heart; if the heart was sad, magic wouldn’t be powerful, if it was happy, it would bring wonderful things, if it was angry, it would be very destructive…
If her heart was broken, it meant so was her magic.
Which was why she had hidden the greyish pink broken hearts under makeup. She had enough to be worried about without her magic involved. All she had to do is avoid using spells - Which in a time of peace, shouldn’t be that hard. Glossaryck had realized the problem, but for some reason decided to be quiet about it, just advising to be careful.
Ponyhead made a sad face looking at her best friend worried.
“Star… That means…”
The Mewni princess looked at her best friend smiling uneasy “Means nothing. I confessed, he made his choice and I should respect that and carry on with my life.”
“But your magic…”
“It’s fine.” She said pointing to her cheeks “See? I am sad that things happened on the way they did, but I already knew nothing could be done.”
Ponyhead went closer to her looking at her face carefully “Are you sure?”
“I am. I’ll be fine eventually. Right now it’s just too soon… So just give me time to pull myself together, ok?”
Pony Head touched her cheek against Star and smiled. “Anything you want, bestie! Just promise to not hide anything!”
Star hugged her friend without a reply to the promise. She wouldn’t break promises if she haven’t done them in first place.
.
.
.
.
.
The second to notice… Was a surprise.
“You’re not pregnant are you?”
Star spilled her tea and looked at Kelly with wide eyes “Excuse me?!”
Her green haired friend blinked twice unamused “What?”
“Why everytime I have to say something or act different people think I am pregnant?!”
“Because you lived under the same roof with a boy and you both are healthy and hormonal, then one thing can lead to another...” she replied.
“That…!” Star frowned, replying in a confused yet understanding “That actually makes sense.”
“So?”
Groaning she leaned back on her own chair blushing as she replied, “I’m not pregnant. I am still one hundred percent untouched!”
“Are you sure?” Ponyhead said “Cause you’ve been getting weight…”
Star knew Ponyhead was joking and pretended to be offended. Truth to be said she had been feeling numb ever since the moment she got in the portal to be away from him. She didn’t feel tired or sleepy, hunger and energy weren’t a problem too. It’s been a week and she already lost some weight, noticed by a few clothes getting a bit more of space than usual.
“Yeah, you’re acting strange… I actually haven’t seen you smile since the moment I got in here.” Kelly stated.
“Yeah, are you already grump because of the baby?”
Star groaned “First, there’s no baby. Second, ask that for Kelly! The two doves are always escaping to…”
“Well,” Kelly interrupted “we are engaged so it’s accepted.”
Both princesses looked at Kelly and blinked twice.
“Huh… Say what?” Star said.
Their friend lifted her hand and showed off a green bracelet in her left hand. It was by knowledge of the girls in there that in Kelly’s dimension they would exchange a bracelet to later on the wedding day make a matching mark. The bracelet symbolized to be handcuffed with their partner in everything, the tattoo was a signal of the mark the person left on you forever. Star always thought both creepy and cute, but it was part of her friend culture so she never questioned further.
After a moment absorbing the news, both princesses smiled and hugged the third girl close while celebrating in giggles and screams.
“When did this happen?!” Ponyhead asked.
“How?! Where?!” Star said startled.
“Last week. He made a surprise while we were on a date.” Kelly smiled at the bracelet with green stones “He said he would go against his parents and even council members if they tried to take us apart because we are from different dimensions…”
Star gulped air. She didn’t feel upset or angry, just… Null. She could feel happiness for her friend, but she find herself unable to absorb to herself. Maybe it was because her friend romance was very much alike hers, but took a completely different way from hers…
If that was the reason, then Star supposed she should have been hurt or feel pain, right? And yet… She didn’t felt anything. The thought itself scared her, maybe the broken hearts meant more than just her feelings? But then what could be?
Star shook her head taking attention of Kelly and Ponyhead again. Kelly was giving details of how it went her engagement, her parents reaction, how they wanted the ceremony and all. Star was smiling slightly to both friends relief, trying to show she was ok at the same time. While drinking another glass of soda was when she got choked by accident.
The Mewni princess coughed hard for a long time until what she got in her lungs was out and she could try to calm them down along with the burning.
Ponyhead laughed in a worried way telling Star to breathe. Once Star was able to, she tried to calm down and took a quick glance at her hand… She closed in a firm fist and hide under the table resting her fist on her legs. Kelly apologized by the joke and how it got her. The blond princess just told her to not worry, getting up with the excuse to grab something in her room to celebrate, Ponyhead and Kelly kept talking as Star walked in direction out the yards.
She hid behind a pillar as soon as she was out of vision of her friends. Blue eyes looked around to assure she was alone, only then daring to open her hand carefully. A little blue petal rested on her palm. Small and delicate, with faint hints of white spots…
The petal she coughed out her lungs.
Star felt her blood run cold. She had seen movies about this with Janna, also asian videos and stories… She knew what this was, but Janna had assured her it was only fictional.
Then why it was happening to her now?
Gulping she observed the little petal closely. There was no blood or saliva, it didn’t look like she coughed it out of her… Maybe she was just freaking out and it was just a coincidence. Yeah, it should be, that sickness never existed to begin with right?
Even so that little petal in her hand was there, adorable, pretty, delicate, in perfect shape…
And very deadly.
Star clenched her fist smashing the petal and dropped her arm at her side trying to control on her breathing.
It was just her mind. She wasn’t sick. It couldn’t be. That sickness never existed, then it should be no reason for her to worry. The petal meant nothing, she was in a garden, the wind could have blowed and she didn’t felt while coughing. It made sense, she should just calm down.
And yet, she couldn’t stop her hand from shaking.
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Her chest was getting more aching and more irritated as the days passed by. She was trying her best to hold the coughs and not call any doctors, but the rumor she might had been sick was going around already in whispers between the maids and butlers. As result Star found herself doing what she did best: escaping the palace and royal responsibilities.
If once was for the sake of the young self and fun, now was for the sake of her secret. there was nothing else she could do.
Star sighed and looked up to the moon above her balcony, watching the multiple moons with a strangeness feeling after looking into the little white one from Earth after those four years. It was still beautiful as always had been and given the name of her mother, but it felt odd to know that was her only option now that Earth was out of magic.
She missed Earth so much.
She missed him so much it hurts (and she meant it in every single way).
The princess let a breath laugh escape her lips. She was suffering for someone who didn’t had idea she ever existed, that had the girl of his dreams with him along friends and his normal life just like he was supposed to… Why she thought that could have ended different? It began with her going to Earth, so it was obvious their story would be over when she left… It was ridiculous.
“I doubt you even miss me at all…” Star looked down her garden with a sad smile, “You have everything you ever needed or could want…” The princess closed her eyes for a moment and took a breath. Now she was talking to the absence, just great. Next rumor is that she went insane probably. She turned her back to the balcony and began to walk into her room so she could sleep.
“I do!”
The breath escaped from her lungs as she heard his voice so clear and evident of need, she turned around in surprise ready to meet with the face of his and the brown eyes looking at her with the same kind of feeling his voice tried to apply.
His name escaped her lips in a hopeful way to address his presence, “Marco?!”
She turned around with a heart full of hope and pounding loudly inside of her like she didn’t feel in a long time.
Instead there was void behind her. Just her room and the balcony to the night sky, but none of him or his presence. Star let a breathless laugh escape. Of course he wasn’t there. Why would he? There was any reason to why he could be possibly going after her, and how could he when his dimension lacked of every single possibility of magic?
Star continued to laugh at her own delusion. She felt something on her face and touched her cheek. The wet glove was very evident of the tears of her face. The princess tried to dry her tears in an attempt to not start crying over again on the matters of her shattered heart. but it was useless. More tears kept coming from the pain inside her, her never ending ache and endless void that the absence of him caused on her and all the pain he brought with the breaking of them as friends, as any possibility of more, with all the craving she would never fill… From the pain of her love for him.
For what was going to be the death of her.
Her legs got weak and she fell to the floor curving down and letting her tears flow free down her face wetting her gloves as she curled on herself crying without the shoulder she wished she could still rely on.
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Two days later, Star could be found in the library of the castle.
At first the few workers found weird for the princess to be there (and reading the books.) As much she still disliked to study, dire times call drastic measures, and Star was in a dire time for her kingdom. The information about the menace wasn’t public, and as much Star didn’t like to keep secrets to her future citizens, the information would bring tension and unnecessary pressure. So it was agreed to only council and royal members would know about it (Song Day was a lesson that some things were better to remain in secret).
Sure, her friends on Earth knew, but that made no difference by now. Ponyhead was part of the council now, so she knew it too, but as much her best friend was trying to help, she was also getting empty handed.
With a sigh, the princess closed another book and laid on the table. There was no princess that got in a situation like hers in Mewni before, because the tradition avoided it - And to those that didn’t follow up the tradition already had either married or someone to be taken as future king.
There must be something she could use to avoid the madness of that arranged marriage.
She stood up and decided to walk around to try clear her head so she could think clearly again. There wasn’t much on her mind when she began to walk between aisles of books looking around mindlessly. It was distraction and she needed some right now.
Her lung felt itchy, and the coughs begin. Star supported herself in a aisle until the cough ceased and her lungs felt fine. She sighed, she was probably catching a cold or something by the amount of times she would cough feeling her lungs and throat itchy.
Star sighed and looked down to get the books she dropped without realizing. The princess kneeled down and got two books before dropping them again and looking at the small object along the book that certainly didn’t belong there.
A blue petal. The same type and kind of blue petal she found when she had the first series of coughs with Ponyhead and Kelly.
Star begin to sweat cold and held the petal on her fingers. Again, it was dry, soft and delicate like any flower petal, but she knew it was more than that this time.
Without wasting time and abandoning the books where they were, Star got up and ran through the books to the center of the library. If there was something to be found, she was in the right place.
Star looked at the Book Guider, then opened and closed her eyes as a bright light came out of it.
“Come on, Catalogica, you have to do that every time?”
A miniature of woman got out the book smiling. She looked a lot like Glossaryck, but with her own features. Her skin was Lilac and eyes green as emerald, her hair was a blue very closer to being white. Her dress was similar to Glossaryck’s, but in a deep scarlet shade.
“Hello princess… It's been a loooong while” She turned upside down smiling at her. “What's the problem?”
“Why do you think I have a problem?”
“By your research story with me, you only come to here when something is serious.”
Star snorted “It’s a time of peace. Nothing is wrong, I just got curious.”
Catalogica raised one eyebrow in suspicion “About what?”
Star kept her voice even, trying to convey pure curiosity “I was watching a movie from Earth last night and they refer to a love-sickness, so I got curious if there’s something like that in real life.”
She floated upside down again, resting her head in her hands “You want the love-sickness book?”
“There’s a book just for that?” Star asked really curious this time.
“Yes” Catalogica said “Most of the sickness were eradicated thought. Love-sickness were cruel and deadly most of times, the council did everything they could for generations to eradicate the most deadly ones. Right now just minors still around.”
“Like what?”
“Mewberty.” At the startled expression of the princess, the guider scoffed “It’s not deadly and it’s a natural thing from Mewnians, but in some dimensions it was classified as a sickness.”
“I see…” she replied relaxing a bit “You know where the book is? I want to see anyway.”
“Sure” Catalogica shrugged.
The guide creature floated just a bit above the book, arms open and eyes turning completely white as her guide book shone bright. Strings of light come out the book and went around the library. Star followed the way with her eyes, but didn’t move since it wasn’t necessary.
A few seconds later the stings retreat to bringing another book and giving in her hands before disappearing.
“Well,” Catalogica said yawning “that was tiring. I did all my work for today, so if you don’t mind, I’m leaving princess.” Without waiting an answer, the lilac creature retreated to her book and closed it locking it with a sign of “to not be disturbed”.
Well, Star guessed Glossaryck had chosen the right one for him.
Resting the book in top of the catalogue, Star observed the cover with a heart with thorns and roses around. The title gave her a shiver.
“Dying for love”
The princess gulped and opened the book, trying to search for something useful and reading to herself.
“Worms in the brain; a sickness caused by suspicion and lack of trust in the loved one, normally connected with jealousy and suspicion of betrayal. If the victim kept in silence, the worms would begin to get out on every possible hole in them. In more serious cases the worms would begin to eat the brain, some few victims died, but most of them had the memory wiped clean from the beginning to end. Some of those victims were found unable to love ever again by the effect that the worms got rid of the emotional side of the brain and it was impossible to be recovered even with the strongest magic” Star shivered in disgust and was happy that she wasn’t a victim of that “The sickness was originally from Earth dimension, it was eradicated long ago when the dimension got isolated.” Star frowned confused by that statement. She turned the page trying to find something more interesting.
After a few pages she found another one that got her attention. “Colored skin. This sickness was known to reveal someone feeling by changing the color of the victim skin. The most known case was the witch that turned green by jealousy. There was no age or common cause of the sickness, nor it was passed from one to another. The real reason behind this sick remains unknown, traces of such had been gone by long. The only lasting feature of such thing is… Mewberty?!” Star said confused by the statement, but let it pass, she would talk to her mother later.
Deciding not to waste more time, Star passed pages and more pages until she found the sickness she was trying to figure out.
Hanahaki Disease.
The princess looked at the page beautifully illustrated by flowers and hearts. She would appreciate it more if the reason that they were there was for artistic means, but she knew it wasn’t.
She just wasn’t that lucky.
“Hanahaki Disease,” The princess read out loud after taking a breath “This is in case one of the most cruel and deadly love-decease found out and yet the perform of it is unsettlingly beautiful.” Star frowned at that “It begins with the feeling of love, the seed of the feeling that born in the heart and consumes the body. The seed of love is magical form of the feeling that happens to everyone that can either grow after receiving affection or die after rejection…”
She turned the page and went on “What happens with this disease; it acts directly in the seed of the feeling. It turns the seed to get a material form, it usually gets to be in the lungs, but it can affect the heart and other organs. The reason why it gots such reaction it’s due to suppressing the feeling for too long, more than necessary and more than the person can take…”
Star gulped, she thought on how much she kept it hidden and how it went wrong when it got out, but mostly on how much still was there to be said and it never would.
“There’s a theory that the reason of the seed becoming material it’s the suffocating of it; most commonly attached to the act of never speaking to the loved one the truth in all…” Star realized her hands were trembling, so she closed her eyes and took a few breaths whispering to herself, “Calm down, Star, it’s just a book and what you saw it’s very different from this, it’s probably fictional.”
Blue eyes kept the reading on, “The seed then begins to flourish. What comes from it and the speed of the process once it begins depends on the loved one and the victim. From the seed a flower from the favorite kind of the loved one begins to grow. The pace of it depends on their relationship, it’s proven that pairs in long distance and contact goes slower while the ones who have a routine to see each other very often or every day would go faster and in rare cases even immediately.” She turned the page again.
“There’s also the factor of the flower that is there to bloom. If the type was small, it would spread more, but it normally takes long to make an negative effect. If the flower it’s big it affects faster due to its size on the organs. Either way, the symptoms are overall the same; difficult to breath, tiredness, restless and discomfort for the first days or weeks. The second phase begins when the flowers are blooming…”
“What are you doing?”
Star jumped at the sudden voice, turning around she met a creature that looked like a cat with wings, the cute features hiding the wild and powerful being underneath the appearance.
“Oh, hey Baby” An uneasy smile appeared on the princess lips and she found incredibly easy to maintain the indifference facade, she had no idea why though, “What you doing here?”
“The queen requested me to help with a solution to your problem. Being your fairy godmother it’s my obligation to guide you, even in romantic aspects.”
The surprise in the speech wasn’t a lie “Really?”
“Yes, princess. So I am curious, what are you doing here researching…” Baby floated a bit higher and looked at the book “Love sickness… Is there anything wrong?”
“No,” she lied (it was rather easy and that wasn’t usual to her), “I just decided to take a break and I remember this movie I watched with Janna. I got curious if such thing existed…” she looked at the flowers drawn in the book “Apparently it does.”
“Not anymore.” Baby replied floating beside her “The council did everything they could to eliminate these diseases.”
“What do you mean by everything they could?” she asked.
“I mean that they eliminated the deadly ones by all the means they could.” Baby lowered herself until she was standing on the book top and then continued “They were too dangerous, they could initiate wars and be the cause of dozen deaths… It was necessary a cure, but a few couldn’t be cured by no means, so drastic measures were taken.”
The princess gulped “Such as?”
“The Evanescent.”
Something inside Star had shook, it felt weirdly familiar to whatever that meant.
Baby realized the confusion of the royal, so she took a breath. “Princess, do you understand the true meaning of the Erasing Magic?” she shook her head “It disappears with every single part of magic on someone or somewhere. It’s not just with the purpose of them getting forgotten, but also to unable ever believing or remember again.”
The fairy took a few steps to the side as she started to pace “Such thing was created because when people lost magic, but still acknowledge the existence of it, they usually lost their minds. Either trying to get it back or stealing, it wouldn’t turn out well. The only way to prevent such madness was to erase the cause.” She stopped and looked to Star “In this case meant erasing all their memories and make them think it was all a dream.”
The princess nodded understanding “What does this have to do with me or the sickness?”
“There were a few diseases that couldn’t be cured by no means, and even after taking magic out the person, the people around could get sick. For that reason there were planets and even whole dimensions in which magic ceased to exist.”
The sudden realization hit Star without Baby finishing her explanation “Earth…”
The fairy just nodded. “It was needed. There were the most fearful and deadly ones, like this one you were just looking now…” Baby flew again and looked at the page for a moment and the at the Mewnian princess “This is not real anymore. This one now it’s only fictional, it cannot hurt anyone anymore.”
Star gulped, but was unable to smile to ease her godmother; so she just nodded again and pretended to read the page anyway and pull up another lie. “I see. I guess it’s good then. I was only looking by curiosity, but it was a fun lesson. Thank you, Baby.”
“You’re welcome, my princess” Baby bowed slightly and then got in position again “I’ll check a few books about the matters at hand then if you don’t mind.” Baby flew away before Star give her proper permission for the simple fact she didn’t need one.
As soon as Baby was away Star went back to reading the book worriedly.
“The second phase begins when the flowers are blooming. The victim begins to have more troubles to breathe, they would cough a lot and sometimes…” Star finished to read with dread washing over her, if she wasn’t supporting herself on the shelf she probably wouldn’t be standing right now.
Sometimes they would cough a petal out their lungs.
This one time Star didn’t even tried to hold the way her body trembled or pretend things were ok. With wild eyes she went on reading.
“As the coughs increase, the victims would began to cough petals or even whole flowers as their bodies try to uselessly fight back the sickness. After a time the body begin to try take the illness out the system by making the victims throw up the flowers and petals, but instead of helping, it gets worse. The flowers taken out would grow faster and multiply, and that would cause the disease to go from bad to worse.”
Star clutched her chest in worry and agony, her mind imagining the scenarios of her getting that bad.
“If the victim does not take any measures to cure, the flowers will bloom and multiply themselves until it’s too much for the victim to resist. The would take the whole organ they were born into. Since most common cases were in the lungs, they would get all the spaces and suffocate the victim to death.”
A silent gasp made way through the princess. Blue eyes looking around taking in all the information she got. Outside the sun was getting down the mountains in distance and coloring everything in orange, it gave a warm feeling to the library, a warm invitation to take refuge in the middle of books and knowledge… And even so inside her, as much Star was scared, frightened of her fate, she found herself unable to be worried for herself. She was worried for her parents, for her friends, for the kingdom, for the wand… She dismissed the fact she wasn’t even concerned about herself being.
“There must be a cure…” Star said trying to find the place she stopped to continue from there, and then continued to read to herself “There are some cases that even the cure methods wouldn’t be enough to save the victim life. If the pace the flowers blooming is over the edge then it’s already too late.” Star took a breath and kept reading on since the next topic was what she wanted to know.
“There are three ways to cure the Hanahaki: Naturally, Reciprocity or Magically. It’s understood that by Magic the method that consists in getting rid of the seed, the victim would have the placement of the sed found and then every flower would be removed along with the seed and every single petal and root. By doing this method, you get rid of the feeling causing the sickness, by this the consequence is the inability of the person to develop the feeling again (in some serious case to any person or anything else in question) thus, also erasing every single memory and evidence of the loved one and things related to them.”
Star frowned in discomfort, because this method was basically the Evanescent magic, but apparently could be done by magicless doings too. Still, felt cruel to be forever unable to love again (be it just someone or some doing.)
“The second method is the Reciprocity: If the victim confess to the loved one and the other loves back, then the seed and the flowers will dissolve into the emotion once again. But for this method to work, the loved person must have the same feelings and show in some kind of affection gesture to validate the confession. Its fairly hard to happen, not only by the reluctance of the victim, but for the loved one to feel or show the same way. In most cases the affection wasn’t enough, as much as the loved one cared for the victim, it wasn’t love, thus, there wouldn’t be a cure.” There was an image of two hearts, one tangled with flowers and another completely free, then another with a broken heart still with flowers and the other in the blue color.
“The last resource and cure is the Natural: Letting the sickness happen and take over. This is a last resource for the reasons it means no fighting back or resistance. The victim let the flowers take over them and the sickness take natural course of taking over inside out until the last breath of the victim. The victim accepts their fates and die in a flower bed. For being deadly lovesickness hard to cure, it’s considered one of the most cruel ones, for the symptoms it’s considered beauty. Which originated the alternative name: Deadly Flowers”
Star closed the book letting out a weak breath on shock. The methods of cure were out of her way, Earth without magic making impossible to reach Marco, he also made very clear he hadn’t the same feelings for her and by this meant no other escape then let it happen.
Star gulped and took a deep breath. There was nothing to do if she got this sickness, then she shouldn’t worry or do anything about it. No royal blood, crown, magic or jewels could do something for her now and the only one who could try was unable to help… There was no other way, then she should as well accept.
It was weird that she felt the acceptance over the matter so easily? maybe, she couldn’t know. The princess went back to the books and met her godmother. She had a small time to work over a big and complicated matter as the arranged wedding, and Star was determined to get it done before she was gone.
If love would be the end of her, so be it.
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Three days later she had an unpleasant surprise.
Not that she could show as she felt herself more and more devoid of reaction. Her mother thought it was still lingering sadness about leaving Earth, her father thought it was because of the arranged marriage deal they had at hands. Either way wasn’t completely wrong, but still away from the truth (even if at this point, she wasn’t sure of what was getting the best of her lately.)
So when the King and prince from the kingdom threatening war announced thy would be arriving by afternoon, all Star did was to sigh and get ready for the longest afternoon of her life.
“We will be around all the time,” Moon assured as she fixed Star’s crown once again, “remember we still didn’t gave our answer, so you can refuse still any kinds of courtesy and gentleness they try to use to convince you to agree on their terms.”
“I’ll be fine, mom” Star replied fixing her dress skirt one last time. “He’s not the first who will try that kind of thing, nor will be the last. We just need to assure everyone will be safe.”
Because if she was really in Hanahaki... that was the least she could do.
Moon looked at her in confusion by the indifference and cold Star was handing the matter. Two weeks ago she would have be freaking out and thinking on ten ways to blows off both father and son out their kingdom… But here she was calm as ever as if that was a simple meeting with their council, not her menace to freedom (both hers and the kingdom.) She had been acting a bit oddly ever since she had come back from Earth, but aside her resistance in taking the star pearled earrings off, Moon didn’t got to find anything else.
“It’s from the Diaz…” She had said “It’s the last thing I got from them and they gave to me as a symbol I would always be part of them…” When her daughter looked at her mother with so much feeling and hope, Moon already knew that whatever she asked by then couldn’t be denied; she was asking in the purest form of need and longing “Please… I already lost them along everyone else, this is all I got. Please I don’t want to lose anything else.”
As that being the princess request, it had been attended. She was so protective of the earrings that even the maids weren’t allowed to touch them (and if they did it had to be with Star’s consent) and when Moon made a move to touch them she would tense up and massage her wrist automatically.
The queen wondered if her daughter would ever get over her friends, she still hasn’t opened about whatever happened in the prom and more time passed by, more she worried about her daughter. Her mother instincts were alert since that night, she was sure something wasn’t right, but between her getting apart from her dear friends, the menace on Mewni and whatever happened at the prom, she didn’t know how to approach her daughter to find out.
The doors opened taking the queen back to the reality of the moment. Their messenger bowed and introduced the two royals.
“King Bass Melodiaz and Prince Sax Melodiaz.” The messenger got out the way for the two.
Star would have laughed on the irony of their name being essentially music instruments and the “Diaz” coming again into her life to remind of what she left behind. She understood the irony and even felt like laughing at the ironic tragedy. But as much she knew what reaction she should have, she just couldn’t… React.
As soon as the royal messenger left the meeting room so the crowns could talk whatever matter they had, Moon frowned deeply, but kept her hard instance and voice even.
“I wish I could say it’s a pleasure to meet you.” The queen said sternly.
King Melodiaz laughed in a mocking way “I am sure you’re honored to meet me.”
“You…” River said taking a breath to keep calm “have the audacity to threaten our kingdom, try to take my daughter and laugh?!”
“Well, I see you got our message wrong.” The king gave a few steps forward, his head up in a proud stance “We simply made an offer. Your daughter it’s just a few years younger than my son, She’ll be 18 soon, and as says the tradition it’s the age in which she seeks a man to carry the crown-”
“Or woman.” Moon interrupted sternly, “The tradition is genderless.”
“Whatever…” King Melodiaz rolled his eyes annoyed, “She would have to choose candidates to the crown, put them to test and then choose between them who would be the best for the kingdom, all that before she turns 21! How inconvenient and waste of time!” The king walked around the room looking at both queen and king “We simply offer a simple solution and our help, My son needs a queen, your daughter needs a king. It’s just a match of equal needs.”
“So you call a menace to attack hundreds of innocents and lose so many lives in battle, risking to break a time of peace for the sake of your own ego in case of denial, a ‘Match of equal needs’?!” Moon said dryly.
“You see, Moon-”
“Queen Butterfly, for the ones like you.”
“Oh well, Queen Butterfly, This is all a offer, a negotiation of marriage between our children in order to keep the peace and improve our kingdoms. An arrangement of the best kind! Now, if there are consequences beyond that if there’s a denial, that's completely out of my control.” Bass smirked.
“You really think we’ll believe in such trash words masked with good intentions?” River asked in sarcasm “Your kingdom is a supremacy to old rich men with blind eyes, that’s how you got so dirty in the first place. We are well aware on how your laws work and how we would lose our country to you just because our crown would come from the woman.”
“Oh, that’s not my fault, those had been laws for generations before me.” the other king replied.
“As if you didn’t know any of this…”
The visiting king shrugged, “We can’t just change tradition, can we?”
For all the time the adults had been staring and talked to each other, Star mind was empty. She got nothing to say and it was clear the King wouldn’t hear either. So she took her time observing the boy in which he was trying arrange her with.
His skin was a weird tone of green and brown spots, his face was matured and indifferent to the situation in front of him. His hair was long to his shoulders length into a complicated braid. His eyes were gray, long nose and pointed ears with something that looked like the earlobe but in the tip of the ear. His back and shoulders were straight and feet together. The perfect role model of a prince to his kind.
Just the type of person (or should she say marionette?) she disgusted the most.
“So, does our princess have an answer to our kind offer?” King Melodiaz asked.
River took a step in front of Star “How dare you-”
“I do have not and nor I intend to give a proper answer before the precise time.” Star replied completely neutral “I am still on time to think about my options and take my decision based on everything I take in thought. I do not appreciate any rushing or pressure, so I will be grateful if you do neither of those.”
Star looked at the astonished face of Melodiaz royals and then at her parents. She could see the hint of worry in her mother's face by how neutral she was on her speech, but by this point Star couldn’t care less. She had no patience or time to waste with the invited royals trying to play games.
“If that is all you wanted, then I may excuse myself, but I have more matters to attend.”
So the princess gave a respectful bow and left the room.
Later that evening she found out that both royals would stay for a few days as guests much to everyone displeasure. The only response Star gave was a neutral face nodding and a broken hand mirror.
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Two days later, the royals announced they would leave in the next day. Which was a relief to Star, she was indifferent to their ways to try make her more intimate of the prince, but still get on her nerves. Most of the time the king was after her, he was the one talking while the prince would be just there listening and watching in silence to all that his father said. He kept trying to deceive Star even after she says clearly she had no intentions to hand her kingdom that easy over and over again in more polite ways.
Not that she didn’t want to slap his face or something, she just didn’t had any motivation to do so. Her energy (the little she still got) should be used to find a way to save her kingdom (and her too if possible) the very best way she could. If she couldn’t find happiness, she should at least guarantee a chance for others to do so.
The meal was tense and yet somehow pleasing. The king had given up on getting on her or her parents nerves and now decided to talk about random things (either that or he was too drunk to care,) which helped to ease the tension in the air, even if there was so much caution. On the lower level there was a ball happening for a reason Star couldn’t remember or understand.
It was hard to stand there watching so many couples dancing happily while she knew her happiness had been broken forever. It wasn’t much of jealousy or envy, more like a never ending longing that she knew would be never satisfied. She had decided to retire early by the moment she saw the couples dancing, so when slower songs started and the prince turned to her as if to speak, she was quick to stand up and turn to her parents.
“I’m sorry, but can I retire to my room early? I’m not feeling well.”
River looked at her worried, “Is everything ok, my dear?”
No. “Yes,” she nodded, “Just a bit tired and with a bit of headache.”
“Very well then” Moon agreed nodding, “Rest for the night, Star.”
The princess nodded and went to her room without any diversions. One of her maids was there and Star dismissed her after getting out of her dress since there was no intentions for her to do anything else then resting.
Or trying to do so.
The princess had just brushed her hair out of the locks it was earlier when she finally felt the absence. Her reflection in the mirror just improved her suspicions and her hand went to the place instantly as if it could have been somehow invisible, but as her hand felt the absence or her earring, panic grew within Star.
“No…” She began to look around her wardrobes and all around her room in case she had took it out but forgot. “No, no, no!”
Frantic eyes began to search everywhere, under carpets, the bed, her closet, betweens clothes, she was turning her bedroom a mess but she wouldn't stop messing everything around until she found the missing jewel.
The chief of maids heard of the tantrum she was doing in the bedroom and went to check on the princess, Star was unable to reply as she kept searching through the whole room, but the absence of one earring was enough for her to understand what happened.
Star continue her desperation search feeling her throat hurting and a few coughs escaping, even so she was unable to pay attention to the few petals she let escape. Her earring was gone. The very last gift from The Diaz, the one thing that connected her to the family and still carried a whole meaning to it. Her only mission was to keep it and take care of it and she lost one.
A pair of arms hugged Star and she tried to get away from them to keep searching.
“Star… It's me” the large hands of her father caressed her arms trying to calm her down, “Tell us what’s wrong, please…”
“It’s gone…” Star said, her eyes lost around the room looking everywhere to see if she missed any detail “I lost it, I need to find, please dad!”
River looked at his daughter worried on how the blue eyes couldn’t focus on anything for more than 3 seconds. That was not normal and it was time he admitted that Moon’s concerns about Star were real and they should watch out for whatever was happening and the cause of it.
With gentleness, River made Star sit on the floor and hugged her. He caressed her head holding her tight even with her protests.
“I need to find! Father, please, let me go!”
“The maids are already searching for it…” He said softly trying to calm her down, “We will find it, Star. I promise.”
In the next moment Star hold on him and sniffed, her didn’t felt any tears coming up, but he had no doubt they must had been there. He caressed her head trying to calm the princess down from losing such important souvenir, on the other side of the room, Moon looked at them worried and then ordered to all the other maids keep searching for it until it was found again and to the very few still on the ball, to escort the few guests out the palace in order to search in the ballroom with no suspicions.
Until late night, there were no signals of the earring. The princess fell asleep due to exhaustion.
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It had been two or three days since Star had to drop using the Diaz earring. She was reluctant at first, but then people begin to ask around, it was raising questions she didn’t want to answer and attention she wasn’t willing to give back. It was hard to put the earring back in the box she got them without the respective pair, so Star requested to her mother to take care of it until the respective complement was found.
On the first days, Moon hoped that Star would come up soon the grief inside her (she knew no one have died, that should have helped to get over it… but it didn’t). Now as weeks went by and more quiet and less expressive, the queen feared that maybe she would never come over her pain. Or that years by she would still keep going in the slow stages without never ending and never getting on the last one to finally move on.
The tension grew day by day, River tried his best to come up his ways by bringing her into adventures on the woods and exploration, but it was becoming useless. He realized as she refused to go with him one day. Then another. And now she would only go if she didn’t felt like she could be doing anything else, in which to Star was never a good signal.
The parents would sit down once in a while to talk about their day and the possible outcomes of the menace to the crown, but they could never focus to talk about the matter for much long. Not when they could see how sick their daughter was getting, not when they knew what it caused and how there was no kind of medicine or magic to heal a broken heart.
“She’s losing weight…” River said worried “She had been eating a bit less as days go by, losing appetite so fast as the moment she gets into the room. She hardly finish a plate right now.”
Moon sitting in front of him observed her hands resting on her lap, “I held her hand a few days ago… Her gloves seems be getting a bigger… She’s using her clothes to cover her weight loss, River. I don’t remember the last time I saw her smile in here, she doesn’t cry or do anything, she’s just…”
The king held her hands in a comforting way. Moon looked up at her husband curving at her legs, eyes just as sad, blue and worried as hers. His hand caressed her face and it took a second for her to realize he was drying away her tears.
“We will figure out. For our daughter, for the sake of our Star, we will find a way.”
“I hope so…” Moon nodded “I hope so…”
The king embraced his queen as she let her guard down to relieve the angst at her chest.
Star dismissed the spying spell and looked at the wand. Once the broken piece reflected as a failure, than later on on something she almost lost and a power out of balance by her fault. It was at that time she confessed to have a crush on her best friend, without realizing that such feeling was much deeper and it didn’t change to a platonic one as she thought it did after years (and a few sacrifices along the way) and…
Why was she thinking on him again?
Star groaned. She was starting to worry her parents, they might soon find the sickness, and try to force her to do things she felt no motivation to. Like talking to a doctor or even magician to help her. Or trying to find a way to get contact to him and-
Why things went back to him?
No, she had to move on. for the sake of herself, for her parents of the kingdom. She had to at least try it, in order to survive and live again for them. Inside she knew that her chances in falling in love with anyone else was probably gone in the moment her heart was broken beyond repair, but she could still try, couldn’t she? She knew he surely had been moving on-
Why him again?
She had to stop making things get back to him. Stop relating everything around him, that was what caused her to end like this in first place, to build her future and ideas around him, she was way too dependant on him and that was what it truly was killing her. She needed to stop going around the same thing, to close her eyes and don’t see his face every single time.
Star punched the wall frustrated that things didn’t seem to get any better. She walked around her room trying to make her mind get out of those thoughts. She had a menace on her kingdom, an agreement to work on, a possibility of things getting to work out that went 50% on luck and 50% on trusting someone she didn’t trust at all. She had a sickness caused by the love that could both kill or save her, and that probably would end up killing her by her own actions. She needed to stop, she had to.
And still when she closed her eyes she could still see his face dancing with her at the prom, such genuine smile and happiness… Such a beautiful thing she didn’t want to wreck, but ended up destroying much further by speaking without a thought first...
“Why can’t you let me go?!” Star said angry at herself slapping the wall beside her.
Then there were the coughs again. They were getting recurring and more frequent, but there wasn’t much she could do about aside let it happen. This once time was long and hard, she could feel her throat stinging to get whatever was there out. No petal had took that time, so for a moment Star thought she might had just choked on her own by stressing herself out.
But then, when the coughs stopped and she stopped her eyes she got to observe the object on her hands. Five petals, blue as always and the little spots of white, and that wouldn’t have concerned Star since they had been having then since she had come back if wasn’t for the fact they were connected.
It was a whole flower.
A whole forget-me-not flower in her palm that she just got out of her lungs.
The time of breaking down completely probably should have been clear it was close to happen, it was inevitable, just eminent as the rising sun of every morning and coming closer by every single second that passed.
Still, in the moment Star held that little flower in her hand, she knew her fate was decided. Either she get a way to find him and hope he loved her, or move on for the little time she had as the flowers continued to kill her from inside out. She knew the first option was out of question, which meant her only destiny was… Acceptation.
And like hell she would accept such fate that easy… No she wouldn’t, she would… She would…
She couldn’t do anything.
And in the moment of intense pain and realization of everything that happened and was about to come, Star reached her point of losing control. She pushed everything out her table, smashing perfumes, makeups, fragrances and decorative object to the ground, breaking most of them.
Why things had to be like that?
She sat on her couch holding her head trying to keep her thoughts in control. It wasn’t fair, it really wasn’t but since when life was supposed to be fair? She also was to blame, it was no wonder he got so surprised… She avoided talking to him about deeper matters for weeks and suddenly she confessed… Why did she do it?! Just why?!
Star grabbed the pillow beside her and teared apart, feathers falling from inside the ripped pillow as the princess was nowhere done and continued to rip and shake up and down throwing on the floor angrily afterwards. He had every right to be despised of her, he had a girlfriend, the girl of his dreams, Star knew she was nowhere close to be what Jackie meant to him for so long and that he finally had it and she almost crushed all that.
Why she kept everything as a secret? She should have told him from the first day, she wouldn’t be in this mess - She wouldn’t be dying if she did… Why?!
Standing up and questioning herself, Star saw an glass angel standing and threw it at the wall to break it. For what reason she thought keeping a secret was better? For what reason she thought confessing at once that night was better?
Why she was so sure Marco would never hurt her?
The mewnian reacted for her dossel pulling and bringing the whole thing down her bed, ripping the fabrics and smashing pillows. She saw portraits and threw them at the floor, kicking a table before turning it around messing up the books and papers on it.
He would never hurt her? That was a joke… He was literally killing her now, without knowing, completely innocent and ignorant of the consequence of his actions… their actions. She wouldn’t deny her own guilt on this, and to know that just make her even more mad. She did to herself, she was also to blame for all of this, for now to be dying from inside out.
Star grabbed part of the broken dossel and smashed a jar of flowers, breaking into million pieces, she smashed cold candles to the floor and hit them over and over until they were completely broken and useless. She wanted the pain to be over, she wanted to be able to do more than just stay around and wait the flower to take over her.
The worst part… The worst part is that no matter how much she was trying, no matter how much she despised it all, no matter how angry she was, none of that mattered, because beyond all that, she still loved Marco endlessly. She wanted him, she needed him… It was way too painful and ironic that the one thing that was killing her would be the medicine to cure all of this.
She needed him. She couldn’t help it. She never could and now more than ever she needed him.
The blond pulled a bookcase away from her wall and making a huge mess as everything on it went to the ground. She grabbed a chair and threw on a center table, breaking the glass on it and the another flower pot, water and dirty getting on the floor. She threw another decoration at the wall, then a pot with blue dust on the floor.
She didn’t know why she was doing that, she couldn’t help it. She just wanted to break it all and try to make it easier on herself, but it wasn’t working.
She looked up to the chandelier and threw everything she could reach into it, breaking a few glasses, but not taking down. On a last attempt, she grabbed her wand and broke the metal string holding it on air and watched as it fell to the ground, shattering all the decorative glasses. Letting go of the wand without a care, she held a book and started to rip it apart throwing the papers all around her.
And when her fury didn’t end by then, she grabbed the closest object to threw at the mirror. The wand happened to be right there by her feet and without a second thought she threw at her mirror.
The pieces flew out of it, shattering in a thousand pieces. It was the same mirror Marco used to communicate with her while she was on Mewni or that day she learned to ride a bike, the mirror her mother gave as a present and she used to see Ponyhead…
Star looked wildly around trying to find something to smash… And by doing so she finally came to notice little by little the destruction she made herself at her room, there was nothing left to be broken unless she wanted to lift up a fire or rip her clothes… But by the time she came to her senses on the little things left to break, the urge to keep destroying things around her had vanished.
She left her body fall into her couch full of feathers and ripped fabrics, taking slow breaths and letting her tears slide down her face without realizing. Her eyes looking at a point, but mind far far away.
There was a smashing, then before she realized the warmth of her parents was around her. She kept looking at a little detail, but her parents wouldn’t figure out anytime soon that she wasn’t looking at the chandelier down the floor, but the little blue flower smashed under it.
River’s voice was a eccho on her, Moon’s warmth was on her arms as her mother held her in there trying to speak to her. It took awhile for Star to blink and pay attention to the words and make a sense out of them.
“Star, please tell us what’s wrong.”
The princess thought about telling them, but as she felt her face wet and dried it using her gloves, she heard the gasp of her parents and figure out she didn’t have to say what they could clearly see right there. There was a sad smile in a void way to try come over her hurt.
“Well, things didn’t work out on the best way… Or any way I think…”
“Star…”
“I want to declare myself as One Queen.”
Her mother eyes widened in surprise, then hurt and apprehension. “I can’t let you do that… not like this, not right now… Star, you know the consequences of declaring One Crown. I can’t let you take this decision until I’m sure you’re doing with a right mind.”
Star nodded. It was acceptable. To be One Crown meant to sacrifice the need for a partner, but more than that. Once a royal declared One Crown, that is, the decision to rule the kingdom alone, such declaration couldn’t be taken back by no means. Sacrificing the need for a queen or king meant the decision to devote themselves to the kingdom only, without anything else to take their minds.
And that meant no love interests, no partners, no wife or husband, no lovers, no children, no sons or daughters. One Crown meant loneliness, as so there was only one queen in the whole story of Mewni that took such actions, the same one to establish the rules for the same declaration. She did to avoid people to steal the crown and reign Mewni in fear and chaos, later on she decided the heir by judging someone with a brave and kind heart to do so, afterwards no queen or king ever relied on One Crown again.
Both royals knew that in the situation Star was in, to declare herself as One Queen was an available choice… But they wouldn’t consider it until they were sure Star wasn’t doing that because of a broken heart and menace on her future kingdom, or that at least she had full mind on the consequences of declaring the One Crown.
And on the loneliness that would be to do so.
The princess was embraced once more by her parents and, surrounded by warmth and safety, her body gave into fully relaxing after such stress.
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The castle halls were brighter than she had even seen, the halls almost too white if wasn’t for the blue carpet and portraits of her family on the ways. To see the place she grew in to be to clear and bright almost like a huge diamond in the shape of a castle, Star knew she was dreaming.
It was peaceful.
She doesn’t remember when was the last time she had a dream, or felt peaceful enough to have no troubles around her. It was warm and safe, relaxing and a soothing kind of calm. The halls normally with servants and maids around were just her and the portraits eyes. It was a bit of funny, she felt herself smiling before she realized, for no reason at all.
There was a weird sound around, something vibrating around her that somehow guided her steps to the source of sound. The next thing she knew was a name escaping her lips, a name she hadn’t said out loud for too long, she didn’t allowed herself to.
“Marco?”
There was a pause in the vibration, only to come stronger around her. She could feel the same intensity on her own heart as her body disobeyed her wishes and began to follow the way her shattered heart told it to.
No, Star had to be sincere. The truth was that she was eager (desperate even,) to see him. The last weeks had been a living nightmare, she remember last time she had been this long away from him and when they were put apart by danger… It was suffocating her, and to think about that, the whole flower sickness made sense.
She went down the stairs, still trying to find his face. He was there, but where? At moments the beats around her felt stronger, then weaker. Her voice and breathing was the only thing she could hear through echoes of empty halls, so yet again she tried to have a response “Marco!?”
Where are you?! Her chest was aching, the same ache she knew she couldn’t fill, but that now felt so close to be completed that it began to hurt.
Turning a corner through an outside corridor that gave way to the garden, then she stopped and got the air trapped in her lungs. Right before her, running down the corridor, she saw the back of the boy that began all this. Everything was so rushing and intense that her body paralyzed for a moment and she found herself unable to speak or move. It took the realization that he was still running for her to get over it and so something before she lost him once again.
And God, that was a pain she couldn’t endure once again.
“Marco!”
Her voice broke whatever tension there was in the air to bring a new one. Hope, desire, wanting… Love. She watched as he suddenly stopped and stood straight. His clothes were a bit different from what she remember, but it wasn’t important as long he was there. His hair was cut and it was the length he always used and liked. Her heart began to beat fast and urgent as he slowly turned around and so she allowed herself to give a small smile at him.
There was everything she loved in him and more. The gentle and worried eyes, the way he began to reply to her smile slowly and…
He was hurt.
After so many years fighting back to back, Star knew none of those injuries were serious, but still were there nonetheless and it worried her. What could have happened for him to go on fighting like that? He had a band-aid in his chin, a broken lip, a cut in his eyebrow, one eye that seemed to be healing from being purple, restless eyes that observed her, and a mark on his forehead as if he had hit something.
Star was unable to say if the tears on her face were from relief or worry, and she didn’t think much about that as he went to hold her close and suddenly most of her pain and ache was gone instantly. there was warmth, safety, caring, love and… home. It felt like home.
That was the problem. She had to stop feeling like that, it was how she got in the way to be ruined little by little. He would have to leave back to his own normal life again and she would be left with nothing yet again, she had to overcome those feelings. Mostly because she didn’t have any other choice.
“Marco...” She said taking a step back as she dried her tears, “You shouldn’t be here…”
“Why…?” He said in a breath while cupping her face, before she could react “Why did you do all this?”
As much it hurt to say and to accept, she told the truth. “Because I had to.”
“I don’t get it… I am looking everywhere for you, I can’t find you anywhere, not even a clue! Everything I do slip away from my hands again! Why you’re doing this?!”
“That’s the way it is.” She said trying to be calm, but her hand was shaking and her eyes had to look away to get to finish, “Things are in their right place, on where they belong and shouldn’t have changed…”
“That’s not true!” he replied as he held shoulders shaking her gently for her surprise “We are not together to fight against the world! We are best friends and…”
Star smiled at him getting speechless, even after not having a single idea of who she was, in her dreams he was still gentle as ever trying to comfort her as he always did “Marco, it’s ok…”
“It’s not…” He shook his head and looked down “And stop trying to convince me it is like everyone else!” He screamed, tears going down his cheeks yet again “Why… If you loved me, then why did you leave? Why did you leave me?”
She felt her pain echoing faintly on her body again, this time to see him suffering. A tear escaped her eyes and he looked at her perplexed. Star knew that he had noticed the broken marks by then, but didn’t mention it, choosing to reply him instead “I would have to do it anyway. And you told me to…”
His face was confused for a moment, then he cupped her face once more looking at her with longing, urgency and so much hurt. Marco looked at her as if he had been betrayed and now tried to understand why.
Star heard something in the background, and then noticed that they were suddenly on a bridge and the castle around them was collapsing. She tried to move, but found herself unable to. Around them the castle cracked as fire began to take over the scenario.
“I close my eyes and try to forget you, but every time I do, I just see your face…” the ground under them cracked and the flames were coming closer, burning everything around them in a odd gentle way.
Before Star realized, he was the one slowly cracking and catching fire.
“And after all the hell we’ve been through… Why are you so willing to walk away?” Star looked at him with wide eyes in both fear and surprise by his words. The ground under her shook, Marco took the appearance of ashes statue collapsing on her fingers. On the next moment, the bridge broke under her feet, there was water underneath her, but her hands were trying to reach the place where once Marco was, but he had already vanished as her body feel on the water underneath.
Then Star woke up sitting up abruptly.
Her head then hurt and the room began to go on circles. Two hands held her arms helping her to rest back on pillows again. She didn’t bother to open her eyes again, not until she was sure her head was ok and the world didn’t seem to dance anymore.
That wasn’t her room, the comfy and whole sheets under and up her body let that very clear. And at the moment the person started talking, Star had doubts if she was still in Mewni.
“You should be more careful.”
The princess let a sigh “What do you want Tom?”
“I was just come over to visit when I got to see your room being cleaned… I couldn’t leave after that.”
Star opened her eyes and looked beside her where Tom was just to sit on the edge of the bed. He didn’t change much after years, mostly his way to dress up, but his hair was a bit longer than the last time she saw him.
“So, what did he do to make you get… like that?”
“Why are you so sure he did something?
“Because your marks of hearts are shattered. And if Blood Moon was anything, it mean your souls are linked forever. Which means either both of you hurt each other really hard, or he did something that hurt you beyond anyone could imagine.”
“He…” Star sighed and sat up hugging her legs and ignoring the remark on her cheeks. It was useless to hide once people had been it once already “He just said something… It’s no big deal.”
“Tsunamis are just waves with a stronger and bigger impact, and still they destroy everything in their way. And just as such, sometimes saying something can be just as destructible as a tsunami can be. Either water or words, if it hurt you don’t make anything less than it really is.”
The princess looked at him with a soft curiosity, “How come you care now? And what about all that poetry?”
The demon prince shrugged “Just a few things I listened from mortals and friends.”
Star looked back at ceiling with an absent mind. Tom didn’t mind much, he was there to be supportive, if that meant to just sit around all day while she was wondering with her thoughts, Tom would do so.
“Is it possible to miss someone more than you loved them?”
Tom looked at her looking above his shoulder, “what you mean?”
“I mean… To miss a lot more everything about the person than the love you felt?”
“Hmm…” Tom sat for a moment thinking and then provided an answer “Yes, I think it is. I mean, when you miss someone you’re not missing just your feeling for that person, you miss all of it, the memories, the smiles and what made you happy. Of course, it doesn’t mean you love less or isn’t related, but missing means more than just that.”
Star nodded laying down again and Tom turned around. “Thanks.”
“It’s ok. We might be ex, but I think we both had come in terms to being friends, didn’t we?”
“It’s just… Tom, I miss him so much.” Star took a shaking breath, “I miss talking to him, I miss walking around, going to school, learning about new things, watching movies under the blanket, dancing and singing random songs, laughing as he scream to me for stealing his cereal yet again. I miss everything about him and other stuff so much it hurts…” she sniffed “I miss school, I miss Janna, Ferg, Al and Jackie, I even miss Oskar… I miss my friends and my life there mixed with mine here. I miss not going to movies and not being able to call them or read the stuff Janna sent me to read with the korean people!”
Tom frowned confused. “Korean people?”
“I miss everything I had and what I’ll never get… It’s not just just about how much I love him, it’s a big part for sure but right now… I miss everything than I ever loved it all. If I could just… Watch around or be there… But it’s gone. And I can’t help to miss it all.”
“I’m sure they miss you just as much.” Tom said in a sad smile, patting her arm gently.
“They don’t. They don’t even know I was once there.”
Tom looked at Star confused for a minute, then he gasped and his three eyes were in shock and by then she knew exactly why. He put the pieces together and figured out what she did. There was a mix of emotions in his face, confusion, then fury, then more confusing, and so, hurt and only for last one caring.
He took his hands away from her, and looked down at his lap “You did what you thought it was better and what you had to do. As much it hurts, as a prince I can understand.” He put his hand in her hand in a caring way and respecting her space too. “And I know you didn’t have to know about me keeping a certain human in observation… You made them cut ties with us all, and I understand… But we are friends, we made our terms. You should have told me sooner, I could have been there to help you...” He sighed “I wish I was there.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s ok. We can’t change anything now” he shrugged, “I’ll leave you to rest. You got emotionally exhausted and you need as much rest you need.”
“Thanks, Tom.”
The blond smiled and the demon got up to leave her to rest. He stopped by the door looking back at the room one last time observing the blond princess laying down and almost asleep again. In a worried smile, Tom closed the door as silent as possible and called Ponyhead.
“Hey, we have a situation. No, I… Ponyhead!” He sighed blushing and continued “Star is far more important, you get to tease me later, ok?”
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That day she was again at the library studying books of olds to find possible come outs from either the tradition or the menace. It was when she came across a story that reminded her a lot of another royal she learned in history class back on her Earth days.
It was a possibility to do that, but it would also be a great sacrifice… Due to her condition, maybe not so great, she might not last enough to feel the true impact of such announcement.
A double tailed cat sat beside Star, he purred as she caressed his fur and tried to get the piece of paper on the ring around his paw, the symbol he belonged to someone royal. Star frowned and got the paper out, the cat meowed in thankfulness and jumped out the table going on with his life.
She unfolded the note given for him to deliver and felt both a great relief and ultimate fury. There wasn’t a reaction even if she identified the feelings, it felt odd, but she couldn't react to that either. Unable to react much to none of that, she decided to follow the instructions on the note.
In the late night, the princess went to the garden, on the depths of it where the roots of plants dried by autumn, they made a cover from the moonlight and possible viewers. She stepped inside and waited a few minutes, ready to meet whoever took her precious earrings and make any kind of deal to have it back.
The wind was cold, but she didn’t mind. Even if she stood there with a decent coat and determined eyes, there was a slight shiver of cold on her body that didn’t go unnoticed by the person who just arrived.
“Do you want my coat?” He asked under a coat that hidden his appearance.
“So you speak.” She laughed ironically, “And no, I rather just have what's mine back and go back to my room.”
Prince Melodiaz nodded taking the cover of his face away as he realized there was no reason to hide his face from her in first place.
“Why are you hiding, prince?”
“I didn’t want anyone following me or trying to get in the way of our meeting.” He put his hand on the pocket of his coat and showed her the missing earring; “You kept touching them too much. It fell during the ball, but you left before I could tell you… I heard about the reasons behind your breakdown a bit later with the maids chattering. If I knew this was it I would have given back sooner.”
Star took from his hands and held close to her chest. She had no intentions to run away, but she needed the earring close to her.
“That’s not what your note says”As much she didn’t want to speak to him, the deal was her earring back in the exchange to listen to him, so whatever he had to say she still reserved the right to disagree or refuse, which was good.
The prince sighed in discomfort, “It’s impossible to get your attention in any other way or without my father knowing about.”
Star raised one eyebrow suspicious “So your father doesn’t know you’re here?”
“No.” He replied crossing his arms as he leaned on the wall beside him to speak to her, he was still tense even if he was trying not to show it “I made sure he doesn’t and I want to keep that way.”
“Why is that? This would be a perfect opportunity for a check-mate and try convince me of the marriage to benefit your kingdom.”
He sighed looking down in shame “My father and I have different thoughts and plans for the kingdom and it’s growth. Because of that I can’t voice my thoughts and opinions to him.”
Star looked at him a bit surprised, but her voice sounded neutral still “By this then I guess he doesn’t knows yours? That’s why you don’t speak around him?”
Prince Melodiaz nodded, “If he suspects he will find a way to give the crown to someone who just obeys him, the kingdom lived like that for far too long. King after king being controlled, brainwashed and manipulated by the older generation until the time they become the old generation themselves and lost their own views.” He looked up, but Star knew his mind was far away from there. “It’s time to change, our people, our kingdom and the generations to come need that; but for that I have to pretend I agree with everything first or the circle will just repeat when he put me away.”
“You speak as someone who has a plan.”
“I do.” he looked at the princess with confidence and also overwhelming respect, “But, as insane it sounds, you’ll need to agree with the marriage to work it out.”
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As the princess recovered her earrings, she didn’t speak how she found the missing pair, but Moon was happy to see that at least that was able to get some reaction from her. She was becoming distant and something inside her told that more she drifted away, more would be impossible to save her daughter.
Star wouldn't know how much time it has been, she stopped counting days in a way to try stop thinking about what was left behind. Counting days meant counting how long they had break apart, it meant counting how much she had (or not) left to herself. So if she didn't count, in theory would be easier to move on as much as she could.
She had finally got her room back, all the broken pieces replaced and fixed around. She still used makeup to cover the broken hearts, in such time they didn’t need to make the kingdom go wild at her marks. Ponyhead was visiting with Tom often ever since the day she broke down. Part of her knew they were still around because they cared, but another part wondered if they knew it was a lot more dangerous than just a heartbreak.
As soon as the princess walked into the room, she could feel something weird. Her throat was more irritated and her breathing got heavier. It didn’t take much to the first cough, then the second. Then blue petals. The flowers and it continued on and on.
There was something off. Something that belonged to the other world, something that belonged to him and now, after refreshing her room she could feel it. It was like he was everywhere… For Lord she could smell him everywhere.
The coughs went on, petals and flowers mixing up and getting on the ground.
She began to look around to the source desperate. She needed to get it away, she needed to eliminate it if she wanted any chance of salvation. Following the perfume to where it felt stronger, the princess went to her wardrobe taking the pieces with the smell out the floor to be washed. She coughed hard from times to times, letting more petals and flower lay around the floor as she continued her task, assuming it was because she was getting contact with something she wasn’t supposed to.
Something from him, something that it was there for some reason.
And after dropping another dress she found it. The air missed her breath, eyes hurt and tender at the same time, her hands reaching out before she could even think otherwise. She took a few steps back observing the red hoodie in her hands. It must had ended up mixed with her things when she left in a hurry, it was the hoodie he gave to her in the game night in which she cried to sleep when she saw the Twilight Princess doing exactly what she would do.
Star walked around her room admiring the details of the hoodie. From the lines of stitches to the fading red it was becoming, to the pockets and… She raised the hoodie to her face to feel the perfume and caress against her cheek. The blond sighed softly, tenderly and warming… It was like he was there with her for a moment.
And then she coughed. Annoyed by her own actions Star threw the hoodie in the carpet. She had to stop that. She needed to get rid of that, it wasn’t doing any well to her and… Before deciding to look on how he was.
“Oh, who cares?!” Taking her wand again, she turned around and begin to say the enchantment it could be forbidden to her right now, but she didn’t care. She needed to see him, to know how he was, what he was doing, to ease a bit of her aching...
“I’m summon the all seeing eye…” Her hair began to float and her marks grew into a golden light “To tear a hole into the sky. Reveal to me which is hidden; Unveil to me what is forbidden.”
There was wind around and after it stopped whipping Star’s hair into her face, she opened her eyes to watch how her friends were. The first thing she saw was their smiling faces, Marco smiling as he talked to Janna, Ferguson and Alonso driving down the street to somewhere. They were talking about some fight Marco won and laughing. Probably some championship she missed, and it explained his injuries healing, he still had dark marks under his eyes and one that looked to be healing from a punch.
A tear rolled through the princess eye. She should expect that. They don’t remember her or even have a clue about her existence… It should have been obvious that was what it was waiting for her, to see they living and moving on as if nothing had happened or changed, because for them it really was like that… Glossaryck had told her more than once that the All Seeing Eye was a hurtful magic to the caster, she should have listened more.
Star dropped the wand at her feet and watched as the smiling faces of her friends and love disappeared. That was it. They had forgotten and she did that, she couldn’t be angry at them or it and she wasn’t.
She was angry at herself.
In a desperate and determined motion, Star took her scissors and grabbed the red hoodie, sitting on her knees she held the scissors tight. The Scissors might not work anymore to get her to earth, but it still could help her to get rid of the one thing left killing her slowly from inside out.
Dropping the red clothing, Star raised her arm holding the scissor as high as she could, and took a breath ignoring the tears in her eyes. Supporting herself and holding the fabric in one hand, the other could freely stab it to begin tearing apart. Her hand shook, her breath got shallow and harder, and she still coughed more petals out her body.
She counted to three and got ready to end that once for all. So she closed her eyes and did as she should, as her very soul begged her to do.
Star hugged his hoodie.
The scissor was still on her hand, but the original intent was gone for good. She couldn’t destroy it. It was the only thing she had left from him, and even if it would kill her faster, it didn’t change the fact she would die anyway, so why not keep it? She had that right, she could keep the only thing still remaining him on her life couldn’t she?
Her body suddenly begged her to turn around and let it all out, she found out where it should be maybe some of her lunch, there was just a bunch of flowers and petals surrounding her in blue. All of them that were inside her, and she had no doubts there were still more and more growing as she kept coughing more petals out.
She held the hoodie tighter, scared for her life, even if that made it worse, it was her only comfort for now. As much she wanted to there was no way she could completely cut her connection to Marco, even if the red string was just there- wait what?
The princess lifted her hand, in her little finger there was a string tied that went around her and then disappeared to somewhere (probably to link her to Marco.) The string that should be invisible and indestructible was just there, she could reach it out so easily…
So could the dimensional scissors.
And in a quick thinking, in a desperate way to finish her pain, Star, just reached out for the string using the scissors. They were strong enough to rip apart the dimensional veil and cut through to any other, they could just cut a little fragile red string that was already fading and almost broken, couldn’t it? What was holding the string one to another still anyway? Marco certainly wasn’t it… It probably was just her. If she just cut it, she would be free from him and him from her, she could move on…
She could live.
Taking a short breath, Star opened the blades and placed the string between. In a short and fast movement.
All she had to do, was to cut the string.
.
The Queen and king were reunited with Tom and Ponyhead along with Glossaryck and Baby in the High Commission room to talk.
“There is something deeper than her being apart from her friends, I know this…” Moon said.
“I wish I could just go and impale the guy!” Ponyhead kept screaming.
“The only way to do that,” Baby said munching a chicken leg “would be if someone from the isolated side broke the spell somehow and got magic to flow in that world, even if in a small amount. One little leak is enough to make it flow it over again, but then again no living being ever broke the Erasing Magic to all of we know.”
“It’s not the time to discuss that!” River claimed “We need to know the deepness of what’s going on first to take action.”
“In my opinion…” Glossaryck replied taking another spoon of pudding, “You’re all wasting time.”
Moon looked at the guardian worried, “What do you mean?”
“I mean that whatever was done, is done. It can’t be undone and the only cure it’s on the other side and there’s nothing to change that.”
“What? you mean my daughter is condemned and there’s nothing I can do?! How could you not stopped her?!”
Glossaryck looked at Moon with a bored expression, “My queen, you should know more than anyone else in this room that certains kind of magic are unstoppable and too pure.”
Baby went closer to the table and grabbed a bowl of cookies to eat while speaking “Love is the greatest and the worst thing to ever come to exist. It could both destroy or save someone…”
Moon and River went pale with those words, but before anything else was said, there was a deafening sound roaming through the castle, shaking and echoing through it all like a thunder, followed by a high pitch scream. Both royals looked at each other before running in the direction of the doors.
“Star!”
Tom and Ponyhead confused looked back at Baby and Glossaryck, both with a solemn expression showing a bit more on surface than the normal lazy guardian and magic cat usually let it show. Baby took another cookie before turning to them “I am afraid the princess it’s placed in the first option.”
A shiver went on both Tom and Ponyhead, they looked at each other for a second before running out the door after Moon and River.
They didn’t bother to knock the door, each parent opening their side as wide as they could with frantic eyes for their child both speaking at the same time “Star!”
The king and queen ran to their child collapsed on the floor, Moon held her in her arms carefully as Tom and Ponyhead got in, the second one gasped to the pieces of a broken scissor laying around.
It took awhile for her to be able to answer, her whole being hurt, her body felt like being alive was more painful, it was hard to breathe and more she tried to get air, more painful and agonizing it was, she could hardly see around her aside shadows and silhouettes, she couldn’t hear anything aside a void sound and echoes, her body was numb, it hurt to move so she didn’t try.
There was a weird taste on her mouth that she wasn’t sure she wanted to know what it was, she felt so sick, whatever food she had in her stomach wanted to get out but at the same was struggling to stay, the room was spinning, her veins felt like fire, burning and hurting all the way and still she felt utterly cold to her bones, she was shaking and that didn’t help the pain.
She felt something holding on her, but her body was so numb that she couldn’t tell the difference or who it was. Whoever was rescuing her let her take her time to recover and talk before speaking.
After what felt an eternity, she finally felt ease enough to try open her eyes again and breathing wasn’t that hard. She saw her mother holding her in her lap, her father caressing her head in worry, she looked down and saw the queen’s hand glowing faintly above her chest, using some kind of cure magic to help her recover. Moon only stopped the spell when Star could take a deep breath and exhale right after, in a signal she could at least breathe again.
Ponyhead came into view above, but still in a safe distance to give her space to breathe. Her question was laced with agony and helplessness, “Star, what did you do?”
River took notice of the cloth Star was holding so tight while recovering, “Darling, is that…?”
The princess held it closer to her, “I’m sorry… I just… I thought I could fix this… I thought if I-” she sniffed- “cut it apart, I could fix everything… but it didn’t work…”
Tom looked at the shattered parts of the scissor Hekapoo was picking up, understanding what she did. He kneeled beside her as Ponyhead moved to the other side, looking over Moon’s shoulder to her.
“Oh, Star…” Moon said sadly caressing her face “You can’t tear apart a bond of love. It’s impossible. There’s no other way to break unless both parts do it… If yours it’s not broken, means one of you still struggling to keep it.”
“Or both…” Ponyhead whispered to herself, but loud enough for Star to hear.
“It was only one string still holding, and it’s so fragile and so close to break at once…”
Tom looked at her frustrated, “You could have died, Star!”
The princess shook her head gently as she could since the world was still spinning, “I don’t want this anymore. I’m tired of suffering, of waiting and aching for him and I’m so scared-” Star didn’t finished her sentence as she pulled her mother away so she could give in her body urge to throw away more flowers.
The look on Moon’s face wasn’t even something she was able to describe once she looked at her mother, her father looked as if he saw death in front of him and now wished it was looking at him, Tom got up and stood there in shock, Ponyhead mouth hang open from her gasp. Star wiped her eyes clean and sniffed again coughing a few more petals out her throat and mouth.
“Since when this is happening?” Moon said sternly.
“Mom…”
“Since when, Star?!” She screamed holding her daughter shoulders “Star, don’t you know how deadly that is?! You can be in a very dangerous situation!”
“It’s too late to think that.”
The group looked at Baby that flew closer to them observing the flowers around, Glossaryck close behind.
“I guess this answers a few things, such as your inability to feel positive emotions by yourself lately.”
Moon looked at the fairy cat desperate, “There is a cure, isn’t?”
Glossaryck sighed floating before Moon, “There are a few, but the only two you do like, aren’t really alternatives.”
“Tell me.”
Star held her Mother shoulder trying to take her attention “Mom…”
“Just tell me already how to save my daughter!” The queen screamed while getting up and dropping Star into her father by doing so.
The blue skinned being just sighed, “On one, we would need the Earth boy, which is unavailable in the moment.” Moon looked at her daughter in her husband’s arms for a moment then back at him.
“And the other?”
Glossaryck looked at Star who shook her head, then at fierce and worried Moon and closed his eyes for a moment and took a breath sighing deeply after.
“If you found a way to take out the flowers and the original seed, you might be able to save her, however-” Glossaryck interrupted Moon from saying anything, “by doing so you would take all the love inside her. She might become unable to love ever again, even if not romantically. She might even die while you try doing so.”
Tom looked at him angry “Those aren’t options at all!”
Star saw as her mother closed her hand in a determined fist, showing she had made her mind and got breathless, reaching out for her again trying to speak to her still, “No! Mom… Mommy, no!”
“I won’t let you just die, Star! It must be done!” She looked at a few maids by the door “Call the best doctors and magicians! Now!” The maids just nodded and left as fast as they had come.
“Mommy! Please!”
“My child…” River tried to hold her, but she avoided his arms.
“I can’t just watch you die if there’s a way to save you, Star! Why can’t you get that?!”
“Because I would lose him and everything about Earth!” Star screamed startling her mother, “By taking the flower, you take anything related to my love for him away, memories, presence, anything! And after you do I’ll be left with no love or memory of him!” The tears started to flow again and she tried as much as she could to wipe them clean, “These memories are all I have, please don’t take them away from me!”
Moon looked at her shocked, “Star… You’ll die if we don’t do this…”
“I rather die than to live a life in which he doesn’t exist, in which there’s no love for me…”
“Oh, darling…”
“Please don’t take the little I have away…” Star shook her head letting the tears fall “Don’t take him away from me. Why would you send me to Earth to just take it all now?! This is all I have, I don’t care if it kills me. Just don’t take this away.”
Moon hugged her, and for a moment Star felt things would be fine, as the warmth and caring of her mother enveloped her in a sweet and safe embrace that took her to sleep. It took just another moment for her to realize why she felt so sleepy suddenly.
“No…” Star sighed trying to fight the sleep need with no avail, “Please, no…”
“I’m sorry. I can’t lose you.” In the next moment Star was asleep in her arms and moon gave her to the doctors and magicians present. “Baby, Glossaryck, you stay with her.” Both entities nodded and flowed the others out the room.
River approached his wife carefully and put a hand on her shoulder. The queen hugged him tight crying on his shoulder right away and so did he. They stood like that for a long time, trying to conceal each other feelings to ease their worry over their little girl. Tom and Ponyhead outside the room looked to give a bit of comfort to each other as they decided to wait for her recovery.
Hours later Glossaryck would go out the room to give them bad news and Baby would affirm that taking the seed would be impossible to be taken away for being placed in her heart. The most they could do would to be take away the flowers from times to times in order to help her live longer, but it couldn’t be done forever as the flowers would grow back as the memories would too, and each time it got trimmed, it would grow faster.
After waking up with little love inside her being, Star would call her parents, and once in the room, she would finally take a shoot and gave her final word into the complicated decision she had at hand. So when they stood by her side, Star sat straight and with composure that wasn’t like her, taking a deep breath, she look into their eyes and make an announcement of her decision at once for all.
“I’m willing to accept the kingdom requisition and needs. I’ll be accepting the proposal and the arrangement to get married to Prince Melodiaz.”
The answer to the last question was absolutely “No” lol
But sadly from here on you guys will have to get a little bit of more patience since I’m writing the 13rd and they will be longer chapters... for reasons.
Anyways, this chapter has a few songs that inspired me to write the scenes, maybe you will like to check them out :)
You can read Ever After at Ao3 | FF.net | DeviantArt and on Tumblr, feel free to go read where it pleases you the most :)
Chapter 12: After Her
Star got out the portal and landed on the concrete gently. She looked around confused by the modern houses, that wasn’t Mewni. Turning around realization struck her as she spotted the Diaz house behind her. The faint blue light in the air let her know that the magic to erase her existence was already up for it, but that wasn’t what had surprised her.
Star thought of home; magic brought her to the Diaz house.
With slow and trembling steps, she got closer to the door. Looking at the front garden taking all the details she could, this is the last time she’ll ever see it. She remember when Marco fell on the cactus when they first meet, about all the fights against Ludo there, on the times they played with the laser puppies, when she saw snow for the first time, how Marco helped her to walk through the frozen sidewalks on winter, and most of all, on how Marco always opened the door so she could walk first.
All the memories aren’t warm like before anymore, and yet they weren’t painful either, they’re just… there. And these hollow memories empty of emotion is everything she will have. The princess still feels the longing in her very being, longing that came from the words never said out loud by both of them, but that the actions carried away.
She loved him. He would never love her.
She’ll leave with all those memories. He won’t even notice her absence.
Star looked at the front door taking a breath. One last time she’ll walk through it, she might as well take all the good memories on everything she look at. Her hand at the door handle opens it slightly before she takes a last look at the street.
Tears sting her eyes a bit and Star decides to stop avoiding the inevitable and making her pain longer, she’s the only one suffering and that will continue to suffer the longer she takes. Turning around, she took a into the house.
And so her existence begins to fade.
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.
.
“What?!” Marco screamed. He had actually screamed, not just exclaimed as he thought “What do you mean by Star is leaving?!”
Jackie looked impressed just as he was “She haven’t told you anything?!”
“No! This is the first time I hear something like this! What’s going on?!”
“She said she would tell you!” Jackie replied in surprise and worry, “She said that she would tell you that and that she’s leaving tonight because of the war in Mewni!”
“What?!” Marco shouted in disbelief “Since when Mewni is on war?! There wasn’t a peace agreement?!”
“It’s not war yet,” Janna said “but there is a threat on Mewni by a kingdom that wants to take advantage on a marriage between her and their prince or a war between the kingdoms, so she has to go back to solve that.”
Marco felt the air escape his lungs end refusing to go back, his feet felt light and his body trembled at gravity failing him. All that caused by the mention of the word “Marriage” attached to the future of his best friend, and recently found love if his life. The hurt made him few like eternal minutes went by, even if it passed just a few seconds in reality. He had a hard time trying to think straight again and forcing his lungs to cooperate with him so he could speak, even so his voice wasn’t more loud than a whisper.
“Star is getting married?!”
Janna was the one to reply while searching something on her phone “No, she’s trying to find a solution, but on either way she would have to leave anyway.”
Marco ignored the last part due to the shock of all the news coming to him at once “How you all know about this, but not me?!”
“She was hiding from you and didn’t want you to know…”
All else that Alfonso said was not heard. The only thing on his mind was that Star had this huge problem and she didn’t want him to know. She planned to hide- she did hide it all from him until the last moment. She kept as a secret like he couldn’t be trusted enough to know about and try to help, what she took him for?
Things were bad than he could imagine and he made even worse. He broke her heart, all because he couldn’t take a breath when she confessed to him… Oh no, she was trying to tell him something, wasn’t she?! Star probably was finally trying to say about her departure and he messed everything.
“That’s not important right now!” Ferguson said shaking Marco by his shoulders to bring him back on reality, “Star is leaving heartbroken and she’ll never come back, Marco!”
“Why she wouldn’t come back? She has the Wand and the dimensional scissors!” He replied confused, trying to get attached to anything that seemed logical or hopeful in this situation.
“Because she’s wiping every single trace of magic, that includes other dimension interference!”
Well, there it goes the last of his sanity.
“WHAT?!” Marco screamed. More he found out about Star plans, more desperate and hopeless he got. Every time he thought on a possibility to make things rights, it was taken from him by some kind of action she was about to do.
“Ferguson is right,” Jackie said in a hurry “if we don’t go right now, she’ll never know about how you feel and you guys will never make up on this mess.”
“I-I can try go over Mewni, I know we can do that with dimensional mirrors too…”
Alfonso looked at him sternly and said “Star has to clean every trace of magic from Earth, this means no magic, no dimensional travels and no way to talk to her!”
“We can find a way…” Deep breaths, he had to remain calm to think clearly and find a solution out that mess.
“Marco, Star is a magical princess,” Janna’s sad face was a clear alert to him that there wasn’t coming good new, even so, he hoped in vain for something good, “we won’t remember her.”
As if that was the last straw, Marco had to hold on the wall behind him. He wouldn’t remember her? That was impossible! There were too many memories, it had been four years together, many fights and laughed along, they couldn't be erased without them noticing, they have known something was wrong and...
They could be replaced and twisted. They wouldn’t try to find answers because they would change and refill the blank space with something else. They would accept everything because it would all seem normal and with no anomalies by other means…
And he would lose her forever.
“We are wasting time!” Alfonso said pulling Marco by the tuxedo, “We explain everything on the way, let’s get Ferg car!"
They ran through the school building across the corridors to get on the parking lot faster without having to contour the whole school. They explained all the confusion on the way, the same way it had been told them.
.
.
.
Star saw how the magic activated itself in the moment she stepped in the house. Like a wind had come through when she opened the door, things begin to move and change. She hugged her arms by the cold, noticing something on her wrist.
The bracelet. A bracelet with little hearts, a star and the lock of a moon. A bracelet she got from her best friend before she messed up everything…
Why didn’t she stay quiet? Why she had to say it all to him? Why did she confess?! Now she lost everything she had with Marco… It would have been better to leave only being his friend, with good memories and a nice night dancing, even if he wouldn’t remember her later (he wouldn’t any way,) at least she would have him smiling at her as the last memory, not…
Not him breaking her heart and confessing he couldn’t love her. Now this memory was attached to anything related to him (including the bracelet,) hurts deeply in her broken heart. As Star realized this, just to look at the object hurt; to be wearing it felt like it was burning her skin. She felt the tears coming back, her hand was shaking when she held the pedant. It was so beautiful a few hours ago, and now it was painful.
How come a few hours can change so much the meaning in things?
Trying to stop the pain, Star held the chains and pulled the bracelet out of her wrist, breaking the lock as she got it out. Her wrist got hurt a bit, a red mark signaling the place where the object once had been and would be injured for a while. She tossed away from her without looking behind or giving a care on where it went. She didn’t want it with her anymore, just like she would leave anything related to her best friend behind and let the magic wipe away.
If Marco could break their bond, so could she.
She had to.
.
.
.
Star stood on the middle of Janna's living room, from times to times passing around, sitting on the couch or just standing there. She explained how Mewni improved from a little country to an ascendant, how the union of magic and science brought peace and good life to the citizens, she went into explaining the tradition of marriage, until finally explaining the war threat.
“I’m trying to think on something but… This is too complicated. One wrong word can lead to Interdimensional War.”
“You mean that if you don’t found another solution, you gonna have to marry a guy you never have seen in your life?” Alfonso asked.
“Not only that.” Janna commented, and then repeated what Glossaryck told her “She will unify the kingdoms, in which their politics will merge, so depending on the way it happens, the law changes, the life equality…”
“Which means?”
Star sighed, holding her own hands on her lap “Depending on how their laws works, I may lose the crown.”
A sharp inhale was taken from the teens there “You can reject the proposal and may cause a war, or marry and may lose the crown?!” Ferguson said angry at the situation “What kind of insane deal is that?”
“That’s what I need to figure out… I’m still thinking about it, so I’m sorry if I can’t give you many details. I’m still confused as well” Star smiled at the concerned faces of her friends. Even Janna was with a worried.
“Why you can't refuse right away?” Ferguson asked.
“It's a time of peace, the slight conflict can be the spark to begin a huge war. My parents could easily put Mewni to fight, but who would have to deal with the war and consequences later on would be me and the younger generation. That’s why they trusted me with this decision…” Star looked up in thinking “Because when the conflicts happen it would be me taking care of it as the queen, not them.” She got up yet again passing around, “I know I need to avoid this wedding insanity, but I need to find a fair way to do it.”
A hand hold one of hers and she looked up to Jackie, her green eyes hurtful for the situation of her friend, Star gave a light smile when the other blond begin to tear up. “I’m sorry, Star.”
The princess inhaled and gave a loud sigh dropping her shoulders, trying to relieve the tension in the room “It’s fine. I’ll find something out of this, you’ll see.”
“But…” Ferguson said biting his lower lip and continued “This means this will be our last party together, besides the prom?”
Star smiled sadly “I’m afraid so.”
She blinked and in the next second Alfonso was hugging her until there was no way to breathe “I’ll miss you!”
One after another, they all hugged her, to the moment they were in a group hug and she was in the middle. The princess smiled at her friends feeling loved and cared for them… That was until the moment she began to turn purple for the lack of air. Jackie was the first one to step back, looking at Star and pulling others away.
“Guys, she needs air!”
They all separated laughing at the breathless princess, drying the tears of sadness and nostalgia “Let’s make this party to both of you. This will be a celebration of Jackie’ success and Star’s farewell” Janna suggested.
Little by little they begin to rise up and talk about all the adventures they had, as to change the mood into the good memories while they could remember it. It hurt that they would lose her, but that couldn’t be changed. So instead of getting sad by it on the last days, they decided to enjoy it.
As they finished explaining, Marco run ahead of them and pushed the double doors to the parking lot open. He needed to apologize, he needed to comfort her, he needed her. He tried to spot Ferg’s car in hope they would make on time if they run.
.
.
.
At the home, Star watched as the portraits changed. Some would just make her presence disappear, some others needed more change. Those were particularly interesting, they would have the colors explode to white like a burnt frame, right before fading to the new image just like a photo recently revealed.
Sometimes it took more than just taking her out, it would place someone else. In the picture of Star trying to eat her first burger changed to a new one of Marco hanging out with Ferguson and Alfonso, still eating the burger, but the context was totally new. She wondered if their memories would also be changed to fit the pictures.
The dogs passed by her, going upstairs to explore what was happening excitedly… All except for one.
“Hey, buddy… What’s the matter?”
The dog just let out a cry, dropping his head, ears and tail. Then it went upstairs too and Star followed.
He went to Mr and Mrs Diaz room, where both adults slept peacefully on their bed while a photo album hang there open, the pictures also changing little by little. The dog sat beside them, resting his head on the bed.
“You don’t want to go…” Star concluded. The dog just sighed still looking at the couple and an agreement, “I don’t want to go either… but we have to.”
That was a lie.
It wasn’t before of course, but right now all she wanted to do was to leave. She wanted to go and leave Earth more than anything. Maybe by leaving, Marco and all these painful feelings would stay behind and she would be able to move on and not feel a thing.
It was different for that animal. He grew up there, he was born there by her magic, if it didn’t leave with her he would disappear.
Unless…
“You really want to stay?” The dog nodded in response.
Star went closer to the dog, patting its head and she sat by his side. She took the wand and whispered the words.
Born from Magic, created by love, I free you from the essence, but gift you with life and love.
And with this, the dog fell asleep beside the couple. When he woke up, he wouldn’t remember her either.
.
.
.
Marco was already into everything that happened in the last few weeks. Suddenly all of Star’s actions and insecurities made sense. It was all justified, but it didn’t mean it hurt less. She had her reasons, that was a fact, but it was the fact she hide it all and planned to never tell him any of that, that hurt.
Even if she had the best intentions to do so, it still hurt him deeply and badly.
As Ferguson and the others tried to find the car in the middle of all the other ones from other students, Marco decided to try buying time, maybe even get part of the problem solved or in the way to be solved (even if just a little part of it.)
He got his phone, accessing Star’s contact on it. A silly picture of her making a face at the camera showed up and he pressed the call button. It rang to the limit until get on her voicemail, her cheerful voice in the recorded message didn’t fit the situation he found both of them.
“Hey Star, it’s me, Marco. When you meant leaving I didn’t think you actually meant leaving, like ‘I’m going home to never come back’! Hold on there, I’m going home and we’ll find a solution for all of this-” he was interrupted by a beep that told him he reached the limit of recording time.
He tried again, it also went to the voicemail. “The gang told me about what was happening, the need for you to come back, the tradition, everything! Why didn’t you tell me?! We could have found a solution, we could have found an escape route! I just- it doesn’t matter right now, just wait for me, ok? I'm coming for-” the beep finished his recording again.
On his third try he noticed something odd. Star’s contact was suddenly missing of picture, it was default version for when a new contact was added. Marco ignored while he tried to reach her again, this time it only rang twice before it dropped. He felt the madness in his veins for that, so he called once again without wasting time and it went to the voicemail, “Are you kidding me?! I know you saw the call, you ignored it! Star, come on. Please, talk to me. I’m really getting desperate and worried here. Just…”
This time it wasn’t the beep of record limit that cut him, but rather his phone itself. Marco looked at the screen confused, staring for a moment at the picture they took together. It was a selfie, she took the picture by his side with the others were around them…
He didn’t get to look at it for longer than a few seconds before his phone’s screen when completely blank.
“Oh, no” Marco murmured as he tried to revive his phone. He shook it, tried to turn it off, then turn it on, he was getting desperate when suddenly the screen showed up again as if it was just turned on “From all the times this could have happened, it decided to happen right no-”
Marco stop talking as he looked on the screen again. It was all the same, all the configurations he set even the picture that was his screensaver. It would have been fine it wasn’t for one detail…
Star was missing.
The place where once Star stood was now empty and behind him his friends smiled to the camera as he held his phone for the picture.
Star was missing.
“No… This is not happening.”
Marco begun to search frantically through his contacts. Star name was still there and he pressed in a hurry trying a call hoping it was just a glitch of the phone, not her vanished right before his eyes.
Janna and Alfonso that were closer to him seemed to notice how his temper changed yet again, Marco had spoke before they could ask “Her pictures on my phone just changed and she's no longer in them.” He explained, both of his friends look at him worried just like he was “Try to reach her by yours too.”
The ring went on until he heard her voice yet again “Hi, here’s Star! I can’t reach you right now, but don't be sad! I’ll call you back right after! Leave a message if you want, bye!”
Her cheerful voice was cut by a beep and Marco tried yet again to leave a message, “Star, you just disappeared from the pictures on my phone. Please, tell me you didn’t started this magic, please. I want to talk to you, I need to talk to you. Please, don't leave…” He hang up to try calling again.
This time, it went directly to the voicemail without her voice message. “Star, just answer the phone! I know you are there, you ignored the other call! For- For freaking God sake can you just pick up?! Let me talk to you, I’m sorry, ok?! I overreacted, I didn’t mean any of that and I know you are hurt, I’m a idiot, we both had been really stupid. Please, just-” the beep of recording limit cut him again.
He tried yet again. It went to the voicemail and without her voice again. He kept looking for the car, getting desperate to go home. If Star had really activated the magic, he had no time to waste, they were literally losing her.
“Star, I’m begging you. Pick up the phone. I promise you that we can go over this, I promise I’ll try my best and stay by your side, even if I have to go to Mewni, but please don’t leave. I promise I’ll do better. Don’t give up on this already… Please say something, but don’t-” he felt the words suffocating him and tried to take a breath- “Star… Please don’t leave me…” His voice was cut after a few more seconds by the beep.
He looked at the call and just then realized there wasn’t a contact anymore, just a phone number.
She was vanishing.
Star was slipping away through his fingertips like dust on the wind and he couldn’t hold her no matter how much he was trying. Little by little the evidences of her presence were vanishing, if that magic was reaching the smallest things as phone contacts he had no doubts he would have no memories of her when it was complete.
Marco dialed her number, as he still remembers. It goes to the voicemail again, he hangs up to try yet again. His face pales when the message changes.
“It wasn’t possible to reach this number you dialed. Please, try again later on or confirm the phone number.”
Oh no.
Marco tried again another three times, pulling strands of his own brown hair out of frustration. Janna and Alfonso didn’t have many different results from what it happened to Marco.
On the fourth call, Marco stop breathing from a moment when yet another filament of hope was lost. It was another kind of message, the one he wished he didn’t heard right.
“The number you dialed doesn’t exist, please verify the number and try again.”
.
.
.
Star looked at her phone. The message to confirm if she wanted to reset it and erase everything on it, was shining faintly on her screen. She was about to press the button when there was yet another incoming call from Marco and she ignored.
There were already 17 missed calls, 12 texts and even more notifications from the other applications and social media by the others. That kept the number growing as more time passed by and she ignored it all.
At this point it was certain that they figure out she was leaving and Marco also found out. Did he find out everything or just about her going to Mewni? Did he know she isn’t coming back?
It didn’t make difference, even if Marco had found out, soon all of them would forget everything, even about this moment. She wondered if Marco was trying to reach her just to say goodbye, to apologize, to tell her he knew everything or to stop her. She realized that even that didn’t matter anymore. Apparently, nothing did.
It was a countdown to the minutes she was still there and they would be affected by her existence. If she already vanished from pictures, soon she would also vanish from any other things related to Earth.
With that in mind, she pressed the “reset” button and lost everything about Earth on her mirror-phone. If they were forgetting about her, maybe she should try too.
She put her phone inside one of her bags, then looked around the room. The princess would need help to get it all, so she went to the mirror and saw her marks.
Shattered. Just like she felt. It was no mystery that the Buterffly’s had their marks changing according to their feelings, so she wasn’t that much surprised to found her heart broken, she did felt like that after all.
Nevertheless, she took a bit of her make-up and applied to the marks, so no one would notice neither the make up or the marks. She was already having trouble dealing with herself, she didn’t need questions and people over her wondering what happened or worried. She had enough of it already with Marco.
She checked on the mirror itself to see anything and when she was sure there was no signs of her marks she pressed the call button.
“Call mom.”
Her mother didn’t took long to pick up, “Star? You’re late for your prom…”
“Actually…” Star replied “I just came back.”
“Really?” Her father said beside her mother “It’s early, we thought you would like to enjoy to the last minute.”
“I did!” She said pretending to be excited, “But I got tired fast and decided to go home… I think I’m done here, there’s nothing left for me to do” she smiled.
Her mother didn’t look convinced, however her father went on (if he had realized that she was lying, he decided not to mention) “Well then, what do you need, darling?”
“I want the maids and guards to help me to take my stuff.”
“Very well, then.” Her mother said, “We’ll send them right away.”
“Thanks, mom. I’ll see you guys in a bit.”
“We’ll be waiting for you, dear.”
They hang up afterwards. A few minutes later a portal to Mewni was open.
.
.
.
“I found the car!”
To hear Ferguson say such things was like to get water after hours burning in the sun.
But then he saw the face of his friend.
“We have a problem.”
The others went to the same direction Ferguson had came from. They saw a lot of cars parked side by side, with no ways to get out… and Ferguson’s car right in the middle of the parking mess.
“This is a joke.” Marco said annoyed, “It’s like the universe conspiring against us!”
Janna stepped ahead pulling him, “We still can take it out. Call Monster Arm, I’ll help you to get it out.”
“Right!” Marco extended his arm and said the enchantment, but nothing happened.
“What are you waiting for?!” Janna complained.
“I am trying, it’s not happening!”
“What do you…”
Janna didn’t finished to speak as her body went weak and she fainted. Jackie was closer and reacted fast in holding the girl with Alfonso’s help so she wouldn't hit the ground. Carefully, they both lowered to the ground and the blond sat holding her friend’s torso closer to hers.
“Janna? What happened?” Jackie asked as the others got closer to see their friend.
She looked tired, exhausted at her limit, like something had drained her suddenly. Janna couldn’t use the Wicked Blood in that circumstance, they knew by experience it was risk…
The Wicked Blood.
He couldn’t use Monster Arm, Janna suddenly got tired and was drained of magic, Star’s presence was fading, he saw it happening with his phone. She was using the Erasing Magic, it wiped anything to Magic completely away.
“It’s the magic…” he said out loud finishing his trail of thoughts, “It drained the magic within you, or just reversed the spell that kept it awaken or… I don’t know, all I know is that she’s vanishing…” Marco murmured frustrated.
“My magic was given by a spell that had waken the Wicked Blood, without any magic it got sleep again.” Janna said slowly by her suddenly numbness “But yours was a magical parasyte, she would have to take it out not just clean it.”
Jackie looked at him in wonder “Did Star take it out? Do you know?”
“No” Marco replied, “She had no opportunities to try without me noticing. The only moment she could have it was…”
When he slept on her bed after their fight.
He. Was. An idiot.
She wasn't just worried about him, she was trying to get Monster Arm out. Maybe she could have been worried, but now Marco felt utterly betrayed. Star used his most vulnerable moment to take Monster Arm out of him without him suspecting a thing, heck she probably drained any magic cells within him too, which meant his resistance, force and agility were not the same anymore…
They wouldn’t get to her in time.
“Is… is this it?” Alfonso said sadly, getting in the same conclusion as him “We lost? We lost Star?”
Marco looked at his phone. To see the picture were once his best friend stood smiling brightly now being replaced with a picture without her felt so wrong and out of place.
Was that it? Is this how the rest of his life be like? No trace that she had ever been there to begin it and no possibility of her coming back… he would just move on with his life like her absence had not mattered at all? Could he do that? Without a single trace of Star in his life, he could. There would be nothing to go back to… He could do that, and it wouldn’t even make a difference. Marco could go to Australia with Jackie, get his graduation on whatever he thinks of it, find a woman, get married, get a job, have kids and it would all still the same. He could live on without her in his life…
But he refused to do it.
“No…” He looked up to his friends, “You guys stay here with Janna, call an ambulance if she gets worse.”
“Where are you going?” Jackie asked.
“I can’t let her leave, I have to get to her. I just can’t lose Star. I’ll try to get there in time! I have to!” He took a deep breath and gave Ferguson his phone in case they needed, “I’m going after her.”
And with that he turned on his feet running off without looking back.
“Marco, get my skate! You know the combination!”
He had no time to turn back, so he decided to thank later, when they got this all solved. Marco got the skate and smashed the door hard as he got on it. He let the helmet behind, there was no time for safety when your bestfriend is vanishing from your life.
As Marco went on the way to his house, he used the adrenalina and desperation on his favour. He had to get on time! It was his last hope.
The wind is cold by the night time and the only sound in the street was from a few houses and the skate’s heels. He tried to keep the memories of her, bringing them all into mind and holding on them to keep his hope, as if that could hold Star there until he got to her.
.
“Hey, Marco…” she said as she looked into her book, “Have you ever wondered how the first person to met a ponyhead reacted?”
Marco not only did as he probably reacted the same by screaming and passing out.
“Not really, why?”
“First, don’t lie to me. Second, I was wondering… If in my dimension people didn’t had any similarity to humans, do think I would be accepted the same way I was?” She asked.
Marco looked at her curious. She was into the phase her girly body was changing to a matured one. As much as Marco wanted to feel shame to be noticing every single change on her, he couldn’t help since his hormones were also changing him and affecting just as much. Her hair was in a ponytail and the headband of the day was the design of trees.
“Why are you asking this?”
“I don’t know… I guess the whole ‘you don’t belong here’ stuff made me think about it…” she pouted.
Marco smiled at her and shrugged. “Nah, don’t mind what that stupid politician said. We all like you the way you are, I bet he will lose just because of what he said.”
“You sure?”
“I am. Besides, if he doesn’t want to get to know you, he’s the one missing all the adventures. Just for that he’s a jerk.”
He went back to read his magazine about karate, he needed to train and learn soon to get a new belt. If he was more into it he would have missed as Star quietly, almost shy, replied him.
“Thank you, Marco.”
When he looked back at her, she was reading the book again humming happily as she swung her legs back and forth. He smiled at her without her realizing.
.
The princess watched as the guards and maids were cleaning her room.
“You know…” Glossaryck said floating beside her, “I still think you should wait a bit more. The boy was obviously trying to reach you, it should mean something.” He turned to her staring sternly at her face, but Star kept watching the maids movement ignoring his judgmental eyes” But you already know that, right?”
Star just looked at her wand, once again complete thanks to his help… It was the same thing that could turn either good or bad depending on the wielder. Just like she felt.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It doesn’t?”
“No, it doesn’t.” She turned to him looking with indifference at her guide, “Either he regrets what he said and wants to apologize or found out the truth about what what’s going on the last weeks, it doesn’t change anything. I still need to leave and he will forget everything anyway… It doesn’t matter if I forgive him or he forgives me, we’ll both move on and there will be nothing left for him to apologize or feel guilty.” She turned to keep watching the maids “It doesn’t matter.”
Glossaryck nodded. “What’s the plan for now on?”
Star looked at herself in the mirror, then she went to her box with jewels and took her royal tiara out. Taking the pearled one out of her hair, she put on the place her crown was and placed softly on her hair.
“I become the Queen of Mewni.”
.
Marco turned a square before his house. A flashlight blinded him for a moment and he losing his balance, the skate went down a passing car he fall on the sidewalk by luck. His elbow hurt and he could feel the sting from the cut on his eyebrow, he definitely had quite a scratch on his hand too.
He got up fast and tried to find Jackie’s skate, feeling upset and cursing at the wind when he found it broken to pieces. He didn’t try to get the pieces back, it would be useless, instead he decide to run the rest of the way. It wasn’t far, maybe he could still make it.
Wait for me, Star.
.
“Are you sure you want to let go?”
“Marco, I got this! I am Star Butterfly! I’ll overcome this terrible enemy!”
Marco made a deadpanned face “You fight monsters and the forces of evil, but the ice is your enemy?”
“It’s not natural for a ground to be this slippery!”
“It’s an ice ring, Star.”
“So?!”
Marco sighed as he heard his friends skating around and tripping on themselves. They found out that no matter how much Star tried, she just couldn’t stand on ice by her own even if her life depended on it.
And oddly, she could stand and walk on ice as long she was touching Marco. At first he thought it was a joke, but then she fell on her face and got a nosebleed because of the injury. She didn’t liked that, so to overcome the frozen sidewalks in winter, Star decided it was better to learn ice-skating.
That or she was watching that new anime about ice-skating.
“You just need to learn, Star” Marco rolled his eyes, “trust me, once you learn you realize it’s easy.”
“Maybe for you in Earth.”
“How comes it never snows in Mewni?”
“It does snow, but we don’t let our streets freeze!”
Marco was about to ask how when he saw her purse, where the Wand was safely kept. Magic, of course.
“You guys are coming?” Jackie asked.
“Eventually…” Marco sighed. “Star it’s a slow student.”
“Hey!”
“You know it’s true.”
She offered a pout as reply. With a sigh, Marco held her arms, pulling her as he was skating backwards “Just hold on me and follow my steps. You can do this, I believe in you, Star.”
She giggled at that smiling widely “Ok, then!”
.
Star looked around the empty room. There would be a lot of furniture she wouldn’t need and decided to donate to someone in need. Glossaryck had also got his stuff from his tower and was now sitting on her magical book, both floating as just a few stuff were being carried through the portal.
She looked around, the place she lived for long four years, with so many memories… She would miss this. All of it.
Star decided to take a last glance at the Diaz. They were still fast asleep, the dog laying down by their side and the pictures completely cleaned of her presence. Once she got in the portal, everyone would have the same effect of sleep state, so the remaining fragments of magic would be erased and anything beyond normal would be called as a dream.
The memories with her would come to them like a dream, they would remember everything about her, then she would disappear completely as they open their eyes and wake up in a world without magic, but most important: A world in which she never existed.
.
Marco could feel his legs asking for a rest, his breathing heavy and his lungs burning begging for a quick stop so they could get more air. He felt the sweat running down his face, but he didn’t have time to try get out his tuxedo. All he could think was that he had to make on time. Afterwards he could rest, he could breathe and calm down his heart, he would have time to anything after, but right he couldn’t give himself the luxury to lose a second.
He needed to get to her.
As he went down the street, he could see the faint light on his house, he was feeling a bit more hopeful. And sleepy. A sudden need to sleep and rest he lost a bit of his track. He tried to think on her and what he was about to lose, what was slipping away from him without return, then he could bring himself to keep going on.
He realized what it was the truth as suddenly there were a thousand of memories with his best friend coming to his mind… And then going blank.
He was losing his memories.
He was losing Star.
“No…!” Forcing his body to move due desperation, he ran to his house. Images of her flashing in his mind for one last time.
Her smile, her eyes, her skin, her lips, her laugh, her faces, her hair, her colors, her cheeks, her hands, her legs, her body, her presence, her voice, her courage, her determination, her clumsiness, her innocence, her strength, her caring, her warmth, her existence… Her everything.
Her.
.
“Shall we go?” Glossaryck asked once there was nothing left there for her. The extension of her tower would change back to the room it once was as the magic would finish itself, so she wouldn’t have to worry about it.
Star looked at her counselor “Yes, we shall.”
Glossaryck nodded and went ahead, giving her a few seconds of privacy she needed to the final goodbye.
She looked around, giving herself a last moment to remember how great were the four years and how much she loved the boy she was leaving behind. It was funny, four years ago she was sad to leave Mewni. Four years later she was sad to be leaving Earth.
With a deep breath she turned around and stopped one step away from the portal. Looking behind, she hoped for a second that Marco would walkthrough and stop her, held her in his arms and say something… It wouldn’t happen. She knew that.
“Goodbye, Earth.”
And with a sad smile, she stepped into the portal to her home and disappeared together with the portal.
.
The boy had just arrived the front garden when he saw her tower glow. His heart clenched in his chest, frustration and sadness mixing into one as he lost his last hope.
It was too late.
Because the tower shining meant the magic was acting on it, which meant the magic was over it would be gone in a few seconds along with the fragments of her still around with him.
Marco fell in his knees. She was gone, it had no more reason to run and no more reason to try reach for someone who was in an impossible distance for him to cross. His body curved forward as he punched the ground out of anger. A desperate cry got out his throat as he felt the tears coming and his heart being ripped apart.
“Star!”
After his scream the tower vanished to the room it once was. The light flash all around and Marco hold on to her image one last time with everything he got, he held to it because it was all he had left to do. He knew that hope for anything else would be in vain.
So in that last second, he saw her. Her in everything she was and would ever be and become. The princess that had loved him despite he was nothing special, just an ordinary boy from somewhere that looked at her as a person before looking at the crown on her head.
He held into the image of the one he loved right before he would lose it. As the light around her image grew and her image was harder to see, he knew it was over. Marco closed his eyes and knew he would remember none of it once he opened again. So as a last thought, he let it go forcefully and the numbness took over him.
Goodbye, Star.
Then it was all gone.
Yes, Star and Marco were talking about Trump. The saddest thing is that I was thinking in a Brazilian polician when I did that little scene, I never thought Trump would be it and it would be so real... (PS: If you’re a trump supporter and you’re into SVTFOE fanodm... You didn’t undertand a thing, go watch it all again.
NOW WE ARE READY TO SVTFOE BOMB! (Why I have a feeling that’s a lie?)
Anyways I will ask for you guys be a bit patient with the others since... I’m writing them .-.
Thanks for reading, I hope to see you guys in the next!
You can read Ever After at Ao3 | FF.net | DeviantArt and on Tumblr, feel free to go read where it pleases you the most :)
Chapter 11: After Shattering
“Dammit, that came out wrong!” Marco exclaimed while face-palming.
How did things get this complicated?! He didn’t mean to say any of that, but the wrong words were slipping out of his mouth in the wrong way in the wrong situation. Everything was so wrong; he was wrong! Marco felt like it didn’t matter what he says he would only mess up even more.
Marco was shocked to hear those words from Star, in a good sense of the feeling. It was indescribable what he felt… It was wonderful to hear the princess confess to him; once he really understood that she was serious about her feelings… He felt like fireworks were exploding on his heart and “We are the champions” was playing on full volume on his mind while he could – finally – kiss Star out of her senses.
Then he felt his feet on the ground. He was with Jackie; the girl he had spent most part of his life dreaming to be with. Now that he lived it, he realized that it was much different – it wasn’t bad, just different from what he thought it would be. Marco needed to know how to deal with her first before taking his chance with Star.
But from the moment he opened his mouth to speak, he somehow knew things would go really bad.
He overreacted. He didn’t even know what had driven him into it, but somehow he was attacking Star with everything that happened, she was attacking too on her defense, he was hurting her and she was hurting him… Just, why?
He didn’t know. Marco was lost on everything that happened the past weeks and let himself to be carried away into whatever that fight would be called. Every part of his body told him to stop, but his mind went on. He could feel how things were about to break; he could feel their bond shattering. He didn’t know what it was, but he felt it coming; Marco felt the hurt, pain and tears, agony and fear…
Marco was scared on how things would turn out to both of them if he said ‘Yes’; Marco was scared on how it would go if he said ‘No’. And somehow, while trapped in between, he did worse.
He said never.
When the words slipped from his mouth, he immediately regretted. It wasn’t meant to look like they did, at all! On the next second he felt something heavy on his chest, it troubled his breathing and his heart beats, he felt her hurt and sadness, then he felt the weight of his guilty. It wasn’t fair any of that was fair to Star!
Even if was hard breathing with that thing on his chest, Marco decided that he couldn’t be silent. He had to try fix the things, or at least try to. Because he felt like whatever he and Star had – Friendship, relationship, lust, love or whatever – Was slipping through his fingers like water, and if he let it happen, it would be lost like the last droplet of water in the desert.
He wouldn’t survive.
“I mean…” He tried to speak, clutching his chest while Star still with eyes on the floor “Is that even allowed? You’re a princess and I’m just a guy… I have nothing to offer you or Mewni; and we are from different dimension, would anyone allow that? How it would work? We would have to give up living in one of them or there would be no problem in traveling to both all the time? And…”
Marco knew he was rambling again, but he couldn’t help it, he had to say something! He had to fix the situation!
He frowned when suddenly there was nothing to feel. There was no weight, pain and he could breathe… Why something was still stinging then? Why it felt like something was wrong? Why he felt empty?
“Star…” Marco called, afraid that if he took a step she would run away yet again since this all begin “Please, look at me… Talk to me, please…” He pleaded, but she kept looking at the ground; then she looked at the Wand “Let’s just talk ok? I’m sorry I screamed at you… It’s just too much and complicated, I also need to talk with Jackie before trying anything with you, I don’t want to hurt her feelings; I’m just confused…” He went on rambling again, scared that she would run away and things only get worse, but at this point he could not blame her for leaving him in the open.
“Marco…” She finally said, Marco stopped talking and let a small and hopeful smile escape his lips. It was shortly lived as all she said was “I’m leaving.”
He sighed. The bad omen he felt was ringing louder, something within him screamed that things would only get worse if he let it go; that he would regret even more if he run away before telling her…
Telling her what?
He made enough damage into their friendship, on her and on him, and had no idea on how deep it was or whatever. Marco just couldn’t risk anything else. He had to be absolutely sure before saying her anything, even if all he wanted right now was to hold her close and repeat those words into her lips until she believes him and understand that it was a misunderstanding.
But he can’t. Because he feels, he knows that she’ll break on the slightest touch from him, that’s she’s too fragile and hurt… That he was the one who did this to her. And he has no right to say otherwise or to ask anything from her in that moment.
Scratching his neck, his eyes went to the starry sky “Ok. Maybe it’s better for us to chill out and talk later” He didn’t want to, but Star made clear she wanted to be alone for a while, and this time, he shouldn’t follow at any circumstances.
“No.”
Her answer was so short and quick that it felt like a bullet on him. His mind screamed “Danger! Danger! May day! May day!”, but he hadn’t time to complain.
Star turned around, raising her arm and calling an enchantment. Marco closed his eyes at the brightness of the magic; when he looked again, there was a portal in front of the princess; her golden hair and dress was waving gracefully on the wind and she waited for something. Should he say something? He was waiting her to say something, he said too much so he wanted to keep it shout for now before he blew their relationship once for all. Star turned around just to look at him one last time.
Marco could swear his own heart broke when he saw her face.
Her eyes were the the pure mix of hurt and sadness, shining as a tear slides down her cheek. Her cheek marks of hearts are gray, a lifeless gray that would have scared him a lot more if wasn’t another concerning fact on them…
Star hearts marks were cracked.
The panic rising on him mixed up with dread. They both stood there for a moment, he doesn’t know what to do; he hurt her to the point her marks were also affected, that never happened before. The fright on his veins makes him feel cold and his frozen bones made him unable to move. Star was expecting something from him and he couldn’t move, Marco knew that any movement, a word and it would break.
And this time wasn’t a heart or friendship, it was them.
A tear slide on her cheek, he could feel as it was his own heart there at the moment the tear was passing on the cracked heart and it broke. The marks were shattered. They were broken. The silence was the end for both of them and whatever they had.
“Goodbye, Marco.”
Those were the last words from Star, before she got into the portal and disappeared with it.
As soon as her presence vanished, the ground had disappeared, suddenly air wasn’t all he needed to breathe, the world was spinning around him, he felt colder than never and all his mind could think of was “She’s gone”.
And Marco knew that wasn’t any good.
But what he could do? He already did harm enough and she had the right to get away from him, this was the one time she has reason to run and he couldn’t ask for otherwise; the one time she was the right in running away from this; she was hurt...
He hurt her.
He messed up really bad.
With a sigh, Marco decided to go back into the Ballroom. He didn’t remember getting his tuxedo, but he felt on him anyway. His legs moved to went to the table where his friends were, his mind was still lost into everything. Marco let his body fall heavily on a chair, elbows on the table and hands on his face. Could regret kill someone? Because if it could, then he was in serious danger.
“Marco? Are you alright?”
He looked up to meet Jackie’s eyes. If he wasn’t so desolated, he would feel shame to think she was there and moments ago all he wanted was to be with Star. This could count as cheating? He thought so, after all, he was still her boyfriend and as such, he should be loyal on mind body and… Soul.
But why that seemed so extreme when he thought about it with Jackie?
“I messed up” He said and went to his previous position again “I messed up really bad.”
The others appeared too, Jackie took a seat beside him, Janna did too, Ferguson and Alfonso stood close by.
“What happened?” Alfonso asked.
“Star confessed to me” he replied, there was no use in hiding from them and he was too tired to think on an excuse “I overreacted.”
A few gasps and a deception “Oh…” were heard, but he didn’t look up to see their reaction. They seemed uncertain about how to speak about it or to leave it alone, it was an uncomfortable atmosphere; he couldn’t care less…
Janna was the one that decided to go on “Why you overreacted?”
“I don’t know!” Marco exclaimed in frustrated “I’m trying to understand why I reacted to her like that! I mean, I know I was scared and shocked, but I didn’t have to say anything I said!”
By her voice, Jackie frowned in worry “What did you say?”
Marco couldn’t kept quiet anymore, he got up and begin to pace beside their table “I said I was with Jackie, I said I didn’t know what to think of it, that it was impossible and that Mewni was her home- Oh God, why did I said that?!” He passed his fingers on his hair to try calm down. “I didn’t mean like that! It just came out completely wrong!”
Marco rambling ended up in him telling them everything it happened on details. Sometimes Janna would groan on his stupid attitude, Ferguson and Alfonso were tense little by little (He felt like they were about to smack his head on a rock – and sincerely, he deserved it). He was so into telling everything he forgot Jackie’s presence there, and she stood there, listening quietly every word from him.
“I just don’t know what to do! She has all the right to stay away and I don’t want that; I need to solve this, but… I’m just lost and I’m afraid I just make it worse.”
Janna snickered at him “To begin with, you could answer her. Like, the real answer”
“Yeah, man” Alfonso agreed “You two have been hanging on each other for the longest time, what’s wrong?”
“I just…” Marco grunted pulling strands of his own hair “I’m confused, I’m scared, I’m compromised! I have a girlfriend! I can’t just jump into a relationship with Star without making things clear to her!”
“Wait… So the reason why you didn’t accept Star was me?”
Marco looked at Jackie surprised. He completely forgot she was there. Oh Lord, she heard everything, his rambling, the confession, the fight and now she was with her hand in the air in a signal that she wanted to speak for the first time in… How much time it has been? 20 minutes? It felt like it so, but it was probably less.
He felt the tension over both of them, but that wasn’t anything close to what he felt minutes ago into the fight with Star. With the princess there was pain, guilty, love and so much frustration; and now with Jackie… There was guilty for sure, a bit of regret, sadness and a little grief… But no pain. He wasn’t hurt by it, at least not like it was with Star.
The girl in the green dress stood and put her hands over her hips, with a sigh she extended a hand to him. “Give me the necklace”
Marco sighed “Jackie, listen…”
“No. You listen!” She replied with a higher voice. “I knew this was going to happen; I knew you and Star could become a thing the only reason why I didn’t break up with you, Marco, was because I thought that when this moment came, we could all figure it out together and it would be just fine” She looked at the other on the table in distress “We all had realized you two had feelings for each other, but we also knew it was up to you two to solve this, that’s why we never got into your fights or anything!”
Marco looked at the table at saw the others exchanging looks and giving faint nods. “I said I wanted honesty from you Marco; and I know you didn’t mean to hurt any of us, but that’s what got you and Star to fight so many times…” She sighed, “I knew someday we would break up and I knew you would go after her, I was never hurt by it because I understand. I had understood that whatever you and Star are into it’s way more deep, complicated and stronger than what we have since our first month together…”
Marco tried to defend “It’s not like that…”
“Hush.” Jackie said pointing one finger on his face “I didn’t finished.” She massaged her temples. “Marco… What was the first thing you did when we were officially together?”
“I hugged you” He replied.
“No. You went to Star” Jackie corrected “I gave you the necklace and you went to her to show up, you two celebrated and hugged each other; then you come back to hug me.”
Marco looked at the ground embarrassed. He never noticed he did that; now she mentioned, he realized it was the natural thing he did even if it was wrong. “Oh my God, I’m sorry” He said.
“Don’t be.” Jackie replied. The skate girl took his hands on hers and continued what she had to say “That was the moment I noticed that you two had something special and it would come up on someday. I tried to win your heart, but I couldn’t win what always meant to be to someone’s else. I had my time understanding, fighting and accepting that this would be over. I decided to enjoy until it lasted… Like we said on our first date like a couple, remember?”
Marco nodded closing his eyes on shame by what he did then and what was happening now “To be eternal until it was over.”
Jackie smiled gently on him “Yes. And it’s over already, Marco… You need to let it go so you can move on with Star.”
“What about you?” Marco asked finally looking on her eyes.
Jackie looked at their hands together “I’ll be fine and move on too.”
One of his hands went to her face, cupping her cheek and making her look at him “And Australia?”
“My invitation still valid if you want to go. I invited you as a friend, not only because you were my boyfriend.” She shrugged and smiled. Marco frowned suddenly and Jackie giggled “What is it?”
“It’s… Weird” He admitted. “We should hate each other, be broken, hurt and all, but… I just feel this strange feeling that this is right. I’m sad that it didn’t work out, but I don’t regret anything we went through…”
Jackie gave a faint laugh “We don’t need to be strangers to each other. I want to still be your friend and to Star too. It will be weird for a while, but hey, we all learned to deal with a magical princess from another dimension; I think we can deal with a bit of awkwardness for a while” Marco laughed too.
“I guess…” He smiled at his ex-girlfriend “I’m sorry it didn’t work out, that it took so long for me to realize and we could both move on.”
“Me too” Jackie caressed his cheek “Now, give me the necklace”
Marco put his hands on his neck and took the chain, sliding above his head while she did the same. Both chains on her gloved hand, pedants of key and heart padlock together once again to be kept away until someone got what it needed to hold the key to the girl’s heart.
Someone cleared his throat and both teenagers looked behind them to see their friends there witnessing the moment. Alfonso pretended it was accidental and looked away.
“So… Now can we go? I’m feeling awkward with all this.”
The former couple laughed at him. Jackie put her hands on the hips and moved her hair on a playful way “Not yet! I’m back on hunting!” All of them laughed at her. Finally the tension had lifted a bit and they could play around without hesitation.
Janna hugged Jackie “Thank you! I missed having a partner looking someone to hook up!”
Jackie frowned. “I’m not sure if I want to do this with you”
Janna pouted at her and the boys laughed again. Alfonso and Ferguson went to Marco commenting something about him being a heartbreaker – Literally – which reminded him of Star. Marco looked at Jackie and smiled.
“What now?”
She put the necklaces on her purse, and then both hands on his shoulders smiling “Now we go after Star and you two get your relationship solved.”
Marco shrugged and scratched his neck feeling happy and nervous to talk to the princess. If his crush on – No, love for her was denied and hidden until then, now it was coming on him like a waterfall of feelings. All the moments together, intimacy, the almost kisses got into him and she couldn’t help the blush on his cheeks. It was even better now he knew she loved him too, he just hoped he could fix all the misunderstanding from earlier.
“Yeah…” He managed to say “I should go home and talk to her.”
Marco was expecting a few jokes on him, pats on his shoulders, and some teasing… Not the terrified, pale and shocked faces on his friends. He frowned confused.
“What?”
“You mean…” Ferguson said with difficulty “That Star already went home?”
He got even more confused at his question. “Yeah, after our fight she decided to leave… Why?”
“Marco…” Jackie was the one closer, so she held his arm on the same way she did every time something bad was about to happen. The fear on her face made him even more worried on their reaction.
And he should, because when the words slips from her lips, he feels all of his fears from the past weeks hit him like it was obvious all the time and he was blind. He can’t help to feel his whole body cold and get desperate on the single phrase she says.
“Star is going back to Mewni tonight.”
Hmmm *sips tea* I wonder if I should post the next chapter in the next morning (in 6 hours to me)...
Summary: Star Butterfly lived on Earth for one year and three months. It was exact– Marco had counted one sleepless night after she had left him to rule her kingdom. Four-hundred and fifty-seven days they’d lived together, fought together, and laughed together. Now it’s his turn to return the favor.
Summary: Star Butterfly lived on Earth for one year and three months. It was exact– Marco had counted one sleepless night after she had left him to rule her kingdom. Four-hundred and fifty-seven days they’d lived together, fought together, and laughed together. Now it was his turn to return the favor.
