Just over a year has passed since the battle against Meteora, a day close to the one in which Toffee was also defeated. People have since named it The Day of Persistence and Sacrifice, as a sign that the kingdom can survive anything while their Queen fights for them and their allies, who do everything in order to stop the forces of evil.

The holiday was in full swing, but not everyone was having fun. One such individual, was Star Butterfly. She hadn't smiled once since that shaking battle, and there were two big reasons for this: her mother was still missing, and she had a huge fight with Marco. Some of her other best friends tried to encourage her to see the bright side of the rebuilding kingdom of Mewni, but no one succeeded in getting her out of her depression.

At the end of the holiday, Eclipsa was supposed to give a speech, but Star decided to slip away in advance so she wouldn't burst into tears. It was completely unlike her; at least it was, a year ago. Which is why it did not go unnoticed. River and Eclipsa managed to catch her as she fled to her room.

"My dear," said River, "I'm sorry that you're so upset, but a year has passed. I hoped that you would calm down…like the rest of us have..."
"Daddy!" Star hugged her father, "I want so bad to just...feel better, but moms still missing after all this time, and I can't forgive myself for my fight with Marco..."

Her eyes filled with tears and River began stroking her golden hair in hopes of reassuring his daughter. Eclipsa waited for Star calm down a bit, then gently placed her hand on the girl's shoulder, slowly turning her. "Star, people fight sometimes. They're a part of our lives, and you cannot avoid them, " she said with a soft smile.

"Pumpkin, Eclipsa is right, do you know how many times I fought with King Ponyhead? More times than there are kernels on a cob!" He said with a deep laugh. "But you always got along again, right?" answered Star with a sniffle.
"Yes, of course, my dear," sighed River.

"But I... I don't know how to tell Marco how sorry I am..." Eclipsa gave Star another reassuring smile. "Star, you don't need to speak with him in person, just write him a letter," she suggested.
"A letter?" Star asked with a hint of surprise to her voice. "But isn't this the same thing?"

"No, my dear, the letter is different because you can always write something you can't say in person. It will never judge you, and your feelings won't get in the way as much, because you can re-read and correct what you've written with a level head. And of course, you can choose to not send it, since writing it already helps you."
"Thank you," whispered Star. "I guess I didn't think about that! I'm gonna go write one right now!"

Star hugged her father and Eclipsa, then bolted down the hall to her room. River was glad that his daughter's mood had finally improved, but he felt deep regret that Moon was still missing. She would have long ago dealt with this...

"Eclipsa, do you think this will help Star?" River asked as he turned to her. "Finally and immediately?" she asked. Eclipsa shook her head. "I don't think so. I'm afraid only time can help Star. But she is strong, so I think she'll find a way to cope. She just needs to spill her feelings to Marco."

"Then we will give her some time. But I still wanted her to listen to your speech at the end of the day."

"Don't worry, River, I'll make sure she's there with you for it."

Having agreed, the two parted ways, River going to save drinks from King Ponyhead, and Eclipsa deciding to rehearse her speech again.

xXx

At first, Star thought writing was easy, but it took her hours just to finally put pen to paper, the sun already setting. After spending a bottle of ink, writing a bunch of drafts, the letter was done. Pausing for a moment, Star decided to check it, one last time…

x

Hi Marco! We haven't talked for so long (a whole year!), and this is longer than last time, so I'll start with the good news!

We rebuilt the castle and the city, and we also restored the villages, so now they're even better than before. Like, soo many kingdoms helped us, so I'm glad that we have the allies. Well, they didn't help out during the battle, but their help with the kingdom's restoration was invaluable.

We reconciled with the Magic High Commission(except Rhombulus. Glossaryck said he behaved like a "big child" and didn't want to communicate with us. But he shouldn't be offended!). After the fight with Meteora, I understood their fears for a bit (although, in my opinion, it was their actions that led to what they were afraid of), and I am grateful to Hekapoo for helping you, even though I kicked her out.

Oh! By the way, The Commission showed us an ancient noble and birthright document. It turns out that we, the descendants of queen Festivia, are not false Butterflies! Yup, queen Festiva is not the daughter of Eclipsa, but the daughter of her fourth-cousin. She married one duke, but she died with her husband during one of the monster attacks (her husband pissed off one of Septarians). The MHC hid their daughter and declared her dead, so that the lizards wouldn't kill her either. Surprisingly, it came in handy later when they needed someone to replace Princess Meteora. I've been racking my brain from where we got symbols on our cheeks, because I honestly thought that this was a feature of the Butterfly family only! Turns out it's just exposure to magic that gives them to you.

By the way, about Eclipsa. The MHC (Hekapoo and Omnitraxus) have pleaded guilty to the royal family. They hope that this time Meteora will grow into a good Mewman(or monster? Mewster?), but promised to look after her. In turn, Eclipsa and I decided to do everything to prevent Heinous from returning.

Meteora is such a sweet little baby now! She is already walking a little, and I hope that she won't be as mischievous as I was when I was her age, otherwise, it won't be easy with her (she can climb up the walls!). And recently, she said her first word. You'd be surprised, but it was actually your name! Oh, names! Do you remember that word Glossaryck has been repeating all the time? Globgor?

Globgor is the name of Eclipsa's monster-husband! Damn blue jerk, he was pretending the whole time! But that's not all, it turned out that Globgor is alive! He was also frozen in a crystal and this crystal is placed, guess where - in that monster temple! Stupid Rhombulus disappeared somewhere, and we can't actually break the crystal, yet. Now Eclipsa visits her husband every day, after work. Oh, you wanna know which work? Eclipsa became regent instead of me. Firstly, she is the former queen, secondly, she is older. And thirdly...

And thirdly...well Marco, the good news ends now, I guess.

Mom is still missing. And I spend all my free time looking for her. Dad and I are sure that she is alive, but where to look for her... we don't know. I really miss her!

Tom and me... We broke up, but don't think it's your fault! We made the same mistake as you and Jackie - we didn't have as many adventures together, we weren't being honest with each other, I was busy with royal affairs, Tom was obsessed with becoming better than you and just... was not serious. We both screwed up, but on the bright side, we remained good friends.

I had an argument with Kelly; she blamed me for being a bad friend for you. She said that I put you in an awkward position at that party on Earth, put you between me and Jackie, which led to your break up. And after you came back, I was acting like a jerk: sending you to hell (if I knew how dangerous laundry was, I would never have done that). And then the damn booth... Why did I drag you there? Kelly liked you and I can understand why she acted like that. I was being really selfish.

After you went back to Earth, I decided to forget you, and my feelings for you; trying to replace you with Tom. But after the battle with Meteora, I realized something, Marco. I understood my feelings for you. I was so dumb. You immediately became soo close to me, closer than anyone else I've ever known. You listened to me, you helped me, I could trust you with everything and so much more! And after the Blood Moon Ball, I gradually began to see as something more than my best friend, if slowly at first. And I tried burying my feelings, but I couldn't kill them. Not on Earth, and not on Mewni. I... love you, Marco. And I will always love you. What a pity I didn't understand myself before you started dating Jackie, and discovering yourself. What a pity I hurried with Tom, I hurt all of us. What a pity that I can't tell you just... how much I love you. Because... Because...

Because you died, Marco. You gave your life to save us all. I made another mistake, not talking to you after that kiss in a booth. You threw away everything in your life, just for me, and i just yelled at you before the battle. I told you a bunch of stupid things, hoping that you would just go back to Earth, but I sent you to the grave.

I was so afraid to see your parents. They were supposed to hate me, because I took their son away, and then got him killed. But... Your parents don't blame me. When me, dad, Eclipsa, your team, came to talk about you... they already knew what had happened (I didn't understand how they knew, but Eclipsa said something about "mother's intuition").

Your mother hugged me so tenderly, and I was so shocked. She had already cried about you, and your father was holding on. They don't blame me for what happened, they were glad that your sacrifice wasn't for nothing. I was alive. They said that I always have been and will be, a daughter to them. Eclipsa was worried all this time too, she thought that Diazes would hate her. And again your parents surprised us.

They were touched by Meteora, and were horrified at how St. Olga raised her, turning her into Heinous. Smiling sadly, your mother said to Eclipsa: "You're not the only one who got a second chance." Then she led us to your room. We went into it and found that you... that you became a brother, Marco! You have a cute little sister (I was surprised by it because that ultra-thing said you were gonna get a brother, but your dad said that it can be wrong sometimes). Marco Jr. didn't suit her well, so your parents named her Mariposa Marceline.

Then we decided to discuss your funeral, and I... And I couldn't stay. I still couldn't handle that you died. Locking myself in my former room, I broke down again. I didn't want to see anyone for the rest of the day.

But then, I suddenly remembered: The All-seeing Eye! I had pulled the wand out and cast the spell. I was already on the edge of my seat because I knew I'd get to see you and... The Eye showed nothing but darkness. Black, not you. Everything inside me broke off. But then I thought, maybe this is how I can find my mother.

Concentrating on her, I discovered that the Eye remained black. I was just about horrified, but I wanted to be sure. Trying to see dad, nothing changed. So I asked around. Later, Eclipsa and Glossaryck said that when I tried to find you, the spell curled into itself and it would be useless until they could figure out how to unravel it. Tired of my feeling hopeless and broken, I fell asleep.

I slept long enough, almost sleeping through a knock at the door. But finally, I woke up when I heard a voice that I didn't expect to hear.

"Star, are you there?" it was Jackie. "Star, if you are there, please open up, we need to talk." I was ready for Jackie to blame me for your death, I was so prepared for it... But… I was wrong again. Opening the door, Jackie hugged me. When she saw my reaction, she said: "Did you really think that I would hate you? I know that you, more than any of us, didn't want Marco to die, and I know how bad you feel right now."

Jackie's eyes were red from tears. "You already know what happened?" I asked. "Yes", said Jackie, "Marco's parents told me. I was at school at the moment and when I heard, I just, burst into tears right there. Everyone rushed to find out what was wrong and when they found out the reason, they were horrified.

Even Janna. She wanted to immediately rush to support you, but decided that I should be the first to say hi." We sat on the floor. "I suppose everyone in school hates me now?" I asked. "Almost no one. I heard only Brittney, she said she wasn't surprised that Marco died because of you.

She wanted to continue, but Starfan threw a chair at her," Jackie laughed after that phrase, "I think she wanted to throw something else again, but Ferguson and Alfonzo stopped her. They don't blame you either, maybe a little for kidnapping Marco from them. They wanted you to not blame yourself, because Marco wouldn't want you to either. And I also think so." After sitting a little more, we went downstairs.

A lot of people came. They came to comfort your parents. Jackie was right, nobody blamed me. Janna silently hugged me, Alfonzo and Ferguson also hugged me, saying they were glad to see me. Sensei was crying. From his sobs, I get that everyone in the dojo was saddened, even Jeremy. After you left, he had no one to bother. Maybe he tried to make friends, in some weird way? Well, or he just matured while you were gone. Sensei said that Jeremy ordered a statue in honor of you and decided to put it in the dojo.

Then i meet your parents again. They decided not to do the official funeral, because there was not even a body left of you. They said they wanted to just hold a service to remember the life you lived. Tom was next, and he told me that he tried to bring your soul, like that film actor, but he failed. It scared him, because this was the first time this had ever happened. He promised me that he would find a way to get you back. For me and you. Yeah, it was a terrible moment, but it was then that we broke up. Jenna volunteered to help him, but they didn't succeed.

A year has passed. When I thought that Glossaryck was dead, my mother said to let him go. I was able to do it, but he was alive and came back. But I can't let you go. If I let you go, I will forget you someday. And I do not want to forget, because I love you. And I promise, we will meet again, in this world or in the next.

XOXO, your best friend, Star Butterfly.

xXx

Tears poured from girl's eyes, dripping on the inked paper. Star shoved the letter into an envelope and sealed it, indicating Marco as the addressee. After that, she incinerated the envelope with magic. Eclipsa was right, she felt better. Then there was a knock at the door. "Star, have you finished? Would you care to listen to my speech? I can come back another time if you need some space." It was Eclipsa. The Princess left the room and went along with her. Although she was very tired, she couldn't miss this.

Most of the words slipped by her, too sad to hear, but she heard Eclipsa praising her and Marco for all that they had done in the fight against Toffee and Meteora. And she thanked Marco for the fact that he managed to stop Meteora...if at the cost of his life. Not killing her, but giving a chance for a second life. At the end of the speech, everyone raised their glasses.
"For Marco Diaz, a man that does not know how to give up and ready to sacrifice everything, for the sake of those who are dear to him!"

Author's note: I came up with this story almost immediately after the end of the third season, so there are deviations from the canon, but not strong ones. The main differences - Star and Marco did not discuss their feelings in the Booth, Star with the help of her Butterfly™ form just pulled out the doors. Later, this led to a major fight with between them, right before the battle. This led to Marco defeating Meteora with a Wand, but with a different spell, which led him to... what resulted. And Marco's sister has a double name, since I originally named her Marceline, as a female variation of Marco's name, sort of (yes, I was know that Junior would be a sister). Maybe later I will write a prequel story if anyone is interested and Ronald will not refuse to correct my text (English is not my native language).