Knight in a red hoodie.
Chapter 1 – Goodbye earth, Hello Mewni
Marco opened his eyes, today was the first day of summer vacation, it was a quiet morning, the trees outside quietly rustled in the wind, his room was just the same as it had always been. There was a Mackie hand poster on his wall, his laptop sat on his desk closed, and toys from his childhood lined the shelves on his wall. All exactly how it always had been, he rolled over, on his bedside table was a pair of scissors, Marco's dimensional scissors, he earned them when he was kidnapped by Hekapoo, and dragged into a 16 year long manhuntm. It was a gruelling task but he was glad he went through it, for now he was ready for anything life could throw at him. Whilst he was in there he learned to sword fight, he learned how to read, speak and write Mewnian, the native language of his best friend in the whole world. He looked at his door the boring wood stared back at him. He wanted it to burst open, shards of wood scattered all over the floor, as his best friend ran in to drag him off for another wild adventure in a different dimension, but it didn't, and it never would again. Star was gone and she wasn't coming back, he turned over in his bed again, recalling last night.
"I do have a crush on you." Star blurted out, everyone at the party gasped in awe at the revelation, Starfan13 even fainted, Ponyhead announced that she had called it. "I didn't want to admit it, because I know you don't feel the same way, and I though if I just pretended the feelings weren't there, they'd go away, but they haven't. I have to leave Earth, probably forever, and I couldn't go without telling you the truth." She turned and ran up the stairs bidding everyone goodbye, tears streaming down her face. Marco ran after her, what else could he do, his best friend was crying and it was all his fault. When he got to her room he opened the door as the magic began fading from it, her room transformed back into the regular old spare bedroom they had had a year ago. Marco sat there in silence, Jackie came up to check on him but his parents sent her away to let him sort it out himself, he needed time alone to deal with what just happened. They ended the party and sent everyone home. Marco went to bed as soon as everyone was out of the house.
Marco got up in his bed finally, his back was sore, he probably shouldn't have slept the way he did. But that didn't bother him right now, it's not like he has anywhere to be. He checked the time, 11:02am, he had slept in, but last night had been quite exhausting for him, he was allowed this much. He picked up his phone, a text from Jackie, "Hey, I hope you are feeling ok, give me a call if you need to talk, alright?" She had clearly spent quite a while writing that text, normally she would have skipped at least a few letters here and there, but clearly this time she wanted to make sure that she send the right words. He was the same, he knew he needed to respond to her as well, but he wasn't sure what to even say to her. His best friend just confessed her feelings for him right in front of his girlfriend, and then he ran of after her. Marco looked at the scissors again, remembering how his life changed in the past year, a year ago he was the safe kid. Known for never taking any risks in his life, but now he was Marco Diaz, dimensional travelling karate red-belt sidekick to the magical princess Star Butterfly. He had fought monsters he had no idea even existed, he had been to worlds he never would have dreamed of. And most unlikely of them all, now he was dating Jackie-Lynn Thomas, his unrequited crush since kindergarten. He had changed so much and it was all thanks to Star. He picked up his scissors, thinking about Star, just about her, about how she would probably be crying in her room right now after leaving earth. He clutched them tightly in his fist. "I've made up my mind" He said as he got up out of his bed.
His backpack was placed down on his bed. A spare hoodie, 3 t-shirts, 3 pairs of jeans, a torch, and a bunch of snacks were placed into the bag filling it to it's brim. He zipped it up then he grabbed his fanny pack and placed that next to the bag, he was almost ready. He wrote a note to his parents, then picked up his phone and wrote a text to Jackie. "I'm sorry, but I'm going after Star..." he started writing the text but couldn't find the words to finish it. He wanted to tell her not to wait for him, and that she still mattered to him but that Star also mattered a lot and he didn't want to see her crying. But he couldn't find the words and in the end he decided not to send it after all, It would just make Jackie feel bad if he sent a text without thinking it through properly and he didn't want to waste anymore time. Every second he wasted was a second that Star spent crying alone in her room. He grabbed his bag and the scissors and opened a portal. He took a deep breath of earth air, possibly the last of it he would ever breath. "You decided this on your own Marco, can't be the safe kid forever." He said aloud and stepped through the portal.
Meanwhile in the Butterfly castle.
"Star, are you alright in there?" there was a knock on her door, Star was awake, or rather she hadn't slept. She was too worried, she had just told Marco how she felt about him then ran away. She felt awful, and now she was stuck in Mewni, all because Toffee had returned.
"I'm coming in star" A voice at the door said as the handle pressed down, her mother Moon Butterfly walked in, "Star I know it's a bad time, but this is important." She sat down on the bed next to her daughter. "Me and your father did some talking just now and we decided that we need to build a Tramorfidian wall to stop dimensional travel to and from earth so that Toffee can't attack your friends to get to you again. But we don't have anyone with enough power to do it, we have the resources but not the magic, so we would like to use the wand to power it." She said. Star looked terrified, now she was going to lose her magic as well. She was so angry at that bastard lizard she wanted to remove all of toffee's fingers one by one then feed them to him. "If we don't do it then toffee will go after Marco again. Won't he?" Star said holding back tears.
"Most likely." Moon responded holding her daughter.
"Alright then." Star handed the wand to her mother. "I don't think I have the heart to do it myself."
"Don't worry Star, we will get Toffee, and then you can go back to earth. If you still want to." Moon responded.
"Thanks mom." Star replied finally falling asleep.
Moon exited the room, her hands clutching the wand as it transformed.
Somewhere in the Mewni dimension.
Marco stepped out into a corn field. It was terrifying, he was leaving his home and he had no idea when he would be back, If he ever went back. But he was certain in his convictions, he needed to bring star back with him, or die trying. "I thought I was getting pretty good with these but I couldn't quite get Stars location. Ah there must be one of those trimorfilidelphian crystals at the castle, I know I would want to stop people from using scissors to get into the royal family's house." Marco looked around, he was in a field and it was a big one, there seemed to be kilometres of corn in every direction. Marco spotted a carriage in the distance. "Guess I'll aim for that." Marco said as he cut through the air with his scissors, he stepped through the portal and was just a bit ahead of the carriage in the road. However when he stepped out of the portal he heard a sound, next to him, it couldn't be the carriage it was too far away, he turned around and spotted some highway men hiding in the bushes next to him. He quickly got into a fighting stance and kicked one of them in the face, knocking him out instantly. This took them all by surprise and the remaining three jumped Marco. However the boy was well trained in karate and had fought an army of monsters before, he was more than ready for a few highwaymen. He managed to down one of them with a solid chop to the head then the other two drew swords. Marco did not have a sword, but he knew how to use one, He began beating on one of them, moving as he fought so as to keep out of range of the other one. After downing the third he retrieved the sword from his unconscious body and took on the last one standing. His training in Hekapoo's dimension seemed to have translated over well, he didn't have the same stature as before and he certainly didn't have the abs but he was still a force to be reckoned with. A few quick strikes showed Marco that this was clearly an amateur swordsman he was fighting and he ended up defeating them with little problem.
As Marco stepped back the carriage had reached him. The driver stopped and the passenger stepped out. It was a man in noble clothing, Marco had seen Mewman nobles before, he always thought they looked silly since the suits looked quite bizarre compared to suits on earth. Closer to something a character would wear in a comedy skit than actual clothes. The man walked up to Marco and noted the unconscious highwaymen around him.
"I suppose I owe you a debt of gratitude..." The man said leading for Marco to give him his name.
"It's no problem" Marco said taking the sheath from one of the highwaymen and putting his new sword in it. These guys stole from other people, at least this way they would be down a sword.
"Oh no I Insist, My name is George Lionheart, please at least let me give you a lift." The noble said as he got back into the carriage. "Come on. Hop in." He said holding the door open. Marco got into the carriage with him and took a seat across from George.
"Can I ask your name?" George asked as the carriage took off again, down the dirt path.
"Marco. Marco Diaz." Marco responded looking around the carriage, it was a fancy piece of work he was sure of that, he had seen the carriage that Star often got taken to and from Mewni in, as her parents had no idea they had scissors at the time, and recognised some of the same patterns and materials.
"That's not a very common name, but not one that isn't muttered often in the circles I'm in." George said leaning in. " 'Who is the boy in the earthly attire?' and such.." He finished.
"I had been trying to blank that day from my memory." Marco responded with looking uncomfortable.
"Given that you are here in Mewni. I'm guessing you will be on your way to visit the Princess?" George asked.
"Well, yeah that was the plan, but not quite yet." Marco responded.
"Really, word is already travelling that the princess is back on Mewni, without her beloved, someone may come and snatch her away whilst you are away." George pressed the issue.
"It's just that I don't know what to say to her, she just told me she loved me then left. No reason why she had to leave either. She just ran away." Marco said relaxing back on the seat.
"Well I know what it might be." George said with a stern look. "Last night the magic high commission lead an assault on where Ludo was last seen, this is top secret but I have a source of my own that informed me, They were defeated, horrifically. Whilst the queen made it out safe, most of them had their magic drained severely. They are all in the castle resting now. Well the survivors at least."
"What?, they were defeated? By Ludo?" Marco asked in disbelief, surely Ludo, the same ludo that Star and Marco had beaten on for over a year was not able to defeat the high commission, even If he had the wand.
"My source tells me that it wasn't Ludo, but Toffee." George said, staring daggers at Marco.
"No, no no no, Toffee is dead, I saw him blow up." Marco said.
"Well my source has never been wrong about anything before." George said.
"My lord we have arrived at your home." The driver said.
"Perfect, Marco, you should join us for lunch. My source is staying here and you probably have some questions for him." George said stepping out of the carriage. Marco followed shortly afterwards.
George's estate was quite large, the central courtyard they arrived in was flanked on both sides by wings of the building, combined with the section in front of them the house formed a squared 'U' shape. George invited Marco in, and Marco saw no reason to decline. The interior was very lavishly furnished, deep red carpets with gold trim covered the floor and stairs. The walls were a dark wood at the bottom which changed to light red plaster about halfway up the wall. There was a central staircase that led up to the second floor across the foyer from the entrance. There was a butler present as the master of the house entered with his guest.
"Jeeves, inform the cook that there will be another dining with us today." George said as he entered.
"Very good sir." The butler responded.
"Follow me Marco, this way to the dining room." George said leading Marco through the hallway into a double door. The room they entered had a large table with 16 seats at it seven on either side with a single seat at the head and foot of the table, there was a small green man floating above the table in the centre digging into a packet of sweets. He reminded Marco of Glossaryck but didn't have the gem in his head.
"Leoryk, good to see you again." George said as he walked to take a seat across from him.
"And it is good to see you as well, my lord." The small man said.
"This is..." George started gesturing to Marco and inviting him to sit down.
"AHH, Mr Butterfly, It is good to finally meet you." Leoryk said greeting Marco. Then taking a gummy worm from the bag.
"Erm, I'm not Mr Butterfly, my name is Diaz. Marco Diaz" Marco corrected him.
"Sorry, future sight, messes with your perception of time sometimes, That greeting will be correct soon enough though." Leoryk said dismissing Marco's complaint then chewing on the worm.
"I'm sorry but who are you?" Marco asked taking a seat. "You look a lot like Glossaryck."
"Well me and him certainly are similar, where he was born from the Butterfly family book of spells. I was born from the Lionheart family book of spells." Leoryk said, eating the head off a gummy bear.
"Wait the Lionheart family has a wand too?" Marco asked in disbelief.
"What, no, heavens no. Wands whilst certainly cool are not nearly as refined enough for our magic." George said, as he did this he picked up the knife from the table and slashed through the air. Leaving a small line of sparkling energy above where he cut. "Whilst most magic users will make use of all the magic they can to cast a spell." He grabbed the magic he cut and compressed it in his fist. "We take only the purest and most powerful magic, the good creamy bit on the top." he opened his hand and a flock of birds flew out. "To cast a far more concentrated spell, without using as much magic." George finished his demonstration as the birds flew out the open window.
"So this magic is handed down in your family?" Marco asked intrigued by this new kind of magic he was seeing.
"It has been, and I will most likely be the last." George said with a sad look on his face.
"Why is that?" Marco asked, not certain if he should ask the question or not.
"Because I have no heir, nor will I. Many years ago, back when Toffee first rose to power, my lands were in his marching line, the royal family decided to wall up inside the city, a smart move, and many of my people were evacuated so as to save our soldiers for when the main battle was fought. However they arrived sooner than expected. My family was still leading the evacuation at the time and my wife, was..." George broke down in tears.
"It's ok I get the picture. You don't need to go on if you don't want to." Marco said comforting him.
"Your food sir." Jeeves said entering the room with a trolley with some food on it. Marco and George ate in silence. It felt awkward to go onto a lighter topic after making George relive that. Afterwards George offered Marco a place to stay for a while. "Until he decided to go for the Princess." Marco didn't really have anywhere else to be so he figured it would work out, at least for now.
In The butterfly castle
"Are you sure about this dear?" River Butterfly asked his wife.
"You have seen the state our daughter is in, we need to do something about it, and we don't have time to beat around the bush." Moon responded, taking out her dimensional scissors. "This may well be the last time anyone ever travels to earth."
"Better make it count then." River replied moving next to his wife.
She cut open a portal and the pair stepped through. They emerged just outside the Diaz household. They approached the door and rang the bell. They were greeted by a crying Mrs Diaz.
"What on earth is wrong Angie?" Moon asked.
"It's Marco, he is gone." She replied. "Rafael is out looking for him now, but I think he might have been kidnapped again." She cried out again.
"Let's head inside to talk this over." River said entering the house.
"Would you mind if I checked Marco's room? I may find something useful up there." Moon asked Angie. She nodded as she sat down on the sofa as river tried to comfort her.
Moon walked into Marco's room. It was clean, there was no sign of a struggle. Then she used her magic, she checked for traces of dimensional rifts in the room, there were quite a lot of clutter, clearly Star and Marco had been cutting rifts in this room a lot, but most seemed from quite a while ago. There were only two from today, one exiting from the room and one entering. However the order of the two was backwards from how a kidnapping would have looked. The exit rift came first, then the entrance, and what's more there was no corresponding exit rift for the enterance. There was a thud from the closet. A pair of eyes then appeared through the holes in the door. The door smashed open and the monster hiding within jumped to attack the queen. She retaliated throwing the monster over her head and into the wall. "Who sent you?" She demanded.
"Toffee wanted the boy again, but it seems like he has already gone after the Princess, I'm glad I waited though, now I will be able to deliver the queen's head to him instead." The monster said charging her again.