A/N – In the episode 'Marco and the King,' the scene where River gave Marco his crown in despair made me think, 'What if he would have actually placed the crown on top of Marco's head, instead of merely handing it to him?' Honestly, even I've got to say, it probably wouldn't have made much difference. If anything, Marco would have most likely been momentarily shocked, quickly took it off in uneasiness, before going on with the rest of the episode like normal… end of story. But then I thought of an episode from the show Danny Phantom entitled 'Beauty Marked.' In it, Sam gets an enchanted ghost tiara placed upon her head which she cannot take off for the life of her. It is later revealed that only one of the royal family (from the section of the Ghost Zone that Sam was taken to) has the power to take the tiara off/on at will. This, in turn, made me wonder, 'What if the Butterfly's crowns worked the same way?' And thus, this fanfic was born!
Disclaimer – I own absolutely nothing! Also, this is NOT a crossover fic with Danny Phantom, I just got an idea from it.
Marco and the King
Ever since Queen Moon left the kingdom with their daughter Princess Star, King River had been partying hard! So much so, that after many days of such reckless behavior, chaos began to wreak havoc across the land amongst its own citizens. Unfortunately, River was too preoccupied with getting the next party started to notice the trouble brewing underneath his own nose. It wasn't that the king didn't care about his people to leave them to fend for themselves on purpose, in fact, he thought his parties were what made the people happy. After all, who doesn't enjoy getting down every once in a while! Only, the king's parties never seemed to have an end, and everyone was getting exhausted. So, to say the unexpected arrival of Star's best friend, Marco Diaz, was anything less than a miracle would be an understatement.
"Marco!" River shouted, excited to see a familiar face. Especially the face of the one he was already convinced was his daughter's boyfriend.
"Oh, hey River…" the boy began with a smile. Before he could finish, however, he found himself being crushed in a giant bear hug by the massive king.
"Marco, my boy! I can't believe you're here!" He started before asking about some monkey Marco clearly had no idea about. River cut off his own sentence when he heard a sudden crunch noise coming from between them. After taking a step back, the king found a weird, crumpled box pressed up against Marco's waist leaving a deep imprint into his hoodie, "Huh, what's this?"
"Well, they were Captain Blanche's Sugar Seeds," Marco pointed out, emphasizing the word 'were' as he noticed how the whole box was now ruined thanks to the previous hug the king shared, "it's, uh, Star's favorite cereal! You can't get them on Mewni, so I brought her a box."
River managed to maintain a straight face through Marco's explanation, but deep down, he was proud to hear how much the young boy truly cared about his beloved daughter. The teen was willing to literally jump between dimensions just to make her happy, even if all he did was bring her one of her favorite foods. He knew there couldn't possibly be anyone better for his little girl, but the protective father couldn't let this potential 'daughter stealer' know that! Without skipping a beat, he covered up his true emotions with scrutiny, "Marco, you're not giving that to my daughter, it's all smashed! Probably a good thing she's not here." He finished his sentence while walking away.
All Marco could do was sigh in exasperation.
River quickly took the opportunity to change the subject. Waving his hands in front of a giant set of speakers, he proclaimed, "Now there must be some other way to summon forth the music. We will rock at you!"
Marco, on the other hand, was not about to let the subject of Star go so easily, "Look, River, I've got to say, I'm pretty worried about Star. She left Earth in kind of a hurry. She's not in trouble or anything, right?" The Latino boy laughed nervously.
For about a whole second, River had the most dumfounded look on his face before he laughed it off, "No, not at all! She and her mother just took a little trip, and Moon-pie asked me to keep up around the kingdom until they get back. So, we've been rippin' it non-stop for daaaaayysss!" His face rapidly contorted from nonchalant, to nervous if not slightly worried, before ending with a carefree demeanor as he yelled out his last sentence while bobbing himself up and down.
Marco didn't find the king's words reassuring. Especially after considering the condition of the castle alone, he only grew more concerned, "I - I don't know man, have you… looked outside?" Marco asked while leading River out onto the nearby balcony.
"What do you mean, "Have I looked outside?"" River asked genuinely confused.
"What I mean is, morale doesn't look so high to me." Marco simply answered as they both looked over the kingdom. Needless to say, it was not a pretty sight. People were running around and screaming in the streets, garbage was littered everywhere, houses were in shambles, and one building was even on fire in the distance!
Despite the look of shock that initially adorned the king's face, he instantly wiped the expression away, "What are you talking about, Marco? The people are happy if their king is happy!" River exclaimed, not willing to immediately admit his obvious failure at truly keeping his people happy. But if that wasn't enough, he took it one step further by jumping upon the edge of the balcony, "Let me show you." he told Marco before addressing his citizens, "Greetings my gleeful subjects!" He shouted loud enough for everyone to hear. It worked, as everyone momentarily went silent and focused their attention towards their king. After shouting some sort of quick after-greeting that only his fellow Mewmans could understand, he continued his speech, "My know-it-all friend, Marco Diaz here, seems to think you're not having a good time, but I said that's impossible! Of course you're having a good time, with all these good times I'm having!" While he was talking, River failed to notice all of the distraught, horrified, sad, and downright blank faces the people had while listening to him, therefore he continued on still, "So tell me, are you not lifted!?" River finally finished his speech while raising both of his hands into the air, expecting his people to follow along.
Literally only one woman in the entire crowd gave out a shout of glee.
Everyone else took the opportunity to voice their opinions. "Hows about you lift some of this garbage out of the streets?" One man with a thick Scottish accent started the stream of complaints.
"Huh, is that what that stuff is?" The king asked nonchalantly, "I thought you were all having a garage sale."
"What are you going to do about that burning building?" another man asked, pointing directly to the beforementioned building that was on fire.
By then, Marco had an absolutely horrified look on his face, but River didn't seem to care as he replied to the citizen while keeping his carefree attitude intact. Although, one couldn't be too sure if River was keeping his eyes closed the entire time because of how little he cared, or if he was simply trying to keep his true emotions from showing through while he answered, "Well, you have to let one burn every once in a while. How else will you have room for a new one?"
"Well, what about that monster in the cornfield?" an old woman spoke up.
Finally, the king thought he had a complaint brought to him that held no merit, "There's no monster in the corn –"
"RRROOOAAAAARRRR!"
Key word being, 'thought.' Turns out the king was quite wrong as a ginormous monster really was seen out in the kingdom's local cornfield.
If nothing else, merely seeing that monster finally snapped at least a modicum of sense into the king, as he was only now willing to acknowledge there is a viable concern. And if the look on Marco's face wasn't already bad enough before, the expression he wore now certainly topped it.
"Huh, well I'll be dipped." River deadpanned. He was shocked, yes, but still willing to prove to his people he can handle it. Cracking his knuckles, he proclaimed in a confident voice, "Well, I should be able to take care of that." before calling out to the monster several times to go away while signaling with hand gestures for it to 'shoo.'
Unfortunately, the monster only seemed to take the king's order as a challenge, for instead of walking away, it started moving towards the kingdom.
River didn't panic yet, "Don't worry, she'll never make it past the magic shield!"
With a single step, the monster effortlessly stepped right over the shield, causing all the people to collectively gasp and scream in fear.
Now one could see the visible worry betraying the king's face, "There's still the moat! She'll never make it across the magic moat."
Again, a single step was all it took for the monster to not only cross the moat, but also crush it with its foot. Of course, it's not like things were any tougher for the monster when the moat was revealed to not have any water inside it!
River was finally starting to get desperate, "The magic traffic cones?" He asked more than replied.
The cones were nothing compared to the unstoppable might of the monster. The people were screaming even louder than before, with one man announcing they were all about to die, causing everyone to start running around in a panic.
"Hey! Thanks for partying us all to our deaths!" The same old lady who originally pointed out the monster in the first place screamed at the king.
Those were the words that did it. King River finally realized all of this was ultimately his fault, and he could not deny the truth of his fellow subjects' pain and suffering any longer. With tears stinging his eyes and a heavy heart, he admitted, "She's right, I'm not fit to rule." His eyes suddenly on the brink of releasing the water works, he turned to look directly at Marco, who was staring back with a sympathetic gaze.
Walking strait up to Marco, River took off his crown. Looking down at it for a moment, he thought of simply handing it over to the boy. Even Marco, sort of sensing the king's original plan, started lifting his own arms up a bit just so he could catch it. After looking back up into the teenager's eyes, however, all River could see was a natural born leader. Someone he believed was truly worthy of the crown. After all, Marco was the one who pointed out the condition of his kingdom and the morale of his people in the first place, proving the Latino's perceptiveness – a trait crucial to being a good ruler. Add on top of that how close Marco appeared to be with his daughter, the king was convinced the kingdom was bound to become his, eventually. At the last possible second, River did the unexpected. Within the blink of an eye, he turned the crown around, facing it outward, before placing it right on top of Marco's head.
"Wait, what?!" Marco shouted out of pure shock over the sudden turn in events. He was even rendered momentarily immobile cause he couldn't process what just happened right away – and that was all the time it took. Though it really wasn't all that long, in the time it did take Marco to snap back into reality, he couldn't help but notice a small, yet strong flash of light shine above his head for a split second. He could only assume it came from the crown, although he couldn't possibly understand why that would be. Before he could ponder on that any longer, he realized what – or rather who – he should be focusing on. "Um, wait a minute! River, what was that all about?" He turned his head only to catch a crying River already halfway through the balcony door just before he slammed it right in front of his face. "Hey!" Shouted the newly crowned boy.
Marco started sprinting towards the door after him, while along the way, attempting to take off the crown, "River! You can't just give me… your… crown…" In the middle of his exclamation, he realized the crown wouldn't come off. Stopping dead in his tracks, he tried a few more times hoping maybe his grip simply faltered, but it appeared not to be the case. No matter how hard he tried, the crown remained secured tight to his head as if somebody super-super glued it on! Marco wondered how this was possible, until he remembered that flash of light earlier. It came from the crown, it must be a part of this! Awestruck in more shock and now slight horror, Marco whispered to himself, "Oh River, what did you do?" Shaking off his fear, he continued to the door, but after some banging, he quickly realized it wouldn't budge. Luckily there was a small window just to the side of the door for Marco to look through. He saw River lying on the couch, still bawling his eyes out, before he glanced over to see the inside of the balcony door locked, "You locked me out!"
River briefly looked up to see Marco through the window, "Oh, no! Now I lock you on the balcony." He said in further despair.
Despite his clear annoyance over his predicament, Marco did not want to hurt the king's feelings any more than they already were, so he tried his best to be consoling, "It's okay," he strained to squeeze his head through the window, but the crown stuck to his head prevented him from doing so. The human had so many questions he wanted answered, but knew he would have to help solve the Mewman king's problems first, before he could work on his own. Keeping his further internal freak-out at bay, he settled with slipping his arm through instead, "just unlock the door!"
Marco's comment only seemed to make River all the more distraught as he held his hands over his eyes. "I can't do anything right!" The king cried out while lifting his cape over his face, "I can't do anything…" he couldn't finish his sentence as his blubbering grew louder and more erratic than before.
After a few more failed attempts at getting through the opening, as well as just trying to remove the crown in general, Marco resorted to the only thing he could do in his situation – shouting, "Hey, pull yourself together, man!"
"Moon should have never left me in charge!" River's cry was muffled from underneath his cape, "'The people love you' She said, 'Keep them happy and safe' she said," the king continued as he finally took his cape off, "and now, because of me, the kingdom is defenseless!" He gestured towards a hot tub with a couple of knights passed out inside of it, one of whom blew a party noise maker in their sleep. He turned his attention back to Marco still stuck on the balcony, "Moon didn't even tell me where she was taking Star! What if something happened to them? No wonder I want to party all the time, I'm worried sick!" River finished with his head in his hands and a sorrowful look on his face.
Marco couldn't help but look at the king with empathy. River's confession left Marco understanding exactly why the ruler was such an emotional wreck, leading to his festively destructive behavior – he couldn't cope with the thought of possibly losing the two people he loved the most! Marco couldn't blame him, and if the red hooded boy was being perfectly honest, a part of him sort of felt the same way, "I'm worried too. Star just… left!" He said, rubbing one hand behind his head, partly to express his feelings, partly as an excuse to subtly try taking off the crown again, "Do you have any idea when she'll be back?"
River seemed to perk up for a moment at Marco's question, "It's funny you should ask, Marco, let me show you something." He started getting up as he signaled for Marco to follow him, only for the Latino to stop him.
Seeing his shot at freedom, Marco took his chance, "Hey!" he shouted, effectively gaining the king's attention. Poking his arm through the window again, he simply points at the lock while saying, "Um, the door!"
"Ah, yes of course." River mumbled, finally unlocking the balcony door, "Sorry about that." He quickly added, formerly continuing with what he wanted to show Marco originally.
Marco merely rolled his eyes, but was thankful nonetheless.
"Now, as I was saying," River began, walking up to what appeared to be a giant closet of some kind, "whenever Moon goes away, she always puts together a few outfits for me, so I know what to wear while she's gone. But – but look at this!" He pointed his finger to the ceiling revealing many outfits stretching out just as high, "She's got them piled up, all the way to the top of the room," the king gave out a nervous laugh before it quickly morphed into more crying, "so it's probably, she's not coming back… anytime soon! Is she, Marco?" he wailed out in another burst of tears.
Marco didn't really know how to answer that, for he couldn't be sure himself. One thing he was certain of, however, was how Star and especially her mother were counting on River to take care of the kingdom in their absence, "I don't know, but they can't ever come home, if they don't have a home, to come home to."
"RRROOOAAARRRR" Another loud roar reverberated in the distance as the monster's ever approaching footsteps grew closer.
Reminded of the threat looming right outside the castle, River panicked once again, "I see what you're saying, this is the end to everything!" he replied, sitting down on the ground in an upright fetal position, rocking back and forth, sucking his thumb.
"No!" Marco began to clarify, leaning over behind the king at eye level, "It means you have to go lead your people."
"But they hate me," Objected River, turning towards Marco as more tears filled his eyes, "They've never hated me before!"
Spinning River around to face him completely, Marco proclaimed, "It doesn't matter," he kneeled to show the king the crown still fused to his head, while at the same time doing his best to retain eye contact, "you're the only king they have."
Marco's words hit River like a bus, "You sound just like my wife," again, he looked into those almond eyes of the teenager in front of him, reinforcing his previous judgements on Marco being a born leader, "and that's exactly why you would make a good ruler some day!" he briefly mentioned with heightened spirits.
"Huh!?" Marco exclaimed in confusion over River's words.
Ignoring Marco, River continued, "But for now, that's just what I need!" With a newfound fire in his eyes, the king stood up clenching his hands into fists, before running right past Marco for the balcony to address his people once more.
Before he got there, Marco called out to him again, "Wait!"
River turned around, "What is it now?" he asked annoyed.
Pointing at his head, Marco replied, "Your crown!" as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Aren't you going to take it back?" He may not have been able to get the crown off himself, but he figured if the king put it on him, he could get it off.
"Oh, right." Walking back to Marco, River hovered his hands on either side of the crown. However, once he saw himself in its reflection, he still couldn't see someone worthy of the crown – at least, not worthier than the one currently wearing it. The king put both his fists back to his sides with a resolute expression, "No!"
"WHAT!?" Marco yelled.
"I said no, Marco!" River reaffirmed, waving a hand in front of him in a rejecting manner, "I will not take it back."
"Well, why not?" Marco asked desperately, trying once more to yank it off. He didn't deserve this crown, it was River's! He was about to ask why he couldn't take it off, but River beat him to the punch.
"I need to prove my worth, Marco!" River proclaimed, putting his fists in front of himself in a fighting pose, "Show my people I have truly earned my right to wear that crown. Then, and only then, will I reclaim what is rightfully mine!" Raising his fists in the air, he started making his way back towards the balcony, "And the best way to do that, is by stopping that monster coming for us!"
Marco was left speechless. All he could do was follow behind River to the balcony, while having one last go tugging at the crown.
"My people, please listen!" River shouted out. His words fell on deaf ears as everyone continued screaming and running around in panic. The king persisted anyway, "We all – gah!" Well, at least one person was listening, but didn't seem to like what they were hearing as they hurled an ear of corn right at their king's face. "Okay, I deserved that." River waved it off.
Marco couldn't help but crack the smallest little smile at that.
"Look," River continued, "If the queen were here, she'd fix all this with her magic. Well, she's not here!" He placed one leg on the edge of the balcony wall, "But that doesn't mean we should cower in fear. We still have each other, and together, we can defeat this monster!" he declared while clenching a single fist in the air.
"No offence king, but you're a terrible king!" One woman, curled up on the ground, shouted.
River looked down at himself for second before putting his foot back down and speaking again, "You're right, I stink at this. But right now, I'm all you've got, and you're all I got!"
A guy within a group of three people who revealed themselves to be hiding underneath a flipped over wagon spoke up, "We can't do anything!" before a woman right next he him continued for him, "We don't have any weapons or magic!"
"We don't need magic to do extraordinary things!" River countered, then he pointed at two people in particular, "Dentist, construction worker! Remember when you two worked together to dislodge that tooth shaped rock in the road?"
The unlikely duo looked and nodded at each other with small, hopeful smiles.
"Blacksmith! You worked with the turtle sanctuary to make iron shells for the turtles in need."
The blacksmith held up a turtle wearing a metal shell, lightly hitting a tiny hammer on it to further prove the king's point.
Finally, the king pointed out two random people who were staring intently at each other over a barrel, "And you two weirdos hold the record for the longest staring contest."
Startled by the fact that their king just mentioned them, the guy gasped out an astonished cry that made him blink as he focused his attention to the king. This, in turn, made the woman he was having the contest with to shout out in joy, "Woohoo!" Once he realized what just happed, the guy put his hands over his eyes and cried out in defeat, "Aw, man, I lost!"
"We all can do something unique and helpful," River went back to lecturing his entire kingdom, "and that's Mewni's greatest strength, and it's what Queen Moon loves the most about all of you!"
The king's words actually seemed to inspire all of the citizens as they were now starting to talk amongst each other in a positive light. At least, until one person decided to rain on their parade, "Uh, I don't think any of that is going to help us defeat the monster." He pointed out as the monster was seen approaching closer still.
Disregarding the man, River was standing full on the balcony's edge now, "So, what do you say, let's show that monster what happens when it messes with Mewmans!"
Everyone started cheering, reared up for whatever comes their way now!
Jumping down from the balcony, River put an arm around Marco who was smiling proudly at the king for his speech. Then he called out for one of his servants, "Fetch us our loin cloths!" he said with a maniacal smile.
"What?" Marco asked in bewilderment.
Next thing anyone knew, King River burst through the doors of the kingdom's walls, wearing nothing but a leafy loin cloth around his waist. With a loud battle cry, he led his people for a frontal assault on the monster. Marco was running beside him in his own loin cloth, only he wore it outside of his normal clothes.
Running down the path, River bent down on his hands and knees licking the ground in some sort of weird wilderness tracking technique. "He's near." The king announced ominously.
"Yeah, he's right there." Marco pointed beside him, as the monster was clearly right next to them.
Climbing up a small hill, River stood his ground, "Hey, Monster!" He yelled out. The monster instantly turned its attention towards him. "Go away!" The king demanded, gesturing with his arms for it to leave.
The monster took a few more steps directly up to the king. Instead of crushing him or doing anything else one might expect such an enormous monster to do, however, the monster just stopped and started talking, "Go away? But, you're the one who called me over."
River stood there flabbergasted, "What! I didn't call you over."
"Yes you did." The monster insisted. Lifting his hands, he copied the kings previous hand signals, "You kept motioning, 'Come here, come here!'"
Not expecting the turn this whole situation had taken, River just began explaining, "No! No! I was motioning, 'Go away, go away!'" Waving his arms out trying to prove his point.
"No, that's 'Come here, come here.'" The monster retaliated again.
"No, it's 'Go away! Go away!'" The king once again clarified.
At this point, the monster sighed heavily, "So you're telling me I came all this way, for nothing!" Then he lifted one of his feet, "I got, like, a thousand splinters on this foot."
"Help!" A man that was revealed to also be stuck on the monster's foot rasped out.
"You might consider widening the streets a little," The monster decided to give a little advice before making his leave, "what a waste of my day."
River simply stood there with a blank face, not really understanding what just happened. The Mewman people, on the other hand, didn't care. Seeing the monster actually going away, they started cheering over their king's supposed 'victory.' Even Marco walked up to him, giving him a thumbs up.
Grabbing Marco's wrist, River held their arms up in triumph, "We did it!" he declared, feeling proud of himself for protecting his people – even if it was in a rather unorthodox way. "Everyone, I'm holding one final off-the-chain party at the castle, in honor of all of you!"
"Three cheers for King River!" The blacksmith shouted.
"Hip, hip, hooray! Hip, hip, hooray! Hip, hip, hooray!" Everyone chanted before erupting into more spontaneous cheering.
Marco took the opportunity to remind River about his crown, "You did good, River." Marco complimented.
Placing a hand on the Latino's shoulder, River felt the need to share the credit, "I couldn't have done it without you, my boy."
Marco shrugged, "Still, I would say you've earned your crown." He said while bending down slightly so the king could reclaim his royal property.
"Ah, yes," The king said with confidence, "I think I can wholeheartedly agree!"
Finally! Marco thought with relief. Once again, River's hands were mere inches away from grabbing the object off his head…
"Hooray!" A sarcastic voice nobody recognized sounded above the crowd. Everybody turned to see the enemy Ludo, riding on the back of his trusty spider with his eagle behind him, and the glow of half a wand attached to his hand. The interruption also distracted River from retrieving his own crown.
Seriously?! Marco's thought essentially had a double meaning behind it. On one hand, he was concerned about the new threat which just presented itself at the worst possible moment. On the other, he was really getting fed up with being forced to wear this crown that, for reasons he could not begin to fathom, won't come off for the life of him!
"Hip, hip, hooray… indeed." Ludo said in a sinister tone as he commanded an entire army of rats to invade the kingdom.
A/N – First, for those of you who might be questioning why River referred to the monster as a 'she' at first, only to switch to 'he' later on, it is only because I was watching and rewatching this episode more than enough times just to make sure I got all the dialogue right, and I kid you not, that is honest to goodness how River referred to the monster in the episode. Now, I do plan on continuing this fic going right into the episode 'King Ludo' next, which is where I will finally give an explanation as to why Marco can't take off the crown. Believe me, I tried to find a good place to put it into this chapter, but with the way I wrote it, there was just no place I could put it that wouldn't have made it seem too shoehorned in, or make Marco seem insensitive over River's emotional state.