This one was a story I wrote months ago, but never got around to editing fully. It is a 'what if' for S3, where Marco gathers support to help Star and her family. It's a bit dark, but hope you all like it. Tell me if you want another one-shot or two to continue this :). The next 'Wholesome Week 2' one shot should come out tonight.
Storming the Butterfly Castle
Marco is strapping on armor across his body; knee guards, leather sleeves and a bullet proof vest. He is inside a fire dimension, one that he is all too familiar with from a specific sixteen year trial. He throws on a torn-up read hoodie over the vest and digs into his black pants. Taking out a special pair of scissors, he opens them up. For a faint moment, he spots the familiar face of a blond princess before quickly closing them back together.
"Marco, are you ready?" male voice emits.
"I will be soon Tom. Just…you know, this dimension brings back memories." Tom puts his arm around Marco.
"I went through those trials too man. Took ten years to get mine." The demon rubs his head. "The memories are still a bit fuzzy but I did remember having fun."
Marco grows a wide grin and chuckles. "You know? I do remember having fun too." Marco punches the demons arm. "Thanks for the pep talk."
"No problem." Tom points toward the doorway. "We need you to come and detail the plain." The two walk out of the room and let the door close behind them. They are inside a large castle, but it"s all worn out. Tapestries being slightly torn and faded, railings beginning to fade out, and the intense heat from the fire keeps the castle halls ensures the air is always thick. Marco remembers coming back here the day he got his dimensional scissors from the High Council of Magic Member Heckapoo; a sad smile comes across his face.
Tom and Marco enter the room, seeing familiar faces across a large oval table. Janna is lounging back on her chair, feet laying on the table's surface. Pony Head is gently floating but having a dead serious look on her face; she is normally far calmer but considering the situation, the horse head has a mission to complete. In the corner of the room are two large creatures slowly eating some food, with the spider racing up to Marco once he walks closer.
"Oh, hello girl!" Marco pets the spider's head. "Daddy is going to need you to help us, so eat and be strong okay?" The spider purrs and the bird offers a joyful expression over its eyes. "You watch out for your sister okay?" The bird screeches and Marco pets its beak. He heads to the table, with eyes watching him. "What?"
"You really took a liking to Ludo's pets." Janna teases, having a sly grin on her face.
"Well they were stuck on Earth! I couldn't just leave them alone now could I?" Marco looks behind his chair, smiling at them. "Besides, they are sweet once you get to know them. But enough of that! We have a plan to act out." Marco snaps his fingers, starting the meeting.
"So we are going to Castle Butterfly to find Star and her parents." Tom states. "But we have to deal with armies of monsters guarding the gate."
"Can't we just snip snip snip our way through the castle walls?" Janna asks, making a cutting motion with her hands.
"No Janna." Marco says with a sad tone. "The castle is protected by an anti-dimension force field, so we can't use our scissors to get inside the castle." He rubs his chin. "But we don't want to storm through town that will cause everyone to panic and alert more monster forces."
"Why not just go through sneak style?" Pony Head offers. "I know a secret side-path to the castle that I used when hanging out with B-Fly."
"Great idea!" Marco shouts with joy. "But we should still be ready for a fight. So, let's go over how this is going to work. Tom, you will be backing up Janna using your fire magic. Janna, you will back up Tom and heal us. Pony Head, you will team up with my girls." Marco points to the spider and bird. "They will back you up. You will need to guard the throne room while I storm through the castle and head into the dungeons."
"What are you going to do there?" Tom asks teasingly.
"Well, I'm going to get the King and Queen out. You have your army guarding my house right Tom?" He nods. "Good, they will protect them on Earth while I look for Star. Once I find her, we will take on Toffee and finally end things."
"So you are, like, going to be the hero?" Pony Head asks.
"No." Marco shakes his head. "If I was a "hero", I would have not let things get this bad."
Tom puts his arm around Marco's shoulder. "Look man, you didn't know she was in major danger. She left so soon, you had no idea what was going on. Besides you did training with me and got your black belt in karate." He looks at Marco right in the eyes. "You are ready now. That is what's important."
"Thanks man." Marco smiles
"Get a room." Janna teases.
"Ugh…okay, so now we are all set. We will be leaving in the next two hours." Marco gets up. "Thank you all for fighting with me. We will get Star back!" Everyone cheers and gets ready for a long battle ahead.
The Butterfly Castle, a location housing the royal family, is loaming in the distance. Six figures are walking toward the castle. A hooded boy leads the team, pointing toward. As if commanded, a bird creature rockets across the sky and bashes the door down. "MOVE!"
Everyone follows suit, with the boy racing forward and using a flaming blade to cut anyone in his path. A floating head hovers near the boy's side. "This is the place? I'm sure they moved her…"
"She's here." The hooded boy says with conviction. He leaps in the air and lands a kick toward one of the guards. They fly back and hit the stone walls of the throne room. "Spider, come here." The spider creature walks up to hooded boy. "Trap them in place." The spider nods and shoots its webbing at the monsters, pinning them down.
A wave of fire storms behind the hooded boy, the horse head, bird and spider. "Geez Marco. You gotta cool it."
He takes off his hood. "Funny you are the one saying that Tom." The demon grins back at Marco and lightly punches his arm.
"So where is Starship?"
Marco looks around and tightly holds his chest. "She is in the castle dungeon with the king and queen. Toffee is on the top of the castle. Janna and Tom, you follow me into the dungeon. Pony Head, Spider and Bird; keep watch here until I come back." The group nods and follows Marco's plan.
"So why are we going after her again?" Janna asks
"Because she is my friend." Marco states while landing a flying kick toward a row of monsters. "She has a lot to answer for."
Tom hears the malice in Marco's voice. "And here I thought you were here to confess your feelings to her."
"One battle at a time Tom."
"Good point." Tom spots a few flying monsters coming at the team. "FIRE INFERNO!" The three teens are protected by a wall of fire. Janna takes out a small book and mumbles something to herself. Dark energy shoots out of the fire wall and it pushes the monsters back.
"Nice shot Janna!" Marco shouts. "Impressed you picked up magic so fast."
"When you have a charming demon like Tom, well, it's easy." Janna cooed at Tom.
"I like you." Tom grins.
"Get a room love birds." Marco groans.
The three laugh while getting to the cells. Marco frantically looks around and soon finds the king and queen. He takes out his fire blade and violently cuts holes in the doorways. Both are wearing battle uniforms, torn up and battered. "Where's Star?" They point toward the cell all the way in the back of the room. Marco races forward but the king grabs his shoulder. "She…is broken Marco. Be careful." He nods and dashes forward.
"Come with us." Tom states. "We will protect you and get you out of here." He closes his eyes and opens a fire portal. "This will take you back to the Marco's home. Stay low and don't come back until we take care of this mess."
"But what about…." Moon asks before Janna interrupts her.
"We got this. Marco came here with a plan. Now go!" The two hurry into the portal before Tom closes it. "Want me to watch over them?"
"Nah, I have my demon guards watching over Marco's house. They got things covered."
Marco kicks the door down to Star's prison cell and is horrified at what he finds. She is strapped to a chair, with her eyes flickering blue and green wildly. In a fit of rage, he takes the fire sword out and smashes the machine sucking up her magic. It blows up but he remains still. Star wakes up, but her eyes are mix-matched. Left one Red, right one Blue.
"Marco?" Star asks. Marco tackles her into a hug, with tears coming down his face. "Marco." She hugs him back.
"Glad…glad you are okay."
"No I'm not Marco. I'm cleaved. My mind is split into two right now. It's been difficult holding myself together."
"We will fix this but first grab you're…" Marco is going to finish his thought but notices a half-crystals infused into Star's hands. "My god…the wand is part of you now, isn't it?"
Star nods. "Toffee was going to use me as his future body, so he infused the wand shards in both my arms. I…I cannot get them out."
Marco rubs his chin. "Can you still cast spells?"
She grows a wicked grin. "I can do more than that Marco." She aims her left hand forward and it shoots a powerful dark beam of light. "Let's kick Toffee's butt." She storms forward and Marco chases after her.
Star unleashes a wave of magic on the incoming trolls, laughing like a mad woman. She is clearly enjoying herself, but Marco grew dread on his face. Tom warned me about dark magic corruption. The only reason I only mastered two dark magic spells. He clenches on to his fire blade and continues to charge forward.
"How many of these guys are in the castle?!" Pony Head shouts as she blasts ogres and flaming bats away. A fist punches Pony Head across the room but feels a familiar hand help her up. "Thanks for the assist…Star." She nudges her best friends face and Star grows a wide smile, tears gently falling down her cheeks.
"Guys? We still got monsters storming in." Marco states, interrupting the embrace. "I will hold them off…"
Star kisses Marco's cheek, with her lips leaving a burn mark. "Oh, don't worry. I got this." Star cracks her fits and uses her glowing pink hand to summon an army of warnicorns. "COME ON! FACE ME YOUR EVIL CREATURES!" Star hops on one of the creatures and summons a green sword out of her green hand. Screams and shouts come from Star's direction, causing Pony Head to look at Marco in horror.
"She's been here for two years Pony Head….we came too late." Marco looks down and sighs. "But…" He looks up at Pony Head. "We can still save the kingdom." The boy whistles, summoning the spider and bird. "Girls, we are going to take on Toffee. Pony Head, keep an eye on Star. Okay?" He offers the floating horse head a faint simile.
The horse flies toward Star and shouts alongside her. "So B-Fly. Ready to crack some skulls?"
"You know it bestie!" Marco races ahead with the spider and bird right behind him.
Marco is on top of the castle, with green magic violently striking the ground. "So, you finally showed yourself boy." Toffee slowly floats down, having fully regained his body. "You came at the perfect time to. Your broken princess is having a field day killing my men."
The boy leaps up, grabs the monster by his collar and slams him into castle walls. "What did you do to her?! WHAT DID YOU DO!" Marco screams at the top of his lungs. "She is broken…she is…gone. You shattered her and now she is some….some…."
"Monster?" Toffee states.
"…..No, I'm the monster for letting it get this far." Marco takes a deep breath and tosses his flaming blade into the air. "MONSTER ARM I SUMMON YOU!" A large tentacle springs out of Marcos arm and grabs the sword.
"About time you called me Marco."
"Can it. I need you this one time. Is that understood?"
"Yes master. I will not fail you." Marco whips his right arm like a whip with the blade and slams it into Toffee. The monster is cleanly cut in half, but he slowly gets up. The halves begin to regenerate.
"Well, seems you mastered that power Marco." The lizard dusts off his torn up cloths. "My turn." A dark wave of lighting escapes the monsters finger tips and strikes Monster Arm.
"AHH!" Marco screams as the lighting radiates across his entire body. The boy slams his foot down and takes another deep breath. Fire begins spreading across his body, canceling the lighting. His entire body is now on fire, but the boy doesn't flinch. His eyes are sporting a murderous look. "That hurt a bit. Now I can hurt you."
Marco slams Monster Arm into the ground, unleashing a wave of flames. Spinning his body like a spinning top, the flaming sword creates a tornado. A wave of fire is sent toward Toffee, with his flesh beginning to burn. Marco cancels the spin and at lighting speeds, makes a quick slash with the fire sword. Toffee's finger is cut clean off.
"Now Monster Arm. Are you hungry?" Marco turns a dark glare at finger. "I think you might like this little meal." Marco tosses the finger in the air, with monster arm soon eating it.
"Boy, you don't know what you just did."
Marco grins widely. "Oh? I just have some of your power now. And you can never become whole again."
"But now your immunity to dark magic is moot. I can control you."
Marco walks toward the dying lizard, kneeling down toward his face. "But you can't. I'm too strong now."
"You said you would never kill a monster…"
"That was before you cleaved my best friend." A loud slash echoed across the kingdom. "Creep." Marco sits down near Toffee's body. "You know. You had a point. This kingdom hates Monsters and even though Star is a good person…this place will never really change. Monsters will forever be mistreated and abused. But, that is okay. A solution for us present itself in the future."
"But you have a solution. You could just..."
"No Monster Arm. I have my issues with Star but I would never do that to her." The two watch the kingdom overcome with darkness and death after two years of long battles, slowly grow brightly with warm sunlight hitting it. "Buddy, I'm sorry for being mean to you in the past. You just tried to help me."
"It's fine Marco." Monster Arm offers a smile. "You did what you had to do. I will always be by your side."
"Thank you. Time for you to go back home. You ready?"
"Yes Marco. That finger will keep me feed for a long time." Marco mumbles a spell to himself and the arm slowly morphs back to a human arm. He gets off the roof and heads back to the throne room. Star, Pony Head, Janna, Tom, Spider and Bird are all present.
"Star, I think we have a lot to talk about…but first." Marco takes out a pair of scissors. "We need to be alone. Guys, it was an honor fighting alongside you these two years. Please, go home and rest." Everyone leaves but Tom. "Tom, I cannot thank you enough for the training you given me these past two years." He gives the demon a hug, to which Tom responds back with.
"No problem. Your training isn't over yet Diaz."
"I know." Marco laughs. "Just go back home and you have alone time with Janna."
Tom punches Marco's arm and heads into the portal. Marco and Star give each other a long glare, not knowing what to say first. Marco grabs her hand and takes her to the throne room, gently guiding her to the queen's seat. He kneels down and bows. "Princess. I'm sorry for being late."
"You don't have to be so formal."
"Well I should be. I'm a monster. We are beneath you."
"Marco you are my…."
"No." Marco gets up. "You are not my friend nor my lover. We have a deep connection but I know everything now. Toffee was Moon's best friend, they want on adventures together and they loved each other." Marco shots a glare. "Sounds familiar?"
"I…I know that. Mom told me that story." Star tries to change the subject. "But that doesn't mean…"
"It means everything. That red moon will forever bind our souls together, but I can never be with you. I'm too dangerous."
Star gets off her throne and slaps Marco in the face. "You think I can't handle you. The Safe Kid? The one who can barely speak to his old crush? The one who has anxiety issues?"
"I can just be like Toffee though." Marco gets up, rubbing his head. "I don't want to hurt you."
Star grabs his face and kiss him on the lips. Marco is at a loss for words once she releases him from her grasp. He holds his face for a moment and forms a smile. "We will never hurt each other."
"O-Okay then. How about we try to fix this place up?" Marco asks, pointing to the trashed throne room. "We might take a while."
Star cracks her hands and holds up both her hands. "I'm sure we can work something out." Green and Pink grow brightly, with Star's heart cheeks growing a faint pink. Star and Marco begin cleaning the throne room and over time, the land of Mewni itself.
