Star and Marco come across a shelter after a day of traveling. The question of whether or not the should use it remains though.

"Please Marco." Star stared at him with eager eyes, her tail waving almost too fast for him to see. "This is the perfect solution!"

"It's too risky. They'll end up finding us and chasing us out." Marco huffed, shaking his snout.

"But it's a big place, they even have a smaller house we can hide in easy. Besides, it isn't anywhere near any other humans."

Marco glanced at the place in question. It was bigger than most places they had seen, sitting in the middle of a large clearing, which meant more space to maneuver if anything went wrong. It wasn't near any other houses too, that was good. And they did need somewhere decent to sleep for the night, especially after a day full of nothing but travelling.

"We could just make a shelter using our stones."

Star drooped, the excitement in her eyes dimming. "But…we could see what their place looks like. It could help us with our memories!" She was nose to nose with him now, her eyes pleading with him. "All I want to do is be around them for one night. Just a night. It's not even a town, Marco. We could get out of there before the humans could even raise a hand."

"Look…" He shouldn't agree to this. There were much safer options. He knew that humans weren't safe to be around, Star should know that. But the clear desperation in Star's eyes was wearing down his past grudges, as it always did. It would only be for a night, they would be gone first thing in the morning.

"Maybe." He growled, trying his best not grin at Star's excited little hops and yips at even the slightest chance of them staying inside the smaller house for the night. "But first, we watch, make sure that no one plans on going into the smaller house."

Star didn't reply, her eyes glued to the house below. Her tail still wagged back and forth, albeit slower than it had been.

Marco crouched next to her, making himself comfortable. They would be watching the house until at least nightfall, and the sun hadn't even touched the horizon yet.

Surprising his expectations, no one entered the smaller house. Sure, a couple of humans came out of the bigger house, followed by three smaller humans, but all the smaller humans did was roll around in the grass while the larger humans sat and watched them. The sight filled Marco with a wistfulness that he couldn't quite place.

From the quiet sigh that Star gave, he guessed that she felt the same.

He shook his head trying to forget the feeling, but it persisted. Faintly, he recognized that what he was seeing was called a family. Family. The word sounded sweet in his head. Didn't he have one of those once? He thought he did, but he couldn't be sure. It was only a trace of a memory, something vague and impressionistic.

"Do you think we had one of those? A- a family?" Marco didn't look at Star as he asked, resolutely staring at the skyline, where only a tip of the setting sun could be seen.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure we did." He felt Star move beside him, turning towards him.

"What do you think yours was like?"

"I don't know. I think it be cool if they like to do crazy things." Star laid her head besides his, her breath tickling the sides of his jaw as it rushed out her nose.

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Maybe just run around until we're too tired to run anymore. Try new things." Star snorted. "I don't even know what families do. Why'd you ask me?"

"Because I wanted to know."

"Well then, what do you think yours was like?"

"Really?" It was Marco's turn to snort now. "I guess, I think they were nice, or maybe, I think families should be nice to each other."

"Well duh, isn't that what a family is?"

"Yeah, but I just feel like there might be families who aren't nice to each other." Macro gave a silent snarl at the thought. For some reason, the idea itself made him angry, even if he couldn't remember why.

Star actually snarled, the noise startling him enough for him to raise his head and look down at her.

"Sorry." Star lifted her own head to meet his, her upturned lips relaxing. "That just sounds wrong. It made me mad."

"Did you remember anything?" Marco asked, tilting his head in curiosity.

"No." Star put her head back down, looking down at the house. "I just got really upset. I think I might have known a family that was like that. Not nice to each other."

"I'm sorry." Marco put his head down next to Star's, laying his tail across her back. "If anything, we're family, in a way."

"You think so?" Star draped her tail across his back, returning the gesture.

Marco rubbed his cheek against hers. "I know so."

Marco swatted his tail against Star's muzzle, grabbing her attention as he shifted, waving his hand in signal for her to do the same. She did, but only after a weak grumble of protest. He knew that she would much rather explore the place with enhanced senses, but they had to be sneaky, something that their beast forms were not.

Marco stopped to quickly reach back and grab onto Star's hand, ensuring that she wouldn't go barging into the larger house while he wasn't watching.

He reached the smaller house, Star in tow, and grimaced. The smaller house wasn't nearly as nice as he had hoped, the wood it was built out of was worn, littered with holes. The roof looked like it might actually be sagging inwards.

Getting inside was looking to be an issue though. The smaller house was sealed by a- a- a- door! That's what it was. There was a knob, on the door, and Marco peered at it for a few seconds; Star also popped her head over his shoulder to see what he was looking at, giving it a confused frown.

Marco knew this, at least he hoped he did. Wrapping his fingers around the knob on the door, he pulled. When nothing happened, he pushed. When the door still refused to budge, he turned before pushing, and smiled as the door swung open.

His smile quickly vanished as he viewed the interior of the small house. It was littered with unknown objects, some of which his mind put a name to, and others were left in ignorance. He did not like the continued theme of sharp, pointy ends on the objects though.

Star had no such issues, much to Marco's amusement and fear. She immediately bounded into the, small, confined and cluttered space, practically cooing at every new sight.

"You're sure you want to do this?" Marco asked, keeping his voice at a low whisper.

"Are you kidding me!?" Star smacked her hands over her mouth as she realized she was yelling. She continued, in a much softer tone, with a sheepish smile on her face. "Of course I do. This is exciting."

Marco gave a soft sigh, letting the door close behind him as he walked inside.

The door shut with a loud snap, making Marco jump. The ensuing darkness made Marco pause, listening to make sure Star was still there until his eyes adjusted to the lighting. Once he could see again, he began to move the various things around to make room for him and Star to sleep.

He turned to Star when he thought he had a suitable area cleared out, asking, "So, how do we sleep anyways?"

Star paused, turning to him, "I have no idea."

Marco sat on the cold floor, Star sitting down besides him. He lifted up his arm, showing it to Star. "Maybe we're supposed to lay on our arms."

"Really? That seems kind of annoying." Star laid herself out on her back, staring at the low ceiling in confusion. "Maybe this is how we should sleep? It's sort of comfortable."

"Eh." Marco put his head on Star's stomach. "Maybe they lay on each other."

"But I can't lay on you from here." Star said, and Marco sat up once more before turning onto his stomach. Putting an arm down in front of him, he laid his head down on it.

"Maybe like this?"

"Maybe." Star copied Marco's position. "It works."

"Are you sure about this? We could always leave and just make a shelter for the night. We would be more comfortable." Marco offered.

"Of course I'm sure!" Star sounded indignant at first then her voice softened. "We should try and get closer to humans. I mean, we are human at least in part. So some of our memories our probably of us being human. It'll help us remember."

"We're still going as soon as we wake up. If anyone sees us we need to leave." Marco warned. "I know we're human, but we can't trust the other humans. You know what they're like."

"Couldn't we try and explain it to them? They might understand."

"We tried that, remember? It ended with them trying to burn you."

"They were scared."

"That's not an excuse! What have they gone through that we haven't?"

"That's not the point."

"Then what is the point!?"

"I don't think there is a point." Marco strained to hear Star's faint whisper. "Its all so blurry."

Marco inched closer, putting his free hand on top of Star's head. "I'm sorry."

Star turned her head towards him, her eyes shining. "Don't be. Neither of us know what to do."

"I know what we need to do now."

"What?"

"Sleep." Marco smiled at Star's giggle, ruffling her hair before drawing his hand back.

Closing his eyes, Marco tried his best to fall asleep. His skin was itchy though, unused to sleeping without contact.

Something warm draped itself across his back, and Marco leaned into the touch.

"Sorry." Star mumbled, a few locks of her hair settling into Marco's scruffy frizz. "It was weird trying to sleep like that."

Marco only smiled as his eyes slid shut again.

Marco woke to light shining in his eyes. Blinking, he groaned as he blearily tried to decipher where the light was coming from. Any grogginess was replaced with horror as he found why the light had suddenly appeared.

There was a human standing besides the door, staring at the two of them.

Marco leapt to his feet, steadying Star as she was almost sent sprawling to the floor. His stone gave a soft glow in warning.

He froze as he got a better look at the human. It was only a child. A child who barely reached his chest.

"Hello?" It- no, he asked, eyes wide with innocent curiosity.

"Gregory? Come back." A much deeper voice shouted, and that was all it took to convince Marco that they needed to leave. Now.

Latching onto Star's wrist, he pulled her out with him, shoving past the child into the clearing. He shifted as soon as he was out, delicately grabbing Star in his jaws. He'd apologize for it later, all he could think about was escaping.

He bolted towards the forest, the morning sun nearly blinding him. He raced past the angry and terrified cries of the other humans, before they could even think to attack them, he was gone, slipping through trees.

He stopped as Star shifted, falling out of his jaws and onto the forest floor.

"Wait for me next time!" Star growled as Marco sat down, his head bent apologetically.

"I panicked." He admitted, his tail curling around his paws.

Star backed down at that, giving a quiet huff of understanding. "Its just- we could have tried to talk to them."

"I know you want to, but we can't- I mean, you probably could- but I can't. I can't trust them. I really am sorry bu-" Marco's paws wouldn't stop moving, rising up and down as his voice fluctuated.

"Marco." Star stopped him, pressing her nose against his. "I want to talk to people. But I want you to want to talk to them even more. I can wait as long as it takes."

"What if that never happens?" Marco couldn't help but ask.

"It'll happen." Star entwined her tail with his. "Until then, I'll just keep waiting."

"Thank you." Marco breathed. Watching as Star pulled away, he followed her as she strolled further into the forest. Marco spared one last glance back, his eyes taking in the forest that separated them from the now distant house.

I forgot to mention last chapter that I plan on updating this every 3-5 days.