After over a year, I'm finally returning to finish what I started. To anyone who read the first chapter back when it was new, sorry it took so long. To the person who gave me the prompt for this story, I'm really, really sorry. Life happened and I forgot where I was going to take the story, so I just ended up abandoning it. But I'm back! And I'm going to finish it! Also, a lot has happened in the actual show since I started this story, so don't try to fit it anywhere in the timeline. And, on the off chance this turns out to be similar to anything that has happened in the show, I've only seen up through the Battle for Mewni, so please don't be mad at me. Anyway, enough talk. Here's the long-awaited Chapter 2. Enjoy!
Star woke up dazed. Every part of her body ached, and her clothes were torn and dirty. The last thing she remembered was being fired out of the cannon on the hill, but she didn't remember where she had landed. Looking around, Star found herself in the middle of a vast forest, underneath a large tree. Scattered around where she was resting were broken sticks and scattered leaves. All she could see in every direction was trees. Yet the trees themselves weren't uniform. Countless different species were mixed together, all coexisting in the forest. Everything from redwoods to palms, cherry blossoms to pine trees. Species from different climates, different parts of the world, all mixed together in this forest. There were even some fruit trees, as well as trees that Star was sure didn't exist on either Earth or Mewni.
Star also noticed that, except for the grass that made up the forest floor, the only plant life, or rather, the only sign of life at all, was the trees. No bushes. No ferns. Not even any saplings. Just fully-grown trees. An eerie silence hung over the entire forest. It was as if the whole area was frozen in time. There weren't any small animals or birds gathering food or scurrying about. No wind blew through to rustle the leaves. Everything stood still. It might have been beautiful if it weren't so unsettling.
Looking up, Star could see the reason she had been unconscious. The tree above her, a redwood as far as Star could tell, had several broken branches. It was obvious that Star hadn't landed her flight very well. Instead, she must had hit the tree, and tumbled down through the branches before hitting the ground and falling unconscious.
Star took a moment to look around for her wand before remembering that it wasn't with her. Marco had been holding it when she was launched. 'Right,' thought Star. "So no wand, no Marco, and no way of knowing where I am. Nothing I can't handle. I'll just climb back up this tree and I should be able to see the hill from there.'
Confident in her ability, and rather proud of her plan, Star rose to her feet to put her plan into action. But, as the girl tried to stand, it was almost as if her left foot somehow missed the ground entirely, and Star fell face first into the grass. 'Ok, weird,' she thought. 'Let's try that again.' Getting up once more, this time, Star got both feet on the ground.
And felt a sharp pain shoot up her left leg.
The girl collapsed back to the ground immediately, shocked and confused. Turning into a sitting position, Star looked down at her leg to find the source of the problem.
Her leg, halfway up her shin, was bent in a way that shouldn't be possible. The bone had snapped, a result of her rough landing, leaving her foot and the bottom half of her shin pointing out sideways at an unnatural angle.
All at once, Star's brain registered the injury. A wave of excruciating pain washed over Star as she stared down in horror at her leg. She began to panic as the reality of her situation settled in. She was lost, unable to walk, unable to get help, somewhere in the vastness of this peaceful, horrible forest.
Star began to hyperventilate. Tears started running down the girl's cheeks, as her heart birthmarks broke. Her thoughts were cloudy. Using her arms, she pushed herself back, until she was leaning against the redwood. In that moment, Star had never felt more afraid. Partially out of fear, partially out of pain, and unable to do anything else, Star let out a shriek.
"Now what's all this noise about?"
An unfamiliar male voice came from above where Star was sitting. She looked up to see a jet-black crow perched on one of the tree's broken branches.
"Who…are…?" Star whimpered. It was hard to speak through her tears, but, holding on to the hope that this bird might be able to help her escape this nightmare, Star did her best to force out a sentence.
The bird, however, ignored her attempts. "So, you were the one who used the cannon. I have to say, she's not happy about this. Really, it's rather unfortunate to see you hurt, since it'll be all the more difficult to avoid her now."
"'Her'…who…?"
Once again, Star was ignored. "By the way, wasn't there a boy with you? He's not entirely innocent here either. I believe I saw him light the cannon. Am I wrong?"
Star's thoughts immediately went to Marco. There's no way he would abandon her. He's probably out looking for her right now. He would be able to save her. "Marco…"
"Ah, so 'Marco' is his name, is it?" The crow turned his head to look out over the treetops. "I imagine he'll be joining us soon. At least, if he survives. Like I said, she's not very amused at the moment." The crow looked back down at Star and smiled. Seeing a crow smile would have been disturbing enough, but there was something fundamentally wrong with the crow's crooked smirk, something Star found profoundly unnerving. There was no way to describe it, but Star was overcome with the feeling that Marco was in serious trouble. She turned to face the direction the crow had looked and whispered, "Marco…be safe…please…"
Marco ran through the forest, keeping his eyes on the sky. It was difficult, with the thick canopy, but Marco did his best to look past all the leaves and branches and follow the trail of smoke Star had left as she flew through the sky. But that trail was fading fast. 'Dammit,' thought Marco, continuing to jump over roots and dodge tree trunks. 'C'mon Star. Where are you? Help me out a little.'
Just then, from somewhere not too far ahead of him, he heard a terrible scream. It was her. It had to be. "Star!" shouted the boy. Marco immediately broke into a full sprint dead ahead. Star might be in trouble. She might be hurt. He had to get there as soon as possible.
He barely noticed when the forest began to grow darker, and the trees became more ominous. Rather than the spring-like beauty he had seen before, this area of the forest contained trees that were warped, twisted. Though he tried to ignore it, Marco couldn't help but feel like some strange, oppressive power was hidden among these trees. It was like there was something watching him, something that wasn't happy with his presence.
The trees' branches were lower than before, forcing Marco to duck and dodge to avoid being hit. Twigs caught on his clothes, leaving small tears in his jeans and hoodie. At one point in the thickening forest, a particularly long branch caught his shoulder, leaving a small cut on his upper arm, enough to draw a drop or two of blood, but no more serious than a paper cut. Marco paid it no mind. All that mattered to him was getting to Star as fast as possible.
After a few minutes of running, the forest returned to its previous state, and the trees, once again, looked normal. The strange power Marco had felt seemed to dissipate, and it wasn't long before he finally saw Star. She was sitting under a big redwood tree. He could see her eyes were red, and it was obvious she had been crying. "Star!" shouted Marco, as he ran over to her.
"Marco…help…" Star whimpered. As Marco approached the battered Star, he quickly noticed her leg, and reached into the pocket of his hoodie to retrieve Star's wand. He handed it to the girl, saying, "Here. This can fix it, right? You've been practicing that bone-healing spell, right?"
Star nodded and took the wand. After muttering the spell as best she could, a beam of light shot out of the wand, hitting Star's leg. A moment later, Star jumped at Marco, pulling the boy into a tight hug. "Oh, thank God, you're ok, Marco. I was so scared. I thought…I thought something bad was gonna happen." Star's voice was unsteady, as if the girl could break out into tears again at any moment.
Marco hugged back and whispered reassuringly, "Hey, it's ok. I'm here. Everything is going to be fine."
"But…but he said—"
"I'm glad you could join us, Marco. Although, really, you shouldn't keep a girl waiting like that," the crow interrupted. Both teens looked up to see the bird staring at them, though he was on a lower branch now, closer to the pair.
"Who are you? And how long have you been there?" demanded Marco, suspicious of the crow's intentions, and somewhat angry at himself for not noticing it before.
"How long have I been here? Well, I think that's quite a rude question, don't you? I've been here for quite some time, while the time you two have spent here can be measured in minutes. Though, if you must know, it's been a century or two since I came to work for her. At least, I believe that to be true. Really, it becomes quite difficult to keep track of time here." The bird took a moment to fly down even lower, stopping at the lowest branch on the tree, roughly nine feet off the ground. "As for who I am…well I don't quite remember. I had a name once, but it hasn't been used for quite a while now. We don't get many visitors, so I often have no reason to introduce myself. But, if you would like, you can address me as Caretaker, since that is my job here."
"Ok, Caretaker. What do you want with us?" Although the bird didn't seem hostile, Marco still didn't trust him. He was too polite, similar in mannerisms to a certain lizard.
"Me? Well, I supposed there isn't much I want with you. I don't intend to harm you, if that is what you are implying. You can think of me as nothing more than a mere messenger."
"Messenger?" asked Marco, confused.
"For her?" Star chimed in, and both Marco and Caretaker turned to her, surprised. Star's eyes were serious, something Marco didn't see that often. "You keep mentioning 'her' but you haven't said who she is yet. You said 'she' is upset, and that you work for 'her' but who is 'she'?"
Caretaker glanced at Marco for a moment, before he turned back to Star and smiled that creepy smile. "Well," he began. "The details can be saved for another time, I suppose. But I can say this: She is in charge of this pristine landscape before you. And she often doesn't take kindly to visitors who touch what isn't theirs. You'll meet her, in time. But, for now, you are free to explore. Or free to leave, if you find a way out. Just know that there are some things magic can't fix." With that, Caretaker began flapping his wings, slowly ascending away from Star and Marco. "I'll be back to check on you. In the meantime, try to stay safe." Then the bird took off into the sky.
Marco still had questions, but Caretaker was already gone. "What's was that about?" he mumbled to himself before turning to Star. "Are you alright? Nothing else is broken? And your leg? It's back to normal?"
Star's gaze softened and she gave Marco a smile and replied, "Yeah, I'm all good now! Thanks, Marco, for coming after me."
"Of course. I can't just let you fly off into some random forest and not come looking for you. Just…don't do that ever again. Please."
"Yeah, yeah. I know. Now, let's get out of here. There's something weird about this place and I don't like it. Especially after all that stuff the bird was saying about 'her'."
Marco nodded. "Yeah, it's probably best if we never have to see who he was talking about. Unfortunately, I didn't grab the scissors before I ran over here, since I was too worried about someone to remember them, so we're going to have to walk back to that hill first. I think the way out of here was…" Marco paused to look around, before settling on which way to go. "This way. C'mon."
The boy took Star's hand and the pair slowly began making their way through the forest.
And there's Chapter 2. Hope you all liked it! Just a heads up, I'm taking this story in an entirely new direction than what I'm used to writing, so I'm going to apologize now if it ends up being really bad. Also, I promise I don't usually leave this many author's notes on my stories. This is just a weird exception. :P Anyway, I hope you guys continue to enjoy my stories! Thanks for reading!