Chapter 2: Birthday Pt. 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Vs The Forces Of Evil

Tom stepped out his fire portal at the address that Star had sent him. He looked up and saw the sign of the restaurant 'Xix Barbecue'. After reading the sign Tom got excited. He had heard a lot of great things about this place but had never gotten an opportunity to come here.

He went inside and was a bit surprised. The place looked a lot… fancier than he expected from a barbecue place. The floor was white marble and there were marble columns supporting the ceiling from which hung giant crystal chandeliers. There were tables of varying sizes adorned with white tablecloths, the chairs looked elegant with an hourglass silhouette and a beautiful diamond pattern on the backrest. In the center of the room was a giant fountain of what appeared to be a sausage.

'Huh… business must be thriving.' Tom thought. 'Seems a bit too… elegant for a birthday party though. I guess Star's going all out on this.'

He spotted Star sitting at a table for two with a lit candle in the center of the table. She was dressed in an elegant red and pink dress with white boots and her signature devil headband.

Tom looked down at his own outfit and felt extremely underdressed. He didn't expect to have to dress up for a party. He started walking up to her and thought about how it was weird that there were no party decorations or how nobody else had arrived yet, but he quickly put those thoughts to the back of his head and assumed that the party room was probably somewhere in the back.

Tom quietly approached Star. "Hey Star!"

Star whipped her head around and smiled brightly upon seeing him. "Hey Tom! You're finally here!" She exclaimed excitedly. Star looked him up and down a couple of times and cleared her throat. "Uhm.. Tom… don't you think you should have dressed a little bit more… formal."

Tom glanced down at his clothes again. A red T-shirt with a five-pointed star in the center, brown shorts, and brown boots. He sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Well I wasn't expecting us to celebrate in such a fancy place. I thought it would be a little bit more... casual."

"Oh well you know me, nothing but the best for us."

"Yeah I guess so. So, what did you call me here for?"

"Weeell I needed my boyfriend to come celebrate with me. You know this isn't really a one Mewman operation."

"Okay so shouldn't we go join the others then? And when exactly is Marco getting here?" Tom asked.

Star had a puzzled look on her face and arched a brow at him. "What does Marco have to do with this? And what others?"

Now it was Toms turn to look puzzled. "You know… the rest of the party guests."

"Why would we invite anyone else to celebrate our anniversary?"

Toms puzzled expression turned to one of shock. "Wait wait wait wait wait a second. Star, you do realize what today is, right?" Tom asked in a pleading tone. He seriously didn't want to believe that Star, The Star Butterfly, could have forgotten what today was.

Star was getting even more confused by the second. "...I don't get it Tom. Today is our anniversary. C'mon, let's celebrate. Don't tell me you forgot." Star said in a playful tone.

Tom started to feel rage building up in his stomach. He took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "Of course, I remember that it's our anniversary today, but Star, don't you think you're forgetting something a bit more important than our anniversary?" Tom said with a bit of anger laced in his voice.

Star couldn't believe what she was hearing. Tom Lucitor, the same Tom that had been chasing after her ever since she dumped him, was saying that there was something more important than their anniversary. He really must have changed if that was the case.

Star was getting worried. Even though Tom was hiding it well, she could tell that he was getting angry and she hadn't seen him like this since the demoncism. It was clear to her now that whatever she was forgetting was really important. She thought for a few seconds, trying to wrack her brain about anything she could have forgotten. "Listen, Tom, I'm really sorry, but I just can't remember anything else special about today."

Tom tried all he could to calm down but it wasn't working. He wasn't really angry so much as he was disappointed in Star, but his body responded to all negative emotions the same way- with fire. He realized that he needed to end this conversation quickly and leave before he could burst. "I'm not the one you have to apologize to!" Tom said with gritted teeth. He turned on his heels and started heading towards the door with a scowl on his face. As he walked, he left flaming footprint on the marble floor.

Star got up out of her seat and followed him while putting out the flames with her wand. "Then who do I have to apologize to? And for what?" She pleaded with him.

"That, Star, you're gonna have to figure out on your own. If I remind you, then you didn't really remember, did you?" Tom stormed out of the restaurant and disappeared in a pillar of fire.

Star tried diving through the portal after him, but it closed right before she could reach it. She landed on the ground and grunted in pain. Star got off the floor and dusted herself off. Glancing back at the restaurant she realized that everyone was staring at her. She hadn't realized just how big of a scene they were making. She summoned cloudy with her wand and took off to the palace.

On her way home she started thinking about what she could have forgotten. 'I don't get it. What was so important that it would get him so mad?' She thought in a dejected tone. 'Apparently it was more important than our anniversary, but I just can't figure out what could be more important. Let's see. Is today a Mewni holiday? Nope. Is it an underworld holiday? Also no. Was… was I supposed to do something important today? I don't think so otherwise mom would have constantly pestered me about it. Tom asked if I realized what day it is so it must be some sort of special day today. But what made today special other than our anniversary. Ugh why does he have to make this so difficult?'

Marco was sitting crossed legged on the floor in his room, staring intently at his right hand in front of him. Tom hadn't really given him any instructions on how to use the hex so it was up to Marco to figure that out.

He was concentrating as hard as he could on the tip of his finger and thinking about fire and heat. His finger slowly started to smoke a tiny bit which made Marco double his efforts. He bit his lip in concentration and tuned out the world around him. His finger started smoking more and more and he could see tiny sparks start to appear. 'Come.. On.. Just.. A bit.. More!'

He was leaning in so close to his hand at this point that he was almost touching it. Suddenly his phone started buzzing in his pocket which made Marco yelp in surprise. At the same time a fireball shot out of his hand and almost singed his eyebrows off. It hit the ceiling of his room and set it on fire. Marco quickly grabbed the fire extinguisher that he had prepared in advance and put out the fire before it could spread. 'Well… looks like the hex responds to emotions. I guess that explains why Tom can't control his fire sometimes when he's upset.'

He sighed in relief and decided to check the cause of his little fire incident. He pulled out his phone and froze upon seeing the caller ID. It was Jackie. Marco wasn't quite sure if he should answer but realized that he didn't really have a valid reason not to, plus he didn't want to seem rude.

"Uhm… hello?" Marco answered the phone awkwardly.

"Hey Marco! Happy birthday!" She sounded genuinely happy which made Marco eased up a bit.

"Oh hey Jackie! Thanks for the wishes. How's it going?"

"Ugh schools so boring without you and Star here. Nothing interesting ever happens anymore! The most exciting thing to happen in the last couple of months was Jannas prank on the principle."

Marco chuckled a bit. "Really? What did Janna do now?"

"She replaced the gold coins in his chest with chocolate ones. Ha ha, he was so pissed. So anyways, what's been going on with you? Haven't heard much since you left."

Marco felt a bit guilty about that. He really should have stayed in better contact with people on Earth. "Not much, became Stars squire, went on a few adventures, got fire powers, you know, little things."

Jackie seemed to completely dismiss the fact that Marco just said he got fire powers. "Ohhhh so you became Stars personal squire huh? So how are things going between you two if you know what I mean?" You could practically feel the wink through the phone.

Marcos breath hitched a bit and he started stammering. "W-well t-things are g-going great be-between us. W-Why do you ask?" He couldn't have sounded less convincing if he tried.

"Hey... you don't have to be awkward around me when you talk about Star. I get it, your heart belonged to someone else. We can't control how we feel man so I don't hold it against you. So come on, give me some of the juicy details." Jackie had a mischievous tone.

"Well… that's not it Jackie, Star… already has a boyfriend." Marco tried to sound like he was ok with this fact, but, no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't keep the sadness out of his voice.

There was a silence on the phone for a little before Jackie regained her voice. "Oh… Uhm… Marco, are you… okay?" Jackie asked in a truly sincere voice that really crumpled Marco. They hadn't even broken up that long ago and now here she was, consoling him on his taken crush. He just couldn't understand how someone could be so chill, he really admired that about her.

"To be perfectly honest, not really. I- I want to be happy for them, I really do. Tom is a great guy, but… I just can't stop this heavy feeling in my chest like I'm being weighed down by something… sorry, I probably shouldn't be talking about this with you."

"No, Marco, It's okay. Here's my advice- follow your heart. If you feel like you should tell her, then just tell her. The longer you wait the heavier that feeling in your cheat is gonna get. Don't wait until it's too late… like me." She whispered that last bit to herself.

"Well… That sounds like great advice Jackie, but… right now… I'm not even sure if she wants to be my friend." Marco sounded like he was at the edge of tears.

"Wh- Why do you think that?" Jackie did not expect this, she just thought that Marco got discouraged to make a move because Star had already moved on, but now it sounded like there was something far worse going on between them.

"Well… a bunch of reasons really. How she treated me when I came back. How distant she's been towards me." Marco glances over at the clock which reads 10.47 PM. "She even forgot… my birthday."

"Oh… well… there's still time. I'm sure she'll come by any moment." Jackie really didn't want to get his hopes up but by the tone of his voice it didn't sound like he even had any hope left. "Don't beat yourself up too much about it. It probably just slipped her mind." She tried to sound cheerful in hopes to lift up Marcos spirits.

At this point a lone tear slid down Marcos face. He wanted to end this conversation so he decided not to mention Stars date with Tom. "Yeah… you're probably right. Thanks Jackie."

Jackie could hear that he wasn't any happier but she could also sense that he didn't want to talk about it anymore. "No problem Marco! Try to cheer up. It doesn't suit you to mope around on your birthday, and… sorry for bringing Star up… I uh... I didn't realize."

"No no, don't be sorry, you didn't do anything wrong. If anything you helped me come to terms with my feelings a bit more. Thank you." Marco sounded sincere.

"Well bye Marco, try to enjoy the rest of your birthday." Jackie tried to sound encouraging.

"Bye Jackie." Marco then hung up the phone. He took a deep breath and sighed. He looked at the clock again and thought. 'There's still time. Don't lose hope yet.'

Marco wasn't expecting much for his birthday. He didn't want a big party or amazing gifts. In reality, he just wanted to spend the day with Star, maybe go on a few adventures or something. He just wanted to hear her say 'Happy birthday Marco!' in that bubbly voice of hers and that would have been enough for him to be content. But he never did hear that phrase, heck he hadn't even seen her since this morning and now the day was coming to an end.

Marco laid back down in his bed and picked up a picture frame from his nightstand. Inside was a picture of him and Star at the beach that they had taken back on Earth before any of this drama started. A small smile crept up on Marcos face as he started reminiscing.

It was nearing midnight and Star was pacing around in her room. She had spent the last couple of hours trying to figure out what she was forgetting, but no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't remember. She was getting really frustrated by this point, she really wanted to patch things up with Tom but to do that she needed to remember. She was walking in circles and chewing on her wand as she fell deep in thought.

She got pulled back to reality when she heard what sounded like scratching at the door. She looked down and saw Glossaryck pawing at the door like a pet begging to go out for a walk. "Ugh, Glossaryck, I don't have time to take you out for walkies! I'm very busy right now."

Glossaryck looked at her for a second before resuming clawing at the door.

"UGH, I don't have time to deal with you right now Glossaryck!" Star stormed to the door and pushed it open for him. Glossaryck took off running, yelling a 'Globgore!' as he sped off. Star slammed the door shut and slumped down her wall with her head in her hands. She had tried anything and everything she could come up with to jog her memory- meditation, standing on her head, she even tried to come up with a memory jogging spell but with no luck. She decided to try and retrace her steps and see if she could pick up any clues on what it could be she forgot.

"Okay, let's go through this one more time. I went to the restaurant and sat at our table. A few minutes later Tom walked in dressed in casual clothing. He said something about not expecting it to be a fancy place, but we always celebrate our anniversaries at fancy restaurants. I mean on our first anniversary he took me to one of the best restaurants in the whole underworld so he should have expected it to be a fancy place." Star scratched her head in thought. "Could he have forgotten about the anniversary and tried to make up an excuse or something? No, Tom's not like that anymore, plus he didn't get mad until later. It seems like he was expecting something but our anniversary wasn't it… apparently whatever he was expecting was more important." Star huffed in annoyance. "I don't get it! What could possibly be more important than our anniversary!? This is Tom I'm talking about! Knowing how long he's been after me, I just can't see anything being more important to him than our relationship. Ugh, I'm not getting anywhere thinking like this. Okay, back at the restaurant he said something about expecting more people so whatever I forgot included more people. Did I forget a get-together that I had planned? No, I've had this day marked on my calendar for weeks and made sure to tell Marco not to schedule anything for today." Star stopped for a moment suddenly remembering something. "Wait… Marco… Oh I remember Tom mentioning him by name at the restaurant! Maybe he knows what I'm forgetting!" She let out cheerfully. She cursed herself in her head for not thinking of asking Marco sooner, he always knew what she was supposed to be doing.

She happily skipped to her door, relieved that she was finally going to find out what she had forgotten.

Marco was lying on his bed, absentmindedly playing with a small flame as it danced between his fingers. He had accidentally summoned it while reminiscing and was now easily able to control it. All he had to do was think of happy moments in his life to sustain and bend the flame to his will. Most of Marcos happy memories were with Star, almost any memory he had of Star was a happy one, from the first day that he met her and helped her defeat Ludo and his goons, to the time where she had sacrificed her wand just to save him. Okay that one wasn't happy per say, but it made him feel happy that she had valued him more than her wand. Well… had. He wasn't so sure anymore.

He remembered how she treated him when he got back to Mewni, how it seemed like she didn't want him around, how she tried to put as much distance between them as possible by making him a squire to Sir Lavado of the Wash. This memory made Marco feel a wide range of emotions- sadness, disappointment, betrayal, but most all, anger, not at her but himself.

Suddenly the flame in his hand rapidly expanded, its comforting warmth replaced by an intolerable heat, it had almost reached the ceiling when Marco quickly closed his fist, snuffing out the magical flame. He looked up at the new scorch mark on his ceiling and whistled.

'... Note to self- only think happy thoughts when handling a demon hex.' Marco thought to himself.

Marco was brought back to reality by the sound of his door creaking open. He turned his head to look at it with a hopeful smile on his face. Suddenly he heard the familiar screech of 'GLOBGORE!' as Glossaryck launched himself at him, attaching to his head like a facehugger. Marco thrashed around for a moment, trying to peel Glossaryck off of his face till he realized that the blue creature wasn't clawing or biting his face, no it was more like Glossaryck was… hugging him.

Marco stopped squirming and Glossaryck let him go after a few more seconds of awkward face hugging. He climbed down into his lap, spun around a couple of times like a dog and laid down in Marcos lap as he started lightly snoring. Marco smirked to himself as he softly rubbed the gem on Glossarycks forehead.

"You know, I kind of like you better like this." Marco whispered to himself.

Marco was just about to lie down himself, when a bright orange portal opened up in his room. Glossarycks head shot up and he bolted out the door the moment he saw the portal.

Marco knew far too well who that portal belonged to, it had been taunting him for sixteen years so it was kind of hard to forget.

Marco sat up on the edge of his bed and looked at the portal. He suddenly drew his arm back and caught the hand that was about to smack the back of his head. Marco glanced over his shoulder with a smug smile and saw Hekapoo leaning out of a portal she had opened just behind him.

"Nice one Diaz, looks like you haven't forgotten everything from your time in my dimension." Hekapoo said with a mischievous smirk.

Marco quickly ducked his head as another hand attempted to give him a new bald spot and rolled off of his bed right behind the clone that had sneaked its way in through the original portal. Marco swept the clones legs from under her and quickly caught her and dipped her down, leaning in close to her face before blowing out her flame. The blushing clone disappeared with a 'poof'. Marco turned back to the real Hekapoo who was playfully pouting at him.

"You're no fun anymore." She said while trying to suppress her smirk.

"Nice to see you too H-Poo. What are you doing here so late?" asked Marco.

"Yeah sorry for stopping by so late, I've been really busy. Anyways, I heard that it's your birthday so I decided to pay a visit to my favorite human."

"Oh, so now I'm your favorite human huh?" He teased.

"Yeah you're also the only human I know so it's not like you have much competition." She jabbed. "But that's not the only reason I'm here. Since it's your birthday I thought I would give you the honor of field-testing one of my newest creations." Hekapoo said with a playful tone.

"If this has anything to do with The Titans of Eldia again, I think I'll pass." Marco deadpanned.

"Aww what's the matter? Got scared of a few Titans?"

"Those things were… disturbing. I still sometimes have nightmares about that night." Marco said as a shudder went down his spine.

Hekapoo quietly chuckled. "Well don't worry, this has nothing to do with them. I actually wanted you to test out a new scissor rune for me. Since you're a squire now and will eventually become a knight, I thought you would make the perfect test subject for my new scissor sword."

"I thought this was supposed to be a gift. How is me being your lab rat a present?" Marco inquired.

"The gift is that if it works you will be able to keep the rune and won't have to spend another sixteen years earning it."

"Oh please, you know it would take me a few months at most now." Marco replied teasingly.

"Looks like someone's ego has grown as big as his older versions muscles, maybe I should bring you down a peg or two after all." Hekapoo said with a threatening edge in her tone. "Now c'mon hand me your scissors." Hekapoo extended her hand to him.

Marco pulled the scissors out of his pocket and handed them to Hekapoo. She held the blades in the flame over her head and quickly chanted something under her breath. As quickly as she got them she handed them back to Marco.

Marco looked at the blades and saw a new symbol on the base of the blades. He looked back at Hekapoo with a bewildered look on his face. "That's it?"

"Yeah, what were you expecting some sort of long demon ritual with chanting and a blood sacrifice? This is real life, not some fairytale." She replied.

Marco thought back to him getting the hex from Tom which made him shake his head a bit. "What? No! Not at all! He he… why would I think that?"

"Well don't just stand there. Give 'em a try. Just pull back your hand and imagine them extending into a sword."

Marco pulled back his arm, closed his eyes, and thought about his scissors transforming into a sword. He slashed them through the air and the blades quickly merged together into a single long blade, the bottom of his scissors transformed into a hilt. Marco looked at his new weapon in awe. The little symbol on the blade, near the hilt, was now slightly glowing. "... Whoa…"

Hekapoo looked over her handy-work with a proud smirk on her face. "Looks like the enchantment worked perfectly. The sword is made out of the same metal as the scissors so it should be unbreakable. You should also still be able to open up portals while it's in sword form, but be careful, don't' want to accidentally send an enemy to Quest Buy in the midst of battle."

"Cooool! Thanks H-poo. That was actually nice of you." Marco looked over the magical blade once again. 'Hmmm… I wonder…' Marco closed his eyes once more and held the sword to his side. The sword suddenly ignited in flames, covering the whole blade.

Hekapoo looked at Marco with a grin. 'This human's just full of surprises, isn't he?' She thought to herself. "So where'd you get the hex?"

Marco twirled the flaming sword in his hand a couple of times, trying to get a feel for its weight. "A friend of mine gifted it to me today." Marco replied.

"You guys must be really good friends if he gave up his hex to you."

Marco looked at her questioningly. "What do you mea-" He was cut off by the old grandfather clock ringing in the hallway, signaling that midnight had arrived. Marcos face instantly turned to a frown as his sword went out and started shrinking back into scissors. 'She… she really forgot…'

Hekapoo noticed his wide smile change into a frown and asked. "Hey, what's the matter? Don't you like the sword?"

Marco looked up at her, putting on a small genuine smile. "No no, the sword is awesome, it's just… look I know this is sudden, but… could I maybe stay in your dimension for a couple of days? I just… need to get away from the castle for a little bit and… clear my head."

Hekapoo looked at his eyes and saw the pleading behind them. She could tell that something was really bothering him, but she wasn't really the best person to talk about feeling with so she decided to help out any other way she could. "Sure, I bet a few adventures will help you clear your head, plus it will give you a chance to try out your new abilities." She said with cheerful tone, hoping it would lift his spirits a bit.

Marco gave her a genuine smile. "Thanks H-Poo, you're the best."

Hekapoo was a bit flattered by the compliment but did her best to hide it. "Well I try. You know what? This is perfect. You could help me out with some rouge portals that have been opening up randomly across dimensions. I could use some extra muscle to close them."

Marco thought over what she'd said for a moment before a look of realization struck his face.

Hekapoo eyed him for a second. "What was that all about? Do you by any chance know anything about these portals?"

Marco thought over whether or not he should say. He knew that Star would be angry with him if he told anyone, but he thought that maybe Hekapoo could help deal with this whole sleep portaling mess. "I might know something. I'll tell you when we're in your dimension. Could you give me a moment? I need to quickly write something down."

"Sure, go ahead."

Star yawned and stretched her arms as she wandered the dark halls of castle Butterfly. On her way to talk to Marco she had gotten distracted by the rumbling of her stomach so she decided to make a short detour to the royal kitchen to grab herself a bowl of Cap'n Blanchers Sugar Seed. Now happy and full she was back on her mission to find out what she had forgotten.

She was walking towards Marcos room which was just down the hallway when suddenly the giant old grandfather clock startled her with its bell. Star instinctively grabbed her wand and pointed it at the clock. 'Holy corn that was loud! Is this thing made to wake people up?! Why would anyone want to wake up at midnight?!'

She looked over the old antique and noticed something peculiar about it. There was a pair of pink square irises looking at her from the top of it. She instantly recognized who they belonged to. "Glossaryck, get down here this instant!" She whisper yelled.

Glossaryck looked at her for a couple of seconds from the top of the grandfather clock then stuck his tongue out at her and blew a raspberry.

"Ugh, why can't you ever make things easy for me?" She said and started climbing up. When she reached the top she was greeted by the sight of Glossaryck licking his hairy legs clean like a cat. Star was going to have to bleach her eyeballs after that ungodly sight. She quickly grabbed him while he was busy and jumped down from the clock. Star made her way back to her room and tossed Glossaryck in her secrets closet, making sure that she locked it with magic.

Star tried to quietly make her way to Marcos room again, trying to not wake people up even though she was sure that the clock had already done that. She finally reached Marcos room and raised her hand to knock but stopped suddenly. 'Maybe this isn't the best time. He's probably asleep right now and I'm here about to wake him up just to ask him a stupid question.' She hesitated for a few more moments before reassuring herself. 'Well, I'm sure he won't mind too much, plus this is really important to me so I'm sure he won't get too mad.'

Star softly knocked and Marcos door three times. After a few seconds of silence she knocked again, a bit louder this time. Still no response. She knocked a third time. "Marco, are you in there? I'm sorry to wake you but it's important." Still nothing.

She tried the doorknob and found that the door was unlocked. She slowly opened it and peeked her head through while covering her eyes. "Marco, are you decent? I need to ask you something."

She peeked through her fingers and surprisingly found Marcos bed empty. Star opened up the door all the way and entered the room. She looked around the room but couldn't find a trace of him. Star was a bit dumbfounded. 'He's not here. Where could he have gone at this hour?'

She decided to investigate. Maybe she could find a clue to where he could have gone. While looking around his room she spotted something peculiar on his nightstand out of the corner of her eye. She walked up to the nightstand and found a… half eaten cake on which was written 'Happy birthday Mar-'. The rest was already eaten but it didn't take a genius to figure out what was initially written on it.

"Happy birthday Marco? It's not Marcos birth… day…" Star froze on the spot. "N-No… it couldn't be. I would have known about it. I would have remem… bered…" Then realization struck her, the thing she had forgotten, the thing that got her boyfriend so mad, it was her best friend's birthday. Star was speechless. How could she have forgotten something so important?

Star then noticed a note left on his bed. She picked it up and read it.

'Hey Star!

Hekapoo needed my help with something so I'm going to be gone for a couple of days. She said it was something important. I'll see you when I'm back.

Marco'

Star was panicking at this point. "No no no! Not again! Don't you dare leave me again Marco!" She had tears in her eyes.

Star started pacing back and forth in Marcos room as she read the letter over and over again. "How come he hasn't come back yet? If he's in Hekapoos dimension it must have been years already. Maybe… maybe he's not coming back." Star then snaps out of her daze and slaps herself. "WHAT AM I THINKING!? This is Marco I'm talking about, of course he'll come back. We're best friends, he wouldn't just leave because I forgot his birthday." Star stopped pacing and thought for a moment. "We are best friends, aren't we?" She said to herself in a small voice.

She thought back on how she'd been treating Marco since he came back. How at first she didn't even want him around and how distant she'd acted towards him. How outside of the squire sale she hadn't really hung out with him, and even then she didn't really have his back when the other squires were harassing him. Now that she thought about it, she wouldn't really be all that surprised that he didn't even see her as his best friend anymore, and that thought broke Stars heart a little. The thought of losing Marcos friendship was heart wrenching.

She brought her hand to her face and noticed that she had started crying. She lied down on Marcos bed and whispered to herself in a trembling voice. "I'm so sorry Marco. Please… come back to me!"

As she passed out from all the emotional baggage that was just unloaded on her a bright yellow light started shining underneath her.

A/N: Hey everyone! I'm back with another chapter.

First of all I would like to thank everyone who read, favorited and especially to those who left a review. I really wasn't expecting this much positive feedback. Like seriously I thought maybe I'd get like a few favorites and maybe a single review but what I got was a bit overwhelming. Even one of my favorite writers on this site liked the first chapter so that's an achievement in my books. Now I feel a bit of pressure to not disappoint.

All the positive feedback really motivated me to get this next chapter out as soon as possible. I know it took 2 weeks and I'm sorry about that. School just got really hectic the last 2 weeks and I basically had no free time (Plus I may have gotten back into playing Osu which really didn't help with the procrastination). I actually wrote most of this chapter in the first 2 days after the first one got published, but I had a lot of trouble with this one. I knew what I wanted to happen in it, I just didn't know how to write it and make it believable. My first draft of this was quite bad- the characters felt really off, Jackie gave some weird advice to Marco so I took my time and made it at least some what decent. TBH I'm still not quite happy with the results but I just wanted to get this chapter over with so I could move on to better ones. As I said, I'm not a writer so this stuff takes me a long time.

Now that school is basically over I should have a lot more free time so hopefully the next chapter will be out much sooner. I'm aiming to have it done around Christmas but no promises.

Now on to the replies!

Oracle6044: Thanks! I'll do my bets to get the next chapter out quicker!

NaminoX: Thanks, I'll try!

Tall T: Of course Marcos gonna get some love. It's Marco, everyone loves Marco!

ckachadorian: Thanks! More characters are sure to come. Man I know how it feels to have a story you really like die so I set the goal for my first story to be a reachable one. I'm dedicated to finish this story no matter what.

gamelover41592: Thanks!

Nathaly989: Thanks! I don't really know exactly what you said since I don't speak Spanish and Google Translate is doing a horrible job at translating.

AchingHeart2011: Wow really great guess! You got a lot of details right. Personally I don't like too much drama but every story needs a bit of it. I feel like Marco ignoring her like that just because she forgot would feel a bit too out of character but don't worry I wont make it too easy on Star, you'll just have to wait and see what I've got planned. I also wish they made Marco a bit cooler this season. I really liked thee idea of the scissor sword that I've seen all around the community so I decided to give him that. Hekapoo already uses her scissors as dual daggers so I thought I should give Marco something different. I agree that season 3A has been really hard on Marco, too hard even. I just hope they make it up to him in 3B. I can't actually believe that someone liked my story enough to read the first chapter 3 times so thanks! I'll try not to disappoint!

GoldManCharm: Thanks! I know it can take a while to write these but I'll try to be better about getting chapters out in the future. It's the end of the semester so I was REALLY busy. As I said I'm not a writer so this takes me even more time since I have to proofread everything myself and often times I end up rewriting whole sections since I'm not satisfied with how they turned out. As for the story length- At first I set myself an achievable goal and the story was gonna be around 12 chapters, but recently I realized that my story doesn't really have much of a middle and the ending I had planned would feel a bit rushed so I'm currently expanding the story so I have a feeling it will be at least 16 chapters long now with a few epilogues afterwards. I just hope I don't lose steam half way through!

Eiwinskaller's Abomination: Yeah I know, I love cliffhangers so expect more of them! (Yes I'm evil like that!) And thanks for the kind words!

Budman: Thanks!

demigod whovian: Thanks! I was actually kind of nervous about posting the first chapter and was at first thinking if I even should but then I was like- you know what it's already written so why the hell not? Now I'm even more nervous since now I feel the under pressure to make sure the story is good. I suggest you try again and don't give up on writing if you want to write. Just take your time, no ones rushing you. Now to your actual review. I also wished they actually shoved Marcos birthday on the show. The fact that they didn't just left a big question mark- What happened? Did they celebrate it? Did Star remember? I personally like to think that she did, but we'll never know. Also thanks for the compliment on the characterizations. I try really hard to make them as accurate to the show as possible and it's difficult sometimes to get in their head and figure out what the would do. Also I am a big fan of the Marco and Tom bromance. It feels like they've become great friends but they never really show it on the show.

Guest: Thanks!

imhere4svtfoe: Thanks a lot for the compliment. I can really relate to most of the charaters in the show but Ponyhead is well... ponyhead so I had a lot of trouble thinking up what she would say. TBH I don't really like her charter that much but it has improved quite a bit this season.