Chapter three is up. I've really been just typing a storm, plus I've been off from work yesterday and today. Don't expect this sort of extremely fast upload schedule to be normal. I've just been making this story in my head for a week+ amount of time and have had a lot of time.


"What did I do?"

Star is sitting on her bed, arms around her legs and head resting on her knees. It's late in the morning after the events last night that had led to Marco leaving. She hadn't slept at all last night, despite promising her parents and Tom that she would. She'd been crying the whole night, and if she hadn't cried herself out, she'd still be doing so.

"It had to have been me, right? That's why he wouldn't tell me. What did I do?" Star grits her teeth, urging more tears to come out, to let these feelings out. But she'd cried herself out of tears, and it didn't feel great to not get more out. "What did I do..." Star goes through every event that's happened since Marco had gotten to Mewni, tries to figure out when his attitude had changed.

"He didn't seem himself at the beach, so maybe... Maybe he really didn't like me choosing not to figure out why I keep traveling into other dimensions in my sleep. That's what had happened before we all went to the beach..." Star knows that's not it, that Marco wouldn't be that upset over something like that, but she has no idea what it could have been and this made the most sense, and in her very saddened state, she clings onto that answer completely. "That must be it. Or maybe something happened while I was asleep. Maybe I did something to him while I was asleep."

Star can't think of another reason. She sits there thinking about this, blaming herself. "Please Marco... come back... I'm sorry..."

*Meanwhile*

King and Queen Butterfly had put out a notice over the night for Marco being missing. It was the best they could do, as they couldn't rightly send people off to every dimension in search of him. They had also discussed this matter with each other and a few specific others. It was made clear that any sighting of Marco be reported immediately.

They asked Hekapoo what she knew about a black and white portal, but are disappointed to not find any better answers.

"Black and white? I've never actually seen it, but it's said that it's a portal to a legendary being of unequaled power. This being watches the events of the world and is said to possess all manner of magic. That's all a myth, of course. I can't guarantee it's true." Hekapoo holds her scissors and looks at them intently. "I, myself, have attempted to open up such a portal. But with no knowledge of where the destination is, I simply can't open it up. I have no idea where Marco would have gotten this knowledge."

"Thank you, Hekapoo." says Queen Butterfly. Hekapoo turns to leave the room and the Queen turns to the King. "Well, this is certainly a mess."

"That it is, my dear."

"Why do you think he would have left?"

"You mean..." King Butterfly looks at her almost amusedly. "You mean you can't guess?"

The Queen raises an eyebrow and questions, "What does that mean? Should I know?"

"The boy quite clearly has feelings for Star! I don't imagine he was too happy mulling about the castle seeing Star with the boyfriend of hers." King Butterfly smiles lightly.

"You think that's it?" the Queen seems very skeptical. "I admit I have not spent as much time with him as you have, but from what I have seen, he is extremely loyal to Star and against any harm coming to her. I can not imagine him leaving and hurting her over something like this."

"No one imagines doing something like this unless they are pushed to." the King shakes his head. "The boy is very kind, but you can only ask so much of someone. Watching the one you like with another is extremely cruel. Add on top of that the fact that he likely feels out of place and not useful here, and I can very easily see why he would want to leave. The boy's feelings are always visible, he likely wanted to avoid Star knowing his feelings."

"You seem to like this boy, as well as know a lot about him. I would say that you may have been watching him closely since he was here." Queen Butterfly chuckles softly.

"No boy will get near my daughter without my knowledge of how they think and act!" King Butterfly laughs. "That I can promise."

"Yes..." the Queen's smile fades. "Regardless, I can't imagine why he wouldn't just go home, or to someplace familiar. I can't deny that he has helped Star immensely. I don't wish to see harm come to him. We must find out where he is."

"We will, my dear. I wouldn't be surprised if he came back on his own. The boy may well change his mind and return. And he isn't as defenseless as one might believe. He fought alongside Star every time Ludo attacked them, didn't he? He will be fine, and we will locate him, whether he comes to us, or we find him." King Butterfly smiles widely.

"Well someone is certainly optimistic today. Perhaps you could share some of that with our daughter." the Queen looks upwards in the general direction of Star's room. "She has not left her room since we brought her there last night. Her boyfriend, Tom, has been sitting in Marco's room, directly downstairs from her room so that he can hear if she has another... moment. He is a dear, very caring towards Star, but I don't think she's even talking to him about this. I'm very worried for her. She is often emotional, but her sadness never lasts longer than an hour. This, though..."

"I think it's best to leave her for now. Her closest friend, and, I might add, one of her crushes, who has stuck by her side for so long against so many dangerous situations, has just walked out of her life." the King sighs.

"One of her crushes?"

"Let's not forget Song Day."

"Right, that fiasco. Well that certainly makes this all the more awkward." the Queen takes in a deep breath. "She won't be able to focus on learning her magic with the boy gone."

"All the more reason to find him, dear."

"Yes, I agree."

"Star will be alright. It's heartbreak, whether or not she has a crush on him now, it's still the loss of her closest friend. That's not something to get over so quickly."

"Yes, I know."

"Making sure, dear."

"Thank you, dear, for the words." the Queen smiles slightly. "I needed to hear them."

"Of course." King Butterfly smiles. "Now, let's get to work."

"Yes, let's."

*Marco's Room*

Tom sits on Marco's bed, elbow on his knee and head on his hand, looking around the room at different items. There's nothing particularly notable, and he's not looking for anything in particular, but merely attempting to think of anything else at the moment.

"Marco, you... you selfish IDIOT! Look at what you did to Star! You MORON! AGH!" Tom was beyond furious at this turn of events. Star was heartbroken, refusing to get up or even eat when Tom had brought her food both last night and this morning. He knew he couldn't comfort her for something like this. Nothing he could do would be able to cheer her up. The most he could do was stay here and listen for any other possible outbursts.

"You weren't supposed to leave. You weren't supposed to do this to her. What is WRONG with you!?" Tom was shaking with anger and looked down, placing his forehead on his hands. "You ruined everything. Star is depressed, I can't help. NOTHING will help except finding you."

"And I will find you. I will see Star happy again. I dislike you for having your soul bonded to hers, dislike you due to knowing that you will eventually have her. But that doesn't mean I won't look for you. I know your importance to her. I WILL see her smile again. I will find you."

*knock*

Tom looks up questioningly and says, "Come in."

"Who would this be-"

"Star?" Star is standing there, eyes half closed and frowning, looking at Tom. Tom immediately stands up and walks to her. "Hey, you're out. Is there anything I can get for you?"

"We never..."

"Hm?"

"We never... got to watch... the movie..."

Tom looks at her strangely. "The movie? Why would she care..." It then dawned on him. "She's trying to make me not worry as much."

"Star, no."

"But we... I..."

"Star I appreciate the gesture, thank you. But I know you don't want to watch a movie right now." Tom smiles softly at her.

Star clenches her fists and tries not to cry again. Tries, and fails. She grabs his shirt and buries her face in it as Tom hugs her close, one hand around her and the other running through her hair to calm her.

"It's... my fault..."

"It is not your fault."

"It is..."

"How could it be?"

"I..." Star chokes on her words and doesn't continue, not wanting to explain bringing Marco into her room to watch her sleep and how she thinks he left due to something related to that. She only continues to sob quietly.

"You see?" Tom says, mistaking Star's silence as her not being able to think of any reason. "You're not at fault. We will find him. I'm going to return home and check the underworld soon. He may be hiding there, as it was the last place we all went, and it's a place none would expect him to go. He may be there. Even if he isn't, I promise you we'll find him." Tom places a kiss on the top of Star's head. "Now you should go back and sleep. It's obvious you haven't slept."

Star nods slowly, and Tom walks her back to her room and lays her down on her bed. "Please rest, Star." He smiles at her. "I promise I will find him. I may also give him some good hits for making you so worried too."

Star makes a face that wasn't exactly a smile, but not a frown either. "Okay. Thank you, Tom."

Tom kisses her forehead and exits the room, closing the door behind him.

...

Star turns and curls up on her side, facing away from the door, her previous thoughts returning to her. She contemplates what she may have done. "What happened? What did I do? Why leave... Why couldn't you tell me... My best friend is gone... He's gone and it's all my fault..." These thoughts plague Star as she lay there, curled up and shaking slightly, until sleep finally comes to her.

However, even her dreams wouldn't let her get away from these horrible thoughts.


So I'm not a TomStar fan, per se. But I do acknowledge that Tom seriously cares for Star, and I'm not going to have him looking like a bad guy in all this. It is saddening to me to think that they will have to have a break up at some point in the actual story, because I do like Tom, but I will still be more happy when Marco and Star get together. And to anyone who thinks they won't... Really? I mean... you really think they won't?

Anyway, that's this chapter. Four coming up soon. Originally three and four were one chapter before I split them due to length. So chapter 4 is already done. Feel free to review. Don't miss the shows premiering this week. Be weird. Hope you all enjoyed.