Some Variants can get pretty ugly:
Queen Moon Butterfly had a bad feeling that Star wasn't entirely listening to her warnings as she handed her the royal wand, but Star's sheer excitement was enough to allow an internal chuckle, as Stars eyes grew wide and shimmered in awe. Just as quickly though, Star's eyes dimmed as she went rigid. Moon watched in horror as Star's eyes changed, becoming impossibly old, and her face contorted in rage.
"TOFFEE!" She howled as her magic erupted. She grew four more arms an a pair of wings and flew into the air, eyes and wand glowing green. "Where is that damn fucking reptile!" somehow it was the foul language that snapped Moon out of her stupor. She spoke as calmly and firmly as she could manage.
"Star, come down here and tell me what's wrong"
"What's wrong? WHAT'S WRONG! That, that...!" Star just shook with rage
"Star!" a voice called out from the other side of the long vacated throne room.
"Marco!" A small part of the normal glimmer entered Star's eyes beneath the haze of rage and despair. Marco tossed something too her. She caught it and stared at it for a few seconds before she leveled a deadpan glare at Marco.
"Eat a snickers. You're not yourself when you're hungry." Marco said with a straight face
"How can you be joking at a time like this!" She said even as she bit angrily into the candy bar. The torrent of magic died down and she landed in front of Marco.
"I'd thought it'd be a good distraction from the whole homicidal rage thing. I figured the calming draught in the candy wouldn't hurt either." Marco smirked playfully. Star's groan was mostly just tired now.
"Alright, I'm calm for now, but I still want to track down Toffee as quickly as possible this loop..." Marco's face turned completely serious
"Already taken care of. I've got him in a warded holding cell watching your last loop in a pensieve."
"What! Why would you give the enemy information! Especially such personal information! How did you even find him that fast!" A flicker of anger and fear rose past the calming draught. Marco just hugged her close, her head buried in his chest.
"Star, you need to check your loop memories" Marco spoke in a calming voice. Star hugged back without a thought and examined her loop memories. She tensed up and tried to push away, but Marco held her fast. She couldn't see what she wanted to confirm but she could feel the scales and claws on her hands, she ran her tongue over sharp teeth, she had no idea how she hadn't noticed the tail that now twitched nervously...
"No no no... this can't be one of those loops, not after..." her voice faltered as she choked back a sob.
"Unfortunately, yes, this is one of the loops where Toffee is your... is the King of Mewni. So yeah he was easy to find, he was right here in the throne room when I peeked in to check on you. I grabbed him while you were still in shock and... interrogated him thoroughly in one of the faster dimensions before coming here. If it's any consolation he's being genuine this time. Toffee and Moon were friends growing up and never had a falling out like they sometimes do. He's a completely different lizard." He let her go from the hug but kept a comforting hand on her shoulder. Star just stared at her scaled hands.
"No, no, he's on me, he's inside me!" her claws dug into the scales on her arms as she hugged herself.
"Star, stop. If you aren't up to a transformation spell I have some polyjuice potion you can use." she nodded mutely and drank from the flask Marco handed her. The awful taste and the uncomfortable sensation of the potion working were more than worth being able to feel her own soft skin again. "Now, let's go talk to your mom. She's been nice enough to wait this long on just my shadow clone's short explanation, but I think she'll appreciate the full story." Star looked over to where her mother stood crying, frozen in place where she had been the whole time. She was visibly torn between wanting to blast away the stranger who had admitted to abducting and imprisoning her husband and recognition of the positive effect he was having on her daughter.
"Right. Sorry mom, I forgot you where there..." She managed a weak laugh.
...
King Toffee sat hunched on the floor of his cell, staring into nothingness as he tried to figure out what to do with what he had learned. What that monster wearing his face had done to his daughter... He crushed the rage before it could burn out of control. He could not afford to do anything that would give Sir Marco a reason to kill him, or more importantly keep him from helping his daughter. The light above the door lit up, and Toffee dutifully placed himself in the shackles on the far wall. He was pleasantly surprised to see his wife come bursting through the door... and immediately attack his restraints.
"It's quite alright dear," he began, only to be interrupted when the slash of an energy blade sent sparks flying from the chains.
"No! No it's not! I don't care if this man is Star's friend from another dimension, or time or whatever! He will show some respect for the King of Mewni."
"He has plenty of respect for the King of Mewni. The thing is, to him, the king of Mewni is usually River Johansen, and I... look in his bowl of memories if you dare, but I beg you not to delve too deep. Suffice to say the monster known as Toffee is a manipulative bastard of the worst sort, and the restraints I am under now would be lax for him. This is Sir Marco trusting me. Because the last time he trusted me, it was a world like this one... except our marriage and Star's birth were just a ploy to create a more powerful vessel for that creature to inhabit." His wife holding him tight made it easier to let go of the anger, but he still snarled the last bit. "No, I'm fully willing to go through whatever precautions it takes to make Star feel safe, however much it pains me that she needs to feel safe from me." This time he just deflated. He looked toward the door where Marco stood vigil. "I wish I could fight this monster directly, but since I am not 'looping', I will teach you everything I know about the dark magics I think he is employing, that you may better thwart his plans in the future." Marco raised an eyebrow.
"I will teach you as well, and watch over Toffee if you don't trust him near components of dark magic." Marco looked at the Queen, hugging her husband with a carefully hidden look of desperation. Marco's eyes softened and he sighed.
"Thank you, that will work well. I'm really sorry about all of this. The loop that has Star distraught was rough on me too, and it still stings even after a few solo loops' cool down. I'd certainly like to think my legilimency is good enough I'd at least see that you were hiding something, but my interrogations show you to be genuine. Being too paranoid to trust my own abilities is not a path I want to go down." He looked at the two again. "I'll release you into the Queen's custody as soon as Star is comfortable with it. I will hold weekly mental examinations of you and everyone you come in contact with to look for signs of coercion, magical or otherwise. Beyond that, just know that I'll be watching you. We'll start those lessons tomorrow after breakfast... or whenever Queen Moon is ready, we can't leave Mewni in anarchy after all."
...
"OK, I think that's everything. Now you know how to make, and more importantly destroy, the bone soul cages I think that wand is based off of. I hope this is of use to you and not just a 'variant' you'll never see again" Toffee said as the experiment they'd been working on disintegrated. Marco nodded.
"This ties in fairly well with what I've seen before. There's no such thing as useless knowledge." He turned to the King with a level gaze. "So, this is the part where you tell me the real reason for teaching me all this" to King Toffee's credit he only flinched back slightly before letting out a dry chuckle
"Of course you're on to me." he said with a small, tired smile
"Insisting her Majesty not attend our final lesson was the biggest clue" Marco nodded solemnly
"The stated reason stands true, you can use this against the magics of other Toffees, but with how you do not fully trust me, I thought you might want to know how to destroy those magics before you accepted my proposal. I want you to bring my bones with you, with my soul bound to them, so that I can fight that monster with my face directly." If Marco was the slightest bit surprised he didn't show it, and simply nodded.
"I never take souls with me between loops without express informed consent, so allow me to inform you: that is a very dangerous request. The afterlife is complicated enough without throwing the loops into the mix. This process on it's own could very well block your access to whatever afterlife there is, and should your soul be released in another world the afterlife as you know it could very well not exist, especially not with the people you know and love in this world. What you are requesting is an effective eternity as my slave, probably spending most of your time in my pocket, to occasionally fight the same battle over and over again, probably to face oblivion on the destruction of the artifact binding you." Marco's eyes were as cold as the oblivion he promised.
"Preventing a single tear from falling down Star's cheek would be a victory worth that price, and if we truly have eternity I know we can do better than that" King Toffee said resolutely. His face twisted momentarily "and I will admit that being able to tear apart the creature that hurt my daughter is an appreciated perk." he winced and schooled his expression. He closed his eyes and lower his head "I'm sorry, I've been trying to..."
"Oh I know all about controlling one's darker urges" Toffee felt it before he even looked up, and when he did it took everything he had to ignore the survival instincts screaming run. Marco was a hazy mass of some ethereal substance between shadows and blood, with too many eyes and teeth, but those features where second to the shear Madness in the fanged grin on what was left of his face. "I replaced a the vampire king that would later be known as Alucard once, you know. I went mad with bloodlust for centuries before Van Hellsing's replacement beat some sense into me. I had a bit of narrative causality working against me, but that was just the final catalyst that I should have been able to handle had I not already been in a downward spiral. In the following centuries I healed enough that when Star Woke Up as Star Fairbrook Wingates Johansen, she could pull me back to my normal self." Toffee chose not to risk his sanity trying to figure out how the Mad smile could be "warm" and "nostalgic" too. "Then was the time we went to the world where reapers called Meisters fought corrupted souls using living 'Demon Weapons'. I was Star's wand that loop." He demonstrated it by turning his hand into a familiar wand. "That loop I was infected by a substance called black blood, which grants power by inducing Madness," his grin widened, something Toffee wanted to think was impossible. "but once again Star pulled me back." Marco shrunk back down to his normal form, only keeping an evil aura. "The point I'm trying to make is that I don't blame or think less of you for getting angry or wanting revenge; I've been there and back many times. Honestly, I would be more suspicious of you if you showed no emotional reaction to your daughter's plight. The important thing is that you are in control and your anger is focused at helping those you love. One last thing: As a high level vampire, I can take in the mind and powers of those whose lifeblood I drink, and as a Demon Weapon I can eat souls to gain power." he stepped forward and stood face to face with Toffee, once again deathly serious. "That's what I want to do. I honestly don't have much use for the bone puppet you want to make, but I respect your resolve, and the opportunity to absorb a powerful, willing soul is too rare to pass up. I want to eat you mind and soul, then make your bone puppet with the remains; that will be an interesting experiment. My mindscape is more comfortable than the inside of my pocket, and you'll even have roommates. Any questions? Do you still agree?" Toffee swallowed and took a deep breath to regain his resolve.
"No questions. I, King Toffee of Mewni, swear my undying loyalty to Marco Diaz, and to do whatever it takes to help Star Butterfly."
"Cross your heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in your eye?" Marco asked, complete with pantomime.
"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," Toffee paused with his hand still over his eye and blinked. Marco smiled cheerfully, dark aura completely gone.
"It's a common oath in the multiverse, enforced by the chaos goddess of laughter and parties. I like using it because Pinky Pie is scary enough to enforce it but benevolent and understanding enough not to hold you to the letter if you slip up. Like, my Pinkie Promise not to speak ill of Star allows for constructive criticism... and your promise to help Star will allow you to punch evil empress Star in the face rather than being bound to collect virgin blood for her to bath in." Marco clapped his hands "Anyway, lets get this show on the road! I used more vampire power than I have in a while and I'm thirsty." Toffee kind of wished Marco still had the shadow thing going on, as a normal looking boy so casually referring to his imminent lethal exsanguination was more than a little creepy. He knelt before Marco anyway.
"Yes master." Thinking of what he could now do for his daughter, he didn't even flinch when the fangs sank into his neck.
AN ok so I think this one could be way more clear in my mind than it is typed out. First thing is the timing could be seen as awkward, with Marco accomplishing that much before Star is even done her temper tantrum, but I really think dimensional travel and the inter-dimensional time dilation is just that broken.
No seriously, I will be writing a loop were Star and Marco win a war by ducking into a fast dimension and watching their enemies in slow motion through the spying spell, sniping them before they can do anything.
If it wasn't clear, Marco once replaced Alucard of Hellsing (specifically the manga/ Hellsing Ultimate, as that's what I've actually read/watched), and River Johansen replaced van Hellsing himself, making the titular vampire hunting group the Johansen organization for that loop, while Star replaced Sir Intergra Hellsing.
Now this could potentially make Marco as OP as Alucard, but 1) in Looper terms that's potentially not all that powerful and 2) I think Marco will actually be more inclined to stick to his martial arts and the like after that loop; Alucard knows only a human can destroy a monster. While a neat trump card I think Marco will know better than to throw away his humanity lightly.
