Chapter 3: Putting on the Mask.

Marco went back to his house after some more walking, his parents were incredibly relieved that their son is alive and well, he smiles but it was not out of the fact that his parents cared about his well-being but the fact that Avem was promising him that he gives our troubled and guilt-stricken hero great strength, which is something he needs if he wants to protect his best friend/crush.

Marco went to his room and shutted the door closed, wanting to be alone with this powerful trinket that he now bears, he smiled to himself as he finally took off his red hoodie, wearing only his shirt and pants and lied down on his bed, he looked at the Dark Red Mask known as Avem as he held the face guard intently, the Mask was silent for a moment, not wanting to speak for it only wanted to show Marco the power that he can lend to its wearer.

Marco smiled to himself once more as he looked at the talking magical mask, having some form of hope after being beaten down by both guilt and self-doubt. He will store Avem into his backpack, then when trouble arises or when danger lurks whether it be school or in another dimensions entirely, Marco will put on the mask, becoming the current user of the Dark Mask known as Avem.

"We have big plans tomorrow..." Marco said to the red mask, the mask laughed and simply said in a calm and collected voice.

"Of course we do...Mask User..." Avem said to our somewhat troubled and guilt-stricken hero, he smiled hopefully in response, he sighed loudly and turned off his bedroom lights so he can go to sleep, skipping out dinner for a tradeoff of having a nice and surprisingly blissfully peaceful sleep as he placed Avem on his nightstand, all in the while the Dark Mask known as Avem laughed quietly and deviously.

Monday...

"Are you okay Marco?" Star asked as she and her Best Friend was sitting on the school bus, the bus was going to school in a slow but orderly drive, Marco was simply looking out at the window, stilling having his hood over his head but his face was sporting a hopeful smile on his face, he sighed softly.

"I'm great Star, you don't need to worry about me," Marco said as he turned his head to his best friend, she gave Marco a unconvinced smile as a response, not taking his words to heart, something that bothered the boy as he shuffled his backpack around, the Red Dark Mask known as Avem inside of the brown rucksack.

"Are you sure? I know my sprang ankle bothers you, but remember, it was my fault that I got hurt, I should have just used the interdimensional scissors instead of starting a fight..." Star said sporting a pitiful smile on her face for she clearly notices Marco's guilt for the incident, Marco didn't budge, his smile immediately turning into a frown once Star reminded him of his horrible mistake, he sighed loudly this time as he quickly turned back to the window, his heart hurting, legitimately hurting, he knows why it hurts, luckily for him however, he at least knows what can stop this pain.

'It was my fault...' Marco internally answered Star, not wanting to look at her, feeling too ashamed to do so, after the talk, our two heroes spent the rest of bus ride in complete silence, it was fairly ironic, Marco was feeling guilty about Star and her injury, Star, on the other hand, was feeling guilty about Marco and his own forced guilt despite the fact that Star has completely forgiven him and instead blames herself, which is technically true.

Later in that day...

Marco was close to Star as she was slowly walking through the school hallway in crutches, she was her usual happy self, greeting every student she passed by while they greeted back, Marco followed close behind her, almost as if he was Star's personal guard, some passerby students noticed the change in Marco's general demeanor, they also noticed the more blatant change, he was constantly wearing the hoodie over his head, slightly shadowing his face as he was quietly talking to Avem who was now in Marco's hoodie pocket.

No one questioned Marco as he mouthed quiet words to his hoodie pocket, they mainly brushed it off saying that Marco was just going through a phase, he was technically going through a phase but it wasn't natural, it seemed forced, like a rock in a middle of stream, going against currents rather than going along the stream peacefully.

Nevertheless, our troubled but hopeful hero was rather close to Star as she went to the lunchroom, most likely in order to get some lunch, or maybe to chat up with some of Marco's own friends, something that The Dark Mask approves.

"Your closest allies will make the greatest motive, just like your dearest Star is already your motive..." The Dark Mask almost silently said to Marco as he sat in a lunch table with his two close friends Ferguson and Alfonzo and his best friend/love interest Star.

"Don't question how I know this Diaz...But I will say that a face can show any desire..." Avem quickly said to Marco, wanting Marco to not question any further, despite not asking questions to begin with.

"So how was your morning Marco?" Alfonzo, in particular, asked Marco was rather hesitant to answer, but he quickly answered with a quick and efficient.

"It was pretty good, nothing terrible happened so that's a good thing that happened this morning..." Marco said as he went into his Hoodie pockets and clenched the Dark Mask known as Avem rather strongly, Alfonzo raised an eyebrow as it was quite clear that Marco was having anything but a good morning just based on his tone of voice and his brooding demeanor.

"Are you sure? I mean you're not wearing your hoodie over your head, you're putting your hands in your hoodie pockets like some kind of misunderstood bad boy...Are you sure you're okay?" Ferguson response.

"Don't worry guys..." Marco said as he gave his two close friends a semi-honest smile, something that caused his two friends to stop prodding him about his current mood. Before Marco could even finish his sentence, part of the lunchroom wall suddenly exploded causing most of the students to scream in surprise, when the initial shock and dust settled, what appeared standing in front of Star was a large knight-like figure, it wielded a massive flanged mace and its armor is black in color, its eyes were glowing red and its breathing was strong and raspy.

"Finally...I've found you!" The Knight said as he pointed at the Magical Princess with one of his armored hands, his voice was loud and booming almost being louder than a megaphone, Star was rather surprised and a bit taken aback by the knight's sudden appearance, her reaction quickly went to fear when the Dark Knight raised its massive mace over its head preparing a fatal overhead swing.

"Your wand is mine! Theirs a nice bounty for it!" The Knight roared as Star quickly got her wand and pointed it defensively at the Black Knight, the wand glowed its usual color preparing a fire a magical attack.

Marco immediately got off of his seat and got in front of Star, quickly pulling out the Mask of Avem out of his Hoodie pocket, the Knight titled his head in response before nonchalantly shrugging as he brought his flanged mace down, now having the desire to end two lives rather than one.

"Alright! Let's get this game started!" Avem said gleefully as Marco placed him over his face completely ignoring Avem's words, almost instantly when Marco placed the mask on his face, a red powerful red flash of light occurred, causing everyone around Marco to cover their eyes from the blinding eyes, after the red flash of light dissipated, Marco was wearing a suit of red armor.

The Mask of Avem became a full helmet that connected to the black suit that Marco now wears, the armor was essentially a black undersuit with red plates of armor, it had red shoulder pads that had three points making the shoulder pads seem to resemble the talons of a bird, he had gaudy and thick red wristguards that ends pointed inwards, the armor had red shinguards that seemed to resemble a bird taking off, on its thighs were long plates of armor that were both sleek and durable and seemed to resemble the feathers of a bird, and to finish it all off, on the armor's chest was a red symbol of a phoenix just slabbed on the middle of the armor that seemed to act as a piece of chest armor as well as gaudy decor.

The Black Knight was rather surprised by this sudden appearance change by Marco, it was so surprising that the Black Knight actually stopped its attack sloppily slumping his mace on the ground near Marco. Marco blinked for a moment before he stared at his armored hands inspecting the black leather undersuit that seemed to highly compliment the red metal armor, on his masked and hidden face was a soft and almost gleeful smile.

"I told you my promises can be kept to heart..." Avem said to our formerly troubled hero, his voice being heard inside of the suit essentially meaning that only Marco could hear his words whenever Marco decides to wear the mask, Marco didn't respond to the Mask's words, he turned his head slightly to a jaw dropped Star, he smiled lightly at Star's reaction as he thought to himself.

"Your strength is greater than the crushing claws of the Great Condor...Your agility is greater than the soaring hawk...Your endurance is greater than the most enduring of Buzzards...Your technique will be as beautiful as the most attracting peacock...Your commanding of the flames is greater than a reborn Pheonix...This is the power I bestow upon...Use it wisely...Mask User Diaz..."

'Time to prove that you're a friend that Star needs and deserves...' He said to himself as he turned to the knight and got into a battle stance after listening to Avem's words, the Dark Knight wasn't impressed by this sudden gain of red armor, he scoffed loudly raising his mace up high to smash this armored protector. The Dark Knight swung the massive flanged mace to Marco's left side, Marco quickly blocked the mace swing, the Dark Knight was rather surprised as his mace was easily blocked. Before the Dark Knight could swing his mace once more Marco quickly grabbed a hold of it.

Marco with a surprisingly great mound of strength, he quickly ran to the Black Knight while still having hold of his mace, he then punched the Black knight down to the ground,effectively disarming the Black Knight as Marco threw the mace away from this out-of-nowhere assailant, Marco quickly turned to see Star, completely flabbergasted by this whole situation.

"Thank you Star...You can now truly forgive me..." Marco said darkly as he quickly turned back to the task at hand.