Star's Royal Quest

Part Three: What The Hell?

Star and Marco stepped out of the portal and into a world that seemed vaguely familiar to them. The crimson sky above bathed everything in its haunting light. "Where the heck are we now?!" Star shouted as she looked around her. If she didn't know any better, she'd have thought they had just entered the underworld of Mewni. "Uh, Star…" Marco said as he pointed to a large neon sign on top of a skyscraper. 'Welcome To Hell, Population: A Fuck Ton' it read. "Well, that's not PG at all…" the red hoodie clad remarked. "Yeah, S&P is going to have a heart attack over that one…" the blonde heiress agreed as they began to walk down the street. Star began to break out in a sweat as both the heat of the hellscape and her illness began to overtake her. "Star, you okay?" Marco asked with concern. As best he could tell, he had never seen the young woman sick before. He wondered if she even had the ability to. "Yeah… It's just a little toasty down here…" she said in a dismissive tone. "M-Maybe I should try and find something for us to drink…" her squire suggested as the dress clad woman took a seat on a bench. "Thanks…" she said in a somewhat labored voice as she watched him head off towards a vending machine across the street from them. Star had only been sick once before in her life and she remembered just how concerned her family had become for her well-being. Unknown to her, members of the Butterfly family usually only were befallen by the worst diseases that Mewni had to offer; their magic usually helping to ward off illness.

Marco had reached the vending machine, but upon further inspection realized that it contained nothing that would quench their thirst. Among the options were 'Coke', 'Bojack', 'McWeediez 420', 'Squip', 'Hero-In', 'Krunch Krokodil' and 'Angel Dust'. "What the heck kinda vending machine is this anyway?!" he exclaimed before noting that the front of it was emblazoned with the word 'Drugs!'. "Yeah… Probably should have noticed that…" the brown haired boy remarked in a deadpan tone as he walked back towards Star. The blonde fifteen year old was feeling worse by the minute and wondered just what she had come down with. "Sorry, Star… They didn't have anything to drink over there" Marco apologized. He took a good look at the acting Queen and took note of the sweat stains that had formed under her arms and chest on her teal colored dress. Holding the back of his hand against her forehead, he felt the heat radiating off of her porcelain skin. "You're burning up! M-Maybe we should try to head back home…" Marco suggested. "I'm fine! I swear!" Star said as she stood up from the metal bench. Her legs felt like rubber and she began to lose her balance. Luckily, her squire was able to react quickly and caught her before she fell to the concrete below. "Star, as your squire I'm asking you to go home and get some rest. W-We can meet with the King another time. I'm sure he'll understand" Marco advised her. "O-Okay… M-Maybe that's not such a bad idea, Diaz…" she remarked while opening another portal. The pair were about to enter it when the swirling mass before them disappeared. "Huh… T-That's never happened before…" a befuddled Star commented. "No problemo… I have the scissors righ… Huh. I-I had them right here!" the red hoodie clad teenager began to say before a sense of panic came over him.

The pair of teens sat on the black metal bench as they thought of what their next move would be. "Just one question, Marco… How the fuck do you lose your dimensional scissors?!" the blonde woman exclaimed in an outburst that was equal parts frustration and fear. "Star!" the hoodie clad teen exclaimed in shock. Marco was taken aback by both the tone and words that she had used to chastise him. In his nearly two years by the side of the magical girl, he had not once heard her curse. To say it knocked him for a loop was a bit of an understatement. "S-Sorry…" the blonde sheepishly apologized. "It's fine… I know I don't always have the sunniest disposition when I'm feeling sick…" Marco said as he tried to make her feel better. "I-I'm just gonna close my eyes for a bit…" Star said in a very weak voice as her sapphire eyes shut. "Star! Star!" Marco shouted as he tried to keep the ailing girl awake. "Oh man! What do I do?" he asked himself while he paced back and forth on the cracked concrete sidewalk. Looking around he had about given up hope when he spied a sign atop a tall building. 'Happy Hotel' it read in illuminated pink letters, which stood in stark contrast amongst most everything else around it. "Maybe they can help…" the brown haired teen said as he thought of how to get there with the now passed out Acting Queen. He scooped her off the bench with an arm under her neck and the back of her knees as he began the short walk to the hotel; hoping that he could find some help for the girl he had a crush on.

Inside the hotel, it had been a pretty typical day for Charlie, as she and Vaggie had been prepping the dilapidated building for more guests. A knock at the front door drew their interest and the Princess of Hell approached the large wooden door that separated them from the rest of the underworld. Opening the door, the young regent was shocked by what she saw. It appeared to be a human male and female; teenagers by her best guess. "Please! I need your help! M-My friend Star is sick!" Marco said while struggling to hold the young woman in a bridal carry. "Of course! Come in!" Charlie said as she motioned for him to enter the building. She had read all about humans, but had never met one in the flesh, as hell was reserved strictly for the wicked and the damned. "Put her over on the couch" the alabaster skinned woman said as she rushed over to the hotel bar. "Are we really in Hell?" asked a curious Marco as he placed his Queen down onto the soft red sofa. "Yup!" the red suit clad demon girl replied in a cheery tone as she searched high and low for some water. "So… Let me get this straight. This is where you go when you die if you're a bad person? Like if you lie, cheat or steal?" Marco asked as he glanced over at Vaggie, who sat in a chair across from both he and the ailing Acting Queen of Mewni. "Or Murder, or rape or pretty much any other bad thing you can think of. A lot of the people here though are not that bad though. They made one bad mistake and have to pay for it for all eternity. In fact, it's that exact reason why we have such an overcrowding problem right now. We really need to get with our counterparts in heaven and see if they can lower their standards a bit so it's not so cramped down here… I've tried telling my father this, but he really hates talking to the man upstairs… Claims he's a self-righteous asshole. He's probably right, but still…" she said with a sigh while mixing a drink for the blue dress clad girl. "Yeah, that's why she opened the hotel in the first place. To help rehabilitate demons and get them on the right path to get to the good place…" Vaggie added while Charlie walked over with a dark brown drink. "Have her drink this while we get a room ready for you. You guys should probably just stay in there until she's better… Hell is no place for a couple of humans to be running around" Charlie advised.

Marco took a sniff of the steaming hot drink and detected some kind of alcohol in the concoction. "I-Is there alcohol in this?!" Marco asked as he held the glass away from him. "Yeah… But just a small amount. It's called a 'Hot Toddy' and will help with her pain a bit" Charlie remarked. Placing his hand on the back of her head, Marco leaned his ill friend forward and placed the glass to her supple lips. The sweat continued to pour off of Star as he watched her drink the concoction. He hoped that it would do what the supposed Princess of Hell had advertised it to do and help bring his crush back to good health. He saw her face grimace at the taste and felt bad for the young woman. "I know… I know… It probably tastes horrible, but that other girl said it would help you out…" he said in a soft voice while stroking the side of her face. A few minutes later, Star had finished the drink and once again dozed off. Marco wracked his mind as he tried to think of where he could have possibly lost the dimensional scissors. He knew he had them when the pair had arrived in the town by the sea. He even remembered feeling them move around in his pocket as they rode the roller coaster. "What if they fell out on the ride?" he thought to himself. He could only hope that they hadn't fallen into the wrong hands as he had bigger issued to attend to at the current moment. Soon the room was ready and the fifteen year old boy had a new problem; how to get the slumbering girl up a few flights of stairs. He decided that the easiest way to carry her would to once again scoop her up and carry the dress wearing girl as if she were his bride. "See, Vaggie! This! This is the caring and compassion that we're trying to foster around here!" Charlie commented as she led the way to the room where Star's recovery from her illness would begin.

Author's Notes: Sorry this took so long, but I was working on The Shooting Stars Falls story "Tales Of The Flame & The Ax" over the past few months and this is more of a side project. Star's illness has gotten much worse. Will she be able to recover? Will Marco get to reveal his feelings towards the Acting Queen that he harbors a crush on? What will the Belcher kids do with the Interdimensional Scissors? Will Dale Gribble ever come out of hiding? Find out next time! Until then… -iKLOT