Chapter 3
"By what you're saying, the fair lady is obviously emotional and distraught! Shouldn't we send in someone?" Sir Muscleton whinged. By corn, Higgs hated him.
"Be my guest, Sir Muscleton." She sniped "I'd sure enjoy seeing her blast you across the castle."
"Come on, don't be like that babygir-OWOW AH!"
Higgs released Sir Muscleton's ear just in time for Manfred to round the corner. "Sirs, I have not been able to locate Sir Marco. Has Queen Star collected herself?"
Oh. Shit.
Higg's mouth parted in a small 'o' in realization. Marco Diaz was not in the building, and truthfully Higgs hadn't let Muscleton on to the full extent of Star's emotional state. She'd never hear the end of his patronizing prattle if she'd had admitted that the Queen was bawling her eyes out in bed.
There was only one explanation, really. Higgs honestly didn't think he'd have the balls to go through with it, but here they were.
"She has expressed her wishes to be left alone. Loudly." Higgs told Manfred. "Maybe you should contact some of her friends? And her boyfriend. But I strongly suggest that no one else interrupts her."
Marco was gone.
Some variation on that theme kept returning to her every time as she had begun to calm herself down, and every time it just broke her again.
Marco. Her best friend. Her lifeline. Was. Gone.
Star had taken shelter in her bed and curled in on herself, clutching one of his signature hoodies to her face and using it to wipe away her tears.
Star knew she had failed him. She had no idea how he felt. She didn't even realize that he was secretly unhappy. How could she have missed it? What kind of best friend was she that she could miss something like that? She should have- should have done something, helped him before it came to this.
Star would have moved heaven and earth to make Marco happy- and she had thought he was. She made sure he knew she appreciated him, she tried her hardest to never make him feel excluded around Tom, and she kept him close to her always.
The one thing she clung to, the thing that helped ease the stabbing pain in her heart, was that maybe now that he was gone, Marco could be happy. If this could help Marco find happiness, then maybe she could bear this.
It was why she let him go.
At some point, the door was cracked open again, and Tom leaned through. "Starship? Are you alright?"
"T-tom…" Star sniffled. Why was he here? Did he know that Marco had- had…
He caught sight of her, and his eyes went wide. "Star! What's wrong!" He rushed to her "Are you hurt?"
"N-no." Tom hovered over her. Star was curled in on herself defensively, and he hesitated, not quite sure how to act. He noticed that she was clutching at Marco's hoodie like it was a lifeline, which raised the question…
"Where's Marco?" He asked.
Star sobbed loudly, heralding a new bout of tears
"Oh… oh no. Is he okay? Did something happen to him?"
"N-no, he's fine. He's just- just…"
"Just what, Star." Tom entreated "You can tell me, what happened?"
"He left!" Star wailed.
Tom blinked uncomprehendingly "When is he coming back?"
Star sobbed again. "He's not coming back! And it's a-all my fault! Because I was so stupid…."
Understanding came to Tom, and moments later- rage. Marco had, for whatever reason, walked out on Star. He'd abandoned his best friend when she needed him.
"Don't worry Star. I'll get him back." Tom swore. After I knock some sense into him.
Tom walked out of her room with a sense of purpose, ignoring Star's protests. Star was upset, but he could fix this. All he had to do was track down Marco, force him out of whatever fit of insanity had come over him, and drag him back to Star.
He looked down at his phone, noting a new text message from Kelly.
Just found Marco. He's at one of our spots at Lake Lava Beach. I'll take care of him.
Yes, he could fix this. He didn't know what had gotten into Marco Diaz, but Tom was determined to get it out.
Marco didn't have a destination in mind when he cut open that portal, just that he wanted to be far away.
He had to suppress a bubble of hysterical laughter when he realized he was at Lava Lake Beach. Why had the scissors brought him here? Did he have a secret desire to torture himself?
Wiping his tears, Marco began to trudge along the shore aimlessly. The beach was deserted, which suited him just fine. No one to pretend be happy around, nobody to question him, nobody to distract him from his whirling thoughts.
For a moment there, he had almost given in. Star eyes, so sad and earnest, had pierced through every mental defense he had erected. He had felt his heart call out for her, and for a moment he let himself believe.
But it was only for a moment, before he let the cynical, jaded part of him crush the notion. No, there was no way for Star to help him get over her, and any attempt by her to accommodate his feelings would only lead in disaster. What was she supposed to do, not be affectionate with her husband, the King, when her councilor was present?
His feet took him to the watch tower where he and Kelly had watched the soulrise nearly three years ago (and every year since). Now he knew why he was here.
He needed to remind himself that he had a life beyond Star. He had his friends- Kelly, Heckapoo, Janna, even Tom if this didn't nuke their friendship. He had family, a little brother even. He had a great thing going for him at St. Olgas, though perhaps he hadn't paid as much attention to it as he should have.
He needed to pick up the pieces, enjoy what he had, and make the most of it. That's all anyone could ever do.
Marco climbed up and sat down on the ledge, resting his forehead against the railing. His eyes drifted shut. He let the cool breeze contrasted by the distant heat of the lava soothe him.
Marco awoke gently to a hand shaking his shoulder. "There you are, Marco." Kelly said softly "You worried a lot of people, you know."
Marco blinked and rubbed the grogginess from his eyes. "Huh? Worried?" Something wasn't quite adding up. "How long have I been out? Why did you look for me?"
"Well, it's three in the afternoon right now, if that helps with the first question." He hadn't been gone for more than a few hours, hardly worth sending a search party. "Apparently Star's locked herself in her room and no one could find you."
Marco laughed bitterly. "So you don't know?"
Kelly narrowed her eyes at Marco, as if trying to pin him down. "What're you up to Marco Diaz?"
"I quit."
Kelly's mouth dropped open. "You quit?"
Marco nodded.
"As in quit quit?"
"Yeah. Uh- I'm no longer working for Star. I came here to, well, sort things out for myself."
"Are you okay?" He gave her a look. "Sorry, stupid question."
"How's Star doing?" Marco returned, feeling a pang in his heart at her name.
"I dunno. Tom was going to talk to Star while I went and found you. Not spectacularly, I'd imagine." He wasn't sure how to feel about that. The ache in his chest was insistent, both painful and yearning.
"I'm sure Tom's helping her." He reassured himself, though for some reason the words felt hollow to him.
"It's okay, Marco." Kelly said softly, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder "I know why you had to do it. I know this is hurting you too." He'd never spoken it out loud to her, but he supposed his crush on Star had been obvious enough.
"I'll be okay."
"Marco, you're my best friend." Kelly's voice was gentle and earnest, and Marco had to fight the urge to avoid her eyes as they held him, shining with affection. "You don't have to be strong in front of me."
Kelly opened her arms to him, and Marco was ready to give in, to accept the comfort she was offering… until the moment was ruined by a sudden eruption of flames from the dry sand of the beach. Marco jerked back, a sudden panic overtaking him as Tom's carriage appeared with the flames.
Of course.
"What the hell, man?" Tom shouted, bursting from his carriage. He wasn't quite out of control with his anger- but he was the closest Marco had seen him to it in a long time without it being directed towards a serious threat. "I can't believe you!"
Marco let himself drop down from the watch tower, landing easily in the sand and taking a defensive posture. "Look Tom… I'm sorry."
"I'm not the one you need to apologize to!" The demon seethed.
"Wha?" Marco's mind quickly reevaluated the situation.
"How could you just abandon Star like that! I don't know what your problem is Diaz, but if you don't go back to her right now and grovel at her feet I swear I'll drag you back myself!" Tom raged, and Marco's expression became more and more bewildered.
"Tom, just stop!" Kelly intervened "You know Marco. He'd never leave unless he had a very good reason to."
Tom looked from Kelly, who'd landed on the ground next to Marco and was now holding one of her massive swords aloft, to Marco, and his expression softened. "Alright. Fine. But it better be a damn good explanation, because I've never seen Star like this before."
Marco's gut twisted. He remembered holding Star as she cried herself out after her parents had died. He couldn't bear imagining a reaction worse than that. Then again, Tom might not have seen much of that. Star had been bottling up her emotions in public, and it was only with Marco's coaxing that the dam had come loose.
"Tom…" Marco steeled himself. "The reason I left is because…"
"Wait!" Kelly interrupted "Maybe… you don't have to tell. I mean…"
Marco appreciated her attempt to get him off the hook, but Marco knew she was wrong "No, I do." He then looked Tom in the eye and said "Tom, I have a crush on Star."
"What?"
"It's why I'm leaving. So I can actually try and get over her. I can't do that if I see her every day." The words spewed out of Marco's mouth, and Tom just stood there staring at Marco. His expression cycled between a variety of emotions, first anger, then confusion, then guilt, then back to anger. "I'm sorry." The words sounded hollow even to Marco's ears.
"Oh." Tom uttered, his voice a mixture of emotions, but mostly shock. Honestly, it was a far better reaction that Marco could have hoped for. The two of them hung out and got along pretty well… unless Star was with them. Tom was clearly insecure about Marco and Star's friendship, and would get competitive for Star's attention when the three of them were together. Star tried to balance how much she paid attention to the two of them, which in itself had gotten awkward in its own way because it was clear that it was something she consciously paid attention to.
Kelly and Marco glanced at each other briefly, and relaxed their stances. "I can't stay with Star. Believe me, it's killing me that she's upset, but I can't." He said sincerely.
"So wait, how long have you felt this way about Star?" Tom asked.
"Well, I realized it during our first trip here." Marco hated this, he'd already spilt his heart out once today, was he going to have to do this for everyone? That answer, however, seemed to put Tom on edge.
"And you never said anything until now?" He demanded, oh there was the anger again, or maybe it was just frustration.
"Oh, I wonder how that conversation would have gone?" Marco replied bitingly, tired of spilling all of his secrets on demand "You were already jealous enough of Star and I's friendship, can you blame me?"
"You know I always told myself I was being irrational about that… but maybe I wasn't!"
Kelly moved between them, holding her hands out to keep them separated "Guys!"
"You are being irrational!" Marco barked "'Cause yeah, I like her, but guess what? She's with you! You're the one who gets to hold her at night and you get jealous of me whenever we so much as watch movies together?"
"Guys!"
Tom scoffed "You have no idea what you're talking about. I guess you don't see the way her eyes light up whenever she talks about you! Or how she always goes to you first with her problems, before she goes to me! Or how half the time I suggest something fun for us to do, she tries to drag you along too! I'm sick of feeling like I'm second in her life, even though I'm her fiancé!"
"Well I guess you got what you wanted Tom." Marco declared, spreading his arms as if in invitation "She's all yours." That took the wind right out of Tom's sails, as he once again seemed to realize the situation.
After a few moments of dead silence, in which Tom and Marco stared at each other speechless and breathless, Kelly intervened again "Are you guys done?"
"Yeah. I guess." Tom sighed "I shouldn't have blown up like that. This is just a shitty situation all around."
"I understand." Damn, this was awkward. "Look, we don't have to go through all of this now. It's alright if you need time to figure out… everything. And well, I need to take care of some stuff, I'm sure Star could use some support from you guys right now." Marco rambled nervously.
"You don't have to do this alone, Marco." Kelly turned to him "Tom can go back to Star, how about I help you find a place to stay?"
Marco hesitated. He'd been planning on figuring things out on his own… but did her really want to be alone right now? "Thanks, Kelly. For everything."
"Look, Marco. I-" Tom had an almost repentant expression. "I know I've been a jerk sometimes… a lot of the times. And this situation is all sorts of screwed up but…"
"What is it?" Marco asked, not a clue at where Tom was going with this.
"You're still my friend, okay?"
Marco smiled, perhaps the first genuine smile he'd had all day. "You're still my friend too. Take care of Star for me."
A/N: Another update, more drama! We got to see a bit of Kelly, and got some insight into how Tom feels. Next chapter, we'll take a look at how Marco and Star cope without each other. Once again, I can't begin to say how much I appreciate all of the feedback. Stay tuned!
Oh, and I've gotten a few comments about my decision to have Star lose her virginity to Tom. I just wanted to say that I made the choice because it just didn't seem realistic to me that Star and Tom would be together for 3 years and engaged to be married without taking that step. I can understand why it'd rub some people the wrong way, but imo society puts to much importance on virginity in the first place. Hopefully you guys can see where I coming from on this.
