Chapter 4
Marco rolled around in his sleeping bag. His mind was slowly starting to wake up, but the rest of him decided that the mind must have been insane. Sleep was nice, it was cozy, and warm, and peaceful. You'd have to be an idiot to get out of such euphoria. Then his stomach realized that it was empty, and joined the brains side of the argument. It growled at Marco, acting as if it had been on the team for waking up the entire time. His mouth moaned in protest, but the stomach was louder. He sighed in defeat, and opened his crusted eyes. The pitch black sky in front of him was puzzling for only half a second. Then the memory of the previous days, err, indiscriminate amount of times, events came rolling back to him. He tried to get up, but the sleeping bag tripped him up. He fell face first with most of his body still in the sleeping bag over on to his left side. And onto Star Butterfly's face.
He landed with a slight oomph onto her. They both had a short grunt of pain, and then Star woke up. They but two inches from each other's faces, close enough to see the highlights in each other's eyes. There was a moment of silence, and then they both screamed.
"Dha, sorry!" Marco squeaked, his face blushing a deep crimson red. "I woke up without remembering where we were, and I freaked out a bit, and fell over, and-"he stopped himself short of the rushed explanation. The shock of the event was evaporating swiftly, and a question popped into his head. His left eyebrow rose as he looked back at Star. "Why were you sleeping right next to me?"
Stars face went as red as Marco's. "I didn't mean to!" She exclaimed defensively. "I couldn't get my head comfortable, and I kept rolling around half asleep until I ran into a comfy pillow." Her face got even redder. "I mean, comfier than the sand." Her mouth grew small and she stared at him in apprehension.
Marco didn't know how to respond to that. He decided that the best action was to ignore the comment and never bring it up again. "Uh, right," he said, about an eternity later. "We should eat and get moving."
They shared a short breakfast and continued on their quest. They traveled for a long time, having to take at least a few other naps similar to the one they'd just had. They entertained themselves by talking, playing word games, and messing with what little equipment they had. However, it hadn't been a great deal of walking before the chit-chat had started to lose its flavor. By the third night-time stop, they had almost stopped talking completely. Boredom soon overtook the two like the rising of the tides.
Star handled it the worse. As the hike went on, her practically glowing, smiling face melted into a drooping, dull pout. Her back slowly fell forward, letting her arms dangle loose at her sides. Every step was given all of her body weight, as if she was constantly falling forward. In short, Star was in her own personal hell.
Marco had a higher threshold for boredom. He had long since learned the art of patience whilst waiting for Jackie to pass by him in their morning routine. The lack of interesting scenery or activity only really started to irritate him towards the third day (they had shortly split the days by every time they stopped to sleep after the first night). The monotony of the adventure wasn't his biggest concern. It was how exhausted he was starting to feel. Every morning they woke up, despite both of them sleeping relatively well, they noticed that continuing onward became harder. Their legs especially had started to ache with pain from the sudden increase in work they were expected to do. Beads of sweat fell from their faces, yet the desert itself was relatively cool. Marco had to work more each day to get over each dune. He wasn't sure how long he could continue going.
And then Star collapsed. They were at the top of a dune on their fourth day when she fell. Marco's exhausted brain started to accelerate as he saw her drop. He ran over to her despite all of his muscles yelling at him to lie down. When he got to her, he dropped on his knees stiffly and checked her face. "Star!" he yelled, horror on his face. Her face was pale and sweaty, and her eyes were a little off center. She looked up at him and frowned.
"Marco," she mumbled in a dead-pan voice, giving slight hints of fatigue. Marco's eyes lit up as she spoke, and he sighed with relief.
"You're alright," he sputtered, a tear forming in his eyes. "I thought-" he stopped himself from remembering his worst fear. He got out his water and made her take small sips from it. "Don't scare me like that again."
Star grimaced up at him. "Marco, go on without me." She said it in the same manner as before. The little color that Marco's face still had vanished.
"No, Star," he said worriedly. "We need to continue onward. We have to get back home."
Star shook her head and looked at him somberly. "I can't go on. I'm too bored."
Marco's temper started to rise. "Bored?!" He shouted. "We're trying to save our lives, Star. This isn't some mediocre game or school event."
Star looked back at him with hurt disappointment. "You don't understand, Marco. You should, but you don't. This desert is driving me crazy. I can't stand to be doing nothing but walking for days on end. It's not how I work." She closed her eyes started to fall asleep. "You have to go on by yourself."
Marco started to realize why she had fallen. It wasn't a physical problem, it was mental. She needed excitement, and this was starving her of it. He doubted that anymore pestering to get up would motivate her out of her minor depression. So he came up with a different plan.
"I'll carry you," he said, determination lining his voice. "You can rest in my arms and wait for us to get back."
Star looked up at him, panic in her eyes. "No!" she said sharply. "Don't! I'm not worth it."
"Bullcrap," he replied strongly. "You're worth more to me than almost anything. And besides, besties don't leave other besties behind."
She stared to tear up. "I… alright," she said with abnegation. Marco smiled and lifted her up. She wasn't too heavy for him to handle, but she wasn't nothing, either. He continued on walking from there, making sure that Star wasn't getting into any worse shape. They traveled in silence together for a long time. The dunes seemed to get bigger as they went on, or perhaps it was just Marco's imagination. The never ending hills and sand made his mind wander. Star was looking out on to the hills as well, trying to pick her words carefully. It took a long time, but Star finally spoke up.
"Marco?" She asked cautiously. Marco suddenly realized that she was there again and snapped out of glazed expression.
"Wha?" he mumbled, still staring out in front of them.
Star hesitated before she continued talking. "Marco." Her voice was soft and timid, and she couldn't keep the tears from entering her eyes. "What if we can't get home?"
Marco's features barely changed as he responded, "There is no 'what if', Star. We have to get home."
"But-"
"We can't, Star." He said it a little too casually. "You're the next heir to the royal throne. We can't have the princess of Mewni not coming home."
"But-"
"No, Star," he said with considerably more brass. "There are people waiting for us at home. Think about your mom, your dad, Pony Head, Alphonso and Ferguson, my mom and dad, Os-"he stopped himself before saying his full name, but it was too late. Star looked off to the side, her face full of anguish. Marco sighed and looked down at her. "I'm sorry, Star. I…" His voice cut off and he looked down towards his side again.
She looked up at him bleakly. She took in a deep breath and got ready to ask the overlying question. "Marco, what if we don't make it home? What if we die?"
There it was. The question he had been trying to avoid since he awoke that morning. They both had been avoiding it like the plague since they had gotten there, but it had to be answered eventually. Marco continued walking without answering her for a long time. Finally, he responded, "Then we die trying to get home. And when we fail, we'll be by each other's sides. Best buddies, till the end."
Star's eyes began to well up, and she sniffled. After a moment, she smiled. "Yeah," she said quietly. "Best buddies till the end." And then she fell into sweet, sweet sleep.
She awoke in a completely white room with no obvious boundaries. It was like being in three dimensional piece of paper with no edges. No matter which way she looked, it was simply pure white. When she looked down at herself, she was wearing her blue royal dress, exactly as she had been wearing it on Mewnipendence day. She tried looking for an exit to the white expanse, but there was no visible way out.
"This isn't a place you simply walk out of, my dear," said a smooth, rich voice from behind her. Star turned around to see the man from the Oasis sitting on a rock, playing his guitar.
"Dr. Gunsery?" she asked, clearly puzzled. "What are you doing here?"
The doctor smiled at her and said, "I've been here the whole time, Star. The better question is, why are you here?"
Great. Riddles. Star did not like riddles. She looked at the doctor annoyed and responded, "I have no idea, Dr. The last thing I remember was talking to Marco about what happens if we fail, and then I fell asleep."
"Ah," Dr. Gunsery mused. "And what does that tell you?"
"That I'm going insane? That you're stalking me like a vulture to an injured rabbit?"
The doctor huffed out a little air before saying, "Of course not. It means that you need answers. And as the Keeper of the Oasis, it is my duty to give you those answers to the best of my ability."
Star looked at him skeptically. "Why haven't you appeared to me beforehand? Why now?"
"Because, my dear," he replied, giving her a look that made her feel a little stupid. "You haven't needed the answers till now."
Star pouted and gave him a deadly look. "Alright, Mr. Doctor Person. Why are Marco and I getting so tired? We've taken long naps and drank plenty of water, yet we're both exhausted. It's not even that hot out, and we've been sweating buckets out there."
The man nodded and closed his eyes. "The walk itself is not what is tiring you. It is the desert itself that is sapping your energy. The longer you remain in this world, the harder it will be for you to keep moving forward."
Star's expression changed from pouty high school girl to that of a confused student. "What do you mean?" she asked tentatively.
The man looked back up at her with his piercing eyes. "The desert itself is a living creature, Star. It feeds off the energy of the beings that live on its surface. If you stay here long enough, you will die and become part of the desert."
Star shuddered at that idea. "Is that why Marco is getting more fatigued than I am, but I'm falling to boredom faster?"
The doctor's eyes lit up with joy. "Yes, my dear. Your mind is less fortified to deal with hours of nothingness than his is. And while Marco isn't the weakest being alive when it comes to physical strength, it is his weakest area. After his emotional threshold, that is."
Star thought about that for a second. Then she remembered their fight from earlier, and how upset Marco had gotten. "Is that why our argument about our old crushes got so heated? Because the desert was influencing us?"
The doctor's face beamed with pride. "Yes, child. That's exactly why. You have been influenced by the desert ever since you arrived here. It doesn't affect me because this is my home, but everyone else is at the mercy of the deserts will."
Star's face started to grow pale. "So how do we get out? Do we need to just keep walking forward?"
"Well," he mumbled to himself, looking down at his guitar. "It's not that simple."
"How so?"
Dr. Gunsery took a breath before saying, "Marco is currently carrying both himself and you. He's going to eventually pass out, and won't be able to get back up again. At all."
Star's face grew pale. "What?!" she exclaimed. "When?"
"Around the time when he sees the exit. Which," he said, looking at Star's eyes with his powerful gaze. "Should be about now."
The man disappeared. Star was left alone in the white void, as her best buddy was about to collapse. There was no way out, and she needed to go help him. She yelled in frustration. "MAAARRCOOOOO!"
And she awoke in a panicked, cold sweat. Marco had just stopped, and was staring ahead with a blank expression. Star panted as she looked up at his face. He had stopped sweating, and a vampire would have more color in their face then Marco did at the moment. She gasped out his name, "Marco…" but he didn't respond. She looked to where Marco's eyes were fixed upon. A bright blue light, stronger than anything she had ever seen, glowed for miles. The exit. They had found it. Marco looked down at her and smiled.
"We did it," he choked out. And then he fainted.