Chapter 7: The Maelstrom, Part 2
Death cannot stop true love, all it can do is delay it for a while
-Westley, The Princess Bride
"...And now back to our ongoing coverage, the Channel 5 Weather Van has been sent out into the field to get a different angle on what looks to be the storm of the century. Let's go live to them now!
This storm is like nothing I've ever seen before Greg, it's like a hurricane but it just appeared out of nowhere...no one can explain where this castle came from and what it's doing in the sky. I've been on the phone with the NOAA, even they don't even know what to make of this and - oh my God...oh my God, what is that? Something just fell off of that castle, zoom in on that now!
Holy shi-it looks like a kid! Are you seeing this?! I'm watching the footage now through the high zoom; it's blurry but it's definitely a kid!
You saw it here on Channel 5 folks: an unidentified child has just fallen from the castle almost directly over the Pacific Ocean!"
Jackie's eyes widened with shock, she could recognize that hoodie from a mile off. She jumped off of the couch and ran out to her parent's garage, popping the door open. She had never been more grateful that she only lived 5 minutes away from the beach, she would need every moment if there was any chance of reaching him in time.
Marco had begun to panic as the ground grew closer and closer. It felt like an eternity had passed since he had been thrown off the balcony of Mewni Castle, but at the rate he was falling he estimated he could start counting down his life in minutes. His mind had been running through all of his favorite memories of Star. Their dance beneath the light of the blood moon...the kiss they had finally almost shared just hours ago...every smile, every hug, every crazy new thing he learned about her...he wanted to remember it all in whatever time he had left. I'm never going to see her again...
It couldn't be much longer now, Marco closed his eyes and braced himself for the end.
"MARCO!"
Marco's eyes shot open. There was no mistaking that voice, and sure enough the tiny blue creature it belonged to popped out of his sweatshirt pocket.
"Glossaryck! What are you doing here?!"
"There's no time for that now! You only have a few more moments, but there's still a chance to save yourself!"
"What? How? Tell me!"
"Think, Marco! You've lived with a magical princess for almost a year, you've still a got a magical monster arm somewhere inside you, and you were even able to access a book of spells! What could that possibly mean, kid?"
Marco's mind kicked into top gear, and after half a minute his jaw dropped as he put the pieces together. It had been there all along, waiting for the moment when Marco would need it the most.
"I can...use magic?"
"Precisely! With all the time you've spent with dear our Star, it seems you've absorbed quite a bit of residual magic into your system! It won't be enough to break your fall-"
"But it might be enough to redirect it!"
Marco's head swerved around, an idea quickly forming in his head. But he still didn't know how to make use of magic at all and he was running out of time. "Alright, Glossaryck, now what do I do?!"
"Well, normally you need a magic wand or some kind of focus. This isn't the sort of thing you should be trying to pull off the same day you learn you can actually make use of magic, but in this one extraordinary case, I think you might just be able to-"
"-Dip down...", Marco whispered. He closed his eyes, his mind taking him back to the day he had been locked in Star's closet. Glossaryck had talked riddles around him as usual that whole day, but eventually he had discovered the secret he was supposed to find: Star's journal. Pages flew by in his mind's eye, stopping at the last entry he had caught a glimpse of before Star had set him free: My thoughts on Marco…
All at once, it hit him. Suddenly, Marco felt himself slowing down. A strange warmth started growing inside him, and when his eyes opened back up they were glowing bright red.
Marco flipped himself upside down, trying to guide his freefall towards the water as best as he could. Glossaryck hopped back into Marco's pocket and held on tightly. An aura of the same red light surrounded Marco as he raised his hands.
Just before he hit the water's surface, Marco released the magic that had been building up inside of him, sending himself flying forward into a wave. He skimmed across the water's surface, each wave he crashed through slowing him down a little bit more until he stopped just a few yards short of the shoreline. He scrambled forward, getting clear of the water before the waves carried him back out. "Marco!" He looked up to see Jackie running towards him, but the magic had taken too much out of him and he was fading fast. Marco fell to the ground from exhaustion, barely managing to grab Jackie's hand before everything went black.
"My lady! It's just as you'd hoped, the storm has forced them all inside!" Eclipsa nodded with approval at her lieutenant. "Good, now go back to Mewni and gather your men, we'll begin our conquest at once! Is the queen secured in the tower as I asked?" Her lieutenant nodded and threw a quick salute. "Excellent...the royal family has been scattered to the winds, and soon this dimension shall be mine!" Her umbrella glowed, at her command the storm started dying down. She smiled, everything was finally going as she had planned.
Jackie sat on the beach, cradling Marco's head in her lap. After a minute, his eyes fluttered open again and he started coughing up water. "Marco! Thank god you're alright!" Jackie squeezed him gently as she sat him upright. "I saw you fall from that castle on TV...I'm glad I reached you in time!"
"I'm just glad…I paid attention in physics!" Marco looked from Jackie to the castle and then back again, still dazed from the fall he had taken. "What…what happened?"
"Magic, kid. Magic happened." Glossaryck popped out of Marco's pocket once again, hovering around as he examined Marco closely. "Hmmm… even more extraordinary than I thought. There had been rumors and theories for years about secondhand magic, but I never thought I would be the one to witness the first documented case!"
"Hold on- so no one has ever done that before? And isn't 'dipping down' supposed to be some kind of super high level magic? How did you know I could pull it off?"
"I didn't. Well…not for sure, anyways. I had been keeping an eye on you for quite some time, and that was the only idea that made sense…but like I said, you're the first documented case of someone acquiring the ability to use magic who wasn't born naturally with it. Other people have used wands before, but that's only a relatively small amount of a wand's built in magic. We're in completely uncharted waters with you, kiddo. In the end, all I had was a hope and a prayer!"
Marco sighed, once again Glossaryck had left him in the dark. But despite his annoyance, he was just grateful to be alive at this point. The little blue man was now introducing himself to a very confused Jackie when Marco suddenly leapt to his feet.
"Star! She's…she's still up there! I've gotta help her!" He turned to Glossaryck, grabbing the little blue man. "What do I have to do? I have to get up there!"
Glossaryck's eyes widened as he pointed behind Marco. "Not to be that guy…but we have bigger problems to worry about, kid!"
Marco turned around to where Glossaryck was pointing. Nearly a hundred of Eclipsa's soldiers were on the beach, completely surrounding the three of them. Marco, Glossaryck and Jackie quickly backed up, but the ocean was behind them and the soldiers were getting closer. Then suddenly, Marco heard the unmistakable sound of dimensional scissors from behind the advancing army.
"Look!"
Three portals opened up. King River came through the first one, spear in hand. Behind him came dozens of well armored men, charging directly into Eclipsa's forces. The Mewnian army had arrived. Eclipsa's forces barely had a moment to react before the Mewnian army crashed into them, sending bones and armor flying back.
"Diaz!" The king had torn a path through the army of monsters, nimbly vaulting himself to land directly beside Marco.
"King River! How did you know to come here?!"
"My dear Moon sent me and the rest of our army away after the frog-man warned us Eclipsa was coming! We were waiting for a signal, and when we felt that last burst of magic we figured that was as good a place as any to start our counterattack!" He looked around, his face falling. "But tell me Diaz, where is my daughter? And if the magic we felt wasn't hers…"
"It was the boy, my king." Glossaryck chimed in. "Remember what I talked with you and the queen about a couple of weeks ago? Well, his back was against the wall and…he dipped."
"Extraordinary! When all this is over, we'll have to assemble a training regimen for him as well!"
"CAN THIS WAIT?" Marco burst out, "Star's still up there, inside the wand! I don't know what I can do, but…she needs me!"
"Right! Sorry, got a little caught up in the excitement there! Diaz, help me clear out this rabble and I can secure you a transport up to the castle!" Marco nodded at the king, and with a fearsome battle cry the two of them leapt into the fray.
"You find anything, Toffee?!" Star and Toffee sat in the library, surrounded by piles of books. They had been looking for what felt like hours, yet they hadn't even made their way through a single shelf.
"Unfortunately not. All the time I've spent in here, you think I would know where everything is by now! I only wish I had known that someday I would need a proper spell…"
The pair worked frantically, tossing books haphazardly aside. What little time they might have to stop Eclipsa's plans was running out.
"That's the last of these!"
Marco fell to the ground to catch his breath. The king, the army and him had together made short work of the monsters assembled on the beach and were gathering a quick moment of reprieve, knowing that many more were waiting for them.
"Diaz!" The king called out to him. "Your chariot awaits!" Standing beside him was a fearsome looking horse with massive wings. Marco took a deep breath, taking the kings hand and boosting himself up onto the horse's back. "Now off with you! Go to your princess, my boy!"
Marco grabbed the reins, tying himself on as tightly as he could. "You better hold on tightly now, kid. We are going straight into maximum overdrive."
"You…talk?" The winged horse nodded, and Marco shrugged his shoulders. "Of course, why wouldn't you talk?"
"Wait!" Jackie called after him, reaching out for his hand and pulling herself up to sit beside him on the horse. She slipped off the seashell necklace she always wore, quickly fastening it around Marco's neck. As soon as it came into contact with his skin, the necklace glowed with red light.
"Hmmm," Glossaryck peered out of Marco's pocket to take a look at the seashell. "Well, it's not a traditional focus, but I think it might do in a pinch!"
Marco hugged Jackie tightly. She blushed, and quickly kissed him on the cheek. "Hey Marco…bring Star back for us, okay?" Marco smiled at her as she slid off the horse, snapping the reins and holding on tightly as he rocketed skyward. Hold on, Star...I'm coming...
Star groaned in frustration, throwing herself backwards to the floor. "Ughhhhh, this is pointless! Even if there's a spell here that can help me, there's no way we're finding it in time!"
"We can't give up now, there has to be something you could use! We just need to keep looking!"
Star sighed, sitting herself upright again and reaching for another book. Suddenly, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. A strange energy was approaching the castle from below. She couldn't say for sure, but it almost felt like…magic.
Star ran out of the library, back to the room with the window. Her eyes widened as she looked outside, red light illuminating the sky. "Impossible…" she heard Eclipsa whisper in shock. Star gasped, putting her hand on the window as the source of light rose above the balcony.
"…Marco?"
Author's note: Umm...all the cool kids were on hiatus so I thought I would as well? No? Ah well...it was worth a shot. Honestly...I just got a little burnt out between this, school and other stories. But now we return, Marco lives, all is well!
(SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION BEGINNING) Also, you should definitely read my other Star vs story if you want to know what I was up to when I wasn't writing this. It's under my profile as Starcoversary! (END SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION)
