A/N: Hello everybody! Sorry for the long wait to get this chapter out. I've been preoccupied with some stuff so I couldn't work on the chapter during that time. Maybe the chapter's interesting development makes up for it. By the way, I will continue to try different things with my writing so hopefully that doesn't get annoying. As always, thanks again for all the support and feedback on this story, it truly means a lot! Enjoy!

P.S: I'm going to try to start describing the characters appearances a bit more since I know I've been lacking in that department, as well as others, but one thing at a time lol.

Guest: Thanks for the kind words and no, I won't be abandoning this story so rest easy lol.

Lerans: I did mix POVs in this chapter so hopefully that was enjoyable. As for why Marco rushed his background, well, you'll see why in the coming chapters. Also, keep in mind that he doesn't like to worry Kelly, and may even lie to keep it that way. And yea Marco is very unlucky sometimes lol.

Useful76: Thanks for liking Kelco! There will be more to come in the near future so keep a lookout. However, there will be situations that test that. Will Kelco endure? o.o

Disclaimer: I do not claim the right to Star vs. the Forces of Evil or any of the characters in the show. They belong to Disney and the show's creator, Daron Nefcy. I do, however, claim the right to the plot as well as any original characters that may appear in this fic. - Sky

(Deep in the Forest of Certain Death)

The air was cold and heavy.

The silence that surrounded the clearing was almost maddening but it didn't bother the inhabitants of the tents on said clearing. All the tents were dark inside, as the moonlight from both moons, somehow, was the only light shining on the clearing through the dense trees. The only tent, which was also the biggest, with light was the one in the middle. The flickering of the candle lights were able to barely show two silhouettes sitting near each other.

Inside was the one in charge of the monster revolution and war against Mewni, Toffee. Across the armor wearing lizard was a beautiful mewman woman with pale skin, short teal hair up into a braid, mauve eyes, and red spade-shaped marks on her cheeks. She was wearing a dark purple Gothic-themed dress with light purple gloves and…

She didn't look happy.

"What are we going to do about this dear?" she asked the immortal lizard. He sighed and leaned back into his chair, showing no expression on his face. "If the information that Ether told us regarding what happened at the ambush, which I still can't believe she managed to fail, then we must take caution and not tell anyone about this so called 'bodyguard' of the Queen. Ether has already made the monsters present at the scene swear to silence on the matter." he said with a calm tone.

The woman did not look satisfied with his answer and sat up from her chair. "But dear, we have to tell her. We both know what will happen if she found out on her own, so why not try to control the situation before it gets out of hand," she looked towards the entrance of the tent and smiled, "but, it seems she has already found out."

As if on queue, a girl wearing a dark blue wool tunic with a matching leather skirt and dark silver hair stumbled into the tent, much to the woman's and Toffee's delight. Once the girl straightened herself and looked at them, her other features were shown. She had light colored, almost non- existent, scales all over her pale body and face, kaleidoscope eyes, pointy ears and a lizard tail that almost touched the floor. She also had red crescent moon marks on her cheeks. Overall, she almost appeared to be a normal mewman girl.

Almost.

Toffee looked at the girl and a small smile escaped his cold appearance. "Luna, what have your mother and I told you about spying on people?" he asked the girl, who smiled back at her father. "To not get caught." she answered. Both Toffee and his wife smiled at their daughter. "That's correct Luna. You almost got away with it. Almost." the woman chuckled.

Luna rolled her eyes and shook her head at her mother with a smile. "Yes yes mother. So…," her expression dropped and looked at both of her parents with sad eyes, "is the information true?" Toffee frowned and stood up abruptly, making her daughter flinch and wife sigh. He put both of his arms behind his back and began to walk towards a map of Mewni hanging in the middle of the tent, giving his back to them.

After a few seconds of silence, he turned toward his daughter and stared at her with his cold reptilian yellow eyes. "Yes. The information is true so before you-" Luna dropped to her knees as if she were lifeless, "Huh? My legs gave out on me… I… I can't get up," she chuckled with tears in her eyes, "I-I can't…," she held back a sob, "b-believe he's… alive." Luna tried to hold back her sobs but couldn't stand the pain and feeling in her throat from doing so.

She began to cry and bent over onto the floor in front of her, hitting both of her scaly fists to the ground. Seeing her daughter in so much pain, the woman walked up to her and sat next to her daughter. She put her hand on Luna's head and began to pet her, to console her. "Luna, sweetie, look at me." she said with a sad tone. Luna shook her head against the floor and hit her fists to the floor again, causing her father to get angry. He walked up to them and kneeled down.

"Stop this Luna," he said in a serious tone, "we don't even know if this individual is your friend from back then… his body was never found when we went to that horrible place after you escaped. All we found was that pendant you claim to be his." he ended with a flat tone.

Luna looked at her father with red puffy eyes and rose slowly, until she was sitting on her knees. "We became friends when a few of the other children were harassing me because of how I looked…. because I was a hybrid." Both of her parents frowned as soon as they heard that connotative word. "They were kicking me while I was on the ground, crying out for help… but no one came," she smiled sadly, "until he showed up and came to my rescue. He stopped them off all by himself and, after that, helped me up. He took me to my room and dressed my wounds, even though he looked like he had just rolled down a mountain." she chuckled. "After that, he told me I was… cute, placed his hand over his heart, and promised to always be my friend no matter what."

Luna pulled out a pendant out of her tunic. In her hand was a small wooden clover with a sun symbol in the middle. "H-He worked on this pendant every night before he went to sleep, because he thought he was very unlucky. I would know, since I would sneak out of my room to watch him. I wasn't very good when it came to making things so watching… Marco," a lone tear rolled down her face from the pain of saying her friends name after what seemed like such an eternity, "work on it calmed me down. It made the months there bearable…" Another tear rolled down her face and smiled, looking at the floor with an unfocused gaze.

"The reason I was able to escape was because of him you know," both her parents went wide-eyed from hearing this new piece of information from their daughter, "he planned the whole thing in fact. *sniffle* That night, after my last experiment, which they gave every child before they… he carried me out of bed since I was in no shape to be walking and said we were escaping. He told me we were going to leave and promised we would always be together," she clenched her fists around the pendants string, "… once the alarms went off, he put me against the fence and handed me the pendant and told me good luck. The dogs found us seconds after… He looked at me, smiled, and said, 'Later, swirly.' That… was the nickname he gave me after I showed him my birthmark on my neck…" Another tear rolled down her tear stained face. "Everything went white after that. Next thing I knew, I was laying on the snowy ground and dad found me not long after with the search party." She looked at her father who now had a tear running down his emotionless face, probably remembering that horrid day. Her mother wasn't doing any better.

"He promised me that we would always be friends and Marco never goes back on his promises. Never. So he can't be dead. He can't." Luna felt her parents hug her, and began to relax a little. The woman looked at her husband and gave him a look that told him to choose his next words very carefully, sending a shiver down his spine. He sighed and stood up, wiping away a few extra tears. "Alright Eclipsa. You win, so stop staring at me like that." His wife grinned and stood up with her daughter. Luna looked at both her parents in confusion, clearly missing the unspoken words that both her parents had communicated between themselves.

"Sweetie, before we discuss a plan on how to get you to your boyfriend," Luna blushed, while Toffee frowned as he got up, causing Eclipsa to chuckle, "you need to understand that people change over time. So prepare yourself if he doesn't remember you right away or at all. It has been about a decade since you two last saw each other after all, and I'm sure that boy has been through… things." Luna nodded at her mother's words and turned to her father to see if he had anything else to add. "Luna, be careful. He seems to be in some sort of arrangement with the Queen, so you two may not see eye-to-eye," his yellow eyes began to glow, "and if he even dares to hurt you I'll-" Eclipsa smacked the back of his head, quickly silencing him. "Don't pay your father any mind Luna, but the threat still stands." she said with a cold and dark smile, making both of their scaly skin crawl.

Luna put a hand on both of her parents and gave them a small smile. "I know you both care for me very much but you don't have to worry about Marco hurting me. He's very sweet, plus, what Ether said only confirmed that Marco doesn't like the concept of hurting others, if he can avoid it. He even tried to let them go! Marco could have easily hurt Ether and the rest of the troops, or worse if he truly wanted to, but he's too nice. That hasn't changed…," Luna's eyes became glazed over, she got a goofy smile, and her lizard tail began to wag. This deeply concerned Toffee, or any dad, to no end and was about to call off the idea of them seeing each other but was stopped on his tracks when Eclipsa put her hand on his shoulder, making him look down to her. She gave him a reassuring smile, calming him down a little.

*sigh* "Alright, so how are we going to get our daughter to meet this boy, which I want to meet too and give him my gratitude for rescuing her from those experimental camps." he said calmly. Eclipsa and Luna looked at each other and smiled. "Well, in that case, I would like to meet him too, but he can't tell anyone about how I'm still alive or how I'm married to Toffee and have a daughter… Luna, can Marco keep secrets?" she asked her daughter. Luna looked at the pendant and then back at her parents. "If I get him to promise me that he will, then yes." she said with a small smile. Eclipsa noticed the change of color in her daughter's eyes, to a dark blue, meaning she was nervous. She moved closer to her, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't be nervous sweety. Marco seems to be an outstanding gentleman, from what you've and Ether told us. He also seems to be very good in combat… He would certainly make a fine choice for a husband for our daughter. Isn't that right dear?" she asked. Toffee growled at her, causing her to chuckle. "Oh lighten up, I was only joking… somewhat. So I got an idea that will save ourselves from a headache and unnecessary fighting. Yes, I'm referring to you Luna," her daughter looked down, a little ashamed at her mother's truthful words, "The idea is for him to come to us. That's where you come in dear." she gestured to Toffee, who raised an eyebrow at her.

"You want me to lure him out?" he asked. Eclipsa sighed and shook her head. "This is why I run the diplomacy part of our operations my dear. You are going to request for Marco to be escorted here, by Luna-" she was stopped by Toffee. "That's a terrible idea! What if he-" he was silenced by his wife's glare. "Let me finish dear. Now where was I? Oh yes. Luna, you will escort Marco here after he accepts an offer he can't refuse, while undercover, and ask him questions of your choosing to see if he is trustworthy. Who knows, maybe he can help us end this war with little bloodshed from both sides." she smiled at her daughter, but soon changed her expression into a dead serious one. "However, if he isn't trustworthy and tries any funny business then I will deal with him, since I know you don't have the heart to hurt him." she said in a cold tone. Luna looked at her mother with shock, 'please have an open mind Marco. Please.' she thought.

Toffee sensed her daughter's distress so he moved in between them, facing his daughter. "There will be no need to go to such extremes so don't worry sweetheart. I'll make sure of it." he said, being rewarded by his daughter's smile that always seemed to end all his worries. "Thanks dad, but mom's right, on the caution part. You were the one who taught me to be cautious of new situations, and this one certainly is new to me, sort of." Luna chuckled. Her father nodded and turned to his wife, "So when do we start this plan?" he asked. Eclipsa leaned to the side to look at her daughter and gave her an apologetic smile. Luna smiled back, forgiving her mother for being over protective, "We start the plan as soon as the whole camp is awake, which is in a few hours. The question is: who is going to deliver the message to the castle and what are we going to offer to convince him to come?" Eclipsa asked Toffee. He smirked at his wife, "you can leave that part to me. Luna, fetch me Bulgolyubov." His daughter stared at him with a confused look, making him sigh, "also known as Buff Frog." he said. Luna ooohhhed and ran out of the tent.

His wife yawned and went to sit back down on her comfy chair, looking drowsy. He looked at her somewhat tenderly, "get some rest. I'll join you in a bit, after I take care of some preparations for our guest." He left the tent and headed into the pitch black forest.

The moons above now had a red tint to them, encasing the clearing in its alluring glow.

*flashback: 10 ½ years ago/Experimental Concentration Camps*

'I deserved this.'

'I deserved to be in this horrible place for the things I have done… the sins I had committed.'

I looked up to the sky. It was snowing and the snow between my toes felt soft, but I didn't feel cold. Not anymore. I had the bruised needle marks all over my body to thank for that.

I heard a loud *whack* followed by crying. My curiosity got the better of me so I looked out to the courtyard and saw a bunch of kids huddling around something. They were yelling at something, then I noticed that the source of the crying was coming from whatever it was they were hurting. Those were cries of pain after all. I should know.

As the yelling, hitting, and crying continued, I started to feel something at the pit of my stomach. It was disgust.

I got up and made my way to the crowd that had formed around what I assumed to be a wounded child. I pushed to the front and saw the child that was crying and I felt my hands curl into fists.

There, on the ground, was the body of a girl covered in bruises, cuts, and blood.

"Take *whack* that *whack* you nasty half-breed!" yelled the kid near the broken girl, followed by cheers of approval from the rest of the crowd.

I moved behind the kid and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around, looked down at me, and there it was.

His eyes were glazed over, probably high on the feeling of power.

It was sad.

"You should stop this, before you get hurt." I told the older kid. He smiled at me, maniacally, and turned his whole body to face me.

"It seems we have a hybrid loving foreigner among us. Is that what you are? A hybrid lover?," the rest of the crowd began to laugh at his remark. I looked him dead in the eyes and then down to the girl. We made eye contact and I saw absolute fear and pain in hers. What she did next made my heart ache, something I forgot I had… She smiled at me… in such a broken state.

"This is your last warning, pal. Leave her alone or else." I told the ringleader. The crowd went silent for a few seconds, until it erupted into laughter. "Ahahah do you know who I am? I happen to have the strongest powers here," he nodded to the crowd, which began to surround me, "and those powers involve turning your brain to mush. Hold him down!" I allowed the crowd of kids to jump, punch, kick, grab, and pin me to the ground. The ringleader bent down to the girl and faced her to me. "This is what happens to hybrid lovers!" He slammed the girl into the ground and began to walk towards me.

My eyes never left the girls face, as she laid there looking at me with a half lidded eye, as if saying sorry to me. A single tear rolled down her bruised cheek and landed on the snow.

"Any last words before you die?" he asked with a smirk. I looked up at him and shook my head. "This is your last warning." I said coldly.

He bent down and laughed in my face, "Ahaha you're an idiot!" He placed his hand on my head and it began to feel hot, giving me a headache. "Beg for your li-," he didn't get to finish the sentence as he instantly vanished, followed by silence.

I warned him.

They released me from their grip so I sat up. I looked towards the girl, who was looking at me with… gratitude?

"Where did he go?" one of the children asked to no one in particular. I then felt a hand on my

shoulder so I looked at the owner, "What did you do?!" the crowd went silent once again. I rose

from the ground, and headed towards the girl.

"I gave him warnings, but he chose to ignore them so he paid the price. As for what I did," I looked up to the sky, "none of you have to worry about that. He'll be here soon."

I lifted the girl and held her in my arms, resting her head on my shoulder and noticed a mark that looked like a swirl on her neck. Her shallow but warm breathing made the hairs on the back of my neck stand… She was actually really warm, despite being outside in cold with nothing but tattered clothes.

Interesting.

I felt her head shift closer to my ear and she whispered 'thank you.' For some reason, that made me really happy. Happy? I hadn't felt that since…

"Listen to me, all of you. You will stop harassing this girl from now on or what happened to your 'leader' will happen to you." I said coldly. They were about to protest when the sound of someone screaming forced them to look up, but not fast enough. A loud-wet-bone crunching sound echoed throughout the courtyard.

There, in front of all of us, laid a broken pile of red mush. Some of the children vomited, while others looked with horror.

It was the ringleader.

I felt something scaly hit the back of my foot. I looked down and noticed it was a lizard's tail, and that it was coming from the girl. 'That's what they meant by half-breed…'

The girl shuddered, bringing me out of my thoughts. I had to get her somewhere warm and treat her wounds but no one was allowed to be inside during lunch time. Maybe if I blinked and got supplies…

I began to walk towards the crowd, making them part a path for me. 'Hopefully I still have time before the adults catch on to my little magic trick.'

Marco…

MARCO…

MARCO!

(Castle Butterfly: Marco's Room-Morning)

"MARCO!"

Marco opened his eyes slowly and was greeted by Kelly being on top of him, who was somewhat straddling him. The sunlight that was coming through the window made her hair and exposed caramel skin appear to shine. 'So beautiful' he thought.

He then noticed the look she was giving him was one of worry, and he knew why.

"Marco are you okay? You looked like you were having a bad dream… and what's this about a swirl?" she asked with concern. He just stared at Kelly's chest, which confused her, until she realized what was holding his attention. She smirked, "My eyes are up here Marco." His face turned a light shade of red and looked into her eyes with a smile. "Sorry about that, you just surprised me since you're *ahem* revealing a lot of your figure with that loose tunic. It leaves little to the imagination." She moved her hips in a provocative manner, making Marco tense up, much to her delight. "I'll show you what's under all these clothes if you tell me what you were dreaming about," her face switched back to one of worry, "it looked like you were in pain."

Marco sighed and sat up, now face to face with Kelly. "I'll tell you soon Kells… Come on, let's get ready for the day since I have a feeling someone is going to barge through that door any second now and we aren't exactly decen-" the sound of the door opening cut him off.

"Guys, wake up. Star needs you two-," Higgs slammed the door shut, 'WHOA! I'M SORRY!"

Marco and Kelly chuckled, "See, told you. It's alright Higgs! We weren't- stop that Kelly- doing anything. Give us a sec to get ready, and we'll be right out." Marco got off the bed, with Kelly clinging to him with her legs wrapped around his waist, and headed to his cabinets for clothes. "Wow, you're really strong Marco. That leaves little to my imagination on what you can do to me." she chuckled. Marco planted a kiss on top of her head and smiled. "You'll have to wait and see." he replied.

~five minutes later~

The door opened and out came Kelly in her usual attire: a white sweater with pink stripes, black shorts that went down to her knees, pink leather boots, and had her long hair in a single ponytail that reached the back of her ankles. Marco, on the other hand, wore a black dragon hide jacket with a red hood and a white shirt underneath, black pants and boots of an unknown material that were perfect for swift movement accompanied by a katana strapped to his side.

"Took you two long enough and sorry for barging in. I didn't mean to interrupt happy fun times."

Higgs said with a small smile. "It's alright Higgs. We weren't doing anything… yet." Kelly said with a wink, making Marco smile and Higgs do a puking gesture.

Higgs gestured for them to follow her. As they walked through the halls, it dawned on Marco that Higgs never told them what it was Star needed them for. "So what did Star need us for?" he asked his freckled friend.

"Well you're the General of all the knights of Mewni and other military forces, so you need to be present at this war meeting. Star was going to tell you yesterday but she didn't want to bother you in the middle of the night. By the way, where did you go after you left Stars room? Was it to inform Hekapoo about Star's condition." she said. Marco caught on to what she was doing, and was grateful that she hadn't mentioned the plan in front of Kelly, especially now. "Yes, I paid her a visit… as well as others, and then I went to my room where I was assaulted," he glanced at Kelly who shied away from it, "and then got some rest." Higgs looked at Marco and then at Kelly, raising her eyebrow, "Is that all that happened?" she asked.

Higgs's interrogation was cut short when they arrived in front of two very decorated massive doors. "So this is the place huh?" Marco asked as he looked at the doors in front of him. Higgs nodded and went to open the doors, but was met with surprise when they wouldn't budge.

"Huh? That's strange," she tried her luck again, "I don't remember them being this heavy when I opened them earlier to go get you two." After a few more tries, Kelly had enough. "Here, let me help you." she said and walked up to the massive doors. The two girls tried to push the doors, but were having difficulty, making Marco chuckle. He walked up to the two struggling girls, without them noticing, reached over, and tapped the door with his forefinger.

~Castle Butterfly: War Room~

The doors burst open, causing the two girls to fall on the ground. Marco walked in and noticed that the room had an audience of about fifty knights, probably the elite, and in the middle of the room was a large round table littered with maps and paperwork. There were about six people who appeared to be generals, including Henry, who were seated around the table. Sitting at the head of the table was Star, who was wearing the same attire she wore when they first met days ago. She was smiling at Marco and even at Kelly when she stood up from the ground. 'Hopefully Star found a good way to apologize' the hooded boy thought.

"It's certainly nice for my fiance and his friends to finally join us. You can come and sit besides

me Marco." she said nervously. Marco caught the nervousness in her tone but decided not to comment on it. He began to walk over to Star and, when he was just about to pass Kelly, he whispered 'I love you'. This caused the green haired girl's cheeks to turn a deep shade of red and was dragged by Higgs to whatever seats were available.

Once everyone was seated, except for the knights, Star motioned for the meeting to begin. Henry stood up, turned to Star, and took out a scroll. "*Ahem* It seems that Toffee's forces have stopped their advancements from the north and south this morning. They also appear to be holding their positions as we continue to watch their activities to see if anything changes. Your generals highly suggest that we launch an aggressive attack to catch the enemy off guard." He closed the scroll, and opened another one. "The recent census of our forces show that we are down to less than five thousand troops and five hundred knights, while the enemy is close to amassing ten thousand soldiers..." Henry finished and sat down.

Star put her hands together and leaned forward to rest her chin on them. "Hmmm, what do you think we should do Marco?" she asked her commanding general and right hand man. Marco looked over to his friends, who gave him a thumbs up in the sea of knights, making him smile.

He stood up and put his hands behind his back.

"Listen up, generals and Knights of Mewni, as decreed by your Queen, Star Butterfly, I am your general now. And from this day forward, you will all address me as… General Sol." Marco said with a loud booming voice. The knights, some of which he recognized to be from the ambush, hit their spears once on the ground in approval. He smiled at their action, "As for what actions should be done regarding the opposition," he chuckled, "I think we should do nothing and continue to observe, since doing what you, generals, advised will lead to unnecessary deaths." he finished with a smile.

All of the generals, except for Henry, stood up from the table and began to protest.

"You can't be serious!"

"We need to make our move!"

"He's mad if he thinks that we should do nothing!"

Marco began to laugh, silencing the bickering generals, and stuck out his hand to them. A blue flame, in the shape of a small Sun, emerged and danced above his palm, rapidly warming the room. "Genius lives only one story above madness…," he closed his palm, extinguishing the flame, "so there's no reason to rush things. It's rather rude to attack someone who isn't looking for a fight, in my opinion."

Suddenly, Marco sensed something moving towards them at an incredible speed and sighed. An object flew threw the window, shattering it, causing Star to turn towards the sound. Before the object could hit Star, Marco moved in front of her and managed to catch it with his bare hand.

It was an arrow imbued with magic and there was a piece of paper attached to it. Marco opened it and read it in his head:

'Dear Queen,

I seek the audience of your 'bodyguard' and are willing to go into a month long truce if you agree, meaning that there will be no military activity on both of our sides. If this demand is not met, I will kill and burn down everything on my way to Castle Butterfly. I know that you don't have the resources to fight back so I sincerely hope that you deeply consider this offer.'

P.S.: 'If you agree, he is to meet someone near one of my camps by the Hill of Flags. He must come alone.'

-Toffee

Marco folded the paper in half and handed it to a shaken Star. "MARCO! WHAT'S GOING O-"

Before she could finish, Marco made his way to the door and turned around to face everyone when he reached the two massive doors. He saw the look of worry on all of their faces, especially Kelly's. 'I'll make it up to her later' he thought.

"I'm sorry to cut this meeting short, but it seems my presence is requested by a certain lizard and offered something I couldn't refuse. Your Queen has further details on the matter." He looked at Kelly and, with a small smile, mouthed the words: 'you'll know where I am, so don't worry my lady.'

Before anyone could fully recover from the shock of what had just happened, Marco ran past the doors and jumped out of the first window he saw.

As Marco was falling, he was trying to remember anything regarding Mewman landmarks he might have read about in a book.

Once he found it, he sighed. It was near the cornfields.

Great, that was about thirty minutes away on horseback and he couldn't use his abilities but needed to get this over with as quickly as possible. He had come back before things became hectic without him. 'Maybe if I run there…'

He noticed the wind in his hair and smiled.

'This feels nice. I should do this more often' he thought as he plummeted towards the ground at an alarming rate.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I'm deeply sorry, I truly am. Hopefully this chapter was decent lol. The following chapters will introduce the 'villains' more so hang tight! It's going to get wild and you are all going to be surprised o.o Thanks again for all the support and hopefully I answered some of your concerns, which I will be doing in chapters more often. Also, sorry for any grammar errors. Until next time!