A/N: "Gee Edge, how come your mom lets you upload two chapters?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what!?" Marco's body bolted upright. His face became a faded shade of red.
"Wha-wha-what makes you say that?" Star nervously inquired, her pale skin also reddening.
"Are you kidding me right now?" Janna asked, unconvinced by their embarrassed reactions. "Marco is in your bed not wearing any pants and the door was locked when I came here. I put two and two to discover the two of you were doing the do."
"Janna," Marco put down Star's phone and began pinching the bridge of his nose in mild annoyance, "Nothing of that sort happened at all. We were just playing video games the whole time."
"Is that what they're calling it nowadays?"
"No really, look!" Marco took his laptop and faced his screen towards the dirty-minded interrogator.
"Oh hey, ya got Mugen," Janna abandoned her earlier accusation for a moment then jumped right back in, "Wait, were you texting Jackie right after you two were done? Man, now it's getting hard to tell who the cuck really is."
Star raised an eyebrow. Cuck? Considering the current situation as well as the discussion she and Marco had earlier about her pushiness towards his dating Jackie, she wondered if that was the word he kept himself from saying and subsequently explaining.
"Janna, that's enough," Marco's mild annoyance turned into firm frustration. "Nothing. Happened. I took my hoodie and pants off because I was just trying to get comfortable and I didn't wanna be covered in sweaty clothes for several more hours, ok? End. Of story,"
Shaken by his grave tone, Janna was compelled to believe him. Now that she gave it more thought, there was no way those two would've done anything by now. The "Safe Kid" certainly would have packed protection considering his well-deserved title. But still, one other question still stands.
"Ok, but why was the door locked?" Janna turned an accusatory gaze towards Star, who looked like someone had just found out about a heinous crime she committed.
After hearing the phrase twice, realization set in for Marco. Now it was his turn to shoot an accusative glance towards the Mewni princess. "Yeah Star, why was the door locked?"
"I, err..." Star was hoping she could avoid facing her negative feelings and reality for a little while longer, but it seems that Janna would never let up if the possibility of lewd acts of intimacy was up in the air.
"Well?" Janna's eyes squinted in suspicion.
"I just..." Star drew in a heavy breath of air. "After all that's happened, I just wanted a chance to forget about everything going on outside of this room. I wanted to pretend that... everything was ok and we weren't gonna be part of some war that could determine the fate of Mewni and possibly the universe. Marco's pretty much the only one who could help me do that. I locked the door so no one would come in and break that illusion."
Nobody spoke another word for awhile. Marco was visibly moved by her sentimental explanation. Janna's wily expression softened into that of shame. She now felt like a huge dick for insinuating something that never happened when the scenario ended up being a lot more meaningful than she initially thought.
"Damn, I'm sorry Star," Janna apologized. She adjusted her beanie. "I know there's a lot of pressure on the both of you right now and, uh, that really sucks. It was wrong of me to make immature assumptions like that,"
"Ehh, don't beat yourself up too bad," Star waved off, her mood steadily becoming chipper again. "Come to think of it, I can actually see why you'd think we did...something. And believe me girl, I would love for that something to have actually happened and I would love to share every detail with you,"
"St-Staarrr," Marco was flustered, his blush reemerging with a vengeance.
"Whaaat?" The perky blonde shot back at her embarrassed friend. "We all know how I feel about you, Marco. Why hide it now?"
"Haha, Star you absolute madwoman!" Janna laughed. Her lips curved back into a mischievous grin. "So tell me. In great detail, what exactly would you do to Marco?"
"Better question is, what wouldn't I do?"
"H-hey Star, shouldn't you be getting ready for that meeting?" Marco disrupted her sordid train of thought before his discomfort could get any deeper.
"Oh yeeahhh, I almost forgot!" Before Star could run to her bathroom to prepare herself, something else was brought to her attention. "Wait, Janna was there something you came up here for?"
"Right, almost forgot," Janna removed her signature beanie and dipped her hand in, then her entire arm. Star and Marco's arched their eyebrows as they witnessed this unexpected act. Their faces stretched further when she pulled out Star's missing spellbook.
"Janna, h-how did...when did you- wh-" Once again, Marco forgot how to sentence structure.
"My spellbook!" Star took her gal pal in the tightest bear hug that lifted her off the ground and spun her all around, much to her asphyxiation and dizziness. "How on Mewni did you get it? And how did you fit it in your hat?"
After being released from the princess' grip and taking a moment to make sure nothing was broken, Janna pointed the interior of her hat towards the two, revealing what looks like a mini black hole.
"H-how?" Marco opted to just stick to one word, since any more and he'd end up an incoherent, blabbering mess of confusion.
"The queen gave the book to me." Janna explained. "She recovered it from her previous raid and told me to get it to you,"
"And the black hole?" Star asked.
"A little spell your mom casted for me. I wasn't gonna lug that dusty thing up ten floors."
"Ohh, thankyouthankyouthankyou Thank youuuu!" Star hopped in place like an excited child as she took her ginormous tome and embraced it just as hard as she did Janna. Though, she couldn't wrap her arms around it as easily as she did the the girl.
"Don't thank me, thank your mom. Though it sucks that G-Man wasn't in there. Where is that little weirdo anyways?"
"Heck if anyone knows," Marco remarked dryly.
"Ooohh, I gotta catch up on my spell lessons," Star said, frantically. Then her squirrely gaze was redirected towards the bathroom. "Oohhh but I also gotta get ready for the meeting. Ahhh, decisions, decisions!"
"Might as well get ready for the meeting first. We can try and play catch-up afterwards if we have time," Marco recommended.
"Yeahyeahyeah, that makes sense," Star made her way back to her bathroom.
"Wait, Star." The princess stopped dead in her tracks as she was about to turn the knob.
"Yes, Marco?"
"Err," The boy wanted to ask this question later, but it itched at his psyche too much to leave it be for a while longer, "You didn't... mean what you said about wanting... something to happen while I was up here, did you?"
Both girls in the room were taken aback by the question. Janna held her lips trying to suppress a growing laughter. Star's face went pink for a few moments, then she warmly and assuredly smiled at her best bud.
"Ohh Marcooo," Star cooed, teasingly. "Of course I did! Heck, things probably would've gone much different if ya hadn't brought in your laptop!"
And without another word, the bubbly blonde blinked out of sight, slamming the bathroom door shut and leaving behind a somewhat rattled Marco.
The boy blinked a few times and the redness on his face remained unfaltering. Still, he couldn't help but look off to the distance and chortle to himself. At least it was better than the two having to be awkwardly evasive towards each other. If there was one thing that he absolutely adored about Star was her point blank bluntness. Her embracing her feelings rather than suppressing them was quite the breath of fresh air from all the recent dimensional turmoil and social uneasiness.
"Sooo, what characters ya guys got in there?" Janna asked, pointing at Marco's laptop.
Marco looked back at Janna with almost dead eyes as he remembered the existential crisis he suffered from this simple game.
"You know what? Maybe you should check it out for yourself,"
To pass the rest of the time they had left, Marco and Janna continued playing Mugen. Or at least, one of them did. Marco just spectated, not caring to touch his laptop. At some point, he put his hoodie and his jeans back on. That was as much preparation for the meeting as he could do.
Much like Star, Janna was having a blast making matchups with the people that were part of their lives
without all the psychological hangups that deterred Marco's enjoyment of the game.
"Dang it, G-man how come you didn't put me in the game?" Janna complained to an absent Glossarcyk. "You made Jackie a Zoning mermaid, you couldn't have made me a necromancer that relied solely on Strikers?"
"Am I the only one who has a problem with us being in the game?"
"Hey man, don't be such a wet sock," Janna responded, trying to lighten the dude up. "Be flattered that Glossy took the time to program and animate all of us in the game. Well, all of you guys in the game. I guess he forgot who some of his homies were."
"Ain't that the truth," Marco responded plainly. Janna button mashed away as she was fighting a CPU Hekapoo as Jackie. She found the mermaid skater girl to be a very floaty character to play as, but her inputs were simple enough to get used to.
"So what else did he give you?"
"Err," Marco racked his brain to remember the note Glossaryck left, "Well, there's Third Strike. And you're playing Mugen right now. Then there's a couple games we haven't played yet called MvC2 and Heritage for the Future,"
"Oh shit, Third Strike?" Janna's face lit up, "Now that is a pleb filter if I've ever seen one,"
"I don't know what that means,"
"Ah, don't worry about it," Janna waved off, "Glossy's got top-tier taste. Though, I wish he would've put in more quality stuff, like Guilty Gear or SnK 2 or heck, even all the other versions of Street Fighter III besides Third Strike."
"I dunno, I didn't ask for any of this," Marco stated, tossing his hands in the air.
"Ok, Adam,"
"What?!" Marco's body swung upright, the memory of the contents of his game folder barging into his mind like a war flashback.
"Adam Jensen?" Janna responded, her eyebrow raised. "From Deus Ex? C'mon man, catch up on your video game references."
After shooting the girl a tired look, Marco's head fell back on his pillow, like an axe to a chopping block. He stared up at the ceiling, continuing to count the seconds till the meeting.
"Dojyaaan!" Star triumphantly shouted, with arms high to the sky as she kicked her bathroom door open. She donned her usual attire of a sea-green dress with its puffy sleeves and little spider drawn on its torso, coupled with her little star bag hanging off her shoulder and of course, the signature red devil horns.
"Huh, and with only like half an hour to spare," Marco said, looking at the clock on his laptop.
"Eyuup. Gettin' better with my prep time." Star pulled out her dimensional scissors, snipping the air. "Ready to go?"
"You got plenty of time though dontcha?" Janna asked.
"Doesn't hurt to be too early. Gotta learn to be punctual when I'm 'bout to be queen. Ain't that right, Marco?"
"Heh heh, seems I've taught you pretty well, Star," Marco chuckled, proud that he's been quite the positive influence on the would-be queen during their time together. "Comin', Janna?"
"Eh," Janna waved off dismissively, "I'll just be here, getting' some tourney practice. Just gimme the short version when you guys're done."
"Alrighty then leeeeet's go!" Star snipped at the space before her, starting at her foot and working her way up. Unfortunately, the action bore no results.
"Huh?" The princess stared at her blades in confusion, wondering if she executed the move correctly. "I said, leeet's gooo!"
Still nothing. She shook the scissors, trying to rattle the imaginary batteries to get some juice running.
"Here, lemme try," Marco brandished his own pair. He repeated the action that he and Star always did to summon a portal, but much like his blonde buddy's attempts, there was no dice.
Marco panicked a bit. There was absolutely no way he spent sixteen years fighting for these things in another dimension only to have them stop working.
He tried again. And again. And again. He thought of different spots in the castle to teleport to. Nothing.
He tried thinking of Home. Nada.
He thought of Hekapoo's dimension. Zip.
He even thought of transporting just a few feet in front of him. Nope.
"Oh, nonononno..." Marco lamented, dropping his scissors to hold his cheeks in his hands.
"What the heck is going on?" Star wondered, a finger to her chin.
"How the heck are Janna and I supposed to get home!?"
"Uh, it's ok, it's ok" Star assured, uncertain whether she should believe herself or not, "Maybe, uhh, maybe my mom'll have a way to fix it,"
Marco released the grip on his cheeks. His face loosened at the possibility of finding a solution to this huge problem that plopped itself on the other huge problems.
"Well... I guess it's a good thing walking all the way down the castle takes around thirty minutes," Marco said, finding a bright side to the situation. "Let's get walkin'"
"Ugghhh, but it's soooo faarrr!" Star groaned in protest, hanging her arms and torso dejectedly.
"Hey, I had to walk all the way up here myself. If I could do it, so could you,"
"Fiiiinnne," Star relented. "We'll be back in a little bit Janna. Hang tight."
"Kay, seeya," Janna waved off.
And with that, Marco and Star closed the door behind them and began their lengthy trek down a million flights of stairs, which was sure to result in stronger legs and an abundance of sweat. The beanie bearing delinquent was left alone, with naught but the laptop of a teen boy to keep her company.
"Wonder what kinda porn he's got in here,"
The throne room was filled to the brim with attendants, much so that every body in the room seemed to be squeezing against one another. Many of these bodies were either knight commanding officers in their suits of armor, government officials in dignified robes, or random nobles in their persnickety and overly fancy clothes. Everyone was either talking among themselves about the current state of affairs or arguing about personal space. River and Moon stood in front of their thrones while Star and Marco stood beside them.
"Excuse me, may I have everyone's attention?" The commanding authority of Moon's voice overpowered the cacophony of murmurs that filled the room, and thus all within proximity fell silent as their queen spoke.
"I will be as concise as Mewmanly possible because as it stands, time is of the absolute essence. First, and foremost, an insidious enemy of the state has returned. Toffee is on the rise once again."
The audience exploded into a symphony of whispers, complaints, and shouts that amount to "We're doomed" or "Heavens save us all". The main source was derived from the nobles and government officials and the knights made an effort to suppress their growing concerns by either making comments of reassurance or yelling at them to shut up and let the queen speak.
"Settle down, settle down, everyone." Moon waved her hands downwards to try and quell the rabble.
But they refused. Panic completely overtook the politicians' and the wealthy's senses. The soldiers raised their efforts to extinguish the panic, but it only added to the tension and noise.
"Everyone, please!" The queen was getting frustrated, but for the sake of image and her people, she had to stay composed and resolute. She couldn't afford to lose herself to the stress like she did the previous day. She looked to River for any ideas and the short man simply shrugged.
"We thought you finished the job, Moon!" Screamed one bystander.
"You had to use the darkest spell! If that wasn't enough, what is!?" Shouted another.
"Glossaryck is dead and we killed him!"
Her Majesty's resolve was slowly chipping away. How could she even begin to address and prepare to combat the major issue when she can't even bring order to her own meeting? She didn't want it to come to this but she had no choice but to transfo-
A blaring blast of magic shot into the air, blowing a hole in the ceiling. Princess Star Butterfly was suddenly standing in front of her parents. The arm that held her wand stood tall as a small stream of smoke emitted from its tip.
"Can you all please, SHUT UP!?" Everyone did just that as Star resoundingly demanded, her voice resonating throughout the room and the crowd. Their eyes were once again affixed on the royal family and Marco.
"Thank youuu!" Star beamed, her mood flipped as soon as order returned to the room. She happily skipped her way back to the spot next to Marco.
"Thank you, Star," Moon said, giving a smile of gratitude towards her daughter, who flashed back with a brighter grin of her own. "Now then, unless you all want the ceiling to collapse on us, I suggest you remain absolutely silent and reserve your grievances for after the meeting. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, my Queen," Everyone in the crowd responded in unison.
"Good. Now, as I was saying," Her Majesty recommenced, raising her voice just an octave higher for good measure. "Yes, Toffee has returned. Not only that, but the Magic High Commission has been completely wiped out. We were only able to recover two of their remains."
You can drop a pin in the room and that's all you'd be able to hear. Everyone was either too stunned to voice their horror or just didn't want another blast to the ceiling. Either way, everyone in attendance was visibly shaken at the prospect of the most powerful magic users in existence all getting overtaken in one fell swoop.
"Furthermore," Moon continued. "The effectiveness of dimensional traveling items have been either waning or reduced to states of uselessness. Since Hekapoo was the only one who could resolve this severe issue, no further solutions were brought to light. In order to either assist or communicate with the neighboring kingdoms, we must travel by horseback and carriage for the time being."
That teens started internally freaking out, their eyes widening at the confirmation of what they experienced firsthand. Marco especially. Both of them shared a look of distress between them. Seems as though there was absolutely no going back home until Toffee was brought to justice and this whole thing blows over. At least he already said his goodbyes to Jackie and his parents.
"On the subject of allied kingdoms," Moon began sounding a bit more grave. "We have reason to believe that The Underworld has been compromised. House Lucitor has refused to answer any of our messages regarding this coming war for the past few days, before inter-dimensional travel became nigh impossible. In addition, all of our couriers assigned to relay said messages have yet to return. Whether the kingdom itself has fallen under the hands of our enemy or has begun colluding with the enemy is yet to be determined."
Marco turned a wide-eyed gaze towards Star, wordlessly bringing up Tom. She responded with a shrug, but looked a tad troubled herself.
"Now then, since we have more or less the bad news out of the way, I'd like to bring our attention to something a bit more celebratory. The induction of-"
"My queen!" The throne room doors swung open with a loud bang, abruptly cutting off Moon's speech. Everyone in the room turned their attention towards the knight at the door, who looked horribly mortified. "The Kingdom is under attack! There's a dragon assaulting the town!"
As if on cue, the entire room and possibly the castle shook, followed by a series of explosions and a piercing, guttural roar that resounded all throughout the kingdom. The hearts and breaths of every living being in the room raced to their limits.
"Everyone, get to defensive positions now! Evacuate the citizens! Ready the trebuchets and catapults! Deploy the Pegastrikes and the Warnicorns! This is an Apocalypse Level Threat! Move, move, move!" River bombastically let loose a barrage of commands as every soldier in the room scrambled to the throne room door to follow them through, with the king at the forefront. Everyone else went to go run off either to seek safety or to assist in the evacuation process. The room became empty, save for the kids and the queen.
"Oh dear, how can this be?" Moon gravely lamented, her eyes darting all around and her gloved hand rubbing her chin. She began pacing back and forth, almost exactly in the same manner and disposition when she discovered the God Hand was missing, "How can a dragon be here and now?"
"I thought dragons would be fairly common in a place like this." Marco said, "Why such a high threat level that implies the end of the world?"
"Marco," Star firmly grasped him by the shoulders. Her eyes shook with fear and her voice lowered grimly, "I barely pay attention to history, but everyone here knows that dragons have been extinct for over a thousand years."