I keep my word... sometimes...

Enjoy :D

Chapter 11: After Shattering

"Dammit, that came out wrong!" Marco exclaimed while face-palming.

How did things get this complicated?! He didn't mean to say any of that, but the wrong words were slipping out of his mouth in the wrong way in the wrong situation. Everything was so wrong; he was wrong! Marco felt like it didn't matter what he says he would only mess up even more.

Marco was shocked to hear those words from Star, in a good sense of the feeling. It was indescribable what he felt… It was wonderful to hear the princess confess to him; once he really understood that she was serious about her feelings… He felt like fireworks were exploding on his heart and "We are the champions" was playing on full volume on his mind while he could – finally – kiss Star out of her senses.

Then he felt his feet on the ground. He was with Jackie; the girl he had spent most part of his life dreaming to be with. Now that he lived it, he realized that it was much different – it wasn't bad, just different from what he thought it would be. Marco needed to know how to deal with her first before taking his chance with Star.

But from the moment he opened his mouth to speak, he somehow knew things would go really bad.

He overreacted. He didn't even know what had driven him into it, but somehow he was attacking Star with everything that happened, she was attacking too on her defense, he was hurting her and she was hurting him… Just, why?

He didn't know. Marco was lost on everything that happened the past weeks and let himself to be carried away into whatever that fight would be called. Every part of his body told him to stop, but his mind went on. He could feel how things were about to break; he could feel their bond shattering. He didn't know what it was, but he felt it coming; Marco felt the hurt, pain and tears, agony and fear…

Marco was scared on how things would turn out to both of them if he said 'Yes'; Marco was scared on how it would go if he said 'No'. And somehow, while trapped in between, he did worse.

He said never.

When the words slipped from his mouth, he immediately regretted. It wasn't meant to look like they did, at all! On the next second he felt something heavy on his chest, it troubled his breathing and his heart beats, he felt her hurt and sadness, then he felt the weight of his guilty. It wasn't fair any of that was fair to Star!

Even if was hard breathing with that thing on his chest, Marco decided that he couldn't be silent. He had to try fix the things, or at least try to. Because he felt like whatever he and Star had – Friendship, relationship, lust, love or whatever – Was slipping through his fingers like water, and if he let it happen, it would be lost like the last droplet of water in the desert.

He wouldn't survive.

"I mean…" He tried to speak, clutching his chest while Star still with eyes on the floor "Is that even allowed? You're a princess and I'm just a guy… I have nothing to offer you or Mewni; and we are from different dimension, would anyone allow that? How it would work? We would have to give up living in one of them or there would be no problem in traveling to both all the time? And…"

Marco knew he was rambling again, but he couldn't help it, he had to say something! He had to fix the situation!

He frowned when suddenly there was nothing to feel. There was no weight, pain and he could breathe… Why something was still stinging then? Why it felt like something was wrong? Why he felt empty?

"Star…" Marco called, afraid that if he took a step she would run away yet again since this all begin "Please, look at me… Talk to me, please…" He pleaded, but she kept looking at the ground; then she looked at the Wand "Let's just talk ok? I'm sorry I screamed at you… It's just too much and complicated, I also need to talk with Jackie before trying anything with you, I don't want to hurt her feelings; I'm just confused…" He went on rambling again, scared that she would run away and things only get worse, but at this point he could not blame her for leaving him in the open.

"Marco…" She finally said, Marco stopped talking and let a small and hopeful smile escape his lips. It was shortly lived as all she said was "I'm leaving."

He sighed. The bad omen he felt was ringing louder, something within him screamed that things would only get worse if he let it go; that he would regret even more if he run away before telling her…

Telling her what?

He made enough damage into their friendship, on her and on him, and had no idea on how deep it was or whatever. Marco just couldn't risk anything else. He had to be absolutely sure before saying her anything, even if all he wanted right now was to hold her close and repeat those words into her lips until she believes him and understand that it was a misunderstanding.

But he can't. Because he feels, he knows that she'll break on the slightest touch from him, that's she's too fragile and hurt… That he was the one who did this to her. And he has no right to say otherwise or to ask anything from her in that moment.

Scratching his neck, his eyes went to the starry sky "Ok. Maybe it's better for us to chill out and talk later" He didn't want to, but Star made clear she wanted to be alone for a while, and this time, he shouldn't follow at any circumstances.

"No."

Her answer was so short and quick that it felt like a bullet on him. His mind screamed "Danger! Danger! May day! May day!", but he hadn't time to complain.

Star turned around, raising her arm and calling an enchantment. Marco closed his eyes at the brightness of the magic; when he looked again, there was a portal in front of the princess; her golden hair and dress was waving gracefully on the wind and she waited for something. Should he say something? He was waiting her to say something, he said too much so he wanted to keep it shout for now before he blew their relationship once for all. Star turned around just to look at him one last time.

Marco could swear his own heart broke when he saw her face.

Her eyes were the the pure mix of hurt and sadness, shining as a tear slides down her cheek. Her cheek marks of hearts are gray, a lifeless gray that would have scared him a lot more if wasn't another concerning fact on them…

Star hearts marks were cracked.

The panic rising on him mixed up with dread. They both stood there for a moment, he doesn't know what to do; he hurt her to the point her marks were also affected, that never happened before. The fright on his veins makes him feel cold and his frozen bones made him unable to move. Star was expecting something from him and he couldn't move, Marco knew that any movement, a word and it would break.

And this time wasn't a heart or friendship, it was them.

A tear slide on her cheek, he could feel as it was his own heart there at the moment the tear was passing on the cracked heart and it broke. The marks were shattered. They were broken. The silence was the end for both of them and whatever they had.

"Goodbye, Marco."

Those were the last words from Star, before she got into the portal and disappeared with it.

As soon as her presence vanished, the ground had disappeared, suddenly air wasn't all he needed to breathe, the world was spinning around him, he felt colder than never and all his mind could think of was "She's gone".

And Marco knew that wasn't any good.

But what he could do? He already did harm enough and she had the right to get away from him, this was the one time she has reason to run and he couldn't ask for otherwise; the one time she was the right in running away from this; she was hurt...

He hurt her.

He messed up really bad.

With a sigh, Marco decided to go back into the Ballroom. He didn't remember getting his tuxedo, but he felt on him anyway. His legs moved to went to the table where his friends were, his mind was still lost into everything. Marco let his body fall heavily on a chair, elbows on the table and hands on his face. Could regret kill someone? Because if it could, then he was in serious danger.

"Marco? Are you alright?"

He looked up to meet Jackie's eyes. If he wasn't so desolated, he would feel shame to think she was there and moments ago all he wanted was to be with Star. This could count as cheating? He thought so, after all, he was still her boyfriend and as such, he should be loyal on mind body and… Soul.

But why that seemed so extreme when he thought about it with Jackie?

"I messed up" He said and went to his previous position again "I messed up really bad."

The others appeared too, Jackie took a seat beside him, Janna did too, Ferguson and Alfonso stood close by.

"What happened?" Alfonso asked.

"Star confessed to me" he replied, there was no use in hiding from them and he was too tired to think on an excuse "I overreacted."

A few gasps and a deception "Oh…" were heard, but he didn't look up to see their reaction. They seemed uncertain about how to speak about it or to leave it alone, it was an uncomfortable atmosphere; he couldn't care less…

Janna was the one that decided to go on "Why you overreacted?"

"I don't know!" Marco exclaimed in frustrated "I'm trying to understand why I reacted to her like that! I mean, I know I was scared and shocked, but I didn't have to say anything I said!"

By her voice, Jackie frowned in worry "What did you say?"

Marco couldn't kept quiet anymore, he got up and begin to pace beside their table "I said I was with Jackie, I said I didn't know what to think of it, that it was impossible and that Mewni was her home- Oh God, why did I said that?!" He passed his fingers on his hair to try calm down. "I didn't mean like that! It just came out completely wrong!"

Marco rambling ended up in him telling them everything it happened on details. Sometimes Janna would groan on his stupid attitude, Ferguson and Alfonso were tense little by little (He felt like they were about to smack his head on a rock – and sincerely, he deserved it). He was so into telling everything he forgot Jackie's presence there, and she stood there, listening quietly every word from him.

"I just don't know what to do! She has all the right to stay away and I don't want that; I need to solve this, but… I'm just lost and I'm afraid I just make it worse."

Janna snickered at him "To begin with, you could answer her. Like, the real answer"

"Yeah, man" Alfonso agreed "You two have been hanging on each other for the longest time, what's wrong?"

"I just…" Marco grunted pulling strands of his own hair "I'm confused, I'm scared, I'm compromised! I have a girlfriend! I can't just jump into a relationship with Star without making things clear to her!"

"Wait… So the reason why you didn't accept Star was me?"

Marco looked at Jackie surprised. He completely forgot she was there. Oh Lord, she heard everything, his rambling, the confession, the fight and now she was with her hand in the air in a signal that she wanted to speak for the first time in… How much time it has been? 20 minutes? It felt like it so, but it was probably less.

He felt the tension over both of them, but that wasn't anything close to what he felt minutes ago into the fight with Star. With the princess there was pain, guilty, love and so much frustration; and now with Jackie… There was guilty for sure, a bit of regret, sadness and a little grief… But no pain. He wasn't hurt by it, at least not like it was with Star.

The girl in the green dress stood and put her hands over her hips, with a sigh she extended a hand to him. "Give me the necklace"

Marco sighed "Jackie, listen…"

"No. You listen!" She replied with a higher voice. "I knew this was going to happen; I knew you and Star could become a thing the only reason why I didn't break up with you, Marco, was because I thought that when this moment came, we could all figure it out together and it would be just fine" She looked at the other on the table in distress "We all had realized you two had feelings for each other, but we also knew it was up to you two to solve this, that's why we never got into your fights or anything!"

Marco looked at the table at saw the others exchanging looks and giving faint nods. "I said I wanted honesty from you Marco; and I know you didn't mean to hurt any of us, but that's what got you and Star to fight so many times…" She sighed, "I knew someday we would break up and I knew you would go after her, I was never hurt by it because I understand. I had understood that whatever you and Star are into it's way more deep, complicated and stronger than what we have since our first month together…"

Marco tried to defend "It's not like that…"

"Hush." Jackie said pointing one finger on his face "I didn't finished." She massaged her temples. "Marco… What was the first thing you did when we were officially together?"

"I hugged you" He replied.

"No. You went to Star" Jackie corrected "I gave you the necklace and you went to her to show up, you two celebrated and hugged each other; then you come back to hug me."

Marco looked at the ground embarrassed. He never noticed he did that; now she mentioned, he realized it was the natural thing he did even if it was wrong. "Oh my God, I'm sorry" He said.

"Don't be." Jackie replied. The skate girl took his hands on hers and continued what she had to say "That was the moment I noticed that you two had something special and it would come up on someday. I tried to win your heart, but I couldn't win what always meant to be to someone's else. I had my time understanding, fighting and accepting that this would be over. I decided to enjoy until it lasted… Like we said on our first date like a couple, remember?"

Marco nodded closing his eyes on shame by what he did then and what was happening now "To be eternal until it was over."

Jackie smiled gently on him "Yes. And it's over already, Marco… You need to let it go so you can move on with Star."

"What about you?" Marco asked finally looking on her eyes.

Jackie looked at their hands together "I'll be fine and move on too."

One of his hands went to her face, cupping her cheek and making her look at him "And Australia?"

"My invitation still valid if you want to go. I invited you as a friend, not only because you were my boyfriend." She shrugged and smiled. Marco frowned suddenly and Jackie giggled "What is it?"

"It's… Weird" He admitted. "We should hate each other, be broken, hurt and all, but… I just feel this strange feeling that this is right. I'm sad that it didn't work out, but I don't regret anything we went through…"

Jackie gave a faint laugh "We don't need to be strangers to each other. I want to still be your friend and to Star too. It will be weird for a while, but hey, we all learned to deal with a magical princess from another dimension; I think we can deal with a bit of awkwardness for a while" Marco laughed too.

"I guess…" He smiled at his ex-girlfriend "I'm sorry it didn't work out, that it took so long for me to realize and we could both move on."

"Me too" Jackie caressed his cheek "Now, give me the necklace"

Marco put his hands on his neck and took the chain, sliding above his head while she did the same. Both chains on her gloved hand, pedants of key and heart padlock together once again to be kept away until someone got what it needed to hold the key to the girl's heart.

Someone cleared his throat and both teenagers looked behind them to see their friends there witnessing the moment. Alfonso pretended it was accidental and looked away.

"So… Now can we go? I'm feeling awkward with all this."

The former couple laughed at him. Jackie put her hands on the hips and moved her hair on a playful way "Not yet! I'm back on hunting!" All of them laughed at her. Finally the tension had lifted a bit and they could play around without hesitation.

Janna hugged Jackie "Thank you! I missed having a partner looking someone to hook up!"

Jackie frowned. "I'm not sure if I want to do this with you"

Janna pouted at her and the boys laughed again. Alfonso and Ferguson went to Marco commenting something about him being a heartbreaker – Literally – which reminded him of Star. Marco looked at Jackie and smiled.

"What now?"

She put the necklaces on her purse, and then both hands on his shoulders smiling "Now we go after Star and you two get your relationship solved."

Marco shrugged and scratched his neck feeling happy and nervous to talk to the princess. If his crush on – No, love for her was denied and hidden until then, now it was coming on him like a waterfall of feelings. All the moments together, intimacy, the almost kisses got into him and she couldn't help the blush on his cheeks. It was even better now he knew she loved him too, he just hoped he could fix all the misunderstanding from earlier.

"Yeah…" He managed to say "I should go home and talk to her."

Marco was expecting a few jokes on him, pats on his shoulders, and some teasing… Not the terrified, pale and shocked faces on his friends. He frowned confused.

"What?"

"You mean…" Ferguson said with difficulty "That Star already went home?"

He got even more confused at his question. "Yeah, after our fight she decided to leave… Why?"

"Marco…" Jackie was the one closer, so she held his arm on the same way she did every time something bad was about to happen. The fear on her face made him even more worried on their reaction.

And he should, because when the words slips from her lips, he feels all of his fears from the past weeks hit him like it was obvious all the time and he was blind. He can't help to feel his whole body cold and get desperate on the single phrase she says.

"Star is going back to Mewni tonight."

I wonder if I should post the next one in the morning (in 6 horus to me)?