Welp... This was supposed to be a peace talks chapter but I overhyped myself on the story here so this is what I wrote first. Also, writing this is so much fun for me, it really reminds me of all the stupid stuff I wrote whenever I had free time as a kid. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Insight
Part 2
The group was currently making their way to the dojo, the balls of fire lighting their path. They were still in silent awe at the sheer awesomeness of the place, Star was especially interested in the rainbow colored birds the left sparkles in their wake as they flew high above them.
"Marco... This place is beautiful." Jackie said, her eyes glued to the rising moons.
"Thanks, maybe I can show everyone around once we get used to this, this place is way bigger than it seems." Marco said.
"Really!? I can't wait to see all the cool stuff here!" Star screamed, jumping up and down, her cheek marks throwing off sparkles and hearts.
"I'm pretty sure you've seen a few of the things here already Star, quite a few of the places here are molded after our adventures you know." Marco said.
"Really?" Star asked, an unreadable expression was on her face.
"Yeah, apparently this place is in my mind and it's made up of my memories and at the same time it's a completely different place entirely. I know, it's confusing, it's still giving me a headache just thinking about it." Marco said.
"Woah, we're like, the same then." Kelly said.
"Huh, how so?" Janna asked, looking at the girl.
"I have a pocket dimension in my hair." Kelly said, taking her sword out of her hair to demonstrate.
"That is so cool!" Janna and Star said at the same time.
Jackie just looked on with a raised eyebrow, and a small smile on her face.
"And yet, that's not the weirdest thing I saw today." She said.
"Heads up guys, were almost there." Marco said.
And sure enough they were at the base of the tree, right at the dojo's entrance. Which confused the girls as they were still quite a ways off a few seconds ago.
The dojo itself was made from wood, decorated with jade symbols scattered in groups, the entire roof was made of red colored wood, and there were two empty pedestals besides the sliding door entrance.The dojo looked like the tree had grown up around it, swallowing half of it into its immense trunk.
Immediately after they went through the door they were greeted by a training room, similar to the one in Marco's karate dojo in Echo Creek, but bigger, way bigger and the walls were lined with racks upon racks of weapons of various kinds, rivaled only in number by the shelves of books reaching up to the roof of the place, packed with an unimaginable amount of books.
"Woah" the girls chorused.
Star and Kelly were eyeing the weapons.
Janna had her eyes set on the dark hallway across the room, curious as to where it leads.
And Jackie was staring at all the books around her, she had the same look Star has whenever Marco makes his nachos.
"Umm, well... Have fun I guess? Just be careful, if you get hurt here, you're body might not be physically hurt outside of my mind, but you'll get a headache if you push yourself too much." Marco said.
"We can play?" Star said, her eyes sparkling.
"I thought we were here to train." Jackie asked.
"And we will, but we already went through a lot today, let's just relax for a bit, yeah?" Marco said, as he walked over to a weapon rack, took a chain-sickle and did a few practice twirls.
"Okay, but do you mind if I read some of the books here?" Jackie asked
"Go ahead, if you want a book that's too high up just think about a ladder, and poof it'll appear." Marco said.
"Oh and here's a book you might be interested in." Marco said as he walked over and took out a big blue book and gave it to Jackie.
"History of Mewni? How'd you know?" Jackie asked
"You always liked to read about stuff you wanted to know about didn't you? I just thought this would've been what you wanted." Marco said with a shrug.
"... Thanks Marco." Jackie said, smiling
"No problem." He replied.
Meanwhile Star and Kelly were already sparring. And Janna was checking out the books.
"Hey Marco, how do these books work?" Janna asked as she picked up a Math book.
"Ummm you read them?" Marco answered
"No you dolt! I mean how do you have full copies of books here if this is your mind? Did you like memorize all of this?" Janna asked, gesturing to the books.
"Oh, no not really, most of these are books I've already read and somehow they show up here, others are compilations of things I know about a certain subject, those books have a 'written by Marco' note on them." Marco said.
"There are even movies here you know." he added
"This place is so cool." Janna said, absent-mindedly flipping through a cookbook
"So Kelly, how are you and Marco you know... Uhhh related? Wait no that's wrong, like what are you to Marco?" Star asked as she traded blows with Kelly.
"Oh we're friends!" Kelly proclaimed proudly.
"Maybe even my best friend!" Kelly said, is a softer voice.
At this Star dropped the sword, a hurt look in her eyes.
Luckily for her, Kelly was fast enough to stop her sword midswing.
"Star? What's wrong?" Kelly asked.
"Oh, jealous, are we?" An unknown voice whispered in Star's ear.
"Eeep!" Star yelped and turned around so quickly and randomly shot a blast from her wand.
The blast created a miniature mushroom cloud in the middle of the room, when the dust settled a glowing blue man in a billowing brown coat, holding a rune carved staff was standing in the middle of the epicenter, his face was comically blackened with soot, his hair was blown back behind him, still smoking and glowing with embers, a frown was visible on his face. And what looked like a black cowboy-hat was falling from the air behind him.
And suddenly a very loud yet soft sounding laughter was heard.
It was a woman, a very beautiful one, in every essence of the word. Her figure made expertly crafted vases and figurines jealous, her emerald green hair was elegantly long, shiny and bouncy, her ears were pointed like and elf's, her lips were delicately red, she wore a crown of woven flowers on her head, her soft brown eyes sparkled with innocence, wonder and excitement. And the way she held herself showed that she knew just how beautiful she was. She too was glowing blue.
"That was very much your own fault, so don't you dare complain about it." A gruff voice said.
It was from another glowing blue man, who was tall, buff and was wearing a loose white shirt knight's were fond of, black trousers with accompanying black boots and a cruciform hilted sword attached to his back. He had golden blonde hair, tied in a ponytail, his bearded face had a scar running on the side of it.
"Oh, right!" Marco exclaimed
"I can't believe I forgot to introduce you guys." he said.
"Ehhh?" The girls said in unison.
"Right, okay so these guys are spirit echoes." Marco began.
At this Janna immediately had a look of understanding on her face.
"They're, well... They're the echoes of their souls that they behind when they died. They technically live in here and technically they don't. Yeah this place gets weirder still."
"Anyway they're my teachers, Sir Alarick Carpenter here, teaches me basically everything from combat to survival" Marco said as he gestured to the well built blonde man, who in turn gave them a wide smile and a small bow.
At the mention of the man's name Star and Kelly's eyes immediately went wide.
"This is Harrison Lighthymn, he's a jerk. And he teaches me a bit of magic and about the all the monsters and demons I fight, and he knows a lot about monsters and demons, he used to research them and capture the ones that posed a threat to innocent people, he says he was called The Warden. I just call him a jerk." Marco said, much to the annoyance of Harrison.
"And lastly this is Alura Faye, she's a dryad, she teaches me about nature, and potions." Marco said.
"So... Any questions?" Marco asked. And immediately everyone raised their hands, even the spirit echoes.
" sigh... Okay one at a time." Marco said.
"Janna, you first." Marco said.
"Where'd you find them? And how'd you get them to bond with you?" Janna asked.
" sigh... You know, I had a feeling you already knew about spirit echoes Jann, anyway Harrison and Alura I met while I was in Hpoo's dimension, Sir Alarick I met while... well he wouldn't me." Marco said shrugging.
"Eh? I don't get it." Jackie said.
"You see Jackie, for a spirit echo to guide you, your gonna have to do something to impress them, usually it's a challenge they left while they were still alive." Janna said.
"Correct. So as for how I "bonded" with them, well with Alura I saved a forest from being burned down, for Harry I think I met him in a cave full of crystals, I don't remember what I did there though, most of my memories during that time are still hazy." Marco said.
"Okay, me next, who are these people?" Harrison asked.
"They're my friends. They'll be training here with me." Marco said.
"I was wondering if you could give them some tips like you did for me" Marco asked the spirit.
"Sorry kid, no can do, we're bonded to you, not them. You could always just pass on what we teach you to them if you want." He said with a shrug.
"Okay, fair enough." Marco said.
"Okay my turn, since when were able to talk to them in... Here" Jackie asked, gesturing to nothing and everything at the same time.
"Ummm okay, so I've always been able to go to this place ever since I was a kid, but I always thought it was just a dream cause I couldn't do it on purpose then and it only ever happened once a month or so." Marco said
"Ever since Star came along it happened a lot more often, eventually I got the hang of it, though I have to be asleep or meditating in order to get here. As for these guys, " Marco said, pointing a thumb towards the spirit echoes.
"Well I've only been able to see them here after I finished the Trials on Hekapoo's dimension." Marco said.
"Is that really the great Sir Alarick? Hero of Mewni? And The single greatest swordsman in Mewni's history?" Star and Kelly asked at the same time.
"Well, I suppose this question is for me. And yes, yes I am, didn't really know that people still talked about me." Alarick said.
"Okay, so me next boy, do you know the consequences of bringing them in here?" Alarick asked, his face completely serious.
"What do you mean?" Marco asked.
"Well boy, you quite literally invited them inside your mind you know. They could find your secrets, your weaknesses they can access your memories here if they try hard enough." Alarick said.
Marco just closed his eyes and concentrated, thinking hard.
"... It's fine" he said.
"You sure?" Harrison said.
"Yeah, I trust them." Marco said simply.
And lastly Alura simply raised her hand, much like a student does when they have a question.
"Umm... Yes Alura?" Marco asked
"Did you finally get all the ingredients?" She asked softly.
"Ahh, no not yet, sorry." Marco said.
"Buuuu, I'm all bored now. Get it faster." She said, pouting.
"Sorry, I've just been busy is all." Marco said
"Fine. You know where to find me." She said as she disappeared.
"Well seems like we'll be seeing each other a lot here, just make sure you aren't doing anything... Indecent while we're here, you can just ask us to leave and we'll leave you be till you call for us." Harry said.
At that all the teens blushed deep red, and Alarick simply whacked Harrison upside the head.
"Don't mind him, he's an ass." Alarick said, also disappearing.
"Hehe, anyway call me Harry, also Marco we really might not be here for a while, the strain on your mind is bad enough with us here, now you're training with four others, be careful okay? " He said, disappearing in a much more extravagant manner, with pink smoke and fireworks.
"Show off..." Marco said.
"So... Now what?" Kelly asked.
They all looked at each other, then they all looked to Marco.
Five minutes later, Star and Janna were throwing spells at each other, expertly destroying half of the dojo in the process.
Jackie was doing some meditation, Marco said he'd needed to find out what type of magic she had, in order to train with her.
Kelly and Marco were sparring, Kelly with her great sword and Marco with twin steel tonfas.
It wasn't the first time they sparred together, although the first time was just Kelly needing to let out some... Well a lot of pent-up anger, and like the adorable dork that Marco was, he volunteered to be her sparring partner.
Though this time, something was different, something about Marco seemed off he was more confident in his movements and most of Kelly's attacks were just brushed off, which was weird as Kelly was the one to deflect the blows and Marco was the one to dodge and weave, but right now it was a contest of pure strength.
And Marco was pushing Kelly. He was actually pushing her into the defensive purely by trading blows alone, not backflipping, not rolling, just pushing her back with power and technique.
This was understandable as Marco fought with the tonfas like they were simply an extention of himself, blocking and almost immediately counterattacking in the span of half a second, he spun them around mockingly every chance he got and even added couple of kicks into his combo.
And Kelly loved it.
This was honestly the first time she had so much fun being pushed back like this. She never fought like this before, they traded blows, blocked, and parried almost in perfect sync, they were practically dancing. And it was making Kelly's blood rush.
Eventually Kelly had unknowingly used her special skill, an innate ability very few warriors possessed, it enhances a person's fighting prowess for as long as they can keep it up, combined with Kelly's crazy strength it made her nigh unstoppable.
As the red lines begun to draw themselves across Kelly's skin her attacks became faster and stronger, eventually she pushed Marco enough that he had to resort to using his agile and nimble movements to dodge and weave between the blows.
Eventually Marco had his back to the wall it was gonna be Kelly's win, but just as Kelly moved in with an overhead swing Marco let go of both tonfas and caught them by the length of the weapon, he then hooked the handle of one of them to Kelly's wrists and other to the underside of the sword's guard, and in one quick motion separated Kelly from her sword and swung her around pinning her against the wall.
Their bodies were pressed together and they were both breathing heavily but the two of them had matching crazed smiles on their faces.
"That... huff... was fun." Kelly said, breathing rather heavily.
And Marco just grinned and nodded back, unable to reply cause he was out of breath.
"Could... could you let go of me now..." Kelly said, her face blushing.
"Huh? Oh... Ohgoimsosososorry" Marco stuttered as he let go.
"How uh, how about you rest up for now?" Marco said, changing the subject and trying to hide the blush on his face.
"Yeah, I could use a breather." Kelly responded, sitting on a nearby chair, catching her breath.
Marco then walked over to Jackie, careful to steer clear of Star and Janna's showdown.
"Hey Jackie." Marco said.
No reply.
"Jackie?" He tried again.
Nothing.
"Uhh... Jackie?" He tried once more.
Jackie was currently sitting with her legs crossed, a look of concentration on her face, so once again, no reply.
Marco decided to stop calling her name, and instead he sat across her, also crossing his legs and he took her hands into his, fighting the blush rushing to his face.
Jackie was currently in her subconscious, still sitting with her legs crossed yet somehow she was floating, surrounded by a cyclone of pure magic, a blue aura was radiating from her body, she didn't know what to do here, all she knows was that Marco was gonna call for her soon.
The cyclone spinning around her gave her little visibility about her surroundings, all she saw was the continously spinning thing around her, and the blue aura she was emitting.
She decided to close her eyes and concentrate, and all of the sudden she felt warmth, it was faint, but it was still very much there. She instinctively reached out to the warmth with both her hands, grabbing onto it.
"Uhhh Jackie... I'm gonna need my face back please." Marco said, startling Jackie.
Fluttering her eyes open she saw that she did in fact, grab Marco's face, actually, she still was.
"Oh. Sorry dude, didn't... Didn't mean to do that." She said, reluctantly letting go of his face.
"Wait, how're you here?" Jackie asked, suddenly remembering where they were.
Marco just titled his head to the side.
"I was gonna ask you the same thing, usually it takes a while for a mage to be able to get... here." Marco said, gesturing to his surroundings.
"What do you mean? Aren't we in your mind?" Jackie asked, confused.
"Yes, and no. We're technically in my mindscape right now, but we're also in... Here, there isn't a set name for this place, some call it their inner spirit, some say it's a glimpse of their soul, some say it's the core of one's body. Basically we're looking at your inner power, and I gotta say, I am impressed." Marco said, looking around him.
"Really? Jackie asked
"Yup" Marco replied simply.
"Anyway, I'm a little tired right now, how about we go back and rest for today, we can start practice tomorrow up until we go back, in two weeks. And before you ask, yes we're staying here for the time being Star already asked permission from your parents for you, but if you want you could just go back. "Marco said.
Jackie just stared at him blankly for a few seconds before she happily jumped... Er... floated, up and down and lunged forward to hug the boy.
" Yes! Yes yes yes! I've always wanted to visit Star's home, now I get to have a two week long sleep over! Now... how do I get out of here?" she asked, when she let go.
"Open your eyes" Marco said, a small smile on his face.
And she did, what she saw was Marco's brown eyes looking into her own, their hands were intertwined, though she didn't know why, not that she didn't like it though.
Marco immediately let go of her after he realized he was still holding her hands.
"Sorry..." He said, blushing.
But the embarrassed look on Marco's face was short lived as it was immediately replaced by one of shock and worry.
"What happened?" Marco asked.
Confused, Jackie turned around and understood what Marco meant, a huge portion of the dojo had been completely obliterated.
Janna was standing still, a look of shock upon her face, not five seconds ago Star had shot a devastating ray of green energy, destroying everything in its path, luckily for her Star managed to move her wand just in time to avoid melting Janna.
Kelly looked on in horror as a few books fell and burned around her, she was absolutely stunned at Star's display of power.
Star however was feeling absolutely horrible. At first she was just a little frustrated thinking back to this morning about how, she wasn't able to help Marco much and that he had to deal with the zombies alone, so much so that he actually collapsed from exhaustion plus the fact that she shot him out of a cannon made her feel worse, and after she saw how close Marco was to Kelly when they were fighting made her feel... Weird. And when she was him holding Jackie's hands she felt her magic go out of control and she nearly blasted Janna.
And right now, Marco was checking on Janna to see if she was okay... She felt like a massive burden to her best friend.
'I really am nothing but a problem for Marco...' Star thought to herself.
And just then Marco pulled Star into a warm embrace, when he pulled back he cupped his hands to her face.
"Star..." He said softly, it was the same voice he used whenever he woke her up, kind, gentle, sweet and somehow it always pulled her consciousness towards him.
"It's okay Star, no need to cry, everything's alright. No one got hurt, it's okay. It's okay." He said, wiping away her tears with his thumb.
She hadn't even realized she was crying, or that she was clinging onto Marco now, crying her eyes out and calling his name over and over and over again.
"I'm so sorry Marco, I'm a horrible best friend, I shot you out of cannon, I made you plan for the trip on your own, I was practically useless when we fought those zombies and now I broke your mind, what if you're not the same later, what... What if... I'm so sorry Marco." Star said, as she cried into her bestie's chest.
" sigh... Star Butterfly, you are a lot of things, but a problem is not one of them." Marco said, as both he and Star slid to the floor, not breaking their hug.
It took a few more minutes for Star to calm down, only then did Marco let her go, albeit reluctantly.
"Are you okay now?" he asked.
Star simply nodded very slowly, only to quickly shake her head, withdrawing her previous answer.
" sigh... Star, look at me." Marco said, and Star slowly looked up to her bestie, expecting him to be mad, only to find him smiling at her, making her blush.
"Star, you don't have to worry about anything, the mindscape will repair itself it won't affect me in anyway, as for the other things, well everything turned out fine, right? That's what matters." Marco said
"Look, why don't we all continue this tomorrow okay? You guys might be a little tired when you wake up, especially since Glossaryck probably knocked us out." Marco said.
Everyone agreed with Marco.
"Okay then, well if you want to get out of here, just focus and open your eyes, he said just as he closed his own eyes.
When he opened his eyes, he saw that he was in a similar room to where he woke up earlier, only to find his friends sleeping in nearby identical beds.
He smiled at the sight, and then he realized that he had a slight headache, when he took a sniff of air he realized he could smell blood, he also had the unmistakably metallic taste of blood in his mouth.
He was confused, but he relaxed when he saw that Star and the others were simply resting comfortably.
~~~~~
Marco was currently making his way through the castle, looking for the Queen to update her on what's happened, it seemed like the right thing to do, besides his friends were still asleep so he didn't have anything else to do.
He finally got to the throne room, and to his surprise he didn't see any guards stationed at the door.
'Odd, there're usually two guards here' he thought to himself.
As he entered the room he was shocked to see it in a state of ruin, there were scorch marks everywhere, the walls and tapestries were riddled with slashes and burn marks, there were multiple holes in the walls, some windows were broken and a pillar or two was knocked down also one of the thrones was sliced neatly in half while the other was completely untouched.
And just then River walked into the room.
"Marco my boy! Whatever are you doing up? Were you not training in your mind?" He asked.
"Oh yeah, about that we were gonna continue tomorrow, we're all a little tired so I postponed it till then." Marco replied.
To this River just squinted his eyes and took a closer look at Marco.
"Hmmm" he said.
"Ugh... Anyway your majesty, what happened here?" Marco asked, looking around the room again.
"Oh this? T'was just a little tussle, you need not worry about it." He said, waving the question off.
"Anyway my boy, how about a little chat eh?" River asked, as he hooked his hand around the boy and lead him off to the balcony, not waiting for a response.
"Umm okay, what did you want to talk about?" Marco asked.
"That depends, what do you want to talk about?" River replied.
"Umm, sorry I don't understand." Marco said.
"Exactly, my boy. Your mind is scattered! You're confused, and I can see it in your eyes, even if you yourself cannot." River said.
"So tell me, what's on your mind?" he said.
"Well, I'm thinking about how to go about this whole training thing..." Marco said
"And?" River said.
"And uhhh that we need to get stronger?"
Marco added.
"We?" River asked, his tone was questioning, but respectful.
"Yes we need to... No. I need get stronger." Marco said.
"Oh? And why's that?" River asked.
"So I can help Star." He replied simply.
"Is that it?" River said.
"... No." Marco said.
"When... When I was in Hekapoo's dimension, I was strong. I was wasn't weak there, I saved plenty of people there, I had so many adventures... And so many enemies, but at least I was strong enough to deal with them. Right here, right now... I'm weak. I'm only human, I need to get stronger." Marco continued.
"And what will you do if get stronger, hmmm?" River asked.
"I'm gonna help Star." Marco said again.
"Help her with what? I'm quite certain my daughter is no weakling, so what will you help her with?" River said.
Marco was silent, unable to answer the King's question.
"Marco, when you were in Hekapoo's dimension you were on a quest, a nearly impossible one at that, that was why you needed to be stronger, you had a great reason. But right now, let me ask you what is your most important purpose for being right now? What is your raison d'être, if you will." River said.
"Well..." Marco began.
"Wrong!" River said, rather forcefully.
"The momen you have taken more than five seconds to think of an answer to that, you were already mistaken!" River said.
"Tell me, without thinking, just say the first thing that comes to mind, what is it that you want to do?" he asked, almost pleadingly
"I want to just hang out with Star and our friends, I wanna go on adventures, have fun! But..." Marco said.
"But what boy? That is an excellent reason! Go, have fun, enjoy life, explore!" River proclaimed.
"Before you can think of becoming a King you must first be a man, and before you can be a man you must be a boy, a boy who will make mistakes and learn from them, one who'll grow stronger with experience, one who enjoys life!" River said.
"Wow..." Marco said.
"Ummm... When I came back from Hpoo's home I didn't know if I was going to be able to adapt... I had wanted to act my own age, but I didn't even know what my age was anymore! But now... Thank you River, I didn't know I needed that." Marco said.
"Call me d... *cough* I mean yes yes, it's all good my boy." River said, smiling at the boy.
'It may be a little to early for that...' River thought, laughing inwardly.
"Speaking of living life, I heard Star was planning a party later, to send off our friends right?" Marco said
"Hmmm, oh yes although it's more of a simple banquet to end the day, she requested that as her reward." River said.
"Why, do you have something on mind?" River asked the boy, who seemed to be deep in thought.
"Actually yes, but not really for the party, it's for something else..." Marco then proceeded to tell the King of his plan.
"What a splendid idea! I'll help as much as I can." River said.
"Thank you, I'm gonna go prepare now, the sun's already starting to set." Marco said, as he quickly hopped into a portal.
And just as Marco left, Queen Moon stepped out into the balcony.
"Oh, River dear, what are you doing out here?" Moon asked.
"Oh, nothing, just grooming the future King is all." He said, smiling to himself.
And Moon simply rolled her eyes, she was used to her husband doing and saying the weirdest things.
And just then, River frowned.
"But I am concerned; Will she be alright? I have never seen her that angry before, frankly speaking it terrified me" River said.
" sigh... Honestly I don't know. I too have never seen such rage from her, sure she was eccentric but she was never like this" Moon said, looking into the ruined throne room, more specifically the scorch mark on the far side of the wall with the imprint of Glossaryck in the middle.
"Hmpf, well if you ask me Glossaryck deserved it! Marco was coughing up blood, but he was simply handling the poor boy like a sack of corn meal for crying out loud!" River said, fuming.
"We'll worry about it later, she seems to have calmed down when she realized the boy wasn't in any immediate danger, plus inviting her to the party seemed to make her happy." Moon said.
"Yeah... Wait, you said party, but I thought it was a simple feast?" River asked.
To which Moon rolled her eyes.
"Dear, this is Star we're talking about of course she'll be having a party." Moon said simply.
"Hmmm... Okay, but I say it once, I say it again, I do not like Glossaryck, and although Hekapoo gave him what was coming to him, did she have to break my throne? I really liked that one." River said, crossing his arms.
The Queen simply chuckled at her husband's antics.
Star had woken woken up to the sound of puppies yipping, and that of lasers being blasted left and right.
"Yaaawn... Morning puppies! "Star happily greeted them, as she sat up and stretched.
"Wait... Puppies?" Star said, finally rubbing the sleep our of her eyes.
And sure enough the laser puppies were running around the room, shooting off lasers and playing with the three other puppies, Day, Bleu, and Night.
"What are you guys doing on Mewni?" Star asked the puppies.
And when they heard her they all stopped playing around and jumped up her bed, greeting her with puppy kisses.
"Hehehe, so cute." Star said as she scooped all of them up and hugged them.
One of the laser puppies had a note tied to his collar, which Star took.
'Star, I decided to take the puppies with us, that way our parents could at least relax a little at home, also I took Night and Bleu too since Janna and Jackie would probably be a little sad if they saw us with our puppies and theirs were at home. By the way, you and the girls might be a little dizzy so take it easy, (hey that rhymed!) you might also not remember much, that's normal, and if so I'll explain everything later. Also I'm doing something at the moment, so I might be a little late to the party.' -Marco.
"Our parents..." Star said quietly, a small blush on her face.
"Wait... THE PARTTTY!" Star screamed, causing the puppies to fly off the bed, literally in Night's case, as she had wings.
Her shout also woke up the other girls in the room.
Jackie stretched as she sat up, with Bleu nimbly hopping onto her bed and cuddling close to Jackie's face.
"Aww... Good morning to you too Bleu." She said as she hugged her little puppy.
Janna, on the bed next to her was combing her hand through her messy hair, before putting on her beanie, just as Night flew into her arms, nuzzling her face against Janna's own.
"Hey that's my face!" She said as she tore Night away from her face and hugged her.
And lastly, Kelly who was on the bed next to Janna's was wiping the slight drool on her face as she lazily fixed the crooked glasses on her face, just as she was stretching Day popped out of hair, right on the top of her head.
"Hey, what are you doing in there little guy?" Kelly said as she took the puppy out of her hair, who then started to happily give Kelly little puppy kisses.
"Awwww, sho ccuute" She said. "But who's puppies are these?"
And as if on cue, Janna and Jackie both stopped what they were doing and simultaneously said.
"Wait, how'd you get here?" They asked their respective pups.
"Oh, Marco got brought them along." Star said as she hopped out of her bed.
"He wanted to bring the laser pups here so Mr. And Mrs. Diaz wouldn't have to worry about them, he also brought Night and Bleu, he says you might miss them if he didn't." She supplied.
"Wait... Laser pups? So this guy shoots lasers?" Kelly asked, as she was picking up Day.
"Oh, Day doesn't shoot lasers, just these guys" Star said, gesturing to the mini cyclone of puppies running around her feet.
"Oh cool!" Kelly said as a few of the laser pups began shooting lasers everywhere.
"Well anyway, we gotta get ready! I had a party planned before our friends go back home!" Star said, running to the door, telling her friends to hurry up.
After a couple of hours planning and getting ready, the party was all set to go, and since all of Star's friends were resting in castle after a hectic beach day they were all more than eager to dance the night away.
However, before they could, they were invited to dine with the King and Queen, even the Migic High Commission was there, so all of their classmates were a little apprehensive, since at the front of the long table, sat a blue guy with a crystal for a head, an angel demon goat thing, what appeared to be a floating skull inside a crystal ball, and a demoness wearing a yellow ballgown with an erratic flame dancing above her horned head and the fact that she was glaring daggers everywhere made everyone nervous.
However Star and co., who were sitting right across the Magic High Commission, were simply chatting with each other.
"Wait... So there's food here that tells you how you're gonna die?" Janna asked.
"Yeah, but it's more of a guess than actually looking into the future though" Star replied.
"Okay, so you're not a mermaid?" Kelly asked.
"As cool as that would be, no I'm not." Jackie answered.
"Wait okay, so how did you and Marco get so close?" Janna asked, her eyes narrowing.
"Oh uh..."Kelly began.
"How much do you know about him? His fav color? Snack? Movie? Karate move?" Janna continued.
"Woah, easy there Jann" Jackie said, afraid that Marco's friend might take offense.
"Met him in line when I was buying goblin dogs, I was a little shy then so I didn't say much to him but he talked to me still, I thought it was cute, my boyfriend thought it was a little annoying." Kelly said.
"Wait, you have a boyfriend?" Star asked, somehow feeling a little relieved.
"Ummm had, we broke up, thanks to Marco." She said.
And just like that the room was suddenly enveloped in deafening silence as every one of Star's friends and Star herself snapped their heads to the side to look at Kelly, even Hekapoo was staring at her.
"Oh, sorry I didn't say that right. We broke up but he was being stubborn, so Marco helped me by talking to my bow ex boyfriend ."Kelly said.
And a chorus of "Ahhhh" was heard from their friends, while Star, Janna and Jackie all let out a breath of relief.
"Oh and it's Red, plum, and Prussian Blue, Nachos, Mackie Hand the First Fist the original Swedish version, and his fav move is the block and claw!" Kelly said, imitating the move.
"What? How'd you know?" Janna asked.
"Hmm... Marco told me." Kelly said.
And before they could say anything else River and Moon entered the room, everyone stood up, and when they reached the very front of the table and sat down, they gestured for everyone else to sit.
"We are honored to have you all here as guests, as friends of the princess you are all welcome in our kingdom, and as I know you are all eager to begin let us not tarry and let us begin this feast." Moon said, as she held up a glass.
"Ah, but one moment now, is Marco not here yet?" River asked.
And just then a portal opened up right behind Star, startling some of the guards who then pointed their spears at the portal.
"Sorry I'm late, I... Eep" Marco was saying, but the spear aimed at his throat shut him up.
"Come now Tericius, that's Marco! Stand your men down." River said.
"Oh, I did not know it was Marco the Red, my apologies to you my King, and to you as well Sir Marco." Tericius said, bowing to them both.
"It's okay man, Queen Moon, River." Marco said, bowing as he greeted the royals.
"Pssssst Marcoooo, sit next to me" Star said in a whisper everyone could hear.
And he did, he was next to Star and Jackie, with Star on his right and Jackie on his left, and directly in front of him was Hekapoo.
And it turns out that Marco came just in time for the food to be served, it was a multitude of Mewman cuisine, so basically every dish had corn in it one way or another.
Corn bread, corn soup, steamed corn, grilled corn, meat coated in corn butter, corned beef (which actually had corn in it), and whole lot more corn foodstuffs was being served.
"Wow, corn. Who would've guessed." Hekapoo said, in a bored voice.
"You okay Hpoo? You seem... Agitated." Marco said.
"Agitated? She's always like that, no different than usual!" The man, who Marco now knows is called Rhombulus said.
"Oh, by the way, sorry about earlier" He added, just as Hekapoo whacked him upside the head.
"It's okay, man, sorry about punching you with your own crystal..." Marco replied.
"Don't worry about it, he deserved it" Righty, the right hand snake said.
"Yeah man, nice punch by the way." Lefty, the left hand snake said.
All the while Hekapoo was beating Rhombulus over and over with a spoon.
"So..." Marco said in a questioning tone.
"I'm not upset muscles, so drop it." Hekapoo said, pointing the spoon at Marco.
Marco simply looked at her erratically moving flame, then looked back at her with a raised eyebrow, crossing his arms.
"Not a word muscles. And can't they serve the food faster? I wanna go home and..." Hekapoo was saying, but the moment one of the servants placed a covered dish in front of her she became quiet.
"And what Hpoo?" Marco asked quietly, he was resting his chin on his hand as he looked at her, a small smile on his face.
No, reaction came from the Forger of Scissors, instead she slowly reached over and removed the silver dome covering the dish.
It was at this exact moment that several of Star's classmates, and three mewman guards instantly fell in love with the face that Hekapoo made as she looked at the dish.
Her eyes slowly widened and shone with a soft light, her mouth formed into a small "o" shape, resembling that of a kindergartener's face seeing something for the first time.
She took a new spoon and then very slowly, took a bite of the dish, when she opened her mouth steam visibly came out of her mouth and a look of absolute bliss and happiness was on her face.
Several boys and a few girls had to turn away in order to hide the blush on their faces.
The dish itself was impressive in its own right, at first glance it was bright red and arranged to look like a flower, and comprised of what looked like meat, rice, a lot of alien looking veggies, mewnian corn, and almonds.
The dish was evidently delicious, as proven by the smile that never left Hekapoo's face.
"Guess you still like my paella huh?" Marco asked, a smile on his face.
Hekapoo simply nodded, the flame on top of her head was no longer erratic, instead it seemed to pulse lightly every few seconds and it was slowly swaying from side to side.
"I love it." She said, as she swallowed.
After a few minutes similar dishes were served to the others, a few people really liked it too.
Some had begun to finish eating so they took to talking amongst themselves, some of the veteran soldiers had even joined in, talking about their great deeds.
One of them bragged about being a former griffon rider.
Another bragged about singlehandedly subjugating a group of trents who were harassing a village.
One even bragged about how he got the title "Resolute", apparently his whole squad was bewitched by a beautiful dryad who made them fight amongst themselves, but he managed to fight her control and save his squadron.
Their classmates who were listening in Ohhh-ed and Ahhh-ed at the stories.
Some bards were even invited apparently, and they began singing tales of great warriors and their deeds.
"But wait... How come that one guard called you 'Marco The Red?'" Jackie asked.
"Oh ugh... That." Marco began...
"Sigh... That was cause me and River went out hunting once, I was standing in the wrong spot at the wrong time and well, blood from a bear tends to flow really fast once it's head gets cut off, I went back to the castle drenched in it." Marco said miserably.
Kelly and Jackie chuckled at the story, while Star and Janna burst out laughing.
"Well it can't get any worse than that, Marco" Star said, wiping a tear away.
"Actually... It can." Hekapoo said, casually swirling her drink in one hand.
At this Marco froze.
"No. No. No. No no." He said, looking at Hekapoo and shaking his head.
"The more you say no, the more I wanna do it." she said, grinning at the distressed boy.
"Ghhh ... Fine, but just one." Marco said, covering his face with his hoodie.
"Okay, listen up, this is the story of how muscles here earn the great and noble title of "Wolf pup" Hekapoo said.
At this Star started to giggle.
"Ughhh" Marco groaned, knowing all too well how this little story goes.
"You see, this was when he was around 17 years old in my dimension, he been around for 3 years by then he earned a bit of a rep by helping those that needed helping, like the dork he is, anyway so a town was afraid for their children as they saw a Demonic Wolf (it's like a regular wolf, but bigger, waaay bigger, like size of a house bigger) take shelter in a cave near the town, and at night the could hear its howling so no one could sleep, afraid for their lives." Hekapoo said.
"So Marco volunteered to go and deal with it. And appaaaarently, the wolf there was just pregnant with its little wolf babies, so he planned to go back to the village and tell them that they just need to make sure that the pups are safe and the mommy wolf wouldn't go on a murderous rampage, but before he could leave the cave the momma came back from a hunt, and it *giggle* it somehow thought that Marco was one of its babies so it took Marco by the hood and carried him back inside, to 'raise him'; he was there for a whole month! "
"And the whole time he was treated like a wolf pup, he was given 'baths', he played with the other pups, whenever he played too rough with his brothers his mom would pick him up by the hood and carry him away."
"The whole town thought he was dead, by the time someone had the guts to go there they saw Marco sleeping with the wolf and wolf pups. Eventually Marco convinced the Wolf to leave, but the town thought he was pretending to be a pup so the wolf wouldn't attack them, they paraded him round the town shouting 'Praise the wolf pup and his bravery.' " Hekapoo finished her story with a laugh.
Marco's face was just as red as his hoodie, the fact that Star and Jackie were petting him like a puppy didn't help.
"Wait... I guess that kinda explains why he's so friendly with wolves." Kelly said, tapping her chin in thought.
"Oh... Do tell" Hekapoo said, leaning across the table.
"Oh, we went on a quest to look for a specific herb one day, and decided to split up, by the time I found the herb and met up with Marco, he was covered in mud, sticks, leaves and small cuts, apparently he saw a pack of wolves and he said they led him to a patch of where the herb grew, but in exchange he had to hunt with them. Apparently he got carried away with the hunting."
"The next time we went to that forest the wolves came to see him again, and this time they wanted to help us with our quest, since apparently Marco helped them catch a massive boar, so they were returning the favor. And I gotta say, riding wolves as mounts was super fun." Kelly said.
"Wait, you said wolf pup was one of the titles Marco had, were there others?" Janna asked.
"Oh, there were plenty. Of the Black Harvest, Warrior of light, Hunt's End, Warrior Sage, Flameweaver, Knight of Winter, Protector of the Wall, Scholar of the Runes, Aspect of the Sun, Of the Blessed Isles, The Crimson Tide, Guardian of Flowers, The Watcher's Own.' " Hekapoo said, counting them off her fingers.
"And that's just half of them I think, he even has a few songs written about him." She said.
"Really?" Star asked.
"Yup, want me to sing one to you?" Hekapoo asked, the question directed mostly to Marco.
"Sure... It can't get any worse than what you already told them right?" Marco said.
"Yo bard, come here!" Hekapoo said, waving a bard over.
Hekapoo then whispered something in his ear, to which the bard nodded and began playing a slow, soulful tune.
"Okay, I'll only do this once so listen well." she said.
'Our hero, our hero, he lost all that he loved.
I tell you a tale, of a hero's resolve.
With his power of wit and the might of his sword.
Believe, believe, he comes for your head.
He's the end of your evil and y'r blackened old soul
Beware, beware, his vengeance is due
Darkness consumed, the light of his soul
You'll know you'll know, when he comes for your head.'
Followed by what Marco could only describe as beautiful wordless lyrics flowing from her voice.
'Bound by fate, bound by forces unknown.
For the sake of his heart he hunts you all down.
From the lowest, to you, he seeks out your blood.
For the sake of his friends, and their mem'ries too.
He'll cut down your horde, and hunt for you last.
"Now one last toast, to all of you guys."
The hero proclaimed as he offered them ale.
To the ground it went, to their bodies below, to the sky above where their souls lay a rest.
His last goodbye, 'fore the last fight.
"At last" he said, "at last I have won."
His blade was broken, his body was torn,
But his soul shone through and cleared out the dark.
Here lies the ballad, The end of the horde
The story I've told, of Marco's Revenge.'
The whole group was looking at her in stunned silence, none of them expected her to have such a beautiful singing voice it seems.
"The was beautiful, Hekapoo" Marco said, a melancholic smile on his face, and Star could have sworn a tear was falling down his cute little face.
"Of course..." Hekapoo said simply.
'This was my favorite, and this was where I almost lost you. You idiot.' she thought to herself.
Just like that, the mood seemed to have shifted. Not wanting to ruin the party, Star raised her wand up high.
"Come on, its party time!" She shouted, just as a wave of light emanated from her wand, immediately converting the whole room into a massive dance floor, complete with streamers, lights and a live dj.
"sighh... I'll be in my room." Moon said, as she stood up and walked out.
"Wait for me dear" River said following his wife.
Everyone wasted no time getting their party on, Hekapoo even changed to back to her causal clothes and danced with them.
When everyone was dead tired from dancing and the night had taken full hold of Mewni, it was time for everyone to go home.
Marco took it upon himself to escort everyone to their homes safely.
By the time he got back Star, Janna and Jackie were already in their rooms getting ready to sleep.
*Knock Knock*
The sound of someone knocking on her door startled Star out of her bed.
She got up and opened the door, much to her surprise, it was Marco holding a bowl of his super awesome nachos.
"Hey Star, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out?" Marco asked.
"Wha? Sure! I always wanna hang out with my bestie!" She said.
Marco was in his pajamas, something Star didn't see often, which made the princess feel a little weird.
Marco used his scissors to bring his laptop, and they enjoyed the cheesy romantic comedies and the cheesy nachos as well.
The balcony was open to let in the cool night air.
The night sky was a sea of dazzling stars, so when they finished the second movie Stars eyes were immediately focused on the beauty of the sky.
"I wanna go outside" She unknowingly said.
"Star, it's cold outside" Marco replied.
"Yeah bu..." Star was about to say, till she remembered something.
"I really can't stay" She said instead.
"Like I said Star, it's cold outside" he replied.
"I gotta go awaaaay" She said, looking at Marco expectantly.
"For the las..." Marco stopped himself as he realized what Star was doing.
"Baby it's cold outside" Marco replied, a little embarrassed, but willing to play Star's game.
"This evening has been... " Star said, in a sing-song manner, happy that Marco went along.
"Been hoping that you'd dropped in" Marco replied in a similar way.
"... Soooo very nice" Star said.
"I'll hold your hands they're just like ice" Marco sang back to Star, as he took her hands.
"My mother will start to worry, my father will be pacing the floor" Star sang back.
"Beautiful what's your hurry? Listen to that fireplace roar" Marco sang, gesturing to the imaginary fireplace.
"So really I'd better scurry" Star said, pointing out the balcony.
"Beautiful please don't hurry" Marco sang back to Star, pulling her closer, away from the balcony
"Well maybe just a half a drink more" Star sang, placing her finger on her chin in a mock thinking manner.
"I'll put some records on while I pour" Marco sang in response.The neighbors might think
"Baby it's bad out there"
"Say what's in this drink?"
"No cabs to be had out there"
"I wish I knew how" They sang to each other.
"Your eyes are like starlight now" Marco tilted her chin up and looked into her eyes as he sang this.
"To break this spell" Star sang as she moved away from Marco, and turning her back to him.
"I'll take your hat, your hair looks swell" Marco sang as he walked over to her, pretending to take a hat off her head.
"Why thank you"Star replied.
"I ought to say no, no, no sir" Star sang, wagging her finger in front of Marco.
"Mind if move in closer?" Marco moved in closer as he sang.
At least I'm gonna say that I tried" Star sang as she crossed her arms
"What's the sense of hurtin' my pride?" Marco sang as he placed his hand on his chest, pretending to look hurt.
"I really can't stay"
"Baby don't hold out"
Baby it's cold outside!" They sang together.
"Ah, you're very pushy you know?" Star said, poking Marco in the chest.
"I like to think of it as opportunistic" Marco said with a shrug.
At that they both burst out laughing.
"You really like that song don't you?" Marco asked, as he and Star fell into the sea of pillows Star conjured up earlier.
"Yup! I really do!" She said.
"You know... Mewni has lots of beautiful stars." Marco said, looking out at the sky, and yawning a little.
"Yeah! But so does Earth... The brightest star here is called the 'Tear of Light', do you know what's the brightest one on Earth?" Star asked, not really looking at her best friend as her eyes were glue to the beauty of the moon and stars.
"That's *yawn* easy... It's *yaaaawn* you... Star" Marco said, drifting off to sleep.
Star snapped her head to the side, a massive blush on her face, only to see a peacefully sleeping Marco, softly snoring away.
"Yup, you really look cute when you sleep" Star said as she fell asleep hugging her best friend, under the soft red light of the blood moon.
~~~~~~~~~~
Muahahahaha you thought I was done making them sing? You thought wrong! Also yeah, they'll be spending two weeks in Mewni, training, having fun, and generally messing around. Next chapter is gonna be a peace talks one. And thanks so much for the review guys, I really appreciate it. I'll try to polish my writing as this story goes on. Amd since it's gonna be THAT type of route, I'll try to build their relationships up first, otherwise it's an insult to the characters. Also, although I've written here that they'll be training in Marco's little mind dimension most of their real training will be done in the real world, for reasons.