This was once again supposed to be one chapter, but once I hit 3,000 words I realized this had to be split. So, try to enjoy more of this horrifying sequence. The last part will be written and posted soon, and everything will make sense.

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"...MARCO! WAKE UP!"

A sharp gasp, and Marco was yanked back into the waking world. He swallowed air as if his body had forgotten what it was, and just now remembered. His arms trembled beneath him, and the shock of sudden life caused Marco to collapse on his side, catching his breath in between bouts of wheezing.

He heard someone right in front of him, but was too lost to make out what was said. The gnarly, whiny voice was a dead giveaway, however.

"Never seen him fight with such ferocity before," said a voice, a deep growl in Marco's ears. "He will make an excellent King one day."

"Ludo..." he groaned into the pavement.

A quick patter of footsteps rushed to his ear. "Ah! He's still alive? ...Yes? Eh-hexcellent!" He cackled, pleased.

Marco felt a thick pulsing behind his eyes, paining him to keep them open but he dragged his gaze upward. Ludo was sneering three inches from his face, but Marco didn't realize until he started speaking that it was stuck like that - his beak was no longer aligned from where he kicked him.

Marco latched onto whatever fleeting satisfaction he got from that, until the little monster started speaking so completely normal, even with his broken jaw clacking between words audibly. Marco felt his stomach do a flip every time. "Good to see you're awake!"

Marco winced - his voice was like nails on chalkboard. "Ludo..." was all he could manage once more before collapsing into a coughing fit. His entire body felt aflame, and his heart pounded away in his chest.

"She still hasn't given up." A sandal'd foot pressed against his side, and slowly, slowly he was rolled onto his back, Marco groaning all the while from the pain in his lungs. "Deer Beard gave you quite the wallop! Just both of you flying at each other, and ka-pow! Square in the chest, down like a corpse. I was afraid he killed you too soon." A wistful sigh. "Even in undeath, I can't rely on these morons."

Marco wondered if this was still a dream, that if he opened his eyes again he would find himself in his bedroom, with Star choosing to magic her way in via scissors than knock "Earth-girl style," and they would laugh about it. Maybe, in some insane hope, this was one of those horrible nightmares that Star would rip him out of, and he wouldn't remember at all and be aggravated that he hadn't been cured. But at least he would be with Star, safe in his home, where Ludo and his monsters were dead and his classmates weren't in peril.

Instead, Marco felt a springtime breeze on his face, and the sting in his nose of a gruesomely familiar odor: charred poultry.

His skinny jeans and hoodie were tattered, and Marco wondered how that happened until suddenly the weight of a clawed foot pressed against his back, talons hazardously scissored on either side of his neck.

When Ludo spoke he sounded impressed, but Marco had trouble separating it from this newfound sadism the little creature founded in the Abyss. "I never saw you move like that, Karate Boy. I would have thought you kids wanted to save your friends! It seems I underestimated you once again, but I assure you that this will be the last time."

Marco moaned in reply - he couldn't even will himself to speak if he wanted to. His ribs must have been broken, that was the only explanation for the crying ache within. Marco was too afraid anyway of the massive, curved swords that were Big Chicken's talons he spotted in the corner of each eye; one move, one command, and it could slice through his neck like so much cheesecloth.

What happened? he wondered. When did Ludo become so cruel?

When did he become so smart?

Marco never realized how much more dangerous he could be if he just had a little more brains. An attack where they were most vulnerable, with so many innocents, Ludo may have gotten the wand a long time ago.

The wand...

Marco felt the crushing realization on his shoulders, or that may have been Big Chicken shifting its weight.

Where is Star? He vaguely began to recall how he got there - seeing Star kick some butt, firing spells left and right. It was enough to make him break out and fend off Ludo's army of the dead. He remembered barking pleads to his classmates, telling them to run. He hoped they were as far from here as possible.

Out of everything on his mind, Marco's mind screamed one thought, one question that had to be the last thing he knew if this was to be the end.

"What..." His voice was a whisper, faint, and broken.

But the kappa heard him nonetheless, as he was still beside his captive, who did not know why. Marco's face was forced to look at the pavement still as he smelled Ludo's gag-worthy cheese smell.

"Silence, karate boy!" He felt a pathetic little smack on the back of his head, though it was enough to force his nose into the concrete and inflict a dull ache upon it. "One more word, one more twitch of the fist, and your demise will be an agonizing one in Chicken's stomach acids." He giggled deliriously, but this just made Marco's question burn even hotter than before.

He powered through the pain glowering in his chest, every word feeling like a great effort that tears prickled his eyes. "What..." a deep, agonizing breath, "...happened to you... Ludo?"

It was a general question, but one that asked so much at once.

Marco cried out when a clawed hand gripped the front of his hair and yanked his head up, bending his neck at what felt like a ninety-degree angle. "She did," was all Ludo said, and for the first time that day without any hint of cheer.

And Marco had no choice but to stare ahead, at the sight of his best friend Star surrounded by the undead. She gripped the wand before her in both hands, aglow with the most powerful magic in the universe and keeping the monsters at bay. Every time one advanced, she would fire off a Rainbow Fist or Narwhal Blast and knock them back. Every time they were, they would get back up without so much as a wince of discomfort.

She was a mess: her hair matted, green dress tattered, cuts on her arms and legs. Even as far as he was, Marco could see how winded she was, the exhaustion bagging beneath her eyes and exuding a weariness that made him tired to even look at. She held herself in a way, like one prepared to die before giving up, and wanting that fateful moment to arrive soon.

Marco could only watch like the helpless Earth Turd he was. "Star!" he whimpered, moaned, and cried out all at once.

She somehow heard him, for her eyes flicked in his direction and their eyes met. Marco saw relief flood her posture, and the spark of life return to her eyes, where sudden happiness welled and moistened them. "Marco!" Star shouted in mix-surprise and joy. She aimed her wand at the ground between her feet and cried out, "Bunny Rocket-!"

She would have launched into the air with a trail of sparkles and plush-rabbits left in her wake, probably ready to kick Big Chicken in the beak and free Marco, had Three-Eyed Potato Baby not rushed forward in a burst of unbelievable agility, and slammed his fist into the back of her head.

"STA-HA-HAR!" Marco screamed, just as Star's body met the pavement. Oh my God, I did this I did this she was just fine until I distracted her. God Star, Star please please no don't do this to me...

He struggled and snarled, wrenching his will against his pain and Big Chicken's weight, but even then he couldn't break free. The charred beast warbled, sounding amused by his efforts.

"She's still alive?!"

Marco whipped his head up - Ludo cried out in dismay, gripping a tassel of beard within each hand. Marco snapped his gaze wherever he was looking: Star was now perched above the headless torso of the giraffe monster, and judging from the writhing two-headed demon on the ground, he could guess what she just did.

With a bit of a slur in her words, and spitting them forcefully, Star waved her wand and cried, "Bunny... Rocket Blast!"

She took to the air, and with a sharp cry beside and above Marco he felt the presence of death around his neck lifted, and only relief and happiness filled him as two callused hands gripped his own and hoisted him up. Wearily and unfocused, he uttered, "Star-"

Before something tackled him and a sharp pain lanced through his heart. "I thought you were dead!" the Princess of Mewni sobbed.

"That's impossible, and you know it," Marco growled angrily, but that didn't seem weird to either of them. Instead Marco felt compelled to gaze skyward, past Star's torn puff-sleeve with a bruise-sporting shoulder, where the sky was but a starless void, and a red moon shone bright. It looked to be weeping blood.

He blinked in surprise, and the sky was blue once more. Spots of color danced across his vision - he must still reeling from everything happening at once, if his head pounding like a wardrum were of any indication.

Marco pulled away from Star, and she did him, though both kept their hands on each other's shoulders. "Star," he breathed, his worry squeezing her slightly, "what is going on?"

"They're..." As quick as it came, the light fled from Star's eyes, and palpable exhaustion returned. The princess sagged underneath his hands. "They want my wand, Marco."

That much was obvious, and did nothing to ease Marco's hurricane of questions. "Star, where is everyone?" He shook her a little - Star looked to be losing herself, looking more distant the longer their silence went on unbroken.

She even sounded as much. And Marco felt his stomach drop when all she said was, "They..."

Marco wanted to scream the question at her, but a throat cleared not far from them, grabbing both of their attention.

"I'll ask once more, Princess, for you to relinquish the wand." Ludo tilted his head to the side, one eye wider than the other, and his broken-beaked sneer dripping with oily spit and malice. "There's no need to walk your friends into slaughter. Hand it over, and we will show the mercy your people never gave mine."

Star screamed in such righteous defiance, "NEVER!" that Marco winced beside her - he never heard his friend so passionate in battle until that instant. He felt her shift into a fighting stance, and Marco...

...Marco merely looked around. The living dead rejoined Ludo, their bodies still as the grave and awaiting their master's command. At least a dozen of them, he counted, even several he didn't remember hopping off the bus - the black crocodile, the three-eyed boar, Spike Balls to name a few. Every one of their eyes a milky white, and oily foam dribbling from between their crooked teeth.

Marco wished he could be as fearless as Star, more than anything; he did not want to fail her. He wanted to fight until he had no fight left, or these guys killed him. But Marco couldn't stop gawking at the destruction around them - the broken windows, the cracked pavement. His class was nowhere in sight. Marco prayed they fled to safety when he and Star were fighting.

"Star..." He didn't mean to sound so defeated, like a beaten dog. But he did anyway and it couldn't be helped. "Ms. Skullnick, she's... she died, Star... Our friends might be hurt, or worse. If, If there's a chance we might stop this-"

"I said 'never,'" the princess cut in, in a voice colder than Marco ever heard from her before. She never looked his way; her eyes just narrowed further. "Marco, you know what'll happen if Ludo gets the wand. It'll be like this but in Mewni. Thousands will die. We can't give it to him, Marco. We can't give in and let him win."

"..." Marco wanted to say more, the urge was powerful, the desire to protest even moreso. But he couldn't argue with Star's logic - she was right.

Goddammit she was right.

Reluctantly, with determination setting his face firm, Marco took a stance. "We'll never let you win, Ludo..."

"Never." Beside him, Star Butterfly grinned.

The little monster before them growled and stamped around, and for a second Marco saw the old Ludo again. In dismay he asked the heavens, "How many of these brats must I execute before you two surrender!?"

His question left Marco reeling. He trembled, his heart stopping as quickly as the implications hit him. Slowly, Marco turned towards his friend, arms now at his sides while the princess kept both fists in front of her. "...St-Star?" he stammered. The world started spinning, and Marco didn't want to but his mouth asked anyway, "What does he mean?"

Star's brows furrowed. "We can't let him have the wand, you know-"

"STAR!"

The princess winced, and finally whipped her startled gaze around to meet his own. "...M-Marco-"

"Is he telling the truth? Ha-Has he... he already killed...?" He couldn't even finish his question, for Star directed her attention back at the monsters.

When she spoke, he could hear her forcing her voice to stay firm. "Ludo can't have the wand, Marco. But... we can stop him from hurting anymore people!"

Ludo watched their back and forth until Star said that, where threw his head back laughing. "Only you can do that, Princess!" Ludo snapped his fingers. "Bring her forward!"

Her? Who? Marco wondered, until he saw Three-Eyed Potato Baby stomp forth. Each of his namesakes were milky and dead, but somehow Marco sensed them looking right at him as he carried someone forth with both arms wrapped around her. This was a monster Marco hadn't feared once in his life, a creature as simple-minded as he was harmless from the many encounters they've had. But he also had ludicrous amounts of strength, just too dumb to make effective use of it until today.

For squeezed just above the red ruin of his stomach, was Jackie Lynn Thomas, sporting numerous cuts on her arms and toned legs, and quite the grisly bruise on her once-flawless face, just beneath her left eye. It was an angry, deep purple, and a little bit yellow already.

Her eyes were wide with terror, and they were looking right into Marco's and he couldn't will himself to look away no matter how bad he wanted to. "Marco!" she cried. "They-They've-!" Immediately the girl started writhing, screeching with an anguish unheard of from the laidback skater before. Three-Eyed Potato Baby's hold was ungodly, though. "They killed everybody Marco! I'm, oh God oh my God, Marco I'm so scared..."

Ludo sighed with pleasure. "Ah! Now how about the karate boy's girlfriend for the wand?" he bargained. "You don't want to hurt your best friend now, do you Princess?"

Marco felt himself torn into several pieces - Jackie's cries, her being hurt, everyone they knew...

...And Star...

"Star..." Even his own voice sounded not from his own lips, but somewhere far, far away. Somewhere where none of this horrible stuff was happening, he imagined. "Star... for the love of God, Star... They're gonna hurt Jackie." He couldn't even speak the "k" word.

His pleas went unrequited - Star didn't even move a muscle, just continued staring down her arch-nemesis. "We can't cave in, Marco. If he wins, it's over, and Jackie, Earth... it would all be in danger."

Marco was petrified, his bones locked in place, unable to believe what he was hearing. "No..."

"So what's it going to be?" Ludo looked from Jackie, her face stricken with utter fear, to Star Butterfly, determined as ever.

The princess did not waver, except in her voice. "You're an evil little monster," she told him.

Ludo hooted like that was the funniest thing he'd ever heard. "Don't talk about yourself that way, Princess." He nodded toward Jackie's captor. "Do it."

"JACKIE NO!" Marco lunged, just as he heard Star scream his name. Two pairs of arms, the boar and Buff Frog, grabbed each half of his limbs and forced him to the ground.

Jackie Lynn Thomas joined him moments later. "M-Marco..." she groaned, peering at him through one eye, the other forced shut and pressed to the concrete. The monster had one massive foot to her back, pinning her.

Marco had no time to so much as meet her gaze before it was covered by Three-Eyed Potato Baby's tree trunk of a forearm. His hand clasped underneath her chin. Without so much as a grunt, he yanked upwards.

Marco was covered in Jackie in a matter of seconds.

Amidst his screams, he heard Ludo say, "And now we've got Karate Boy."

When Three-Eyed Potato Baby killed Jackie, think the Mountain killing the Sparrow from Game of Thrones.

This and last chapter were difficult to write - really, this kind of gratuitous horror doesn't belong in SvtFoE, and even though that was kinda the point of the sequence (as you'll soon see), it still gave me pause and wonder if I should post or not. Glad to see you guys didn't absolutely hate it.

On the plus side, I had a lot of fun writing badass Star and sadistic Ludo. I've never actually written him before, and being able to do so in an obvious exaggeration was a treat.

I'll have the next chapter, and the end to this jarring change to horror, sometime this weekend.

In the meantime, let me know if/what/how you enjoyed.