A/N Greetings and good tidings friends! Nothing to say right now. Enjoy.

Chapter 12: Living nightmare

Star was pacing the room madly while Ludo and Marco tried to calm her down. After nearly, and quite literally, turning the hospital inside out, Star raced home and searched the house for Mike, thinking he had woken up while they were gone and went home. After ripping open closets, searching rooms, and checking the roof, she safely concluded that Mike was indeed gone. And quite possibly, in danger. She kept pacing Mike's room while Marco tried to rationalize with her.

"Star, listen. We can find him, but we need to calm down first."

"He's gone. He's gone. He's gone. He's gone." She repeated to herself, like a mantra.

"Star!" Marco called.

"He's gone. He's gone. He's gone." Marco groaned and shook her violently.

"Star! Snap out of it!" When he stopped shaking her, her eyes rolled around lazily in her skull. She shook her head to correct this.

"S-sorry... I'm just so worried..." She sniffled. Marco wiped a tear from her eye and held her face.

"I know... We all are... But we're gonna fix this. We're gonna find him and he'll be OK. I promise." Marco said with a smile. Star looked up at him and smiled back. However, Ludo rolled his eyes.

"Enough of the sappy stuff! Now, I have a plan." The teens looked at him.

"A plan? Please! Tell us!" Star said.

"Well, this... Sledge. He isn't normal." Marco cocked his head.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I keep tabs on you two-" Ludo started.

"Pervert." Star replied.

"And I noticed an anomaly at certain points. Every now and again, it would pop up and then just... Disappear." Star and Marco thought for a few moments.

"Mike did mention he felt like he was being followed..." Star remembered.

"Yea... At school and after the portals opened. Wait... You don't think that...?"

"No doubt it was Sledge." Star replied. "But the question is... How?"

"No clue. But one thing is certain, he's dangerous and unpredictable. Now, I think I have a way to find him, if nothing else." Ludo explained. "We just have to-" Before Ludo could finish his sentence, the ceiling above them caved in and crushed him. He never stood a chance. While Marco and Star stood their dumbfounded at the fate of their old enemy, someone descended from the hole in the ceiling and grinned at them. Marco and Star stumbled back.

"N-no..." Star mumbled in fear. Marco put his arm over Star, shielding her from harm.

"Yes..." The person hissed venomously. Their eyes gleamed under the moonlight with devious intent and their toothy smile showed no signs of sanity. "Oh... How I've waited for this moment..." The person said with a smile while licking their lips. Star and Marco scooted away.

"Stay. Away." Star said defiantly. "Sledge." Sledge smirked at her.

"You got spunk, princess... I can admire that. It'll make what I'm about to do so much sweeter..." While Sledge and Star were talking, Marco inched his hand towards Star's wand. However, Sledge saw this and stomped on Marco's hand just as he grabbed the wand. The sickening crack and crunch of bone nearly made Star throw up. Marco yelped in pain and tried to get his hand free, which prompted Sledge to twist his foot on the broken hand. Once Marco's hand had lost feeling, Sledge removed his foot and grabbed the wand out of Marco's grasp. Star pulled Marco to herself and held him. She then glared at Sledge.

"You're a monster!" Sledge laughed and threw her wand out the window. Star gulped as he knelt beside her.

"You're absolutely right, princess. I am a monster. Your monster. I'm what you hide from under your covers every night. I'm the shadow moving in the dark corners of dark rooms. I'm your worst nightmare come true." Sledge laughed more as he grabbed Marco and repeatedly punched him in the face.

"Stop!" Star reared her fist back and punched Sledge in the face, but he shrugged it off and backhanded her hard. Star fell down, now with a red hand mark on her cheek, overlapping her heart shapes. She rubbed it and snuffled, but she wouldn't go down that easily. She lunged at Sledge's feet and knocked him down. Sledge dropped Marco, who was beaten and completely unconscious. Admittedly, Sledge was taken aback by her defiance. But then he rolled his eyes and kicked her off of him. Star, again, not willing to go down easily, lunged at Sledge once more, but he was ready. He grabbed her by the throat out of mid air and squeezed hard.

"Feisty... I like it..." He watched as she gasped for breath under his crushing pressure. "Oh... I'm gonna enjoy making Mike watch as I break you both..." Sledge grinned wider as he watched the life drain from Star's eyes. She choked and sputtered as her vision went black.

Somewhere

The goggles were removed from his head. He was dazed and confused. His head was swimming and his vision was a garbled mess of colors mixed together poorly. He also heard faint voices. He couldn't make out what they were saying. He only cared about what he just witnessed. It made his head hurt, as if he had watched it a hundred times. He felt like his brain had been put in a blender and set to smoothie. His limbs were numb, his head ached, and his body refused to respond to his commands, despite his best efforts. But then... The voice he was hearing said one word, and he heard it clearly. Be heard the name; Sledge. This name made his head rise up. His eyes glowed a brilliant emerald color, but all he saw... Was red.