Authors Note
Before I posted this chapter I took a step back. 12 chapters with over 22 thousand words and 34 favs 44 followers and 43 reviews! It absolutely boggles my mind that this many people want to read the stuff I write, like wow! Thank you all so much, I was truly not expecting it to become so popular! Now that my sappy drabbles are over we talk about the story! I'm really glad you guys liked last chapter! How this all happened will not be revealed in this one though, I'm saving that for last! This chapter was more about development for Star and Marco and also a build up to the epic Ludo boss fight! Anyway this note is getting pretty big so I'm going to leave you with that, happy reading! (I own lots of nothing).
Star slide through the darkness tracing behind Mrs Diaz as she led them through a maze of ventilation shafts. She was dressed in an all black outfit mirror to Mrs Diaz's and was fully equipped with deadly weapons (water balloons they had filled with pool water).
They had discovered that the cure to Ludo's mind eraser was chlorine something often found in pool water. Star had no idea what exactly chlorine was, something called an element? Earth science very much eluded her grasp, probably due to the fact she lived in a dimension almost wholly dependent on magic.
As they crawled Star recounted their plan once more in her head. When they got to the upcoming meeting point Mrs Diaz would head off to cure Mr Diaz while Star would go cure Marco, the two would then grab their respective targets and reunite at the previously specified meeting point. After the whole lot of them would head back to base to think of a way to defeat Ludo and get back Star's wand. The plan was air-tight, sort of, of course with their luck some unforeseen wrench in the works would get in the way.
"How much farther?" Stars voice echoed in the steely tunnel.
"Not long now."
Mrs Diaz was right, within thirty more seconds they were at the fork in the vent.
"Here we are!" Mrs Diaz said, turning around and flashing Star a bright smile.
"Alright!" Star reflected back the smile.
"Ok we both know the plan, you get your man and I'll get mine. We meet back here in twenty minutes."
"Ok sounds good... Wait what exactly do you mean by my ma-"
"No time just go!"
Mrs Diaz shoved Star down her path and turned to go down hers. As Star bumbled her way through the darkened corridor the hours (minuets) crawled by for what seemed like eons to Star.
"Ugh when will this thing end?"
A cool breeze washed over her face, it wasn't long now.
"FINALLY!" Star yelled in a whisper.
In front if her a small grate let in the cool night time hues and down below she could she Marco sleeping in his plush hotel bed. Star cooed, was he always this adorable when he slept?
She quietly lifts the metal grate and places it off to the side and then slips through the small hole landing in the bedroom with a hushed thud. She tip toes up to Marco and gets ready to strike, water balloon held high.
"Here we go..." Star whispers as the balloon leaves her grasp.
But just before the balloon lands on Marcos face his eyes shoot open and he doges it, rolling onto the floor and into a fighting stance.
"HEY WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" He yells.
Star blinks at him in surprise. How did he know?
Marco was frozen in moonlight, he wearing some rather luxurious silken burgundy pajamas and had a frenzied look of terror on his face. This reaction was justifiable though as Star was wearing a hood with black cloth around her face only revealing her eyes (Ninja style as she called it).
Star remained silent and stared blankly at the flustered teenager.
"WHO ARE YOU AND WHY ARE YOU IN MY ROOM?"
"..."
"ANSWER ME!"
Star finally chooses the best course of action by using cool headed logical reasoning (raw gut feeling) and tosses another water balloon at Marco. Marco easily doges it.
"HEY!"
Star stares at him for another second before bolting around the room like a crazed animal. Alas to her dismay all the potential exits were either locked or blocked so a swift escape was not to be had.
Marco watching the scene and not knowing what to do tackles her to the ground and pins her arms down to make sure she can't escape.
"Who are you and why are you in my room! And why won't you talk!" His face inches from hers and with an intensity not normally found in him.
Unfortunately for Marco his aslant was a lot stronger then he had estimated. She flips him over into the exact opposite position with Star pinning Marco to the ground. Marco desperately tries to squirm free but it was all for not, that is until Star's grip waved in the slightest.
The two become entangled in a tussle on the bedroom floor. The balance of power shifting to and fro, eventually though Marco gains the upper hand. Star exhausted and sore gives up trying to escape and Marco rips of her mask revealing his attackers identity.
"CRAZY POOL GIRL?"
Star sighed, she had been wondering (when she wasn't fighting her best friend) how new Marco thought of her, was this how real Marco thought of her deep down too? Did he think she was crazy? This whole memory loss deal was raising some painful questions.
Marco stared wide eyed "Why are you attacking me?"
"I was uh..." Star was knocked out of her thoughts and needed to think of a lie fast "Giving you a... surprise night bath?" Star moaned, her lie sounded even dumber out loud.
"A night bath? Seriously?"
"A SUPRISE night bath!" She was now mental slapping herself over and over.
Marco raised an eyebrow "Tell me the real reason."
Star paused should she tell him? "Fine i will tell you... I was trying to make you remember me."
"Man this girl's crazy." Marco mutters to himself.
"Look, I don't know who you are! I'm sorry but yesterday was the first time I have ever seen you!"
Star huffed this was going too far "No it's not! We used to fight monsters all the time together; Ludo the leader of the monsters erased just your memory!"
Marco laughed "You do know what you sound like right?"
Star threw him off and stood up, last balloon in hand. This time she was not going to miss, she wanted Marco back and nothing was going to stop her.
"Hey what are you-"
"You're going to remember whether you like it or not!" Star said forcefully.
The balloon flew out of her hand and whizzed through the air, hitting Marco dead in the face, a direct hit.
A yelp of joy slipped from Stars mouth and Marco got up and shook the water off his face. Star flashed him a vivid smile. The two would now be able to take down Ludo and get back her wand. Each could hold their own pretty good separated but together they were unstoppable.
"Happy now that you drenched me in pool water?" Marco hissed.
The cure hadn't worked.
The bright smile faded from Star's face and was replaced by bitter tears filling her eyes. This was her last chance, he only way to get him back. Without him she was clueless on how she could retrieve the wand.
"I... I'm just going to go." Star turned away from Marcos glare and walked over the the vent.
She pulled a chair over and jumped back up into the steel chute. Peering down the grate she watched Marco dry his face and crawl back into bed all the while mumbling something to himself. When he fell asleep a quiet sob dared to fill the steel tunnel.
The mission was not a complete failure though for Mrs Diaz had been successful in saving her husband.
"Star!" Mr Diaz exclaimed. He crawled up to her and gave her a warm hug.
"Hey." Star smiled half heartedly.
"Star what's wrong, and where's Marco?" Mrs Diaz asked with pleading eyes.
"I... I splashed him with the water but it didn't work."
A deathly quiet came over the three.
Mrs Diaz looked over to Star. "Well there is not much we can do now. We have to just head back to base and try to take down Ludo without Marco."
"How on mew- ugh... earth are we going to do that?"
Mr Diaz spoke up "I think I have an idea..."
Marco yawned as soothing morning light pushed its way through his room's thin silk curtains. His eyes blinked open and he rolled off his bed... and then stepped in a puddle of water.
"What the..."
The patch of wet carpet wasted no time in reminding him of the events that occurred the night previous.
Marco moaned, what was up with that girl? He racked his mind but he couldn't find anything. And it wasn't just her; his past came to him as a collage of faint blips that didn't really mean anything.
A knock on the door derailed his train of thought.
"Hello?"
Maybe that girl came back to apologize or something. Marco grabbed the door knob, it turned with a satisfactory click and the door swung open.
A heavily built man stood before him in a jet black suit, Marco thought he looked like a lawyer.
"Hello I'm from the Logistically Unified Department Of Security And Radical Measures Y21-5." (L.U.D.O.S.A.R.M.Y)
"Uhhh huh and why are you here?" Marco was just about done with all the weird events in the past couple of days.
"We need talk, about your blonde haired friend." The man said while taking a step inside and closing the door...
Star and the Diaz Parents bolted through the corridor. Their brilliant plan at getting the wand was working, sort of. Of course Ludo's henchmen were hot on their tail and all, but they had penetrated the top floors of Ludo's tower. The three burst into the lobby before the throne room and sealed the door behind them.
"Alright Star you go face off Ludo when you're ready give us the signal to destroy the magic blocking crystal!" Mrs Diaz shouted to the girl as the piled random furniture in front of the door.
"Alright and good luck!"
Mr and Mrs Diaz ran over to the ladder climbed up to the roof top when the crystal was held. After waving goodbye Star put the final touches on her barricade and ran down the hallway to the Ludo's lair.
But her path was blocked by a large wooden door with steel bracing; there was no way she was going to break it down without her wand. Luckily enough for her she spied a lever that had the obvious function of opening the door.
She raced over to pull it, her hand mere inches from the lever when a familiar voice echoed across the room.
"Up bup bup! I wouldn't do that if I were you." The voice taunted.
"MARCO? What are you doing here?!" Star gasped.
"I was told all about your little secret, and I'm here to stop you."
"What secret?"
Marco laughed slyly "Don't play games with me Butterfly! Your here to retrieve an experimental and volatile weapon... your wand per say? Commander Ludo explained everything to me, you being a spy and all."
Star was dumbfounded, what was he going on about?
"What are you talking about? Ludo tricked you, I'm not a spy I'm your best friend!"
"Right and my name's not Tyrone its Marco."
"Your name is Marco! And I'm getting that wand!"
"We'll just see about that!"
Marco cracked his knuckles and got into fighting stance.
"Let's get this over with gorgeous."
Star hesitated. Fighting a monster was one thing; her best friend though was something completely different.
She reluctantly went into a fighting position. This was for his own good.
"Your move handsome." If he got to call her gorgeous she got to call him handsome, for now at least.
Marco shrugged at the name and lunged at her with a flying kick but not before she noticed something strange. When she called him handsome his eye twitched ever so slightly.
Star dodged the attack with ease "You're going to have to do better than that if you want to take me down handsome."
There it was again, the eye twitch.
"I'm counting on it!" Marco stated confidently before striking again.
Star twirled backwards around Marco and threw a punch. Marco caught it and flipped Star around, catching her with his arm. As they continued it became apparent that they were just as much dancing as they were fighting. Spinning and twirling, punching and kicking. The two moved in near perfect symmetry.
Eventually both out of breath and only a little bruised from when one of them landed a lucky hit, they paused to catch a breath.
"Man your good!" Marco breathed.
"You're not bad yourself handsome!" The name had been growing on her.
She watched as Marco's eye twitched again. This was when a revelation came to her. The real Marco was still in there she just had to get him out, she had to shock it out of him. She had to act in a way she never normally would...
Star looked up at Marco and they locked eyes, a clicking sound almost audible in that very moment.
"So handsome are we just going to keep playing around, or are you going to show me some real moves?"
She glided up to him and started to twirl her hair, a sly grin dressing her face.
Sentences failed the boy as a mental breakdown began to take place. The eye twitch became a full on head twitch as if mind wipe Marco was trying to repress real Marco.
"I... Uh... Stop-p It what are Y-you doing to me?" New Marco hissed with a mix of fear and anger.
Star bit her lip; she could tell he was almost there. He needed another small push to regain his memory's, something so shocking it would release him from Ludo's grasp.
So she kissed him.
Not on the lips mind you, but a simple peck on the cheek. And although it was nothing spectacular it did do the trick, Marco went over the edge and blacked out...
OoOoOo what happens next? And how did everyone lose their memory and get put in a trance? Find out in the next chapter! Till next time, -Unluckywrites
