Sabrina

The walk home had been silent, and a small part of Sabrina savoured it. Liberty, however, grumbled within her and whispered that they should abandon Brittney, accept the punishment and shift all the scales.

Sabrina shook her head in disagreement, relieved that Brittney barely glanced in her direction. When she did look up, all she saw was a tight tug of the shawl – reassurance that Brittney had no intent to converse with her.

She quietly murmured to Liberty, who ignored her desperate pleas for Brittney's safety. Eventually, Brittney stopped – and Sabrina crashed into her – before she could stop it, a few curse words slipped from her tongue.

In surprise, Brittney blinked at her – and Liberty glowered for a split second. The glare was only present for a moment, before Brittney beat hers completely – Liberty was about to make a gesture, but Sabrina told her to stop.

They had reached the large gates of Brittney's house – at which Brittney was staring uneasily. She shook her head slowly, and Liberty bit her lip. How exactly was Sabrina equipped to deal with this sort of problem?

Marco

Something seemed awfully amusing about Star and Janna. Apart from being surrounded by two girls, he liked the idea of them silently fighting over him – but kept all emotions low, setting his lips in a straight line of grim determination.

"Star," Janna began, gesturing to a large stone pillar with a random language scrawled across it, "Could you possibly translate this?"

A small growl escaped her pursed lips, and Marco once again had to glare and growl slightly louder, which immediately made Star stop. The growling was replaced by stiff, awkward dialogue, which made Marco smile at the ground.

There was a brief pause, where Star bit her lip and gently pressed a finger, then two against the stone. Her eyes never flickered or changed, remaining in that emotionless glaze, as she pulled her fingers away.

"Energised magical property."

"And what exactly are you looking for, Janna?" His tone came out more accusing that he had intended.

Yet she didn't miss a beat, smiling to herself.

"Ferguson and Alfonzo are gone."

"Don't change the sub- what?" Marco snaps, folding his arms – Star draws herself away from the stone pillar, floating back to his side, causing Janna to narrow her eyes slightly.

So two girls were definitely fighting over him. Interesting.

Still, that could wait – Ferguson and Alfonzo were missing – not that it shocked Marco or anything.

"You have got to be kidding me. How the hell did they get lost? We were walking in a group!"

Star's fingertips fall upon him before he can push her away, and her thumbs seem to work magic upon his tensed up muscles, as he unclenches slightly. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Janna staring in curiosity, but also disbelief.

She doesn't interrupt them, luckily, for the part where Star traces large shapes on his back. He sighs lightly, though Ferguson and Alfonzo are still dizzily dancing the night away in his mind – to the point where he wants to scream.

The scream remains within him, slowly waning.

Her hands are pinned back to her sides, and Janna cocks up an eyebrow. However, she doesn't utter a single word, continuing to stare at them both. This was probably one of the first relationships that she couldn't screw over.

A triumphant smile plays at his lips, but Star's is superior in every form. It's one of the first times he's seen her smile, even when she's in her doll form. Marco says nothing, but his eyes are focussed on her lips.

Soft. Very soft. Maybe they would-

"Ferguson and Alfonzo." Janna says calmly, causing Marco to blink.

He didn't feel impressed – but kept his cool, turning to look at her. She simply wouldn't wipe that disgustingly smug smirk off her face. The smile stayed on Star's face, but his was long gone.

"What about them?" As he spoke, she relaxed, slumping on one of the walls. Then she checked her nails in one of the least discreet ways possible – it simply wasn't enough to provoke him. After a minute or two, he repeated himself.

"What about them?" His teeth were gritted though, this time.

"Oh. Well…" She fluttered her eyelashes, but Marco saw through the illusion of innocence. "They're gone. I do wonder where they could've gotten to."

Star piped up at this point, her voice small and timid – interestingly, he saw fire burning in her eyes. And the marks on her cheeks were darker hearts that appeared to have jagged lines forming in the sides and edges.

Broken hearts.

"It's simple. We ask the attendants if they've seen them. Their absence isn't a problem." Marco pressed his lips together as she spoke, daring to cast an arrogant smile at Janna.

"And where exactly are the attendants?" Janna seemed to be enjoying herself.

"That's the problem…" Star trailed off, frowning at her.

Marco held in the glare, and looked over at both Star and Janna.

"Fine, then. We're going to find an attendant, describe them both, and you two… you two are going to resist trying to one-up each other every five seconds." He, like Janna, enjoyed the thought of controlling them both.

She raised an eyebrow, then shook her head. "No, look. I told you I'm going to hack JD, but only if I get what I want."

It was Star's turn to huff, as Marco was already briskly picking up pace and walking.

Both of them knew that they had to keep up, before he lost his temper – and both took off rapidly, as if there were rockets on their shoes.

For at least thirty minutes, they'd trudged through the entirety of Quest Buy, when they fell upon a variety of potions, skulls, and ogre's toes. Stopping, Star leaned on one of the jars of pickled ogre toe – catching her breath.

Marco frowned, muttering under his breath, as Janna fingered the potions, a small smile showing up on her face. She kept going through them, before nodding at Marco, who rolled his eyes, and continued muttering.

"What currency do they use here?" Janna asked.

Star ignored her, continuing to inhale and exhale deeply. Finally, she loosened herself from the jars and glanced at Marco, twitching her lips, as if to ask for permission to speak. He nodded at her, still murmuring.

"Jewels." As soon as she spoke, her lips joined together – refusing to let any more words out.

As if on cue, Marco finally talked to them both.

"Star, can your magic summon attendants?"

At the sound of his voice, she blushed slightly and then nodded. "I… well, I think so."

"Then do-"

His voice was cut off by the sound of an explosion – which threw them all back, sending them through various shelves. Sounds of smashing glass filled the air, and new gashes opened up on Marco's skin.

Star toppled over three shelves, lying in a mess of books, potions and biting skulls. There was nothing – she lay there blankly, too numb to feel the pain engulfing her, as one skull sunk their teeth into her leg.

Janna, however, screamed bloody murder – there was a huge sore sitting on her arm, leaking blood all over her clothes and the ground. She clutched it in the hope it would stop, only to be drowned in hopelessness as she caught sight of rising smoke.

The explosion had only been the beginning.